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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The History of the Peloponnesian War
+
+Author: Thucydides
+
+Translator: Richard Crawley
+
+Release Date: March 15, 2003 [eBook #7142]
+[Most recently updated: September 7, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Albert Imrie and David Widger
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR ***
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
+
+By Thucydides 431 BC
+
+ Translated by Richard Crawley 
+
+
+With Permission
+to
+CONNOP THIRLWALL
+Historian of Greece
+This Translation of the Work of His
+Great Predecessor
+is Respectfully Inscribed
+by
+—The Translator—
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+ BOOK I
+ CHAPTER I
+ CHAPTER II
+ CHAPTER III
+ CHAPTER IV
+ CHAPTER V
+ 
+ BOOK II
+ CHAPTER VI
+ CHAPTER VII
+ CHAPTER VIII
+ 
+ BOOK III
+ CHAPTER IX
+ CHAPTER X
+ CHAPTER XI
+ 
+ BOOK IV
+ CHAPTER XII
+ CHAPTER XIII
+ CHAPTER XIV
+ 
+ BOOK V
+ CHAPTER XV
+ CHAPTER XVI
+ CHAPTER XVII
+ 
+ BOOK VI
+ CHAPTER XVIII
+ CHAPTER XIX
+ CHAPTER XX
+ 
+ BOOK VII
+ CHAPTER XXI
+ CHAPTER XXII
+ CHAPTER XXIII
+ 
+ BOOK VIII
+ CHAPTER XXIV
+ CHAPTER XXV
+ CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+The State of Greece from the earliest Times to the Commencement of the
+Peloponnesian War
+
+
+Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the
+Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke
+out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of
+relation than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without its
+grounds. The preparations of both the combatants were in every
+department in the last state of perfection; and he could see the rest
+of the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed
+doing so at once having it in contemplation. Indeed this was the
+greatest movement yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes, but
+of a large part of the barbarian world—I had almost said of mankind.
+For though the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more
+immediately preceded the war, could not from lapse of time be clearly
+ascertained, yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as
+was practicable leads me to trust, all point to the conclusion that
+there was nothing on a great scale, either in war or in other matters.
+
+For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in
+ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were
+of frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their
+homes under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without
+freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of
+their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of
+capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an
+invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they
+had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily
+sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they
+cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither
+built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The
+richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such
+as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese,
+Arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The
+goodness of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular
+individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of
+ruin. It also invited invasion. Accordingly Attica, from the poverty of
+its soil enjoying from a very remote period freedom from faction, never
+changed its inhabitants. And here is no inconsiderable exemplification
+of my assertion that the migrations were the cause of there being no
+correspondent growth in other parts. The most powerful victims of war
+or faction from the rest of Hellas took refuge with the Athenians as a
+safe retreat; and at an early period, becoming naturalized, swelled the
+already large population of the city to such a height that Attica
+became at last too small to hold them, and they had to send out
+colonies to Ionia.
+
+There is also another circumstance that contributes not a little to my
+conviction of the weakness of ancient times. Before the Trojan war
+there is no indication of any common action in Hellas, nor indeed of
+the universal prevalence of the name; on the contrary, before the time
+of Hellen, son of Deucalion, no such appellation existed, but the
+country went by the names of the different tribes, in particular of the
+Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen and his sons grew strong in
+Phthiotis, and were invited as allies into the other cities, that one
+by one they gradually acquired from the connection the name of
+Hellenes; though a long time elapsed before that name could fasten
+itself upon all. The best proof of this is furnished by Homer. Born
+long after the Trojan War, he nowhere calls all of them by that name,
+nor indeed any of them except the followers of Achilles from Phthiotis,
+who were the original Hellenes: in his poems they are called Danaans,
+Argives, and Achaeans. He does not even use the term barbarian,
+probably because the Hellenes had not yet been marked off from the rest
+of the world by one distinctive appellation. It appears therefore that
+the several Hellenic communities, comprising not only those who first
+acquired the name, city by city, as they came to understand each other,
+but also those who assumed it afterwards as the name of the whole
+people, were before the Trojan war prevented by their want of strength
+and the absence of mutual intercourse from displaying any collective
+action.
+
+Indeed, they could not unite for this expedition till they had gained
+increased familiarity with the sea. And the first person known to us by
+tradition as having established a navy is Minos. He made himself master
+of what is now called the Hellenic sea, and ruled over the Cyclades,
+into most of which he sent the first colonies, expelling the Carians
+and appointing his own sons governors; and thus did his best to put
+down piracy in those waters, a necessary step to secure the revenues
+for his own use.
+
+For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast and
+islands, as communication by sea became more common, were tempted to
+turn pirates, under the conduct of their most powerful men; the motives
+being to serve their own cupidity and to support the needy. They would
+fall upon a town unprotected by walls, and consisting of a mere
+collection of villages, and would plunder it; indeed, this came to be
+the main source of their livelihood, no disgrace being yet attached to
+such an achievement, but even some glory. An illustration of this is
+furnished by the honour with which some of the inhabitants of the
+continent still regard a successful marauder, and by the question we
+find the old poets everywhere representing the people as asking of
+voyagers—“Are they pirates?”—as if those who are asked the question
+would have no idea of disclaiming the imputation, or their
+interrogators of reproaching them for it. The same rapine prevailed
+also by land.
+
+And even at the present day many of Hellas still follow the old
+fashion, the Ozolian Locrians for instance, the Aetolians, the
+Acarnanians, and that region of the continent; and the custom of
+carrying arms is still kept up among these continentals, from the old
+piratical habits. The whole of Hellas used once to carry arms, their
+habitations being unprotected and their communication with each other
+unsafe; indeed, to wear arms was as much a part of everyday life with
+them as with the barbarians. And the fact that the people in these
+parts of Hellas are still living in the old way points to a time when
+the same mode of life was once equally common to all. The Athenians
+were the first to lay aside their weapons, and to adopt an easier and
+more luxurious mode of life; indeed, it is only lately that their rich
+old men left off the luxury of wearing undergarments of linen, and
+fastening a knot of their hair with a tie of golden grasshoppers, a
+fashion which spread to their Ionian kindred and long prevailed among
+the old men there. On the contrary, a modest style of dressing, more in
+conformity with modern ideas, was first adopted by the Lacedaemonians,
+the rich doing their best to assimilate their way of life to that of
+the common people. They also set the example of contending naked,
+publicly stripping and anointing themselves with oil in their gymnastic
+exercises. Formerly, even in the Olympic contests, the athletes who
+contended wore belts across their middles; and it is but a few years
+since that the practice ceased. To this day among some of the
+barbarians, especially in Asia, when prizes for boxing and wrestling
+are offered, belts are worn by the combatants. And there are many other
+points in which a likeness might be shown between the life of the
+Hellenic world of old and the barbarian of to-day.
+
+With respect to their towns, later on, at an era of increased
+facilities of navigation and a greater supply of capital, we find the
+shores becoming the site of walled towns, and the isthmuses being
+occupied for the purposes of commerce and defence against a neighbour.
+But the old towns, on account of the great prevalence of piracy, were
+built away from the sea, whether on the islands or the continent, and
+still remain in their old sites. For the pirates used to plunder one
+another, and indeed all coast populations, whether seafaring or not.
+
+The islanders, too, were great pirates. These islanders were Carians
+and Phoenicians, by whom most of the islands were colonized, as was
+proved by the following fact. During the purification of Delos by
+Athens in this war all the graves in the island were taken up, and it
+was found that above half their inmates were Carians: they were
+identified by the fashion of the arms buried with them, and by the
+method of interment, which was the same as the Carians still follow.
+But as soon as Minos had formed his navy, communication by sea became
+easier, as he colonized most of the islands, and thus expelled the
+malefactors. The coast population now began to apply themselves more
+closely to the acquisition of wealth, and their life became more
+settled; some even began to build themselves walls on the strength of
+their newly acquired riches. For the love of gain would reconcile the
+weaker to the dominion of the stronger, and the possession of capital
+enabled the more powerful to reduce the smaller towns to subjection.
+And it was at a somewhat later stage of this development that they went
+on the expedition against Troy.
+
+What enabled Agamemnon to raise the armament was more, in my opinion,
+his superiority in strength, than the oaths of Tyndareus, which bound
+the suitors to follow him. Indeed, the account given by those
+Peloponnesians who have been the recipients of the most credible
+tradition is this. First of all Pelops, arriving among a needy
+population from Asia with vast wealth, acquired such power that,
+stranger though he was, the country was called after him; and this
+power fortune saw fit materially to increase in the hands of his
+descendants. Eurystheus had been killed in Attica by the Heraclids.
+Atreus was his mother’s brother; and to the hands of his relation, who
+had left his father on account of the death of Chrysippus, Eurystheus,
+when he set out on his expedition, had committed Mycenæ and the
+government. As time went on and Eurystheus did not return, Atreus
+complied with the wishes of the Mycenæans, who were influenced by fear
+of the Heraclids—besides, his power seemed considerable, and he had not
+neglected to court the favour of the populace—and assumed the sceptre
+of Mycenæ and the rest of the dominions of Eurystheus. And so the power
+of the descendants of Pelops came to be greater than that of the
+descendants of Perseus. To all this Agamemnon succeeded. He had also a
+navy far stronger than his contemporaries, so that, in my opinion, fear
+was quite as strong an element as love in the formation of the
+confederate expedition. The strength of his navy is shown by the fact
+that his own was the largest contingent, and that of the Arcadians was
+furnished by him; this at least is what Homer says, if his testimony is
+deemed sufficient. Besides, in his account of the transmission of the
+sceptre, he calls him
+
+Of many an isle, and of all Argos king.
+
+
+Now Agamemnon’s was a continental power; and he could not have been
+master of any except the adjacent islands (and these would not be
+many), but through the possession of a fleet.
+
+And from this expedition we may infer the character of earlier
+enterprises. Now Mycenæ may have been a small place, and many of the
+towns of that age may appear comparatively insignificant, but no exact
+observer would therefore feel justified in rejecting the estimate given
+by the poets and by tradition of the magnitude of the armament. For I
+suppose if Lacedaemon were to become desolate, and the temples and the
+foundations of the public buildings were left, that as time went on
+there would be a strong disposition with posterity to refuse to accept
+her fame as a true exponent of her power. And yet they occupy
+two-fifths of Peloponnese and lead the whole, not to speak of their
+numerous allies without. Still, as the city is neither built in a
+compact form nor adorned with magnificent temples and public edifices,
+but composed of villages after the old fashion of Hellas, there would
+be an impression of inadequacy. Whereas, if Athens were to suffer the
+same misfortune, I suppose that any inference from the appearance
+presented to the eye would make her power to have been twice as great
+as it is. We have therefore no right to be sceptical, nor to content
+ourselves with an inspection of a town to the exclusion of a
+consideration of its power; but we may safely conclude that the
+armament in question surpassed all before it, as it fell short of
+modern efforts; if we can here also accept the testimony of Homer’s
+poems, in which, without allowing for the exaggeration which a poet
+would feel himself licensed to employ, we can see that it was far from
+equalling ours. He has represented it as consisting of twelve hundred
+vessels; the Boeotian complement of each ship being a hundred and
+twenty men, that of the ships of Philoctetes fifty. By this, I
+conceive, he meant to convey the maximum and the minimum complement: at
+any rate, he does not specify the amount of any others in his catalogue
+of the ships. That they were all rowers as well as warriors we see from
+his account of the ships of Philoctetes, in which all the men at the
+oar are bowmen. Now it is improbable that many supernumeraries sailed,
+if we except the kings and high officers; especially as they had to
+cross the open sea with munitions of war, in ships, moreover, that had
+no decks, but were equipped in the old piratical fashion. So that if we
+strike the average of the largest and smallest ships, the number of
+those who sailed will appear inconsiderable, representing, as they did,
+the whole force of Hellas. And this was due not so much to scarcity of
+men as of money. Difficulty of subsistence made the invaders reduce the
+numbers of the army to a point at which it might live on the country
+during the prosecution of the war. Even after the victory they obtained
+on their arrival—and a victory there must have been, or the
+fortifications of the naval camp could never have been built—there is
+no indication of their whole force having been employed; on the
+contrary, they seem to have turned to cultivation of the Chersonese and
+to piracy from want of supplies. This was what really enabled the
+Trojans to keep the field for ten years against them; the dispersion of
+the enemy making them always a match for the detachment left behind. If
+they had brought plenty of supplies with them, and had persevered in
+the war without scattering for piracy and agriculture, they would have
+easily defeated the Trojans in the field, since they could hold their
+own against them with the division on service. In short, if they had
+stuck to the siege, the capture of Troy would have cost them less time
+and less trouble. But as want of money proved the weakness of earlier
+expeditions, so from the same cause even the one in question, more
+famous than its predecessors, may be pronounced on the evidence of what
+it effected to have been inferior to its renown and to the current
+opinion about it formed under the tuition of the poets.
+
+Even after the Trojan War, Hellas was still engaged in removing and
+settling, and thus could not attain to the quiet which must precede
+growth. The late return of the Hellenes from Ilium caused many
+revolutions, and factions ensued almost everywhere; and it was the
+citizens thus driven into exile who founded the cities. Sixty years
+after the capture of Ilium, the modern Boeotians were driven out of
+Arne by the Thessalians, and settled in the present Boeotia, the former
+Cadmeis; though there was a division of them there before, some of whom
+joined the expedition to Ilium. Twenty years later, the Dorians and the
+Heraclids became masters of Peloponnese; so that much had to be done
+and many years had to elapse before Hellas could attain to a durable
+tranquillity undisturbed by removals, and could begin to send out
+colonies, as Athens did to Ionia and most of the islands, and the
+Peloponnesians to most of Italy and Sicily and some places in the rest
+of Hellas. All these places were founded subsequently to the war with
+Troy.
+
+But as the power of Hellas grew, and the acquisition of wealth became
+more an object, the revenues of the states increasing, tyrannies were
+by their means established almost everywhere—the old form of government
+being hereditary monarchy with definite prerogatives—and Hellas began
+to fit out fleets and apply herself more closely to the sea. It is said
+that the Corinthians were the first to approach the modern style of
+naval architecture, and that Corinth was the first place in Hellas
+where galleys were built; and we have Ameinocles, a Corinthian
+shipwright, making four ships for the Samians. Dating from the end of
+this war, it is nearly three hundred years ago that Ameinocles went to
+Samos. Again, the earliest sea-fight in history was between the
+Corinthians and Corcyraeans; this was about two hundred and sixty years
+ago, dating from the same time. Planted on an isthmus, Corinth had from
+time out of mind been a commercial emporium; as formerly almost all
+communication between the Hellenes within and without Peloponnese was
+carried on overland, and the Corinthian territory was the highway
+through which it travelled. She had consequently great money resources,
+as is shown by the epithet “wealthy” bestowed by the old poets on the
+place, and this enabled her, when traffic by sea became more common, to
+procure her navy and put down piracy; and as she could offer a mart for
+both branches of the trade, she acquired for herself all the power
+which a large revenue affords. Subsequently the Ionians attained to
+great naval strength in the reign of Cyrus, the first king of the
+Persians, and of his son Cambyses, and while they were at war with the
+former commanded for a while the Ionian sea. Polycrates also, the
+tyrant of Samos, had a powerful navy in the reign of Cambyses, with
+which he reduced many of the islands, and among them Rhenea, which he
+consecrated to the Delian Apollo. About this time also the Phocaeans,
+while they were founding Marseilles, defeated the Carthaginians in a
+sea-fight. These were the most powerful navies. And even these,
+although so many generations had elapsed since the Trojan war, seem to
+have been principally composed of the old fifty-oars and long-boats,
+and to have counted few galleys among their ranks. Indeed it was only
+shortly the Persian war, and the death of Darius the successor of
+Cambyses, that the Sicilian tyrants and the Corcyraeans acquired any
+large number of galleys. For after these there were no navies of any
+account in Hellas till the expedition of Xerxes; Aegina, Athens, and
+others may have possessed a few vessels, but they were principally
+fifty-oars. It was quite at the end of this period that the war with
+Aegina and the prospect of the barbarian invasion enabled Themistocles
+to persuade the Athenians to build the fleet with which they fought at
+Salamis; and even these vessels had not complete decks.
+
+The navies, then, of the Hellenes during the period we have traversed
+were what I have described. All their insignificance did not prevent
+their being an element of the greatest power to those who cultivated
+them, alike in revenue and in dominion. They were the means by which
+the islands were reached and reduced, those of the smallest area
+falling the easiest prey. Wars by land there were none, none at least
+by which power was acquired; we have the usual border contests, but of
+distant expeditions with conquest for object we hear nothing among the
+Hellenes. There was no union of subject cities round a great state, no
+spontaneous combination of equals for confederate expeditions; what
+fighting there was consisted merely of local warfare between rival
+neighbours. The nearest approach to a coalition took place in the old
+war between Chalcis and Eretria; this was a quarrel in which the rest
+of the Hellenic name did to some extent take sides.
+
+Various, too, were the obstacles which the national growth encountered
+in various localities. The power of the Ionians was advancing with
+rapid strides, when it came into collision with Persia, under King
+Cyrus, who, after having dethroned Croesus and overrun everything
+between the Halys and the sea, stopped not till he had reduced the
+cities of the coast; the islands being only left to be subdued by
+Darius and the Phoenician navy.
+
+Again, wherever there were tyrants, their habit of providing simply for
+themselves, of looking solely to their personal comfort and family
+aggrandizement, made safety the great aim of their policy, and
+prevented anything great proceeding from them; though they would each
+have their affairs with their immediate neighbours. All this is only
+true of the mother country, for in Sicily they attained to very great
+power. Thus for a long time everywhere in Hellas do we find causes
+which make the states alike incapable of combination for great and
+national ends, or of any vigorous action of their own.
+
+But at last a time came when the tyrants of Athens and the far older
+tyrannies of the rest of Hellas were, with the exception of those in
+Sicily, once and for all put down by Lacedaemon; for this city, though
+after the settlement of the Dorians, its present inhabitants, it
+suffered from factions for an unparalleled length of time, still at a
+very early period obtained good laws, and enjoyed a freedom from
+tyrants which was unbroken; it has possessed the same form of
+government for more than four hundred years, reckoning to the end of
+the late war, and has thus been in a position to arrange the affairs of
+the other states. Not many years after the deposition of the tyrants,
+the battle of Marathon was fought between the Medes and the Athenians.
+Ten years afterwards, the barbarian returned with the armada for the
+subjugation of Hellas. In the face of this great danger, the command of
+the confederate Hellenes was assumed by the Lacedaemonians in virtue of
+their superior power; and the Athenians, having made up their minds to
+abandon their city, broke up their homes, threw themselves into their
+ships, and became a naval people. This coalition, after repulsing the
+barbarian, soon afterwards split into two sections, which included the
+Hellenes who had revolted from the King, as well as those who had aided
+him in the war. At the end of the one stood Athens, at the head of the
+other Lacedaemon, one the first naval, the other the first military
+power in Hellas. For a short time the league held together, till the
+Lacedaemonians and Athenians quarrelled and made war upon each other
+with their allies, a duel into which all the Hellenes sooner or later
+were drawn, though some might at first remain neutral. So that the
+whole period from the Median war to this, with some peaceful intervals,
+was spent by each power in war, either with its rival, or with its own
+revolted allies, and consequently afforded them constant practice in
+military matters, and that experience which is learnt in the school of
+danger.
+
+The policy of Lacedaemon was not to exact tribute from her allies, but
+merely to secure their subservience to her interests by establishing
+oligarchies among them; Athens, on the contrary, had by degrees
+deprived hers of their ships, and imposed instead contributions in
+money on all except Chios and Lesbos. Both found their resources for
+this war separately to exceed the sum of their strength when the
+alliance flourished intact.
+
+Having now given the result of my inquiries into early times, I grant
+that there will be a difficulty in believing every particular detail.
+The way that most men deal with traditions, even traditions of their
+own country, is to receive them all alike as they are delivered,
+without applying any critical test whatever. The general Athenian
+public fancy that Hipparchus was tyrant when he fell by the hands of
+Harmodius and Aristogiton, not knowing that Hippias, the eldest of the
+sons of Pisistratus, was really supreme, and that Hipparchus and
+Thessalus were his brothers; and that Harmodius and Aristogiton
+suspecting, on the very day, nay at the very moment fixed on for the
+deed, that information had been conveyed to Hippias by their
+accomplices, concluded that he had been warned, and did not attack him,
+yet, not liking to be apprehended and risk their lives for nothing,
+fell upon Hipparchus near the temple of the daughters of Leos, and slew
+him as he was arranging the Panathenaic procession.
+
+There are many other unfounded ideas current among the rest of the
+Hellenes, even on matters of contemporary history, which have not been
+obscured by time. For instance, there is the notion that the
+Lacedaemonian kings have two votes each, the fact being that they have
+only one; and that there is a company of Pitane, there being simply no
+such thing. So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of
+truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand. On the
+whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs quoted
+may, I believe, safely be relied on. Assuredly they will not be
+disturbed either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration of
+his craft, or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are
+attractive at truth’s expense; the subjects they treat of being out of
+the reach of evidence, and time having robbed most of them of
+historical value by enthroning them in the region of legend. Turning
+from these, we can rest satisfied with having proceeded upon the
+clearest data, and having arrived at conclusions as exact as can be
+expected in matters of such antiquity. To come to this war: despite the
+known disposition of the actors in a struggle to overrate its
+importance, and when it is over to return to their admiration of
+earlier events, yet an examination of the facts will show that it was
+much greater than the wars which preceded it.
+
+With reference to the speeches in this history, some were delivered
+before the war began, others while it was going on; some I heard
+myself, others I got from various quarters; it was in all cases
+difficult to carry them word for word in one’s memory, so my habit has
+been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them
+by the various occasions, of course adhering as closely as possible to
+the general sense of what they really said. And with reference to the
+narrative of events, far from permitting myself to derive it from the
+first source that came to hand, I did not even trust my own
+impressions, but it rests partly on what I saw myself, partly on what
+others saw for me, the accuracy of the report being always tried by the
+most severe and detailed tests possible. My conclusions have cost me
+some labour from the want of coincidence between accounts of the same
+occurrences by different eye-witnesses, arising sometimes from
+imperfect memory, sometimes from undue partiality for one side or the
+other. The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract
+somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by those
+inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the
+interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must
+resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have
+written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the
+moment, but as a possession for all time.
+
+The Median War, the greatest achievement of past times, yet found a
+speedy decision in two actions by sea and two by land. The
+Peloponnesian War was prolonged to an immense length, and, long as it
+was, it was short without parallel for the misfortunes that it brought
+upon Hellas. Never had so many cities been taken and laid desolate,
+here by the barbarians, here by the parties contending (the old
+inhabitants being sometimes removed to make room for others); never was
+there so much banishing and blood-shedding, now on the field of battle,
+now in the strife of faction. Old stories of occurrences handed down by
+tradition, but scantily confirmed by experience, suddenly ceased to be
+incredible; there were earthquakes of unparalleled extent and violence;
+eclipses of the sun occurred with a frequency unrecorded in previous
+history; there were great droughts in sundry places and consequent
+famines, and that most calamitous and awfully fatal visitation, the
+plague. All this came upon them with the late war, which was begun by
+the Athenians and Peloponnesians by the dissolution of the thirty
+years’ truce made after the conquest of Euboea. To the question why
+they broke the treaty, I answer by placing first an account of their
+grounds of complaint and points of difference, that no one may ever
+have to ask the immediate cause which plunged the Hellenes into a war
+of such magnitude. The real cause I consider to be the one which was
+formally most kept out of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and
+the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable. Still
+it is well to give the grounds alleged by either side which led to the
+dissolution of the treaty and the breaking out of the war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Causes of the War—The Affair of Epidamnus—The Affair of Potidæa
+
+
+The city of Epidamnus stands on the right of the entrance of the Ionic
+Gulf. Its vicinity is inhabited by the Taulantians, an Illyrian people.
+The place is a colony from Corcyra, founded by Phalius, son of
+Eratocleides, of the family of the Heraclids, who had according to
+ancient usage been summoned for the purpose from Corinth, the mother
+country. The colonists were joined by some Corinthians, and others of
+the Dorian race. Now, as time went on, the city of Epidamnus became
+great and populous; but falling a prey to factions arising, it is said,
+from a war with her neighbours the barbarians, she became much
+enfeebled, and lost a considerable amount of her power. The last act
+before the war was the expulsion of the nobles by the people. The
+exiled party joined the barbarians, and proceeded to plunder those in
+the city by sea and land; and the Epidamnians, finding themselves hard
+pressed, sent ambassadors to Corcyra beseeching their mother country
+not to allow them to perish, but to make up matters between them and
+the exiles, and to rid them of the war with the barbarians. The
+ambassadors seated themselves in the temple of Hera as suppliants, and
+made the above requests to the Corcyraeans. But the Corcyraeans refused
+to accept their supplication, and they were dismissed without having
+effected anything.
+
+When the Epidamnians found that no help could be expected from Corcyra,
+they were in a strait what to do next. So they sent to Delphi and
+inquired of the God whether they should deliver their city to the
+Corinthians and endeavour to obtain some assistance from their
+founders. The answer he gave them was to deliver the city and place
+themselves under Corinthian protection. So the Epidamnians went to
+Corinth and delivered over the colony in obedience to the commands of
+the oracle. They showed that their founder came from Corinth, and
+revealed the answer of the god; and they begged them not to allow them
+to perish, but to assist them. This the Corinthians consented to do.
+Believing the colony to belong as much to themselves as to the
+Corcyraeans, they felt it to be a kind of duty to undertake their
+protection. Besides, they hated the Corcyraeans for their contempt of
+the mother country. Instead of meeting with the usual honours accorded
+to the parent city by every other colony at public assemblies, such as
+precedence at sacrifices, Corinth found herself treated with contempt
+by a power which in point of wealth could stand comparison with any
+even of the richest communities in Hellas, which possessed great
+military strength, and which sometimes could not repress a pride in the
+high naval position of an island whose nautical renown dated from the
+days of its old inhabitants, the Phaeacians. This was one reason of the
+care that they lavished on their fleet, which became very efficient;
+indeed they began the war with a force of a hundred and twenty galleys.
+
+All these grievances made Corinth eager to send the promised aid to
+Epidamnus. Advertisement was made for volunteer settlers, and a force
+of Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Corinthians was dispatched. They marched
+by land to Apollonia, a Corinthian colony, the route by sea being
+avoided from fear of Corcyraean interruption. When the Corcyraeans
+heard of the arrival of the settlers and troops in Epidamnus, and the
+surrender of the colony to Corinth, they took fire. Instantly putting
+to sea with five-and-twenty ships, which were quickly followed by
+others, they insolently commanded the Epidamnians to receive back the
+banished nobles—(it must be premised that the Epidamnian exiles had
+come to Corcyra and, pointing to the sepulchres of their ancestors, had
+appealed to their kindred to restore them)—and to dismiss the
+Corinthian garrison and settlers. But to all this the Epidamnians
+turned a deaf ear. Upon this the Corcyraeans commenced operations
+against them with a fleet of forty sail. They took with them the
+exiles, with a view to their restoration, and also secured the services
+of the Illyrians. Sitting down before the city, they issued a
+proclamation to the effect that any of the natives that chose, and the
+foreigners, might depart unharmed, with the alternative of being
+treated as enemies. On their refusal the Corcyraeans proceeded to
+besiege the city, which stands on an isthmus; and the Corinthians,
+receiving intelligence of the investment of Epidamnus, got together an
+armament and proclaimed a colony to Epidamnus, perfect political
+equality being guaranteed to all who chose to go. Any who were not
+prepared to sail at once might, by paying down the sum of fifty
+Corinthian drachmae, have a share in the colony without leaving
+Corinth. Great numbers took advantage of this proclamation, some being
+ready to start directly, others paying the requisite forfeit. In case
+of their passage being disputed by the Corcyraeans, several cities were
+asked to lend them a convoy. Megara prepared to accompany them with
+eight ships, Pale in Cephallonia with four; Epidaurus furnished five,
+Hermione one, Troezen two, Leucas ten, and Ambracia eight. The Thebans
+and Phliasians were asked for money, the Eleans for hulls as well;
+while Corinth herself furnished thirty ships and three thousand heavy
+infantry.
+
+When the Corcyraeans heard of their preparations they came to Corinth
+with envoys from Lacedaemon and Sicyon, whom they persuaded to
+accompany them, and bade her recall the garrison and settlers, as she
+had nothing to do with Epidamnus. If, however, she had any claims to
+make, they were willing to submit the matter to the arbitration of such
+of the cities in Peloponnese as should be chosen by mutual agreement,
+and that the colony should remain with the city to whom the arbitrators
+might assign it. They were also willing to refer the matter to the
+oracle at Delphi. If, in defiance of their protestations, war was
+appealed to, they should be themselves compelled by this violence to
+seek friends in quarters where they had no desire to seek them, and to
+make even old ties give way to the necessity of assistance. The answer
+they got from Corinth was that, if they would withdraw their fleet and
+the barbarians from Epidamnus, negotiation might be possible; but,
+while the town was still being besieged, going before arbitrators was
+out of the question. The Corcyraeans retorted that if Corinth would
+withdraw her troops from Epidamnus they would withdraw theirs, or they
+were ready to let both parties remain in statu quo, an armistice being
+concluded till judgment could be given.
+
+Turning a deaf ear to all these proposals, when their ships were manned
+and their allies had come in, the Corinthians sent a herald before them
+to declare war and, getting under way with seventy-five ships and two
+thousand heavy infantry, sailed for Epidamnus to give battle to the
+Corcyraeans. The fleet was under the command of Aristeus, son of
+Pellichas, Callicrates, son of Callias, and Timanor, son of Timanthes;
+the troops under that of Archetimus, son of Eurytimus, and Isarchidas,
+son of Isarchus. When they had reached Actium in the territory of
+Anactorium, at the mouth of the mouth of the Gulf of Ambracia, where
+the temple of Apollo stands, the Corcyraeans sent on a herald in a
+light boat to warn them not to sail against them. Meanwhile they
+proceeded to man their ships, all of which had been equipped for
+action, the old vessels being undergirded to make them seaworthy. On
+the return of the herald without any peaceful answer from the
+Corinthians, their ships being now manned, they put out to sea to meet
+the enemy with a fleet of eighty sail (forty were engaged in the siege
+of Epidamnus), formed line, and went into action, and gained a decisive
+victory, and destroyed fifteen of the Corinthian vessels. The same day
+had seen Epidamnus compelled by its besiegers to capitulate; the
+conditions being that the foreigners should be sold, and the
+Corinthians kept as prisoners of war, till their fate should be
+otherwise decided.
+
+After the engagement the Corcyraeans set up a trophy on Leukimme, a
+headland of Corcyra, and slew all their captives except the
+Corinthians, whom they kept as prisoners of war. Defeated at sea, the
+Corinthians and their allies repaired home, and left the Corcyraeans
+masters of all the sea about those parts. Sailing to Leucas, a
+Corinthian colony, they ravaged their territory, and burnt Cyllene, the
+harbour of the Eleans, because they had furnished ships and money to
+Corinth. For almost the whole of the period that followed the battle
+they remained masters of the sea, and the allies of Corinth were
+harassed by Corcyraean cruisers. At last Corinth, roused by the
+sufferings of her allies, sent out ships and troops in the fall of the
+summer, who formed an encampment at Actium and about Chimerium, in
+Thesprotis, for the protection of Leucas and the rest of the friendly
+cities. The Corcyraeans on their part formed a similar station on
+Leukimme. Neither party made any movement, but they remained
+confronting each other till the end of the summer, and winter was at
+hand before either of them returned home.
+
+Corinth, exasperated by the war with the Corcyraeans, spent the whole
+of the year after the engagement and that succeeding it in building
+ships, and in straining every nerve to form an efficient fleet; rowers
+being drawn from Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas by the inducement
+of large bounties. The Corcyraeans, alarmed at the news of their
+preparations, being without a single ally in Hellas (for they had not
+enrolled themselves either in the Athenian or in the Lacedaemonian
+confederacy), decided to repair to Athens in order to enter into
+alliance and to endeavour to procure support from her. Corinth also,
+hearing of their intentions, sent an embassy to Athens to prevent the
+Corcyraean navy being joined by the Athenian, and her prospect of
+ordering the war according to her wishes being thus impeded. An
+assembly was convoked, and the rival advocates appeared: the
+Corcyraeans spoke as follows:
+
+“Athenians! when a people that have not rendered any important service
+or support to their neighbours in times past, for which they might
+claim to be repaid, appear before them as we now appear before you to
+solicit their assistance, they may fairly be required to satisfy
+certain preliminary conditions. They should show, first, that it is
+expedient or at least safe to grant their request; next, that they will
+retain a lasting sense of the kindness. But if they cannot clearly
+establish any of these points, they must not be annoyed if they meet
+with a rebuff. Now the Corcyraeans believe that with their petition for
+assistance they can also give you a satisfactory answer on these
+points, and they have therefore dispatched us hither. It has so
+happened that our policy as regards you with respect to this request,
+turns out to be inconsistent, and as regards our interests, to be at
+the present crisis inexpedient. We say inconsistent, because a power
+which has never in the whole of her past history been willing to ally
+herself with any of her neighbours, is now found asking them to ally
+themselves with her. And we say inexpedient, because in our present war
+with Corinth it has left us in a position of entire isolation, and what
+once seemed the wise precaution of refusing to involve ourselves in
+alliances with other powers, lest we should also involve ourselves in
+risks of their choosing, has now proved to be folly and weakness. It is
+true that in the late naval engagement we drove back the Corinthians
+from our shores single-handed. But they have now got together a still
+larger armament from Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas; and we, seeing
+our utter inability to cope with them without foreign aid, and the
+magnitude of the danger which subjection to them implies, find it
+necessary to ask help from you and from every other power. And we hope
+to be excused if we forswear our old principle of complete political
+isolation, a principle which was not adopted with any sinister
+intention, but was rather the consequence of an error in judgment.
+
+“Now there are many reasons why in the event of your compliance you
+will congratulate yourselves on this request having been made to you.
+First, because your assistance will be rendered to a power which,
+herself inoffensive, is a victim to the injustice of others. Secondly,
+because all that we most value is at stake in the present contest, and
+your welcome of us under these circumstances will be a proof of
+goodwill which will ever keep alive the gratitude you will lay up in
+our hearts. Thirdly, yourselves excepted, we are the greatest naval
+power in Hellas. Moreover, can you conceive a stroke of good fortune
+more rare in itself, or more disheartening to your enemies, than that
+the power whose adhesion you would have valued above much material and
+moral strength should present herself self-invited, should deliver
+herself into your hands without danger and without expense, and should
+lastly put you in the way of gaining a high character in the eyes of
+the world, the gratitude of those whom you shall assist, and a great
+accession of strength for yourselves? You may search all history
+without finding many instances of a people gaining all these advantages
+at once, or many instances of a power that comes in quest of assistance
+being in a position to give to the people whose alliance she solicits
+as much safety and honour as she will receive. But it will be urged
+that it is only in the case of a war that we shall be found useful. To
+this we answer that if any of you imagine that that war is far off, he
+is grievously mistaken, and is blind to the fact that Lacedaemon
+regards you with jealousy and desires war, and that Corinth is powerful
+there—the same, remember, that is your enemy, and is even now trying to
+subdue us as a preliminary to attacking you. And this she does to
+prevent our becoming united by a common enmity, and her having us both
+on her hands, and also to ensure getting the start of you in one of two
+ways, either by crippling our power or by making its strength her own.
+Now it is our policy to be beforehand with her—that is, for Corcyra to
+make an offer of alliance and for you to accept it; in fact, we ought
+to form plans against her instead of waiting to defeat the plans she
+forms against us.
+
+“If she asserts that for you to receive a colony of hers into alliance
+is not right, let her know that every colony that is well treated
+honours its parent state, but becomes estranged from it by injustice.
+For colonists are not sent forth on the understanding that they are to
+be the slaves of those that remain behind, but that they are to be
+their equals. And that Corinth was injuring us is clear. Invited to
+refer the dispute about Epidamnus to arbitration, they chose to
+prosecute their complaints war rather than by a fair trial. And let
+their conduct towards us who are their kindred be a warning to you not
+to be misled by their deceit, nor to yield to their direct requests;
+concessions to adversaries only end in self-reproach, and the more
+strictly they are avoided the greater will be the chance of security.
+
+“If it be urged that your reception of us will be a breach of the
+treaty existing between you and Lacedaemon, the answer is that we are a
+neutral state, and that one of the express provisions of that treaty is
+that it shall be competent for any Hellenic state that is neutral to
+join whichever side it pleases. And it is intolerable for Corinth to be
+allowed to obtain men for her navy not only from her allies, but also
+from the rest of Hellas, no small number being furnished by your own
+subjects; while we are to be excluded both from the alliance left open
+to us by treaty, and from any assistance that we might get from other
+quarters, and you are to be accused of political immorality if you
+comply with our request. On the other hand, we shall have much greater
+cause to complain of you, if you do not comply with it; if we, who are
+in peril and are no enemies of yours, meet with a repulse at your
+hands, while Corinth, who is the aggressor and your enemy, not only
+meets with no hindrance from you, but is even allowed to draw material
+for war from your dependencies. This ought not to be, but you should
+either forbid her enlisting men in your dominions, or you should lend
+us too what help you may think advisable.
+
+“But your real policy is to afford us avowed countenance and support.
+The advantages of this course, as we premised in the beginning of our
+speech, are many. We mention one that is perhaps the chief. Could there
+be a clearer guarantee of our good faith than is offered by the fact
+that the power which is at enmity with you is also at enmity with us,
+and that that power is fully able to punish defection? And there is a
+wide difference between declining the alliance of an inland and of a
+maritime power. For your first endeavour should be to prevent, if
+possible, the existence of any naval power except your own; failing
+this, to secure the friendship of the strongest that does exist. And if
+any of you believe that what we urge is expedient, but fear to act upon
+this belief, lest it should lead to a breach of the treaty, you must
+remember that on the one hand, whatever your fears, your strength will
+be formidable to your antagonists; on the other, whatever the
+confidence you derive from refusing to receive us, your weakness will
+have no terrors for a strong enemy. You must also remember that your
+decision is for Athens no less than Corcyra, and that you are not
+making the best provision for her interests, if at a time when you are
+anxiously scanning the horizon that you may be in readiness for the
+breaking out of the war which is all but upon you, you hesitate to
+attach to your side a place whose adhesion or estrangement is alike
+pregnant with the most vital consequences. For it lies conveniently for
+the coast-navigation in the direction of Italy and Sicily, being able
+to bar the passage of naval reinforcements from thence to Peloponnese,
+and from Peloponnese thither; and it is in other respects a most
+desirable station. To sum up as shortly as possible, embracing both
+general and particular considerations, let this show you the folly of
+sacrificing us. Remember that there are but three considerable naval
+powers in Hellas—Athens, Corcyra, and Corinth—and that if you allow two
+of these three to become one, and Corinth to secure us for herself, you
+will have to hold the sea against the united fleets of Corcyra and
+Peloponnese. But if you receive us, you will have our ships to
+reinforce you in the struggle.”
+
+Such were the words of the Corcyraeans. After they had finished, the
+Corinthians spoke as follows:
+
+“These Corcyraeans in the speech we have just heard do not confine
+themselves to the question of their reception into your alliance. They
+also talk of our being guilty of injustice, and their being the victims
+of an unjustifiable war. It becomes necessary for us to touch upon both
+these points before we proceed to the rest of what we have to say, that
+you may have a more correct idea of the grounds of our claim, and have
+good cause to reject their petition. According to them, their old
+policy of refusing all offers of alliance was a policy of moderation.
+It was in fact adopted for bad ends, not for good; indeed their conduct
+is such as to make them by no means desirous of having allies present
+to witness it, or of having the shame of asking their concurrence.
+Besides, their geographical situation makes them independent of others,
+and consequently the decision in cases where they injure any lies not
+with judges appointed by mutual agreement, but with themselves,
+because, while they seldom make voyages to their neighbours, they are
+constantly being visited by foreign vessels which are compelled to put
+in to Corcyra. In short, the object that they propose to themselves, in
+their specious policy of complete isolation, is not to avoid sharing in
+the crimes of others, but to secure monopoly of crime to themselves—the
+licence of outrage wherever they can compel, of fraud wherever they can
+elude, and the enjoyment of their gains without shame. And yet if they
+were the honest men they pretend to be, the less hold that others had
+upon them, the stronger would be the light in which they might have put
+their honesty by giving and taking what was just.
+
+“But such has not been their conduct either towards others or towards
+us. The attitude of our colony towards us has always been one of
+estrangement and is now one of hostility; for, say they: ‘We were not
+sent out to be ill-treated.’ We rejoin that we did not found the colony
+to be insulted by them, but to be their head and to be regarded with a
+proper respect. At any rate our other colonies honour us, and we are
+much beloved by our colonists; and clearly, if the majority are
+satisfied with us, these can have no good reason for a dissatisfaction
+in which they stand alone, and we are not acting improperly in making
+war against them, nor are we making war against them without having
+received signal provocation. Besides, if we were in the wrong, it would
+be honourable in them to give way to our wishes, and disgraceful for us
+to trample on their moderation; but in the pride and licence of wealth
+they have sinned again and again against us, and never more deeply than
+when Epidamnus, our dependency, which they took no steps to claim in
+its distress upon our coming to relieve it, was by them seized, and is
+now held by force of arms.
+
+“As to their allegation that they wished the question to be first
+submitted to arbitration, it is obvious that a challenge coming from
+the party who is safe in a commanding position cannot gain the credit
+due only to him who, before appealing to arms, in deeds as well as
+words, places himself on a level with his adversary. In their case, it
+was not before they laid siege to the place, but after they at length
+understood that we should not tamely suffer it, that they thought of
+the specious word arbitration. And not satisfied with their own
+misconduct there, they appear here now requiring you to join with them
+not in alliance but in crime, and to receive them in spite of their
+being at enmity with us. But it was when they stood firmest that they
+should have made overtures to you, and not at a time when we have been
+wronged and they are in peril; nor yet at a time when you will be
+admitting to a share in your protection those who never admitted you to
+a share in their power, and will be incurring an equal amount of blame
+from us with those in whose offences you had no hand. No, they should
+have shared their power with you before they asked you to share your
+fortunes with them.
+
+“So then the reality of the grievances we come to complain of, and the
+violence and rapacity of our opponents, have both been proved. But that
+you cannot equitably receive them, this you have still to learn. It may
+be true that one of the provisions of the treaty is that it shall be
+competent for any state, whose name was not down on the list, to join
+whichever side it pleases. But this agreement is not meant for those
+whose object in joining is the injury of other powers, but for those
+whose need of support does not arise from the fact of defection, and
+whose adhesion will not bring to the power that is mad enough to
+receive them war instead of peace; which will be the case with you, if
+you refuse to listen to us. For you cannot become their auxiliary and
+remain our friend; if you join in their attack, you must share the
+punishment which the defenders inflict on them. And yet you have the
+best possible right to be neutral, or, failing this, you should on the
+contrary join us against them. Corinth is at least in treaty with you;
+with Corcyra you were never even in truce. But do not lay down the
+principle that defection is to be patronized. Did we on the defection
+of the Samians record our vote against you, when the rest of the
+Peloponnesian powers were equally divided on the question whether they
+should assist them? No, we told them to their face that every power has
+a right to punish its own allies. Why, if you make it your policy to
+receive and assist all offenders, you will find that just as many of
+your dependencies will come over to us, and the principle that you
+establish will press less heavily on us than on yourselves.
+
+“This then is what Hellenic law entitles us to demand as a right. But
+we have also advice to offer and claims on your gratitude, which, since
+there is no danger of our injuring you, as we are not enemies, and
+since our friendship does not amount to very frequent intercourse, we
+say ought to be liquidated at the present juncture. When you were in
+want of ships of war for the war against the Aeginetans, before the
+Persian invasion, Corinth supplied you with twenty vessels. That good
+turn, and the line we took on the Samian question, when we were the
+cause of the Peloponnesians refusing to assist them, enabled you to
+conquer Aegina and to punish Samos. And we acted thus at crises when,
+if ever, men are wont in their efforts against their enemies to forget
+everything for the sake of victory, regarding him who assists them then
+as a friend, even if thus far he has been a foe, and him who opposes
+them then as a foe, even if he has thus far been a friend; indeed they
+allow their real interests to suffer from their absorbing preoccupation
+in the struggle.
+
+“Weigh well these considerations, and let your youth learn what they
+are from their elders, and let them determine to do unto us as we have
+done unto you. And let them not acknowledge the justice of what we say,
+but dispute its wisdom in the contingency of war. Not only is the
+straightest path generally speaking the wisest; but the coming of the
+war, which the Corcyraeans have used as a bugbear to persuade you to do
+wrong, is still uncertain, and it is not worth while to be carried away
+by it into gaining the instant and declared enmity of Corinth. It were,
+rather, wise to try and counteract the unfavourable impression which
+your conduct to Megara has created. For kindness opportunely shown has
+a greater power of removing old grievances than the facts of the case
+may warrant. And do not be seduced by the prospect of a great naval
+alliance. Abstinence from all injustice to other first-rate powers is a
+greater tower of strength than anything that can be gained by the
+sacrifice of permanent tranquillity for an apparent temporary
+advantage. It is now our turn to benefit by the principle that we laid
+down at Lacedaemon, that every power has a right to punish her own
+allies. We now claim to receive the same from you, and protest against
+your rewarding us for benefiting you by our vote by injuring us by
+yours. On the contrary, return us like for like, remembering that this
+is that very crisis in which he who lends aid is most a friend, and he
+who opposes is most a foe. And for these Corcyraeans—neither receive
+them into alliance in our despite, nor be their abettors in crime. So
+do, and you will act as we have a right to expect of you, and at the
+same time best consult your own interests.”
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians.
+
+When the Athenians had heard both out, two assemblies were held. In the
+first there was a manifest disposition to listen to the representations
+of Corinth; in the second, public feeling had changed and an alliance
+with Corcyra was decided on, with certain reservations. It was to be a
+defensive, not an offensive alliance. It did not involve a breach of
+the treaty with Peloponnese: Athens could not be required to join
+Corcyra in any attack upon Corinth. But each of the contracting parties
+had a right to the other’s assistance against invasion, whether of his
+own territory or that of an ally. For it began now to be felt that the
+coming of the Peloponnesian war was only a question of time, and no one
+was willing to see a naval power of such magnitude as Corcyra
+sacrificed to Corinth; though if they could let them weaken each other
+by mutual conflict, it would be no bad preparation for the struggle
+which Athens might one day have to wage with Corinth and the other
+naval powers. At the same time the island seemed to lie conveniently on
+the coasting passage to Italy and Sicily. With these views, Athens
+received Corcyra into alliance and, on the departure of the Corinthians
+not long afterwards, sent ten ships to their assistance. They were
+commanded by Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, Diotimus, the son of
+Strombichus, and Proteas, the son of Epicles. Their instructions were
+to avoid collision with the Corinthian fleet except under certain
+circumstances. If it sailed to Corcyra and threatened a landing on her
+coast, or in any of her possessions, they were to do their utmost to
+prevent it. These instructions were prompted by an anxiety to avoid a
+breach of the treaty.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthians completed their preparations, and sailed for
+Corcyra with a hundred and fifty ships. Of these Elis furnished ten,
+Megara twelve, Leucas ten, Ambracia twenty-seven, Anactorium one, and
+Corinth herself ninety. Each of these contingents had its own admiral,
+the Corinthian being under the command of Xenoclides, son of Euthycles,
+with four colleagues. Sailing from Leucas, they made land at the part
+of the continent opposite Corcyra. They anchored in the harbour of
+Chimerium, in the territory of Thesprotis, above which, at some
+distance from the sea, lies the city of Ephyre, in the Elean district.
+By this city the Acherusian lake pours its waters into the sea. It gets
+its name from the river Acheron, which flows through Thesprotis and
+falls into the lake. There also the river Thyamis flows, forming the
+boundary between Thesprotis and Kestrine; and between these rivers
+rises the point of Chimerium. In this part of the continent the
+Corinthians now came to anchor, and formed an encampment. When the
+Corcyraeans saw them coming, they manned a hundred and ten ships,
+commanded by Meikiades, Aisimides, and Eurybatus, and stationed
+themselves at one of the Sybota isles; the ten Athenian ships being
+present. On Point Leukimme they posted their land forces, and a
+thousand heavy infantry who had come from Zacynthus to their
+assistance. Nor were the Corinthians on the mainland without their
+allies. The barbarians flocked in large numbers to their assistance,
+the inhabitants of this part of the continent being old allies of
+theirs.
+
+When the Corinthian preparations were completed, they took three days’
+provisions and put out from Chimerium by night, ready for action.
+Sailing with the dawn, they sighted the Corcyraean fleet out at sea and
+coming towards them. When they perceived each other, both sides formed
+in order of battle. On the Corcyraean right wing lay the Athenian
+ships, the rest of the line being occupied by their own vessels formed
+in three squadrons, each of which was commanded by one of the three
+admirals. Such was the Corcyraean formation. The Corinthian was as
+follows: on the right wing lay the Megarian and Ambraciot ships, in the
+centre the rest of the allies in order. But the left was composed of
+the best sailers in the Corinthian navy, to encounter the Athenians and
+the right wing of the Corcyraeans. As soon as the signals were raised
+on either side, they joined battle. Both sides had a large number of
+heavy infantry on their decks, and a large number of archers and
+darters, the old imperfect armament still prevailing. The sea-fight was
+an obstinate one, though not remarkable for its science; indeed it was
+more like a battle by land. Whenever they charged each other, the
+multitude and crush of the vessels made it by no means easy to get
+loose; besides, their hopes of victory lay principally in the heavy
+infantry on the decks, who stood and fought in order, the ships
+remaining stationary. The manoeuvre of breaking the line was not tried;
+in short, strength and pluck had more share in the fight than science.
+Everywhere tumult reigned, the battle being one scene of confusion;
+meanwhile the Athenian ships, by coming up to the Corcyraeans whenever
+they were pressed, served to alarm the enemy, though their commanders
+could not join in the battle from fear of their instructions. The right
+wing of the Corinthians suffered most. The Corcyraeans routed it, and
+chased them in disorder to the continent with twenty ships, sailed up
+to their camp, and burnt the tents which they found empty, and
+plundered the stuff. So in this quarter the Corinthians and their
+allies were defeated, and the Corcyraeans were victorious. But where
+the Corinthians themselves were, on the left, they gained a decided
+success; the scanty forces of the Corcyraeans being further weakened by
+the want of the twenty ships absent on the pursuit. Seeing the
+Corcyraeans hard pressed, the Athenians began at length to assist them
+more unequivocally. At first, it is true, they refrained from charging
+any ships; but when the rout was becoming patent, and the Corinthians
+were pressing on, the time at last came when every one set to, and all
+distinction was laid aside, and it came to this point, that the
+Corinthians and Athenians raised their hands against each other.
+
+After the rout, the Corinthians, instead of employing themselves in
+lashing fast and hauling after them the hulls of the vessels which they
+had disabled, turned their attention to the men, whom they butchered as
+they sailed through, not caring so much to make prisoners. Some even of
+their own friends were slain by them, by mistake, in their ignorance of
+the defeat of the right wing For the number of the ships on both sides,
+and the distance to which they covered the sea, made it difficult,
+after they had once joined, to distinguish between the conquering and
+the conquered; this battle proving far greater than any before it, any
+at least between Hellenes, for the number of vessels engaged. After the
+Corinthians had chased the Corcyraeans to the land, they turned to the
+wrecks and their dead, most of whom they succeeded in getting hold of
+and conveying to Sybota, the rendezvous of the land forces furnished by
+their barbarian allies. Sybota, it must be known, is a desert harbour
+of Thesprotis. This task over, they mustered anew, and sailed against
+the Corcyraeans, who on their part advanced to meet them with all their
+ships that were fit for service and remaining to them, accompanied by
+the Athenian vessels, fearing that they might attempt a landing in
+their territory. It was by this time getting late, and the paean had
+been sung for the attack, when the Corinthians suddenly began to back
+water. They had observed twenty Athenian ships sailing up, which had
+been sent out afterwards to reinforce the ten vessels by the Athenians,
+who feared, as it turned out justly, the defeat of the Corcyraeans and
+the inability of their handful of ships to protect them. These ships
+were thus seen by the Corinthians first. They suspected that they were
+from Athens, and that those which they saw were not all, but that there
+were more behind; they accordingly began to retire. The Corcyraeans
+meanwhile had not sighted them, as they were advancing from a point
+which they could not so well see, and were wondering why the
+Corinthians were backing water, when some caught sight of them, and
+cried out that there were ships in sight ahead. Upon this they also
+retired; for it was now getting dark, and the retreat of the
+Corinthians had suspended hostilities. Thus they parted from each
+other, and the battle ceased with night. The Corcyraeans were in their
+camp at Leukimme, when these twenty ships from Athens, under the
+command of Glaucon, the son of Leagrus, and Andocides, son of Leogoras,
+bore on through the corpses and the wrecks, and sailed up to the camp,
+not long after they were sighted. It was now night, and the Corcyraeans
+feared that they might be hostile vessels; but they soon knew them, and
+the ships came to anchor.
+
+The next day the thirty Athenian vessels put out to sea, accompanied by
+all the Corcyraean ships that were seaworthy, and sailed to the harbour
+at Sybota, where the Corinthians lay, to see if they would engage. The
+Corinthians put out from the land and formed a line in the open sea,
+but beyond this made no further movement, having no intention of
+assuming the offensive. For they saw reinforcements arrived fresh from
+Athens, and themselves confronted by numerous difficulties, such as the
+necessity of guarding the prisoners whom they had on board and the want
+of all means of refitting their ships in a desert place. What they were
+thinking more about was how their voyage home was to be effected; they
+feared that the Athenians might consider that the treaty was dissolved
+by the collision which had occurred, and forbid their departure.
+
+Accordingly they resolved to put some men on board a boat, and send
+them without a herald’s wand to the Athenians, as an experiment. Having
+done so, they spoke as follows: “You do wrong, Athenians, to begin war
+and break the treaty. Engaged in chastising our enemies, we find you
+placing yourselves in our path in arms against us. Now if your
+intentions are to prevent us sailing to Corcyra, or anywhere else that
+we may wish, and if you are for breaking the treaty, first take us that
+are here and treat us as enemies.” Such was what they said, and all the
+Corcyraean armament that were within hearing immediately called out to
+take them and kill them. But the Athenians answered as follows:
+“Neither are we beginning war, Peloponnesians, nor are we breaking the
+treaty; but these Corcyraeans are our allies, and we are come to help
+them. So if you want to sail anywhere else, we place no obstacle in
+your way; but if you are going to sail against Corcyra, or any of her
+possessions, we shall do our best to stop you.”
+
+Receiving this answer from the Athenians, the Corinthians commenced
+preparations for their voyage home, and set up a trophy in Sybota, on
+the continent; while the Corcyraeans took up the wrecks and dead that
+had been carried out to them by the current, and by a wind which rose
+in the night and scattered them in all directions, and set up their
+trophy in Sybota, on the island, as victors. The reasons each side had
+for claiming the victory were these. The Corinthians had been
+victorious in the sea-fight until night; and having thus been enabled
+to carry off most wrecks and dead, they were in possession of no fewer
+than a thousand prisoners of war, and had sunk close upon seventy
+vessels. The Corcyraeans had destroyed about thirty ships, and after
+the arrival of the Athenians had taken up the wrecks and dead on their
+side; they had besides seen the Corinthians retire before them, backing
+water on sight of the Athenian vessels, and upon the arrival of the
+Athenians refuse to sail out against them from Sybota. Thus both sides
+claimed the victory.
+
+The Corinthians on the voyage home took Anactorium, which stands at the
+mouth of the Ambracian gulf. The place was taken by treachery, being
+common ground to the Corcyraeans and Corinthians. After establishing
+Corinthian settlers there, they retired home. Eight hundred of the
+Corcyraeans were slaves; these they sold; two hundred and fifty they
+retained in captivity, and treated with great attention, in the hope
+that they might bring over their country to Corinth on their return;
+most of them being, as it happened, men of very high position in
+Corcyra. In this way Corcyra maintained her political existence in the
+war with Corinth, and the Athenian vessels left the island. This was
+the first cause of the war that Corinth had against the Athenians,
+viz., that they had fought against them with the Corcyraeans in time of
+treaty.
+
+Almost immediately after this, fresh differences arose between the
+Athenians and Peloponnesians, and contributed their share to the war.
+Corinth was forming schemes for retaliation, and Athens suspected her
+hostility. The Potidæans, who inhabit the isthmus of Pallene, being a
+Corinthian colony, but tributary allies of Athens, were ordered to raze
+the wall looking towards Pallene, to give hostages, to dismiss the
+Corinthian magistrates, and in future not to receive the persons sent
+from Corinth annually to succeed them. It was feared that they might be
+persuaded by Perdiccas and the Corinthians to revolt, and might draw
+the rest of the allies in the direction of Thrace to revolt with them.
+These precautions against the Potidæans were taken by the Athenians
+immediately after the battle at Corcyra. Not only was Corinth at length
+openly hostile, but Perdiccas, son of Alexander, king of the
+Macedonians, had from an old friend and ally been made an enemy. He had
+been made an enemy by the Athenians entering into alliance with his
+brother Philip and Derdas, who were in league against him. In his alarm
+he had sent to Lacedaemon to try and involve the Athenians in a war
+with the Peloponnesians, and was endeavouring to win over Corinth in
+order to bring about the revolt of Potidæa. He also made overtures to
+the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace, and to the Bottiaeans, to
+persuade them to join in the revolt; for he thought that if these
+places on the border could be made his allies, it would be easier to
+carry on the war with their co-operation. Alive to all this, and
+wishing to anticipate the revolt of the cities, the Athenians acted as
+follows. They were just then sending off thirty ships and a thousand
+heavy infantry for his country under the command of Archestratus, son
+of Lycomedes, with four colleagues. They instructed the captains to
+take hostages of the Potidæans, to raze the wall, and to be on their
+guard against the revolt of the neighbouring cities.
+
+Meanwhile the Potidæans sent envoys to Athens on the chance of
+persuading them to take no new steps in their matters; they also went
+to Lacedaemon with the Corinthians to secure support in case of need.
+Failing after prolonged negotiation to obtain anything satisfactory
+from the Athenians; being unable, for all they could say, to prevent
+the vessels that were destined for Macedonia from also sailing against
+them; and receiving from the Lacedaemonian government a promise to
+invade Attica, if the Athenians should attack Potidæa, the Potidæans,
+thus favoured by the moment, at last entered into league with the
+Chalcidians and Bottiaeans, and revolted. And Perdiccas induced the
+Chalcidians to abandon and demolish their towns on the seaboard and,
+settling inland at Olynthus, to make that one city a strong place:
+meanwhile to those who followed his advice he gave a part of his
+territory in Mygdonia round Lake Bolbe as a place of abode while the
+war against the Athenians should last. They accordingly demolished
+their towns, removed inland and prepared for war. The thirty ships of
+the Athenians, arriving before the Thracian places, found Potidæa and
+the rest in revolt. Their commanders, considering it to be quite
+impossible with their present force to carry on war with Perdiccas and
+with the confederate towns as well turned to Macedonia, their original
+destination, and, having established themselves there, carried on war
+in co-operation with Philip, and the brothers of Derdas, who had
+invaded the country from the interior.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthians, with Potidæa in revolt and the Athenian
+ships on the coast of Macedonia, alarmed for the safety of the place
+and thinking its danger theirs, sent volunteers from Corinth, and
+mercenaries from the rest of Peloponnese, to the number of sixteen
+hundred heavy infantry in all, and four hundred light troops. Aristeus,
+son of Adimantus, who was always a steady friend to the Potidæans, took
+command of the expedition, and it was principally for love of him that
+most of the men from Corinth volunteered. They arrived in Thrace forty
+days after the revolt of Potidæa.
+
+The Athenians also immediately received the news of the revolt of the
+cities. On being informed that Aristeus and his reinforcements were on
+their way, they sent two thousand heavy infantry of their own citizens
+and forty ships against the places in revolt, under the command of
+Callias, son of Calliades, and four colleagues. They arrived in
+Macedonia first, and found the force of a thousand men that had been
+first sent out, just become masters of Therme and besieging Pydna.
+Accordingly they also joined in the investment, and besieged Pydna for
+a while. Subsequently they came to terms and concluded a forced
+alliance with Perdiccas, hastened by the calls of Potidæa and by the
+arrival of Aristeus at that place. They withdrew from Macedonia, going
+to Beroea and thence to Strepsa, and, after a futile attempt on the
+latter place, they pursued by land their march to Potidæa with three
+thousand heavy infantry of their own citizens, besides a number of
+their allies, and six hundred Macedonian horsemen, the followers of
+Philip and Pausanias. With these sailed seventy ships along the coast.
+Advancing by short marches, on the third day they arrived at Gigonus,
+where they encamped.
+
+Meanwhile the Potidæans and the Peloponnesians with Aristeus were
+encamped on the side looking towards Olynthus on the isthmus, in
+expectation of the Athenians, and had established their market outside
+the city. The allies had chosen Aristeus general of all the infantry;
+while the command of the cavalry was given to Perdiccas, who had at
+once left the alliance of the Athenians and gone back to that of the
+Potidæans, having deputed Iolaus as his general: The plan of Aristeus
+was to keep his own force on the isthmus, and await the attack of the
+Athenians; leaving the Chalcidians and the allies outside the isthmus,
+and the two hundred cavalry from Perdiccas in Olynthus to act upon the
+Athenian rear, on the occasion of their advancing against him; and thus
+to place the enemy between two fires. While Callias the Athenian
+general and his colleagues dispatched the Macedonian horse and a few of
+the allies to Olynthus, to prevent any movement being made from that
+quarter, the Athenians themselves broke up their camp and marched
+against Potidæa. After they had arrived at the isthmus, and saw the
+enemy preparing for battle, they formed against him, and soon
+afterwards engaged. The wing of Aristeus, with the Corinthians and
+other picked troops round him, routed the wing opposed to it, and
+followed for a considerable distance in pursuit. But the rest of the
+army of the Potidæans and of the Peloponnesians was defeated by the
+Athenians, and took refuge within the fortifications. Returning from
+the pursuit, Aristeus perceived the defeat of the rest of the army.
+Being at a loss which of the two risks to choose, whether to go to
+Olynthus or to Potidæa, he at last determined to draw his men into as
+small a space as possible, and force his way with a run into Potidæa.
+Not without difficulty, through a storm of missiles, he passed along by
+the breakwater through the sea, and brought off most of his men safe,
+though a few were lost. Meanwhile the auxiliaries of the Potidæans from
+Olynthus, which is about seven miles off and in sight of Potidæa, when
+the battle began and the signals were raised, advanced a little way to
+render assistance; and the Macedonian horse formed against them to
+prevent it. But on victory speedily declaring for the Athenians and the
+signals being taken down, they retired back within the wall; and the
+Macedonians returned to the Athenians. Thus there were no cavalry
+present on either side. After the battle the Athenians set up a trophy,
+and gave back their dead to the Potidæans under truce. The Potidæans
+and their allies had close upon three hundred killed; the Athenians a
+hundred and fifty of their own citizens, and Callias their general.
+
+The wall on the side of the isthmus had now works at once raised
+against it, and manned by the Athenians. That on the side of Pallene
+had no works raised against it. They did not think themselves strong
+enough at once to keep a garrison in the isthmus and to cross over to
+Pallene and raise works there; they were afraid that the Potidæans and
+their allies might take advantage of their division to attack them.
+Meanwhile the Athenians at home learning that there were no works at
+Pallene, some time afterwards sent off sixteen hundred heavy infantry
+of their own citizens under the command of Phormio, son of Asopius.
+Arrived at Pallene, he fixed his headquarters at Aphytis, and led his
+army against Potidæa by short marches, ravaging the country as he
+advanced. No one venturing to meet him in the field, he raised works
+against the wall on the side of Pallene. So at length Potidæa was
+strongly invested on either side, and from the sea by the ships
+co-operating in the blockade. Aristeus, seeing its investment complete,
+and having no hope of its salvation, except in the event of some
+movement from the Peloponnese, or of some other improbable contingency,
+advised all except five hundred to watch for a wind and sail out of the
+place, in order that their provisions might last the longer. He was
+willing to be himself one of those who remained. Unable to persuade
+them, and desirous of acting on the next alternative, and of having
+things outside in the best posture possible, he eluded the guardships
+of the Athenians and sailed out. Remaining among the Chalcidians, he
+continued to carry on the war; in particular he laid an ambuscade near
+the city of the Sermylians, and cut off many of them; he also
+communicated with Peloponnese, and tried to contrive some method by
+which help might be brought. Meanwhile, after the completion of the
+investment of Potidæa, Phormio next employed his sixteen hundred men in
+ravaging Chalcidice and Bottica: some of the towns also were taken by
+him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at Lacedaemon
+
+
+The Athenians and Peloponnesians had these antecedent grounds of
+complaint against each other: the complaint of Corinth was that her
+colony of Potidæa, and Corinthian and Peloponnesian citizens within it,
+were being besieged; that of Athens against the Peloponnesians that
+they had incited a town of hers, a member of her alliance and a
+contributor to her revenue, to revolt, and had come and were openly
+fighting against her on the side of the Potidæans. For all this, war
+had not yet broken out: there was still truce for a while; for this was
+a private enterprise on the part of Corinth.
+
+But the siege of Potidæa put an end to her inaction; she had men inside
+it: besides, she feared for the place. Immediately summoning the allies
+to Lacedaemon, she came and loudly accused Athens of breach of the
+treaty and aggression on the rights of Peloponnese. With her, the
+Aeginetans, formally unrepresented from fear of Athens, in secret
+proved not the least urgent of the advocates for war, asserting that
+they had not the independence guaranteed to them by the treaty. After
+extending the summons to any of their allies and others who might have
+complaints to make of Athenian aggression, the Lacedaemonians held
+their ordinary assembly, and invited them to speak. There were many who
+came forward and made their several accusations; among them the
+Megarians, in a long list of grievances, called special attention to
+the fact of their exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and
+the market of Athens, in defiance of the treaty. Last of all the
+Corinthians came forward, and having let those who preceded them
+inflame the Lacedaemonians, now followed with a speech to this effect:
+
+“Lacedaemonians! the confidence which you feel in your constitution and
+social order, inclines you to receive any reflections of ours on other
+powers with a certain scepticism. Hence springs your moderation, but
+hence also the rather limited knowledge which you betray in dealing
+with foreign politics. Time after time was our voice raised to warn you
+of the blows about to be dealt us by Athens, and time after time,
+instead of taking the trouble to ascertain the worth of our
+communications, you contented yourselves with suspecting the speakers
+of being inspired by private interest. And so, instead of calling these
+allies together before the blow fell, you have delayed to do so till we
+are smarting under it; allies among whom we have not the worst title to
+speak, as having the greatest complaints to make, complaints of
+Athenian outrage and Lacedaemonian neglect. Now if these assaults on
+the rights of Hellas had been made in the dark, you might be
+unacquainted with the facts, and it would be our duty to enlighten you.
+As it is, long speeches are not needed where you see servitude
+accomplished for some of us, meditated for others—in particular for our
+allies—and prolonged preparations in the aggressor against the hour of
+war. Or what, pray, is the meaning of their reception of Corcyra by
+fraud, and their holding it against us by force? what of the siege of
+Potidæa?—places one of which lies most conveniently for any action
+against the Thracian towns; while the other would have contributed a
+very large navy to the Peloponnesians?
+
+“For all this you are responsible. You it was who first allowed them to
+fortify their city after the Median war, and afterwards to erect the
+long walls—you who, then and now, are always depriving of freedom not
+only those whom they have enslaved, but also those who have as yet been
+your allies. For the true author of the subjugation of a people is not
+so much the immediate agent, as the power which permits it having the
+means to prevent it; particularly if that power aspires to the glory of
+being the liberator of Hellas. We are at last assembled. It has not
+been easy to assemble, nor even now are our objects defined. We ought
+not to be still inquiring into the fact of our wrongs, but into the
+means of our defence. For the aggressors with matured plans to oppose
+to our indecision have cast threats aside and betaken themselves to
+action. And we know what are the paths by which Athenian aggression
+travels, and how insidious is its progress. A degree of confidence she
+may feel from the idea that your bluntness of perception prevents your
+noticing her; but it is nothing to the impulse which her advance will
+receive from the knowledge that you see, but do not care to interfere.
+You, Lacedaemonians, of all the Hellenes are alone inactive, and defend
+yourselves not by doing anything but by looking as if you would do
+something; you alone wait till the power of an enemy is becoming twice
+its original size, instead of crushing it in its infancy. And yet the
+world used to say that you were to be depended upon; but in your case,
+we fear, it said more than the truth. The Mede, we ourselves know, had
+time to come from the ends of the earth to Peloponnese, without any
+force of yours worthy of the name advancing to meet him. But this was a
+distant enemy. Well, Athens at all events is a near neighbour, and yet
+Athens you utterly disregard; against Athens you prefer to act on the
+defensive instead of on the offensive, and to make it an affair of
+chances by deferring the struggle till she has grown far stronger than
+at first. And yet you know that on the whole the rock on which the
+barbarian was wrecked was himself, and that if our present enemy Athens
+has not again and again annihilated us, we owe it more to her blunders
+than to your protection; Indeed, expectations from you have before now
+been the ruin of some, whose faith induced them to omit preparation.
+
+“We hope that none of you will consider these words of remonstrance to
+be rather words of hostility; men remonstrate with friends who are in
+error, accusations they reserve for enemies who have wronged them.
+Besides, we consider that we have as good a right as any one to point
+out a neighbour’s faults, particularly when we contemplate the great
+contrast between the two national characters; a contrast of which, as
+far as we can see, you have little perception, having never yet
+considered what sort of antagonists you will encounter in the
+Athenians, how widely, how absolutely different from yourselves. The
+Athenians are addicted to innovation, and their designs are
+characterized by swiftness alike in conception and execution; you have
+a genius for keeping what you have got, accompanied by a total want of
+invention, and when forced to act you never go far enough. Again, they
+are adventurous beyond their power, and daring beyond their judgment,
+and in danger they are sanguine; your wont is to attempt less than is
+justified by your power, to mistrust even what is sanctioned by your
+judgment, and to fancy that from danger there is no release. Further,
+there is promptitude on their side against procrastination on yours;
+they are never at home, you are never from it: for they hope by their
+absence to extend their acquisitions, you fear by your advance to
+endanger what you have left behind. They are swift to follow up a
+success, and slow to recoil from a reverse. Their bodies they spend
+ungrudgingly in their country’s cause; their intellect they jealously
+husband to be employed in her service. A scheme unexecuted is with them
+a positive loss, a successful enterprise a comparative failure. The
+deficiency created by the miscarriage of an undertaking is soon filled
+up by fresh hopes; for they alone are enabled to call a thing hoped for
+a thing got, by the speed with which they act upon their resolutions.
+Thus they toil on in trouble and danger all the days of their life,
+with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting:
+their only idea of a holiday is to do what the occasion demands, and to
+them laborious occupation is less of a misfortune than the peace of a
+quiet life. To describe their character in a word, one might truly say
+that they were born into the world to take no rest themselves and to
+give none to others.
+
+“Such is Athens, your antagonist. And yet, Lacedaemonians, you still
+delay, and fail to see that peace stays longest with those, who are not
+more careful to use their power justly than to show their determination
+not to submit to injustice. On the contrary, your ideal of fair dealing
+is based on the principle that, if you do not injure others, you need
+not risk your own fortunes in preventing others from injuring you. Now
+you could scarcely have succeeded in such a policy even with a
+neighbour like yourselves; but in the present instance, as we have just
+shown, your habits are old-fashioned as compared with theirs. It is the
+law as in art, so in politics, that improvements ever prevail; and
+though fixed usages may be best for undisturbed communities, constant
+necessities of action must be accompanied by the constant improvement
+of methods. Thus it happens that the vast experience of Athens has
+carried her further than you on the path of innovation.
+
+“Here, at least, let your procrastination end. For the present, assist
+your allies and Potidæa in particular, as you promised, by a speedy
+invasion of Attica, and do not sacrifice friends and kindred to their
+bitterest enemies, and drive the rest of us in despair to some other
+alliance. Such a step would not be condemned either by the Gods who
+received our oaths, or by the men who witnessed them. The breach of a
+treaty cannot be laid to the people whom desertion compels to seek new
+relations, but to the power that fails to assist its confederate. But
+if you will only act, we will stand by you; it would be unnatural for
+us to change, and never should we meet with such a congenial ally. For
+these reasons choose the right course, and endeavour not to let
+Peloponnese under your supremacy degenerate from the prestige that it
+enjoyed under that of your ancestors.”
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians. There happened to be Athenian
+envoys present at Lacedaemon on other business. On hearing the speeches
+they thought themselves called upon to come before the Lacedaemonians.
+Their intention was not to offer a defence on any of the charges which
+the cities brought against them, but to show on a comprehensive view
+that it was not a matter to be hastily decided on, but one that
+demanded further consideration. There was also a wish to call attention
+to the great power of Athens, and to refresh the memory of the old and
+enlighten the ignorance of the young, from a notion that their words
+might have the effect of inducing them to prefer tranquillity to war.
+So they came to the Lacedaemonians and said that they too, if there was
+no objection, wished to speak to their assembly. They replied by
+inviting them to come forward. The Athenians advanced, and spoke as
+follows:
+
+“The object of our mission here was not to argue with your allies, but
+to attend to the matters on which our state dispatched us. However, the
+vehemence of the outcry that we hear against us has prevailed on us to
+come forward. It is not to combat the accusations of the cities (indeed
+you are not the judges before whom either we or they can plead), but to
+prevent your taking the wrong course on matters of great importance by
+yielding too readily to the persuasions of your allies. We also wish to
+show on a review of the whole indictment that we have a fair title to
+our possessions, and that our country has claims to consideration. We
+need not refer to remote antiquity: there we could appeal to the voice
+of tradition, but not to the experience of our audience. But to the
+Median War and contemporary history we must refer, although we are
+rather tired of continually bringing this subject forward. In our
+action during that war we ran great risk to obtain certain advantages:
+you had your share in the solid results, do not try to rob us of all
+share in the good that the glory may do us. However, the story shall be
+told not so much to deprecate hostility as to testify against it, and
+to show, if you are so ill advised as to enter into a struggle with
+Athens, what sort of an antagonist she is likely to prove. We assert
+that at Marathon we were at the front, and faced the barbarian
+single-handed. That when he came the second time, unable to cope with
+him by land we went on board our ships with all our people, and joined
+in the action at Salamis. This prevented his taking the Peloponnesian
+states in detail, and ravaging them with his fleet; when the multitude
+of his vessels would have made any combination for self-defence
+impossible. The best proof of this was furnished by the invader
+himself. Defeated at sea, he considered his power to be no longer what
+it had been, and retired as speedily as possible with the greater part
+of his army.
+
+“Such, then, was the result of the matter, and it was clearly proved
+that it was on the fleet of Hellas that her cause depended. Well, to
+this result we contributed three very useful elements, viz., the
+largest number of ships, the ablest commander, and the most
+unhesitating patriotism. Our contingent of ships was little less than
+two-thirds of the whole four hundred; the commander was Themistocles,
+through whom chiefly it was that the battle took place in the straits,
+the acknowledged salvation of our cause. Indeed, this was the reason of
+your receiving him with honours such as had never been accorded to any
+foreign visitor. While for daring patriotism we had no competitors.
+Receiving no reinforcements from behind, seeing everything in front of
+us already subjugated, we had the spirit, after abandoning our city,
+after sacrificing our property (instead of deserting the remainder of
+the league or depriving them of our services by dispersing), to throw
+ourselves into our ships and meet the danger, without a thought of
+resenting your neglect to assist us. We assert, therefore, that we
+conferred on you quite as much as we received. For you had a stake to
+fight for; the cities which you had left were still filled with your
+homes, and you had the prospect of enjoying them again; and your coming
+was prompted quite as much by fear for yourselves as for us; at all
+events, you never appeared till we had nothing left to lose. But we
+left behind us a city that was a city no longer, and staked our lives
+for a city that had an existence only in desperate hope, and so bore
+our full share in your deliverance and in ours. But if we had copied
+others, and allowed fears for our territory to make us give in our
+adhesion to the Mede before you came, or if we had suffered our ruin to
+break our spirit and prevent us embarking in our ships, your naval
+inferiority would have made a sea-fight unnecessary, and his objects
+would have been peaceably attained.
+
+“Surely, Lacedaemonians, neither by the patriotism that we displayed at
+that crisis, nor by the wisdom of our counsels, do we merit our extreme
+unpopularity with the Hellenes, not at least unpopularity for our
+empire. That empire we acquired by no violent means, but because you
+were unwilling to prosecute to its conclusion the war against the
+barbarian, and because the allies attached themselves to us and
+spontaneously asked us to assume the command. And the nature of the
+case first compelled us to advance our empire to its present height;
+fear being our principal motive, though honour and interest afterwards
+came in. And at last, when almost all hated us, when some had already
+revolted and had been subdued, when you had ceased to be the friends
+that you once were, and had become objects of suspicion and dislike, it
+appeared no longer safe to give up our empire; especially as all who
+left us would fall to you. And no one can quarrel with a people for
+making, in matters of tremendous risk, the best provision that it can
+for its interest.
+
+“You, at all events, Lacedaemonians, have used your supremacy to settle
+the states in Peloponnese as is agreeable to you. And if at the period
+of which we were speaking you had persevered to the end of the matter,
+and had incurred hatred in your command, we are sure that you would
+have made yourselves just as galling to the allies, and would have been
+forced to choose between a strong government and danger to yourselves.
+It follows that it was not a very wonderful action, or contrary to the
+common practice of mankind, if we did accept an empire that was offered
+to us, and refused to give it up under the pressure of three of the
+strongest motives, fear, honour, and interest. And it was not we who
+set the example, for it has always been law that the weaker should be
+subject to the stronger. Besides, we believed ourselves to be worthy of
+our position, and so you thought us till now, when calculations of
+interest have made you take up the cry of justice—a consideration which
+no one ever yet brought forward to hinder his ambition when he had a
+chance of gaining anything by might. And praise is due to all who, if
+not so superior to human nature as to refuse dominion, yet respect
+justice more than their position compels them to do.
+
+“We imagine that our moderation would be best demonstrated by the
+conduct of others who should be placed in our position; but even our
+equity has very unreasonably subjected us to condemnation instead of
+approval. Our abatement of our rights in the contract trials with our
+allies, and our causing them to be decided by impartial laws at Athens,
+have gained us the character of being litigious. And none care to
+inquire why this reproach is not brought against other imperial powers,
+who treat their subjects with less moderation than we do; the secret
+being that where force can be used, law is not needed. But our subjects
+are so habituated to associate with us as equals that any defeat
+whatever that clashes with their notions of justice, whether it
+proceeds from a legal judgment or from the power which our empire gives
+us, makes them forget to be grateful for being allowed to retain most
+of their possessions, and more vexed at a part being taken, than if we
+had from the first cast law aside and openly gratified our
+covetousness. If we had done so, not even would they have disputed that
+the weaker must give way to the stronger. Men’s indignation, it seems,
+is more excited by legal wrong than by violent wrong; the first looks
+like being cheated by an equal, the second like being compelled by a
+superior. At all events they contrived to put up with much worse
+treatment than this from the Mede, yet they think our rule severe, and
+this is to be expected, for the present always weighs heavy on the
+conquered. This at least is certain. If you were to succeed in
+overthrowing us and in taking our place, you would speedily lose the
+popularity with which fear of us has invested you, if your policy of
+to-day is at all to tally with the sample that you gave of it during
+the brief period of your command against the Mede. Not only is your
+life at home regulated by rules and institutions incompatible with
+those of others, but your citizens abroad act neither on these rules
+nor on those which are recognized by the rest of Hellas.
+
+“Take time then in forming your resolution, as the matter is of great
+importance; and do not be persuaded by the opinions and complaints of
+others to bring trouble on yourselves, but consider the vast influence
+of accident in war, before you are engaged in it. As it continues, it
+generally becomes an affair of chances, chances from which neither of
+us is exempt, and whose event we must risk in the dark. It is a common
+mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and
+wait for disaster to discuss the matter. But we are not yet by any
+means so misguided, nor, so far as we can see, are you; accordingly,
+while it is still open to us both to choose aright, we bid you not to
+dissolve the treaty, or to break your oaths, but to have our
+differences settled by arbitration according to our agreement. Or else
+we take the gods who heard the oaths to witness, and if you begin
+hostilities, whatever line of action you choose, we will try not to be
+behindhand in repelling you.”
+
+Such were the words of the Athenians. After the Lacedaemonians had
+heard the complaints of the allies against the Athenians, and the
+observations of the latter, they made all withdraw, and consulted by
+themselves on the question before them. The opinions of the majority
+all led to the same conclusion; the Athenians were open aggressors, and
+war must be declared at once. But Archidamus, the Lacedaemonian king,
+came forward, who had the reputation of being at once a wise and a
+moderate man, and made the following speech:
+
+“I have not lived so long, Lacedaemonians, without having had the
+experience of many wars, and I see those among you of the same age as
+myself, who will not fall into the common misfortune of longing for war
+from inexperience or from a belief in its advantage and its safety.
+This, the war on which you are now debating, would be one of the
+greatest magnitude, on a sober consideration of the matter. In a
+struggle with Peloponnesians and neighbours our strength is of the same
+character, and it is possible to move swiftly on the different points.
+But a struggle with a people who live in a distant land, who have also
+an extraordinary familiarity with the sea, and who are in the highest
+state of preparation in every other department; with wealth private and
+public, with ships, and horses, and heavy infantry, and a population
+such as no one other Hellenic place can equal, and lastly a number of
+tributary allies—what can justify us in rashly beginning such a
+struggle? wherein is our trust that we should rush on it unprepared? Is
+it in our ships? There we are inferior; while if we are to practise and
+become a match for them, time must intervene. Is it in our money? There
+we have a far greater deficiency. We neither have it in our treasury,
+nor are we ready to contribute it from our private funds. Confidence
+might possibly be felt in our superiority in heavy infantry and
+population, which will enable us to invade and devastate their lands.
+But the Athenians have plenty of other land in their empire, and can
+import what they want by sea. Again, if we are to attempt an
+insurrection of their allies, these will have to be supported with a
+fleet, most of them being islanders. What then is to be our war? For
+unless we can either beat them at sea, or deprive them of the revenues
+which feed their navy, we shall meet with little but disaster.
+Meanwhile our honour will be pledged to keeping on, particularly if it
+be the opinion that we began the quarrel. For let us never be elated by
+the fatal hope of the war being quickly ended by the devastation of
+their lands. I fear rather that we may leave it as a legacy to our
+children; so improbable is it that the Athenian spirit will be the
+slave of their land, or Athenian experience be cowed by war.
+
+“Not that I would bid you be so unfeeling as to suffer them to injure
+your allies, and to refrain from unmasking their intrigues; but I do
+bid you not to take up arms at once, but to send and remonstrate with
+them in a tone not too suggestive of war, nor again too suggestive of
+submission, and to employ the interval in perfecting our own
+preparations. The means will be, first, the acquisition of allies,
+Hellenic or barbarian it matters not, so long as they are an accession
+to our strength naval or pecuniary—I say Hellenic or barbarian, because
+the odium of such an accession to all who like us are the objects of
+the designs of the Athenians is taken away by the law of
+self-preservation—and secondly the development of our home resources.
+If they listen to our embassy, so much the better; but if not, after
+the lapse of two or three years our position will have become
+materially strengthened, and we can then attack them if we think
+proper. Perhaps by that time the sight of our preparations, backed by
+language equally significant, will have disposed them to submission,
+while their land is still untouched, and while their counsels may be
+directed to the retention of advantages as yet undestroyed. For the
+only light in which you can view their land is that of a hostage in
+your hands, a hostage the more valuable the better it is cultivated.
+This you ought to spare as long as possible, and not make them
+desperate, and so increase the difficulty of dealing with them. For if
+while still unprepared, hurried away by the complaints of our allies,
+we are induced to lay it waste, have a care that we do not bring deep
+disgrace and deep perplexity upon Peloponnese. Complaints, whether of
+communities or individuals, it is possible to adjust; but war
+undertaken by a coalition for sectional interests, whose progress there
+is no means of foreseeing, does not easily admit of creditable
+settlement.
+
+“And none need think it cowardice for a number of confederates to pause
+before they attack a single city. The Athenians have allies as numerous
+as our own, and allies that pay tribute, and war is a matter not so
+much of arms as of money, which makes arms of use. And this is more
+than ever true in a struggle between a continental and a maritime
+power. First, then, let us provide money, and not allow ourselves to be
+carried away by the talk of our allies before we have done so: as we
+shall have the largest share of responsibility for the consequences be
+they good or bad, we have also a right to a tranquil inquiry respecting
+them.
+
+“And the slowness and procrastination, the parts of our character that
+are most assailed by their criticism, need not make you blush. If we
+undertake the war without preparation, we should by hastening its
+commencement only delay its conclusion: further, a free and a famous
+city has through all time been ours. The quality which they condemn is
+really nothing but a wise moderation; thanks to its possession, we
+alone do not become insolent in success and give way less than others
+in misfortune; we are not carried away by the pleasure of hearing
+ourselves cheered on to risks which our judgment condemns; nor, if
+annoyed, are we any the more convinced by attempts to exasperate us by
+accusation. We are both warlike and wise, and it is our sense of order
+that makes us so. We are warlike, because self-control contains honour
+as a chief constituent, and honour bravery. And we are wise, because we
+are educated with too little learning to despise the laws, and with too
+severe a self-control to disobey them, and are brought up not to be too
+knowing in useless matters—such as the knowledge which can give a
+specious criticism of an enemy’s plans in theory, but fails to assail
+them with equal success in practice—but are taught to consider that the
+schemes of our enemies are not dissimilar to our own, and that the
+freaks of chance are not determinable by calculation. In practice we
+always base our preparations against an enemy on the assumption that
+his plans are good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes not on a
+belief in his blunders, but on the soundness of our provisions. Nor
+ought we to believe that there is much difference between man and man,
+but to think that the superiority lies with him who is reared in the
+severest school. These practices, then, which our ancestors have
+delivered to us, and by whose maintenance we have always profited, must
+not be given up. And we must not be hurried into deciding in a day’s
+brief space a question which concerns many lives and fortunes and many
+cities, and in which honour is deeply involved—but we must decide
+calmly. This our strength peculiarly enables us to do. As for the
+Athenians, send to them on the matter of Potidæa, send on the matter of
+the alleged wrongs of the allies, particularly as they are prepared
+with legal satisfaction; and to proceed against one who offers
+arbitration as against a wrongdoer, law forbids. Meanwhile do not omit
+preparation for war. This decision will be the best for yourselves, the
+most terrible to your opponents.”
+
+Such were the words of Archidamus. Last came forward Sthenelaidas, one
+of the ephors for that year, and spoke to the Lacedaemonians as
+follows:
+
+“The long speech of the Athenians I do not pretend to understand. They
+said a good deal in praise of themselves, but nowhere denied that they
+are injuring our allies and Peloponnese. And yet if they behaved well
+against the Mede then, but ill towards us now, they deserve double
+punishment for having ceased to be good and for having become bad. We
+meanwhile are the same then and now, and shall not, if we are wise,
+disregard the wrongs of our allies, or put off till to-morrow the duty
+of assisting those who must suffer to-day. Others have much money and
+ships and horses, but we have good allies whom we must not give up to
+the Athenians, nor by lawsuits and words decide the matter, as it is
+anything but in word that we are harmed, but render instant and
+powerful help. And let us not be told that it is fitting for us to
+deliberate under injustice; long deliberation is rather fitting for
+those who have injustice in contemplation. Vote therefore,
+Lacedaemonians, for war, as the honour of Sparta demands, and neither
+allow the further aggrandizement of Athens, nor betray our allies to
+ruin, but with the gods let us advance against the aggressors.”
+
+With these words he, as ephor, himself put the question to the assembly
+of the Lacedaemonians. He said that he could not determine which was
+the loudest acclamation (their mode of decision is by acclamation not
+by voting); the fact being that he wished to make them declare their
+opinion openly and thus to increase their ardour for war. Accordingly
+he said: “All Lacedaemonians who are of opinion that the treaty has
+been broken, and that Athens is guilty, leave your seats and go there,”
+pointing out a certain place; “all who are of the opposite opinion,
+there.” They accordingly stood up and divided; and those who held that
+the treaty had been broken were in a decided majority. Summoning the
+allies, they told them that their opinion was that Athens had been
+guilty of injustice, but that they wished to convoke all the allies and
+put it to the vote; in order that they might make war, if they decided
+to do so, on a common resolution. Having thus gained their point, the
+delegates returned home at once; the Athenian envoys a little later,
+when they had dispatched the objects of their mission. This decision of
+the assembly, judging that the treaty had been broken, was made in the
+fourteenth year of the thirty years’ truce, which was entered into
+after the affair of Euboea.
+
+The Lacedaemonians voted that the treaty had been broken, and that the
+war must be declared, not so much because they were persuaded by the
+arguments of the allies, as because they feared the growth of the power
+of the Athenians, seeing most of Hellas already subject to them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+From the end of the Persian to the beginning of the Peloponnesian
+War—The Progress from Supremacy to Empire
+
+
+The way in which Athens came to be placed in the circumstances under
+which her power grew was this. After the Medes had returned from
+Europe, defeated by sea and land by the Hellenes, and after those of
+them who had fled with their ships to Mycale had been destroyed,
+Leotychides, king of the Lacedaemonians, the commander of the Hellenes
+at Mycale, departed home with the allies from Peloponnese. But the
+Athenians and the allies from Ionia and Hellespont, who had now
+revolted from the King, remained and laid siege to Sestos, which was
+still held by the Medes. After wintering before it, they became masters
+of the place on its evacuation by the barbarians; and after this they
+sailed away from Hellespont to their respective cities. Meanwhile the
+Athenian people, after the departure of the barbarian from their
+country, at once proceeded to carry over their children and wives, and
+such property as they had left, from the places where they had
+deposited them, and prepared to rebuild their city and their walls. For
+only isolated portions of the circumference had been left standing, and
+most of the houses were in ruins; though a few remained, in which the
+Persian grandees had taken up their quarters.
+
+Perceiving what they were going to do, the Lacedaemonians sent an
+embassy to Athens. They would have themselves preferred to see neither
+her nor any other city in possession of a wall; though here they acted
+principally at the instigation of their allies, who were alarmed at the
+strength of her newly acquired navy and the valour which she had
+displayed in the war with the Medes. They begged her not only to
+abstain from building walls for herself, but also to join them in
+throwing down the walls that still held together of the
+ultra-Peloponnesian cities. The real meaning of their advice, the
+suspicion that it contained against the Athenians, was not proclaimed;
+it was urged that so the barbarian, in the event of a third invasion,
+would not have any strong place, such as he now had in Thebes, for his
+base of operations; and that Peloponnese would suffice for all as a
+base both for retreat and offence. After the Lacedaemonians had thus
+spoken, they were, on the advice of Themistocles, immediately dismissed
+by the Athenians, with the answer that ambassadors should be sent to
+Sparta to discuss the question. Themistocles told the Athenians to send
+him off with all speed to Lacedaemon, but not to dispatch his
+colleagues as soon as they had selected them, but to wait until they
+had raised their wall to the height from which defence was possible.
+Meanwhile the whole population in the city was to labour at the wall,
+the Athenians, their wives, and their children, sparing no edifice,
+private or public, which might be of any use to the work, but throwing
+all down. After giving these instructions, and adding that he would be
+responsible for all other matters there, he departed. Arrived at
+Lacedaemon he did not seek an audience with the authorities, but tried
+to gain time and made excuses. When any of the government asked him why
+he did not appear in the assembly, he would say that he was waiting for
+his colleagues, who had been detained in Athens by some engagement;
+however, that he expected their speedy arrival, and wondered that they
+were not yet there. At first the Lacedaemonians trusted the words of
+Themistocles, through their friendship for him; but when others
+arrived, all distinctly declaring that the work was going on and
+already attaining some elevation, they did not know how to disbelieve
+it. Aware of this, he told them that rumours are deceptive, and should
+not be trusted; they should send some reputable persons from Sparta to
+inspect, whose report might be trusted. They dispatched them
+accordingly. Concerning these Themistocles secretly sent word to the
+Athenians to detain them as far as possible without putting them under
+open constraint, and not to let them go until they had themselves
+returned. For his colleagues had now joined him, Abronichus, son of
+Lysicles, and Aristides, son of Lysimachus, with the news that the wall
+was sufficiently advanced; and he feared that when the Lacedaemonians
+heard the facts, they might refuse to let them go. So the Athenians
+detained the envoys according to his message, and Themistocles had an
+audience with the Lacedaemonians, and at last openly told them that
+Athens was now fortified sufficiently to protect its inhabitants; that
+any embassy which the Lacedaemonians or their allies might wish to send
+to them should in future proceed on the assumption that the people to
+whom they were going was able to distinguish both its own and the
+general interests. That when the Athenians thought fit to abandon their
+city and to embark in their ships, they ventured on that perilous step
+without consulting them; and that on the other hand, wherever they had
+deliberated with the Lacedaemonians, they had proved themselves to be
+in judgment second to none. That they now thought it fit that their
+city should have a wall, and that this would be more for the advantage
+of both the citizens of Athens and the Hellenic confederacy; for
+without equal military strength it was impossible to contribute equal
+or fair counsel to the common interest. It followed, he observed,
+either that all the members of the confederacy should be without walls,
+or that the present step should be considered a right one.
+
+The Lacedaemonians did not betray any open signs of anger against the
+Athenians at what they heard. The embassy, it seems, was prompted not
+by a desire to obstruct, but to guide the counsels of their government:
+besides, Spartan feeling was at that time very friendly towards Athens
+on account of the patriotism which she had displayed in the struggle
+with the Mede. Still the defeat of their wishes could not but cause
+them secret annoyance. The envoys of each state departed home without
+complaint.
+
+In this way the Athenians walled their city in a little while. To this
+day the building shows signs of the haste of its execution; the
+foundations are laid of stones of all kinds, and in some places not
+wrought or fitted, but placed just in the order in which they were
+brought by the different hands; and many columns, too, from tombs, and
+sculptured stones were put in with the rest. For the bounds of the city
+were extended at every point of the circumference; and so they laid
+hands on everything without exception in their haste. Themistocles also
+persuaded them to finish the walls of Piraeus, which had been begun
+before, in his year of office as archon; being influenced alike by the
+fineness of a locality that has three natural harbours, and by the
+great start which the Athenians would gain in the acquisition of power
+by becoming a naval people. For he first ventured to tell them to stick
+to the sea and forthwith began to lay the foundations of the empire. It
+was by his advice, too, that they built the walls of that thickness
+which can still be discerned round Piraeus, the stones being brought up
+by two wagons meeting each other. Between the walls thus formed there
+was neither rubble nor mortar, but great stones hewn square and fitted
+together, cramped to each other on the outside with iron and lead.
+About half the height that he intended was finished. His idea was by
+their size and thickness to keep off the attacks of an enemy; he
+thought that they might be adequately defended by a small garrison of
+invalids, and the rest be freed for service in the fleet. For the fleet
+claimed most of his attention. He saw, as I think, that the approach by
+sea was easier for the king’s army than that by land: he also thought
+Piraeus more valuable than the upper city; indeed, he was always
+advising the Athenians, if a day should come when they were hard
+pressed by land, to go down into Piraeus, and defy the world with their
+fleet. Thus, therefore, the Athenians completed their wall, and
+commenced their other buildings immediately after the retreat of the
+Mede.
+
+Meanwhile Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, was sent out from Lacedaemon
+as commander-in-chief of the Hellenes, with twenty ships from
+Peloponnese. With him sailed the Athenians with thirty ships, and a
+number of the other allies. They made an expedition against Cyprus and
+subdued most of the island, and afterwards against Byzantium, which was
+in the hands of the Medes, and compelled it to surrender. This event
+took place while the Spartans were still supreme. But the violence of
+Pausanias had already begun to be disagreeable to the Hellenes,
+particularly to the Ionians and the newly liberated populations. These
+resorted to the Athenians and requested them as their kinsmen to become
+their leaders, and to stop any attempt at violence on the part of
+Pausanias. The Athenians accepted their overtures, and determined to
+put down any attempt of the kind and to settle everything else as their
+interests might seem to demand. In the meantime the Lacedaemonians
+recalled Pausanias for an investigation of the reports which had
+reached them. Manifold and grave accusations had been brought against
+him by Hellenes arriving in Sparta; and, to all appearance, there had
+been in him more of the mimicry of a despot than of the attitude of a
+general. As it happened, his recall came just at the time when the
+hatred which he had inspired had induced the allies to desert him, the
+soldiers from Peloponnese excepted, and to range themselves by the side
+of the Athenians. On his arrival at Lacedaemon, he was censured for his
+private acts of oppression, but was acquitted on the heaviest counts
+and pronounced not guilty; it must be known that the charge of Medism
+formed one of the principal, and to all appearance one of the best
+founded, articles against him. The Lacedaemonians did not, however,
+restore him to his command, but sent out Dorkis and certain others with
+a small force; who found the allies no longer inclined to concede to
+them the supremacy. Perceiving this they departed, and the
+Lacedaemonians did not send out any to succeed them. They feared for
+those who went out a deterioration similar to that observable in
+Pausanias; besides, they desired to be rid of the Median War, and were
+satisfied of the competency of the Athenians for the position, and of
+their friendship at the time towards themselves.
+
+The Athenians, having thus succeeded to the supremacy by the voluntary
+act of the allies through their hatred of Pausanias, fixed which cities
+were to contribute money against the barbarian, which ships; their
+professed object being to retaliate for their sufferings by ravaging
+the King’s country. Now was the time that the office of “Treasurers for
+Hellas” was first instituted by the Athenians. These officers received
+the tribute, as the money contributed was called. The tribute was first
+fixed at four hundred and sixty talents. The common treasury was at
+Delos, and the congresses were held in the temple. Their supremacy
+commenced with independent allies who acted on the resolutions of a
+common congress. It was marked by the following undertakings in war and
+in administration during the interval between the Median and the
+present war, against the barbarian, against their own rebel allies, and
+against the Peloponnesian powers which would come in contact with them
+on various occasions. My excuse for relating these events, and for
+venturing on this digression, is that this passage of history has been
+omitted by all my predecessors, who have confined themselves either to
+Hellenic history before the Median War, or the Median War itself.
+Hellanicus, it is true, did touch on these events in his Athenian
+history; but he is somewhat concise and not accurate in his dates.
+Besides, the history of these events contains an explanation of the
+growth of the Athenian empire.
+
+First the Athenians besieged and captured Eion on the Strymon from the
+Medes, and made slaves of the inhabitants, being under the command of
+Cimon, son of Miltiades. Next they enslaved Scyros, the island in the
+Aegean, containing a Dolopian population, and colonized it themselves.
+This was followed by a war against Carystus, in which the rest of
+Euboea remained neutral, and which was ended by surrender on
+conditions. After this Naxos left the confederacy, and a war ensued,
+and she had to return after a siege; this was the first instance of the
+engagement being broken by the subjugation of an allied city, a
+precedent which was followed by that of the rest in the order which
+circumstances prescribed. Of all the causes of defection, that
+connected with arrears of tribute and vessels, and with failure of
+service, was the chief; for the Athenians were very severe and
+exacting, and made themselves offensive by applying the screw of
+necessity to men who were not used to and in fact not disposed for any
+continuous labour. In some other respects the Athenians were not the
+old popular rulers they had been at first; and if they had more than
+their fair share of service, it was correspondingly easy for them to
+reduce any that tried to leave the confederacy. For this the allies had
+themselves to blame; the wish to get off service making most of them
+arrange to pay their share of the expense in money instead of in ships,
+and so to avoid having to leave their homes. Thus while Athens was
+increasing her navy with the funds which they contributed, a revolt
+always found them without resources or experience for war.
+
+Next we come to the actions by land and by sea at the river Eurymedon,
+between the Athenians with their allies, and the Medes, when the
+Athenians won both battles on the same day under the conduct of Cimon,
+son of Miltiades, and captured and destroyed the whole Phoenician
+fleet, consisting of two hundred vessels. Some time afterwards occurred
+the defection of the Thasians, caused by disagreements about the marts
+on the opposite coast of Thrace, and about the mine in their
+possession. Sailing with a fleet to Thasos, the Athenians defeated them
+at sea and effected a landing on the island. About the same time they
+sent ten thousand settlers of their own citizens and the allies to
+settle the place then called Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways, now Amphipolis.
+They succeeded in gaining possession of Ennea Hodoi from the Edonians,
+but on advancing into the interior of Thrace were cut off in Drabescus,
+a town of the Edonians, by the assembled Thracians, who regarded the
+settlement of the place Ennea Hodoi as an act of hostility. Meanwhile
+the Thasians being defeated in the field and suffering siege, appealed
+to Lacedaemon, and desired her to assist them by an invasion of Attica.
+Without informing Athens, she promised and intended to do so, but was
+prevented by the occurrence of the earthquake, accompanied by the
+secession of the Helots and the Thuriats and Aethaeans of the Perioeci
+to Ithome. Most of the Helots were the descendants of the old
+Messenians that were enslaved in the famous war; and so all of them
+came to be called Messenians. So the Lacedaemonians being engaged in a
+war with the rebels in Ithome, the Thasians in the third year of the
+siege obtained terms from the Athenians by razing their walls,
+delivering up their ships, and arranging to pay the moneys demanded at
+once, and tribute in future; giving up their possessions on the
+continent together with the mine.
+
+The Lacedaemonians, meanwhile, finding the war against the rebels in
+Ithome likely to last, invoked the aid of their allies, and especially
+of the Athenians, who came in some force under the command of Cimon.
+The reason for this pressing summons lay in their reputed skill in
+siege operations; a long siege had taught the Lacedaemonians their own
+deficiency in this art, else they would have taken the place by
+assault. The first open quarrel between the Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians arose out of this expedition. The Lacedaemonians, when
+assault failed to take the place, apprehensive of the enterprising and
+revolutionary character of the Athenians, and further looking upon them
+as of alien extraction, began to fear that, if they remained, they
+might be tempted by the besieged in Ithome to attempt some political
+changes. They accordingly dismissed them alone of the allies, without
+declaring their suspicions, but merely saying that they had now no need
+of them. But the Athenians, aware that their dismissal did not proceed
+from the more honourable reason of the two, but from suspicions which
+had been conceived, went away deeply offended, and conscious of having
+done nothing to merit such treatment from the Lacedaemonians; and the
+instant that they returned home they broke off the alliance which had
+been made against the Mede, and allied themselves with Sparta’s enemy
+Argos; each of the contracting parties taking the same oaths and making
+the same alliance with the Thessalians.
+
+Meanwhile the rebels in Ithome, unable to prolong further a ten years’
+resistance, surrendered to Lacedaemon; the conditions being that they
+should depart from Peloponnese under safe conduct, and should never set
+foot in it again: any one who might hereafter be found there was to be
+the slave of his captor. It must be known that the Lacedaemonians had
+an old oracle from Delphi, to the effect that they should let go the
+suppliant of Zeus at Ithome. So they went forth with their children and
+their wives, and being received by Athens from the hatred that she now
+felt for the Lacedaemonians, were located at Naupactus, which she had
+lately taken from the Ozolian Locrians. The Athenians received another
+addition to their confederacy in the Megarians; who left the
+Lacedaemonian alliance, annoyed by a war about boundaries forced on
+them by Corinth. The Athenians occupied Megara and Pegae, and built the
+Megarians their long walls from the city to Nisaea, in which they
+placed an Athenian garrison. This was the principal cause of the
+Corinthians conceiving such a deadly hatred against Athens.
+
+Meanwhile Inaros, son of Psammetichus, a Libyan king of the Libyans on
+the Egyptian border, having his headquarters at Marea, the town above
+Pharos, caused a revolt of almost the whole of Egypt from King
+Artaxerxes and, placing himself at its head, invited the Athenians to
+his assistance. Abandoning a Cyprian expedition upon which they
+happened to be engaged with two hundred ships of their own and their
+allies, they arrived in Egypt and sailed from the sea into the Nile,
+and making themselves masters of the river and two-thirds of Memphis,
+addressed themselves to the attack of the remaining third, which is
+called White Castle. Within it were Persians and Medes who had taken
+refuge there, and Egyptians who had not joined the rebellion.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, making a descent from their fleet upon Haliae,
+were engaged by a force of Corinthians and Epidaurians; and the
+Corinthians were victorious. Afterwards the Athenians engaged the
+Peloponnesian fleet off Cecruphalia; and the Athenians were victorious.
+Subsequently war broke out between Aegina and Athens, and there was a
+great battle at sea off Aegina between the Athenians and Aeginetans,
+each being aided by their allies; in which victory remained with the
+Athenians, who took seventy of the enemy’s ships, and landed in the
+country and commenced a siege under the command of Leocrates, son of
+Stroebus. Upon this the Peloponnesians, desirous of aiding the
+Aeginetans, threw into Aegina a force of three hundred heavy infantry,
+who had before been serving with the Corinthians and Epidaurians.
+Meanwhile the Corinthians and their allies occupied the heights of
+Geraneia, and marched down into the Megarid, in the belief that, with a
+large force absent in Aegina and Egypt, Athens would be unable to help
+the Megarians without raising the siege of Aegina. But the Athenians,
+instead of moving the army of Aegina, raised a force of the old and
+young men that had been left in the city, and marched into the Megarid
+under the command of Myronides. After a drawn battle with the
+Corinthians, the rival hosts parted, each with the impression that they
+had gained the victory. The Athenians, however, if anything, had rather
+the advantage, and on the departure of the Corinthians set up a trophy.
+Urged by the taunts of the elders in their city, the Corinthians made
+their preparations, and about twelve days afterwards came and set up
+their trophy as victors. Sallying out from Megara, the Athenians cut
+off the party that was employed in erecting the trophy, and engaged and
+defeated the rest. In the retreat of the vanquished army, a
+considerable division, pressed by the pursuers and mistaking the road,
+dashed into a field on some private property, with a deep trench all
+round it, and no way out. Being acquainted with the place, the
+Athenians hemmed their front with heavy infantry and, placing the light
+troops round in a circle, stoned all who had gone in. Corinth here
+suffered a severe blow. The bulk of her army continued its retreat
+home.
+
+About this time the Athenians began to build the long walls to the sea,
+that towards Phalerum and that towards Piraeus. Meanwhile the Phocians
+made an expedition against Doris, the old home of the Lacedaemonians,
+containing the towns of Boeum, Kitinium, and Erineum. They had taken
+one of these towns, when the Lacedaemonians under Nicomedes, son of
+Cleombrotus, commanding for King Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, who was
+still a minor, came to the aid of the Dorians with fifteen hundred
+heavy infantry of their own, and ten thousand of their allies. After
+compelling the Phocians to restore the town on conditions, they began
+their retreat. The route by sea, across the Crissaean Gulf, exposed
+them to the risk of being stopped by the Athenian fleet; that across
+Geraneia seemed scarcely safe, the Athenians holding Megara and Pegae.
+For the pass was a difficult one, and was always guarded by the
+Athenians; and, in the present instance, the Lacedaemonians had
+information that they meant to dispute their passage. So they resolved
+to remain in Boeotia, and to consider which would be the safest line of
+march. They had also another reason for this resolve. Secret
+encouragement had been given them by a party in Athens, who hoped to
+put an end to the reign of democracy and the building of the Long
+Walls. Meanwhile the Athenians marched against them with their whole
+levy and a thousand Argives and the respective contingents of the rest
+of their allies. Altogether they were fourteen thousand strong. The
+march was prompted by the notion that the Lacedaemonians were at a loss
+how to effect their passage, and also by suspicions of an attempt to
+overthrow the democracy. Some cavalry also joined the Athenians from
+their Thessalian allies; but these went over to the Lacedaemonians
+during the battle.
+
+The battle was fought at Tanagra in Boeotia. After heavy loss on both
+sides, victory declared for the Lacedaemonians and their allies. After
+entering the Megarid and cutting down the fruit trees, the
+Lacedaemonians returned home across Geraneia and the isthmus. Sixty-two
+days after the battle the Athenians marched into Boeotia under the
+command of Myronides, defeated the Boeotians in battle at Oenophyta,
+and became masters of Boeotia and Phocis. They dismantled the walls of
+the Tanagraeans, took a hundred of the richest men of the Opuntian
+Locrians as hostages, and finished their own long walls. This was
+followed by the surrender of the Aeginetans to Athens on conditions;
+they pulled down their walls, gave up their ships, and agreed to pay
+tribute in future. The Athenians sailed round Peloponnese under
+Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus, burnt the arsenal of Lacedaemon, took
+Chalcis, a town of the Corinthians, and in a descent upon Sicyon
+defeated the Sicyonians in battle.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in Egypt and their allies were still there, and
+encountered all the vicissitudes of war. First the Athenians were
+masters of Egypt, and the King sent Megabazus a Persian to Lacedaemon
+with money to bribe the Peloponnesians to invade Attica and so draw off
+the Athenians from Egypt. Finding that the matter made no progress, and
+that the money was only being wasted, he recalled Megabazus with the
+remainder of the money, and sent Megabuzus, son of Zopyrus, a Persian,
+with a large army to Egypt. Arriving by land he defeated the Egyptians
+and their allies in a battle, and drove the Hellenes out of Memphis,
+and at length shut them up in the island of Prosopitis, where he
+besieged them for a year and six months. At last, draining the canal of
+its waters, which he diverted into another channel, he left their ships
+high and dry and joined most of the island to the mainland, and then
+marched over on foot and captured it. Thus the enterprise of the
+Hellenes came to ruin after six years of war. Of all that large host a
+few travelling through Libya reached Cyrene in safety, but most of them
+perished. And thus Egypt returned to its subjection to the King, except
+Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes, whom they were unable to capture
+from the extent of the marsh; the marshmen being also the most warlike
+of the Egyptians. Inaros, the Libyan king, the sole author of the
+Egyptian revolt, was betrayed, taken, and crucified. Meanwhile a
+relieving squadron of fifty vessels had sailed from Athens and the rest
+of the confederacy for Egypt. They put in to shore at the Mendesian
+mouth of the Nile, in total ignorance of what had occurred. Attacked on
+the land side by the troops, and from the sea by the Phoenician navy,
+most of the ships were destroyed; the few remaining being saved by
+retreat. Such was the end of the great expedition of the Athenians and
+their allies to Egypt.
+
+Meanwhile Orestes, son of Echecratidas, the Thessalian king, being an
+exile from Thessaly, persuaded the Athenians to restore him. Taking
+with them the Boeotians and Phocians their allies, the Athenians
+marched to Pharsalus in Thessaly. They became masters of the country,
+though only in the immediate vicinity of the camp; beyond which they
+could not go for fear of the Thessalian cavalry. But they failed to
+take the city or to attain any of the other objects of their
+expedition, and returned home with Orestes without having effected
+anything. Not long after this a thousand of the Athenians embarked in
+the vessels that were at Pegae (Pegae, it must be remembered, was now
+theirs), and sailed along the coast to Sicyon under the command of
+Pericles, son of Xanthippus. Landing in Sicyon and defeating the
+Sicyonians who engaged them, they immediately took with them the
+Achaeans and, sailing across, marched against and laid siege to
+Oeniadae in Acarnania. Failing however to take it, they returned home.
+
+Three years afterwards a truce was made between the Peloponnesians and
+Athenians for five years. Released from Hellenic war, the Athenians
+made an expedition to Cyprus with two hundred vessels of their own and
+their allies, under the command of Cimon. Sixty of these were detached
+to Egypt at the instance of Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes; the
+rest laid siege to Kitium, from which, however, they were compelled to
+retire by the death of Cimon and by scarcity of provisions. Sailing off
+Salamis in Cyprus, they fought with the Phoenicians, Cyprians, and
+Cilicians by land and sea, and, being victorious on both elements
+departed home, and with them the returned squadron from Egypt. After
+this the Lacedaemonians marched out on a sacred war, and, becoming
+masters of the temple at Delphi, it in the hands of the Delphians.
+Immediately after their retreat, the Athenians marched out, became
+masters of the temple, and placed it in the hands of the Phocians.
+
+Some time after this, Orchomenus, Chaeronea, and some other places in
+Boeotia being in the hands of the Boeotian exiles, the Athenians
+marched against the above-mentioned hostile places with a thousand
+Athenian heavy infantry and the allied contingents, under the command
+of Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus. They took Chaeronea, and made slaves of
+the inhabitants, and, leaving a garrison, commenced their return. On
+their road they were attacked at Coronea by the Boeotian exiles from
+Orchomenus, with some Locrians and Euboean exiles, and others who were
+of the same way of thinking, were defeated in battle, and some killed,
+others taken captive. The Athenians evacuated all Boeotia by a treaty
+providing for the recovery of the men; and the exiled Boeotians
+returned, and with all the rest regained their independence.
+
+This was soon afterwards followed by the revolt of Euboea from Athens.
+Pericles had already crossed over with an army of Athenians to the
+island, when news was brought to him that Megara had revolted, that the
+Peloponnesians were on the point of invading Attica, and that the
+Athenian garrison had been cut off by the Megarians, with the exception
+of a few who had taken refuge in Nisaea. The Megarians had introduced
+the Corinthians, Sicyonians, and Epidaurians into the town before they
+revolted. Meanwhile Pericles brought his army back in all haste from
+Euboea. After this the Peloponnesians marched into Attica as far as
+Eleusis and Thrius, ravaging the country under the conduct of King
+Pleistoanax, the son of Pausanias, and without advancing further
+returned home. The Athenians then crossed over again to Euboea under
+the command of Pericles, and subdued the whole of the island: all but
+Histiaea was settled by convention; the Histiaeans they expelled from
+their homes, and occupied their territory themselves.
+
+Not long after their return from Euboea, they made a truce with the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies for thirty years, giving up the posts
+which they occupied in Peloponnese—Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaia.
+In the sixth year of the truce, war broke out between the Samians and
+Milesians about Priene. Worsted in the war, the Milesians came to
+Athens with loud complaints against the Samians. In this they were
+joined by certain private persons from Samos itself, who wished to
+revolutionize the government. Accordingly the Athenians sailed to Samos
+with forty ships and set up a democracy; took hostages from the
+Samians, fifty boys and as many men, lodged them in Lemnos, and after
+leaving a garrison in the island returned home. But some of the Samians
+had not remained in the island, but had fled to the continent. Making
+an agreement with the most powerful of those in the city, and an
+alliance with Pissuthnes, son of Hystaspes, the then satrap of Sardis,
+they got together a force of seven hundred mercenaries, and under cover
+of night crossed over to Samos. Their first step was to rise on the
+commons, most of whom they secured; their next to steal their hostages
+from Lemnos; after which they revolted, gave up the Athenian garrison
+left with them and its commanders to Pissuthnes, and instantly prepared
+for an expedition against Miletus. The Byzantines also revolted with
+them.
+
+As soon as the Athenians heard the news, they sailed with sixty ships
+against Samos. Sixteen of these went to Caria to look out for the
+Phoenician fleet, and to Chios and Lesbos carrying round orders for
+reinforcements, and so never engaged; but forty-four ships under the
+command of Pericles with nine colleagues gave battle, off the island of
+Tragia, to seventy Samian vessels, of which twenty were transports, as
+they were sailing from Miletus. Victory remained with the Athenians.
+Reinforced afterwards by forty ships from Athens, and twenty-five Chian
+and Lesbian vessels, the Athenians landed, and having the superiority
+by land invested the city with three walls; it was also invested from
+the sea. Meanwhile Pericles took sixty ships from the blockading
+squadron, and departed in haste for Caunus and Caria, intelligence
+having been brought in of the approach of the Phoenician fleet to the
+aid of the Samians; indeed Stesagoras and others had left the island
+with five ships to bring them. But in the meantime the Samians made a
+sudden sally, and fell on the camp, which they found unfortified.
+Destroying the look-out vessels, and engaging and defeating such as
+were being launched to meet them, they remained masters of their own
+seas for fourteen days, and carried in and carried out what they
+pleased. But on the arrival of Pericles, they were once more shut up.
+Fresh reinforcements afterwards arrived—forty ships from Athens with
+Thucydides, Hagnon, and Phormio; twenty with Tlepolemus and Anticles,
+and thirty vessels from Chios and Lesbos. After a brief attempt at
+fighting, the Samians, unable to hold out, were reduced after a nine
+months’ siege and surrendered on conditions; they razed their walls,
+gave hostages, delivered up their ships, and arranged to pay the
+expenses of the war by instalments. The Byzantines also agreed to be
+subject as before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Second Congress at Lacedaemon—Preparations for War and Diplomatic
+Skirmishes—Cylon—Pausanias—Themistocles
+
+
+After this, though not many years later, we at length come to what has
+been already related, the affairs of Corcyra and Potidæa, and the
+events that served as a pretext for the present war. All these actions
+of the Hellenes against each other and the barbarian occurred in the
+fifty years’ interval between the retreat of Xerxes and the beginning
+of the present war. During this interval the Athenians succeeded in
+placing their empire on a firmer basis, and advanced their own home
+power to a very great height. The Lacedaemonians, though fully aware of
+it, opposed it only for a little while, but remained inactive during
+most of the period, being of old slow to go to war except under the
+pressure of necessity, and in the present instance being hampered by
+wars at home; until the growth of the Athenian power could be no longer
+ignored, and their own confederacy became the object of its
+encroachments. They then felt that they could endure it no longer, but
+that the time had come for them to throw themselves heart and soul upon
+the hostile power, and break it, if they could, by commencing the
+present war. And though the Lacedaemonians had made up their own minds
+on the fact of the breach of the treaty and the guilt of the Athenians,
+yet they sent to Delphi and inquired of the God whether it would be
+well with them if they went to war; and, as it is reported, received
+from him the answer that if they put their whole strength into the war,
+victory would be theirs, and the promise that he himself would be with
+them, whether invoked or uninvoked. Still they wished to summon their
+allies again, and to take their vote on the propriety of making war.
+After the ambassadors from the confederates had arrived and a congress
+had been convened, they all spoke their minds, most of them denouncing
+the Athenians and demanding that the war should begin. In particular
+the Corinthians. They had before on their own account canvassed the
+cities in detail to induce them to vote for the war, in the fear that
+it might come too late to save Potidæa; they were present also on this
+occasion, and came forward the last, and made the following speech:
+
+“Fellow allies, we can no longer accuse the Lacedaemonians of having
+failed in their duty: they have not only voted for war themselves, but
+have assembled us here for that purpose. We say their duty, for
+supremacy has its duties. Besides equitably administering private
+interests, leaders are required to show a special care for the common
+welfare in return for the special honours accorded to them by all in
+other ways. For ourselves, all who have already had dealings with the
+Athenians require no warning to be on their guard against them. The
+states more inland and out of the highway of communication should
+understand that, if they omit to support the coast powers, the result
+will be to injure the transit of their produce for exportation and the
+reception in exchange of their imports from the sea; and they must not
+be careless judges of what is now said, as if it had nothing to do with
+them, but must expect that the sacrifice of the powers on the coast
+will one day be followed by the extension of the danger to the
+interior, and must recognize that their own interests are deeply
+involved in this discussion. For these reasons they should not hesitate
+to exchange peace for war. If wise men remain quiet, while they are not
+injured, brave men abandon peace for war when they are injured,
+returning to an understanding on a favourable opportunity: in fact,
+they are neither intoxicated by their success in war, nor disposed to
+take an injury for the sake of the delightful tranquillity of peace.
+Indeed, to falter for the sake of such delights is, if you remain
+inactive, the quickest way of losing the sweets of repose to which you
+cling; while to conceive extravagant pretensions from success in war is
+to forget how hollow is the confidence by which you are elated. For if
+many ill-conceived plans have succeeded through the still greater
+fatuity of an opponent, many more, apparently well laid, have on the
+contrary ended in disgrace. The confidence with which we form our
+schemes is never completely justified in their execution; speculation
+is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes
+failure.
+
+“To apply these rules to ourselves, if we are now kindling war it is
+under the pressure of injury, with adequate grounds of complaint; and
+after we have chastised the Athenians we will in season desist. We have
+many reasons to expect success—first, superiority in numbers and in
+military experience, and secondly our general and unvarying obedience
+in the execution of orders. The naval strength which they possess shall
+be raised by us from our respective antecedent resources, and from the
+moneys at Olympia and Delphi. A loan from these enables us to seduce
+their foreign sailors by the offer of higher pay. For the power of
+Athens is more mercenary than national; while ours will not be exposed
+to the same risk, as its strength lies more in men than in money. A
+single defeat at sea is in all likelihood their ruin: should they hold
+out, in that case there will be the more time for us to exercise
+ourselves in naval matters; and as soon as we have arrived at an
+equality in science, we need scarcely ask whether we shall be their
+superiors in courage. For the advantages that we have by nature they
+cannot acquire by education; while their superiority in science must be
+removed by our practice. The money required for these objects shall be
+provided by our contributions: nothing indeed could be more monstrous
+than the suggestion that, while their allies never tire of contributing
+for their own servitude, we should refuse to spend for vengeance and
+self-preservation the treasure which by such refusal we shall forfeit
+to Athenian rapacity and see employed for our own ruin.
+
+“We have also other ways of carrying on the war, such as revolt of
+their allies, the surest method of depriving them of their revenues,
+which are the source of their strength, and establishment of fortified
+positions in their country, and various operations which cannot be
+foreseen at present. For war of all things proceeds least upon definite
+rules, but draws principally upon itself for contrivances to meet an
+emergency; and in such cases the party who faces the struggle and keeps
+his temper best meets with most security, and he who loses his temper
+about it with correspondent disaster. Let us also reflect that if it
+was merely a number of disputes of territory between rival neighbours,
+it might be borne; but here we have an enemy in Athens that is a match
+for our whole coalition, and more than a match for any of its members;
+so that unless as a body and as individual nationalities and individual
+cities we make an unanimous stand against her, she will easily conquer
+us divided and in detail. That conquest, terrible as it may sound,
+would, it must be known, have no other end than slavery pure and
+simple; a word which Peloponnese cannot even hear whispered without
+disgrace, or without disgrace see so many states abused by one.
+Meanwhile the opinion would be either that we were justly so used, or
+that we put up with it from cowardice, and were proving degenerate sons
+in not even securing for ourselves the freedom which our fathers gave
+to Hellas; and in allowing the establishment in Hellas of a tyrant
+state, though in individual states we think it our duty to put down
+sole rulers. And we do not know how this conduct can be held free from
+three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of
+vigilance. For we do not suppose that you have taken refuge in that
+contempt of an enemy which has proved so fatal in so many instances—a
+feeling which from the numbers that it has ruined has come to be called
+not contemptuous but contemptible.
+
+“There is, however, no advantage in reflections on the past further
+than may be of service to the present. For the future we must provide
+by maintaining what the present gives us and redoubling our efforts; it
+is hereditary to us to win virtue as the fruit of labour, and you must
+not change the habit, even though you should have a slight advantage in
+wealth and resources; for it is not right that what was won in want
+should be lost in plenty; no, we must boldly advance to the war for
+many reasons; the god has commanded it and promised to be with us, and
+the rest of Hellas will all join in the struggle, part from fear, part
+from interest. You will be the first to break a treaty which the god,
+in advising us to go to war, judges to be violated already, but rather
+to support a treaty that has been outraged: indeed, treaties are broken
+not by resistance but by aggression.
+
+“Your position, therefore, from whatever quarter you may view it, will
+amply justify you in going to war; and this step we recommend in the
+interests of all, bearing in mind that identity of interest is the
+surest of bonds, whether between states or individuals. Delay not,
+therefore, to assist Potidæa, a Dorian city besieged by Ionians, which
+is quite a reversal of the order of things; nor to assert the freedom
+of the rest. It is impossible for us to wait any longer when waiting
+can only mean immediate disaster for some of us, and, if it comes to be
+known that we have conferred but do not venture to protect ourselves,
+like disaster in the near future for the rest. Delay not, fellow
+allies, but, convinced of the necessity of the crisis and the wisdom of
+this counsel, vote for the war, undeterred by its immediate terrors,
+but looking beyond to the lasting peace by which it will be succeeded.
+Out of war peace gains fresh stability, but to refuse to abandon repose
+for war is not so sure a method of avoiding danger. We must believe
+that the tyrant city that has been established in Hellas has been
+established against all alike, with a programme of universal empire,
+part fulfilled, part in contemplation; let us then attack and reduce
+it, and win future security for ourselves and freedom for the Hellenes
+who are now enslaved.”
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians. The Lacedaemonians, having now
+heard all, give their opinion, took the vote of all the allied states
+present in order, great and small alike; and the majority voted for
+war. This decided, it was still impossible for them to commence at
+once, from their want of preparation; but it was resolved that the
+means requisite were to be procured by the different states, and that
+there was to be no delay. And indeed, in spite of the time occupied
+with the necessary arrangements, less than a year elapsed before Attica
+was invaded, and the war openly begun.
+
+This interval was spent in sending embassies to Athens charged with
+complaints, in order to obtain as good a pretext for war as possible,
+in the event of her paying no attention to them. The first
+Lacedaemonian embassy was to order the Athenians to drive out the curse
+of the goddess; the history of which is as follows. In former
+generations there was an Athenian of the name of Cylon, a victor at the
+Olympic games, of good birth and powerful position, who had married a
+daughter of Theagenes, a Megarian, at that time tyrant of Megara. Now
+this Cylon was inquiring at Delphi; when he was told by the god to
+seize the Acropolis of Athens on the grand festival of Zeus.
+Accordingly, procuring a force from Theagenes and persuading his
+friends to join him, when the Olympic festival in Peloponnese came, he
+seized the Acropolis, with the intention of making himself tyrant,
+thinking that this was the grand festival of Zeus, and also an occasion
+appropriate for a victor at the Olympic games. Whether the grand
+festival that was meant was in Attica or elsewhere was a question which
+he never thought of, and which the oracle did not offer to solve. For
+the Athenians also have a festival which is called the grand festival
+of Zeus Meilichios or Gracious, viz., the Diasia. It is celebrated
+outside the city, and the whole people sacrifice not real victims but a
+number of bloodless offerings peculiar to the country. However,
+fancying he had chosen the right time, he made the attempt. As soon as
+the Athenians perceived it, they flocked in, one and all, from the
+country, and sat down, and laid siege to the citadel. But as time went
+on, weary of the labour of blockade, most of them departed; the
+responsibility of keeping guard being left to the nine archons, with
+plenary powers to arrange everything according to their good judgment.
+It must be known that at that time most political functions were
+discharged by the nine archons. Meanwhile Cylon and his besieged
+companions were distressed for want of food and water. Accordingly
+Cylon and his brother made their escape; but the rest being hard
+pressed, and some even dying of famine, seated themselves as suppliants
+at the altar in the Acropolis. The Athenians who were charged with the
+duty of keeping guard, when they saw them at the point of death in the
+temple, raised them up on the understanding that no harm should be done
+to them, led them out, and slew them. Some who as they passed by took
+refuge at the altars of the awful goddesses were dispatched on the
+spot. From this deed the men who killed them were called accursed and
+guilty against the goddess, they and their descendants. Accordingly
+these cursed ones were driven out by the Athenians, driven out again by
+Cleomenes of Lacedaemon and an Athenian faction; the living were driven
+out, and the bones of the dead were taken up; thus they were cast out.
+For all that, they came back afterwards, and their descendants are
+still in the city.
+
+This, then was the curse that the Lacedaemonians ordered them to drive
+out. They were actuated primarily, as they pretended, by a care for the
+honour of the gods; but they also know that Pericles, son of
+Xanthippus, was connected with the curse on his mother’s side, and they
+thought that his banishment would materially advance their designs on
+Athens. Not that they really hoped to succeed in procuring this; they
+rather thought to create a prejudice against him in the eyes of his
+countrymen from the feeling that the war would be partly caused by his
+misfortune. For being the most powerful man of his time, and the
+leading Athenian statesman, he opposed the Lacedaemonians in
+everything, and would have no concessions, but ever urged the Athenians
+on to war.
+
+The Athenians retorted by ordering the Lacedaemonians to drive out the
+curse of Taenarus. The Lacedaemonians had once raised up some Helot
+suppliants from the temple of Poseidon at Taenarus, led them away and
+slain them; for which they believe the great earthquake at Sparta to
+have been a retribution. The Athenians also ordered them to drive out
+the curse of the goddess of the Brazen House; the history of which is
+as follows. After Pausanias the Lacedaemonian had been recalled by the
+Spartans from his command in the Hellespont (this is his first recall),
+and had been tried by them and acquitted, not being again sent out in a
+public capacity, he took a galley of Hermione on his own
+responsibility, without the authority of the Lacedaemonians, and
+arrived as a private person in the Hellespont. He came ostensibly for
+the Hellenic war, really to carry on his intrigues with the King, which
+he had begun before his recall, being ambitious of reigning over
+Hellas. The circumstance which first enabled him to lay the King under
+an obligation, and to make a beginning of the whole design, was this.
+Some connections and kinsmen of the King had been taken in Byzantium,
+on its capture from the Medes, when he was first there, after the
+return from Cyprus. These captives he sent off to the King without the
+knowledge of the rest of the allies, the account being that they had
+escaped from him. He managed this with the help of Gongylus, an
+Eretrian, whom he had placed in charge of Byzantium and the prisoners.
+He also gave Gongylus a letter for the King, the contents of which were
+as follows, as was afterwards discovered: “Pausanias, the general of
+Sparta, anxious to do you a favour, sends you these his prisoners of
+war. I propose also, with your approval, to marry your daughter, and to
+make Sparta and the rest of Hellas subject to you. I may say that I
+think I am able to do this, with your co-operation. Accordingly if any
+of this please you, send a safe man to the sea through whom we may in
+future conduct our correspondence.”
+
+This was all that was revealed in the writing, and Xerxes was pleased
+with the letter. He sent off Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, to the sea
+with orders to supersede Megabates, the previous governor in the
+satrapy of Daskylion, and to send over as quickly as possible to
+Pausanias at Byzantium a letter which he entrusted to him; to show him
+the royal signet, and to execute any commission which he might receive
+from Pausanias on the King’s matters with all care and fidelity.
+Artabazus on his arrival carried the King’s orders into effect, and
+sent over the letter, which contained the following answer: “Thus saith
+King Xerxes to Pausanias. For the men whom you have saved for me across
+sea from Byzantium, an obligation is laid up for you in our house,
+recorded for ever; and with your proposals I am well pleased. Let
+neither night nor day stop you from diligently performing any of your
+promises to me; neither for cost of gold nor of silver let them be
+hindered, nor yet for number of troops, wherever it may be that their
+presence is needed; but with Artabazus, an honourable man whom I send
+you, boldly advance my objects and yours, as may be most for the honour
+and interest of us both.”
+
+Before held in high honour by the Hellenes as the hero of Plataea,
+Pausanias, after the receipt of this letter, became prouder than ever,
+and could no longer live in the usual style, but went out of Byzantium
+in a Median dress, was attended on his march through Thrace by a
+bodyguard of Medes and Egyptians, kept a Persian table, and was quite
+unable to contain his intentions, but betrayed by his conduct in
+trifles what his ambition looked one day to enact on a grander scale.
+He also made himself difficult of access, and displayed so violent a
+temper to every one without exception that no one could come near him.
+Indeed, this was the principal reason why the confederacy went over to
+the Athenians.
+
+The above-mentioned conduct, coming to the ears of the Lacedaemonians,
+occasioned his first recall. And after his second voyage out in the
+ship of Hermione, without their orders, he gave proofs of similar
+behaviour. Besieged and expelled from Byzantium by the Athenians, he
+did not return to Sparta; but news came that he had settled at Colonae
+in the Troad, and was intriguing with the barbarians, and that his stay
+there was for no good purpose; and the ephors, now no longer
+hesitating, sent him a herald and a scytale with orders to accompany
+the herald or be declared a public enemy. Anxious above everything to
+avoid suspicion, and confident that he could quash the charge by means
+of money, he returned a second time to Sparta. At first thrown into
+prison by the ephors (whose powers enable them to do this to the King),
+soon compromised the matter and came out again, and offered himself for
+trial to any who wished to institute an inquiry concerning him.
+
+Now the Spartans had no tangible proof against him—neither his enemies
+nor the nation—of that indubitable kind required for the punishment of
+a member of the royal family, and at that moment in high office; he
+being regent for his first cousin King Pleistarchus, Leonidas’s son,
+who was still a minor. But by his contempt of the laws and imitation of
+the barbarians, he gave grounds for much suspicion of his being
+discontented with things established; all the occasions on which he had
+in any way departed from the regular customs were passed in review, and
+it was remembered that he had taken upon himself to have inscribed on
+the tripod at Delphi, which was dedicated by the Hellenes as the
+first-fruits of the spoil of the Medes, the following couplet:
+
+The Mede defeated, great Pausanias raised
+This monument, that Phœbus might be praised.
+
+
+At the time the Lacedaemonians had at once erased the couplet, and
+inscribed the names of the cities that had aided in the overthrow of
+the barbarian and dedicated the offering. Yet it was considered that
+Pausanias had here been guilty of a grave offence, which, interpreted
+by the light of the attitude which he had since assumed, gained a new
+significance, and seemed to be quite in keeping with his present
+schemes. Besides, they were informed that he was even intriguing with
+the Helots; and such indeed was the fact, for he promised them freedom
+and citizenship if they would join him in insurrection and would help
+him to carry out his plans to the end. Even now, mistrusting the
+evidence even of the Helots themselves, the ephors would not consent to
+take any decided step against him; in accordance with their regular
+custom towards themselves, namely, to be slow in taking any irrevocable
+resolve in the matter of a Spartan citizen without indisputable proof.
+At last, it is said, the person who was going to carry to Artabazus the
+last letter for the King, a man of Argilus, once the favourite and most
+trusty servant of Pausanias, turned informer. Alarmed by the reflection
+that none of the previous messengers had ever returned, having
+counterfeited the seal, in order that, if he found himself mistaken in
+his surmises, or if Pausanias should ask to make some correction, he
+might not be discovered, he undid the letter, and found the postscript
+that he had suspected, viz. an order to put him to death.
+
+On being shown the letter, the ephors now felt more certain. Still,
+they wished to hear Pausanias commit himself with their own ears.
+Accordingly the man went by appointment to Taenarus as a suppliant, and
+there built himself a hut divided into two by a partition; within which
+he concealed some of the ephors and let them hear the whole matter
+plainly. For Pausanias came to him and asked him the reason of his
+suppliant position; and the man reproached him with the order that he
+had written concerning him, and one by one declared all the rest of the
+circumstances, how he who had never yet brought him into any danger,
+while employed as agent between him and the King, was yet just like the
+mass of his servants to be rewarded with death. Admitting all this, and
+telling him not to be angry about the matter, Pausanias gave him the
+pledge of raising him up from the temple, and begged him to set off as
+quickly as possible, and not to hinder the business in hand.
+
+The ephors listened carefully, and then departed, taking no action for
+the moment, but, having at last attained to certainty, were preparing
+to arrest him in the city. It is reported that, as he was about to be
+arrested in the street, he saw from the face of one of the ephors what
+he was coming for; another, too, made him a secret signal, and betrayed
+it to him from kindness. Setting off with a run for the temple of the
+goddess of the Brazen House, the enclosure of which was near at hand,
+he succeeded in taking sanctuary before they took him, and entering
+into a small chamber, which formed part of the temple, to avoid being
+exposed to the weather, lay still there. The ephors, for the moment
+distanced in the pursuit, afterwards took off the roof of the chamber,
+and having made sure that he was inside, shut him in, barricaded the
+doors, and staying before the place, reduced him by starvation. When
+they found that he was on the point of expiring, just as he was, in the
+chamber, they brought him out of the temple, while the breath was still
+in him, and as soon as he was brought out he died. They were going to
+throw him into the Kaiadas, where they cast criminals, but finally
+decided to inter him somewhere near. But the god at Delphi afterwards
+ordered the Lacedaemonians to remove the tomb to the place of his
+death—where he now lies in the consecrated ground, as an inscription on
+a monument declares—and, as what had been done was a curse to them, to
+give back two bodies instead of one to the goddess of the Brazen House.
+So they had two brazen statues made, and dedicated them as a substitute
+for Pausanias. The Athenians retorted by telling the Lacedaemonians to
+drive out what the god himself had pronounced to be a curse.
+
+To return to the Medism of Pausanias. Matter was found in the course of
+the inquiry to implicate Themistocles; and the Lacedaemonians
+accordingly sent envoys to the Athenians and required them to punish
+him as they had punished Pausanias. The Athenians consented to do so.
+But he had, as it happened, been ostracized, and, with a residence at
+Argos, was in the habit of visiting other parts of Peloponnese. So they
+sent with the Lacedaemonians, who were ready to join in the pursuit,
+persons with instructions to take him wherever they found him. But
+Themistocles got scent of their intentions, and fled from Peloponnese
+to Corcyra, which was under obligations towards him. But the
+Corcyraeans alleged that they could not venture to shelter him at the
+cost of offending Athens and Lacedaemon, and they conveyed him over to
+the continent opposite. Pursued by the officers who hung on the report
+of his movements, at a loss where to turn, he was compelled to stop at
+the house of Admetus, the Molossian king, though they were not on
+friendly terms. Admetus happened not to be indoors, but his wife, to
+whom he made himself a suppliant, instructed him to take their child in
+his arms and sit down by the hearth. Soon afterwards Admetus came in,
+and Themistocles told him who he was, and begged him not to revenge on
+Themistocles in exile any opposition which his requests might have
+experienced from Themistocles at Athens. Indeed, he was now far too low
+for his revenge; retaliation was only honourable between equals.
+Besides, his opposition to the king had only affected the success of a
+request, not the safety of his person; if the king were to give him up
+to the pursuers that he mentioned, and the fate which they intended for
+him, he would just be consigning him to certain death.
+
+The King listened to him and raised him up with his son, as he was
+sitting with him in his arms after the most effectual method of
+supplication, and on the arrival of the Lacedaemonians not long
+afterwards, refused to give him up for anything they could say, but
+sent him off by land to the other sea to Pydna in Alexander’s
+dominions, as he wished to go to the Persian king. There he met with a
+merchantman on the point of starting for Ionia. Going on board, he was
+carried by a storm to the Athenian squadron which was blockading Naxos.
+In his alarm—he was luckily unknown to the people in the vessel—he told
+the master who he was and what he was flying for, and said that, if he
+refused to save him, he would declare that he was taking him for a
+bribe. Meanwhile their safety consisted in letting no one leave the
+ship until a favourable time for sailing should arise. If he complied
+with his wishes, he promised him a proper recompense. The master acted
+as he desired, and, after lying to for a day and a night out of reach
+of the squadron, at length arrived at Ephesus.
+
+After having rewarded him with a present of money, as soon as he
+received some from his friends at Athens and from his secret hoards at
+Argos, Themistocles started inland with one of the coast Persians, and
+sent a letter to King Artaxerxes, Xerxes’s son, who had just come to
+the throne. Its contents were as follows: “I, Themistocles, am come to
+you, who did your house more harm than any of the Hellenes, when I was
+compelled to defend myself against your father’s invasion—harm,
+however, far surpassed by the good that I did him during his retreat,
+which brought no danger for me but much for him. For the past, you are
+a good turn in my debt”—here he mentioned the warning sent to Xerxes
+from Salamis to retreat, as well as his finding the bridges unbroken,
+which, as he falsely pretended, was due to him—“for the present, able
+to do you great service, I am here, pursued by the Hellenes for my
+friendship for you. However, I desire a year’s grace, when I shall be
+able to declare in person the objects of my coming.”
+
+It is said that the King approved his intention, and told him to do as
+he said. He employed the interval in making what progress he could in
+the study of the Persian tongue, and of the customs of the country.
+Arrived at court at the end of the year, he attained to very high
+consideration there, such as no Hellene has ever possessed before or
+since; partly from his splendid antecedents, partly from the hopes
+which he held out of effecting for him the subjugation of Hellas, but
+principally by the proof which experience daily gave of his capacity.
+For Themistocles was a man who exhibited the most indubitable signs of
+genius; indeed, in this particular he has a claim on our admiration
+quite extraordinary and unparalleled. By his own native capacity, alike
+unformed and unsupplemented by study, he was at once the best judge in
+those sudden crises which admit of little or of no deliberation, and
+the best prophet of the future, even to its most distant possibilities.
+An able theoretical expositor of all that came within the sphere of his
+practice, he was not without the power of passing an adequate judgment
+in matters in which he had no experience. He could also excellently
+divine the good and evil which lay hid in the unseen future. In fine,
+whether we consider the extent of his natural powers, or the slightness
+of his application, this extraordinary man must be allowed to have
+surpassed all others in the faculty of intuitively meeting an
+emergency. Disease was the real cause of his death; though there is a
+story of his having ended his life by poison, on finding himself unable
+to fulfil his promises to the king. However this may be, there is a
+monument to him in the marketplace of Asiatic Magnesia. He was governor
+of the district, the King having given him Magnesia, which brought in
+fifty talents a year, for bread, Lampsacus, which was considered to be
+the richest wine country, for wine, and Myos for other provisions. His
+bones, it is said, were conveyed home by his relatives in accordance
+with his wishes, and interred in Attic ground. This was done without
+the knowledge of the Athenians; as it is against the law to bury in
+Attica an outlaw for treason. So ends the history of Pausanias and
+Themistocles, the Lacedaemonian and the Athenian, the most famous men
+of their time in Hellas.
+
+To return to the Lacedaemonians. The history of their first embassy,
+the injunctions which it conveyed, and the rejoinder which it provoked,
+concerning the expulsion of the accursed persons, have been related
+already. It was followed by a second, which ordered Athens to raise the
+siege of Potidæa, and to respect the independence of Aegina. Above all,
+it gave her most distinctly to understand that war might be prevented
+by the revocation of the Megara decree, excluding the Megarians from
+the use of Athenian harbours and of the market of Athens. But Athens
+was not inclined either to revoke the decree, or to entertain their
+other proposals; she accused the Megarians of pushing their cultivation
+into the consecrated ground and the unenclosed land on the border, and
+of harbouring her runaway slaves. At last an embassy arrived with the
+Lacedaemonian ultimatum. The ambassadors were Ramphias, Melesippus, and
+Agesander. Not a word was said on any of the old subjects; there was
+simply this: “Lacedaemon wishes the peace to continue, and there is no
+reason why it should not, if you would leave the Hellenes independent.”
+Upon this the Athenians held an assembly, and laid the matter before
+their consideration. It was resolved to deliberate once for all on all
+their demands, and to give them an answer. There were many speakers who
+came forward and gave their support to one side or the other, urging
+the necessity of war, or the revocation of the decree and the folly of
+allowing it to stand in the way of peace. Among them came forward
+Pericles, son of Xanthippus, the first man of his time at Athens,
+ablest alike in counsel and in action, and gave the following advice:
+
+“There is one principle, Athenians, which I hold to through everything,
+and that is the principle of no concession to the Peloponnesians. I
+know that the spirit which inspires men while they are being persuaded
+to make war is not always retained in action; that as circumstances
+change, resolutions change. Yet I see that now as before the same,
+almost literally the same, counsel is demanded of me; and I put it to
+those of you who are allowing yourselves to be persuaded, to support
+the national resolves even in the case of reverses, or to forfeit all
+credit for their wisdom in the event of success. For sometimes the
+course of things is as arbitrary as the plans of man; indeed this is
+why we usually blame chance for whatever does not happen as we
+expected. Now it was clear before that Lacedaemon entertained designs
+against us; it is still more clear now. The treaty provides that we
+shall mutually submit our differences to legal settlement, and that we
+shall meanwhile each keep what we have. Yet the Lacedaemonians never
+yet made us any such offer, never yet would accept from us any such
+offer; on the contrary, they wish complaints to be settled by war
+instead of by negotiation; and in the end we find them here dropping
+the tone of expostulation and adopting that of command. They order us
+to raise the siege of Potidæa, to let Aegina be independent, to revoke
+the Megara decree; and they conclude with an ultimatum warning us to
+leave the Hellenes independent. I hope that you will none of you think
+that we shall be going to war for a trifle if we refuse to revoke the
+Megara decree, which appears in front of their complaints, and the
+revocation of which is to save us from war, or let any feeling of
+self-reproach linger in your minds, as if you went to war for slight
+cause. Why, this trifle contains the whole seal and trial of your
+resolution. If you give way, you will instantly have to meet some
+greater demand, as having been frightened into obedience in the first
+instance; while a firm refusal will make them clearly understand that
+they must treat you more as equals. Make your decision therefore at
+once, either to submit before you are harmed, or if we are to go to
+war, as I for one think we ought, to do so without caring whether the
+ostensible cause be great or small, resolved against making concessions
+or consenting to a precarious tenure of our possessions. For all claims
+from an equal, urged upon a neighbour as commands before any attempt at
+legal settlement, be they great or be they small, have only one
+meaning, and that is slavery.
+
+“As to the war and the resources of either party, a detailed comparison
+will not show you the inferiority of Athens. Personally engaged in the
+cultivation of their land, without funds either private or public, the
+Peloponnesians are also without experience in long wars across sea,
+from the strict limit which poverty imposes on their attacks upon each
+other. Powers of this description are quite incapable of often manning
+a fleet or often sending out an army: they cannot afford the absence
+from their homes, the expenditure from their own funds; and besides,
+they have not command of the sea. Capital, it must be remembered,
+maintains a war more than forced contributions. Farmers are a class of
+men that are always more ready to serve in person than in purse.
+Confident that the former will survive the dangers, they are by no
+means so sure that the latter will not be prematurely exhausted,
+especially if the war last longer than they expect, which it very
+likely will. In a single battle the Peloponnesians and their allies may
+be able to defy all Hellas, but they are incapacitated from carrying on
+a war against a power different in character from their own, by the
+want of the single council-chamber requisite to prompt and vigorous
+action, and the substitution of a diet composed of various races, in
+which every state possesses an equal vote, and each presses its own
+ends, a condition of things which generally results in no action at
+all. The great wish of some is to avenge themselves on some particular
+enemy, the great wish of others to save their own pocket. Slow in
+assembling, they devote a very small fraction of the time to the
+consideration of any public object, most of it to the prosecution of
+their own objects. Meanwhile each fancies that no harm will come of his
+neglect, that it is the business of somebody else to look after this or
+that for him; and so, by the same notion being entertained by all
+separately, the common cause imperceptibly decays.
+
+“But the principal point is the hindrance that they will experience
+from want of money. The slowness with which it comes in will cause
+delay; but the opportunities of war wait for no man. Again, we need not
+be alarmed either at the possibility of their raising fortifications in
+Attica, or at their navy. It would be difficult for any system of
+fortifications to establish a rival city, even in time of peace, much
+more, surely, in an enemy’s country, with Athens just as much fortified
+against it as it against Athens; while a mere post might be able to do
+some harm to the country by incursions and by the facilities which it
+would afford for desertion, but can never prevent our sailing into
+their country and raising fortifications there, and making reprisals
+with our powerful fleet. For our naval skill is of more use to us for
+service on land, than their military skill for service at sea.
+Familiarity with the sea they will not find an easy acquisition. If you
+who have been practising at it ever since the Median invasion have not
+yet brought it to perfection, is there any chance of anything
+considerable being effected by an agricultural, unseafaring population,
+who will besides be prevented from practising by the constant presence
+of strong squadrons of observation from Athens? With a small squadron
+they might hazard an engagement, encouraging their ignorance by
+numbers; but the restraint of a strong force will prevent their moving,
+and through want of practice they will grow more clumsy, and
+consequently more timid. It must be kept in mind that seamanship, just
+like anything else, is a matter of art, and will not admit of being
+taken up occasionally as an occupation for times of leisure; on the
+contrary, it is so exacting as to leave leisure for nothing else.
+
+“Even if they were to touch the moneys at Olympia or Delphi, and try to
+seduce our foreign sailors by the temptation of higher pay, that would
+only be a serious danger if we could not still be a match for them by
+embarking our own citizens and the aliens resident among us. But in
+fact by this means we are always a match for them; and, best of all, we
+have a larger and higher class of native coxswains and sailors among
+our own citizens than all the rest of Hellas. And to say nothing of the
+danger of such a step, none of our foreign sailors would consent to
+become an outlaw from his country, and to take service with them and
+their hopes, for the sake of a few days’ high pay.
+
+“This, I think, is a tolerably fair account of the position of the
+Peloponnesians; that of Athens is free from the defects that I have
+criticized in them, and has other advantages of its own, which they can
+show nothing to equal. If they march against our country we will sail
+against theirs, and it will then be found that the desolation of the
+whole of Attica is not the same as that of even a fraction of
+Peloponnese; for they will not be able to supply the deficiency except
+by a battle, while we have plenty of land both on the islands and the
+continent. The rule of the sea is indeed a great matter. Consider for a
+moment. Suppose that we were islanders; can you conceive a more
+impregnable position? Well, this in future should, as far as possible,
+be our conception of our position. Dismissing all thought of our land
+and houses, we must vigilantly guard the sea and the city. No
+irritation that we may feel for the former must provoke us to a battle
+with the numerical superiority of the Peloponnesians. A victory would
+only be succeeded by another battle against the same superiority: a
+reverse involves the loss of our allies, the source of our strength,
+who will not remain quiet a day after we become unable to march against
+them. We must cry not over the loss of houses and land but of men’s
+lives; since houses and land do not gain men, but men them. And if I
+had thought that I could persuade you, I would have bid you go out and
+lay them waste with your own hands, and show the Peloponnesians that
+this at any rate will not make you submit.
+
+“I have many other reasons to hope for a favourable issue, if you can
+consent not to combine schemes of fresh conquest with the conduct of
+the war, and will abstain from wilfully involving yourselves in other
+dangers; indeed, I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the
+enemy’s devices. But these matters shall be explained in another
+speech, as events require; for the present dismiss these men with the
+answer that we will allow Megara the use of our market and harbours,
+when the Lacedaemonians suspend their alien acts in favour of us and
+our allies, there being nothing in the treaty to prevent either one or
+the other: that we will leave the cities independent, if independent we
+found them when we made the treaty, and when the Lacedaemonians grant
+to their cities an independence not involving subservience to
+Lacedaemonian interests, but such as each severally may desire: that we
+are willing to give the legal satisfaction which our agreements
+specify, and that we shall not commence hostilities, but shall resist
+those who do commence them. This is an answer agreeable at once to the
+rights and the dignity of Athens. It must be thoroughly understood that
+war is a necessity; but that the more readily we accept it, the less
+will be the ardour of our opponents, and that out of the greatest
+dangers communities and individuals acquire the greatest glory. Did not
+our fathers resist the Medes not only with resources far different from
+ours, but even when those resources had been abandoned; and more by
+wisdom than by fortune, more by daring than by strength, did not they
+beat off the barbarian and advance their affairs to their present
+height? We must not fall behind them, but must resist our enemies in
+any way and in every way, and attempt to hand down our power to our
+posterity unimpaired.”
+
+Such were the words of Pericles. The Athenians, persuaded of the wisdom
+of his advice, voted as he desired, and answered the Lacedaemonians as
+he recommended, both on the separate points and in the general; they
+would do nothing on dictation, but were ready to have the complaints
+settled in a fair and impartial manner by the legal method, which the
+terms of the truce prescribed. So the envoys departed home and did not
+return again.
+
+These were the charges and differences existing between the rival
+powers before the war, arising immediately from the affair at Epidamnus
+and Corcyra. Still intercourse continued in spite of them, and mutual
+communication. It was carried on without heralds, but not without
+suspicion, as events were occurring which were equivalent to a breach
+of the treaty and matter for war.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Beginning of the Peloponnesian War—First Invasion of Attica—Funeral
+Oration of Pericles
+
+
+The war between the Athenians and Peloponnesians and the allies on
+either side now really begins. For now all intercourse except through
+the medium of heralds ceased, and hostilities were commenced and
+prosecuted without intermission. The history follows the chronological
+order of events by summers and winters.
+
+The thirty years’ truce which was entered into after the conquest of
+Euboea lasted fourteen years. In the fifteenth, in the forty-eighth
+year of the priestess-ship of Chrysis at Argos, in the ephorate of
+Aenesias at Sparta, in the last month but two of the archonship of
+Pythodorus at Athens, and six months after the battle of Potidæa, just
+at the beginning of spring, a Theban force a little over three hundred
+strong, under the command of their Boeotarchs, Pythangelus, son of
+Phyleides, and Diemporus, son of Onetorides, about the first watch of
+the night, made an armed entry into Plataea, a town of Boeotia in
+alliance with Athens. The gates were opened to them by a Plataean
+called Naucleides, who, with his party, had invited them in, meaning to
+put to death the citizens of the opposite party, bring over the city to
+Thebes, and thus obtain power for themselves. This was arranged through
+Eurymachus, son of Leontiades, a person of great influence at Thebes.
+For Plataea had always been at variance with Thebes; and the latter,
+foreseeing that war was at hand, wished to surprise her old enemy in
+time of peace, before hostilities had actually broken out. Indeed this
+was how they got in so easily without being observed, as no guard had
+been posted. After the soldiers had grounded arms in the market-place,
+those who had invited them in wished them to set to work at once and go
+to their enemies’ houses. This, however, the Thebans refused to do, but
+determined to make a conciliatory proclamation, and if possible to come
+to a friendly understanding with the citizens. Their herald accordingly
+invited any who wished to resume their old place in the confederacy of
+their countrymen to ground arms with them, for they thought that in
+this way the city would readily join them.
+
+On becoming aware of the presence of the Thebans within their gates,
+and of the sudden occupation of the town, the Plataeans concluded in
+their alarm that more had entered than was really the case, the night
+preventing their seeing them. They accordingly came to terms and,
+accepting the proposal, made no movement; especially as the Thebans
+offered none of them any violence. But somehow or other, during the
+negotiations, they discovered the scanty numbers of the Thebans, and
+decided that they could easily attack and overpower them; the mass of
+the Plataeans being averse to revolting from Athens. At all events they
+resolved to attempt it. Digging through the party walls of the houses,
+they thus managed to join each other without being seen going through
+the streets, in which they placed wagons without the beasts in them, to
+serve as a barricade, and arranged everything else as seemed convenient
+for the occasion. When everything had been done that circumstances
+permitted, they watched their opportunity and went out of their houses
+against the enemy. It was still night, though daybreak was at hand: in
+daylight it was thought that their attack would be met by men full of
+courage and on equal terms with their assailants, while in darkness it
+would fall upon panic-stricken troops, who would also be at a
+disadvantage from their enemy’s knowledge of the locality. So they made
+their assault at once, and came to close quarters as quickly as they
+could.
+
+The Thebans, finding themselves outwitted, immediately closed up to
+repel all attacks made upon them. Twice or thrice they beat back their
+assailants. But the men shouted and charged them, the women and slaves
+screamed and yelled from the houses and pelted them with stones and
+tiles; besides, it had been raining hard all night; and so at last
+their courage gave way, and they turned and fled through the town. Most
+of the fugitives were quite ignorant of the right ways out, and this,
+with the mud, and the darkness caused by the moon being in her last
+quarter, and the fact that their pursuers knew their way about and
+could easily stop their escape, proved fatal to many. The only gate
+open was the one by which they had entered, and this was shut by one of
+the Plataeans driving the spike of a javelin into the bar instead of
+the bolt; so that even here there was no longer any means of exit. They
+were now chased all over the town. Some got on the wall and threw
+themselves over, in most cases with a fatal result. One party managed
+to find a deserted gate, and obtaining an axe from a woman, cut through
+the bar; but as they were soon observed only a few succeeded in getting
+out. Others were cut off in detail in different parts of the city. The
+most numerous and compact body rushed into a large building next to the
+city wall: the doors on the side of the street happened to be open, and
+the Thebans fancied that they were the gates of the town, and that
+there was a passage right through to the outside. The Plataeans, seeing
+their enemies in a trap, now consulted whether they should set fire to
+the building and burn them just as they were, or whether there was
+anything else that they could do with them; until at length these and
+the rest of the Theban survivors found wandering about the town agreed
+to an unconditional surrender of themselves and their arms to the
+Plataeans.
+
+While such was the fate of the party in Plataea, the rest of the
+Thebans who were to have joined them with all their forces before
+daybreak, in case of anything miscarrying with the body that had
+entered, received the news of the affair on the road, and pressed
+forward to their succour. Now Plataea is nearly eight miles from
+Thebes, and their march delayed by the rain that had fallen in the
+night, for the river Asopus had risen and was not easy of passage; and
+so, having to march in the rain, and being hindered in crossing the
+river, they arrived too late, and found the whole party either slain or
+captive. When they learned what had happened, they at once formed a
+design against the Plataeans outside the city. As the attack had been
+made in time of peace, and was perfectly unexpected, there were of
+course men and stock in the fields; and the Thebans wished if possible
+to have some prisoners to exchange against their countrymen in the
+town, should any chance to have been taken alive. Such was their plan.
+But the Plataeans suspected their intention almost before it was
+formed, and becoming alarmed for their fellow citizens outside the
+town, sent a herald to the Thebans, reproaching them for their
+unscrupulous attempt to seize their city in time of peace, and warning
+them against any outrage on those outside. Should the warning be
+disregarded, they threatened to put to death the men they had in their
+hands, but added that, on the Thebans retiring from their territory,
+they would surrender the prisoners to their friends. This is the Theban
+account of the matter, and they say that they had an oath given them.
+The Plataeans, on the other hand, do not admit any promise of an
+immediate surrender, but make it contingent upon subsequent
+negotiation: the oath they deny altogether. Be this as it may, upon the
+Thebans retiring from their territory without committing any injury,
+the Plataeans hastily got in whatever they had in the country and
+immediately put the men to death. The prisoners were a hundred and
+eighty in number; Eurymachus, the person with whom the traitors had
+negotiated, being one.
+
+This done, the Plataeans sent a messenger to Athens, gave back the dead
+to the Thebans under a truce, and arranged things in the city as seemed
+best to meet the present emergency. The Athenians meanwhile, having had
+word of the affair sent them immediately after its occurrence, had
+instantly seized all the Boeotians in Attica, and sent a herald to the
+Plataeans to forbid their proceeding to extremities with their Theban
+prisoners without instructions from Athens. The news of the men’s death
+had of course not arrived; the first messenger having left Plataea just
+when the Thebans entered it, the second just after their defeat and
+capture; so there was no later news. Thus the Athenians sent orders in
+ignorance of the facts; and the herald on his arrival found the men
+slain. After this the Athenians marched to Plataea and brought in
+provisions, and left a garrison in the place, also taking away the
+women and children and such of the men as were least efficient.
+
+After the affair at Plataea, the treaty had been broken by an overt
+act, and Athens at once prepared for war, as did also Lacedaemon and
+her allies. They resolved to send embassies to the King and to such
+other of the barbarian powers as either party could look to for
+assistance, and tried to ally themselves with the independent states at
+home. Lacedaemon, in addition to the existing marine, gave orders to
+the states that had declared for her in Italy and Sicily to build
+vessels up to a grand total of five hundred, the quota of each city
+being determined by its size, and also to provide a specified sum of
+money. Till these were ready they were to remain neutral and to admit
+single Athenian ships into their harbours. Athens on her part reviewed
+her existing confederacy, and sent embassies to the places more
+immediately round Peloponnese—Corcyra, Cephallenia, Acarnania, and
+Zacynthus—perceiving that if these could be relied on she could carry
+the war all round Peloponnese.
+
+And if both sides nourished the boldest hopes and put forth their
+utmost strength for the war, this was only natural. Zeal is always at
+its height at the commencement of an undertaking; and on this
+particular occasion Peloponnese and Athens were both full of young men
+whose inexperience made them eager to take up arms, while the rest of
+Hellas stood straining with excitement at the conflict of its leading
+cities. Everywhere predictions were being recited and oracles being
+chanted by such persons as collect them, and this not only in the
+contending cities. Further, some while before this, there was an
+earthquake at Delos, for the first time in the memory of the Hellenes.
+This was said and thought to be ominous of the events impending;
+indeed, nothing of the kind that happened was allowed to pass without
+remark. The good wishes of men made greatly for the Lacedaemonians,
+especially as they proclaimed themselves the liberators of Hellas. No
+private or public effort that could help them in speech or action was
+omitted; each thinking that the cause suffered wherever he could not
+himself see to it. So general was the indignation felt against Athens,
+whether by those who wished to escape from her empire, or were
+apprehensive of being absorbed by it. Such were the preparations and
+such the feelings with which the contest opened.
+
+The allies of the two belligerents were the following. These were the
+allies of Lacedaemon: all the Peloponnesians within the Isthmus except
+the Argives and Achaeans, who were neutral; Pellene being the only
+Achaean city that first joined in the war, though her example was
+afterwards followed by the rest. Outside Peloponnese the Megarians,
+Locrians, Boeotians, Phocians, Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Anactorians.
+Of these, ships were furnished by the Corinthians, Megarians,
+Sicyonians, Pellenians, Eleans, Ambraciots, and Leucadians; and cavalry
+by the Boeotians, Phocians, and Locrians. The other states sent
+infantry. This was the Lacedaemonian confederacy. That of Athens
+comprised the Chians, Lesbians, Plataeans, the Messenians in Naupactus,
+most of the Acarnanians, the Corcyraeans, Zacynthians, and some
+tributary cities in the following countries, viz., Caria upon the sea
+with her Dorian neighbours, Ionia, the Hellespont, the Thracian towns,
+the islands lying between Peloponnese and Crete towards the east, and
+all the Cyclades except Melos and Thera. Of these, ships were furnished
+by Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra, infantry and money by the rest. Such
+were the allies of either party and their resources for the war.
+
+Immediately after the affair at Plataea, Lacedaemon sent round orders
+to the cities in Peloponnese and the rest of her confederacy to prepare
+troops and the provisions requisite for a foreign campaign, in order to
+invade Attica. The several states were ready at the time appointed and
+assembled at the Isthmus: the contingent of each city being two-thirds
+of its whole force. After the whole army had mustered, the
+Lacedaemonian king, Archidamus, the leader of the expedition, called
+together the generals of all the states and the principal persons and
+officers, and exhorted them as follows:
+
+“Peloponnesians and allies, our fathers made many campaigns both within
+and without Peloponnese, and the elder men among us here are not
+without experience in war. Yet we have never set out with a larger
+force than the present; and if our numbers and efficiency are
+remarkable, so also is the power of the state against which we march.
+We ought not then to show ourselves inferior to our ancestors, or
+unequal to our own reputation. For the hopes and attention of all
+Hellas are bent upon the present effort, and its sympathy is with the
+enemy of the hated Athens. Therefore, numerous as the invading army may
+appear to be, and certain as some may think it that our adversary will
+not meet us in the field, this is no sort of justification for the
+least negligence upon the march; but the officers and men of each
+particular city should always be prepared for the advent of danger in
+their own quarters. The course of war cannot be foreseen, and its
+attacks are generally dictated by the impulse of the moment; and where
+overweening self-confidence has despised preparation, a wise
+apprehension often been able to make head against superior numbers. Not
+that confidence is out of place in an army of invasion, but in an
+enemy’s country it should also be accompanied by the precautions of
+apprehension: troops will by this combination be best inspired for
+dealing a blow, and best secured against receiving one. In the present
+instance, the city against which we are going, far from being so
+impotent for defence, is on the contrary most excellently equipped at
+all points; so that we have every reason to expect that they will take
+the field against us, and that if they have not set out already before
+we are there, they will certainly do so when they see us in their
+territory wasting and destroying their property. For men are always
+exasperated at suffering injuries to which they are not accustomed, and
+on seeing them inflicted before their very eyes; and where least
+inclined for reflection, rush with the greatest heat to action. The
+Athenians are the very people of all others to do this, as they aspire
+to rule the rest of the world, and are more in the habit of invading
+and ravaging their neighbours’ territory, than of seeing their own
+treated in the like fashion. Considering, therefore, the power of the
+state against which we are marching, and the greatness of the
+reputation which, according to the event, we shall win or lose for our
+ancestors and ourselves, remember as you follow where you may be led to
+regard discipline and vigilance as of the first importance, and to obey
+with alacrity the orders transmitted to you; as nothing contributes so
+much to the credit and safety of an army as the union of large bodies
+by a single discipline.”
+
+With this brief speech dismissing the assembly, Archidamus first sent
+off Melesippus, son of Diacritus, a Spartan, to Athens, in case she
+should be more inclined to submit on seeing the Peloponnesians actually
+on the march. But the Athenians did not admit into the city or to their
+assembly, Pericles having already carried a motion against admitting
+either herald or embassy from the Lacedaemonians after they had once
+marched out.
+
+The herald was accordingly sent away without an audience, and ordered
+to be beyond the frontier that same day; in future, if those who sent
+him had a proposition to make, they must retire to their own territory
+before they dispatched embassies to Athens. An escort was sent with
+Melesippus to prevent his holding communication with any one. When he
+reached the frontier and was just going to be dismissed, he departed
+with these words: “This day will be the beginning of great misfortunes
+to the Hellenes.” As soon as he arrived at the camp, and Archidamus
+learnt that the Athenians had still no thoughts of submitting, he at
+length began his march, and advanced with his army into their
+territory. Meanwhile the Boeotians, sending their contingent and
+cavalry to join the Peloponnesian expedition, went to Plataea with the
+remainder and laid waste the country.
+
+While the Peloponnesians were still mustering at the Isthmus, or on the
+march before they invaded Attica, Pericles, son of Xanthippus, one of
+the ten generals of the Athenians, finding that the invasion was to
+take place, conceived the idea that Archidamus, who happened to be his
+friend, might possibly pass by his estate without ravaging it. This he
+might do, either from a personal wish to oblige him, or acting under
+instructions from Lacedaemon for the purpose of creating a prejudice
+against him, as had been before attempted in the demand for the
+expulsion of the accursed family. He accordingly took the precaution of
+announcing to the Athenians in the assembly that, although Archidamus
+was his friend, yet this friendship should not extend to the detriment
+of the state, and that in case the enemy should make his houses and
+lands an exception to the rest and not pillage them, he at once gave
+them up to be public property, so that they should not bring him into
+suspicion. He also gave the citizens some advice on their present
+affairs in the same strain as before. They were to prepare for the war,
+and to carry in their property from the country. They were not to go
+out to battle, but to come into the city and guard it, and get ready
+their fleet, in which their real strength lay. They were also to keep a
+tight rein on their allies—the strength of Athens being derived from
+the money brought in by their payments, and success in war depending
+principally upon conduct and capital, had no reason to despond. Apart
+from other sources of income, an average revenue of six hundred talents
+of silver was drawn from the tribute of the allies; and there were
+still six thousand talents of coined silver in the Acropolis, out of
+nine thousand seven hundred that had once been there, from which the
+money had been taken for the porch of the Acropolis, the other public
+buildings, and for Potidæa. This did not include the uncoined gold and
+silver in public and private offerings, the sacred vessels for the
+processions and games, the Median spoils, and similar resources to the
+amount of five hundred talents. To this he added the treasures of the
+other temples. These were by no means inconsiderable, and might fairly
+be used. Nay, if they were ever absolutely driven to it, they might
+take even the gold ornaments of Athene herself; for the statue
+contained forty talents of pure gold and it was all removable. This
+might be used for self-preservation, and must every penny of it be
+restored. Such was their financial position—surely a satisfactory one.
+Then they had an army of thirteen thousand heavy infantry, besides
+sixteen thousand more in the garrisons and on home duty at Athens. This
+was at first the number of men on guard in the event of an invasion: it
+was composed of the oldest and youngest levies and the resident aliens
+who had heavy armour. The Phaleric wall ran for four miles, before it
+joined that round the city; and of this last nearly five had a guard,
+although part of it was left without one, viz., that between the Long
+Wall and the Phaleric. Then there were the Long Walls to Piraeus, a
+distance of some four miles and a half, the outer of which was manned.
+Lastly, the circumference of Piraeus with Munychia was nearly seven
+miles and a half; only half of this, however, was guarded. Pericles
+also showed them that they had twelve hundred horse including mounted
+archers, with sixteen hundred archers unmounted, and three hundred
+galleys fit for service. Such were the resources of Athens in the
+different departments when the Peloponnesian invasion was impending and
+hostilities were being commenced. Pericles also urged his usual
+arguments for expecting a favourable issue to the war.
+
+The Athenians listened to his advice, and began to carry in their wives
+and children from the country, and all their household furniture, even
+to the woodwork of their houses which they took down. Their sheep and
+cattle they sent over to Euboea and the adjacent islands. But they
+found it hard to move, as most of them had been always used to live in
+the country.
+
+From very early times this had been more the case with the Athenians
+than with others. Under Cecrops and the first kings, down to the reign
+of Theseus, Attica had always consisted of a number of independent
+townships, each with its own town hall and magistrates. Except in times
+of danger the king at Athens was not consulted; in ordinary seasons
+they carried on their government and settled their affairs without his
+interference; sometimes even they waged war against him, as in the case
+of the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus. In Theseus,
+however, they had a king of equal intelligence and power; and one of
+the chief features in his organization of the country was to abolish
+the council-chambers and magistrates of the petty cities, and to merge
+them in the single council-chamber and town hall of the present
+capital. Individuals might still enjoy their private property just as
+before, but they were henceforth compelled to have only one political
+centre, viz., Athens; which thus counted all the inhabitants of Attica
+among her citizens, so that when Theseus died he left a great state
+behind him. Indeed, from him dates the Synoecia, or Feast of Union;
+which is paid for by the state, and which the Athenians still keep in
+honour of the goddess. Before this the city consisted of the present
+citadel and the district beneath it looking rather towards the south.
+This is shown by the fact that the temples of the other deities,
+besides that of Athene, are in the citadel; and even those that are
+outside it are mostly situated in this quarter of the city, as that of
+the Olympian Zeus, of the Pythian Apollo, of Earth, and of Dionysus in
+the Marshes, the same in whose honour the older Dionysia are to this
+day celebrated in the month of Anthesterion not only by the Athenians
+but also by their Ionian descendants. There are also other ancient
+temples in this quarter. The fountain too, which, since the alteration
+made by the tyrants, has been called Enneacrounos, or Nine Pipes, but
+which, when the spring was open, went by the name of Callirhoe, or
+Fairwater, was in those days, from being so near, used for the most
+important offices. Indeed, the old fashion of using the water before
+marriage and for other sacred purposes is still kept up. Again, from
+their old residence in that quarter, the citadel is still known among
+Athenians as the city.
+
+The Athenians thus long lived scattered over Attica in independent
+townships. Even after the centralization of Theseus, old habit still
+prevailed; and from the early times down to the present war most
+Athenians still lived in the country with their families and
+households, and were consequently not at all inclined to move now,
+especially as they had only just restored their establishments after
+the Median invasion. Deep was their trouble and discontent at
+abandoning their houses and the hereditary temples of the ancient
+constitution, and at having to change their habits of life and to bid
+farewell to what each regarded as his native city.
+
+When they arrived at Athens, though a few had houses of their own to go
+to, or could find an asylum with friends or relatives, by far the
+greater number had to take up their dwelling in the parts of the city
+that were not built over and in the temples and chapels of the heroes,
+except the Acropolis and the temple of the Eleusinian Demeter and such
+other Places as were always kept closed. The occupation of the plot of
+ground lying below the citadel called the Pelasgian had been forbidden
+by a curse; and there was also an ominous fragment of a Pythian oracle
+which said:
+
+Leave the Pelasgian parcel desolate, Woe worth the day that men inhabit
+it!
+
+Yet this too was now built over in the necessity of the moment. And in
+my opinion, if the oracle proved true, it was in the opposite sense to
+what was expected. For the misfortunes of the state did not arise from
+the unlawful occupation, but the necessity of the occupation from the
+war; and though the god did not mention this, he foresaw that it would
+be an evil day for Athens in which the plot came to be inhabited. Many
+also took up their quarters in the towers of the walls or wherever else
+they could. For when they were all come in, the city proved too small
+to hold them; though afterwards they divided the Long Walls and a great
+part of Piraeus into lots and settled there. All this while great
+attention was being given to the war; the allies were being mustered,
+and an armament of a hundred ships equipped for Peloponnese. Such was
+the state of preparation at Athens.
+
+Meanwhile the army of the Peloponnesians was advancing. The first town
+they came to in Attica was Oenoe, where they to enter the country.
+Sitting down before it, they prepared to assault the wall with engines
+and otherwise. Oenoe, standing upon the Athenian and Boeotian border,
+was of course a walled town, and was used as a fortress by the
+Athenians in time of war. So the Peloponnesians prepared for their
+assault, and wasted some valuable time before the place. This delay
+brought the gravest censure upon Archidamus. Even during the levying of
+the war he had credit for weakness and Athenian sympathies by the half
+measures he had advocated; and after the army had assembled he had
+further injured himself in public estimation by his loitering at the
+Isthmus and the slowness with which the rest of the march had been
+conducted. But all this was as nothing to the delay at Oenoe. During
+this interval the Athenians were carrying in their property; and it was
+the belief of the Peloponnesians that a quick advance would have found
+everything still out, had it not been for his procrastination. Such was
+the feeling of the army towards Archidamus during the siege. But he, it
+is said, expected that the Athenians would shrink from letting their
+land be wasted, and would make their submission while it was still
+uninjured; and this was why he waited.
+
+But after he had assaulted Oenoe, and every possible attempt to take it
+had failed, as no herald came from Athens, he at last broke up his camp
+and invaded Attica. This was about eighty days after the Theban attempt
+upon Plataea, just in the middle of summer, when the corn was ripe, and
+Archidamus, son of Zeuxis, king of Lacedaemon, was in command.
+Encamping in Eleusis and the Thriasian plain, they began their ravages,
+and putting to flight some Athenian horse at a place called Rheiti, or
+the Brooks, they then advanced, keeping Mount Aegaleus on their right,
+through Cropia, until they reached Acharnae, the largest of the
+Athenian demes or townships. Sitting down before it, they formed a camp
+there, and continued their ravages for a long while.
+
+The reason why Archidamus remained in order of battle at Acharnae
+during this incursion, instead of descending into the plain, is said to
+have been this. He hoped that the Athenians might possibly be tempted
+by the multitude of their youth and the unprecedented efficiency of
+their service to come out to battle and attempt to stop the devastation
+of their lands. Accordingly, as they had met him at Eleusis or the
+Thriasian plain, he tried if they could be provoked to a sally by the
+spectacle of a camp at Acharnae. He thought the place itself a good
+position for encamping; and it seemed likely that such an important
+part of the state as the three thousand heavy infantry of the
+Acharnians would refuse to submit to the ruin of their property, and
+would force a battle on the rest of the citizens. On the other hand,
+should the Athenians not take the field during this incursion, he could
+then fearlessly ravage the plain in future invasions, and extend his
+advance up to the very walls of Athens. After the Acharnians had lost
+their own property they would be less willing to risk themselves for
+that of their neighbours; and so there would be division in the
+Athenian counsels. These were the motives of Archidamus for remaining
+at Acharnae.
+
+In the meanwhile, as long as the army was at Eleusis and the Thriasian
+plain, hopes were still entertained of its not advancing any nearer. It
+was remembered that Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon,
+had invaded Attica with a Peloponnesian army fourteen years before, but
+had retreated without advancing farther than Eleusis and Thria, which
+indeed proved the cause of his exile from Sparta, as it was thought he
+had been bribed to retreat. But when they saw the army at Acharnae,
+barely seven miles from Athens, they lost all patience. The territory
+of Athens was being ravaged before the very eyes of the Athenians, a
+sight which the young men had never seen before and the old only in the
+Median wars; and it was naturally thought a grievous insult, and the
+determination was universal, especially among the young men, to sally
+forth and stop it. Knots were formed in the streets and engaged in hot
+discussion; for if the proposed sally was warmly recommended, it was
+also in some cases opposed. Oracles of the most various import were
+recited by the collectors, and found eager listeners in one or other of
+the disputants. Foremost in pressing for the sally were the Acharnians,
+as constituting no small part of the army of the state, and as it was
+their land that was being ravaged. In short, the whole city was in a
+most excited state; Pericles was the object of general indignation; his
+previous counsels were totally forgotten; he was abused for not leading
+out the army which he commanded, and was made responsible for the whole
+of the public suffering.
+
+He, meanwhile, seeing anger and infatuation just now in the ascendant,
+and of his wisdom in refusing a sally, would not call either assembly
+or meeting of the people, fearing the fatal results of a debate
+inspired by passion and not by prudence. Accordingly he addressed
+himself to the defence of the city, and kept it as quiet as possible,
+though he constantly sent out cavalry to prevent raids on the lands
+near the city from flying parties of the enemy. There was a trifling
+affair at Phrygia between a squadron of the Athenian horse with the
+Thessalians and the Boeotian cavalry; in which the former had rather
+the best of it, until the heavy infantry advanced to the support of the
+Boeotians, when the Thessalians and Athenians were routed and lost a
+few men, whose bodies, however, were recovered the same day without a
+truce. The next day the Peloponnesians set up a trophy. Ancient
+alliance brought the Thessalians to the aid of Athens; those who came
+being the Larisaeans, Pharsalians, Cranonians, Pyrasians, Gyrtonians,
+and Pheraeans. The Larisaean commanders were Polymedes and Aristonus,
+two party leaders in Larisa; the Pharsalian general was Menon; each of
+the other cities had also its own commander.
+
+In the meantime the Peloponnesians, as the Athenians did not come out
+to engage them, broke up from Acharnae and ravaged some of the demes
+between Mount Parnes and Brilessus. While they were in Attica the
+Athenians sent off the hundred ships which they had been preparing
+round Peloponnese, with a thousand heavy infantry and four hundred
+archers on board, under the command of Carcinus, son of Xenotimus,
+Proteas, son of Epicles, and Socrates, son of Antigenes. This armament
+weighed anchor and started on its cruise, and the Peloponnesians, after
+remaining in Attica as long as their provisions lasted, retired through
+Boeotia by a different road to that by which they had entered. As they
+passed Oropus they ravaged the territory of Graea, which is held by the
+Oropians from Athens, and reaching Peloponnese broke up to their
+respective cities.
+
+After they had retired the Athenians set guards by land and sea at the
+points at which they intended to have regular stations during the war.
+They also resolved to set apart a special fund of a thousand talents
+from the moneys in the Acropolis. This was not to be spent, but the
+current expenses of the war were to be otherwise provided for. If any
+one should move or put to the vote a proposition for using the money
+for any purpose whatever except that of defending the city in the event
+of the enemy bringing a fleet to make an attack by sea, it should be a
+capital offence. With this sum of money they also set aside a special
+fleet of one hundred galleys, the best ships of each year, with their
+captains. None of these were to be used except with the money and
+against the same peril, should such peril arise.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred ships round Peloponnese,
+reinforced by a Corcyraean squadron of fifty vessels and some others of
+the allies in those parts, cruised about the coasts and ravaged the
+country. Among other places they landed in Laconia and made an assault
+upon Methone; there being no garrison in the place, and the wall being
+weak. But it so happened that Brasidas, son of Tellis, a Spartan, was
+in command of a guard for the defence of the district. Hearing of the
+attack, he hurried with a hundred heavy infantry to the assistance of
+the besieged, and dashing through the army of the Athenians, which was
+scattered over the country and had its attention turned to the wall,
+threw himself into Methone. He lost a few men in making good his
+entrance, but saved the place and won the thanks of Sparta by his
+exploit, being thus the first officer who obtained this notice during
+the war. The Athenians at once weighed anchor and continued their
+cruise. Touching at Pheia in Elis, they ravaged the country for two
+days and defeated a picked force of three hundred men that had come
+from the vale of Elis and the immediate neighbourhood to the rescue.
+But a stiff squall came down upon them, and, not liking to face it in a
+place where there was no harbour, most of them got on board their
+ships, and doubling Point Ichthys sailed into the port of Pheia. In the
+meantime the Messenians, and some others who could not get on board,
+marched over by land and took Pheia. The fleet afterwards sailed round
+and picked them up and then put to sea; Pheia being evacuated, as the
+main army of the Eleans had now come up. The Athenians continued their
+cruise, and ravaged other places on the coast.
+
+About the same time the Athenians sent thirty ships to cruise round
+Locris and also to guard Euboea; Cleopompus, son of Clinias, being in
+command. Making descents from the fleet he ravaged certain places on
+the sea-coast, and captured Thronium and took hostages from it. He also
+defeated at Alope the Locrians that had assembled to resist him.
+
+During the summer the Athenians also expelled the Aeginetans with their
+wives and children from Aegina, on the ground of their having been the
+chief agents in bringing the war upon them. Besides, Aegina lies so
+near Peloponnese that it seemed safer to send colonists of their own to
+hold it, and shortly afterwards the settlers were sent out. The
+banished Aeginetans found an asylum in Thyrea, which was given to them
+by Lacedaemon, not only on account of her quarrel with Athens, but also
+because the Aeginetans had laid her under obligations at the time of
+the earthquake and the revolt of the Helots. The territory of Thyrea is
+on the frontier of Argolis and Laconia, reaching down to the sea. Those
+of the Aeginetans who did not settle here were scattered over the rest
+of Hellas.
+
+The same summer, at the beginning of a new lunar month, the only time
+by the way at which it appears possible, the sun was eclipsed after
+noon. After it had assumed the form of a crescent and some of the stars
+had come out, it returned to its natural shape.
+
+During the same summer Nymphodorus, son of Pythes, an Abderite, whose
+sister Sitalces had married, was made their proxenus by the Athenians
+and sent for to Athens. They had hitherto considered him their enemy;
+but he had great influence with Sitalces, and they wished this prince
+to become their ally. Sitalces was the son of Teres and King of the
+Thracians. Teres, the father of Sitalces, was the first to establish
+the great kingdom of the Odrysians on a scale quite unknown to the rest
+of Thrace, a large portion of the Thracians being independent. This
+Teres is in no way related to Tereus who married Pandion’s daughter
+Procne from Athens; nor indeed did they belong to the same part of
+Thrace. Tereus lived in Daulis, part of what is now called Phocis, but
+which at that time was inhabited by Thracians. It was in this land that
+the women perpetrated the outrage upon Itys; and many of the poets when
+they mention the nightingale call it the Daulian bird. Besides, Pandion
+in contracting an alliance for his daughter would consider the
+advantages of mutual assistance, and would naturally prefer a match at
+the above moderate distance to the journey of many days which separates
+Athens from the Odrysians. Again the names are different; and this
+Teres was king of the Odrysians, the first by the way who attained to
+any power. Sitalces, his son, was now sought as an ally by the
+Athenians, who desired his aid in the reduction of the Thracian towns
+and of Perdiccas. Coming to Athens, Nymphodorus concluded the alliance
+with Sitalces and made his son Sadocus an Athenian citizen, and
+promised to finish the war in Thrace by persuading Sitalces to send the
+Athenians a force of Thracian horse and targeteers. He also reconciled
+them with Perdiccas, and induced them to restore Therme to him; upon
+which Perdiccas at once joined the Athenians and Phormio in an
+expedition against the Chalcidians. Thus Sitalces, son of Teres, King
+of the Thracians, and Perdiccas, son of Alexander, King of the
+Macedonians, became allies of Athens.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred vessels were still cruising
+round Peloponnese. After taking Sollium, a town belonging to Corinth,
+and presenting the city and territory to the Acarnanians of Palaira,
+they stormed Astacus, expelled its tyrant Evarchus, and gained the
+place for their confederacy. Next they sailed to the island of
+Cephallenia and brought it over without using force. Cephallenia lies
+off Acarnania and Leucas, and consists of four states, the Paleans,
+Cranians, Samaeans, and Pronaeans. Not long afterwards the fleet
+returned to Athens. Towards the autumn of this year the Athenians
+invaded the Megarid with their whole levy, resident aliens included,
+under the command of Pericles, son of Xanthippus. The Athenians in the
+hundred ships round Peloponnese on their journey home had just reached
+Aegina, and hearing that the citizens at home were in full force at
+Megara, now sailed over and joined them. This was without doubt the
+largest army of Athenians ever assembled, the state being still in the
+flower of her strength and yet unvisited by the plague. Full ten
+thousand heavy infantry were in the field, all Athenian citizens,
+besides the three thousand before Potidæa. Then the resident aliens who
+joined in the incursion were at least three thousand strong; besides
+which there was a multitude of light troops. They ravaged the greater
+part of the territory, and then retired. Other incursions into the
+Megarid were afterwards made by the Athenians annually during the war,
+sometimes only with cavalry, sometimes with all their forces. This went
+on until the capture of Nisaea. Atalanta also, the desert island off
+the Opuntian coast, was towards the end of this summer converted into a
+fortified post by the Athenians, in order to prevent privateers issuing
+from Opus and the rest of Locris and plundering Euboea. Such were the
+events of this summer after the return of the Peloponnesians from
+Attica.
+
+In the ensuing winter the Acarnanian Evarchus, wishing to return to
+Astacus, persuaded the Corinthians to sail over with forty ships and
+fifteen hundred heavy infantry and restore him; himself also hiring
+some mercenaries. In command of the force were Euphamidas, son of
+Aristonymus, Timoxenus, son of Timocrates, and Eumachus, son of
+Chrysis, who sailed over and restored him and, after failing in an
+attempt on some places on the Acarnanian coast which they were desirous
+of gaining, began their voyage home. Coasting along shore they touched
+at Cephallenia and made a descent on the Cranian territory, and losing
+some men by the treachery of the Cranians, who fell suddenly upon them
+after having agreed to treat, put to sea somewhat hurriedly and
+returned home.
+
+In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to
+those who had first fallen in this war. It was a custom of their
+ancestors, and the manner of it is as follows. Three days before the
+ceremony, the bones of the dead are laid out in a tent which has been
+erected; and their friends bring to their relatives such offerings as
+they please. In the funeral procession cypress coffins are borne in
+cars, one for each tribe; the bones of the deceased being placed in the
+coffin of their tribe. Among these is carried one empty bier decked for
+the missing, that is, for those whose bodies could not be recovered.
+Any citizen or stranger who pleases, joins in the procession: and the
+female relatives are there to wail at the burial. The dead are laid in
+the public sepulchre in the Beautiful suburb of the city, in which
+those who fall in war are always buried; with the exception of those
+slain at Marathon, who for their singular and extraordinary valour were
+interred on the spot where they fell. After the bodies have been laid
+in the earth, a man chosen by the state, of approved wisdom and eminent
+reputation, pronounces over them an appropriate panegyric; after which
+all retire. Such is the manner of the burying; and throughout the whole
+of the war, whenever the occasion arose, the established custom was
+observed. Meanwhile these were the first that had fallen, and Pericles,
+son of Xanthippus, was chosen to pronounce their eulogium. When the
+proper time arrived, he advanced from the sepulchre to an elevated
+platform in order to be heard by as many of the crowd as possible, and
+spoke as follows:
+
+“Most of my predecessors in this place have commended him who made this
+speech part of the law, telling us that it is well that it should be
+delivered at the burial of those who fall in battle. For myself, I
+should have thought that the worth which had displayed itself in deeds
+would be sufficiently rewarded by honours also shown by deeds; such as
+you now see in this funeral prepared at the people’s cost. And I could
+have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be
+imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall
+according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly
+upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that
+you are speaking the truth. On the one hand, the friend who is familiar
+with every fact of the story may think that some point has not been set
+forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on
+the other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be led by envy to
+suspect exaggeration if he hears anything above his own nature. For men
+can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally
+persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions
+recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it
+incredulity. However, since our ancestors have stamped this custom with
+their approval, it becomes my duty to obey the law and to try to
+satisfy your several wishes and opinions as best I may.
+
+“I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that they
+should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like the
+present. They dwelt in the country without break in the succession from
+generation to generation, and handed it down free to the present time
+by their valour. And if our more remote ancestors deserve praise, much
+more do our own fathers, who added to their inheritance the empire
+which we now possess, and spared no pains to be able to leave their
+acquisitions to us of the present generation. Lastly, there are few
+parts of our dominions that have not been augmented by those of us
+here, who are still more or less in the vigour of life; while the
+mother country has been furnished by us with everything that can enable
+her to depend on her own resources whether for war or for peace. That
+part of our history which tells of the military achievements which gave
+us our several possessions, or of the ready valour with which either we
+or our fathers stemmed the tide of Hellenic or foreign aggression, is a
+theme too familiar to my hearers for me to dilate on, and I shall
+therefore pass it by. But what was the road by which we reached our
+position, what the form of government under which our greatness grew,
+what the national habits out of which it sprang; these are questions
+which I may try to solve before I proceed to my panegyric upon these
+men; since I think this to be a subject upon which on the present
+occasion a speaker may properly dwell, and to which the whole
+assemblage, whether citizens or foreigners, may listen with advantage.
+
+“Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are
+rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration
+favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a
+democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in
+their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public
+life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being
+allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if
+a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity
+of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends
+also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous
+surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry
+with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those
+injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they
+inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations
+does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief
+safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws,
+particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they
+are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which,
+although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.
+
+“Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself
+from business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round,
+and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of
+pleasure and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our
+city draws the produce of the world into our harbour, so that to the
+Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as
+those of his own.
+
+“If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our
+antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien
+acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing,
+although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our
+liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native
+spirit of our citizens; while in education, where our rivals from their
+very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we
+live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every
+legitimate danger. In proof of this it may be noticed that the
+Lacedaemonians do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all
+their confederates; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the
+territory of a neighbour, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually
+vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes. Our united force
+was never yet encountered by any enemy, because we have at once to
+attend to our marine and to dispatch our citizens by land upon a
+hundred different services; so that, wherever they engage with some
+such fraction of our strength, a success against a detachment is
+magnified into a victory over the nation, and a defeat into a reverse
+suffered at the hands of our entire people. And yet if with habits not
+of labour but of ease, and courage not of art but of nature, we are
+still willing to encounter danger, we have the double advantage of
+escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of facing them
+in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from
+them.
+
+“Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of
+admiration. We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge
+without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and
+place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in
+declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides
+politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary
+citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair
+judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him
+who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we
+Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and,
+instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of
+action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at
+all. Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of
+daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both
+united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of
+ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will
+surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference
+between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from
+danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by
+conferring, not by receiving, favours. Yet, of course, the doer of the
+favour is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness
+to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly
+from the very consciousness that the return he makes will be a payment,
+not a free gift. And it is only the Athenians, who, fearless of
+consequences, confer their benefits not from calculations of
+expediency, but in the confidence of liberality.
+
+“In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I
+doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to
+depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a
+versatility, as the Athenian. And that this is no mere boast thrown out
+for the occasion, but plain matter of fact, the power of the state
+acquired by these habits proves. For Athens alone of her contemporaries
+is found when tested to be greater than her reputation, and alone gives
+no occasion to her assailants to blush at the antagonist by whom they
+have been worsted, or to her subjects to question her title by merit to
+rule. Rather, the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be
+ours, since we have not left our power without witness, but have shown
+it by mighty proofs; and far from needing a Homer for our panegyrist,
+or other of his craft whose verses might charm for the moment only for
+the impression which they gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have
+forced every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and
+everywhere, whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable
+monuments behind us. Such is the Athens for which these men, in the
+assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and
+well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.
+
+“Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our
+country, it has been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the
+same as theirs who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the
+panegyric of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by definite
+proofs established. That panegyric is now in a great measure complete;
+for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what the heroism of these
+and their like have made her, men whose fame, unlike that of most
+Hellenes, will be found to be only commensurate with their deserts. And
+if a test of worth be wanted, it is to be found in their closing scene,
+and this not only in cases in which it set the final seal upon their
+merit, but also in those in which it gave the first intimation of their
+having any. For there is justice in the claim that steadfastness in his
+country’s battles should be as a cloak to cover a man’s other
+imperfections; since the good action has blotted out the bad, and his
+merit as a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual.
+But none of these allowed either wealth with its prospect of future
+enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of
+freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. No, holding that
+vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than any personal
+blessings, and reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they
+joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their
+vengeance, and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope
+the uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they
+thought fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die
+resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from
+dishonour, but met danger face to face, and after one brief moment,
+while at the summit of their fortune, escaped, not from their fear, but
+from their glory.
+
+“So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must
+determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you
+may pray that it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas
+derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the
+defence of your country, though these would furnish a valuable text to
+a speaker even before an audience so alive to them as the present, you
+must yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon
+her from day to day, till love of her fills your hearts; and then, when
+all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by
+courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honour in action that men
+were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an
+enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their
+valour, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution
+that they could offer. For this offering of their lives made in common
+by them all they each of them individually received that renown which
+never grows old, and for a sepulchre, not so much that in which their
+bones have been deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their
+glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on
+which deed or story shall call for its commemoration. For heroes have
+the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where
+the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every
+breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of
+the heart. These take as your model and, judging happiness to be the
+fruit of freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the dangers of
+war. For it is not the miserable that would most justly be unsparing of
+their lives; these have nothing to hope for: it is rather they to whom
+continued life may bring reverses as yet unknown, and to whom a fall,
+if it came, would be most tremendous in its consequences. And surely,
+to a man of spirit, the degradation of cowardice must be immeasurably
+more grievous than the unfelt death which strikes him in the midst of
+his strength and patriotism!
+
+“Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the
+parents of the dead who may be here. Numberless are the chances to
+which, as they know, the life of man is subject; but fortunate indeed
+are they who draw for their lot a death so glorious as that which has
+caused your mourning, and to whom life has been so exactly measured as
+to terminate in the happiness in which it has been passed. Still I know
+that this is a hard saying, especially when those are in question of
+whom you will constantly be reminded by seeing in the homes of others
+blessings of which once you also boasted: for grief is felt not so much
+for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to
+which we have been long accustomed. Yet you who are still of an age to
+beget children must bear up in the hope of having others in their
+stead; not only will they help you to forget those whom you have lost,
+but will be to the state at once a reinforcement and a security; for
+never can a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who does
+not, like his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and
+apprehensions of a father. While those of you who have passed your
+prime must congratulate yourselves with the thought that the best part
+of your life was fortunate, and that the brief span that remains will
+be cheered by the fame of the departed. For it is only the love of
+honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would
+have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness.
+
+“Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle
+before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should
+your merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult
+not merely to overtake, but even to approach their renown. The living
+have envy to contend with, while those who are no longer in our path
+are honoured with a goodwill into which rivalry does not enter. On the
+other hand, if I must say anything on the subject of female excellence
+to those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised
+in this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling
+short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least
+talked of among the men, whether for good or for bad.
+
+“My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my
+ability, and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now
+satisfied. If deeds be in question, those who are here interred have
+received part of their honours already, and for the rest, their
+children will be brought up till manhood at the public expense: the
+state thus offers a valuable prize, as the garland of victory in this
+race of valour, for the reward both of those who have fallen and their
+survivors. And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are
+found the best citizens.
+
+“And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your
+relatives, you may depart.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Second Year of the War—The Plague of Athens—Position and Policy of
+Pericles—Fall of Potidæa
+
+
+Such was the funeral that took place during this winter, with which the
+first year of the war came to an end. In the first days of summer the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, with two-thirds of their forces as
+before, invaded Attica, under the command of Archidamus, son of
+Zeuxidamus, King of Lacedaemon, and sat down and laid waste the
+country. Not many days after their arrival in Attica the plague first
+began to show itself among the Athenians. It was said that it had
+broken out in many places previously in the neighbourhood of Lemnos and
+elsewhere; but a pestilence of such extent and mortality was nowhere
+remembered. Neither were the physicians at first of any service,
+ignorant as they were of the proper way to treat it, but they died
+themselves the most thickly, as they visited the sick most often; nor
+did any human art succeed any better. Supplications in the temples,
+divinations, and so forth were found equally futile, till the
+overwhelming nature of the disaster at last put a stop to them
+altogether.
+
+It first began, it is said, in the parts of Ethiopia above Egypt, and
+thence descended into Egypt and Libya and into most of the King’s
+country. Suddenly falling upon Athens, it first attacked the population
+in Piraeus—which was the occasion of their saying that the
+Peloponnesians had poisoned the reservoirs, there being as yet no wells
+there—and afterwards appeared in the upper city, when the deaths became
+much more frequent. All speculation as to its origin and its causes, if
+causes can be found adequate to produce so great a disturbance, I leave
+to other writers, whether lay or professional; for myself, I shall
+simply set down its nature, and explain the symptoms by which perhaps
+it may be recognized by the student, if it should ever break out again.
+This I can the better do, as I had the disease myself, and watched its
+operation in the case of others.
+
+That year then is admitted to have been otherwise unprecedentedly free
+from sickness; and such few cases as occurred all determined in this.
+As a rule, however, there was no ostensible cause; but people in good
+health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and
+redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the
+throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid
+breath. These symptoms were followed by sneezing and hoarseness, after
+which the pain soon reached the chest, and produced a hard cough. When
+it fixed in the stomach, it upset it; and discharges of bile of every
+kind named by physicians ensued, accompanied by very great distress. In
+most cases also an ineffectual retching followed, producing violent
+spasms, which in some cases ceased soon after, in others much later.
+Externally the body was not very hot to the touch, nor pale in its
+appearance, but reddish, livid, and breaking out into small pustules
+and ulcers. But internally it burned so that the patient could not bear
+to have on him clothing or linen even of the very lightest description;
+or indeed to be otherwise than stark naked. What they would have liked
+best would have been to throw themselves into cold water; as indeed was
+done by some of the neglected sick, who plunged into the rain-tanks in
+their agonies of unquenchable thirst; though it made no difference
+whether they drank little or much. Besides this, the miserable feeling
+of not being able to rest or sleep never ceased to torment them. The
+body meanwhile did not waste away so long as the distemper was at its
+height, but held out to a marvel against its ravages; so that when they
+succumbed, as in most cases, on the seventh or eighth day to the
+internal inflammation, they had still some strength in them. But if
+they passed this stage, and the disease descended further into the
+bowels, inducing a violent ulceration there accompanied by severe
+diarrhoea, this brought on a weakness which was generally fatal. For
+the disorder first settled in the head, ran its course from thence
+through the whole of the body, and, even where it did not prove mortal,
+it still left its mark on the extremities; for it settled in the privy
+parts, the fingers and the toes, and many escaped with the loss of
+these, some too with that of their eyes. Others again were seized with
+an entire loss of memory on their first recovery, and did not know
+either themselves or their friends.
+
+But while the nature of the distemper was such as to baffle all
+description, and its attacks almost too grievous for human nature to
+endure, it was still in the following circumstance that its difference
+from all ordinary disorders was most clearly shown. All the birds and
+beasts that prey upon human bodies, either abstained from touching them
+(though there were many lying unburied), or died after tasting them. In
+proof of this, it was noticed that birds of this kind actually
+disappeared; they were not about the bodies, or indeed to be seen at
+all. But of course the effects which I have mentioned could best be
+studied in a domestic animal like the dog.
+
+Such then, if we pass over the varieties of particular cases which were
+many and peculiar, were the general features of the distemper.
+Meanwhile the town enjoyed an immunity from all the ordinary disorders;
+or if any case occurred, it ended in this. Some died in neglect, others
+in the midst of every attention. No remedy was found that could be used
+as a specific; for what did good in one case, did harm in another.
+Strong and weak constitutions proved equally incapable of resistance,
+all alike being swept away, although dieted with the utmost precaution.
+By far the most terrible feature in the malady was the dejection which
+ensued when any one felt himself sickening, for the despair into which
+they instantly fell took away their power of resistance, and left them
+a much easier prey to the disorder; besides which, there was the awful
+spectacle of men dying like sheep, through having caught the infection
+in nursing each other. This caused the greatest mortality. On the one
+hand, if they were afraid to visit each other, they perished from
+neglect; indeed many houses were emptied of their inmates for want of a
+nurse: on the other, if they ventured to do so, death was the
+consequence. This was especially the case with such as made any
+pretensions to goodness: honour made them unsparing of themselves in
+their attendance in their friends’ houses, where even the members of
+the family were at last worn out by the moans of the dying, and
+succumbed to the force of the disaster. Yet it was with those who had
+recovered from the disease that the sick and the dying found most
+compassion. These knew what it was from experience, and had now no fear
+for themselves; for the same man was never attacked twice—never at
+least fatally. And such persons not only received the congratulations
+of others, but themselves also, in the elation of the moment, half
+entertained the vain hope that they were for the future safe from any
+disease whatsoever.
+
+An aggravation of the existing calamity was the influx from the country
+into the city, and this was especially felt by the new arrivals. As
+there were no houses to receive them, they had to be lodged at the hot
+season of the year in stifling cabins, where the mortality raged
+without restraint. The bodies of dying men lay one upon another, and
+half-dead creatures reeled about the streets and gathered round all the
+fountains in their longing for water. The sacred places also in which
+they had quartered themselves were full of corpses of persons that had
+died there, just as they were; for as the disaster passed all bounds,
+men, not knowing what was to become of them, became utterly careless of
+everything, whether sacred or profane. All the burial rites before in
+use were entirely upset, and they buried the bodies as best they could.
+Many from want of the proper appliances, through so many of their
+friends having died already, had recourse to the most shameless
+sepultures: sometimes getting the start of those who had raised a pile,
+they threw their own dead body upon the stranger’s pyre and ignited it;
+sometimes they tossed the corpse which they were carrying on the top of
+another that was burning, and so went off.
+
+Nor was this the only form of lawless extravagance which owed its
+origin to the plague. Men now coolly ventured on what they had formerly
+done in a corner, and not just as they pleased, seeing the rapid
+transitions produced by persons in prosperity suddenly dying and those
+who before had nothing succeeding to their property. So they resolved
+to spend quickly and enjoy themselves, regarding their lives and riches
+as alike things of a day. Perseverance in what men called honour was
+popular with none, it was so uncertain whether they would be spared to
+attain the object; but it was settled that present enjoyment, and all
+that contributed to it, was both honourable and useful. Fear of gods or
+law of man there was none to restrain them. As for the first, they
+judged it to be just the same whether they worshipped them or not, as
+they saw all alike perishing; and for the last, no one expected to live
+to be brought to trial for his offences, but each felt that a far
+severer sentence had been already passed upon them all and hung ever
+over their heads, and before this fell it was only reasonable to enjoy
+life a little.
+
+Such was the nature of the calamity, and heavily did it weigh on the
+Athenians; death raging within the city and devastation without. Among
+other things which they remembered in their distress was, very
+naturally, the following verse which the old men said had long ago been
+uttered:
+
+A Dorian war shall come and with it death.
+
+
+So a dispute arose as to whether dearth and not death had not been the
+word in the verse; but at the present juncture, it was of course
+decided in favour of the latter; for the people made their recollection
+fit in with their sufferings. I fancy, however, that if another Dorian
+war should ever afterwards come upon us, and a dearth should happen to
+accompany it, the verse will probably be read accordingly. The oracle
+also which had been given to the Lacedaemonians was now remembered by
+those who knew of it. When the god was asked whether they should go to
+war, he answered that if they put their might into it, victory would be
+theirs, and that he would himself be with them. With this oracle events
+were supposed to tally. For the plague broke out as soon as the
+Peloponnesians invaded Attica, and never entering Peloponnese (not at
+least to an extent worth noticing), committed its worst ravages at
+Athens, and next to Athens, at the most populous of the other towns.
+Such was the history of the plague.
+
+After ravaging the plain, the Peloponnesians advanced into the Paralian
+region as far as Laurium, where the Athenian silver mines are, and
+first laid waste the side looking towards Peloponnese, next that which
+faces Euboea and Andros. But Pericles, who was still general, held the
+same opinion as in the former invasion, and would not let the Athenians
+march out against them.
+
+However, while they were still in the plain, and had not yet entered
+the Paralian land, he had prepared an armament of a hundred ships for
+Peloponnese, and when all was ready put out to sea. On board the ships
+he took four thousand Athenian heavy infantry, and three hundred
+cavalry in horse transports, and then for the first time made out of
+old galleys; fifty Chian and Lesbian vessels also joining in the
+expedition. When this Athenian armament put out to sea, they left the
+Peloponnesians in Attica in the Paralian region. Arriving at Epidaurus
+in Peloponnese they ravaged most of the territory, and even had hopes
+of taking the town by an assault: in this however they were not
+successful. Putting out from Epidaurus, they laid waste the territory
+of Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione, all towns on the coast of
+Peloponnese, and thence sailing to Prasiai, a maritime town in Laconia,
+ravaged part of its territory, and took and sacked the place itself;
+after which they returned home, but found the Peloponnesians gone and
+no longer in Attica.
+
+During the whole time that the Peloponnesians were in Attica and the
+Athenians on the expedition in their ships, men kept dying of the
+plague both in the armament and in Athens. Indeed it was actually
+asserted that the departure of the Peloponnesians was hastened by fear
+of the disorder; as they heard from deserters that it was in the city,
+and also could see the burials going on. Yet in this invasion they
+remained longer than in any other, and ravaged the whole country, for
+they were about forty days in Attica.
+
+The same summer Hagnon, son of Nicias, and Cleopompus, son of Clinias,
+the colleagues of Pericles, took the armament of which he had lately
+made use, and went off upon an expedition against the Chalcidians in
+the direction of Thrace and Potidæa, which was still under siege. As
+soon as they arrived, they brought up their engines against Potidæa and
+tried every means of taking it, but did not succeed either in capturing
+the city or in doing anything else worthy of their preparations. For
+the plague attacked them here also, and committed such havoc as to
+cripple them completely, even the previously healthy soldiers of the
+former expedition catching the infection from Hagnon’s troops; while
+Phormio and the sixteen hundred men whom he commanded only escaped by
+being no longer in the neighbourhood of the Chalcidians. The end of it
+was that Hagnon returned with his ships to Athens, having lost one
+thousand and fifty out of four thousand heavy infantry in about forty
+days; though the soldiers stationed there before remained in the
+country and carried on the siege of Potidæa.
+
+After the second invasion of the Peloponnesians a change came over the
+spirit of the Athenians. Their land had now been twice laid waste; and
+war and pestilence at once pressed heavy upon them. They began to find
+fault with Pericles, as the author of the war and the cause of all
+their misfortunes, and became eager to come to terms with Lacedaemon,
+and actually sent ambassadors thither, who did not however succeed in
+their mission. Their despair was now complete and all vented itself
+upon Pericles. When he saw them exasperated at the present turn of
+affairs and acting exactly as he had anticipated, he called an
+assembly, being (it must be remembered) still general, with the double
+object of restoring confidence and of leading them from these angry
+feelings to a calmer and more hopeful state of mind. He accordingly
+came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+“I was not unprepared for the indignation of which I have been the
+object, as I know its causes; and I have called an assembly for the
+purpose of reminding you upon certain points, and of protesting against
+your being unreasonably irritated with me, or cowed by your sufferings.
+I am of opinion that national greatness is more for the advantage of
+private citizens, than any individual well-being coupled with public
+humiliation. A man may be personally ever so well off, and yet if his
+country be ruined he must be ruined with it; whereas a flourishing
+commonwealth always affords chances of salvation to unfortunate
+individuals. Since then a state can support the misfortunes of private
+citizens, while they cannot support hers, it is surely the duty of
+every one to be forward in her defence, and not like you to be so
+confounded with your domestic afflictions as to give up all thoughts of
+the common safety, and to blame me for having counselled war and
+yourselves for having voted it. And yet if you are angry with me, it is
+with one who, as I believe, is second to no man either in knowledge of
+the proper policy, or in the ability to expound it, and who is moreover
+not only a patriot but an honest one. A man possessing that knowledge
+without that faculty of exposition might as well have no idea at all on
+the matter: if he had both these gifts, but no love for his country, he
+would be but a cold advocate for her interests; while were his
+patriotism not proof against bribery, everything would go for a price.
+So that if you thought that I was even moderately distinguished for
+these qualities when you took my advice and went to war, there is
+certainly no reason now why I should be charged with having done wrong.
+
+“For those of course who have a free choice in the matter and whose
+fortunes are not at stake, war is the greatest of follies. But if the
+only choice was between submission with loss of independence, and
+danger with the hope of preserving that independence, in such a case it
+is he who will not accept the risk that deserves blame, not he who
+will. I am the same man and do not alter, it is you who change, since
+in fact you took my advice while unhurt, and waited for misfortune to
+repent of it; and the apparent error of my policy lies in the infirmity
+of your resolution, since the suffering that it entails is being felt
+by every one among you, while its advantage is still remote and obscure
+to all, and a great and sudden reverse having befallen you, your mind
+is too much depressed to persevere in your resolves. For before what is
+sudden, unexpected, and least within calculation, the spirit quails;
+and putting all else aside, the plague has certainly been an emergency
+of this kind. Born, however, as you are, citizens of a great state, and
+brought up, as you have been, with habits equal to your birth, you
+should be ready to face the greatest disasters and still to keep
+unimpaired the lustre of your name. For the judgment of mankind is as
+relentless to the weakness that falls short of a recognized renown, as
+it is jealous of the arrogance that aspires higher than its due. Cease
+then to grieve for your private afflictions, and address yourselves
+instead to the safety of the commonwealth.
+
+“If you shrink before the exertions which the war makes necessary, and
+fear that after all they may not have a happy result, you know the
+reasons by which I have often demonstrated to you the groundlessness of
+your apprehensions. If those are not enough, I will now reveal an
+advantage arising from the greatness of your dominion, which I think
+has never yet suggested itself to you, which I never mentioned in my
+previous speeches, and which has so bold a sound that I should scarce
+adventure it now, were it not for the unnatural depression which I see
+around me. You perhaps think that your empire extends only over your
+allies; I will declare to you the truth. The visible field of action
+has two parts, land and sea. In the whole of one of these you are
+completely supreme, not merely as far as you use it at present, but
+also to what further extent you may think fit: in fine, your naval
+resources are such that your vessels may go where they please, without
+the King or any other nation on earth being able to stop them. So that
+although you may think it a great privation to lose the use of your
+land and houses, still you must see that this power is something widely
+different; and instead of fretting on their account, you should really
+regard them in the light of the gardens and other accessories that
+embellish a great fortune, and as, in comparison, of little moment. You
+should know too that liberty preserved by your efforts will easily
+recover for us what we have lost, while, the knee once bowed, even what
+you have will pass from you. Your fathers receiving these possessions
+not from others, but from themselves, did not let slip what their
+labour had acquired, but delivered them safe to you; and in this
+respect at least you must prove yourselves their equals, remembering
+that to lose what one has got is more disgraceful than to be balked in
+getting, and you must confront your enemies not merely with spirit but
+with disdain. Confidence indeed a blissful ignorance can impart, ay,
+even to a coward’s breast, but disdain is the privilege of those who,
+like us, have been assured by reflection of their superiority to their
+adversary. And where the chances are the same, knowledge fortifies
+courage by the contempt which is its consequence, its trust being
+placed, not in hope, which is the prop of the desperate, but in a
+judgment grounded upon existing resources, whose anticipations are more
+to be depended upon.
+
+“Again, your country has a right to your services in sustaining the
+glories of her position. These are a common source of pride to you all,
+and you cannot decline the burdens of empire and still expect to share
+its honours. You should remember also that what you are fighting
+against is not merely slavery as an exchange for independence, but also
+loss of empire and danger from the animosities incurred in its
+exercise. Besides, to recede is no longer possible, if indeed any of
+you in the alarm of the moment has become enamoured of the honesty of
+such an unambitious part. For what you hold is, to speak somewhat
+plainly, a tyranny; to take it perhaps was wrong, but to let it go is
+unsafe. And men of these retiring views, making converts of others,
+would quickly ruin a state; indeed the result would be the same if they
+could live independent by themselves; for the retiring and unambitious
+are never secure without vigorous protectors at their side; in fine,
+such qualities are useless to an imperial city, though they may help a
+dependency to an unmolested servitude.
+
+“But you must not be seduced by citizens like these or angry with
+me—who, if I voted for war, only did as you did yourselves—in spite of
+the enemy having invaded your country and done what you could be
+certain that he would do, if you refused to comply with his demands;
+and although besides what we counted for, the plague has come upon
+us—the only point indeed at which our calculation has been at fault. It
+is this, I know, that has had a large share in making me more unpopular
+than I should otherwise have been—quite undeservedly, unless you are
+also prepared to give me the credit of any success with which chance
+may present you. Besides, the hand of heaven must be borne with
+resignation, that of the enemy with fortitude; this was the old way at
+Athens, and do not you prevent it being so still. Remember, too, that
+if your country has the greatest name in all the world, it is because
+she never bent before disaster; because she has expended more life and
+effort in war than any other city, and has won for herself a power
+greater than any hitherto known, the memory of which will descend to
+the latest posterity; even if now, in obedience to the general law of
+decay, we should ever be forced to yield, still it will be remembered
+that we held rule over more Hellenes than any other Hellenic state,
+that we sustained the greatest wars against their united or separate
+powers, and inhabited a city unrivalled by any other in resources or
+magnitude. These glories may incur the censure of the slow and
+unambitious; but in the breast of energy they will awake emulation, and
+in those who must remain without them an envious regret. Hatred and
+unpopularity at the moment have fallen to the lot of all who have
+aspired to rule others; but where odium must be incurred, true wisdom
+incurs it for the highest objects. Hatred also is short-lived; but that
+which makes the splendour of the present and the glory of the future
+remains for ever unforgotten. Make your decision, therefore, for glory
+then and honour now, and attain both objects by instant and zealous
+effort: do not send heralds to Lacedaemon, and do not betray any sign
+of being oppressed by your present sufferings, since they whose minds
+are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet
+it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities.”
+
+Such were the arguments by which Pericles tried to cure the Athenians
+of their anger against him and to divert their thoughts from their
+immediate afflictions. As a community he succeeded in convincing them;
+they not only gave up all idea of sending to Lacedaemon, but applied
+themselves with increased energy to the war; still as private
+individuals they could not help smarting under their sufferings, the
+common people having been deprived of the little that they were
+possessed, while the higher orders had lost fine properties with costly
+establishments and buildings in the country, and, worst of all, had war
+instead of peace. In fact, the public feeling against him did not
+subside until he had been fined. Not long afterwards, however,
+according to the way of the multitude, they again elected him general
+and committed all their affairs to his hands, having now become less
+sensitive to their private and domestic afflictions, and understanding
+that he was the best man of all for the public necessities. For as long
+as he was at the head of the state during the peace, he pursued a
+moderate and conservative policy; and in his time its greatness was at
+its height. When the war broke out, here also he seems to have rightly
+gauged the power of his country. He outlived its commencement two years
+and six months, and the correctness of his previsions respecting it
+became better known by his death. He told them to wait quietly, to pay
+attention to their marine, to attempt no new conquests, and to expose
+the city to no hazards during the war, and doing this, promised them a
+favourable result. What they did was the very contrary, allowing
+private ambitions and private interests, in matters apparently quite
+foreign to the war, to lead them into projects unjust both to
+themselves and to their allies—projects whose success would only
+conduce to the honour and advantage of private persons, and whose
+failure entailed certain disaster on the country in the war. The causes
+of this are not far to seek. Pericles indeed, by his rank, ability, and
+known integrity, was enabled to exercise an independent control over
+the multitude—in short, to lead them instead of being led by them; for
+as he never sought power by improper means, he was never compelled to
+flatter them, but, on the contrary, enjoyed so high an estimation that
+he could afford to anger them by contradiction. Whenever he saw them
+unseasonably and insolently elated, he would with a word reduce them to
+alarm; on the other hand, if they fell victims to a panic, he could at
+once restore them to confidence. In short, what was nominally a
+democracy became in his hands government by the first citizen. With his
+successors it was different. More on a level with one another, and each
+grasping at supremacy, they ended by committing even the conduct of
+state affairs to the whims of the multitude. This, as might have been
+expected in a great and sovereign state, produced a host of blunders,
+and amongst them the Sicilian expedition; though this failed not so
+much through a miscalculation of the power of those against whom it was
+sent, as through a fault in the senders in not taking the best measures
+afterwards to assist those who had gone out, but choosing rather to
+occupy themselves with private cabals for the leadership of the
+commons, by which they not only paralysed operations in the field, but
+also first introduced civil discord at home. Yet after losing most of
+their fleet besides other forces in Sicily, and with faction already
+dominant in the city, they could still for three years make head
+against their original adversaries, joined not only by the Sicilians,
+but also by their own allies nearly all in revolt, and at last by the
+King’s son, Cyrus, who furnished the funds for the Peloponnesian navy.
+Nor did they finally succumb till they fell the victims of their own
+intestine disorders. So superfluously abundant were the resources from
+which the genius of Pericles foresaw an easy triumph in the war over
+the unaided forces of the Peloponnesians.
+
+During the same summer the Lacedaemonians and their allies made an
+expedition with a hundred ships against Zacynthus, an island lying off
+the coast of Elis, peopled by a colony of Achaeans from Peloponnese,
+and in alliance with Athens. There were a thousand Lacedaemonian heavy
+infantry on board, and Cnemus, a Spartan, as admiral. They made a
+descent from their ships, and ravaged most of the country; but as the
+inhabitants would not submit, they sailed back home.
+
+At the end of the same summer the Corinthian Aristeus, Aneristus,
+Nicolaus, and Stratodemus, envoys from Lacedaemon, Timagoras, a Tegean,
+and a private individual named Pollis from Argos, on their way to Asia
+to persuade the King to supply funds and join in the war, came to
+Sitalces, son of Teres in Thrace, with the idea of inducing him, if
+possible, to forsake the alliance of Athens and to march on Potidæa
+then besieged by an Athenian force, and also of getting conveyed by his
+means to their destination across the Hellespont to Pharnabazus, who
+was to send them up the country to the King. But there chanced to be
+with Sitalces some Athenian ambassadors—Learchus, son of Callimachus,
+and Ameiniades, son of Philemon—who persuaded Sitalces’ son, Sadocus,
+the new Athenian citizen, to put the men into their hands and thus
+prevent their crossing over to the King and doing their part to injure
+the country of his choice. He accordingly had them seized, as they were
+travelling through Thrace to the vessel in which they were to cross the
+Hellespont, by a party whom he had sent on with Learchus and
+Ameiniades, and gave orders for their delivery to the Athenian
+ambassadors, by whom they were brought to Athens. On their arrival, the
+Athenians, afraid that Aristeus, who had been notably the prime mover
+in the previous affairs of Potidæa and their Thracian possessions,
+might live to do them still more mischief if he escaped, slew them all
+the same day, without giving them a trial or hearing the defence which
+they wished to offer, and cast their bodies into a pit; thinking
+themselves justified in using in retaliation the same mode of warfare
+which the Lacedaemonians had begun, when they slew and cast into pits
+all the Athenian and allied traders whom they caught on board the
+merchantmen round Peloponnese. Indeed, at the outset of the war, the
+Lacedaemonians butchered as enemies all whom they took on the sea,
+whether allies of Athens or neutrals.
+
+About the same time towards the close of the summer, the Ambraciot
+forces, with a number of barbarians that they had raised, marched
+against the Amphilochian Argos and the rest of that country. The origin
+of their enmity against the Argives was this. This Argos and the rest
+of Amphilochia were colonized by Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus.
+Dissatisfied with the state of affairs at home on his return thither
+after the Trojan War, he built this city in the Ambracian Gulf, and
+named it Argos after his own country. This was the largest town in
+Amphilochia, and its inhabitants the most powerful. Under the pressure
+of misfortune many generations afterwards, they called in the
+Ambraciots, their neighbours on the Amphilochian border, to join their
+colony; and it was by this union with the Ambraciots that they learnt
+their present Hellenic speech, the rest of the Amphilochians being
+barbarians. After a time the Ambraciots expelled the Argives and held
+the city themselves. Upon this the Amphilochians gave themselves over
+to the Acarnanians; and the two together called the Athenians, who sent
+them Phormio as general and thirty ships; upon whose arrival they took
+Argos by storm, and made slaves of the Ambraciots; and the
+Amphilochians and Acarnanians inhabited the town in common. After this
+began the alliance between the Athenians and Acarnanians. The enmity of
+the Ambraciots against the Argives thus commenced with the enslavement
+of their citizens; and afterwards during the war they collected this
+armament among themselves and the Chaonians, and other of the
+neighbouring barbarians. Arrived before Argos, they became masters of
+the country; but not being successful in their attacks upon the town,
+returned home and dispersed among their different peoples.
+
+Such were the events of the summer. The ensuing winter the Athenians
+sent twenty ships round Peloponnese, under the command of Phormio, who
+stationed himself at Naupactus and kept watch against any one sailing
+in or out of Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf. Six others went to Caria
+and Lycia under Melesander, to collect tribute in those parts, and also
+to prevent the Peloponnesian privateers from taking up their station in
+those waters and molesting the passage of the merchantmen from Phaselis
+and Phoenicia and the adjoining continent. However, Melesander, going
+up the country into Lycia with a force of Athenians from the ships and
+the allies, was defeated and killed in battle, with the loss of a
+number of his troops.
+
+The same winter the Potidæans at length found themselves no longer able
+to hold out against their besiegers. The inroads of the Peloponnesians
+into Attica had not had the desired effect of making the Athenians
+raise the siege. Provisions there were none left; and so far had
+distress for food gone in Potidæa that, besides a number of other
+horrors, instances had even occurred of the people having eaten one
+another. In this extremity they at last made proposals for capitulating
+to the Athenian generals in command against them—Xenophon, son of
+Euripides, Hestiodorus, son of Aristocleides, and Phanomachus, son of
+Callimachus. The generals accepted their proposals, seeing the
+sufferings of the army in so exposed a position; besides which the
+state had already spent two thousand talents upon the siege. The terms
+of the capitulation were as follows: a free passage out for themselves,
+their children, wives and auxiliaries, with one garment apiece, the
+women with two, and a fixed sum of money for their journey. Under this
+treaty they went out to Chalcidice and other places, according as was
+their power. The Athenians, however, blamed the generals for granting
+terms without instructions from home, being of opinion that the place
+would have had to surrender at discretion. They afterwards sent
+settlers of their own to Potidæa, and colonized it. Such were the
+events of the winter, and so ended the second year of this war of which
+Thucydides was the historian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Third Year of the War—Investment of Plataea—Naval Victories of
+Phormio—Thracian Irruption into Macedonia under Sitalces
+
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies, instead of
+invading Attica, marched against Plataea, under the command of
+Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. He had
+encamped his army and was about to lay waste the country, when the
+Plataeans hastened to send envoys to him, and spoke as follows:
+“Archidamus and Lacedaemonians, in invading the Plataean territory, you
+do what is wrong in itself, and worthy neither of yourselves nor of the
+fathers who begot you. Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, your countryman,
+after freeing Hellas from the Medes with the help of those Hellenes who
+were willing to undertake the risk of the battle fought near our city,
+offered sacrifice to Zeus the Liberator in the marketplace of Plataea,
+and calling all the allies together restored to the Plataeans their
+city and territory, and declared it independent and inviolate against
+aggression or conquest. Should any such be attempted, the allies
+present were to help according to their power. Your fathers rewarded us
+thus for the courage and patriotism that we displayed at that perilous
+epoch; but you do just the contrary, coming with our bitterest enemies,
+the Thebans, to enslave us. We appeal, therefore, to the gods to whom
+the oaths were then made, to the gods of your ancestors, and lastly to
+those of our country, and call upon you to refrain from violating our
+territory or transgressing the oaths, and to let us live independent,
+as Pausanias decreed.”
+
+The Plataeans had got thus far when they were cut short by Archidamus
+saying: “There is justice, Plataeans, in what you say, if you act up to
+your words. According, to the grant of Pausanias, continue to be
+independent yourselves, and join in freeing those of your fellow
+countrymen who, after sharing in the perils of that period, joined in
+the oaths to you, and are now subject to the Athenians; for it is to
+free them and the rest that all this provision and war has been made. I
+could wish that you would share our labours and abide by the oaths
+yourselves; if this is impossible, do what we have already required of
+you—remain neutral, enjoying your own; join neither side, but receive
+both as friends, neither as allies for the war. With this we shall be
+satisfied.” Such were the words of Archidamus. The Plataeans, after
+hearing what he had to say, went into the city and acquainted the
+people with what had passed, and presently returned for answer that it
+was impossible for them to do what he proposed without consulting the
+Athenians, with whom their children and wives now were; besides which
+they had their fears for the town. After his departure, what was to
+prevent the Athenians from coming and taking it out of their hands, or
+the Thebans, who would be included in the oaths, from taking advantage
+of the proposed neutrality to make a second attempt to seize the city?
+Upon these points he tried to reassure them by saying: “You have only
+to deliver over the city and houses to us Lacedaemonians, to point out
+the boundaries of your land, the number of your fruit-trees, and
+whatever else can be numerically stated, and yourselves to withdraw
+wherever you like as long as the war shall last. When it is over we
+will restore to you whatever we received, and in the interim hold it in
+trust and keep it in cultivation, paying you a sufficient allowance.”
+
+When they had heard what he had to say, they re-entered the city, and
+after consulting with the people said that they wished first to
+acquaint the Athenians with this proposal, and in the event of their
+approving to accede to it; in the meantime they asked him to grant them
+a truce and not to lay waste their territory. He accordingly granted a
+truce for the number of days requisite for the journey, and meanwhile
+abstained from ravaging their territory. The Plataean envoys went to
+Athens, and consulted with the Athenians, and returned with the
+following message to those in the city: “The Athenians say, Plataeans,
+that they never hitherto, since we became their allies, on any occasion
+abandoned us to an enemy, nor will they now neglect us, but will help
+us according to their ability; and they adjure you by the oaths which
+your fathers swore, to keep the alliance unaltered.”
+
+On the delivery of this message by the envoys, the Plataeans resolved
+not to be unfaithful to the Athenians but to endure, if it must be,
+seeing their lands laid waste and any other trials that might come to
+them, and not to send out again, but to answer from the wall that it
+was impossible for them to do as the Lacedaemonians proposed. As soon
+as he had received this answer, King Archidamus proceeded first to make
+a solemn appeal to the gods and heroes of the country in words
+following: “Ye gods and heroes of the Plataean territory, be my
+witnesses that not as aggressors originally, nor until these had first
+departed from the common oath, did we invade this land, in which our
+fathers offered you their prayers before defeating the Medes, and which
+you made auspicious to the Hellenic arms; nor shall we be aggressors in
+the measures to which we may now resort, since we have made many fair
+proposals but have not been successful. Graciously accord that those
+who were the first to offend may be punished for it, and that vengeance
+may be attained by those who would righteously inflict it.”
+
+After this appeal to the gods Archidamus put his army in motion. First
+he enclosed the town with a palisade formed of the fruit-trees which
+they cut down, to prevent further egress from Plataea; next they threw
+up a mound against the city, hoping that the largeness of the force
+employed would ensure the speedy reduction of the place. They
+accordingly cut down timber from Cithaeron, and built it up on either
+side, laying it like lattice-work to serve as a wall to keep the mound
+from spreading abroad, and carried to it wood and stones and earth and
+whatever other material might help to complete it. They continued to
+work at the mound for seventy days and nights without intermission,
+being divided into relief parties to allow of some being employed in
+carrying while others took sleep and refreshment; the Lacedaemonian
+officer attached to each contingent keeping the men to the work. But
+the Plataeans, observing the progress of the mound, constructed a wall
+of wood and fixed it upon that part of the city wall against which the
+mound was being erected, and built up bricks inside it which they took
+from the neighbouring houses. The timbers served to bind the building
+together, and to prevent its becoming weak as it advanced in height; it
+had also a covering of skins and hides, which protected the woodwork
+against the attacks of burning missiles and allowed the men to work in
+safety. Thus the wall was raised to a great height, and the mound
+opposite made no less rapid progress. The Plataeans also thought of
+another expedient; they pulled out part of the wall upon which the
+mound abutted, and carried the earth into the city.
+
+Discovering this the Peloponnesians twisted up clay in wattles of reed
+and threw it into the breach formed in the mound, in order to give it
+consistency and prevent its being carried away like the soil. Stopped
+in this way the Plataeans changed their mode of operation, and digging
+a mine from the town calculated their way under the mound, and began to
+carry off its material as before. This went on for a long while without
+the enemy outside finding it out, so that for all they threw on the top
+their mound made no progress in proportion, being carried away from
+beneath and constantly settling down in the vacuum. But the Plataeans,
+fearing that even thus they might not be able to hold out against the
+superior numbers of the enemy, had yet another invention. They stopped
+working at the large building in front of the mound, and starting at
+either end of it inside from the old low wall, built a new one in the
+form of a crescent running in towards the town; in order that in the
+event of the great wall being taken this might remain, and the enemy
+have to throw up a fresh mound against it, and as they advanced within
+might not only have their trouble over again, but also be exposed to
+missiles on their flanks. While raising the mound the Peloponnesians
+also brought up engines against the city, one of which was brought up
+upon the mound against the great building and shook down a good piece
+of it, to the no small alarm of the Plataeans. Others were advanced
+against different parts of the wall but were lassoed and broken by the
+Plataeans; who also hung up great beams by long iron chains from either
+extremity of two poles laid on the wall and projecting over it, and
+drew them up at an angle whenever any point was threatened by the
+engine, and loosing their hold let the beam go with its chains slack,
+so that it fell with a run and snapped off the nose of the battering
+ram.
+
+After this the Peloponnesians, finding that their engines effected
+nothing, and that their mound was met by the counterwork, concluded
+that their present means of offence were unequal to the taking of the
+city, and prepared for its circumvallation. First, however, they
+determined to try the effects of fire and see whether they could not,
+with the help of a wind, burn the town, as it was not a large one;
+indeed they thought of every possible expedient by which the place
+might be reduced without the expense of a blockade. They accordingly
+brought faggots of brushwood and threw them from the mound, first into
+the space between it and the wall; and this soon becoming full from the
+number of hands at work, they next heaped the faggots up as far into
+the town as they could reach from the top, and then lighted the wood by
+setting fire to it with sulphur and pitch. The consequence was a fire
+greater than any one had ever yet seen produced by human agency, though
+it could not of course be compared to the spontaneous conflagrations
+sometimes known to occur through the wind rubbing the branches of a
+mountain forest together. And this fire was not only remarkable for its
+magnitude, but was also, at the end of so many perils, within an ace of
+proving fatal to the Plataeans; a great part of the town became
+entirely inaccessible, and had a wind blown upon it, in accordance with
+the hopes of the enemy, nothing could have saved them. As it was, there
+is also a story of heavy rain and thunder having come on by which the
+fire was put out and the danger averted.
+
+Failing in this last attempt the Peloponnesians left a portion of their
+forces on the spot, dismissing the rest, and built a wall of
+circumvallation round the town, dividing the ground among the various
+cities present; a ditch being made within and without the lines, from
+which they got their bricks. All being finished by about the rising of
+Arcturus, they left men enough to man half the wall, the rest being
+manned by the Boeotians, and drawing off their army dispersed to their
+several cities. The Plataeans had before sent off their wives and
+children and oldest men and the mass of the non-combatants to Athens;
+so that the number of the besieged left in the place comprised four
+hundred of their own citizens, eighty Athenians, and a hundred and ten
+women to bake their bread. This was the sum total at the commencement
+of the siege, and there was no one else within the walls, bond or free.
+Such were the arrangements made for the blockade of Plataea.
+
+The same summer and simultaneously with the expedition against Plataea,
+the Athenians marched with two thousand heavy infantry and two hundred
+horse against the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace and the
+Bottiaeans, just as the corn was getting ripe, under the command of
+Xenophon, son of Euripides, with two colleagues. Arriving before
+Spartolus in Bottiaea, they destroyed the corn and had some hopes of
+the city coming over through the intrigues of a faction within. But
+those of a different way of thinking had sent to Olynthus; and a
+garrison of heavy infantry and other troops arrived accordingly. These
+issuing from Spartolus were engaged by the Athenians in front of the
+town: the Chalcidian heavy infantry, and some auxiliaries with them,
+were beaten and retreated into Spartolus; but the Chalcidian horse and
+light troops defeated the horse and light troops of the Athenians. The
+Chalcidians had already a few targeteers from Crusis, and presently
+after the battle were joined by some others from Olynthus; upon seeing
+whom the light troops from Spartolus, emboldened by this accession and
+by their previous success, with the help of the Chalcidian horse and
+the reinforcement just arrived again attacked the Athenians, who
+retired upon the two divisions which they had left with their baggage.
+Whenever the Athenians advanced, their adversary gave way, pressing
+them with missiles the instant they began to retire. The Chalcidian
+horse also, riding up and charging them just as they pleased, at last
+caused a panic amongst them and routed and pursued them to a great
+distance. The Athenians took refuge in Potidæa, and afterwards
+recovered their dead under truce, and returned to Athens with the
+remnant of their army; four hundred and thirty men and all the generals
+having fallen. The Chalcidians and Bottiaeans set up a trophy, took up
+their dead, and dispersed to their several cities.
+
+The same summer, not long after this, the Ambraciots and Chaonians,
+being desirous of reducing the whole of Acarnania and detaching it from
+Athens, persuaded the Lacedaemonians to equip a fleet from their
+confederacy and send a thousand heavy infantry to Acarnania,
+representing that, if a combined movement were made by land and sea,
+the coast Acarnanians would be unable to march, and the conquest of
+Zacynthus and Cephallenia easily following on the possession of
+Acarnania, the cruise round Peloponnese would be no longer so
+convenient for the Athenians. Besides which there was a hope of taking
+Naupactus. The Lacedaemonians accordingly at once sent off a few
+vessels with Cnemus, who was still high admiral, and the heavy infantry
+on board; and sent round orders for the fleet to equip as quickly as
+possible and sail to Leucas. The Corinthians were the most forward in
+the business; the Ambraciots being a colony of theirs. While the ships
+from Corinth, Sicyon, and the neighbourhood were getting ready, and
+those from Leucas, Anactorium, and Ambracia, which had arrived before,
+were waiting for them at Leucas, Cnemus and his thousand heavy infantry
+had run into the gulf, giving the slip to Phormio, the commander of the
+Athenian squadron stationed off Naupactus, and began at once to prepare
+for the land expedition. The Hellenic troops with him consisted of the
+Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Anactorians, and the thousand
+Peloponnesians with whom he came; the barbarian of a thousand
+Chaonians, who, belonging to a nation that has no king, were led by
+Photys and Nicanor, the two members of the royal family to whom the
+chieftainship for that year had been confided. With the Chaonians came
+also some Thesprotians, like them without a king, some Molossians and
+Atintanians led by Sabylinthus, the guardian of King Tharyps who was
+still a minor, and some Paravaeans, under their king Oroedus,
+accompanied by a thousand Orestians, subjects of King Antichus and
+placed by him under the command of Oroedus. There were also a thousand
+Macedonians sent by Perdiccas without the knowledge of the Athenians,
+but they arrived too late. With this force Cnemus set out, without
+waiting for the fleet from Corinth. Passing through the territory of
+Amphilochian Argos, and sacking the open village of Limnaea, they
+advanced to Stratus the Acarnanian capital; this once taken, the rest
+of the country, they felt convinced, would speedily follow.
+
+The Acarnanians, finding themselves invaded by a large army by land,
+and from the sea threatened by a hostile fleet, made no combined
+attempt at resistance, but remained to defend their homes, and sent for
+help to Phormio, who replied that, when a fleet was on the point of
+sailing from Corinth, it was impossible for him to leave Naupactus
+unprotected. The Peloponnesians meanwhile and their allies advanced
+upon Stratus in three divisions, with the intention of encamping near
+it and attempting the wall by force if they failed to succeed by
+negotiation. The order of march was as follows: the centre was occupied
+by the Chaonians and the rest of the barbarians, with the Leucadians
+and Anactorians and their followers on the right, and Cnemus with the
+Peloponnesians and Ambraciots on the left; each division being a long
+way off from, and sometimes even out of sight of, the others. The
+Hellenes advanced in good order, keeping a look-out till they encamped
+in a good position; but the Chaonians, filled with self-confidence, and
+having the highest character for courage among the tribes of that part
+of the continent, without waiting to occupy their camp, rushed on with
+the rest of the barbarians, in the idea that they should take the town
+by assault and obtain the sole glory of the enterprise. While they were
+coming on, the Stratians, becoming aware how things stood, and thinking
+that the defeat of this division would considerably dishearten the
+Hellenes behind it, occupied the environs of the town with ambuscades,
+and as soon as they approached engaged them at close quarters from the
+city and the ambuscades. A panic seizing the Chaonians, great numbers
+of them were slain; and as soon as they were seen to give way the rest
+of the barbarians turned and fled. Owing to the distance by which their
+allies had preceded them, neither of the Hellenic divisions knew
+anything of the battle, but fancied they were hastening on to encamp.
+However, when the flying barbarians broke in upon them, they opened
+their ranks to receive them, brought their divisions together, and
+stopped quiet where they were for the day; the Stratians not offering
+to engage them, as the rest of the Acarnanians had not yet arrived, but
+contenting themselves with slinging at them from a distance, which
+distressed them greatly, as there was no stirring without their armour.
+The Acarnanians would seem to excel in this mode of warfare.
+
+As soon as night fell, Cnemus hastily drew off his army to the river
+Anapus, about nine miles from Stratus, recovering his dead next day
+under truce, and being there joined by the friendly Oeniadae, fell back
+upon their city before the enemy’s reinforcements came up. From hence
+each returned home; and the Stratians set up a trophy for the battle
+with the barbarians.
+
+Meanwhile the fleet from Corinth and the rest of the confederates in
+the Crissaean Gulf, which was to have co-operated with Cnemus and
+prevented the coast Acarnanians from joining their countrymen in the
+interior, was disabled from doing so by being compelled about the same
+time as the battle at Stratus to fight with Phormio and the twenty
+Athenian vessels stationed at Naupactus. For they were watched, as they
+coasted along out of the gulf, by Phormio, who wished to attack in the
+open sea. But the Corinthians and allies had started for Acarnania
+without any idea of fighting at sea, and with vessels more like
+transports for carrying soldiers; besides which, they never dreamed of
+the twenty Athenian ships venturing to engage their forty-seven.
+However, while they were coasting along their own shore, there were the
+Athenians sailing along in line with them; and when they tried to cross
+over from Patrae in Achaea to the mainland on the other side, on their
+way to Acarnania, they saw them again coming out from Chalcis and the
+river Evenus to meet them. They slipped from their moorings in the
+night, but were observed, and were at length compelled to fight in mid
+passage. Each state that contributed to the armament had its own
+general; the Corinthian commanders were Machaon, Isocrates, and
+Agatharchidas. The Peloponnesians ranged their vessels in as large a
+circle as possible without leaving an opening, with the prows outside
+and the sterns in; and placed within all the small craft in company,
+and their five best sailers to issue out at a moment’s notice and
+strengthen any point threatened by the enemy.
+
+The Athenians, formed in line, sailed round and round them, and forced
+them to contract their circle, by continually brushing past and making
+as though they would attack at once, having been previously cautioned
+by Phormio not to do so till he gave the signal. His hope was that the
+Peloponnesians would not retain their order like a force on shore, but
+that the ships would fall foul of one another and the small craft cause
+confusion; and if the wind should blow from the gulf (in expectation of
+which he kept sailing round them, and which usually rose towards
+morning), they would not, he felt sure, remain steady an instant. He
+also thought that it rested with him to attack when he pleased, as his
+ships were better sailers, and that an attack timed by the coming of
+the wind would tell best. When the wind came down, the enemy’s ships
+were now in a narrow space, and what with the wind and the small craft
+dashing against them, at once fell into confusion: ship fell foul of
+ship, while the crews were pushing them off with poles, and by their
+shouting, swearing, and struggling with one another, made captains’
+orders and boatswains’ cries alike inaudible, and through being unable
+for want of practice to clear their oars in the rough water, prevented
+the vessels from obeying their helmsmen properly. At this moment
+Phormio gave the signal, and the Athenians attacked. Sinking first one
+of the admirals, they then disabled all they came across, so that no
+one thought of resistance for the confusion, but fled for Patrae and
+Dyme in Achaea. The Athenians gave chase and captured twelve ships, and
+taking most of the men out of them sailed to Molycrium, and after
+setting up a trophy on the promontory of Rhium and dedicating a ship to
+Poseidon, returned to Naupactus. As for the Peloponnesians, they at
+once sailed with their remaining ships along the coast from Dyme and
+Patrae to Cyllene, the Eleian arsenal; where Cnemus, and the ships from
+Leucas that were to have joined them, also arrived after the battle at
+Stratus.
+
+The Lacedaemonians now sent to the fleet to Cnemus three
+commissioners—Timocrates, Bradidas, and Lycophron—with orders to
+prepare to engage again with better fortune, and not to be driven from
+the sea by a few vessels; for they could not at all account for their
+discomfiture, the less so as it was their first attempt at sea; and
+they fancied that it was not that their marine was so inferior, but
+that there had been misconduct somewhere, not considering the long
+experience of the Athenians as compared with the little practice which
+they had had themselves. The commissioners were accordingly sent in
+anger. As soon as they arrived they set to work with Cnemus to order
+ships from the different states, and to put those which they already
+had in fighting order. Meanwhile Phormio sent word to Athens of their
+preparations and his own victory, and desired as many ships as possible
+to be speedily sent to him, as he stood in daily expectation of a
+battle. Twenty were accordingly sent, but instructions were given to
+their commander to go first to Crete. For Nicias, a Cretan of Gortys,
+who was proxenus of the Athenians, had persuaded them to sail against
+Cydonia, promising to procure the reduction of that hostile town; his
+real wish being to oblige the Polichnitans, neighbours of the
+Cydonians. He accordingly went with the ships to Crete, and,
+accompanied by the Polichnitans, laid waste the lands of the Cydonians;
+and, what with adverse winds and stress of weather wasted no little
+time there.
+
+While the Athenians were thus detained in Crete, the Peloponnesians in
+Cyllene got ready for battle, and coasted along to Panormus in Achaea,
+where their land army had come to support them. Phormio also coasted
+along to Molycrian Rhium, and anchored outside it with twenty ships,
+the same as he had fought with before. This Rhium was friendly to the
+Athenians. The other, in Peloponnese, lies opposite to it; the sea
+between them is about three-quarters of a mile broad, and forms the
+mouth of the Crissaean gulf. At this, the Achaean Rhium, not far off
+Panormus, where their army lay, the Peloponnesians now cast anchor with
+seventy-seven ships, when they saw the Athenians do so. For six or
+seven days they remained opposite each other, practising and preparing
+for the battle; the one resolved not to sail out of the Rhia into the
+open sea, for fear of the disaster which had already happened to them,
+the other not to sail into the straits, thinking it advantageous to the
+enemy, to fight in the narrows. At last Cnemus and Brasidas and the
+rest of the Peloponnesian commanders, being desirous of bringing on a
+battle as soon as possible, before reinforcements should arrive from
+Athens, and noticing that the men were most of them cowed by the
+previous defeat and out of heart for the business, first called them
+together and encouraged them as follows:
+
+“Peloponnesians, the late engagement, which may have made some of you
+afraid of the one now in prospect, really gives no just ground for
+apprehension. Preparation for it, as you know, there was little enough;
+and the object of our voyage was not so much to fight at sea as an
+expedition by land. Besides this, the chances of war were largely
+against us; and perhaps also inexperience had something to do with our
+failure in our first naval action. It was not, therefore, cowardice
+that produced our defeat, nor ought the determination which force has
+not quelled, but which still has a word to say with its adversary, to
+lose its edge from the result of an accident; but admitting the
+possibility of a chance miscarriage, we should know that brave hearts
+must be always brave, and while they remain so can never put forward
+inexperience as an excuse for misconduct. Nor are you so behind the
+enemy in experience as you are ahead of him in courage; and although
+the science of your opponents would, if valour accompanied it, have
+also the presence of mind to carry out at in emergency the lesson it
+has learnt, yet a faint heart will make all art powerless in the face
+of danger. For fear takes away presence of mind, and without valour art
+is useless. Against their superior experience set your superior daring,
+and against the fear induced by defeat the fact of your having been
+then unprepared; remember, too, that you have always the advantage of
+superior numbers, and of engaging off your own coast, supported by your
+heavy infantry; and as a rule, numbers and equipment give victory. At
+no point, therefore, is defeat likely; and as for our previous
+mistakes, the very fact of their occurrence will teach us better for
+the future. Steersmen and sailors may, therefore, confidently attend to
+their several duties, none quitting the station assigned to them: as
+for ourselves, we promise to prepare for the engagement at least as
+well as your previous commanders, and to give no excuse for any one
+misconducting himself. Should any insist on doing so, he shall meet
+with the punishment he deserves, while the brave shall be honoured with
+the appropriate rewards of valour.”
+
+The Peloponnesian commanders encouraged their men after this fashion.
+Phormio, meanwhile, being himself not without fears for the courage of
+his men, and noticing that they were forming in groups among themselves
+and were alarmed at the odds against them, desired to call them
+together and give them confidence and counsel in the present emergency.
+He had before continually told them, and had accustomed their minds to
+the idea, that there was no numerical superiority that they could not
+face; and the men themselves had long been persuaded that Athenians
+need never retire before any quantity of Peloponnesian vessels. At the
+moment, however, he saw that they were dispirited by the sight before
+them, and wishing to refresh their confidence, called them together and
+spoke as follows:
+
+“I see, my men, that you are frightened by the number of the enemy, and
+I have accordingly called you together, not liking you to be afraid of
+what is not really terrible. In the first place, the Peloponnesians,
+already defeated, and not even themselves thinking that they are a
+match for us, have not ventured to meet us on equal terms, but have
+equipped this multitude of ships against us. Next, as to that upon
+which they most rely, the courage which they suppose constitutional to
+them, their confidence here only arises from the success which their
+experience in land service usually gives them, and which they fancy
+will do the same for them at sea. But this advantage will in all
+justice belong to us on this element, if to them on that; as they are
+not superior to us in courage, but we are each of us more confident,
+according to our experience in our particular department. Besides, as
+the Lacedaemonians use their supremacy over their allies to promote
+their own glory, they are most of them being brought into danger
+against their will, or they would never, after such a decided defeat,
+have ventured upon a fresh engagement. You need not, therefore, be
+afraid of their dash. You, on the contrary, inspire a much greater and
+better founded alarm, both because of your late victory and also of
+their belief that we should not face them unless about to do something
+worthy of a success so signal. An adversary numerically superior, like
+the one before us, comes into action trusting more to strength than to
+resolution; while he who voluntarily confronts tremendous odds must
+have very great internal resources to draw upon. For these reasons the
+Peloponnesians fear our irrational audacity more than they would ever
+have done a more commensurate preparation. Besides, many armaments have
+before now succumbed to an inferior through want of skill or sometimes
+of courage; neither of which defects certainly are ours. As to the
+battle, it shall not be, if I can help it, in the strait, nor will I
+sail in there at all; seeing that in a contest between a number of
+clumsily managed vessels and a small, fast, well-handled squadron, want
+of sea room is an undoubted disadvantage. One cannot run down an enemy
+properly without having a sight of him a good way off, nor can one
+retire at need when pressed; one can neither break the line nor return
+upon his rear, the proper tactics for a fast sailer; but the naval
+action necessarily becomes a land one, in which numbers must decide the
+matter. For all this I will provide as far as can be. Do you stay at
+your posts by your ships, and be sharp at catching the word of command,
+the more so as we are observing one another from so short a distance;
+and in action think order and silence all-important—qualities useful in
+war generally, and in naval engagements in particular; and behave
+before the enemy in a manner worthy of your past exploits. The issues
+you will fight for are great—to destroy the naval hopes of the
+Peloponnesians or to bring nearer to the Athenians their fears for the
+sea. And I may once more remind you that you have defeated most of them
+already; and beaten men do not face a danger twice with the same
+determination.”
+
+Such was the exhortation of Phormio. The Peloponnesians finding that
+the Athenians did not sail into the gulf and the narrows, in order to
+lead them in whether they wished it or not, put out at dawn, and
+forming four abreast, sailed inside the gulf in the direction of their
+own country, the right wing leading as they had lain at anchor. In this
+wing were placed twenty of their best sailers; so that in the event of
+Phormio thinking that their object was Naupactus, and coasting along
+thither to save the place, the Athenians might not be able to escape
+their onset by getting outside their wing, but might be cut off by the
+vessels in question. As they expected, Phormio, in alarm for the place
+at that moment emptied of its garrison, as soon as he saw them put out,
+reluctantly and hurriedly embarked and sailed along shore; the
+Messenian land forces moving along also to support him. The
+Peloponnesians seeing him coasting along with his ships in single file,
+and by this inside the gulf and close inshore as they so much wished,
+at one signal tacked suddenly and bore down in line at their best speed
+on the Athenians, hoping to cut off the whole squadron. The eleven
+leading vessels, however, escaped the Peloponnesian wing and its sudden
+movement, and reached the more open water; but the rest were overtaken
+as they tried to run through, driven ashore and disabled; such of the
+crews being slain as had not swum out of them. Some of the ships the
+Peloponnesians lashed to their own, and towed off empty; one they took
+with the men in it; others were just being towed off, when they were
+saved by the Messenians dashing into the sea with their armour and
+fighting from the decks that they had boarded.
+
+Thus far victory was with the Peloponnesians, and the Athenian fleet
+destroyed; the twenty ships in the right wing being meanwhile in chase
+of the eleven Athenian vessels that had escaped their sudden movement
+and reached the more open water. These, with the exception of one ship,
+all outsailed them and got safe into Naupactus, and forming close
+inshore opposite the temple of Apollo, with their prows facing the
+enemy, prepared to defend themselves in case the Peloponnesians should
+sail inshore against them. After a while the Peloponnesians came up,
+chanting the paean for their victory as they sailed on; the single
+Athenian ship remaining being chased by a Leucadian far ahead of the
+rest. But there happened to be a merchantman lying at anchor in the
+roadstead, which the Athenian ship found time to sail round, and struck
+the Leucadian in chase amidships and sank her. An exploit so sudden and
+unexpected produced a panic among the Peloponnesians; and having fallen
+out of order in the excitement of victory, some of them dropped their
+oars and stopped their way in order to let the main body come up—an
+unsafe thing to do considering how near they were to the enemy’s prows;
+while others ran aground in the shallows, in their ignorance of the
+localities.
+
+Elated at this incident, the Athenians at one word gave a cheer, and
+dashed at the enemy, who, embarrassed by his mistakes and the disorder
+in which he found himself, only stood for an instant, and then fled for
+Panormus, whence he had put out. The Athenians following on his heels
+took the six vessels nearest them, and recovered those of their own
+which had been disabled close inshore and taken in tow at the beginning
+of the action; they killed some of the crews and took some prisoners.
+On board the Leucadian which went down off the merchantman, was the
+Lacedaemonian Timocrates, who killed himself when the ship was sunk,
+and was cast up in the harbour of Naupactus. The Athenians on their
+return set up a trophy on the spot from which they had put out and
+turned the day, and picking up the wrecks and dead that were on their
+shore, gave back to the enemy their dead under truce. The
+Peloponnesians also set up a trophy as victors for the defeat inflicted
+upon the ships they had disabled in shore, and dedicated the vessel
+which they had taken at Achaean Rhium, side by side with the trophy.
+After this, apprehensive of the reinforcement expected from Athens, all
+except the Leucadians sailed into the Crissaean Gulf for Corinth. Not
+long after their retreat, the twenty Athenian ships, which were to have
+joined Phormio before the battle, arrived at Naupactus.
+
+Thus the summer ended. Winter was now at hand; but dispersing the
+fleet, which had retired to Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf, Cnemus,
+Brasidas, and the other Peloponnesian captains allowed themselves to be
+persuaded by the Megarians to make an attempt upon Piraeus, the port of
+Athens, which from her decided superiority at sea had been naturally
+left unguarded and open. Their plan was as follows: The men were each
+to take their oar, cushion, and rowlock thong, and, going overland from
+Corinth to the sea on the Athenian side, to get to Megara as quickly as
+they could, and launching forty vessels, which happened to be in the
+docks at Nisaea, to sail at once to Piraeus. There was no fleet on the
+look-out in the harbour, and no one had the least idea of the enemy
+attempting a surprise; while an open attack would, it was thought,
+never be deliberately ventured on, or, if in contemplation, would be
+speedily known at Athens. Their plan formed, the next step was to put
+it in execution. Arriving by night and launching the vessels from
+Nisaea, they sailed, not to Piraeus as they had originally intended,
+being afraid of the risk, besides which there was some talk of a wind
+having stopped them, but to the point of Salamis that looks towards
+Megara; where there was a fort and a squadron of three ships to prevent
+anything sailing in or out of Megara. This fort they assaulted, and
+towed off the galleys empty, and surprising the inhabitants began to
+lay waste the rest of the island.
+
+Meanwhile fire signals were raised to alarm Athens, and a panic ensued
+there as serious as any that occurred during the war. The idea in the
+city was that the enemy had already sailed into Piraeus: in Piraeus it
+was thought that they had taken Salamis and might at any moment arrive
+in the port; as indeed might easily have been done if their hearts had
+been a little firmer: certainly no wind would have prevented them. As
+soon as day broke, the Athenians assembled in full force, launched
+their ships, and embarking in haste and uproar went with the fleet to
+Salamis, while their soldiery mounted guard in Piraeus. The
+Peloponnesians, on becoming aware of the coming relief, after they had
+overrun most of Salamis, hastily sailed off with their plunder and
+captives and the three ships from Fort Budorum to Nisaea; the state of
+their ships also causing them some anxiety, as it was a long while
+since they had been launched, and they were not water-tight. Arrived at
+Megara, they returned back on foot to Corinth. The Athenians finding
+them no longer at Salamis, sailed back themselves; and after this made
+arrangements for guarding Piraeus more diligently in future, by closing
+the harbours, and by other suitable precautions.
+
+About the same time, at the beginning of this winter, Sitalces, son of
+Teres, the Odrysian king of Thrace, made an expedition against
+Perdiccas, son of Alexander, king of Macedonia, and the Chalcidians in
+the neighbourhood of Thrace; his object being to enforce one promise
+and fulfil another. On the one hand Perdiccas had made him a promise,
+when hard pressed at the commencement of the war, upon condition that
+Sitalces should reconcile the Athenians to him and not attempt to
+restore his brother and enemy, the pretender Philip, but had not
+offered to fulfil his engagement; on the other he, Sitalces, on
+entering into alliance with the Athenians, had agreed to put an end to
+the Chalcidian war in Thrace. These were the two objects of his
+invasion. With him he brought Amyntas, the son of Philip, whom he
+destined for the throne of Macedonia, and some Athenian envoys then at
+his court on this business, and Hagnon as general; for the Athenians
+were to join him against the Chalcidians with a fleet and as many
+soldiers as they could get together.
+
+Beginning with the Odrysians, he first called out the Thracian tribes
+subject to him between Mounts Haemus and Rhodope and the Euxine and
+Hellespont; next the Getae beyond Haemus, and the other hordes settled
+south of the Danube in the neighbourhood of the Euxine, who, like the
+Getae, border on the Scythians and are armed in the same manner, being
+all mounted archers. Besides these he summoned many of the hill
+Thracian independent swordsmen, called Dii and mostly inhabiting Mount
+Rhodope, some of whom came as mercenaries, others as volunteers; also
+the Agrianes and Laeaeans, and the rest of the Paeonian tribes in his
+empire, at the confines of which these lay, extending up to the Laeaean
+Paeonians and the river Strymon, which flows from Mount Scombrus
+through the country of the Agrianes and Laeaeans; there the empire of
+Sitalces ends and the territory of the independent Paeonians begins.
+Bordering on the Triballi, also independent, were the Treres and
+Tilataeans, who dwell to the north of Mount Scombrus and extend towards
+the setting sun as far as the river Oskius. This river rises in the
+same mountains as the Nestus and Hebrus, a wild and extensive range
+connected with Rhodope.
+
+The empire of the Odrysians extended along the seaboard from Abdera to
+the mouth of the Danube in the Euxine. The navigation of this coast by
+the shortest route takes a merchantman four days and four nights with a
+wind astern the whole way: by land an active man, travelling by the
+shortest road, can get from Abdera to the Danube in eleven days. Such
+was the length of its coast line. Inland from Byzantium to the Laeaeans
+and the Strymon, the farthest limit of its extension into the interior,
+it is a journey of thirteen days for an active man. The tribute from
+all the barbarian districts and the Hellenic cities, taking what they
+brought in under Seuthes, the successor of Sitalces, who raised it to
+its greatest height, amounted to about four hundred talents in gold and
+silver. There were also presents in gold and silver to a no less
+amount, besides stuff, plain and embroidered, and other articles, made
+not only for the king, but also for the Odrysian lords and nobles. For
+there was here established a custom opposite to that prevailing in the
+Persian kingdom, namely, of taking rather than giving; more disgrace
+being attached to not giving when asked than to asking and being
+refused; and although this prevailed elsewhere in Thrace, it was
+practised most extensively among the powerful Odrysians, it being
+impossible to get anything done without a present. It was thus a very
+powerful kingdom; in revenue and general prosperity surpassing all in
+Europe between the Ionian Gulf and the Euxine, and in numbers and
+military resources coming decidedly next to the Scythians, with whom
+indeed no people in Europe can bear comparison, there not being even in
+Asia any nation singly a match for them if unanimous, though of course
+they are not on a level with other races in general intelligence and
+the arts of civilized life.
+
+It was the master of this empire that now prepared to take the field.
+When everything was ready, he set out on his march for Macedonia, first
+through his own dominions, next over the desolate range of Cercine that
+divides the Sintians and Paeonians, crossing by a road which he had
+made by felling the timber on a former campaign against the latter
+people. Passing over these mountains, with the Paeonians on his right
+and the Sintians and Maedians on the left, he finally arrived at
+Doberus, in Paeonia, losing none of his army on the march, except
+perhaps by sickness, but receiving some augmentations, many of the
+independent Thracians volunteering to join him in the hope of plunder;
+so that the whole is said to have formed a grand total of a hundred and
+fifty thousand. Most of this was infantry, though there was about a
+third cavalry, furnished principally by the Odrysians themselves and
+next to them by the Getae. The most warlike of the infantry were the
+independent swordsmen who came down from Rhodope; the rest of the mixed
+multitude that followed him being chiefly formidable by their numbers.
+
+Assembling in Doberus, they prepared for descending from the heights
+upon Lower Macedonia, where the dominions of Perdiccas lay; for the
+Lyncestae, Elimiots, and other tribes more inland, though Macedonians
+by blood, and allies and dependants of their kindred, still have their
+own separate governments. The country on the sea coast, now called
+Macedonia, was first acquired by Alexander, the father of Perdiccas,
+and his ancestors, originally Temenids from Argos. This was effected by
+the expulsion from Pieria of the Pierians, who afterwards inhabited
+Phagres and other places under Mount Pangaeus, beyond the Strymon
+(indeed the country between Pangaeus and the sea is still called the
+Pierian Gulf); of the Bottiaeans, at present neighbours of the
+Chalcidians, from Bottia, and by the acquisition in Paeonia of a narrow
+strip along the river Axius extending to Pella and the sea; the
+district of Mygdonia, between the Axius and the Strymon, being also
+added by the expulsion of the Edonians. From Eordia also were driven
+the Eordians, most of whom perished, though a few of them still live
+round Physca, and the Almopians from Almopia. These Macedonians also
+conquered places belonging to the other tribes, which are still
+theirs—Anthemus, Crestonia, Bisaltia, and much of Macedonia proper. The
+whole is now called Macedonia, and at the time of the invasion of
+Sitalces, Perdiccas, Alexander’s son, was the reigning king.
+
+These Macedonians, unable to take the field against so numerous an
+invader, shut themselves up in such strong places and fortresses as the
+country possessed. Of these there was no great number, most of those
+now found in the country having been erected subsequently by Archelaus,
+the son of Perdiccas, on his accession, who also cut straight roads,
+and otherwise put the kingdom on a better footing as regards horses,
+heavy infantry, and other war material than had been done by all the
+eight kings that preceded him. Advancing from Doberus, the Thracian
+host first invaded what had been once Philip’s government, and took
+Idomene by assault, Gortynia, Atalanta, and some other places by
+negotiation, these last coming over for love of Philip’s son, Amyntas,
+then with Sitalces. Laying siege to Europus, and failing to take it, he
+next advanced into the rest of Macedonia to the left of Pella and
+Cyrrhus, not proceeding beyond this into Bottiaea and Pieria, but
+staying to lay waste Mygdonia, Crestonia, and Anthemus.
+
+The Macedonians never even thought of meeting him with infantry; but
+the Thracian host was, as opportunity offered, attacked by handfuls of
+their horse, which had been reinforced from their allies in the
+interior. Armed with cuirasses, and excellent horsemen, wherever these
+charged they overthrew all before them, but ran considerable risk in
+entangling themselves in the masses of the enemy, and so finally
+desisted from these efforts, deciding that they were not strong enough
+to venture against numbers so superior.
+
+Meanwhile Sitalces opened negotiations with Perdiccas on the objects of
+his expedition; and finding that the Athenians, not believing that he
+would come, did not appear with their fleet, though they sent presents
+and envoys, dispatched a large part of his army against the Chalcidians
+and Bottiaeans, and shutting them up inside their walls laid waste
+their country. While he remained in these parts, the people farther
+south, such as the Thessalians, Magnetes, and the other tribes subject
+to the Thessalians, and the Hellenes as far as Thermopylae, all feared
+that the army might advance against them, and prepared accordingly.
+These fears were shared by the Thracians beyond the Strymon to the
+north, who inhabited the plains, such as the Panaeans, the Odomanti,
+the Droi, and the Dersaeans, all of whom are independent. It was even
+matter of conversation among the Hellenes who were enemies of Athens
+whether he might not be invited by his ally to advance also against
+them. Meanwhile he held Chalcidice and Bottice and Macedonia, and was
+ravaging them all; but finding that he was not succeeding in any of the
+objects of his invasion, and that his army was without provisions and
+was suffering from the severity of the season, he listened to the
+advice of Seuthes, son of Spardacus, his nephew and highest officer,
+and decided to retreat without delay. This Seuthes had been secretly
+gained by Perdiccas by the promise of his sister in marriage with a
+rich dowry. In accordance with this advice, and after a stay of thirty
+days in all, eight of which were spent in Chalcidice, he retired home
+as quickly as he could; and Perdiccas afterwards gave his sister
+Stratonice to Seuthes as he had promised. Such was the history of the
+expedition of Sitalces.
+
+In the course of this winter, after the dispersion of the Peloponnesian
+fleet, the Athenians in Naupactus, under Phormio, coasted along to
+Astacus and disembarked, and marched into the interior of Acarnania
+with four hundred Athenian heavy infantry and four hundred Messenians.
+After expelling some suspected persons from Stratus, Coronta, and other
+places, and restoring Cynes, son of Theolytus, to Coronta, they
+returned to their ships, deciding that it was impossible in the winter
+season to march against Oeniadae, a place which, unlike the rest of
+Acarnania, had been always hostile to them; for the river Achelous
+flowing from Mount Pindus through Dolopia and the country of the
+Agraeans and Amphilochians and the plain of Acarnania, past the town of
+Stratus in the upper part of its course, forms lakes where it falls
+into the sea round Oeniadae, and thus makes it impracticable for an
+army in winter by reason of the water. Opposite to Oeniadae lie most of
+the islands called Echinades, so close to the mouths of the Achelous
+that that powerful stream is constantly forming deposits against them,
+and has already joined some of the islands to the continent, and seems
+likely in no long while to do the same with the rest. For the current
+is strong, deep, and turbid, and the islands are so thick together that
+they serve to imprison the alluvial deposit and prevent its dispersing,
+lying, as they do, not in one line, but irregularly, so as to leave no
+direct passage for the water into the open sea. The islands in question
+are uninhabited and of no great size. There is also a story that
+Alcmaeon, son of Amphiraus, during his wanderings after the murder of
+his mother was bidden by Apollo to inhabit this spot, through an oracle
+which intimated that he would have no release from his terrors until he
+should find a country to dwell in which had not been seen by the sun,
+or existed as land at the time he slew his mother; all else being to
+him polluted ground. Perplexed at this, the story goes on to say, he at
+last observed this deposit of the Achelous, and considered that a place
+sufficient to support life upon, might have been thrown up during the
+long interval that had elapsed since the death of his mother and the
+beginning of his wanderings. Settling, therefore, in the district round
+Oeniadae, he founded a dominion, and left the country its name from his
+son Acarnan. Such is the story we have received concerning Alcmaeon.
+
+The Athenians and Phormio putting back from Acarnania and arriving at
+Naupactus, sailed home to Athens in the spring, taking with them the
+ships that they had captured, and such of the prisoners made in the
+late actions as were freemen; who were exchanged, man for man. And so
+ended this winter, and the third year of this war, of which Thucydides
+was the historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Fourth and Fifth Years of the War—Revolt of Mitylene
+
+
+The next summer, just as the corn was getting ripe, the Peloponnesians
+and their allies invaded Attica under the command of Archidamus, son of
+Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat down and ravaged the
+land; the Athenian horse as usual attacking them, wherever it was
+practicable, and preventing the mass of the light troops from advancing
+from their camp and wasting the parts near the city. After staying the
+time for which they had taken provisions, the invaders retired and
+dispersed to their several cities.
+
+Immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians all Lesbos, except
+Methymna, revolted from the Athenians. The Lesbians had wished to
+revolt even before the war, but the Lacedaemonians would not receive
+them; and yet now when they did revolt, they were compelled to do so
+sooner than they had intended. While they were waiting until the moles
+for their harbours and the ships and walls that they had in building
+should be finished, and for the arrival of archers and corn and other
+things that they were engaged in fetching from the Pontus, the
+Tenedians, with whom they were at enmity, and the Methymnians, and some
+factious persons in Mitylene itself, who were proxeni of Athens,
+informed the Athenians that the Mitylenians were forcibly uniting the
+island under their sovereignty, and that the preparations about which
+they were so active, were all concerted with the Boeotians their
+kindred and the Lacedaemonians with a view to a revolt, and that,
+unless they were immediately prevented, Athens would lose Lesbos.
+
+However, the Athenians, distressed by the plague, and by the war that
+had recently broken out and was now raging, thought it a serious matter
+to add Lesbos with its fleet and untouched resources to the list of
+their enemies; and at first would not believe the charge, giving too
+much weight to their wish that it might not be true. But when an
+embassy which they sent had failed to persuade the Mitylenians to give
+up the union and preparations complained of, they became alarmed, and
+resolved to strike the first blow. They accordingly suddenly sent off
+forty ships that had been got ready to sail round Peloponnese, under
+the command of Cleippides, son of Deinias, and two others; word having
+been brought them of a festival in honour of the Malean Apollo outside
+the town, which is kept by the whole people of Mitylene, and at which,
+if haste were made, they might hope to take them by surprise. If this
+plan succeeded, well and good; if not, they were to order the
+Mitylenians to deliver up their ships and to pull down their walls, and
+if they did not obey, to declare war. The ships accordingly set out;
+the ten galleys, forming the contingent of the Mitylenians present with
+the fleet according to the terms of the alliance, being detained by the
+Athenians, and their crews placed in custody. However, the Mitylenians
+were informed of the expedition by a man who crossed from Athens to
+Euboea, and going overland to Geraestus, sailed from thence by a
+merchantman which he found on the point of putting to sea, and so
+arrived at Mitylene the third day after leaving Athens. The Mitylenians
+accordingly refrained from going out to the temple at Malea, and
+moreover barricaded and kept guard round the half-finished parts of
+their walls and harbours.
+
+When the Athenians sailed in not long after and saw how things stood,
+the generals delivered their orders, and upon the Mitylenians refusing
+to obey, commenced hostilities. The Mitylenians, thus compelled to go
+to war without notice and unprepared, at first sailed out with their
+fleet and made some show of fighting, a little in front of the harbour;
+but being driven back by the Athenian ships, immediately offered to
+treat with the commanders, wishing, if possible, to get the ships away
+for the present upon any tolerable terms. The Athenian commanders
+accepted their offers, being themselves fearful that they might not be
+able to cope with the whole of Lesbos; and an armistice having been
+concluded, the Mitylenians sent to Athens one of the informers, already
+repentant of his conduct, and others with him, to try to persuade the
+Athenians of the innocence of their intentions and to get the fleet
+recalled. In the meantime, having no great hope of a favourable answer
+from Athens, they also sent off a galley with envoys to Lacedaemon,
+unobserved by the Athenian fleet which was anchored at Malea to the
+north of the town.
+
+While these envoys, reaching Lacedaemon after a difficult journey
+across the open sea, were negotiating for succours being sent them, the
+ambassadors from Athens returned without having effected anything; and
+hostilities were at once begun by the Mitylenians and the rest of
+Lesbos, with the exception of the Methymnians, who came to the aid of
+the Athenians with the Imbrians and Lemnians and some few of the other
+allies. The Mitylenians made a sortie with all their forces against the
+Athenian camp; and a battle ensued, in which they gained some slight
+advantage, but retired notwithstanding, not feeling sufficient
+confidence in themselves to spend the night upon the field. After this
+they kept quiet, wishing to wait for the chance of reinforcements
+arriving from Peloponnese before making a second venture, being
+encouraged by the arrival of Meleas, a Laconian, and Hermaeondas, a
+Theban, who had been sent off before the insurrection but had been
+unable to reach Lesbos before the Athenian expedition, and who now
+stole in in a galley after the battle, and advised them to send another
+galley and envoys back with them, which the Mitylenians accordingly
+did.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, greatly encouraged by the inaction of the
+Mitylenians, summoned allies to their aid, who came in all the quicker
+from seeing so little vigour displayed by the Lesbians, and bringing
+round their ships to a new station to the south of the town, fortified
+two camps, one on each side of the city, and instituted a blockade of
+both the harbours. The sea was thus closed against the Mitylenians,
+who, however, commanded the whole country, with the rest of the
+Lesbians who had now joined them; the Athenians only holding a limited
+area round their camps, and using Malea more as the station for their
+ships and their market.
+
+While the war went on in this way at Mitylene, the Athenians, about the
+same time in this summer, also sent thirty ships to Peloponnese under
+Asopius, son of Phormio; the Acarnanians insisting that the commander
+sent should be some son or relative of Phormio. As the ships coasted
+along shore they ravaged the seaboard of Laconia; after which Asopius
+sent most of the fleet home, and himself went on with twelve vessels to
+Naupactus, and afterwards raising the whole Acarnanian population made
+an expedition against Oeniadae, the fleet sailing along the Achelous,
+while the army laid waste the country. The inhabitants, however,
+showing no signs of submitting, he dismissed the land forces and
+himself sailed to Leucas, and making a descent upon Nericus was cut off
+during his retreat, and most of his troops with him, by the people in
+those parts aided by some coastguards; after which the Athenians sailed
+away, recovering their dead from the Leucadians under truce.
+
+Meanwhile the envoys of the Mitylenians sent out in the first ship were
+told by the Lacedaemonians to come to Olympia, in order that the rest
+of the allies might hear them and decide upon their matter, and so they
+journeyed thither. It was the Olympiad in which the Rhodian Dorieus
+gained his second victory, and the envoys having been introduced to
+make their speech after the festival, spoke as follows:
+
+“Lacedaemonians and allies, the rule established among the Hellenes is
+not unknown to us. Those who revolt in war and forsake their former
+confederacy are favourably regarded by those who receive them, in so
+far as they are of use to them, but otherwise are thought less well of,
+through being considered traitors to their former friends. Nor is this
+an unfair way of judging, where the rebels and the power from whom they
+secede are at one in policy and sympathy, and a match for each other in
+resources and power, and where no reasonable ground exists for the
+rebellion. But with us and the Athenians this was not the case; and no
+one need think the worse of us for revolting from them in danger, after
+having been honoured by them in time of peace.
+
+“Justice and honesty will be the first topics of our speech, especially
+as we are asking for alliance; because we know that there can never be
+any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities
+that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each other’s
+honesty, and be generally congenial the one to the other; since from
+difference in feeling springs also difference in conduct. Between
+ourselves and the Athenians alliance began, when you withdrew from the
+Median War and they remained to finish the business. But we did not
+become allies of the Athenians for the subjugation of the Hellenes, but
+allies of the Hellenes for their liberation from the Mede; and as long
+as the Athenians led us fairly we followed them loyally; but when we
+saw them relax their hostility to the Mede, to try to compass the
+subjection of the allies, then our apprehensions began. Unable,
+however, to unite and defend themselves, on account of the number of
+confederates that had votes, all the allies were enslaved, except
+ourselves and the Chians, who continued to send our contingents as
+independent and nominally free. Trust in Athens as a leader, however,
+we could no longer feel, judging by the examples already given; it
+being unlikely that she would reduce our fellow confederates, and not
+do the same by us who were left, if ever she had the power.
+
+“Had we all been still independent, we could have had more faith in
+their not attempting any change; but the greater number being their
+subjects, while they were treating us as equals, they would naturally
+chafe under this solitary instance of independence as contrasted with
+the submission of the majority; particularly as they daily grew more
+powerful, and we more destitute. Now the only sure basis of an alliance
+is for each party to be equally afraid of the other; he who would like
+to encroach is then deterred by the reflection that he will not have
+odds in his favour. Again, if we were left independent, it was only
+because they thought they saw their way to empire more clearly by
+specious language and by the paths of policy than by those of force.
+Not only were we useful as evidence that powers who had votes, like
+themselves, would not, surely, join them in their expeditions, against
+their will, without the party attacked being in the wrong; but the same
+system also enabled them to lead the stronger states against the weaker
+first, and so to leave the former to the last, stripped of their
+natural allies, and less capable of resistance. But if they had begun
+with us, while all the states still had their resources under their own
+control, and there was a centre to rally round, the work of subjugation
+would have been found less easy. Besides this, our navy gave them some
+apprehension: it was always possible that it might unite with you or
+with some other power, and become dangerous to Athens. The court which
+we paid to their commons and its leaders for the time being also helped
+us to maintain our independence. However, we did not expect to be able
+to do so much longer, if this war had not broken out, from the examples
+that we had had of their conduct to the rest.
+
+“How then could we put our trust in such friendship or freedom as we
+had here? We accepted each other against our inclination; fear made
+them court us in war, and us them in peace; sympathy, the ordinary
+basis of confidence, had its place supplied by terror, fear having more
+share than friendship in detaining us in the alliance; and the first
+party that should be encouraged by the hope of impunity was certain to
+break faith with the other. So that to condemn us for being the first
+to break off, because they delay the blow that we dread, instead of
+ourselves delaying to know for certain whether it will be dealt or not,
+is to take a false view of the case. For if we were equally able with
+them to meet their plots and imitate their delay, we should be their
+equals and should be under no necessity of being their subjects; but
+the liberty of offence being always theirs, that of defence ought
+clearly to be ours.
+
+“Such, Lacedaemonians and allies, are the grounds and the reasons of
+our revolt; clear enough to convince our hearers of the fairness of our
+conduct, and sufficient to alarm ourselves, and to make us turn to some
+means of safety. This we wished to do long ago, when we sent to you on
+the subject while the peace yet lasted, but were balked by your
+refusing to receive us; and now, upon the Boeotians inviting us, we at
+once responded to the call, and decided upon a twofold revolt, from the
+Hellenes and from the Athenians, not to aid the latter in harming the
+former, but to join in their liberation, and not to allow the Athenians
+in the end to destroy us, but to act in time against them. Our revolt,
+however, has taken place prematurely and without preparation—a fact
+which makes it all the more incumbent on you to receive us into
+alliance and to send us speedy relief, in order to show that you
+support your friends, and at the same time do harm to your enemies. You
+have an opportunity such as you never had before. Disease and
+expenditure have wasted the Athenians: their ships are either cruising
+round your coasts, or engaged in blockading us; and it is not probable
+that they will have any to spare, if you invade them a second time this
+summer by sea and land; but they will either offer no resistance to
+your vessels, or withdraw from both our shores. Nor must it be thought
+that this is a case of putting yourselves into danger for a country
+which is not yours. Lesbos may appear far off, but when help is wanted
+she will be found near enough. It is not in Attica that the war will be
+decided, as some imagine, but in the countries by which Attica is
+supported; and the Athenian revenue is drawn from the allies, and will
+become still larger if they reduce us; as not only will no other state
+revolt, but our resources will be added to theirs, and we shall be
+treated worse than those that were enslaved before. But if you will
+frankly support us, you will add to your side a state that has a large
+navy, which is your great want; you will smooth the way to the
+overthrow of the Athenians by depriving them of their allies, who will
+be greatly encouraged to come over; and you will free yourselves from
+the imputation made against you, of not supporting insurrection. In
+short, only show yourselves as liberators, and you may count upon
+having the advantage in the war.
+
+“Respect, therefore, the hopes placed in you by the Hellenes, and that
+Olympian Zeus, in whose temple we stand as very suppliants; become the
+allies and defenders of the Mitylenians, and do not sacrifice us, who
+put our lives upon the hazard, in a cause in which general good will
+result to all from our success, and still more general harm if we fail
+through your refusing to help us; but be the men that the Hellenes
+think you, and our fears desire.”
+
+Such were the words of the Mitylenians. After hearing them out, the
+Lacedaemonians and confederates granted what they urged, and took the
+Lesbians into alliance, and deciding in favour of the invasion of
+Attica, told the allies present to march as quickly as possible to the
+Isthmus with two-thirds of their forces; and arriving there first
+themselves, got ready hauling machines to carry their ships across from
+Corinth to the sea on the side of Athens, in order to make their attack
+by sea and land at once. However, the zeal which they displayed was not
+imitated by the rest of the confederates, who came in but slowly, being
+engaged in harvesting their corn and sick of making expeditions.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, aware that the preparations of the enemy were
+due to his conviction of their weakness, and wishing to show him that
+he was mistaken, and that they were able, without moving the Lesbian
+fleet, to repel with ease that with which they were menaced from
+Peloponnese, manned a hundred ships by embarking the citizens of
+Athens, except the knights and Pentacosiomedimni, and the resident
+aliens; and putting out to the Isthmus, displayed their power, and made
+descents upon Peloponnese wherever they pleased. A disappointment so
+signal made the Lacedaemonians think that the Lesbians had not spoken
+the truth; and embarrassed by the non-appearance of the confederates,
+coupled with the news that the thirty ships round Peloponnese were
+ravaging the lands near Sparta, they went back home. Afterwards,
+however, they got ready a fleet to send to Lesbos, and ordering a total
+of forty ships from the different cities in the league, appointed
+Alcidas to command the expedition in his capacity of high admiral.
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred ships, upon seeing the
+Lacedaemonians go home, went home likewise.
+
+If, at the time that this fleet was at sea, Athens had almost the
+largest number of first-rate ships in commission that she ever
+possessed at any one moment, she had as many or even more when the war
+began. At that time one hundred guarded Attica, Euboea, and Salamis; a
+hundred more were cruising round Peloponnese, besides those employed at
+Potidæa and in other places; making a grand total of two hundred and
+fifty vessels employed on active service in a single summer. It was
+this, with Potidæa, that most exhausted her revenues—Potidæa being
+blockaded by a force of heavy infantry (each drawing two drachmae a
+day, one for himself and another for his servant), which amounted to
+three thousand at first, and was kept at this number down to the end of
+the siege; besides sixteen hundred with Phormio who went away before it
+was over; and the ships being all paid at the same rate. In this way
+her money was wasted at first; and this was the largest number of ships
+ever manned by her.
+
+About the same time that the Lacedaemonians were at the Isthmus, the
+Mitylenians marched by land with their mercenaries against Methymna,
+which they thought to gain by treachery. After assaulting the town, and
+not meeting with the success that they anticipated, they withdrew to
+Antissa, Pyrrha, and Eresus; and taking measures for the better
+security of these towns and strengthening their walls, hastily returned
+home. After their departure the Methymnians marched against Antissa,
+but were defeated in a sortie by the Antissians and their mercenaries,
+and retreated in haste after losing many of their number. Word of this
+reaching Athens, and the Athenians learning that the Mitylenians were
+masters of the country and their own soldiers unable to hold them in
+check, they sent out about the beginning of autumn Paches, son of
+Epicurus, to take the command, and a thousand Athenian heavy infantry;
+who worked their own passage and, arriving at Mitylene, built a single
+wall all round it, forts being erected at some of the strongest points.
+Mitylene was thus blockaded strictly on both sides, by land and by sea;
+and winter now drew near.
+
+The Athenians needing money for the siege, although they had for the
+first time raised a contribution of two hundred talents from their own
+citizens, now sent out twelve ships to levy subsidies from their
+allies, with Lysicles and four others in command. After cruising to
+different places and laying them under contribution, Lysicles went up
+the country from Myus, in Caria, across the plain of the Meander, as
+far as the hill of Sandius; and being attacked by the Carians and the
+people of Anaia, was slain with many of his soldiers.
+
+The same winter the Plataeans, who were still being besieged by the
+Peloponnesians and Boeotians, distressed by the failure of their
+provisions, and seeing no hope of relief from Athens, nor any other
+means of safety, formed a scheme with the Athenians besieged with them
+for escaping, if possible, by forcing their way over the enemy’s walls;
+the attempt having been suggested by Theaenetus, son of Tolmides, a
+soothsayer, and Eupompides, son of Daimachus, one of their generals. At
+first all were to join: afterwards, half hung back, thinking the risk
+great; about two hundred and twenty, however, voluntarily persevered in
+the attempt, which was carried out in the following way. Ladders were
+made to match the height of the enemy’s wall, which they measured by
+the layers of bricks, the side turned towards them not being thoroughly
+whitewashed. These were counted by many persons at once; and though
+some might miss the right calculation, most would hit upon it,
+particularly as they counted over and over again, and were no great way
+from the wall, but could see it easily enough for their purpose. The
+length required for the ladders was thus obtained, being calculated
+from the breadth of the brick.
+
+Now the wall of the Peloponnesians was constructed as follows. It
+consisted of two lines drawn round the place, one against the
+Plataeans, the other against any attack on the outside from Athens,
+about sixteen feet apart. The intermediate space of sixteen feet was
+occupied by huts portioned out among the soldiers on guard, and built
+in one block, so as to give the appearance of a single thick wall with
+battlements on either side. At intervals of every ten battlements were
+towers of considerable size, and the same breadth as the wall, reaching
+right across from its inner to its outer face, with no means of passing
+except through the middle. Accordingly on stormy and wet nights the
+battlements were deserted, and guard kept from the towers, which were
+not far apart and roofed in above.
+
+Such being the structure of the wall by which the Plataeans were
+blockaded, when their preparations were completed, they waited for a
+stormy night of wind and rain and without any moon, and then set out,
+guided by the authors of the enterprise. Crossing first the ditch that
+ran round the town, they next gained the wall of the enemy unperceived
+by the sentinels, who did not see them in the darkness, or hear them,
+as the wind drowned with its roar the noise of their approach; besides
+which they kept a good way off from each other, that they might not be
+betrayed by the clash of their weapons. They were also lightly
+equipped, and had only the left foot shod to preserve them from
+slipping in the mire. They came up to the battlements at one of the
+intermediate spaces where they knew them to be unguarded: those who
+carried the ladders went first and planted them; next twelve
+light-armed soldiers with only a dagger and a breastplate mounted, led
+by Ammias, son of Coroebus, who was the first on the wall; his
+followers getting up after him and going six to each of the towers.
+After these came another party of light troops armed with spears, whose
+shields, that they might advance the easier, were carried by men
+behind, who were to hand them to them when they found themselves in
+presence of the enemy. After a good many had mounted they were
+discovered by the sentinels in the towers, by the noise made by a tile
+which was knocked down by one of the Plataeans as he was laying hold of
+the battlements. The alarm was instantly given, and the troops rushed
+to the wall, not knowing the nature of the danger, owing to the dark
+night and stormy weather; the Plataeans in the town having also chosen
+that moment to make a sortie against the wall of the Peloponnesians
+upon the side opposite to that on which their men were getting over, in
+order to divert the attention of the besiegers. Accordingly they
+remained distracted at their several posts, without any venturing to
+stir to give help from his own station, and at a loss to guess what was
+going on. Meanwhile the three hundred set aside for service on
+emergencies went outside the wall in the direction of the alarm.
+Fire-signals of an attack were also raised towards Thebes; but the
+Plataeans in the town at once displayed a number of others, prepared
+beforehand for this very purpose, in order to render the enemy’s
+signals unintelligible, and to prevent his friends getting a true idea
+of what was passing and coming to his aid before their comrades who had
+gone out should have made good their escape and be in safety.
+
+Meanwhile the first of the scaling party that had got up, after
+carrying both the towers and putting the sentinels to the sword, posted
+themselves inside to prevent any one coming through against them; and
+rearing ladders from the wall, sent several men up on the towers, and
+from their summit and base kept in check all of the enemy that came up,
+with their missiles, while their main body planted a number of ladders
+against the wall, and knocking down the battlements, passed over
+between the towers; each as soon as he had got over taking up his
+station at the edge of the ditch, and plying from thence with arrows
+and darts any who came along the wall to stop the passage of his
+comrades. When all were over, the party on the towers came down, the
+last of them not without difficulty, and proceeded to the ditch, just
+as the three hundred came up carrying torches. The Plataeans, standing
+on the edge of the ditch in the dark, had a good view of their
+opponents, and discharged their arrows and darts upon the unarmed parts
+of their bodies, while they themselves could not be so well seen in the
+obscurity for the torches; and thus even the last of them got over the
+ditch, though not without effort and difficulty; as ice had formed in
+it, not strong enough to walk upon, but of that watery kind which
+generally comes with a wind more east than north, and the snow which
+this wind had caused to fall during the night had made the water in the
+ditch rise, so that they could scarcely breast it as they crossed.
+However, it was mainly the violence of the storm that enabled them to
+effect their escape at all.
+
+Starting from the ditch, the Plataeans went all together along the road
+leading to Thebes, keeping the chapel of the hero Androcrates upon
+their right; considering that the last road which the Peloponnesians
+would suspect them of having taken would be that towards their enemies’
+country. Indeed they could see them pursuing with torches upon the
+Athens road towards Cithaeron and Druoskephalai or Oakheads. After
+going for rather more than half a mile upon the road to Thebes, the
+Plataeans turned off and took that leading to the mountain, to Erythrae
+and Hysiae, and reaching the hills, made good their escape to Athens,
+two hundred and twelve men in all; some of their number having turned
+back into the town before getting over the wall, and one archer having
+been taken prisoner at the outer ditch. Meanwhile the Peloponnesians
+gave up the pursuit and returned to their posts; and the Plataeans in
+the town, knowing nothing of what had passed, and informed by those who
+had turned back that not a man had escaped, sent out a herald as soon
+as it was day to make a truce for the recovery of the dead bodies, and
+then, learning the truth, desisted. In this way the Plataean party got
+over and were saved.
+
+Towards the close of the same winter, Salaethus, a Lacedaemonian, was
+sent out in a galley from Lacedaemon to Mitylene. Going by sea to
+Pyrrha, and from thence overland, he passed along the bed of a torrent,
+where the line of circumvallation was passable, and thus entering
+unperceived into Mitylene told the magistrates that Attica would
+certainly be invaded, and the forty ships destined to relieve them
+arrive, and that he had been sent on to announce this and to
+superintend matters generally. The Mitylenians upon this took courage,
+and laid aside the idea of treating with the Athenians; and now this
+winter ended, and with it ended the fourth year of the war of which
+Thucydides was the historian.
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians sent off the forty-two ships for
+Mitylene, under Alcidas, their high admiral, and themselves and their
+allies invaded Attica, their object being to distract the Athenians by
+a double movement, and thus to make it less easy for them to act
+against the fleet sailing to Mitylene. The commander in this invasion
+was Cleomenes, in the place of King Pausanias, son of Pleistoanax, his
+nephew, who was still a minor. Not content with laying waste whatever
+had shot up in the parts which they had before devastated, the invaders
+now extended their ravages to lands passed over in their previous
+incursions; so that this invasion was more severely felt by the
+Athenians than any except the second; the enemy staying on and on until
+they had overrun most of the country, in the expectation of hearing
+from Lesbos of something having been achieved by their fleet, which
+they thought must now have got over. However, as they did not obtain
+any of the results expected, and their provisions began to run short,
+they retreated and dispersed to their different cities.
+
+In the meantime the Mitylenians, finding their provisions failing,
+while the fleet from Peloponnese was loitering on the way instead of
+appearing at Mitylene, were compelled to come to terms with the
+Athenians in the following manner. Salaethus having himself ceased to
+expect the fleet to arrive, now armed the commons with heavy armour,
+which they had not before possessed, with the intention of making a
+sortie against the Athenians. The commons, however, no sooner found
+themselves possessed of arms than they refused any longer to obey their
+officers; and forming in knots together, told the authorities to bring
+out in public the provisions and divide them amongst them all, or they
+would themselves come to terms with the Athenians and deliver up the
+city.
+
+The government, aware of their inability to prevent this, and of the
+danger they would be in, if left out of the capitulation, publicly
+agreed with Paches and the army to surrender Mitylene at discretion and
+to admit the troops into the town; upon the understanding that the
+Mitylenians should be allowed to send an embassy to Athens to plead
+their cause, and that Paches should not imprison, make slaves of, or
+put to death any of the citizens until its return. Such were the terms
+of the capitulation; in spite of which the chief authors of the
+negotiation with Lacedaemon were so completely overcome by terror when
+the army entered that they went and seated themselves by the altars,
+from which they were raised up by Paches under promise that he would do
+them no wrong, and lodged by him in Tenedos, until he should learn the
+pleasure of the Athenians concerning them. Paches also sent some
+galleys and seized Antissa, and took such other military measures as he
+thought advisable.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians in the forty ships, who ought to have made
+all haste to relieve Mitylene, lost time in coming round Peloponnese
+itself, and proceeding leisurely on the remainder of the voyage, made
+Delos without having been seen by the Athenians at Athens, and from
+thence arriving at Icarus and Myconus, there first heard of the fall of
+Mitylene. Wishing to know the truth, they put into Embatum, in the
+Erythraeid, about seven days after the capture of the town. Here they
+learned the truth, and began to consider what they were to do; and
+Teutiaplus, an Elean, addressed them as follows:
+
+“Alcidas and Peloponnesians who share with me the command of this
+armament, my advice is to sail just as we are to Mitylene, before we
+have been heard of. We may expect to find the Athenians as much off
+their guard as men generally are who have just taken a city: this will
+certainly be so by sea, where they have no idea of any enemy attacking
+them, and where our strength, as it happens, mainly lies; while even
+their land forces are probably scattered about the houses in the
+carelessness of victory. If therefore we were to fall upon them
+suddenly and in the night, I have hopes, with the help of the
+well-wishers that we may have left inside the town, that we shall
+become masters of the place. Let us not shrink from the risk, but let
+us remember that this is just the occasion for one of the baseless
+panics common in war: and that to be able to guard against these in
+one’s own case, and to detect the moment when an attack will find an
+enemy at this disadvantage, is what makes a successful general.”
+
+These words of Teutiaplus failing to move Alcidas, some of the Ionian
+exiles and the Lesbians with the expedition began to urge him, since
+this seemed too dangerous, to seize one of the Ionian cities or the
+Aeolic town of Cyme, to use as a base for effecting the revolt of
+Ionia. This was by no means a hopeless enterprise, as their coming was
+welcome everywhere; their object would be by this move to deprive
+Athens of her chief source of revenue, and at the same time to saddle
+her with expense, if she chose to blockade them; and they would
+probably induce Pissuthnes to join them in the war. However, Alcidas
+gave this proposal as bad a reception as the other, being eager, since
+he had come too late for Mitylene, to find himself back in Peloponnese
+as soon as possible.
+
+Accordingly he put out from Embatum and proceeded along shore; and
+touching at the Teian town, Myonnesus, there butchered most of the
+prisoners that he had taken on his passage. Upon his coming to anchor
+at Ephesus, envoys came to him from the Samians at Anaia, and told him
+that he was not going the right way to free Hellas in massacring men
+who had never raised a hand against him, and who were not enemies of
+his, but allies of Athens against their will, and that if he did not
+stop he would turn many more friends into enemies than enemies into
+friends. Alcidas agreed to this, and let go all the Chians still in his
+hands and some of the others that he had taken; the inhabitants,
+instead of flying at the sight of his vessels, rather coming up to
+them, taking them for Athenian, having no sort of expectation that
+while the Athenians commanded the sea Peloponnesian ships would venture
+over to Ionia.
+
+From Ephesus Alcidas set sail in haste and fled. He had been seen by
+the Salaminian and Paralian galleys, which happened to be sailing from
+Athens, while still at anchor off Clarus; and fearing pursuit he now
+made across the open sea, fully determined to touch nowhere, if he
+could help it, until he got to Peloponnese. Meanwhile news of him had
+come in to Paches from the Erythraeid, and indeed from all quarters. As
+Ionia was unfortified, great fears were felt that the Peloponnesians
+coasting along shore, even if they did not intend to stay, might make
+descents in passing and plunder the towns; and now the Paralian and
+Salaminian, having seen him at Clarus, themselves brought intelligence
+of the fact. Paches accordingly gave hot chase, and continued the
+pursuit as far as the isle of Patmos, and then finding that Alcidas had
+got on too far to be overtaken, came back again. Meanwhile he thought
+it fortunate that, as he had not fallen in with them out at sea, he had
+not overtaken them anywhere where they would have been forced to
+encamp, and so give him the trouble of blockading them.
+
+On his return along shore he touched, among other places, at Notium,
+the port of Colophon, where the Colophonians had settled after the
+capture of the upper town by Itamenes and the barbarians, who had been
+called in by certain individuals in a party quarrel. The capture of the
+town took place about the time of the second Peloponnesian invasion of
+Attica. However, the refugees, after settling at Notium, again split up
+into factions, one of which called in Arcadian and barbarian
+mercenaries from Pissuthnes and, entrenching these in a quarter apart,
+formed a new community with the Median party of the Colophonians who
+joined them from the upper town. Their opponents had retired into
+exile, and now called in Paches, who invited Hippias, the commander of
+the Arcadians in the fortified quarter, to a parley, upon condition
+that, if they could not agree, he was to be put back safe and sound in
+the fortification. However, upon his coming out to him, he put him into
+custody, though not in chains, and attacked suddenly and took by
+surprise the fortification, and putting the Arcadians and the
+barbarians found in it to the sword, afterwards took Hippias into it as
+he had promised, and, as soon as he was inside, seized him and shot him
+down. Paches then gave up Notium to the Colophonians not of the Median
+party; and settlers were afterwards sent out from Athens, and the place
+colonized according to Athenian laws, after collecting all the
+Colophonians found in any of the cities.
+
+Arrived at Mitylene, Paches reduced Pyrrha and Eresus; and finding the
+Lacedaemonian, Salaethus, in hiding in the town, sent him off to
+Athens, together with the Mitylenians that he had placed in Tenedos,
+and any other persons that he thought concerned in the revolt. He also
+sent back the greater part of his forces, remaining with the rest to
+settle Mitylene and the rest of Lesbos as he thought best.
+
+Upon the arrival of the prisoners with Salaethus, the Athenians at once
+put the latter to death, although he offered, among other things, to
+procure the withdrawal of the Peloponnesians from Plataea, which was
+still under siege; and after deliberating as to what they should do
+with the former, in the fury of the moment determined to put to death
+not only the prisoners at Athens, but the whole adult male population
+of Mitylene, and to make slaves of the women and children. It was
+remarked that Mitylene had revolted without being, like the rest,
+subjected to the empire; and what above all swelled the wrath of the
+Athenians was the fact of the Peloponnesian fleet having ventured over
+to Ionia to her support, a fact which was held to argue a long
+meditated rebellion. They accordingly sent a galley to communicate the
+decree to Paches, commanding him to lose no time in dispatching the
+Mitylenians. The morrow brought repentance with it and reflection on
+the horrid cruelty of a decree, which condemned a whole city to the
+fate merited only by the guilty. This was no sooner perceived by the
+Mitylenian ambassadors at Athens and their Athenian supporters, than
+they moved the authorities to put the question again to the vote; which
+they the more easily consented to do, as they themselves plainly saw
+that most of the citizens wished some one to give them an opportunity
+for reconsidering the matter. An assembly was therefore at once called,
+and after much expression of opinion upon both sides, Cleon, son of
+Cleaenetus, the same who had carried the former motion of putting the
+Mitylenians to death, the most violent man at Athens, and at that time
+by far the most powerful with the commons, came forward again and spoke
+as follows:
+
+“I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable
+of empire, and never more so than by your present change of mind in the
+matter of Mitylene. Fears or plots being unknown to you in your daily
+relations with each other, you feel just the same with regard to your
+allies, and never reflect that the mistakes into which you may be led
+by listening to their appeals, or by giving way to your own compassion,
+are full of danger to yourselves, and bring you no thanks for your
+weakness from your allies; entirely forgetting that your empire is a
+despotism and your subjects disaffected conspirators, whose obedience
+is ensured not by your suicidal concessions, but by the superiority
+given you by your own strength and not their loyalty. The most alarming
+feature in the case is the constant change of measures with which we
+appear to be threatened, and our seeming ignorance of the fact that bad
+laws which are never changed are better for a city than good ones that
+have no authority; that unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than
+quick-witted insubordination; and that ordinary men usually manage
+public affairs better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are
+always wanting to appear wiser than the laws, and to overrule every
+proposition brought forward, thinking that they cannot show their wit
+in more important matters, and by such behaviour too often ruin their
+country; while those who mistrust their own cleverness are content to
+be less learned than the laws, and less able to pick holes in the
+speech of a good speaker; and being fair judges rather than rival
+athletes, generally conduct affairs successfully. These we ought to
+imitate, instead of being led on by cleverness and intellectual rivalry
+to advise your people against our real opinions.
+
+“For myself, I adhere to my former opinion, and wonder at those who
+have proposed to reopen the case of the Mitylenians, and who are thus
+causing a delay which is all in favour of the guilty, by making the
+sufferer proceed against the offender with the edge of his anger
+blunted; although where vengeance follows most closely upon the wrong,
+it best equals it and most amply requites it. I wonder also who will be
+the man who will maintain the contrary, and will pretend to show that
+the crimes of the Mitylenians are of service to us, and our misfortunes
+injurious to the allies. Such a man must plainly either have such
+confidence in his rhetoric as to adventure to prove that what has been
+once for all decided is still undetermined, or be bribed to try to
+delude us by elaborate sophisms. In such contests the state gives the
+rewards to others, and takes the dangers for herself. The persons to
+blame are you who are so foolish as to institute these contests; who go
+to see an oration as you would to see a sight, take your facts on
+hearsay, judge of the practicability of a project by the wit of its
+advocates, and trust for the truth as to past events not to the fact
+which you saw more than to the clever strictures which you heard; the
+easy victims of new-fangled arguments, unwilling to follow received
+conclusions; slaves to every new paradox, despisers of the commonplace;
+the first wish of every man being that he could speak himself, the next
+to rival those who can speak by seeming to be quite up with their ideas
+by applauding every hit almost before it is made, and by being as quick
+in catching an argument as you are slow in foreseeing its consequences;
+asking, if I may so say, for something different from the conditions
+under which we live, and yet comprehending inadequately those very
+conditions; very slaves to the pleasure of the ear, and more like the
+audience of a rhetorician than the council of a city.
+
+“In order to keep you from this, I proceed to show that no one state
+has ever injured you as much as Mitylene. I can make allowance for
+those who revolt because they cannot bear our empire, or who have been
+forced to do so by the enemy. But for those who possessed an island
+with fortifications; who could fear our enemies only by sea, and there
+had their own force of galleys to protect them; who were independent
+and held in the highest honour by you—to act as these have done, this
+is not revolt—revolt implies oppression; it is deliberate and wanton
+aggression; an attempt to ruin us by siding with our bitterest enemies;
+a worse offence than a war undertaken on their own account in the
+acquisition of power. The fate of those of their neighbours who had
+already rebelled and had been subdued was no lesson to them; their own
+prosperity could not dissuade them from affronting danger; but blindly
+confident in the future, and full of hopes beyond their power though
+not beyond their ambition, they declared war and made their decision to
+prefer might to right, their attack being determined not by provocation
+but by the moment which seemed propitious. The truth is that great good
+fortune coming suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people
+insolent; in most cases it is safer for mankind to have success in
+reason than out of reason; and it is easier for them, one may say, to
+stave off adversity than to preserve prosperity. Our mistake has been
+to distinguish the Mitylenians as we have done: had they been long ago
+treated like the rest, they never would have so far forgotten
+themselves, human nature being as surely made arrogant by consideration
+as it is awed by firmness. Let them now therefore be punished as their
+crime requires, and do not, while you condemn the aristocracy, absolve
+the people. This is certain, that all attacked you without distinction,
+although they might have come over to us and been now again in
+possession of their city. But no, they thought it safer to throw in
+their lot with the aristocracy and so joined their rebellion! Consider
+therefore: if you subject to the same punishment the ally who is forced
+to rebel by the enemy, and him who does so by his own free choice,
+which of them, think you, is there that will not rebel upon the
+slightest pretext; when the reward of success is freedom, and the
+penalty of failure nothing so very terrible? We meanwhile shall have to
+risk our money and our lives against one state after another; and if
+successful, shall receive a ruined town from which we can no longer
+draw the revenue upon which our strength depends; while if
+unsuccessful, we shall have an enemy the more upon our hands, and shall
+spend the time that might be employed in combating our existing foes in
+warring with our own allies.
+
+“No hope, therefore, that rhetoric may instil or money purchase, of the
+mercy due to human infirmity must be held out to the Mitylenians. Their
+offence was not involuntary, but of malice and deliberate; and mercy is
+only for unwilling offenders. I therefore, now as before, persist
+against your reversing your first decision, or giving way to the three
+failings most fatal to empire—pity, sentiment, and indulgence.
+Compassion is due to those who can reciprocate the feeling, not to
+those who will never pity us in return, but are our natural and
+necessary foes: the orators who charm us with sentiment may find other
+less important arenas for their talents, in the place of one where the
+city pays a heavy penalty for a momentary pleasure, themselves
+receiving fine acknowledgments for their fine phrases; while indulgence
+should be shown towards those who will be our friends in future,
+instead of towards men who will remain just what they were, and as much
+our enemies as before. To sum up shortly, I say that if you follow my
+advice you will do what is just towards the Mitylenians, and at the
+same time expedient; while by a different decision you will not oblige
+them so much as pass sentence upon yourselves. For if they were right
+in rebelling, you must be wrong in ruling. However, if, right or wrong,
+you determine to rule, you must carry out your principle and punish the
+Mitylenians as your interest requires; or else you must give up your
+empire and cultivate honesty without danger. Make up your minds,
+therefore, to give them like for like; and do not let the victims who
+escaped the plot be more insensible than the conspirators who hatched
+it; but reflect what they would have done if victorious over you,
+especially they were the aggressors. It is they who wrong their
+neighbour without a cause, that pursue their victim to the death, on
+account of the danger which they foresee in letting their enemy
+survive; since the object of a wanton wrong is more dangerous, if he
+escape, than an enemy who has not this to complain of. Do not,
+therefore, be traitors to yourselves, but recall as nearly as possible
+the moment of suffering and the supreme importance which you then
+attached to their reduction; and now pay them back in their turn,
+without yielding to present weakness or forgetting the peril that once
+hung over you. Punish them as they deserve, and teach your other allies
+by a striking example that the penalty of rebellion is death. Let them
+once understand this and you will not have so often to neglect your
+enemies while you are fighting with your own confederates.”
+
+Such were the words of Cleon. After him Diodotus, son of Eucrates, who
+had also in the previous assembly spoken most strongly against putting
+the Mitylenians to death, came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+“I do not blame the persons who have reopened the case of the
+Mitylenians, nor do I approve the protests which we have heard against
+important questions being frequently debated. I think the two things
+most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usually goes
+hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of
+mind. As for the argument that speech ought not to be the exponent of
+action, the man who uses it must be either senseless or interested:
+senseless if he believes it possible to treat of the uncertain future
+through any other medium; interested if, wishing to carry a disgraceful
+measure and doubting his ability to speak well in a bad cause, he
+thinks to frighten opponents and hearers by well-aimed calumny. What is
+still more intolerable is to accuse a speaker of making a display in
+order to be paid for it. If ignorance only were imputed, an
+unsuccessful speaker might retire with a reputation for honesty, if not
+for wisdom; while the charge of dishonesty makes him suspected, if
+successful, and thought, if defeated, not only a fool but a rogue. The
+city is no gainer by such a system, since fear deprives it of its
+advisers; although in truth, if our speakers are to make such
+assertions, it would be better for the country if they could not speak
+at all, as we should then make fewer blunders. The good citizen ought
+to triumph not by frightening his opponents but by beating them fairly
+in argument; and a wise city, without over-distinguishing its best
+advisers, will nevertheless not deprive them of their due, and, far
+from punishing an unlucky counsellor, will not even regard him as
+disgraced. In this way successful orators would be least tempted to
+sacrifice their convictions to popularity, in the hope of still higher
+honours, and unsuccessful speakers to resort to the same popular arts
+in order to win over the multitude.
+
+“This is not our way; and, besides, the moment that a man is suspected
+of giving advice, however good, from corrupt motives, we feel such a
+grudge against him for the gain which after all we are not certain he
+will receive, that we deprive the city of its certain benefit. Plain
+good advice has thus come to be no less suspected than bad; and the
+advocate of the most monstrous measures is not more obliged to use
+deceit to gain the people, than the best counsellor is to lie in order
+to be believed. The city and the city only, owing to these refinements,
+can never be served openly and without disguise; he who does serve it
+openly being always suspected of serving himself in some secret way in
+return. Still, considering the magnitude of the interests involved, and
+the position of affairs, we orators must make it our business to look a
+little farther than you who judge offhand; especially as we, your
+advisers, are responsible, while you, our audience, are not so. For if
+those who gave the advice, and those who took it, suffered equally, you
+would judge more calmly; as it is, you visit the disasters into which
+the whim of the moment may have led you upon the single person of your
+adviser, not upon yourselves, his numerous companions in error.
+
+“However, I have not come forward either to oppose or to accuse in the
+matter of Mitylene; indeed, the question before us as sensible men is
+not their guilt, but our interests. Though I prove them ever so guilty,
+I shall not, therefore, advise their death, unless it be expedient; nor
+though they should have claims to indulgence, shall I recommend it,
+unless it be dearly for the good of the country. I consider that we are
+deliberating for the future more than for the present; and where Cleon
+is so positive as to the useful deterrent effects that will follow from
+making rebellion capital, I, who consider the interests of the future
+quite as much as he, as positively maintain the contrary. And I require
+you not to reject my useful considerations for his specious ones: his
+speech may have the attraction of seeming the more just in your present
+temper against Mitylene; but we are not in a court of justice, but in a
+political assembly; and the question is not justice, but how to make
+the Mitylenians useful to Athens.
+
+“Now of course communities have enacted the penalty of death for many
+offences far lighter than this: still hope leads men to venture, and no
+one ever yet put himself in peril without the inward conviction that he
+would succeed in his design. Again, was there ever city rebelling that
+did not believe that it possessed either in itself or in its alliances
+resources adequate to the enterprise? All, states and individuals, are
+alike prone to err, and there is no law that will prevent them; or why
+should men have exhausted the list of punishments in search of
+enactments to protect them from evildoers? It is probable that in early
+times the penalties for the greatest offences were less severe, and
+that, as these were disregarded, the penalty of death has been by
+degrees in most cases arrived at, which is itself disregarded in like
+manner. Either then some means of terror more terrible than this must
+be discovered, or it must be owned that this restraint is useless; and
+that as long as poverty gives men the courage of necessity, or plenty
+fills them with the ambition which belongs to insolence and pride, and
+the other conditions of life remain each under the thraldom of some
+fatal and master passion, so long will the impulse never be wanting to
+drive men into danger. Hope also and cupidity, the one leading and the
+other following, the one conceiving the attempt, the other suggesting
+the facility of succeeding, cause the widest ruin, and, although
+invisible agents, are far stronger than the dangers that are seen.
+Fortune, too, powerfully helps the delusion and, by the unexpected aid
+that she sometimes lends, tempts men to venture with inferior means;
+and this is especially the case with communities, because the stakes
+played for are the highest, freedom or empire, and, when all are acting
+together, each man irrationally magnifies his own capacity. In fine, it
+is impossible to prevent, and only great simplicity can hope to
+prevent, human nature doing what it has once set its mind upon, by
+force of law or by any other deterrent force whatsoever.
+
+“We must not, therefore, commit ourselves to a false policy through a
+belief in the efficacy of the punishment of death, or exclude rebels
+from the hope of repentance and an early atonement of their error.
+Consider a moment. At present, if a city that has already revolted
+perceive that it cannot succeed, it will come to terms while it is
+still able to refund expenses, and pay tribute afterwards. In the other
+case, what city, think you, would not prepare better than is now done,
+and hold out to the last against its besiegers, if it is all one
+whether it surrender late or soon? And how can it be otherwise than
+hurtful to us to be put to the expense of a siege, because surrender is
+out of the question; and if we take the city, to receive a ruined town
+from which we can no longer draw the revenue which forms our real
+strength against the enemy? We must not, therefore, sit as strict
+judges of the offenders to our own prejudice, but rather see how by
+moderate chastisements we may be enabled to benefit in future by the
+revenue-producing powers of our dependencies; and we must make up our
+minds to look for our protection not to legal terrors but to careful
+administration. At present we do exactly the opposite. When a free
+community, held in subjection by force, rises, as is only natural, and
+asserts its independence, it is no sooner reduced than we fancy
+ourselves obliged to punish it severely; although the right course with
+freemen is not to chastise them rigorously when they do rise, but
+rigorously to watch them before they rise, and to prevent their ever
+entertaining the idea, and, the insurrection suppressed, to make as few
+responsible for it as possible.
+
+“Only consider what a blunder you would commit in doing as Cleon
+recommends. As things are at present, in all the cities the people is
+your friend, and either does not revolt with the oligarchy, or, if
+forced to do so, becomes at once the enemy of the insurgents; so that
+in the war with the hostile city you have the masses on your side. But
+if you butcher the people of Mitylene, who had nothing to do with the
+revolt, and who, as soon as they got arms, of their own motion
+surrendered the town, first you will commit the crime of killing your
+benefactors; and next you will play directly into the hands of the
+higher classes, who when they induce their cities to rise, will
+immediately have the people on their side, through your having
+announced in advance the same punishment for those who are guilty and
+for those who are not. On the contrary, even if they were guilty, you
+ought to seem not to notice it, in order to avoid alienating the only
+class still friendly to us. In short, I consider it far more useful for
+the preservation of our empire voluntarily to put up with injustice,
+than to put to death, however justly, those whom it is our interest to
+keep alive. As for Cleon’s idea that in punishment the claims of
+justice and expediency can both be satisfied, facts do not confirm the
+possibility of such a combination.
+
+“Confess, therefore, that this is the wisest course, and without
+conceding too much either to pity or to indulgence, by neither of which
+motives do I any more than Cleon wish you to be influenced, upon the
+plain merits of the case before you, be persuaded by me to try calmly
+those of the Mitylenians whom Paches sent off as guilty, and to leave
+the rest undisturbed. This is at once best for the future, and most
+terrible to your enemies at the present moment; inasmuch as good policy
+against an adversary is superior to the blind attacks of brute force.”
+
+Such were the words of Diodotus. The two opinions thus expressed were
+the ones that most directly contradicted each other; and the Athenians,
+notwithstanding their change of feeling, now proceeded to a division,
+in which the show of hands was almost equal, although the motion of
+Diodotus carried the day. Another galley was at once sent off in haste,
+for fear that the first might reach Lesbos in the interval, and the
+city be found destroyed; the first ship having about a day and a
+night’s start. Wine and barley-cakes were provided for the vessel by
+the Mitylenian ambassadors, and great promises made if they arrived in
+time; which caused the men to use such diligence upon the voyage that
+they took their meals of barley-cakes kneaded with oil and wine as they
+rowed, and only slept by turns while the others were at the oar.
+Luckily they met with no contrary wind, and the first ship making no
+haste upon so horrid an errand, while the second pressed on in the
+manner described, the first arrived so little before them, that Paches
+had only just had time to read the decree, and to prepare to execute
+the sentence, when the second put into port and prevented the massacre.
+The danger of Mitylene had indeed been great.
+
+The other party whom Paches had sent off as the prime movers in the
+rebellion, were upon Cleon’s motion put to death by the Athenians, the
+number being rather more than a thousand. The Athenians also demolished
+the walls of the Mitylenians, and took possession of their ships.
+Afterwards tribute was not imposed upon the Lesbians; but all their
+land, except that of the Methymnians, was divided into three thousand
+allotments, three hundred of which were reserved as sacred for the
+gods, and the rest assigned by lot to Athenian shareholders, who were
+sent out to the island. With these the Lesbians agreed to pay a rent of
+two minae a year for each allotment, and cultivated the land
+themselves. The Athenians also took possession of the towns on the
+continent belonging to the Mitylenians, which thus became for the
+future subject to Athens. Such were the events that took place at
+Lesbos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Fifth Year of the War—Trial and Execution of the Plataeans— Corcyraean
+Revolution
+
+
+During the same summer, after the reduction of Lesbos, the Athenians
+under Nicias, son of Niceratus, made an expedition against the island
+of Minoa, which lies off Megara and was used as a fortified post by the
+Megarians, who had built a tower upon it. Nicias wished to enable the
+Athenians to maintain their blockade from this nearer station instead
+of from Budorum and Salamis; to stop the Peloponnesian galleys and
+privateers sailing out unobserved from the island, as they had been in
+the habit of doing; and at the same time prevent anything from coming
+into Megara. Accordingly, after taking two towers projecting on the
+side of Nisaea, by engines from the sea, and clearing the entrance into
+the channel between the island and the shore, he next proceeded to cut
+off all communication by building a wall on the mainland at the point
+where a bridge across a morass enabled succours to be thrown into the
+island, which was not far off from the continent. A few days sufficing
+to accomplish this, he afterwards raised some works in the island also,
+and leaving a garrison there, departed with his forces.
+
+About the same time in this summer, the Plataeans, being now without
+provisions and unable to support the siege, surrendered to the
+Peloponnesians in the following manner. An assault had been made upon
+the wall, which the Plataeans were unable to repel. The Lacedaemonian
+commander, perceiving their weakness, wished to avoid taking the place
+by storm; his instructions from Lacedaemon having been so conceived, in
+order that if at any future time peace should be made with Athens, and
+they should agree each to restore the places that they had taken in the
+war, Plataea might be held to have come over voluntarily, and not be
+included in the list. He accordingly sent a herald to them to ask if
+they were willing voluntarily to surrender the town to the
+Lacedaemonians, and accept them as their judges, upon the understanding
+that the guilty should be punished, but no one without form of law. The
+Plataeans were now in the last state of weakness, and the herald had no
+sooner delivered his message than they surrendered the town. The
+Peloponnesians fed them for some days until the judges from Lacedaemon,
+who were five in number, arrived. Upon their arrival no charge was
+preferred; they simply called up the Plataeans, and asked them whether
+they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the war then
+raging. The Plataeans asked leave to speak at greater length, and
+deputed two of their number to represent them: Astymachus, son of
+Asopolaus, and Lacon, son of Aeimnestus, proxenus of the
+Lacedaemonians, who came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+“Lacedaemonians, when we surrendered our city we trusted in you, and
+looked forward to a trial more agreeable to the forms of law than the
+present, to which we had no idea of being subjected; the judges also in
+whose hands we consented to place ourselves were you, and you only
+(from whom we thought we were most likely to obtain justice), and not
+other persons, as is now the case. As matters stand, we are afraid that
+we have been doubly deceived. We have good reason to suspect, not only
+that the issue to be tried is the most terrible of all, but that you
+will not prove impartial; if we may argue from the fact that no
+accusation was first brought forward for us to answer, but we had
+ourselves to ask leave to speak, and from the question being put so
+shortly, that a true answer to it tells against us, while a false one
+can be contradicted. In this dilemma, our safest, and indeed our only
+course, seems to be to say something at all risks: placed as we are, we
+could scarcely be silent without being tormented by the damning thought
+that speaking might have saved us. Another difficulty that we have to
+encounter is the difficulty of convincing you. Were we unknown to each
+other we might profit by bringing forward new matter with which you
+were unacquainted: as it is, we can tell you nothing that you do not
+know already, and we fear, not that you have condemned us in your own
+minds of having failed in our duty towards you, and make this our
+crime, but that to please a third party we have to submit to a trial
+the result of which is already decided. Nevertheless, we will place
+before you what we can justly urge, not only on the question of the
+quarrel which the Thebans have against us, but also as addressing you
+and the rest of the Hellenes; and we will remind you of our good
+services, and endeavour to prevail with you.
+
+“To your short question, whether we have done the Lacedaemonians and
+allies any service in this war, we say, if you ask us as enemies, that
+to refrain from serving you was not to do you injury; if as friends,
+that you are more in fault for having marched against us. During the
+peace, and against the Mede, we acted well: we have not now been the
+first to break the peace, and we were the only Boeotians who then
+joined in defending against the Mede the liberty of Hellas. Although an
+inland people, we were present at the action at Artemisium; in the
+battle that took place in our territory we fought by the side of
+yourselves and Pausanias; and in all the other Hellenic exploits of the
+time we took a part quite out of proportion to our strength. Besides,
+you, as Lacedaemonians, ought not to forget that at the time of the
+great panic at Sparta, after the earthquake, caused by the secession of
+the Helots to Ithome, we sent the third part of our citizens to assist
+you.
+
+“On these great and historical occasions such was the part that we
+chose, although afterwards we became your enemies. For this you were to
+blame. When we asked for your alliance against our Theban oppressors,
+you rejected our petition, and told us to go to the Athenians who were
+our neighbours, as you lived too far off. In the war we never have done
+to you, and never should have done to you, anything unreasonable. If we
+refused to desert the Athenians when you asked us, we did no wrong;
+they had helped us against the Thebans when you drew back, and we could
+no longer give them up with honour; especially as we had obtained their
+alliance and had been admitted to their citizenship at our own request,
+and after receiving benefits at their hands; but it was plainly our
+duty loyally to obey their orders. Besides, the faults that either of
+you may commit in your supremacy must be laid, not upon the followers,
+but on the chiefs that lead them astray.
+
+“With regard to the Thebans, they have wronged us repeatedly, and their
+last aggression, which has been the means of bringing us into our
+present position, is within your own knowledge. In seizing our city in
+time of peace, and what is more at a holy time in the month, they
+justly encountered our vengeance, in accordance with the universal law
+which sanctions resistance to an invader; and it cannot now be right
+that we should suffer on their account. By taking your own immediate
+interest and their animosity as the test of justice, you will prove
+yourselves to be rather waiters on expediency than judges of right;
+although if they seem useful to you now, we and the rest of the
+Hellenes gave you much more valuable help at a time of greater need.
+Now you are the assailants, and others fear you; but at the crisis to
+which we allude, when the barbarian threatened all with slavery, the
+Thebans were on his side. It is just, therefore, to put our patriotism
+then against our error now, if error there has been; and you will find
+the merit outweighing the fault, and displayed at a juncture when there
+were few Hellenes who would set their valour against the strength of
+Xerxes, and when greater praise was theirs who preferred the dangerous
+path of honour to the safe course of consulting their own interest with
+respect to the invasion. To these few we belonged, and highly were we
+honoured for it; and yet we now fear to perish by having again acted on
+the same principles, and chosen to act well with Athens sooner than
+wisely with Sparta. Yet in justice the same cases should be decided in
+the same way, and policy should not mean anything else than lasting
+gratitude for the service of good ally combined with a proper attention
+to one’s own immediate interest.
+
+“Consider also that at present the Hellenes generally regard you as a
+pattern of worth and honour; and if you pass an unjust sentence upon us
+in this which is no obscure cause, but one in which you, the judges,
+are as illustrious as we, the prisoners, are blameless, take care that
+displeasure be not felt at an unworthy decision in the matter of
+honourable men made by men yet more honourable than they, and at the
+consecration in the national temples of spoils taken from the
+Plataeans, the benefactors of Hellas. Shocking indeed will it seem for
+Lacedaemonians to destroy Plataea, and for the city whose name your
+fathers inscribed upon the tripod at Delphi for its good service, to be
+by you blotted out from the map of Hellas, to please the Thebans. To
+such a depth of misfortune have we fallen that, while the Medes’
+success had been our ruin, Thebans now supplant us in your once fond
+regards; and we have been subjected to two dangers, the greatest of
+any—that of dying of starvation then, if we had not surrendered our
+town, and now of being tried for our lives. So that we Plataeans, after
+exertions beyond our power in the cause of the Hellenes, are rejected
+by all, forsaken and unassisted; helped by none of our allies, and
+reduced to doubt the stability of our only hope, yourselves.
+
+“Still, in the name of the gods who once presided over our confederacy,
+and of our own good service in the Hellenic cause, we adjure you to
+relent; to recall the decision which we fear that the Thebans may have
+obtained from you; to ask back the gift that you have given them, that
+they disgrace not you by slaying us; to gain a pure instead of a guilty
+gratitude, and not to gratify others to be yourselves rewarded with
+shame. Our lives may be quickly taken, but it will be a heavy task to
+wipe away the infamy of the deed; as we are no enemies whom you might
+justly punish, but friends forced into taking arms against you. To
+grant us our lives would be, therefore, a righteous judgment; if you
+consider also that we are prisoners who surrendered of their own
+accord, stretching out our hands for quarter, whose slaughter Hellenic
+law forbids, and who besides were always your benefactors. Look at the
+sepulchres of your fathers, slain by the Medes and buried in our
+country, whom year by year we honoured with garments and all other
+dues, and the first-fruits of all that our land produced in their
+season, as friends from a friendly country and allies to our old
+companions in arms. Should you not decide aright, your conduct would be
+the very opposite to ours. Consider only: Pausanias buried them
+thinking that he was laying them in friendly ground and among men as
+friendly; but you, if you kill us and make the Plataean territory
+Theban, will leave your fathers and kinsmen in a hostile soil and among
+their murderers, deprived of the honours which they now enjoy. What is
+more, you will enslave the land in which the freedom of the Hellenes
+was won, make desolate the temples of the gods to whom they prayed
+before they overcame the Medes, and take away your ancestral sacrifices
+from those who founded and instituted them.
+
+“It were not to your glory, Lacedaemonians, either to offend in this
+way against the common law of the Hellenes and against your own
+ancestors, or to kill us your benefactors to gratify another’s hatred
+without having been wronged yourselves: it were more so to spare us and
+to yield to the impressions of a reasonable compassion; reflecting not
+merely on the awful fate in store for us, but also on the character of
+the sufferers, and on the impossibility of predicting how soon
+misfortune may fall even upon those who deserve it not. We, as we have
+a right to do and as our need impels us, entreat you, calling aloud
+upon the gods at whose common altar all the Hellenes worship, to hear
+our request, to be not unmindful of the oaths which your fathers swore,
+and which we now plead—we supplicate you by the tombs of your fathers,
+and appeal to those that are gone to save us from falling into the
+hands of the Thebans and their dearest friends from being given up to
+their most detested foes. We also remind you of that day on which we
+did the most glorious deeds, by your fathers’ sides, we who now on this
+are like to suffer the most dreadful fate. Finally, to do what is
+necessary and yet most difficult for men in our situation—that is, to
+make an end of speaking, since with that ending the peril of our lives
+draws near—in conclusion we say that we did not surrender our city to
+the Thebans (to that we would have preferred inglorious starvation),
+but trusted in and capitulated to you; and it would be just, if we fail
+to persuade you, to put us back in the same position and let us take
+the chance that falls to us. And at the same time we adjure you not to
+give us up—your suppliants, Lacedaemonians, out of your hands and
+faith, Plataeans foremost of the Hellenic patriots, to Thebans, our
+most hated enemies—but to be our saviours, and not, while you free the
+rest of the Hellenes, to bring us to destruction.”
+
+Such were the words of the Plataeans. The Thebans, afraid that the
+Lacedaemonians might be moved by what they had heard, came forward and
+said that they too desired to address them, since the Plataeans had,
+against their wish, been allowed to speak at length instead of being
+confined to a simple answer to the question. Leave being granted, the
+Thebans spoke as follows:
+
+“We should never have asked to make this speech if the Plataeans on
+their side had contented themselves with shortly answering the
+question, and had not turned round and made charges against us, coupled
+with a long defence of themselves upon matters outside the present
+inquiry and not even the subject of accusation, and with praise of what
+no one finds fault with. However, since they have done so, we must
+answer their charges and refute their self-praise, in order that
+neither our bad name nor their good may help them, but that you may
+hear the real truth on both points, and so decide.
+
+“The origin of our quarrel was this. We settled Plataea some time after
+the rest of Boeotia, together with other places out of which we had
+driven the mixed population. The Plataeans not choosing to recognize
+our supremacy, as had been first arranged, but separating themselves
+from the rest of the Boeotians, and proving traitors to their
+nationality, we used compulsion; upon which they went over to the
+Athenians, and with them did as much harm, for which we retaliated.
+
+“Next, when the barbarian invaded Hellas, they say that they were the
+only Boeotians who did not Medize; and this is where they most glorify
+themselves and abuse us. We say that if they did not Medize, it was
+because the Athenians did not do so either; just as afterwards when the
+Athenians attacked the Hellenes they, the Plataeans, were again the
+only Boeotians who Atticized. And yet consider the forms of our
+respective governments when we so acted. Our city at that juncture had
+neither an oligarchical constitution in which all the nobles enjoyed
+equal rights, nor a democracy, but that which is most opposed to law
+and good government and nearest a tyranny—the rule of a close cabal.
+These, hoping to strengthen their individual power by the success of
+the Mede, kept down by force the people, and brought him into the town.
+The city as a whole was not its own mistress when it so acted, and
+ought not to be reproached for the errors that it committed while
+deprived of its constitution. Examine only how we acted after the
+departure of the Mede and the recovery of the constitution; when the
+Athenians attacked the rest of Hellas and endeavoured to subjugate our
+country, of the greater part of which faction had already made them
+masters. Did not we fight and conquer at Coronea and liberate Boeotia,
+and do we not now actively contribute to the liberation of the rest,
+providing horses to the cause and a force unequalled by that of any
+other state in the confederacy?
+
+“Let this suffice to excuse us for our Medism. We will now endeavour to
+show that you have injured the Hellenes more than we, and are more
+deserving of condign punishment. It was in defence against us, say you,
+that you became allies and citizens of Athens. If so, you ought only to
+have called in the Athenians against us, instead of joining them in
+attacking others: it was open to you to do this if you ever felt that
+they were leading you where you did not wish to follow, as Lacedaemon
+was already your ally against the Mede, as you so much insist; and this
+was surely sufficient to keep us off, and above all to allow you to
+deliberate in security. Nevertheless, of your own choice and without
+compulsion you chose to throw your lot in with Athens. And you say that
+it had been base for you to betray your benefactors; but it was surely
+far baser and more iniquitous to sacrifice the whole body of the
+Hellenes, your fellow confederates, who were liberating Hellas, than
+the Athenians only, who were enslaving it. The return that you made
+them was therefore neither equal nor honourable, since you called them
+in, as you say, because you were being oppressed yourselves, and then
+became their accomplices in oppressing others; although baseness rather
+consists in not returning like for like than in not returning what is
+justly due but must be unjustly paid.
+
+“Meanwhile, after thus plainly showing that it was not for the sake of
+the Hellenes that you alone then did not Medize, but because the
+Athenians did not do so either, and you wished to side with them and to
+be against the rest; you now claim the benefit of good deeds done to
+please your neighbours. This cannot be admitted: you chose the
+Athenians, and with them you must stand or fall. Nor can you plead the
+league then made and claim that it should now protect you. You
+abandoned that league, and offended against it by helping instead of
+hindering the subjugation of the Aeginetans and others of its members,
+and that not under compulsion, but while in enjoyment of the same
+institutions that you enjoy to the present hour, and no one forcing you
+as in our case. Lastly, an invitation was addressed to you before you
+were blockaded to be neutral and join neither party: this you did not
+accept. Who then merit the detestation of the Hellenes more justly than
+you, you who sought their ruin under the mask of honour? The former
+virtues that you allege you now show not to be proper to your
+character; the real bent of your nature has been at length damningly
+proved: when the Athenians took the path of injustice you followed
+them.
+
+“Of our unwilling Medism and your wilful Atticizing this then is our
+explanation. The last wrong wrong of which you complain consists in our
+having, as you say, lawlessly invaded your town in time of peace and
+festival. Here again we cannot think that we were more in fault than
+yourselves. If of our own proper motion we made an armed attack upon
+your city and ravaged your territory, we are guilty; but if the first
+men among you in estate and family, wishing to put an end to the
+foreign connection and to restore you to the common Boeotian country,
+of their own free will invited us, wherein is our crime? Where wrong is
+done, those who lead, as you say, are more to blame than those who
+follow. Not that, in our judgment, wrong was done either by them or by
+us. Citizens like yourselves, and with more at stake than you, they
+opened their own walls and introduced us into their own city, not as
+foes but as friends, to prevent the bad among you from becoming worse;
+to give honest men their due; to reform principles without attacking
+persons, since you were not to be banished from your city, but brought
+home to your kindred, nor to be made enemies to any, but friends alike
+to all.
+
+“That our intention was not hostile is proved by our behaviour. We did
+no harm to any one, but publicly invited those who wished to live under
+a national, Boeotian government to come over to us; which as first you
+gladly did, and made an agreement with us and remained tranquil, until
+you became aware of the smallness of our numbers. Now it is possible
+that there may have been something not quite fair in our entering
+without the consent of your commons. At any rate you did not repay us
+in kind. Instead of refraining, as we had done, from violence, and
+inducing us to retire by negotiation, you fell upon us in violation of
+your agreement, and slew some of us in fight, of which we do not so
+much complain, for in that there was a certain justice; but others who
+held out their hands and received quarter, and whose lives you
+subsequently promised us, you lawlessly butchered. If this was not
+abominable, what is? And after these three crimes committed one after
+the other—the violation of your agreement, the murder of the men
+afterwards, and the lying breach of your promise not to kill them, if
+we refrained from injuring your property in the country—you still
+affirm that we are the criminals and yourselves pretend to escape
+justice. Not so, if these your judges decide aright, but you will be
+punished for all together.
+
+“Such, Lacedaemonians, are the facts. We have gone into them at some
+length both on your account and on our own, that you may fed that you
+will justly condemn the prisoners, and we, that we have given an
+additional sanction to our vengeance. We would also prevent you from
+being melted by hearing of their past virtues, if any such they had:
+these may be fairly appealed to by the victims of injustice, but only
+aggravate the guilt of criminals, since they offend against their
+better nature. Nor let them gain anything by crying and wailing, by
+calling upon your fathers’ tombs and their own desolate condition.
+Against this we point to the far more dreadful fate of our youth,
+butchered at their hands; the fathers of whom either fell at Coronea,
+bringing Boeotia over to you, or seated, forlorn old men by desolate
+hearths, with far more reason implore your justice upon the prisoners.
+The pity which they appeal to is rather due to men who suffer
+unworthily; those who suffer justly as they do are on the contrary
+subjects for triumph. For their present desolate condition they have
+themselves to blame, since they wilfully rejected the better alliance.
+Their lawless act was not provoked by any action of ours: hate, not
+justice, inspired their decision; and even now the satisfaction which
+they afford us is not adequate; they will suffer by a legal sentence,
+not as they pretend as suppliants asking for quarter in battle, but as
+prisoners who have surrendered upon agreement to take their trial.
+Vindicate, therefore, Lacedaemonians, the Hellenic law which they have
+broken; and to us, the victims of its violation, grant the reward
+merited by our zeal. Nor let us be supplanted in your favour by their
+harangues, but offer an example to the Hellenes, that the contests to
+which you invite them are of deeds, not words: good deeds can be
+shortly stated, but where wrong is done a wealth of language is needed
+to veil its deformity. However, if leading powers were to do what you
+are now doing, and putting one short question to all alike were to
+decide accordingly, men would be less tempted to seek fine phrases to
+cover bad actions.”
+
+Such were the words of the Thebans. The Lacedaemonian judges decided
+that the question whether they had received any service from the
+Plataeans in the war, was a fair one for them to put; as they had
+always invited them to be neutral, agreeably to the original covenant
+of Pausanias after the defeat of the Mede, and had again definitely
+offered them the same conditions before the blockade. This offer having
+been refused, they were now, they conceived, by the loyalty of their
+intention released from their covenant; and having, as they considered,
+suffered evil at the hands of the Plataeans, they brought them in again
+one by one and asked each of them the same question, that is to say,
+whether they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the
+war; and upon their saying that they had not, took them out and slew
+them, all without exception. The number of Plataeans thus massacred was
+not less than two hundred, with twenty-five Athenians who had shared in
+the siege. The women were taken as slaves. The city the Thebans gave
+for about a year to some political emigrants from Megara and to the
+surviving Plataeans of their own party to inhabit, and afterwards razed
+it to the ground from the very foundations, and built on to the
+precinct of Hera an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all round
+above and below, making use for this purpose of the roofs and doors of
+the Plataeans: of the rest of the materials in the wall, the brass and
+the iron, they made couches which they dedicated to Hera, for whom they
+also built a stone chapel of a hundred feet square. The land they
+confiscated and let out on a ten years’ lease to Theban occupiers. The
+adverse attitude of the Lacedaemonians in the whole Plataean affair was
+mainly adopted to please the Thebans, who were thought to be useful in
+the war at that moment raging. Such was the end of Plataea, in the
+ninety-third year after she became the ally of Athens.
+
+Meanwhile, the forty ships of the Peloponnesians that had gone to the
+relief of the Lesbians, and which we left flying across the open sea,
+pursued by the Athenians, were caught in a storm off Crete, and
+scattering from thence made their way to Peloponnese, where they found
+at Cyllene thirteen Leucadian and Ambraciot galleys, with Brasidas, son
+of Tellis, lately arrived as counsellor to Alcidas; the Lacedaemonians,
+upon the failure of the Lesbian expedition, having resolved to
+strengthen their fleet and sail to Corcyra, where a revolution had
+broken out, so as to arrive there before the twelve Athenian ships at
+Naupactus could be reinforced from Athens. Brasidas and Alcidas began
+to prepare accordingly.
+
+The Corcyraean revolution began with the return of the prisoners taken
+in the sea-fights off Epidamnus. These the Corinthians had released,
+nominally upon the security of eight hundred talents given by their
+proxeni, but in reality upon their engagement to bring over Corcyra to
+Corinth. These men proceeded to canvass each of the citizens, and to
+intrigue with the view of detaching the city from Athens. Upon the
+arrival of an Athenian and a Corinthian vessel, with envoys on board, a
+conference was held in which the Corcyraeans voted to remain allies of
+the Athenians according to their agreement, but to be friends of the
+Peloponnesians as they had been formerly. Meanwhile, the returned
+prisoners brought Peithias, a volunteer proxenus of the Athenians and
+leader of the commons, to trial, upon the charge of enslaving Corcyra
+to Athens. He, being acquitted, retorted by accusing five of the
+richest of their number of cutting stakes in the ground sacred to Zeus
+and Alcinous; the legal penalty being a stater for each stake. Upon
+their conviction, the amount of the penalty being very large, they
+seated themselves as suppliants in the temples to be allowed to pay it
+by instalments; but Peithias, who was one of the senate, prevailed upon
+that body to enforce the law; upon which the accused, rendered
+desperate by the law, and also learning that Peithias had the
+intention, while still a member of the senate, to persuade the people
+to conclude a defensive and offensive alliance with Athens, banded
+together armed with daggers, and suddenly bursting into the senate
+killed Peithias and sixty others, senators and private persons; some
+few only of the party of Peithias taking refuge in the Athenian galley,
+which had not yet departed.
+
+After this outrage, the conspirators summoned the Corcyraeans to an
+assembly, and said that this would turn out for the best, and would
+save them from being enslaved by Athens: for the future, they moved to
+receive neither party unless they came peacefully in a single ship,
+treating any larger number as enemies. This motion made, they compelled
+it to be adopted, and instantly sent off envoys to Athens to justify
+what had been done and to dissuade the refugees there from any hostile
+proceedings which might lead to a reaction.
+
+Upon the arrival of the embassy, the Athenians arrested the envoys and
+all who listened to them, as revolutionists, and lodged them in Aegina.
+Meanwhile a Corinthian galley arriving in the island with Lacedaemonian
+envoys, the dominant Corcyraean party attacked the commons and defeated
+them in battle. Night coming on, the commons took refuge in the
+Acropolis and the higher parts of the city, and concentrated themselves
+there, having also possession of the Hyllaic harbour; their adversaries
+occupying the market-place, where most of them lived, and the harbour
+adjoining, looking towards the mainland.
+
+The next day passed in skirmishes of little importance, each party
+sending into the country to offer freedom to the slaves and to invite
+them to join them. The mass of the slaves answered the appeal of the
+commons; their antagonists being reinforced by eight hundred
+mercenaries from the continent.
+
+After a day’s interval hostilities recommenced, victory remaining with
+the commons, who had the advantage in numbers and position, the women
+also valiantly assisting them, pelting with tiles from the houses, and
+supporting the melee with a fortitude beyond their sex. Towards dusk,
+the oligarchs in full rout, fearing that the victorious commons might
+assault and carry the arsenal and put them to the sword, fired the
+houses round the marketplace and the lodging-houses, in order to bar
+their advance; sparing neither their own, nor those of their
+neighbours; by which much stuff of the merchants was consumed and the
+city risked total destruction, if a wind had come to help the flame by
+blowing on it. Hostilities now ceasing, both sides kept quiet, passing
+the night on guard, while the Corinthian ship stole out to sea upon the
+victory of the commons, and most of the mercenaries passed over
+secretly to the continent.
+
+The next day the Athenian general, Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes, came
+up from Naupactus with twelve ships and five hundred Messenian heavy
+infantry. He at once endeavoured to bring about a settlement, and
+persuaded the two parties to agree together to bring to trial ten of
+the ringleaders, who presently fled, while the rest were to live in
+peace, making terms with each other, and entering into a defensive and
+offensive alliance with the Athenians. This arranged, he was about to
+sail away, when the leaders of the commons induced him to leave them
+five of his ships to make their adversaries less disposed to move,
+while they manned and sent with him an equal number of their own. He
+had no sooner consented, than they began to enroll their enemies for
+the ships; and these, fearing that they might be sent off to Athens,
+seated themselves as suppliants in the temple of the Dioscuri. An
+attempt on the part of Nicostratus to reassure them and to persuade
+them to rise proving unsuccessful, the commons armed upon this pretext,
+alleging the refusal of their adversaries to sail with them as a proof
+of the hollowness of their intentions, and took their arms out of their
+houses, and would have dispatched some whom they fell in with, if
+Nicostratus had not prevented it. The rest of the party, seeing what
+was going on, seated themselves as suppliants in the temple of Hera,
+being not less than four hundred in number; until the commons, fearing
+that they might adopt some desperate resolution, induced them to rise,
+and conveyed them over to the island in front of the temple, where
+provisions were sent across to them.
+
+At this stage in the revolution, on the fourth or fifth day after the
+removal of the men to the island, the Peloponnesian ships arrived from
+Cyllene where they had been stationed since their return from Ionia,
+fifty-three in number, still under the command of Alcidas, but with
+Brasidas also on board as his adviser; and dropping anchor at Sybota, a
+harbour on the mainland, at daybreak made sail for Corcyra.
+
+The Corcyraeans in great confusion and alarm at the state of things in
+the city and at the approach of the invader, at once proceeded to equip
+sixty vessels, which they sent out, as fast as they were manned,
+against the enemy, in spite of the Athenians recommending them to let
+them sail out first, and to follow themselves afterwards with all their
+ships together. Upon their vessels coming up to the enemy in this
+straggling fashion, two immediately deserted: in others the crews were
+fighting among themselves, and there was no order in anything that was
+done; so that the Peloponnesians, seeing their confusion, placed twenty
+ships to oppose the Corcyraeans, and ranged the rest against the twelve
+Athenian ships, amongst which were the two vessels Salaminia and
+Paralus.
+
+While the Corcyraeans, attacking without judgment and in small
+detachments, were already crippled by their own misconduct, the
+Athenians, afraid of the numbers of the enemy and of being surrounded,
+did not venture to attack the main body or even the centre of the
+division opposed to them, but fell upon its wing and sank one vessel;
+after which the Peloponnesians formed in a circle, and the Athenians
+rowed round them and tried to throw them into disorder. Perceiving
+this, the division opposed to the Corcyraeans, fearing a repetition of
+the disaster of Naupactus, came to support their friends, and the whole
+fleet now bore down, united, upon the Athenians, who retired before it,
+backing water, retiring as leisurely as possible in order to give the
+Corcyraeans time to escape, while the enemy was thus kept occupied.
+Such was the character of this sea-fight, which lasted until sunset.
+
+The Corcyraeans now feared that the enemy would follow up their victory
+and sail against the town and rescue the men in the island, or strike
+some other blow equally decisive, and accordingly carried the men over
+again to the temple of Hera, and kept guard over the city. The
+Peloponnesians, however, although victorious in the sea-fight, did not
+venture to attack the town, but took the thirteen Corcyraean vessels
+which they had captured, and with them sailed back to the continent
+from whence they had put out. The next day equally they refrained from
+attacking the city, although the disorder and panic were at their
+height, and though Brasidas, it is said, urged Alcidas, his superior
+officer, to do so, but they landed upon the promontory of Leukimme and
+laid waste the country.
+
+Meanwhile the commons in Corcyra, being still in great fear of the
+fleet attacking them, came to a parley with the suppliants and their
+friends, in order to save the town; and prevailed upon some of them to
+go on board the ships, of which they still manned thirty, against the
+expected attack. But the Peloponnesians after ravaging the country
+until midday sailed away, and towards nightfall were informed by beacon
+signals of the approach of sixty Athenian vessels from Leucas, under
+the command of Eurymedon, son of Thucles; which had been sent off by
+the Athenians upon the news of the revolution and of the fleet with
+Alcidas being about to sail for Corcyra.
+
+The Peloponnesians accordingly at once set off in haste by night for
+home, coasting along shore; and hauling their ships across the Isthmus
+of Leucas, in order not to be seen doubling it, so departed. The
+Corcyraeans, made aware of the approach of the Athenian fleet and of
+the departure of the enemy, brought the Messenians from outside the
+walls into the town, and ordered the fleet which they had manned to
+sail round into the Hyllaic harbour; and while it was so doing, slew
+such of their enemies as they laid hands on, dispatching afterwards, as
+they landed them, those whom they had persuaded to go on board the
+ships. Next they went to the sanctuary of Hera and persuaded about
+fifty men to take their trial, and condemned them all to death. The
+mass of the suppliants who had refused to do so, on seeing what was
+taking place, slew each other there in the consecrated ground; while
+some hanged themselves upon the trees, and others destroyed themselves
+as they were severally able. During seven days that Eurymedon stayed
+with his sixty ships, the Corcyraeans were engaged in butchering those
+of their fellow citizens whom they regarded as their enemies: and
+although the crime imputed was that of attempting to put down the
+democracy, some were slain also for private hatred, others by their
+debtors because of the moneys owed to them. Death thus raged in every
+shape; and, as usually happens at such times, there was no length to
+which violence did not go; sons were killed by their fathers, and
+suppliants dragged from the altar or slain upon it; while some were
+even walled up in the temple of Dionysus and died there.
+
+So bloody was the march of the revolution, and the impression which it
+made was the greater as it was one of the first to occur. Later on, one
+may say, the whole Hellenic world was convulsed; struggles being every,
+where made by the popular chiefs to bring in the Athenians, and by the
+oligarchs to introduce the Lacedaemonians. In peace there would have
+been neither the pretext nor the wish to make such an invitation; but
+in war, with an alliance always at the command of either faction for
+the hurt of their adversaries and their own corresponding advantage,
+opportunities for bringing in the foreigner were never wanting to the
+revolutionary parties. The sufferings which revolution entailed upon
+the cities were many and terrible, such as have occurred and always
+will occur, as long as the nature of mankind remains the same; though
+in a severer or milder form, and varying in their symptoms, according
+to the variety of the particular cases. In peace and prosperity, states
+and individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find
+themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities; but war
+takes away the easy supply of daily wants, and so proves a rough
+master, that brings most men’s characters to a level with their
+fortunes. Revolution thus ran its course from city to city, and the
+places which it arrived at last, from having heard what had been done
+before, carried to a still greater excess the refinement of their
+inventions, as manifested in the cunning of their enterprises and the
+atrocity of their reprisals. Words had to change their ordinary meaning
+and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be
+considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious
+cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability
+to see all sides of a question, inaptness to act on any. Frantic
+violence became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting, a
+justifiable means of self-defence. The advocate of extreme measures was
+always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected. To succeed in a
+plot was to have a shrewd head, to divine a plot a still shrewder; but
+to try to provide against having to do either was to break up your
+party and to be afraid of your adversaries. In fine, to forestall an
+intending criminal, or to suggest the idea of a crime where it was
+wanting, was equally commended until even blood became a weaker tie
+than party, from the superior readiness of those united by the latter
+to dare everything without reserve; for such associations had not in
+view the blessings derivable from established institutions but were
+formed by ambition for their overthrow; and the confidence of their
+members in each other rested less on any religious sanction than upon
+complicity in crime. The fair proposals of an adversary were met with
+jealous precautions by the stronger of the two, and not with a generous
+confidence. Revenge also was held of more account than
+self-preservation. Oaths of reconciliation, being only proffered on
+either side to meet an immediate difficulty, only held good so long as
+no other weapon was at hand; but when opportunity offered, he who first
+ventured to seize it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this
+perfidious vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of
+safety apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior
+intelligence. Indeed it is generally the case that men are readier to
+call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are as ashamed of being
+the second as they are proud of being the first. The cause of all these
+evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from
+these passions proceeded the violence of parties once engaged in
+contention. The leaders in the cities, each provided with the fairest
+professions, on the one side with the cry of political equality of the
+people, on the other of a moderate aristocracy, sought prizes for
+themselves in those public interests which they pretended to cherish,
+and, recoiling from no means in their struggles for ascendancy engaged
+in the direst excesses; in their acts of vengeance they went to even
+greater lengths, not stopping at what justice or the good of the state
+demanded, but making the party caprice of the moment their only
+standard, and invoking with equal readiness the condemnation of an
+unjust verdict or the authority of the strong arm to glut the
+animosities of the hour. Thus religion was in honour with neither
+party; but the use of fair phrases to arrive at guilty ends was in high
+reputation. Meanwhile the moderate part of the citizens perished
+between the two, either for not joining in the quarrel, or because envy
+would not suffer them to escape.
+
+Thus every form of iniquity took root in the Hellenic countries by
+reason of the troubles. The ancient simplicity into which honour so
+largely entered was laughed down and disappeared; and society became
+divided into camps in which no man trusted his fellow. To put an end to
+this, there was neither promise to be depended upon, nor oath that
+could command respect; but all parties dwelling rather in their
+calculation upon the hopelessness of a permanent state of things, were
+more intent upon self-defence than capable of confidence. In this
+contest the blunter wits were most successful. Apprehensive of their
+own deficiencies and of the cleverness of their antagonists, they
+feared to be worsted in debate and to be surprised by the combinations
+of their more versatile opponents, and so at once boldly had recourse
+to action: while their adversaries, arrogantly thinking that they
+should know in time, and that it was unnecessary to secure by action
+what policy afforded, often fell victims to their want of precaution.
+
+Meanwhile Corcyra gave the first example of most of the crimes alluded
+to; of the reprisals exacted by the governed who had never experienced
+equitable treatment or indeed aught but insolence from their
+rulers—when their hour came; of the iniquitous resolves of those who
+desired to get rid of their accustomed poverty, and ardently coveted
+their neighbours’ goods; and lastly, of the savage and pitiless
+excesses into which men who had begun the struggle, not in a class but
+in a party spirit, were hurried by their ungovernable passions. In the
+confusion into which life was now thrown in the cities, human nature,
+always rebelling against the law and now its master, gladly showed
+itself ungoverned in passion, above respect for justice, and the enemy
+of all superiority; since revenge would not have been set above
+religion, and gain above justice, had it not been for the fatal power
+of envy. Indeed men too often take upon themselves in the prosecution
+of their revenge to set the example of doing away with those general
+laws to which all alike can look for salvation in adversity, instead of
+allowing them to subsist against the day of danger when their aid may
+be required.
+
+While the revolutionary passions thus for the first time displayed
+themselves in the factions of Corcyra, Eurymedon and the Athenian fleet
+sailed away; after which some five hundred Corcyraean exiles who had
+succeeded in escaping, took some forts on the mainland, and becoming
+masters of the Corcyraean territory over the water, made this their
+base to Plunder their countrymen in the island, and did so much damage
+as to cause a severe famine in the town. They also sent envoys to
+Lacedaemon and Corinth to negotiate their restoration; but meeting with
+no success, afterwards got together boats and mercenaries and crossed
+over to the island, being about six hundred in all; and burning their
+boats so as to have no hope except in becoming masters of the country,
+went up to Mount Istone, and fortifying themselves there, began to
+annoy those in the city and obtained command of the country.
+
+At the close of the same summer the Athenians sent twenty ships under
+the command of Laches, son of Melanopus, and Charoeades, son of
+Euphiletus, to Sicily, where the Syracusans and Leontines were at war.
+The Syracusans had for allies all the Dorian cities except
+Camarina—these had been included in the Lacedaemonian confederacy from
+the commencement of the war, though they had not taken any active part
+in it—the Leontines had Camarina and the Chalcidian cities. In Italy
+the Locrians were for the Syracusans, the Rhegians for their Leontine
+kinsmen. The allies of the Leontines now sent to Athens and appealed to
+their ancient alliance and to their Ionian origin, to persuade the
+Athenians to send them a fleet, as the Syracusans were blockading them
+by land and sea. The Athenians sent it upon the plea of their common
+descent, but in reality to prevent the exportation of Sicilian corn to
+Peloponnese and to test the possibility of bringing Sicily into
+subjection. Accordingly they established themselves at Rhegium in
+Italy, and from thence carried on the war in concert with their allies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Year of the War—Campaigns of Demosthenes in Western Greece—Ruin of
+Ambracia
+
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following, the plague a second time
+attacked the Athenians; for although it had never entirely left them,
+still there had been a notable abatement in its ravages. The second
+visit lasted no less than a year, the first having lasted two; and
+nothing distressed the Athenians and reduced their power more than
+this. No less than four thousand four hundred heavy infantry in the
+ranks died of it and three hundred cavalry, besides a number of the
+multitude that was never ascertained. At the same time took place the
+numerous earthquakes in Athens, Euboea, and Boeotia, particularly at
+Orchomenus in the last-named country.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily and the Rhegians, with thirty
+ships, made an expedition against the islands of Aeolus; it being
+impossible to invade them in summer, owing to the want of water. These
+islands are occupied by the Liparaeans, a Cnidian colony, who live in
+one of them of no great size called Lipara; and from this as their
+headquarters cultivate the rest, Didyme, Strongyle, and Hiera. In Hiera
+the people in those parts believe that Hephaestus has his forge, from
+the quantity of flame which they see it send out by night, and of smoke
+by day. These islands lie off the coast of the Sicels and Messinese,
+and were allies of the Syracusans. The Athenians laid waste their land,
+and as the inhabitants did not submit, sailed back to Rhegium. Thus the
+winter ended, and with it ended the fifth year of this war, of which
+Thucydides was the historian.
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies set out to invade
+Attica under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, and went as far as
+the Isthmus, but numerous earthquakes occurring, turned back again
+without the invasion taking place. About the same time that these
+earthquakes were so common, the sea at Orobiae, in Euboea, retiring
+from the then line of coast, returned in a huge wave and invaded a
+great part of the town, and retreated leaving some of it still under
+water; so that what was once land is now sea; such of the inhabitants
+perishing as could not run up to the higher ground in time. A similar
+inundation also occurred at Atalanta, the island off the Opuntian
+Locrian coast, carrying away part of the Athenian fort and wrecking one
+of two ships which were drawn up on the beach. At Peparethus also the
+sea retreated a little, without however any inundation following; and
+an earthquake threw down part of the wall, the town hall, and a few
+other buildings. The cause, in my opinion, of this phenomenon must be
+sought in the earthquake. At the point where its shock has been the
+most violent, the sea is driven back and, suddenly recoiling with
+redoubled force, causes the inundation. Without an earthquake I do not
+see how such an accident could happen.
+
+During the same summer different operations were carried on by the
+different belligerents in Sicily; by the Siceliots themselves against
+each other, and by the Athenians and their allies: I shall however
+confine myself to the actions in which the Athenians took part,
+choosing the most important. The death of the Athenian general
+Charoeades, killed by the Syracusans in battle, left Laches in the sole
+command of the fleet, which he now directed in concert with the allies
+against Mylae, a place belonging to the Messinese. Two Messinese
+battalions in garrison at Mylae laid an ambush for the party landing
+from the ships, but were routed with great slaughter by the Athenians
+and their allies, who thereupon assaulted the fortification and
+compelled them to surrender the Acropolis and to march with them upon
+Messina. This town afterwards also submitted upon the approach of the
+Athenians and their allies, and gave hostages and all other securities
+required.
+
+The same summer the Athenians sent thirty ships round Peloponnese under
+Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, and Procles, son of Theodorus, and
+sixty others, with two thousand heavy infantry, against Melos, under
+Nicias, son of Niceratus; wishing to reduce the Melians, who, although
+islanders, refused to be subjects of Athens or even to join her
+confederacy. The devastation of their land not procuring their
+submission, the fleet, weighing from Melos, sailed to Oropus in the
+territory of Graea, and landing at nightfall, the heavy infantry
+started at once from the ships by land for Tanagra in Boeotia, where
+they were met by the whole levy from Athens, agreeably to a concerted
+signal, under the command of Hipponicus, son of Callias, and Eurymedon,
+son of Thucles. They encamped, and passing that day in ravaging the
+Tanagraean territory, remained there for the night; and next day, after
+defeating those of the Tanagraeans who sailed out against them and some
+Thebans who had come up to help the Tanagraeans, took some arms, set up
+a trophy, and retired, the troops to the city and the others to the
+ships. Nicias with his sixty ships coasted alongshore and ravaged the
+Locrian seaboard, and so returned home.
+
+About this time the Lacedaemonians founded their colony of Heraclea in
+Trachis, their object being the following: the Malians form in all
+three tribes, the Paralians, the Hiereans, and the Trachinians. The
+last of these having suffered severely in a war with their neighbours
+the Oetaeans, at first intended to give themselves up to Athens; but
+afterwards fearing not to find in her the security that they sought,
+sent to Lacedaemon, having chosen Tisamenus for their ambassador. In
+this embassy joined also the Dorians from the mother country of the
+Lacedaemonians, with the same request, as they themselves also suffered
+from the same enemy. After hearing them, the Lacedaemonians determined
+to send out the colony, wishing to assist the Trachinians and Dorians,
+and also because they thought that the proposed town would lie
+conveniently for the purposes of the war against the Athenians. A fleet
+might be got ready there against Euboea, with the advantage of a short
+passage to the island; and the town would also be useful as a station
+on the road to Thrace. In short, everything made the Lacedaemonians
+eager to found the place. After first consulting the god at Delphi and
+receiving a favourable answer, they sent off the colonists, Spartans,
+and Perioeci, inviting also any of the rest of the Hellenes who might
+wish to accompany them, except Ionians, Achaeans, and certain other
+nationalities; three Lacedaemonians leading as founders of the colony,
+Leon, Alcidas, and Damagon. The settlement effected, they fortified
+anew the city, now called Heraclea, distant about four miles and a half
+from Thermopylae and two miles and a quarter from the sea, and
+commenced building docks, closing the side towards Thermopylae just by
+the pass itself, in order that they might be easily defended.
+
+The foundation of this town, evidently meant to annoy Euboea (the
+passage across to Cenaeum in that island being a short one), at first
+caused some alarm at Athens, which the event however did nothing to
+justify, the town never giving them any trouble. The reason of this was
+as follows. The Thessalians, who were sovereign in those parts, and
+whose territory was menaced by its foundation, were afraid that it
+might prove a very powerful neighbour, and accordingly continually
+harassed and made war upon the new settlers, until they at last wore
+them out in spite of their originally considerable numbers, people
+flocking from all quarters to a place founded by the Lacedaemonians,
+and thus thought secure of prosperity. On the other hand the
+Lacedaemonians themselves, in the persons of their governors, did their
+full share towards ruining its prosperity and reducing its population,
+as they frightened away the greater part of the inhabitants by
+governing harshly and in some cases not fairly, and thus made it easier
+for their neighbours to prevail against them.
+
+The same summer, about the same time that the Athenians were detained
+at Melos, their fellow citizens in the thirty ships cruising round
+Peloponnese, after cutting off some guards in an ambush at Ellomenus in
+Leucadia, subsequently went against Leucas itself with a large
+armament, having been reinforced by the whole levy of the Acarnanians
+except Oeniadae, and by the Zacynthians and Cephallenians and fifteen
+ships from Corcyra. While the Leucadians witnessed the devastation of
+their land, without and within the isthmus upon which the town of
+Leucas and the temple of Apollo stand, without making any movement on
+account of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the Acarnanians urged
+Demosthenes, the Athenian general, to build a wall so as to cut off the
+town from the continent, a measure which they were convinced would
+secure its capture and rid them once and for all of a most troublesome
+enemy.
+
+Demosthenes however had in the meanwhile been persuaded by the
+Messenians that it was a fine opportunity for him, having so large an
+army assembled, to attack the Aetolians, who were not only the enemies
+of Naupactus, but whose reduction would further make it easy to gain
+the rest of that part of the continent for the Athenians. The Aetolian
+nation, although numerous and warlike, yet dwelt in unwalled villages
+scattered far apart, and had nothing but light armour, and might,
+according to the Messenians, be subdued without much difficulty before
+succours could arrive. The plan which they recommended was to attack
+first the Apodotians, next the Ophionians, and after these the
+Eurytanians, who are the largest tribe in Aetolia, and speak, as is
+said, a language exceedingly difficult to understand, and eat their
+flesh raw. These once subdued, the rest would easily come in.
+
+To this plan Demosthenes consented, not only to please the Messenians,
+but also in the belief that by adding the Aetolians to his other
+continental allies he would be able, without aid from home, to march
+against the Boeotians by way of Ozolian Locris to Kytinium in Doris,
+keeping Parnassus on his right until he descended to the Phocians, whom
+he could force to join him if their ancient friendship for Athens did
+not, as he anticipated, at once decide them to do so. Arrived in Phocis
+he was already upon the frontier of Boeotia. He accordingly weighed
+from Leucas, against the wish of the Acarnanians, and with his whole
+armament sailed along the coast to Sollium, where he communicated to
+them his intention; and upon their refusing to agree to it on account
+of the non-investment of Leucas, himself with the rest of the forces,
+the Cephallenians, the Messenians, and Zacynthians, and three hundred
+Athenian marines from his own ships (the fifteen Corcyraean vessels
+having departed), started on his expedition against the Aetolians. His
+base he established at Oeneon in Locris, as the Ozolian Locrians were
+allies of Athens and were to meet him with all their forces in the
+interior. Being neighbours of the Aetolians and armed in the same way,
+it was thought that they would be of great service upon the expedition,
+from their acquaintance with the localities and the warfare of the
+inhabitants.
+
+After bivouacking with the army in the precinct of Nemean Zeus, in
+which the poet Hesiod is said to have been killed by the people of the
+country, according to an oracle which had foretold that he should die
+in Nemea, Demosthenes set out at daybreak to invade Aetolia. The first
+day he took Potidania, the next Krokyle, and the third Tichium, where
+he halted and sent back the booty to Eupalium in Locris, having
+determined to pursue his conquests as far as the Ophionians, and, in
+the event of their refusing to submit, to return to Naupactus and make
+them the objects of a second expedition. Meanwhile the Aetolians had
+been aware of his design from the moment of its formation, and as soon
+as the army invaded their country came up in great force with all their
+tribes; even the most remote Ophionians, the Bomiensians, and
+Calliensians, who extend towards the Malian Gulf, being among the
+number.
+
+The Messenians, however, adhered to their original advice. Assuring
+Demosthenes that the Aetolians were an easy conquest, they urged him to
+push on as rapidly as possible, and to try to take the villages as fast
+as he came up to them, without waiting until the whole nation should be
+in arms against him. Led on by his advisers and trusting in his
+fortune, as he had met with no opposition, without waiting for his
+Locrian reinforcements, who were to have supplied him with the
+light-armed darters in which he was most deficient, he advanced and
+stormed Aegitium, the inhabitants flying before him and posting
+themselves upon the hills above the town, which stood on high ground
+about nine miles from the sea. Meanwhile the Aetolians had gathered to
+the rescue, and now attacked the Athenians and their allies, running
+down from the hills on every side and darting their javelins, falling
+back when the Athenian army advanced, and coming on as it retired; and
+for a long while the battle was of this character, alternate advance
+and retreat, in both which operations the Athenians had the worst.
+
+Still as long as their archers had arrows left and were able to use
+them, they held out, the light-armed Aetolians retiring before the
+arrows; but after the captain of the archers had been killed and his
+men scattered, the soldiers, wearied out with the constant repetition
+of the same exertions and hard pressed by the Aetolians with their
+javelins, at last turned and fled, and falling into pathless gullies
+and places that they were unacquainted with, thus perished, the
+Messenian Chromon, their guide, having also unfortunately been killed.
+A great many were overtaken in the pursuit by the swift-footed and
+light-armed Aetolians, and fell beneath their javelins; the greater
+number however missed their road and rushed into the wood, which had no
+ways out, and which was soon fired and burnt round them by the enemy.
+Indeed the Athenian army fell victims to death in every form, and
+suffered all the vicissitudes of flight; the survivors escaped with
+difficulty to the sea and Oeneon in Locris, whence they had set out.
+Many of the allies were killed, and about one hundred and twenty
+Athenian heavy infantry, not a man less, and all in the prime of life.
+These were by far the best men in the city of Athens that fell during
+this war. Among the slain was also Procles, the colleague of
+Demosthenes. Meanwhile the Athenians took up their dead under truce
+from the Aetolians, and retired to Naupactus, and from thence went in
+their ships to Athens; Demosthenes staying behind in Naupactus and in
+the neighbourhood, being afraid to face the Athenians after the
+disaster.
+
+About the same time the Athenians on the coast of Sicily sailed to
+Locris, and in a descent which they made from the ships defeated the
+Locrians who came against them, and took a fort upon the river Halex.
+
+The same summer the Aetolians, who before the Athenian expedition had
+sent an embassy to Corinth and Lacedaemon, composed of Tolophus, an
+Ophionian, Boriades, an Eurytanian, and Tisander, an Apodotian,
+obtained that an army should be sent them against Naupactus, which had
+invited the Athenian invasion. The Lacedaemonians accordingly sent off
+towards autumn three thousand heavy infantry of the allies, five
+hundred of whom were from Heraclea, the newly founded city in Trachis,
+under the command of Eurylochus, a Spartan, accompanied by Macarius and
+Menedaius, also Spartans.
+
+The army having assembled at Delphi, Eurylochus sent a herald to the
+Ozolian Locrians; the road to Naupactus lying through their territory,
+and he having besides conceived the idea of detaching them from Athens.
+His chief abettors in Locris were the Amphissians, who were alarmed at
+the hostility of the Phocians. These first gave hostages themselves,
+and induced the rest to do the same for fear of the invading army;
+first, their neighbours the Myonians, who held the most difficult of
+the passes, and after them the Ipnians, Messapians, Tritaeans,
+Chalaeans, Tolophonians, Hessians, and Oeanthians, all of whom joined
+in the expedition; the Olpaeans contenting themselves with giving
+hostages, without accompanying the invasion; and the Hyaeans refusing
+to do either, until the capture of Polis, one of their villages.
+
+His preparations completed, Eurylochus lodged the hostages in Kytinium,
+in Doris, and advanced upon Naupactus through the country of the
+Locrians, taking upon his way Oeneon and Eupalium, two of their towns
+that refused to join him. Arrived in the Naupactian territory, and
+having been now joined by the Aetolians, the army laid waste the land
+and took the suburb of the town, which was unfortified; and after this
+Molycrium also, a Corinthian colony subject to Athens. Meanwhile the
+Athenian Demosthenes, who since the affair in Aetolia had remained near
+Naupactus, having had notice of the army and fearing for the town, went
+and persuaded the Acarnanians, although not without difficulty because
+of his departure from Leucas, to go to the relief of Naupactus. They
+accordingly sent with him on board his ships a thousand heavy infantry,
+who threw themselves into the place and saved it; the extent of its
+wall and the small number of its defenders otherwise placing it in the
+greatest danger. Meanwhile Eurylochus and his companions, finding that
+this force had entered and that it was impossible to storm the town,
+withdrew, not to Peloponnese, but to the country once called Aeolis,
+and now Calydon and Pleuron, and to the places in that neighbourhood,
+and Proschium in Aetolia; the Ambraciots having come and urged them to
+combine with them in attacking Amphilochian Argos and the rest of
+Amphilochia and Acarnania; affirming that the conquest of these
+countries would bring all the continent into alliance with Lacedaemon.
+To this Eurylochus consented, and dismissing the Aetolians, now
+remained quiet with his army in those parts, until the time should come
+for the Ambraciots to take the field, and for him to join them before
+Argos.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter ensuing, the Athenians in Sicily with
+their Hellenic allies, and such of the Sicel subjects or allies of
+Syracuse as had revolted from her and joined their army, marched
+against the Sicel town Inessa, the acropolis of which was held by the
+Syracusans, and after attacking it without being able to take it,
+retired. In the retreat, the allies retreating after the Athenians were
+attacked by the Syracusans from the fort, and a large part of their
+army routed with great slaughter. After this, Laches and the Athenians
+from the ships made some descents in Locris, and defeating the
+Locrians, who came against them with Proxenus, son of Capaton, upon the
+river Caicinus, took some arms and departed.
+
+The same winter the Athenians purified Delos, in compliance, it
+appears, with a certain oracle. It had been purified before by
+Pisistratus the tyrant; not indeed the whole island, but as much of it
+as could be seen from the temple. All of it was, however, now purified
+in the following way. All the sepulchres of those that had died in
+Delos were taken up, and for the future it was commanded that no one
+should be allowed either to die or to give birth to a child in the
+island; but that they should be carried over to Rhenea, which is so
+near to Delos that Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, having added Rhenea to
+his other island conquests during his period of naval ascendancy,
+dedicated it to the Delian Apollo by binding it to Delos with a chain.
+
+The Athenians, after the purification, celebrated, for the first time,
+the quinquennial festival of the Delian games. Once upon a time,
+indeed, there was a great assemblage of the Ionians and the
+neighbouring islanders at Delos, who used to come to the festival, as
+the Ionians now do to that of Ephesus, and athletic and poetical
+contests took place there, and the cities brought choirs of dancers.
+Nothing can be clearer on this point than the following verses of
+Homer, taken from a hymn to Apollo:
+
+Phœbus, wherever thou strayest, far or near,
+Delos was still of all thy haunts most dear.
+Thither the robed Ionians take their way
+With wife and child to keep thy holiday,
+Invoke thy favour on each manly game,
+And dance and sing in honour of thy name.
+
+
+That there was also a poetical contest in which the Ionians went to
+contend, again is shown by the following, taken from the same hymn.
+After celebrating the Delian dance of the women, he ends his song of
+praise with these verses, in which he also alludes to himself:
+
+Well, may Apollo keep you all! and so,
+Sweethearts, good-bye—yet tell me not I go
+Out from your hearts; and if in after hours
+Some other wanderer in this world of ours
+Touch at your shores, and ask your maidens here
+Who sings the songs the sweetest to your ear,
+Think of me then, and answer with a smile,
+‘A blind old man of Scio’s rocky isle.’
+
+
+Homer thus attests that there was anciently a great assembly and
+festival at Delos. In later times, although the islanders and the
+Athenians continued to send the choirs of dancers with sacrifices, the
+contests and most of the ceremonies were abolished, probably through
+adversity, until the Athenians celebrated the games upon this occasion
+with the novelty of horse-races.
+
+The same winter the Ambraciots, as they had promised Eurylochus when
+they retained his army, marched out against Amphilochian Argos with
+three thousand heavy infantry, and invading the Argive territory
+occupied Olpae, a stronghold on a hill near the sea, which had been
+formerly fortified by the Acarnanians and used as the place of assizes
+for their nation, and which is about two miles and three-quarters from
+the city of Argos upon the sea-coast. Meanwhile the Acarnanians went
+with a part of their forces to the relief of Argos, and with the rest
+encamped in Amphilochia at the place called Crenae, or the Wells, to
+watch for Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, and to prevent their
+passing through and effecting their junction with the Ambraciots; while
+they also sent for Demosthenes, the commander of the Aetolian
+expedition, to be their leader, and for the twenty Athenian ships that
+were cruising off Peloponnese under the command of Aristotle, son of
+Timocrates, and Hierophon, son of Antimnestus. On their part, the
+Ambraciots at Olpae sent a messenger to their own city, to beg them to
+come with their whole levy to their assistance, fearing that the army
+of Eurylochus might not be able to pass through the Acarnanians, and
+that they might themselves be obliged to fight single-handed, or be
+unable to retreat, if they wished it, without danger.
+
+Meanwhile Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, learning that the
+Ambraciots at Olpae had arrived, set out from Proschium with all haste
+to join them, and crossing the Achelous advanced through Acarnania,
+which they found deserted by its population, who had gone to the relief
+of Argos; keeping on their right the city of the Stratians and its
+garrison, and on their left the rest of Acarnania. Traversing the
+territory of the Stratians, they advanced through Phytia, next,
+skirting Medeon, through Limnaea; after which they left Acarnania
+behind them and entered a friendly country, that of the Agraeans. From
+thence they reached and crossed Mount Thymaus, which belongs to the
+Agraeans, and descended into the Argive territory after nightfall, and
+passing between the city of Argos and the Acarnanian posts at Crenae,
+joined the Ambraciots at Olpae.
+
+Uniting here at daybreak, they sat down at the place called Metropolis,
+and encamped. Not long afterwards the Athenians in the twenty ships
+came into the Ambracian Gulf to support the Argives, with Demosthenes
+and two hundred Messenian heavy infantry, and sixty Athenian archers.
+While the fleet off Olpae blockaded the hill from the sea, the
+Acarnanians and a few of the Amphilochians, most of whom were kept back
+by force by the Ambraciots, had already arrived at Argos, and were
+preparing to give battle to the enemy, having chosen Demosthenes to
+command the whole of the allied army in concert with their own
+generals. Demosthenes led them near to Olpae and encamped, a great
+ravine separating the two armies. During five days they remained
+inactive; on the sixth both sides formed in order of battle. The army
+of the Peloponnesians was the largest and outflanked their opponents;
+and Demosthenes fearing that his right might be surrounded, placed in
+ambush in a hollow way overgrown with bushes some four hundred heavy
+infantry and light troops, who were to rise up at the moment of the
+onset behind the projecting left wing of the enemy, and to take them in
+the rear. When both sides were ready they joined battle; Demosthenes
+being on the right wing with the Messenians and a few Athenians, while
+the rest of the line was made up of the different divisions of the
+Acarnanians, and of the Amphilochian carters. The Peloponnesians and
+Ambraciots were drawn up pell-mell together, with the exception of the
+Mantineans, who were massed on the left, without however reaching to
+the extremity of the wing, where Eurylochus and his men confronted the
+Messenians and Demosthenes.
+
+The Peloponnesians were now well engaged and with their outflanking
+wing were upon the point of turning their enemy’s right; when the
+Acarnanians from the ambuscade set upon them from behind, and broke
+them at the first attack, without their staying to resist; while the
+panic into which they fell caused the flight of most of their army,
+terrified beyond measure at seeing the division of Eurylochus and their
+best troops cut to pieces. Most of the work was done by Demosthenes and
+his Messenians, who were posted in this part of the field. Meanwhile
+the Ambraciots (who are the best soldiers in those countries) and the
+troops upon the right wing, defeated the division opposed to them and
+pursued it to Argos. Returning from the pursuit, they found their main
+body defeated; and hard pressed by the Acarnanians, with difficulty
+made good their passage to Olpae, suffering heavy loss on the way, as
+they dashed on without discipline or order, the Mantineans excepted,
+who kept their ranks best of any in the army during the retreat.
+
+The battle did not end until the evening. The next day Menedaius, who
+on the death of Eurylochus and Macarius had succeeded to the sole
+command, being at a loss after so signal a defeat how to stay and
+sustain a siege, cut off as he was by land and by the Athenian fleet by
+sea, and equally so how to retreat in safety, opened a parley with
+Demosthenes and the Acarnanian generals for a truce and permission to
+retreat, and at the same time for the recovery of the dead. The dead
+they gave back to him, and setting up a trophy took up their own also
+to the number of about three hundred. The retreat demanded they refused
+publicly to the army; but permission to depart without delay was
+secretly granted to the Mantineans and to Menedaius and the other
+commanders and principal men of the Peloponnesians by Demosthenes and
+his Acarnanian colleagues; who desired to strip the Ambraciots and the
+mercenary host of foreigners of their supporters; and, above all, to
+discredit the Lacedaemonians and Peloponnesians with the Hellenes in
+those parts, as traitors and self-seekers.
+
+While the enemy was taking up his dead and hastily burying them as he
+could, and those who obtained permission were secretly planning their
+retreat, word was brought to Demosthenes and the Acarnanians that the
+Ambraciots from the city, in compliance with the first message from
+Olpae, were on the march with their whole levy through Amphilochia to
+join their countrymen at Olpae, knowing nothing of what had occurred.
+Demosthenes prepared to march with his army against them, and meanwhile
+sent on at once a strong division to beset the roads and occupy the
+strong positions. In the meantime the Mantineans and others included in
+the agreement went out under the pretence of gathering herbs and
+firewood, and stole off by twos and threes, picking on the way the
+things which they professed to have come out for, until they had gone
+some distance from Olpae, when they quickened their pace. The
+Ambraciots and such of the rest as had accompanied them in larger
+parties, seeing them going on, pushed on in their turn, and began
+running in order to catch them up. The Acarnanians at first thought
+that all alike were departing without permission, and began to pursue
+the Peloponnesians; and believing that they were being betrayed, even
+threw a dart or two at some of their generals who tried to stop them
+and told them that leave had been given. Eventually, however, they let
+pass the Mantineans and Peloponnesians, and slew only the Ambraciots,
+there being much dispute and difficulty in distinguishing whether a man
+was an Ambraciot or a Peloponnesian. The number thus slain was about
+two hundred; the rest escaped into the bordering territory of Agraea,
+and found refuge with Salynthius, the friendly king of the Agraeans.
+
+Meanwhile the Ambraciots from the city arrived at Idomene. Idomene
+consists of two lofty hills, the higher of which the troops sent on by
+Demosthenes succeeded in occupying after nightfall, unobserved by the
+Ambraciots, who had meanwhile ascended the smaller and bivouacked under
+it. After supper Demosthenes set out with the rest of the army, as soon
+as it was evening; himself with half his force making for the pass, and
+the remainder going by the Amphilochian hills. At dawn he fell upon the
+Ambraciots while they were still abed, ignorant of what had passed, and
+fully thinking that it was their own countrymen—Demosthenes having
+purposely put the Messenians in front with orders to address them in
+the Doric dialect, and thus to inspire confidence in the sentinels, who
+would not be able to see them as it was still night. In this way he
+routed their army as soon as he attacked it, slaying most of them where
+they were, the rest breaking away in flight over the hills. The roads,
+however, were already occupied, and while the Amphilochians knew their
+own country, the Ambraciots were ignorant of it and could not tell
+which way to turn, and had also heavy armour as against a light-armed
+enemy, and so fell into ravines and into the ambushes which had been
+set for them, and perished there. In their manifold efforts to escape
+some even turned to the sea, which was not far off, and seeing the
+Athenian ships coasting alongshore just while the action was going on,
+swam off to them, thinking it better in the panic they were in, to
+perish, if perish they must, by the hands of the Athenians, than by
+those of the barbarous and detested Amphilochians. Of the large
+Ambraciot force destroyed in this manner, a few only reached the city
+in safety; while the Acarnanians, after stripping the dead and setting
+up a trophy, returned to Argos.
+
+The next day arrived a herald from the Ambraciots who had fled from
+Olpae to the Agraeans, to ask leave to take up the dead that had fallen
+after the first engagement, when they left the camp with the Mantineans
+and their companions, without, like them, having had permission to do
+so. At the sight of the arms of the Ambraciots from the city, the
+herald was astonished at their number, knowing nothing of the disaster
+and fancying that they were those of their own party. Some one asked
+him what he was so astonished at, and how many of them had been killed,
+fancying in his turn that this was the herald from the troops at
+Idomene. He replied: “About two hundred”; upon which his interrogator
+took him up, saying: “Why, the arms you see here are of more than a
+thousand.” The herald replied: “Then they are not the arms of those who
+fought with us?” The other answered: “Yes, they are, if at least you
+fought at Idomene yesterday.” “But we fought with no one yesterday; but
+the day before in the retreat.” “However that may be, we fought
+yesterday with those who came to reinforce you from the city of the
+Ambraciots.” When the herald heard this and knew that the reinforcement
+from the city had been destroyed, he broke into wailing and, stunned at
+the magnitude of the present evils, went away at once without having
+performed his errand, or again asking for the dead bodies. Indeed, this
+was by far the greatest disaster that befell any one Hellenic city in
+an equal number of days during this war; and I have not set down the
+number of the dead, because the amount stated seems so out of
+proportion to the size of the city as to be incredible. In any case I
+know that if the Acarnanians and Amphilochians had wished to take
+Ambracia as the Athenians and Demosthenes advised, they would have done
+so without a blow; as it was, they feared that if the Athenians had it
+they would be worse neighbours to them than the present.
+
+After this the Acarnanians allotted a third of the spoils to the
+Athenians, and divided the rest among their own different towns. The
+share of the Athenians was captured on the voyage home; the arms now
+deposited in the Attic temples are three hundred panoplies, which the
+Acarnanians set apart for Demosthenes, and which he brought to Athens
+in person, his return to his country after the Aetolian disaster being
+rendered less hazardous by this exploit. The Athenians in the twenty
+ships also went off to Naupactus. The Acarnanians and Amphilochians,
+after the departure of Demosthenes and the Athenians, granted the
+Ambraciots and Peloponnesians who had taken refuge with Salynthius and
+the Agraeans a free retreat from Oeniadae, to which place they had
+removed from the country of Salynthius, and for the future concluded
+with the Ambraciots a treaty and alliance for one hundred years, upon
+the terms following. It was to be a defensive, not an offensive
+alliance; the Ambraciots could not be required to march with the
+Acarnanians against the Peloponnesians, nor the Acarnanians with the
+Ambraciots against the Athenians; for the rest the Ambraciots were to
+give up the places and hostages that they held of the Amphilochians,
+and not to give help to Anactorium, which was at enmity with the
+Acarnanians. With this arrangement they put an end to the war. After
+this the Corinthians sent a garrison of their own citizens to Ambracia,
+composed of three hundred heavy infantry, under the command of
+Xenocleides, son of Euthycles, who reached their destination after a
+difficult journey across the continent. Such was the history of the
+affair of Ambracia.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily made a descent from their ships
+upon the territory of Himera, in concert with the Sicels, who had
+invaded its borders from the interior, and also sailed to the islands
+of Aeolus. Upon their return to Rhegium they found the Athenian
+general, Pythodorus, son of Isolochus, come to supersede Laches in the
+command of the fleet. The allies in Sicily had sailed to Athens and
+induced the Athenians to send out more vessels to their assistance,
+pointing out that the Syracusans who already commanded their land were
+making efforts to get together a navy, to avoid being any longer
+excluded from the sea by a few vessels. The Athenians proceeded to man
+forty ships to send to them, thinking that the war in Sicily would thus
+be the sooner ended, and also wishing to exercise their navy. One of
+the generals, Pythodorus, was accordingly sent out with a few ships;
+Sophocles, son of Sostratides, and Eurymedon, son of Thucles, being
+destined to follow with the main body. Meanwhile Pythodorus had taken
+the command of Laches’ ships, and towards the end of winter sailed
+against the Locrian fort, which Laches had formerly taken, and returned
+after being defeated in battle by the Locrians.
+
+In the first days of this spring, the stream of fire issued from Etna,
+as on former occasions, and destroyed some land of the Catanians, who
+live upon Mount Etna, which is the largest mountain in Sicily. Fifty
+years, it is said, had elapsed since the last eruption, there having
+been three in all since the Hellenes have inhabited Sicily. Such were
+the events of this winter; and with it ended the sixth year of this
+war, of which Thucydides was the historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+Seventh Year of the War—Occupation of Pylos—Surrender of the Spartan
+Army in Sphacteria
+
+
+Next summer, about the time of the corn’s coming into ear, ten
+Syracusan and as many Locrian vessels sailed to Messina, in Sicily, and
+occupied the town upon the invitation of the inhabitants; and Messina
+revolted from the Athenians. The Syracusans contrived this chiefly
+because they saw that the place afforded an approach to Sicily, and
+feared that the Athenians might hereafter use it as a base for
+attacking them with a larger force; the Locrians because they wished to
+carry on hostilities from both sides of the strait and to reduce their
+enemies, the people of Rhegium. Meanwhile, the Locrians had invaded the
+Rhegian territory with all their forces, to prevent their succouring
+Messina, and also at the instance of some exiles from Rhegium who were
+with them; the long factions by which that town had been torn rendering
+it for the moment incapable of resistance, and thus furnishing an
+additional temptation to the invaders. After devastating the country
+the Locrian land forces retired, their ships remaining to guard
+Messina, while others were being manned for the same destination to
+carry on the war from thence.
+
+About the same time in the spring, before the corn was ripe, the
+Peloponnesians and their allies invaded Attica under Agis, the son of
+Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat down and laid waste the
+country. Meanwhile the Athenians sent off the forty ships which they
+had been preparing to Sicily, with the remaining generals Eurymedon and
+Sophocles; their colleague Pythodorus having already preceded them
+thither. These had also instructions as they sailed by to look to the
+Corcyraeans in the town, who were being plundered by the exiles in the
+mountain. To support these exiles sixty Peloponnesian vessels had
+lately sailed, it being thought that the famine raging in the city
+would make it easy for them to reduce it. Demosthenes also, who had
+remained without employment since his return from Acarnania, applied
+and obtained permission to use the fleet, if he wished it, upon the
+coast of Peloponnese.
+
+Off Laconia they heard that the Peloponnesian ships were already at
+Corcyra, upon which Eurymedon and Sophocles wished to hasten to the
+island, but Demosthenes required them first to touch at Pylos and do
+what was wanted there, before continuing their voyage. While they were
+making objections, a squall chanced to come on and carried the fleet
+into Pylos. Demosthenes at once urged them to fortify the place, it
+being for this that he had come on the voyage, and made them observe
+there was plenty of stone and timber on the spot, and that the place
+was strong by nature, and together with much of the country round
+unoccupied; Pylos, or Coryphasium, as the Lacedaemonians call it, being
+about forty-five miles distant from Sparta, and situated in the old
+country of the Messenians. The commanders told him that there was no
+lack of desert headlands in Peloponnese if he wished to put the city to
+expense by occupying them. He, however, thought that this place was
+distinguished from others of the kind by having a harbour close by;
+while the Messenians, the old natives of the country, speaking the same
+dialect as the Lacedaemonians, could do them the greatest mischief by
+their incursions from it, and would at the same time be a trusty
+garrison.
+
+After speaking to the captains of companies on the subject, and failing
+to persuade either the generals or the soldiers, he remained inactive
+with the rest from stress of weather; until the soldiers themselves
+wanting occupation were seized with a sudden impulse to go round and
+fortify the place. Accordingly they set to work in earnest, and having
+no iron tools, picked up stones, and put them together as they happened
+to fit, and where mortar was needed, carried it on their backs for want
+of hods, stooping down to make it stay on, and clasping their hands
+together behind to prevent it falling off; sparing no effort to be able
+to complete the most vulnerable points before the arrival of the
+Lacedaemonians, most of the place being sufficiently strong by nature
+without further fortifications.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians were celebrating a festival, and also at
+first made light of the news, in the idea that whenever they chose to
+take the field the place would be immediately evacuated by the enemy or
+easily taken by force; the absence of their army before Athens having
+also something to do with their delay. The Athenians fortified the
+place on the land side, and where it most required it, in six days, and
+leaving Demosthenes with five ships to garrison it, with the main body
+of the fleet hastened on their voyage to Corcyra and Sicily.
+
+As soon as the Peloponnesians in Attica heard of the occupation of
+Pylos, they hurried back home; the Lacedaemonians and their king Agis
+thinking that the matter touched them nearly. Besides having made their
+invasion early in the season, and while the corn was still green, most
+of their troops were short of provisions: the weather also was
+unusually bad for the time of year, and greatly distressed their army.
+Many reasons thus combined to hasten their departure and to make this
+invasion a very short one; indeed they only stayed fifteen days in
+Attica.
+
+About the same time the Athenian general Simonides getting together a
+few Athenians from the garrisons, and a number of the allies in those
+parts, took Eion in Thrace, a Mendaean colony and hostile to Athens, by
+treachery, but had no sooner done so than the Chalcidians and
+Bottiaeans came up and beat him out of it, with the loss of many of his
+soldiers.
+
+On the return of the Peloponnesians from Attica, the Spartans
+themselves and the nearest of the Perioeci at once set out for Pylos,
+the other Lacedaemonians following more slowly, as they had just come
+in from another campaign. Word was also sent round Peloponnese to come
+up as quickly as possible to Pylos; while the sixty Peloponnesian ships
+were sent for from Corcyra, and being dragged by their crews across the
+isthmus of Leucas, passed unperceived by the Athenian squadron at
+Zacynthus, and reached Pylos, where the land forces had arrived before
+them. Before the Peloponnesian fleet sailed in, Demosthenes found time
+to send out unobserved two ships to inform Eurymedon and the Athenians
+on board the fleet at Zacynthus of the danger of Pylos and to summon
+them to his assistance. While the ships hastened on their voyage in
+obedience to the orders of Demosthenes, the Lacedaemonians prepared to
+assault the fort by land and sea, hoping to capture with ease a work
+constructed in haste, and held by a feeble garrison. Meanwhile, as they
+expected the Athenian ships to arrive from Zacynthus, they intended, if
+they failed to take the place before, to block up the entrances of the
+harbour to prevent their being able to anchor inside it. For the island
+of Sphacteria, stretching along in a line close in front of the
+harbour, at once makes it safe and narrows its entrances, leaving a
+passage for two ships on the side nearest Pylos and the Athenian
+fortifications, and for eight or nine on that next the rest of the
+mainland: for the rest, the island was entirely covered with wood, and
+without paths through not being inhabited, and about one mile and five
+furlongs in length. The inlets the Lacedaemonians meant to close with a
+line of ships placed close together, with their prows turned towards
+the sea, and, meanwhile, fearing that the enemy might make use of the
+island to operate against them, carried over some heavy infantry
+thither, stationing others along the coast. By this means the island
+and the continent would be alike hostile to the Athenians, as they
+would be unable to land on either; and the shore of Pylos itself
+outside the inlet towards the open sea having no harbour, and,
+therefore, presenting no point which they could use as a base to
+relieve their countrymen, they, the Lacedaemonians, without sea-fight
+or risk would in all probability become masters of the place, occupied
+as it had been on the spur of the moment, and unfurnished with
+provisions. This being determined, they carried over to the island the
+heavy infantry, drafted by lot from all the companies. Some others had
+crossed over before in relief parties, but these last who were left
+there were four hundred and twenty in number, with their Helot
+attendants, commanded by Epitadas, son of Molobrus.
+
+Meanwhile Demosthenes, seeing the Lacedaemonians about to attack him by
+sea and land at once, himself was not idle. He drew up under the
+fortification and enclosed in a stockade the galleys remaining to him
+of those which had been left him, arming the sailors taken out of them
+with poor shields made most of them of osier, it being impossible to
+procure arms in such a desert place, and even these having been
+obtained from a thirty-oared Messenian privateer and a boat belonging
+to some Messenians who happened to have come to them. Among these
+Messenians were forty heavy infantry, whom he made use of with the
+rest. Posting most of his men, unarmed and armed, upon the best
+fortified and strong points of the place towards the interior, with
+orders to repel any attack of the land forces, he picked sixty heavy
+infantry and a few archers from his whole force, and with these went
+outside the wall down to the sea, where he thought that the enemy would
+most likely attempt to land. Although the ground was difficult and
+rocky, looking towards the open sea, the fact that this was the weakest
+part of the wall would, he thought, encourage their ardour, as the
+Athenians, confident in their naval superiority, had here paid little
+attention to their defences, and the enemy if he could force a landing
+might feel secure of taking the place. At this point, accordingly,
+going down to the water’s edge, he posted his heavy infantry to
+prevent, if possible, a landing, and encouraged them in the following
+terms:
+
+“Soldiers and comrades in this adventure, I hope that none of you in
+our present strait will think to show his wit by exactly calculating
+all the perils that encompass us, but that you will rather hasten to
+close with the enemy, without staying to count the odds, seeing in this
+your best chance of safety. In emergencies like ours calculation is out
+of place; the sooner the danger is faced the better. To my mind also
+most of the chances are for us, if we will only stand fast and not
+throw away our advantages, overawed by the numbers of the enemy. One of
+the points in our favour is the awkwardness of the landing. This,
+however, only helps us if we stand our ground. If we give way it will
+be practicable enough, in spite of its natural difficulty, without a
+defender; and the enemy will instantly become more formidable from the
+difficulty he will have in retreating, supposing that we succeed in
+repulsing him, which we shall find it easier to do, while he is on
+board his ships, than after he has landed and meets us on equal terms.
+As to his numbers, these need not too much alarm you. Large as they may
+be he can only engage in small detachments, from the impossibility of
+bringing to. Besides, the numerical superiority that we have to meet is
+not that of an army on land with everything else equal, but of troops
+on board ship, upon an element where many favourable accidents are
+required to act with effect. I therefore consider that his difficulties
+may be fairly set against our numerical deficiencies, and at the same
+time I charge you, as Athenians who know by experience what landing
+from ships on a hostile territory means, and how impossible it is to
+drive back an enemy determined enough to stand his ground and not to be
+frightened away by the surf and the terrors of the ships sailing in, to
+stand fast in the present emergency, beat back the enemy at the water’s
+edge, and save yourselves and the place.”
+
+Thus encouraged by Demosthenes, the Athenians felt more confident, and
+went down to meet the enemy, posting themselves along the edge of the
+sea. The Lacedaemonians now put themselves in movement and
+simultaneously assaulted the fortification with their land forces and
+with their ships, forty-three in number, under their admiral,
+Thrasymelidas, son of Cratesicles, a Spartan, who made his attack just
+where Demosthenes expected. The Athenians had thus to defend themselves
+on both sides, from the land and from the sea; the enemy rowing up in
+small detachments, the one relieving the other—it being impossible for
+many to bring to at once—and showing great ardour and cheering each
+other on, in the endeavour to force a passage and to take the
+fortification. He who most distinguished himself was Brasidas. Captain
+of a galley, and seeing that the captains and steersmen, impressed by
+the difficulty of the position, hung back even where a landing might
+have seemed possible, for fear of wrecking their vessels, he shouted
+out to them, that they must never allow the enemy to fortify himself in
+their country for the sake of saving timber, but must shiver their
+vessels and force a landing; and bade the allies, instead of hesitating
+in such a moment to sacrifice their ships for Lacedaemon in return for
+her many benefits, to run them boldly aground, land in one way or
+another, and make themselves masters of the place and its garrison.
+
+Not content with this exhortation, he forced his own steersman to run
+his ship ashore, and stepping on to the gangway, was endeavouring to
+land, when he was cut down by the Athenians, and after receiving many
+wounds fainted away. Falling into the bows, his shield slipped off his
+arm into the sea, and being thrown ashore was picked up by the
+Athenians, and afterwards used for the trophy which they set up for
+this attack. The rest also did their best, but were not able to land,
+owing to the difficulty of the ground and the unflinching tenacity of
+the Athenians. It was a strange reversal of the order of things for
+Athenians to be fighting from the land, and from Laconian land too,
+against Lacedaemonians coming from the sea; while Lacedaemonians were
+trying to land from shipboard in their own country, now become hostile,
+to attack Athenians, although the former were chiefly famous at the
+time as an inland people and superior by land, the latter as a maritime
+people with a navy that had no equal.
+
+After continuing their attacks during that day and most of the next,
+the Peloponnesians desisted, and the day after sent some of their ships
+to Asine for timber to make engines, hoping to take by their aid, in
+spite of its height, the wall opposite the harbour, where the landing
+was easiest. At this moment the Athenian fleet from Zacynthus arrived,
+now numbering fifty sail, having been reinforced by some of the ships
+on guard at Naupactus and by four Chian vessels. Seeing the coast and
+the island both crowded with heavy infantry, and the hostile ships in
+harbour showing no signs of sailing out, at a loss where to anchor,
+they sailed for the moment to the desert island of Prote, not far off,
+where they passed the night. The next day they got under way in
+readiness to engage in the open sea if the enemy chose to put out to
+meet them, being determined in the event of his not doing so to sail in
+and attack him. The Lacedaemonians did not put out to sea, and having
+omitted to close the inlets as they had intended, remained quiet on
+shore, engaged in manning their ships and getting ready, in the case of
+any one sailing in, to fight in the harbour, which is a fairly large
+one.
+
+Perceiving this, the Athenians advanced against them by each inlet, and
+falling on the enemy’s fleet, most of which was by this time afloat and
+in line, at once put it to flight, and giving chase as far as the short
+distance allowed, disabled a good many vessels and took five, one with
+its crew on board; dashing in at the rest that had taken refuge on
+shore, and battering some that were still being manned, before they
+could put out, and lashing on to their own ships and towing off empty
+others whose crews had fled. At this sight the Lacedaemonians, maddened
+by a disaster which cut off their men on the island, rushed to the
+rescue, and going into the sea with their heavy armour, laid hold of
+the ships and tried to drag them back, each man thinking that success
+depended on his individual exertions. Great was the melee, and quite in
+contradiction to the naval tactics usual to the two combatants; the
+Lacedaemonians in their excitement and dismay being actually engaged in
+a sea-fight on land, while the victorious Athenians, in their eagerness
+to push their success as far as possible, were carrying on a land-fight
+from their ships. After great exertions and numerous wounds on both
+sides they separated, the Lacedaemonians saving their empty ships,
+except those first taken; and both parties returning to their camp, the
+Athenians set up a trophy, gave back the dead, secured the wrecks, and
+at once began to cruise round and jealously watch the island, with its
+intercepted garrison, while the Peloponnesians on the mainland, whose
+contingents had now all come up, stayed where they were before Pylos.
+
+When the news of what had happened at Pylos reached Sparta, the
+disaster was thought so serious that the Lacedaemonians resolved that
+the authorities should go down to the camp, and decide on the spot what
+was best to be done. There, seeing that it was impossible to help their
+men, and not wishing to risk their being reduced by hunger or
+overpowered by numbers, they determined, with the consent of the
+Athenian generals, to conclude an armistice at Pylos and send envoys to
+Athens to obtain a convention, and to endeavour to get back their men
+as quickly as possible.
+
+The generals accepting their offers, an armistice was concluded upon
+the terms following:
+
+That the Lacedaemonians should bring to Pylos and deliver up to the
+Athenians the ships that had fought in the late engagement, and all in
+Laconia that were vessels of war, and should make no attack on the
+fortification either by land or by sea.
+
+That the Athenians should allow the Lacedaemonians on the mainland to
+send to the men in the island a certain fixed quantity of corn ready
+kneaded, that is to say, two quarts of barley meal, one pint of wine,
+and a piece of meat for each man, and half the same quantity for a
+servant.
+
+That this allowance should be sent in under the eyes of the Athenians,
+and that no boat should sail to the island except openly.
+
+That the Athenians should continue to the island same as before,
+without however landing upon it, and should refrain from attacking the
+Peloponnesian troops either by land or by sea.
+
+That if either party should infringe any of these terms in the
+slightest particular, the armistice should be at once void.
+
+That the armistice should hold good until the return of the
+Lacedaemonian envoys from Athens—the Athenians sending them thither in
+a galley and bringing them back again—and upon the arrival of the
+envoys should be at an end, and the ships be restored by the Athenians
+in the same state as they received them.
+
+Such were the terms of the armistice, and the ships were delivered over
+to the number of sixty, and the envoys sent off accordingly. Arrived at
+Athens they spoke as follows:
+
+“Athenians, the Lacedaemonians sent us to try to find some way of
+settling the affair of our men on the island, that shall be at once
+satisfactory to our interests, and as consistent with our dignity in
+our misfortune as circumstances permit. We can venture to speak at some
+length without any departure from the habit of our country. Men of few
+words where many are not wanted, we can be less brief when there is a
+matter of importance to be illustrated and an end to be served by its
+illustration. Meanwhile we beg you to take what we may say, not in a
+hostile spirit, nor as if we thought you ignorant and wished to lecture
+you, but rather as a suggestion on the best course to be taken,
+addressed to intelligent judges. You can now, if you choose, employ
+your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and
+gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of
+those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led
+on by hope to grasp continually at something further, through having
+already succeeded without expecting it. While those who have known most
+vicissitudes of good and bad, have also justly least faith in their
+prosperity; and to teach your city and ours this lesson experience has
+not been wanting.
+
+“To be convinced of this you have only to look at our present
+misfortune. What power in Hellas stood higher than we did? and yet we
+are come to you, although we formerly thought ourselves more able to
+grant what we are now here to ask. Nevertheless, we have not been
+brought to this by any decay in our power, or through having our heads
+turned by aggrandizement; no, our resources are what they have always
+been, and our error has been an error of judgment, to which all are
+equally liable. Accordingly, the prosperity which your city now enjoys,
+and the accession that it has lately received, must not make you fancy
+that fortune will be always with you. Indeed sensible men are prudent
+enough to treat their gains as precarious, just as they would also keep
+a clear head in adversity, and think that war, so far from staying
+within the limit to which a combatant may wish to confine it, will run
+the course that its chances prescribe; and thus, not being puffed up by
+confidence in military success, they are less likely to come to grief,
+and most ready to make peace, if they can, while their fortune lasts.
+This, Athenians, you have a good opportunity to do now with us, and
+thus to escape the possible disasters which may follow upon your
+refusal, and the consequent imputation of having owed to accident even
+your present advantages, when you might have left behind you a
+reputation for power and wisdom which nothing could endanger.
+
+“The Lacedaemonians accordingly invite you to make a treaty and to end
+the war, and offer peace and alliance and the most friendly and
+intimate relations in every way and on every occasion between us; and
+in return ask for the men on the island, thinking it better for both
+parties not to stand out to the end, on the chance of some favourable
+accident enabling the men to force their way out, or of their being
+compelled to succumb under the pressure of blockade. Indeed if great
+enmities are ever to be really settled, we think it will be, not by the
+system of revenge and military success, and by forcing an opponent to
+swear to a treaty to his disadvantage, but when the more fortunate
+combatant waives these his privileges, to be guided by gentler feelings
+conquers his rival in generosity, and accords peace on more moderate
+conditions than he expected. From that moment, instead of the debt of
+revenge which violence must entail, his adversary owes a debt of
+generosity to be paid in kind, and is inclined by honour to stand to
+his agreement. And men oftener act in this manner towards their
+greatest enemies than where the quarrel is of less importance; they are
+also by nature as glad to give way to those who first yield to them, as
+they are apt to be provoked by arrogance to risks condemned by their
+own judgment.
+
+“To apply this to ourselves: if peace was ever desirable for both
+parties, it is surely so at the present moment, before anything
+irremediable befall us and force us to hate you eternally, personally
+as well as politically, and you to miss the advantages that we now
+offer you. While the issue is still in doubt, and you have reputation
+and our friendship in prospect, and we the compromise of our misfortune
+before anything fatal occur, let us be reconciled, and for ourselves
+choose peace instead of war, and grant to the rest of the Hellenes a
+remission from their sufferings, for which be sure they will think they
+have chiefly you to thank. The war that they labour under they know not
+which began, but the peace that concludes it, as it depends on your
+decision, will by their gratitude be laid to your door. By such a
+decision you can become firm friends with the Lacedaemonians at their
+own invitation, which you do not force from them, but oblige them by
+accepting. And from this friendship consider the advantages that are
+likely to follow: when Attica and Sparta are at one, the rest of
+Hellas, be sure, will remain in respectful inferiority before its
+heads.”
+
+Such were the words of the Lacedaemonians, their idea being that the
+Athenians, already desirous of a truce and only kept back by their
+opposition, would joyfully accept a peace freely offered, and give back
+the men. The Athenians, however, having the men on the island, thought
+that the treaty would be ready for them whenever they chose to make it,
+and grasped at something further. Foremost to encourage them in this
+policy was Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, a popular leader of the time and
+very powerful with the multitude, who persuaded them to answer as
+follows: First, the men in the island must surrender themselves and
+their arms and be brought to Athens. Next, the Lacedaemonians must
+restore Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaia, all places acquired not by
+arms, but by the previous convention, under which they had been ceded
+by Athens herself at a moment of disaster, when a truce was more
+necessary to her than at present. This done they might take back their
+men, and make a truce for as long as both parties might agree.
+
+To this answer the envoys made no reply, but asked that commissioners
+might be chosen with whom they might confer on each point, and quietly
+talk the matter over and try to come to some agreement. Hereupon Cleon
+violently assailed them, saying that he knew from the first that they
+had no right intentions, and that it was clear enough now by their
+refusing to speak before the people, and wanting to confer in secret
+with a committee of two or three. No, if they meant anything honest let
+them say it out before all. The Lacedaemonians, however, seeing that
+whatever concessions they might be prepared to make in their
+misfortune, it was impossible for them to speak before the multitude
+and lose credit with their allies for a negotiation which might after
+all miscarry, and on the other hand, that the Athenians would never
+grant what they asked upon moderate terms, returned from Athens without
+having effected anything.
+
+Their arrival at once put an end to the armistice at Pylos, and the
+Lacedaemonians asked back their ships according to the convention. The
+Athenians, however, alleged an attack on the fort in contravention of
+the truce, and other grievances seemingly not worth mentioning, and
+refused to give them back, insisting upon the clause by which the
+slightest infringement made the armistice void. The Lacedaemonians,
+after denying the contravention and protesting against their bad faith
+in the matter of the ships, went away and earnestly addressed
+themselves to the war. Hostilities were now carried on at Pylos upon
+both sides with vigour. The Athenians cruised round the island all day
+with two ships going different ways; and by night, except on the
+seaward side in windy weather, anchored round it with their whole
+fleet, which, having been reinforced by twenty ships from Athens come
+to aid in the blockade, now numbered seventy sail; while the
+Peloponnesians remained encamped on the continent, making attacks on
+the fort, and on the look-out for any opportunity which might offer
+itself for the deliverance of their men.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans and their allies in Sicily had brought up to
+the squadron guarding Messina the reinforcement which we left them
+preparing, and carried on the war from thence, incited chiefly by the
+Locrians from hatred of the Rhegians, whose territory they had invaded
+with all their forces. The Syracusans also wished to try their fortune
+at sea, seeing that the Athenians had only a few ships actually at
+Rhegium, and hearing that the main fleet destined to join them was
+engaged in blockading the island. A naval victory, they thought, would
+enable them to blockade Rhegium by sea and land, and easily to reduce
+it; a success which would at once place their affairs upon a solid
+basis, the promontory of Rhegium in Italy and Messina in Sicily being
+so near each other that it would be impossible for the Athenians to
+cruise against them and command the strait. The strait in question
+consists of the sea between Rhegium and Messina, at the point where
+Sicily approaches nearest to the continent, and is the Charybdis
+through which the story makes Ulysses sail; and the narrowness of the
+passage and the strength of the current that pours in from the vast
+Tyrrhenian and Sicilian mains, have rightly given it a bad reputation.
+
+In this strait the Syracusans and their allies were compelled to fight,
+late in the day, about the passage of a boat, putting out with rather
+more than thirty ships against sixteen Athenian and eight Rhegian
+vessels. Defeated by the Athenians they hastily set off, each for
+himself, to their own stations at Messina and Rhegium, with the loss of
+one ship; night coming on before the battle was finished. After this
+the Locrians retired from the Rhegian territory, and the ships of the
+Syracusans and their allies united and came to anchor at Cape Pelorus,
+in the territory of Messina, where their land forces joined them. Here
+the Athenians and Rhegians sailed up, and seeing the ships unmanned,
+made an attack, in which they in their turn lost one vessel, which was
+caught by a grappling iron, the crew saving themselves by swimming.
+After this the Syracusans got on board their ships, and while they were
+being towed alongshore to Messina, were again attacked by the
+Athenians, but suddenly got out to sea and became the assailants, and
+caused them to lose another vessel. After thus holding their own in the
+voyage alongshore and in the engagement as above described, the
+Syracusans sailed on into the harbour of Messina.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, having received warning that Camarina was
+about to be betrayed to the Syracusans by Archias and his party, sailed
+thither; and the Messinese took this opportunity to attack by sea and
+land with all their forces their Chalcidian neighbour, Naxos. The first
+day they forced the Naxians to keep their walls, and laid waste their
+country; the next they sailed round with their ships, and laid waste
+their land on the river Akesines, while their land forces menaced the
+city. Meanwhile the Sicels came down from the high country in great
+numbers, to aid against the Messinese; and the Naxians, elated at the
+sight, and animated by a belief that the Leontines and their other
+Hellenic allies were coming to their support, suddenly sallied out from
+the town, and attacked and routed the Messinese, killing more than a
+thousand of them; while the remainder suffered severely in their
+retreat home, being attacked by the barbarians on the road, and most of
+them cut off. The ships put in to Messina, and afterwards dispersed for
+their different homes. The Leontines and their allies, with the
+Athenians, upon this at once turned their arms against the now weakened
+Messina, and attacked, the Athenians with their ships on the side of
+the harbour, and the land forces on that of the town. The Messinese,
+however, sallying out with Demoteles and some Locrians who had been
+left to garrison the city after the disaster, suddenly attacked and
+routed most of the Leontine army, killing a great number; upon seeing
+which the Athenians landed from their ships, and falling on the
+Messinese in disorder chased them back into the town, and setting up a
+trophy retired to Rhegium. After this the Hellenes in Sicily continued
+to make war on each other by land, without the Athenians.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos were still besieging the
+Lacedaemonians in the island, the Peloponnesian forces on the continent
+remaining where they were. The blockade was very laborious for the
+Athenians from want of food and water; there was no spring except one
+in the citadel of Pylos itself, and that not a large one, and most of
+them were obliged to grub up the shingle on the sea beach and drink
+such water as they could find. They also suffered from want of room,
+being encamped in a narrow space; and as there was no anchorage for the
+ships, some took their meals on shore in their turn, while the others
+were anchored out at sea. But their greatest discouragement arose from
+the unexpectedly long time which it took to reduce a body of men shut
+up in a desert island, with only brackish water to drink, a matter
+which they had imagined would take them only a few days. The fact was
+that the Lacedaemonians had made advertisement for volunteers to carry
+into the island ground corn, wine, cheese, and any other food useful in
+a siege; high prices being offered, and freedom promised to any of the
+Helots who should succeed in doing so. The Helots accordingly were most
+forward to engage in this risky traffic, putting off from this or that
+part of Peloponnese, and running in by night on the seaward side of the
+island. They were best pleased, however, when they could catch a wind
+to carry them in. It was more easy to elude the look-out of the
+galleys, when it blew from the seaward, as it became impossible for
+them to anchor round the island; while the Helots had their boats rated
+at their value in money, and ran them ashore, without caring how they
+landed, being sure to find the soldiers waiting for them at the
+landing-places. But all who risked it in fair weather were taken.
+Divers also swam in under water from the harbour, dragging by a cord in
+skins poppyseed mixed with honey, and bruised linseed; these at first
+escaped notice, but afterwards a look-out was kept for them. In short,
+both sides tried every possible contrivance, the one to throw in
+provisions, and the other to prevent their introduction.
+
+At Athens, meanwhile, the news that the army was in great distress, and
+that corn found its way in to the men in the island, caused no small
+perplexity; and the Athenians began to fear that winter might come on
+and find them still engaged in the blockade. They saw that the
+convoying of provisions round Peloponnese would be then impossible. The
+country offered no resources in itself, and even in summer they could
+not send round enough. The blockade of a place without harbours could
+no longer be kept up; and the men would either escape by the siege
+being abandoned, or would watch for bad weather and sail out in the
+boats that brought in their corn. What caused still more alarm was the
+attitude of the Lacedaemonians, who must, it was thought by the
+Athenians, feel themselves on strong ground not to send them any more
+envoys; and they began to repent having rejected the treaty. Cleon,
+perceiving the disfavour with which he was regarded for having stood in
+the way of the convention, now said that their informants did not speak
+the truth; and upon the messengers recommending them, if they did not
+believe them, to send some commissioners to see, Cleon himself and
+Theagenes were chosen by the Athenians as commissioners. Aware that he
+would now be obliged either to say what had been already said by the
+men whom he was slandering, or be proved a liar if he said the
+contrary, he told the Athenians, whom he saw to be not altogether
+disinclined for a fresh expedition, that instead of sending and wasting
+their time and opportunities, if they believed what was told them, they
+ought to sail against the men. And pointing at Nicias, son of
+Niceratus, then general, whom he hated, he tauntingly said that it
+would be easy, if they had men for generals, to sail with a force and
+take those in the island, and that if he had himself been in command,
+he would have done it.
+
+Nicias, seeing the Athenians murmuring against Cleon for not sailing
+now if it seemed to him so easy, and further seeing himself the object
+of attack, told him that for all that the generals cared, he might take
+what force he chose and make the attempt. At first Cleon fancied that
+this resignation was merely a figure of speech, and was ready to go,
+but finding that it was seriously meant, he drew back, and said that
+Nicias, not he, was general, being now frightened, and having never
+supposed that Nicias would go so far as to retire in his favour.
+Nicias, however, repeated his offer, and resigned the command against
+Pylos, and called the Athenians to witness that he did so. And as the
+multitude is wont to do, the more Cleon shrank from the expedition and
+tried to back out of what he had said, the more they encouraged Nicias
+to hand over his command, and clamoured at Cleon to go. At last, not
+knowing how to get out of his words, he undertook the expedition, and
+came forward and said that he was not afraid of the Lacedaemonians, but
+would sail without taking any one from the city with him, except the
+Lemnians and Imbrians that were at Athens, with some targeteers that
+had come up from Aenus, and four hundred archers from other quarters.
+With these and the soldiers at Pylos, he would within twenty days
+either bring the Lacedaemonians alive, or kill them on the spot. The
+Athenians could not help laughing at his fatuity, while sensible men
+comforted themselves with the reflection that they must gain in either
+circumstance; either they would be rid of Cleon, which they rather
+hoped, or if disappointed in this expectation, would reduce the
+Lacedaemonians.
+
+After he had settled everything in the assembly, and the Athenians had
+voted him the command of the expedition, he chose as his colleague
+Demosthenes, one of the generals at Pylos, and pushed forward the
+preparations for his voyage. His choice fell upon Demosthenes because
+he heard that he was contemplating a descent on the island; the
+soldiers distressed by the difficulties of the position, and rather
+besieged than besiegers, being eager to fight it out, while the firing
+of the island had increased the confidence of the general. He had been
+at first afraid, because the island having never been inhabited was
+almost entirely covered with wood and without paths, thinking this to
+be in the enemy’s favour, as he might land with a large force, and yet
+might suffer loss by an attack from an unseen position. The mistakes
+and forces of the enemy the wood would in a great measure conceal from
+him, while every blunder of his own troops would be at once detected,
+and they would be thus able to fall upon him unexpectedly just where
+they pleased, the attack being always in their power. If, on the other
+hand, he should force them to engage in the thicket, the smaller number
+who knew the country would, he thought, have the advantage over the
+larger who were ignorant of it, while his own army might be cut off
+imperceptibly, in spite of its numbers, as the men would not be able to
+see where to succour each other.
+
+The Aetolian disaster, which had been mainly caused by the wood, had
+not a little to do with these reflections. Meanwhile, one of the
+soldiers who were compelled by want of room to land on the extremities
+of the island and take their dinners, with outposts fixed to prevent a
+surprise, set fire to a little of the wood without meaning to do so;
+and as it came on to blow soon afterwards, almost the whole was
+consumed before they were aware of it. Demosthenes was now able for the
+first time to see how numerous the Lacedaemonians really were, having
+up to this moment been under the impression that they took in
+provisions for a smaller number; he also saw that the Athenians thought
+success important and were anxious about it, and that it was now easier
+to land on the island, and accordingly got ready for the attempt, sent
+for troops from the allies in the neighbourhood, and pushed forward his
+other preparations. At this moment Cleon arrived at Pylos with the
+troops which he had asked for, having sent on word to say that he was
+coming. The first step taken by the two generals after their meeting
+was to send a herald to the camp on the mainland, to ask if they were
+disposed to avoid all risk and to order the men on the island to
+surrender themselves and their arms, to be kept in gentle custody until
+some general convention should be concluded.
+
+On the rejection of this proposition the generals let one day pass, and
+the next, embarking all their heavy infantry on board a few ships, put
+out by night, and a little before dawn landed on both sides of the
+island from the open sea and from the harbour, being about eight
+hundred strong, and advanced with a run against the first post in the
+island.
+
+The enemy had distributed his force as follows: In this first post
+there were about thirty heavy infantry; the centre and most level part,
+where the water was, was held by the main body, and by Epitadas their
+commander; while a small party guarded the very end of the island,
+towards Pylos, which was precipitous on the sea-side and very difficult
+to attack from the land, and where there was also a sort of old fort of
+stones rudely put together, which they thought might be useful to them,
+in case they should be forced to retreat. Such was their disposition.
+
+The advanced post thus attacked by the Athenians was at once put to the
+sword, the men being scarcely out of bed and still arming, the landing
+having taken them by surprise, as they fancied the ships were only
+sailing as usual to their stations for the night. As soon as day broke,
+the rest of the army landed, that is to say, all the crews of rather
+more than seventy ships, except the lowest rank of oars, with the arms
+they carried, eight hundred archers, and as many targeteers, the
+Messenian reinforcements, and all the other troops on duty round Pylos,
+except the garrison on the fort. The tactics of Demosthenes had divided
+them into companies of two hundred, more or less, and made them occupy
+the highest points in order to paralyse the enemy by surrounding him on
+every side and thus leaving him without any tangible adversary, exposed
+to the cross-fire of their host; plied by those in his rear if he
+attacked in front, and by those on one flank if he moved against those
+on the other. In short, wherever he went he would have the assailants
+behind him, and these light-armed assailants, the most awkward of all;
+arrows, darts, stones, and slings making them formidable at a distance,
+and there being no means of getting at them at close quarters, as they
+could conquer flying, and the moment their pursuer turned they were
+upon him. Such was the idea that inspired Demosthenes in his conception
+of the descent, and presided over its execution.
+
+Meanwhile the main body of the troops in the island (that under
+Epitadas), seeing their outpost cut off and an army advancing against
+them, serried their ranks and pressed forward to close with the
+Athenian heavy infantry in front of them, the light troops being upon
+their flanks and rear. However, they were not able to engage or to
+profit by their superior skill, the light troops keeping them in check
+on either side with their missiles, and the heavy infantry remaining
+stationary instead of advancing to meet them; and although they routed
+the light troops wherever they ran up and approached too closely, yet
+they retreated fighting, being lightly equipped, and easily getting the
+start in their flight, from the difficult and rugged nature of the
+ground, in an island hitherto desert, over which the Lacedaemonians
+could not pursue them with their heavy armour.
+
+After this skirmishing had lasted some little while, the Lacedaemonians
+became unable to dash out with the same rapidity as before upon the
+points attacked, and the light troops finding that they now fought with
+less vigour, became more confident. They could see with their own eyes
+that they were many times more numerous than the enemy; they were now
+more familiar with his aspect and found him less terrible, the result
+not having justified the apprehensions which they had suffered, when
+they first landed in slavish dismay at the idea of attacking
+Lacedaemonians; and accordingly their fear changing to disdain, they
+now rushed all together with loud shouts upon them, and pelted them
+with stones, darts, and arrows, whichever came first to hand. The
+shouting accompanying their onset confounded the Lacedaemonians,
+unaccustomed to this mode of fighting; dust rose from the newly burnt
+wood, and it was impossible to see in front of one with the arrows and
+stones flying through clouds of dust from the hands of numerous
+assailants. The Lacedaemonians had now to sustain a rude conflict;
+their caps would not keep out the arrows, darts had broken off in the
+armour of the wounded, while they themselves were helpless for offence,
+being prevented from using their eyes to see what was before them, and
+unable to hear the words of command for the hubbub raised by the enemy;
+danger encompassed them on every side, and there was no hope of any
+means of defence or safety.
+
+At last, after many had been already wounded in the confined space in
+which they were fighting, they formed in close order and retired on the
+fort at the end of the island, which was not far off, and to their
+friends who held it. The moment they gave way, the light troops became
+bolder and pressed upon them, shouting louder than ever, and killed as
+many as they came up with in their retreat, but most of the
+Lacedaemonians made good their escape to the fort, and with the
+garrison in it ranged themselves all along its whole extent to repulse
+the enemy wherever it was assailable. The Athenians pursuing, unable to
+surround and hem them in, owing to the strength of the ground, attacked
+them in front and tried to storm the position. For a long time, indeed
+for most of the day, both sides held out against all the torments of
+the battle, thirst, and sun, the one endeavouring to drive the enemy
+from the high ground, the other to maintain himself upon it, it being
+now more easy for the Lacedaemonians to defend themselves than before,
+as they could not be surrounded on the flanks.
+
+The struggle began to seem endless, when the commander of the
+Messenians came to Cleon and Demosthenes, and told them that they were
+losing their labour: but if they would give him some archers and light
+troops to go round on the enemy’s rear by a way he would undertake to
+find, he thought he could force the approach. Upon receiving what he
+asked for, he started from a point out of sight in order not to be seen
+by the enemy, and creeping on wherever the precipices of the island
+permitted, and where the Lacedaemonians, trusting to the strength of
+the ground, kept no guard, succeeded after the greatest difficulty in
+getting round without their seeing him, and suddenly appeared on the
+high ground in their rear, to the dismay of the surprised enemy and the
+still greater joy of his expectant friends. The Lacedaemonians thus
+placed between two fires, and in the same dilemma, to compare small
+things with great, as at Thermopylae, where the defenders were cut off
+through the Persians getting round by the path, being now attacked in
+front and behind, began to give way, and overcome by the odds against
+them and exhausted from want of food, retreated.
+
+The Athenians were already masters of the approaches when Cleon and
+Demosthenes perceiving that, if the enemy gave way a single step
+further, they would be destroyed by their soldiery, put a stop to the
+battle and held their men back; wishing to take the Lacedaemonians
+alive to Athens, and hoping that their stubbornness might relax on
+hearing the offer of terms, and that they might surrender and yield to
+the present overwhelming danger. Proclamation was accordingly made, to
+know if they would surrender themselves and their arms to the Athenians
+to be dealt at their discretion.
+
+The Lacedaemonians hearing this offer, most of them lowered their
+shields and waved their hands to show that they accepted it.
+Hostilities now ceased, and a parley was held between Cleon and
+Demosthenes and Styphon, son of Pharax, on the other side; since
+Epitadas, the first of the previous commanders, had been killed, and
+Hippagretas, the next in command, left for dead among the slain, though
+still alive, and thus the command had devolved upon Styphon according
+to the law, in case of anything happening to his superiors. Styphon and
+his companions said they wished to send a herald to the Lacedaemonians
+on the mainland, to know what they were to do. The Athenians would not
+let any of them go, but themselves called for heralds from the
+mainland, and after questions had been carried backwards and forwards
+two or three times, the last man that passed over from the
+Lacedaemonians on the continent brought this message: “The
+Lacedaemonians bid you to decide for yourselves so long as you do
+nothing dishonourable”; upon which after consulting together they
+surrendered themselves and their arms. The Athenians, after guarding
+them that day and night, the next morning set up a trophy in the
+island, and got ready to sail, giving their prisoners in batches to be
+guarded by the captains of the galleys; and the Lacedaemonians sent a
+herald and took up their dead. The number of the killed and prisoners
+taken in the island was as follows: four hundred and twenty heavy
+infantry had passed over; three hundred all but eight were taken alive
+to Athens; the rest were killed. About a hundred and twenty of the
+prisoners were Spartans. The Athenian loss was small, the battle not
+having been fought at close quarters.
+
+The blockade in all, counting from the fight at sea to the battle in
+the island, had lasted seventy-two days. For twenty of these, during
+the absence of the envoys sent to treat for peace, the men had
+provisions given them, for the rest they were fed by the smugglers.
+Corn and other victual was found in the island; the commander Epitadas
+having kept the men upon half rations. The Athenians and Peloponnesians
+now each withdrew their forces from Pylos, and went home, and crazy as
+Cleon’s promise was, he fulfilled it, by bringing the men to Athens
+within the twenty days as he had pledged himself to do.
+
+Nothing that happened in the war surprised the Hellenes so much as
+this. It was the opinion that no force or famine could make the
+Lacedaemonians give up their arms, but that they would fight on as they
+could, and die with them in their hands: indeed people could scarcely
+believe that those who had surrendered were of the same stuff as the
+fallen; and an Athenian ally, who some time after insultingly asked one
+of the prisoners from the island if those that had fallen were men of
+honour, received for answer that the atraktos—that is, the arrow—would
+be worth a great deal if it could tell men of honour from the rest; in
+allusion to the fact that the killed were those whom the stones and the
+arrows happened to hit.
+
+Upon the arrival of the men the Athenians determined to keep them in
+prison until the peace, and if the Peloponnesians invaded their country
+in the interval, to bring them out and put them to death. Meanwhile the
+defence of Pylos was not forgotten; the Messenians from Naupactus sent
+to their old country, to which Pylos formerly belonged, some of the
+likeliest of their number, and began a series of incursions into
+Laconia, which their common dialect rendered most destructive. The
+Lacedaemonians, hitherto without experience of incursions or a warfare
+of the kind, finding the Helots deserting, and fearing the march of
+revolution in their country, began to be seriously uneasy, and in spite
+of their unwillingness to betray this to the Athenians began to send
+envoys to Athens, and tried to recover Pylos and the prisoners. The
+Athenians, however, kept grasping at more, and dismissed envoy after
+envoy without their having effected anything. Such was the history of
+the affair of Pylos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Seventh and Eighth Years of the War—End of Corcyraean Revolution— Peace
+of Gela—Capture of Nisaea
+
+
+The same summer, directly after these events, the Athenians made an
+expedition against the territory of Corinth with eighty ships and two
+thousand Athenian heavy infantry, and two hundred cavalry on board
+horse transports, accompanied by the Milesians, Andrians, and
+Carystians from the allies, under the command of Nicias, son of
+Niceratus, with two colleagues. Putting out to sea they made land at
+daybreak between Chersonese and Rheitus, at the beach of the country
+underneath the Solygian hill, upon which the Dorians in old times
+established themselves and carried on war against the Aeolian
+inhabitants of Corinth, and where a village now stands called Solygia.
+The beach where the fleet came to is about a mile and a half from the
+village, seven miles from Corinth, and two and a quarter from the
+Isthmus. The Corinthians had heard from Argos of the coming of the
+Athenian armament, and had all come up to the Isthmus long before, with
+the exception of those who lived beyond it, and also of five hundred
+who were away in garrison in Ambracia and Leucadia; and they were there
+in full force watching for the Athenians to land. These last, however,
+gave them the slip by coming in the dark; and being informed by signals
+of the fact the Corinthians left half their number at Cenchreae, in
+case the Athenians should go against Crommyon, and marched in all haste
+to the rescue.
+
+Battus, one of the two generals present at the action, went with a
+company to defend the village of Solygia, which was unfortified;
+Lycophron remaining to give battle with the rest. The Corinthians first
+attacked the right wing of the Athenians, which had just landed in
+front of Chersonese, and afterwards the rest of the army. The battle
+was an obstinate one, and fought throughout hand to hand. The right
+wing of the Athenians and Carystians, who had been placed at the end of
+the line, received and with some difficulty repulsed the Corinthians,
+who thereupon retreated to a wall upon the rising ground behind, and
+throwing down the stones upon them, came on again singing the paean,
+and being received by the Athenians, were again engaged at close
+quarters. At this moment a Corinthian company having come to the relief
+of the left wing, routed and pursued the Athenian right to the sea,
+whence they were in their turn driven back by the Athenians and
+Carystians from the ships. Meanwhile the rest of the army on either
+side fought on tenaciously, especially the right wing of the
+Corinthians, where Lycophron sustained the attack of the Athenian left,
+which it was feared might attempt the village of Solygia.
+
+After holding on for a long while without either giving way, the
+Athenians aided by their horse, of which the enemy had none, at length
+routed the Corinthians, who retired to the hill and, halting, remained
+quiet there, without coming down again. It was in this rout of the
+right wing that they had the most killed, Lycophron their general being
+among the number. The rest of the army, broken and put to flight in
+this way without being seriously pursued or hurried, retired to the
+high ground and there took up its position. The Athenians, finding that
+the enemy no longer offered to engage them, stripped his dead and took
+up their own and immediately set up a trophy. Meanwhile, the half of
+the Corinthians left at Cenchreae to guard against the Athenians
+sailing on Crommyon, although unable to see the battle for Mount
+Oneion, found out what was going on by the dust, and hurried up to the
+rescue; as did also the older Corinthians from the town, upon
+discovering what had occurred. The Athenians seeing them all coming
+against them, and thinking that they were reinforcements arriving from
+the neighbouring Peloponnesians, withdrew in haste to their ships with
+their spoils and their own dead, except two that they left behind, not
+being able to find them, and going on board crossed over to the islands
+opposite, and from thence sent a herald, and took up under truce the
+bodies which they had left behind. Two hundred and twelve Corinthians
+fell in the battle, and rather less than fifty Athenians.
+
+Weighing from the islands, the Athenians sailed the same day to
+Crommyon in the Corinthian territory, about thirteen miles from the
+city, and coming to anchor laid waste the country, and passed the night
+there. The next day, after first coasting along to the territory of
+Epidaurus and making a descent there, they came to Methana between
+Epidaurus and Troezen, and drew a wall across and fortified the isthmus
+of the peninsula, and left a post there from which incursions were
+henceforth made upon the country of Troezen, Haliae, and Epidaurus.
+After walling off this spot, the fleet sailed off home.
+
+While these events were going on, Eurymedon and Sophocles had put to
+sea with the Athenian fleet from Pylos on their way to Sicily and,
+arriving at Corcyra, joined the townsmen in an expedition against the
+party established on Mount Istone, who had crossed over, as I have
+mentioned, after the revolution and become masters of the country, to
+the great hurt of the inhabitants. Their stronghold having been taken
+by an attack, the garrison took refuge in a body upon some high ground
+and there capitulated, agreeing to give up their mercenary auxiliaries,
+lay down their arms, and commit themselves to the discretion of the
+Athenian people. The generals carried them across under truce to the
+island of Ptychia, to be kept in custody until they could be sent to
+Athens, upon the understanding that, if any were caught running away,
+all would lose the benefit of the treaty. Meanwhile the leaders of the
+Corcyraean commons, afraid that the Athenians might spare the lives of
+the prisoners, had recourse to the following stratagem. They gained
+over some few men on the island by secretly sending friends with
+instructions to provide them with a boat, and to tell them, as if for
+their own sakes, that they had best escape as quickly as possible, as
+the Athenian generals were going to give them up to the Corcyraean
+people.
+
+These representations succeeding, it was so arranged that the men were
+caught sailing out in the boat that was provided, and the treaty became
+void accordingly, and the whole body were given up to the Corcyraeans.
+For this result the Athenian generals were in a great measure
+responsible; their evident disinclination to sail for Sicily, and thus
+to leave to others the honour of conducting the men to Athens,
+encouraged the intriguers in their design and seemed to affirm the
+truth of their representations. The prisoners thus handed over were
+shut up by the Corcyraeans in a large building, and afterwards taken
+out by twenties and led past two lines of heavy infantry, one on each
+side, being bound together, and beaten and stabbed by the men in the
+lines whenever any saw pass a personal enemy; while men carrying whips
+went by their side and hastened on the road those that walked too
+slowly.
+
+As many as sixty men were taken out and killed in this way without the
+knowledge of their friends in the building, who fancied they were
+merely being moved from one prison to another. At last, however,
+someone opened their eyes to the truth, upon which they called upon the
+Athenians to kill them themselves, if such was their pleasure, and
+refused any longer to go out of the building, and said they would do
+all they could to prevent any one coming in. The Corcyraeans, not
+liking themselves to force a passage by the doors, got up on the top of
+the building, and breaking through the roof, threw down the tiles and
+let fly arrows at them, from which the prisoners sheltered themselves
+as well as they could. Most of their number, meanwhile, were engaged in
+dispatching themselves by thrusting into their throats the arrows shot
+by the enemy, and hanging themselves with the cords taken from some
+beds that happened to be there, and with strips made from their
+clothing; adopting, in short, every possible means of self-destruction,
+and also falling victims to the missiles of their enemies on the roof.
+Night came on while these horrors were enacting, and most of it had
+passed before they were concluded. When it was day the Corcyraeans
+threw them in layers upon wagons and carried them out of the city. All
+the women taken in the stronghold were sold as slaves. In this way the
+Corcyraeans of the mountain were destroyed by the commons; and so after
+terrible excesses the party strife came to an end, at least as far as
+the period of this war is concerned, for of one party there was
+practically nothing left. Meanwhile the Athenians sailed off to Sicily,
+their primary destination, and carried on the war with their allies
+there.
+
+At the close of the summer, the Athenians at Naupactus and the
+Acarnanians made an expedition against Anactorium, the Corinthian town
+lying at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, and took it by treachery; and
+the Acarnanians themselves, sending settlers from all parts of
+Acarnania, occupied the place.
+
+Summer was now over. During the winter ensuing, Aristides, son of
+Archippus, one of the commanders of the Athenian ships sent to collect
+money from the allies, arrested at Eion, on the Strymon, Artaphernes, a
+Persian, on his way from the King to Lacedaemon. He was conducted to
+Athens, where the Athenians got his dispatches translated from the
+Assyrian character and read them. With numerous references to other
+subjects, they in substance told the Lacedaemonians that the King did
+not know what they wanted, as of the many ambassadors they had sent him
+no two ever told the same story; if however they were prepared to speak
+plainly they might send him some envoys with this Persian. The
+Athenians afterwards sent back Artaphernes in a galley to Ephesus, and
+ambassadors with him, who heard there of the death of King Artaxerxes,
+son of Xerxes, which took place about that time, and so returned home.
+
+The same winter the Chians pulled down their new wall at the command of
+the Athenians, who suspected them of meditating an insurrection, after
+first however obtaining pledges from the Athenians, and security as far
+as this was possible for their continuing to treat them as before. Thus
+the winter ended, and with it ended the seventh year of this war of
+which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+In first days of the next summer there was an eclipse of the sun at the
+time of new moon, and in the early part of the same month an
+earthquake. Meanwhile, the Mitylenian and other Lesbian exiles set out,
+for the most part from the continent, with mercenaries hired in
+Peloponnese, and others levied on the spot, and took Rhoeteum, but
+restored it without injury on the receipt of two thousand Phocaean
+staters. After this they marched against Antandrus and took the town by
+treachery, their plan being to free Antandrus and the rest of the
+Actaean towns, formerly owned by Mitylene but now held by the
+Athenians. Once fortified there, they would have every facility for
+ship-building from the vicinity of Ida and the consequent abundance of
+timber, and plenty of other supplies, and might from this base easily
+ravage Lesbos, which was not far off, and make themselves masters of
+the Aeolian towns on the continent.
+
+While these were the schemes of the exiles, the Athenians in the same
+summer made an expedition with sixty ships, two thousand heavy
+infantry, a few cavalry, and some allied troops from Miletus and other
+parts, against Cythera, under the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus,
+Nicostratus, son of Diotrephes, and Autocles, son of Tolmaeus. Cythera
+is an island lying off Laconia, opposite Malea; the inhabitants are
+Lacedaemonians of the class of the Perioeci; and an officer called the
+judge of Cythera went over to the place annually from Sparta. A
+garrison of heavy infantry was also regularly sent there, and great
+attention paid to the island, as it was the landing-place for the
+merchantmen from Egypt and Libya, and at the same time secured Laconia
+from the attacks of privateers from the sea, at the only point where it
+is assailable, as the whole coast rises abruptly towards the Sicilian
+and Cretan seas.
+
+Coming to land here with their armament, the Athenians with ten ships
+and two thousand Milesian heavy infantry took the town of Scandea, on
+the sea; and with the rest of their forces landing on the side of the
+island looking towards Malea, went against the lower town of Cythera,
+where they found all the inhabitants encamped. A battle ensuing, the
+Cytherians held their ground for some little while, and then turned and
+fled into the upper town, where they soon afterwards capitulated to
+Nicias and his colleagues, agreeing to leave their fate to the decision
+of the Athenians, their lives only being safe. A correspondence had
+previously been going on between Nicias and certain of the inhabitants,
+which caused the surrender to be effected more speedily, and upon terms
+more advantageous, present and future, for the Cytherians; who would
+otherwise have been expelled by the Athenians on account of their being
+Lacedaemonians and their island being so near to Laconia. After the
+capitulation, the Athenians occupied the town of Scandea near the
+harbour, and appointing a garrison for Cythera, sailed to Asine, Helus,
+and most of the places on the sea, and making descents and passing the
+night on shore at such spots as were convenient, continued ravaging the
+country for about seven days.
+
+The Lacedaemonians seeing the Athenians masters of Cythera, and
+expecting descents of the kind upon their coasts, nowhere opposed them
+in force, but sent garrisons here and there through the country,
+consisting of as many heavy infantry as the points menaced seemed to
+require, and generally stood very much upon the defensive. After the
+severe and unexpected blow that had befallen them in the island, the
+occupation of Pylos and Cythera, and the apparition on every side of a
+war whose rapidity defied precaution, they lived in constant fear of
+internal revolution, and now took the unusual step of raising four
+hundred horse and a force of archers, and became more timid than ever
+in military matters, finding themselves involved in a maritime
+struggle, which their organization had never contemplated, and that
+against Athenians, with whom an enterprise unattempted was always
+looked upon as a success sacrificed. Besides this, their late numerous
+reverses of fortune, coming close one upon another without any reason,
+had thoroughly unnerved them, and they were always afraid of a second
+disaster like that on the island, and thus scarcely dared to take the
+field, but fancied that they could not stir without a blunder, for
+being new to the experience of adversity they had lost all confidence
+in themselves.
+
+Accordingly they now allowed the Athenians to ravage their seaboard,
+without making any movement, the garrisons in whose neighbourhood the
+descents were made always thinking their numbers insufficient, and
+sharing the general feeling. A single garrison which ventured to
+resist, near Cotyrta and Aphrodisia, struck terror by its charge into
+the scattered mob of light troops, but retreated, upon being received
+by the heavy infantry, with the loss of a few men and some arms, for
+which the Athenians set up a trophy, and then sailed off to Cythera.
+From thence they sailed round to Epidaurus Limera, ravaged part of the
+country, and so came to Thyrea in the Cynurian territory, upon the
+Argive and Laconian border. This district had been given by its
+Lacedaemonian owners to the expelled Aeginetans to inhabit, in return
+for their good offices at the time of the earthquake and the rising of
+the Helots; and also because, although subjects of Athens, they had
+always sided with Lacedaemon.
+
+While the Athenians were still at sea, the Aeginetans evacuated a fort
+which they were building upon the coast, and retreated into the upper
+town where they lived, rather more than a mile from the sea. One of the
+Lacedaemonian district garrisons which was helping them in the work,
+refused to enter here with them at their entreaty, thinking it
+dangerous to shut themselves up within the wall, and retiring to the
+high ground remained quiet, not considering themselves a match for the
+enemy. Meanwhile the Athenians landed, and instantly advanced with all
+their forces and took Thyrea. The town they burnt, pillaging what was
+in it; the Aeginetans who were not slain in action they took with them
+to Athens, with Tantalus, son of Patrocles, their Lacedaemonian
+commander, who had been wounded and taken prisoner. They also took with
+them a few men from Cythera whom they thought it safest to remove.
+These the Athenians determined to lodge in the islands: the rest of the
+Cytherians were to retain their lands and pay four talents tribute; the
+Aeginetans captured to be all put to death, on account of the old
+inveterate feud; and Tantalus to share the imprisonment of the
+Lacedaemonians taken on the island.
+
+The same summer, the inhabitants of Camarina and Gela in Sicily first
+made an armistice with each other, after which embassies from all the
+other Sicilian cities assembled at Gela to try to bring about a
+pacification. After many expressions of opinion on one side and the
+other, according to the griefs and pretensions of the different parties
+complaining, Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a Syracusan, the most
+influential man among them, addressed the following words to the
+assembly:
+
+“If I now address you, Sicilians, it is not because my city is the
+least in Sicily or the greatest sufferer by the war, but in order to
+state publicly what appears to me to be the best policy for the whole
+island. That war is an evil is a proposition so familiar to every one
+that it would be tedious to develop it. No one is forced to engage in
+it by ignorance, or kept out of it by fear, if he fancies there is
+anything to be gained by it. To the former the gain appears greater
+than the danger, while the latter would rather stand the risk than put
+up with any immediate sacrifice. But if both should happen to have
+chosen the wrong moment for acting in this way, advice to make peace
+would not be unserviceable; and this, if we did but see it, is just
+what we stand most in need of at the present juncture.
+
+“I suppose that no one will dispute that we went to war at first in
+order to serve our own several interests, that we are now, in view of
+the same interests, debating how we can make peace; and that if we
+separate without having as we think our rights, we shall go to war
+again. And yet, as men of sense, we ought to see that our separate
+interests are not alone at stake in the present congress: there is also
+the question whether we have still time to save Sicily, the whole of
+which in my opinion is menaced by Athenian ambition; and we ought to
+find in the name of that people more imperious arguments for peace than
+any which I can advance, when we see the first power in Hellas watching
+our mistakes with the few ships that she has at present in our waters,
+and under the fair name of alliance speciously seeking to turn to
+account the natural hostility that exists between us. If we go to war,
+and call in to help us a people that are ready enough to carry their
+arms even where they are not invited; and if we injure ourselves at our
+own expense, and at the same time serve as the pioneers of their
+dominion, we may expect, when they see us worn out, that they will one
+day come with a larger armament, and seek to bring all of us into
+subjection.
+
+“And yet as sensible men, if we call in allies and court danger, it
+should be in order to enrich our different countries with new
+acquisitions, and not to ruin what they possess already; and we should
+understand that the intestine discords which are so fatal to
+communities generally, will be equally so to Sicily, if we, its
+inhabitants, absorbed in our local quarrels, neglect the common enemy.
+These considerations should reconcile individual with individual, and
+city with city, and unite us in a common effort to save the whole of
+Sicily. Nor should any one imagine that the Dorians only are enemies of
+Athens, while the Chalcidian race is secured by its Ionian blood; the
+attack in question is not inspired by hatred of one of two
+nationalities, but by a desire for the good things in Sicily, the
+common property of us all. This is proved by the Athenian reception of
+the Chalcidian invitation: an ally who has never given them any
+assistance whatever, at once receives from them almost more than the
+treaty entitles him to. That the Athenians should cherish this ambition
+and practise this policy is very excusable; and I do not blame those
+who wish to rule, but those who are over-ready to serve. It is just as
+much in men’s nature to rule those who submit to them, as it is to
+resist those who molest them; one is not less invariable than the
+other. Meanwhile all who see these dangers and refuse to provide for
+them properly, or who have come here without having made up their minds
+that our first duty is to unite to get rid of the common peril, are
+mistaken. The quickest way to be rid of it is to make peace with each
+other; since the Athenians menace us not from their own country, but
+from that of those who invited them here. In this way instead of war
+issuing in war, peace quietly ends our quarrels; and the guests who
+come hither under fair pretences for bad ends, will have good reason
+for going away without having attained them.
+
+“So far as regards the Athenians, such are the great advantages proved
+inherent in a wise policy. Independently of this, in the face of the
+universal consent, that peace is the first of blessings, how can we
+refuse to make it amongst ourselves; or do you not think that the good
+which you have, and the ills that you complain of, would be better
+preserved and cured by quiet than by war; that peace has its honours
+and splendours of a less perilous kind, not to mention the numerous
+other blessings that one might dilate on, with the not less numerous
+miseries of war? These considerations should teach you not to disregard
+my words, but rather to look in them every one for his own safety. If
+there be any here who feels certain either by right or might to effect
+his object, let not this surprise be to him too severe a
+disappointment. Let him remember that many before now have tried to
+chastise a wrongdoer, and failing to punish their enemy have not even
+saved themselves; while many who have trusted in force to gain an
+advantage, instead of gaining anything more, have been doomed to lose
+what they had. Vengeance is not necessarily successful because wrong
+has been done, or strength sure because it is confident; but the
+incalculable element in the future exercises the widest influence, and
+is the most treacherous, and yet in fact the most useful of all things,
+as it frightens us all equally, and thus makes us consider before
+attacking each other.
+
+“Let us therefore now allow the undefined fear of this unknown future,
+and the immediate terror of the Athenians’ presence, to produce their
+natural impression, and let us consider any failure to carry out the
+programmes that we may each have sketched out for ourselves as
+sufficiently accounted for by these obstacles, and send away the
+intruder from the country; and if everlasting peace be impossible
+between us, let us at all events make a treaty for as long a term as
+possible, and put off our private differences to another day. In fine,
+let us recognize that the adoption of my advice will leave us each
+citizens of a free state, and as such arbiters of our own destiny, able
+to return good or bad offices with equal effect; while its rejection
+will make us dependent on others, and thus not only impotent to repel
+an insult, but on the most favourable supposition, friends to our
+direst enemies, and at feud with our natural friends.
+
+“For myself, though, as I said at first, the representative of a great
+city, and able to think less of defending myself than of attacking
+others, I am prepared to concede something in prevision of these
+dangers. I am not inclined to ruin myself for the sake of hurting my
+enemies, or so blinded by animosity as to think myself equally master
+of my own plans and of fortune which I cannot command; but I am ready
+to give up anything in reason. I call upon the rest of you to imitate
+my conduct of your own free will, without being forced to do so by the
+enemy. There is no disgrace in connections giving way to one another, a
+Dorian to a Dorian, or a Chalcidian to his brethren; above and beyond
+this we are neighbours, live in the same country, are girt by the same
+sea, and go by the same name of Sicilians. We shall go to war again, I
+suppose, when the time comes, and again make peace among ourselves by
+means of future congresses; but the foreign invader, if we are wise,
+will always find us united against him, since the hurt of one is the
+danger of all; and we shall never, in future, invite into the island
+either allies or mediators. By so acting we shall at the present moment
+do for Sicily a double service, ridding her at once of the Athenians,
+and of civil war, and in future shall live in freedom at home, and be
+less menaced from abroad.”
+
+Such were the words of Hermocrates. The Sicilians took his advice, and
+came to an understanding among themselves to end the war, each keeping
+what they had—the Camarinaeans taking Morgantina at a price fixed to be
+paid to the Syracusans—and the allies of the Athenians called the
+officers in command, and told them that they were going to make peace
+and that they would be included in the treaty. The generals assenting,
+the peace was concluded, and the Athenian fleet afterwards sailed away
+from Sicily. Upon their arrival at Athens, the Athenians banished
+Pythodorus and Sophocles, and fined Eurymedon for having taken bribes
+to depart when they might have subdued Sicily. So thoroughly had the
+present prosperity persuaded the citizens that nothing could withstand
+them, and that they could achieve what was possible and impracticable
+alike, with means ample or inadequate it mattered not. The secret of
+this was their general extraordinary success, which made them confuse
+their strength with their hopes.
+
+The same summer the Megarians in the city, pressed by the hostilities
+of the Athenians, who invaded their country twice every year with all
+their forces, and harassed by the incursions of their own exiles at
+Pegae, who had been expelled in a revolution by the popular party,
+began to ask each other whether it would not be better to receive back
+their exiles, and free the town from one of its two scourges. The
+friends of the emigrants, perceiving the agitation, now more openly
+than before demanded the adoption of this proposition; and the leaders
+of the commons, seeing that the sufferings of the times had tired out
+the constancy of their supporters, entered in their alarm into
+correspondence with the Athenian generals, Hippocrates, son of
+Ariphron, and Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, and resolved to betray
+the town, thinking this less dangerous to themselves than the return of
+the party which they had banished. It was accordingly arranged that the
+Athenians should first take the long walls extending for nearly a mile
+from the city to the port of Nisaea, to prevent the Peloponnesians
+coming to the rescue from that place, where they formed the sole
+garrison to secure the fidelity of Megara; and that after this the
+attempt should be made to put into their hands the upper town, which it
+was thought would then come over with less difficulty.
+
+The Athenians, after plans had been arranged between themselves and
+their correspondents both as to words and actions, sailed by night to
+Minoa, the island off Megara, with six hundred heavy infantry under the
+command of Hippocrates, and took post in a quarry not far off, out of
+which bricks used to be taken for the walls; while Demosthenes, the
+other commander, with a detachment of Plataean light troops and another
+of Peripoli, placed himself in ambush in the precinct of Enyalius,
+which was still nearer. No one knew of it, except those whose business
+it was to know that night. A little before daybreak, the traitors in
+Megara began to act. Every night for a long time back, under pretence
+of marauding, in order to have a means of opening the gates, they had
+been used, with the consent of the officer in command, to carry by
+night a sculling boat upon a cart along the ditch to the sea, and so to
+sail out, bringing it back again before day upon the cart, and taking
+it within the wall through the gates, in order, as they pretended, to
+baffle the Athenian blockade at Minoa, there being no boat to be seen
+in the harbour. On the present occasion the cart was already at the
+gates, which had been opened in the usual way for the boat, when the
+Athenians, with whom this had been concerted, saw it, and ran at the
+top of their speed from the ambush in order to reach the gates before
+they were shut again, and while the cart was still there to prevent
+their being closed; their Megarian accomplices at the same moment
+killing the guard at the gates. The first to run in was Demosthenes
+with his Plataeans and Peripoli, just where the trophy now stands; and
+he was no sooner within the gates than the Plataeans engaged and
+defeated the nearest party of Peloponnesians who had taken the alarm
+and come to the rescue, and secured the gates for the approaching
+Athenian heavy infantry.
+
+After this, each of the Athenians as fast as they entered went against
+the wall. A few of the Peloponnesian garrison stood their ground at
+first, and tried to repel the assault, and some of them were killed;
+but the main body took fright and fled; the night attack and the sight
+of the Megarian traitors in arms against them making them think that
+all Megara had gone over to the enemy. It so happened also that the
+Athenian herald of his own idea called out and invited any of the
+Megarians that wished, to join the Athenian ranks; and this was no
+sooner heard by the garrison than they gave way, and, convinced that
+they were the victims of a concerted attack, took refuge in Nisaea. By
+daybreak, the walls being now taken and the Megarians in the city in
+great agitation, the persons who had negotiated with the Athenians,
+supported by the rest of the popular party which was privy to the plot,
+said that they ought to open the gates and march out to battle. It had
+been concerted between them that the Athenians should rush in, the
+moment that the gates were opened, while the conspirators were to be
+distinguished from the rest by being anointed with oil, and so to avoid
+being hurt. They could open the gates with more security, as four
+thousand Athenian heavy infantry from Eleusis, and six hundred horse,
+had marched all night, according to agreement, and were now close at
+hand. The conspirators were all ready anointed and at their posts by
+the gates, when one of their accomplices denounced the plot to the
+opposite party, who gathered together and came in a body, and roundly
+said that they must not march out—a thing they had never yet ventured
+on even when in greater force than at present—or wantonly compromise
+the safety of the town, and that if what they said was not attended to,
+the battle would have to be fought in Megara. For the rest, they gave
+no signs of their knowledge of the intrigue, but stoutly maintained
+that their advice was the best, and meanwhile kept close by and watched
+the gates, making it impossible for the conspirators to effect their
+purpose.
+
+The Athenian generals seeing that some obstacle had arisen, and that
+the capture of the town by force was no longer practicable, at once
+proceeded to invest Nisaea, thinking that, if they could take it before
+relief arrived, the surrender of Megara would soon follow. Iron,
+stone-masons, and everything else required quickly coming up from
+Athens, the Athenians started from the wall which they occupied, and
+from this point built a cross wall looking towards Megara down to the
+sea on either side of Nisaea; the ditch and the walls being divided
+among the army, stones and bricks taken from the suburb, and the
+fruit-trees and timber cut down to make a palisade wherever this seemed
+necessary; the houses also in the suburb with the addition of
+battlements sometimes entering into the fortification. The whole of
+this day the work continued, and by the afternoon of the next the wall
+was all but completed, when the garrison in Nisaea, alarmed by the
+absolute want of provisions, which they used to take in for the day
+from the upper town, not anticipating any speedy relief from the
+Peloponnesians, and supposing Megara to be hostile, capitulated to the
+Athenians on condition that they should give up their arms, and should
+each be ransomed for a stipulated sum; their Lacedaemonian commander,
+and any others of his countrymen in the place, being left to the
+discretion of the Athenians. On these conditions they surrendered and
+came out, and the Athenians broke down the long walls at their point of
+junction with Megara, took possession of Nisaea, and went on with their
+other preparations.
+
+Just at this time the Lacedaemonian Brasidas, son of Tellis, happened
+to be in the neighbourhood of Sicyon and Corinth, getting ready an army
+for Thrace. As soon as he heard of the capture of the walls, fearing
+for the Peloponnesians in Nisaea and the safety of Megara, he sent to
+the Boeotians to meet him as quickly as possible at Tripodiscus, a
+village so called of the Megarid, under Mount Geraneia, and went
+himself, with two thousand seven hundred Corinthian heavy infantry,
+four hundred Phliasians, six hundred Sicyonians, and such troops of his
+own as he had already levied, expecting to find Nisaea not yet taken.
+Hearing of its fall (he had marched out by night to Tripodiscus), he
+took three hundred picked men from the army, without waiting till his
+coming should be known, and came up to Megara unobserved by the
+Athenians, who were down by the sea, ostensibly, and really if
+possible, to attempt Nisaea, but above all to get into Megara and
+secure the town. He accordingly invited the townspeople to admit his
+party, saying that he had hopes of recovering Nisaea.
+
+However, one of the Megarian factions feared that he might expel them
+and restore the exiles; the other that the commons, apprehensive of
+this very danger, might set upon them, and the city be thus destroyed
+by a battle within its gates under the eyes of the ambushed Athenians.
+He was accordingly refused admittance, both parties electing to remain
+quiet and await the event; each expecting a battle between the
+Athenians and the relieving army, and thinking it safer to see their
+friends victorious before declaring in their favour.
+
+Unable to carry his point, Brasidas went back to the rest of the army.
+At daybreak the Boeotians joined him. Having determined to relieve
+Megara, whose danger they considered their own, even before hearing
+from Brasidas, they were already in full force at Plataea, when his
+messenger arrived to add spurs to their resolution; and they at once
+sent on to him two thousand two hundred heavy infantry, and six hundred
+horse, returning home with the main body. The whole army thus assembled
+numbered six thousand heavy infantry. The Athenian heavy infantry were
+drawn up by Nisaea and the sea; but the light troops being scattered
+over the plain were attacked by the Boeotian horse and driven to the
+sea, being taken entirely by surprise, as on previous occasions no
+relief had ever come to the Megarians from any quarter. Here the
+Boeotians were in their turn charged and engaged by the Athenian horse,
+and a cavalry action ensued which lasted a long time, and in which both
+parties claimed the victory. The Athenians killed and stripped the
+leader of the Boeotian horse and some few of his comrades who had
+charged right up to Nisaea, and remaining masters of the bodies gave
+them back under truce, and set up a trophy; but regarding the action as
+a whole the forces separated without either side having gained a
+decisive advantage, the Boeotians returning to their army and the
+Athenians to Nisaea.
+
+After this Brasidas and the army came nearer to the sea and to Megara,
+and taking up a convenient position, remained quiet in order of battle,
+expecting to be attacked by the Athenians and knowing that the
+Megarians were waiting to see which would be the victor. This attitude
+seemed to present two advantages. Without taking the offensive or
+willingly provoking the hazards of a battle, they openly showed their
+readiness to fight, and thus without bearing the burden of the day
+would fairly reap its honours; while at the same time they effectually
+served their interests at Megara. For if they had failed to show
+themselves they would not have had a chance, but would have certainly
+been considered vanquished, and have lost the town. As it was, the
+Athenians might possibly not be inclined to accept their challenge, and
+their object would be attained without fighting. And so it turned out.
+The Athenians formed outside the long walls and, the enemy not
+attacking, there remained motionless; their generals having decided
+that the risk was too unequal. In fact most of their objects had been
+already attained; and they would have to begin a battle against
+superior numbers, and if victorious could only gain Megara, while a
+defeat would destroy the flower of their heavy soldiery. For the enemy
+it was different; as even the states actually represented in his army
+risked each only a part of its entire force, he might well be more
+audacious. Accordingly, after waiting for some time without either side
+attacking, the Athenians withdrew to Nisaea, and the Peloponnesians
+after them to the point from which they had set out. The friends of the
+Megarian exiles now threw aside their hesitation, and opened the gates
+to Brasidas and the commanders from the different states—looking upon
+him as the victor and upon the Athenians as having declined the
+battle—and receiving them into the town proceeded to discuss matters
+with them; the party in correspondence with the Athenians being
+paralysed by the turn things had taken.
+
+Afterwards Brasidas let the allies go home, and himself went back to
+Corinth, to prepare for his expedition to Thrace, his original
+destination. The Athenians also returning home, the Megarians in the
+city most implicated in the Athenian negotiation, knowing that they had
+been detected, presently disappeared; while the rest conferred with the
+friends of the exiles, and restored the party at Pegae, after binding
+them under solemn oaths to take no vengeance for the past, and only to
+consult the real interests of the town. However, as soon as they were
+in office, they held a review of the heavy infantry, and separating the
+battalions, picked out about a hundred of their enemies, and of those
+who were thought to be most involved in the correspondence with the
+Athenians, brought them before the people, and compelling the vote to
+be given openly, had them condemned and executed, and established a
+close oligarchy in the town—a revolution which lasted a very long
+while, although effected by a very few partisans.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Eighth and Ninth Years of the War—Invasion of Boeotia—Fall of
+Amphipolis—Brilliant Successes of Brasidas
+
+
+The same summer the Mitylenians were about to fortify Antandrus, as
+they had intended, when Demodocus and Aristides, the commanders of the
+Athenian squadron engaged in levying subsidies, heard on the Hellespont
+of what was being done to the place (Lamachus their colleague having
+sailed with ten ships into the Pontus) and conceived fears of its
+becoming a second Anaia-the place in which the Samian exiles had
+established themselves to annoy Samos, helping the Peloponnesians by
+sending pilots to their navy, and keeping the city in agitation and
+receiving all its outlaws. They accordingly got together a force from
+the allies and set sail, defeated in battle the troops that met them
+from Antandrus, and retook the place. Not long after, Lamachus, who had
+sailed into the Pontus, lost his ships at anchor in the river Calex, in
+the territory of Heraclea, rain having fallen in the interior and the
+flood coming suddenly down upon them; and himself and his troops passed
+by land through the Bithynian Thracians on the Asiatic side, and
+arrived at Chalcedon, the Megarian colony at the mouth of the Pontus.
+
+The same summer the Athenian general, Demosthenes, arrived at Naupactus
+with forty ships immediately after the return from the Megarid.
+Hippocrates and himself had had overtures made to them by certain men
+in the cities in Boeotia, who wished to change the constitution and
+introduce a democracy as at Athens; Ptoeodorus, a Theban exile, being
+the chief mover in this intrigue. The seaport town of Siphae, in the
+bay of Crisae, in the Thespian territory, was to be betrayed to them by
+one party; Chaeronea (a dependency of what was formerly called the
+Minyan, now the Boeotian, Orchomenus) to be put into their hands by
+another from that town, whose exiles were very active in the business,
+hiring men in Peloponnese. Some Phocians also were in the plot,
+Chaeronea being the frontier town of Boeotia and close to Phanotis in
+Phocia. Meanwhile the Athenians were to seize Delium, the sanctuary of
+Apollo, in the territory of Tanagra looking towards Euboea; and all
+these events were to take place simultaneously upon a day appointed, in
+order that the Boeotians might be unable to unite to oppose them at
+Delium, being everywhere detained by disturbances at home. Should the
+enterprise succeed, and Delium be fortified, its authors confidently
+expected that even if no revolution should immediately follow in
+Boeotia, yet with these places in their hands, and the country being
+harassed by incursions, and a refuge in each instance near for the
+partisans engaged in them, things would not remain as they were, but
+that the rebels being supported by the Athenians and the forces of the
+oligarchs divided, it would be possible after a while to settle matters
+according to their wishes.
+
+Such was the plot in contemplation. Hippocrates with a force raised at
+home awaited the proper moment to take the field against the Boeotians;
+while he sent on Demosthenes with the forty ships above mentioned to
+Naupactus, to raise in those parts an army of Acarnanians and of the
+other allies, and sail and receive Siphae from the conspirators; a day
+having been agreed on for the simultaneous execution of both these
+operations. Demosthenes on his arrival found Oeniadae already compelled
+by the united Acarnanians to join the Athenian confederacy, and himself
+raising all the allies in those countries marched against and subdued
+Salynthius and the Agraeans; after which he devoted himself to the
+preparations necessary to enable him to be at Siphae by the time
+appointed.
+
+About the same time in the summer, Brasidas set out on his march for
+the Thracian places with seventeen hundred heavy infantry, and arriving
+at Heraclea in Trachis, from thence sent on a messenger to his friends
+at Pharsalus, to ask them to conduct himself and his army through the
+country. Accordingly there came to Melitia in Achaia Panaerus, Dorus,
+Hippolochidas, Torylaus, and Strophacus, the Chalcidian proxenus, under
+whose escort he resumed his march, being accompanied also by other
+Thessalians, among whom was Niconidas from Larissa, a friend of
+Perdiccas. It was never very easy to traverse Thessaly without an
+escort; and throughout all Hellas for an armed force to pass without
+leave through a neighbour’s country was a delicate step to take.
+Besides this the Thessalian people had always sympathized with the
+Athenians. Indeed if instead of the customary close oligarchy there had
+been a constitutional government in Thessaly, he would never have been
+able to proceed; since even as it was, he was met on his march at the
+river Enipeus by certain of the opposite party who forbade his further
+progress, and complained of his making the attempt without the consent
+of the nation. To this his escort answered that they had no intention
+of taking him through against their will; they were only friends in
+attendance on an unexpected visitor. Brasidas himself added that he
+came as a friend to Thessaly and its inhabitants, his arms not being
+directed against them but against the Athenians, with whom he was at
+war, and that although he knew of no quarrel between the Thessalians
+and Lacedaemonians to prevent the two nations having access to each
+other’s territory, he neither would nor could proceed against their
+wishes; he could only beg them not to stop him. With this answer they
+went away, and he took the advice of his escort, and pushed on without
+halting, before a greater force might gather to prevent him. Thus in
+the day that he set out from Melitia he performed the whole distance to
+Pharsalus, and encamped on the river Apidanus; and so to Phacium and
+from thence to Perrhaebia. Here his Thessalian escort went back, and
+the Perrhaebians, who are subjects of Thessaly, set him down at Dium in
+the dominions of Perdiccas, a Macedonian town under Mount Olympus,
+looking towards Thessaly.
+
+In this way Brasidas hurried through Thessaly before any one could be
+got ready to stop him, and reached Perdiccas and Chalcidice. The
+departure of the army from Peloponnese had been procured by the
+Thracian towns in revolt against Athens and by Perdiccas, alarmed at
+the successes of the Athenians. The Chalcidians thought that they would
+be the first objects of an Athenian expedition, not that the
+neighbouring towns which had not yet revolted did not also secretly
+join in the invitation; and Perdiccas also had his apprehensions on
+account of his old quarrels with the Athenians, although not openly at
+war with them, and above all wished to reduce Arrhabaeus, king of the
+Lyncestians. It had been less difficult for them to get an army to
+leave Peloponnese, because of the ill fortune of the Lacedaemonians at
+the present moment. The attacks of the Athenians upon Peloponnese, and
+in particular upon Laconia, might, it was hoped, be diverted most
+effectually by annoying them in return, and by sending an army to their
+allies, especially as they were willing to maintain it and asked for it
+to aid them in revolting. The Lacedaemonians were also glad to have an
+excuse for sending some of the Helots out of the country, for fear that
+the present aspect of affairs and the occupation of Pylos might
+encourage them to move. Indeed fear of their numbers and obstinacy even
+persuaded the Lacedaemonians to the action which I shall now relate,
+their policy at all times having been governed by the necessity of
+taking precautions against them. The Helots were invited by a
+proclamation to pick out those of their number who claimed to have most
+distinguished themselves against the enemy, in order that they might
+receive their freedom; the object being to test them, as it was thought
+that the first to claim their freedom would be the most high-spirited
+and the most apt to rebel. As many as two thousand were selected
+accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples,
+rejoicing in their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards
+did away with them, and no one ever knew how each of them perished. The
+Spartans now therefore gladly sent seven hundred as heavy infantry with
+Brasidas, who recruited the rest of his force by means of money in
+Peloponnese.
+
+Brasidas himself was sent out by the Lacedaemonians mainly at his own
+desire, although the Chalcidians also were eager to have a man so
+thorough as he had shown himself whenever there was anything to be done
+at Sparta, and whose after-service abroad proved of the utmost use to
+his country. At the present moment his just and moderate conduct
+towards the towns generally succeeded in procuring their revolt,
+besides the places which he managed to take by treachery; and thus when
+the Lacedaemonians desired to treat, as they ultimately did, they had
+places to offer in exchange, and the burden of war meanwhile shifted
+from Peloponnese. Later on in the war, after the events in Sicily, the
+present valour and conduct of Brasidas, known by experience to some, by
+hearsay to others, was what mainly created in the allies of Athens a
+feeling for the Lacedaemonians. He was the first who went out and
+showed himself so good a man at all points as to leave behind him the
+conviction that the rest were like him.
+
+Meanwhile his arrival in the Thracian country no sooner became known to
+the Athenians than they declared war against Perdiccas, whom they
+regarded as the author of the expedition, and kept a closer watch on
+their allies in that quarter.
+
+Upon the arrival of Brasidas and his army, Perdiccas immediately
+started with them and with his own forces against Arrhabaeus, son of
+Bromerus, king of the Lyncestian Macedonians, his neighbour, with whom
+he had a quarrel and whom he wished to subdue. However, when he arrived
+with his army and Brasidas at the pass leading into Lyncus, Brasidas
+told him that before commencing hostilities he wished to go and try to
+persuade Arrhabaeus to become the ally of Lacedaemon, this latter
+having already made overtures intimating his willingness to make
+Brasidas arbitrator between them, and the Chalcidian envoys
+accompanying him having warned him not to remove the apprehensions of
+Perdiccas, in order to ensure his greater zeal in their cause. Besides,
+the envoys of Perdiccas had talked at Lacedaemon about his bringing
+many of the places round him into alliance with them; and thus Brasidas
+thought he might take a larger view of the question of Arrhabaeus.
+Perdiccas however retorted that he had not brought him with him to
+arbitrate in their quarrel, but to put down the enemies whom he might
+point out to him; and that while he, Perdiccas, maintained half his
+army it was a breach of faith for Brasidas to parley with Arrhabaeus.
+Nevertheless Brasidas disregarded the wishes of Perdiccas and held the
+parley in spite of him, and suffered himself to be persuaded to lead
+off the army without invading the country of Arrhabaeus; after which
+Perdiccas, holding that faith had not been kept with him, contributed
+only a third instead of half of the support of the army.
+
+The same summer, without loss of time, Brasidas marched with the
+Chalcidians against Acanthus, a colony of the Andrians, a little before
+vintage. The inhabitants were divided into two parties on the question
+of receiving him; those who had joined the Chalcidians in inviting him,
+and the popular party. However, fear for their fruit, which was still
+out, enabled Brasidas to persuade the multitude to admit him alone, and
+to hear what he had to say before making a decision; and he was
+admitted accordingly and appeared before the people, and not being a
+bad speaker for a Lacedaemonian, addressed them as follows:
+
+“Acanthians, the Lacedaemonians have sent out me and my army to make
+good the reason that we gave for the war when we began it, viz., that
+we were going to war with the Athenians in order to free Hellas. Our
+delay in coming has been caused by mistaken expectations as to the war
+at home, which led us to hope, by our own unassisted efforts and
+without your risking anything, to effect the speedy downfall of the
+Athenians; and you must not blame us for this, as we are now come the
+moment that we were able, prepared with your aid to do our best to
+subdue them. Meanwhile I am astonished at finding your gates shut
+against me, and at not meeting with a better welcome. We Lacedaemonians
+thought of you as allies eager to have us, to whom we should come in
+spirit even before we were with you in body; and in this expectation
+undertook all the risks of a march of many days through a strange
+country, so far did our zeal carry us. It will be a terrible thing if
+after this you have other intentions, and mean to stand in the way of
+your own and Hellenic freedom. It is not merely that you oppose me
+yourselves; but wherever I may go people will be less inclined to join
+me, on the score that you, to whom I first came—an important town like
+Acanthus, and prudent men like the Acanthians—refused to admit me. I
+shall have nothing to prove that the reason which I advance is the true
+one; it will be said either that there is something unfair in the
+freedom which I offer, or that I am in insufficient force and unable to
+protect you against an attack from Athens. Yet when I went with the
+army which I now have to the relief of Nisaea, the Athenians did not
+venture to engage me although in greater force than I; and it is not
+likely they will ever send across sea against you an army as numerous
+as they had at Nisaea. And for myself, I have come here not to hurt but
+to free the Hellenes, witness the solemn oaths by which I have bound my
+government that the allies that I may bring over shall be independent;
+and besides my object in coming is not by force or fraud to obtain your
+alliance, but to offer you mine to help you against your Athenian
+masters. I protest, therefore, against any suspicions of my intentions
+after the guarantees which I offer, and equally so against doubts of my
+ability to protect you, and I invite you to join me without hesitation.
+
+“Some of you may hang back because they have private enemies, and fear
+that I may put the city into the hands of a party: none need be more
+tranquil than they. I am not come here to help this party or that; and
+I do not consider that I should be bringing you freedom in any real
+sense, if I should disregard your constitution, and enslave the many to
+the few or the few to the many. This would be heavier than a foreign
+yoke; and we Lacedaemonians, instead of being thanked for our pains,
+should get neither honour nor glory, but, contrariwise, reproaches. The
+charges which strengthen our hands in the war against the Athenians
+would on our own showing be merited by ourselves, and more hateful in
+us than in those who make no pretensions to honesty; as it is more
+disgraceful for persons of character to take what they covet by
+fair-seeming fraud than by open force; the one aggression having for
+its justification the might which fortune gives, the other being simply
+a piece of clever roguery. A matter which concerns us thus nearly we
+naturally look to most jealously; and over and above the oaths that I
+have mentioned, what stronger assurance can you have, when you see that
+our words, compared with the actual facts, produce the necessary
+conviction that it is our interest to act as we say?
+
+“If to these considerations of mine you put in the plea of inability,
+and claim that your friendly feeling should save you from being hurt by
+your refusal; if you say that freedom, in your opinion, is not without
+its dangers, and that it is right to offer it to those who can accept
+it, but not to force it on any against their will, then I shall take
+the gods and heroes of your country to witness that I came for your
+good and was rejected, and shall do my best to compel you by laying
+waste your land. I shall do so without scruple, being justified by the
+necessity which constrains me, first, to prevent the Lacedaemonians
+from being damaged by you, their friends, in the event of your
+nonadhesion, through the moneys that you pay to the Athenians; and
+secondly, to prevent the Hellenes from being hindered by you in shaking
+off their servitude. Otherwise indeed we should have no right to act as
+we propose; except in the name of some public interest, what call
+should we Lacedaemonians have to free those who do not wish it? Empire
+we do not aspire to: it is what we are labouring to put down; and we
+should wrong the greater number if we allowed you to stand in the way
+of the independence that we offer to all. Endeavour, therefore, to
+decide wisely, and strive to begin the work of liberation for the
+Hellenes, and lay up for yourselves endless renown, while you escape
+private loss, and cover your commonwealth with glory.”
+
+Such were the words of Brasidas. The Acanthians, after much had been
+said on both sides of the question, gave their votes in secret, and the
+majority, influenced by the seductive arguments of Brasidas and by fear
+for their fruit, decided to revolt from Athens; not however admitting
+the army until they had taken his personal security for the oaths sworn
+by his government before they sent him out, assuring the independence
+of the allies whom he might bring over. Not long after, Stagirus, a
+colony of the Andrians, followed their example and revolted.
+
+Such were the events of this summer. It was in the first days of the
+winter following that the places in Boeotia were to be put into the
+hands of the Athenian generals, Hippocrates and Demosthenes, the latter
+of whom was to go with his ships to Siphae, the former to Delium. A
+mistake, however, was made in the days on which they were each to
+start; and Demosthenes, sailing first to Siphae, with the Acarnanians
+and many of the allies from those parts on board, failed to effect
+anything, through the plot having been betrayed by Nicomachus, a
+Phocian from Phanotis, who told the Lacedaemonians, and they the
+Boeotians. Succours accordingly flocked in from all parts of Boeotia,
+Hippocrates not being yet there to make his diversion, and Siphae and
+Chaeronea were promptly secured, and the conspirators, informed of the
+mistake, did not venture on any movement in the towns.
+
+Meanwhile Hippocrates made a levy in mass of the citizens, resident
+aliens, and foreigners in Athens, and arrived at his destination after
+the Boeotians had already come back from Siphae, and encamping his army
+began to fortify Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo, in the following
+manner. A trench was dug all round the temple and the consecrated
+ground, and the earth thrown up from the excavation was made to do duty
+as a wall, in which stakes were also planted, the vines round the
+sanctuary being cut down and thrown in, together with stones and bricks
+pulled down from the houses near; every means, in short, being used to
+run up the rampart. Wooden towers were also erected where they were
+wanted, and where there was no part of the temple buildings left
+standing, as on the side where the gallery once existing had fallen in.
+The work was begun on the third day after leaving home, and continued
+during the fourth, and till dinnertime on the fifth, when most of it
+being now finished the army removed from Delium about a mile and a
+quarter on its way home. From this point most of the light troops went
+straight on, while the heavy infantry halted and remained where they
+were; Hippocrates having stayed behind at Delium to arrange the posts,
+and to give directions for the completion of such part of the outworks
+as had been left unfinished.
+
+During the days thus employed the Boeotians were mustering at Tanagra,
+and by the time that they had come in from all the towns, found the
+Athenians already on their way home. The rest of the eleven Boeotarchs
+were against giving battle, as the enemy was no longer in Boeotia, the
+Athenians being just over the Oropian border, when they halted; but
+Pagondas, son of Aeolidas, one of the Boeotarchs of Thebes
+(Arianthides, son of Lysimachidas, being the other), and then
+commander-in-chief, thought it best to hazard a battle. He accordingly
+called the men to him, company after company, to prevent their all
+leaving their arms at once, and urged them to attack the Athenians, and
+stand the issue of a battle, speaking as follows:
+
+“Boeotians, the idea that we ought not to give battle to the Athenians,
+unless we came up with them in Boeotia, is one which should never have
+entered into the head of any of us, your generals. It was to annoy
+Boeotia that they crossed the frontier and built a fort in our country;
+and they are therefore, I imagine, our enemies wherever we may come up
+with them, and from wheresoever they may have come to act as enemies
+do. And if any one has taken up with the idea in question for reasons
+of safety, it is high time for him to change his mind. The party
+attacked, whose own country is in danger, can scarcely discuss what is
+prudent with the calmness of men who are in full enjoyment of what they
+have got, and are thinking of attacking a neighbour in order to get
+more. It is your national habit, in your country or out of it, to
+oppose the same resistance to a foreign invader; and when that invader
+is Athenian, and lives upon your frontier besides, it is doubly
+imperative to do so. As between neighbours generally, freedom means
+simply a determination to hold one’s own; and with neighbours like
+these, who are trying to enslave near and far alike, there is nothing
+for it but to fight it out to the last. Look at the condition of the
+Euboeans and of most of the rest of Hellas, and be convinced that
+others have to fight with their neighbours for this frontier or that,
+but that for us conquest means one frontier for the whole country,
+about which no dispute can be made, for they will simply come and take
+by force what we have. So much more have we to fear from this neighbour
+than from another. Besides, people who, like the Athenians in the
+present instance, are tempted by pride of strength to attack their
+neighbours, usually march most confidently against those who keep
+still, and only defend themselves in their own country, but think twice
+before they grapple with those who meet them outside their frontier and
+strike the first blow if opportunity offers. The Athenians have shown
+us this themselves; the defeat which we inflicted upon them at Coronea,
+at the time when our quarrels had allowed them to occupy the country,
+has given great security to Boeotia until the present day. Remembering
+this, the old must equal their ancient exploits, and the young, the
+sons of the heroes of that time, must endeavour not to disgrace their
+native valour; and trusting in the help of the god whose temple has
+been sacrilegiously fortified, and in the victims which in our
+sacrifices have proved propitious, we must march against the enemy, and
+teach him that he must go and get what he wants by attacking someone
+who will not resist him, but that men whose glory it is to be always
+ready to give battle for the liberty of their own country, and never
+unjustly to enslave that of others, will not let him go without a
+struggle.”
+
+By these arguments Pagondas persuaded the Boeotians to attack the
+Athenians, and quickly breaking up his camp led his army forward, it
+being now late in the day. On nearing the enemy, he halted in a
+position where a hill intervening prevented the two armies from seeing
+each other, and then formed and prepared for action. Meanwhile
+Hippocrates at Delium, informed of the approach of the Boeotians, sent
+orders to his troops to throw themselves into line, and himself joined
+them not long afterwards, leaving about three hundred horse behind him
+at Delium, at once to guard the place in case of attack, and to watch
+their opportunity and fall upon the Boeotians during the battle. The
+Boeotians placed a detachment to deal with these, and when everything
+was arranged to their satisfaction appeared over the hill, and halted
+in the order which they had determined on, to the number of seven
+thousand heavy infantry, more than ten thousand light troops, one
+thousand horse, and five hundred targeteers. On their right were the
+Thebans and those of their province, in the centre the Haliartians,
+Coronaeans, Copaeans, and the other people around the lake, and on the
+left the Thespians, Tanagraeans, and Orchomenians, the cavalry and the
+light troops being at the extremity of each wing. The Thebans formed
+twenty-five shields deep, the rest as they pleased. Such was the
+strength and disposition of the Boeotian army.
+
+On the side of the Athenians, the heavy infantry throughout the whole
+army formed eight deep, being in numbers equal to the enemy, with the
+cavalry upon the two wings. Light troops regularly armed there were
+none in the army, nor had there ever been any at Athens. Those who had
+joined in the invasion, though many times more numerous than those of
+the enemy, had mostly followed unarmed, as part of the levy in mass of
+the citizens and foreigners at Athens, and having started first on
+their way home were not present in any number. The armies being now in
+line and upon the point of engaging, Hippocrates, the general, passed
+along the Athenian ranks, and encouraged them as follows:
+
+“Athenians, I shall only say a few words to you, but brave men require
+no more, and they are addressed more to your understanding than to your
+courage. None of you must fancy that we are going out of our way to run
+this risk in the country of another. Fought in their territory the
+battle will be for ours: if we conquer, the Peloponnesians will never
+invade your country without the Boeotian horse, and in one battle you
+will win Boeotia and in a manner free Attica. Advance to meet them then
+like citizens of a country in which you all glory as the first in
+Hellas, and like sons of the fathers who beat them at Oenophyta with
+Myronides and thus gained possession of Boeotia.”
+
+Hippocrates had got half through the army with his exhortation, when
+the Boeotians, after a few more hasty words from Pagondas, struck up
+the paean, and came against them from the hill; the Athenians advancing
+to meet them, and closing at a run. The extreme wing of neither army
+came into action, one like the other being stopped by the water-courses
+in the way; the rest engaged with the utmost obstinacy, shield against
+shield. The Boeotian left, as far as the centre, was worsted by the
+Athenians. The Thespians in that part of the field suffered most
+severely. The troops alongside them having given way, they were
+surrounded in a narrow space and cut down fighting hand to hand; some
+of the Athenians also fell into confusion in surrounding the enemy and
+mistook and so killed each other. In this part of the field the
+Boeotians were beaten, and retreated upon the troops still fighting;
+but the right, where the Thebans were, got the better of the Athenians
+and shoved them further and further back, though gradually at first. It
+so happened also that Pagondas, seeing the distress of his left, had
+sent two squadrons of horse, where they could not be seen, round the
+hill, and their sudden appearance struck a panic into the victorious
+wing of the Athenians, who thought that it was another army coming
+against them. At length in both parts of the field, disturbed by this
+panic, and with their line broken by the advancing Thebans, the whole
+Athenian army took to flight. Some made for Delium and the sea, some
+for Oropus, others for Mount Parnes, or wherever they had hopes of
+safety, pursued and cut down by the Boeotians, and in particular by the
+cavalry, composed partly of Boeotians and partly of Locrians, who had
+come up just as the rout began. Night however coming on to interrupt
+the pursuit, the mass of the fugitives escaped more easily than they
+would otherwise have done. The next day the troops at Oropus and Delium
+returned home by sea, after leaving a garrison in the latter place,
+which they continued to hold notwithstanding the defeat.
+
+The Boeotians set up a trophy, took up their own dead, and stripped
+those of the enemy, and leaving a guard over them retired to Tanagra,
+there to take measures for attacking Delium. Meanwhile a herald came
+from the Athenians to ask for the dead, but was met and turned back by
+a Boeotian herald, who told him that he would effect nothing until the
+return of himself the Boeotian herald, and who then went on to the
+Athenians, and told them on the part of the Boeotians that they had
+done wrong in transgressing the law of the Hellenes. Of what use was
+the universal custom protecting the temples in an invaded country, if
+the Athenians were to fortify Delium and live there, acting exactly as
+if they were on unconsecrated ground, and drawing and using for their
+purposes the water which they, the Boeotians, never touched except for
+sacred uses? Accordingly for the god as well as for themselves, in the
+name of the deities concerned, and of Apollo, the Boeotians invited
+them first to evacuate the temple, if they wished to take up the dead
+that belonged to them.
+
+After these words from the herald, the Athenians sent their own herald
+to the Boeotians to say that they had not done any wrong to the temple,
+and for the future would do it no more harm than they could help; not
+having occupied it originally in any such design, but to defend
+themselves from it against those who were really wronging them. The law
+of the Hellenes was that conquest of a country, whether more or less
+extensive, carried with it possession of the temples in that country,
+with the obligation to keep up the usual ceremonies, at least as far as
+possible. The Boeotians and most other people who had turned out the
+owners of a country, and put themselves in their places by force, now
+held as of right the temples which they originally entered as usurpers.
+If the Athenians could have conquered more of Boeotia this would have
+been the case with them: as things stood, the piece of it which they
+had got they should treat as their own, and not quit unless obliged.
+The water they had disturbed under the impulsion of a necessity which
+they had not wantonly incurred, having been forced to use it in
+defending themselves against the Boeotians who first invaded Attica.
+Besides, anything done under the pressure of war and danger might
+reasonably claim indulgence even in the eye of the god; or why, pray,
+were the altars the asylum for involuntary offences? Transgression also
+was a term applied to presumptuous offenders, not to the victims of
+adverse circumstances. In short, which were most impious—the Boeotians
+who wished to barter dead bodies for holy places, or the Athenians who
+refused to give up holy places to obtain what was theirs by right? The
+condition of evacuating Boeotia must therefore be withdrawn. They were
+no longer in Boeotia. They stood where they stood by the right of the
+sword. All that the Boeotians had to do was to tell them to take up
+their dead under a truce according to the national custom.
+
+The Boeotians replied that if they were in Boeotia, they must evacuate
+that country before taking up their dead; if they were in their own
+territory, they could do as they pleased: for they knew that, although
+the Oropid where the bodies as it chanced were lying (the battle having
+been fought on the borders) was subject to Athens, yet the Athenians
+could not get them without their leave. Besides, why should they grant
+a truce for Athenian ground? And what could be fairer than to tell them
+to evacuate Boeotia if they wished to get what they asked? The Athenian
+herald accordingly returned with this answer, without having
+accomplished his object.
+
+Meanwhile the Boeotians at once sent for darters and slingers from the
+Malian Gulf, and with two thousand Corinthian heavy infantry who had
+joined them after the battle, the Peloponnesian garrison which had
+evacuated Nisaea, and some Megarians with them, marched against Delium,
+and attacked the fort, and after divers efforts finally succeeded in
+taking it by an engine of the following description. They sawed in two
+and scooped out a great beam from end to end, and fitting it nicely
+together again like a pipe, hung by chains a cauldron at one extremity,
+with which communicated an iron tube projecting from the beam, which
+was itself in great part plated with iron. This they brought up from a
+distance upon carts to the part of the wall principally composed of
+vines and timber, and when it was near, inserted huge bellows into
+their end of the beam and blew with them. The blast passing closely
+confined into the cauldron, which was filled with lighted coals,
+sulphur and pitch, made a great blaze, and set fire to the wall, which
+soon became untenable for its defenders, who left it and fled; and in
+this way the fort was taken. Of the garrison some were killed and two
+hundred made prisoners; most of the rest got on board their ships and
+returned home.
+
+Soon after the fall of Delium, which took place seventeen days after
+the battle, the Athenian herald, without knowing what had happened,
+came again for the dead, which were now restored by the Boeotians, who
+no longer answered as at first. Not quite five hundred Boeotians fell
+in the battle, and nearly one thousand Athenians, including Hippocrates
+the general, besides a great number of light troops and camp followers.
+
+Soon after this battle Demosthenes, after the failure of his voyage to
+Siphae and of the plot on the town, availed himself of the Acarnanian
+and Agraean troops and of the four hundred Athenian heavy infantry
+which he had on board, to make a descent on the Sicyonian coast. Before
+however all his ships had come to shore, the Sicyonians came up and
+routed and chased to their ships those that had landed, killing some
+and taking others prisoners; after which they set up a trophy, and gave
+back the dead under truce.
+
+About the same time with the affair of Delium took place the death of
+Sitalces, king of the Odrysians, who was defeated in battle, in a
+campaign against the Triballi; Seuthes, son of Sparadocus, his nephew,
+succeeding to the kingdom of the Odrysians, and of the rest of Thrace
+ruled by Sitalces.
+
+The same winter Brasidas, with his allies in the Thracian places,
+marched against Amphipolis, the Athenian colony on the river Strymon. A
+settlement upon the spot on which the city now stands was before
+attempted by Aristagoras, the Milesian (when he fled from King Darius),
+who was however dislodged by the Edonians; and thirty-two years later
+by the Athenians, who sent thither ten thousand settlers of their own
+citizens, and whoever else chose to go. These were cut off at Drabescus
+by the Thracians. Twenty-nine years after, the Athenians returned
+(Hagnon, son of Nicias, being sent out as leader of the colony) and
+drove out the Edonians, and founded a town on the spot, formerly called
+Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways. The base from which they started was Eion,
+their commercial seaport at the mouth of the river, not more than three
+miles from the present town, which Hagnon named Amphipolis, because the
+Strymon flows round it on two sides, and he built it so as to be
+conspicuous from the sea and land alike, running a long wall across
+from river to river, to complete the circumference.
+
+Brasidas now marched against this town, starting from Arne in
+Chalcidice. Arriving about dusk at Aulon and Bromiscus, where the lake
+of Bolbe runs into the sea, he supped there, and went on during the
+night. The weather was stormy and it was snowing a little, which
+encouraged him to hurry on, in order, if possible, to take every one at
+Amphipolis by surprise, except the party who were to betray it. The
+plot was carried on by some natives of Argilus, an Andrian colony,
+residing in Amphipolis, where they had also other accomplices gained
+over by Perdiccas or the Chalcidians. But the most active in the matter
+were the inhabitants of Argilus itself, which is close by, who had
+always been suspected by the Athenians, and had had designs on the
+place. These men now saw their opportunity arrive with Brasidas, and
+having for some time been in correspondence with their countrymen in
+Amphipolis for the betrayal of the town, at once received him into
+Argilus, and revolted from the Athenians, and that same night took him
+on to the bridge over the river; where he found only a small guard to
+oppose him, the town being at some distance from the passage, and the
+walls not reaching down to it as at present. This guard he easily drove
+in, partly through there being treason in their ranks, partly from the
+stormy state of the weather and the suddenness of his attack, and so
+got across the bridge, and immediately became master of all the
+property outside; the Amphipolitans having houses all over the quarter.
+
+The passage of Brasidas was a complete surprise to the people in the
+town; and the capture of many of those outside, and the flight of the
+rest within the wall, combined to produce great confusion among the
+citizens; especially as they did not trust one another. It is even said
+that if Brasidas, instead of stopping to pillage, had advanced straight
+against the town, he would probably have taken it. In fact, however, he
+established himself where he was and overran the country outside, and
+for the present remained inactive, vainly awaiting a demonstration on
+the part of his friends within. Meanwhile the party opposed to the
+traitors proved numerous enough to prevent the gates being immediately
+thrown open, and in concert with Eucles, the general, who had come from
+Athens to defend the place, sent to the other commander in Thrace,
+Thucydides, son of Olorus, the author of this history, who was at the
+isle of Thasos, a Parian colony, half a day’s sail from Amphipolis, to
+tell him to come to their relief. On receipt of this message he at once
+set sail with seven ships which he had with him, in order, if possible,
+to reach Amphipolis in time to prevent its capitulation, or in any case
+to save Eion.
+
+Meanwhile Brasidas, afraid of succours arriving by sea from Thasos, and
+learning that Thucydides possessed the right of working the gold mines
+in that part of Thrace, and had thus great influence with the
+inhabitants of the continent, hastened to gain the town, if possible,
+before the people of Amphipolis should be encouraged by his arrival to
+hope that he could save them by getting together a force of allies from
+the sea and from Thrace, and so refuse to surrender. He accordingly
+offered moderate terms, proclaiming that any of the Amphipolitans and
+Athenians who chose, might continue to enjoy their property with full
+rights of citizenship; while those who did not wish to stay had five
+days to depart, taking their property with them.
+
+The bulk of the inhabitants, upon hearing this, began to change their
+minds, especially as only a small number of the citizens were
+Athenians, the majority having come from different quarters, and many
+of the prisoners outside had relations within the walls. They found the
+proclamation a fair one in comparison of what their fear had suggested;
+the Athenians being glad to go out, as they thought they ran more risk
+than the rest, and further, did not expect any speedy relief, and the
+multitude generally being content at being left in possession of their
+civic rights, and at such an unexpected reprieve from danger. The
+partisans of Brasidas now openly advocated this course, seeing that the
+feeling of the people had changed, and that they no longer gave ear to
+the Athenian general present; and thus the surrender was made and
+Brasidas was admitted by them on the terms of his proclamation. In this
+way they gave up the city, and late in the same day Thucydides and his
+ships entered the harbour of Eion, Brasidas having just got hold of
+Amphipolis, and having been within a night of taking Eion: had the
+ships been less prompt in relieving it, in the morning it would have
+been his.
+
+After this Thucydides put all in order at Eion to secure it against any
+present or future attack of Brasidas, and received such as had elected
+to come there from the interior according to the terms agreed on.
+Meanwhile Brasidas suddenly sailed with a number of boats down the
+river to Eion to see if he could not seize the point running out from
+the wall, and so command the entrance; at the same time he attempted it
+by land, but was beaten off on both sides and had to content himself
+with arranging matters at Amphipolis and in the neighbourhood.
+Myrcinus, an Edonian town, also came over to him; the Edonian king
+Pittacus having been killed by the sons of Goaxis and his own wife
+Brauro; and Galepsus and Oesime, which are Thasian colonies, not long
+after followed its example. Perdiccas too came up immediately after the
+capture and joined in these arrangements.
+
+The news that Amphipolis was in the hands of the enemy caused great
+alarm at Athens. Not only was the town valuable for the timber it
+afforded for shipbuilding, and the money that it brought in; but also,
+although the escort of the Thessalians gave the Lacedaemonians a means
+of reaching the allies of Athens as far as the Strymon, yet as long as
+they were not masters of the bridge but were watched on the side of
+Eion by the Athenian galleys, and on the land side impeded by a large
+and extensive lake formed by the waters of the river, it was impossible
+for them to go any further. Now, on the contrary, the path seemed open.
+There was also the fear of the allies revolting, owing to the
+moderation displayed by Brasidas in all his conduct, and to the
+declarations which he was everywhere making that he sent out to free
+Hellas. The towns subject to the Athenians, hearing of the capture of
+Amphipolis and of the terms accorded to it, and of the gentleness of
+Brasidas, felt most strongly encouraged to change their condition, and
+sent secret messages to him, begging him to come on to them; each
+wishing to be the first to revolt. Indeed there seemed to be no danger
+in so doing; their mistake in their estimate of the Athenian power was
+as great as that power afterwards turned out to be, and their judgment
+was based more upon blind wishing than upon any sound prevision; for it
+is a habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for,
+and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not fancy.
+Besides the late severe blow which the Athenians had met with in
+Boeotia, joined to the seductive, though untrue, statements of
+Brasidas, about the Athenians not having ventured to engage his single
+army at Nisaea, made the allies confident, and caused them to believe
+that no Athenian force would be sent against them. Above all the wish
+to do what was agreeable at the moment, and the likelihood that they
+should find the Lacedaemonians full of zeal at starting, made them
+eager to venture. Observing this, the Athenians sent garrisons to the
+different towns, as far as was possible at such short notice and in
+winter; while Brasidas sent dispatches to Lacedaemon asking for
+reinforcements, and himself made preparations for building galleys in
+the Strymon. The Lacedaemonians however did not send him any, partly
+through envy on the part of their chief men, partly because they were
+more bent on recovering the prisoners of the island and ending the war.
+
+The same winter the Megarians took and razed to the foundations the
+long walls which had been occupied by the Athenians; and Brasidas after
+the capture of Amphipolis marched with his allies against Acte, a
+promontory running out from the King’s dike with an inward curve, and
+ending in Athos, a lofty mountain looking towards the Aegean Sea. In it
+are various towns, Sane, an Andrian colony, close to the canal, and
+facing the sea in the direction of Euboea; the others being Thyssus,
+Cleone, Acrothoi, Olophyxus, and Dium, inhabited by mixed barbarian
+races speaking the two languages. There is also a small Chalcidian
+element; but the greater number are Tyrrheno-Pelasgians once settled in
+Lemnos and Athens, and Bisaltians, Crestonians, and Edonians; the towns
+being all small ones. Most of these came over to Brasidas; but Sane and
+Dium held out and saw their land ravaged by him and his army.
+
+Upon their not submitting, he at once marched against Torone in
+Chalcidice, which was held by an Athenian garrison, having been invited
+by a few persons who were prepared to hand over the town. Arriving in
+the dark a little before daybreak, he sat down with his army near the
+temple of the Dioscuri, rather more than a quarter of a mile from the
+city. The rest of the town of Torone and the Athenians in garrison did
+not perceive his approach; but his partisans knowing that he was coming
+(a few of them had secretly gone out to meet him) were on the watch for
+his arrival, and were no sooner aware of it than they took it to them
+seven light-armed men with daggers, who alone of twenty men ordered on
+this service dared to enter, commanded by Lysistratus an Olynthian.
+These passed through the sea wall, and without being seen went up and
+put to the sword the garrison of the highest post in the town, which
+stands on a hill, and broke open the postern on the side of
+Canastraeum.
+
+Brasidas meanwhile came a little nearer and then halted with his main
+body, sending on one hundred targeteers to be ready to rush in first,
+the moment that a gate should be thrown open and the beacon lighted as
+agreed. After some time passed in waiting and wondering at the delay,
+the targeteers by degrees got up close to the town. The Toronaeans
+inside at work with the party that had entered had by this time broken
+down the postern and opened the gates leading to the market-place by
+cutting through the bar, and first brought some men round and let them
+in by the postern, in order to strike a panic into the surprised
+townsmen by suddenly attacking them from behind and on both sides at
+once; after which they raised the fire-signal as had been agreed, and
+took in by the market gates the rest of the targeteers.
+
+Brasidas seeing the signal told the troops to rise, and dashed forward
+amid the loud hurrahs of his men, which carried dismay among the
+astonished townspeople. Some burst in straight by the gate, others over
+some square pieces of timber placed against the wall (which has fallen
+down and was being rebuilt) to draw up stones; Brasidas and the greater
+number making straight uphill for the higher part of the town, in order
+to take it from top to bottom, and once for all, while the rest of the
+multitude spread in all directions.
+
+The capture of the town was effected before the great body of the
+Toronaeans had recovered from their surprise and confusion; but the
+conspirators and the citizens of their party at once joined the
+invaders. About fifty of the Athenian heavy infantry happened to be
+sleeping in the market-place when the alarm reached them. A few of
+these were killed fighting; the rest escaped, some by land, others to
+the two ships on the station, and took refuge in Lecythus, a fort
+garrisoned by their own men in the corner of the town running out into
+the sea and cut off by a narrow isthmus; where they were joined by the
+Toronaeans of their party.
+
+Day now arrived, and the town being secured, Brasidas made a
+proclamation to the Toronaeans who had taken refuge with the Athenians,
+to come out, as many as chose, to their homes without fearing for their
+rights or persons, and sent a herald to invite the Athenians to accept
+a truce, and to evacuate Lecythus with their property, as being
+Chalcidian ground. The Athenians refused this offer, but asked for a
+truce for a day to take up their dead. Brasidas granted it for two
+days, which he employed in fortifying the houses near, and the
+Athenians in doing the same to their positions. Meanwhile he called a
+meeting of the Toronaeans, and said very much what he had said at
+Acanthus, namely, that they must not look upon those who had negotiated
+with him for the capture of the town as bad men or as traitors, as they
+had not acted as they had done from corrupt motives or in order to
+enslave the city, but for the good and freedom of Torone; nor again
+must those who had not shared in the enterprise fancy that they would
+not equally reap its fruits, as he had not come to destroy either city
+or individual. This was the reason of his proclamation to those that
+had fled for refuge to the Athenians: he thought none the worse of them
+for their friendship for the Athenians; he believed that they had only
+to make trial of the Lacedaemonians to like them as well, or even much
+better, as acting much more justly: it was for want of such a trial
+that they were now afraid of them. Meanwhile he warned all of them to
+prepare to be staunch allies, and for being held responsible for all
+faults in future: for the past, they had not wronged the Lacedaemonians
+but had been wronged by others who were too strong for them, and any
+opposition that they might have offered him could be excused.
+
+Having encouraged them with this address, as soon as the truce expired
+he made his attack upon Lecythus; the Athenians defending themselves
+from a poor wall and from some houses with parapets. One day they beat
+him off; the next the enemy were preparing to bring up an engine
+against them from which they meant to throw fire upon the wooden
+defences, and the troops were already coming up to the point where they
+fancied they could best bring up the engine, and where place was most
+assailable; meanwhile the Athenians put a wooden tower upon a house
+opposite, and carried up a quantity of jars and casks of water and big
+stones, and a large number of men also climbed up. The house thus laden
+too heavily suddenly broke down with a loud crash; at which the men who
+were near and saw it were more vexed than frightened; but those not so
+near, and still more those furthest off, thought that the place was
+already taken at that point, and fled in haste to the sea and the
+ships.
+
+Brasidas, perceiving that they were deserting the parapet, and seeing
+what was going on, dashed forward with his troops, and immediately took
+the fort, and put to the sword all whom he found in it. In this way the
+place was evacuated by the Athenians, who went across in their boats
+and ships to Pallene. Now there is a temple of Athene in Lecythus, and
+Brasidas had proclaimed in the moment of making the assault that he
+would give thirty silver minae to the man first on the wall. Being now
+of opinion that the capture was scarcely due to human means, he gave
+the thirty minae to the goddess for her temple, and razed and cleared
+Lecythus, and made the whole of it consecrated ground. The rest of the
+winter he spent in settling the places in his hands, and in making
+designs upon the rest; and with the expiration of the winter the eighth
+year of this war ended.
+
+In the spring of the summer following, the Lacedaemonians and Athenians
+made an armistice for a year; the Athenians thinking that they would
+thus have full leisure to take their precautions before Brasidas could
+procure the revolt of any more of their towns, and might also, if it
+suited them, conclude a general peace; the Lacedaemonians divining the
+actual fears of the Athenians, and thinking that after once tasting a
+respite from trouble and misery they would be more disposed to consent
+to a reconciliation, and to give back the prisoners, and make a treaty
+for the longer period. The great idea of the Lacedaemonians was to get
+back their men while Brasidas’s good fortune lasted: further successes
+might make the struggle a less unequal one in Chalcidice, but would
+leave them still deprived of their men, and even in Chalcidice not more
+than a match for the Athenians and by no means certain of victory. An
+armistice was accordingly concluded by Lacedaemon and her allies upon
+the terms following:
+
+1. As to the temple and oracle of the Pythian Apollo, we are agreed
+that whosoever will shall have access to it, without fraud or fear,
+according to the usages of his forefathers. The Lacedaemonians and the
+allies present agree to this, and promise to send heralds to the
+Boeotians and Phocians, and to do their best to persuade them to agree
+likewise.
+
+2. As to the treasure of the god, we agree to exert ourselves to detect
+all malversators, truly and honestly following the customs of our
+forefathers, we and you and all others willing to do so, all following
+the customs of our forefathers. As to these points the Lacedaemonians
+and the other allies are agreed as has been said.
+
+3. As to what follows, the Lacedaemonians and the other allies agree,
+if the Athenians conclude a treaty, to remain, each of us in our own
+territory, retaining our respective acquisitions: the garrison in
+Coryphasium keeping within Buphras and Tomeus: that in Cythera
+attempting no communication with the Peloponnesian confederacy, neither
+we with them, nor they with us: that in Nisaea and Minoa not crossing
+the road leading from the gates of the temple of Nisus to that of
+Poseidon and from thence straight to the bridge at Minoa: the Megarians
+and the allies being equally bound not to cross this road, and the
+Athenians retaining the island they have taken, without any
+communication on either side: as to Troezen, each side retaining what
+it has, and as was arranged with the Athenians.
+
+4. As to the use of the sea, so far as refers to their own coast and to
+that of their confederacy, that the Lacedaemonians and their allies may
+voyage upon it in any vessel rowed by oars and of not more than five
+hundred talents tonnage, not a vessel of war.
+
+5. That all heralds and embassies, with as many attendants as they
+please, for concluding the war and adjusting claims, shall have free
+passage, going and coming, to Peloponnese or Athens by land and by sea.
+
+6. That during the truce, deserters whether bond or free shall be
+received neither by you, nor by us.
+
+7. Further, that satisfaction shall be given by you to us and by us to
+you according to the public law of our several countries, all disputes
+being settled by law without recourse to hostilities.
+
+The Lacedaemonians and allies agree to these articles; but if you have
+anything fairer or juster to suggest, come to Lacedaemon and let us
+know: whatever shall be just will meet with no objection either from
+the Lacedaemonians or from the allies. Only let those who come come
+with full powers, as you desire us. The truce shall be for one year.
+
+Approved by the people.
+
+The tribe of Acamantis had the prytany, Phoenippus was secretary,
+Niciades chairman. Laches moved, in the name of the good luck of the
+Athenians, that they should conclude the armistice upon the terms
+agreed upon by the Lacedaemonians and the allies. It was agreed
+accordingly in the popular assembly that the armistice should be for
+one year, beginning that very day, the fourteenth of the month of
+Elaphebolion; during which time ambassadors and heralds should go and
+come between the two countries to discuss the bases of a pacification.
+That the generals and prytanes should call an assembly of the people,
+in which the Athenians should first consult on the peace, and on the
+mode in which the embassy for putting an end to the war should be
+admitted. That the embassy now present should at once take the
+engagement before the people to keep well and truly this truce for one
+year.
+
+On these terms the Lacedaemonians concluded with the Athenians and
+their allies on the twelfth day of the Spartan month Gerastius; the
+allies also taking the oaths. Those who concluded and poured the
+libation were Taurus, son of Echetimides, Athenaeus, son of
+Pericleidas, and Philocharidas, son of Eryxidaidas, Lacedaemonians;
+Aeneas, son of Ocytus, and Euphamidas, son of Aristonymus, Corinthians;
+Damotimus, son of Naucrates, and Onasimus, son of Megacles, Sicyonians;
+Nicasus, son of Cecalus, and Menecrates, son of Amphidorus, Megarians;
+and Amphias, son of Eupaidas, an Epidaurian; and the Athenian generals
+Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes, Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Autocles,
+son of Tolmaeus. Such was the armistice, and during the whole of it
+conferences went on on the subject of a pacification.
+
+In the days in which they were going backwards and forwards to these
+conferences, Scione, a town in Pallene, revolted from Athens, and went
+over to Brasidas. The Scionaeans say that they are Pallenians from
+Peloponnese, and that their first founders on their voyage from Troy
+were carried in to this spot by the storm which the Achaeans were
+caught in, and there settled. The Scionaeans had no sooner revolted
+than Brasidas crossed over by night to Scione, with a friendly galley
+ahead and himself in a small boat some way behind; his idea being that
+if he fell in with a vessel larger than the boat he would have the
+galley to defend him, while a ship that was a match for the galley
+would probably neglect the small vessel to attack the large one, and
+thus leave him time to escape. His passage effected, he called a
+meeting of the Scionaeans and spoke to the same effect as at Acanthus
+and Torone, adding that they merited the utmost commendation, in that,
+in spite of Pallene within the isthmus being cut off by the Athenian
+occupation of Potidæa and of their own practically insular position,
+they had of their own free will gone forward to meet their liberty
+instead of timorously waiting until they had been by force compelled to
+their own manifest good. This was a sign that they would valiantly
+undergo any trial, however great; and if he should order affairs as he
+intended, he should count them among the truest and sincerest friends
+of the Lacedaemonians, and would in every other way honour them.
+
+The Scionaeans were elated by his language, and even those who had at
+first disapproved of what was being done catching the general
+confidence, they determined on a vigorous conduct of the war, and
+welcomed Brasidas with all possible honours, publicly crowning him with
+a crown of gold as the liberator of Hellas; while private persons
+crowded round him and decked him with garlands as though he had been an
+athlete. Meanwhile Brasidas left them a small garrison for the present
+and crossed back again, and not long afterwards sent over a larger
+force, intending with the help of the Scionaeans to attempt Mende and
+Potidæa before the Athenians should arrive; Scione, he felt, being too
+like an island for them not to relieve it. He had besides intelligence
+in the above towns about their betrayal.
+
+In the midst of his designs upon the towns in question, a galley
+arrived with the commissioners carrying round the news of the
+armistice, Aristonymus for the Athenians and Athenaeus for the
+Lacedaemonians. The troops now crossed back to Torone, and the
+commissioners gave Brasidas notice of the convention. All the
+Lacedaemonian allies in Thrace accepted what had been done; and
+Aristonymus made no difficulty about the rest, but finding, on counting
+the days, that the Scionaeans had revolted after the date of the
+convention, refused to include them in it. To this Brasidas earnestly
+objected, asserting that the revolt took place before, and would not
+give up the town. Upon Aristonymus reporting the case to Athens, the
+people at once prepared to send an expedition to Scione. Upon this,
+envoys arrived from Lacedaemon, alleging that this would be a breach of
+the truce, and laying claim to the town upon the faith of the assertion
+of Brasidas, and meanwhile offering to submit the question to
+arbitration. Arbitration, however, was what the Athenians did not
+choose to risk; being determined to send troops at once to the place,
+and furious at the idea of even the islanders now daring to revolt, in
+a vain reliance upon the power of the Lacedaemonians by land. Besides
+the facts of the revolt were rather as the Athenians contended, the
+Scionaeans having revolted two days after the convention. Cleon
+accordingly succeeded in carrying a decree to reduce and put to death
+the Scionaeans; and the Athenians employed the leisure which they now
+enjoyed in preparing for the expedition.
+
+Meanwhile Mende revolted, a town in Pallene and a colony of the
+Eretrians, and was received without scruple by Brasidas, in spite of
+its having evidently come over during the armistice, on account of
+certain infringements of the truce alleged by him against the
+Athenians. This audacity of Mende was partly caused by seeing Brasidas
+forward in the matter and by the conclusions drawn from his refusal to
+betray Scione; and besides, the conspirators in Mende were few, and, as
+I have already intimated, had carried on their practices too long not
+to fear detection for themselves, and not to wish to force the
+inclination of the multitude. This news made the Athenians more furious
+than ever, and they at once prepared against both towns. Brasidas,
+expecting their arrival, conveyed away to Olynthus in Chalcidice the
+women and children of the Scionaeans and Mendaeans, and sent over to
+them five hundred Peloponnesian heavy infantry and three hundred
+Chalcidian targeteers, all under the command of Polydamidas.
+
+Leaving these two towns to prepare together against the speedy arrival
+of the Athenians, Brasidas and Perdiccas started on a second joint
+expedition into Lyncus against Arrhabaeus; the latter with the forces
+of his Macedonian subjects, and a corps of heavy infantry composed of
+Hellenes domiciled in the country; the former with the Peloponnesians
+whom he still had with him and the Chalcidians, Acanthians, and the
+rest in such force as they were able. In all there were about three
+thousand Hellenic heavy infantry, accompanied by all the Macedonian
+cavalry with the Chalcidians, near one thousand strong, besides an
+immense crowd of barbarians. On entering the country of Arrhabaeus,
+they found the Lyncestians encamped awaiting them, and themselves took
+up a position opposite. The infantry on either side were upon a hill,
+with a plain between them, into which the horse of both armies first
+galloped down and engaged a cavalry action. After this the Lyncestian
+heavy infantry advanced from their hill to join their cavalry and
+offered battle; upon which Brasidas and Perdiccas also came down to
+meet them, and engaged and routed them with heavy loss; the survivors
+taking refuge upon the heights and there remaining inactive. The
+victors now set up a trophy and waited two or three days for the
+Illyrian mercenaries who were to join Perdiccas. Perdiccas then wished
+to go on and attack the villages of Arrhabaeus, and to sit still no
+longer; but Brasidas, afraid that the Athenians might sail up during
+his absence, and of something happening to Mende, and seeing besides
+that the Illyrians did not appear, far from seconding this wish was
+anxious to return.
+
+While they were thus disputing, the news arrived that the Illyrians had
+actually betrayed Perdiccas and had joined Arrhabaeus; and the fear
+inspired by their warlike character made both parties now think it best
+to retreat. However, owing to the dispute, nothing had been settled as
+to when they should start; and night coming on, the Macedonians and the
+barbarian crowd took fright in a moment in one of those mysterious
+panics to which great armies are liable; and persuaded that an army
+many times more numerous than that which had really arrived was
+advancing and all but upon them, suddenly broke and fled in the
+direction of home, and thus compelled Perdiccas, who at first did not
+perceive what had occurred, to depart without seeing Brasidas, the two
+armies being encamped at a considerable distance from each other. At
+daybreak Brasidas, perceiving that the Macedonians had gone on, and
+that the Illyrians and Arrhabaeus were on the point of attacking him,
+formed his heavy infantry into a square, with the light troops in the
+centre, and himself also prepared to retreat. Posting his youngest
+soldiers to dash out wherever the enemy should attack them, he himself
+with three hundred picked men in the rear intended to face about during
+the retreat and beat off the most forward of their assailants,
+Meanwhile, before the enemy approached, he sought to sustain the
+courage of his soldiers with the following hasty exhortation:
+
+“Peloponnesians, if I did not suspect you of being dismayed at being
+left alone to sustain the attack of a numerous and barbarian enemy, I
+should just have said a few words to you as usual without further
+explanation. As it is, in the face of the desertion of our friends and
+the numbers of the enemy, I have some advice and information to offer,
+which, brief as they must be, will, I hope, suffice for the more
+important points. The bravery that you habitually display in war does
+not depend on your having allies at your side in this or that
+encounter, but on your native courage; nor have numbers any terrors for
+citizens of states like yours, in which the many do not rule the few,
+but rather the few the many, owing their position to nothing else than
+to superiority in the field. Inexperience now makes you afraid of
+barbarians; and yet the trial of strength which you had with the
+Macedonians among them, and my own judgment, confirmed by what I hear
+from others, should be enough to satisfy you that they will not prove
+formidable. Where an enemy seems strong but is really weak, a true
+knowledge of the facts makes his adversary the bolder, just as a
+serious antagonist is encountered most confidently by those who do not
+know him. Thus the present enemy might terrify an inexperienced
+imagination; they are formidable in outward bulk, their loud yelling is
+unbearable, and the brandishing of their weapons in the air has a
+threatening appearance. But when it comes to real fighting with an
+opponent who stands his ground, they are not what they seemed; they
+have no regular order that they should be ashamed of deserting their
+positions when hard pressed; flight and attack are with them equally
+honourable, and afford no test of courage; their independent mode of
+fighting never leaving any one who wants to run away without a fair
+excuse for so doing. In short, they think frightening you at a secure
+distance a surer game than meeting you hand to hand; otherwise they
+would have done the one and not the other. You can thus plainly see
+that the terrors with which they were at first invested are in fact
+trifling enough, though to the eye and ear very prominent. Stand your
+ground therefore when they advance, and again wait your opportunity to
+retire in good order, and you will reach a place of safety all the
+sooner, and will know for ever afterwards that rabble such as these, to
+those who sustain their first attack, do but show off their courage by
+threats of the terrible things that they are going to do, at a
+distance, but with those who give way to them are quick enough to
+display their heroism in pursuit when they can do so without danger.”
+
+With this brief address Brasidas began to lead off his army. Seeing
+this, the barbarians came on with much shouting and hubbub, thinking
+that he was flying and that they would overtake him and cut him off.
+But wherever they charged they found the young men ready to dash out
+against them, while Brasidas with his picked company sustained their
+onset. Thus the Peloponnesians withstood the first attack, to the
+surprise of the enemy, and afterwards received and repulsed them as
+fast as they came on, retiring as soon as their opponents became quiet.
+The main body of the barbarians ceased therefore to molest the Hellenes
+with Brasidas in the open country, and leaving behind a certain number
+to harass their march, the rest went on after the flying Macedonians,
+slaying those with whom they came up, and so arrived in time to occupy
+the narrow pass between two hills that leads into the country of
+Arrhabaeus. They knew that this was the only way by which Brasidas
+could retreat, and now proceeded to surround him just as he entered the
+most impracticable part of the road, in order to cut him off.
+
+Brasidas, perceiving their intention, told his three hundred to run on
+without order, each as quickly as he could, to the hill which seemed
+easiest to take, and to try to dislodge the barbarians already there,
+before they should be joined by the main body closing round him. These
+attacked and overpowered the party upon the hill, and the main army of
+the Hellenes now advanced with less difficulty towards it—the
+barbarians being terrified at seeing their men on that side driven from
+the height and no longer following the main body, who, they considered,
+had gained the frontier and made good their escape. The heights once
+gained, Brasidas now proceeded more securely, and the same day arrived
+at Arnisa, the first town in the dominions of Perdiccas. The soldiers,
+enraged at the desertion of the Macedonians, vented their rage on all
+their yokes of oxen which they found on the road, and on any baggage
+which had tumbled off (as might easily happen in the panic of a night
+retreat), by unyoking and cutting down the cattle and taking the
+baggage for themselves. From this moment Perdiccas began to regard
+Brasidas as an enemy and to feel against the Peloponnesians a hatred
+which could not be congenial to the adversary of the Athenians.
+However, he departed from his natural interests and made it his
+endeavour to come to terms with the latter and to get rid of the
+former.
+
+On his return from Macedonia to Torone, Brasidas found the Athenians
+already masters of Mende, and remained quiet where he was, thinking it
+now out of his power to cross over into Pallene and assist the
+Mendaeans, but he kept good watch over Torone. For about the same time
+as the campaign in Lyncus, the Athenians sailed upon the expedition
+which we left them preparing against Mende and Scione, with fifty
+ships, ten of which were Chians, one thousand Athenian heavy infantry
+and six hundred archers, one hundred Thracian mercenaries and some
+targeteers drawn from their allies in the neighbourhood, under the
+command of Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Nicostratus, son of
+Diitrephes. Weighing from Potidæa, the fleet came to land opposite the
+temple of Poseidon, and proceeded against Mende; the men of which town,
+reinforced by three hundred Scionaeans, with their Peloponnesian
+auxiliaries, seven hundred heavy infantry in all, under Polydamidas,
+they found encamped upon a strong hill outside the city. These Nicias,
+with one hundred and twenty light-armed Methonaeans, sixty picked men
+from the Athenian heavy infantry, and all the archers, tried to reach
+by a path running up the hill, but received a wound and found himself
+unable to force the position; while Nicostratus, with all the rest of
+the army, advancing upon the hill, which was naturally difficult, by a
+different approach further off, was thrown into utter disorder; and the
+whole Athenian army narrowly escaped being defeated. For that day, as
+the Mendaeans and their allies showed no signs of yielding, the
+Athenians retreated and encamped, and the Mendaeans at nightfall
+returned into the town.
+
+The next day the Athenians sailed round to the Scione side, and took
+the suburb, and all day plundered the country, without any one coming
+out against them, partly because of intestine disturbances in the town;
+and the following night the three hundred Scionaeans returned home. On
+the morrow Nicias advanced with half the army to the frontier of Scione
+and laid waste the country; while Nicostratus with the remainder sat
+down before the town near the upper gate on the road to Potidæa. The
+arms of the Mendaeans and of their Peloponnesian auxiliaries within the
+wall happened to be piled in that quarter, where Polydamidas
+accordingly began to draw them up for battle, encouraging the Mendaeans
+to make a sortie. At this moment one of the popular party answered him
+factiously that they would not go out and did not want a war, and for
+thus answering was dragged by the arm and knocked about by Polydamidas.
+Hereupon the infuriated commons at once seized their arms and rushed at
+the Peloponnesians and at their allies of the opposite faction. The
+troops thus assaulted were at once routed, partly from the suddenness
+of the conflict and partly through fear of the gates being opened to
+the Athenians, with whom they imagined that the attack had been
+concerted. As many as were not killed on the spot took refuge in the
+citadel, which they had held from the first; and the whole, Athenian
+army, Nicias having by this time returned and being close to the city,
+now burst into Mende, which had opened its gates without any
+convention, and sacked it just as if they had taken it by storm, the
+generals even finding some difficulty in restraining them from also
+massacring the inhabitants. After this the Athenians told the Mendaeans
+that they might retain their civil rights, and themselves judge the
+supposed authors of the revolt; and cut off the party in the citadel by
+a wall built down to the sea on either side, appointing troops to
+maintain the blockade. Having thus secured Mende, they proceeded
+against Scione.
+
+The Scionaeans and Peloponnesians marched out against them, occupying a
+strong hill in front of the town, which had to be captured by the enemy
+before they could invest the place. The Athenians stormed the hill,
+defeated and dislodged its occupants, and, having encamped and set up a
+trophy, prepared for the work of circumvallation. Not long after they
+had begun their operations, the auxiliaries besieged in the citadel of
+Mende forced the guard by the sea-side and arrived by night at Scione,
+into which most of them succeeded in entering, passing through the
+besieging army.
+
+While the investment of Scione was in progress, Perdiccas sent a herald
+to the Athenian generals and made peace with the Athenians, through
+spite against Brasidas for the retreat from Lyncus, from which moment
+indeed he had begun to negotiate. The Lacedaemonian Ischagoras was just
+then upon the point of starting with an army overland to join Brasidas;
+and Perdiccas, being now required by Nicias to give some proof of the
+sincerity of his reconciliation to the Athenians, and being himself no
+longer disposed to let the Peloponnesians into his country, put in
+motion his friends in Thessaly, with whose chief men he always took
+care to have relations, and so effectually stopped the army and its
+preparation that they did not even try the Thessalians. Ischagoras
+himself, however, with Ameinias and Aristeus, succeeded in reaching
+Brasidas; they had been commissioned by the Lacedaemonians to inspect
+the state of affairs, and brought out from Sparta (in violation of all
+precedent) some of their young men to put in command of the towns, to
+guard against their being entrusted to the persons upon the spot.
+Brasidas accordingly placed Clearidas, son of Cleonymus, in Amphipolis,
+and Pasitelidas, son of Hegesander, in Torone.
+
+The same summer the Thebans dismantled the wall of the Thespians on the
+charge of Atticism, having always wished to do so, and now finding it
+an easy matter, as the flower of the Thespian youth had perished in the
+battle with the Athenians. The same summer also the temple of Hera at
+Argos was burnt down, through Chrysis, the priestess, placing a lighted
+torch near the garlands and then falling asleep, so that they all
+caught fire and were in a blaze before she observed it. Chrysis that
+very night fled to Phlius for fear of the Argives, who, agreeably to
+the law in such a case, appointed another priestess named Phaeinis.
+Chrysis at the time of her flight had been priestess for eight years of
+the present war and half the ninth. At the close of the summer the
+investment of Scione was completed, and the Athenians, leaving a
+detachment to maintain the blockade, returned with the rest of their
+army.
+
+During the winter following, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were kept
+quiet by the armistice; but the Mantineans and Tegeans, and their
+respective allies, fought a battle at Laodicium, in the Oresthid. The
+victory remained doubtful, as each side routed one of the wings opposed
+to them, and both set up trophies and sent spoils to Delphi. After
+heavy loss on both sides the battle was undecided, and night
+interrupted the action; yet the Tegeans passed the night on the field
+and set up a trophy at once, while the Mantineans withdrew to Bucolion
+and set up theirs afterwards.
+
+At the close of the same winter, in fact almost in spring, Brasidas
+made an attempt upon Potidæa. He arrived by night, and succeeded in
+planting a ladder against the wall without being discovered, the ladder
+being planted just in the interval between the passing round of the
+bell and the return of the man who brought it back. Upon the garrison,
+however, taking the alarm immediately afterwards, before his men came
+up, he quickly led off his troops, without waiting until it was day. So
+ended the winter and the ninth year of this war of which Thucydides is
+the historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+Tenth Year of the War—Death of Cleon and Brasidas—Peace of Nicias
+
+
+The next summer the truce for a year ended, after lasting until the
+Pythian games. During the armistice the Athenians expelled the Delians
+from Delos, concluding that they must have been polluted by some old
+offence at the time of their consecration, and that this had been the
+omission in the previous purification of the island, which, as I have
+related, had been thought to have been duly accomplished by the removal
+of the graves of the dead. The Delians had Atramyttium in Asia given
+them by Pharnaces, and settled there as they removed from Delos.
+
+Meanwhile Cleon prevailed on the Athenians to let him set sail at the
+expiration of the armistice for the towns in the direction of Thrace
+with twelve hundred heavy infantry and three hundred horse from Athens,
+a large force of the allies, and thirty ships. First touching at the
+still besieged Scione, and taking some heavy infantry from the army
+there, he next sailed into Cophos, a harbour in the territory of
+Torone, which is not far from the town. From thence, having learnt from
+deserters that Brasidas was not in Torone, and that its garrison was
+not strong enough to give him battle, he advanced with his army against
+the town, sending ten ships to sail round into the harbour. He first
+came to the fortification lately thrown up in front of the town by
+Brasidas in order to take in the suburb, to do which he had pulled down
+part of the original wall and made it all one city. To this point
+Pasitelidas, the Lacedaemonian commander, with such garrison as there
+was in the place, hurried to repel the Athenian assault; but finding
+himself hard pressed, and seeing the ships that had been sent round
+sailing into the harbour, Pasitelidas began to be afraid that they
+might get up to the city before its defenders were there and, the
+fortification being also carried, he might be taken prisoner, and so
+abandoned the outwork and ran into the town. But the Athenians from the
+ships had already taken Torone, and their land forces following at his
+heels burst in with him with a rush over the part of the old wall that
+had been pulled down, killing some of the Peloponnesians and Toronaeans
+in the melee, and making prisoners of the rest, and Pasitelidas their
+commander amongst them. Brasidas meanwhile had advanced to relieve
+Torone, and had only about four miles more to go when he heard of its
+fall on the road, and turned back again. Cleon and the Athenians set up
+two trophies, one by the harbour, the other by the fortification and,
+making slaves of the wives and children of the Toronaeans, sent the men
+with the Peloponnesians and any Chalcidians that were there, to the
+number of seven hundred, to Athens; whence, however, they all came home
+afterwards, the Peloponnesians on the conclusion of peace, and the rest
+by being exchanged against other prisoners with the Olynthians. About
+the same time Panactum, a fortress on the Athenian border, was taken by
+treachery by the Boeotians. Meanwhile Cleon, after placing a garrison
+in Torone, weighed anchor and sailed around Athos on his way to
+Amphipolis.
+
+About the same time Phaeax, son of Erasistratus, set sail with two
+colleagues as ambassador from Athens to Italy and Sicily. The
+Leontines, upon the departure of the Athenians from Sicily after the
+pacification, had placed a number of new citizens upon the roll, and
+the commons had a design for redividing the land; but the upper
+classes, aware of their intention, called in the Syracusans and
+expelled the commons. These last were scattered in various directions;
+but the upper classes came to an agreement with the Syracusans,
+abandoned and laid waste their city, and went and lived at Syracuse,
+where they were made citizens. Afterwards some of them were
+dissatisfied, and leaving Syracuse occupied Phocaeae, a quarter of the
+town of Leontini, and Bricinniae, a strong place in the Leontine
+country, and being there joined by most of the exiled commons carried
+on war from the fortifications. The Athenians hearing this, sent Phaeax
+to see if they could not by some means so convince their allies there
+and the rest of the Sicilians of the ambitious designs of Syracuse as
+to induce them to form a general coalition against her, and thus save
+the commons of Leontini. Arrived in Sicily, Phaeax succeeded at
+Camarina and Agrigentum, but meeting with a repulse at Gela did not go
+on to the rest, as he saw that he should not succeed with them, but
+returned through the country of the Sicels to Catana, and after
+visiting Bricinniae as he passed, and encouraging its inhabitants,
+sailed back to Athens.
+
+During his voyage along the coast to and from Sicily, he treated with
+some cities in Italy on the subject of friendship with Athens, and also
+fell in with some Locrian settlers exiled from Messina, who had been
+sent thither when the Locrians were called in by one of the factions
+that divided Messina after the pacification of Sicily, and Messina came
+for a time into the hands of the Locrians. These being met by Phaeax on
+their return home received no injury at his hands, as the Locrians had
+agreed with him for a treaty with Athens. They were the only people of
+the allies who, when the reconciliation between the Sicilians took
+place, had not made peace with her; nor indeed would they have done so
+now, if they had not been pressed by a war with the Hipponians and
+Medmaeans who lived on their border, and were colonists of theirs.
+Phaeax meanwhile proceeded on his voyage, and at length arrived at
+Athens.
+
+Cleon, whom we left on his voyage from Torone to Amphipolis, made Eion
+his base, and after an unsuccessful assault upon the Andrian colony of
+Stagirus, took Galepsus, a colony of Thasos, by storm. He now sent
+envoys to Perdiccas to command his attendance with an army, as provided
+by the alliance; and others to Thrace, to Polles, king of the
+Odomantians, who was to bring as many Thracian mercenaries as possible;
+and himself remained inactive in Eion, awaiting their arrival. Informed
+of this, Brasidas on his part took up a position of observation upon
+Cerdylium, a place situated in the Argilian country on high ground
+across the river, not far from Amphipolis, and commanding a view on all
+sides, and thus made it impossible for Cleon’s army to move without his
+seeing it; for he fully expected that Cleon, despising the scanty
+numbers of his opponent, would march against Amphipolis with the force
+that he had got with him. At the same time Brasidas made his
+preparations, calling to his standard fifteen hundred Thracian
+mercenaries and all the Edonians, horse and targeteers; he also had a
+thousand Myrcinian and Chalcidian targeteers, besides those in
+Amphipolis, and a force of heavy infantry numbering altogether about
+two thousand, and three hundred Hellenic horse. Fifteen hundred of
+these he had with him upon Cerdylium; the rest were stationed with
+Clearidas in Amphipolis.
+
+After remaining quiet for some time, Cleon was at length obliged to do
+as Brasidas expected. His soldiers, tired of their inactivity, began
+also seriously to reflect on the weakness and incompetence of their
+commander, and the skill and valour that would be opposed to him, and
+on their own original unwillingness to accompany him. These murmurs
+coming to the ears of Cleon, he resolved not to disgust the army by
+keeping it in the same place, and broke up his camp and advanced. The
+temper of the general was what it had been at Pylos, his success on
+that occasion having given him confidence in his capacity. He never
+dreamed of any one coming out to fight him, but said that he was rather
+going up to view the place; and if he waited for his reinforcements, it
+was not in order to make victory secure in case he should be compelled
+to engage, but to be enabled to surround and storm the city. He
+accordingly came and posted his army upon a strong hill in front of
+Amphipolis, and proceeded to examine the lake formed by the Strymon,
+and how the town lay on the side of Thrace. He thought to retire at
+pleasure without fighting, as there was no one to be seen upon the wall
+or coming out of the gates, all of which were shut. Indeed, it seemed a
+mistake not to have brought down engines with him; he could then have
+taken the town, there being no one to defend it.
+
+As soon as Brasidas saw the Athenians in motion he descended himself
+from Cerdylium and entered Amphipolis. He did not venture to go out in
+regular order against the Athenians: he mistrusted his strength, and
+thought it inadequate to the attempt; not in numbers—these were not so
+unequal—but in quality, the flower of the Athenian army being in the
+field, with the best of the Lemnians and Imbrians. He therefore
+prepared to assail them by stratagem. By showing the enemy the number
+of his troops, and the shifts which he had been put to to to arm them,
+he thought that he should have less chance of beating him than by not
+letting him have a sight of them, and thus learn how good a right he
+had to despise them. He accordingly picked out a hundred and fifty
+heavy infantry and, putting the rest under Clearidas, determined to
+attack suddenly before the Athenians retired; thinking that he should
+not have again such a chance of catching them alone, if their
+reinforcements were once allowed to come up; and so calling all his
+soldiers together in order to encourage them and explain his intention,
+spoke as follows:
+
+“Peloponnesians, the character of the country from which we have come,
+one which has always owed its freedom to valour, and the fact that you
+are Dorians and the enemy you are about to fight Ionians, whom you are
+accustomed to beat, are things that do not need further comment. But
+the plan of attack that I propose to pursue, this it is as well to
+explain, in order that the fact of our adventuring with a part instead
+of with the whole of our forces may not damp your courage by the
+apparent disadvantage at which it places you. I imagine it is the poor
+opinion that he has of us, and the fact that he has no idea of any one
+coming out to engage him, that has made the enemy march up to the place
+and carelessly look about him as he is doing, without noticing us. But
+the most successful soldier will always be the man who most happily
+detects a blunder like this, and who carefully consulting his own means
+makes his attack not so much by open and regular approaches, as by
+seizing the opportunity of the moment; and these stratagems, which do
+the greatest service to our friends by most completely deceiving our
+enemies, have the most brilliant name in war. Therefore, while their
+careless confidence continues, and they are still thinking, as in my
+judgment they are now doing, more of retreat than of maintaining their
+position, while their spirit is slack and not high-strung with
+expectation, I with the men under my command will, if possible, take
+them by surprise and fall with a run upon their centre; and do you,
+Clearidas, afterwards, when you see me already upon them, and, as is
+likely, dealing terror among them, take with you the Amphipolitans, and
+the rest of the allies, and suddenly open the gates and dash at them,
+and hasten to engage as quickly as you can. That is our best chance of
+establishing a panic among them, as a fresh assailant has always more
+terrors for an enemy than the one he is immediately engaged with. Show
+yourself a brave man, as a Spartan should; and do you, allies, follow
+him like men, and remember that zeal, honour, and obedience mark the
+good soldier, and that this day will make you either free men and
+allies of Lacedaemon, or slaves of Athens; even if you escape without
+personal loss of liberty or life, your bondage will be on harsher terms
+than before, and you will also hinder the liberation of the rest of the
+Hellenes. No cowardice then on your part, seeing the greatness of the
+issues at stake, and I will show that what I preach to others I can
+practise myself.”
+
+After this brief speech Brasidas himself prepared for the sally, and
+placed the rest with Clearidas at the Thracian gates to support him as
+had been agreed. Meanwhile he had been seen coming down from Cerdylium
+and then in the city, which is overlooked from the outside, sacrificing
+near the temple of Athene; in short, all his movements had been
+observed, and word was brought to Cleon, who had at the moment gone on
+to look about him, that the whole of the enemy’s force could be seen in
+the town, and that the feet of horses and men in great numbers were
+visible under the gates, as if a sally were intended. Upon hearing this
+he went up to look, and having done so, being unwilling to venture upon
+the decisive step of a battle before his reinforcements came up, and
+fancying that he would have time to retire, bid the retreat be sounded
+and sent orders to the men to effect it by moving on the left wing in
+the direction of Eion, which was indeed the only way practicable. This
+however not being quick enough for him, he joined the retreat in person
+and made the right wing wheel round, thus turning its unarmed side to
+the enemy. It was then that Brasidas, seeing the Athenian force in
+motion and his opportunity come, said to the men with him and the rest:
+“Those fellows will never stand before us, one can see that by the way
+their spears and heads are going. Troops which do as they do seldom
+stand a charge. Quick, someone, and open the gates I spoke of, and let
+us be out and at them with no fears for the result.” Accordingly
+issuing out by the palisade gate and by the first in the long wall then
+existing, he ran at the top of his speed along the straight road, where
+the trophy now stands as you go by the steepest part of the hill, and
+fell upon and routed the centre of the Athenians, panic-stricken by
+their own disorder and astounded at his audacity. At the same moment
+Clearidas in execution of his orders issued out from the Thracian gates
+to support him, and also attacked the enemy. The result was that the
+Athenians, suddenly and unexpectedly attacked on both sides, fell into
+confusion; and their left towards Eion, which had already got on some
+distance, at once broke and fled. Just as it was in full retreat and
+Brasidas was passing on to attack the right, he received a wound; but
+his fall was not perceived by the Athenians, as he was taken up by
+those near him and carried off the field. The Athenian right made a
+better stand, and though Cleon, who from the first had no thought of
+fighting, at once fled and was overtaken and slain by a Myrcinian
+targeteer, his infantry forming in close order upon the hill twice or
+thrice repulsed the attacks of Clearidas, and did not finally give way
+until they were surrounded and routed by the missiles of the Myrcinian
+and Chalcidian horse and the targeteers. Thus the Athenian army was all
+now in flight; and such as escaped being killed in the battle, or by
+the Chalcidian horse and the targeteers, dispersed among the hills, and
+with difficulty made their way to Eion. The men who had taken up and
+rescued Brasidas, brought him into the town with the breath still in
+him: he lived to hear of the victory of his troops, and not long after
+expired. The rest of the army returning with Clearidas from the pursuit
+stripped the dead and set up a trophy.
+
+After this all the allies attended in arms and buried Brasidas at the
+public expense in the city, in front of what is now the marketplace,
+and the Amphipolitans, having enclosed his tomb, ever afterwards
+sacrifice to him as a hero and have given to him the honour of games
+and annual offerings. They constituted him the founder of their colony,
+and pulled down the Hagnonic erections, and obliterated everything that
+could be interpreted as a memorial of his having founded the place; for
+they considered that Brasidas had been their preserver, and courting as
+they did the alliance of Lacedaemon for fear of Athens, in their
+present hostile relations with the latter they could no longer with the
+same advantage or satisfaction pay Hagnon his honours. They also gave
+the Athenians back their dead. About six hundred of the latter had
+fallen and only seven of the enemy, owing to there having been no
+regular engagement, but the affair of accident and panic that I have
+described. After taking up their dead the Athenians sailed off home,
+while Clearidas and his troops remained to arrange matters at
+Amphipolis.
+
+About the same time three Lacedaemonians—Ramphias, Autocharidas, and
+Epicydidas—led a reinforcement of nine hundred heavy infantry to the
+towns in the direction of Thrace, and arriving at Heraclea in Trachis
+reformed matters there as seemed good to them. While they delayed
+there, this battle took place and so the summer ended.
+
+With the beginning of the winter following, Ramphias and his companions
+penetrated as far as Pierium in Thessaly; but as the Thessalians
+opposed their further advance, and Brasidas whom they came to reinforce
+was dead, they turned back home, thinking that the moment had gone by,
+the Athenians being defeated and gone, and themselves not equal to the
+execution of Brasidas’s designs. The main cause however of their return
+was because they knew that when they set out Lacedaemonian opinion was
+really in favour of peace.
+
+Indeed it so happened that directly after the battle of Amphipolis and
+the retreat of Ramphias from Thessaly, both sides ceased to prosecute
+the war and turned their attention to peace. Athens had suffered
+severely at Delium, and again shortly afterwards at Amphipolis, and had
+no longer that confidence in her strength which had made her before
+refuse to treat, in the belief of ultimate victory which her success at
+the moment had inspired; besides, she was afraid of her allies being
+tempted by her reverses to rebel more generally, and repented having
+let go the splendid opportunity for peace which the affair of Pylos had
+offered. Lacedaemon, on the other hand, found the event of the war to
+falsify her notion that a few years would suffice for the overthrow of
+the power of the Athenians by the devastation of their land. She had
+suffered on the island a disaster hitherto unknown at Sparta; she saw
+her country plundered from Pylos and Cythera; the Helots were
+deserting, and she was in constant apprehension that those who remained
+in Peloponnese would rely upon those outside and take advantage of the
+situation to renew their old attempts at revolution. Besides this, as
+chance would have it, her thirty years’ truce with the Argives was upon
+the point of expiring; and they refused to renew it unless Cynuria were
+restored to them; so that it seemed impossible to fight Argos and
+Athens at once. She also suspected some of the cities in Peloponnese of
+intending to go over to the enemy and that was indeed the case.
+
+These considerations made both sides disposed for an accommodation; the
+Lacedaemonians being probably the most eager, as they ardently desired
+to recover the men taken upon the island, the Spartans among whom
+belonged to the first families and were accordingly related to the
+governing body in Lacedaemon. Negotiations had been begun directly
+after their capture, but the Athenians in their hour of triumph would
+not consent to any reasonable terms; though after their defeat at
+Delium, Lacedaemon, knowing that they would be now more inclined to
+listen, at once concluded the armistice for a year, during which they
+were to confer together and see if a longer period could not be agreed
+upon.
+
+Now, however, after the Athenian defeat at Amphipolis, and the death of
+Cleon and Brasidas, who had been the two principal opponents of peace
+on either side—the latter from the success and honour which war gave
+him, the former because he thought that, if tranquillity were restored,
+his crimes would be more open to detection and his slanders less
+credited—the foremost candidates for power in either city, Pleistoanax,
+son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon, and Nicias, son of Niceratus, the
+most fortunate general of his time, each desired peace more ardently
+than ever. Nicias, while still happy and honoured, wished to secure his
+good fortune, to obtain a present release from trouble for himself and
+his countrymen, and hand down to posterity a name as an ever-successful
+statesman, and thought the way to do this was to keep out of danger and
+commit himself as little as possible to fortune, and that peace alone
+made this keeping out of danger possible. Pleistoanax, again, was
+assailed by his enemies for his restoration, and regularly held up by
+them to the prejudice of his countrymen, upon every reverse that befell
+them, as though his unjust restoration were the cause; the accusation
+being that he and his brother Aristocles had bribed the prophetess of
+Delphi to tell the Lacedaemonian deputations which successively arrived
+at the temple to bring home the seed of the demigod son of Zeus from
+abroad, else they would have to plough with a silver share. In this
+way, it was insisted, in time he had induced the Lacedaemonians in the
+nineteenth year of his exile to Lycaeum (whither he had gone when
+banished on suspicion of having been bribed to retreat from Attica, and
+had built half his house within the consecrated precinct of Zeus for
+fear of the Lacedaemonians), to restore him with the same dances and
+sacrifices with which they had instituted their kings upon the first
+settlement of Lacedaemon. The smart of this accusation, and the
+reflection that in peace no disaster could occur, and that when
+Lacedaemon had recovered her men there would be nothing for his enemies
+to take hold of (whereas, while war lasted, the highest station must
+always bear the scandal of everything that went wrong), made him
+ardently desire a settlement. Accordingly this winter was employed in
+conferences; and as spring rapidly approached, the Lacedaemonians sent
+round orders to the cities to prepare for a fortified occupation of
+Attica, and held this as a sword over the heads of the Athenians to
+induce them to listen to their overtures; and at last, after many
+claims had been urged on either side at the conferences a peace was
+agreed on upon the following basis. Each party was to restore its
+conquests, but Athens was to keep Nisaea; her demand for Plataea being
+met by the Thebans asserting that they had acquired the place not by
+force or treachery, but by the voluntary adhesion upon agreement of its
+citizens; and the same, according to the Athenian account, being the
+history of her acquisition of Nisaea. This arranged, the Lacedaemonians
+summoned their allies, and all voting for peace except the Boeotians,
+Corinthians, Eleans, and Megarians, who did not approve of these
+proceedings, they concluded the treaty and made peace, each of the
+contracting parties swearing to the following articles:
+
+The Athenians and Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty, and
+swore to it, city by city, as follows;
+
+1. Touching the national temples, there shall be a free passage by land
+and by sea to all who wish it, to sacrifice, travel, consult, and
+attend the oracle or games, according to the customs of their
+countries.
+
+2. The temple and shrine of Apollo at Delphi and the Delphians shall be
+governed by their own laws, taxed by their own state, and judged by
+their own judges, the land and the people, according to the custom of
+their country.
+
+3. The treaty shall be binding for fifty years upon the Athenians and
+the allies of the Athenians, and upon the Lacedaemonians and the allies
+of the Lacedaemonians, without fraud or hurt by land or by sea.
+
+4. It shall not be lawful to take up arms, with intent to do hurt,
+either for the Lacedaemonians and their allies against the Athenians
+and their allies, or for the Athenians and their allies against the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, in any way or means whatsoever. But
+should any difference arise between them they are to have recourse to
+law and oaths, according as may be agreed between the parties.
+
+5. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall give back Amphipolis to
+the Athenians. Nevertheless, in the case of cities given up by the
+Lacedaemonians to the Athenians, the inhabitants shall be allowed to go
+where they please and to take their property with them: and the cities
+shall be independent, paying only the tribute of Aristides. And it
+shall not be lawful for the Athenians or their allies to carry on war
+against them after the treaty has been concluded, so long as the
+tribute is paid. The cities referred to are Argilus, Stagirus,
+Acanthus, Scolus, Olynthus, and Spartolus. These cities shall be
+neutral, allies neither of the Lacedaemonians nor of the Athenians: but
+if the cities consent, it shall be lawful for the Athenians to make
+them their allies, provided always that the cities wish it. The
+Mecybernaeans, Sanaeans, and Singaeans shall inhabit their own cities,
+as also the Olynthians and Acanthians: but the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies shall give back Panactum to the Athenians.
+
+6. The Athenians shall give back Coryphasium, Cythera, Methana,
+Lacedaemonians that are in the prison at Athens or elsewhere in the
+Athenian dominions, and shall let go the Peloponnesians besieged in
+Scione, and all others in Scione that are allies of the Lacedaemonians,
+and all whom Brasidas sent in there, and any others of the allies of
+the Lacedaemonians that may be in the prison at Athens or elsewhere in
+the Athenian dominions.
+
+7. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall in like manner give back
+any of the Athenians or their allies that they may have in their hands.
+
+8. In the case of Scione, Torone, and Sermylium, and any other cities
+that the Athenians may have, the Athenians may adopt such measures as
+they please.
+
+9. The Athenians shall take an oath to the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies, city by city. Every man shall swear by the most binding oath of
+his country, seventeen from each city. The oath shall be as follows; “I
+will abide by this agreement and treaty honestly and without deceit.”
+In the same way an oath shall be taken by the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies to the Athenians: and the oath shall be renewed annually by both
+parties. Pillars shall be erected at Olympia, Pythia, the Isthmus, at
+Athens in the Acropolis, and at Lacedaemon in the temple at Amyclae.
+
+10. If anything be forgotten, whatever it be, and on whatever point, it
+shall be consistent with their oath for both parties, the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians, to alter it, according to their discretion.
+
+The treaty begins from the ephoralty of Pleistolas in Lacedaemon, on
+the 27th day of the month of Artemisium, and from the archonship, of
+Alcaeus at Athens, on the 25th day of the month of Elaphebolion. Those
+who took the oath and poured the libations for the Lacedaemonians were
+Pleistoanax, Agis, Pleistolas, Damagetis, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus,
+Daithus, Ischagoras, Philocharidas, Zeuxidas, Antippus, Tellis,
+Alcinadas, Empedias, Menas, and Laphilus: for the Athenians, Lampon,
+Isthmonicus, Nicias, Laches, Euthydemus, Procles, Pythodorus, Hagnon,
+Myrtilus, Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates, Iolcius, Timocrates,
+Leon, Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+
+This treaty was made in the spring, just at the end of winter, directly
+after the city festival of Dionysus, just ten years, with the
+difference of a few days, from the first invasion of Attica and the
+commencement of this war. This must be calculated by the seasons rather
+than by trusting to the enumeration of the names of the several
+magistrates or offices of honour that are used to mark past events.
+Accuracy is impossible where an event may have occurred in the
+beginning, or middle, or at any period in their tenure of office. But
+by computing by summers and winters, the method adopted in this
+history, it will be found that, each of these amounting to half a year,
+there were ten summers and as many winters contained in this first war.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, to whose lot it fell to begin the work of
+restitution, immediately set free all the prisoners of war in their
+possession, and sent Ischagoras, Menas, and Philocharidas as envoys to
+the towns in the direction of Thrace, to order Clearidas to hand over
+Amphipolis to the Athenians, and the rest of their allies each to
+accept the treaty as it affected them. They, however, did not like its
+terms, and refused to accept it; Clearidas also, willing to oblige the
+Chalcidians, would not hand over the town, averring his inability to do
+so against their will. Meanwhile he hastened in person to Lacedaemon
+with envoys from the place, to defend his disobedience against the
+possible accusations of Ischagoras and his companions, and also to see
+whether it was too late for the agreement to be altered; and on finding
+the Lacedaemonians were bound, quickly set out back again with
+instructions from them to hand over the place, if possible, or at all
+events to bring out the Peloponnesians that were in it.
+
+The allies happened to be present in person at Lacedaemon, and those
+who had not accepted the treaty were now asked by the Lacedaemonians to
+adopt it. This, however, they refused to do, for the same reasons as
+before, unless a fairer one than the present were agreed upon; and
+remaining firm in their determination were dismissed by the
+Lacedaemonians, who now decided on forming an alliance with the
+Athenians, thinking that Argos, who had refused the application of
+Ampelidas and Lichas for a renewal of the treaty, would without Athens
+be no longer formidable, and that the rest of the Peloponnese would be
+most likely to keep quiet, if the coveted alliance of Athens were shut
+against them. Accordingly, after conference with the Athenian
+ambassadors, an alliance was agreed upon and oaths were exchanged, upon
+the terms following:
+
+1. The Lacedaemonians shall be allies of the Athenians for fifty years.
+
+2. Should any enemy invade the territory of Lacedaemon and injure the
+Lacedaemonians, the Athenians shall help in such way as they most
+effectively can, according to their power. But if the invader be gone
+after plundering the country, that city shall be the enemy of
+Lacedaemon and Athens, and shall be chastised by both, and one shall
+not make peace without the other. This to be honestly, loyally, and
+without fraud.
+
+3. Should any enemy invade the territory of Athens and injure the
+Athenians, the Lacedaemonians shall help them in such way as they most
+effectively can, according to their power. But if the invader be gone
+after plundering the country, that city shall be the enemy of
+Lacedaemon and Athens, and shall be chastised by both, and one shall
+not make peace without the other. This to be honestly, loyally, and
+without fraud.
+
+4. Should the slave population rise, the Athenians shall help the
+Lacedaemonians with all their might, according to their power.
+
+5. This treaty shall be sworn to by the same persons on either side
+that swore to the other. It shall be renewed annually by the
+Lacedaemonians going to Athens for the Dionysia, and the Athenians to
+Lacedaemon for the Hyacinthia, and a pillar shall be set up by either
+party: at Lacedaemon near the statue of Apollo at Amyclae, and at
+Athens on the Acropolis near the statue of Athene. Should the
+Lacedaemonians and Athenians see to add to or take away from the
+alliance in any particular, it shall be consistent with their oaths for
+both parties to do so, according to their discretion.
+
+Those who took the oath for the Lacedaemonians were Pleistoanax, Agis,
+Pleistolas, Damagetus, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus, Daithus,
+Ischagoras, Philocharidas, Zeuxidas, Antippus, Alcinadas, Tellis,
+Empedias, Menas, and Laphilus; for the Athenians, Lampon, Isthmionicus,
+Laches, Nicias, Euthydemus, Procles, Pythodorus, Hagnon, Myrtilus,
+Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates, Iolcius, Timocrates, Leon,
+Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+
+This alliance was made not long after the treaty; and the Athenians
+gave back the men from the island to the Lacedaemonians, and the summer
+of the eleventh year began. This completes the history of the first
+war, which occupied the whole of the ten years previously.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese—League of the Mantineans, Eleans,
+Argives, and Athenians—Battle of Mantinea and breaking up of the League
+
+
+After the treaty and the alliance between the Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians, concluded after the ten years’ war, in the ephorate of
+Pleistolas at Lacedaemon, and the archonship of Alcaeus at Athens, the
+states which had accepted them were at peace; but the Corinthians and
+some of the cities in Peloponnese trying to disturb the settlement, a
+fresh agitation was instantly commenced by the allies against
+Lacedaemon. Further, the Lacedaemonians, as time went on, became
+suspected by the Athenians through their not performing some of the
+provisions in the treaty; and though for six years and ten months they
+abstained from invasion of each other’s territory, yet abroad an
+unstable armistice did not prevent either party doing the other the
+most effectual injury, until they were finally obliged to break the
+treaty made after the ten years’ war and to have recourse to open
+hostilities.
+
+The history of this period has been also written by the same
+Thucydides, an Athenian, in the chronological order of events by
+summers and winters, to the time when the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies put an end to the Athenian empire, and took the Long Walls and
+Piraeus. The war had then lasted for twenty-seven years in all. Only a
+mistaken judgment can object to including the interval of treaty in the
+war. Looked at by the light of facts it cannot, it will be found, be
+rationally considered a state of peace, where neither party either gave
+or got back all that they had agreed, apart from the violations of it
+which occurred on both sides in the Mantinean and Epidaurian wars and
+other instances, and the fact that the allies in the direction of
+Thrace were in as open hostility as ever, while the Boeotians had only
+a truce renewed every ten days. So that the first ten years’ war, the
+treacherous armistice that followed it, and the subsequent war will,
+calculating by the seasons, be found to make up the number of years
+which I have mentioned, with the difference of a few days, and to
+afford an instance of faith in oracles being for once justified by the
+event. I certainly all along remember from the beginning to the end of
+the war its being commonly declared that it would last thrice nine
+years. I lived through the whole of it, being of an age to comprehend
+events, and giving my attention to them in order to know the exact
+truth about them. It was also my fate to be an exile from my country
+for twenty years after my command at Amphipolis; and being present with
+both parties, and more especially with the Peloponnesians by reason of
+my exile, I had leisure to observe affairs somewhat particularly. I
+will accordingly now relate the differences that arose after the ten
+years’ war, the breach of the treaty, and the hostilities that
+followed.
+
+After the conclusion of the fifty years’ truce and of the subsequent
+alliance, the embassies from Peloponnese which had been summoned for
+this business returned from Lacedaemon. The rest went straight home,
+but the Corinthians first turned aside to Argos and opened negotiations
+with some of the men in office there, pointing out that Lacedaemon
+could have no good end in view, but only the subjugation of
+Peloponnese, or she would never have entered into treaty and alliance
+with the once detested Athenians, and that the duty of consulting for
+the safety of Peloponnese had now fallen upon Argos, who should
+immediately pass a decree inviting any Hellenic state that chose, such
+state being independent and accustomed to meet fellow powers upon the
+fair and equal ground of law and justice, to make a defensive alliance
+with the Argives; appointing a few individuals with plenipotentiary
+powers, instead of making the people the medium of negotiation, in
+order that, in the case of an applicant being rejected, the fact of his
+overtures might not be made public. They said that many would come over
+from hatred of the Lacedaemonians. After this explanation of their
+views, the Corinthians returned home.
+
+The persons with whom they had communicated reported the proposal to
+their government and people, and the Argives passed the decree and
+chose twelve men to negotiate an alliance for any Hellenic state that
+wished it, except Athens and Lacedaemon, neither of which should be
+able to join without reference to the Argive people. Argos came into
+the plan the more readily because she saw that war with Lacedaemon was
+inevitable, the truce being on the point of expiring; and also because
+she hoped to gain the supremacy of Peloponnese. For at this time
+Lacedaemon had sunk very low in public estimation because of her
+disasters, while the Argives were in a most flourishing condition,
+having taken no part in the Attic war, but having on the contrary
+profited largely by their neutrality. The Argives accordingly prepared
+to receive into alliance any of the Hellenes that desired it.
+
+The Mantineans and their allies were the first to come over through
+fear of the Lacedaemonians. Having taken advantage of the war against
+Athens to reduce a large part of Arcadia into subjection, they thought
+that Lacedaemon would not leave them undisturbed in their conquests,
+now that she had leisure to interfere, and consequently gladly turned
+to a powerful city like Argos, the historical enemy of the
+Lacedaemonians, and a sister democracy. Upon the defection of Mantinea,
+the rest of Peloponnese at once began to agitate the propriety of
+following her example, conceiving that the Mantineans not have changed
+sides without good reason; besides which they were angry with
+Lacedaemon among other reasons for having inserted in the treaty with
+Athens that it should be consistent with their oaths for both parties,
+Lacedaemonians and Athenians, to add to or take away from it according
+to their discretion. It was this clause that was the real origin of the
+panic in Peloponnese, by exciting suspicions of a Lacedaemonian and
+Athenian combination against their liberties: any alteration should
+properly have been made conditional upon the consent of the whole body
+of the allies. With these apprehensions there was a very general desire
+in each state to place itself in alliance with Argos.
+
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians perceiving the agitation going on in
+Peloponnese, and that Corinth was the author of it and was herself
+about to enter into alliance with the Argives, sent ambassadors thither
+in the hope of preventing what was in contemplation. They accused her
+of having brought it all about, and told her that she could not desert
+Lacedaemon and become the ally of Argos, without adding violation of
+her oaths to the crime which she had already committed in not accepting
+the treaty with Athens, when it had been expressly agreed that the
+decision of the majority of the allies should be binding, unless the
+gods or heroes stood in the way. Corinth in her answer, delivered
+before those of her allies who had like her refused to accept the
+treaty, and whom she had previously invited to attend, refrained from
+openly stating the injuries she complained of, such as the non-recovery
+of Sollium or Anactorium from the Athenians, or any other point in
+which she thought she had been prejudiced, but took shelter under the
+pretext that she could not give up her Thracian allies, to whom her
+separate individual security had been given, when they first rebelled
+with Potidæa, as well as upon subsequent occasions. She denied,
+therefore, that she committed any violation of her oaths to the allies
+in not entering into the treaty with Athens; having sworn upon the
+faith of the gods to her Thracian friends, she could not honestly give
+them up. Besides, the expression was, “unless the gods or heroes stand
+in the way.” Now here, as it appeared to her, the gods stood in the
+way. This was what she said on the subject of her former oaths. As to
+the Argive alliance, she would confer with her friends and do whatever
+was right. The Lacedaemonian envoys returning home, some Argive
+ambassadors who happened to be in Corinth pressed her to conclude the
+alliance without further delay, but were told to attend at the next
+congress to be held at Corinth.
+
+Immediately afterwards an Elean embassy arrived, and first making an
+alliance with Corinth went on from thence to Argos, according to their
+instructions, and became allies of the Argives, their country being
+just then at enmity with Lacedaemon and Lepreum. Some time back there
+had been a war between the Lepreans and some of the Arcadians; and the
+Eleans being called in by the former with the offer of half their
+lands, had put an end to the war, and leaving the land in the hands of
+its Leprean occupiers had imposed upon them the tribute of a talent to
+the Olympian Zeus. Till the Attic war this tribute was paid by the
+Lepreans, who then took the war as an excuse for no longer doing so,
+and upon the Eleans using force appealed to Lacedaemon. The case was
+thus submitted to her arbitrament; but the Eleans, suspecting the
+fairness of the tribunal, renounced the reference and laid waste the
+Leprean territory. The Lacedaemonians nevertheless decided that the
+Lepreans were independent and the Eleans aggressors, and as the latter
+did not abide by the arbitration, sent a garrison of heavy infantry
+into Lepreum. Upon this the Eleans, holding that Lacedaemon had
+received one of their rebel subjects, put forward the convention
+providing that each confederate should come out of the Attic war in
+possession of what he had when he went into it, and considering that
+justice had not been done them went over to the Argives, and now made
+the alliance through their ambassadors, who had been instructed for
+that purpose. Immediately after them the Corinthians and the Thracian
+Chalcidians became allies of Argos. Meanwhile the Boeotians and
+Megarians, who acted together, remained quiet, being left to do as they
+pleased by Lacedaemon, and thinking that the Argive democracy would not
+suit so well with their aristocratic government as the Lacedaemonian
+constitution.
+
+About the same time in this summer Athens succeeded in reducing Scione,
+put the adult males to death, and, making slaves of the women and
+children, gave the land for the Plataeans to live in. She also brought
+back the Delians to Delos, moved by her misfortunes in the field and by
+the commands of the god at Delphi. Meanwhile the Phocians and Locrians
+commenced hostilities. The Corinthians and Argives, being now in
+alliance, went to Tegea to bring about its defection from Lacedaemon,
+seeing that, if so considerable a state could be persuaded to join, all
+Peloponnese would be with them. But when the Tegeans said that they
+would do nothing against Lacedaemon, the hitherto zealous Corinthians
+relaxed their activity, and began to fear that none of the rest would
+now come over. Still they went to the Boeotians and tried to persuade
+them to alliance and a common action generally with Argos and
+themselves, and also begged them to go with them to Athens and obtain
+for them a ten days’ truce similar to that made between the Athenians
+and Boeotians not long after the fifty years’ treaty, and, in the event
+of the Athenians refusing, to throw up the armistice, and not make any
+truce in future without Corinth. These were the requests of the
+Corinthians. The Boeotians stopped them on the subject of the Argive
+alliance, but went with them to Athens, where however they failed to
+obtain the ten days’ truce; the Athenian answer being that the
+Corinthians had truce already, as being allies of Lacedaemon.
+Nevertheless the Boeotians did not throw up their ten days’ truce, in
+spite of the prayers and reproaches of the Corinthians for their breach
+of faith; and these last had to content themselves with a de facto
+armistice with Athens.
+
+The same summer the Lacedaemonians marched into Arcadia with their
+whole levy under Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon,
+against the Parrhasians, who were subjects of Mantinea, and a faction
+of whom had invited their aid. They also meant to demolish, if
+possible, the fort of Cypsela which the Mantineans had built and
+garrisoned in the Parrhasian territory, to annoy the district of
+Sciritis in Laconia. The Lacedaemonians accordingly laid waste the
+Parrhasian country, and the Mantineans, placing their town in the hands
+of an Argive garrison, addressed themselves to the defence of their
+confederacy, but being unable to save Cypsela or the Parrhasian towns
+went back to Mantinea. Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians made the
+Parrhasians independent, razed the fortress, and returned home.
+
+The same summer the soldiers from Thrace who had gone out with Brasidas
+came back, having been brought from thence after the treaty by
+Clearidas; and the Lacedaemonians decreed that the Helots who had
+fought with Brasidas should be free and allowed to live where they
+liked, and not long afterwards settled them with the Neodamodes at
+Lepreum, which is situated on the Laconian and Elean border; Lacedaemon
+being at this time at enmity with Elis. Those however of the Spartans
+who had been taken prisoners on the island and had surrendered their
+arms might, it was feared, suppose that they were to be subjected to
+some degradation in consequence of their misfortune, and so make some
+attempt at revolution, if left in possession of their franchise. These
+were therefore at once disfranchised, although some of them were in
+office at the time, and thus placed under a disability to take office,
+or buy and sell anything. After some time, however, the franchise was
+restored to them.
+
+The same summer the Dians took Thyssus, a town on Acte by Athos in
+alliance with Athens. During the whole of this summer intercourse
+between the Athenians and Peloponnesians continued, although each party
+began to suspect the other directly after the treaty, because of the
+places specified in it not being restored. Lacedaemon, to whose lot it
+had fallen to begin by restoring Amphipolis and the other towns, had
+not done so. She had equally failed to get the treaty accepted by her
+Thracian allies, or by the Boeotians or the Corinthians; although she
+was continually promising to unite with Athens in compelling their
+compliance, if it were longer refused. She also kept fixing a time at
+which those who still refused to come in were to be declared enemies to
+both parties, but took care not to bind herself by any written
+agreement. Meanwhile the Athenians, seeing none of these professions
+performed in fact, began to suspect the honesty of her intentions, and
+consequently not only refused to comply with her demands for Pylos, but
+also repented having given up the prisoners from the island, and kept
+tight hold of the other places, until Lacedaemon’s part of the treaty
+should be fulfilled. Lacedaemon, on the other hand, said she had done
+what she could, having given up the Athenian prisoners of war in her
+possession, evacuated Thrace, and performed everything else in her
+power. Amphipolis it was out of her ability to restore; but she would
+endeavour to bring the Boeotians and Corinthians into the treaty, to
+recover Panactum, and send home all the Athenian prisoners of war in
+Boeotia. Meanwhile she required that Pylos should be restored, or at
+all events that the Messenians and Helots should be withdrawn, as her
+troops had been from Thrace, and the place garrisoned, if necessary, by
+the Athenians themselves. After a number of different conferences held
+during the summer, she succeeded in persuading Athens to withdraw from
+Pylos the Messenians and the rest of the Helots and deserters from
+Laconia, who were accordingly settled by her at Cranii in Cephallenia.
+Thus during this summer there was peace and intercourse between the two
+peoples.
+
+Next winter, however, the ephors under whom the treaty had been made
+were no longer in office, and some of their successors were directly
+opposed to it. Embassies now arrived from the Lacedaemonian
+confederacy, and the Athenians, Boeotians, and Corinthians also
+presented themselves at Lacedaemon, and after much discussion and no
+agreement between them, separated for their several homes; when
+Cleobulus and Xenares, the two ephors who were the most anxious to
+break off the treaty, took advantage of this opportunity to communicate
+privately with the Boeotians and Corinthians, and, advising them to act
+as much as possible together, instructed the former first to enter into
+alliance with Argos, and then try and bring themselves and the Argives
+into alliance with Lacedaemon. The Boeotians would so be least likely
+to be compelled to come into the Attic treaty; and the Lacedaemonians
+would prefer gaining the friendship and alliance of Argos even at the
+price of the hostility of Athens and the rupture of the treaty. The
+Boeotians knew that an honourable friendship with Argos had been long
+the desire of Lacedaemon; for the Lacedaemonians believed that this
+would considerably facilitate the conduct of the war outside
+Peloponnese. Meanwhile they begged the Boeotians to place Panactum in
+her hands in order that she might, if possible, obtain Pylos in
+exchange for it, and so be more in a position to resume hostilities
+with Athens.
+
+After receiving these instructions for their governments from Xenares
+and Cleobulus and their friends at Lacedaemon, the Boeotians and
+Corinthians departed. On their way home they were joined by two persons
+high in office at Argos, who had waited for them on the road, and who
+now sounded them upon the possibility of the Boeotians joining the
+Corinthians, Eleans, and Mantineans in becoming the allies of Argos, in
+the idea that if this could be effected they would be able, thus
+united, to make peace or war as they pleased either against Lacedaemon
+or any other power. The Boeotian envoys were were pleased at thus
+hearing themselves accidentally asked to do what their friends at
+Lacedaemon had told them; and the two Argives perceiving that their
+proposal was agreeable, departed with a promise to send ambassadors to
+the Boeotians. On their arrival the Boeotians reported to the
+Boeotarchs what had been said to them at Lacedaemon and also by the
+Argives who had met them, and the Boeotarchs, pleased with the idea,
+embraced it with the more eagerness from the lucky coincidence of Argos
+soliciting the very thing wanted by their friends at Lacedaemon.
+Shortly afterwards ambassadors appeared from Argos with the proposals
+indicated; and the Boeotarchs approved of the terms and dismissed the
+ambassadors with a promise to send envoys to Argos to negotiate the
+alliance.
+
+In the meantime it was decided by the Boeotarchs, the Corinthians, the
+Megarians, and the envoys from Thrace first to interchange oaths
+together to give help to each other whenever it was required and not to
+make war or peace except in common; after which the Boeotians and
+Megarians, who acted together, should make the alliance with Argos. But
+before the oaths were taken the Boeotarchs communicated these proposals
+to the four councils of the Boeotians, in whom the supreme power
+resides, and advised them to interchange oaths with all such cities as
+should be willing to enter into a defensive league with the Boeotians.
+But the members of the Boeotian councils refused their assent to the
+proposal, being afraid of offending Lacedaemon by entering into a
+league with the deserter Corinth; the Boeotarchs not having acquainted
+them with what had passed at Lacedaemon and with the advice given by
+Cleobulus and Xenares and the Boeotian partisans there, namely, that
+they should become allies of Corinth and Argos as a preliminary to a
+junction with Lacedaemon; fancying that, even if they should say
+nothing about this, the councils would not vote against what had been
+decided and advised by the Boeotarchs. This difficulty arising, the
+Corinthians and the envoys from Thrace departed without anything having
+been concluded; and the Boeotarchs, who had previously intended after
+carrying this to try and effect the alliance with Argos, now omitted to
+bring the Argive question before the councils, or to send to Argos the
+envoys whom they had promised; and a general coldness and delay ensued
+in the matter.
+
+In this same winter Mecyberna was assaulted and taken by the
+Olynthians, having an Athenian garrison inside it.
+
+All this while negotiations had been going on between the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians about the conquests still retained by each, and
+Lacedaemon, hoping that if Athens were to get back Panactum from the
+Boeotians she might herself recover Pylos, now sent an embassy to the
+Boeotians, and begged them to place Panactum and their Athenian
+prisoners in her hands, in order that she might exchange them for
+Pylos. This the Boeotians refused to do, unless Lacedaemon made a
+separate alliance with them as she had done with Athens. Lacedaemon
+knew that this would be a breach of faith to Athens, as it had been
+agreed that neither of them should make peace or war without the other;
+yet wishing to obtain Panactum which she hoped to exchange for Pylos,
+and the party who pressed for the dissolution of the treaty strongly
+affecting the Boeotian connection, she at length concluded the alliance
+just as winter gave way to spring; and Panactum was instantly razed.
+And so the eleventh year of the war ended.
+
+In the first days of the summer following, the Argives, seeing that the
+promised ambassadors from Boeotia did not arrive, and that Panactum was
+being demolished, and that a separate alliance had been concluded
+between the Boeotians and Lacedaemonians, began to be afraid that Argos
+might be left alone, and all the confederacy go over to Lacedaemon.
+They fancied that the Boeotians had been persuaded by the
+Lacedaemonians to raze Panactum and to enter into the treaty with the
+Athenians, and that Athens was privy to this arrangement, and even her
+alliance, therefore, no longer open to them—a resource which they had
+always counted upon, by reason of the dissensions existing, in the
+event of the noncontinuance of their treaty with Lacedaemon. In this
+strait the Argives, afraid that, as the result of refusing to renew the
+treaty with Lacedaemon and of aspiring to the supremacy in Peloponnese,
+they would have the Lacedaemonians, Tegeans, Boeotians, and Athenians
+on their hands all at once, now hastily sent off Eustrophus and Aeson,
+who seemed the persons most likely to be acceptable, as envoys to
+Lacedaemon, with the view of making as good a treaty as they could with
+the Lacedaemonians, upon such terms as could be got, and being left in
+peace.
+
+Having reached Lacedaemon, their ambassadors proceeded to negotiate the
+terms of the proposed treaty. What the Argives first demanded was that
+they might be allowed to refer to the arbitration of some state or
+private person the question of the Cynurian land, a piece of frontier
+territory about which they have always been disputing, and which
+contains the towns of Thyrea and Anthene, and is occupied by the
+Lacedaemonians. The Lacedaemonians at first said that they could not
+allow this point to be discussed, but were ready to conclude upon the
+old terms. Eventually, however, the Argive ambassadors succeeded in
+obtaining from them this concession: For the present there was to be a
+truce for fifty years, but it should be competent for either party,
+there being neither plague nor war in Lacedaemon or Argos, to give a
+formal challenge and decide the question of this territory by battle,
+as on a former occasion, when both sides claimed the victory; pursuit
+not being allowed beyond the frontier of Argos or Lacedaemon. The
+Lacedaemonians at first thought this mere folly; but at last, anxious
+at any cost to have the friendship of Argos they agreed to the terms
+demanded, and reduced them to writing. However, before any of this
+should become binding, the ambassadors were to return to Argos and
+communicate with their people and, in the event of their approval, to
+come at the feast of the Hyacinthia and take the oaths.
+
+The envoys returned accordingly. In the meantime, while the Argives
+were engaged in these negotiations, the Lacedaemonian
+ambassadors—Andromedes, Phaedimus, and Antimenidas—who were to receive
+the prisoners from the Boeotians and restore them and Panactum to the
+Athenians, found that the Boeotians had themselves razed Panactum, upon
+the plea that oaths had been anciently exchanged between their people
+and the Athenians, after a dispute on the subject to the effect that
+neither should inhabit the place, but that they should graze it in
+common. As for the Athenian prisoners of war in the hands of the
+Boeotians, these were delivered over to Andromedes and his colleagues,
+and by them conveyed to Athens and given back. The envoys at the same
+time announced the razing of Panactum, which to them seemed as good as
+its restitution, as it would no longer lodge an enemy of Athens. This
+announcement was received with great indignation by the Athenians, who
+thought that the Lacedaemonians had played them false, both in the
+matter of the demolition of Panactum, which ought to have been restored
+to them standing, and in having, as they now heard, made a separate
+alliance with the Boeotians, in spite of their previous promise to join
+Athens in compelling the adhesion of those who refused to accede to the
+treaty. The Athenians also considered the other points in which
+Lacedaemon had failed in her compact, and thinking that they had been
+overreached, gave an angry answer to the ambassadors and sent them
+away.
+
+The breach between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians having gone thus
+far, the party at Athens, also, who wished to cancel the treaty,
+immediately put themselves in motion. Foremost amongst these was
+Alcibiades, son of Clinias, a man yet young in years for any other
+Hellenic city, but distinguished by the splendour of his ancestry.
+Alcibiades thought the Argive alliance really preferable, not that
+personal pique had not also a great deal to do with his opposition; he
+being offended with the Lacedaemonians for having negotiated the treaty
+through Nicias and Laches, and having overlooked him on account of his
+youth, and also for not having shown him the respect due to the ancient
+connection of his family with them as their proxeni, which, renounced
+by his grandfather, he had lately himself thought to renew by his
+attentions to their prisoners taken in the island. Being thus, as he
+thought, slighted on all hands, he had in the first instance spoken
+against the treaty, saying that the Lacedaemonians were not to be
+trusted, but that they only treated, in order to be enabled by this
+means to crush Argos, and afterwards to attack Athens alone; and now,
+immediately upon the above occurring, he sent privately to the Argives,
+telling them to come as quickly as possible to Athens, accompanied by
+the Mantineans and Eleans, with proposals of alliance; as the moment
+was propitious and he himself would do all he could to help them.
+
+Upon receiving this message and discovering that the Athenians, far
+from being privy to the Boeotian alliance, were involved in a serious
+quarrel with the Lacedaemonians, the Argives paid no further attention
+to the embassy which they had just sent to Lacedaemon on the subject of
+the treaty, and began to incline rather towards the Athenians,
+reflecting that, in the event of war, they would thus have on their
+side a city that was not only an ancient ally of Argos, but a sister
+democracy and very powerful at sea. They accordingly at once sent
+ambassadors to Athens to treat for an alliance, accompanied by others
+from Elis and Mantinea.
+
+At the same time arrived in haste from Lacedaemon an embassy consisting
+of persons reputed well disposed towards the Athenians—Philocharidas,
+Leon, and Endius—for fear that the Athenians in their irritation might
+conclude alliance with the Argives, and also to ask back Pylos in
+exchange for Panactum, and in defence of the alliance with the
+Boeotians to plead that it had not been made to hurt the Athenians.
+Upon the envoys speaking in the senate upon these points, and stating
+that they had come with full powers to settle all others at issue
+between them, Alcibiades became afraid that, if they were to repeat
+these statements to the popular assembly, they might gain the
+multitude, and the Argive alliance might be rejected, and accordingly
+had recourse to the following stratagem. He persuaded the
+Lacedaemonians by a solemn assurance that if they would say nothing of
+their full powers in the assembly, he would give back Pylos to them
+(himself, the present opponent of its restitution, engaging to obtain
+this from the Athenians), and would settle the other points at issue.
+His plan was to detach them from Nicias and to disgrace them before the
+people, as being without sincerity in their intentions, or even common
+consistency in their language, and so to get the Argives, Eleans, and
+Mantineans taken into alliance. This plan proved successful. When the
+envoys appeared before the people, and upon the question being put to
+them, did not say as they had said in the senate, that they had come
+with full powers, the Athenians lost all patience, and carried away by
+Alcibiades, who thundered more loudly than ever against the
+Lacedaemonians, were ready instantly to introduce the Argives and their
+companions and to take them into alliance. An earthquake, however,
+occurring, before anything definite had been done, this assembly was
+adjourned.
+
+In the assembly held the next day, Nicias, in spite of the
+Lacedaemonians having been deceived themselves, and having allowed him
+to be deceived also in not admitting that they had come with full
+powers, still maintained that it was best to be friends with the
+Lacedaemonians, and, letting the Argive proposals stand over, to send
+once more to Lacedaemon and learn her intentions. The adjournment of
+the war could only increase their own prestige and injure that of their
+rivals; the excellent state of their affairs making it their interest
+to preserve this prosperity as long as possible, while those of
+Lacedaemon were so desperate that the sooner she could try her fortune
+again the better. He succeeded accordingly in persuading them to send
+ambassadors, himself being among the number, to invite the
+Lacedaemonians, if they were really sincere, to restore Panactum intact
+with Amphipolis, and to abandon their alliance with the Boeotians
+(unless they consented to accede to the treaty), agreeably to the
+stipulation which forbade either to treat without the other. The
+ambassadors were also directed to say that the Athenians, had they
+wished to play false, might already have made alliance with the
+Argives, who were indeed come to Athens for that very purpose, and went
+off furnished with instructions as to any other complaints that the
+Athenians had to make. Having reached Lacedaemon, they communicated
+their instructions, and concluded by telling the Lacedaemonians that
+unless they gave up their alliance with the Boeotians, in the event of
+their not acceding to the treaty, the Athenians for their part would
+ally themselves with the Argives and their friends. The Lacedaemonians,
+however, refused to give up the Boeotian alliance—the party of Xenares
+the ephor, and such as shared their view, carrying the day upon this
+point—but renewed the oaths at the request of Nicias, who feared to
+return without having accomplished anything and to be disgraced; as was
+indeed his fate, he being held the author of the treaty with
+Lacedaemon. When he returned, and the Athenians heard that nothing had
+been done at Lacedaemon, they flew into a passion, and deciding that
+faith had not been kept with them, took advantage of the presence of
+the Argives and their allies, who had been introduced by Alcibiades,
+and made a treaty and alliance with them upon the terms following:
+
+The Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, acting for themselves
+and the allies in their respective empires, made a treaty for a hundred
+years, to be without fraud or hurt by land and by sea.
+
+1. It shall not be lawful to carry on war, either for the Argives,
+Eleans, Mantineans, and their allies, against the Athenians, or the
+allies in the Athenian empire: or for the Athenians and their allies
+against the Argives, Eleans, Mantineans, or their allies, in any way or
+means whatsoever.
+
+The Athenians, Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans shall be allies for a
+hundred years upon the terms following:
+
+2. If an enemy invade the country of the Athenians, the Argives,
+Eleans, and Mantineans shall go to the relief of Athens, according as
+the Athenians may require by message, in such way as they most
+effectually can, to the best of their power. But if the invader be gone
+after plundering the territory, the offending state shall be the enemy
+of the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and Athenians, and war shall be
+made against it by all these cities: and no one of the cities shall be
+able to make peace with that state, except all the above cities agree
+to do so.
+
+3. Likewise the Athenians shall go to the relief of Argos, Mantinea,
+and Elis, if an enemy invade the country of Elis, Mantinea, or Argos,
+according as the above cities may require by message, in such way as
+they most effectually can, to the best of their power. But if the
+invader be gone after plundering the territory, the state offending
+shall be the enemy of the Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans,
+and war shall be made against it by all these cities, and peace may not
+be made with that state except all the above cities agree to it.
+
+4. No armed force shall be allowed to pass for hostile purposes through
+the country of the powers contracting, or of the allies in their
+respective empires, or to go by sea, except all the cities—that is to
+say, Athens, Argos, Mantinea, and Elis—vote for such passage.
+
+5. The relieving troops shall be maintained by the city sending them
+for thirty days from their arrival in the city that has required them,
+and upon their return in the same way: if their services be desired for
+a longer period, the city that sent for them shall maintain them, at
+the rate of three Aeginetan obols per day for a heavy-armed soldier,
+archer, or light soldier, and an Aeginetan drachma for a trooper.
+
+6. The city sending for the troops shall have the command when the war
+is in its own country: but in case of the cities resolving upon a joint
+expedition the command shall be equally divided among all the cities.
+
+7. The treaty shall be sworn to by the Athenians for themselves and
+their allies, by the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and their allies, by
+each state individually. Each shall swear the oath most binding in his
+country over full-grown victims: the oath being as follows:
+
+“I STAND BY THE ALLIANCE AND ITS ARTICLES, JUSTLY, INNOCENTLY, AND
+SINCERELY, AND I WILL NOT TRANSGRESS THE SAME IN ANY WAY OR MEANS
+WHATSOEVER.”
+
+The oath shall be taken at Athens by the Senate and the magistrates,
+the Prytanes administering it: at Argos by the Senate, the Eighty, and
+the Artynae, the Eighty administering it: at Mantinea by the Demiurgi,
+the Senate, and the other magistrates, the Theori and Polemarchs
+administering it: at Elis by the Demiurgi, the magistrates, and the Six
+Hundred, the Demiurgi and the Thesmophylaces administering it. The
+oaths shall be renewed by the Athenians going to Elis, Mantinea, and
+Argos thirty days before the Olympic games: by the Argives, Mantineans,
+and Eleans going to Athens ten days before the great feast of the
+Panathenaea. The articles of the treaty, the oaths, and the alliance
+shall be inscribed on a stone pillar by the Athenians in the citadel,
+by the Argives in the market-place, in the temple of Apollo: by the
+Mantineans in the temple of Zeus, in the market-place: and a brazen
+pillar shall be erected jointly by them at the Olympic games now at
+hand. Should the above cities see good to make any addition in these
+articles, whatever all the above cities shall agree upon, after
+consulting together, shall be binding.
+
+Although the treaty and alliances were thus concluded, still the treaty
+between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians was not renounced by either
+party. Meanwhile Corinth, although the ally of the Argives, did not
+accede to the new treaty, any more than she had done to the alliance,
+defensive and offensive, formed before this between the Eleans,
+Argives, and Mantineans, when she declared herself content with the
+first alliance, which was defensive only, and which bound them to help
+each other, but not to join in attacking any. The Corinthians thus
+stood aloof from their allies, and again turned their thoughts towards
+Lacedaemon.
+
+At the Olympic games which were held this summer, and in which the
+Arcadian Androsthenes was victor the first time in the wrestling and
+boxing, the Lacedaemonians were excluded from the temple by the Eleans,
+and thus prevented from sacrificing or contending, for having refused
+to pay the fine specified in the Olympic law imposed upon them by the
+Eleans, who alleged that they had attacked Fort Phyrcus, and sent heavy
+infantry of theirs into Lepreum during the Olympic truce. The amount of
+the fine was two thousand minae, two for each heavy-armed soldier, as
+the law prescribes. The Lacedaemonians sent envoys, and pleaded that
+the imposition was unjust; saying that the truce had not yet been
+proclaimed at Lacedaemon when the heavy infantry were sent off. But the
+Eleans affirmed that the armistice with them had already begun (they
+proclaim it first among themselves), and that the aggression of the
+Lacedaemonians had taken them by surprise while they were living
+quietly as in time of peace, and not expecting anything. Upon this the
+Lacedaemonians submitted, that if the Eleans really believed that they
+had committed an aggression, it was useless after that to proclaim the
+truce at Lacedaemon; but they had proclaimed it notwithstanding, as
+believing nothing of the kind, and from that moment the Lacedaemonians
+had made no attack upon their country. Nevertheless the Eleans adhered
+to what they had said, that nothing would persuade them that an
+aggression had not been committed; if, however, the Lacedaemonians
+would restore Lepreum, they would give up their own share of the money
+and pay that of the god for them.
+
+As this proposal was not accepted, the Eleans tried a second. Instead
+of restoring Lepreum, if this was objected to, the Lacedaemonians
+should ascend the altar of the Olympian Zeus, as they were so anxious
+to have access to the temple, and swear before the Hellenes that they
+would surely pay the fine at a later day. This being also refused, the
+Lacedaemonians were excluded from the temple, the sacrifice, and the
+games, and sacrificed at home; the Lepreans being the only other
+Hellenes who did not attend. Still the Eleans were afraid of the
+Lacedaemonians sacrificing by force, and kept guard with a heavy-armed
+company of their young men; being also joined by a thousand Argives,
+the same number of Mantineans, and by some Athenian cavalry who stayed
+at Harpina during the feast. Great fears were felt in the assembly of
+the Lacedaemonians coming in arms, especially after Lichas, son of
+Arcesilaus, a Lacedaemonian, had been scourged on the course by the
+umpires; because, upon his horses being the winners, and the Boeotian
+people being proclaimed the victor on account of his having no right to
+enter, he came forward on the course and crowned the charioteer, in
+order to show that the chariot was his. After this incident all were
+more afraid than ever, and firmly looked for a disturbance: the
+Lacedaemonians, however, kept quiet, and let the feast pass by, as we
+have seen. After the Olympic games, the Argives and the allies repaired
+to Corinth to invite her to come over to them. There they found some
+Lacedaemonian envoys; and a long discussion ensued, which after all
+ended in nothing, as an earthquake occurred, and they dispersed to
+their different homes.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following a battle took place between
+the Heracleots in Trachinia and the Aenianians, Dolopians, Malians, and
+certain of the Thessalians, all tribes bordering on and hostile to the
+town, which directly menaced their country. Accordingly, after having
+opposed and harassed it from its very foundation by every means in
+their power, they now in this battle defeated the Heracleots, Xenares,
+son of Cnidis, their Lacedaemonian commander, being among the slain.
+Thus the winter ended and the twelfth year of this war ended also.
+After the battle, Heraclea was so terribly reduced that in the first
+days of the summer following the Boeotians occupied the place and sent
+away the Lacedaemonian Agesippidas for misgovernment, fearing that the
+town might be taken by the Athenians while the Lacedaemonians were
+distracted with the affairs of Peloponnese. The Lacedaemonians,
+nevertheless, were offended with them for what they had done.
+
+The same summer Alcibiades, son of Clinias, now one of the generals at
+Athens, in concert with the Argives and the allies, went into
+Peloponnese with a few Athenian heavy infantry and archers and some of
+the allies in those parts whom he took up as he passed, and with this
+army marched here and there through Peloponnese, and settled various
+matters connected with the alliance, and among other things induced the
+Patrians to carry their walls down to the sea, intending himself also
+to build a fort near the Achaean Rhium. However, the Corinthians and
+Sicyonians, and all others who would have suffered by its being built,
+came up and hindered him.
+
+The same summer war broke out between the Epidaurians and Argives. The
+pretext was that the Epidaurians did not send an offering for their
+pasture-land to Apollo Pythaeus, as they were bound to do, the Argives
+having the chief management of the temple; but, apart from this
+pretext, Alcibiades and the Argives were determined, if possible, to
+gain possession of Epidaurus, and thus to ensure the neutrality of
+Corinth and give the Athenians a shorter passage for their
+reinforcements from Aegina than if they had to sail round Scyllaeum.
+The Argives accordingly prepared to invade Epidaurus by themselves, to
+exact the offering.
+
+About the same time the Lacedaemonians marched out with all their
+people to Leuctra upon their frontier, opposite to Mount Lycaeum, under
+the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, without any one knowing their
+destination, not even the cities that sent the contingents. The
+sacrifices, however, for crossing the frontier not proving propitious,
+the Lacedaemonians returned home themselves, and sent word to the
+allies to be ready to march after the month ensuing, which happened to
+be the month of Carneus, a holy time for the Dorians. Upon the retreat
+of the Lacedaemonians the Argives marched out on the last day but three
+of the month before Carneus, and keeping this as the day during the
+whole time that they were out, invaded and plundered Epidaurus. The
+Epidaurians summoned their allies to their aid, some of whom pleaded
+the month as an excuse; others came as far as the frontier of Epidaurus
+and there remained inactive.
+
+While the Argives were in Epidaurus embassies from the cities assembled
+at Mantinea, upon the invitation of the Athenians. The conference
+having begun, the Corinthian Euphamidas said that their actions did not
+agree with their words; while they were sitting deliberating about
+peace, the Epidaurians and their allies and the Argives were arrayed
+against each other in arms; deputies from each party should first go
+and separate the armies, and then the talk about peace might be
+resumed. In compliance with this suggestion, they went and brought back
+the Argives from Epidaurus, and afterwards reassembled, but without
+succeeding any better in coming to a conclusion; and the Argives a
+second time invaded Epidaurus and plundered the country. The
+Lacedaemonians also marched out to Caryae; but the frontier sacrifices
+again proving unfavourable, they went back again, and the Argives,
+after ravaging about a third of the Epidaurian territory, returned
+home. Meanwhile a thousand Athenian heavy infantry had come to their
+aid under the command of Alcibiades, but finding that the Lacedaemonian
+expedition was at an end, and that they were no longer wanted, went
+back again.
+
+So passed the summer. The next winter the Lacedaemonians managed to
+elude the vigilance of the Athenians, and sent in a garrison of three
+hundred men to Epidaurus, under the command of Agesippidas. Upon this
+the Argives went to the Athenians and complained of their having
+allowed an enemy to pass by sea, in spite of the clause in the treaty
+by which the allies were not to allow an enemy to pass through their
+country. Unless, therefore, they now put the Messenians and Helots in
+Pylos to annoy the Lacedaemonians, they, the Argives, should consider
+that faith had not been kept with them. The Athenians were persuaded by
+Alcibiades to inscribe at the bottom of the Laconian pillar that the
+Lacedaemonians had not kept their oaths, and to convey the Helots at
+Cranii to Pylos to plunder the country; but for the rest they remained
+quiet as before. During this winter hostilities went on between the
+Argives and Epidaurians, without any pitched battle taking place, but
+only forays and ambuscades, in which the losses were small and fell now
+on one side and now on the other. At the close of the winter, towards
+the beginning of spring, the Argives went with scaling ladders to
+Epidaurus, expecting to find it left unguarded on account of the war
+and to be able to take it by assault, but returned unsuccessful. And
+the winter ended, and with it the thirteenth year of the war ended
+also.
+
+In the middle of the next summer the Lacedaemonians, seeing the
+Epidaurians, their allies, in distress, and the rest of Peloponnese
+either in revolt or disaffected, concluded that it was high time for
+them to interfere if they wished to stop the progress of the evil, and
+accordingly with their full force, the Helots included, took the field
+against Argos, under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, king of
+the Lacedaemonians. The Tegeans and the other Arcadian allies of
+Lacedaemon joined in the expedition. The allies from the rest of
+Peloponnese and from outside mustered at Phlius; the Boeotians with
+five thousand heavy infantry and as many light troops, and five hundred
+horse and the same number of dismounted troopers; the Corinthians with
+two thousand heavy infantry; the rest more or less as might happen; and
+the Phliasians with all their forces, the army being in their country.
+
+The preparations of the Lacedaemonians from the first had been known to
+the Argives, who did not, however, take the field until the enemy was
+on his road to join the rest at Phlius. Reinforced by the Mantineans
+with their allies, and by three thousand Elean heavy infantry, they
+advanced and fell in with the Lacedaemonians at Methydrium in Arcadia.
+Each party took up its position upon a hill, and the Argives prepared
+to engage the Lacedaemonians while they were alone; but Agis eluded
+them by breaking up his camp in the night, and proceeded to join the
+rest of the allies at Phlius. The Argives discovering this at daybreak,
+marched first to Argos and then to the Nemean road, by which they
+expected the Lacedaemonians and their allies would come down. However,
+Agis, instead of taking this road as they expected, gave the
+Lacedaemonians, Arcadians, and Epidaurians their orders, and went along
+another difficult road, and descended into the plain of Argos. The
+Corinthians, Pellenians, and Phliasians marched by another steep road;
+while the Boeotians, Megarians, and Sicyonians had instructions to come
+down by the Nemean road where the Argives were posted, in order that,
+if the enemy advanced into the plain against the troops of Agis, they
+might fall upon his rear with their cavalry. These dispositions
+concluded, Agis invaded the plain and began to ravage Saminthus and
+other places.
+
+Discovering this, the Argives came up from Nemea, day having now
+dawned. On their way they fell in with the troops of the Phliasians and
+Corinthians, and killed a few of the Phliasians and had perhaps a few
+more of their own men killed by the Corinthians. Meanwhile the
+Boeotians, Megarians, and Sicyonians, advancing upon Nemea according to
+their instructions, found the Argives no longer there, as they had gone
+down on seeing their property ravaged, and were now forming for battle,
+the Lacedaemonians imitating their example. The Argives were now
+completely surrounded; from the plain the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies shut them off from their city; above them were the Corinthians,
+Phliasians, and Pellenians; and on the side of Nemea the Boeotians,
+Sicyonians, and Megarians. Meanwhile their army was without cavalry,
+the Athenians alone among the allies not having yet arrived. Now the
+bulk of the Argives and their allies did not see the danger of their
+position, but thought that they could not have a fairer field, having
+intercepted the Lacedaemonians in their own country and close to the
+city. Two men, however, in the Argive army, Thrasylus, one of the five
+generals, and Alciphron, the Lacedaemonian proxenus, just as the armies
+were upon the point of engaging, went and held a parley with Agis and
+urged him not to bring on a battle, as the Argives were ready to refer
+to fair and equal arbitration whatever complaints the Lacedaemonians
+might have against them, and to make a treaty and live in peace in
+future.
+
+The Argives who made these statements did so upon their own authority,
+not by order of the people, and Agis on his accepted their proposals,
+and without himself either consulting the majority, simply communicated
+the matter to a single individual, one of the high officers
+accompanying the expedition, and granted the Argives a truce for four
+months, in which to fulfil their promises; after which he immediately
+led off the army without giving any explanation to any of the other
+allies. The Lacedaemonians and allies followed their general out of
+respect for the law, but amongst themselves loudly blamed Agis for
+going away from so fair a field (the enemy being hemmed in on every
+side by infantry and cavalry) without having done anything worthy of
+their strength. Indeed this was by far the finest Hellenic army ever
+yet brought together; and it should have been seen while it was still
+united at Nemea, with the Lacedaemonians in full force, the Arcadians,
+Boeotians, Corinthians, Sicyonians, Pellenians, Phliasians and
+Megarians, and all these the flower of their respective populations,
+thinking themselves a match not merely for the Argive confederacy, but
+for another such added to it. The army thus retired blaming Agis, and
+returned every man to his home. The Argives however blamed still more
+loudly the persons who had concluded the truce without consulting the
+people, themselves thinking that they had let escape with the
+Lacedaemonians an opportunity such as they should never see again; as
+the struggle would have been under the walls of their city, and by the
+side of many and brave allies. On their return accordingly they began
+to stone Thrasylus in the bed of the Charadrus, where they try all
+military causes before entering the city. Thrasylus fled to the altar,
+and so saved his life; his property however they confiscated.
+
+After this arrived a thousand Athenian heavy infantry and three hundred
+horse, under the command of Laches and Nicostratus; whom the Argives,
+being nevertheless loath to break the truce with the Lacedaemonians,
+begged to depart, and refused to bring before the people, to whom they
+had a communication to make, until compelled to do so by the entreaties
+of the Mantineans and Eleans, who were still at Argos. The Athenians,
+by the mouth of Alcibiades their ambassador there present, told the
+Argives and the allies that they had no right to make a truce at all
+without the consent of their fellow confederates, and now that the
+Athenians had arrived so opportunely the war ought to be resumed. These
+arguments proving successful with the allies, they immediately marched
+upon Orchomenos, all except the Argives, who, although they had
+consented like the rest, stayed behind at first, but eventually joined
+the others. They now all sat down and besieged Orchomenos, and made
+assaults upon it; one of their reasons for desiring to gain this place
+being that hostages from Arcadia had been lodged there by the
+Lacedaemonians. The Orchomenians, alarmed at the weakness of their wall
+and the numbers of the enemy, and at the risk they ran of perishing
+before relief arrived, capitulated upon condition of joining the
+league, of giving hostages of their own to the Mantineans, and giving
+up those lodged with them by the Lacedaemonians. Orchomenos thus
+secured, the allies now consulted as to which of the remaining places
+they should attack next. The Eleans were urgent for Lepreum; the
+Mantineans for Tegea; and the Argives and Athenians giving their
+support to the Mantineans, the Eleans went home in a rage at their not
+having voted for Lepreum; while the rest of the allies made ready at
+Mantinea for going against Tegea, which a party inside had arranged to
+put into their hands.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, upon their return from Argos after
+concluding the four months’ truce, vehemently blamed Agis for not
+having subdued Argos, after an opportunity such as they thought they
+had never had before; for it was no easy matter to bring so many and so
+good allies together. But when the news arrived of the capture of
+Orchomenos, they became more angry than ever, and, departing from all
+precedent, in the heat of the moment had almost decided to raze his
+house, and to fine him ten thousand drachmae. Agis however entreated
+them to do none of these things, promising to atone for his fault by
+good service in the field, failing which they might then do to him
+whatever they pleased; and they accordingly abstained from razing his
+house or fining him as they had threatened to do, and now made a law,
+hitherto unknown at Lacedaemon, attaching to him ten Spartans as
+counsellors, without whose consent he should have no power to lead an
+army out of the city.
+
+At this juncture arrived word from their friends in Tegea that, unless
+they speedily appeared, Tegea would go over from them to the Argives
+and their allies, if it had not gone over already. Upon this news a
+force marched out from Lacedaemon, of the Spartans and Helots and all
+their people, and that instantly and upon a scale never before
+witnessed. Advancing to Orestheum in Maenalia, they directed the
+Arcadians in their league to follow close after them to Tegea, and,
+going on themselves as far as Orestheum, from thence sent back the
+sixth part of the Spartans, consisting of the oldest and youngest men,
+to guard their homes, and with the rest of their army arrived at Tegea;
+where their Arcadian allies soon after joined them. Meanwhile they sent
+to Corinth, to the Boeotians, the Phocians, and Locrians, with orders
+to come up as quickly as possible to Mantinea. These had but short
+notice; and it was not easy except all together, and after waiting for
+each other, to pass through the enemy’s country, which lay right across
+and blocked up the line of communication. Nevertheless they made what
+haste they could. Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians with the Arcadian allies
+that had joined them, entered the territory of Mantinea, and encamping
+near the temple of Heracles began to plunder the country.
+
+Here they were seen by the Argives and their allies, who immediately
+took up a strong and difficult position, and formed in order of battle.
+The Lacedaemonians at once advanced against them, and came on within a
+stone’s throw or javelin’s cast, when one of the older men, seeing the
+enemy’s position to be a strong one, hallooed to Agis that he was
+minded to cure one evil with another; meaning that he wished to make
+amends for his retreat, which had been so much blamed, from Argos, by
+his present untimely precipitation. Meanwhile Agis, whether in
+consequence of this halloo or of some sudden new idea of his own,
+quickly led back his army without engaging, and entering the Tegean
+territory, began to turn off into that of Mantinea the water about
+which the Mantineans and Tegeans are always fighting, on account of the
+extensive damage it does to whichever of the two countries it falls
+into. His object in this was to make the Argives and their allies come
+down from the hill, to resist the diversion of the water, as they would
+be sure to do when they knew of it, and thus to fight the battle in the
+plain. He accordingly stayed that day where he was, engaged in turning
+off the water. The Argives and their allies were at first amazed at the
+sudden retreat of the enemy after advancing so near, and did not know
+what to make of it; but when he had gone away and disappeared, without
+their having stirred to pursue him, they began anew to find fault with
+their generals, who had not only let the Lacedaemonians get off before,
+when they were so happily intercepted before Argos, but who now again
+allowed them to run away, without any one pursuing them, and to escape
+at their leisure while the Argive army was leisurely betrayed. The
+generals, half-stunned for the moment, afterwards led them down from
+the hill, and went forward and encamped in the plain, with the
+intention of attacking the enemy.
+
+The next day the Argives and their allies formed in the order in which
+they meant to fight, if they chanced to encounter the enemy; and the
+Lacedaemonians returning from the water to their old encampment by the
+temple of Heracles, suddenly saw their adversaries close in front of
+them, all in complete order, and advanced from the hill. A shock like
+that of the present moment the Lacedaemonians do not ever remember to
+have experienced: there was scant time for preparation, as they
+instantly and hastily fell into their ranks, Agis, their king,
+directing everything, agreeably to the law. For when a king is in the
+field all commands proceed from him: he gives the word to the
+Polemarchs; they to the Lochages; these to the Pentecostyes; these
+again to the Enomotarchs, and these last to the Enomoties. In short all
+orders required pass in the same way and quickly reach the troops; as
+almost the whole Lacedaemonian army, save for a small part, consists of
+officers under officers, and the care of what is to be done falls upon
+many.
+
+In this battle the left wing was composed of the Sciritae, who in a
+Lacedaemonian army have always that post to themselves alone; next to
+these were the soldiers of Brasidas from Thrace, and the Neodamodes
+with them; then came the Lacedaemonians themselves, company after
+company, with the Arcadians of Heraea at their side. After these were
+the Maenalians, and on the right wing the Tegeans with a few of the
+Lacedaemonians at the extremity; their cavalry being posted upon the
+two wings. Such was the Lacedaemonian formation. That of their
+opponents was as follows: On the right were the Mantineans, the action
+taking place in their country; next to them the allies from Arcadia;
+after whom came the thousand picked men of the Argives, to whom the
+state had given a long course of military training at the public
+expense; next to them the rest of the Argives, and after them their
+allies, the Cleonaeans and Orneans, and lastly the Athenians on the
+extreme left, and lastly the Athenians on the extreme left, and their
+own cavalry with them.
+
+Such were the order and the forces of the two combatants. The
+Lacedaemonian army looked the largest; though as to putting down the
+numbers of either host, or of the contingents composing it, I could not
+do so with any accuracy. Owing to the secrecy of their government the
+number of the Lacedaemonians was not known, and men are so apt to brag
+about the forces of their country that the estimate of their opponents
+was not trusted. The following calculation, however, makes it possible
+to estimate the numbers of the Lacedaemonians present upon this
+occasion. There were seven companies in the field without counting the
+Sciritae, who numbered six hundred men: in each company there were four
+Pentecostyes, and in the Pentecosty four Enomoties. The first rank of
+the Enomoty was composed of four soldiers: as to the depth, although
+they had not been all drawn up alike, but as each captain chose, they
+were generally ranged eight deep; the first rank along the whole line,
+exclusive of the Sciritae, consisted of four hundred and forty-eight
+men.
+
+The armies being now on the eve of engaging, each contingent received
+some words of encouragement from its own commander. The Mantineans
+were, reminded that they were going to fight for their country and to
+avoid returning to the experience of servitude after having tasted that
+of empire; the Argives, that they would contend for their ancient
+supremacy, to regain their once equal share of Peloponnese of which
+they had been so long deprived, and to punish an enemy and a neighbour
+for a thousand wrongs; the Athenians, of the glory of gaining the
+honours of the day with so many and brave allies in arms, and that a
+victory over the Lacedaemonians in Peloponnese would cement and extend
+their empire, and would besides preserve Attica from all invasions in
+future. These were the incitements addressed to the Argives and their
+allies. The Lacedaemonians meanwhile, man to man, and with their
+war-songs in the ranks, exhorted each brave comrade to remember what he
+had learnt before; well aware that the long training of action was of
+more saving virtue than any brief verbal exhortation, though never so
+well delivered.
+
+After this they joined battle, the Argives and their allies advancing
+with haste and fury, the Lacedaemonians slowly and to the music of many
+flute-players—a standing institution in their army, that has nothing to
+do with religion, but is meant to make them advance evenly, stepping in
+time, without break their order, as large armies are apt to do in the
+moment of engaging.
+
+Just before the battle joined, King Agis resolved upon the following
+manoeuvre. All armies are alike in this: on going into action they get
+forced out rather on their right wing, and one and the other overlap
+with this adversary’s left; because fear makes each man do his best to
+shelter his unarmed side with the shield of the man next him on the
+right, thinking that the closer the shields are locked together the
+better will he be protected. The man primarily responsible for this is
+the first upon the right wing, who is always striving to withdraw from
+the enemy his unarmed side; and the same apprehension makes the rest
+follow him. On the present occasion the Mantineans reached with their
+wing far beyond the Sciritae, and the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans still
+farther beyond the Athenians, as their army was the largest. Agis,
+afraid of his left being surrounded, and thinking that the Mantineans
+outflanked it too far, ordered the Sciritae and Brasideans to move out
+from their place in the ranks and make the line even with the
+Mantineans, and told the Polemarchs Hipponoidas and Aristocles to fill
+up the gap thus formed, by throwing themselves into it with two
+companies taken from the right wing; thinking that his right would
+still be strong enough and to spare, and that the line fronting the
+Mantineans would gain in solidity.
+
+However, as he gave these orders in the moment of the onset, and at
+short notice, it so happened that Aristocles and Hipponoidas would not
+move over, for which offence they were afterwards banished from Sparta,
+as having been guilty of cowardice; and the enemy meanwhile closed
+before the Sciritae (whom Agis on seeing that the two companies did not
+move over ordered to return to their place) had time to fill up the
+breach in question. Now it was, however, that the Lacedaemonians,
+utterly worsted in respect of skill, showed themselves as superior in
+point of courage. As soon as they came to close quarters with the
+enemy, the Mantinean right broke their Sciritae and Brasideans, and,
+bursting in with their allies and the thousand picked Argives into the
+unclosed breach in their line, cut up and surrounded the
+Lacedaemonians, and drove them in full rout to the wagons, slaying some
+of the older men on guard there. But the Lacedaemonians, worsted in
+this part of the field, with the rest of their army, and especially the
+centre, where the three hundred knights, as they are called, fought
+round King Agis, fell on the older men of the Argives and the five
+companies so named, and on the Cleonaeans, the Orneans, and the
+Athenians next them, and instantly routed them; the greater number not
+even waiting to strike a blow, but giving way the moment that they came
+on, some even being trodden under foot, in their fear of being
+overtaken by their assailants.
+
+The army of the Argives and their allies, having given way in this
+quarter, was now completely cut in two, and the Lacedaemonian and
+Tegean right simultaneously closing round the Athenians with the troops
+that outflanked them, these last found themselves placed between two
+fires, being surrounded on one side and already defeated on the other.
+Indeed they would have suffered more severely than any other part of
+the army, but for the services of the cavalry which they had with them.
+Agis also on perceiving the distress of his left opposed to the
+Mantineans and the thousand Argives, ordered all the army to advance to
+the support of the defeated wing; and while this took place, as the
+enemy moved past and slanted away from them, the Athenians escaped at
+their leisure, and with them the beaten Argive division. Meanwhile the
+Mantineans and their allies and the picked body of the Argives ceased
+to press the enemy, and seeing their friends defeated and the
+Lacedaemonians in full advance upon them, took to flight. Many of the
+Mantineans perished; but the bulk of the picked body of the Argives
+made good their escape. The flight and retreat, however, were neither
+hurried nor long; the Lacedaemonians fighting long and stubbornly until
+the rout of their enemy, but that once effected, pursuing for a short
+time and not far.
+
+Such was the battle, as nearly as possible as I have described it; the
+greatest that had occurred for a very long while among the Hellenes,
+and joined by the most considerable states. The Lacedaemonians took up
+a position in front of the enemy’s dead, and immediately set up a
+trophy and stripped the slain; they took up their own dead and carried
+them back to Tegea, where they buried them, and restored those of the
+enemy under truce. The Argives, Orneans, and Cleonaeans had seven
+hundred killed; the Mantineans two hundred, and the Athenians and
+Aeginetans also two hundred, with both their generals. On the side of
+the Lacedaemonians, the allies did not suffer any loss worth speaking
+of: as to the Lacedaemonians themselves it was difficult to learn the
+truth; it is said, however, that there were slain about three hundred
+of them.
+
+While the battle was impending, Pleistoanax, the other king, set out
+with a reinforcement composed of the oldest and youngest men, and got
+as far as Tegea, where he heard of the victory and went back again. The
+Lacedaemonians also sent and turned back the allies from Corinth and
+from beyond the Isthmus, and returning themselves dismissed their
+allies, and kept the Carnean holidays, which happened to be at that
+time. The imputations cast upon them by the Hellenes at the time,
+whether of cowardice on account of the disaster in the island, or of
+mismanagement and slowness generally, were all wiped out by this single
+action: fortune, it was thought, might have humbled them, but the men
+themselves were the same as ever.
+
+The day before this battle, the Epidaurians with all their forces
+invaded the deserted Argive territory, and cut off many of the guards
+left there in the absence of the Argive army. After the battle three
+thousand Elean heavy infantry arriving to aid the Mantineans, and a
+reinforcement of one thousand Athenians, all these allies marched at
+once against Epidaurus, while the Lacedaemonians were keeping the
+Carnea, and dividing the work among them began to build a wall round
+the city. The rest left off; but the Athenians finished at once the
+part assigned to them round Cape Heraeum; and having all joined in
+leaving a garrison in the fortification in question, they returned to
+their respective cities.
+
+Summer now came to an end. In the first days of the next winter, when
+the Carnean holidays were over, the Lacedaemonians took the field, and
+arriving at Tegea sent on to Argos proposals of accommodation. They had
+before had a party in the town desirous of overthrowing the democracy;
+and after the battle that had been fought, these were now far more in a
+position to persuade the people to listen to terms. Their plan was
+first to make a treaty with the Lacedaemonians, to be followed by an
+alliance, and after this to fall upon the commons. Lichas, son of
+Arcesilaus, the Argive proxenus, accordingly arrived at Argos with two
+proposals from Lacedaemon, to regulate the conditions of war or peace,
+according as they preferred the one or the other. After much
+discussion, Alcibiades happening to be in the town, the Lacedaemonian
+party, who now ventured to act openly, persuaded the Argives to accept
+the proposal for accommodation; which ran as follows:
+
+The assembly of the Lacedaemonians agrees to treat with the Argives
+upon the terms following:
+
+1. The Argives shall restore to the Orchomenians their children, and to
+the Maenalians their men, and shall restore the men they have in
+Mantinea to the Lacedaemonians.
+
+2. They shall evacuate Epidaurus, and raze the fortification there. If
+the Athenians refuse to withdraw from Epidaurus, they shall be declared
+enemies of the Argives and of the Lacedaemonians, and of the allies of
+the Lacedaemonians and the allies of the Argives.
+
+3. If the Lacedaemonians have any children in their custody, they shall
+restore them every one to his city.
+
+4. As to the offering to the god, the Argives, if they wish, shall
+impose an oath upon the Epidaurians, but, if not, they shall swear it
+themselves.
+
+5. All the cities in Peloponnese, both small and great, shall be
+independent according to the customs of their country.
+
+6. If any of the powers outside Peloponnese invade Peloponnesian
+territory, the parties contracting shall unite to repel them, on such
+terms as they may agree upon, as being most fair for the
+Peloponnesians.
+
+7. All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be on the
+same footing as the Lacedaemonians, and the allies of the Argives shall
+be on the same footing as the Argives, being left in enjoyment of their
+own possessions.
+
+8. This treaty shall be shown to the allies, and shall be concluded, if
+they approve; if the allies think fit, they may send the treaty to be
+considered at home.
+
+The Argives began by accepting this proposal, and the Lacedaemonian
+army returned home from Tegea. After this intercourse was renewed
+between them, and not long afterwards the same party contrived that the
+Argives should give up the league with the Mantineans, Eleans, and
+Athenians, and should make a treaty and alliance with the
+Lacedaemonians; which was consequently done upon the terms following:
+
+The Lacedaemonians and Argives agree to a treaty and alliance for fifty
+years upon the terms following:
+
+1. All disputes shall be decided by fair and impartial arbitration,
+agreeably to the customs of the two countries.
+
+2. The rest of the cities in Peloponnese may be included in this treaty
+and alliance, as independent and sovereign, in full enjoyment of what
+they possess, all disputes being decided by fair and impartial
+arbitration, agreeably to the customs of the said cities.
+
+3. All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be upon
+the same footing as the Lacedaemonians themselves, and the allies of
+the Argives shall be upon the same footing as the Argives themselves,
+continuing to enjoy what they possess.
+
+4. If it shall be anywhere necessary to make an expedition in common,
+the Lacedaemonians and Argives shall consult upon it and decide, as may
+be most fair for the allies.
+
+5. If any of the cities, whether inside or outside Peloponnese, have a
+question whether of frontiers or otherwise, it must be settled, but if
+one allied city should have a quarrel with another allied city, it must
+be referred to some third city thought impartial by both parties.
+Private citizens shall have their disputes decided according to the
+laws of their several countries.
+
+The treaty and above alliance concluded, each party at once released
+everything whether acquired by war or otherwise, and thenceforth acting
+in common voted to receive neither herald nor embassy from the
+Athenians unless they evacuated their forts and withdrew from
+Peloponnese, and also to make neither peace nor war with any, except
+jointly. Zeal was not wanting: both parties sent envoys to the Thracian
+places and to Perdiccas, and persuaded the latter to join their league.
+Still he did not at once break off from Athens, although minded to do
+so upon seeing the way shown him by Argos, the original home of his
+family. They also renewed their old oaths with the Chalcidians and took
+new ones: the Argives, besides, sent ambassadors to the Athenians,
+bidding them evacuate the fort at Epidaurus. The Athenians, seeing
+their own men outnumbered by the rest of the garrison, sent Demosthenes
+to bring them out. This general, under colour of a gymnastic contest
+which he arranged on his arrival, got the rest of the garrison out of
+the place, and shut the gates behind them. Afterwards the Athenians
+renewed their treaty with the Epidaurians, and by themselves gave up
+the fortress.
+
+After the defection of Argos from the league, the Mantineans, though
+they held out at first, in the end finding themselves powerless without
+the Argives, themselves too came to terms with Lacedaemon, and gave up
+their sovereignty over the towns. The Lacedaemonians and Argives, each
+a thousand strong, now took the field together, and the former first
+went by themselves to Sicyon and made the government there more
+oligarchical than before, and then both, uniting, put down the
+democracy at Argos and set up an oligarchy favourable to Lacedaemon.
+These events occurred at the close of the winter, just before spring;
+and the fourteenth year of the war ended. The next summer the people of
+Dium, in Athos, revolted from the Athenians to the Chalcidians, and the
+Lacedaemonians settled affairs in Achaea in a way more agreeable to the
+interests of their country. Meanwhile the popular party at Argos little
+by little gathered new consistency and courage, and waited for the
+moment of the Gymnopaedic festival at Lacedaemon, and then fell upon
+the oligarchs. After a fight in the city, victory declared for the
+commons, who slew some of their opponents and banished others. The
+Lacedaemonians for a long while let the messages of their friends at
+Argos remain without effect. At last they put off the Gymnopaediae and
+marched to their succour, but learning at Tegea the defeat of the
+oligarchs, refused to go any further in spite of the entreaties of
+those who had escaped, and returned home and kept the festival. Later
+on, envoys arrived with messages from the Argives in the town and from
+the exiles, when the allies were also at Sparta; and after much had
+been said on both sides, the Lacedaemonians decided that the party in
+the town had done wrong, and resolved to march against Argos, but kept
+delaying and putting off the matter. Meanwhile the commons at Argos, in
+fear of the Lacedaemonians, began again to court the Athenian alliance,
+which they were convinced would be of the greatest service to them; and
+accordingly proceeded to build long walls to the sea, in order that in
+case of a blockade by land; with the help of the Athenians they might
+have the advantage of importing what they wanted by sea. Some of the
+cities in Peloponnese were also privy to the building of these walls;
+and the Argives with all their people, women and slaves not excepted,
+addressed themselves to the work, while carpenters and masons came to
+them from Athens.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following the Lacedaemonians, hearing
+of the walls that were building, marched against Argos with their
+allies, the Corinthians excepted, being also not without intelligence
+in the city itself; Agis, son of Archidamus, their king, was in
+command. The intelligence which they counted upon within the town came
+to nothing; they however took and razed the walls which were being
+built, and after capturing the Argive town Hysiae and killing all the
+freemen that fell into their hands, went back and dispersed every man
+to his city. After this the Argives marched into Phlius and plundered
+it for harbouring their exiles, most of whom had settled there, and so
+returned home. The same winter the Athenians blockaded Macedonia, on
+the score of the league entered into by Perdiccas with the Argives and
+Lacedaemonians, and also of his breach of his engagements on the
+occasion of the expedition prepared by Athens against the Chalcidians
+in the direction of Thrace and against Amphipolis, under the command of
+Nicias, son of Niceratus, which had to be broken up mainly because of
+his desertion. He was therefore proclaimed an enemy. And thus the
+winter ended, and the fifteenth year of the war ended with it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Sixteenth Year of the War—The Melian Conference—Fate of Melos
+
+
+The next summer Alcibiades sailed with twenty ships to Argos and seized
+the suspected persons still left of the Lacedaemonian faction to the
+number of three hundred, whom the Athenians forthwith lodged in the
+neighbouring islands of their empire. The Athenians also made an
+expedition against the isle of Melos with thirty ships of their own,
+six Chian, and two Lesbian vessels, sixteen hundred heavy infantry,
+three hundred archers, and twenty mounted archers from Athens, and
+about fifteen hundred heavy infantry from the allies and the islanders.
+The Melians are a colony of Lacedaemon that would not submit to the
+Athenians like the other islanders, and at first remained neutral and
+took no part in the struggle, but afterwards upon the Athenians using
+violence and plundering their territory, assumed an attitude of open
+hostility. Cleomedes, son of Lycomedes, and Tisias, son of Tisimachus,
+the generals, encamping in their territory with the above armament,
+before doing any harm to their land, sent envoys to negotiate. These
+the Melians did not bring before the people, but bade them state the
+object of their mission to the magistrates and the few; upon which the
+Athenian envoys spoke as follows:
+
+Athenians. Since the negotiations are not to go on before the people,
+in order that we may not be able to speak straight on without
+interruption, and deceive the ears of the multitude by seductive
+arguments which would pass without refutation (for we know that this is
+the meaning of our being brought before the few), what if you who sit
+there were to pursue a method more cautious still? Make no set speech
+yourselves, but take us up at whatever you do not like, and settle that
+before going any farther. And first tell us if this proposition of ours
+suits you.
+
+The Melian commissioners answered:
+
+Melians. To the fairness of quietly instructing each other as you
+propose there is nothing to object; but your military preparations are
+too far advanced to agree with what you say, as we see you are come to
+be judges in your own cause, and that all we can reasonably expect from
+this negotiation is war, if we prove to have right on our side and
+refuse to submit, and in the contrary case, slavery.
+
+Athenians. If you have met to reason about presentiments of the future,
+or for anything else than to consult for the safety of your state upon
+the facts that you see before you, we will give over; otherwise we will
+go on.
+
+Melians. It is natural and excusable for men in our position to turn
+more ways than one both in thought and utterance. However, the question
+in this conference is, as you say, the safety of our country; and the
+discussion, if you please, can proceed in the way which you propose.
+
+Athenians. For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious
+pretences—either of how we have a right to our empire because we
+overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you
+have done us—and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in
+return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying
+that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists, or
+that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding
+in view the real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we do
+that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in
+power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they
+must.
+
+Melians. As we think, at any rate, it is expedient—we speak as we are
+obliged, since you enjoin us to let right alone and talk only of
+interest—that you should not destroy what is our common protection, the
+privilege of being allowed in danger to invoke what is fair and right,
+and even to profit by arguments not strictly valid if they can be got
+to pass current. And you are as much interested in this as any, as your
+fall would be a signal for the heaviest vengeance and an example for
+the world to meditate upon.
+
+Athenians. The end of our empire, if end it should, does not frighten
+us: a rival empire like Lacedaemon, even if Lacedaemon was our real
+antagonist, is not so terrible to the vanquished as subjects who by
+themselves attack and overpower their rulers. This, however, is a risk
+that we are content to take. We will now proceed to show you that we
+are come here in the interest of our empire, and that we shall say what
+we are now going to say, for the preservation of your country; as we
+would fain exercise that empire over you without trouble, and see you
+preserved for the good of us both.
+
+Melians. And how, pray, could it turn out as good for us to serve as
+for you to rule?
+
+Athenians. Because you would have the advantage of submitting before
+suffering the worst, and we should gain by not destroying you.
+
+Melians. So that you would not consent to our being neutral, friends
+instead of enemies, but allies of neither side.
+
+Athenians. No; for your hostility cannot so much hurt us as your
+friendship will be an argument to our subjects of our weakness, and
+your enmity of our power.
+
+Melians. Is that your subjects’ idea of equity, to put those who have
+nothing to do with you in the same category with peoples that are most
+of them your own colonists, and some conquered rebels?
+
+Athenians. As far as right goes they think one has as much of it as the
+other, and that if any maintain their independence it is because they
+are strong, and that if we do not molest them it is because we are
+afraid; so that besides extending our empire we should gain in security
+by your subjection; the fact that you are islanders and weaker than
+others rendering it all the more important that you should not succeed
+in baffling the masters of the sea.
+
+Melians. But do you consider that there is no security in the policy
+which we indicate? For here again if you debar us from talking about
+justice and invite us to obey your interest, we also must explain ours,
+and try to persuade you, if the two happen to coincide. How can you
+avoid making enemies of all existing neutrals who shall look at case
+from it that one day or another you will attack them? And what is this
+but to make greater the enemies that you have already, and to force
+others to become so who would otherwise have never thought of it?
+
+Athenians. Why, the fact is that continentals generally give us but
+little alarm; the liberty which they enjoy will long prevent their
+taking precautions against us; it is rather islanders like yourselves,
+outside our empire, and subjects smarting under the yoke, who would be
+the most likely to take a rash step and lead themselves and us into
+obvious danger.
+
+Melians. Well then, if you risk so much to retain your empire, and your
+subjects to get rid of it, it were surely great baseness and cowardice
+in us who are still free not to try everything that can be tried,
+before submitting to your yoke.
+
+Athenians. Not if you are well advised, the contest not being an equal
+one, with honour as the prize and shame as the penalty, but a question
+of self-preservation and of not resisting those who are far stronger
+than you are.
+
+Melians. But we know that the fortune of war is sometimes more
+impartial than the disproportion of numbers might lead one to suppose;
+to submit is to give ourselves over to despair, while action still
+preserves for us a hope that we may stand erect.
+
+Athenians. Hope, danger’s comforter, may be indulged in by those who
+have abundant resources, if not without loss at all events without
+ruin; but its nature is to be extravagant, and those who go so far as
+to put their all upon the venture see it in its true colours only when
+they are ruined; but so long as the discovery would enable them to
+guard against it, it is never found wanting. Let not this be the case
+with you, who are weak and hang on a single turn of the scale; nor be
+like the vulgar, who, abandoning such security as human means may still
+afford, when visible hopes fail them in extremity, turn to invisible,
+to prophecies and oracles, and other such inventions that delude men
+with hopes to their destruction.
+
+Melians. You may be sure that we are as well aware as you of the
+difficulty of contending against your power and fortune, unless the
+terms be equal. But we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good
+as yours, since we are just men fighting against unjust, and that what
+we want in power will be made up by the alliance of the Lacedaemonians,
+who are bound, if only for very shame, to come to the aid of their
+kindred. Our confidence, therefore, after all is not so utterly
+irrational.
+
+Athenians. When you speak of the favour of the gods, we may as fairly
+hope for that as yourselves; neither our pretensions nor our conduct
+being in any way contrary to what men believe of the gods, or practise
+among themselves. Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a
+necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can. And it is
+not as if we were the first to make this law, or to act upon it when
+made: we found it existing before us, and shall leave it to exist for
+ever after us; all we do is to make use of it, knowing that you and
+everybody else, having the same power as we have, would do the same as
+we do. Thus, as far as the gods are concerned, we have no fear and no
+reason to fear that we shall be at a disadvantage. But when we come to
+your notion about the Lacedaemonians, which leads you to believe that
+shame will make them help you, here we bless your simplicity but do not
+envy your folly. The Lacedaemonians, when their own interests or their
+country’s laws are in question, are the worthiest men alive; of their
+conduct towards others much might be said, but no clearer idea of it
+could be given than by shortly saying that of all the men we know they
+are most conspicuous in considering what is agreeable honourable, and
+what is expedient just. Such a way of thinking does not promise much
+for the safety which you now unreasonably count upon.
+
+Melians. But it is for this very reason that we now trust to their
+respect for expediency to prevent them from betraying the Melians,
+their colonists, and thereby losing the confidence of their friends in
+Hellas and helping their enemies.
+
+Athenians. Then you do not adopt the view that expediency goes with
+security, while justice and honour cannot be followed without danger;
+and danger the Lacedaemonians generally court as little as possible.
+
+Melians. But we believe that they would be more likely to face even
+danger for our sake, and with more confidence than for others, as our
+nearness to Peloponnese makes it easier for them to act, and our common
+blood ensures our fidelity.
+
+Athenians. Yes, but what an intending ally trusts to is not the
+goodwill of those who ask his aid, but a decided superiority of power
+for action; and the Lacedaemonians look to this even more than others.
+At least, such is their distrust of their home resources that it is
+only with numerous allies that they attack a neighbour; now is it
+likely that while we are masters of the sea they will cross over to an
+island?
+
+Melians. But they would have others to send. The Cretan Sea is a wide
+one, and it is more difficult for those who command it to intercept
+others, than for those who wish to elude them to do so safely. And
+should the Lacedaemonians miscarry in this, they would fall upon your
+land, and upon those left of your allies whom Brasidas did not reach;
+and instead of places which are not yours, you will have to fight for
+your own country and your own confederacy.
+
+Athenians. Some diversion of the kind you speak of you may one day
+experience, only to learn, as others have done, that the Athenians
+never once yet withdrew from a siege for fear of any. But we are struck
+by the fact that, after saying you would consult for the safety of your
+country, in all this discussion you have mentioned nothing which men
+might trust in and think to be saved by. Your strongest arguments
+depend upon hope and the future, and your actual resources are too
+scanty, as compared with those arrayed against you, for you to come out
+victorious. You will therefore show great blindness of judgment,
+unless, after allowing us to retire, you can find some counsel more
+prudent than this. You will surely not be caught by that idea of
+disgrace, which in dangers that are disgraceful, and at the same time
+too plain to be mistaken, proves so fatal to mankind; since in too many
+cases the very men that have their eyes perfectly open to what they are
+rushing into, let the thing called disgrace, by the mere influence of a
+seductive name, lead them on to a point at which they become so
+enslaved by the phrase as in fact to fall wilfully into hopeless
+disaster, and incur disgrace more disgraceful as the companion of
+error, than when it comes as the result of misfortune. This, if you are
+well advised, you will guard against; and you will not think it
+dishonourable to submit to the greatest city in Hellas, when it makes
+you the moderate offer of becoming its tributary ally, without ceasing
+to enjoy the country that belongs to you; nor when you have the choice
+given you between war and security, will you be so blinded as to choose
+the worse. And it is certain that those who do not yield to their
+equals, who keep terms with their superiors, and are moderate towards
+their inferiors, on the whole succeed best. Think over the matter,
+therefore, after our withdrawal, and reflect once and again that it is
+for your country that you are consulting, that you have not more than
+one, and that upon this one deliberation depends its prosperity or
+ruin.
+
+The Athenians now withdrew from the conference; and the Melians, left
+to themselves, came to a decision corresponding with what they had
+maintained in the discussion, and answered: “Our resolution, Athenians,
+is the same as it was at first. We will not in a moment deprive of
+freedom a city that has been inhabited these seven hundred years; but
+we put our trust in the fortune by which the gods have preserved it
+until now, and in the help of men, that is, of the Lacedaemonians; and
+so we will try and save ourselves. Meanwhile we invite you to allow us
+to be friends to you and foes to neither party, and to retire from our
+country after making such a treaty as shall seem fit to us both.”
+
+Such was the answer of the Melians. The Athenians now departing from
+the conference said: “Well, you alone, as it seems to us, judging from
+these resolutions, regard what is future as more certain than what is
+before your eyes, and what is out of sight, in your eagerness, as
+already coming to pass; and as you have staked most on, and trusted
+most in, the Lacedaemonians, your fortune, and your hopes, so will you
+be most completely deceived.”
+
+The Athenian envoys now returned to the army; and the Melians showing
+no signs of yielding, the generals at once betook themselves to
+hostilities, and drew a line of circumvallation round the Melians,
+dividing the work among the different states. Subsequently the
+Athenians returned with most of their army, leaving behind them a
+certain number of their own citizens and of the allies to keep guard by
+land and sea. The force thus left stayed on and besieged the place.
+
+About the same time the Argives invaded the territory of Phlius and
+lost eighty men cut off in an ambush by the Phliasians and Argive
+exiles. Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos took so much plunder from the
+Lacedaemonians that the latter, although they still refrained from
+breaking off the treaty and going to war with Athens, yet proclaimed
+that any of their people that chose might plunder the Athenians. The
+Corinthians also commenced hostilities with the Athenians for private
+quarrels of their own; but the rest of the Peloponnesians stayed quiet.
+Meanwhile the Melians attacked by night and took the part of the
+Athenian lines over against the market, and killed some of the men, and
+brought in corn and all else that they could find useful to them, and
+so returned and kept quiet, while the Athenians took measures to keep
+better guard in future.
+
+Summer was now over. The next winter the Lacedaemonians intended to
+invade the Argive territory, but arriving at the frontier found the
+sacrifices for crossing unfavourable, and went back again. This
+intention of theirs gave the Argives suspicions of certain of their
+fellow citizens, some of whom they arrested; others, however, escaped
+them. About the same time the Melians again took another part of the
+Athenian lines which were but feebly garrisoned. Reinforcements
+afterwards arriving from Athens in consequence, under the command of
+Philocrates, son of Demeas, the siege was now pressed vigorously; and
+some treachery taking place inside, the Melians surrendered at
+discretion to the Athenians, who put to death all the grown men whom
+they took, and sold the women and children for slaves, and subsequently
+sent out five hundred colonists and inhabited the place themselves.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Seventeenth Year of the War—The Sicilian Campaign—Affair of the
+Hermae—Departure of the Expedition
+
+
+The same winter the Athenians resolved to sail again to Sicily, with a
+greater armament than that under Laches and Eurymedon, and, if
+possible, to conquer the island; most of them being ignorant of its
+size and of the number of its inhabitants, Hellenic and barbarian, and
+of the fact that they were undertaking a war not much inferior to that
+against the Peloponnesians. For the voyage round Sicily in a
+merchantman is not far short of eight days; and yet, large as the
+island is, there are only two miles of sea to prevent its being
+mainland.
+
+It was settled originally as follows, and the peoples that occupied it
+are these. The earliest inhabitants spoken of in any part of the
+country are the Cyclopes and Laestrygones; but I cannot tell of what
+race they were, or whence they came or whither they went, and must
+leave my readers to what the poets have said of them and to what may be
+generally known concerning them. The Sicanians appear to have been the
+next settlers, although they pretend to have been the first of all and
+aborigines; but the facts show that they were Iberians, driven by the
+Ligurians from the river Sicanus in Iberia. It was from them that the
+island, before called Trinacria, took its name of Sicania, and to the
+present day they inhabit the west of Sicily. On the fall of Ilium, some
+of the Trojans escaped from the Achaeans, came in ships to Sicily, and
+settled next to the Sicanians under the general name of Elymi; their
+towns being called Eryx and Egesta. With them settled some of the
+Phocians carried on their way from Troy by a storm, first to Libya, and
+afterwards from thence to Sicily. The Sicels crossed over to Sicily
+from their first home Italy, flying from the Opicans, as tradition says
+and as seems not unlikely, upon rafts, having watched till the wind set
+down the strait to effect the passage; although perhaps they may have
+sailed over in some other way. Even at the present day there are still
+Sicels in Italy; and the country got its name of Italy from Italus, a
+king of the Sicels, so called. These went with a great host to Sicily,
+defeated the Sicanians in battle and forced them to remove to the south
+and west of the island, which thus came to be called Sicily instead of
+Sicania, and after they crossed over continued to enjoy the richest
+parts of the country for near three hundred years before any Hellenes
+came to Sicily; indeed they still hold the centre and north of the
+island. There were also Phoenicians living all round Sicily, who had
+occupied promontories upon the sea coasts and the islets adjacent for
+the purpose of trading with the Sicels. But when the Hellenes began to
+arrive in considerable numbers by sea, the Phoenicians abandoned most
+of their stations, and drawing together took up their abode in Motye,
+Soloeis, and Panormus, near the Elymi, partly because they confided in
+their alliance, and also because these are the nearest points for the
+voyage between Carthage and Sicily.
+
+These were the barbarians in Sicily, settled as I have said. Of the
+Hellenes, the first to arrive were Chalcidians from Euboea with
+Thucles, their founder. They founded Naxos and built the altar to
+Apollo Archegetes, which now stands outside the town, and upon which
+the deputies for the games sacrifice before sailing from Sicily.
+Syracuse was founded the year afterwards by Archias, one of the
+Heraclids from Corinth, who began by driving out the Sicels from the
+island upon which the inner city now stands, though it is no longer
+surrounded by water: in process of time the outer town also was taken
+within the walls and became populous. Meanwhile Thucles and the
+Chalcidians set out from Naxos in the fifth year after the foundation
+of Syracuse, and drove out the Sicels by arms and founded Leontini and
+afterwards Catana; the Catanians themselves choosing Evarchus as their
+founder.
+
+About the same time Lamis arrived in Sicily with a colony from Megara,
+and after founding a place called Trotilus beyond the river Pantacyas,
+and afterwards leaving it and for a short while joining the Chalcidians
+at Leontini, was driven out by them and founded Thapsus. After his
+death his companions were driven out of Thapsus, and founded a place
+called the Hyblaean Megara; Hyblon, a Sicel king, having given up the
+place and inviting them thither. Here they lived two hundred and
+forty-five years; after which they were expelled from the city and the
+country by the Syracusan tyrant Gelo. Before their expulsion, however,
+a hundred years after they had settled there, they sent out Pamillus
+and founded Selinus; he having come from their mother country Megara to
+join them in its foundation. Gela was founded by Antiphemus from Rhodes
+and Entimus from Crete, who joined in leading a colony thither, in the
+forty-fifth year after the foundation of Syracuse. The town took its
+name from the river Gelas, the place where the citadel now stands, and
+which was first fortified, being called Lindii. The institutions which
+they adopted were Dorian. Near one hundred and eight years after the
+foundation of Gela, the Geloans founded Acragas (Agrigentum), so called
+from the river of that name, and made Aristonous and Pystilus their
+founders; giving their own institutions to the colony. Zancle was
+originally founded by pirates from Cuma, the Chalcidian town in the
+country of the Opicans: afterwards, however, large numbers came from
+Chalcis and the rest of Euboea, and helped to people the place; the
+founders being Perieres and Crataemenes from Cuma and Chalcis
+respectively. It first had the name of Zancle given it by the Sicels,
+because the place is shaped like a sickle, which the Sicels call
+zanclon; but upon the original settlers being afterwards expelled by
+some Samians and other Ionians who landed in Sicily flying from the
+Medes, and the Samians in their turn not long afterwards by Anaxilas,
+tyrant of Rhegium, the town was by him colonized with a mixed
+population, and its name changed to Messina, after his old country.
+
+Himera was founded from Zancle by Euclides, Simus, and Sacon, most of
+those who went to the colony being Chalcidians; though they were joined
+by some exiles from Syracuse, defeated in a civil war, called the
+Myletidae. The language was a mixture of Chalcidian and Doric, but the
+institutions which prevailed were the Chalcidian. Acrae and Casmenae
+were founded by the Syracusans; Acrae seventy years after Syracuse,
+Casmenae nearly twenty after Acrae. Camarina was first founded by the
+Syracusans, close upon a hundred and thirty-five years after the
+building of Syracuse; its founders being Daxon and Menecolus. But the
+Camarinaeans being expelled by arms by the Syracusans for having
+revolted, Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, some time later receiving their
+land in ransom for some Syracusan prisoners, resettled Camarina,
+himself acting as its founder. Lastly, it was again depopulated by
+Gelo, and settled once more for the third time by the Geloans.
+
+Such is the list of the peoples, Hellenic and barbarian, inhabiting
+Sicily, and such the magnitude of the island which the Athenians were
+now bent upon invading; being ambitious in real truth of conquering the
+whole, although they had also the specious design of succouring their
+kindred and other allies in the island. But they were especially
+incited by envoys from Egesta, who had come to Athens and invoked their
+aid more urgently than ever. The Egestaeans had gone to war with their
+neighbours the Selinuntines upon questions of marriage and disputed
+territory, and the Selinuntines had procured the alliance of the
+Syracusans, and pressed Egesta hard by land and sea. The Egestaeans now
+reminded the Athenians of the alliance made in the time of Laches,
+during the former Leontine war, and begged them to send a fleet to
+their aid, and among a number of other considerations urged as a
+capital argument that if the Syracusans were allowed to go unpunished
+for their depopulation of Leontini, to ruin the allies still left to
+Athens in Sicily, and to get the whole power of the island into their
+hands, there would be a danger of their one day coming with a large
+force, as Dorians, to the aid of their Dorian brethren, and as
+colonists, to the aid of the Peloponnesians who had sent them out, and
+joining these in pulling down the Athenian empire. The Athenians would,
+therefore, do well to unite with the allies still left to them, and to
+make a stand against the Syracusans; especially as they, the
+Egestaeans, were prepared to furnish money sufficient for the war. The
+Athenians, hearing these arguments constantly repeated in their
+assemblies by the Egestaeans and their supporters, voted first to send
+envoys to Egesta, to see if there was really the money that they talked
+of in the treasury and temples, and at the same time to ascertain in
+what posture was the war with the Selinuntines.
+
+The envoys of the Athenians were accordingly dispatched to Sicily. The
+same winter the Lacedaemonians and their allies, the Corinthians
+excepted, marched into the Argive territory, and ravaged a small part
+of the land, and took some yokes of oxen and carried off some corn.
+They also settled the Argive exiles at Orneae, and left them a few
+soldiers taken from the rest of the army; and after making a truce for
+a certain while, according to which neither Orneatae nor Argives were
+to injure each other’s territory, returned home with the army. Not long
+afterwards the Athenians came with thirty ships and six hundred heavy
+infantry, and the Argives joining them with all their forces, marched
+out and besieged the men in Orneae for one day; but the garrison
+escaped by night, the besiegers having bivouacked some way off. The
+next day the Argives, discovering it, razed Orneae to the ground, and
+went back again; after which the Athenians went home in their ships.
+Meanwhile the Athenians took by sea to Methone on the Macedonian border
+some cavalry of their own and the Macedonian exiles that were at
+Athens, and plundered the country of Perdiccas. Upon this the
+Lacedaemonians sent to the Thracian Chalcidians, who had a truce with
+Athens from one ten days to another, urging them to join Perdiccas in
+the war, which they refused to do. And the winter ended, and with it
+ended the sixteenth year of this war of which Thucydides is the
+historian.
+
+Early in the spring of the following summer the Athenian envoys arrived
+from Sicily, and the Egestaeans with them, bringing sixty talents of
+uncoined silver, as a month’s pay for sixty ships, which they were to
+ask to have sent them. The Athenians held an assembly and, after
+hearing from the Egestaeans and their own envoys a report, as
+attractive as it was untrue, upon the state of affairs generally, and
+in particular as to the money, of which, it was said, there was
+abundance in the temples and the treasury, voted to send sixty ships to
+Sicily, under the command of Alcibiades, son of Clinias, Nicias, son of
+Niceratus, and Lamachus, son of Xenophanes, who were appointed with
+full powers; they were to help the Egestaeans against the Selinuntines,
+to restore Leontini upon gaining any advantage in the war, and to order
+all other matters in Sicily as they should deem best for the interests
+of Athens. Five days after this a second assembly was held, to consider
+the speediest means of equipping the ships, and to vote whatever else
+might be required by the generals for the expedition; and Nicias, who
+had been chosen to the command against his will, and who thought that
+the state was not well advised, but upon a slight aid specious pretext
+was aspiring to the conquest of the whole of Sicily, a great matter to
+achieve, came forward in the hope of diverting the Athenians from the
+enterprise, and gave them the following counsel:
+
+“Although this assembly was convened to consider the preparations to be
+made for sailing to Sicily, I think, notwithstanding, that we have
+still this question to examine, whether it be better to send out the
+ships at all, and that we ought not to give so little consideration to
+a matter of such moment, or let ourselves be persuaded by foreigners
+into undertaking a war with which we have nothing to do. And yet,
+individually, I gain in honour by such a course, and fear as little as
+other men for my person—not that I think a man need be any the worse
+citizen for taking some thought for his person and estate; on the
+contrary, such a man would for his own sake desire the prosperity of
+his country more than others—nevertheless, as I have never spoken
+against my convictions to gain honour, I shall not begin to do so now,
+but shall say what I think best. Against your character any words of
+mine would be weak enough, if I were to advise your keeping what you
+have got and not risking what is actually yours for advantages which
+are dubious in themselves, and which you may or may not attain. I will,
+therefore, content myself with showing that your ardour is out of
+season, and your ambition not easy of accomplishment.
+
+“I affirm, then, that you leave many enemies behind you here to go
+yonder and bring more back with you. You imagine, perhaps, that the
+treaty which you have made can be trusted; a treaty that will continue
+to exist nominally, as long as you keep quiet—for nominal it has
+become, owing to the practices of certain men here and at Sparta—but
+which in the event of a serious reverse in any quarter would not delay
+our enemies a moment in attacking us; first, because the convention was
+forced upon them by disaster and was less honourable to them than to
+us; and secondly, because in this very convention there are many points
+that are still disputed. Again, some of the most powerful states have
+never yet accepted the arrangement at all. Some of these are at open
+war with us; others (as the Lacedaemonians do not yet move) are
+restrained by truces renewed every ten days, and it is only too
+probable that if they found our power divided, as we are hurrying to
+divide it, they would attack us vigorously with the Siceliots, whose
+alliance they would have in the past valued as they would that of few
+others. A man ought, therefore, to consider these points, and not to
+think of running risks with a country placed so critically, or of
+grasping at another empire before we have secured the one we have
+already; for in fact the Thracian Chalcidians have been all these years
+in revolt from us without being yet subdued, and others on the
+continents yield us but a doubtful obedience. Meanwhile the Egestaeans,
+our allies, have been wronged, and we run to help them, while the
+rebels who have so long wronged us still wait for punishment.
+
+“And yet the latter, if brought under, might be kept under; while the
+Sicilians, even if conquered, are too far off and too numerous to be
+ruled without difficulty. Now it is folly to go against men who could
+not be kept under even if conquered, while failure would leave us in a
+very different position from that which we occupied before the
+enterprise. The Siceliots, again, to take them as they are at present,
+in the event of a Syracusan conquest (the favourite bugbear of the
+Egestaeans), would to my thinking be even less dangerous to us than
+before. At present they might possibly come here as separate states for
+love of Lacedaemon; in the other case one empire would scarcely attack
+another; for after joining the Peloponnesians to overthrow ours, they
+could only expect to see the same hands overthrow their own in the same
+way. The Hellenes in Sicily would fear us most if we never went there
+at all, and next to this, if after displaying our power we went away
+again as soon as possible. We all know that that which is farthest off,
+and the reputation of which can least be tested, is the object of
+admiration; at the least reverse they would at once begin to look down
+upon us, and would join our enemies here against us. You have
+yourselves experienced this with regard to the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies, whom your unexpected success, as compared with what you feared
+at first, has made you suddenly despise, tempting you further to aspire
+to the conquest of Sicily. Instead, however, of being puffed up by the
+misfortunes of your adversaries, you ought to think of breaking their
+spirit before giving yourselves up to confidence, and to understand
+that the one thought awakened in the Lacedaemonians by their disgrace
+is how they may even now, if possible, overthrow us and repair their
+dishonour; inasmuch as military reputation is their oldest and chiefest
+study. Our struggle, therefore, if we are wise, will not be for the
+barbarian Egestaeans in Sicily, but how to defend ourselves most
+effectually against the oligarchical machinations of Lacedaemon.
+
+“We should also remember that we are but now enjoying some respite from
+a great pestilence and from war, to the no small benefit of our estates
+and persons, and that it is right to employ these at home on our own
+behalf, instead of using them on behalf of these exiles whose interest
+it is to lie as fairly as they can, who do nothing but talk themselves
+and leave the danger to others, and who if they succeed will show no
+proper gratitude, and if they fail will drag down their friends with
+them. And if there be any man here, overjoyed at being chosen to
+command, who urges you to make the expedition, merely for ends of his
+own—specially if he be still too young to command—who seeks to be
+admired for his stud of horses, but on account of its heavy expenses
+hopes for some profit from his appointment, do not allow such a one to
+maintain his private splendour at his country’s risk, but remember that
+such persons injure the public fortune while they squander their own,
+and that this is a matter of importance, and not for a young man to
+decide or hastily to take in hand.
+
+“When I see such persons now sitting here at the side of that same
+individual and summoned by him, alarm seizes me; and I, in my turn,
+summon any of the older men that may have such a person sitting next
+him not to let himself be shamed down, for fear of being thought a
+coward if he do not vote for war, but, remembering how rarely success
+is got by wishing and how often by forecast, to leave to them the mad
+dream of conquest, and as a true lover of his country, now threatened
+by the greatest danger in its history, to hold up his hand on the other
+side; to vote that the Siceliots be left in the limits now existing
+between us, limits of which no one can complain (the Ionian sea for the
+coasting voyage, and the Sicilian across the open main), to enjoy their
+own possessions and to settle their own quarrels; that the Egestaeans,
+for their part, be told to end by themselves with the Selinuntines the
+war which they began without consulting the Athenians; and that for the
+future we do not enter into alliance, as we have been used to do, with
+people whom we must help in their need, and who can never help us in
+ours.
+
+“And you, Prytanis, if you think it your duty to care for the
+commonwealth, and if you wish to show yourself a good citizen, put the
+question to the vote, and take a second time the opinions of the
+Athenians. If you are afraid to move the question again, consider that
+a violation of the law cannot carry any prejudice with so many
+abettors, that you will be the physician of your misguided city, and
+that the virtue of men in office is briefly this, to do their country
+as much good as they can, or in any case no harm that they can avoid.”
+
+Such were the words of Nicias. Most of the Athenians that came forward
+spoke in favour of the expedition, and of not annulling what had been
+voted, although some spoke on the other side. By far the warmest
+advocate of the expedition was, however, Alcibiades, son of Clinias,
+who wished to thwart Nicias both as his political opponent and also
+because of the attack he had made upon him in his speech, and who was,
+besides, exceedingly ambitious of a command by which he hoped to reduce
+Sicily and Carthage, and personally to gain in wealth and reputation by
+means of his successes. For the position he held among the citizens led
+him to indulge his tastes beyond what his real means would bear, both
+in keeping horses and in the rest of his expenditure; and this later on
+had not a little to do with the ruin of the Athenian state. Alarmed at
+the greatness of his licence in his own life and habits, and of the
+ambition which he showed in all things soever that he undertook, the
+mass of the people set him down as a pretender to the tyranny, and
+became his enemies; and although publicly his conduct of the war was as
+good as could be desired, individually, his habits gave offence to
+every one, and caused them to commit affairs to other hands, and thus
+before long to ruin the city. Meanwhile he now came forward and gave
+the following advice to the Athenians:
+
+“Athenians, I have a better right to command than others—I must begin
+with this as Nicias has attacked me—and at the same time I believe
+myself to be worthy of it. The things for which I am abused, bring fame
+to my ancestors and to myself, and to the country profit besides. The
+Hellenes, after expecting to see our city ruined by the war, concluded
+it to be even greater than it really is, by reason of the magnificence
+with which I represented it at the Olympic games, when I sent into the
+lists seven chariots, a number never before entered by any private
+person, and won the first prize, and was second and fourth, and took
+care to have everything else in a style worthy of my victory. Custom
+regards such displays as honourable, and they cannot be made without
+leaving behind them an impression of power. Again, any splendour that I
+may have exhibited at home in providing choruses or otherwise, is
+naturally envied by my fellow citizens, but in the eyes of foreigners
+has an air of strength as in the other instance. And this is no useless
+folly, when a man at his own private cost benefits not himself only,
+but his city: nor is it unfair that he who prides himself on his
+position should refuse to be upon an equality with the rest. He who is
+badly off has his misfortunes all to himself, and as we do not see men
+courted in adversity, on the like principle a man ought to accept the
+insolence of prosperity; or else, let him first mete out equal measure
+to all, and then demand to have it meted out to him. What I know is
+that persons of this kind and all others that have attained to any
+distinction, although they may be unpopular in their lifetime in their
+relations with their fellow-men and especially with their equals, leave
+to posterity the desire of claiming connection with them even without
+any ground, and are vaunted by the country to which they belonged, not
+as strangers or ill-doers, but as fellow-countrymen and heroes. Such
+are my aspirations, and however I am abused for them in private, the
+question is whether any one manages public affairs better than I do.
+Having united the most powerful states of Peloponnese, without great
+danger or expense to you, I compelled the Lacedaemonians to stake their
+all upon the issue of a single day at Mantinea; and although victorious
+in the battle, they have never since fully recovered confidence.
+
+“Thus did my youth and so-called monstrous folly find fitting arguments
+to deal with the power of the Peloponnesians, and by its ardour win
+their confidence and prevail. And do not be afraid of my youth now, but
+while I am still in its flower, and Nicias appears fortunate, avail
+yourselves to the utmost of the services of us both. Neither rescind
+your resolution to sail to Sicily, on the ground that you would be
+going to attack a great power. The cities in Sicily are peopled by
+motley rabbles, and easily change their institutions and adopt new ones
+in their stead; and consequently the inhabitants, being without any
+feeling of patriotism, are not provided with arms for their persons,
+and have not regularly established themselves on the land; every man
+thinks that either by fair words or by party strife he can obtain
+something at the public expense, and then in the event of a catastrophe
+settle in some other country, and makes his preparations accordingly.
+From a mob like this you need not look for either unanimity in counsel
+or concert in action; but they will probably one by one come in as they
+get a fair offer, especially if they are torn by civil strife as we are
+told. Moreover, the Siceliots have not so many heavy infantry as they
+boast; just as the Hellenes generally did not prove so numerous as each
+state reckoned itself, but Hellas greatly over-estimated their numbers,
+and has hardly had an adequate force of heavy infantry throughout this
+war. The states in Sicily, therefore, from all that I can hear, will be
+found as I say, and I have not pointed out all our advantages, for we
+shall have the help of many barbarians, who from their hatred of the
+Syracusans will join us in attacking them; nor will the powers at home
+prove any hindrance, if you judge rightly. Our fathers with these very
+adversaries, which it is said we shall now leave behind us when we
+sail, and the Mede as their enemy as well, were able to win the empire,
+depending solely on their superiority at sea. The Peloponnesians had
+never so little hope against us as at present; and let them be ever so
+sanguine, although strong enough to invade our country even if we stay
+at home, they can never hurt us with their navy, as we leave one of our
+own behind us that is a match for them.
+
+“In this state of things what reason can we give to ourselves for
+holding back, or what excuse can we offer to our allies in Sicily for
+not helping them? They are our confederates, and we are bound to assist
+them, without objecting that they have not assisted us. We did not take
+them into alliance to have them to help us in Hellas, but that they
+might so annoy our enemies in Sicily as to prevent them from coming
+over here and attacking us. It is thus that empire has been won, both
+by us and by all others that have held it, by a constant readiness to
+support all, whether barbarians or Hellenes, that invite assistance;
+since if all were to keep quiet or to pick and choose whom they ought
+to assist, we should make but few new conquests, and should imperil
+those we have already won. Men do not rest content with parrying the
+attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the
+attack being made. And we cannot fix the exact point at which our
+empire shall stop; we have reached a position in which we must not be
+content with retaining but must scheme to extend it, for, if we cease
+to rule others, we are in danger of being ruled ourselves. Nor can you
+look at inaction from the same point of view as others, unless you are
+prepared to change your habits and make them like theirs.
+
+“Be convinced, then, that we shall augment our power at home by this
+adventure abroad, and let us make the expedition, and so humble the
+pride of the Peloponnesians by sailing off to Sicily, and letting them
+see how little we care for the peace that we are now enjoying; and at
+the same time we shall either become masters, as we very easily may, of
+the whole of Hellas through the accession of the Sicilian Hellenes, or
+in any case ruin the Syracusans, to the no small advantage of ourselves
+and our allies. The faculty of staying if successful, or of returning,
+will be secured to us by our navy, as we shall be superior at sea to
+all the Siceliots put together. And do not let the do-nothing policy
+which Nicias advocates, or his setting of the young against the old,
+turn you from your purpose, but in the good old fashion by which our
+fathers, old and young together, by their united counsels brought our
+affairs to their present height, do you endeavour still to advance
+them; understanding that neither youth nor old age can do anything the
+one without the other, but that levity, sobriety, and deliberate
+judgment are strongest when united, and that, by sinking into inaction,
+the city, like everything else, will wear itself out, and its skill in
+everything decay; while each fresh struggle will give it fresh
+experience, and make it more used to defend itself not in word but in
+deed. In short, my conviction is that a city not inactive by nature
+could not choose a quicker way to ruin itself than by suddenly adopting
+such a policy, and that the safest rule of life is to take one’s
+character and institutions for better and for worse, and to live up to
+them as closely as one can.”
+
+Such were the words of Alcibiades. After hearing him and the Egestaeans
+and some Leontine exiles, who came forward reminding them of their
+oaths and imploring their assistance, the Athenians became more eager
+for the expedition than before. Nicias, perceiving that it would be now
+useless to try to deter them by the old line of argument, but thinking
+that he might perhaps alter their resolution by the extravagance of his
+estimates, came forward a second time and spoke as follows:
+
+“I see, Athenians, that you are thoroughly bent upon the expedition,
+and therefore hope that all will turn out as we wish, and proceed to
+give you my opinion at the present juncture. From all that I hear we
+are going against cities that are great and not subject to one another,
+or in need of change, so as to be glad to pass from enforced servitude
+to an easier condition, or in the least likely to accept our rule in
+exchange for freedom; and, to take only the Hellenic towns, they are
+very numerous for one island. Besides Naxos and Catana, which I expect
+to join us from their connection with Leontini, there are seven others
+armed at all points just like our own power, particularly Selinus and
+Syracuse, the chief objects of our expedition. These are full of heavy
+infantry, archers, and darters, have galleys in abundance and crowds to
+man them; they have also money, partly in the hands of private persons,
+partly in the temples at Selinus, and at Syracuse first-fruits from
+some of the barbarians as well. But their chief advantage over us lies
+in the number of their horses, and in the fact that they grow their
+corn at home instead of importing it.
+
+“Against a power of this kind it will not do to have merely a weak
+naval armament, but we shall want also a large land army to sail with
+us, if we are to do anything worthy of our ambition, and are not to be
+shut out from the country by a numerous cavalry; especially if the
+cities should take alarm and combine, and we should be left without
+friends (except the Egestaeans) to furnish us with horse to defend
+ourselves with. It would be disgraceful to have to retire under
+compulsion, or to send back for reinforcements, owing to want of
+reflection at first: we must therefore start from home with a competent
+force, seeing that we are going to sail far from our country, and upon
+an expedition not like any which you may undertaken undertaken the
+quality of allies, among your subject states here in Hellas, where any
+additional supplies needed were easily drawn from the friendly
+territory; but we are cutting ourselves off, and going to a land
+entirely strange, from which during four months in winter it is not
+even easy for a messenger get to Athens.
+
+“I think, therefore, that we ought to take great numbers of heavy
+infantry, both from Athens and from our allies, and not merely from our
+subjects, but also any we may be able to get for love or for money in
+Peloponnese, and great numbers also of archers and slingers, to make
+head against the Sicilian horse. Meanwhile we must have an overwhelming
+superiority at sea, to enable us the more easily to carry in what we
+want; and we must take our own corn in merchant vessels, that is to
+say, wheat and parched barley, and bakers from the mills compelled to
+serve for pay in the proper proportion; in order that in case of our
+being weather-bound the armament may not want provisions, as it is not
+every city that will be able to entertain numbers like ours. We must
+also provide ourselves with everything else as far as we can, so as not
+to be dependent upon others; and above all we must take with us from
+home as much money as possible, as the sums talked of as ready at
+Egesta are readier, you may be sure, in talk than in any other way.
+
+“Indeed, even if we leave Athens with a force not only equal to that of
+the enemy except in the number of heavy infantry in the field, but even
+at all points superior to him, we shall still find it difficult to
+conquer Sicily or save ourselves. We must not disguise from ourselves
+that we go to found a city among strangers and enemies, and that he who
+undertakes such an enterprise should be prepared to become master of
+the country the first day he lands, or failing in this to find
+everything hostile to him. Fearing this, and knowing that we shall have
+need of much good counsel and more good fortune—a hard matter for
+mortal man to aspire to—I wish as far as may be to make myself
+independent of fortune before sailing, and when I do sail, to be as
+safe as a strong force can make me. This I believe to be surest for the
+country at large, and safest for us who are to go on the expedition. If
+any one thinks differently I resign to him my command.”
+
+With this Nicias concluded, thinking that he should either disgust the
+Athenians by the magnitude of the undertaking, or, if obliged to sail
+on the expedition, would thus do so in the safest way possible. The
+Athenians, however, far from having their taste for the voyage taken
+away by the burdensomeness of the preparations, became more eager for
+it than ever; and just the contrary took place of what Nicias had
+thought, as it was held that he had given good advice, and that the
+expedition would be the safest in the world. All alike fell in love
+with the enterprise. The older men thought that they would either
+subdue the places against which they were to sail, or at all events,
+with so large a force, meet with no disaster; those in the prime of
+life felt a longing for foreign sights and spectacles, and had no doubt
+that they should come safe home again; while the idea of the common
+people and the soldiery was to earn wages at the moment, and make
+conquests that would supply a never-ending fund of pay for the future.
+With this enthusiasm of the majority, the few that liked it not, feared
+to appear unpatriotic by holding up their hands against it, and so kept
+quiet.
+
+At last one of the Athenians came forward and called upon Nicias and
+told him that he ought not to make excuses or put them off, but say at
+once before them all what forces the Athenians should vote him. Upon
+this he said, not without reluctance, that he would advise upon that
+matter more at leisure with his colleagues; as far however as he could
+see at present, they must sail with at least one hundred galleys—the
+Athenians providing as many transports as they might determine, and
+sending for others from the allies—not less than five thousand heavy
+infantry in all, Athenian and allied, and if possible more; and the
+rest of the armament in proportion; archers from home and from Crete,
+and slingers, and whatever else might seem desirable, being got ready
+by the generals and taken with them.
+
+Upon hearing this the Athenians at once voted that the generals should
+have full powers in the matter of the numbers of the army and of the
+expedition generally, to do as they judged best for the interests of
+Athens. After this the preparations began; messages being sent to the
+allies and the rolls drawn up at home. And as the city had just
+recovered from the plague and the long war, and a number of young men
+had grown up and capital had accumulated by reason of the truce,
+everything was the more easily provided.
+
+In the midst of these preparations all the stone Hermae in the city of
+Athens, that is to say the customary square figures, so common in the
+doorways of private houses and temples, had in one night most of them
+their fares mutilated. No one knew who had done it, but large public
+rewards were offered to find the authors; and it was further voted that
+any one who knew of any other act of impiety having been committed
+should come and give information without fear of consequences, whether
+he were citizen, alien, or slave. The matter was taken up the more
+seriously, as it was thought to be ominous for the expedition, and part
+of a conspiracy to bring about a revolution and to upset the democracy.
+
+Information was given accordingly by some resident aliens and body
+servants, not about the Hermae but about some previous mutilations of
+other images perpetrated by young men in a drunken frolic, and of mock
+celebrations of the mysteries, averred to take place in private houses.
+Alcibiades being implicated in this charge, it was taken hold of by
+those who could least endure him, because he stood in the way of their
+obtaining the undisturbed direction of the people, and who thought that
+if he were once removed the first place would be theirs. These
+accordingly magnified the matter and loudly proclaimed that the affair
+of the mysteries and the mutilation of the Hermae were part and parcel
+of a scheme to overthrow the democracy, and that nothing of all this
+had been done without Alcibiades; the proofs alleged being the general
+and undemocratic licence of his life and habits.
+
+Alcibiades repelled on the spot the charges in question, and also
+before going on the expedition, the preparations for which were now
+complete, offered to stand his trial, that it might be seen whether he
+was guilty of the acts imputed to him; desiring to be punished if found
+guilty, but, if acquitted, to take the command. Meanwhile he protested
+against their receiving slanders against him in his absence, and begged
+them rather to put him to death at once if he were guilty, and pointed
+out the imprudence of sending him out at the head of so large an army,
+with so serious a charge still undecided. But his enemies feared that
+he would have the army for him if he were tried immediately, and that
+the people might relent in favour of the man whom they already caressed
+as the cause of the Argives and some of the Mantineans joining in the
+expedition, and did their utmost to get this proposition rejected,
+putting forward other orators who said that he ought at present to sail
+and not delay the departure of the army, and be tried on his return
+within a fixed number of days; their plan being to have him sent for
+and brought home for trial upon some graver charge, which they would
+the more easily get up in his absence. Accordingly it was decreed that
+he should sail.
+
+After this the departure for Sicily took place, it being now about
+midsummer. Most of the allies, with the corn transports and the smaller
+craft and the rest of the expedition, had already received orders to
+muster at Corcyra, to cross the Ionian Sea from thence in a body to the
+Iapygian promontory. But the Athenians themselves, and such of their
+allies as happened to be with them, went down to Piraeus upon a day
+appointed at daybreak, and began to man the ships for putting out to
+sea. With them also went down the whole population, one may say, of the
+city, both citizens and foreigners; the inhabitants of the country each
+escorting those that belonged to them, their friends, their relatives,
+or their sons, with hope and lamentation upon their way, as they
+thought of the conquests which they hoped to make, or of the friends
+whom they might never see again, considering the long voyage which they
+were going to make from their country. Indeed, at this moment, when
+they were now upon the point of parting from one another, the danger
+came more home to them than when they voted for the expedition;
+although the strength of the armament, and the profuse provision which
+they remarked in every department, was a sight that could not but
+comfort them. As for the foreigners and the rest of the crowd, they
+simply went to see a sight worth looking at and passing all belief.
+
+Indeed this armament that first sailed out was by far the most costly
+and splendid Hellenic force that had ever been sent out by a single
+city up to that time. In mere number of ships and heavy infantry that
+against Epidaurus under Pericles, and the same when going against
+Potidæa under Hagnon, was not inferior; containing as it did four
+thousand Athenian heavy infantry, three hundred horse, and one hundred
+galleys accompanied by fifty Lesbian and Chian vessels and many allies
+besides. But these were sent upon a short voyage and with a scanty
+equipment. The present expedition was formed in contemplation of a long
+term of service by land and sea alike, and was furnished with ships and
+troops so as to be ready for either as required. The fleet had been
+elaborately equipped at great cost to the captains and the state; the
+treasury giving a drachma a day to each seaman, and providing empty
+ships, sixty men-of-war and forty transports, and manning these with
+the best crews obtainable; while the captains gave a bounty in addition
+to the pay from the treasury to the thranitae and crews generally,
+besides spending lavishly upon figure-heads and equipments, and one and
+all making the utmost exertions to enable their own ships to excel in
+beauty and fast sailing. Meanwhile the land forces had been picked from
+the best muster-rolls, and vied with each other in paying great
+attention to their arms and personal accoutrements. From this resulted
+not only a rivalry among themselves in their different departments, but
+an idea among the rest of the Hellenes that it was more a display of
+power and resources than an armament against an enemy. For if any one
+had counted up the public expenditure of the state, and the private
+outlay of individuals—that is to say, the sums which the state had
+already spent upon the expedition and was sending out in the hands of
+the generals, and those which individuals had expended upon their
+personal outfit, or as captains of galleys had laid out and were still
+to lay out upon their vessels; and if he had added to this the journey
+money which each was likely to have provided himself with,
+independently of the pay from the treasury, for a voyage of such
+length, and what the soldiers or traders took with them for the purpose
+of exchange—it would have been found that many talents in all were
+being taken out of the city. Indeed the expedition became not less
+famous for its wonderful boldness and for the splendour of its
+appearance, than for its overwhelming strength as compared with the
+peoples against whom it was directed, and for the fact that this was
+the longest passage from home hitherto attempted, and the most
+ambitious in its objects considering the resources of those who
+undertook it.
+
+The ships being now manned, and everything put on board with which they
+meant to sail, the trumpet commanded silence, and the prayers customary
+before putting out to sea were offered, not in each ship by itself, but
+by all together to the voice of a herald; and bowls of wine were mixed
+through all the armament, and libations made by the soldiers and their
+officers in gold and silver goblets. In their prayers joined also the
+crowds on shore, the citizens and all others that wished them well. The
+hymn sung and the libations finished, they put out to sea, and first
+out in column then raced each other as far as Aegina, and so hastened
+to reach Corcyra, where the rest of the allied forces were also
+assembling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Seventeenth Year of the War—Parties at Syracuse—Story of Harmodius and
+Aristogiton—Disgrace of Alcibiades
+
+
+Meanwhile at Syracuse news came in from many quarters of the
+expedition, but for a long while met with no credence whatever. Indeed,
+an assembly was held in which speeches, as will be seen, were delivered
+by different orators, believing or contradicting the report of the
+Athenian expedition; among whom Hermocrates, son of Hermon, came
+forward, being persuaded that he knew the truth of the matter, and gave
+the following counsel:
+
+“Although I shall perhaps be no better believed than others have been
+when I speak upon the reality of the expedition, and although I know
+that those who either make or repeat statements thought not worthy of
+belief not only gain no converts but are thought fools for their pains,
+I shall certainly not be frightened into holding my tongue when the
+state is in danger, and when I am persuaded that I can speak with more
+authority on the matter than other persons. Much as you wonder at it,
+the Athenians nevertheless have set out against us with a large force,
+naval and military, professedly to help the Egestaeans and to restore
+Leontini, but really to conquer Sicily, and above all our city, which
+once gained, the rest, they think, will easily follow. Make up your
+minds, therefore, to see them speedily here, and see how you can best
+repel them with the means under your hand, and do be taken off your
+guard through despising the news, or neglect the common weal through
+disbelieving it. Meanwhile those who believe me need not be dismayed at
+the force or daring of the enemy. They will not be able to do us more
+hurt than we shall do them; nor is the greatness of their armament
+altogether without advantage to us. Indeed, the greater it is the
+better, with regard to the rest of the Siceliots, whom dismay will make
+more ready to join us; and if we defeat or drive them away,
+disappointed of the objects of their ambition (for I do not fear for a
+moment that they will get what they want), it will be a most glorious
+exploit for us, and in my judgment by no means an unlikely one. Few
+indeed have been the large armaments, either Hellenic or barbarian,
+that have gone far from home and been successful. They cannot be more
+numerous than the people of the country and their neighbours, all of
+whom fear leagues together; and if they miscarry for want of supplies
+in a foreign land, to those against whom their plans were laid none the
+less they leave renown, although they may themselves have been the main
+cause of their own discomfort. Thus these very Athenians rose by the
+defeat of the Mede, in a great measure due to accidental causes, from
+the mere fact that Athens had been the object of his attack; and this
+may very well be the case with us also.
+
+“Let us, therefore, confidently begin preparations here; let us send
+and confirm some of the Sicels, and obtain the friendship and alliance
+of others, and dispatch envoys to the rest of Sicily to show that the
+danger is common to all, and to Italy to get them to become our allies,
+or at all events to refuse to receive the Athenians. I also think that
+it would be best to send to Carthage as well; they are by no means
+there without apprehension, but it is their constant fear that the
+Athenians may one day attack their city, and they may perhaps think
+that they might themselves suffer by letting Sicily be sacrificed, and
+be willing to help us secretly if not openly, in one way if not in
+another. They are the best able to do so, if they will, of any of the
+present day, as they possess most gold and silver, by which war, like
+everything else, flourishes. Let us also send to Lacedaemon and
+Corinth, and ask them to come here and help us as soon as possible, and
+to keep alive the war in Hellas. But the true thing of all others, in
+my opinion, to do at the present moment, is what you, with your
+constitutional love of quiet, will be slow to see, and what I must
+nevertheless mention. If we Siceliots, all together, or at least as
+many as possible besides ourselves, would only launch the whole of our
+actual navy with two months’ provisions, and meet the Athenians at
+Tarentum and the Iapygian promontory, and show them that before
+fighting for Sicily they must first fight for their passage across the
+Ionian Sea, we should strike dismay into their army, and set them on
+thinking that we have a base for our defensive—for Tarentum is ready to
+receive us—while they have a wide sea to cross with all their armament,
+which could with difficulty keep its order through so long a voyage,
+and would be easy for us to attack as it came on slowly and in small
+detachments. On the other hand, if they were to lighten their vessels,
+and draw together their fast sailers and with these attack us, we could
+either fall upon them when they were wearied with rowing, or if we did
+not choose to do so, we could retire to Tarentum; while they, having
+crossed with few provisions just to give battle, would be hard put to
+it in desolate places, and would either have to remain and be
+blockaded, or to try to sail along the coast, abandoning the rest of
+their armament, and being further discouraged by not knowing for
+certain whether the cities would receive them. In my opinion this
+consideration alone would be sufficient to deter them from putting out
+from Corcyra; and what with deliberating and reconnoitring our numbers
+and whereabouts, they would let the season go on until winter was upon
+them, or, confounded by so unexpected a circumstance, would break up
+the expedition, especially as their most experienced general has, as I
+hear, taken the command against his will, and would grasp at the first
+excuse offered by any serious demonstration of ours. We should also be
+reported, I am certain, as more numerous than we really are, and men’s
+minds are affected by what they hear, and besides the first to attack,
+or to show that they mean to defend themselves against an attack,
+inspire greater fear because men see that they are ready for the
+emergency. This would just be the case with the Athenians at present.
+They are now attacking us in the belief that we shall not resist,
+having a right to judge us severely because we did not help the
+Lacedaemonians in crushing them; but if they were to see us showing a
+courage for which they are not prepared, they would be more dismayed by
+the surprise than they could ever be by our actual power. I could wish
+to persuade you to show this courage; but if this cannot be, at all
+events lose not a moment in preparing generally for the war; and
+remember all of you that contempt for an assailant is best shown by
+bravery in action, but that for the present the best course is to
+accept the preparations which fear inspires as giving the surest
+promise of safety, and to act as if the danger was real. That the
+Athenians are coming to attack us, and are already upon the voyage, and
+all but here—this is what I am sure of.”
+
+Thus far spoke Hermocrates. Meanwhile the people of Syracuse were at
+great strife among themselves; some contending that the Athenians had
+no idea of coming and that there was no truth in what he said; some
+asking if they did come what harm they could do that would not be
+repaid them tenfold in return; while others made light of the whole
+affair and turned it into ridicule. In short, there were few that
+believed Hermocrates and feared for the future. Meanwhile Athenagoras,
+the leader of the people and very powerful at that time with the
+masses, came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+“For the Athenians, he who does not wish that they may be as misguided
+as they are supposed to be, and that they may come here to become our
+subjects, is either a coward or a traitor to his country; while as for
+those who carry such tidings and fill you with so much alarm, I wonder
+less at their audacity than at their folly if they flatter themselves
+that we do not see through them. The fact is that they have their
+private reasons to be afraid, and wish to throw the city into
+consternation to have their own terrors cast into the shade by the
+public alarm. In short, this is what these reports are worth; they do
+not arise of themselves, but are concocted by men who are always
+causing agitation here in Sicily. However, if you are well advised, you
+will not be guided in your calculation of probabilities by what these
+persons tell you, but by what shrewd men and of large experience, as I
+esteem the Athenians to be, would be likely to do. Now it is not likely
+that they would leave the Peloponnesians behind them, and before they
+have well ended the war in Hellas wantonly come in quest of a new war
+quite as arduous in Sicily; indeed, in my judgment, they are only too
+glad that we do not go and attack them, being so many and so great
+cities as we are.
+
+“However, if they should come as is reported, I consider Sicily better
+able to go through with the war than Peloponnese, as being at all
+points better prepared, and our city by itself far more than a match
+for this pretended army of invasion, even were it twice as large again.
+I know that they will not have horses with them, or get any here,
+except a few perhaps from the Egestaeans; or be able to bring a force
+of heavy infantry equal in number to our own, in ships which will
+already have enough to do to come all this distance, however lightly
+laden, not to speak of the transport of the other stores required
+against a city of this magnitude, which will be no slight quantity. In
+fact, so strong is my opinion upon the subject, that I do not well see
+how they could avoid annihilation if they brought with them another
+city as large as Syracuse, and settled down and carried on war from our
+frontier; much less can they hope to succeed with all Sicily hostile to
+them, as all Sicily will be, and with only a camp pitched from the
+ships, and composed of tents and bare necessaries, from which they
+would not be able to stir far for fear of our cavalry.
+
+“But the Athenians see this as I tell you, and as I have reason to know
+are looking after their possessions at home, while persons here invent
+stories that neither are true nor ever will be. Nor is this the first
+time that I see these persons, when they cannot resort to deeds, trying
+by such stories and by others even more abominable to frighten your
+people and get into their hands the government: it is what I see
+always. And I cannot help fearing that trying so often they may one day
+succeed, and that we, as long as we do not feel the smart, may prove
+too weak for the task of prevention, or, when the offenders are known,
+of pursuit. The result is that our city is rarely at rest, but is
+subject to constant troubles and to contests as frequent against
+herself as against the enemy, not to speak of occasional tyrannies and
+infamous cabals. However, I will try, if you will support me, to let
+nothing of this happen in our time, by gaining you, the many, and by
+chastising the authors of such machinations, not merely when they are
+caught in the act—a difficult feat to accomplish—but also for what they
+have the wish though not the power to do; as it is necessary to punish
+an enemy not only for what he does, but also beforehand for what he
+intends to do, if the first to relax precaution would not be also the
+first to suffer. I shall also reprove, watch, and on occasion warn the
+few—the most effectual way, in my opinion, of turning them from their
+evil courses. And after all, as I have often asked, what would you
+have, young men? Would you hold office at once? The law forbids it, a
+law enacted rather because you are not competent than to disgrace you
+when competent. Meanwhile you would not be on a legal equality with the
+many! But how can it be right that citizens of the same state should be
+held unworthy of the same privileges?
+
+“It will be said, perhaps, that democracy is neither wise nor
+equitable, but that the holders of property are also the best fitted to
+rule. I say, on the contrary, first, that the word demos, or people,
+includes the whole state, oligarchy only a part; next, that if the best
+guardians of property are the rich, and the best counsellors the wise,
+none can hear and decide so well as the many; and that all these
+talents, severally and collectively, have their just place in a
+democracy. But an oligarchy gives the many their share of the danger,
+and not content with the largest part takes and keeps the whole of the
+profit; and this is what the powerful and young among you aspire to,
+but in a great city cannot possibly obtain.
+
+“But even now, foolish men, most senseless of all the Hellenes that I
+know, if you have no sense of the wickedness of your designs, or most
+criminal if you have that sense and still dare to pursue them—even now,
+if it is not a case for repentance, you may still learn wisdom, and
+thus advance the interest of the country, the common interest of us
+all. Reflect that in the country’s prosperity the men of merit in your
+ranks will have a share and a larger share than the great mass of your
+fellow countrymen, but that if you have other designs you run a risk of
+being deprived of all; and desist from reports like these, as the
+people know your object and will not put up with it. If the Athenians
+arrive, this city will repulse them in a manner worthy of itself; we
+have moreover, generals who will see to this matter. And if nothing of
+this be true, as I incline to believe, the city will not be thrown into
+a panic by your intelligence, or impose upon itself a self-chosen
+servitude by choosing you for its rulers; the city itself will look
+into the matter, and will judge your words as if they were acts, and,
+instead of allowing itself to be deprived of its liberty by listening
+to you, will strive to preserve that liberty, by taking care to have
+always at hand the means of making itself respected.”
+
+Such were the words of Athenagoras. One of the generals now stood up
+and stopped any other speakers coming forward, adding these words of
+his own with reference to the matter in hand: “It is not well for
+speakers to utter calumnies against one another, or for their hearers
+to entertain them; we ought rather to look to the intelligence that we
+have received, and see how each man by himself and the city as a whole
+may best prepare to repel the invaders. Even if there be no need, there
+is no harm in the state being furnished with horses and arms and all
+other insignia of war; and we will undertake to see to and order this,
+and to send round to the cities to reconnoitre and do all else that may
+appear desirable. Part of this we have seen to already, and whatever we
+discover shall be laid before you.” After these words from the general,
+the Syracusans departed from the assembly.
+
+In the meantime the Athenians with all their allies had now arrived at
+Corcyra. Here the generals began by again reviewing the armament, and
+made arrangements as to the order in which they were to anchor and
+encamp, and dividing the whole fleet into three divisions, allotted one
+to each of their number, to avoid sailing all together and being thus
+embarrassed for water, harbourage, or provisions at the stations which
+they might touch at, and at the same time to be generally better
+ordered and easier to handle, by each squadron having its own
+commander. Next they sent on three ships to Italy and Sicily to find
+out which of the cities would receive them, with instructions to meet
+them on the way and let them know before they put in to land.
+
+After this the Athenians weighed from Corcyra, and proceeded to cross
+to Sicily with an armament now consisting of one hundred and
+thirty-four galleys in all (besides two Rhodian fifty-oars), of which
+one hundred were Athenian vessels—sixty men-of-war, and forty
+troopships—and the remainder from Chios and the other allies; five
+thousand and one hundred heavy infantry in all, that is to say, fifteen
+hundred Athenian citizens from the rolls at Athens and seven hundred
+Thetes shipped as marines, and the rest allied troops, some of them
+Athenian subjects, and besides these five hundred Argives, and two
+hundred and fifty Mantineans serving for hire; four hundred and eighty
+archers in all, eighty of whom were Cretans, seven hundred slingers
+from Rhodes, one hundred and twenty light-armed exiles from Megara, and
+one horse-transport carrying thirty horses.
+
+Such was the strength of the first armament that sailed over for the
+war. The supplies for this force were carried by thirty ships of burden
+laden with corn, which conveyed the bakers, stone-masons, and
+carpenters, and the tools for raising fortifications, accompanied by
+one hundred boats, like the former pressed into the service, besides
+many other boats and ships of burden which followed the armament
+voluntarily for purposes of trade; all of which now left Corcyra and
+struck across the Ionian Sea together. The whole force making land at
+the Iapygian promontory and Tarentum, with more or less good fortune,
+coasted along the shores of Italy, the cities shutting their markets
+and gates against them, and according them nothing but water and
+liberty to anchor, and Tarentum and Locri not even that, until they
+arrived at Rhegium, the extreme point of Italy. Here at length they
+reunited, and not gaining admission within the walls pitched a camp
+outside the city in the precinct of Artemis, where a market was also
+provided for them, and drew their ships on shore and kept quiet.
+Meanwhile they opened negotiations with the Rhegians, and called upon
+them as Chalcidians to assist their Leontine kinsmen; to which the
+Rhegians replied that they would not side with either party, but should
+await the decision of the rest of the Italiots, and do as they did.
+Upon this the Athenians now began to consider what would be the best
+action to take in the affairs of Sicily, and meanwhile waited for the
+ships sent on to come back from Egesta, in order to know whether there
+was really there the money mentioned by the messengers at Athens.
+
+In the meantime came in from all quarters to the Syracusans, as well as
+from their own officers sent to reconnoitre, the positive tidings that
+the fleet was at Rhegium; upon which they laid aside their incredulity
+and threw themselves heart and soul into the work of preparation.
+Guards or envoys, as the case might be, were sent round to the Sicels,
+garrisons put into the posts of the Peripoli in the country, horses and
+arms reviewed in the city to see that nothing was wanting, and all
+other steps taken to prepare for a war which might be upon them at any
+moment.
+
+Meanwhile the three ships that had been sent on came from Egesta to the
+Athenians at Rhegium, with the news that so far from there being the
+sums promised, all that could be produced was thirty talents. The
+generals were not a little disheartened at being thus disappointed at
+the outset, and by the refusal to join in the expedition of the
+Rhegians, the people they had first tried to gain and had had had most
+reason to count upon, from their relationship to the Leontines and
+constant friendship for Athens. If Nicias was prepared for the news
+from Egesta, his two colleagues were taken completely by surprise. The
+Egestaeans had had recourse to the following stratagem, when the first
+envoys from Athens came to inspect their resources. They took the
+envoys in question to the temple of Aphrodite at Eryx and showed them
+the treasures deposited there: bowls, wine-ladles, censers, and a large
+number of other pieces of plate, which from being in silver gave an
+impression of wealth quite out of proportion to their really small
+value. They also privately entertained the ships’ crews, and collected
+all the cups of gold and silver that they could find in Egesta itself
+or could borrow in the neighbouring Phoenician and Hellenic towns, and
+each brought them to the banquets as their own; and as all used pretty
+nearly the same, and everywhere a great quantity of plate was shown,
+the effect was most dazzling upon the Athenian sailors, and made them
+talk loudly of the riches they had seen when they got back to Athens.
+The dupes in question—who had in their turn persuaded the rest—when the
+news got abroad that there was not the money supposed at Egesta, were
+much blamed by the soldiers.
+
+Meanwhile the generals consulted upon what was to be done. The opinion
+of Nicias was to sail with all the armament to Selinus, the main object
+of the expedition, and if the Egestaeans could provide money for the
+whole force, to advise accordingly; but if they could not, to require
+them to supply provisions for the sixty ships that they had asked for,
+to stay and settle matters between them and the Selinuntines either by
+force or by agreement, and then to coast past the other cities, and
+after displaying the power of Athens and proving their zeal for their
+friends and allies, to sail home again (unless they should have some
+sudden and unexpected opportunity of serving the Leontines, or of
+bringing over some of the other cities), and not to endanger the state
+by wasting its home resources.
+
+Alcibiades said that a great expedition like the present must not
+disgrace itself by going away without having done anything; heralds
+must be sent to all the cities except Selinus and Syracuse, and efforts
+be made to make some of the Sicels revolt from the Syracusans, and to
+obtain the friendship of others, in order to have corn and troops; and
+first of all to gain the Messinese, who lay right in the passage and
+entrance to Sicily, and would afford an excellent harbour and base for
+the army. Thus, after bringing over the towns and knowing who would be
+their allies in the war, they might at length attack Syracuse and
+Selinus; unless the latter came to terms with Egesta and the former
+ceased to oppose the restoration of Leontini.
+
+Lamachus, on the other hand, said that they ought to sail straight to
+Syracuse, and fight their battle at once under the walls of the town
+while the people were still unprepared, and the panic at its height.
+Every armament was most terrible at first; if it allowed time to run on
+without showing itself, men’s courage revived, and they saw it appear
+at last almost with indifference. By attacking suddenly, while Syracuse
+still trembled at their coming, they would have the best chance of
+gaining a victory for themselves and of striking a complete panic into
+the enemy by the aspect of their numbers—which would never appear so
+considerable as at present—by the anticipation of coming disaster, and
+above all by the immediate danger of the engagement. They might also
+count upon surprising many in the fields outside, incredulous of their
+coming; and at the moment that the enemy was carrying in his property
+the army would not want for booty if it sat down in force before the
+city. The rest of the Siceliots would thus be immediately less disposed
+to enter into alliance with the Syracusans, and would join the
+Athenians, without waiting to see which were the strongest. They must
+make Megara their naval station as a place to retreat to and a base
+from which to attack: it was an uninhabited place at no great distance
+from Syracuse either by land or by sea.
+
+After speaking to this effect, Lamachus nevertheless gave his support
+to the opinion of Alcibiades. After this Alcibiades sailed in his own
+vessel across to Messina with proposals of alliance, but met with no
+success, the inhabitants answering that they could not receive him
+within their walls, though they would provide him with a market
+outside. Upon this he sailed back to Rhegium. Immediately upon his
+return the generals manned and victualled sixty ships out of the whole
+fleet and coasted along to Naxos, leaving the rest of the armament
+behind them at Rhegium with one of their number. Received by the
+Naxians, they then coasted on to Catana, and being refused admittance
+by the inhabitants, there being a Syracusan party in the town, went on
+to the river Terias. Here they bivouacked, and the next day sailed in
+single file to Syracuse with all their ships except ten which they sent
+on in front to sail into the great harbour and see if there was any
+fleet launched, and to proclaim by herald from shipboard that the
+Athenians were come to restore the Leontines to their country, as being
+their allies and kinsmen, and that such of them, therefore, as were in
+Syracuse should leave it without fear and join their friends and
+benefactors the Athenians. After making this proclamation and
+reconnoitring the city and the harbours, and the features of the
+country which they would have to make their base of operations in the
+war, they sailed back to Catana.
+
+An assembly being held here, the inhabitants refused to receive the
+armament, but invited the generals to come in and say what they
+desired; and while Alcibiades was speaking and the citizens were intent
+on the assembly, the soldiers broke down an ill-walled-up postern gate
+without being observed, and getting inside the town, flocked into the
+marketplace. The Syracusan party in the town no sooner saw the army
+inside than they became frightened and withdrew, not being at all
+numerous; while the rest voted for an alliance with the Athenians and
+invited them to fetch the rest of their forces from Rhegium. After this
+the Athenians sailed to Rhegium, and put off, this time with all the
+armament, for Catana, and fell to work at their camp immediately upon
+their arrival.
+
+Meanwhile word was brought them from Camarina that if they went there
+the town would go over to them, and also that the Syracusans were
+manning a fleet. The Athenians accordingly sailed alongshore with all
+their armament, first to Syracuse, where they found no fleet manning,
+and so always along the coast to Camarina, where they brought to at the
+beach, and sent a herald to the people, who, however, refused to
+receive them, saying that their oaths bound them to receive the
+Athenians only with a single vessel, unless they themselves sent for
+more. Disappointed here, the Athenians now sailed back again, and after
+landing and plundering on Syracusan territory and losing some
+stragglers from their light infantry through the coming up of the
+Syracusan horse, so got back to Catana.
+
+There they found the Salaminia come from Athens for Alcibiades, with
+orders for him to sail home to answer the charges which the state
+brought against him, and for certain others of the soldiers who with
+him were accused of sacrilege in the matter of the mysteries and of the
+Hermae. For the Athenians, after the departure of the expedition, had
+continued as active as ever in investigating the facts of the mysteries
+and of the Hermae, and, instead of testing the informers, in their
+suspicious temper welcomed all indifferently, arresting and imprisoning
+the best citizens upon the evidence of rascals, and preferring to sift
+the matter to the bottom sooner than to let an accused person of good
+character pass unquestioned, owing to the rascality of the informer.
+The commons had heard how oppressive the tyranny of Pisistratus and his
+sons had become before it ended, and further that that had been put
+down at last, not by themselves and Harmodius, but by the
+Lacedaemonians, and so were always in fear and took everything
+suspiciously.
+
+Indeed, the daring action of Aristogiton and Harmodius was undertaken
+in consequence of a love affair, which I shall relate at some length,
+to show that the Athenians are not more accurate than the rest of the
+world in their accounts of their own tyrants and of the facts of their
+own history. Pisistratus dying at an advanced age in possession of the
+tyranny, was succeeded by his eldest son, Hippias, and not Hipparchus,
+as is vulgarly believed. Harmodius was then in the flower of youthful
+beauty, and Aristogiton, a citizen in the middle rank of life, was his
+lover and possessed him. Solicited without success by Hipparchus, son
+of Pisistratus, Harmodius told Aristogiton, and the enraged lover,
+afraid that the powerful Hipparchus might take Harmodius by force,
+immediately formed a design, such as his condition in life permitted,
+for overthrowing the tyranny. In the meantime Hipparchus, after a
+second solicitation of Harmodius, attended with no better success,
+unwilling to use violence, arranged to insult him in some covert way.
+Indeed, generally their government was not grievous to the multitude,
+or in any way odious in practice; and these tyrants cultivated wisdom
+and virtue as much as any, and without exacting from the Athenians more
+than a twentieth of their income, splendidly adorned their city, and
+carried on their wars, and provided sacrifices for the temples. For the
+rest, the city was left in full enjoyment of its existing laws, except
+that care was always taken to have the offices in the hands of some one
+of the family. Among those of them that held the yearly archonship at
+Athens was Pisistratus, son of the tyrant Hippias, and named after his
+grandfather, who dedicated during his term of office the altar to the
+twelve gods in the market-place, and that of Apollo in the Pythian
+precinct. The Athenian people afterwards built on to and lengthened the
+altar in the market-place, and obliterated the inscription; but that in
+the Pythian precinct can still be seen, though in faded letters, and is
+to the following effect:
+
+Pisistratus, the son of Hippias, Sent up this record of his archonship
+In precinct of Apollo Pythias.
+
+That Hippias was the eldest son and succeeded to the government, is
+what I positively assert as a fact upon which I have had more exact
+accounts than others, and may be also ascertained by the following
+circumstance. He is the only one of the legitimate brothers that
+appears to have had children; as the altar shows, and the pillar placed
+in the Athenian Acropolis, commemorating the crime of the tyrants,
+which mentions no child of Thessalus or of Hipparchus, but five of
+Hippias, which he had by Myrrhine, daughter of Callias, son of
+Hyperechides; and naturally the eldest would have married first. Again,
+his name comes first on the pillar after that of his father; and this
+too is quite natural, as he was the eldest after him, and the reigning
+tyrant. Nor can I ever believe that Hippias would have obtained the
+tyranny so easily, if Hipparchus had been in power when he was killed,
+and he, Hippias, had had to establish himself upon the same day; but he
+had no doubt been long accustomed to overawe the citizens, and to be
+obeyed by his mercenaries, and thus not only conquered, but conquered
+with ease, without experiencing any of the embarrassment of a younger
+brother unused to the exercise of authority. It was the sad fate which
+made Hipparchus famous that got him also the credit with posterity of
+having been tyrant.
+
+To return to Harmodius; Hipparchus having been repulsed in his
+solicitations insulted him as he had resolved, by first inviting a
+sister of his, a young girl, to come and bear a basket in a certain
+procession, and then rejecting her, on the plea that she had never been
+invited at all owing to her unworthiness. If Harmodius was indignant at
+this, Aristogiton for his sake now became more exasperated than ever;
+and having arranged everything with those who were to join them in the
+enterprise, they only waited for the great feast of the Panathenaea,
+the sole day upon which the citizens forming part of the procession
+could meet together in arms without suspicion. Aristogiton and
+Harmodius were to begin, but were to be supported immediately by their
+accomplices against the bodyguard. The conspirators were not many, for
+better security, besides which they hoped that those not in the plot
+would be carried away by the example of a few daring spirits, and use
+the arms in their hands to recover their liberty.
+
+At last the festival arrived; and Hippias with his bodyguard was
+outside the city in the Ceramicus, arranging how the different parts of
+the procession were to proceed. Harmodius and Aristogiton had already
+their daggers and were getting ready to act, when seeing one of their
+accomplices talking familiarly with Hippias, who was easy of access to
+every one, they took fright, and concluded that they were discovered
+and on the point of being taken; and eager if possible to be revenged
+first upon the man who had wronged them and for whom they had
+undertaken all this risk, they rushed, as they were, within the gates,
+and meeting with Hipparchus by the Leocorium recklessly fell upon him
+at once, infuriated, Aristogiton by love, and Harmodius by insult, and
+smote him and slew him. Aristogiton escaped the guards at the moment,
+through the crowd running up, but was afterwards taken and dispatched
+in no merciful way: Harmodius was killed on the spot.
+
+When the news was brought to Hippias in the Ceramicus, he at once
+proceeded not to the scene of action, but to the armed men in the
+procession, before they, being some distance away, knew anything of the
+matter, and composing his features for the occasion, so as not to
+betray himself, pointed to a certain spot, and bade them repair thither
+without their arms. They withdrew accordingly, fancying he had
+something to say; upon which he told the mercenaries to remove the
+arms, and there and then picked out the men he thought guilty and all
+found with daggers, the shield and spear being the usual weapons for a
+procession.
+
+In this way offended love first led Harmodius and Aristogiton to
+conspire, and the alarm of the moment to commit the rash action
+recounted. After this the tyranny pressed harder on the Athenians, and
+Hippias, now grown more fearful, put to death many of the citizens, and
+at the same time began to turn his eyes abroad for a refuge in case of
+revolution. Thus, although an Athenian, he gave his daughter,
+Archedice, to a Lampsacene, Aeantides, son of the tyrant of Lampsacus,
+seeing that they had great influence with Darius. And there is her tomb
+in Lampsacus with this inscription:
+
+Archedice lies buried in this earth, Hippias her sire, and Athens gave
+her birth; Unto her bosom pride was never known, Though daughter, wife,
+and sister to the throne.
+
+Hippias, after reigning three years longer over the Athenians, was
+deposed in the fourth by the Lacedaemonians and the banished
+Alcmaeonidae, and went with a safe conduct to Sigeum, and to Aeantides
+at Lampsacus, and from thence to King Darius; from whose court he set
+out twenty years after, in his old age, and came with the Medes to
+Marathon.
+
+With these events in their minds, and recalling everything they knew by
+hearsay on the subject, the Athenian people grow difficult of humour
+and suspicious of the persons charged in the affair of the mysteries,
+and persuaded that all that had taken place was part of an oligarchical
+and monarchical conspiracy. In the state of irritation thus produced,
+many persons of consideration had been already thrown into prison, and
+far from showing any signs of abating, public feeling grew daily more
+savage, and more arrests were made; until at last one of those in
+custody, thought to be the most guilty of all, was induced by a fellow
+prisoner to make a revelation, whether true or not is a matter on which
+there are two opinions, no one having been able, either then or since,
+to say for certain who did the deed. However this may be, the other
+found arguments to persuade him, that even if he had not done it, he
+ought to save himself by gaining a promise of impunity, and free the
+state of its present suspicions; as he would be surer of safety if he
+confessed after promise of impunity than if he denied and were brought
+to trial. He accordingly made a revelation, affecting himself and
+others in the affair of the Hermae; and the Athenian people, glad at
+last, as they supposed, to get at the truth, and furious until then at
+not being able to discover those who had conspired against the commons,
+at once let go the informer and all the rest whom he had not denounced,
+and bringing the accused to trial executed as many as were apprehended,
+and condemned to death such as had fled and set a price upon their
+heads. In this it was, after all, not clear whether the sufferers had
+been punished unjustly, while in any case the rest of the city received
+immediate and manifest relief.
+
+To return to Alcibiades: public feeling was very hostile to him, being
+worked on by the same enemies who had attacked him before he went out;
+and now that the Athenians fancied that they had got at the truth of
+the matter of the Hermae, they believed more firmly than ever that the
+affair of the mysteries also, in which he was implicated, had been
+contrived by him in the same intention and was connected with the plot
+against the democracy. Meanwhile it so happened that, just at the time
+of this agitation, a small force of Lacedaemonians had advanced as far
+as the Isthmus, in pursuance of some scheme with the Boeotians. It was
+now thought that this had come by appointment, at his instigation, and
+not on account of the Boeotians, and that, if the citizens had not
+acted on the information received, and forestalled them by arresting
+the prisoners, the city would have been betrayed. The citizens went so
+far as to sleep one night armed in the temple of Theseus within the
+walls. The friends also of Alcibiades at Argos were just at this time
+suspected of a design to attack the commons; and the Argive hostages
+deposited in the islands were given up by the Athenians to the Argive
+people to be put to death upon that account: in short, everywhere
+something was found to create suspicion against Alcibiades. It was
+therefore decided to bring him to trial and execute him, and the
+Salaminia was sent to Sicily for him and the others named in the
+information, with instructions to order him to come and answer the
+charges against him, but not to arrest him, because they wished to
+avoid causing any agitation in the army or among the enemy in Sicily,
+and above all to retain the services of the Mantineans and Argives,
+who, it was thought, had been induced to join by his influence.
+Alcibiades, with his own ship and his fellow accused, accordingly
+sailed off with the Salaminia from Sicily, as though to return to
+Athens, and went with her as far as Thurii, and there they left the
+ship and disappeared, being afraid to go home for trial with such a
+prejudice existing against them. The crew of the Salaminia stayed some
+time looking for Alcibiades and his companions, and at length, as they
+were nowhere to be found, set sail and departed. Alcibiades, now an
+outlaw, crossed in a boat not long after from Thurii to Peloponnese;
+and the Athenians passed sentence of death by default upon him and
+those in his company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War—Inaction of the Athenian
+Army—Alcibiades at Sparta—Investment of Syracuse
+
+
+The Athenian generals left in Sicily now divided the armament into two
+parts, and, each taking one by lot, sailed with the whole for Selinus
+and Egesta, wishing to know whether the Egestaeans would give the
+money, and to look into the question of Selinus and ascertain the state
+of the quarrel between her and Egesta. Coasting along Sicily, with the
+shore on their left, on the side towards the Tyrrhene Gulf they touched
+at Himera, the only Hellenic city in that part of the island, and being
+refused admission resumed their voyage. On their way they took Hyccara,
+a petty Sicanian seaport, nevertheless at war with Egesta, and making
+slaves of the inhabitants gave up the town to the Egestaeans, some of
+whose horse had joined them; after which the army proceeded through the
+territory of the Sicels until it reached Catana, while the fleet sailed
+along the coast with the slaves on board. Meanwhile Nicias sailed
+straight from Hyccara along the coast and went to Egesta and, after
+transacting his other business and receiving thirty talents, rejoined
+the forces. They now sold their slaves for the sum of one hundred and
+twenty talents, and sailed round to their Sicel allies to urge them to
+send troops; and meanwhile went with half their own force to the
+hostile town of Hybla in the territory of Gela, but did not succeed in
+taking it.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following, the Athenians at once began
+to prepare for moving on Syracuse, and the Syracusans on their side for
+marching against them. From the moment when the Athenians failed to
+attack them instantly as they at first feared and expected, every day
+that passed did something to revive their courage; and when they saw
+them sailing far away from them on the other side of Sicily, and going
+to Hybla only to fail in their attempts to storm it, they thought less
+of them than ever, and called upon their generals, as the multitude is
+apt to do in its moments of confidence, to lead them to Catana, since
+the enemy would not come to them. Parties also of the Syracusan horse
+employed in reconnoitring constantly rode up to the Athenian armament,
+and among other insults asked them whether they had not really come to
+settle with the Syracusans in a foreign country rather than to resettle
+the Leontines in their own.
+
+Aware of this, the Athenian generals determined to draw them out in
+mass as far as possible from the city, and themselves in the meantime
+to sail by night alongshore, and take up at their leisure a convenient
+position. This they knew they could not so well do, if they had to
+disembark from their ships in front of a force prepared for them, or to
+go by land openly. The numerous cavalry of the Syracusans (a force
+which they were themselves without) would then be able to do the
+greatest mischief to their light troops and the crowd that followed
+them; but this plan would enable them to take up a position in which
+the horse could do them no hurt worth speaking of, some Syracusan
+exiles with the army having told them of the spot near the Olympieum,
+which they afterwards occupied. In pursuance of their idea, the
+generals imagined the following stratagem. They sent to Syracuse a man
+devoted to them, and by the Syracusan generals thought to be no less in
+their interest; he was a native of Catana, and said he came from
+persons in that place, whose names the Syracusan generals were
+acquainted with, and whom they knew to be among the members of their
+party still left in the city. He told them that the Athenians passed
+the night in the town, at some distance from their arms, and that if
+the Syracusans would name a day and come with all their people at
+daybreak to attack the armament, they, their friends, would close the
+gates upon the troops in the city, and set fire to the vessels, while
+the Syracusans would easily take the camp by an attack upon the
+stockade. In this they would be aided by many of the Catanians, who
+were already prepared to act, and from whom he himself came.
+
+The generals of the Syracusans, who did not want confidence, and who
+had intended even without this to march on Catana, believed the man
+without any sufficient inquiry, fixed at once a day upon which they
+would be there, and dismissed him, and the Selinuntines and others of
+their allies having now arrived, gave orders for all the Syracusans to
+march out in mass. Their preparations completed, and the time fixed for
+their arrival being at hand, they set out for Catana, and passed the
+night upon the river Symaethus, in the Leontine territory. Meanwhile
+the Athenians no sooner knew of their approach than they took all their
+forces and such of the Sicels or others as had joined them, put them on
+board their ships and boats, and sailed by night to Syracuse. Thus,
+when morning broke the Athenians were landing opposite the Olympieum
+ready to seize their camping ground, and the Syracusan horse having
+ridden up first to Catana and found that all the armament had put to
+sea, turned back and told the infantry, and then all turned back
+together, and went to the relief of the city.
+
+In the meantime, as the march before the Syracusans was a long one, the
+Athenians quietly sat down their army in a convenient position, where
+they could begin an engagement when they pleased, and where the
+Syracusan cavalry would have least opportunity of annoying them, either
+before or during the action, being fenced off on one side by walls,
+houses, trees, and by a marsh, and on the other by cliffs. They also
+felled the neighbouring trees and carried them down to the sea, and
+formed a palisade alongside of their ships, and with stones which they
+picked up and wood hastily raised a fort at Daskon, the most vulnerable
+point of their position, and broke down the bridge over the Anapus.
+These preparations were allowed to go on without any interruption from
+the city, the first hostile force to appear being the Syracusan
+cavalry, followed afterwards by all the foot together. At first they
+came close up to the Athenian army, and then, finding that they did not
+offer to engage, crossed the Helorine road and encamped for the night.
+
+The next day the Athenians and their allies prepared for battle, their
+dispositions being as follows: Their right wing was occupied by the
+Argives and Mantineans, the centre by the Athenians, and the rest of
+the field by the other allies. Half their army was drawn up eight deep
+in advance, half close to their tents in a hollow square, formed also
+eight deep, which had orders to look out and be ready to go to the
+support of the troops hardest pressed. The camp followers were placed
+inside this reserve. The Syracusans, meanwhile, formed their heavy
+infantry sixteen deep, consisting of the mass levy of their own people,
+and such allies as had joined them, the strongest contingent being that
+of the Selinuntines; next to them the cavalry of the Geloans, numbering
+two hundred in all, with about twenty horse and fifty archers from
+Camarina. The cavalry was posted on their right, full twelve hundred
+strong, and next to it the darters. As the Athenians were about to
+begin the attack, Nicias went along the lines, and addressed these
+words of encouragement to the army and the nations composing it:
+
+“Soldiers, a long exhortation is little needed by men like ourselves,
+who are here to fight in the same battle, the force itself being, to my
+thinking, more fit to inspire confidence than a fine speech with a weak
+army. Where we have Argives, Mantineans, Athenians, and the first of
+the islanders in the ranks together, it were strange indeed, with so
+many and so brave companions in arms, if we did not feel confident of
+victory; especially when we have mass levies opposed to our picked
+troops, and what is more, Siceliots, who may disdain us but will not
+stand against us, their skill not being at all commensurate to their
+rashness. You may also remember that we are far from home and have no
+friendly land near, except what your own swords shall win you; and here
+I put before you a motive just the reverse of that which the enemy are
+appealing to; their cry being that they shall fight for their country,
+mine that we shall fight for a country that is not ours, where we must
+conquer or hardly get away, as we shall have their horse upon us in
+great numbers. Remember, therefore, your renown, and go boldly against
+the enemy, thinking the present strait and necessity more terrible than
+they.”
+
+After this address Nicias at once led on the army. The Syracusans were
+not at that moment expecting an immediate engagement, and some had even
+gone away to the town, which was close by; these now ran up as hard as
+they could and, though behind time, took their places here or there in
+the main body as fast as they joined it. Want of zeal or daring was
+certainly not the fault of the Syracusans, either in this or the other
+battles, but although not inferior in courage, so far as their military
+science might carry them, when this failed them they were compelled to
+give up their resolution also. On the present occasion, although they
+had not supposed that the Athenians would begin the attack, and
+although constrained to stand upon their defence at short notice, they
+at once took up their arms and advanced to meet them. First, the
+stone-throwers, slingers, and archers of either army began skirmishing,
+and routed or were routed by one another, as might be expected between
+light troops; next, soothsayers brought forward the usual victims, and
+trumpeters urged on the heavy infantry to the charge; and thus they
+advanced, the Syracusans to fight for their country, and each
+individual for his safety that day and liberty hereafter; in the
+enemy’s army, the Athenians to make another’s country theirs and to
+save their own from suffering by their defeat; the Argives and
+independent allies to help them in getting what they came for, and to
+earn by victory another sight of the country they had left behind;
+while the subject allies owed most of their ardour to the desire of
+self-preservation, which they could only hope for if victorious; next
+to which, as a secondary motive, came the chance of serving on easier
+terms, after helping the Athenians to a fresh conquest.
+
+The armies now came to close quarters, and for a long while fought
+without either giving ground. Meanwhile there occurred some claps of
+thunder with lightning and heavy rain, which did not fail to add to the
+fears of the party fighting for the first time, and very little
+acquainted with war; while to their more experienced adversaries these
+phenomena appeared to be produced by the time of year, and much more
+alarm was felt at the continued resistance of the enemy. At last the
+Argives drove in the Syracusan left, and after them the Athenians
+routed the troops opposed to them, and the Syracusan army was thus cut
+in two and betook itself to flight. The Athenians did not pursue far,
+being held in check by the numerous and undefeated Syracusan horse, who
+attacked and drove back any of their heavy infantry whom they saw
+pursuing in advance of the rest; in spite of which the victors followed
+so far as was safe in a body, and then went back and set up a trophy.
+Meanwhile the Syracusans rallied at the Helorine road, where they
+re-formed as well as they could under the circumstances, and even sent
+a garrison of their own citizens to the Olympieum, fearing that the
+Athenians might lay hands on some of the treasures there. The rest
+returned to the town.
+
+The Athenians, however, did not go to the temple, but collected their
+dead and laid them upon a pyre, and passed the night upon the field.
+The next day they gave the enemy back their dead under truce, to the
+number of about two hundred and sixty, Syracusans and allies, and
+gathered together the bones of their own, some fifty, Athenians and
+allies, and taking the spoils of the enemy, sailed back to Catana. It
+was now winter; and it did not seem possible for the moment to carry on
+the war before Syracuse, until horse should have been sent for from
+Athens and levied among the allies in Sicily—to do away with their
+utter inferiority in cavalry—and money should have been collected in
+the country and received from Athens, and until some of the cities,
+which they hoped would be now more disposed to listen to them after the
+battle, should have been brought over, and corn and all other
+necessaries provided, for a campaign in the spring against Syracuse.
+
+With this intention they sailed off to Naxos and Catana for the winter.
+Meanwhile the Syracusans burned their dead and then held an assembly,
+in which Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a man who with a general ability
+of the first order had given proofs of military capacity and brilliant
+courage in the war, came forward and encouraged them, and told them not
+to let what had occurred make them give way, since their spirit had not
+been conquered, but their want of discipline had done the mischief.
+Still they had not been beaten by so much as might have been expected,
+especially as they were, one might say, novices in the art of war, an
+army of artisans opposed to the most practised soldiers in Hellas. What
+had also done great mischief was the number of the generals (there were
+fifteen of them) and the quantity of orders given, combined with the
+disorder and insubordination of the troops. But if they were to have a
+few skilful generals, and used this winter in preparing their heavy
+infantry, finding arms for such as had not got any, so as to make them
+as numerous as possible, and forcing them to attend to their training
+generally, they would have every chance of beating their adversaries,
+courage being already theirs and discipline in the field having thus
+been added to it. Indeed, both these qualities would improve, since
+danger would exercise them in discipline, while their courage would be
+led to surpass itself by the confidence which skill inspires. The
+generals should be few and elected with full powers, and an oath should
+be taken to leave them entire discretion in their command: if they
+adopted this plan, their secrets would be better kept, all preparations
+would be properly made, and there would be no room for excuses.
+
+The Syracusans heard him, and voted everything as he advised, and
+elected three generals, Hermocrates himself, Heraclides, son of
+Lysimachus, and Sicanus, son of Execestes. They also sent envoys to
+Corinth and Lacedaemon to procure a force of allies to join them, and
+to induce the Lacedaemonians for their sakes openly to address
+themselves in real earnest to the war against the Athenians, that they
+might either have to leave Sicily or be less able to send
+reinforcements to their army there.
+
+The Athenian forces at Catana now at once sailed against Messina, in
+the expectation of its being betrayed to them. The intrigue, however,
+after all came to nothing: Alcibiades, who was in the secret, when he
+left his command upon the summons from home, foreseeing that he would
+be outlawed, gave information of the plot to the friends of the
+Syracusans in Messina, who had at once put to death its authors, and
+now rose in arms against the opposite faction with those of their way
+of thinking, and succeeded in preventing the admission of the
+Athenians. The latter waited for thirteen days, and then, as they were
+exposed to the weather and without provisions, and met with no success,
+went back to Naxos, where they made places for their ships to lie in,
+erected a palisade round their camp, and retired into winter quarters;
+meanwhile they sent a galley to Athens for money and cavalry to join
+them in the spring. During the winter the Syracusans built a wall on to
+the city, so as to take in the statue of Apollo Temenites, all along
+the side looking towards Epipolae, to make the task of circumvallation
+longer and more difficult, in case of their being defeated, and also
+erected a fort at Megara and another in the Olympieum, and stuck
+palisades along the sea wherever there was a landing Place. Meanwhile,
+as they knew that the Athenians were wintering at Naxos, they marched
+with all their people to Catana, and ravaged the land and set fire to
+the tents and encampment of the Athenians, and so returned home.
+Learning also that the Athenians were sending an embassy to Camarina,
+on the strength of the alliance concluded in the time of Laches, to
+gain, if possible, that city, they sent another from Syracuse to oppose
+them. They had a shrewd suspicion that the Camarinaeans had not sent
+what they did send for the first battle very willingly; and they now
+feared that they would refuse to assist them at all in future, after
+seeing the success of the Athenians in the action, and would join the
+latter on the strength of their old friendship. Hermocrates, with some
+others, accordingly arrived at Camarina from Syracuse, and Euphemus and
+others from the Athenians; and an assembly of the Camarinaeans having
+been convened, Hermocrates spoke as follows, in the hope of prejudicing
+them against the Athenians:
+
+“Camarinaeans, we did not come on this embassy because we were afraid
+of your being frightened by the actual forces of the Athenians, but
+rather of your being gained by what they would say to you before you
+heard anything from us. They are come to Sicily with the pretext that
+you know, and the intention which we all suspect, in my opinion less to
+restore the Leontines to their homes than to oust us from ours; as it
+is out of all reason that they should restore in Sicily the cities that
+they lay waste in Hellas, or should cherish the Leontine Chalcidians
+because of their Ionian blood and keep in servitude the Euboean
+Chalcidians, of whom the Leontines are a colony. No; but the same
+policy which has proved so successful in Hellas is now being tried in
+Sicily. After being chosen as the leaders of the Ionians and of the
+other allies of Athenian origin, to punish the Mede, the Athenians
+accused some of failure in military service, some of fighting against
+each other, and others, as the case might be, upon any colourable
+pretext that could be found, until they thus subdued them all. In fine,
+in the struggle against the Medes, the Athenians did not fight for the
+liberty of the Hellenes, or the Hellenes for their own liberty, but the
+former to make their countrymen serve them instead of him, the latter
+to change one master for another, wiser indeed than the first, but
+wiser for evil.
+
+“But we are not now come to declare to an audience familiar with them
+the misdeeds of a state so open to accusation as is the Athenian, but
+much rather to blame ourselves, who, with the warnings we possess in
+the Hellenes in those parts that have been enslaved through not
+supporting each other, and seeing the same sophisms being now tried
+upon ourselves—such as restorations of Leontine kinsfolk and support of
+Egestaean allies—do not stand together and resolutely show them that
+here are no Ionians, or Hellespontines, or islanders, who change
+continually, but always serve a master, sometimes the Mede and
+sometimes some other, but free Dorians from independent Peloponnese,
+dwelling in Sicily. Or, are we waiting until we be taken in detail, one
+city after another; knowing as we do that in no other way can we be
+conquered, and seeing that they turn to this plan, so as to divide some
+of us by words, to draw some by the bait of an alliance into open war
+with each other, and to ruin others by such flattery as different
+circumstances may render acceptable? And do we fancy when destruction
+first overtakes a distant fellow countryman that the danger will not
+come to each of us also, or that he who suffers before us will suffer
+in himself alone?
+
+“As for the Camarinaean who says that it is the Syracusan, not he, that
+is the enemy of the Athenian, and who thinks it hard to have to
+encounter risk in behalf of my country, I would have him bear in mind
+that he will fight in my country, not more for mine than for his own,
+and by so much the more safely in that he will enter on the struggle
+not alone, after the way has been cleared by my ruin, but with me as
+his ally, and that the object of the Athenian is not so much to punish
+the enmity of the Syracusan as to use me as a blind to secure the
+friendship of the Camarinaean. As for him who envies or even fears us
+(and envied and feared great powers must always be), and who on this
+account wishes Syracuse to be humbled to teach us a lesson, but would
+still have her survive, in the interest of his own security the wish
+that he indulges is not humanly possible. A man can control his own
+desires, but he cannot likewise control circumstances; and in the event
+of his calculations proving mistaken, he may live to bewail his own
+misfortune, and wish to be again envying my prosperity. An idle wish,
+if he now sacrifice us and refuse to take his share of perils which are
+the same, in reality though not in name, for him as for us; what is
+nominally the preservation of our power being really his own salvation.
+It was to be expected that you, of all people in the world,
+Camarinaeans, being our immediate neighbours and the next in danger,
+would have foreseen this, and instead of supporting us in the lukewarm
+way that you are now doing, would rather come to us of your own accord,
+and be now offering at Syracuse the aid which you would have asked for
+at Camarina, if to Camarina the Athenians had first come, to encourage
+us to resist the invader. Neither you, however, nor the rest have as
+yet bestirred yourselves in this direction.
+
+“Fear perhaps will make you study to do right both by us and by the
+invaders, and plead that you have an alliance with the Athenians. But
+you made that alliance, not against your friends, but against the
+enemies that might attack you, and to help the Athenians when they were
+wronged by others, not when as now they are wronging their neighbours.
+Even the Rhegians, Chalcidians though they be, refuse to help to
+restore the Chalcidian Leontines; and it would be strange if, while
+they suspect the gist of this fine pretence and are wise without
+reason, you, with every reason on your side, should yet choose to
+assist your natural enemies, and should join with their direst foes in
+undoing those whom nature has made your own kinsfolk. This is not to do
+right; but you should help us without fear of their armament, which has
+no terrors if we hold together, but only if we let them succeed in
+their endeavours to separate us; since even after attacking us by
+ourselves and being victorious in battle, they had to go off without
+effecting their purpose.
+
+“United, therefore, we have no cause to despair, but rather new
+encouragement to league together; especially as succour will come to us
+from the Peloponnesians, in military matters the undoubted superiors of
+the Athenians. And you need not think that your prudent policy of
+taking sides with neither, because allies of both, is either safe for
+you or fair to us. Practically it is not as fair as it pretends to be.
+If the vanquished be defeated, and the victor conquer, through your
+refusing to join, what is the effect of your abstention but to leave
+the former to perish unaided, and to allow the latter to offend
+unhindered? And yet it were more honourable to join those who are not
+only the injured party, but your own kindred, and by so doing to defend
+the common interests of Sicily and save your friends the Athenians from
+doing wrong.
+
+“In conclusion, we Syracusans say that it is useless for us to
+demonstrate either to you or to the rest what you know already as well
+as we do; but we entreat, and if our entreaty fail, we protest that we
+are menaced by our eternal enemies the Ionians, and are betrayed by you
+our fellow Dorians. If the Athenians reduce us, they will owe their
+victory to your decision, but in their own name will reap the honour,
+and will receive as the prize of their triumph the very men who enabled
+them to gain it. On the other hand, if we are the conquerors, you will
+have to pay for having been the cause of our danger. Consider,
+therefore; and now make your choice between the security which present
+servitude offers and the prospect of conquering with us and so escaping
+disgraceful submission to an Athenian master and avoiding the lasting
+enmity of Syracuse.”
+
+Such were the words of Hermocrates; after whom Euphemus, the Athenian
+ambassador, spoke as follows:
+
+“Although we came here only to renew the former alliance, the attack of
+the Syracusans compels us to speak of our empire and of the good right
+we have to it. The best proof of this the speaker himself furnished,
+when he called the Ionians eternal enemies of the Dorians. It is the
+fact; and the Peloponnesian Dorians being our superiors in numbers and
+next neighbours, we Ionians looked out for the best means of escaping
+their domination. After the Median War we had a fleet, and so got rid
+of the empire and supremacy of the Lacedaemonians, who had no right to
+give orders to us more than we to them, except that of being the
+strongest at that moment; and being appointed leaders of the King’s
+former subjects, we continue to be so, thinking that we are least
+likely to fall under the dominion of the Peloponnesians, if we have a
+force to defend ourselves with, and in strict truth having done nothing
+unfair in reducing to subjection the Ionians and islanders, the
+kinsfolk whom the Syracusans say we have enslaved. They, our kinsfolk,
+came against their mother country, that is to say against us, together
+with the Mede, and, instead of having the courage to revolt and
+sacrifice their property as we did when we abandoned our city, chose to
+be slaves themselves, and to try to make us so.
+
+“We, therefore, deserve to rule because we placed the largest fleet and
+an unflinching patriotism at the service of the Hellenes, and because
+these, our subjects, did us mischief by their ready subservience to the
+Medes; and, desert apart, we seek to strengthen ourselves against the
+Peloponnesians. We make no fine profession of having a right to rule
+because we overthrew the barbarian single-handed, or because we risked
+what we did risk for the freedom of the subjects in question any more
+than for that of all, and for our own: no one can be quarrelled with
+for providing for his proper safety. If we are now here in Sicily, it
+is equally in the interest of our security, with which we perceive that
+your interest also coincides. We prove this from the conduct which the
+Syracusans cast against us and which you somewhat too timorously
+suspect; knowing that those whom fear has made suspicious may be
+carried away by the charm of eloquence for the moment, but when they
+come to act follow their interests.
+
+“Now, as we have said, fear makes us hold our empire in Hellas, and
+fear makes us now come, with the help of our friends, to order safely
+matters in Sicily, and not to enslave any but rather to prevent any
+from being enslaved. Meanwhile, let no one imagine that we are
+interesting ourselves in you without your having anything to do with
+us, seeing that, if you are preserved and able to make head against the
+Syracusans, they will be less likely to harm us by sending troops to
+the Peloponnesians. In this way you have everything to do with us, and
+on this account it is perfectly reasonable for us to restore the
+Leontines, and to make them, not subjects like their kinsmen in Euboea,
+but as powerful as possible, to help us by annoying the Syracusans from
+their frontier. In Hellas we are alone a match for our enemies; and as
+for the assertion that it is out of all reason that we should free the
+Sicilian, while we enslave the Chalcidian, the fact is that the latter
+is useful to us by being without arms and contributing money only;
+while the former, the Leontines and our other friends, cannot be too
+independent.
+
+“Besides, for tyrants and imperial cities nothing is unreasonable if
+expedient, no one a kinsman unless sure; but friendship or enmity is
+everywhere an affair of time and circumstance. Here, in Sicily, our
+interest is not to weaken our friends, but by means of their strength
+to cripple our enemies. Why doubt this? In Hellas we treat our allies
+as we find them useful. The Chians and Methymnians govern themselves
+and furnish ships; most of the rest have harder terms and pay tribute
+in money; while others, although islanders and easy for us to take, are
+free altogether, because they occupy convenient positions round
+Peloponnese. In our settlement of the states here in Sicily, we should
+therefore; naturally be guided by our interest, and by fear, as we say,
+of the Syracusans. Their ambition is to rule you, their object to use
+the suspicions that we excite to unite you, and then, when we have gone
+away without effecting anything, by force or through your isolation, to
+become the masters of Sicily. And masters they must become, if you
+unite with them; as a force of that magnitude would be no longer easy
+for us to deal with united, and they would be more than a match for you
+as soon as we were away.
+
+“Any other view of the case is condemned by the facts. When you first
+asked us over, the fear which you held out was that of danger to Athens
+if we let you come under the dominion of Syracuse; and it is not right
+now to mistrust the very same argument by which you claimed to convince
+us, or to give way to suspicion because we are come with a larger force
+against the power of that city. Those whom you should really distrust
+are the Syracusans. We are not able to stay here without you, and if we
+proved perfidious enough to bring you into subjection, we should be
+unable to keep you in bondage, owing to the length of the voyage and
+the difficulty of guarding large, and in a military sense continental,
+towns: they, the Syracusans, live close to you, not in a camp, but in a
+city greater than the force we have with us, plot always against you,
+never let slip an opportunity once offered, as they have shown in the
+case of the Leontines and others, and now have the face, just as if you
+were fools, to invite you to aid them against the power that hinders
+this, and that has thus far maintained Sicily independent. We, as
+against them, invite you to a much more real safety, when we beg you
+not to betray that common safety which we each have in the other, and
+to reflect that they, even without allies, will, by their numbers, have
+always the way open to you, while you will not often have the
+opportunity of defending yourselves with such numerous auxiliaries; if,
+through your suspicions, you once let these go away unsuccessful or
+defeated, you will wish to see if only a handful of them back again,
+when the day is past in which their presence could do anything for you.
+
+“But we hope, Camarinaeans, that the calumnies of the Syracusans will
+not be allowed to succeed either with you or with the rest: we have
+told you the whole truth upon the things we are suspected of, and will
+now briefly recapitulate, in the hope of convincing you. We assert that
+we are rulers in Hellas in order not to be subjects; liberators in
+Sicily that we may not be harmed by the Sicilians; that we are
+compelled to interfere in many things, because we have many things to
+guard against; and that now, as before, we are come as allies to those
+of you who suffer wrong in this island, not without invitation but upon
+invitation. Accordingly, instead of making yourselves judges or censors
+of our conduct, and trying to turn us, which it were now difficult to
+do, so far as there is anything in our interfering policy or in our
+character that chimes in with your interest, this take and make use of;
+and be sure that, far from being injurious to all alike, to most of the
+Hellenes that policy is even beneficial. Thanks to it, all men in all
+places, even where we are not, who either apprehend or meditate
+aggression, from the near prospect before them, in the one case, of
+obtaining our intervention in their favour, in the other, of our
+arrival making the venture dangerous, find themselves constrained,
+respectively, to be moderate against their will, and to be preserved
+without trouble of their own. Do not you reject this security that is
+open to all who desire it, and is now offered to you; but do like
+others, and instead of being always on the defensive against the
+Syracusans, unite with us, and in your turn at last threaten them.”
+
+Such were the words of Euphemus. What the Camarinaeans felt was this.
+Sympathizing with the Athenians, except in so far as they might be
+afraid of their subjugating Sicily, they had always been at enmity with
+their neighbour Syracuse. From the very fact, however, that they were
+their neighbours, they feared the Syracusans most of the two, and being
+apprehensive of their conquering even without them, both sent them in
+the first instance the few horsemen mentioned, and for the future
+determined to support them most in fact, although as sparingly as
+possible; but for the moment in order not to seem to slight the
+Athenians, especially as they had been successful in the engagement, to
+answer both alike. Agreeably to this resolution they answered that as
+both the contending parties happened to be allies of theirs, they
+thought it most consistent with their oaths at present to side with
+neither; with which answer the ambassadors of either party departed.
+
+In the meantime, while Syracuse pursued her preparations for war, the
+Athenians were encamped at Naxos, and tried by negotiation to gain as
+many of the Sicels as possible. Those more in the low lands, and
+subjects of Syracuse, mostly held aloof; but the peoples of the
+interior who had never been otherwise than independent, with few
+exceptions, at once joined the Athenians, and brought down corn to the
+army, and in some cases even money. The Athenians marched against those
+who refused to join, and forced some of them to do so; in the case of
+others they were stopped by the Syracusans sending garrisons and
+reinforcements. Meanwhile the Athenians moved their winter quarters
+from Naxos to Catana, and reconstructed the camp burnt by the
+Syracusans, and stayed there the rest of the winter. They also sent a
+galley to Carthage, with proffers of friendship, on the chance of
+obtaining assistance, and another to Tyrrhenia; some of the cities
+there having spontaneously offered to join them in the war. They also
+sent round to the Sicels and to Egesta, desiring them to send them as
+many horses as possible, and meanwhile prepared bricks, iron, and all
+other things necessary for the work of circumvallation, intending by
+the spring to begin hostilities.
+
+In the meantime the Syracusan envoys dispatched to Corinth and
+Lacedaemon tried as they passed along the coast to persuade the
+Italiots to interfere with the proceedings of the Athenians, which
+threatened Italy quite as much as Syracuse, and having arrived at
+Corinth made a speech calling on the Corinthians to assist them on the
+ground of their common origin. The Corinthians voted at once to aid
+them heart and soul themselves, and then sent on envoys with them to
+Lacedaemon, to help them to persuade her also to prosecute the war with
+the Athenians more openly at home and to send succours to Sicily. The
+envoys from Corinth having reached Lacedaemon found there Alcibiades
+with his fellow refugees, who had at once crossed over in a trading
+vessel from Thurii, first to Cyllene in Elis, and afterwards from
+thence to Lacedaemon; upon the Lacedaemonians’ own invitation, after
+first obtaining a safe conduct, as he feared them for the part he had
+taken in the affair of Mantinea. The result was that the Corinthians,
+Syracusans, and Alcibiades, pressing all the same request in the
+assembly of the Lacedaemonians, succeeded in persuading them; but as
+the ephors and the authorities, although resolved to send envoys to
+Syracuse to prevent their surrendering to the Athenians, showed no
+disposition to send them any assistance, Alcibiades now came forward
+and inflamed and stirred the Lacedaemonians by speaking as follows:
+
+“I am forced first to speak to you of the prejudice with which I am
+regarded, in order that suspicion may not make you disinclined to
+listen to me upon public matters. The connection, with you as your
+proxeni, which the ancestors of our family by reason of some discontent
+renounced, I personally tried to renew by my good offices towards you,
+in particular upon the occasion of the disaster at Pylos. But although
+I maintained this friendly attitude, you yet chose to negotiate the
+peace with the Athenians through my enemies, and thus to strengthen
+them and to discredit me. You had therefore no right to complain if I
+turned to the Mantineans and Argives, and seized other occasions of
+thwarting and injuring you; and the time has now come when those among
+you, who in the bitterness of the moment may have been then unfairly
+angry with me, should look at the matter in its true light, and take a
+different view. Those again who judged me unfavourably, because I
+leaned rather to the side of the commons, must not think that their
+dislike is any better founded. We have always been hostile to tyrants,
+and all who oppose arbitrary power are called commons; hence we
+continued to act as leaders of the multitude; besides which, as
+democracy was the government of the city, it was necessary in most
+things to conform to established conditions. However, we endeavoured to
+be more moderate than the licentious temper of the times; and while
+there were others, formerly as now, who tried to lead the multitude
+astray—the same who banished me—our party was that of the whole people,
+our creed being to do our part in preserving the form of government
+under which the city enjoyed the utmost greatness and freedom, and
+which we had found existing. As for democracy, the men of sense among
+us knew what it was, and I perhaps as well as any, as I have the more
+cause to complain of it; but there is nothing new to be said of a
+patent absurdity; meanwhile we did not think it safe to alter it under
+the pressure of your hostility.
+
+“So much then for the prejudices with which I am regarded: I now can
+call your attention to the questions you must consider, and upon which
+superior knowledge perhaps permits me to speak. We sailed to Sicily
+first to conquer, if possible, the Siceliots, and after them the
+Italiots also, and finally to assail the empire and city of Carthage.
+In the event of all or most of these schemes succeeding, we were then
+to attack Peloponnese, bringing with us the entire force of the
+Hellenes lately acquired in those parts, and taking a number of
+barbarians into our pay, such as the Iberians and others in those
+countries, confessedly the most warlike known, and building numerous
+galleys in addition to those which we had already, timber being
+plentiful in Italy; and with this fleet blockading Peloponnese from the
+sea and assailing it with our armies by land, taking some of the cities
+by storm, drawing works of circumvallation round others, we hoped
+without difficulty to effect its reduction, and after this to rule the
+whole of the Hellenic name. Money and corn meanwhile for the better
+execution of these plans were to be supplied in sufficient quantities
+by the newly acquired places in those countries, independently of our
+revenues here at home.
+
+“You have thus heard the history of the present expedition from the man
+who most exactly knows what our objects were; and the remaining
+generals will, if they can, carry these out just the same. But that the
+states in Sicily must succumb if you do not help them, I will now show.
+Although the Siceliots, with all their inexperience, might even now be
+saved if their forces were united, the Syracusans alone, beaten already
+in one battle with all their people and blockaded from the sea, will be
+unable to withstand the Athenian armament that is now there. But if
+Syracuse falls, all Sicily falls also, and Italy immediately
+afterwards; and the danger which I just now spoke of from that quarter
+will before long be upon you. None need therefore fancy that Sicily
+only is in question; Peloponnese will be so also, unless you speedily
+do as I tell you, and send on board ship to Syracuse troops that shall
+able to row their ships themselves, and serve as heavy infantry the
+moment that they land; and what I consider even more important than the
+troops, a Spartan as commanding officer to discipline the forces
+already on foot and to compel recusants to serve. The friends that you
+have already will thus become more confident, and the waverers will be
+encouraged to join you. Meanwhile you must carry on the war here more
+openly, that the Syracusans, seeing that you do not forget them, may
+put heart into their resistance, and that the Athenians may be less
+able to reinforce their armament. You must fortify Decelea in Attica,
+the blow of which the Athenians are always most afraid and the only one
+that they think they have not experienced in the present war; the
+surest method of harming an enemy being to find out what he most fears,
+and to choose this means of attacking him, since every one naturally
+knows best his own weak points and fears accordingly. The fortification
+in question, while it benefits you, will create difficulties for your
+adversaries, of which I shall pass over many, and shall only mention
+the chief. Whatever property there is in the country will most of it
+become yours, either by capture or surrender; and the Athenians will at
+once be deprived of their revenues from the silver mines at Laurium, of
+their present gains from their land and from the law courts, and above
+all of the revenue from their allies, which will be paid less
+regularly, as they lose their awe of Athens and see you addressing
+yourselves with vigour to the war. The zeal and speed with which all
+this shall be done depends, Lacedaemonians, upon yourselves; as to its
+possibility, I am quite confident, and I have little fear of being
+mistaken.
+
+“Meanwhile I hope that none of you will think any the worse of me if,
+after having hitherto passed as a lover of my country, I now actively
+join its worst enemies in attacking it, or will suspect what I say as
+the fruit of an outlaw’s enthusiasm. I am an outlaw from the iniquity
+of those who drove me forth, not, if you will be guided by me, from
+your service; my worst enemies are not you who only harmed your foes,
+but they who forced their friends to become enemies; and love of
+country is what I do not feel when I am wronged, but what I felt when
+secure in my rights as a citizen. Indeed I do not consider that I am
+now attacking a country that is still mine; I am rather trying to
+recover one that is mine no longer; and the true lover of his country
+is not he who consents to lose it unjustly rather than attack it, but
+he who longs for it so much that he will go all lengths to recover it.
+For myself, therefore, Lacedaemonians, I beg you to use me without
+scruple for danger and trouble of every kind, and to remember the
+argument in every one’s mouth, that if I did you great harm as an
+enemy, I could likewise do you good service as a friend, inasmuch as I
+know the plans of the Athenians, while I only guessed yours. For
+yourselves I entreat you to believe that your most capital interests
+are now under deliberation; and I urge you to send without hesitation
+the expeditions to Sicily and Attica; by the presence of a small part
+of your forces you will save important cities in that island, and you
+will destroy the power of Athens both present and prospective; after
+this you will dwell in security and enjoy the supremacy over all
+Hellas, resting not on force but upon consent and affection.”
+
+Such were the words of Alcibiades. The Lacedaemonians, who had
+themselves before intended to march against Athens, but were still
+waiting and looking about them, at once became much more in earnest
+when they received this particular information from Alcibiades, and
+considered that they had heard it from the man who best knew the truth
+of the matter. Accordingly they now turned their attention to the
+fortifying of Decelea and sending immediate aid to the Sicilians; and
+naming Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, to the command of the Syracusans,
+bade him consult with that people and with the Corinthians and arrange
+for succours reaching the island, in the best and speediest way
+possible under the circumstances. Gylippus desired the Corinthians to
+send him at once two ships to Asine, and to prepare the rest that they
+intended to send, and to have them ready to sail at the proper time.
+Having settled this, the envoys departed from Lacedaemon.
+
+In the meantime arrived the Athenian galley from Sicily sent by the
+generals for money and cavalry; and the Athenians, after hearing what
+they wanted, voted to send the supplies for the armament and the
+cavalry. And the winter ended, and with it ended the seventeenth year
+of the present war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+The next summer, at the very beginning of the season, the Athenians in
+Sicily put out from Catana, and sailed along shore to Megara in Sicily,
+from which, as I have mentioned above, the Syracusans expelled the
+inhabitants in the time of their tyrant Gelo, themselves occupying the
+territory. Here the Athenians landed and laid waste the country, and
+after an unsuccessful attack upon a fort of the Syracusans, went on
+with the fleet and army to the river Terias, and advancing inland laid
+waste the plain and set fire to the corn; and after killing some of a
+small Syracusan party which they encountered, and setting up a trophy,
+went back again to their ships. They now sailed to Catana and took in
+provisions there, and going with their whole force against Centoripa, a
+town of the Sicels, acquired it by capitulation, and departed, after
+also burning the corn of the Inessaeans and Hybleans. Upon their return
+to Catana they found the horsemen arrived from Athens, to the number of
+two hundred and fifty (with their equipments, but without their horses
+which were to be procured upon the spot), and thirty mounted archers
+and three hundred talents of silver.
+
+The same spring the Lacedaemonians marched against Argos, and went as
+far as Cleonae, when an earthquake occurred and caused them to return.
+After this the Argives invaded the Thyreatid, which is on their border,
+and took much booty from the Lacedaemonians, which was sold for no less
+than twenty-five talents. The same summer, not long after, the Thespian
+commons made an attack upon the party in office, which was not
+successful, but succours arrived from Thebes, and some were caught,
+while others took refuge at Athens.
+
+The same summer the Syracusans learned that the Athenians had been
+joined by their cavalry, and were on the point of marching against
+them; and seeing that without becoming masters of Epipolae, a
+precipitous spot situated exactly over the town, the Athenians could
+not, even if victorious in battle, easily invest them, they determined
+to guard its approaches, in order that the enemy might not ascend
+unobserved by this, the sole way by which ascent was possible, as the
+remainder is lofty ground, and falls right down to the city, and can
+all be seen from inside; and as it lies above the rest the place is
+called by the Syracusans Epipolae or Overtown. They accordingly went
+out in mass at daybreak into the meadow along the river Anapus, their
+new generals, Hermocrates and his colleagues, having just come into
+office, and held a review of their heavy infantry, from whom they first
+selected a picked body of six hundred, under the command of Diomilus,
+an exile from Andros, to guard Epipolae, and to be ready to muster at a
+moment’s notice to help wherever help should be required.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, the very same morning, were holding a review,
+having already made land unobserved with all the armament from Catana,
+opposite a place called Leon, not much more than half a mile from
+Epipolae, where they disembarked their army, bringing the fleet to
+anchor at Thapsus, a peninsula running out into the sea, with a narrow
+isthmus, and not far from the city of Syracuse either by land or water.
+While the naval force of the Athenians threw a stockade across the
+isthmus and remained quiet at Thapsus, the land army immediately went
+on at a run to Epipolae, and succeeded in getting up by Euryelus before
+the Syracusans perceived them, or could come up from the meadow and the
+review. Diomilus with his six hundred and the rest advanced as quickly
+as they could, but they had nearly three miles to go from the meadow
+before reaching them. Attacking in this way in considerable disorder,
+the Syracusans were defeated in battle at Epipolae and retired to the
+town, with a loss of about three hundred killed, and Diomilus among the
+number. After this the Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the
+Syracusans their dead under truce, and next day descended to Syracuse
+itself; and no one coming out to meet them, reascended and built a fort
+at Labdalum, upon the edge of the cliffs of Epipolae, looking towards
+Megara, to serve as a magazine for their baggage and money, whenever
+they advanced to battle or to work at the lines.
+
+Not long afterwards three hundred cavalry came to them from Egesta, and
+about a hundred from the Sicels, Naxians, and others; and thus, with
+the two hundred and fifty from Athens, for whom they had got horses
+from the Egestaeans and Catanians, besides others that they bought,
+they now mustered six hundred and fifty cavalry in all. After posting a
+garrison in Labdalum, they advanced to Syca, where they sat down and
+quickly built the Circle or centre of their wall of circumvallation.
+The Syracusans, appalled at the rapidity with which the work advanced,
+determined to go out against them and give battle and interrupt it; and
+the two armies were already in battle array, when the Syracusan
+generals observed that their troops found such difficulty in getting
+into line, and were in such disorder, that they led them back into the
+town, except part of the cavalry. These remained and hindered the
+Athenians from carrying stones or dispersing to any great distance,
+until a tribe of the Athenian heavy infantry, with all the cavalry,
+charged and routed the Syracusan horse with some loss; after which they
+set up a trophy for the cavalry action.
+
+The next day the Athenians began building the wall to the north of the
+Circle, at the same time collecting stone and timber, which they kept
+laying down towards Trogilus along the shortest line for their works
+from the great harbour to the sea; while the Syracusans, guided by
+their generals, and above all by Hermocrates, instead of risking any
+more general engagements, determined to build a counterwork in the
+direction in which the Athenians were going to carry their wall. If
+this could be completed in time, the enemy’s lines would be cut; and
+meanwhile, if he were to attempt to interrupt them by an attack, they
+would send a part of their forces against him, and would secure the
+approaches beforehand with their stockade, while the Athenians would
+have to leave off working with their whole force in order to attend to
+them. They accordingly sallied forth and began to build, starting from
+their city, running a cross wall below the Athenian Circle, cutting
+down the olives and erecting wooden towers. As the Athenian fleet had
+not yet sailed round into the great harbour, the Syracusans still
+commanded the seacoast, and the Athenians brought their provisions by
+land from Thapsus.
+
+The Syracusans now thought the stockades and stonework of their
+counterwall sufficiently far advanced; and as the Athenians, afraid of
+being divided and so fighting at a disadvantage, and intent upon their
+own wall, did not come out to interrupt them, they left one tribe to
+guard the new work and went back into the city. Meanwhile the Athenians
+destroyed their pipes of drinking-water carried underground into the
+city; and watching until the rest of the Syracusans were in their tents
+at midday, and some even gone away into the city, and those in the
+stockade keeping but indifferent guard, appointed three hundred picked
+men of their own, and some men picked from the light troops and armed
+for the purpose, to run suddenly as fast as they could to the
+counterwork, while the rest of the army advanced in two divisions, the
+one with one of the generals to the city in case of a sortie, the other
+with the other general to the stockade by the postern gate. The three
+hundred attacked and took the stockade, abandoned by its garrison, who
+took refuge in the outworks round the statue of Apollo Temenites. Here
+the pursuers burst in with them, and after getting in were beaten out
+by the Syracusans, and some few of the Argives and Athenians slain;
+after which the whole army retired, and having demolished the
+counterwork and pulled up the stockade, carried away the stakes to
+their own lines, and set up a trophy.
+
+The next day the Athenians from the Circle proceeded to fortify the
+cliff above the marsh which on this side of Epipolae looks towards the
+great harbour; this being also the shortest line for their work to go
+down across the plain and the marsh to the harbour. Meanwhile the
+Syracusans marched out and began a second stockade, starting from the
+city, across the middle of the marsh, digging a trench alongside to
+make it impossible for the Athenians to carry their wall down to the
+sea. As soon as the Athenians had finished their work at the cliff they
+again attacked the stockade and ditch of the Syracusans. Ordering the
+fleet to sail round from Thapsus into the great harbour of Syracuse,
+they descended at about dawn from Epipolae into the plain, and laying
+doors and planks over the marsh, where it was muddy and firmest,
+crossed over on these, and by daybreak took the ditch and the stockade,
+except a small portion which they captured afterwards. A battle now
+ensued, in which the Athenians were victorious, the right wing of the
+Syracusans flying to the town and the left to the river. The three
+hundred picked Athenians, wishing to cut off their passage, pressed on
+at a run to the bridge, when the alarmed Syracusans, who had with them
+most of their cavalry, closed and routed them, hurling them back upon
+the Athenian right wing, the first tribe of which was thrown into a
+panic by the shock. Seeing this, Lamachus came to their aid from the
+Athenian left with a few archers and with the Argives, and crossing a
+ditch, was left alone with a few that had crossed with him, and was
+killed with five or six of his men. These the Syracusans managed
+immediately to snatch up in haste and get across the river into a place
+of security, themselves retreating as the rest of the Athenian army now
+came up.
+
+Meanwhile those who had at first fled for refuge to the city, seeing
+the turn affairs were taking, now rallied from the town and formed
+against the Athenians in front of them, sending also a part of their
+number to the Circle on Epipolae, which they hoped to take while
+denuded of its defenders. These took and destroyed the Athenian outwork
+of a thousand feet, the Circle itself being saved by Nicias, who
+happened to have been left in it through illness, and who now ordered
+the servants to set fire to the engines and timber thrown down before
+the wall; want of men, as he was aware, rendering all other means of
+escape impossible. This step was justified by the result, the
+Syracusans not coming any further on account of the fire, but
+retreating. Meanwhile succours were coming up from the Athenians below,
+who had put to flight the troops opposed to them; and the fleet also,
+according to orders, was sailing from Thapsus into the great harbour.
+Seeing this, the troops on the heights retired in haste, and the whole
+army of the Syracusans re-entered the city, thinking that with their
+present force they would no longer be able to hinder the wall reaching
+the sea.
+
+After this the Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the Syracusans
+their dead under truce, receiving in return Lamachus and those who had
+fallen with him. The whole of their forces, naval and military, being
+now with them, they began from Epipolae and the cliffs and enclosed the
+Syracusans with a double wall down to the sea. Provisions were now
+brought in for the armament from all parts of Italy; and many of the
+Sicels, who had hitherto been looking to see how things went, came as
+allies to the Athenians: there also arrived three ships of fifty oars
+from Tyrrhenia. Meanwhile everything else progressed favourably for
+their hopes. The Syracusans began to despair of finding safety in arms,
+no relief having reached them from Peloponnese, and were now proposing
+terms of capitulation among themselves and to Nicias, who after the
+death of Lamachus was left sole commander. No decision was come to,
+but, as was natural with men in difficulties and besieged more straitly
+than before, there was much discussion with Nicias and still more in
+the town. Their present misfortunes had also made them suspicious of
+one another; and the blame of their disasters was thrown upon the
+ill-fortune or treachery of the generals under whose command they had
+happened; and these were deposed and others, Heraclides, Eucles, and
+Tellias, elected in their stead.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonian, Gylippus, and the ships from Corinth were
+now off Leucas, intent upon going with all haste to the relief of
+Sicily. The reports that reached them being of an alarming kind, and
+all agreeing in the falsehood that Syracuse was already completely
+invested, Gylippus abandoned all hope of Sicily, and wishing to save
+Italy, rapidly crossed the Ionian Sea to Tarentum with the Corinthian,
+Pythen, two Laconian, and two Corinthian vessels, leaving the
+Corinthians to follow him after manning, in addition to their own ten,
+two Leucadian and two Ambraciot ships. From Tarentum Gylippus first
+went on an embassy to Thurii, and claimed anew the rights of
+citizenship which his father had enjoyed; failing to bring over the
+townspeople, he weighed anchor and coasted along Italy. Opposite the
+Terinaean Gulf he was caught by the wind which blows violently and
+steadily from the north in that quarter, and was carried out to sea;
+and after experiencing very rough weather, remade Tarentum, where he
+hauled ashore and refitted such of his ships as had suffered most from
+the tempest. Nicias heard of his approach, but, like the Thurians,
+despised the scanty number of his ships, and set down piracy as the
+only probable object of the voyage, and so took no precautions for the
+present.
+
+About the same time in this summer, the Lacedaemonians invaded Argos
+with their allies, and laid waste most of the country. The Athenians
+went with thirty ships to the relief of the Argives, thus breaking
+their treaty with the Lacedaemonians in the most overt manner. Up to
+this time incursions from Pylos, descents on the coast of the rest of
+Peloponnese, instead of on the Laconian, had been the extent of their
+co-operation with the Argives and Mantineans; and although the Argives
+had often begged them to land, if only for a moment, with their heavy
+infantry in Laconia, lay waste ever so little of it with them, and
+depart, they had always refused to do so. Now, however, under the
+command of Phytodorus, Laespodius, and Demaratus, they landed at
+Epidaurus Limera, Prasiae, and other places, and plundered the country;
+and thus furnished the Lacedaemonians with a better pretext for
+hostilities against Athens. After the Athenians had retired from Argos
+with their fleet, and the Lacedaemonians also, the Argives made an
+incursion into the Phlisaid, and returned home after ravaging their
+land and killing some of the inhabitants.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War—Arrival of Gylippus at
+Syracuse—Fortification of Decelea—Successes of the Syracusans
+
+
+After refitting their ships, Gylippus and Pythen coasted along from
+Tarentum to Epizephyrian Locris. They now received the more correct
+information that Syracuse was not yet completely invested, but that it
+was still possible for an army arriving at Epipolae to effect an
+entrance; and they consulted, accordingly, whether they should keep
+Sicily on their right and risk sailing in by sea, or, leaving it on
+their left, should first sail to Himera and, taking with them the
+Himeraeans and any others that might agree to join them, go to Syracuse
+by land. Finally they determined to sail for Himera, especially as the
+four Athenian ships which Nicias had at length sent off, on hearing
+that they were at Locris, had not yet arrived at Rhegium. Accordingly,
+before these reached their post, the Peloponnesians crossed the strait
+and, after touching at Rhegium and Messina, came to Himera. Arrived
+there, they persuaded the Himeraeans to join in the war, and not only
+to go with them themselves but to provide arms for the seamen from
+their vessels which they had drawn ashore at Himera; and they sent and
+appointed a place for the Selinuntines to meet them with all their
+forces. A few troops were also promised by the Geloans and some of the
+Sicels, who were now ready to join them with much greater alacrity,
+owing to the recent death of Archonidas, a powerful Sicel king in that
+neighbourhood and friendly to Athens, and owing also to the vigour
+shown by Gylippus in coming from Lacedaemon. Gylippus now took with him
+about seven hundred of his sailors and marines, that number only having
+arms, a thousand heavy infantry and light troops from Himera with a
+body of a hundred horse, some light troops and cavalry from Selinus, a
+few Geloans, and Sicels numbering a thousand in all, and set out on his
+march for Syracuse.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthian fleet from Leucas made all haste to arrive;
+and one of their commanders, Gongylus, starting last with a single
+ship, was the first to reach Syracuse, a little before Gylippus.
+Gongylus found the Syracusans on the point of holding an assembly to
+consider whether they should put an end to the war. This he prevented,
+and reassured them by telling them that more vessels were still to
+arrive, and that Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, had been dispatched by
+the Lacedaemonians to take the command. Upon this the Syracusans took
+courage, and immediately marched out with all their forces to meet
+Gylippus, who they found was now close at hand. Meanwhile Gylippus,
+after taking Ietae, a fort of the Sicels, on his way, formed his army
+in order of battle, and so arrived at Epipolae, and ascending by
+Euryelus, as the Athenians had done at first, now advanced with the
+Syracusans against the Athenian lines. His arrival chanced at a
+critical moment. The Athenians had already finished a double wall of
+six or seven furlongs to the great harbour, with the exception of a
+small portion next the sea, which they were still engaged upon; and in
+the remainder of the circle towards Trogilus on the other sea, stones
+had been laid ready for building for the greater part of the distance,
+and some points had been left half finished, while others were entirely
+completed. The danger of Syracuse had indeed been great.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, recovering from the confusion into which they
+had been first thrown by the sudden approach of Gylippus and the
+Syracusans, formed in order of battle. Gylippus halted at a short
+distance off and sent on a herald to tell them that, if they would
+evacuate Sicily with bag and baggage within five days’ time, he was
+willing to make a truce accordingly. The Athenians treated this
+proposition with contempt, and dismissed the herald without an answer.
+After this both sides began to prepare for action. Gylippus, observing
+that the Syracusans were in disorder and did not easily fall into line,
+drew off his troops more into the open ground, while Nicias did not
+lead on the Athenians but lay still by his own wall. When Gylippus saw
+that they did not come on, he led off his army to the citadel of the
+quarter of Apollo Temenites, and passed the night there. On the
+following day he led out the main body of his army, and, drawing them
+up in order of battle before the walls of the Athenians to prevent
+their going to the relief of any other quarter, dispatched a strong
+force against Fort Labdalum, and took it, and put all whom he found in
+it to the sword, the place not being within sight of the Athenians. On
+the same day an Athenian galley that lay moored off the harbour was
+captured by the Syracusans.
+
+After this the Syracusans and their allies began to carry a single
+wall, starting from the city, in a slanting direction up Epipolae, in
+order that the Athenians, unless they could hinder the work, might be
+no longer able to invest them. Meanwhile the Athenians, having now
+finished their wall down to the sea, had come up to the heights; and
+part of their wall being weak, Gylippus drew out his army by night and
+attacked it. However, the Athenians who happened to be bivouacking
+outside took the alarm and came out to meet him, upon seeing which he
+quickly led his men back again. The Athenians now built their wall
+higher, and in future kept guard at this point themselves, disposing
+their confederates along the remainder of the works, at the stations
+assigned to them. Nicias also determined to fortify Plemmyrium, a
+promontory over against the city, which juts out and narrows the mouth
+of the Great Harbour. He thought that the fortification of this place
+would make it easier to bring in supplies, as they would be able to
+carry on their blockade from a less distance, near to the port occupied
+by the Syracusans; instead of being obliged, upon every movement of the
+enemy’s navy, to put out against them from the bottom of the great
+harbour. Besides this, he now began to pay more attention to the war by
+sea, seeing that the coming of Gylippus had diminished their hopes by
+land. Accordingly, he conveyed over his ships and some troops, and
+built three forts in which he placed most of his baggage, and moored
+there for the future the larger craft and men-of-war. This was the
+first and chief occasion of the losses which the crews experienced. The
+water which they used was scarce and had to be fetched from far, and
+the sailors could not go out for firewood without being cut off by the
+Syracusan horse, who were masters of the country; a third of the
+enemy’s cavalry being stationed at the little town of Olympieum, to
+prevent plundering incursions on the part of the Athenians at
+Plemmyrium. Meanwhile Nicias learned that the rest of the Corinthian
+fleet was approaching, and sent twenty ships to watch for them, with
+orders to be on the look-out for them about Locris and Rhegium and the
+approach to Sicily.
+
+Gylippus, meanwhile, went on with the wall across Epipolae, using the
+stones which the Athenians had laid down for their own wall, and at the
+same time constantly led out the Syracusans and their allies, and
+formed them in order of battle in front of the lines, the Athenians
+forming against him. At last he thought that the moment was come, and
+began the attack; and a hand-to-hand fight ensued between the lines,
+where the Syracusan cavalry could be of no use; and the Syracusans and
+their allies were defeated and took up their dead under truce, while
+the Athenians erected a trophy. After this Gylippus called the soldiers
+together, and said that the fault was not theirs but his; he had kept
+their lines too much within the works, and had thus deprived them of
+the services of their cavalry and darters. He would now, therefore,
+lead them on a second time. He begged them to remember that in material
+force they would be fully a match for their opponents, while, with
+respect to moral advantages, it were intolerable if Peloponnesians and
+Dorians should not feel confident of overcoming Ionians and islanders
+with the motley rabble that accompanied them, and of driving them out
+of the country.
+
+After this he embraced the first opportunity that offered of again
+leading them against the enemy. Now Nicias and the Athenians held the
+opinion that even if the Syracusans should not wish to offer battle, it
+was necessary for them to prevent the building of the cross wall, as it
+already almost overlapped the extreme point of their own, and if it
+went any further it would from that moment make no difference whether
+they fought ever so many successful actions, or never fought at all.
+They accordingly came out to meet the Syracusans. Gylippus led out his
+heavy infantry further from the fortifications than on the former
+occasion, and so joined battle; posting his horse and darters upon the
+flank of the Athenians in the open space, where the works of the two
+walls terminated. During the engagement the cavalry attacked and routed
+the left wing of the Athenians, which was opposed to them; and the rest
+of the Athenian army was in consequence defeated by the Syracusans and
+driven headlong within their lines. The night following the Syracusans
+carried their wall up to the Athenian works and passed them, thus
+putting it out of their power any longer to stop them, and depriving
+them, even if victorious in the field, of all chance of investing the
+city for the future.
+
+After this the remaining twelve vessels of the Corinthians, Ambraciots,
+and Leucadians sailed into the harbour under the command of Erasinides,
+a Corinthian, having eluded the Athenian ships on guard, and helped the
+Syracusans in completing the remainder of the cross wall. Meanwhile
+Gylippus went into the rest of Sicily to raise land and naval forces,
+and also to bring over any of the cities that either were lukewarm in
+the cause or had hitherto kept out of the war altogether. Syracusan and
+Corinthian envoys were also dispatched to Lacedaemon and Corinth to get
+a fresh force sent over, in any way that might offer, either in
+merchant vessels or transports, or in any other manner likely to prove
+successful, as the Athenians too were sending for reinforcements; while
+the Syracusans proceeded to man a fleet and to exercise, meaning to try
+their fortune in this way also, and generally became exceedingly
+confident.
+
+Nicias perceiving this, and seeing the strength of the enemy and his
+own difficulties daily increasing, himself also sent to Athens. He had
+before sent frequent reports of events as they occurred, and felt it
+especially incumbent upon him to do so now, as he thought that they
+were in a critical position, and that, unless speedily recalled or
+strongly reinforced from home, they had no hope of safety. He feared,
+however, that the messengers, either through inability to speak, or
+through failure of memory, or from a wish to please the multitude,
+might not report the truth, and so thought it best to write a letter,
+to ensure that the Athenians should know his own opinion without its
+being lost in transmission, and be able to decide upon the real facts
+of the case.
+
+His emissaries, accordingly, departed with the letter and the requisite
+verbal instructions; and he attended to the affairs of the army, making
+it his aim now to keep on the defensive and to avoid any unnecessary
+danger.
+
+At the close of the same summer the Athenian general Euetion marched in
+concert with Perdiccas with a large body of Thracians against
+Amphipolis, and failing to take it brought some galleys round into the
+Strymon, and blockaded the town from the river, having his base at
+Himeraeum.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter ensuing, the persons sent by Nicias,
+reaching Athens, gave the verbal messages which had been entrusted to
+them, and answered any questions that were asked them, and delivered
+the letter. The clerk of the city now came forward and read out to the
+Athenians the letter, which was as follows:
+
+“Our past operations, Athenians, have been made known to you by many
+other letters; it is now time for you to become equally familiar with
+our present condition, and to take your measures accordingly. We had
+defeated in most of our engagements with them the Syracusans, against
+whom we were sent, and we had built the works which we now occupy, when
+Gylippus arrived from Lacedaemon with an army obtained from Peloponnese
+and from some of the cities in Sicily. In our first battle with him we
+were victorious; in the battle on the following day we were overpowered
+by a multitude of cavalry and darters, and compelled to retire within
+our lines. We have now, therefore, been forced by the numbers of those
+opposed to us to discontinue the work of circumvallation, and to remain
+inactive; being unable to make use even of all the force we have, since
+a large portion of our heavy infantry is absorbed in the defence of our
+lines. Meanwhile the enemy have carried a single wall past our lines,
+thus making it impossible for us to invest them in future, until this
+cross wall be attacked by a strong force and captured. So that the
+besieger in name has become, at least from the land side, the besieged
+in reality; as we are prevented by their cavalry from even going for
+any distance into the country.
+
+“Besides this, an embassy has been dispatched to Peloponnese to procure
+reinforcements, and Gylippus has gone to the cities in Sicily, partly
+in the hope of inducing those that are at present neutral to join him
+in the war, partly of bringing from his allies additional contingents
+for the land forces and material for the navy. For I understand that
+they contemplate a combined attack, upon our lines with their land
+forces and with their fleet by sea. You must none of you be surprised
+that I say by sea also. They have discovered that the length of the
+time we have now been in commission has rotted our ships and wasted our
+crews, and that with the entireness of our crews and the soundness of
+our ships the pristine efficiency of our navy has departed. For it is
+impossible for us to haul our ships ashore and careen them, because,
+the enemy’s vessels being as many or more than our own, we are
+constantly anticipating an attack. Indeed, they may be seen exercising,
+and it lies with them to take the initiative; and not having to
+maintain a blockade, they have greater facilities for drying their
+ships.
+
+“This we should scarcely be able to do, even if we had plenty of ships
+to spare, and were freed from our present necessity of exhausting all
+our strength upon the blockade. For it is already difficult to carry in
+supplies past Syracuse; and were we to relax our vigilance in the
+slightest degree it would become impossible. The losses which our crews
+have suffered and still continue to suffer arise from the following
+causes. Expeditions for fuel and for forage, and the distance from
+which water has to be fetched, cause our sailors to be cut off by the
+Syracusan cavalry; the loss of our previous superiority emboldens our
+slaves to desert; our foreign seamen are impressed by the unexpected
+appearance of a navy against us, and the strength of the enemy’s
+resistance; such of them as were pressed into the service take the
+first opportunity of departing to their respective cities; such as were
+originally seduced by the temptation of high pay, and expected little
+fighting and large gains, leave us either by desertion to the enemy or
+by availing themselves of one or other of the various facilities of
+escape which the magnitude of Sicily affords them. Some even engage in
+trade themselves and prevail upon the captains to take Hyccaric slaves
+on board in their place; thus they have ruined the efficiency of our
+navy.
+
+“Now I need not remind you that the time during which a crew is in its
+prime is short, and that the number of sailors who can start a ship on
+her way and keep the rowing in time is small. But by far my greatest
+trouble is, that holding the post which I do, I am prevented by the
+natural indocility of the Athenian seaman from putting a stop to these
+evils; and that meanwhile we have no source from which to recruit our
+crews, which the enemy can do from many quarters, but are compelled to
+depend both for supplying the crews in service and for making good our
+losses upon the men whom we brought with us. For our present
+confederates, Naxos and Catana, are incapable of supplying us. There is
+only one thing more wanting to our opponents, I mean the defection of
+our Italian markets. If they were to see you neglect to relieve us from
+our present condition, and were to go over to the enemy, famine would
+compel us to evacuate, and Syracuse would finish the war without a
+blow.
+
+“I might, it is true, have written to you something different and more
+agreeable than this, but nothing certainly more useful, if it is
+desirable for you to know the real state of things here before taking
+your measures. Besides I know that it is your nature to love to be told
+the best side of things, and then to blame the teller if the
+expectations which he has raised in your minds are not answered by the
+result; and I therefore thought it safest to declare to you the truth.
+
+“Now you are not to think that either your generals or your soldiers
+have ceased to be a match for the forces originally opposed to them.
+But you are to reflect that a general Sicilian coalition is being
+formed against us; that a fresh army is expected from Peloponnese,
+while the force we have here is unable to cope even with our present
+antagonists; and you must promptly decide either to recall us or to
+send out to us another fleet and army as numerous again, with a large
+sum of money, and someone to succeed me, as a disease in the kidneys
+unfits me for retaining my post. I have, I think, some claim on your
+indulgence, as while I was in my prime I did you much good service in
+my commands. But whatever you mean to do, do it at the commencement of
+spring and without delay, as the enemy will obtain his Sicilian
+reinforcements shortly, those from Peloponnese after a longer interval;
+and unless you attend to the matter the former will be here before you,
+while the latter will elude you as they have done before.”
+
+Such were the contents of Nicias’s letter. When the Athenians had heard
+it they refused to accept his resignation, but chose him two
+colleagues, naming Menander and Euthydemus, two of the officers at the
+seat of war, to fill their places until their arrival, that Nicias
+might not be left alone in his sickness to bear the whole weight of
+affairs. They also voted to send out another army and navy, drawn
+partly from the Athenians on the muster-roll, partly from the allies.
+The colleagues chosen for Nicias were Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes,
+and Eurymedon, son of Thucles. Eurymedon was sent off at once, about
+the time of the winter solstice, with ten ships, a hundred and twenty
+talents of silver, and instructions to tell the army that
+reinforcements would arrive, and that care would be taken of them; but
+Demosthenes stayed behind to organize the expedition, meaning to start
+as soon as it was spring, and sent for troops to the allies, and
+meanwhile got together money, ships, and heavy infantry at home.
+
+The Athenians also sent twenty vessels round Peloponnese to prevent any
+one crossing over to Sicily from Corinth or Peloponnese. For the
+Corinthians, filled with confidence by the favourable alteration in
+Sicilian affairs which had been reported by the envoys upon their
+arrival, and convinced that the fleet which they had before sent out
+had not been without its use, were now preparing to dispatch a force of
+heavy infantry in merchant vessels to Sicily, while the Lacedaemonians
+did the like for the rest of Peloponnese. The Corinthians also manned a
+fleet of twenty-five vessels, intending to try the result of a battle
+with the squadron on guard at Naupactus, and meanwhile to make it less
+easy for the Athenians there to hinder the departure of their
+merchantmen, by obliging them to keep an eye upon the galleys thus
+arrayed against them.
+
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians prepared for their invasion of
+Attica, in accordance with their own previous resolve, and at the
+instigation of the Syracusans and Corinthians, who wished for an
+invasion to arrest the reinforcements which they heard that Athens was
+about to send to Sicily. Alcibiades also urgently advised the
+fortification of Decelea, and a vigorous prosecution of the war. But
+the Lacedaemonians derived most encouragement from the belief that
+Athens, with two wars on her hands, against themselves and against the
+Siceliots, would be more easy to subdue, and from the conviction that
+she had been the first to infringe the truce. In the former war, they
+considered, the offence had been more on their own side, both on
+account of the entrance of the Thebans into Plataea in time of peace,
+and also of their own refusal to listen to the Athenian offer of
+arbitration, in spite of the clause in the former treaty that where
+arbitration should be offered there should be no appeal to arms. For
+this reason they thought that they deserved their misfortunes, and took
+to heart seriously the disaster at Pylos and whatever else had befallen
+them. But when, besides the ravages from Pylos, which went on without
+any intermission, the thirty Athenian ships came out from Argos and
+wasted part of Epidaurus, Prasiae, and other places; when upon every
+dispute that arose as to the interpretation of any doubtful point in
+the treaty, their own offers of arbitration were always rejected by the
+Athenians, the Lacedaemonians at length decided that Athens had now
+committed the very same offence as they had before done, and had become
+the guilty party; and they began to be full of ardour for the war. They
+spent this winter in sending round to their allies for iron, and in
+getting ready the other implements for building their fort; and
+meanwhile began raising at home, and also by forced requisitions in the
+rest of Peloponnese, a force to be sent out in the merchantmen to their
+allies in Sicily. Winter thus ended, and with it the eighteenth year of
+this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+In the first days of the spring following, at an earlier period than
+usual, the Lacedaemonians and their allies invaded Attica, under the
+command of Agis, son of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. They
+began by devastating the parts bordering upon the plain, and next
+proceeded to fortify Decelea, dividing the work among the different
+cities. Decelea is about thirteen or fourteen miles from the city of
+Athens, and the same distance or not much further from Boeotia; and the
+fort was meant to annoy the plain and the richest parts of the country,
+being in sight of Athens. While the Peloponnesians and their allies in
+Attica were engaged in the work of fortification, their countrymen at
+home sent off, at about the same time, the heavy infantry in the
+merchant vessels to Sicily; the Lacedaemonians furnishing a picked
+force of Helots and Neodamodes (or freedmen), six hundred heavy
+infantry in all, under the command of Eccritus, a Spartan; and the
+Boeotians three hundred heavy infantry, commanded by two Thebans, Xenon
+and Nicon, and by Hegesander, a Thespian. These were among the first to
+put out into the open sea, starting from Taenarus in Laconia. Not long
+after their departure the Corinthians sent off a force of five hundred
+heavy infantry, consisting partly of men from Corinth itself, and
+partly of Arcadian mercenaries, placed under the command of Alexarchus,
+a Corinthian. The Sicyonians also sent off two hundred heavy infantry
+at same time as the Corinthians, under the command of Sargeus, a
+Sicyonian. Meantime the five-and-twenty vessels manned by Corinth
+during the winter lay confronting the twenty Athenian ships at
+Naupactus until the heavy infantry in the merchantmen were fairly on
+their way from Peloponnese; thus fulfilling the object for which they
+had been manned originally, which was to divert the attention of the
+Athenians from the merchantmen to the galleys.
+
+During this time the Athenians were not idle. Simultaneously with the
+fortification of Decelea, at the very beginning of spring, they sent
+thirty ships round Peloponnese, under Charicles, son of Apollodorus,
+with instructions to call at Argos and demand a force of their heavy
+infantry for the fleet, agreeably to the alliance. At the same time
+they dispatched Demosthenes to Sicily, as they had intended, with sixty
+Athenian and five Chian vessels, twelve hundred Athenian heavy infantry
+from the muster-roll, and as many of the islanders as could be raised
+in the different quarters, drawing upon the other subject allies for
+whatever they could supply that would be of use for the war.
+Demosthenes was instructed first to sail round with Charicles and to
+operate with him upon the coasts of Laconia, and accordingly sailed to
+Aegina and there waited for the remainder of his armament, and for
+Charicles to fetch the Argive troops.
+
+In Sicily, about the same time in this spring, Gylippus came to
+Syracuse with as many troops as he could bring from the cities which he
+had persuaded to join. Calling the Syracusans together, he told them
+that they must man as many ships as possible, and try their hand at a
+sea-fight, by which he hoped to achieve an advantage in the war not
+unworthy of the risk. With him Hermocrates actively joined in trying to
+encourage his countrymen to attack the Athenians at sea, saying that
+the latter had not inherited their naval prowess nor would they retain
+it for ever; they had been landsmen even to a greater degree than the
+Syracusans, and had only become a maritime power when obliged by the
+Mede. Besides, to daring spirits like the Athenians, a daring adversary
+would seem the most formidable; and the Athenian plan of paralysing by
+the boldness of their attack a neighbour often not their inferior in
+strength could now be used against them with as good effect by the
+Syracusans. He was convinced also that the unlooked-for spectacle of
+Syracusans daring to face the Athenian navy would cause a terror to the
+enemy, the advantages of which would far outweigh any loss that
+Athenian science might inflict upon their inexperience. He accordingly
+urged them to throw aside their fears and to try their fortune at sea;
+and the Syracusans, under the influence of Gylippus and Hermocrates,
+and perhaps some others, made up their minds for the sea-fight and
+began to man their vessels.
+
+When the fleet was ready, Gylippus led out the whole army by night; his
+plan being to assault in person the forts on Plemmyrium by land, while
+thirty-five Syracusan galleys sailed according to appointment against
+the enemy from the great harbour, and the forty-five remaining came
+round from the lesser harbour, where they had their arsenal, in order
+to effect a junction with those inside and simultaneously to attack
+Plemmyrium, and thus to distract the Athenians by assaulting them on
+two sides at once. The Athenians quickly manned sixty ships, and with
+twenty-five of these engaged the thirty-five of the Syracusans in the
+great harbour, sending the rest to meet those sailing round from the
+arsenal; and an action now ensued directly in front of the mouth of the
+great harbour, maintained with equal tenacity on both sides; the one
+wishing to force the passage, the other to prevent them.
+
+In the meantime, while the Athenians in Plemmyrium were down at the
+sea, attending to the engagement, Gylippus made a sudden attack on the
+forts in the early morning and took the largest first, and afterwards
+the two smaller, whose garrisons did not wait for him, seeing the
+largest so easily taken. At the fall of the first fort, the men from it
+who succeeded in taking refuge in their boats and merchantmen, found
+great difficulty in reaching the camp, as the Syracusans were having
+the best of it in the engagement in the great harbour, and sent a
+fast-sailing galley to pursue them. But when the two others fell, the
+Syracusans were now being defeated; and the fugitives from these sailed
+alongshore with more ease. The Syracusan ships fighting off the mouth
+of the harbour forced their way through the Athenian vessels and
+sailing in without any order fell foul of one another, and transferred
+the victory to the Athenians; who not only routed the squadron in
+question, but also that by which they were at first being defeated in
+the harbour, sinking eleven of the Syracusan vessels and killing most
+of the men, except the crews of three ships whom they made prisoners.
+Their own loss was confined to three vessels; and after hauling ashore
+the Syracusan wrecks and setting up a trophy upon the islet in front of
+Plemmyrium, they retired to their own camp.
+
+Unsuccessful at sea, the Syracusans had nevertheless the forts in
+Plemmyrium, for which they set up three trophies. One of the two last
+taken they razed, but put in order and garrisoned the two others. In
+the capture of the forts a great many men were killed and made
+prisoners, and a great quantity of property was taken in all. As the
+Athenians had used them as a magazine, there was a large stock of goods
+and corn of the merchants inside, and also a large stock belonging to
+the captains; the masts and other furniture of forty galleys being
+taken, besides three galleys which had been drawn up on shore. Indeed
+the first and chiefest cause of the ruin of the Athenian army was the
+capture of Plemmyrium; even the entrance of the harbour being now no
+longer safe for carrying in provisions, as the Syracusan vessels were
+stationed there to prevent it, and nothing could be brought in without
+fighting; besides the general impression of dismay and discouragement
+produced upon the army.
+
+After this the Syracusans sent out twelve ships under the command of
+Agatharchus, a Syracusan. One of these went to Peloponnese with
+ambassadors to describe the hopeful state of their affairs, and to
+incite the Peloponnesians to prosecute the war there even more actively
+than they were now doing, while the eleven others sailed to Italy,
+hearing that vessels laden with stores were on their way to the
+Athenians. After falling in with and destroying most of the vessels in
+question, and burning in the Caulonian territory a quantity of timber
+for shipbuilding, which had been got ready for the Athenians, the
+Syracusan squadron went to Locri, and one of the merchantmen from
+Peloponnese coming in, while they were at anchor there, carrying
+Thespian heavy infantry, took these on board and sailed alongshore
+towards home. The Athenians were on the look-out for them with twenty
+ships at Megara, but were only able to take one vessel with its crew;
+the rest getting clear off to Syracuse. There was also some skirmishing
+in the harbour about the piles which the Syracusans had driven in the
+sea in front of the old docks, to allow their ships to lie at anchor
+inside, without being hurt by the Athenians sailing up and running them
+down. The Athenians brought up to them a ship of ten thousand talents
+burden furnished with wooden turrets and screens, and fastened ropes
+round the piles from their boats, wrenched them up and broke them, or
+dived down and sawed them in two. Meanwhile the Syracusans plied them
+with missiles from the docks, to which they replied from their large
+vessel; until at last most of the piles were removed by the Athenians.
+But the most awkward part of the stockade was the part out of sight:
+some of the piles which had been driven in did not appear above water,
+so that it was dangerous to sail up, for fear of running the ships upon
+them, just as upon a reef, through not seeing them. However divers went
+down and sawed off even these for reward; although the Syracusans drove
+in others. Indeed there was no end to the contrivances to which they
+resorted against each other, as might be expected between two hostile
+armies confronting each other at such a short distance: and skirmishes
+and all kinds of other attempts were of constant occurrence. Meanwhile
+the Syracusans sent embassies to the cities, composed of Corinthians,
+Ambraciots, and Lacedaemonians, to tell them of the capture of
+Plemmyrium, and that their defeat in the sea-fight was due less to the
+strength of the enemy than to their own disorder; and generally, to let
+them know that they were full of hope, and to desire them to come to
+their help with ships and troops, as the Athenians were expected with a
+fresh army, and if the one already there could be destroyed before the
+other arrived, the war would be at an end.
+
+While the contending parties in Sicily were thus engaged, Demosthenes,
+having now got together the armament with which he was to go to the
+island, put out from Aegina, and making sail for Peloponnese, joined
+Charicles and the thirty ships of the Athenians. Taking on board the
+heavy infantry from Argos they sailed to Laconia, and, after first
+plundering part of Epidaurus Limera, landed on the coast of Laconia,
+opposite Cythera, where the temple of Apollo stands, and, laying waste
+part of the country, fortified a sort of isthmus, to which the Helots
+of the Lacedaemonians might desert, and from whence plundering
+incursions might be made as from Pylos. Demosthenes helped to occupy
+this place, and then immediately sailed on to Corcyra to take up some
+of the allies in that island, and so to proceed without delay to
+Sicily; while Charicles waited until he had completed the fortification
+of the place and, leaving a garrison there, returned home subsequently
+with his thirty ships and the Argives also.
+
+This same summer arrived at Athens thirteen hundred targeteers,
+Thracian swordsmen of the tribe of the Dii, who were to have sailed to
+Sicily with Demosthenes. Since they had come too late, the Athenians
+determined to send them back to Thrace, whence they had come; to keep
+them for the Decelean war appearing too expensive, as the pay of each
+man was a drachma a day. Indeed since Decelea had been first fortified
+by the whole Peloponnesian army during this summer, and then occupied
+for the annoyance of the country by the garrisons from the cities
+relieving each other at stated intervals, it had been doing great
+mischief to the Athenians; in fact this occupation, by the destruction
+of property and loss of men which resulted from it, was one of the
+principal causes of their ruin. Previously the invasions were short,
+and did not prevent their enjoying their land during the rest of the
+time: the enemy was now permanently fixed in Attica; at one time it was
+an attack in force, at another it was the regular garrison overrunning
+the country and making forays for its subsistence, and the
+Lacedaemonian king, Agis, was in the field and diligently prosecuting
+the war; great mischief was therefore done to the Athenians. They were
+deprived of their whole country: more than twenty thousand slaves had
+deserted, a great part of them artisans, and all their sheep and beasts
+of burden were lost; and as the cavalry rode out daily upon excursions
+to Decelea and to guard the country, their horses were either lamed by
+being constantly worked upon rocky ground, or wounded by the enemy.
+
+Besides, the transport of provisions from Euboea, which had before been
+carried on so much more quickly overland by Decelea from Oropus, was
+now effected at great cost by sea round Sunium; everything the city
+required had to be imported from abroad, and instead of a city it
+became a fortress. Summer and winter the Athenians were worn out by
+having to keep guard on the fortifications, during the day by turns, by
+night all together, the cavalry excepted, at the different military
+posts or upon the wall. But what most oppressed them was that they had
+two wars at once, and had thus reached a pitch of frenzy which no one
+would have believed possible if he had heard of it before it had come
+to pass. For could any one have imagined that even when besieged by the
+Peloponnesians entrenched in Attica, they would still, instead of
+withdrawing from Sicily, stay on there besieging in like manner
+Syracuse, a town (taken as a town) in no way inferior to Athens, or
+would so thoroughly upset the Hellenic estimate of their strength and
+audacity, as to give the spectacle of a people which, at the beginning
+of the war, some thought might hold out one year, some two, none more
+than three, if the Peloponnesians invaded their country, now seventeen
+years after the first invasion, after having already suffered from all
+the evils of war, going to Sicily and undertaking a new war nothing
+inferior to that which they already had with the Peloponnesians? These
+causes, the great losses from Decelea, and the other heavy charges that
+fell upon them, produced their financial embarrassment; and it was at
+this time that they imposed upon their subjects, instead of the
+tribute, the tax of a twentieth upon all imports and exports by sea,
+which they thought would bring them in more money; their expenditure
+being now not the same as at first, but having grown with the war while
+their revenues decayed.
+
+Accordingly, not wishing to incur expense in their present want of
+money, they sent back at once the Thracians who came too late for
+Demosthenes, under the conduct of Diitrephes, who was instructed, as
+they were to pass through the Euripus, to make use of them if possible
+in the voyage alongshore to injure the enemy. Diitrephes first landed
+them at Tanagra and hastily snatched some booty; he then sailed across
+the Euripus in the evening from Chalcis in Euboea and disembarking in
+Boeotia led them against Mycalessus. The night he passed unobserved
+near the temple of Hermes, not quite two miles from Mycalessus, and at
+daybreak assaulted and took the town, which is not a large one; the
+inhabitants being off their guard and not expecting that any one would
+ever come up so far from the sea to molest them, the wall too being
+weak, and in some places having tumbled down, while in others it had
+not been built to any height, and the gates also being left open
+through their feeling of security. The Thracians bursting into
+Mycalessus sacked the houses and temples, and butchered the
+inhabitants, sparing neither youth nor age, but killing all they fell
+in with, one after the other, children and women, and even beasts of
+burden, and whatever other living creatures they saw; the Thracian
+race, like the bloodiest of the barbarians, being even more so when it
+has nothing to fear. Everywhere confusion reigned and death in all its
+shapes; and in particular they attacked a boys’ school, the largest
+that there was in the place, into which the children had just gone, and
+massacred them all. In short, the disaster falling upon the whole town
+was unsurpassed in magnitude, and unapproached by any in suddenness and
+in horror.
+
+Meanwhile the Thebans heard of it and marched to the rescue, and
+overtaking the Thracians before they had gone far, recovered the
+plunder and drove them in panic to the Euripus and the sea, where the
+vessels which brought them were lying. The greatest slaughter took
+place while they were embarking, as they did not know how to swim, and
+those in the vessels on seeing what was going on on on shore moored
+them out of bowshot: in the rest of the retreat the Thracians made a
+very respectable defence against the Theban horse, by which they were
+first attacked, dashing out and closing their ranks according to the
+tactics of their country, and lost only a few men in that part of the
+affair. A good number who were after plunder were actually caught in
+the town and put to death. Altogether the Thracians had two hundred and
+fifty killed out of thirteen hundred, the Thebans and the rest who came
+to the rescue about twenty, troopers and heavy infantry, with
+Scirphondas, one of the Boeotarchs. The Mycalessians lost a large
+proportion of their population.
+
+While Mycalessus thus experienced a calamity for its extent as
+lamentable as any that happened in the war, Demosthenes, whom we left
+sailing to Corcyra, after the building of the fort in Laconia, found a
+merchantman lying at Phea in Elis, in which the Corinthian heavy
+infantry were to cross to Sicily. The ship he destroyed, but the men
+escaped, and subsequently got another in which they pursued their
+voyage. After this, arriving at Zacynthus and Cephallenia, he took a
+body of heavy infantry on board, and sending for some of the Messenians
+from Naupactus, crossed over to the opposite coast of Acarnania, to
+Alyzia, and to Anactorium which was held by the Athenians. While he was
+in these parts he was met by Eurymedon returning from Sicily, where he
+had been sent, as has been mentioned, during the winter, with the money
+for the army, who told him the news, and also that he had heard, while
+at sea, that the Syracusans had taken Plemmyrium. Here, also, Conon
+came to them, the commander at Naupactus, with news that the
+twenty-five Corinthian ships stationed opposite to him, far from giving
+over the war, were meditating an engagement; and he therefore begged
+them to send him some ships, as his own eighteen were not a match for
+the enemy’s twenty-five. Demosthenes and Eurymedon, accordingly, sent
+ten of their best sailers with Conon to reinforce the squadron at
+Naupactus, and meanwhile prepared for the muster of their forces;
+Eurymedon, who was now the colleague of Demosthenes, and had turned
+back in consequence of his appointment, sailing to Corcyra to tell them
+to man fifteen ships and to enlist heavy infantry; while Demosthenes
+raised slingers and darters from the parts about Acarnania.
+
+Meanwhile the envoys, already mentioned, who had gone from Syracuse to
+the cities after the capture of Plemmyrium, had succeeded in their
+mission, and were about to bring the army that they had collected, when
+Nicias got scent of it, and sent to the Centoripae and Alicyaeans and
+other of the friendly Sicels, who held the passes, not to let the enemy
+through, but to combine to prevent their passing, there being no other
+way by which they could even attempt it, as the Agrigentines would not
+give them a passage through their country. Agreeably to this request
+the Sicels laid a triple ambuscade for the Siceliots upon their march,
+and attacking them suddenly, while off their guard, killed about eight
+hundred of them and all the envoys, the Corinthian only excepted, by
+whom fifteen hundred who escaped were conducted to Syracuse.
+
+About the same time the Camarinaeans also came to the assistance of
+Syracuse with five hundred heavy infantry, three hundred darters, and
+as many archers, while the Geloans sent crews for five ships, four
+hundred darters, and two hundred horse. Indeed almost the whole of
+Sicily, except the Agrigentines, who were neutral, now ceased merely to
+watch events as it had hitherto done, and actively joined Syracuse
+against the Athenians.
+
+While the Syracusans after the Sicel disaster put off any immediate
+attack upon the Athenians, Demosthenes and Eurymedon, whose forces from
+Corcyra and the continent were now ready, crossed the Ionian Gulf with
+all their armament to the Iapygian promontory, and starting from thence
+touched at the Choerades Isles lying off Iapygia, where they took on
+board a hundred and fifty Iapygian darters of the Messapian tribe, and
+after renewing an old friendship with Artas the chief, who had
+furnished them with the darters, arrived at Metapontium in Italy. Here
+they persuaded their allies the Metapontines to send with them three
+hundred darters and two galleys, and with this reinforcement coasted on
+to Thurii, where they found the party hostile to Athens recently
+expelled by a revolution, and accordingly remained there to muster and
+review the whole army, to see if any had been left behind, and to
+prevail upon the Thurians resolutely to join them in their expedition,
+and in the circumstances in which they found themselves to conclude a
+defensive and offensive alliance with the Athenians.
+
+About the same time the Peloponnesians in the twenty-five ships
+stationed opposite to the squadron at Naupactus to protect the passage
+of the transports to Sicily had got ready for engaging, and manning
+some additional vessels, so as to be numerically little inferior to the
+Athenians, anchored off Erineus in Achaia in the Rhypic country. The
+place off which they lay being in the form of a crescent, the land
+forces furnished by the Corinthians and their allies on the spot came
+up and ranged themselves upon the projecting headlands on either side,
+while the fleet, under the command of Polyanthes, a Corinthian, held
+the intervening space and blocked up the entrance. The Athenians under
+Diphilus now sailed out against them with thirty-three ships from
+Naupactus, and the Corinthians, at first not moving, at length thought
+they saw their opportunity, raised the signal, and advanced and engaged
+the Athenians. After an obstinate struggle, the Corinthians lost three
+ships, and without sinking any altogether, disabled seven of the enemy,
+which were struck prow to prow and had their foreships stove in by the
+Corinthian vessels, whose cheeks had been strengthened for this very
+purpose. After an action of this even character, in which either party
+could claim the victory (although the Athenians became masters of the
+wrecks through the wind driving them out to sea, the Corinthians not
+putting out again to meet them), the two combatants parted. No pursuit
+took place, and no prisoners were made on either side; the Corinthians
+and Peloponnesians who were fighting near the shore escaping with ease,
+and none of the Athenian vessels having been sunk. The Athenians now
+sailed back to Naupactus, and the Corinthians immediately set up a
+trophy as victors, because they had disabled a greater number of the
+enemy’s ships. Moreover they held that they had not been worsted, for
+the very same reason that their opponent held that he had not been
+victorious; the Corinthians considering that they were conquerors, if
+not decidedly conquered, and the Athenians thinking themselves
+vanquished, because not decidedly victorious. However, when the
+Peloponnesians sailed off and their land forces had dispersed, the
+Athenians also set up a trophy as victors in Achaia, about two miles
+and a quarter from Erineus, the Corinthian station.
+
+This was the termination of the action at Naupactus. To return to
+Demosthenes and Eurymedon: the Thurians having now got ready to join in
+the expedition with seven hundred heavy infantry and three hundred
+darters, the two generals ordered the ships to sail along the coast to
+the Crotonian territory, and meanwhile held a review of all the land
+forces upon the river Sybaris, and then led them through the Thurian
+country. Arrived at the river Hylias, they here received a message from
+the Crotonians, saying that they would not allow the army to pass
+through their country; upon which the Athenians descended towards the
+shore, and bivouacked near the sea and the mouth of the Hylias, where
+the fleet also met them, and the next day embarked and sailed along the
+coast touching at all the cities except Locri, until they came to Petra
+in the Rhegian territory.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans hearing of their approach resolved to make a
+second attempt with their fleet and their other forces on shore, which
+they had been collecting for this very purpose in order to do something
+before their arrival. In addition to other improvements suggested by
+the former sea-fight which they now adopted in the equipment of their
+navy, they cut down their prows to a smaller compass to make them more
+solid and made their cheeks stouter, and from these let stays into the
+vessels’ sides for a length of six cubits within and without, in the
+same way as the Corinthians had altered their prows before engaging the
+squadron at Naupactus. The Syracusans thought that they would thus have
+an advantage over the Athenian vessels, which were not constructed with
+equal strength, but were slight in the bows, from their being more used
+to sail round and charge the enemy’s side than to meet him prow to
+prow, and that the battle being in the great harbour, with a great many
+ships in not much room, was also a fact in their favour. Charging prow
+to prow, they would stave in the enemy’s bows, by striking with solid
+and stout beaks against hollow and weak ones; and secondly, the
+Athenians for want of room would be unable to use their favourite
+manoeuvre of breaking the line or of sailing round, as the Syracusans
+would do their best not to let them do the one, and want of room would
+prevent their doing the other. This charging prow to prow, which had
+hitherto been thought want of skill in a helmsman, would be the
+Syracusans’ chief manoeuvre, as being that which they should find most
+useful, since the Athenians, if repulsed, would not be able to back
+water in any direction except towards the shore, and that only for a
+little way, and in the little space in front of their own camp. The
+rest of the harbour would be commanded by the Syracusans; and the
+Athenians, if hard pressed, by crowding together in a small space and
+all to the same point, would run foul of one another and fall into
+disorder, which was, in fact, the thing that did the Athenians most
+harm in all the sea-fights, they not having, like the Syracusans, the
+whole harbour to retreat over. As to their sailing round into the open
+sea, this would be impossible, with the Syracusans in possession of the
+way out and in, especially as Plemmyrium would be hostile to them, and
+the mouth of the harbour was not large.
+
+With these contrivances to suit their skill and ability, and now more
+confident after the previous sea-fight, the Syracusans attacked by land
+and sea at once. The town force Gylippus led out a little the first and
+brought them up to the wall of the Athenians, where it looked towards
+the city, while the force from the Olympieum, that is to say, the heavy
+infantry that were there with the horse and the light troops of the
+Syracusans, advanced against the wall from the opposite side; the ships
+of the Syracusans and allies sailing out immediately afterwards. The
+Athenians at first fancied that they were to be attacked by land only,
+and it was not without alarm that they saw the fleet suddenly
+approaching as well; and while some were forming upon the walls and in
+front of them against the advancing enemy, and some marching out in
+haste against the numbers of horse and darters coming from the
+Olympieum and from outside, others manned the ships or rushed down to
+the beach to oppose the enemy, and when the ships were manned put out
+with seventy-five sail against about eighty of the Syracusans.
+
+After spending a great part of the day in advancing and retreating and
+skirmishing with each other, without either being able to gain any
+advantage worth speaking of, except that the Syracusans sank one or two
+of the Athenian vessels, they parted, the land force at the same time
+retiring from the lines. The next day the Syracusans remained quiet,
+and gave no signs of what they were going to do; but Nicias, seeing
+that the battle had been a drawn one, and expecting that they would
+attack again, compelled the captains to refit any of the ships that had
+suffered, and moored merchant vessels before the stockade which they
+had driven into the sea in front of their ships, to serve instead of an
+enclosed harbour, at about two hundred feet from each other, in order
+that any ship that was hard pressed might be able to retreat in safety
+and sail out again at leisure. These preparations occupied the
+Athenians all day until nightfall.
+
+The next day the Syracusans began operations at an earlier hour, but
+with the same plan of attack by land and sea. A great part of the day
+the rivals spent as before, confronting and skirmishing with each
+other; until at last Ariston, son of Pyrrhicus, a Corinthian, the
+ablest helmsman in the Syracusan service, persuaded their naval
+commanders to send to the officials in the city, and tell them to move
+the sale market as quickly as they could down to the sea, and oblige
+every one to bring whatever eatables he had and sell them there, thus
+enabling the commanders to land the crews and dine at once close to the
+ships, and shortly afterwards, the selfsame day, to attack the
+Athenians again when they were not expecting it.
+
+In compliance with this advice a messenger was sent and the market got
+ready, upon which the Syracusans suddenly backed water and withdrew to
+the town, and at once landed and took their dinner upon the spot; while
+the Athenians, supposing that they had returned to the town because
+they felt they were beaten, disembarked at their leisure and set about
+getting their dinners and about their other occupations, under the idea
+that they done with fighting for that day. Suddenly the Syracusans had
+manned their ships and again sailed against them; and the Athenians, in
+great confusion and most of them fasting, got on board, and with great
+difficulty put out to meet them. For some time both parties remained on
+the defensive without engaging, until the Athenians at last resolved
+not to let themselves be worn out by waiting where they were, but to
+attack without delay, and giving a cheer, went into action. The
+Syracusans received them, and charging prow to prow as they had
+intended, stove in a great part of the Athenian foreships by the
+strength of their beaks; the darters on the decks also did great damage
+to the Athenians, but still greater damage was done by the Syracusans
+who went about in small boats, ran in upon the oars of the Athenian
+galleys, and sailed against their sides, and discharged from thence
+their darts upon the sailors.
+
+At last, fighting hard in this fashion, the Syracusans gained the
+victory, and the Athenians turned and fled between the merchantmen to
+their own station. The Syracusan ships pursued them as far as the
+merchantmen, where they were stopped by the beams armed with dolphins
+suspended from those vessels over the passage. Two of the Syracusan
+vessels went too near in the excitement of victory and were destroyed,
+one of them being taken with its crew. After sinking seven of the
+Athenian vessels and disabling many, and taking most of the men
+prisoners and killing others, the Syracusans retired and set up
+trophies for both the engagements, being now confident of having a
+decided superiority by sea, and by no means despairing of equal success
+by land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+Nineteenth Year of the War—Arrival of Demosthenes—Defeat of the
+Athenians at Epipolae—Folly and Obstinancy of Nicias
+
+
+In the meantime, while the Syracusans were preparing for a second
+attack upon both elements, Demosthenes and Eurymedon arrived with the
+succours from Athens, consisting of about seventy-three ships,
+including the foreigners; nearly five thousand heavy infantry, Athenian
+and allied; a large number of darters, Hellenic and barbarian, and
+slingers and archers and everything else upon a corresponding scale.
+The Syracusans and their allies were for the moment not a little
+dismayed at the idea that there was to be no term or ending to their
+dangers, seeing, in spite of the fortification of Decelea, a new army
+arrive nearly equal to the former, and the power of Athens proving so
+great in every quarter. On the other hand, the first Athenian armament
+regained a certain confidence in the midst of its misfortunes.
+Demosthenes, seeing how matters stood, felt that he could not drag on
+and fare as Nicias had done, who by wintering in Catana instead of at
+once attacking Syracuse had allowed the terror of his first arrival to
+evaporate in contempt, and had given time to Gylippus to arrive with a
+force from Peloponnese, which the Syracusans would never have sent for
+if he had attacked immediately; for they fancied that they were a match
+for him by themselves, and would not have discovered their inferiority
+until they were already invested, and even if they then sent for
+succours, they would no longer have been equally able to profit by
+their arrival. Recollecting this, and well aware that it was now on the
+first day after his arrival that he like Nicias was most formidable to
+the enemy, Demosthenes determined to lose no time in drawing the utmost
+profit from the consternation at the moment inspired by his army; and
+seeing that the counterwall of the Syracusans, which hindered the
+Athenians from investing them, was a single one, and that he who should
+become master of the way up to Epipolae, and afterwards of the camp
+there, would find no difficulty in taking it, as no one would even wait
+for his attack, made all haste to attempt the enterprise. This he took
+to be the shortest way of ending the war, as he would either succeed
+and take Syracuse, or would lead back the armament instead of
+frittering away the lives of the Athenians engaged in the expedition
+and the resources of the country at large.
+
+First therefore the Athenians went out and laid waste the lands of the
+Syracusans about the Anapus and carried all before them as at first by
+land and by sea, the Syracusans not offering to oppose them upon either
+element, unless it were with their cavalry and darters from the
+Olympieum. Next Demosthenes resolved to attempt the counterwall first
+by means of engines. As however the engines that he brought up were
+burnt by the enemy fighting from the wall, and the rest of the forces
+repulsed after attacking at many different points, he determined to
+delay no longer, and having obtained the consent of Nicias and his
+fellow commanders, proceeded to put in execution his plan of attacking
+Epipolae. As by day it seemed impossible to approach and get up without
+being observed, he ordered provisions for five days, took all the
+masons and carpenters, and other things, such as arrows, and everything
+else that they could want for the work of fortification if successful,
+and, after the first watch, set out with Eurymedon and Menander and the
+whole army for Epipolae, Nicias being left behind in the lines. Having
+come up by the hill of Euryelus (where the former army had ascended at
+first) unobserved by the enemy’s guards, they went up to the fort which
+the Syracusans had there, and took it, and put to the sword part of the
+garrison. The greater number, however, escaped at once and gave the
+alarm to the camps, of which there were three upon Epipolae, defended
+by outworks, one of the Syracusans, one of the other Siceliots, and one
+of the allies; and also to the six hundred Syracusans forming the
+original garrison for this part of Epipolae. These at once advanced
+against the assailants and, falling in with Demosthenes and the
+Athenians, were routed by them after a sharp resistance, the victors
+immediately pushing on, eager to achieve the objects of the attack
+without giving time for their ardour to cool; meanwhile others from the
+very beginning were taking the counterwall of the Syracusans, which was
+abandoned by its garrison, and pulling down the battlements. The
+Syracusans and the allies, and Gylippus with the troops under his
+command, advanced to the rescue from the outworks, but engaged in some
+consternation (a night attack being a piece of audacity which they had
+never expected), and were at first compelled to retreat. But while the
+Athenians, flushed with their victory, now advanced with less order,
+wishing to make their way as quickly as possible through the whole
+force of the enemy not yet engaged, without relaxing their attack or
+giving them time to rally, the Boeotians made the first stand against
+them, attacked them, routed them, and put them to flight.
+
+The Athenians now fell into great disorder and perplexity, so that it
+was not easy to get from one side or the other any detailed account of
+the affair. By day certainly the combatants have a clearer notion,
+though even then by no means of all that takes place, no one knowing
+much of anything that does not go on in his own immediate
+neighbourhood; but in a night engagement (and this was the only one
+that occurred between great armies during the war) how could any one
+know anything for certain? Although there was a bright moon they saw
+each other only as men do by moonlight, that is to say, they could
+distinguish the form of the body, but could not tell for certain
+whether it was a friend or an enemy. Both had great numbers of heavy
+infantry moving about in a small space. Some of the Athenians were
+already defeated, while others were coming up yet unconquered for their
+first attack. A large part also of the rest of their forces either had
+only just got up, or were still ascending, so that they did not know
+which way to march. Owing to the rout that had taken place all in front
+was now in confusion, and the noise made it difficult to distinguish
+anything. The victorious Syracusans and allies were cheering each other
+on with loud cries, by night the only possible means of communication,
+and meanwhile receiving all who came against them; while the Athenians
+were seeking for one another, taking all in front of them for enemies,
+even although they might be some of their now flying friends; and by
+constantly asking for the watchword, which was their only means of
+recognition, not only caused great confusion among themselves by asking
+all at once, but also made it known to the enemy, whose own they did
+not so readily discover, as the Syracusans were victorious and not
+scattered, and thus less easily mistaken. The result was that if the
+Athenians fell in with a party of the enemy that was weaker than they,
+it escaped them through knowing their watchword; while if they
+themselves failed to answer they were put to the sword. But what hurt
+them as much, or indeed more than anything else, was the singing of the
+paean, from the perplexity which it caused by being nearly the same on
+either side; the Argives and Corcyraeans and any other Dorian peoples
+in the army, struck terror into the Athenians whenever they raised
+their paean, no less than did the enemy. Thus, after being once thrown
+into disorder, they ended by coming into collision with each other in
+many parts of the field, friends with friends, and citizens with
+citizens, and not only terrified one another, but even came to blows
+and could only be parted with difficulty. In the pursuit many perished
+by throwing themselves down the cliffs, the way down from Epipolae
+being narrow; and of those who got down safely into the plain, although
+many, especially those who belonged to the first armament, escaped
+through their better acquaintance with the locality, some of the
+newcomers lost their way and wandered over the country, and were cut
+off in the morning by the Syracusan cavalry and killed.
+
+The next day the Syracusans set up two trophies, one upon Epipolae
+where the ascent had been made, and the other on the spot where the
+first check was given by the Boeotians; and the Athenians took back
+their dead under truce. A great many of the Athenians and allies were
+killed, although still more arms were taken than could be accounted for
+by the number of the dead, as some of those who were obliged to leap
+down from the cliffs without their shields escaped with their lives and
+did not perish like the rest.
+
+After this the Syracusans, recovering their old confidence at such an
+unexpected stroke of good fortune, dispatched Sicanus with fifteen
+ships to Agrigentum where there was a revolution, to induce if possible
+the city to join them; while Gylippus again went by land into the rest
+of Sicily to bring up reinforcements, being now in hope of taking the
+Athenian lines by storm, after the result of the affair on Epipolae.
+
+In the meantime the Athenian generals consulted upon the disaster which
+had happened, and upon the general weakness of the army. They saw
+themselves unsuccessful in their enterprises, and the soldiers
+disgusted with their stay; disease being rife among them owing to its
+being the sickly season of the year, and to the marshy and unhealthy
+nature of the spot in which they were encamped; and the state of their
+affairs generally being thought desperate. Accordingly, Demosthenes was
+of opinion that they ought not to stay any longer; but agreeably to his
+original idea in risking the attempt upon Epipolae, now that this had
+failed, he gave his vote for going away without further loss of time,
+while the sea might yet be crossed, and their late reinforcement might
+give them the superiority at all events on that element. He also said
+that it would be more profitable for the state to carry on the war
+against those who were building fortifications in Attica, than against
+the Syracusans whom it was no longer easy to subdue; besides which it
+was not right to squander large sums of money to no purpose by going on
+with the siege.
+
+This was the opinion of Demosthenes. Nicias, without denying the bad
+state of their affairs, was unwilling to avow their weakness, or to
+have it reported to the enemy that the Athenians in full council were
+openly voting for retreat; for in that case they would be much less
+likely to effect it when they wanted without discovery. Moreover, his
+own particular information still gave him reason to hope that the
+affairs of the enemy would soon be in a worse state than their own, if
+the Athenians persevered in the siege; as they would wear out the
+Syracusans by want of money, especially with the more extensive command
+of the sea now given them by their present navy. Besides this, there
+was a party in Syracuse who wished to betray the city to the Athenians,
+and kept sending him messages and telling him not to raise the siege.
+Accordingly, knowing this and really waiting because he hesitated
+between the two courses and wished to see his way more clearly, in his
+public speech on this occasion he refused to lead off the army, saying
+he was sure the Athenians would never approve of their returning
+without a vote of theirs. Those who would vote upon their conduct,
+instead of judging the facts as eye-witnesses like themselves and not
+from what they might hear from hostile critics, would simply be guided
+by the calumnies of the first clever speaker; while many, indeed most,
+of the soldiers on the spot, who now so loudly proclaimed the danger of
+their position, when they reached Athens would proclaim just as loudly
+the opposite, and would say that their generals had been bribed to
+betray them and return. For himself, therefore, who knew the Athenian
+temper, sooner than perish under a dishonourable charge and by an
+unjust sentence at the hands of the Athenians, he would rather take his
+chance and die, if die he must, a soldier’s death at the hand of the
+enemy. Besides, after all, the Syracusans were in a worse case than
+themselves. What with paying mercenaries, spending upon fortified
+posts, and now for a full year maintaining a large navy, they were
+already at a loss and would soon be at a standstill: they had already
+spent two thousand talents and incurred heavy debts besides, and could
+not lose even ever so small a fraction of their present force through
+not paying it, without ruin to their cause; depending as they did more
+upon mercenaries than upon soldiers obliged to serve, like their own.
+He therefore said that they ought to stay and carry on the siege, and
+not depart defeated in point of money, in which they were much
+superior.
+
+Nicias spoke positively because he had exact information of the
+financial distress at Syracuse, and also because of the strength of the
+Athenian party there which kept sending him messages not to raise the
+siege; besides which he had more confidence than before in his fleet,
+and felt sure at least of its success. Demosthenes, however, would not
+hear for a moment of continuing the siege, but said that if they could
+not lead off the army without a decree from Athens, and if they were
+obliged to stay on, they ought to remove to Thapsus or Catana; where
+their land forces would have a wide extent of country to overrun, and
+could live by plundering the enemy, and would thus do them damage;
+while the fleet would have the open sea to fight in, that is to say,
+instead of a narrow space which was all in the enemy’s favour, a wide
+sea-room where their science would be of use, and where they could
+retreat or advance without being confined or circumscribed either when
+they put out or put in. In any case he was altogether opposed to their
+staying on where they were, and insisted on removing at once, as
+quickly and with as little delay as possible; and in this judgment
+Eurymedon agreed. Nicias however still objecting, a certain diffidence
+and hesitation came over them, with a suspicion that Nicias might have
+some further information to make him so positive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Nineteenth Year of the War—Battles in the Great Harbour—Retreat and
+Annihilation of the Athenian Army
+
+
+While the Athenians lingered on in this way without moving from where
+they were, Gylippus and Sicanus now arrived at Syracuse. Sicanus had
+failed to gain Agrigentum, the party friendly to the Syracusans having
+been driven out while he was still at Gela; but Gylippus was
+accompanied not only by a large number of troops raised in Sicily, but
+by the heavy infantry sent off in the spring from Peloponnese in the
+merchantmen, who had arrived at Selinus from Libya. They had been
+carried to Libya by a storm, and having obtained two galleys and pilots
+from the Cyrenians, on their voyage alongshore had taken sides with the
+Euesperitae and had defeated the Libyans who were besieging them, and
+from thence coasting on to Neapolis, a Carthaginian mart, and the
+nearest point to Sicily, from which it is only two days’ and a night’s
+voyage, there crossed over and came to Selinus. Immediately upon their
+arrival the Syracusans prepared to attack the Athenians again by land
+and sea at once. The Athenian generals seeing a fresh army come to the
+aid of the enemy, and that their own circumstances, far from improving,
+were becoming daily worse, and above all distressed by the sickness of
+the soldiers, now began to repent of not having removed before; and
+Nicias no longer offering the same opposition, except by urging that
+there should be no open voting, they gave orders as secretly as
+possible for all to be prepared to sail out from the camp at a given
+signal. All was at last ready, and they were on the point of sailing
+away, when an eclipse of the moon, which was then at the full, took
+place. Most of the Athenians, deeply impressed by this occurrence, now
+urged the generals to wait; and Nicias, who was somewhat over-addicted
+to divination and practices of that kind, refused from that moment even
+to take the question of departure into consideration, until they had
+waited the thrice nine days prescribed by the soothsayers.
+
+The besiegers were thus condemned to stay in the country; and the
+Syracusans, getting wind of what had happened, became more eager than
+ever to press the Athenians, who had now themselves acknowledged that
+they were no longer their superiors either by sea or by land, as
+otherwise they would never have planned to sail away. Besides which the
+Syracusans did not wish them to settle in any other part of Sicily,
+where they would be more difficult to deal with, but desired to force
+them to fight at sea as quickly as possible, in a position favourable
+to themselves. Accordingly they manned their ships and practised for as
+many days as they thought sufficient. When the moment arrived they
+assaulted on the first day the Athenian lines, and upon a small force
+of heavy infantry and horse sallying out against them by certain gates,
+cut off some of the former and routed and pursued them to the lines,
+where, as the entrance was narrow, the Athenians lost seventy horses
+and some few of the heavy infantry.
+
+Drawing off their troops for this day, on the next the Syracusans went
+out with a fleet of seventy-six sail, and at the same time advanced
+with their land forces against the lines. The Athenians put out to meet
+them with eighty-six ships, came to close quarters, and engaged. The
+Syracusans and their allies first defeated the Athenian centre, and
+then caught Eurymedon, the commander of the right wing, who was sailing
+out from the line more towards the land in order to surround the enemy,
+in the hollow and recess of the harbour, and killed him and destroyed
+the ships accompanying him; after which they now chased the whole
+Athenian fleet before them and drove them ashore.
+
+Gylippus seeing the enemy’s fleet defeated and carried ashore beyond
+their stockades and camp, ran down to the breakwater with some of his
+troops, in order to cut off the men as they landed and make it easier
+for the Syracusans to tow off the vessels by the shore being friendly
+ground. The Tyrrhenians who guarded this point for the Athenians,
+seeing them come on in disorder, advanced out against them and attacked
+and routed their van, hurling it into the marsh of Lysimeleia.
+Afterwards the Syracusan and allied troops arrived in greater numbers,
+and the Athenians fearing for their ships came up also to the rescue
+and engaged them, and defeated and pursued them to some distance and
+killed a few of their heavy infantry. They succeeded in rescuing most
+of their ships and brought them down by their camp; eighteen however
+were taken by the Syracusans and their allies, and all the men killed.
+The rest the enemy tried to burn by means of an old merchantman which
+they filled with faggots and pine-wood, set on fire, and let drift down
+the wind which blew full on the Athenians. The Athenians, however,
+alarmed for their ships, contrived means for stopping it and putting it
+out, and checking the flames and the nearer approach of the
+merchantman, thus escaped the danger.
+
+After this the Syracusans set up a trophy for the sea-fight and for the
+heavy infantry whom they had cut off up at the lines, where they took
+the horses; and the Athenians for the rout of the foot driven by the
+Tyrrhenians into the marsh, and for their own victory with the rest of
+the army.
+
+The Syracusans had now gained a decisive victory at sea, where until
+now they had feared the reinforcement brought by Demosthenes, and deep,
+in consequence, was the despondency of the Athenians, and great their
+disappointment, and greater still their regret for having come on the
+expedition. These were the only cities that they had yet encountered,
+similar to their own in character, under democracies like themselves,
+which had ships and horses, and were of considerable magnitude. They
+had been unable to divide and bring them over by holding out the
+prospect of changes in their governments, or to crush them by their
+great superiority in force, but had failed in most of their attempts,
+and being already in perplexity, had now been defeated at sea, where
+defeat could never have been expected, and were thus plunged deeper in
+embarrassment than ever.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans immediately began to sail freely along the
+harbour, and determined to close up its mouth, so that the Athenians
+might not be able to steal out in future, even if they wished. Indeed,
+the Syracusans no longer thought only of saving themselves, but also
+how to hinder the escape of the enemy; thinking, and thinking rightly,
+that they were now much the stronger, and that to conquer the Athenians
+and their allies by land and sea would win them great glory in Hellas.
+The rest of the Hellenes would thus immediately be either freed or
+released from apprehension, as the remaining forces of Athens would be
+henceforth unable to sustain the war that would be waged against her;
+while they, the Syracusans, would be regarded as the authors of this
+deliverance, and would be held in high admiration, not only with all
+men now living but also with posterity. Nor were these the only
+considerations that gave dignity to the struggle. They would thus
+conquer not only the Athenians but also their numerous allies, and
+conquer not alone, but with their companions in arms, commanding side
+by side with the Corinthians and Lacedaemonians, having offered their
+city to stand in the van of danger, and having been in a great measure
+the pioneers of naval success.
+
+Indeed, there were never so many peoples assembled before a single
+city, if we except the grand total gathered together in this war under
+Athens and Lacedaemon. The following were the states on either side who
+came to Syracuse to fight for or against Sicily, to help to conquer or
+defend the island. Right or community of blood was not the bond of
+union between them, so much as interest or compulsion as the case might
+be. The Athenians themselves being Ionians went against the Dorians of
+Syracuse of their own free will; and the peoples still speaking Attic
+and using the Athenian laws, the Lemnians, Imbrians, and Aeginetans,
+that is to say the then occupants of Aegina, being their colonists,
+went with them. To these must be also added the Hestiaeans dwelling at
+Hestiaea in Euboea. Of the rest some joined in the expedition as
+subjects of the Athenians, others as independent allies, others as
+mercenaries. To the number of the subjects paying tribute belonged the
+Eretrians, Chalcidians, Styrians, and Carystians from Euboea; the
+Ceans, Andrians, and Tenians from the islands; and the Milesians,
+Samians, and Chians from Ionia. The Chians, however, joined as
+independent allies, paying no tribute, but furnishing ships. Most of
+these were Ionians and descended from the Athenians, except the
+Carystians, who are Dryopes, and although subjects and obliged to
+serve, were still Ionians fighting against Dorians. Besides these there
+were men of Aeolic race, the Methymnians, subjects who provided ships,
+not tribute, and the Tenedians and Aenians who paid tribute. These
+Aeolians fought against their Aeolian founders, the Boeotians in the
+Syracusan army, because they were obliged, while the Plataeans, the
+only native Boeotians opposed to Boeotians, did so upon a just quarrel.
+Of the Rhodians and Cytherians, both Dorians, the latter, Lacedaemonian
+colonists, fought in the Athenian ranks against their Lacedaemonian
+countrymen with Gylippus; while the Rhodians, Argives by race, were
+compelled to bear arms against the Dorian Syracusans and their own
+colonists, the Geloans, serving with the Syracusans. Of the islanders
+round Peloponnese, the Cephallenians and Zacynthians accompanied the
+Athenians as independent allies, although their insular position really
+left them little choice in the matter, owing to the maritime supremacy
+of Athens, while the Corcyraeans, who were not only Dorians but
+Corinthians, were openly serving against Corinthians and Syracusans,
+although colonists of the former and of the same race as the latter,
+under colour of compulsion, but really out of free will through hatred
+of Corinth. The Messenians, as they are now called in Naupactus and
+from Pylos, then held by the Athenians, were taken with them to the
+war. There were also a few Megarian exiles, whose fate it was to be now
+fighting against the Megarian Selinuntines.
+
+The engagement of the rest was more of a voluntary nature. It was less
+the league than hatred of the Lacedaemonians and the immediate private
+advantage of each individual that persuaded the Dorian Argives to join
+the Ionian Athenians in a war against Dorians; while the Mantineans and
+other Arcadian mercenaries, accustomed to go against the enemy pointed
+out to them at the moment, were led by interest to regard the Arcadians
+serving with the Corinthians as just as much their enemies as any
+others. The Cretans and Aetolians also served for hire, and the Cretans
+who had joined the Rhodians in founding Gela, thus came to consent to
+fight for pay against, instead of for, their colonists. There were also
+some Acarnanians paid to serve, although they came chiefly for love of
+Demosthenes and out of goodwill to the Athenians whose allies they
+were. These all lived on the Hellenic side of the Ionian Gulf. Of the
+Italiots, there were the Thurians and Metapontines, dragged into the
+quarrel by the stern necessities of a time of revolution; of the
+Siceliots, the Naxians and the Catanians; and of the barbarians, the
+Egestaeans, who called in the Athenians, most of the Sicels, and
+outside Sicily some Tyrrhenian enemies of Syracuse and Iapygian
+mercenaries.
+
+Such were the peoples serving with the Athenians. Against these the
+Syracusans had the Camarinaeans their neighbours, the Geloans who live
+next to them; then passing over the neutral Agrigentines, the
+Selinuntines settled on the farther side of the island. These inhabit
+the part of Sicily looking towards Libya; the Himeraeans came from the
+side towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, being the only Hellenic inhabitants in
+that quarter, and the only people that came from thence to the aid of
+the Syracusans. Of the Hellenes in Sicily the above peoples joined in
+the war, all Dorians and independent, and of the barbarians the Sicels
+only, that is to say, such as did not go over to the Athenians. Of the
+Hellenes outside Sicily there were the Lacedaemonians, who provided a
+Spartan to take the command, and a force of Neodamodes or Freedmen, and
+of Helots; the Corinthians, who alone joined with naval and land
+forces, with their Leucadian and Ambraciot kinsmen; some mercenaries
+sent by Corinth from Arcadia; some Sicyonians forced to serve, and from
+outside Peloponnese the Boeotians. In comparison, however, with these
+foreign auxiliaries, the great Siceliot cities furnished more in every
+department—numbers of heavy infantry, ships, and horses, and an immense
+multitude besides having been brought together; while in comparison,
+again, one may say, with all the rest put together, more was provided
+by the Syracusans themselves, both from the greatness of the city and
+from the fact that they were in the greatest danger.
+
+Such were the auxiliaries brought together on either side, all of which
+had by this time joined, neither party experiencing any subsequent
+accession. It was no wonder, therefore, if the Syracusans and their
+allies thought that it would win them great glory if they could follow
+up their recent victory in the sea-fight by the capture of the whole
+Athenian armada, without letting it escape either by sea or by land.
+They began at once to close up the Great Harbour by means of boats,
+merchant vessels, and galleys moored broadside across its mouth, which
+is nearly a mile wide, and made all their other arrangements for the
+event of the Athenians again venturing to fight at sea. There was, in
+fact, nothing little either in their plans or their ideas.
+
+The Athenians, seeing them closing up the harbour and informed of their
+further designs, called a council of war. The generals and colonels
+assembled and discussed the difficulties of the situation; the point
+which pressed most being that they no longer had provisions for
+immediate use (having sent on to Catana to tell them not to send any,
+in the belief that they were going away), and that they would not have
+any in future unless they could command the sea. They therefore
+determined to evacuate their upper lines, to enclose with a cross wall
+and garrison a small space close to the ships, only just sufficient to
+hold their stores and sick, and manning all the ships, seaworthy or
+not, with every man that could be spared from the rest of their land
+forces, to fight it out at sea, and, if victorious, to go to Catana, if
+not, to burn their vessels, form in close order, and retreat by land
+for the nearest friendly place they could reach, Hellenic or barbarian.
+This was no sooner settled than carried into effect; they descended
+gradually from the upper lines and manned all their vessels, compelling
+all to go on board who were of age to be in any way of use. They thus
+succeeded in manning about one hundred and ten ships in all, on board
+of which they embarked a number of archers and darters taken from the
+Acarnanians and from the other foreigners, making all other provisions
+allowed by the nature of their plan and by the necessities which
+imposed it. All was now nearly ready, and Nicias, seeing the soldiery
+disheartened by their unprecedented and decided defeat at sea, and by
+reason of the scarcity of provisions eager to fight it out as soon as
+possible, called them all together, and first addressed them, speaking
+as follows:
+
+“Soldiers of the Athenians and of the allies, we have all an equal
+interest in the coming struggle, in which life and country are at stake
+for us quite as much as they can be for the enemy; since if our fleet
+wins the day, each can see his native city again, wherever that city
+may be. You must not lose heart, or be like men without any experience,
+who fail in a first essay and ever afterwards fearfully forebode a
+future as disastrous. But let the Athenians among you who have already
+had experience of many wars, and the allies who have joined us in so
+many expeditions, remember the surprises of war, and with the hope that
+fortune will not be always against us, prepare to fight again in a
+manner worthy of the number which you see yourselves to be.
+
+“Now, whatever we thought would be of service against the crush of
+vessels in such a narrow harbour, and against the force upon the decks
+of the enemy, from which we suffered before, has all been considered
+with the helmsmen, and, as far as our means allowed, provided. A number
+of archers and darters will go on board, and a multitude that we should
+not have employed in an action in the open sea, where our science would
+be crippled by the weight of the vessels; but in the present land-fight
+that we are forced to make from shipboard all this will be useful. We
+have also discovered the changes in construction that we must make to
+meet theirs; and against the thickness of their cheeks, which did us
+the greatest mischief, we have provided grappling-irons, which will
+prevent an assailant backing water after charging, if the soldiers on
+deck here do their duty; since we are absolutely compelled to fight a
+land battle from the fleet, and it seems to be our interest neither to
+back water ourselves, nor to let the enemy do so, especially as the
+shore, except so much of it as may be held by our troops, is hostile
+ground.
+
+“You must remember this and fight on as long as you can, and must not
+let yourselves be driven ashore, but once alongside must make up your
+minds not to part company until you have swept the heavy infantry from
+the enemy’s deck. I say this more for the heavy infantry than for the
+seamen, as it is more the business of the men on deck; and our land
+forces are even now on the whole the strongest. The sailors I advise,
+and at the same time implore, not to be too much daunted by their
+misfortunes, now that we have our decks better armed and greater number
+of vessels. Bear in mind how well worth preserving is the pleasure felt
+by those of you who through your knowledge of our language and
+imitation of our manners were always considered Athenians, even though
+not so in reality, and as such were honoured throughout Hellas, and had
+your full share of the advantages of our empire, and more than your
+share in the respect of our subjects and in protection from ill
+treatment. You, therefore, with whom alone we freely share our empire,
+we now justly require not to betray that empire in its extremity, and
+in scorn of Corinthians, whom you have often conquered, and of
+Siceliots, none of whom so much as presumed to stand against us when
+our navy was in its prime, we ask you to repel them, and to show that
+even in sickness and disaster your skill is more than a match for the
+fortune and vigour of any other.
+
+“For the Athenians among you I add once more this reflection: You left
+behind you no more such ships in your docks as these, no more heavy
+infantry in their flower; if you do aught but conquer, our enemies here
+will immediately sail thither, and those that are left of us at Athens
+will become unable to repel their home assailants, reinforced by these
+new allies. Here you will fall at once into the hands of the
+Syracusans—I need not remind you of the intentions with which you
+attacked them—and your countrymen at home will fall into those of the
+Lacedaemonians. Since the fate of both thus hangs upon this single
+battle, now, if ever, stand firm, and remember, each and all, that you
+who are now going on board are the army and navy of the Athenians, and
+all that is left of the state and the great name of Athens, in whose
+defence if any man has any advantage in skill or courage, now is the
+time for him to show it, and thus serve himself and save all.”
+
+After this address Nicias at once gave orders to man the ships.
+Meanwhile Gylippus and the Syracusans could perceive by the
+preparations which they saw going on that the Athenians meant to fight
+at sea. They had also notice of the grappling-irons, against which they
+specially provided by stretching hides over the prows and much of the
+upper part of their vessels, in order that the irons when thrown might
+slip off without taking hold. All being now ready, the generals and
+Gylippus addressed them in the following terms:
+
+“Syracusans and allies, the glorious character of our past achievements
+and the no less glorious results at issue in the coming battle are, we
+think, understood by most of you, or you would never have thrown
+yourselves with such ardour into the struggle; and if there be any one
+not as fully aware of the facts as he ought to be, we will declare them
+to him. The Athenians came to this country first to effect the conquest
+of Sicily, and after that, if successful, of Peloponnese and the rest
+of Hellas, possessing already the greatest empire yet known, of present
+or former times, among the Hellenes. Here for the first time they found
+in you men who faced their navy which made them masters everywhere; you
+have already defeated them in the previous sea-fights, and will in all
+likelihood defeat them again now. When men are once checked in what
+they consider their special excellence, their whole opinion of
+themselves suffers more than if they had not at first believed in their
+superiority, the unexpected shock to their pride causing them to give
+way more than their real strength warrants; and this is probably now
+the case with the Athenians.
+
+“With us it is different. The original estimate of ourselves which gave
+us courage in the days of our unskilfulness has been strengthened,
+while the conviction superadded to it that we must be the best seamen
+of the time, if we have conquered the best, has given a double measure
+of hope to every man among us; and, for the most part, where there is
+the greatest hope, there is also the greatest ardour for action. The
+means to combat us which they have tried to find in copying our
+armament are familiar to our warfare, and will be met by proper
+provisions; while they will never be able to have a number of heavy
+infantry on their decks, contrary to their custom, and a number of
+darters (born landsmen, one may say, Acarnanians and others, embarked
+afloat, who will not know how to discharge their weapons when they have
+to keep still), without hampering their vessels and falling all into
+confusion among themselves through fighting not according to their own
+tactics. For they will gain nothing by the number of their ships—I say
+this to those of you who may be alarmed by having to fight against
+odds—as a quantity of ships in a confined space will only be slower in
+executing the movements required, and most exposed to injury from our
+means of offence. Indeed, if you would know the plain truth, as we are
+credibly informed, the excess of their sufferings and the necessities
+of their present distress have made them desperate; they have no
+confidence in their force, but wish to try their fortune in the only
+way they can, and either to force their passage and sail out, or after
+this to retreat by land, it being impossible for them to be worse off
+than they are.
+
+“The fortune of our greatest enemies having thus betrayed itself, and
+their disorder being what I have described, let us engage in anger,
+convinced that, as between adversaries, nothing is more legitimate than
+to claim to sate the whole wrath of one’s soul in punishing the
+aggressor, and nothing more sweet, as the proverb has it, than the
+vengeance upon an enemy, which it will now be ours to take. That
+enemies they are and mortal enemies you all know, since they came here
+to enslave our country, and if successful had in reserve for our men
+all that is most dreadful, and for our children and wives all that is
+most dishonourable, and for the whole city the name which conveys the
+greatest reproach. None should therefore relent or think it gain if
+they go away without further danger to us. This they will do just the
+same, even if they get the victory; while if we succeed, as we may
+expect, in chastising them, and in handing down to all Sicily her
+ancient freedom strengthened and confirmed, we shall have achieved no
+mean triumph. And the rarest dangers are those in which failure brings
+little loss and success the greatest advantage.”
+
+After the above address to the soldiers on their side, the Syracusan
+generals and Gylippus now perceived that the Athenians were manning
+their ships, and immediately proceeded to man their own also. Meanwhile
+Nicias, appalled by the position of affairs, realizing the greatness
+and the nearness of the danger now that they were on the point of
+putting out from shore, and thinking, as men are apt to think in great
+crises, that when all has been done they have still something left to
+do, and when all has been said that they have not yet said enough,
+again called on the captains one by one, addressing each by his
+father’s name and by his own, and by that of his tribe, and adjured
+them not to belie their own personal renown, or to obscure the
+hereditary virtues for which their ancestors were illustrious: he
+reminded them of their country, the freest of the free, and of the
+unfettered discretion allowed in it to all to live as they pleased; and
+added other arguments such as men would use at such a crisis, and
+which, with little alteration, are made to serve on all occasions
+alike—appeals to wives, children, and national gods—without caring
+whether they are thought commonplace, but loudly invoking them in the
+belief that they will be of use in the consternation of the moment.
+Having thus admonished them, not, he felt, as he would, but as he
+could, Nicias withdrew and led the troops to the sea, and ranged them
+in as long a line as he was able, in order to aid as far as possible in
+sustaining the courage of the men afloat; while Demosthenes, Menander,
+and Euthydemus, who took the command on board, put out from their own
+camp and sailed straight to the barrier across the mouth of the harbour
+and to the passage left open, to try to force their way out.
+
+The Syracusans and their allies had already put out with about the same
+number of ships as before, a part of which kept guard at the outlet,
+and the remainder all round the rest of the harbour, in order to attack
+the Athenians on all sides at once; while the land forces held
+themselves in readiness at the points at which the vessels might put
+into the shore. The Syracusan fleet was commanded by Sicanus and
+Agatharchus, who had each a wing of the whole force, with Pythen and
+the Corinthians in the centre. When the rest of the Athenians came up
+to the barrier, with the first shock of their charge they overpowered
+the ships stationed there, and tried to undo the fastenings; after
+this, as the Syracusans and allies bore down upon them from all
+quarters, the action spread from the barrier over the whole harbour,
+and was more obstinately disputed than any of the preceding ones. On
+either side the rowers showed great zeal in bringing up their vessels
+at the boatswains’ orders, and the helmsmen great skill in manoeuvring,
+and great emulation one with another; while the ships once alongside,
+the soldiers on board did their best not to let the service on deck be
+outdone by the others; in short, every man strove to prove himself the
+first in his particular department. And as many ships were engaged in a
+small compass (for these were the largest fleets fighting in the
+narrowest space ever known, being together little short of two
+hundred), the regular attacks with the beak were few, there being no
+opportunity of backing water or of breaking the line; while the
+collisions caused by one ship chancing to run foul of another, either
+in flying from or attacking a third, were more frequent. So long as a
+vessel was coming up to the charge the men on the decks rained darts
+and arrows and stones upon her; but once alongside, the heavy infantry
+tried to board each other’s vessel, fighting hand to hand. In many
+quarters it happened, by reason of the narrow room, that a vessel was
+charging an enemy on one side and being charged herself on another, and
+that two or sometimes more ships had perforce got entangled round one,
+obliging the helmsmen to attend to defence here, offence there, not to
+one thing at once, but to many on all sides; while the huge din caused
+by the number of ships crashing together not only spread terror, but
+made the orders of the boatswains inaudible. The boatswains on either
+side in the discharge of their duty and in the heat of the conflict
+shouted incessantly orders and appeals to their men; the Athenians they
+urged to force the passage out, and now if ever to show their mettle
+and lay hold of a safe return to their country; to the Syracusans and
+their allies they cried that it would be glorious to prevent the escape
+of the enemy, and, conquering, to exalt the countries that were theirs.
+The generals, moreover, on either side, if they saw any in any part of
+the battle backing ashore without being forced to do so, called out to
+the captain by name and asked him—the Athenians, whether they were
+retreating because they thought the thrice hostile shore more their own
+than that sea which had cost them so much labour to win; the
+Syracusans, whether they were flying from the flying Athenians, whom
+they well knew to be eager to escape in whatever way they could.
+
+Meanwhile the two armies on shore, while victory hung in the balance,
+were a prey to the most agonizing and conflicting emotions; the natives
+thirsting for more glory than they had already won, while the invaders
+feared to find themselves in even worse plight than before. The all of
+the Athenians being set upon their fleet, their fear for the event was
+like nothing they had ever felt; while their view of the struggle was
+necessarily as chequered as the battle itself. Close to the scene of
+action and not all looking at the same point at once, some saw their
+friends victorious and took courage and fell to calling upon heaven not
+to deprive them of salvation, while others who had their eyes turned
+upon the losers, wailed and cried aloud, and, although spectators, were
+more overcome than the actual combatants. Others, again, were gazing at
+some spot where the battle was evenly disputed; as the strife was
+protracted without decision, their swaying bodies reflected the
+agitation of their minds, and they suffered the worst agony of all,
+ever just within reach of safety or just on the point of destruction.
+In short, in that one Athenian army as long as the sea-fight remained
+doubtful there was every sound to be heard at once, shrieks, cheers,
+“We win,” “We lose,” and all the other manifold exclamations that a
+great host would necessarily utter in great peril; and with the men in
+the fleet it was nearly the same; until at last the Syracusans and
+their allies, after the battle had lasted a long while, put the
+Athenians to flight, and with much shouting and cheering chased them in
+open rout to the shore. The naval force, one one way, one another, as
+many as were not taken afloat now ran ashore and rushed from on board
+their ships to their camp; while the army, no more divided, but carried
+away by one impulse, all with shrieks and groans deplored the event,
+and ran down, some to help the ships, others to guard what was left of
+their wall, while the remaining and most numerous part already began to
+consider how they should save themselves. Indeed, the panic of the
+present moment had never been surpassed. They now suffered very nearly
+what they had inflicted at Pylos; as then the Lacedaemonians with the
+loss of their fleet lost also the men who had crossed over to the
+island, so now the Athenians had no hope of escaping by land, without
+the help of some extraordinary accident.
+
+The sea-fight having been a severe one, and many ships and lives having
+been lost on both sides, the victorious Syracusans and their allies now
+picked up their wrecks and dead, and sailed off to the city and set up
+a trophy. The Athenians, overwhelmed by their misfortune, never even
+thought of asking leave to take up their dead or wrecks, but wished to
+retreat that very night. Demosthenes, however, went to Nicias and gave
+it as his opinion that they should man the ships they had left and make
+another effort to force their passage out next morning; saying that
+they had still left more ships fit for service than the enemy, the
+Athenians having about sixty remaining as against less than fifty of
+their opponents. Nicias was quite of his mind; but when they wished to
+man the vessels, the sailors refused to go on board, being so utterly
+overcome by their defeat as no longer to believe in the possibility of
+success.
+
+Accordingly they all now made up their minds to retreat by land.
+Meanwhile the Syracusan Hermocrates—suspecting their intention, and
+impressed by the danger of allowing a force of that magnitude to retire
+by land, establish itself in some other part of Sicily, and from thence
+renew the war—went and stated his views to the authorities, and pointed
+out to them that they ought not to let the enemy get away by night, but
+that all the Syracusans and their allies should at once march out and
+block up the roads and seize and guard the passes. The authorities were
+entirely of his opinion, and thought that it ought to be done, but on
+the other hand felt sure that the people, who had given themselves over
+to rejoicing, and were taking their ease after a great battle at sea,
+would not be easily brought to obey; besides, they were celebrating a
+festival, having on that day a sacrifice to Heracles, and most of them
+in their rapture at the victory had fallen to drinking at the festival,
+and would probably consent to anything sooner than to take up their
+arms and march out at that moment. For these reasons the thing appeared
+impracticable to the magistrates; and Hermocrates, finding himself
+unable to do anything further with them, had now recourse to the
+following stratagem of his own. What he feared was that the Athenians
+might quietly get the start of them by passing the most difficult
+places during the night; and he therefore sent, as soon as it was dusk,
+some friends of his own to the camp with some horsemen who rode up
+within earshot and called out to some of the men, as though they were
+well-wishers of the Athenians, and told them to tell Nicias (who had in
+fact some correspondents who informed him of what went on inside the
+town) not to lead off the army by night as the Syracusans were guarding
+the roads, but to make his preparations at his leisure and to retreat
+by day. After saying this they departed; and their hearers informed the
+Athenian generals, who put off going for that night on the strength of
+this message, not doubting its sincerity.
+
+Since after all they had not set out at once, they now determined to
+stay also the following day to give time to the soldiers to pack up as
+well as they could the most useful articles, and, leaving everything
+else behind, to start only with what was strictly necessary for their
+personal subsistence. Meanwhile the Syracusans and Gylippus marched out
+and blocked up the roads through the country by which the Athenians
+were likely to pass, and kept guard at the fords of the streams and
+rivers, posting themselves so as to receive them and stop the army
+where they thought best; while their fleet sailed up to the beach and
+towed off the ships of the Athenians. Some few were burned by the
+Athenians themselves as they had intended; the rest the Syracusans
+lashed on to their own at their leisure as they had been thrown up on
+shore, without any one trying to stop them, and conveyed to the town.
+
+After this, Nicias and Demosthenes now thinking that enough had been
+done in the way of preparation, the removal of the army took place upon
+the second day after the sea-fight. It was a lamentable scene, not
+merely from the single circumstance that they were retreating after
+having lost all their ships, their great hopes gone, and themselves and
+the state in peril; but also in leaving the camp there were things most
+grievous for every eye and heart to contemplate. The dead lay unburied,
+and each man as he recognized a friend among them shuddered with grief
+and horror; while the living whom they were leaving behind, wounded or
+sick, were to the living far more shocking than the dead, and more to
+be pitied than those who had perished. These fell to entreating and
+bewailing until their friends knew not what to do, begging them to take
+them and loudly calling to each individual comrade or relative whom
+they could see, hanging upon the necks of their tent-fellows in the act
+of departure, and following as far as they could, and, when their
+bodily strength failed them, calling again and again upon heaven and
+shrieking aloud as they were left behind. So that the whole army being
+filled with tears and distracted after this fashion found it not easy
+to go, even from an enemy’s land, where they had already suffered evils
+too great for tears and in the unknown future before them feared to
+suffer more. Dejection and self-condemnation were also rife among them.
+Indeed they could only be compared to a starved-out town, and that no
+small one, escaping; the whole multitude upon the march being not less
+than forty thousand men. All carried anything they could which might be
+of use, and the heavy infantry and troopers, contrary to their wont,
+while under arms carried their own victuals, in some cases for want of
+servants, in others through not trusting them; as they had long been
+deserting and now did so in greater numbers than ever. Yet even thus
+they did not carry enough, as there was no longer food in the camp.
+Moreover their disgrace generally, and the universality of their
+sufferings, however to a certain extent alleviated by being borne in
+company, were still felt at the moment a heavy burden, especially when
+they contrasted the splendour and glory of their setting out with the
+humiliation in which it had ended. For this was by far the greatest
+reverse that ever befell an Hellenic army. They had come to enslave
+others, and were departing in fear of being enslaved themselves: they
+had sailed out with prayer and paeans, and now started to go back with
+omens directly contrary; travelling by land instead of by sea, and
+trusting not in their fleet but in their heavy infantry. Nevertheless
+the greatness of the danger still impending made all this appear
+tolerable.
+
+Nicias seeing the army dejected and greatly altered, passed along the
+ranks and encouraged and comforted them as far as was possible under
+the circumstances, raising his voice still higher and higher as he went
+from one company to another in his earnestness, and in his anxiety that
+the benefit of his words might reach as many as possible:
+
+“Athenians and allies, even in our present position we must still hope
+on, since men have ere now been saved from worse straits than this; and
+you must not condemn yourselves too severely either because of your
+disasters or because of your present unmerited sufferings. I myself who
+am not superior to any of you in strength—indeed you see how I am in my
+sickness—and who in the gifts of fortune am, I think, whether in
+private life or otherwise, the equal of any, am now exposed to the same
+danger as the meanest among you; and yet my life has been one of much
+devotion toward the gods, and of much justice and without offence
+toward men. I have, therefore, still a strong hope for the future, and
+our misfortunes do not terrify me as much as they might. Indeed we may
+hope that they will be lightened: our enemies have had good fortune
+enough; and if any of the gods was offended at our expedition, we have
+been already amply punished. Others before us have attacked their
+neighbours and have done what men will do without suffering more than
+they could bear; and we may now justly expect to find the gods more
+kind, for we have become fitter objects for their pity than their
+jealousy. And then look at yourselves, mark the numbers and efficiency
+of the heavy infantry marching in your ranks, and do not give way too
+much to despondency, but reflect that you are yourselves at once a city
+wherever you sit down, and that there is no other in Sicily that could
+easily resist your attack, or expel you when once established. The
+safety and order of the march is for yourselves to look to; the one
+thought of each man being that the spot on which he may be forced to
+fight must be conquered and held as his country and stronghold.
+Meanwhile we shall hasten on our way night and day alike, as our
+provisions are scanty; and if we can reach some friendly place of the
+Sicels, whom fear of the Syracusans still keeps true to us, you may
+forthwith consider yourselves safe. A message has been sent on to them
+with directions to meet us with supplies of food. To sum up, be
+convinced, soldiers, that you must be brave, as there is no place near
+for your cowardice to take refuge in, and that if you now escape from
+the enemy, you may all see again what your hearts desire, while those
+of you who are Athenians will raise up again the great power of the
+state, fallen though it be. Men make the city and not walls or ships
+without men in them.”
+
+As he made this address, Nicias went along the ranks, and brought back
+to their place any of the troops that he saw straggling out of the
+line; while Demosthenes did as much for his part of the army,
+addressing them in words very similar. The army marched in a hollow
+square, the division under Nicias leading, and that of Demosthenes
+following, the heavy infantry being outside and the baggage-carriers
+and the bulk of the army in the middle. When they arrived at the ford
+of the river Anapus there they found drawn up a body of the Syracusans
+and allies, and routing these, made good their passage and pushed on,
+harassed by the charges of the Syracusan horse and by the missiles of
+their light troops. On that day they advanced about four miles and a
+half, halting for the night upon a certain hill. On the next they
+started early and got on about two miles further, and descended into a
+place in the plain and there encamped, in order to procure some
+eatables from the houses, as the place was inhabited, and to carry on
+with them water from thence, as for many furlongs in front, in the
+direction in which they were going, it was not plentiful. The
+Syracusans meanwhile went on and fortified the pass in front, where
+there was a steep hill with a rocky ravine on each side of it, called
+the Acraean cliff. The next day the Athenians advancing found
+themselves impeded by the missiles and charges of the horse and
+darters, both very numerous, of the Syracusans and allies; and after
+fighting for a long while, at length retired to the same camp, where
+they had no longer provisions as before, it being impossible to leave
+their position by reason of the cavalry.
+
+Early next morning they started afresh and forced their way to the
+hill, which had been fortified, where they found before them the
+enemy’s infantry drawn up many shields deep to defend the
+fortification, the pass being narrow. The Athenians assaulted the work,
+but were greeted by a storm of missiles from the hill, which told with
+the greater effect through its being a steep one, and unable to force
+the passage, retreated again and rested. Meanwhile occurred some claps
+of thunder and rain, as often happens towards autumn, which still
+further disheartened the Athenians, who thought all these things to be
+omens of their approaching ruin. While they were resting, Gylippus and
+the Syracusans sent a part of their army to throw up works in their
+rear on the way by which they had advanced; however, the Athenians
+immediately sent some of their men and prevented them; after which they
+retreated more towards the plain and halted for the night. When they
+advanced the next day the Syracusans surrounded and attacked them on
+every side, and disabled many of them, falling back if the Athenians
+advanced and coming on if they retired, and in particular assaulting
+their rear, in the hope of routing them in detail, and thus striking a
+panic into the whole army. For a long while the Athenians persevered in
+this fashion, but after advancing for four or five furlongs halted to
+rest in the plain, the Syracusans also withdrawing to their own camp.
+
+During the night Nicias and Demosthenes, seeing the wretched condition
+of their troops, now in want of every kind of necessary, and numbers of
+them disabled in the numerous attacks of the enemy, determined to light
+as many fires as possible, and to lead off the army, no longer by the
+same route as they had intended, but towards the sea in the opposite
+direction to that guarded by the Syracusans. The whole of this route
+was leading the army not to Catana but to the other side of Sicily,
+towards Camarina, Gela, and the other Hellenic and barbarian towns in
+that quarter. They accordingly lit a number of fires and set out by
+night. Now all armies, and the greatest most of all, are liable to
+fears and alarms, especially when they are marching by night through an
+enemy’s country and with the enemy near; and the Athenians falling into
+one of these panics, the leading division, that of Nicias, kept
+together and got on a good way in front, while that of Demosthenes,
+comprising rather more than half the army, got separated and marched on
+in some disorder. By morning, however, they reached the sea, and
+getting into the Helorine road, pushed on in order to reach the river
+Cacyparis, and to follow the stream up through the interior, where they
+hoped to be met by the Sicels whom they had sent for. Arrived at the
+river, they found there also a Syracusan party engaged in barring the
+passage of the ford with a wall and a palisade, and forcing this guard,
+crossed the river and went on to another called the Erineus, according
+to the advice of their guides.
+
+Meanwhile, when day came and the Syracusans and allies found that the
+Athenians were gone, most of them accused Gylippus of having let them
+escape on purpose, and hastily pursuing by the road which they had no
+difficulty in finding that they had taken, overtook them about
+dinner-time. They first came up with the troops under Demosthenes, who
+were behind and marching somewhat slowly and in disorder, owing to the
+night panic above referred to, and at once attacked and engaged them,
+the Syracusan horse surrounding them with more ease now that they were
+separated from the rest and hemming them in on one spot. The division
+of Nicias was five or six miles on in front, as he led them more
+rapidly, thinking that under the circumstances their safety lay not in
+staying and fighting, unless obliged, but in retreating as fast as
+possible, and only fighting when forced to do so. On the other hand,
+Demosthenes was, generally speaking, harassed more incessantly, as his
+post in the rear left him the first exposed to the attacks of the
+enemy; and now, finding that the Syracusans were in pursuit, he omitted
+to push on, in order to form his men for battle, and so lingered until
+he was surrounded by his pursuers and himself and the Athenians with
+him placed in the most distressing position, being huddled into an
+enclosure with a wall all round it, a road on this side and on that,
+and olive-trees in great number, where missiles were showered in upon
+them from every quarter. This mode of attack the Syracusans had with
+good reason adopted in preference to fighting at close quarters, as to
+risk a struggle with desperate men was now more for the advantage of
+the Athenians than for their own; besides, their success had now become
+so certain that they began to spare themselves a little in order not to
+be cut off in the moment of victory, thinking too that, as it was, they
+would be able in this way to subdue and capture the enemy.
+
+In fact, after plying the Athenians and allies all day long from every
+side with missiles, they at length saw that they were worn out with
+their wounds and other sufferings; and Gylippus and the Syracusans and
+their allies made a proclamation, offering their liberty to any of the
+islanders who chose to come over to them; and some few cities went
+over. Afterwards a capitulation was agreed upon for all the rest with
+Demosthenes, to lay down their arms on condition that no one was to be
+put to death either by violence or imprisonment or want of the
+necessaries of life. Upon this they surrendered to the number of six
+thousand in all, laying down all the money in their possession, which
+filled the hollows of four shields, and were immediately conveyed by
+the Syracusans to the town.
+
+Meanwhile Nicias with his division arrived that day at the river
+Erineus, crossed over, and posted his army upon some high ground upon
+the other side. The next day the Syracusans overtook him and told him
+that the troops under Demosthenes had surrendered, and invited him to
+follow their example. Incredulous of the fact, Nicias asked for a truce
+to send a horseman to see, and upon the return of the messenger with
+the tidings that they had surrendered, sent a herald to Gylippus and
+the Syracusans, saying that he was ready to agree with them on behalf
+of the Athenians to repay whatever money the Syracusans had spent upon
+the war if they would let his army go; and offered until the money was
+paid to give Athenians as hostages, one for every talent. The
+Syracusans and Gylippus rejected this proposition, and attacked this
+division as they had the other, standing all round and plying them with
+missiles until the evening. Food and necessaries were as miserably
+wanting to the troops of Nicias as they had been to their comrades;
+nevertheless they watched for the quiet of the night to resume their
+march. But as they were taking up their arms the Syracusans perceived
+it and raised their paean, upon which the Athenians, finding that they
+were discovered, laid them down again, except about three hundred men
+who forced their way through the guards and went on during the night as
+they were able.
+
+As soon as it was day Nicias put his army in motion, pressed, as
+before, by the Syracusans and their allies, pelted from every side by
+their missiles, and struck down by their javelins. The Athenians pushed
+on for the Assinarus, impelled by the attacks made upon them from every
+side by a numerous cavalry and the swarm of other arms, fancying that
+they should breathe more freely if once across the river, and driven on
+also by their exhaustion and craving for water. Once there they rushed
+in, and all order was at an end, each man wanting to cross first, and
+the attacks of the enemy making it difficult to cross at all; forced to
+huddle together, they fell against and trod down one another, some
+dying immediately upon the javelins, others getting entangled together
+and stumbling over the articles of baggage, without being able to rise
+again. Meanwhile the opposite bank, which was steep, was lined by the
+Syracusans, who showered missiles down upon the Athenians, most of them
+drinking greedily and heaped together in disorder in the hollow bed of
+the river. The Peloponnesians also came down and butchered them,
+especially those in the water, which was thus immediately spoiled, but
+which they went on drinking just the same, mud and all, bloody as it
+was, most even fighting to have it.
+
+At last, when many dead now lay piled one upon another in the stream,
+and part of the army had been destroyed at the river, and the few that
+escaped from thence cut off by the cavalry, Nicias surrendered himself
+to Gylippus, whom he trusted more than he did the Syracusans, and told
+him and the Lacedaemonians to do what they liked with him, but to stop
+the slaughter of the soldiers. Gylippus, after this, immediately gave
+orders to make prisoners; upon which the rest were brought together
+alive, except a large number secreted by the soldiery, and a party was
+sent in pursuit of the three hundred who had got through the guard
+during the night, and who were now taken with the rest. The number of
+the enemy collected as public property was not considerable; but that
+secreted was very large, and all Sicily was filled with them, no
+convention having been made in their case as for those taken with
+Demosthenes. Besides this, a large portion were killed outright, the
+carnage being very great, and not exceeded by any in this Sicilian war.
+In the numerous other encounters upon the march, not a few also had
+fallen. Nevertheless many escaped, some at the moment, others served as
+slaves, and then ran away subsequently. These found refuge at Catana.
+
+The Syracusans and their allies now mustered and took up the spoils and
+as many prisoners as they could, and went back to the city. The rest of
+their Athenian and allied captives were deposited in the quarries, this
+seeming the safest way of keeping them; but Nicias and Demosthenes were
+butchered, against the will of Gylippus, who thought that it would be
+the crown of his triumph if he could take the enemy’s generals to
+Lacedaemon. One of them, as it happened, Demosthenes, was one of her
+greatest enemies, on account of the affair of the island and of Pylos;
+while the other, Nicias, was for the same reasons one of her greatest
+friends, owing to his exertions to procure the release of the prisoners
+by persuading the Athenians to make peace. For these reasons the
+Lacedaemonians felt kindly towards him; and it was in this that Nicias
+himself mainly confided when he surrendered to Gylippus. But some of
+the Syracusans who had been in correspondence with him were afraid, it
+was said, of his being put to the torture and troubling their success
+by his revelations; others, especially the Corinthians, of his
+escaping, as he was wealthy, by means of bribes, and living to do them
+further mischief; and these persuaded the allies and put him to death.
+This or the like was the cause of the death of a man who, of all the
+Hellenes in my time, least deserved such a fate, seeing that the whole
+course of his life had been regulated with strict attention to virtue.
+
+The prisoners in the quarries were at first hardly treated by the
+Syracusans. Crowded in a narrow hole, without any roof to cover them,
+the heat of the sun and the stifling closeness of the air tormented
+them during the day, and then the nights, which came on autumnal and
+chilly, made them ill by the violence of the change; besides, as they
+had to do everything in the same place for want of room, and the bodies
+of those who died of their wounds or from the variation in the
+temperature, or from similar causes, were left heaped together one upon
+another, intolerable stenches arose; while hunger and thirst never
+ceased to afflict them, each man during eight months having only half a
+pint of water and a pint of corn given him daily. In short, no single
+suffering to be apprehended by men thrust into such a place was spared
+them. For some seventy days they thus lived all together, after which
+all, except the Athenians and any Siceliots or Italiots who had joined
+in the expedition, were sold. The total number of prisoners taken it
+would be difficult to state exactly, but it could not have been less
+than seven thousand.
+
+This was the greatest Hellenic achievement of any in thig war, or, in
+my opinion, in Hellenic history; at once most glorious to the victors,
+and most calamitous to the conquered. They were beaten at all points
+and altogether; all that they suffered was great; they were destroyed,
+as the saying is, with a total destruction, their fleet, their army,
+everything was destroyed, and few out of many returned home. Such were
+the events in Sicily.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War—Revolt of Ionia— Intervention
+of Persia—The War in Ionia
+
+
+When the news was brought to Athens, for a long while they disbelieved
+even the most respectable of the soldiers who had themselves escaped
+from the scene of action and clearly reported the matter, a destruction
+so complete not being thought credible. When the conviction was forced
+upon them, they were angry with the orators who had joined in promoting
+the expedition, just as if they had not themselves voted it, and were
+enraged also with the reciters of oracles and soothsayers, and all
+other omen-mongers of the time who had encouraged them to hope that
+they should conquer Sicily. Already distressed at all points and in all
+quarters, after what had now happened, they were seized by a fear and
+consternation quite without example. It was grievous enough for the
+state and for every man in his proper person to lose so many heavy
+infantry, cavalry, and able-bodied troops, and to see none left to
+replace them; but when they saw, also, that they had not sufficient
+ships in their docks, or money in the treasury, or crews for the ships,
+they began to despair of salvation. They thought that their enemies in
+Sicily would immediately sail with their fleet against Piraeus,
+inflamed by so signal a victory; while their adversaries at home,
+redoubling all their preparations, would vigorously attack them by sea
+and land at once, aided by their own revolted confederates.
+Nevertheless, with such means as they had, it was determined to resist
+to the last, and to provide timber and money, and to equip a fleet as
+they best could, to take steps to secure their confederates and above
+all Euboea, to reform things in the city upon a more economical
+footing, and to elect a board of elders to advise upon the state of
+affairs as occasion should arise. In short, as is the way of a
+democracy, in the panic of the moment they were ready to be as prudent
+as possible.
+
+These resolves were at once carried into effect. Summer was now over.
+The winter ensuing saw all Hellas stirring under the impression of the
+great Athenian disaster in Sicily. Neutrals now felt that even if
+uninvited they ought no longer to stand aloof from the war, but should
+volunteer to march against the Athenians, who, as they severally
+reflected, would probably have come against them if the Sicilian
+campaign had succeeded. Besides, they considered that the war would now
+be short, and that it would be creditable for them to take part in it.
+Meanwhile the allies of the Lacedaemonians felt all more anxious than
+ever to see a speedy end to their heavy labours. But above all, the
+subjects of the Athenians showed a readiness to revolt even beyond
+their ability, judging the circumstances with passion, and refusing
+even to hear of the Athenians being able to last out the coming summer.
+Beyond all this, Lacedaemon was encouraged by the near prospect of
+being joined in great force in the spring by her allies in Sicily,
+lately forced by events to acquire their navy. With these reasons for
+confidence in every quarter, the Lacedaemonians now resolved to throw
+themselves without reserve into the war, considering that, once it was
+happily terminated, they would be finally delivered from such dangers
+as that which would have threatened them from Athens, if she had become
+mistress of Sicily, and that the overthrow of the Athenians would leave
+them in quiet enjoyment of the supremacy over all Hellas.
+
+Their king, Agis, accordingly set out at once during this winter with
+some troops from Decelea, and levied from the allies contributions for
+the fleet, and turning towards the Malian Gulf exacted a sum of money
+from the Oetaeans by carrying off most of their cattle in reprisal for
+their old hostility, and, in spite of the protests and opposition of
+the Thessalians, forced the Achaeans of Phthiotis and the other
+subjects of the Thessalians in those parts to give him money and
+hostages, and deposited the hostages at Corinth, and tried to bring
+their countrymen into the confederacy. The Lacedaemonians now issued a
+requisition to the cities for building a hundred ships, fixing their
+own quota and that of the Boeotians at twenty-five each; that of the
+Phocians and Locrians together at fifteen; that of the Corinthians at
+fifteen; that of the Arcadians, Pellenians, and Sicyonians together at
+ten; and that of the Megarians, Troezenians, Epidaurians, and
+Hermionians together at ten also; and meanwhile made every other
+preparation for commencing hostilities by the spring.
+
+In the meantime the Athenians were not idle. During this same winter,
+as they had determined, they contributed timber and pushed on their
+ship-building, and fortified Sunium to enable their corn-ships to round
+it in safety, and evacuated the fort in Laconia which they had built on
+their way to Sicily; while they also, for economy, cut down any other
+expenses that seemed unnecessary, and above all kept a careful look-out
+against the revolt of their confederates.
+
+While both parties were thus engaged, and were as intent upon preparing
+for the war as they had been at the outset, the Euboeans first of all
+sent envoys during this winter to Agis to treat of their revolting from
+Athens. Agis accepted their proposals, and sent for Alcamenes, son of
+Sthenelaidas, and Melanthus from Lacedaemon, to take the command in
+Euboea. These accordingly arrived with some three hundred Neodamodes,
+and Agis began to arrange for their crossing over. But in the meanwhile
+arrived some Lesbians, who also wished to revolt; and these being
+supported by the Boeotians, Agis was persuaded to defer acting in the
+matter of Euboea, and made arrangements for the revolt of the Lesbians,
+giving them Alcamenes, who was to have sailed to Euboea, as governor,
+and himself promising them ten ships, and the Boeotians the same
+number. All this was done without instructions from home, as Agis while
+at Decelea with the army that he commanded had power to send troops to
+whatever quarter he pleased, and to levy men and money. During this
+period, one might say, the allies obeyed him much more than they did
+the Lacedaemonians in the city, as the force he had with him made him
+feared at once wherever he went. While Agis was engaged with the
+Lesbians, the Chians and Erythraeans, who were also ready to revolt,
+applied, not to him but at Lacedaemon; where they arrived accompanied
+by an ambassador from Tissaphernes, the commander of King Darius, son
+of Artaxerxes, in the maritime districts, who invited the
+Peloponnesians to come over, and promised to maintain their army. The
+King had lately called upon him for the tribute from his government,
+for which he was in arrears, being unable to raise it from the Hellenic
+towns by reason of the Athenians; and he therefore calculated that by
+weakening the Athenians he should get the tribute better paid, and
+should also draw the Lacedaemonians into alliance with the King; and by
+this means, as the King had commanded him, take alive or dead Amorges,
+the bastard son of Pissuthnes, who was in rebellion on the coast of
+Caria.
+
+While the Chians and Tissaphernes thus joined to effect the same
+object, about the same time Calligeitus, son of Laophon, a Megarian,
+and Timagoras, son of Athenagoras, a Cyzicene, both of them exiles from
+their country and living at the court of Pharnabazus, son of Pharnaces,
+arrived at Lacedaemon upon a mission from Pharnabazus, to procure a
+fleet for the Hellespont; by means of which, if possible, he might
+himself effect the object of Tissaphernes’ ambition and cause the
+cities in his government to revolt from the Athenians, and so get the
+tribute, and by his own agency obtain for the King the alliance of the
+Lacedaemonians.
+
+The emissaries of Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes treating apart, a keen
+competition now ensued at Lacedaemon as to whether a fleet and army
+should be sent first to Ionia and Chios, or to the Hellespont. The
+Lacedaemonians, however, decidedly favoured the Chians and
+Tissaphernes, who were seconded by Alcibiades, the family friend of
+Endius, one of the ephors for that year. Indeed, this is how their
+house got its Laconic name, Alcibiades being the family name of Endius.
+Nevertheless the Lacedaemonians first sent to Chios Phrynis, one of the
+Perioeci, to see whether they had as many ships as they said, and
+whether their city generally was as great as was reported; and upon his
+bringing word that they had been told the truth, immediately entered
+into alliance with the Chians and Erythraeans, and voted to send them
+forty ships, there being already, according to the statement of the
+Chians, not less than sixty in the island. At first the Lacedaemonians
+meant to send ten of these forty themselves, with Melanchridas their
+admiral; but afterwards, an earthquake having occurred, they sent
+Chalcideus instead of Melanchridas, and instead of the ten ships
+equipped only five in Laconia. And the winter ended, and with it ended
+also the nineteenth year of this war of which Thucydides is the
+historian.
+
+At the beginning of the next summer the Chians were urging that the
+fleet should be sent off, being afraid that the Athenians, from whom
+all these embassies were kept a secret, might find out what was going
+on, and the Lacedaemonians at once sent three Spartans to Corinth to
+haul the ships as quickly as possible across the Isthmus from the other
+sea to that on the side of Athens, and to order them all to sail to
+Chios, those which Agis was equipping for Lesbos not excepted. The
+number of ships from the allied states was thirty-nine in all.
+
+Meanwhile Calligeitus and Timagoras did not join on behalf of
+Pharnabazus in the expedition to Chios or give the money—twenty-five
+talents—which they had brought with them to help in dispatching a
+force, but determined to sail afterwards with another force by
+themselves. Agis, on the other hand, seeing the Lacedaemonians bent
+upon going to Chios first, himself came in to their views; and the
+allies assembled at Corinth and held a council, in which they decided
+to sail first to Chios under the command of Chalcideus, who was
+equipping the five vessels in Laconia, then to Lesbos, under the
+command of Alcamenes, the same whom Agis had fixed upon, and lastly to
+go to the Hellespont, where the command was given to Clearchus, son of
+Ramphias. Meanwhile they would take only half the ships across the
+Isthmus first, and let those sail off at once, in order that the
+Athenians might attend less to the departing squadron than to those to
+be taken across afterwards, as no care had been taken to keep this
+voyage secret through contempt of the impotence of the Athenians, who
+had as yet no fleet of any account upon the sea. Agreeably to this
+determination, twenty-one vessels were at once conveyed across the
+Isthmus.
+
+They were now impatient to set sail, but the Corinthians were not
+willing to accompany them until they had celebrated the Isthmian
+festival, which fell at that time. Upon this Agis proposed to them to
+save their scruples about breaking the Isthmian truce by taking the
+expedition upon himself. The Corinthians not consenting to this, a
+delay ensued, during which the Athenians conceived suspicions of what
+was preparing at Chios, and sent Aristocrates, one of their generals,
+and charged them with the fact, and, upon the denial of the Chians,
+ordered them to send with them a contingent of ships, as faithful
+confederates. Seven were sent accordingly. The reason of the dispatch
+of the ships lay in the fact that the mass of the Chians were not privy
+to the negotiations, while the few who were in the secret did not wish
+to break with the multitude until they had something positive to lean
+upon, and no longer expected the Peloponnesians to arrive by reason of
+their delay.
+
+In the meantime the Isthmian games took place, and the Athenians, who
+had been also invited, went to attend them, and now seeing more clearly
+into the designs of the Chians, as soon as they returned to Athens took
+measures to prevent the fleet putting out from Cenchreae without their
+knowledge. After the festival the Peloponnesians set sail with
+twenty-one ships for Chios, under the command of Alcamenes. The
+Athenians first sailed against them with an equal number, drawing off
+towards the open sea. The enemy, however, turning back before he had
+followed them far, the Athenians returned also, not trusting the seven
+Chian ships which formed part of their number, and afterwards manned
+thirty-seven vessels in all and chased him on his passage alongshore
+into Spiraeum, a desert Corinthian port on the edge of the Epidaurian
+frontier. After losing one ship out at sea, the Peloponnesians got the
+rest together and brought them to anchor. The Athenians now attacked
+not only from the sea with their fleet, but also disembarked upon the
+coast; and a melee ensued of the most confused and violent kind, in
+which the Athenians disabled most of the enemy’s vessels and killed
+Alcamenes their commander, losing also a few of their own men.
+
+After this they separated, and the Athenians, detaching a sufficient
+number of ships to blockade those of the enemy, anchored with the rest
+at the islet adjacent, upon which they proceeded to encamp, and sent to
+Athens for reinforcements; the Peloponnesians having been joined on the
+day after the battle by the Corinthians, who came to help the ships,
+and by the other inhabitants in the vicinity not long afterwards. These
+saw the difficulty of keeping guard in a desert place, and in their
+perplexity at first thought of burning the ships, but finally resolved
+to haul them up on shore and sit down and guard them with their land
+forces until a convenient opportunity for escaping should present
+itself. Agis also, on being informed of the disaster, sent them a
+Spartan of the name of Thermon. The Lacedaemonians first received the
+news of the fleet having put out from the Isthmus, Alcamenes having
+been ordered by the ephors to send off a horseman when this took place,
+and immediately resolved to dispatch their own five vessels under
+Chalcideus, and Alcibiades with him. But while they were full of this
+resolution came the second news of the fleet having taken refuge in
+Spiraeum; and disheartened at their first step in the Ionian war
+proving a failure, they laid aside the idea of sending the ships from
+their own country, and even wished to recall some that had already
+sailed.
+
+Perceiving this, Alcibiades again persuaded Endius and the other ephors
+to persevere in the expedition, saying that the voyage would be made
+before the Chians heard of the fleet’s misfortune, and that as soon as
+he set foot in Ionia, he should, by assuring them of the weakness of
+the Athenians and the zeal of Lacedaemon, have no difficulty in
+persuading the cities to revolt, as they would readily believe his
+testimony. He also represented to Endius himself in private that it
+would be glorious for him to be the means of making Ionia revolt and
+the King become the ally of Lacedaemon, instead of that honour being
+left to Agis (Agis, it must be remembered, was the enemy of
+Alcibiades); and Endius and his colleagues thus persuaded, he put to
+sea with the five ships and the Lacedaemonian Chalcideus, and made all
+haste upon the voyage.
+
+About this time the sixteen Peloponnesian ships from Sicily, which had
+served through the war with Gylippus, were caught on their return off
+Leucadia and roughly handled by the twenty-seven Athenian vessels under
+Hippocles, son of Menippus, on the lookout for the ships from Sicily.
+After losing one of their number, the rest escaped from the Athenians
+and sailed into Corinth.
+
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades seized all they met with on their
+voyage, to prevent news of their coming, and let them go at Corycus,
+the first point which they touched at in the continent. Here they were
+visited by some of their Chian correspondents and, being urged by them
+to sail up to the town without announcing their coming, arrived
+suddenly before Chios. The many were amazed and confounded, while the
+few had so arranged that the council should be sitting at the time; and
+after speeches from Chalcideus and Alcibiades stating that many more
+ships were sailing up, but saying nothing of the fleet being blockaded
+in Spiraeum, the Chians revolted from the Athenians, and the
+Erythraeans immediately afterwards. After this three vessels sailed
+over to Clazomenae, and made that city revolt also; and the
+Clazomenians immediately crossed over to the mainland and began to
+fortify Polichna, in order to retreat there, in case of necessity, from
+the island where they dwelt.
+
+While the revolted places were all engaged in fortifying and preparing
+for the war, news of Chios speedily reached Athens. The Athenians
+thought the danger by which they were now menaced great and
+unmistakable, and that the rest of their allies would not consent to
+keep quiet after the secession of the greatest of their number. In the
+consternation of the moment they at once took off the penalty attaching
+to whoever proposed or put to the vote a proposal for using the
+thousand talents which they had jealously avoided touching throughout
+the whole war, and voted to employ them to man a large number of ships,
+and to send off at once under Strombichides, son of Diotimus, the eight
+vessels, forming part of the blockading fleet at Spiraeum, which had
+left the blockade and had returned after pursuing and failing to
+overtake the vessels with Chalcideus. These were to be followed shortly
+afterwards by twelve more under Thrasycles, also taken from the
+blockade. They also recalled the seven Chian vessels, forming part of
+their squadron blockading the fleet in Spiraeum, and giving the slaves
+on board their liberty, put the freemen in confinement, and speedily
+manned and sent out ten fresh ships to blockade the Peloponnesians in
+the place of all those that had departed, and decided to man thirty
+more. Zeal was not wanting, and no effort was spared to send relief to
+Chios.
+
+In the meantime Strombichides with his eight ships arrived at Samos,
+and, taking one Samian vessel, sailed to Teos and required them to
+remain quiet. Chalcideus also set sail with twenty-three ships for Teos
+from Chios, the land forces of the Clazomenians and Erythraeans moving
+alongshore to support him. Informed of this in time, Strombichides put
+out from Teos before their arrival, and while out at sea, seeing the
+number of the ships from Chios, fled towards Samos, chased by the
+enemy. The Teians at first would not receive the land forces, but upon
+the flight of the Athenians took them into the town. There they waited
+for some time for Chalcideus to return from the pursuit, and as time
+went on without his appearing, began themselves to demolish the wall
+which the Athenians had built on the land side of the city of the
+Teians, being assisted by a few of the barbarians who had come up under
+the command of Stages, the lieutenant of Tissaphernes.
+
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades, after chasing Strombichides into
+Samos, armed the crews of the ships from Peloponnese and left them at
+Chios, and filling their places with substitutes from Chios and manning
+twenty others, sailed off to effect the revolt of Miletus. The wish of
+Alcibiades, who had friends among the leading men of the Milesians, was
+to bring over the town before the arrival of the ships from
+Peloponnese, and thus, by causing the revolt of as many cities as
+possible with the help of the Chian power and of Chalcideus, to secure
+the honour for the Chians and himself and Chalcideus, and, as he had
+promised, for Endius who had sent them out. Not discovered until their
+voyage was nearly completed, they arrived a little before Strombichides
+and Thrasycles (who had just come with twelve ships from Athens, and
+had joined Strombichides in pursuing them), and occasioned the revolt
+of Miletus. The Athenians sailing up close on their heels with nineteen
+ships found Miletus closed against them, and took up their station at
+the adjacent island of Lade. The first alliance between the King and
+the Lacedaemonians was now concluded immediately upon the revolt of the
+Milesians, by Tissaphernes and Chalcideus, and was as follows:
+
+The Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty with the King and
+Tissaphernes upon the terms following:
+
+1. Whatever country or cities the King has, or the King’s ancestors
+had, shall be the king’s: and whatever came in to the Athenians from
+these cities, either money or any other thing, the King and the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies shall jointly hinder the Athenians from
+receiving either money or any other thing.
+
+2. The war with the Athenians shall be carried on jointly by the King
+and by the Lacedaemonians and their allies: and it shall not be lawful
+to make peace with the Athenians except both agree, the King on his
+side and the Lacedaemonians and their allies on theirs.
+
+3. If any revolt from the King, they shall be the enemies of the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies. And if any revolt from the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, they shall be the enemies of the King
+in like manner.
+
+This was the alliance. After this the Chians immediately manned ten
+more vessels and sailed for Anaia, in order to gain intelligence of
+those in Miletus, and also to make the cities revolt. A message,
+however, reaching them from Chalcideus to tell them to go back again,
+and that Amorges was at hand with an army by land, they sailed to the
+temple of Zeus, and there sighting ten more ships sailing up with which
+Diomedon had started from Athens after Thrasycles, fled, one ship to
+Ephesus, the rest to Teos. The Athenians took four of their ships
+empty, the men finding time to escape ashore; the rest took refuge in
+the city of the Teians; after which the Athenians sailed off to Samos,
+while the Chians put to sea with their remaining vessels, accompanied
+by the land forces, and caused Lebedos to revolt, and after it Erae.
+After this they both returned home, the fleet and the army.
+
+About the same time the twenty ships of the Peloponnesians in Spiraeum,
+which we left chased to land and blockaded by an equal number of
+Athenians, suddenly sallied out and defeated the blockading squadron,
+took four of their ships, and, sailing back to Cenchreae, prepared
+again for the voyage to Chios and Ionia. Here they were joined by
+Astyochus as high admiral from Lacedaemon, henceforth invested with the
+supreme command at sea. The land forces now withdrawing from Teos,
+Tissaphernes repaired thither in person with an army and completed the
+demolition of anything that was left of the wall, and so departed. Not
+long after his departure Diomedon arrived with ten Athenian ships, and,
+having made a convention by which the Teians admitted him as they had
+the enemy, coasted along to Erae, and, failing in an attempt upon the
+town, sailed back again.
+
+About this time took place the rising of the commons at Samos against
+the upper classes, in concert with some Athenians, who were there in
+three vessels. The Samian commons put to death some two hundred in all
+of the upper classes, and banished four hundred more, and themselves
+took their land and houses; after which the Athenians decreed their
+independence, being now sure of their fidelity, and the commons
+henceforth governed the city, excluding the landholders from all share
+in affairs, and forbidding any of the commons to give his daughter in
+marriage to them or to take a wife from them in future.
+
+After this, during the same summer, the Chians, whose zeal continued as
+active as ever, and who even without the Peloponnesians found
+themselves in sufficient force to effect the revolt of the cities and
+also wished to have as many companions in peril as possible, made an
+expedition with thirteen ships of their own to Lesbos; the instructions
+from Lacedaemon being to go to that island next, and from thence to the
+Hellespont. Meanwhile the land forces of the Peloponnesians who were
+with the Chians and of the allies on the spot, moved alongshore for
+Clazomenae and Cuma, under the command of Eualas, a Spartan; while the
+fleet under Diniadas, one of the Perioeci, first sailed up to Methymna
+and caused it to revolt, and, leaving four ships there, with the rest
+procured the revolt of Mitylene.
+
+In the meantime Astyochus, the Lacedaemonian admiral, set sail from
+Cenchreae with four ships, as he had intended, and arrived at Chios. On
+the third day after his arrival, the Athenian ships, twenty-five in
+number, sailed to Lesbos under Diomedon and Leon, who had lately
+arrived with a reinforcement of ten ships from Athens. Late in the same
+day Astyochus put to sea, and taking one Chian vessel with him sailed
+to Lesbos to render what assistance he could. Arrived at Pyrrha, and
+from thence the next day at Eresus, he there learned that Mitylene had
+been taken, almost without a blow, by the Athenians, who had sailed up
+and unexpectedly put into the harbour, had beaten the Chian ships, and
+landing and defeating the troops opposed to them had become masters of
+the city. Informed of this by the Eresians and the Chian ships, which
+had been left with Eubulus at Methymna, and had fled upon the capture
+of Mitylene, and three of which he now fell in with, one having been
+taken by the Athenians, Astyochus did not go on to Mitylene, but raised
+and armed Eresus, and, sending the heavy infantry from his own ships by
+land under Eteonicus to Antissa and Methymna, himself proceeded
+alongshore thither with the ships which he had with him and with the
+three Chians, in the hope that the Methymnians upon seeing them would
+be encouraged to persevere in their revolt. As, however, everything
+went against him in Lesbos, he took up his own force and sailed back to
+Chios; the land forces on board, which were to have gone to the
+Hellespont, being also conveyed back to their different cities. After
+this six of the allied Peloponnesian ships at Cenchreae joined the
+forces at Chios. The Athenians, after restoring matters to their old
+state in Lesbos, set sail from thence and took Polichna, the place that
+the Clazomenians were fortifying on the continent, and carried the
+inhabitants back to their town upon the island, except the authors of
+the revolt, who withdrew to Daphnus; and thus Clazomenae became once
+more Athenian.
+
+The same summer the Athenians in the twenty ships at Lade, blockading
+Miletus, made a descent at Panormus in the Milesian territory, and
+killed Chalcideus the Lacedaemonian commander, who had come with a few
+men against them, and the third day after sailed over and set up a
+trophy, which, as they were not masters of the country, was however
+pulled down by the Milesians. Meanwhile Leon and Diomedon with the
+Athenian fleet from Lesbos issuing from the Oenussae, the isles off
+Chios, and from their forts of Sidussa and Pteleum in the Erythraeid,
+and from Lesbos, carried on the war against the Chians from the ships,
+having on board heavy infantry from the rolls pressed to serve as
+marines. Landing in Cardamyle and in Bolissus they defeated with heavy
+loss the Chians that took the field against them and, laying desolate
+the places in that neighbourhood, defeated the Chians again in another
+battle at Phanae, and in a third at Leuconium. After this the Chians
+ceased to meet them in the field, while the Athenians devastated the
+country, which was beautifully stocked and had remained uninjured ever
+since the Median wars. Indeed, after the Lacedaemonians, the Chians are
+the only people that I have known who knew how to be wise in
+prosperity, and who ordered their city the more securely the greater it
+grew. Nor was this revolt, in which they might seem to have erred on
+the side of rashness, ventured upon until they had numerous and gallant
+allies to share the danger with them, and until they perceived the
+Athenians after the Sicilian disaster themselves no longer denying the
+thoroughly desperate state of their affairs. And if they were thrown
+out by one of the surprises which upset human calculations, they found
+out their mistake in company with many others who believed, like them,
+in the speedy collapse of the Athenian power. While they were thus
+blockaded from the sea and plundered by land, some of the citizens
+undertook to bring the city over to the Athenians. Apprised of this the
+authorities took no action themselves, but brought Astyochus, the
+admiral, from Erythrae, with four ships that he had with him, and
+considered how they could most quietly, either by taking hostages or by
+some other means, put an end to the conspiracy.
+
+While the Chians were thus engaged, a thousand Athenian heavy infantry
+and fifteen hundred Argives (five hundred of whom were light troops
+furnished with armour by the Athenians), and one thousand of the
+allies, towards the close of the same summer sailed from Athens in
+forty-eight ships, some of which were transports, under the command of
+Phrynichus, Onomacles, and Scironides, and putting into Samos crossed
+over and encamped at Miletus. Upon this the Milesians came out to the
+number of eight hundred heavy infantry, with the Peloponnesians who had
+come with Chalcideus, and some foreign mercenaries of Tissaphernes,
+Tissaphernes himself and his cavalry, and engaged the Athenians and
+their allies. While the Argives rushed forward on their own wing with
+the careless disdain of men advancing against Ionians who would never
+stand their charge, and were defeated by the Milesians with a loss
+little short of three hundred men, the Athenians first defeated the
+Peloponnesians, and driving before them the barbarians and the ruck of
+the army, without engaging the Milesians, who after the rout of the
+Argives retreated into the town upon seeing their comrades worsted,
+crowned their victory by grounding their arms under the very walls of
+Miletus. Thus, in this battle, the Ionians on both sides overcame the
+Dorians, the Athenians defeating the Peloponnesians opposed to them,
+and the Milesians the Argives. After setting up a trophy, the Athenians
+prepared to draw a wall round the place, which stood upon an isthmus;
+thinking that, if they could gain Miletus, the other towns also would
+easily come over to them.
+
+Meanwhile about dusk tidings reached them that the fifty-five ships
+from Peloponnese and Sicily might be instantly expected. Of these the
+Siceliots, urged principally by the Syracusan Hermocrates to join in
+giving the finishing blow to the power of Athens, furnished
+twenty-two—twenty from Syracuse, and two from Silenus; and the ships
+that we left preparing in Peloponnese being now ready, both squadrons
+had been entrusted to Therimenes, a Lacedaemonian, to take to
+Astyochus, the admiral. They now put in first at Leros the island off
+Miletus, and from thence, discovering that the Athenians were before
+the town, sailed into the Iasic Gulf, in order to learn how matters
+stood at Miletus. Meanwhile Alcibiades came on horseback to Teichiussa
+in the Milesian territory, the point of the gulf at which they had put
+in for the night, and told them of the battle in which he had fought in
+person by the side of the Milesians and Tissaphernes, and advised them,
+if they did not wish to sacrifice Ionia and their cause, to fly to the
+relief of Miletus and hinder its investment.
+
+Accordingly they resolved to relieve it the next morning. Meanwhile
+Phrynichus, the Athenian commander, had received precise intelligence
+of the fleet from Leros, and when his colleagues expressed a wish to
+keep the sea and fight it out, flatly refused either to stay himself or
+to let them or any one else do so if he could help it. Where they could
+hereafter contend, after full and undisturbed preparation, with an
+exact knowledge of the number of the enemy’s fleet and of the force
+which they could oppose to him, he would never allow the reproach of
+disgrace to drive him into a risk that was unreasonable. It was no
+disgrace for an Athenian fleet to retreat when it suited them: put it
+as they would, it would be more disgraceful to be beaten, and to expose
+the city not only to disgrace, but to the most serious danger. After
+its late misfortunes it could hardly be justified in voluntarily taking
+the offensive even with the strongest force, except in a case of
+absolute necessity: much less then without compulsion could it rush
+upon peril of its own seeking. He told them to take up their wounded as
+quickly as they could and the troops and stores which they had brought
+with them, and leaving behind what they had taken from the enemy’s
+country, in order to lighten the ships, to sail off to Samos, and there
+concentrating all their ships to attack as opportunity served. As he
+spoke so he acted; and thus not now more than afterwards, nor in this
+alone but in all that he had to do with, did Phrynichus show himself a
+man of sense. In this way that very evening the Athenians broke up from
+before Miletus, leaving their victory unfinished, and the Argives,
+mortified at their disaster, promptly sailed off home from Samos.
+
+As soon as it was morning the Peloponnesians weighed from Teichiussa
+and put into Miletus after the departure of the Athenians; they stayed
+one day, and on the next took with them the Chian vessels originally
+chased into port with Chalcideus, and resolved to sail back for the
+tackle which they had put on shore at Teichiussa. Upon their arrival
+Tissaphernes came to them with his land forces and induced them to sail
+to Iasus, which was held by his enemy Amorges. Accordingly they
+suddenly attacked and took Iasus, whose inhabitants never imagined that
+the ships could be other than Athenian. The Syracusans distinguished
+themselves most in the action. Amorges, a bastard of Pissuthnes and a
+rebel from the King, was taken alive and handed over to Tissaphernes,
+to carry to the King, if he chose, according to his orders: Iasus was
+sacked by the army, who found a very great booty there, the place being
+wealthy from ancient date. The mercenaries serving with Amorges the
+Peloponnesians received and enrolled in their army without doing them
+any harm, since most of them came from Peloponnese, and handed over the
+town to Tissaphernes with all the captives, bond or free, at the
+stipulated price of one Doric stater a head; after which they returned
+to Miletus. Pedaritus, son of Leon, who had been sent by the
+Lacedaemonians to take the command at Chios, they dispatched by land as
+far as Erythrae with the mercenaries taken from Amorges; appointing
+Philip to remain as governor of Miletus.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following, Tissaphernes put Iasus in a
+state of defence, and passing on to Miletus distributed a month’s pay
+to all the ships as he had promised at Lacedaemon, at the rate of an
+Attic drachma a day for each man. In future, however, he was resolved
+not to give more than three obols, until he had consulted the King;
+when if the King should so order he would give, he said, the full
+drachma. However, upon the protest of the Syracusan general Hermocrates
+(for as Therimenes was not admiral, but only accompanied them in order
+to hand over the ships to Astyochus, he made little difficulty about
+the pay), it was agreed that the amount of five ships’ pay should be
+given over and above the three obols a day for each man; Tissaphernes
+paying thirty talents a month for fifty-five ships, and to the rest,
+for as many ships as they had beyond that number, at the same rate.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Samos, having been joined by
+thirty-five more vessels from home under Charminus, Strombichides, and
+Euctemon, called in their squadron at Chios and all the rest, intending
+to blockade Miletus with their navy, and to send a fleet and an army
+against Chios; drawing lots for the respective services. This intention
+they carried into effect; Strombichides, Onamacles, and Euctemon
+sailing against Chios, which fell to their lot, with thirty ships and a
+part of the thousand heavy infantry, who had been to Miletus, in
+transports; while the rest remained masters of the sea with
+seventy-four ships at Samos, and advanced upon Miletus.
+
+Meanwhile Astyochus, whom we left at Chios collecting the hostages
+required in consequence of the conspiracy, stopped upon learning that
+the fleet with Therimenes had arrived, and that the affairs of the
+league were in a more flourishing condition, and putting out to sea
+with ten Peloponnesian and as many Chian vessels, after a futile attack
+upon Pteleum, coasted on to Clazomenae, and ordered the Athenian party
+to remove inland to Daphnus, and to join the Peloponnesians, an order
+in which also joined Tamos the king’s lieutenant in Ionia. This order
+being disregarded, Astyochus made an attack upon the town, which was
+unwalled, and having failed to take it was himself carried off by a
+strong gale to Phocaea and Cuma, while the rest of the ships put in at
+the islands adjacent to Clazomenae—Marathussa, Pele, and Drymussa. Here
+they were detained eight days by the winds, and, plundering and
+consuming all the property of the Clazomenians there deposited, put the
+rest on shipboard and sailed off to Phocaea and Cuma to join Astyochus.
+
+While he was there, envoys arrived from the Lesbians who wished to
+revolt again. With Astyochus they were successful; but the Corinthians
+and the other allies being averse to it by reason of their former
+failure, he weighed anchor and set sail for Chios, where they
+eventually arrived from different quarters, the fleet having been
+scattered by a storm. After this Pedaritus, whom we left marching along
+the coast from Miletus, arrived at Erythrae, and thence crossed over
+with his army to Chios, where he found also about five hundred soldiers
+who had been left there by Chalcideus from the five ships with their
+arms. Meanwhile some Lesbians making offers to revolt, Astyochus urged
+upon Pedaritus and the Chians that they ought to go with their ships
+and effect the revolt of Lesbos, and so increase the number of their
+allies, or, if not successful, at all events harm the Athenians. The
+Chians, however, turned a deaf ear to this, and Pedaritus flatly
+refused to give up to him the Chian vessels.
+
+Upon this Astyochus took five Corinthian and one Megarian vessel, with
+another from Hermione, and the ships which had come with him from
+Laconia, and set sail for Miletus to assume his command as admiral;
+after telling the Chians with many threats that he would certainly not
+come and help them if they should be in need. At Corycus in the
+Erythraeid he brought to for the night; the Athenian armament sailing
+from Samos against Chios being only separated from him by a hill, upon
+the other side of which it brought to; so that neither perceived the
+other. But a letter arriving in the night from Pedaritus to say that
+some liberated Erythraean prisoners had come from Samos to betray
+Erythrae, Astyochus at once put back to Erythrae, and so just escaped
+falling in with the Athenians. Here Pedaritus sailed over to join him;
+and after inquiry into the pretended treachery, finding that the whole
+story had been made up to procure the escape of the men from Samos,
+they acquitted them of the charge, and sailed away, Pedaritus to Chios
+and Astyochus to Miletus as he had intended.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenian armament sailing round Corycus fell in with
+three Chian men-of-war off Arginus, and gave immediate chase. A great
+storm coming on, the Chians with difficulty took refuge in the harbour;
+the three Athenian vessels most forward in the pursuit being wrecked
+and thrown up near the city of Chios, and the crews slain or taken
+prisoners. The rest of the Athenian fleet took refuge in the harbour
+called Phoenicus, under Mount Mimas, and from thence afterwards put
+into Lesbos and prepared for the work of fortification.
+
+The same winter the Lacedaemonian Hippocrates sailed out from
+Peloponnese with ten Thurian ships under the command of Dorieus, son of
+Diagoras, and two colleagues, one Laconian and one Syracusan vessel,
+and arrived at Cnidus, which had already revolted at the instigation of
+Tissaphernes. When their arrival was known at Miletus, orders came to
+them to leave half their squadron to guard Cnidus, and with the rest to
+cruise round Triopium and seize all the merchantmen arriving from
+Egypt. Triopium is a promontory of Cnidus and sacred to Apollo. This
+coming to the knowledge of the Athenians, they sailed from Samos and
+captured the six ships on the watch at Triopium, the crews escaping out
+of them. After this the Athenians sailed into Cnidus and made an
+assault upon the town, which was unfortified, and all but took it; and
+the next day assaulted it again, but with less effect, as the
+inhabitants had improved their defences during the night, and had been
+reinforced by the crews escaped from the ships at Triopium. The
+Athenians now withdrew, and after plundering the Cnidian territory
+sailed back to Samos.
+
+About the same time Astyochus came to the fleet at Miletus. The
+Peloponnesian camp was still plentifully supplied, being in receipt of
+sufficient pay, and the soldiers having still in hand the large booty
+taken at Iasus. The Milesians also showed great ardour for the war.
+Nevertheless the Peloponnesians thought the first convention with
+Tissaphernes, made with Chalcideus, defective, and more advantageous to
+him than to them, and consequently while Therimenes was still there
+concluded another, which was as follows:
+
+The convention of the Lacedaemonians and the allies with King Darius
+and the sons of the King, and with Tissaphernes for a treaty and
+friendship, as follows:
+
+1. Neither the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians
+shall make war against or otherwise injure any country or cities that
+belong to King Darius or did belong to his father or to his ancestors;
+neither shall the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians
+exact tribute from such cities. Neither shall King Darius nor any of
+the subjects of the King make war against or otherwise injure the
+Lacedaemonians or their allies.
+
+2. If the Lacedaemonians or their allies should require any assistance
+from the King, or the King from the Lacedaemonians or their allies,
+whatever they both agree upon they shall be right in doing.
+
+3. Both shall carry on jointly the war against the Athenians and their
+allies: and if they make peace, both shall do so jointly.
+
+4. The expense of all troops in the King’s country, sent for by the
+King, shall be borne by the King.
+
+5. If any of the states comprised in this convention with the King
+attack the King’s country, the rest shall stop them and aid the King to
+the best of their power. And if any in the King’s country or in the
+countries under the King’s rule attack the country of the
+Lacedaemonians or their allies, the King shall stop it and help them to
+the best of his power.
+
+After this convention Therimenes handed over the fleet to Astyochus,
+sailed off in a small boat, and was lost. The Athenian armament had now
+crossed over from Lesbos to Chios, and being master by sea and land
+began to fortify Delphinium, a place naturally strong on the land side,
+provided with more than one harbour, and also not far from the city of
+Chios. Meanwhile the Chians remained inactive. Already defeated in so
+many battles, they were now also at discord among themselves; the
+execution of the party of Tydeus, son of Ion, by Pedaritus upon the
+charge of Atticism, followed by the forcible imposition of an oligarchy
+upon the rest of the city, having made them suspicious of one another;
+and they therefore thought neither themselves not the mercenaries under
+Pedaritus a match for the enemy. They sent, however, to Miletus to beg
+Astyochus to assist them, which he refused to do, and was accordingly
+denounced at Lacedaemon by Pedaritus as a traitor. Such was the state
+of the Athenian affairs at Chios; while their fleet at Samos kept
+sailing out against the enemy in Miletus, until they found that he
+would not accept their challenge, and then retired again to Samos and
+remained quiet.
+
+In the same winter the twenty-seven ships equipped by the
+Lacedaemonians for Pharnabazus through the agency of the Megarian
+Calligeitus, and the Cyzicene Timagoras, put out from Peloponnese and
+sailed for Ionia about the time of the solstice, under the command of
+Antisthenes, a Spartan. With them the Lacedaemonians also sent eleven
+Spartans as advisers to Astyochus; Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, being
+among the number. Arrived at Miletus, their orders were to aid in
+generally superintending the good conduct of the war; to send off the
+above ships or a greater or less number to the Hellespont to
+Pharnabazus, if they thought proper, appointing Clearchus, son of
+Ramphias, who sailed with them, to the command; and further, if they
+thought proper, to make Antisthenes admiral, dismissing Astyochus, whom
+the letters of Pedaritus had caused to be regarded with suspicion.
+Sailing accordingly from Malea across the open sea, the squadron
+touched at Melos and there fell in with ten Athenian ships, three of
+which they took empty and burned. After this, being afraid that the
+Athenian vessels escaped from Melos might, as they in fact did, give
+information of their approach to the Athenians at Samos, they sailed to
+Crete, and having lengthened their voyage by way of precaution made
+land at Caunus in Asia, from whence considering themselves in safety
+they sent a message to the fleet at Miletus for a convoy along the
+coast.
+
+Meanwhile the Chians and Pedaritus, undeterred by the backwardness of
+Astyochus, went on sending messengers pressing him to come with all the
+fleet to assist them against their besiegers, and not to leave the
+greatest of the allied states in Ionia to be shut up by sea and overrun
+and pillaged by land. There were more slaves at Chios than in any one
+other city except Lacedaemon, and being also by reason of their numbers
+punished more rigorously when they offended, most of them, when they
+saw the Athenian armament firmly established in the island with a
+fortified position, immediately deserted to the enemy, and through
+their knowledge of the country did the greatest mischief. The Chians
+therefore urged upon Astyochus that it was his duty to assist them,
+while there was still a hope and a possibility of stopping the enemy’s
+progress, while Delphinium was still in process of fortification and
+unfinished, and before the completion of a higher rampart which was
+being added to protect the camp and fleet of their besiegers. Astyochus
+now saw that the allies also wished it and prepared to go, in spite of
+his intention to the contrary owing to the threat already referred to.
+
+In the meantime news came from Caunus of the arrival of the
+twenty-seven ships with the Lacedaemonian commissioners; and Astyochus,
+postponing everything to the duty of convoying a fleet of that
+importance, in order to be more able to command the sea, and to the
+safe conduct of the Lacedaemonians sent as spies over his behaviour, at
+once gave up going to Chios and set sail for Caunus. As he coasted
+along he landed at the Meropid Cos and sacked the city, which was
+unfortified and had been lately laid in ruins by an earthquake, by far
+the greatest in living memory, and, as the inhabitants had fled to the
+mountains, overran the country and made booty of all it contained,
+letting go, however, the free men. From Cos arriving in the night at
+Cnidus he was constrained by the representations of the Cnidians not to
+disembark the sailors, but to sail as he was straight against the
+twenty Athenian vessels, which with Charminus, one of the commanders at
+Samos, were on the watch for the very twenty-seven ships from
+Peloponnese which Astyochus was himself sailing to join; the Athenians
+in Samos having heard from Melos of their approach, and Charminus being
+on the look-out off Syme, Chalce, Rhodes, and Lycia, as he now heard
+that they were at Caunus.
+
+Astyochus accordingly sailed as he was to Syme, before he was heard of,
+in the hope of catching the enemy somewhere out at sea. Rain, however,
+and foggy weather encountered him, and caused his ships to straggle and
+get into disorder in the dark. In the morning his fleet had parted
+company and was most of it still straggling round the island, and the
+left wing only in sight of Charminus and the Athenians, who took it for
+the squadron which they were watching for from Caunus, and hastily put
+out against it with part only of their twenty vessels, and attacking
+immediately sank three ships and disabled others, and had the advantage
+in the action until the main body of the fleet unexpectedly hove in
+sight, when they were surrounded on every side. Upon this they took to
+flight, and after losing six ships with the rest escaped to Teutlussa
+or Beet Island, and from thence to Halicarnassus. After this the
+Peloponnesians put into Cnidus and, being joined by the twenty-seven
+ships from Caunus, sailed all together and set up a trophy in Syme, and
+then returned to anchor at Cnidus.
+
+As soon as the Athenians knew of the sea-fight, they sailed with all
+the ships at Samos to Syme, and, without attacking or being attacked by
+the fleet at Cnidus, took the ships’ tackle left at Syme, and touching
+at Lorymi on the mainland sailed back to Samos. Meanwhile the
+Peloponnesian ships, being now all at Cnidus, underwent such repairs as
+were needed; while the eleven Lacedaemonian commissioners conferred
+with Tissaphernes, who had come to meet them, upon the points which did
+not satisfy them in the past transactions, and upon the best and
+mutually most advantageous manner of conducting the war in future. The
+severest critic of the present proceedings was Lichas, who said that
+neither of the treaties could stand, neither that of Chalcideus, nor
+that of Therimenes; it being monstrous that the King should at this
+date pretend to the possession of all the country formerly ruled by
+himself or by his ancestors—a pretension which implicitly put back
+under the yoke all the islands—Thessaly, Locris, and everything as far
+as Boeotia—and made the Lacedaemonians give to the Hellenes instead of
+liberty a Median master. He therefore invited Tissaphernes to conclude
+another and a better treaty, as they certainly would not recognize
+those existing and did not want any of his pay upon such conditions.
+This offended Tissaphernes so much that he went away in a rage without
+settling anything.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the War—Intrigues of
+Alcibiades—Withdrawal of the Persian Subsidies—Oligarchical Coup d’Etat
+at Athens—Patriotism of the Army at Samos
+
+
+The Peloponnesians now determined to sail to Rhodes, upon the
+invitation of some of the principal men there, hoping to gain an island
+powerful by the number of its seamen and by its land forces, and also
+thinking that they would be able to maintain their fleet from their own
+confederacy, without having to ask for money from Tissaphernes. They
+accordingly at once set sail that same winter from Cnidus, and first
+put in with ninety-four ships at Camirus in the Rhodian country, to the
+great alarm of the mass of the inhabitants, who were not privy to the
+intrigue, and who consequently fled, especially as the town was
+unfortified. They were afterwards, however, assembled by the
+Lacedaemonians together with the inhabitants of the two other towns of
+Lindus and Ialysus; and the Rhodians were persuaded to revolt from the
+Athenians and the island went over to the Peloponnesians. Meanwhile the
+Athenians had received the alarm and set sail with the fleet from Samos
+to forestall them, and came within sight of the island, but being a
+little too late sailed off for the moment to Chalce, and from thence to
+Samos, and subsequently waged war against Rhodes, issuing from Chalce,
+Cos, and Samos.
+
+The Peloponnesians now levied a contribution of thirty-two talents from
+the Rhodians, after which they hauled their ships ashore and for eighty
+days remained inactive. During this time, and even earlier, before they
+removed to Rhodes, the following intrigues took place. After the death
+of Chalcideus and the battle at Miletus, Alcibiades began to be
+suspected by the Peloponnesians; and Astyochus received from Lacedaemon
+an order from them to put him to death, he being the personal enemy of
+Agis, and in other respects thought unworthy of confidence. Alcibiades
+in his alarm first withdrew to Tissaphernes, and immediately began to
+do all he could with him to injure the Peloponnesian cause. Henceforth
+becoming his adviser in everything, he cut down the pay from an Attic
+drachma to three obols a day, and even this not paid too regularly; and
+told Tissaphernes to say to the Peloponnesians that the Athenians,
+whose maritime experience was of an older date than their own, only
+gave their men three obols, not so much from poverty as to prevent
+their seamen being corrupted by being too well off, and injuring their
+condition by spending money upon enervating indulgences, and also paid
+their crews irregularly in order to have a security against their
+deserting in the arrears which they would leave behind them. He also
+told Tissaphernes to bribe the captains and generals of the cities, and
+so to obtain their connivance—an expedient which succeeded with all
+except the Syracusans, Hermocrates alone opposing him on behalf of the
+whole confederacy. Meanwhile the cities asking for money Alcibiades
+sent off, by roundly telling them in the name of Tissaphernes that it
+was great impudence in the Chians, the richest people in Hellas, not
+content with being defended by a foreign force, to expect others to
+risk not only their lives but their money as well in behalf of their
+freedom; while the other cities, he said, had had to pay largely to
+Athens before their rebellion, and could not justly refuse to
+contribute as much or even more now for their own selves. He also
+pointed out that Tissaphernes was at present carrying on the war at his
+own charges, and had good cause for economy, but that as soon as he
+received remittances from the king he would give them their pay in full
+and do what was reasonable for the cities.
+
+Alcibiades further advised Tissaphernes not to be in too great a hurry
+to end the war, or to let himself be persuaded to bring up the
+Phoenician fleet which he was equipping, or to provide pay for more
+Hellenes, and thus put the power by land and sea into the same hands;
+but to leave each of the contending parties in possession of one
+element, thus enabling the king when he found one troublesome to call
+in the other. For if the command of the sea and land were united in one
+hand, he would not know where to turn for help to overthrow the
+dominant power; unless he at last chose to stand up himself, and go
+through with the struggle at great expense and hazard. The cheapest
+plan was to let the Hellenes wear each other out, at a small share of
+the expense and without risk to himself. Besides, he would find the
+Athenians the most convenient partners in empire as they did not aim at
+conquests on shore, and carried on the war upon principles and with a
+practice most advantageous to the King; being prepared to combine to
+conquer the sea for Athens, and for the King all the Hellenes
+inhabiting his country, whom the Peloponnesians, on the contrary, had
+come to liberate. Now it was not likely that the Lacedaemonians would
+free the Hellenes from the Hellenic Athenians, without freeing them
+also from the barbarian Mede, unless overthrown by him in the
+meanwhile. Alcibiades therefore urged him to wear them both out at
+first, and, after docking the Athenian power as much as he could,
+forthwith to rid the country of the Peloponnesians. In the main
+Tissaphernes approved of this policy, so far at least as could be
+conjectured from his behaviour; since he now gave his confidence to
+Alcibiades in recognition of his good advice, and kept the
+Peloponnesians short of money, and would not let them fight at sea, but
+ruined their cause by pretending that the Phoenician fleet would
+arrive, and that they would thus be enabled to contend with the odds in
+their favour, and so made their navy lose its efficiency, which had
+been very remarkable, and generally betrayed a coolness in the war that
+was too plain to be mistaken.
+
+Alcibiades gave this advice to Tissaphernes and the King, with whom he
+then was, not merely because he thought it really the best, but because
+he was studying means to effect his restoration to his country, well
+knowing that if he did not destroy it he might one day hope to persuade
+the Athenians to recall him, and thinking that his best chance of
+persuading them lay in letting them see that he possessed the favour of
+Tissaphernes. The event proved him to be right. When the Athenians at
+Samos found that he had influence with Tissaphernes, principally of
+their own motion (though partly also through Alcibiades himself sending
+word to their chief men to tell the best men in the army that, if there
+were only an oligarchy in the place of the rascally democracy that had
+banished him, he would be glad to return to his country and to make
+Tissaphernes their friend), the captains and chief men in the armament
+at once embraced the idea of subverting the democracy.
+
+The design was first mooted in the camp, and afterwards from thence
+reached the city. Some persons crossed over from Samos and had an
+interview with Alcibiades, who immediately offered to make first
+Tissaphernes, and afterwards the King, their friend, if they would give
+up the democracy and make it possible for the King to trust them. The
+higher class, who also suffered most severely from the war, now
+conceived great hopes of getting the government into their own hands,
+and of triumphing over the enemy. Upon their return to Samos the
+emissaries formed their partisans into a club, and openly told the mass
+of the armament that the King would be their friend, and would provide
+them with money, if Alcibiades were restored and the democracy
+abolished. The multitude, if at first irritated by these intrigues,
+were nevertheless kept quiet by the advantageous prospect of the pay
+from the King; and the oligarchical conspirators, after making this
+communication to the people, now re-examined the proposals of
+Alcibiades among themselves, with most of their associates. Unlike the
+rest, who thought them advantageous and trustworthy, Phrynichus, who
+was still general, by no means approved of the proposals. Alcibiades,
+he rightly thought, cared no more for an oligarchy than for a
+democracy, and only sought to change the institutions of his country in
+order to get himself recalled by his associates; while for themselves
+their one object should be to avoid civil discord. It was not the
+King’s interest, when the Peloponnesians were now their equals at sea,
+and in possession of some of the chief cities in his empire, to go out
+of his way to side with the Athenians whom he did not trust, when he
+might make friends of the Peloponnesians who had never injured him. And
+as for the allied states to whom oligarchy was now offered, because the
+democracy was to be put down at Athens, he well knew that this would
+not make the rebels come in any the sooner, or confirm the loyal in
+their allegiance; as the allies would never prefer servitude with an
+oligarchy or democracy to freedom with the constitution which they
+actually enjoyed, to whichever type it belonged. Besides, the cities
+thought that the so-called better classes would prove just as
+oppressive as the commons, as being those who originated, proposed, and
+for the most part benefited from the acts of the commons injurious to
+the confederates. Indeed, if it depended on the better classes, the
+confederates would be put to death without trial and with violence;
+while the commons were their refuge and the chastiser of these men.
+This he positively knew that the cities had learned by experience, and
+that such was their opinion. The propositions of Alcibiades, and the
+intrigues now in progress, could therefore never meet with his
+approval.
+
+However, the members of the club assembled, agreeably to their original
+determination, accepted what was proposed, and prepared to send
+Pisander and others on an embassy to Athens to treat for the
+restoration of Alcibiades and the abolition of the democracy in the
+city, and thus to make Tissaphernes the friend of the Athenians.
+
+Phrynichus now saw that there would be a proposal to restore
+Alcibiades, and that the Athenians would consent to it; and fearing
+after what he had said against it that Alcibiades, if restored, would
+revenge himself upon him for his opposition, had recourse to the
+following expedient. He sent a secret letter to the Lacedaemonian
+admiral Astyochus, who was still in the neighbourhood of Miletus, to
+tell him that Alcibiades was ruining their cause by making Tissaphernes
+the friend of the Athenians, and containing an express revelation of
+the rest of the intrigue, desiring to be excused if he sought to harm
+his enemy even at the expense of the interests of his country. However,
+Astyochus, instead of thinking of punishing Alcibiades, who, besides,
+no longer ventured within his reach as formerly, went up to him and
+Tissaphernes at Magnesia, communicated to them the letter from Samos,
+and turned informer, and, if report may be trusted, became the paid
+creature of Tissaphernes, undertaking to inform him as to this and all
+other matters; which was also the reason why he did not remonstrate
+more strongly against the pay not being given in full. Upon this
+Alcibiades instantly sent to the authorities at Samos a letter against
+Phrynichus, stating what he had done, and requiring that he should be
+put to death. Phrynichus distracted, and placed in the utmost peril by
+the denunciation, sent again to Astyochus, reproaching him with having
+so ill kept the secret of his previous letter, and saying that he was
+now prepared to give them an opportunity of destroying the whole
+Athenian armament at Samos; giving a detailed account of the means
+which he should employ, Samos being unfortified, and pleading that,
+being in danger of his life on their account, he could not now be
+blamed for doing this or anything else to escape being destroyed by his
+mortal enemies. This also Astyochus revealed to Alcibiades.
+
+Meanwhile Phrynichus having had timely notice that he was playing him
+false, and that a letter on the subject was on the point of arriving
+from Alcibiades, himself anticipated the news, and told the army that
+the enemy, seeing that Samos was unfortified and the fleet not all
+stationed within the harbour, meant to attack the camp, that he could
+be certain of this intelligence, and that they must fortify Samos as
+quickly as possible, and generally look to their defences. It will be
+remembered that he was general, and had himself authority to carry out
+these measures. Accordingly they addressed themselves to the work of
+fortification, and Samos was thus fortified sooner than it would
+otherwise have been. Not long afterwards came the letter from
+Alcibiades, saying that the army was betrayed by Phrynichus, and the
+enemy about to attack it. Alcibiades, however, gained no credit, it
+being thought that he was in the secret of the enemy’s designs, and had
+tried to fasten them upon Phrynichus, and to make out that he was their
+accomplice, out of hatred; and consequently far from hurting him he
+rather bore witness to what he had said by this intelligence.
+
+After this Alcibiades set to work to persuade Tissaphernes to become
+the friend of the Athenians. Tissaphernes, although afraid of the
+Peloponnesians because they had more ships in Asia than the Athenians,
+was yet disposed to be persuaded if he could, especially after his
+quarrel with the Peloponnesians at Cnidus about the treaty of
+Therimenes. The quarrel had already taken place, as the Peloponnesians
+were by this time actually at Rhodes; and in it the original argument
+of Alcibiades touching the liberation of all the towns by the
+Lacedaemonians had been verified by the declaration of Lichas that it
+was impossible to submit to a convention which made the King master of
+all the states at any former time ruled by himself or by his fathers.
+
+While Alcibiades was besieging the favour of Tissaphernes with an
+earnestness proportioned to the greatness of the issue, the Athenian
+envoys who had been dispatched from Samos with Pisander arrived at
+Athens, and made a speech before the people, giving a brief summary of
+their views, and particularly insisting that, if Alcibiades were
+recalled and the democratic constitution changed, they could have the
+King as their ally, and would be able to overcome the Peloponnesians. A
+number of speakers opposed them on the question of the democracy, the
+enemies of Alcibiades cried out against the scandal of a restoration to
+be effected by a violation of the constitution, and the Eumolpidae and
+Ceryces protested in behalf of the mysteries, the cause of his
+banishment, and called upon the gods to avert his recall; when
+Pisander, in the midst of much opposition and abuse, came forward, and
+taking each of his opponents aside asked him the following question: In
+the face of the fact that the Peloponnesians had as many ships as their
+own confronting them at sea, more cities in alliance with them, and the
+King and Tissaphernes to supply them with money, of which the Athenians
+had none left, had he any hope of saving the state, unless someone
+could induce the King to come over to their side? Upon their replying
+that they had not, he then plainly said to them: “This we cannot have
+unless we have a more moderate form of government, and put the offices
+into fewer hands, and so gain the King’s confidence, and forthwith
+restore Alcibiades, who is the only man living that can bring this
+about. The safety of the state, not the form of its government, is for
+the moment the most pressing question, as we can always change
+afterwards whatever we do not like.”
+
+The people were at first highly irritated at the mention of an
+oligarchy, but upon understanding clearly from Pisander that this was
+the only resource left, they took counsel of their fears, and promised
+themselves some day to change the government again, and gave way. They
+accordingly voted that Pisander should sail with ten others and make
+the best arrangement that they could with Tissaphernes and Alcibiades.
+At the same time the people, upon a false accusation of Pisander,
+dismissed Phrynichus from his post together with his colleague
+Scironides, sending Diomedon and Leon to replace them in the command of
+the fleet. The accusation was that Phrynichus had betrayed Iasus and
+Amorges; and Pisander brought it because he thought him a man unfit for
+the business now in hand with Alcibiades. Pisander also went the round
+of all the clubs already existing in the city for help in lawsuits and
+elections, and urged them to draw together and to unite their efforts
+for the overthrow of the democracy; and after taking all other measures
+required by the circumstances, so that no time might be lost, set off
+with his ten companions on his voyage to Tissaphernes.
+
+In the same winter Leon and Diomedon, who had by this time joined the
+fleet, made an attack upon Rhodes. The ships of the Peloponnesians they
+found hauled up on shore, and, after making a descent upon the coast
+and defeating the Rhodians who appeared in the field against them,
+withdrew to Chalce and made that place their base of operations instead
+of Cos, as they could better observe from thence if the Peloponnesian
+fleet put out to sea. Meanwhile Xenophantes, a Laconian, came to Rhodes
+from Pedaritus at Chios, with the news that the fortification of the
+Athenians was now finished, and that, unless the whole Peloponnesian
+fleet came to the rescue, the cause in Chios must be lost. Upon this
+they resolved to go to his relief. In the meantime Pedaritus, with the
+mercenaries that he had with him and the whole force of the Chians,
+made an assault upon the work round the Athenian ships and took a
+portion of it, and got possession of some vessels that were hauled up
+on shore, when the Athenians sallied out to the rescue, and first
+routing the Chians, next defeated the remainder of the force round
+Pedaritus, who was himself killed, with many of the Chians, a great
+number of arms being also taken.
+
+After this the Chians were besieged even more straitly than before by
+land and sea, and the famine in the place was great. Meanwhile the
+Athenian envoys with Pisander arrived at the court of Tissaphernes, and
+conferred with him about the proposed agreement. However, Alcibiades,
+not being altogether sure of Tissaphernes (who feared the
+Peloponnesians more than the Athenians, and besides wished to wear out
+both parties, as Alcibiades himself had recommended), had recourse to
+the following stratagem to make the treaty between the Athenians and
+Tissaphernes miscarry by reason of the magnitude of his demands. In my
+opinion Tissaphernes desired this result, fear being his motive; while
+Alcibiades, who now saw that Tissaphernes was determined not to treat
+on any terms, wished the Athenians to think, not that he was unable to
+persuade Tissaphernes, but that after the latter had been persuaded and
+was willing to join them, they had not conceded enough to him. For the
+demands of Alcibiades, speaking for Tissaphernes, who was present, were
+so extravagant that the Athenians, although for a long while they
+agreed to whatever he asked, yet had to bear the blame of failure: he
+required the cession of the whole of Ionia, next of the islands
+adjacent, besides other concessions, and these passed without
+opposition; at last, in the third interview, Alcibiades, who now feared
+a complete discovery of his inability, required them to allow the King
+to build ships and sail along his own coast wherever and with as many
+as he pleased. Upon this the Athenians would yield no further, and
+concluding that there was nothing to be done, but that they had been
+deceived by Alcibiades, went away in a passion and proceeded to Samos.
+
+Tissaphernes immediately after this, in the same winter, proceeded
+along shore to Caunus, desiring to bring the Peloponnesian fleet back
+to Miletus, and to supply them with pay, making a fresh convention upon
+such terms as he could get, in order not to bring matters to an
+absolute breach between them. He was afraid that if many of their ships
+were left without pay they would be compelled to engage and be
+defeated, or that their vessels being left without hands the Athenians
+would attain their objects without his assistance. Still more he feared
+that the Peloponnesians might ravage the continent in search of
+supplies. Having calculated and considered all this, agreeably to his
+plan of keeping the two sides equal, he now sent for the Peloponnesians
+and gave them pay, and concluded with them a third treaty in words
+following:
+
+In the thirteenth year of the reign of Darius, while Alexippidas was
+ephor at Lacedaemon, a convention was concluded in the plain of the
+Maeander by the Lacedaemonians and their allies with Tissaphernes,
+Hieramenes, and the sons of Pharnaces, concerning the affairs of the
+King and of the Lacedaemonians and their allies.
+
+1. The country of the King in Asia shall be the King’s, and the King
+shall treat his own country as he pleases.
+
+2. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall not invade or injure the
+King’s country: neither shall the King invade or injure that of the
+Lacedaemonians or of their allies. If any of the Lacedaemonians or of
+their allies invade or injure the King’s country, the Lacedaemonians
+and their allies shall prevent it: and if any from the King’s country
+invade or injure the country of the Lacedaemonians or of their allies,
+the King shall prevent it.
+
+3. Tissaphernes shall provide pay for the ships now present, according
+to the agreement, until the arrival of the King’s vessels: but after
+the arrival of the King’s vessels the Lacedaemonians and their allies
+may pay their own ships if they wish it. If, however, they choose to
+receive the pay from Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes shall furnish it: and
+the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall repay him at the end of the
+war such moneys as they shall have received.
+
+4. After the vessels have arrived, the ships of the Lacedaemonians and
+of their allies and those of the King shall carry on the war jointly,
+according as Tissaphernes and the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall
+think best. If they wish to make peace with the Athenians, they shall
+make peace also jointly.
+
+This was the treaty. After this Tissaphernes prepared to bring up the
+Phoenician fleet according to agreement, and to make good his other
+promises, or at all events wished to make it appear that he was so
+preparing.
+
+Winter was now drawing towards its close, when the Boeotians took
+Oropus by treachery, though held by an Athenian garrison. Their
+accomplices in this were some of the Eretrians and of the Oropians
+themselves, who were plotting the revolt of Euboea, as the place was
+exactly opposite Eretria, and while in Athenian hands was necessarily a
+source of great annoyance to Eretria and the rest of Euboea. Oropus
+being in their hands, the Eretrians now came to Rhodes to invite the
+Peloponnesians into Euboea. The latter, however, were rather bent on
+the relief of the distressed Chians, and accordingly put out to sea and
+sailed with all their ships from Rhodes. Off Triopium they sighted the
+Athenian fleet out at sea sailing from Chalce, and, neither attacking
+the other, arrived, the latter at Samos, the Peloponnesians at Miletus,
+seeing that it was no longer possible to relieve Chios without a
+battle. And this winter ended, and with it ended the twentieth year of
+this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+Early in the spring of the summer following, Dercyllidas, a Spartan,
+was sent with a small force by land to the Hellespont to effect the
+revolt of Abydos, which is a Milesian colony; and the Chians, while
+Astyochus was at a loss how to help them, were compelled to fight at
+sea by the pressure of the siege. While Astyochus was still at Rhodes
+they had received from Miletus, as their commander after the death of
+Pedaritus, a Spartan named Leon, who had come out with Antisthenes, and
+twelve vessels which had been on guard at Miletus, five of which were
+Thurian, four Syracusans, one from Anaia, one Milesian, and one Leon’s
+own. Accordingly the Chians marched out in mass and took up a strong
+position, while thirty-six of their ships put out and engaged
+thirty-two of the Athenians; and after a tough fight, in which the
+Chians and their allies had rather the best of it, as it was now late,
+retired to their city.
+
+Immediately after this Dercyllidas arrived by land from Miletus; and
+Abydos in the Hellespont revolted to him and Pharnabazus, and Lampsacus
+two days later. Upon receipt of this news Strombichides hastily sailed
+from Chios with twenty-four Athenian ships, some transports carrying
+heavy infantry being of the number, and defeating the Lampsacenes who
+came out against him, took Lampsacus, which was unfortified, at the
+first assault, and making prize of the slaves and goods restored the
+freemen to their homes, and went on to Abydos. The inhabitants,
+however, refusing to capitulate, and his assaults failing to take the
+place, he sailed over to the coast opposite, and appointed Sestos, the
+town in the Chersonese held by the Medes at a former period in this
+history, as the centre for the defence of the whole Hellespont.
+
+In the meantime the Chians commanded the sea more than before; and the
+Peloponnesians at Miletus and Astyochus, hearing of the sea-fight and
+of the departure of the squadron with Strombichides, took fresh
+courage. Coasting along with two vessels to Chios, Astyochus took the
+ships from that place, and now moved with the whole fleet upon Samos,
+from whence, however, he sailed back to Miletus, as the Athenians did
+not put out against him, owing to their suspicions of one another. For
+it was about this time, or even before, that the democracy was put down
+at Athens. When Pisander and the envoys returned from Tissaphernes to
+Samos they at once strengthened still further their interest in the
+army itself, and instigated the upper class in Samos to join them in
+establishing an oligarchy, the very form of government which a party of
+them had lately risen to avoid. At the same time the Athenians at
+Samos, after a consultation among themselves, determined to let
+Alcibiades alone, since he refused to join them, and besides was not
+the man for an oligarchy; and now that they were once embarked, to see
+for themselves how they could best prevent the ruin of their cause, and
+meanwhile to sustain the war, and to contribute without stint money and
+all else that might be required from their own private estates, as they
+would henceforth labour for themselves alone.
+
+After encouraging each other in these resolutions, they now at once
+sent off half the envoys and Pisander to do what was necessary at
+Athens (with instructions to establish oligarchies on their way in all
+the subject cities which they might touch at), and dispatched the other
+half in different directions to the other dependencies. Diitrephes
+also, who was in the neighbourhood of Chios, and had been elected to
+the command of the Thracian towns, was sent off to his government, and
+arriving at Thasos abolished the democracy there. Two months, however,
+had not elapsed after his departure before the Thasians began to
+fortify their town, being already tired of an aristocracy with Athens,
+and in daily expectation of freedom from Lacedaemon. Indeed there was a
+party of them (whom the Athenians had banished), with the
+Peloponnesians, who with their friends in the town were already making
+every exertion to bring a squadron, and to effect the revolt of Thasos;
+and this party thus saw exactly what they most wanted done, that is to
+say, the reformation of the government without risk, and the abolition
+of the democracy which would have opposed them. Things at Thasos thus
+turned out just the contrary to what the oligarchical conspirators at
+Athens expected; and the same in my opinion was the case in many of the
+other dependencies; as the cities no sooner got a moderate government
+and liberty of action, than they went on to absolute freedom without
+being at all seduced by the show of reform offered by the Athenians.
+
+Pisander and his colleagues on their voyage alongshore abolished, as
+had been determined, the democracies in the cities, and also took some
+heavy infantry from certain places as their allies, and so came to
+Athens. Here they found most of the work already done by their
+associates. Some of the younger men had banded together, and secretly
+assassinated one Androcles, the chief leader of the commons, and mainly
+responsible for the banishment of Alcibiades; Androcles being singled
+out both because he was a popular leader and because they sought by his
+death to recommend themselves to Alcibiades, who was, as they supposed,
+to be recalled, and to make Tissaphernes their friend. There were also
+some other obnoxious persons whom they secretly did away with in the
+same manner. Meanwhile their cry in public was that no pay should be
+given except to persons serving in the war, and that not more than five
+thousand should share in the government, and those such as were most
+able to serve the state in person and in purse.
+
+But this was a mere catchword for the multitude, as the authors of the
+revolution were really to govern. However, the Assembly and the Council
+of the Bean still met notwithstanding, although they discussed nothing
+that was not approved of by the conspirators, who both supplied the
+speakers and reviewed in advance what they were to say. Fear, and the
+sight of the numbers of the conspirators, closed the mouths of the
+rest; or if any ventured to rise in opposition, he was presently put to
+death in some convenient way, and there was neither search for the
+murderers nor justice to be had against them if suspected; but the
+people remained motionless, being so thoroughly cowed that men thought
+themselves lucky to escape violence, even when they held their tongues.
+An exaggerated belief in the numbers of the conspirators also
+demoralized the people, rendered helpless by the magnitude of the city,
+and by their want of intelligence with each other, and being without
+means of finding out what those numbers really were. For the same
+reason it was impossible for any one to open his grief to a neighbour
+and to concert measures to defend himself, as he would have had to
+speak either to one whom he did not know, or whom he knew but did not
+trust. Indeed all the popular party approached each other with
+suspicion, each thinking his neighbour concerned in what was going on,
+the conspirators having in their ranks persons whom no one could ever
+have believed capable of joining an oligarchy; and these it was who
+made the many so suspicious, and so helped to procure impunity for the
+few, by confirming the commons in their mistrust of one another.
+
+At this juncture arrived Pisander and his colleagues, who lost no time
+in doing the rest. First they assembled the people, and moved to elect
+ten commissioners with full powers to frame a constitution, and that
+when this was done they should on an appointed day lay before the
+people their opinion as to the best mode of governing the city.
+Afterwards, when the day arrived, the conspirators enclosed the
+assembly in Colonus, a temple of Poseidon, a little more than a mile
+outside the city; when the commissioners simply brought forward this
+single motion, that any Athenian might propose with impunity whatever
+measure he pleased, heavy penalties being imposed upon any who should
+indict for illegality, or otherwise molest him for so doing. The way
+thus cleared, it was now plainly declared that all tenure of office and
+receipt of pay under the existing institutions were at an end, and that
+five men must be elected as presidents, who should in their turn elect
+one hundred, and each of the hundred three apiece; and that this body
+thus made up to four hundred should enter the council chamber with full
+powers and govern as they judged best, and should convene the five
+thousand whenever they pleased.
+
+The man who moved this resolution was Pisander, who was throughout the
+chief ostensible agent in putting down the democracy. But he who
+concerted the whole affair, and prepared the way for the catastrophe,
+and who had given the greatest thought to the matter, was Antiphon, one
+of the best men of his day in Athens; who, with a head to contrive
+measures and a tongue to recommend them, did not willingly come forward
+in the assembly or upon any public scene, being ill looked upon by the
+multitude owing to his reputation for talent; and who yet was the one
+man best able to aid in the courts, or before the assembly, the suitors
+who required his opinion. Indeed, when he was afterwards himself tried
+for his life on the charge of having been concerned in setting up this
+very government, when the Four Hundred were overthrown and hardly dealt
+with by the commons, he made what would seem to be the best defence of
+any known up to my time. Phrynichus also went beyond all others in his
+zeal for the oligarchy. Afraid of Alcibiades, and assured that he was
+no stranger to his intrigues with Astyochus at Samos, he held that no
+oligarchy was ever likely to restore him, and once embarked in the
+enterprise, proved, where danger was to be faced, by far the staunchest
+of them all. Theramenes, son of Hagnon, was also one of the foremost of
+the subverters of the democracy—a man as able in council as in debate.
+Conducted by so many and by such sagacious heads, the enterprise, great
+as it was, not unnaturally went forward; although it was no light
+matter to deprive the Athenian people of its freedom, almost a hundred
+years after the deposition of the tyrants, when it had been not only
+not subject to any during the whole of that period, but accustomed
+during more than half of it to rule over subjects of its own.
+
+The assembly ratified the proposed constitution, without a single
+opposing voice, and was then dissolved; after which the Four Hundred
+were brought into the council chamber in the following way. On account
+of the enemy at Decelea, all the Athenians were constantly on the wall
+or in the ranks at the various military posts. On that day the persons
+not in the secret were allowed to go home as usual, while orders were
+given to the accomplices of the conspirators to hang about, without
+making any demonstration, at some little distance from the posts, and
+in case of any opposition to what was being done, to seize the arms and
+put it down. There were also some Andrians and Tenians, three hundred
+Carystians, and some of the settlers in Aegina come with their own arms
+for this very purpose, who had received similar instructions. These
+dispositions completed, the Four Hundred went, each with a dagger
+concealed about his person, accompanied by one hundred and twenty
+Hellenic youths, whom they employed wherever violence was needed, and
+appeared before the Councillors of the Bean in the council chamber, and
+told them to take their pay and be gone; themselves bringing it for the
+whole of the residue of their term of office, and giving it to them as
+they went out.
+
+Upon the Council withdrawing in this way without venturing any
+objection, and the rest of the citizens making no movement, the Four
+Hundred entered the council chamber, and for the present contented
+themselves with drawing lots for their Prytanes, and making their
+prayers and sacrifices to the gods upon entering office, but afterwards
+departed widely from the democratic system of government, and except
+that on account of Alcibiades they did not recall the exiles, ruled the
+city by force; putting to death some men, though not many, whom they
+thought it convenient to remove, and imprisoning and banishing others.
+They also sent to Agis, the Lacedaemonian king, at Decelea, to say that
+they desired to make peace, and that he might reasonably be more
+disposed to treat now that he had them to deal with instead of the
+inconstant commons.
+
+Agis, however, did not believe in the tranquillity of the city, or that
+the commons would thus in a moment give up their ancient liberty, but
+thought that the sight of a large Lacedaemonian force would be
+sufficient to excite them if they were not already in commotion, of
+which he was by no means certain. He accordingly gave to the envoys of
+the Four Hundred an answer which held out no hopes of an accommodation,
+and sending for large reinforcements from Peloponnese, not long
+afterwards, with these and his garrison from Decelea, descended to the
+very walls of Athens; hoping either that civil disturbances might help
+to subdue them to his terms, or that, in the confusion to be expected
+within and without the city, they might even surrender without a blow
+being struck; at all events he thought he would succeed in seizing the
+Long Walls, bared of their defenders. However, the Athenians saw him
+come close up, without making the least disturbance within the city;
+and sending out their cavalry, and a number of their heavy infantry,
+light troops, and archers, shot down some of his soldiers who
+approached too near, and got possession of some arms and dead. Upon
+this Agis, at last convinced, led his army back again and, remaining
+with his own troops in the old position at Decelea, sent the
+reinforcement back home, after a few days’ stay in Attica. After this
+the Four Hundred persevering sent another embassy to Agis, and now
+meeting with a better reception, at his suggestion dispatched envoys to
+Lacedaemon to negotiate a treaty, being desirous of making peace.
+
+They also sent ten men to Samos to reassure the army, and to explain
+that the oligarchy was not established for the hurt of the city or the
+citizens, but for the salvation of the country at large; and that there
+were five thousand, not four hundred only, concerned; although, what
+with their expeditions and employments abroad, the Athenians had never
+yet assembled to discuss a question important enough to bring five
+thousand of them together. The emissaries were also told what to say
+upon all other points, and were so sent off immediately after the
+establishment of the new government, which feared, as it turned out
+justly, that the mass of seamen would not be willing to remain under
+the oligarchical constitution, and, the evil beginning there, might be
+the means of their overthrow.
+
+Indeed at Samos the question of the oligarchy had already entered upon
+a new phase, the following events having taken place just at the time
+that the Four Hundred were conspiring. That part of the Samian
+population which has been mentioned as rising against the upper class,
+and as being the democratic party, had now turned round, and yielding
+to the solicitations of Pisander during his visit, and of the Athenians
+in the conspiracy at Samos, had bound themselves by oaths to the number
+of three hundred, and were about to fall upon the rest of their fellow
+citizens, whom they now in their turn regarded as the democratic party.
+Meanwhile they put to death one Hyperbolus, an Athenian, a pestilent
+fellow that had been ostracized, not from fear of his influence or
+position, but because he was a rascal and a disgrace to the city; being
+aided in this by Charminus, one of the generals, and by some of the
+Athenians with them, to whom they had sworn friendship, and with whom
+they perpetrated other acts of the kind, and now determined to attack
+the people. The latter got wind of what was coming, and told two of the
+generals, Leon and Diomedon, who, on account of the credit which they
+enjoyed with the commons, were unwilling supporters of the oligarchy;
+and also Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, the former a captain of a galley,
+the latter serving with the heavy infantry, besides certain others who
+had ever been thought most opposed to the conspirators, entreating them
+not to look on and see them destroyed, and Samos, the sole remaining
+stay of their empire, lost to the Athenians. Upon hearing this, the
+persons whom they addressed now went round the soldiers one by one, and
+urged them to resist, especially the crew of the Paralus, which was
+made up entirely of Athenians and freemen, and had from time out of
+mind been enemies of oligarchy, even when there was no such thing
+existing; and Leon and Diomedon left behind some ships for their
+protection in case of their sailing away anywhere themselves.
+Accordingly, when the Three Hundred attacked the people, all these came
+to the rescue, and foremost of all the crew of the Paralus; and the
+Samian commons gained the victory, and putting to death some thirty of
+the Three Hundred, and banishing three others of the ringleaders,
+accorded an amnesty to the rest, and lived together under a democratic
+government for the future.
+
+The ship Paralus, with Chaereas, son of Archestratus, on board, an
+Athenian who had taken an active part in the revolution, was now
+without loss of time sent off by the Samians and the army to Athens to
+report what had occurred; the fact that the Four Hundred were in power
+not being yet known. When they sailed into harbour the Four Hundred
+immediately arrested two or three of the Parali and, taking the vessel
+from the rest, shifted them into a troopship and set them to keep guard
+round Euboea. Chaereas, however, managed to secrete himself as soon as
+he saw how things stood, and returning to Samos, drew a picture to the
+soldiers of the horrors enacting at Athens, in which everything was
+exaggerated; saying that all were punished with stripes, that no one
+could say a word against the holders of power, that the soldiers’ wives
+and children were outraged, and that it was intended to seize and shut
+up the relatives of all in the army at Samos who were not of the
+government’s way of thinking, to be put to death in case of their
+disobedience; besides a host of other injurious inventions.
+
+On hearing this the first thought of the army was to fall upon the
+chief authors of the oligarchy and upon all the rest concerned.
+Eventually, however, they desisted from this idea upon the men of
+moderate views opposing it and warning them against ruining their
+cause, with the enemy close at hand and ready for battle. After this,
+Thrasybulus, son of Lycus, and Thrasyllus, the chief leaders in the
+revolution, now wishing in the most public manner to change the
+government at Samos to a democracy, bound all the soldiers by the most
+tremendous oaths, and those of the oligarchical party more than any, to
+accept a democratic government, to be united, to prosecute actively the
+war with the Peloponnesians, and to be enemies of the Four Hundred, and
+to hold no communication with them. The same oath was also taken by all
+the Samians of full age; and the soldiers associated the Samians in all
+their affairs and in the fruits of their dangers, having the conviction
+that there was no way of escape for themselves or for them, but that
+the success of the Four Hundred or of the enemy at Miletus must be
+their ruin.
+
+The struggle now was between the army trying to force a democracy upon
+the city, and the Four Hundred an oligarchy upon the camp. Meanwhile
+the soldiers forthwith held an assembly, in which they deposed the
+former generals and any of the captains whom they suspected, and chose
+new captains and generals to replace them, besides Thrasybulus and
+Thrasyllus, whom they had already. They also stood up and encouraged
+one another, and among other things urged that they ought not to lose
+heart because the city had revolted from them, as the party seceding
+was smaller and in every way poorer in resources than themselves. They
+had the whole fleet with which to compel the other cities in their
+empire to give them money just as if they had their base in the
+capital, having a city in Samos which, so far from wanting strength,
+had when at war been within an ace of depriving the Athenians of the
+command of the sea, while as far as the enemy was concerned they had
+the same base of operations as before. Indeed, with the fleet in their
+hands, they were better able to provide themselves with supplies than
+the government at home. It was their advanced position at Samos which
+had throughout enabled the home authorities to command the entrance
+into Piraeus; and if they refused to give them back the constitution,
+they would now find that the army was more in a position to exclude
+them from the sea than they were to exclude the army. Besides, the city
+was of little or no use towards enabling them to overcome the enemy;
+and they had lost nothing in losing those who had no longer either
+money to send them (the soldiers having to find this for themselves),
+or good counsel, which entitles cities to direct armies. On the
+contrary, even in this the home government had done wrong in abolishing
+the institutions of their ancestors, while the army maintained the said
+institutions, and would try to force the home government to do so
+likewise. So that even in point of good counsel the camp had as good
+counsellors as the city. Moreover, they had but to grant him security
+for his person and his recall, and Alcibiades would be only too glad to
+procure them the alliance of the King. And above all if they failed
+altogether, with the navy which they possessed, they had numbers of
+places to retire to in which they would find cities and lands.
+
+Debating together and comforting themselves after this manner, they
+pushed on their war measures as actively as ever; and the ten envoys
+sent to Samos by the Four Hundred, learning how matters stood while
+they were still at Delos, stayed quiet there.
+
+About this time a cry arose a Peloponnesian fleet at Miletus that
+Astyochus and Tissaphernes were ruining their cause. Astyochus had not
+been willing to fight at sea—either before, while they were still in
+full vigour and the fleet of the Athenians small, or now, when the
+enemy was, as they were informed, in a state of sedition and his ships
+not yet united—but kept them waiting for the Phoenician fleet from
+Tissaphernes, which had only a nominal existence, at the risk of
+wasting away in inactivity. While Tissaphernes not only did not bring
+up the fleet in question, but was ruining their navy by payments made
+irregularly, and even then not made in full. They must therefore, they
+insisted, delay no longer, but fight a decisive naval engagement. The
+Syracusans were the most urgent of any.
+
+The confederates and Astyochus, aware of these murmurs, had already
+decided in council to fight a decisive battle; and when the news
+reached them of the disturbance at Samos, they put to sea with all
+their ships, one hundred and ten in number, and, ordering the Milesians
+to move by land upon Mycale, set sail thither. The Athenians with the
+eighty-two ships from Samos were at the moment lying at Glauce in
+Mycale, a point where Samos approaches near to the continent; and,
+seeing the Peloponnesian fleet sailing against them, retired into
+Samos, not thinking themselves numerically strong enough to stake their
+all upon a battle. Besides, they had notice from Miletus of the wish of
+the enemy to engage, and were expecting to be joined from the
+Hellespont by Strombichides, to whom a messenger had been already
+dispatched, with the ships that had gone from Chios to Abydos. The
+Athenians accordingly withdrew to Samos, and the Peloponnesians put in
+at Mycale, and encamped with the land forces of the Milesians and the
+people of the neighbourhood. The next day they were about to sail
+against Samos, when tidings reached them of the arrival of
+Strombichides with the squadron from the Hellespont, upon which they
+immediately sailed back to Miletus. The Athenians, thus reinforced, now
+in their turn sailed against Miletus with a hundred and eight ships,
+wishing to fight a decisive battle, but, as no one put out to meet
+them, sailed back to Samos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Twenty-first Year of the War—Recall of Alcibiades to Samos—Revolt of
+Euboea and Downfall of the Four Hundred—Battle of Cynossema
+
+
+In the same summer, immediately after this, the Peloponnesians having
+refused to fight with their fleet united, through not thinking
+themselves a match for the enemy, and being at a loss where to look for
+money for such a number of ships, especially as Tissaphernes proved so
+bad a paymaster, sent off Clearchus, son of Ramphias, with forty ships
+to Pharnabazus, agreeably to the original instructions from
+Peloponnese; Pharnabazus inviting them and being prepared to furnish
+pay, and Byzantium besides sending offers to revolt to them. These
+Peloponnesian ships accordingly put out into the open sea, in order to
+escape the observation of the Athenians, and being overtaken by a
+storm, the majority with Clearchus got into Delos, and afterwards
+returned to Miletus, whence Clearchus proceeded by land to the
+Hellespont to take the command: ten, however, of their number, under
+the Megarian Helixus, made good their passage to the Hellespont, and
+effected the revolt of Byzantium. After this, the commanders at Samos
+were informed of it, and sent a squadron against them to guard the
+Hellespont; and an encounter took place before Byzantium between eight
+vessels on either side.
+
+Meanwhile the chiefs at Samos, and especially Thrasybulus, who from the
+moment that he had changed the government had remained firmly resolved
+to recall Alcibiades, at last in an assembly brought over the mass of
+the soldiery, and upon their voting for his recall and amnesty, sailed
+over to Tissaphernes and brought Alcibiades to Samos, being convinced
+that their only chance of salvation lay in his bringing over
+Tissaphernes from the Peloponnesians to themselves. An assembly was
+then held in which Alcibiades complained of and deplored his private
+misfortune in having been banished, and speaking at great length upon
+public affairs, highly incited their hopes for the future, and
+extravagantly magnified his own influence with Tissaphernes. His object
+in this was to make the oligarchical government at Athens afraid of
+him, to hasten the dissolution of the clubs, to increase his credit
+with the army at Samos and heighten their own confidence, and lastly to
+prejudice the enemy as strongly as possible against Tissaphernes, and
+blast the hopes which they entertained. Alcibiades accordingly held out
+to the army such extravagant promises as the following: that
+Tissaphernes had solemnly assured him that if he could only trust the
+Athenians they should never want for supplies while he had anything
+left, no, not even if he should have to coin his own silver couch, and
+that he would bring the Phoenician fleet now at Aspendus to the
+Athenians instead of to the Peloponnesians; but that he could only
+trust the Athenians if Alcibiades were recalled to be his security for
+them.
+
+Upon hearing this and much more besides, the Athenians at once elected
+him general together with the former ones, and put all their affairs
+into his hands. There was now not a man in the army who would have
+exchanged his present hopes of safety and vengeance upon the Four
+Hundred for any consideration whatever; and after what they had been
+told they were now inclined to disdain the enemy before them, and to
+sail at once for Piraeus. To the plan of sailing for Piraeus, leaving
+their more immediate enemies behind them, Alcibiades opposed the most
+positive refusal, in spite of the numbers that insisted upon it, saying
+that now that he had been elected general he would first sail to
+Tissaphernes and concert with him measures for carrying on the war.
+Accordingly, upon leaving this assembly, he immediately took his
+departure in order to have it thought that there was an entire
+confidence between them, and also wishing to increase his consideration
+with Tissaphernes, and to show that he had now been elected general and
+was in a position to do him good or evil as he chose; thus managing to
+frighten the Athenians with Tissaphernes and Tissaphernes with the
+Athenians.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians at Miletus heard of the recall of
+Alcibiades and, already distrustful of Tissaphernes, now became far
+more disgusted with him than ever. Indeed after their refusal to go out
+and give battle to the Athenians when they appeared before Miletus,
+Tissaphernes had grown slacker than ever in his payments; and even
+before this, on account of Alcibiades, his unpopularity had been on the
+increase. Gathering together, just as before, the soldiers and some
+persons of consideration besides the soldiery began to reckon up how
+they had never yet received their pay in full; that what they did
+receive was small in quantity, and even that paid irregularly, and that
+unless they fought a decisive battle or removed to some station where
+they could get supplies, the ships’ crews would desert; and that it was
+all the fault of Astyochus, who humoured Tissaphernes for his own
+private advantage.
+
+The army was engaged in these reflections, when the following
+disturbance took place about the person of Astyochus. Most of the
+Syracusan and Thurian sailors were freemen, and these the freest crews
+in the armament were likewise the boldest in setting upon Astyochus and
+demanding their pay. The latter answered somewhat stiffly and
+threatened them, and when Dorieus spoke up for his own sailors even
+went so far as to lift his baton against him; upon seeing which the
+mass of men, in sailor fashion, rushed in a fury to strike Astyochus.
+He, however, saw them in time and fled for refuge to an altar; and they
+were thus parted without his being struck. Meanwhile the fort built by
+Tissaphernes in Miletus was surprised and taken by the Milesians, and
+the garrison in it turned out—an act which met with the approval of the
+rest of the allies, and in particular of the Syracusans, but which
+found no favour with Lichas, who said moreover that the Milesians and
+the rest in the King’s country ought to show a reasonable submission to
+Tissaphernes and to pay him court, until the war should be happily
+settled. The Milesians were angry with him for this and for other
+things of the kind, and upon his afterwards dying of sickness, would
+not allow him to be buried where the Lacedaemonians with the army
+desired.
+
+The discontent of the army with Astyochus and Tissaphernes had reached
+this pitch, when Mindarus arrived from Lacedaemon to succeed Astyochus
+as admiral, and assumed the command. Astyochus now set sail for home;
+and Tissaphernes sent with him one of his confidants, Gaulites, a
+Carian, who spoke the two languages, to complain of the Milesians for
+the affair of the fort, and at the same time to defend himself against
+the Milesians, who were, as he was aware, on their way to Sparta
+chiefly to denounce his conduct, and had with them Hermocrates, who was
+to accuse Tissaphernes of joining with Alcibiades to ruin the
+Peloponnesian cause and of playing a double game. Indeed Hermocrates
+had always been at enmity with him about the pay not being restored in
+full; and eventually when he was banished from Syracuse, and new
+commanders—Potamis, Myscon, and Demarchus—had come out to Miletus to
+the ships of the Syracusans, Tissaphernes, pressed harder than ever
+upon him in his exile, and among other charges against him accused him
+of having once asked him for money, and then given himself out as his
+enemy because he failed to obtain it.
+
+While Astyochus and the Milesians and Hermocrates made sail for
+Lacedaemon, Alcibiades had now crossed back from Tissaphernes to Samos.
+After his return the envoys of the Four Hundred sent, as has been
+mentioned above, to pacify and explain matters to the forces at Samos,
+arrived from Delos; and an assembly was held in which they attempted to
+speak. The soldiers at first would not hear them, and cried out to put
+to death the subverters of the democracy, but at last, after some
+difficulty, calmed down and gave them a hearing. Upon this the envoys
+proceeded to inform them that the recent change had been made to save
+the city, and not to ruin it or to deliver it over to the enemy, for
+they had already had an opportunity of doing this when he invaded the
+country during their government; that all the Five Thousand would have
+their proper share in the government; and that their hearers’ relatives
+had neither outrage, as Chaereas had slanderously reported, nor other
+ill treatment to complain of, but were all in undisturbed enjoyment of
+their property just as they had left them. Besides these they made a
+number of other statements which had no better success with their angry
+auditors; and amid a host of different opinions the one which found
+most favour was that of sailing to Piraeus. Now it was that Alcibiades
+for the first time did the state a service, and one of the most signal
+kind. For when the Athenians at Samos were bent upon sailing against
+their countrymen, in which case Ionia and the Hellespont would most
+certainly at once have passed into possession of the enemy, Alcibiades
+it was who prevented them. At that moment, when no other man would have
+been able to hold back the multitude, he put a stop to the intended
+expedition, and rebuked and turned aside the resentment felt, on
+personal grounds, against the envoys; he dismissed them with an answer
+from himself, to the effect that he did not object to the government of
+the Five Thousand, but insisted that the Four Hundred should be deposed
+and the Council of Five Hundred reinstated in power: meanwhile any
+retrenchments for economy, by which pay might be better found for the
+armament, met with his entire approval. Generally, he bade them hold
+out and show a bold face to the enemy, since if the city were saved
+there was good hope that the two parties might some day be reconciled,
+whereas if either were once destroyed, that at Samos, or that at
+Athens, there would no longer be any one to be reconciled to. Meanwhile
+arrived envoys from the Argives, with offers of support to the Athenian
+commons at Samos: these were thanked by Alcibiades, and dismissed with
+a request to come when called upon. The Argives were accompanied by the
+crew of the Paralus, whom we left placed in a troopship by the Four
+Hundred with orders to cruise round Euboea, and who being employed to
+carry to Lacedaemon some Athenian envoys sent by the Four
+Hundred—Laespodias, Aristophon, and Melesias—as they sailed by Argos
+laid hands upon the envoys, and delivering them over to the Argives as
+the chief subverters of the democracy, themselves, instead of returning
+to Athens, took the Argive envoys on board, and came to Samos in the
+galley which had been confided to them.
+
+The same summer at the time that the return of Alcibiades coupled with
+the general conduct of Tissaphernes had carried to its height the
+discontent of the Peloponnesians, who no longer entertained any doubt
+of his having joined the Athenians, Tissaphernes wishing, it would
+seem, to clear himself to them of these charges, prepared to go after
+the Phoenician fleet to Aspendus, and invited Lichas to go with him;
+saying that he would appoint Tamos as his lieutenant to provide pay for
+the armament during his own absence. Accounts differ, and it is not
+easy to ascertain with what intention he went to Aspendus, and did not
+bring the fleet after all. That one hundred and forty-seven Phoenician
+ships came as far as Aspendus is certain; but why they did not come on
+has been variously accounted for. Some think that he went away in
+pursuance of his plan of wasting the Peloponnesian resources, since at
+any rate Tamos, his lieutenant, far from being any better, proved a
+worse paymaster than himself: others that he brought the Phoenicians to
+Aspendus to exact money from them for their discharge, having never
+intended to employ them: others again that it was in view of the outcry
+against him at Lacedaemon, in order that it might be said that he was
+not in fault, but that the ships were really manned and that he had
+certainly gone to fetch them. To myself it seems only too evident that
+he did not bring up the fleet because he wished to wear out and
+paralyse the Hellenic forces, that is, to waste their strength by the
+time lost during his journey to Aspendus, and to keep them evenly
+balanced by not throwing his weight into either scale. Had he wished to
+finish the war, he could have done so, assuming of course that he made
+his appearance in a way which left no room for doubt; as by bringing up
+the fleet he would in all probability have given the victory to the
+Lacedaemonians, whose navy, even as it was, faced the Athenian more as
+an equal than as an inferior. But what convicts him most clearly, is
+the excuse which he put forward for not bringing the ships. He said
+that the number assembled was less than the King had ordered; but
+surely it would only have enhanced his credit if he spent little of the
+King’s money and effected the same end at less cost. In any case,
+whatever was his intention, Tissaphernes went to Aspendus and saw the
+Phoenicians; and the Peloponnesians at his desire sent a Lacedaemonian
+called Philip with two galleys to fetch the fleet.
+
+Alcibiades finding that Tissaphernes had gone to Aspendus, himself
+sailed thither with thirteen ships, promising to do a great and certain
+service to the Athenians at Samos, as he would either bring the
+Phoenician fleet to the Athenians, or at all events prevent its joining
+the Peloponnesians. In all probability he had long known that
+Tissaphernes never meant to bring the fleet at all, and wished to
+compromise him as much as possible in the eyes of the Peloponnesians
+through his apparent friendship for himself and the Athenians, and thus
+in a manner to oblige him to join their side.
+
+While Alcibiades weighed anchor and sailed eastward straight for
+Phaselis and Caunus, the envoys sent by the Four Hundred to Samos
+arrived at Athens. Upon their delivering the message from Alcibiades,
+telling them to hold out and to show a firm front to the enemy, and
+saying that he had great hopes of reconciling them with the army and of
+overcoming the Peloponnesians, the majority of the members of the
+oligarchy, who were already discontented and only too much inclined to
+be quit of the business in any safe way that they could, were at once
+greatly strengthened in their resolve. These now banded together and
+strongly criticized the administration, their leaders being some of the
+principal generals and men in office under the oligarchy, such as
+Theramenes, son of Hagnon, Aristocrates, son of Scellias, and others;
+who, although among the most prominent members of the government (being
+afraid, as they said, of the army at Samos, and most especially of
+Alcibiades, and also lest the envoys whom they had sent to Lacedaemon
+might do the state some harm without the authority of the people),
+without insisting on objections to the excessive concentration of power
+in a few hands, yet urged that the Five Thousand must be shown to exist
+not merely in name but in reality, and the constitution placed upon a
+fairer basis. But this was merely their political cry; most of them
+being driven by private ambition into the line of conduct so surely
+fatal to oligarchies that arise out of democracies. For all at once
+pretend to be not only equals but each the chief and master of his
+fellows; while under a democracy a disappointed candidate accepts his
+defeat more easily, because he has not the humiliation of being beaten
+by his equals. But what most clearly encouraged the malcontents was the
+power of Alcibiades at Samos, and their own disbelief in the stability
+of the oligarchy; and it was now a race between them as to which should
+first become the leader of the commons.
+
+Meanwhile the leaders and members of the Four Hundred most opposed to a
+democratic form of government—Phrynichus who had had the quarrel with
+Alcibiades during his command at Samos, Aristarchus the bitter and
+inveterate enemy of the commons, and Pisander and Antiphon and others
+of the chiefs who already as soon as they entered upon power, and again
+when the army at Samos seceded from them and declared for a democracy,
+had sent envoys from their own body to Lacedaemon and made every effort
+for peace, and had built the wall in Eetionia—now redoubled their
+exertions when their envoys returned from Samos, and they saw not only
+the people but their own most trusted associates turning against them.
+Alarmed at the state of things at Athens as at Samos, they now sent off
+in haste Antiphon and Phrynichus and ten others with injunctions to
+make peace with Lacedaemon upon any terms, no matter what, that should
+be at all tolerable. Meanwhile they pushed on more actively than ever
+with the wall in Eetionia. Now the meaning of this wall, according to
+Theramenes and his supporters, was not so much to keep out the army of
+Samos, in case of its trying to force its way into Piraeus, as to be
+able to let in, at pleasure, the fleet and army of the enemy. For
+Eetionia is a mole of Piraeus, close alongside of the entrance of the
+harbour, and was now fortified in connection with the wall already
+existing on the land side, so that a few men placed in it might be able
+to command the entrance; the old wall on the land side and the new one
+now being built within on the side of the sea, both ending in one of
+the two towers standing at the narrow mouth of the harbour. They also
+walled off the largest porch in Piraeus which was in immediate
+connection with this wall, and kept it in their own hands, compelling
+all to unload there the corn that came into the harbour, and what they
+had in stock, and to take it out from thence when they sold it.
+
+These measures had long provoked the murmurs of Theramenes, and when
+the envoys returned from Lacedaemon without having effected any general
+pacification, he affirmed that this wall was like to prove the ruin of
+the state. At this moment forty-two ships from Peloponnese, including
+some Siceliot and Italiot vessels from Locri and Tarentum, had been
+invited over by the Euboeans and were already riding off Las in Laconia
+preparing for the voyage to Euboea, under the command of Agesandridas,
+son of Agesander, a Spartan. Theramenes now affirmed that this squadron
+was destined not so much to aid Euboea as the party fortifying
+Eetionia, and that unless precautions were speedily taken the city
+would be surprised and lost. This was no mere calumny, there being
+really some such plan entertained by the accused. Their first wish was
+to have the oligarchy without giving up the empire; failing this to
+keep their ships and walls and be independent; while, if this also were
+denied them, sooner than be the first victims of the restored
+democracy, they were resolved to call in the enemy and make peace, give
+up their walls and ships, and at all costs retain possession of the
+government, if their lives were only assured to them.
+
+For this reason they pushed forward the construction of their work with
+posterns and entrances and means of introducing the enemy, being eager
+to have it finished in time. Meanwhile the murmurs against them were at
+first confined to a few persons and went on in secret, until
+Phrynichus, after his return from the embassy to Lacedaemon, was laid
+wait for and stabbed in full market by one of the Peripoli, falling
+down dead before he had gone far from the council chamber. The assassin
+escaped; but his accomplice, an Argive, was taken and put to the
+torture by the Four Hundred, without their being able to extract from
+him the name of his employer, or anything further than that he knew of
+many men who used to assemble at the house of the commander of the
+Peripoli and at other houses. Here the matter was allowed to drop. This
+so emboldened Theramenes and Aristocrates and the rest of their
+partisans in the Four Hundred and out of doors, that they now resolved
+to act. For by this time the ships had sailed round from Las, and
+anchoring at Epidaurus had overrun Aegina; and Theramenes asserted
+that, being bound for Euboea, they would never have sailed in to Aegina
+and come back to anchor at Epidaurus, unless they had been invited to
+come to aid in the designs of which he had always accused the
+government. Further inaction had therefore now become impossible. In
+the end, after a great many seditious harangues and suspicions, they
+set to work in real earnest. The heavy infantry in Piraeus building the
+wall in Eetionia, among whom was Aristocrates, a colonel, with his own
+tribe, laid hands upon Alexicles, a general under the oligarchy and the
+devoted adherent of the cabal, and took him into a house and confined
+him there. In this they were assisted by one Hermon, commander of the
+Peripoli in Munychia, and others, and above all had with them the great
+bulk of the heavy infantry. As soon as the news reached the Four
+Hundred, who happened to be sitting in the council chamber, all except
+the disaffected wished at once to go to the posts where the arms were,
+and menaced Theramenes and his party. Theramenes defended himself, and
+said that he was ready immediately to go and help to rescue Alexicles;
+and taking with him one of the generals belonging to his party, went
+down to Piraeus, followed by Aristarchus and some young men of the
+cavalry. All was now panic and confusion. Those in the city imagined
+that Piraeus was already taken and the prisoner put to death, while
+those in Piraeus expected every moment to be attacked by the party in
+the city. The older men, however, stopped the persons running up and
+down the town and making for the stands of arms; and Thucydides the
+Pharsalian, proxenus of the city, came forward and threw himself in the
+way of the rival factions, and appealed to them not to ruin the state,
+while the enemy was still at hand waiting for his opportunity, and so
+at length succeeded in quieting them and in keeping their hands off
+each other. Meanwhile Theramenes came down to Piraeus, being himself
+one of the generals, and raged and stormed against the heavy infantry,
+while Aristarchus and the adversaries of the people were angry in right
+earnest. Most of the heavy infantry, however, went on with the business
+without faltering, and asked Theramenes if he thought the wall had been
+constructed for any good purpose, and whether it would not be better
+that it should be pulled down. To this he answered that if they thought
+it best to pull it down, he for his part agreed with them. Upon this
+the heavy infantry and a number of the people in Piraeus immediately
+got up on the fortification and began to demolish it. Now their cry to
+the multitude was that all should join in the work who wished the Five
+Thousand to govern instead of the Four Hundred. For instead of saying
+in so many words “all who wished the commons to govern,” they still
+disguised themselves under the name of the Five Thousand; being afraid
+that these might really exist, and that they might be speaking to one
+of their number and get into trouble through ignorance. Indeed this was
+why the Four Hundred neither wished the Five Thousand to exist, nor to
+have it known that they did not exist; being of opinion that to give
+themselves so many partners in empire would be downright democracy,
+while the mystery in question would make the people afraid of one
+another.
+
+The next day the Four Hundred, although alarmed, nevertheless assembled
+in the council chamber, while the heavy infantry in Piraeus, after
+having released their prisoner Alexicles and pulled down the
+fortification, went with their arms to the theatre of Dionysus, close
+to Munychia, and there held an assembly in which they decided to march
+into the city, and setting forth accordingly halted in the Anaceum.
+Here they were joined by some delegates from the Four Hundred, who
+reasoned with them one by one, and persuaded those whom they saw to be
+the most moderate to remain quiet themselves, and to keep in the rest;
+saying that they would make known the Five Thousand, and have the Four
+Hundred chosen from them in rotation, as should be decided by the Five
+Thousand, and meanwhile entreated them not to ruin the state or drive
+it into the arms of the enemy. After a great many had spoken and had
+been spoken to, the whole body of heavy infantry became calmer than
+before, absorbed by their fears for the country at large, and now
+agreed to hold upon an appointed day an assembly in the theatre of
+Dionysus for the restoration of concord.
+
+When the day came for the assembly in the theatre, and they were upon
+the point of assembling, news arrived that the forty-two ships under
+Agesandridas were sailing from Megara along the coast of Salamis. The
+people to a man now thought that it was just what Theramenes and his
+party had so often said, that the ships were sailing to the
+fortification, and concluded that they had done well to demolish it.
+But though it may possibly have been by appointment that Agesandridas
+hovered about Epidaurus and the neighbourhood, he would also naturally
+be kept there by the hope of an opportunity arising out of the troubles
+in the town. In any case the Athenians, on receipt of the news
+immediately ran down in mass to Piraeus, seeing themselves threatened
+by the enemy with a worse war than their war among themselves, not at a
+distance, but close to the harbour of Athens. Some went on board the
+ships already afloat, while others launched fresh vessels, or ran to
+defend the walls and the mouth of the harbour.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesian vessels sailed by, and rounding Sunium
+anchored between Thoricus and Prasiae, and afterwards arrived at
+Oropus. The Athenians, with revolution in the city, and unwilling to
+lose a moment in going to the relief of their most important possession
+(for Euboea was everything to them now that they were shut out from
+Attica), were compelled to put to sea in haste and with untrained
+crews, and sent Thymochares with some vessels to Eretria. These upon
+their arrival, with the ships already in Euboea, made up a total of
+thirty-six vessels, and were immediately forced to engage. For
+Agesandridas, after his crews had dined, put out from Oropus, which is
+about seven miles from Eretria by sea; and the Athenians, seeing him
+sailing up, immediately began to man their vessels. The sailors,
+however, instead of being by their ships, as they supposed, were gone
+away to purchase provisions for their dinner in the houses in the
+outskirts of the town; the Eretrians having so arranged that there
+should be nothing on sale in the marketplace, in order that the
+Athenians might be a long time in manning their ships, and, the enemy’s
+attack taking them by surprise, might be compelled to put to sea just
+as they were. A signal also was raised in Eretria to give them notice
+in Oropus when to put to sea. The Athenians, forced to put out so
+poorly prepared, engaged off the harbour of Eretria, and after holding
+their own for some little while notwithstanding, were at length put to
+flight and chased to the shore. Such of their number as took refuge in
+Eretria, which they presumed to be friendly to them, found their fate
+in that city, being butchered by the inhabitants; while those who fled
+to the Athenian fort in the Eretrian territory, and the vessels which
+got to Chalcis, were saved. The Peloponnesians, after taking twenty-two
+Athenian ships, and killing or making prisoners of the crews, set up a
+trophy, and not long afterwards effected the revolt of the whole of
+Euboea (except Oreus, which was held by the Athenians themselves), and
+made a general settlement of the affairs of the island.
+
+When the news of what had happened in Euboea reached Athens, a panic
+ensued such as they had never before known. Neither the disaster in
+Sicily, great as it seemed at the time, nor any other had ever so much
+alarmed them. The camp at Samos was in revolt; they had no more ships
+or men to man them; they were at discord among themselves and might at
+any moment come to blows; and a disaster of this magnitude coming on
+the top of all, by which they lost their fleet, and worst of all
+Euboea, which was of more value to them than Attica, could not occur
+without throwing them into the deepest despondency. Meanwhile their
+greatest and most immediate trouble was the possibility that the enemy,
+emboldened by his victory, might make straight for them and sail
+against Piraeus, which they had no longer ships to defend; and every
+moment they expected him to arrive. This, with a little more courage,
+he might easily have done, in which case he would either have increased
+the dissensions of the city by his presence, or, if he had stayed to
+besiege it, have compelled the fleet from Ionia, although the enemy of
+the oligarchy, to come to the rescue of their country and of their
+relatives, and in the meantime would have become master of the
+Hellespont, Ionia, the islands, and of everything as far as Euboea, or,
+to speak roundly, of the whole Athenian empire. But here, as on so many
+other occasions, the Lacedaemonians proved the most convenient people
+in the world for the Athenians to be at war with. The wide difference
+between the two characters, the slowness and want of energy of the
+Lacedaemonians as contrasted with the dash and enterprise of their
+opponents, proved of the greatest service, especially to a maritime
+empire like Athens. Indeed this was shown by the Syracusans, who were
+most like the Athenians in character, and also most successful in
+combating them.
+
+Nevertheless, upon receipt of the news, the Athenians manned twenty
+ships and called immediately a first assembly in the Pnyx, where they
+had been used to meet formerly, and deposed the Four Hundred and voted
+to hand over the government to the Five Thousand, of which body all who
+furnished a suit of armour were to be members, decreeing also that no
+one should receive pay for the discharge of any office, or if he did
+should be held accursed. Many other assemblies were held afterwards, in
+which law-makers were elected and all other measures taken to form a
+constitution. It was during the first period of this constitution that
+the Athenians appear to have enjoyed the best government that they ever
+did, at least in my time. For the fusion of the high and the low was
+effected with judgment, and this was what first enabled the state to
+raise up her head after her manifold disasters. They also voted for the
+recall of Alcibiades and of other exiles, and sent to him and to the
+camp at Samos, and urged them to devote themselves vigorously to the
+war.
+
+Upon this revolution taking place, the party of Pisander and Alexicles
+and the chiefs of the oligarchs immediately withdrew to Decelea, with
+the single exception of Aristarchus, one of the generals, who hastily
+took some of the most barbarian of the archers and marched to Oenoe.
+This was a fort of the Athenians upon the Boeotian border, at that
+moment besieged by the Corinthians, irritated by the loss of a party
+returning from Decelea, who had been cut off by the garrison. The
+Corinthians had volunteered for this service, and had called upon the
+Boeotians to assist them. After communicating with them, Aristarchus
+deceived the garrison in Oenoe by telling them that their countrymen in
+the city had compounded with the Lacedaemonians, and that one of the
+terms of the capitulation was that they must surrender the place to the
+Boeotians. The garrison believed him as he was general, and besides
+knew nothing of what had occurred owing to the siege, and so evacuated
+the fort under truce. In this way the Boeotians gained possession of
+Oenoe, and the oligarchy and the troubles at Athens ended.
+
+To return to the Peloponnesians in Miletus. No pay was forthcoming from
+any of the agents deputed by Tissaphernes for that purpose upon his
+departure for Aspendus; neither the Phoenician fleet nor Tissaphernes
+showed any signs of appearing, and Philip, who had been sent with him,
+and another Spartan, Hippocrates, who was at Phaselis, wrote word to
+Mindarus, the admiral, that the ships were not coming at all, and that
+they were being grossly abused by Tissaphernes. Meanwhile Pharnabazus
+was inviting them to come, and making every effort to get the fleet
+and, like Tissaphernes, to cause the revolt of the cities in his
+government still subject to Athens, founding great hopes on his
+success; until at length, at about the period of the summer which we
+have now reached, Mindarus yielded to his importunities, and, with
+great order and at a moment’s notice, in order to elude the enemy at
+Samos, weighed anchor with seventy-three ships from Miletus and set
+sail for the Hellespont. Thither sixteen vessels had already preceded
+him in the same summer, and had overrun part of the Chersonese. Being
+caught in a storm, Mindarus was compelled to run in to Icarus and,
+after being detained five or six days there by stress of weather,
+arrived at Chios.
+
+Meanwhile Thrasyllus had heard of his having put out from Miletus, and
+immediately set sail with fifty-five ships from Samos, in haste to
+arrive before him in the Hellespont. But learning that he was at Chios,
+and expecting that he would stay there, he posted scouts in Lesbos and
+on the continent opposite to prevent the fleet moving without his
+knowing it, and himself coasted along to Methymna, and gave orders to
+prepare meal and other necessaries, in order to attack them from Lesbos
+in the event of their remaining for any length of time at Chios.
+Meanwhile he resolved to sail against Eresus, a town in Lesbos which
+had revolted, and, if he could, to take it. For some of the principal
+Methymnian exiles had carried over about fifty heavy infantry, their
+sworn associates, from Cuma, and hiring others from the continent, so
+as to make up three hundred in all, chose Anaxander, a Theban, to
+command them, on account of the community of blood existing between the
+Thebans and the Lesbians, and first attacked Methymna. Balked in this
+attempt by the advance of the Athenian guards from Mitylene, and
+repulsed a second time in a battle outside the city, they then crossed
+the mountain and effected the revolt of Eresus. Thrasyllus accordingly
+determined to go there with all his ships and to attack the place.
+Meanwhile Thrasybulus had preceded him thither with five ships from
+Samos, as soon as he heard that the exiles had crossed over, and coming
+too late to save Eresus, went on and anchored before the town. Here
+they were joined also by two vessels on their way home from the
+Hellespont, and by the ships of the Methymnians, making a grand total
+of sixty-seven vessels; and the forces on board now made ready with
+engines and every other means available to do their utmost to storm
+Eresus.
+
+In the meantime Mindarus and the Peloponnesian fleet at Chios, after
+taking provisions for two days and receiving three Chian pieces of
+money for each man from the Chians, on the third day put out in haste
+from the island; in order to avoid falling in with the ships at Eresus,
+they did not make for the open sea, but keeping Lesbos on their left,
+sailed for the continent. After touching at the port of Carteria, in
+the Phocaeid, and dining, they went on along the Cumaean coast and
+supped at Arginusae, on the continent over against Mitylene. From
+thence they continued their voyage along the coast, although it was
+late in the night, and arriving at Harmatus on the continent opposite
+Methymna, dined there; and swiftly passing Lectum, Larisa, Hamaxitus,
+and the neighbouring towns, arrived a little before midnight at
+Rhoeteum. Here they were now in the Hellespont. Some of the ships also
+put in at Sigeum and at other places in the neighbourhood.
+
+Meanwhile the warnings of the fire signals and the sudden increase in
+the number of fires on the enemy’s shore informed the eighteen Athenian
+ships at Sestos of the approach of the Peloponnesian fleet. That very
+night they set sail in haste just as they were, and, hugging the shore
+of the Chersonese, coasted along to Elaeus, in order to sail out into
+the open sea away from the fleet of the enemy.
+
+After passing unobserved the sixteen ships at Abydos, which had
+nevertheless been warned by their approaching friends to be on the
+alert to prevent their sailing out, at dawn they sighted the fleet of
+Mindarus, which immediately gave chase. All had not time to get away;
+the greater number however escaped to Imbros and Lemnos, while four of
+the hindmost were overtaken off Elaeus. One of these was stranded
+opposite to the temple of Protesilaus and taken with its crew, two
+others without their crews; the fourth was abandoned on the shore of
+Imbros and burned by the enemy.
+
+After this the Peloponnesians were joined by the squadron from Abydos,
+which made up their fleet to a grand total of eighty-six vessels; they
+spent the day in unsuccessfully besieging Elaeus, and then sailed back
+to Abydos. Meanwhile the Athenians, deceived by their scouts, and never
+dreaming of the enemy’s fleet getting by undetected, were tranquilly
+besieging Eresus. As soon as they heard the news they instantly
+abandoned Eresus, and made with all speed for the Hellespont, and after
+taking two of the Peloponnesian ships which had been carried out too
+far into the open sea in the ardour of the pursuit and now fell in
+their way, the next day dropped anchor at Elaeus, and, bringing back
+the ships that had taken refuge at Imbros, during five days prepared
+for the coming engagement.
+
+After this they engaged in the following way. The Athenians formed in
+column and sailed close alongshore to Sestos; upon perceiving which the
+Peloponnesians put out from Abydos to meet them. Realizing that a
+battle was now imminent, both combatants extended their flank; the
+Athenians along the Chersonese from Idacus to Arrhiani with seventy-six
+ships; the Peloponnesians from Abydos to Dardanus with eighty-six. The
+Peloponnesian right wing was occupied by the Syracusans, their left by
+Mindarus in person with the best sailers in the navy; the Athenian left
+by Thrasyllus, their right by Thrasybulus, the other commanders being
+in different parts of the fleet. The Peloponnesians hastened to engage
+first, and outflanking with their left the Athenian right sought to cut
+them off, if possible, from sailing out of the straits, and to drive
+their centre upon the shore, which was not far off. The Athenians
+perceiving their intention extended their own wing and outsailed them,
+while their left had by this time passed the point of Cynossema. This,
+however, obliged them to thin and weaken their centre, especially as
+they had fewer ships than the enemy, and as the coast round Point
+Cynossema formed a sharp angle which prevented their seeing what was
+going on on the other side of it.
+
+The Peloponnesians now attacked their centre and drove ashore the ships
+of the Athenians, and disembarked to follow up their victory. No help
+could be given to the centre either by the squadron of Thrasybulus on
+the right, on account of the number of ships attacking him, or by that
+of Thrasyllus on the left, from whom the point of Cynossema hid what
+was going on, and who was also hindered by his Syracusan and other
+opponents, whose numbers were fully equal to his own. At length,
+however, the Peloponnesians in the confidence of victory began to
+scatter in pursuit of the ships of the enemy, and allowed a
+considerable part of their fleet to get into disorder. On seeing this
+the squadron of Thrasybulus discontinued their lateral movement and,
+facing about, attacked and routed the ships opposed to them, and next
+fell roughly upon the scattered vessels of the victorious Peloponnesian
+division, and put most of them to flight without a blow. The Syracusans
+also had by this time given way before the squadron of Thrasyllus, and
+now openly took to flight upon seeing the flight of their comrades.
+
+The rout was now complete. Most of the Peloponnesians fled for refuge
+first to the river Midius, and afterwards to Abydos. Only a few ships
+were taken by the Athenians; as owing to the narrowness of the
+Hellespont the enemy had not far to go to be in safety. Nevertheless
+nothing could have been more opportune for them than this victory. Up
+to this time they had feared the Peloponnesian fleet, owing to a number
+of petty losses and to the disaster in Sicily; but they now ceased to
+mistrust themselves or any longer to think their enemies good for
+anything at sea. Meanwhile they took from the enemy eight Chian
+vessels, five Corinthian, two Ambraciot, two Boeotian, one Leucadian,
+Lacedaemonian, Syracusan, and Pellenian, losing fifteen of their own.
+After setting up a trophy upon Point Cynossema, securing the wrecks,
+and restoring to the enemy his dead under truce, they sent off a galley
+to Athens with the news of their victory. The arrival of this vessel
+with its unhoped-for good news, after the recent disasters of Euboea,
+and in the revolution at Athens, gave fresh courage to the Athenians,
+and caused them to believe that if they put their shoulders to the
+wheel their cause might yet prevail.
+
+On the fourth day after the sea-fight the Athenians in Sestos having
+hastily refitted their ships sailed against Cyzicus, which had
+revolted. Off Harpagium and Priapus they sighted at anchor the eight
+vessels from Byzantium, and, sailing up and routing the troops on
+shore, took the ships, and then went on and recovered the town of
+Cyzicus, which was unfortified, and levied money from the citizens. In
+the meantime the Peloponnesians sailed from Abydos to Elaeus, and
+recovered such of their captured galleys as were still uninjured, the
+rest having been burned by the Elaeusians, and sent Hippocrates and
+Epicles to Euboea to fetch the squadron from that island.
+
+About the same time Alcibiades returned with his thirteen ships from
+Caunus and Phaselis to Samos, bringing word that he had prevented the
+Phoenician fleet from joining the Peloponnesians, and had made
+Tissaphernes more friendly to the Athenians than before. Alcibiades now
+manned nine more ships, and levied large sums of money from the
+Halicarnassians, and fortified Cos. After doing this and placing a
+governor in Cos, he sailed back to Samos, autumn being now at hand.
+Meanwhile Tissaphernes, upon hearing that the Peloponnesian fleet had
+sailed from Miletus to the Hellespont, set off again back from
+Aspendus, and made all sail for Ionia. While the Peloponnesians were in
+the Hellespont, the Antandrians, a people of Aeolic extraction,
+conveyed by land across Mount Ida some heavy infantry from Abydos, and
+introduced them into the town; having been ill-treated by Arsaces, the
+Persian lieutenant of Tissaphernes. This same Arsaces had, upon
+pretence of a secret quarrel, invited the chief men of the Delians to
+undertake military service (these were Delians who had settled at
+Atramyttium after having been driven from their homes by the Athenians
+for the sake of purifying Delos); and after drawing them out from their
+town as his friends and allies, had laid wait for them at dinner, and
+surrounded them and caused them to be shot down by his soldiers. This
+deed made the Antandrians fear that he might some day do them some
+mischief; and as he also laid upon them burdens too heavy for them to
+bear, they expelled his garrison from their citadel.
+
+Tissaphernes, upon hearing of this act of the Peloponnesians in
+addition to what had occurred at Miletus and Cnidus, where his
+garrisons had been also expelled, now saw that the breach between them
+was serious; and fearing further injury from them, and being also vexed
+to think that Pharnabazus should receive them, and in less time and at
+less cost perhaps succeed better against Athens than he had done,
+determined to rejoin them in the Hellespont, in order to complain of
+the events at Antandros and excuse himself as best he could in the
+matter of the Phoenician fleet and of the other charges against him.
+Accordingly he went first to Ephesus and offered sacrifice to
+Artemis....
+
+[When the winter after this summer is over the twenty-first year of
+this war will be completed. ]
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR ***
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
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+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The History of the Peloponnesian War</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Thucydides</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Richard Crawley</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 15, 2003 [eBook #7142]<br />
+[Most recently updated: September 7, 2021]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Albert Imrie and David Widger</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR ***</div>
+
+<h1>THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR</h1>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">By Thucydides 431 BC</h2>
+
+<h3> Translated by Richard Crawley </h3>
+
+<p class="center">
+With Permission<br/>
+to<br/>
+CONNOP THIRLWALL<br/>
+Historian of Greece<br/>
+This Translation of the Work of His<br/>
+Great Predecessor<br/>
+is Respectfully Inscribed<br/>
+by<br/>
+&mdash;The Translator&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"><b>BOOK I</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0001">CHAPTER I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0002">CHAPTER II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0003">CHAPTER III</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0004">CHAPTER IV</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0005">CHAPTER V</a><br/> <br/> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0007"><b>BOOK II</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0006">CHAPTER VI</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0007">CHAPTER VII</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0008">CHAPTER VIII</a><br/> <br/> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0011"><b>BOOK III</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0009">CHAPTER IX</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0010">CHAPTER X</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0011">CHAPTER XI</a><br/> <br/> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0015"><b>BOOK IV</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0012">CHAPTER XII</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0013">CHAPTER XIII</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0014">CHAPTER XIV</a><br/> <br/> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0019"><b>BOOK V</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0015">CHAPTER XV</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0016">CHAPTER XVI</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0017">CHAPTER XVII</a><br/> <br/> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0023"><b>BOOK VI</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0018">CHAPTER XVIII</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0019">CHAPTER XIX</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0020">CHAPTER XX</a><br/> <br/> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0027"><b>BOOK VII</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0021">CHAPTER XXI</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0022">CHAPTER XXII</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0023">CHAPTER XXIII</a><br/> <br/> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0031"><b>BOOK VIII</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0024">CHAPTER XXIV</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0025">CHAPTER XXV</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0026">CHAPTER XXVI</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"></a>
+BOOK I </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"></a>
+CHAPTER I </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+The State of Greece from the earliest Times to the Commencement of the
+Peloponnesian War
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the
+Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out,
+and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation than any
+that had preceded it. This belief was not without its grounds. The preparations
+of both the combatants were in every department in the last state of
+perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking sides in the
+quarrel; those who delayed doing so at once having it in contemplation. Indeed
+this was the greatest movement yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes,
+but of a large part of the barbarian world&mdash;I had almost said of mankind.
+For though the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more immediately
+preceded the war, could not from lapse of time be clearly ascertained, yet the
+evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as was practicable leads me to
+trust, all point to the conclusion that there was nothing on a great scale,
+either in war or in other matters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in ancient
+times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of frequent
+occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under the
+pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without freedom of
+communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory
+than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital, never planting
+their land (for they could not tell when an invader might not come and take it
+all away, and when he did come they had no walls to stop him), thinking that
+the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as
+another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently
+neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The
+richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the
+district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia
+excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness of the
+land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created
+faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion.
+Accordingly Attica, from the poverty of its soil enjoying from a very remote
+period freedom from faction, never changed its inhabitants. And here is no
+inconsiderable exemplification of my assertion that the migrations were the
+cause of there being no correspondent growth in other parts. The most powerful
+victims of war or faction from the rest of Hellas took refuge with the
+Athenians as a safe retreat; and at an early period, becoming naturalized,
+swelled the already large population of the city to such a height that Attica
+became at last too small to hold them, and they had to send out colonies to
+Ionia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is also another circumstance that contributes not a little to my
+conviction of the weakness of ancient times. Before the Trojan war there is no
+indication of any common action in Hellas, nor indeed of the universal
+prevalence of the name; on the contrary, before the time of Hellen, son of
+Deucalion, no such appellation existed, but the country went by the names of
+the different tribes, in particular of the Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen
+and his sons grew strong in Phthiotis, and were invited as allies into the
+other cities, that one by one they gradually acquired from the connection the
+name of Hellenes; though a long time elapsed before that name could fasten
+itself upon all. The best proof of this is furnished by Homer. Born long after
+the Trojan War, he nowhere calls all of them by that name, nor indeed any of
+them except the followers of Achilles from Phthiotis, who were the original
+Hellenes: in his poems they are called Danaans, Argives, and Achaeans. He does
+not even use the term barbarian, probably because the Hellenes had not yet been
+marked off from the rest of the world by one distinctive appellation. It
+appears therefore that the several Hellenic communities, comprising not only
+those who first acquired the name, city by city, as they came to understand
+each other, but also those who assumed it afterwards as the name of the whole
+people, were before the Trojan war prevented by their want of strength and the
+absence of mutual intercourse from displaying any collective action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, they could not unite for this expedition till they had gained increased
+familiarity with the sea. And the first person known to us by tradition as
+having established a navy is Minos. He made himself master of what is now
+called the Hellenic sea, and ruled over the Cyclades, into most of which he
+sent the first colonies, expelling the Carians and appointing his own sons
+governors; and thus did his best to put down piracy in those waters, a
+necessary step to secure the revenues for his own use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast and islands, as
+communication by sea became more common, were tempted to turn pirates, under
+the conduct of their most powerful men; the motives being to serve their own
+cupidity and to support the needy. They would fall upon a town unprotected by
+walls, and consisting of a mere collection of villages, and would plunder it;
+indeed, this came to be the main source of their livelihood, no disgrace being
+yet attached to such an achievement, but even some glory. An illustration of
+this is furnished by the honour with which some of the inhabitants of the
+continent still regard a successful marauder, and by the question we find the
+old poets everywhere representing the people as asking of
+voyagers&mdash;&ldquo;Are they pirates?&rdquo;&mdash;as if those who are asked
+the question would have no idea of disclaiming the imputation, or their
+interrogators of reproaching them for it. The same rapine prevailed also by
+land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And even at the present day many of Hellas still follow the old fashion, the
+Ozolian Locrians for instance, the Aetolians, the Acarnanians, and that region
+of the continent; and the custom of carrying arms is still kept up among these
+continentals, from the old piratical habits. The whole of Hellas used once to
+carry arms, their habitations being unprotected and their communication with
+each other unsafe; indeed, to wear arms was as much a part of everyday life
+with them as with the barbarians. And the fact that the people in these parts
+of Hellas are still living in the old way points to a time when the same mode
+of life was once equally common to all. The Athenians were the first to lay
+aside their weapons, and to adopt an easier and more luxurious mode of life;
+indeed, it is only lately that their rich old men left off the luxury of
+wearing undergarments of linen, and fastening a knot of their hair with a tie
+of golden grasshoppers, a fashion which spread to their Ionian kindred and long
+prevailed among the old men there. On the contrary, a modest style of dressing,
+more in conformity with modern ideas, was first adopted by the Lacedaemonians,
+the rich doing their best to assimilate their way of life to that of the common
+people. They also set the example of contending naked, publicly stripping and
+anointing themselves with oil in their gymnastic exercises. Formerly, even in
+the Olympic contests, the athletes who contended wore belts across their
+middles; and it is but a few years since that the practice ceased. To this day
+among some of the barbarians, especially in Asia, when prizes for boxing and
+wrestling are offered, belts are worn by the combatants. And there are many
+other points in which a likeness might be shown between the life of the
+Hellenic world of old and the barbarian of to-day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With respect to their towns, later on, at an era of increased facilities of
+navigation and a greater supply of capital, we find the shores becoming the
+site of walled towns, and the isthmuses being occupied for the purposes of
+commerce and defence against a neighbour. But the old towns, on account of the
+great prevalence of piracy, were built away from the sea, whether on the
+islands or the continent, and still remain in their old sites. For the pirates
+used to plunder one another, and indeed all coast populations, whether
+seafaring or not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The islanders, too, were great pirates. These islanders were Carians and
+Phoenicians, by whom most of the islands were colonized, as was proved by the
+following fact. During the purification of Delos by Athens in this war all the
+graves in the island were taken up, and it was found that above half their
+inmates were Carians: they were identified by the fashion of the arms buried
+with them, and by the method of interment, which was the same as the Carians
+still follow. But as soon as Minos had formed his navy, communication by sea
+became easier, as he colonized most of the islands, and thus expelled the
+malefactors. The coast population now began to apply themselves more closely to
+the acquisition of wealth, and their life became more settled; some even began
+to build themselves walls on the strength of their newly acquired riches. For
+the love of gain would reconcile the weaker to the dominion of the stronger,
+and the possession of capital enabled the more powerful to reduce the smaller
+towns to subjection. And it was at a somewhat later stage of this development
+that they went on the expedition against Troy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What enabled Agamemnon to raise the armament was more, in my opinion, his
+superiority in strength, than the oaths of Tyndareus, which bound the suitors
+to follow him. Indeed, the account given by those Peloponnesians who have been
+the recipients of the most credible tradition is this. First of all Pelops,
+arriving among a needy population from Asia with vast wealth, acquired such
+power that, stranger though he was, the country was called after him; and this
+power fortune saw fit materially to increase in the hands of his descendants.
+Eurystheus had been killed in Attica by the Heraclids. Atreus was his
+mother&rsquo;s brother; and to the hands of his relation, who had left his
+father on account of the death of Chrysippus, Eurystheus, when he set out on
+his expedition, had committed Mycenæ and the government. As time went on and
+Eurystheus did not return, Atreus complied with the wishes of the Mycenæans,
+who were influenced by fear of the Heraclids&mdash;besides, his power seemed
+considerable, and he had not neglected to court the favour of the
+populace&mdash;and assumed the sceptre of Mycenæ and the rest of the dominions
+of Eurystheus. And so the power of the descendants of Pelops came to be greater
+than that of the descendants of Perseus. To all this Agamemnon succeeded. He
+had also a navy far stronger than his contemporaries, so that, in my opinion,
+fear was quite as strong an element as love in the formation of the confederate
+expedition. The strength of his navy is shown by the fact that his own was the
+largest contingent, and that of the Arcadians was furnished by him; this at
+least is what Homer says, if his testimony is deemed sufficient. Besides, in
+his account of the transmission of the sceptre, he calls him
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Of many an isle, and of all Argos king.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Now Agamemnon&rsquo;s was a continental power; and he could not have been
+master of any except the adjacent islands (and these would not be many), but
+through the possession of a fleet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And from this expedition we may infer the character of earlier enterprises. Now
+Mycenæ may have been a small place, and many of the towns of that age may
+appear comparatively insignificant, but no exact observer would therefore feel
+justified in rejecting the estimate given by the poets and by tradition of the
+magnitude of the armament. For I suppose if Lacedaemon were to become desolate,
+and the temples and the foundations of the public buildings were left, that as
+time went on there would be a strong disposition with posterity to refuse to
+accept her fame as a true exponent of her power. And yet they occupy two-fifths
+of Peloponnese and lead the whole, not to speak of their numerous allies
+without. Still, as the city is neither built in a compact form nor adorned with
+magnificent temples and public edifices, but composed of villages after the old
+fashion of Hellas, there would be an impression of inadequacy. Whereas, if
+Athens were to suffer the same misfortune, I suppose that any inference from
+the appearance presented to the eye would make her power to have been twice as
+great as it is. We have therefore no right to be sceptical, nor to content
+ourselves with an inspection of a town to the exclusion of a consideration of
+its power; but we may safely conclude that the armament in question surpassed
+all before it, as it fell short of modern efforts; if we can here also accept
+the testimony of Homer&rsquo;s poems, in which, without allowing for the
+exaggeration which a poet would feel himself licensed to employ, we can see
+that it was far from equalling ours. He has represented it as consisting of
+twelve hundred vessels; the Boeotian complement of each ship being a hundred
+and twenty men, that of the ships of Philoctetes fifty. By this, I conceive, he
+meant to convey the maximum and the minimum complement: at any rate, he does
+not specify the amount of any others in his catalogue of the ships. That they
+were all rowers as well as warriors we see from his account of the ships of
+Philoctetes, in which all the men at the oar are bowmen. Now it is improbable
+that many supernumeraries sailed, if we except the kings and high officers;
+especially as they had to cross the open sea with munitions of war, in ships,
+moreover, that had no decks, but were equipped in the old piratical fashion. So
+that if we strike the average of the largest and smallest ships, the number of
+those who sailed will appear inconsiderable, representing, as they did, the
+whole force of Hellas. And this was due not so much to scarcity of men as of
+money. Difficulty of subsistence made the invaders reduce the numbers of the
+army to a point at which it might live on the country during the prosecution of
+the war. Even after the victory they obtained on their arrival&mdash;and a
+victory there must have been, or the fortifications of the naval camp could
+never have been built&mdash;there is no indication of their whole force having
+been employed; on the contrary, they seem to have turned to cultivation of the
+Chersonese and to piracy from want of supplies. This was what really enabled
+the Trojans to keep the field for ten years against them; the dispersion of the
+enemy making them always a match for the detachment left behind. If they had
+brought plenty of supplies with them, and had persevered in the war without
+scattering for piracy and agriculture, they would have easily defeated the
+Trojans in the field, since they could hold their own against them with the
+division on service. In short, if they had stuck to the siege, the capture of
+Troy would have cost them less time and less trouble. But as want of money
+proved the weakness of earlier expeditions, so from the same cause even the one
+in question, more famous than its predecessors, may be pronounced on the
+evidence of what it effected to have been inferior to its renown and to the
+current opinion about it formed under the tuition of the poets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even after the Trojan War, Hellas was still engaged in removing and settling,
+and thus could not attain to the quiet which must precede growth. The late
+return of the Hellenes from Ilium caused many revolutions, and factions ensued
+almost everywhere; and it was the citizens thus driven into exile who founded
+the cities. Sixty years after the capture of Ilium, the modern Boeotians were
+driven out of Arne by the Thessalians, and settled in the present Boeotia, the
+former Cadmeis; though there was a division of them there before, some of whom
+joined the expedition to Ilium. Twenty years later, the Dorians and the
+Heraclids became masters of Peloponnese; so that much had to be done and many
+years had to elapse before Hellas could attain to a durable tranquillity
+undisturbed by removals, and could begin to send out colonies, as Athens did to
+Ionia and most of the islands, and the Peloponnesians to most of Italy and
+Sicily and some places in the rest of Hellas. All these places were founded
+subsequently to the war with Troy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as the power of Hellas grew, and the acquisition of wealth became more an
+object, the revenues of the states increasing, tyrannies were by their means
+established almost everywhere&mdash;the old form of government being hereditary
+monarchy with definite prerogatives&mdash;and Hellas began to fit out fleets
+and apply herself more closely to the sea. It is said that the Corinthians were
+the first to approach the modern style of naval architecture, and that Corinth
+was the first place in Hellas where galleys were built; and we have Ameinocles,
+a Corinthian shipwright, making four ships for the Samians. Dating from the end
+of this war, it is nearly three hundred years ago that Ameinocles went to
+Samos. Again, the earliest sea-fight in history was between the Corinthians and
+Corcyraeans; this was about two hundred and sixty years ago, dating from the
+same time. Planted on an isthmus, Corinth had from time out of mind been a
+commercial emporium; as formerly almost all communication between the Hellenes
+within and without Peloponnese was carried on overland, and the Corinthian
+territory was the highway through which it travelled. She had consequently
+great money resources, as is shown by the epithet &ldquo;wealthy&rdquo;
+bestowed by the old poets on the place, and this enabled her, when traffic by
+sea became more common, to procure her navy and put down piracy; and as she
+could offer a mart for both branches of the trade, she acquired for herself all
+the power which a large revenue affords. Subsequently the Ionians attained to
+great naval strength in the reign of Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, and
+of his son Cambyses, and while they were at war with the former commanded for a
+while the Ionian sea. Polycrates also, the tyrant of Samos, had a powerful navy
+in the reign of Cambyses, with which he reduced many of the islands, and among
+them Rhenea, which he consecrated to the Delian Apollo. About this time also
+the Phocaeans, while they were founding Marseilles, defeated the Carthaginians
+in a sea-fight. These were the most powerful navies. And even these, although
+so many generations had elapsed since the Trojan war, seem to have been
+principally composed of the old fifty-oars and long-boats, and to have counted
+few galleys among their ranks. Indeed it was only shortly the Persian war, and
+the death of Darius the successor of Cambyses, that the Sicilian tyrants and
+the Corcyraeans acquired any large number of galleys. For after these there
+were no navies of any account in Hellas till the expedition of Xerxes; Aegina,
+Athens, and others may have possessed a few vessels, but they were principally
+fifty-oars. It was quite at the end of this period that the war with Aegina and
+the prospect of the barbarian invasion enabled Themistocles to persuade the
+Athenians to build the fleet with which they fought at Salamis; and even these
+vessels had not complete decks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The navies, then, of the Hellenes during the period we have traversed were what
+I have described. All their insignificance did not prevent their being an
+element of the greatest power to those who cultivated them, alike in revenue
+and in dominion. They were the means by which the islands were reached and
+reduced, those of the smallest area falling the easiest prey. Wars by land
+there were none, none at least by which power was acquired; we have the usual
+border contests, but of distant expeditions with conquest for object we hear
+nothing among the Hellenes. There was no union of subject cities round a great
+state, no spontaneous combination of equals for confederate expeditions; what
+fighting there was consisted merely of local warfare between rival neighbours.
+The nearest approach to a coalition took place in the old war between Chalcis
+and Eretria; this was a quarrel in which the rest of the Hellenic name did to
+some extent take sides.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Various, too, were the obstacles which the national growth encountered in
+various localities. The power of the Ionians was advancing with rapid strides,
+when it came into collision with Persia, under King Cyrus, who, after having
+dethroned Croesus and overrun everything between the Halys and the sea, stopped
+not till he had reduced the cities of the coast; the islands being only left to
+be subdued by Darius and the Phoenician navy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again, wherever there were tyrants, their habit of providing simply for
+themselves, of looking solely to their personal comfort and family
+aggrandizement, made safety the great aim of their policy, and prevented
+anything great proceeding from them; though they would each have their affairs
+with their immediate neighbours. All this is only true of the mother country,
+for in Sicily they attained to very great power. Thus for a long time
+everywhere in Hellas do we find causes which make the states alike incapable of
+combination for great and national ends, or of any vigorous action of their
+own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But at last a time came when the tyrants of Athens and the far older tyrannies
+of the rest of Hellas were, with the exception of those in Sicily, once and for
+all put down by Lacedaemon; for this city, though after the settlement of the
+Dorians, its present inhabitants, it suffered from factions for an unparalleled
+length of time, still at a very early period obtained good laws, and enjoyed a
+freedom from tyrants which was unbroken; it has possessed the same form of
+government for more than four hundred years, reckoning to the end of the late
+war, and has thus been in a position to arrange the affairs of the other
+states. Not many years after the deposition of the tyrants, the battle of
+Marathon was fought between the Medes and the Athenians. Ten years afterwards,
+the barbarian returned with the armada for the subjugation of Hellas. In the
+face of this great danger, the command of the confederate Hellenes was assumed
+by the Lacedaemonians in virtue of their superior power; and the Athenians,
+having made up their minds to abandon their city, broke up their homes, threw
+themselves into their ships, and became a naval people. This coalition, after
+repulsing the barbarian, soon afterwards split into two sections, which
+included the Hellenes who had revolted from the King, as well as those who had
+aided him in the war. At the end of the one stood Athens, at the head of the
+other Lacedaemon, one the first naval, the other the first military power in
+Hellas. For a short time the league held together, till the Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians quarrelled and made war upon each other with their allies, a duel
+into which all the Hellenes sooner or later were drawn, though some might at
+first remain neutral. So that the whole period from the Median war to this,
+with some peaceful intervals, was spent by each power in war, either with its
+rival, or with its own revolted allies, and consequently afforded them constant
+practice in military matters, and that experience which is learnt in the school
+of danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The policy of Lacedaemon was not to exact tribute from her allies, but merely
+to secure their subservience to her interests by establishing oligarchies among
+them; Athens, on the contrary, had by degrees deprived hers of their ships, and
+imposed instead contributions in money on all except Chios and Lesbos. Both
+found their resources for this war separately to exceed the sum of their
+strength when the alliance flourished intact.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having now given the result of my inquiries into early times, I grant that
+there will be a difficulty in believing every particular detail. The way that
+most men deal with traditions, even traditions of their own country, is to
+receive them all alike as they are delivered, without applying any critical
+test whatever. The general Athenian public fancy that Hipparchus was tyrant
+when he fell by the hands of Harmodius and Aristogiton, not knowing that
+Hippias, the eldest of the sons of Pisistratus, was really supreme, and that
+Hipparchus and Thessalus were his brothers; and that Harmodius and Aristogiton
+suspecting, on the very day, nay at the very moment fixed on for the deed, that
+information had been conveyed to Hippias by their accomplices, concluded that
+he had been warned, and did not attack him, yet, not liking to be apprehended
+and risk their lives for nothing, fell upon Hipparchus near the temple of the
+daughters of Leos, and slew him as he was arranging the Panathenaic procession.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are many other unfounded ideas current among the rest of the Hellenes,
+even on matters of contemporary history, which have not been obscured by time.
+For instance, there is the notion that the Lacedaemonian kings have two votes
+each, the fact being that they have only one; and that there is a company of
+Pitane, there being simply no such thing. So little pains do the vulgar take in
+the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to
+hand. On the whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs
+quoted may, I believe, safely be relied on. Assuredly they will not be
+disturbed either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration of his
+craft, or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are attractive at
+truth&rsquo;s expense; the subjects they treat of being out of the reach of
+evidence, and time having robbed most of them of historical value by enthroning
+them in the region of legend. Turning from these, we can rest satisfied with
+having proceeded upon the clearest data, and having arrived at conclusions as
+exact as can be expected in matters of such antiquity. To come to this war:
+despite the known disposition of the actors in a struggle to overrate its
+importance, and when it is over to return to their admiration of earlier
+events, yet an examination of the facts will show that it was much greater than
+the wars which preceded it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With reference to the speeches in this history, some were delivered before the
+war began, others while it was going on; some I heard myself, others I got from
+various quarters; it was in all cases difficult to carry them word for word in
+one&rsquo;s memory, so my habit has been to make the speakers say what was in
+my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions, of course adhering as
+closely as possible to the general sense of what they really said. And with
+reference to the narrative of events, far from permitting myself to derive it
+from the first source that came to hand, I did not even trust my own
+impressions, but it rests partly on what I saw myself, partly on what others
+saw for me, the accuracy of the report being always tried by the most severe
+and detailed tests possible. My conclusions have cost me some labour from the
+want of coincidence between accounts of the same occurrences by different
+eye-witnesses, arising sometimes from imperfect memory, sometimes from undue
+partiality for one side or the other. The absence of romance in my history
+will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by
+those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the
+interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble
+if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work,
+not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession
+for all time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Median War, the greatest achievement of past times, yet found a speedy
+decision in two actions by sea and two by land. The Peloponnesian War was
+prolonged to an immense length, and, long as it was, it was short without
+parallel for the misfortunes that it brought upon Hellas. Never had so many
+cities been taken and laid desolate, here by the barbarians, here by the
+parties contending (the old inhabitants being sometimes removed to make room
+for others); never was there so much banishing and blood-shedding, now on the
+field of battle, now in the strife of faction. Old stories of occurrences
+handed down by tradition, but scantily confirmed by experience, suddenly ceased
+to be incredible; there were earthquakes of unparalleled extent and violence;
+eclipses of the sun occurred with a frequency unrecorded in previous history;
+there were great droughts in sundry places and consequent famines, and that
+most calamitous and awfully fatal visitation, the plague. All this came upon
+them with the late war, which was begun by the Athenians and Peloponnesians by
+the dissolution of the thirty years&rsquo; truce made after the conquest of
+Euboea. To the question why they broke the treaty, I answer by placing first an
+account of their grounds of complaint and points of difference, that no one may
+ever have to ask the immediate cause which plunged the Hellenes into a war of
+such magnitude. The real cause I consider to be the one which was formally most
+kept out of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this
+inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable. Still it is well to give the
+grounds alleged by either side which led to the dissolution of the treaty and
+the breaking out of the war.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"></a>
+CHAPTER II </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Causes of the War&mdash;The Affair of Epidamnus&mdash;The Affair of Potidæa
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The city of Epidamnus stands on the right of the entrance of the Ionic Gulf.
+Its vicinity is inhabited by the Taulantians, an Illyrian people. The place is
+a colony from Corcyra, founded by Phalius, son of Eratocleides, of the family
+of the Heraclids, who had according to ancient usage been summoned for the
+purpose from Corinth, the mother country. The colonists were joined by some
+Corinthians, and others of the Dorian race. Now, as time went on, the city of
+Epidamnus became great and populous; but falling a prey to factions arising, it
+is said, from a war with her neighbours the barbarians, she became much
+enfeebled, and lost a considerable amount of her power. The last act before the
+war was the expulsion of the nobles by the people. The exiled party joined the
+barbarians, and proceeded to plunder those in the city by sea and land; and the
+Epidamnians, finding themselves hard pressed, sent ambassadors to Corcyra
+beseeching their mother country not to allow them to perish, but to make up
+matters between them and the exiles, and to rid them of the war with the
+barbarians. The ambassadors seated themselves in the temple of Hera as
+suppliants, and made the above requests to the Corcyraeans. But the Corcyraeans
+refused to accept their supplication, and they were dismissed without having
+effected anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Epidamnians found that no help could be expected from Corcyra, they
+were in a strait what to do next. So they sent to Delphi and inquired of the
+God whether they should deliver their city to the Corinthians and endeavour to
+obtain some assistance from their founders. The answer he gave them was to
+deliver the city and place themselves under Corinthian protection. So the
+Epidamnians went to Corinth and delivered over the colony in obedience to the
+commands of the oracle. They showed that their founder came from Corinth, and
+revealed the answer of the god; and they begged them not to allow them to
+perish, but to assist them. This the Corinthians consented to do. Believing the
+colony to belong as much to themselves as to the Corcyraeans, they felt it to
+be a kind of duty to undertake their protection. Besides, they hated the
+Corcyraeans for their contempt of the mother country. Instead of meeting with
+the usual honours accorded to the parent city by every other colony at public
+assemblies, such as precedence at sacrifices, Corinth found herself treated
+with contempt by a power which in point of wealth could stand comparison with
+any even of the richest communities in Hellas, which possessed great military
+strength, and which sometimes could not repress a pride in the high naval
+position of an island whose nautical renown dated from the days of its old
+inhabitants, the Phaeacians. This was one reason of the care that they lavished
+on their fleet, which became very efficient; indeed they began the war with a
+force of a hundred and twenty galleys.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All these grievances made Corinth eager to send the promised aid to Epidamnus.
+Advertisement was made for volunteer settlers, and a force of Ambraciots,
+Leucadians, and Corinthians was dispatched. They marched by land to Apollonia,
+a Corinthian colony, the route by sea being avoided from fear of Corcyraean
+interruption. When the Corcyraeans heard of the arrival of the settlers and
+troops in Epidamnus, and the surrender of the colony to Corinth, they took
+fire. Instantly putting to sea with five-and-twenty ships, which were quickly
+followed by others, they insolently commanded the Epidamnians to receive back
+the banished nobles&mdash;(it must be premised that the Epidamnian exiles had
+come to Corcyra and, pointing to the sepulchres of their ancestors, had
+appealed to their kindred to restore them)&mdash;and to dismiss the Corinthian
+garrison and settlers. But to all this the Epidamnians turned a deaf ear. Upon
+this the Corcyraeans commenced operations against them with a fleet of forty
+sail. They took with them the exiles, with a view to their restoration, and
+also secured the services of the Illyrians. Sitting down before the city, they
+issued a proclamation to the effect that any of the natives that chose, and the
+foreigners, might depart unharmed, with the alternative of being treated as
+enemies. On their refusal the Corcyraeans proceeded to besiege the city, which
+stands on an isthmus; and the Corinthians, receiving intelligence of the
+investment of Epidamnus, got together an armament and proclaimed a colony to
+Epidamnus, perfect political equality being guaranteed to all who chose to go.
+Any who were not prepared to sail at once might, by paying down the sum of
+fifty Corinthian drachmae, have a share in the colony without leaving Corinth.
+Great numbers took advantage of this proclamation, some being ready to start
+directly, others paying the requisite forfeit. In case of their passage being
+disputed by the Corcyraeans, several cities were asked to lend them a convoy.
+Megara prepared to accompany them with eight ships, Pale in Cephallonia with
+four; Epidaurus furnished five, Hermione one, Troezen two, Leucas ten, and
+Ambracia eight. The Thebans and Phliasians were asked for money, the Eleans for
+hulls as well; while Corinth herself furnished thirty ships and three thousand
+heavy infantry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Corcyraeans heard of their preparations they came to Corinth with
+envoys from Lacedaemon and Sicyon, whom they persuaded to accompany them, and
+bade her recall the garrison and settlers, as she had nothing to do with
+Epidamnus. If, however, she had any claims to make, they were willing to submit
+the matter to the arbitration of such of the cities in Peloponnese as should be
+chosen by mutual agreement, and that the colony should remain with the city to
+whom the arbitrators might assign it. They were also willing to refer the
+matter to the oracle at Delphi. If, in defiance of their protestations, war was
+appealed to, they should be themselves compelled by this violence to seek
+friends in quarters where they had no desire to seek them, and to make even old
+ties give way to the necessity of assistance. The answer they got from Corinth
+was that, if they would withdraw their fleet and the barbarians from Epidamnus,
+negotiation might be possible; but, while the town was still being besieged,
+going before arbitrators was out of the question. The Corcyraeans retorted that
+if Corinth would withdraw her troops from Epidamnus they would withdraw theirs,
+or they were ready to let both parties remain in statu quo, an armistice being
+concluded till judgment could be given.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turning a deaf ear to all these proposals, when their ships were manned and
+their allies had come in, the Corinthians sent a herald before them to declare
+war and, getting under way with seventy-five ships and two thousand heavy
+infantry, sailed for Epidamnus to give battle to the Corcyraeans. The fleet was
+under the command of Aristeus, son of Pellichas, Callicrates, son of Callias,
+and Timanor, son of Timanthes; the troops under that of Archetimus, son of
+Eurytimus, and Isarchidas, son of Isarchus. When they had reached Actium in the
+territory of Anactorium, at the mouth of the mouth of the Gulf of Ambracia,
+where the temple of Apollo stands, the Corcyraeans sent on a herald in a light
+boat to warn them not to sail against them. Meanwhile they proceeded to man
+their ships, all of which had been equipped for action, the old vessels being
+undergirded to make them seaworthy. On the return of the herald without any
+peaceful answer from the Corinthians, their ships being now manned, they put
+out to sea to meet the enemy with a fleet of eighty sail (forty were engaged in
+the siege of Epidamnus), formed line, and went into action, and gained a
+decisive victory, and destroyed fifteen of the Corinthian vessels. The same day
+had seen Epidamnus compelled by its besiegers to capitulate; the conditions
+being that the foreigners should be sold, and the Corinthians kept as prisoners
+of war, till their fate should be otherwise decided.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the engagement the Corcyraeans set up a trophy on Leukimme, a headland of
+Corcyra, and slew all their captives except the Corinthians, whom they kept as
+prisoners of war. Defeated at sea, the Corinthians and their allies repaired
+home, and left the Corcyraeans masters of all the sea about those parts.
+Sailing to Leucas, a Corinthian colony, they ravaged their territory, and burnt
+Cyllene, the harbour of the Eleans, because they had furnished ships and money
+to Corinth. For almost the whole of the period that followed the battle they
+remained masters of the sea, and the allies of Corinth were harassed by
+Corcyraean cruisers. At last Corinth, roused by the sufferings of her allies,
+sent out ships and troops in the fall of the summer, who formed an encampment
+at Actium and about Chimerium, in Thesprotis, for the protection of Leucas and
+the rest of the friendly cities. The Corcyraeans on their part formed a similar
+station on Leukimme. Neither party made any movement, but they remained
+confronting each other till the end of the summer, and winter was at hand
+before either of them returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Corinth, exasperated by the war with the Corcyraeans, spent the whole of the
+year after the engagement and that succeeding it in building ships, and in
+straining every nerve to form an efficient fleet; rowers being drawn from
+Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas by the inducement of large bounties. The
+Corcyraeans, alarmed at the news of their preparations, being without a single
+ally in Hellas (for they had not enrolled themselves either in the Athenian or
+in the Lacedaemonian confederacy), decided to repair to Athens in order to
+enter into alliance and to endeavour to procure support from her. Corinth also,
+hearing of their intentions, sent an embassy to Athens to prevent the
+Corcyraean navy being joined by the Athenian, and her prospect of ordering the
+war according to her wishes being thus impeded. An assembly was convoked, and
+the rival advocates appeared: the Corcyraeans spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Athenians! when a people that have not rendered any important service or
+support to their neighbours in times past, for which they might claim to be
+repaid, appear before them as we now appear before you to solicit their
+assistance, they may fairly be required to satisfy certain preliminary
+conditions. They should show, first, that it is expedient or at least safe to
+grant their request; next, that they will retain a lasting sense of the
+kindness. But if they cannot clearly establish any of these points, they must
+not be annoyed if they meet with a rebuff. Now the Corcyraeans believe that
+with their petition for assistance they can also give you a satisfactory answer
+on these points, and they have therefore dispatched us hither. It has so
+happened that our policy as regards you with respect to this request, turns out
+to be inconsistent, and as regards our interests, to be at the present crisis
+inexpedient. We say inconsistent, because a power which has never in the whole
+of her past history been willing to ally herself with any of her neighbours, is
+now found asking them to ally themselves with her. And we say inexpedient,
+because in our present war with Corinth it has left us in a position of entire
+isolation, and what once seemed the wise precaution of refusing to involve
+ourselves in alliances with other powers, lest we should also involve ourselves
+in risks of their choosing, has now proved to be folly and weakness. It is true
+that in the late naval engagement we drove back the Corinthians from our shores
+single-handed. But they have now got together a still larger armament from
+Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas; and we, seeing our utter inability to cope
+with them without foreign aid, and the magnitude of the danger which subjection
+to them implies, find it necessary to ask help from you and from every other
+power. And we hope to be excused if we forswear our old principle of complete
+political isolation, a principle which was not adopted with any sinister
+intention, but was rather the consequence of an error in judgment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now there are many reasons why in the event of your compliance you will
+congratulate yourselves on this request having been made to you. First, because
+your assistance will be rendered to a power which, herself inoffensive, is a
+victim to the injustice of others. Secondly, because all that we most value is
+at stake in the present contest, and your welcome of us under these
+circumstances will be a proof of goodwill which will ever keep alive the
+gratitude you will lay up in our hearts. Thirdly, yourselves excepted, we are
+the greatest naval power in Hellas. Moreover, can you conceive a stroke of good
+fortune more rare in itself, or more disheartening to your enemies, than that
+the power whose adhesion you would have valued above much material and moral
+strength should present herself self-invited, should deliver herself into your
+hands without danger and without expense, and should lastly put you in the way
+of gaining a high character in the eyes of the world, the gratitude of those
+whom you shall assist, and a great accession of strength for yourselves? You
+may search all history without finding many instances of a people gaining all
+these advantages at once, or many instances of a power that comes in quest of
+assistance being in a position to give to the people whose alliance she
+solicits as much safety and honour as she will receive. But it will be urged
+that it is only in the case of a war that we shall be found useful. To this we
+answer that if any of you imagine that that war is far off, he is grievously
+mistaken, and is blind to the fact that Lacedaemon regards you with jealousy
+and desires war, and that Corinth is powerful there&mdash;the same, remember,
+that is your enemy, and is even now trying to subdue us as a preliminary to
+attacking you. And this she does to prevent our becoming united by a common
+enmity, and her having us both on her hands, and also to ensure getting the
+start of you in one of two ways, either by crippling our power or by making its
+strength her own. Now it is our policy to be beforehand with her&mdash;that is,
+for Corcyra to make an offer of alliance and for you to accept it; in fact, we
+ought to form plans against her instead of waiting to defeat the plans she
+forms against us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If she asserts that for you to receive a colony of hers into alliance is
+not right, let her know that every colony that is well treated honours its
+parent state, but becomes estranged from it by injustice. For colonists are not
+sent forth on the understanding that they are to be the slaves of those that
+remain behind, but that they are to be their equals. And that Corinth was
+injuring us is clear. Invited to refer the dispute about Epidamnus to
+arbitration, they chose to prosecute their complaints war rather than by a fair
+trial. And let their conduct towards us who are their kindred be a warning to
+you not to be misled by their deceit, nor to yield to their direct requests;
+concessions to adversaries only end in self-reproach, and the more strictly
+they are avoided the greater will be the chance of security.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If it be urged that your reception of us will be a breach of the treaty
+existing between you and Lacedaemon, the answer is that we are a neutral state,
+and that one of the express provisions of that treaty is that it shall be
+competent for any Hellenic state that is neutral to join whichever side it
+pleases. And it is intolerable for Corinth to be allowed to obtain men for her
+navy not only from her allies, but also from the rest of Hellas, no small
+number being furnished by your own subjects; while we are to be excluded both
+from the alliance left open to us by treaty, and from any assistance that we
+might get from other quarters, and you are to be accused of political
+immorality if you comply with our request. On the other hand, we shall have
+much greater cause to complain of you, if you do not comply with it; if we, who
+are in peril and are no enemies of yours, meet with a repulse at your hands,
+while Corinth, who is the aggressor and your enemy, not only meets with no
+hindrance from you, but is even allowed to draw material for war from your
+dependencies. This ought not to be, but you should either forbid her enlisting
+men in your dominions, or you should lend us too what help you may think
+advisable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But your real policy is to afford us avowed countenance and support. The
+advantages of this course, as we premised in the beginning of our speech, are
+many. We mention one that is perhaps the chief. Could there be a clearer
+guarantee of our good faith than is offered by the fact that the power which is
+at enmity with you is also at enmity with us, and that that power is fully able
+to punish defection? And there is a wide difference between declining the
+alliance of an inland and of a maritime power. For your first endeavour should
+be to prevent, if possible, the existence of any naval power except your own;
+failing this, to secure the friendship of the strongest that does exist. And if
+any of you believe that what we urge is expedient, but fear to act upon this
+belief, lest it should lead to a breach of the treaty, you must remember that
+on the one hand, whatever your fears, your strength will be formidable to your
+antagonists; on the other, whatever the confidence you derive from refusing to
+receive us, your weakness will have no terrors for a strong enemy. You must
+also remember that your decision is for Athens no less than Corcyra, and that
+you are not making the best provision for her interests, if at a time when you
+are anxiously scanning the horizon that you may be in readiness for the
+breaking out of the war which is all but upon you, you hesitate to attach to
+your side a place whose adhesion or estrangement is alike pregnant with the
+most vital consequences. For it lies conveniently for the coast-navigation in
+the direction of Italy and Sicily, being able to bar the passage of naval
+reinforcements from thence to Peloponnese, and from Peloponnese thither; and it
+is in other respects a most desirable station. To sum up as shortly as
+possible, embracing both general and particular considerations, let this show
+you the folly of sacrificing us. Remember that there are but three considerable
+naval powers in Hellas&mdash;Athens, Corcyra, and Corinth&mdash;and that if you
+allow two of these three to become one, and Corinth to secure us for herself,
+you will have to hold the sea against the united fleets of Corcyra and
+Peloponnese. But if you receive us, you will have our ships to reinforce you in
+the struggle.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Corcyraeans. After they had finished, the
+Corinthians spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;These Corcyraeans in the speech we have just heard do not confine
+themselves to the question of their reception into your alliance. They also
+talk of our being guilty of injustice, and their being the victims of an
+unjustifiable war. It becomes necessary for us to touch upon both these points
+before we proceed to the rest of what we have to say, that you may have a more
+correct idea of the grounds of our claim, and have good cause to reject their
+petition. According to them, their old policy of refusing all offers of
+alliance was a policy of moderation. It was in fact adopted for bad ends, not
+for good; indeed their conduct is such as to make them by no means desirous of
+having allies present to witness it, or of having the shame of asking their
+concurrence. Besides, their geographical situation makes them independent of
+others, and consequently the decision in cases where they injure any lies not
+with judges appointed by mutual agreement, but with themselves, because, while
+they seldom make voyages to their neighbours, they are constantly being visited
+by foreign vessels which are compelled to put in to Corcyra. In short, the
+object that they propose to themselves, in their specious policy of complete
+isolation, is not to avoid sharing in the crimes of others, but to secure
+monopoly of crime to themselves&mdash;the licence of outrage wherever they can
+compel, of fraud wherever they can elude, and the enjoyment of their gains
+without shame. And yet if they were the honest men they pretend to be, the less
+hold that others had upon them, the stronger would be the light in which they
+might have put their honesty by giving and taking what was just.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But such has not been their conduct either towards others or towards us.
+The attitude of our colony towards us has always been one of estrangement and
+is now one of hostility; for, say they: &lsquo;We were not sent out to be
+ill-treated.&rsquo; We rejoin that we did not found the colony to be insulted
+by them, but to be their head and to be regarded with a proper respect. At any
+rate our other colonies honour us, and we are much beloved by our colonists;
+and clearly, if the majority are satisfied with us, these can have no good
+reason for a dissatisfaction in which they stand alone, and we are not acting
+improperly in making war against them, nor are we making war against them
+without having received signal provocation. Besides, if we were in the wrong,
+it would be honourable in them to give way to our wishes, and disgraceful for
+us to trample on their moderation; but in the pride and licence of wealth they
+have sinned again and again against us, and never more deeply than when
+Epidamnus, our dependency, which they took no steps to claim in its distress
+upon our coming to relieve it, was by them seized, and is now held by force of
+arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As to their allegation that they wished the question to be first
+submitted to arbitration, it is obvious that a challenge coming from the party
+who is safe in a commanding position cannot gain the credit due only to him
+who, before appealing to arms, in deeds as well as words, places himself on a
+level with his adversary. In their case, it was not before they laid siege to
+the place, but after they at length understood that we should not tamely suffer
+it, that they thought of the specious word arbitration. And not satisfied with
+their own misconduct there, they appear here now requiring you to join with
+them not in alliance but in crime, and to receive them in spite of their being
+at enmity with us. But it was when they stood firmest that they should have
+made overtures to you, and not at a time when we have been wronged and they are
+in peril; nor yet at a time when you will be admitting to a share in your
+protection those who never admitted you to a share in their power, and will be
+incurring an equal amount of blame from us with those in whose offences you had
+no hand. No, they should have shared their power with you before they asked you
+to share your fortunes with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So then the reality of the grievances we come to complain of, and the
+violence and rapacity of our opponents, have both been proved. But that you
+cannot equitably receive them, this you have still to learn. It may be true
+that one of the provisions of the treaty is that it shall be competent for any
+state, whose name was not down on the list, to join whichever side it pleases.
+But this agreement is not meant for those whose object in joining is the injury
+of other powers, but for those whose need of support does not arise from the
+fact of defection, and whose adhesion will not bring to the power that is mad
+enough to receive them war instead of peace; which will be the case with you,
+if you refuse to listen to us. For you cannot become their auxiliary and remain
+our friend; if you join in their attack, you must share the punishment which
+the defenders inflict on them. And yet you have the best possible right to be
+neutral, or, failing this, you should on the contrary join us against them.
+Corinth is at least in treaty with you; with Corcyra you were never even in
+truce. But do not lay down the principle that defection is to be patronized.
+Did we on the defection of the Samians record our vote against you, when the
+rest of the Peloponnesian powers were equally divided on the question whether
+they should assist them? No, we told them to their face that every power has a
+right to punish its own allies. Why, if you make it your policy to receive and
+assist all offenders, you will find that just as many of your dependencies will
+come over to us, and the principle that you establish will press less heavily
+on us than on yourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This then is what Hellenic law entitles us to demand as a right. But we
+have also advice to offer and claims on your gratitude, which, since there is
+no danger of our injuring you, as we are not enemies, and since our friendship
+does not amount to very frequent intercourse, we say ought to be liquidated at
+the present juncture. When you were in want of ships of war for the war against
+the Aeginetans, before the Persian invasion, Corinth supplied you with twenty
+vessels. That good turn, and the line we took on the Samian question, when we
+were the cause of the Peloponnesians refusing to assist them, enabled you to
+conquer Aegina and to punish Samos. And we acted thus at crises when, if ever,
+men are wont in their efforts against their enemies to forget everything for
+the sake of victory, regarding him who assists them then as a friend, even if
+thus far he has been a foe, and him who opposes them then as a foe, even if he
+has thus far been a friend; indeed they allow their real interests to suffer
+from their absorbing preoccupation in the struggle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Weigh well these considerations, and let your youth learn what they are
+from their elders, and let them determine to do unto us as we have done unto
+you. And let them not acknowledge the justice of what we say, but dispute its
+wisdom in the contingency of war. Not only is the straightest path generally
+speaking the wisest; but the coming of the war, which the Corcyraeans have used
+as a bugbear to persuade you to do wrong, is still uncertain, and it is not
+worth while to be carried away by it into gaining the instant and declared
+enmity of Corinth. It were, rather, wise to try and counteract the unfavourable
+impression which your conduct to Megara has created. For kindness opportunely
+shown has a greater power of removing old grievances than the facts of the case
+may warrant. And do not be seduced by the prospect of a great naval alliance.
+Abstinence from all injustice to other first-rate powers is a greater tower of
+strength than anything that can be gained by the sacrifice of permanent
+tranquillity for an apparent temporary advantage. It is now our turn to benefit
+by the principle that we laid down at Lacedaemon, that every power has a right
+to punish her own allies. We now claim to receive the same from you, and
+protest against your rewarding us for benefiting you by our vote by injuring us
+by yours. On the contrary, return us like for like, remembering that this is
+that very crisis in which he who lends aid is most a friend, and he who opposes
+is most a foe. And for these Corcyraeans&mdash;neither receive them into
+alliance in our despite, nor be their abettors in crime. So do, and you will
+act as we have a right to expect of you, and at the same time best consult your
+own interests.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Corinthians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Athenians had heard both out, two assemblies were held. In the first
+there was a manifest disposition to listen to the representations of Corinth;
+in the second, public feeling had changed and an alliance with Corcyra was
+decided on, with certain reservations. It was to be a defensive, not an
+offensive alliance. It did not involve a breach of the treaty with Peloponnese:
+Athens could not be required to join Corcyra in any attack upon Corinth. But
+each of the contracting parties had a right to the other&rsquo;s assistance
+against invasion, whether of his own territory or that of an ally. For it began
+now to be felt that the coming of the Peloponnesian war was only a question of
+time, and no one was willing to see a naval power of such magnitude as Corcyra
+sacrificed to Corinth; though if they could let them weaken each other by
+mutual conflict, it would be no bad preparation for the struggle which Athens
+might one day have to wage with Corinth and the other naval powers. At the same
+time the island seemed to lie conveniently on the coasting passage to Italy and
+Sicily. With these views, Athens received Corcyra into alliance and, on the
+departure of the Corinthians not long afterwards, sent ten ships to their
+assistance. They were commanded by Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, Diotimus,
+the son of Strombichus, and Proteas, the son of Epicles. Their instructions
+were to avoid collision with the Corinthian fleet except under certain
+circumstances. If it sailed to Corcyra and threatened a landing on her coast,
+or in any of her possessions, they were to do their utmost to prevent it. These
+instructions were prompted by an anxiety to avoid a breach of the treaty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Corinthians completed their preparations, and sailed for Corcyra
+with a hundred and fifty ships. Of these Elis furnished ten, Megara twelve,
+Leucas ten, Ambracia twenty-seven, Anactorium one, and Corinth herself ninety.
+Each of these contingents had its own admiral, the Corinthian being under the
+command of Xenoclides, son of Euthycles, with four colleagues. Sailing from
+Leucas, they made land at the part of the continent opposite Corcyra. They
+anchored in the harbour of Chimerium, in the territory of Thesprotis, above
+which, at some distance from the sea, lies the city of Ephyre, in the Elean
+district. By this city the Acherusian lake pours its waters into the sea. It
+gets its name from the river Acheron, which flows through Thesprotis and falls
+into the lake. There also the river Thyamis flows, forming the boundary between
+Thesprotis and Kestrine; and between these rivers rises the point of Chimerium.
+In this part of the continent the Corinthians now came to anchor, and formed an
+encampment. When the Corcyraeans saw them coming, they manned a hundred and ten
+ships, commanded by Meikiades, Aisimides, and Eurybatus, and stationed
+themselves at one of the Sybota isles; the ten Athenian ships being present. On
+Point Leukimme they posted their land forces, and a thousand heavy infantry who
+had come from Zacynthus to their assistance. Nor were the Corinthians on the
+mainland without their allies. The barbarians flocked in large numbers to their
+assistance, the inhabitants of this part of the continent being old allies of
+theirs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Corinthian preparations were completed, they took three days&rsquo;
+provisions and put out from Chimerium by night, ready for action. Sailing with
+the dawn, they sighted the Corcyraean fleet out at sea and coming towards them.
+When they perceived each other, both sides formed in order of battle. On the
+Corcyraean right wing lay the Athenian ships, the rest of the line being
+occupied by their own vessels formed in three squadrons, each of which was
+commanded by one of the three admirals. Such was the Corcyraean formation. The
+Corinthian was as follows: on the right wing lay the Megarian and Ambraciot
+ships, in the centre the rest of the allies in order. But the left was composed
+of the best sailers in the Corinthian navy, to encounter the Athenians and the
+right wing of the Corcyraeans. As soon as the signals were raised on either
+side, they joined battle. Both sides had a large number of heavy infantry on
+their decks, and a large number of archers and darters, the old imperfect
+armament still prevailing. The sea-fight was an obstinate one, though not
+remarkable for its science; indeed it was more like a battle by land. Whenever
+they charged each other, the multitude and crush of the vessels made it by no
+means easy to get loose; besides, their hopes of victory lay principally in the
+heavy infantry on the decks, who stood and fought in order, the ships remaining
+stationary. The manoeuvre of breaking the line was not tried; in short,
+strength and pluck had more share in the fight than science. Everywhere tumult
+reigned, the battle being one scene of confusion; meanwhile the Athenian ships,
+by coming up to the Corcyraeans whenever they were pressed, served to alarm the
+enemy, though their commanders could not join in the battle from fear of their
+instructions. The right wing of the Corinthians suffered most. The Corcyraeans
+routed it, and chased them in disorder to the continent with twenty ships,
+sailed up to their camp, and burnt the tents which they found empty, and
+plundered the stuff. So in this quarter the Corinthians and their allies were
+defeated, and the Corcyraeans were victorious. But where the Corinthians
+themselves were, on the left, they gained a decided success; the scanty forces
+of the Corcyraeans being further weakened by the want of the twenty ships
+absent on the pursuit. Seeing the Corcyraeans hard pressed, the Athenians began
+at length to assist them more unequivocally. At first, it is true, they
+refrained from charging any ships; but when the rout was becoming patent, and
+the Corinthians were pressing on, the time at last came when every one set to,
+and all distinction was laid aside, and it came to this point, that the
+Corinthians and Athenians raised their hands against each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the rout, the Corinthians, instead of employing themselves in lashing
+fast and hauling after them the hulls of the vessels which they had disabled,
+turned their attention to the men, whom they butchered as they sailed through,
+not caring so much to make prisoners. Some even of their own friends were slain
+by them, by mistake, in their ignorance of the defeat of the right wing For the
+number of the ships on both sides, and the distance to which they covered the
+sea, made it difficult, after they had once joined, to distinguish between the
+conquering and the conquered; this battle proving far greater than any before
+it, any at least between Hellenes, for the number of vessels engaged. After the
+Corinthians had chased the Corcyraeans to the land, they turned to the wrecks
+and their dead, most of whom they succeeded in getting hold of and conveying to
+Sybota, the rendezvous of the land forces furnished by their barbarian allies.
+Sybota, it must be known, is a desert harbour of Thesprotis. This task over,
+they mustered anew, and sailed against the Corcyraeans, who on their part
+advanced to meet them with all their ships that were fit for service and
+remaining to them, accompanied by the Athenian vessels, fearing that they might
+attempt a landing in their territory. It was by this time getting late, and the
+paean had been sung for the attack, when the Corinthians suddenly began to back
+water. They had observed twenty Athenian ships sailing up, which had been sent
+out afterwards to reinforce the ten vessels by the Athenians, who feared, as it
+turned out justly, the defeat of the Corcyraeans and the inability of their
+handful of ships to protect them. These ships were thus seen by the Corinthians
+first. They suspected that they were from Athens, and that those which they saw
+were not all, but that there were more behind; they accordingly began to
+retire. The Corcyraeans meanwhile had not sighted them, as they were advancing
+from a point which they could not so well see, and were wondering why the
+Corinthians were backing water, when some caught sight of them, and cried out
+that there were ships in sight ahead. Upon this they also retired; for it was
+now getting dark, and the retreat of the Corinthians had suspended hostilities.
+Thus they parted from each other, and the battle ceased with night. The
+Corcyraeans were in their camp at Leukimme, when these twenty ships from
+Athens, under the command of Glaucon, the son of Leagrus, and Andocides, son of
+Leogoras, bore on through the corpses and the wrecks, and sailed up to the
+camp, not long after they were sighted. It was now night, and the Corcyraeans
+feared that they might be hostile vessels; but they soon knew them, and the
+ships came to anchor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the thirty Athenian vessels put out to sea, accompanied by all the
+Corcyraean ships that were seaworthy, and sailed to the harbour at Sybota,
+where the Corinthians lay, to see if they would engage. The Corinthians put out
+from the land and formed a line in the open sea, but beyond this made no
+further movement, having no intention of assuming the offensive. For they saw
+reinforcements arrived fresh from Athens, and themselves confronted by numerous
+difficulties, such as the necessity of guarding the prisoners whom they had on
+board and the want of all means of refitting their ships in a desert place.
+What they were thinking more about was how their voyage home was to be
+effected; they feared that the Athenians might consider that the treaty was
+dissolved by the collision which had occurred, and forbid their departure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly they resolved to put some men on board a boat, and send them
+without a herald&rsquo;s wand to the Athenians, as an experiment. Having done
+so, they spoke as follows: &ldquo;You do wrong, Athenians, to begin war and
+break the treaty. Engaged in chastising our enemies, we find you placing
+yourselves in our path in arms against us. Now if your intentions are to
+prevent us sailing to Corcyra, or anywhere else that we may wish, and if you
+are for breaking the treaty, first take us that are here and treat us as
+enemies.&rdquo; Such was what they said, and all the Corcyraean armament that
+were within hearing immediately called out to take them and kill them. But the
+Athenians answered as follows: &ldquo;Neither are we beginning war,
+Peloponnesians, nor are we breaking the treaty; but these Corcyraeans are our
+allies, and we are come to help them. So if you want to sail anywhere else, we
+place no obstacle in your way; but if you are going to sail against Corcyra, or
+any of her possessions, we shall do our best to stop you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Receiving this answer from the Athenians, the Corinthians commenced
+preparations for their voyage home, and set up a trophy in Sybota, on the
+continent; while the Corcyraeans took up the wrecks and dead that had been
+carried out to them by the current, and by a wind which rose in the night and
+scattered them in all directions, and set up their trophy in Sybota, on the
+island, as victors. The reasons each side had for claiming the victory were
+these. The Corinthians had been victorious in the sea-fight until night; and
+having thus been enabled to carry off most wrecks and dead, they were in
+possession of no fewer than a thousand prisoners of war, and had sunk close
+upon seventy vessels. The Corcyraeans had destroyed about thirty ships, and
+after the arrival of the Athenians had taken up the wrecks and dead on their
+side; they had besides seen the Corinthians retire before them, backing water
+on sight of the Athenian vessels, and upon the arrival of the Athenians refuse
+to sail out against them from Sybota. Thus both sides claimed the victory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Corinthians on the voyage home took Anactorium, which stands at the mouth
+of the Ambracian gulf. The place was taken by treachery, being common ground to
+the Corcyraeans and Corinthians. After establishing Corinthian settlers there,
+they retired home. Eight hundred of the Corcyraeans were slaves; these they
+sold; two hundred and fifty they retained in captivity, and treated with great
+attention, in the hope that they might bring over their country to Corinth on
+their return; most of them being, as it happened, men of very high position in
+Corcyra. In this way Corcyra maintained her political existence in the war with
+Corinth, and the Athenian vessels left the island. This was the first cause of
+the war that Corinth had against the Athenians, viz., that they had fought
+against them with the Corcyraeans in time of treaty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Almost immediately after this, fresh differences arose between the Athenians
+and Peloponnesians, and contributed their share to the war. Corinth was forming
+schemes for retaliation, and Athens suspected her hostility. The Potidæans, who
+inhabit the isthmus of Pallene, being a Corinthian colony, but tributary allies
+of Athens, were ordered to raze the wall looking towards Pallene, to give
+hostages, to dismiss the Corinthian magistrates, and in future not to receive
+the persons sent from Corinth annually to succeed them. It was feared that they
+might be persuaded by Perdiccas and the Corinthians to revolt, and might draw
+the rest of the allies in the direction of Thrace to revolt with them. These
+precautions against the Potidæans were taken by the Athenians immediately after
+the battle at Corcyra. Not only was Corinth at length openly hostile, but
+Perdiccas, son of Alexander, king of the Macedonians, had from an old friend
+and ally been made an enemy. He had been made an enemy by the Athenians
+entering into alliance with his brother Philip and Derdas, who were in league
+against him. In his alarm he had sent to Lacedaemon to try and involve the
+Athenians in a war with the Peloponnesians, and was endeavouring to win over
+Corinth in order to bring about the revolt of Potidæa. He also made overtures
+to the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace, and to the Bottiaeans, to
+persuade them to join in the revolt; for he thought that if these places on the
+border could be made his allies, it would be easier to carry on the war with
+their co-operation. Alive to all this, and wishing to anticipate the revolt of
+the cities, the Athenians acted as follows. They were just then sending off
+thirty ships and a thousand heavy infantry for his country under the command of
+Archestratus, son of Lycomedes, with four colleagues. They instructed the
+captains to take hostages of the Potidæans, to raze the wall, and to be on
+their guard against the revolt of the neighbouring cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Potidæans sent envoys to Athens on the chance of persuading them
+to take no new steps in their matters; they also went to Lacedaemon with the
+Corinthians to secure support in case of need. Failing after prolonged
+negotiation to obtain anything satisfactory from the Athenians; being unable,
+for all they could say, to prevent the vessels that were destined for Macedonia
+from also sailing against them; and receiving from the Lacedaemonian government
+a promise to invade Attica, if the Athenians should attack Potidæa, the
+Potidæans, thus favoured by the moment, at last entered into league with the
+Chalcidians and Bottiaeans, and revolted. And Perdiccas induced the Chalcidians
+to abandon and demolish their towns on the seaboard and, settling inland at
+Olynthus, to make that one city a strong place: meanwhile to those who followed
+his advice he gave a part of his territory in Mygdonia round Lake Bolbe as a
+place of abode while the war against the Athenians should last. They
+accordingly demolished their towns, removed inland and prepared for war. The
+thirty ships of the Athenians, arriving before the Thracian places, found
+Potidæa and the rest in revolt. Their commanders, considering it to be quite
+impossible with their present force to carry on war with Perdiccas and with the
+confederate towns as well turned to Macedonia, their original destination, and,
+having established themselves there, carried on war in co-operation with
+Philip, and the brothers of Derdas, who had invaded the country from the
+interior.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Corinthians, with Potidæa in revolt and the Athenian ships on the
+coast of Macedonia, alarmed for the safety of the place and thinking its danger
+theirs, sent volunteers from Corinth, and mercenaries from the rest of
+Peloponnese, to the number of sixteen hundred heavy infantry in all, and four
+hundred light troops. Aristeus, son of Adimantus, who was always a steady
+friend to the Potidæans, took command of the expedition, and it was principally
+for love of him that most of the men from Corinth volunteered. They arrived in
+Thrace forty days after the revolt of Potidæa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians also immediately received the news of the revolt of the cities.
+On being informed that Aristeus and his reinforcements were on their way, they
+sent two thousand heavy infantry of their own citizens and forty ships against
+the places in revolt, under the command of Callias, son of Calliades, and four
+colleagues. They arrived in Macedonia first, and found the force of a thousand
+men that had been first sent out, just become masters of Therme and besieging
+Pydna. Accordingly they also joined in the investment, and besieged Pydna for a
+while. Subsequently they came to terms and concluded a forced alliance with
+Perdiccas, hastened by the calls of Potidæa and by the arrival of Aristeus at
+that place. They withdrew from Macedonia, going to Beroea and thence to
+Strepsa, and, after a futile attempt on the latter place, they pursued by land
+their march to Potidæa with three thousand heavy infantry of their own
+citizens, besides a number of their allies, and six hundred Macedonian
+horsemen, the followers of Philip and Pausanias. With these sailed seventy
+ships along the coast. Advancing by short marches, on the third day they
+arrived at Gigonus, where they encamped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Potidæans and the Peloponnesians with Aristeus were encamped on
+the side looking towards Olynthus on the isthmus, in expectation of the
+Athenians, and had established their market outside the city. The allies had
+chosen Aristeus general of all the infantry; while the command of the cavalry
+was given to Perdiccas, who had at once left the alliance of the Athenians and
+gone back to that of the Potidæans, having deputed Iolaus as his general: The
+plan of Aristeus was to keep his own force on the isthmus, and await the attack
+of the Athenians; leaving the Chalcidians and the allies outside the isthmus,
+and the two hundred cavalry from Perdiccas in Olynthus to act upon the Athenian
+rear, on the occasion of their advancing against him; and thus to place the
+enemy between two fires. While Callias the Athenian general and his colleagues
+dispatched the Macedonian horse and a few of the allies to Olynthus, to prevent
+any movement being made from that quarter, the Athenians themselves broke up
+their camp and marched against Potidæa. After they had arrived at the isthmus,
+and saw the enemy preparing for battle, they formed against him, and soon
+afterwards engaged. The wing of Aristeus, with the Corinthians and other picked
+troops round him, routed the wing opposed to it, and followed for a
+considerable distance in pursuit. But the rest of the army of the Potidæans and
+of the Peloponnesians was defeated by the Athenians, and took refuge within the
+fortifications. Returning from the pursuit, Aristeus perceived the defeat of
+the rest of the army. Being at a loss which of the two risks to choose, whether
+to go to Olynthus or to Potidæa, he at last determined to draw his men into as
+small a space as possible, and force his way with a run into Potidæa. Not
+without difficulty, through a storm of missiles, he passed along by the
+breakwater through the sea, and brought off most of his men safe, though a few
+were lost. Meanwhile the auxiliaries of the Potidæans from Olynthus, which is
+about seven miles off and in sight of Potidæa, when the battle began and the
+signals were raised, advanced a little way to render assistance; and the
+Macedonian horse formed against them to prevent it. But on victory speedily
+declaring for the Athenians and the signals being taken down, they retired back
+within the wall; and the Macedonians returned to the Athenians. Thus there were
+no cavalry present on either side. After the battle the Athenians set up a
+trophy, and gave back their dead to the Potidæans under truce. The Potidæans
+and their allies had close upon three hundred killed; the Athenians a hundred
+and fifty of their own citizens, and Callias their general.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wall on the side of the isthmus had now works at once raised against it,
+and manned by the Athenians. That on the side of Pallene had no works raised
+against it. They did not think themselves strong enough at once to keep a
+garrison in the isthmus and to cross over to Pallene and raise works there;
+they were afraid that the Potidæans and their allies might take advantage of
+their division to attack them. Meanwhile the Athenians at home learning that
+there were no works at Pallene, some time afterwards sent off sixteen hundred
+heavy infantry of their own citizens under the command of Phormio, son of
+Asopius. Arrived at Pallene, he fixed his headquarters at Aphytis, and led his
+army against Potidæa by short marches, ravaging the country as he advanced. No
+one venturing to meet him in the field, he raised works against the wall on the
+side of Pallene. So at length Potidæa was strongly invested on either side, and
+from the sea by the ships co-operating in the blockade. Aristeus, seeing its
+investment complete, and having no hope of its salvation, except in the event
+of some movement from the Peloponnese, or of some other improbable contingency,
+advised all except five hundred to watch for a wind and sail out of the place,
+in order that their provisions might last the longer. He was willing to be
+himself one of those who remained. Unable to persuade them, and desirous of
+acting on the next alternative, and of having things outside in the best
+posture possible, he eluded the guardships of the Athenians and sailed out.
+Remaining among the Chalcidians, he continued to carry on the war; in
+particular he laid an ambuscade near the city of the Sermylians, and cut off
+many of them; he also communicated with Peloponnese, and tried to contrive some
+method by which help might be brought. Meanwhile, after the completion of the
+investment of Potidæa, Phormio next employed his sixteen hundred men in
+ravaging Chalcidice and Bottica: some of the towns also were taken by him.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"></a>
+CHAPTER III </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at Lacedaemon
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians and Peloponnesians had these antecedent grounds of complaint
+against each other: the complaint of Corinth was that her colony of Potidæa,
+and Corinthian and Peloponnesian citizens within it, were being besieged; that
+of Athens against the Peloponnesians that they had incited a town of hers, a
+member of her alliance and a contributor to her revenue, to revolt, and had
+come and were openly fighting against her on the side of the Potidæans. For all
+this, war had not yet broken out: there was still truce for a while; for this
+was a private enterprise on the part of Corinth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the siege of Potidæa put an end to her inaction; she had men inside it:
+besides, she feared for the place. Immediately summoning the allies to
+Lacedaemon, she came and loudly accused Athens of breach of the treaty and
+aggression on the rights of Peloponnese. With her, the Aeginetans, formally
+unrepresented from fear of Athens, in secret proved not the least urgent of the
+advocates for war, asserting that they had not the independence guaranteed to
+them by the treaty. After extending the summons to any of their allies and
+others who might have complaints to make of Athenian aggression, the
+Lacedaemonians held their ordinary assembly, and invited them to speak. There
+were many who came forward and made their several accusations; among them the
+Megarians, in a long list of grievances, called special attention to the fact
+of their exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and the market of
+Athens, in defiance of the treaty. Last of all the Corinthians came forward,
+and having let those who preceded them inflame the Lacedaemonians, now followed
+with a speech to this effect:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lacedaemonians! the confidence which you feel in your constitution and
+social order, inclines you to receive any reflections of ours on other powers
+with a certain scepticism. Hence springs your moderation, but hence also the
+rather limited knowledge which you betray in dealing with foreign politics.
+Time after time was our voice raised to warn you of the blows about to be dealt
+us by Athens, and time after time, instead of taking the trouble to ascertain
+the worth of our communications, you contented yourselves with suspecting the
+speakers of being inspired by private interest. And so, instead of calling
+these allies together before the blow fell, you have delayed to do so till we
+are smarting under it; allies among whom we have not the worst title to speak,
+as having the greatest complaints to make, complaints of Athenian outrage and
+Lacedaemonian neglect. Now if these assaults on the rights of Hellas had been
+made in the dark, you might be unacquainted with the facts, and it would be our
+duty to enlighten you. As it is, long speeches are not needed where you see
+servitude accomplished for some of us, meditated for others&mdash;in particular
+for our allies&mdash;and prolonged preparations in the aggressor against the
+hour of war. Or what, pray, is the meaning of their reception of Corcyra by
+fraud, and their holding it against us by force? what of the siege of
+Potidæa?&mdash;places one of which lies most conveniently for any action
+against the Thracian towns; while the other would have contributed a very large
+navy to the Peloponnesians?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For all this you are responsible. You it was who first allowed them to
+fortify their city after the Median war, and afterwards to erect the long
+walls&mdash;you who, then and now, are always depriving of freedom not only
+those whom they have enslaved, but also those who have as yet been your allies.
+For the true author of the subjugation of a people is not so much the immediate
+agent, as the power which permits it having the means to prevent it;
+particularly if that power aspires to the glory of being the liberator of
+Hellas. We are at last assembled. It has not been easy to assemble, nor even
+now are our objects defined. We ought not to be still inquiring into the fact
+of our wrongs, but into the means of our defence. For the aggressors with
+matured plans to oppose to our indecision have cast threats aside and betaken
+themselves to action. And we know what are the paths by which Athenian
+aggression travels, and how insidious is its progress. A degree of confidence
+she may feel from the idea that your bluntness of perception prevents your
+noticing her; but it is nothing to the impulse which her advance will receive
+from the knowledge that you see, but do not care to interfere. You,
+Lacedaemonians, of all the Hellenes are alone inactive, and defend yourselves
+not by doing anything but by looking as if you would do something; you alone
+wait till the power of an enemy is becoming twice its original size, instead of
+crushing it in its infancy. And yet the world used to say that you were to be
+depended upon; but in your case, we fear, it said more than the truth. The
+Mede, we ourselves know, had time to come from the ends of the earth to
+Peloponnese, without any force of yours worthy of the name advancing to meet
+him. But this was a distant enemy. Well, Athens at all events is a near
+neighbour, and yet Athens you utterly disregard; against Athens you prefer to
+act on the defensive instead of on the offensive, and to make it an affair of
+chances by deferring the struggle till she has grown far stronger than at
+first. And yet you know that on the whole the rock on which the barbarian was
+wrecked was himself, and that if our present enemy Athens has not again and
+again annihilated us, we owe it more to her blunders than to your protection;
+Indeed, expectations from you have before now been the ruin of some, whose
+faith induced them to omit preparation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We hope that none of you will consider these words of remonstrance to be
+rather words of hostility; men remonstrate with friends who are in error,
+accusations they reserve for enemies who have wronged them. Besides, we
+consider that we have as good a right as any one to point out a
+neighbour&rsquo;s faults, particularly when we contemplate the great contrast
+between the two national characters; a contrast of which, as far as we can see,
+you have little perception, having never yet considered what sort of
+antagonists you will encounter in the Athenians, how widely, how absolutely
+different from yourselves. The Athenians are addicted to innovation, and their
+designs are characterized by swiftness alike in conception and execution; you
+have a genius for keeping what you have got, accompanied by a total want of
+invention, and when forced to act you never go far enough. Again, they are
+adventurous beyond their power, and daring beyond their judgment, and in danger
+they are sanguine; your wont is to attempt less than is justified by your
+power, to mistrust even what is sanctioned by your judgment, and to fancy that
+from danger there is no release. Further, there is promptitude on their side
+against procrastination on yours; they are never at home, you are never from
+it: for they hope by their absence to extend their acquisitions, you fear by
+your advance to endanger what you have left behind. They are swift to follow up
+a success, and slow to recoil from a reverse. Their bodies they spend
+ungrudgingly in their country&rsquo;s cause; their intellect they jealously
+husband to be employed in her service. A scheme unexecuted is with them a
+positive loss, a successful enterprise a comparative failure. The deficiency
+created by the miscarriage of an undertaking is soon filled up by fresh hopes;
+for they alone are enabled to call a thing hoped for a thing got, by the speed
+with which they act upon their resolutions. Thus they toil on in trouble and
+danger all the days of their life, with little opportunity for enjoying, being
+ever engaged in getting: their only idea of a holiday is to do what the
+occasion demands, and to them laborious occupation is less of a misfortune than
+the peace of a quiet life. To describe their character in a word, one might
+truly say that they were born into the world to take no rest themselves and to
+give none to others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Such is Athens, your antagonist. And yet, Lacedaemonians, you still
+delay, and fail to see that peace stays longest with those, who are not more
+careful to use their power justly than to show their determination not to
+submit to injustice. On the contrary, your ideal of fair dealing is based on
+the principle that, if you do not injure others, you need not risk your own
+fortunes in preventing others from injuring you. Now you could scarcely have
+succeeded in such a policy even with a neighbour like yourselves; but in the
+present instance, as we have just shown, your habits are old-fashioned as
+compared with theirs. It is the law as in art, so in politics, that
+improvements ever prevail; and though fixed usages may be best for undisturbed
+communities, constant necessities of action must be accompanied by the constant
+improvement of methods. Thus it happens that the vast experience of Athens has
+carried her further than you on the path of innovation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Here, at least, let your procrastination end. For the present, assist
+your allies and Potidæa in particular, as you promised, by a speedy invasion of
+Attica, and do not sacrifice friends and kindred to their bitterest enemies,
+and drive the rest of us in despair to some other alliance. Such a step would
+not be condemned either by the Gods who received our oaths, or by the men who
+witnessed them. The breach of a treaty cannot be laid to the people whom
+desertion compels to seek new relations, but to the power that fails to assist
+its confederate. But if you will only act, we will stand by you; it would be
+unnatural for us to change, and never should we meet with such a congenial
+ally. For these reasons choose the right course, and endeavour not to let
+Peloponnese under your supremacy degenerate from the prestige that it enjoyed
+under that of your ancestors.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Corinthians. There happened to be Athenian envoys
+present at Lacedaemon on other business. On hearing the speeches they thought
+themselves called upon to come before the Lacedaemonians. Their intention was
+not to offer a defence on any of the charges which the cities brought against
+them, but to show on a comprehensive view that it was not a matter to be
+hastily decided on, but one that demanded further consideration. There was also
+a wish to call attention to the great power of Athens, and to refresh the
+memory of the old and enlighten the ignorance of the young, from a notion that
+their words might have the effect of inducing them to prefer tranquillity to
+war. So they came to the Lacedaemonians and said that they too, if there was no
+objection, wished to speak to their assembly. They replied by inviting them to
+come forward. The Athenians advanced, and spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The object of our mission here was not to argue with your allies, but to
+attend to the matters on which our state dispatched us. However, the vehemence
+of the outcry that we hear against us has prevailed on us to come forward. It
+is not to combat the accusations of the cities (indeed you are not the judges
+before whom either we or they can plead), but to prevent your taking the wrong
+course on matters of great importance by yielding too readily to the
+persuasions of your allies. We also wish to show on a review of the whole
+indictment that we have a fair title to our possessions, and that our country
+has claims to consideration. We need not refer to remote antiquity: there we
+could appeal to the voice of tradition, but not to the experience of our
+audience. But to the Median War and contemporary history we must refer,
+although we are rather tired of continually bringing this subject forward. In
+our action during that war we ran great risk to obtain certain advantages: you
+had your share in the solid results, do not try to rob us of all share in the
+good that the glory may do us. However, the story shall be told not so much to
+deprecate hostility as to testify against it, and to show, if you are so ill
+advised as to enter into a struggle with Athens, what sort of an antagonist she
+is likely to prove. We assert that at Marathon we were at the front, and faced
+the barbarian single-handed. That when he came the second time, unable to cope
+with him by land we went on board our ships with all our people, and joined in
+the action at Salamis. This prevented his taking the Peloponnesian states in
+detail, and ravaging them with his fleet; when the multitude of his vessels
+would have made any combination for self-defence impossible. The best proof of
+this was furnished by the invader himself. Defeated at sea, he considered his
+power to be no longer what it had been, and retired as speedily as possible
+with the greater part of his army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Such, then, was the result of the matter, and it was clearly proved that
+it was on the fleet of Hellas that her cause depended. Well, to this result we
+contributed three very useful elements, viz., the largest number of ships, the
+ablest commander, and the most unhesitating patriotism. Our contingent of ships
+was little less than two-thirds of the whole four hundred; the commander was
+Themistocles, through whom chiefly it was that the battle took place in the
+straits, the acknowledged salvation of our cause. Indeed, this was the reason
+of your receiving him with honours such as had never been accorded to any
+foreign visitor. While for daring patriotism we had no competitors. Receiving
+no reinforcements from behind, seeing everything in front of us already
+subjugated, we had the spirit, after abandoning our city, after sacrificing our
+property (instead of deserting the remainder of the league or depriving them of
+our services by dispersing), to throw ourselves into our ships and meet the
+danger, without a thought of resenting your neglect to assist us. We assert,
+therefore, that we conferred on you quite as much as we received. For you had a
+stake to fight for; the cities which you had left were still filled with your
+homes, and you had the prospect of enjoying them again; and your coming was
+prompted quite as much by fear for yourselves as for us; at all events, you
+never appeared till we had nothing left to lose. But we left behind us a city
+that was a city no longer, and staked our lives for a city that had an
+existence only in desperate hope, and so bore our full share in your
+deliverance and in ours. But if we had copied others, and allowed fears for our
+territory to make us give in our adhesion to the Mede before you came, or if we
+had suffered our ruin to break our spirit and prevent us embarking in our
+ships, your naval inferiority would have made a sea-fight unnecessary, and his
+objects would have been peaceably attained.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Surely, Lacedaemonians, neither by the patriotism that we displayed at
+that crisis, nor by the wisdom of our counsels, do we merit our extreme
+unpopularity with the Hellenes, not at least unpopularity for our empire. That
+empire we acquired by no violent means, but because you were unwilling to
+prosecute to its conclusion the war against the barbarian, and because the
+allies attached themselves to us and spontaneously asked us to assume the
+command. And the nature of the case first compelled us to advance our empire to
+its present height; fear being our principal motive, though honour and interest
+afterwards came in. And at last, when almost all hated us, when some had
+already revolted and had been subdued, when you had ceased to be the friends
+that you once were, and had become objects of suspicion and dislike, it
+appeared no longer safe to give up our empire; especially as all who left us
+would fall to you. And no one can quarrel with a people for making, in matters
+of tremendous risk, the best provision that it can for its interest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You, at all events, Lacedaemonians, have used your supremacy to settle
+the states in Peloponnese as is agreeable to you. And if at the period of which
+we were speaking you had persevered to the end of the matter, and had incurred
+hatred in your command, we are sure that you would have made yourselves just as
+galling to the allies, and would have been forced to choose between a strong
+government and danger to yourselves. It follows that it was not a very
+wonderful action, or contrary to the common practice of mankind, if we did
+accept an empire that was offered to us, and refused to give it up under the
+pressure of three of the strongest motives, fear, honour, and interest. And it
+was not we who set the example, for it has always been law that the weaker
+should be subject to the stronger. Besides, we believed ourselves to be worthy
+of our position, and so you thought us till now, when calculations of interest
+have made you take up the cry of justice&mdash;a consideration which no one
+ever yet brought forward to hinder his ambition when he had a chance of gaining
+anything by might. And praise is due to all who, if not so superior to human
+nature as to refuse dominion, yet respect justice more than their position
+compels them to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We imagine that our moderation would be best demonstrated by the conduct
+of others who should be placed in our position; but even our equity has very
+unreasonably subjected us to condemnation instead of approval. Our abatement of
+our rights in the contract trials with our allies, and our causing them to be
+decided by impartial laws at Athens, have gained us the character of being
+litigious. And none care to inquire why this reproach is not brought against
+other imperial powers, who treat their subjects with less moderation than we
+do; the secret being that where force can be used, law is not needed. But our
+subjects are so habituated to associate with us as equals that any defeat
+whatever that clashes with their notions of justice, whether it proceeds from a
+legal judgment or from the power which our empire gives us, makes them forget
+to be grateful for being allowed to retain most of their possessions, and more
+vexed at a part being taken, than if we had from the first cast law aside and
+openly gratified our covetousness. If we had done so, not even would they have
+disputed that the weaker must give way to the stronger. Men&rsquo;s
+indignation, it seems, is more excited by legal wrong than by violent wrong;
+the first looks like being cheated by an equal, the second like being compelled
+by a superior. At all events they contrived to put up with much worse treatment
+than this from the Mede, yet they think our rule severe, and this is to be
+expected, for the present always weighs heavy on the conquered. This at least
+is certain. If you were to succeed in overthrowing us and in taking our place,
+you would speedily lose the popularity with which fear of us has invested you,
+if your policy of to-day is at all to tally with the sample that you gave of it
+during the brief period of your command against the Mede. Not only is your life
+at home regulated by rules and institutions incompatible with those of others,
+but your citizens abroad act neither on these rules nor on those which are
+recognized by the rest of Hellas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Take time then in forming your resolution, as the matter is of great
+importance; and do not be persuaded by the opinions and complaints of others to
+bring trouble on yourselves, but consider the vast influence of accident in
+war, before you are engaged in it. As it continues, it generally becomes an
+affair of chances, chances from which neither of us is exempt, and whose event
+we must risk in the dark. It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at
+the wrong end, to act first, and wait for disaster to discuss the matter. But
+we are not yet by any means so misguided, nor, so far as we can see, are you;
+accordingly, while it is still open to us both to choose aright, we bid you not
+to dissolve the treaty, or to break your oaths, but to have our differences
+settled by arbitration according to our agreement. Or else we take the gods who
+heard the oaths to witness, and if you begin hostilities, whatever line of
+action you choose, we will try not to be behindhand in repelling you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Athenians. After the Lacedaemonians had heard the
+complaints of the allies against the Athenians, and the observations of the
+latter, they made all withdraw, and consulted by themselves on the question
+before them. The opinions of the majority all led to the same conclusion; the
+Athenians were open aggressors, and war must be declared at once. But
+Archidamus, the Lacedaemonian king, came forward, who had the reputation of
+being at once a wise and a moderate man, and made the following speech:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have not lived so long, Lacedaemonians, without having had the
+experience of many wars, and I see those among you of the same age as myself,
+who will not fall into the common misfortune of longing for war from
+inexperience or from a belief in its advantage and its safety. This, the war on
+which you are now debating, would be one of the greatest magnitude, on a sober
+consideration of the matter. In a struggle with Peloponnesians and neighbours
+our strength is of the same character, and it is possible to move swiftly on
+the different points. But a struggle with a people who live in a distant land,
+who have also an extraordinary familiarity with the sea, and who are in the
+highest state of preparation in every other department; with wealth private and
+public, with ships, and horses, and heavy infantry, and a population such as no
+one other Hellenic place can equal, and lastly a number of tributary
+allies&mdash;what can justify us in rashly beginning such a struggle? wherein
+is our trust that we should rush on it unprepared? Is it in our ships? There we
+are inferior; while if we are to practise and become a match for them, time
+must intervene. Is it in our money? There we have a far greater deficiency. We
+neither have it in our treasury, nor are we ready to contribute it from our
+private funds. Confidence might possibly be felt in our superiority in heavy
+infantry and population, which will enable us to invade and devastate their
+lands. But the Athenians have plenty of other land in their empire, and can
+import what they want by sea. Again, if we are to attempt an insurrection of
+their allies, these will have to be supported with a fleet, most of them being
+islanders. What then is to be our war? For unless we can either beat them at
+sea, or deprive them of the revenues which feed their navy, we shall meet with
+little but disaster. Meanwhile our honour will be pledged to keeping on,
+particularly if it be the opinion that we began the quarrel. For let us never
+be elated by the fatal hope of the war being quickly ended by the devastation
+of their lands. I fear rather that we may leave it as a legacy to our children;
+so improbable is it that the Athenian spirit will be the slave of their land,
+or Athenian experience be cowed by war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not that I would bid you be so unfeeling as to suffer them to injure
+your allies, and to refrain from unmasking their intrigues; but I do bid you
+not to take up arms at once, but to send and remonstrate with them in a tone
+not too suggestive of war, nor again too suggestive of submission, and to
+employ the interval in perfecting our own preparations. The means will be,
+first, the acquisition of allies, Hellenic or barbarian it matters not, so long
+as they are an accession to our strength naval or pecuniary&mdash;I say
+Hellenic or barbarian, because the odium of such an accession to all who like
+us are the objects of the designs of the Athenians is taken away by the law of
+self-preservation&mdash;and secondly the development of our home resources. If
+they listen to our embassy, so much the better; but if not, after the lapse of
+two or three years our position will have become materially strengthened, and
+we can then attack them if we think proper. Perhaps by that time the sight of
+our preparations, backed by language equally significant, will have disposed
+them to submission, while their land is still untouched, and while their
+counsels may be directed to the retention of advantages as yet undestroyed. For
+the only light in which you can view their land is that of a hostage in your
+hands, a hostage the more valuable the better it is cultivated. This you ought
+to spare as long as possible, and not make them desperate, and so increase the
+difficulty of dealing with them. For if while still unprepared, hurried away by
+the complaints of our allies, we are induced to lay it waste, have a care that
+we do not bring deep disgrace and deep perplexity upon Peloponnese. Complaints,
+whether of communities or individuals, it is possible to adjust; but war
+undertaken by a coalition for sectional interests, whose progress there is no
+means of foreseeing, does not easily admit of creditable settlement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And none need think it cowardice for a number of confederates to pause
+before they attack a single city. The Athenians have allies as numerous as our
+own, and allies that pay tribute, and war is a matter not so much of arms as of
+money, which makes arms of use. And this is more than ever true in a struggle
+between a continental and a maritime power. First, then, let us provide money,
+and not allow ourselves to be carried away by the talk of our allies before we
+have done so: as we shall have the largest share of responsibility for the
+consequences be they good or bad, we have also a right to a tranquil inquiry
+respecting them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And the slowness and procrastination, the parts of our character that
+are most assailed by their criticism, need not make you blush. If we undertake
+the war without preparation, we should by hastening its commencement only delay
+its conclusion: further, a free and a famous city has through all time been
+ours. The quality which they condemn is really nothing but a wise moderation;
+thanks to its possession, we alone do not become insolent in success and give
+way less than others in misfortune; we are not carried away by the pleasure of
+hearing ourselves cheered on to risks which our judgment condemns; nor, if
+annoyed, are we any the more convinced by attempts to exasperate us by
+accusation. We are both warlike and wise, and it is our sense of order that
+makes us so. We are warlike, because self-control contains honour as a chief
+constituent, and honour bravery. And we are wise, because we are educated with
+too little learning to despise the laws, and with too severe a self-control to
+disobey them, and are brought up not to be too knowing in useless
+matters&mdash;such as the knowledge which can give a specious criticism of an
+enemy&rsquo;s plans in theory, but fails to assail them with equal success in
+practice&mdash;but are taught to consider that the schemes of our enemies are
+not dissimilar to our own, and that the freaks of chance are not determinable
+by calculation. In practice we always base our preparations against an enemy on
+the assumption that his plans are good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes
+not on a belief in his blunders, but on the soundness of our provisions. Nor
+ought we to believe that there is much difference between man and man, but to
+think that the superiority lies with him who is reared in the severest school.
+These practices, then, which our ancestors have delivered to us, and by whose
+maintenance we have always profited, must not be given up. And we must not be
+hurried into deciding in a day&rsquo;s brief space a question which concerns
+many lives and fortunes and many cities, and in which honour is deeply
+involved&mdash;but we must decide calmly. This our strength peculiarly enables
+us to do. As for the Athenians, send to them on the matter of Potidæa, send on
+the matter of the alleged wrongs of the allies, particularly as they are
+prepared with legal satisfaction; and to proceed against one who offers
+arbitration as against a wrongdoer, law forbids. Meanwhile do not omit
+preparation for war. This decision will be the best for yourselves, the most
+terrible to your opponents.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Archidamus. Last came forward Sthenelaidas, one of the
+ephors for that year, and spoke to the Lacedaemonians as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The long speech of the Athenians I do not pretend to understand. They
+said a good deal in praise of themselves, but nowhere denied that they are
+injuring our allies and Peloponnese. And yet if they behaved well against the
+Mede then, but ill towards us now, they deserve double punishment for having
+ceased to be good and for having become bad. We meanwhile are the same then and
+now, and shall not, if we are wise, disregard the wrongs of our allies, or put
+off till to-morrow the duty of assisting those who must suffer to-day. Others
+have much money and ships and horses, but we have good allies whom we must not
+give up to the Athenians, nor by lawsuits and words decide the matter, as it is
+anything but in word that we are harmed, but render instant and powerful help.
+And let us not be told that it is fitting for us to deliberate under injustice;
+long deliberation is rather fitting for those who have injustice in
+contemplation. Vote therefore, Lacedaemonians, for war, as the honour of Sparta
+demands, and neither allow the further aggrandizement of Athens, nor betray our
+allies to ruin, but with the gods let us advance against the aggressors.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these words he, as ephor, himself put the question to the assembly of the
+Lacedaemonians. He said that he could not determine which was the loudest
+acclamation (their mode of decision is by acclamation not by voting); the fact
+being that he wished to make them declare their opinion openly and thus to
+increase their ardour for war. Accordingly he said: &ldquo;All Lacedaemonians
+who are of opinion that the treaty has been broken, and that Athens is guilty,
+leave your seats and go there,&rdquo; pointing out a certain place; &ldquo;all
+who are of the opposite opinion, there.&rdquo; They accordingly stood up and
+divided; and those who held that the treaty had been broken were in a decided
+majority. Summoning the allies, they told them that their opinion was that
+Athens had been guilty of injustice, but that they wished to convoke all the
+allies and put it to the vote; in order that they might make war, if they
+decided to do so, on a common resolution. Having thus gained their point, the
+delegates returned home at once; the Athenian envoys a little later, when they
+had dispatched the objects of their mission. This decision of the assembly,
+judging that the treaty had been broken, was made in the fourteenth year of the
+thirty years&rsquo; truce, which was entered into after the affair of Euboea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians voted that the treaty had been broken, and that the war must
+be declared, not so much because they were persuaded by the arguments of the
+allies, as because they feared the growth of the power of the Athenians, seeing
+most of Hellas already subject to them.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"></a>
+CHAPTER IV </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+From the end of the Persian to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War&mdash;The
+Progress from Supremacy to Empire
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The way in which Athens came to be placed in the circumstances under which her
+power grew was this. After the Medes had returned from Europe, defeated by sea
+and land by the Hellenes, and after those of them who had fled with their ships
+to Mycale had been destroyed, Leotychides, king of the Lacedaemonians, the
+commander of the Hellenes at Mycale, departed home with the allies from
+Peloponnese. But the Athenians and the allies from Ionia and Hellespont, who
+had now revolted from the King, remained and laid siege to Sestos, which was
+still held by the Medes. After wintering before it, they became masters of the
+place on its evacuation by the barbarians; and after this they sailed away from
+Hellespont to their respective cities. Meanwhile the Athenian people, after the
+departure of the barbarian from their country, at once proceeded to carry over
+their children and wives, and such property as they had left, from the places
+where they had deposited them, and prepared to rebuild their city and their
+walls. For only isolated portions of the circumference had been left standing,
+and most of the houses were in ruins; though a few remained, in which the
+Persian grandees had taken up their quarters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perceiving what they were going to do, the Lacedaemonians sent an embassy to
+Athens. They would have themselves preferred to see neither her nor any other
+city in possession of a wall; though here they acted principally at the
+instigation of their allies, who were alarmed at the strength of her newly
+acquired navy and the valour which she had displayed in the war with the Medes.
+They begged her not only to abstain from building walls for herself, but also
+to join them in throwing down the walls that still held together of the
+ultra-Peloponnesian cities. The real meaning of their advice, the suspicion
+that it contained against the Athenians, was not proclaimed; it was urged that
+so the barbarian, in the event of a third invasion, would not have any strong
+place, such as he now had in Thebes, for his base of operations; and that
+Peloponnese would suffice for all as a base both for retreat and offence. After
+the Lacedaemonians had thus spoken, they were, on the advice of Themistocles,
+immediately dismissed by the Athenians, with the answer that ambassadors should
+be sent to Sparta to discuss the question. Themistocles told the Athenians to
+send him off with all speed to Lacedaemon, but not to dispatch his colleagues
+as soon as they had selected them, but to wait until they had raised their wall
+to the height from which defence was possible. Meanwhile the whole population
+in the city was to labour at the wall, the Athenians, their wives, and their
+children, sparing no edifice, private or public, which might be of any use to
+the work, but throwing all down. After giving these instructions, and adding
+that he would be responsible for all other matters there, he departed. Arrived
+at Lacedaemon he did not seek an audience with the authorities, but tried to
+gain time and made excuses. When any of the government asked him why he did not
+appear in the assembly, he would say that he was waiting for his colleagues,
+who had been detained in Athens by some engagement; however, that he expected
+their speedy arrival, and wondered that they were not yet there. At first the
+Lacedaemonians trusted the words of Themistocles, through their friendship for
+him; but when others arrived, all distinctly declaring that the work was going
+on and already attaining some elevation, they did not know how to disbelieve
+it. Aware of this, he told them that rumours are deceptive, and should not be
+trusted; they should send some reputable persons from Sparta to inspect, whose
+report might be trusted. They dispatched them accordingly. Concerning these
+Themistocles secretly sent word to the Athenians to detain them as far as
+possible without putting them under open constraint, and not to let them go
+until they had themselves returned. For his colleagues had now joined him,
+Abronichus, son of Lysicles, and Aristides, son of Lysimachus, with the news
+that the wall was sufficiently advanced; and he feared that when the
+Lacedaemonians heard the facts, they might refuse to let them go. So the
+Athenians detained the envoys according to his message, and Themistocles had an
+audience with the Lacedaemonians, and at last openly told them that Athens was
+now fortified sufficiently to protect its inhabitants; that any embassy which
+the Lacedaemonians or their allies might wish to send to them should in future
+proceed on the assumption that the people to whom they were going was able to
+distinguish both its own and the general interests. That when the Athenians
+thought fit to abandon their city and to embark in their ships, they ventured
+on that perilous step without consulting them; and that on the other hand,
+wherever they had deliberated with the Lacedaemonians, they had proved
+themselves to be in judgment second to none. That they now thought it fit that
+their city should have a wall, and that this would be more for the advantage of
+both the citizens of Athens and the Hellenic confederacy; for without equal
+military strength it was impossible to contribute equal or fair counsel to the
+common interest. It followed, he observed, either that all the members of the
+confederacy should be without walls, or that the present step should be
+considered a right one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians did not betray any open signs of anger against the Athenians
+at what they heard. The embassy, it seems, was prompted not by a desire to
+obstruct, but to guide the counsels of their government: besides, Spartan
+feeling was at that time very friendly towards Athens on account of the
+patriotism which she had displayed in the struggle with the Mede. Still the
+defeat of their wishes could not but cause them secret annoyance. The envoys of
+each state departed home without complaint.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this way the Athenians walled their city in a little while. To this day the
+building shows signs of the haste of its execution; the foundations are laid of
+stones of all kinds, and in some places not wrought or fitted, but placed just
+in the order in which they were brought by the different hands; and many
+columns, too, from tombs, and sculptured stones were put in with the rest. For
+the bounds of the city were extended at every point of the circumference; and
+so they laid hands on everything without exception in their haste. Themistocles
+also persuaded them to finish the walls of Piraeus, which had been begun
+before, in his year of office as archon; being influenced alike by the fineness
+of a locality that has three natural harbours, and by the great start which the
+Athenians would gain in the acquisition of power by becoming a naval people.
+For he first ventured to tell them to stick to the sea and forthwith began to
+lay the foundations of the empire. It was by his advice, too, that they built
+the walls of that thickness which can still be discerned round Piraeus, the
+stones being brought up by two wagons meeting each other. Between the walls
+thus formed there was neither rubble nor mortar, but great stones hewn square
+and fitted together, cramped to each other on the outside with iron and lead.
+About half the height that he intended was finished. His idea was by their size
+and thickness to keep off the attacks of an enemy; he thought that they might
+be adequately defended by a small garrison of invalids, and the rest be freed
+for service in the fleet. For the fleet claimed most of his attention. He saw,
+as I think, that the approach by sea was easier for the king&rsquo;s army than
+that by land: he also thought Piraeus more valuable than the upper city;
+indeed, he was always advising the Athenians, if a day should come when they
+were hard pressed by land, to go down into Piraeus, and defy the world with
+their fleet. Thus, therefore, the Athenians completed their wall, and commenced
+their other buildings immediately after the retreat of the Mede.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, was sent out from Lacedaemon as
+commander-in-chief of the Hellenes, with twenty ships from Peloponnese. With
+him sailed the Athenians with thirty ships, and a number of the other allies.
+They made an expedition against Cyprus and subdued most of the island, and
+afterwards against Byzantium, which was in the hands of the Medes, and
+compelled it to surrender. This event took place while the Spartans were still
+supreme. But the violence of Pausanias had already begun to be disagreeable to
+the Hellenes, particularly to the Ionians and the newly liberated populations.
+These resorted to the Athenians and requested them as their kinsmen to become
+their leaders, and to stop any attempt at violence on the part of Pausanias.
+The Athenians accepted their overtures, and determined to put down any attempt
+of the kind and to settle everything else as their interests might seem to
+demand. In the meantime the Lacedaemonians recalled Pausanias for an
+investigation of the reports which had reached them. Manifold and grave
+accusations had been brought against him by Hellenes arriving in Sparta; and,
+to all appearance, there had been in him more of the mimicry of a despot than
+of the attitude of a general. As it happened, his recall came just at the time
+when the hatred which he had inspired had induced the allies to desert him, the
+soldiers from Peloponnese excepted, and to range themselves by the side of the
+Athenians. On his arrival at Lacedaemon, he was censured for his private acts
+of oppression, but was acquitted on the heaviest counts and pronounced not
+guilty; it must be known that the charge of Medism formed one of the principal,
+and to all appearance one of the best founded, articles against him. The
+Lacedaemonians did not, however, restore him to his command, but sent out
+Dorkis and certain others with a small force; who found the allies no longer
+inclined to concede to them the supremacy. Perceiving this they departed, and
+the Lacedaemonians did not send out any to succeed them. They feared for those
+who went out a deterioration similar to that observable in Pausanias; besides,
+they desired to be rid of the Median War, and were satisfied of the competency
+of the Athenians for the position, and of their friendship at the time towards
+themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, having thus succeeded to the supremacy by the voluntary act of
+the allies through their hatred of Pausanias, fixed which cities were to
+contribute money against the barbarian, which ships; their professed object
+being to retaliate for their sufferings by ravaging the King&rsquo;s country.
+Now was the time that the office of &ldquo;Treasurers for Hellas&rdquo; was
+first instituted by the Athenians. These officers received the tribute, as the
+money contributed was called. The tribute was first fixed at four hundred and
+sixty talents. The common treasury was at Delos, and the congresses were held
+in the temple. Their supremacy commenced with independent allies who acted on
+the resolutions of a common congress. It was marked by the following
+undertakings in war and in administration during the interval between the
+Median and the present war, against the barbarian, against their own rebel
+allies, and against the Peloponnesian powers which would come in contact with
+them on various occasions. My excuse for relating these events, and for
+venturing on this digression, is that this passage of history has been omitted
+by all my predecessors, who have confined themselves either to Hellenic history
+before the Median War, or the Median War itself. Hellanicus, it is true, did
+touch on these events in his Athenian history; but he is somewhat concise and
+not accurate in his dates. Besides, the history of these events contains an
+explanation of the growth of the Athenian empire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+First the Athenians besieged and captured Eion on the Strymon from the Medes,
+and made slaves of the inhabitants, being under the command of Cimon, son of
+Miltiades. Next they enslaved Scyros, the island in the Aegean, containing a
+Dolopian population, and colonized it themselves. This was followed by a war
+against Carystus, in which the rest of Euboea remained neutral, and which was
+ended by surrender on conditions. After this Naxos left the confederacy, and a
+war ensued, and she had to return after a siege; this was the first instance of
+the engagement being broken by the subjugation of an allied city, a precedent
+which was followed by that of the rest in the order which circumstances
+prescribed. Of all the causes of defection, that connected with arrears of
+tribute and vessels, and with failure of service, was the chief; for the
+Athenians were very severe and exacting, and made themselves offensive by
+applying the screw of necessity to men who were not used to and in fact not
+disposed for any continuous labour. In some other respects the Athenians were
+not the old popular rulers they had been at first; and if they had more than
+their fair share of service, it was correspondingly easy for them to reduce any
+that tried to leave the confederacy. For this the allies had themselves to
+blame; the wish to get off service making most of them arrange to pay their
+share of the expense in money instead of in ships, and so to avoid having to
+leave their homes. Thus while Athens was increasing her navy with the funds
+which they contributed, a revolt always found them without resources or
+experience for war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next we come to the actions by land and by sea at the river Eurymedon, between
+the Athenians with their allies, and the Medes, when the Athenians won both
+battles on the same day under the conduct of Cimon, son of Miltiades, and
+captured and destroyed the whole Phoenician fleet, consisting of two hundred
+vessels. Some time afterwards occurred the defection of the Thasians, caused by
+disagreements about the marts on the opposite coast of Thrace, and about the
+mine in their possession. Sailing with a fleet to Thasos, the Athenians
+defeated them at sea and effected a landing on the island. About the same time
+they sent ten thousand settlers of their own citizens and the allies to settle
+the place then called Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways, now Amphipolis. They succeeded
+in gaining possession of Ennea Hodoi from the Edonians, but on advancing into
+the interior of Thrace were cut off in Drabescus, a town of the Edonians, by
+the assembled Thracians, who regarded the settlement of the place Ennea Hodoi
+as an act of hostility. Meanwhile the Thasians being defeated in the field and
+suffering siege, appealed to Lacedaemon, and desired her to assist them by an
+invasion of Attica. Without informing Athens, she promised and intended to do
+so, but was prevented by the occurrence of the earthquake, accompanied by the
+secession of the Helots and the Thuriats and Aethaeans of the Perioeci to
+Ithome. Most of the Helots were the descendants of the old Messenians that were
+enslaved in the famous war; and so all of them came to be called Messenians. So
+the Lacedaemonians being engaged in a war with the rebels in Ithome, the
+Thasians in the third year of the siege obtained terms from the Athenians by
+razing their walls, delivering up their ships, and arranging to pay the moneys
+demanded at once, and tribute in future; giving up their possessions on the
+continent together with the mine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians, meanwhile, finding the war against the rebels in Ithome
+likely to last, invoked the aid of their allies, and especially of the
+Athenians, who came in some force under the command of Cimon. The reason for
+this pressing summons lay in their reputed skill in siege operations; a long
+siege had taught the Lacedaemonians their own deficiency in this art, else they
+would have taken the place by assault. The first open quarrel between the
+Lacedaemonians and Athenians arose out of this expedition. The Lacedaemonians,
+when assault failed to take the place, apprehensive of the enterprising and
+revolutionary character of the Athenians, and further looking upon them as of
+alien extraction, began to fear that, if they remained, they might be tempted
+by the besieged in Ithome to attempt some political changes. They accordingly
+dismissed them alone of the allies, without declaring their suspicions, but
+merely saying that they had now no need of them. But the Athenians, aware that
+their dismissal did not proceed from the more honourable reason of the two, but
+from suspicions which had been conceived, went away deeply offended, and
+conscious of having done nothing to merit such treatment from the
+Lacedaemonians; and the instant that they returned home they broke off the
+alliance which had been made against the Mede, and allied themselves with
+Sparta&rsquo;s enemy Argos; each of the contracting parties taking the same
+oaths and making the same alliance with the Thessalians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the rebels in Ithome, unable to prolong further a ten years&rsquo;
+resistance, surrendered to Lacedaemon; the conditions being that they should
+depart from Peloponnese under safe conduct, and should never set foot in it
+again: any one who might hereafter be found there was to be the slave of his
+captor. It must be known that the Lacedaemonians had an old oracle from Delphi,
+to the effect that they should let go the suppliant of Zeus at Ithome. So they
+went forth with their children and their wives, and being received by Athens
+from the hatred that she now felt for the Lacedaemonians, were located at
+Naupactus, which she had lately taken from the Ozolian Locrians. The Athenians
+received another addition to their confederacy in the Megarians; who left the
+Lacedaemonian alliance, annoyed by a war about boundaries forced on them by
+Corinth. The Athenians occupied Megara and Pegae, and built the Megarians their
+long walls from the city to Nisaea, in which they placed an Athenian garrison.
+This was the principal cause of the Corinthians conceiving such a deadly hatred
+against Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Inaros, son of Psammetichus, a Libyan king of the Libyans on the
+Egyptian border, having his headquarters at Marea, the town above Pharos,
+caused a revolt of almost the whole of Egypt from King Artaxerxes and, placing
+himself at its head, invited the Athenians to his assistance. Abandoning a
+Cyprian expedition upon which they happened to be engaged with two hundred
+ships of their own and their allies, they arrived in Egypt and sailed from the
+sea into the Nile, and making themselves masters of the river and two-thirds of
+Memphis, addressed themselves to the attack of the remaining third, which is
+called White Castle. Within it were Persians and Medes who had taken refuge
+there, and Egyptians who had not joined the rebellion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians, making a descent from their fleet upon Haliae, were
+engaged by a force of Corinthians and Epidaurians; and the Corinthians were
+victorious. Afterwards the Athenians engaged the Peloponnesian fleet off
+Cecruphalia; and the Athenians were victorious. Subsequently war broke out
+between Aegina and Athens, and there was a great battle at sea off Aegina
+between the Athenians and Aeginetans, each being aided by their allies; in
+which victory remained with the Athenians, who took seventy of the
+enemy&rsquo;s ships, and landed in the country and commenced a siege under the
+command of Leocrates, son of Stroebus. Upon this the Peloponnesians, desirous
+of aiding the Aeginetans, threw into Aegina a force of three hundred heavy
+infantry, who had before been serving with the Corinthians and Epidaurians.
+Meanwhile the Corinthians and their allies occupied the heights of Geraneia,
+and marched down into the Megarid, in the belief that, with a large force
+absent in Aegina and Egypt, Athens would be unable to help the Megarians
+without raising the siege of Aegina. But the Athenians, instead of moving the
+army of Aegina, raised a force of the old and young men that had been left in
+the city, and marched into the Megarid under the command of Myronides. After a
+drawn battle with the Corinthians, the rival hosts parted, each with the
+impression that they had gained the victory. The Athenians, however, if
+anything, had rather the advantage, and on the departure of the Corinthians set
+up a trophy. Urged by the taunts of the elders in their city, the Corinthians
+made their preparations, and about twelve days afterwards came and set up their
+trophy as victors. Sallying out from Megara, the Athenians cut off the party
+that was employed in erecting the trophy, and engaged and defeated the rest. In
+the retreat of the vanquished army, a considerable division, pressed by the
+pursuers and mistaking the road, dashed into a field on some private property,
+with a deep trench all round it, and no way out. Being acquainted with the
+place, the Athenians hemmed their front with heavy infantry and, placing the
+light troops round in a circle, stoned all who had gone in. Corinth here
+suffered a severe blow. The bulk of her army continued its retreat home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About this time the Athenians began to build the long walls to the sea, that
+towards Phalerum and that towards Piraeus. Meanwhile the Phocians made an
+expedition against Doris, the old home of the Lacedaemonians, containing the
+towns of Boeum, Kitinium, and Erineum. They had taken one of these towns, when
+the Lacedaemonians under Nicomedes, son of Cleombrotus, commanding for King
+Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, who was still a minor, came to the aid of the
+Dorians with fifteen hundred heavy infantry of their own, and ten thousand of
+their allies. After compelling the Phocians to restore the town on conditions,
+they began their retreat. The route by sea, across the Crissaean Gulf, exposed
+them to the risk of being stopped by the Athenian fleet; that across Geraneia
+seemed scarcely safe, the Athenians holding Megara and Pegae. For the pass was
+a difficult one, and was always guarded by the Athenians; and, in the present
+instance, the Lacedaemonians had information that they meant to dispute their
+passage. So they resolved to remain in Boeotia, and to consider which would be
+the safest line of march. They had also another reason for this resolve. Secret
+encouragement had been given them by a party in Athens, who hoped to put an end
+to the reign of democracy and the building of the Long Walls. Meanwhile the
+Athenians marched against them with their whole levy and a thousand Argives and
+the respective contingents of the rest of their allies. Altogether they were
+fourteen thousand strong. The march was prompted by the notion that the
+Lacedaemonians were at a loss how to effect their passage, and also by
+suspicions of an attempt to overthrow the democracy. Some cavalry also joined
+the Athenians from their Thessalian allies; but these went over to the
+Lacedaemonians during the battle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The battle was fought at Tanagra in Boeotia. After heavy loss on both sides,
+victory declared for the Lacedaemonians and their allies. After entering the
+Megarid and cutting down the fruit trees, the Lacedaemonians returned home
+across Geraneia and the isthmus. Sixty-two days after the battle the Athenians
+marched into Boeotia under the command of Myronides, defeated the Boeotians in
+battle at Oenophyta, and became masters of Boeotia and Phocis. They dismantled
+the walls of the Tanagraeans, took a hundred of the richest men of the Opuntian
+Locrians as hostages, and finished their own long walls. This was followed by
+the surrender of the Aeginetans to Athens on conditions; they pulled down their
+walls, gave up their ships, and agreed to pay tribute in future. The Athenians
+sailed round Peloponnese under Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus, burnt the arsenal of
+Lacedaemon, took Chalcis, a town of the Corinthians, and in a descent upon
+Sicyon defeated the Sicyonians in battle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians in Egypt and their allies were still there, and
+encountered all the vicissitudes of war. First the Athenians were masters of
+Egypt, and the King sent Megabazus a Persian to Lacedaemon with money to bribe
+the Peloponnesians to invade Attica and so draw off the Athenians from Egypt.
+Finding that the matter made no progress, and that the money was only being
+wasted, he recalled Megabazus with the remainder of the money, and sent
+Megabuzus, son of Zopyrus, a Persian, with a large army to Egypt. Arriving by
+land he defeated the Egyptians and their allies in a battle, and drove the
+Hellenes out of Memphis, and at length shut them up in the island of
+Prosopitis, where he besieged them for a year and six months. At last, draining
+the canal of its waters, which he diverted into another channel, he left their
+ships high and dry and joined most of the island to the mainland, and then
+marched over on foot and captured it. Thus the enterprise of the Hellenes came
+to ruin after six years of war. Of all that large host a few travelling through
+Libya reached Cyrene in safety, but most of them perished. And thus Egypt
+returned to its subjection to the King, except Amyrtaeus, the king in the
+marshes, whom they were unable to capture from the extent of the marsh; the
+marshmen being also the most warlike of the Egyptians. Inaros, the Libyan king,
+the sole author of the Egyptian revolt, was betrayed, taken, and crucified.
+Meanwhile a relieving squadron of fifty vessels had sailed from Athens and the
+rest of the confederacy for Egypt. They put in to shore at the Mendesian mouth
+of the Nile, in total ignorance of what had occurred. Attacked on the land side
+by the troops, and from the sea by the Phoenician navy, most of the ships were
+destroyed; the few remaining being saved by retreat. Such was the end of the
+great expedition of the Athenians and their allies to Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Orestes, son of Echecratidas, the Thessalian king, being an exile
+from Thessaly, persuaded the Athenians to restore him. Taking with them the
+Boeotians and Phocians their allies, the Athenians marched to Pharsalus in
+Thessaly. They became masters of the country, though only in the immediate
+vicinity of the camp; beyond which they could not go for fear of the Thessalian
+cavalry. But they failed to take the city or to attain any of the other objects
+of their expedition, and returned home with Orestes without having effected
+anything. Not long after this a thousand of the Athenians embarked in the
+vessels that were at Pegae (Pegae, it must be remembered, was now theirs), and
+sailed along the coast to Sicyon under the command of Pericles, son of
+Xanthippus. Landing in Sicyon and defeating the Sicyonians who engaged them,
+they immediately took with them the Achaeans and, sailing across, marched
+against and laid siege to Oeniadae in Acarnania. Failing however to take it,
+they returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three years afterwards a truce was made between the Peloponnesians and
+Athenians for five years. Released from Hellenic war, the Athenians made an
+expedition to Cyprus with two hundred vessels of their own and their allies,
+under the command of Cimon. Sixty of these were detached to Egypt at the
+instance of Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes; the rest laid siege to Kitium,
+from which, however, they were compelled to retire by the death of Cimon and by
+scarcity of provisions. Sailing off Salamis in Cyprus, they fought with the
+Phoenicians, Cyprians, and Cilicians by land and sea, and, being victorious on
+both elements departed home, and with them the returned squadron from Egypt.
+After this the Lacedaemonians marched out on a sacred war, and, becoming
+masters of the temple at Delphi, it in the hands of the Delphians. Immediately
+after their retreat, the Athenians marched out, became masters of the temple,
+and placed it in the hands of the Phocians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some time after this, Orchomenus, Chaeronea, and some other places in Boeotia
+being in the hands of the Boeotian exiles, the Athenians marched against the
+above-mentioned hostile places with a thousand Athenian heavy infantry and the
+allied contingents, under the command of Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus. They took
+Chaeronea, and made slaves of the inhabitants, and, leaving a garrison,
+commenced their return. On their road they were attacked at Coronea by the
+Boeotian exiles from Orchomenus, with some Locrians and Euboean exiles, and
+others who were of the same way of thinking, were defeated in battle, and some
+killed, others taken captive. The Athenians evacuated all Boeotia by a treaty
+providing for the recovery of the men; and the exiled Boeotians returned, and
+with all the rest regained their independence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was soon afterwards followed by the revolt of Euboea from Athens. Pericles
+had already crossed over with an army of Athenians to the island, when news was
+brought to him that Megara had revolted, that the Peloponnesians were on the
+point of invading Attica, and that the Athenian garrison had been cut off by
+the Megarians, with the exception of a few who had taken refuge in Nisaea. The
+Megarians had introduced the Corinthians, Sicyonians, and Epidaurians into the
+town before they revolted. Meanwhile Pericles brought his army back in all
+haste from Euboea. After this the Peloponnesians marched into Attica as far as
+Eleusis and Thrius, ravaging the country under the conduct of King Pleistoanax,
+the son of Pausanias, and without advancing further returned home. The
+Athenians then crossed over again to Euboea under the command of Pericles, and
+subdued the whole of the island: all but Histiaea was settled by convention;
+the Histiaeans they expelled from their homes, and occupied their territory
+themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not long after their return from Euboea, they made a truce with the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies for thirty years, giving up the posts which
+they occupied in Peloponnese&mdash;Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaia. In the
+sixth year of the truce, war broke out between the Samians and Milesians about
+Priene. Worsted in the war, the Milesians came to Athens with loud complaints
+against the Samians. In this they were joined by certain private persons from
+Samos itself, who wished to revolutionize the government. Accordingly the
+Athenians sailed to Samos with forty ships and set up a democracy; took
+hostages from the Samians, fifty boys and as many men, lodged them in Lemnos,
+and after leaving a garrison in the island returned home. But some of the
+Samians had not remained in the island, but had fled to the continent. Making
+an agreement with the most powerful of those in the city, and an alliance with
+Pissuthnes, son of Hystaspes, the then satrap of Sardis, they got together a
+force of seven hundred mercenaries, and under cover of night crossed over to
+Samos. Their first step was to rise on the commons, most of whom they secured;
+their next to steal their hostages from Lemnos; after which they revolted, gave
+up the Athenian garrison left with them and its commanders to Pissuthnes, and
+instantly prepared for an expedition against Miletus. The Byzantines also
+revolted with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as the Athenians heard the news, they sailed with sixty ships against
+Samos. Sixteen of these went to Caria to look out for the Phoenician fleet, and
+to Chios and Lesbos carrying round orders for reinforcements, and so never
+engaged; but forty-four ships under the command of Pericles with nine
+colleagues gave battle, off the island of Tragia, to seventy Samian vessels, of
+which twenty were transports, as they were sailing from Miletus. Victory
+remained with the Athenians. Reinforced afterwards by forty ships from Athens,
+and twenty-five Chian and Lesbian vessels, the Athenians landed, and having the
+superiority by land invested the city with three walls; it was also invested
+from the sea. Meanwhile Pericles took sixty ships from the blockading squadron,
+and departed in haste for Caunus and Caria, intelligence having been brought in
+of the approach of the Phoenician fleet to the aid of the Samians; indeed
+Stesagoras and others had left the island with five ships to bring them. But in
+the meantime the Samians made a sudden sally, and fell on the camp, which they
+found unfortified. Destroying the look-out vessels, and engaging and defeating
+such as were being launched to meet them, they remained masters of their own
+seas for fourteen days, and carried in and carried out what they pleased. But
+on the arrival of Pericles, they were once more shut up. Fresh reinforcements
+afterwards arrived&mdash;forty ships from Athens with Thucydides, Hagnon, and
+Phormio; twenty with Tlepolemus and Anticles, and thirty vessels from Chios and
+Lesbos. After a brief attempt at fighting, the Samians, unable to hold out,
+were reduced after a nine months&rsquo; siege and surrendered on conditions;
+they razed their walls, gave hostages, delivered up their ships, and arranged
+to pay the expenses of the war by instalments. The Byzantines also agreed to be
+subject as before.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"></a>
+CHAPTER V </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Second Congress at Lacedaemon&mdash;Preparations for War and Diplomatic
+Skirmishes&mdash;Cylon&mdash;Pausanias&mdash;Themistocles
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this, though not many years later, we at length come to what has been
+already related, the affairs of Corcyra and Potidæa, and the events that served
+as a pretext for the present war. All these actions of the Hellenes against
+each other and the barbarian occurred in the fifty years&rsquo; interval
+between the retreat of Xerxes and the beginning of the present war. During this
+interval the Athenians succeeded in placing their empire on a firmer basis, and
+advanced their own home power to a very great height. The Lacedaemonians,
+though fully aware of it, opposed it only for a little while, but remained
+inactive during most of the period, being of old slow to go to war except under
+the pressure of necessity, and in the present instance being hampered by wars
+at home; until the growth of the Athenian power could be no longer ignored, and
+their own confederacy became the object of its encroachments. They then felt
+that they could endure it no longer, but that the time had come for them to
+throw themselves heart and soul upon the hostile power, and break it, if they
+could, by commencing the present war. And though the Lacedaemonians had made up
+their own minds on the fact of the breach of the treaty and the guilt of the
+Athenians, yet they sent to Delphi and inquired of the God whether it would be
+well with them if they went to war; and, as it is reported, received from him
+the answer that if they put their whole strength into the war, victory would be
+theirs, and the promise that he himself would be with them, whether invoked or
+uninvoked. Still they wished to summon their allies again, and to take their
+vote on the propriety of making war. After the ambassadors from the
+confederates had arrived and a congress had been convened, they all spoke their
+minds, most of them denouncing the Athenians and demanding that the war should
+begin. In particular the Corinthians. They had before on their own account
+canvassed the cities in detail to induce them to vote for the war, in the fear
+that it might come too late to save Potidæa; they were present also on this
+occasion, and came forward the last, and made the following speech:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fellow allies, we can no longer accuse the Lacedaemonians of having
+failed in their duty: they have not only voted for war themselves, but have
+assembled us here for that purpose. We say their duty, for supremacy has its
+duties. Besides equitably administering private interests, leaders are required
+to show a special care for the common welfare in return for the special honours
+accorded to them by all in other ways. For ourselves, all who have already had
+dealings with the Athenians require no warning to be on their guard against
+them. The states more inland and out of the highway of communication should
+understand that, if they omit to support the coast powers, the result will be
+to injure the transit of their produce for exportation and the reception in
+exchange of their imports from the sea; and they must not be careless judges of
+what is now said, as if it had nothing to do with them, but must expect that
+the sacrifice of the powers on the coast will one day be followed by the
+extension of the danger to the interior, and must recognize that their own
+interests are deeply involved in this discussion. For these reasons they should
+not hesitate to exchange peace for war. If wise men remain quiet, while they
+are not injured, brave men abandon peace for war when they are injured,
+returning to an understanding on a favourable opportunity: in fact, they are
+neither intoxicated by their success in war, nor disposed to take an injury for
+the sake of the delightful tranquillity of peace. Indeed, to falter for the
+sake of such delights is, if you remain inactive, the quickest way of losing
+the sweets of repose to which you cling; while to conceive extravagant
+pretensions from success in war is to forget how hollow is the confidence by
+which you are elated. For if many ill-conceived plans have succeeded through
+the still greater fatuity of an opponent, many more, apparently well laid, have
+on the contrary ended in disgrace. The confidence with which we form our
+schemes is never completely justified in their execution; speculation is
+carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To apply these rules to ourselves, if we are now kindling war it is
+under the pressure of injury, with adequate grounds of complaint; and after we
+have chastised the Athenians we will in season desist. We have many reasons to
+expect success&mdash;first, superiority in numbers and in military experience,
+and secondly our general and unvarying obedience in the execution of orders.
+The naval strength which they possess shall be raised by us from our respective
+antecedent resources, and from the moneys at Olympia and Delphi. A loan from
+these enables us to seduce their foreign sailors by the offer of higher pay.
+For the power of Athens is more mercenary than national; while ours will not be
+exposed to the same risk, as its strength lies more in men than in money. A
+single defeat at sea is in all likelihood their ruin: should they hold out, in
+that case there will be the more time for us to exercise ourselves in naval
+matters; and as soon as we have arrived at an equality in science, we need
+scarcely ask whether we shall be their superiors in courage. For the advantages
+that we have by nature they cannot acquire by education; while their
+superiority in science must be removed by our practice. The money required for
+these objects shall be provided by our contributions: nothing indeed could be
+more monstrous than the suggestion that, while their allies never tire of
+contributing for their own servitude, we should refuse to spend for vengeance
+and self-preservation the treasure which by such refusal we shall forfeit to
+Athenian rapacity and see employed for our own ruin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We have also other ways of carrying on the war, such as revolt of their
+allies, the surest method of depriving them of their revenues, which are the
+source of their strength, and establishment of fortified positions in their
+country, and various operations which cannot be foreseen at present. For war of
+all things proceeds least upon definite rules, but draws principally upon
+itself for contrivances to meet an emergency; and in such cases the party who
+faces the struggle and keeps his temper best meets with most security, and he
+who loses his temper about it with correspondent disaster. Let us also reflect
+that if it was merely a number of disputes of territory between rival
+neighbours, it might be borne; but here we have an enemy in Athens that is a
+match for our whole coalition, and more than a match for any of its members; so
+that unless as a body and as individual nationalities and individual cities we
+make an unanimous stand against her, she will easily conquer us divided and in
+detail. That conquest, terrible as it may sound, would, it must be known, have
+no other end than slavery pure and simple; a word which Peloponnese cannot even
+hear whispered without disgrace, or without disgrace see so many states abused
+by one. Meanwhile the opinion would be either that we were justly so used, or
+that we put up with it from cowardice, and were proving degenerate sons in not
+even securing for ourselves the freedom which our fathers gave to Hellas; and
+in allowing the establishment in Hellas of a tyrant state, though in individual
+states we think it our duty to put down sole rulers. And we do not know how
+this conduct can be held free from three of the gravest failings, want of
+sense, of courage, or of vigilance. For we do not suppose that you have taken
+refuge in that contempt of an enemy which has proved so fatal in so many
+instances&mdash;a feeling which from the numbers that it has ruined has come to
+be called not contemptuous but contemptible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is, however, no advantage in reflections on the past further than
+may be of service to the present. For the future we must provide by maintaining
+what the present gives us and redoubling our efforts; it is hereditary to us to
+win virtue as the fruit of labour, and you must not change the habit, even
+though you should have a slight advantage in wealth and resources; for it is
+not right that what was won in want should be lost in plenty; no, we must
+boldly advance to the war for many reasons; the god has commanded it and
+promised to be with us, and the rest of Hellas will all join in the struggle,
+part from fear, part from interest. You will be the first to break a treaty
+which the god, in advising us to go to war, judges to be violated already, but
+rather to support a treaty that has been outraged: indeed, treaties are broken
+not by resistance but by aggression.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your position, therefore, from whatever quarter you may view it, will
+amply justify you in going to war; and this step we recommend in the interests
+of all, bearing in mind that identity of interest is the surest of bonds,
+whether between states or individuals. Delay not, therefore, to assist Potidæa,
+a Dorian city besieged by Ionians, which is quite a reversal of the order of
+things; nor to assert the freedom of the rest. It is impossible for us to wait
+any longer when waiting can only mean immediate disaster for some of us, and,
+if it comes to be known that we have conferred but do not venture to protect
+ourselves, like disaster in the near future for the rest. Delay not, fellow
+allies, but, convinced of the necessity of the crisis and the wisdom of this
+counsel, vote for the war, undeterred by its immediate terrors, but looking
+beyond to the lasting peace by which it will be succeeded. Out of war peace
+gains fresh stability, but to refuse to abandon repose for war is not so sure a
+method of avoiding danger. We must believe that the tyrant city that has been
+established in Hellas has been established against all alike, with a programme
+of universal empire, part fulfilled, part in contemplation; let us then attack
+and reduce it, and win future security for ourselves and freedom for the
+Hellenes who are now enslaved.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Corinthians. The Lacedaemonians, having now heard
+all, give their opinion, took the vote of all the allied states present in
+order, great and small alike; and the majority voted for war. This decided, it
+was still impossible for them to commence at once, from their want of
+preparation; but it was resolved that the means requisite were to be procured
+by the different states, and that there was to be no delay. And indeed, in
+spite of the time occupied with the necessary arrangements, less than a year
+elapsed before Attica was invaded, and the war openly begun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This interval was spent in sending embassies to Athens charged with complaints,
+in order to obtain as good a pretext for war as possible, in the event of her
+paying no attention to them. The first Lacedaemonian embassy was to order the
+Athenians to drive out the curse of the goddess; the history of which is as
+follows. In former generations there was an Athenian of the name of Cylon, a
+victor at the Olympic games, of good birth and powerful position, who had
+married a daughter of Theagenes, a Megarian, at that time tyrant of Megara. Now
+this Cylon was inquiring at Delphi; when he was told by the god to seize the
+Acropolis of Athens on the grand festival of Zeus. Accordingly, procuring a
+force from Theagenes and persuading his friends to join him, when the Olympic
+festival in Peloponnese came, he seized the Acropolis, with the intention of
+making himself tyrant, thinking that this was the grand festival of Zeus, and
+also an occasion appropriate for a victor at the Olympic games. Whether the
+grand festival that was meant was in Attica or elsewhere was a question which
+he never thought of, and which the oracle did not offer to solve. For the
+Athenians also have a festival which is called the grand festival of Zeus
+Meilichios or Gracious, viz., the Diasia. It is celebrated outside the city,
+and the whole people sacrifice not real victims but a number of bloodless
+offerings peculiar to the country. However, fancying he had chosen the right
+time, he made the attempt. As soon as the Athenians perceived it, they flocked
+in, one and all, from the country, and sat down, and laid siege to the citadel.
+But as time went on, weary of the labour of blockade, most of them departed;
+the responsibility of keeping guard being left to the nine archons, with
+plenary powers to arrange everything according to their good judgment. It must
+be known that at that time most political functions were discharged by the nine
+archons. Meanwhile Cylon and his besieged companions were distressed for want
+of food and water. Accordingly Cylon and his brother made their escape; but the
+rest being hard pressed, and some even dying of famine, seated themselves as
+suppliants at the altar in the Acropolis. The Athenians who were charged with
+the duty of keeping guard, when they saw them at the point of death in the
+temple, raised them up on the understanding that no harm should be done to
+them, led them out, and slew them. Some who as they passed by took refuge at
+the altars of the awful goddesses were dispatched on the spot. From this deed
+the men who killed them were called accursed and guilty against the goddess,
+they and their descendants. Accordingly these cursed ones were driven out by
+the Athenians, driven out again by Cleomenes of Lacedaemon and an Athenian
+faction; the living were driven out, and the bones of the dead were taken up;
+thus they were cast out. For all that, they came back afterwards, and their
+descendants are still in the city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This, then was the curse that the Lacedaemonians ordered them to drive out.
+They were actuated primarily, as they pretended, by a care for the honour of
+the gods; but they also know that Pericles, son of Xanthippus, was connected
+with the curse on his mother&rsquo;s side, and they thought that his banishment
+would materially advance their designs on Athens. Not that they really hoped to
+succeed in procuring this; they rather thought to create a prejudice against
+him in the eyes of his countrymen from the feeling that the war would be partly
+caused by his misfortune. For being the most powerful man of his time, and the
+leading Athenian statesman, he opposed the Lacedaemonians in everything, and
+would have no concessions, but ever urged the Athenians on to war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians retorted by ordering the Lacedaemonians to drive out the curse of
+Taenarus. The Lacedaemonians had once raised up some Helot suppliants from the
+temple of Poseidon at Taenarus, led them away and slain them; for which they
+believe the great earthquake at Sparta to have been a retribution. The
+Athenians also ordered them to drive out the curse of the goddess of the Brazen
+House; the history of which is as follows. After Pausanias the Lacedaemonian
+had been recalled by the Spartans from his command in the Hellespont (this is
+his first recall), and had been tried by them and acquitted, not being again
+sent out in a public capacity, he took a galley of Hermione on his own
+responsibility, without the authority of the Lacedaemonians, and arrived as a
+private person in the Hellespont. He came ostensibly for the Hellenic war,
+really to carry on his intrigues with the King, which he had begun before his
+recall, being ambitious of reigning over Hellas. The circumstance which first
+enabled him to lay the King under an obligation, and to make a beginning of the
+whole design, was this. Some connections and kinsmen of the King had been taken
+in Byzantium, on its capture from the Medes, when he was first there, after the
+return from Cyprus. These captives he sent off to the King without the
+knowledge of the rest of the allies, the account being that they had escaped
+from him. He managed this with the help of Gongylus, an Eretrian, whom he had
+placed in charge of Byzantium and the prisoners. He also gave Gongylus a letter
+for the King, the contents of which were as follows, as was afterwards
+discovered: &ldquo;Pausanias, the general of Sparta, anxious to do you a
+favour, sends you these his prisoners of war. I propose also, with your
+approval, to marry your daughter, and to make Sparta and the rest of Hellas
+subject to you. I may say that I think I am able to do this, with your
+co-operation. Accordingly if any of this please you, send a safe man to the sea
+through whom we may in future conduct our correspondence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was all that was revealed in the writing, and Xerxes was pleased with the
+letter. He sent off Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, to the sea with orders to
+supersede Megabates, the previous governor in the satrapy of Daskylion, and to
+send over as quickly as possible to Pausanias at Byzantium a letter which he
+entrusted to him; to show him the royal signet, and to execute any commission
+which he might receive from Pausanias on the King&rsquo;s matters with all care
+and fidelity. Artabazus on his arrival carried the King&rsquo;s orders into
+effect, and sent over the letter, which contained the following answer:
+&ldquo;Thus saith King Xerxes to Pausanias. For the men whom you have saved for
+me across sea from Byzantium, an obligation is laid up for you in our house,
+recorded for ever; and with your proposals I am well pleased. Let neither night
+nor day stop you from diligently performing any of your promises to me; neither
+for cost of gold nor of silver let them be hindered, nor yet for number of
+troops, wherever it may be that their presence is needed; but with Artabazus,
+an honourable man whom I send you, boldly advance my objects and yours, as may
+be most for the honour and interest of us both.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before held in high honour by the Hellenes as the hero of Plataea, Pausanias,
+after the receipt of this letter, became prouder than ever, and could no longer
+live in the usual style, but went out of Byzantium in a Median dress, was
+attended on his march through Thrace by a bodyguard of Medes and Egyptians,
+kept a Persian table, and was quite unable to contain his intentions, but
+betrayed by his conduct in trifles what his ambition looked one day to enact on
+a grander scale. He also made himself difficult of access, and displayed so
+violent a temper to every one without exception that no one could come near
+him. Indeed, this was the principal reason why the confederacy went over to the
+Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The above-mentioned conduct, coming to the ears of the Lacedaemonians,
+occasioned his first recall. And after his second voyage out in the ship of
+Hermione, without their orders, he gave proofs of similar behaviour. Besieged
+and expelled from Byzantium by the Athenians, he did not return to Sparta; but
+news came that he had settled at Colonae in the Troad, and was intriguing with
+the barbarians, and that his stay there was for no good purpose; and the
+ephors, now no longer hesitating, sent him a herald and a scytale with orders
+to accompany the herald or be declared a public enemy. Anxious above everything
+to avoid suspicion, and confident that he could quash the charge by means of
+money, he returned a second time to Sparta. At first thrown into prison by the
+ephors (whose powers enable them to do this to the King), soon compromised the
+matter and came out again, and offered himself for trial to any who wished to
+institute an inquiry concerning him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the Spartans had no tangible proof against him&mdash;neither his enemies
+nor the nation&mdash;of that indubitable kind required for the punishment of a
+member of the royal family, and at that moment in high office; he being regent
+for his first cousin King Pleistarchus, Leonidas&rsquo;s son, who was still a
+minor. But by his contempt of the laws and imitation of the barbarians, he gave
+grounds for much suspicion of his being discontented with things established;
+all the occasions on which he had in any way departed from the regular customs
+were passed in review, and it was remembered that he had taken upon himself to
+have inscribed on the tripod at Delphi, which was dedicated by the Hellenes as
+the first-fruits of the spoil of the Medes, the following couplet:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+The Mede defeated, great Pausanias raised<br/>
+This monument, that Phœbus might be praised.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time the Lacedaemonians had at once erased the couplet, and inscribed
+the names of the cities that had aided in the overthrow of the barbarian and
+dedicated the offering. Yet it was considered that Pausanias had here been
+guilty of a grave offence, which, interpreted by the light of the attitude
+which he had since assumed, gained a new significance, and seemed to be quite
+in keeping with his present schemes. Besides, they were informed that he was
+even intriguing with the Helots; and such indeed was the fact, for he promised
+them freedom and citizenship if they would join him in insurrection and would
+help him to carry out his plans to the end. Even now, mistrusting the evidence
+even of the Helots themselves, the ephors would not consent to take any decided
+step against him; in accordance with their regular custom towards themselves,
+namely, to be slow in taking any irrevocable resolve in the matter of a Spartan
+citizen without indisputable proof. At last, it is said, the person who was
+going to carry to Artabazus the last letter for the King, a man of Argilus,
+once the favourite and most trusty servant of Pausanias, turned informer.
+Alarmed by the reflection that none of the previous messengers had ever
+returned, having counterfeited the seal, in order that, if he found himself
+mistaken in his surmises, or if Pausanias should ask to make some correction,
+he might not be discovered, he undid the letter, and found the postscript that
+he had suspected, viz. an order to put him to death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On being shown the letter, the ephors now felt more certain. Still, they wished
+to hear Pausanias commit himself with their own ears. Accordingly the man went
+by appointment to Taenarus as a suppliant, and there built himself a hut
+divided into two by a partition; within which he concealed some of the ephors
+and let them hear the whole matter plainly. For Pausanias came to him and asked
+him the reason of his suppliant position; and the man reproached him with the
+order that he had written concerning him, and one by one declared all the rest
+of the circumstances, how he who had never yet brought him into any danger,
+while employed as agent between him and the King, was yet just like the mass of
+his servants to be rewarded with death. Admitting all this, and telling him not
+to be angry about the matter, Pausanias gave him the pledge of raising him up
+from the temple, and begged him to set off as quickly as possible, and not to
+hinder the business in hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ephors listened carefully, and then departed, taking no action for the
+moment, but, having at last attained to certainty, were preparing to arrest him
+in the city. It is reported that, as he was about to be arrested in the street,
+he saw from the face of one of the ephors what he was coming for; another, too,
+made him a secret signal, and betrayed it to him from kindness. Setting off
+with a run for the temple of the goddess of the Brazen House, the enclosure of
+which was near at hand, he succeeded in taking sanctuary before they took him,
+and entering into a small chamber, which formed part of the temple, to avoid
+being exposed to the weather, lay still there. The ephors, for the moment
+distanced in the pursuit, afterwards took off the roof of the chamber, and
+having made sure that he was inside, shut him in, barricaded the doors, and
+staying before the place, reduced him by starvation. When they found that he
+was on the point of expiring, just as he was, in the chamber, they brought him
+out of the temple, while the breath was still in him, and as soon as he was
+brought out he died. They were going to throw him into the Kaiadas, where they
+cast criminals, but finally decided to inter him somewhere near. But the god at
+Delphi afterwards ordered the Lacedaemonians to remove the tomb to the place of
+his death&mdash;where he now lies in the consecrated ground, as an inscription
+on a monument declares&mdash;and, as what had been done was a curse to them, to
+give back two bodies instead of one to the goddess of the Brazen House. So they
+had two brazen statues made, and dedicated them as a substitute for Pausanias.
+The Athenians retorted by telling the Lacedaemonians to drive out what the god
+himself had pronounced to be a curse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return to the Medism of Pausanias. Matter was found in the course of the
+inquiry to implicate Themistocles; and the Lacedaemonians accordingly sent
+envoys to the Athenians and required them to punish him as they had punished
+Pausanias. The Athenians consented to do so. But he had, as it happened, been
+ostracized, and, with a residence at Argos, was in the habit of visiting other
+parts of Peloponnese. So they sent with the Lacedaemonians, who were ready to
+join in the pursuit, persons with instructions to take him wherever they found
+him. But Themistocles got scent of their intentions, and fled from Peloponnese
+to Corcyra, which was under obligations towards him. But the Corcyraeans
+alleged that they could not venture to shelter him at the cost of offending
+Athens and Lacedaemon, and they conveyed him over to the continent opposite.
+Pursued by the officers who hung on the report of his movements, at a loss
+where to turn, he was compelled to stop at the house of Admetus, the Molossian
+king, though they were not on friendly terms. Admetus happened not to be
+indoors, but his wife, to whom he made himself a suppliant, instructed him to
+take their child in his arms and sit down by the hearth. Soon afterwards
+Admetus came in, and Themistocles told him who he was, and begged him not to
+revenge on Themistocles in exile any opposition which his requests might have
+experienced from Themistocles at Athens. Indeed, he was now far too low for his
+revenge; retaliation was only honourable between equals. Besides, his
+opposition to the king had only affected the success of a request, not the
+safety of his person; if the king were to give him up to the pursuers that he
+mentioned, and the fate which they intended for him, he would just be
+consigning him to certain death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King listened to him and raised him up with his son, as he was sitting with
+him in his arms after the most effectual method of supplication, and on the
+arrival of the Lacedaemonians not long afterwards, refused to give him up for
+anything they could say, but sent him off by land to the other sea to Pydna in
+Alexander&rsquo;s dominions, as he wished to go to the Persian king. There he
+met with a merchantman on the point of starting for Ionia. Going on board, he
+was carried by a storm to the Athenian squadron which was blockading Naxos. In
+his alarm&mdash;he was luckily unknown to the people in the vessel&mdash;he
+told the master who he was and what he was flying for, and said that, if he
+refused to save him, he would declare that he was taking him for a bribe.
+Meanwhile their safety consisted in letting no one leave the ship until a
+favourable time for sailing should arise. If he complied with his wishes, he
+promised him a proper recompense. The master acted as he desired, and, after
+lying to for a day and a night out of reach of the squadron, at length arrived
+at Ephesus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having rewarded him with a present of money, as soon as he received some
+from his friends at Athens and from his secret hoards at Argos, Themistocles
+started inland with one of the coast Persians, and sent a letter to King
+Artaxerxes, Xerxes&rsquo;s son, who had just come to the throne. Its contents
+were as follows: &ldquo;I, Themistocles, am come to you, who did your house
+more harm than any of the Hellenes, when I was compelled to defend myself
+against your father&rsquo;s invasion&mdash;harm, however, far surpassed by the
+good that I did him during his retreat, which brought no danger for me but much
+for him. For the past, you are a good turn in my debt&rdquo;&mdash;here he
+mentioned the warning sent to Xerxes from Salamis to retreat, as well as his
+finding the bridges unbroken, which, as he falsely pretended, was due to
+him&mdash;&ldquo;for the present, able to do you great service, I am here,
+pursued by the Hellenes for my friendship for you. However, I desire a
+year&rsquo;s grace, when I shall be able to declare in person the objects of my
+coming.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is said that the King approved his intention, and told him to do as he said.
+He employed the interval in making what progress he could in the study of the
+Persian tongue, and of the customs of the country. Arrived at court at the end
+of the year, he attained to very high consideration there, such as no Hellene
+has ever possessed before or since; partly from his splendid antecedents,
+partly from the hopes which he held out of effecting for him the subjugation of
+Hellas, but principally by the proof which experience daily gave of his
+capacity. For Themistocles was a man who exhibited the most indubitable signs
+of genius; indeed, in this particular he has a claim on our admiration quite
+extraordinary and unparalleled. By his own native capacity, alike unformed and
+unsupplemented by study, he was at once the best judge in those sudden crises
+which admit of little or of no deliberation, and the best prophet of the
+future, even to its most distant possibilities. An able theoretical expositor
+of all that came within the sphere of his practice, he was not without the
+power of passing an adequate judgment in matters in which he had no experience.
+He could also excellently divine the good and evil which lay hid in the unseen
+future. In fine, whether we consider the extent of his natural powers, or the
+slightness of his application, this extraordinary man must be allowed to have
+surpassed all others in the faculty of intuitively meeting an emergency.
+Disease was the real cause of his death; though there is a story of his having
+ended his life by poison, on finding himself unable to fulfil his promises to
+the king. However this may be, there is a monument to him in the marketplace of
+Asiatic Magnesia. He was governor of the district, the King having given him
+Magnesia, which brought in fifty talents a year, for bread, Lampsacus, which
+was considered to be the richest wine country, for wine, and Myos for other
+provisions. His bones, it is said, were conveyed home by his relatives in
+accordance with his wishes, and interred in Attic ground. This was done without
+the knowledge of the Athenians; as it is against the law to bury in Attica an
+outlaw for treason. So ends the history of Pausanias and Themistocles, the
+Lacedaemonian and the Athenian, the most famous men of their time in Hellas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return to the Lacedaemonians. The history of their first embassy, the
+injunctions which it conveyed, and the rejoinder which it provoked, concerning
+the expulsion of the accursed persons, have been related already. It was
+followed by a second, which ordered Athens to raise the siege of Potidæa, and
+to respect the independence of Aegina. Above all, it gave her most distinctly
+to understand that war might be prevented by the revocation of the Megara
+decree, excluding the Megarians from the use of Athenian harbours and of the
+market of Athens. But Athens was not inclined either to revoke the decree, or
+to entertain their other proposals; she accused the Megarians of pushing their
+cultivation into the consecrated ground and the unenclosed land on the border,
+and of harbouring her runaway slaves. At last an embassy arrived with the
+Lacedaemonian ultimatum. The ambassadors were Ramphias, Melesippus, and
+Agesander. Not a word was said on any of the old subjects; there was simply
+this: &ldquo;Lacedaemon wishes the peace to continue, and there is no reason
+why it should not, if you would leave the Hellenes independent.&rdquo; Upon
+this the Athenians held an assembly, and laid the matter before their
+consideration. It was resolved to deliberate once for all on all their demands,
+and to give them an answer. There were many speakers who came forward and gave
+their support to one side or the other, urging the necessity of war, or the
+revocation of the decree and the folly of allowing it to stand in the way of
+peace. Among them came forward Pericles, son of Xanthippus, the first man of
+his time at Athens, ablest alike in counsel and in action, and gave the
+following advice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is one principle, Athenians, which I hold to through everything,
+and that is the principle of no concession to the Peloponnesians. I know that
+the spirit which inspires men while they are being persuaded to make war is not
+always retained in action; that as circumstances change, resolutions change.
+Yet I see that now as before the same, almost literally the same, counsel is
+demanded of me; and I put it to those of you who are allowing yourselves to be
+persuaded, to support the national resolves even in the case of reverses, or to
+forfeit all credit for their wisdom in the event of success. For sometimes the
+course of things is as arbitrary as the plans of man; indeed this is why we
+usually blame chance for whatever does not happen as we expected. Now it was
+clear before that Lacedaemon entertained designs against us; it is still more
+clear now. The treaty provides that we shall mutually submit our differences to
+legal settlement, and that we shall meanwhile each keep what we have. Yet the
+Lacedaemonians never yet made us any such offer, never yet would accept from us
+any such offer; on the contrary, they wish complaints to be settled by war
+instead of by negotiation; and in the end we find them here dropping the tone
+of expostulation and adopting that of command. They order us to raise the siege
+of Potidæa, to let Aegina be independent, to revoke the Megara decree; and they
+conclude with an ultimatum warning us to leave the Hellenes independent. I hope
+that you will none of you think that we shall be going to war for a trifle if
+we refuse to revoke the Megara decree, which appears in front of their
+complaints, and the revocation of which is to save us from war, or let any
+feeling of self-reproach linger in your minds, as if you went to war for slight
+cause. Why, this trifle contains the whole seal and trial of your resolution.
+If you give way, you will instantly have to meet some greater demand, as having
+been frightened into obedience in the first instance; while a firm refusal will
+make them clearly understand that they must treat you more as equals. Make your
+decision therefore at once, either to submit before you are harmed, or if we
+are to go to war, as I for one think we ought, to do so without caring whether
+the ostensible cause be great or small, resolved against making concessions or
+consenting to a precarious tenure of our possessions. For all claims from an
+equal, urged upon a neighbour as commands before any attempt at legal
+settlement, be they great or be they small, have only one meaning, and that is
+slavery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As to the war and the resources of either party, a detailed comparison
+will not show you the inferiority of Athens. Personally engaged in the
+cultivation of their land, without funds either private or public, the
+Peloponnesians are also without experience in long wars across sea, from the
+strict limit which poverty imposes on their attacks upon each other. Powers of
+this description are quite incapable of often manning a fleet or often sending
+out an army: they cannot afford the absence from their homes, the expenditure
+from their own funds; and besides, they have not command of the sea. Capital,
+it must be remembered, maintains a war more than forced contributions. Farmers
+are a class of men that are always more ready to serve in person than in purse.
+Confident that the former will survive the dangers, they are by no means so
+sure that the latter will not be prematurely exhausted, especially if the war
+last longer than they expect, which it very likely will. In a single battle the
+Peloponnesians and their allies may be able to defy all Hellas, but they are
+incapacitated from carrying on a war against a power different in character
+from their own, by the want of the single council-chamber requisite to prompt
+and vigorous action, and the substitution of a diet composed of various races,
+in which every state possesses an equal vote, and each presses its own ends, a
+condition of things which generally results in no action at all. The great wish
+of some is to avenge themselves on some particular enemy, the great wish of
+others to save their own pocket. Slow in assembling, they devote a very small
+fraction of the time to the consideration of any public object, most of it to
+the prosecution of their own objects. Meanwhile each fancies that no harm will
+come of his neglect, that it is the business of somebody else to look after
+this or that for him; and so, by the same notion being entertained by all
+separately, the common cause imperceptibly decays.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But the principal point is the hindrance that they will experience from
+want of money. The slowness with which it comes in will cause delay; but the
+opportunities of war wait for no man. Again, we need not be alarmed either at
+the possibility of their raising fortifications in Attica, or at their navy. It
+would be difficult for any system of fortifications to establish a rival city,
+even in time of peace, much more, surely, in an enemy&rsquo;s country, with
+Athens just as much fortified against it as it against Athens; while a mere
+post might be able to do some harm to the country by incursions and by the
+facilities which it would afford for desertion, but can never prevent our
+sailing into their country and raising fortifications there, and making
+reprisals with our powerful fleet. For our naval skill is of more use to us for
+service on land, than their military skill for service at sea. Familiarity with
+the sea they will not find an easy acquisition. If you who have been practising
+at it ever since the Median invasion have not yet brought it to perfection, is
+there any chance of anything considerable being effected by an agricultural,
+unseafaring population, who will besides be prevented from practising by the
+constant presence of strong squadrons of observation from Athens? With a small
+squadron they might hazard an engagement, encouraging their ignorance by
+numbers; but the restraint of a strong force will prevent their moving, and
+through want of practice they will grow more clumsy, and consequently more
+timid. It must be kept in mind that seamanship, just like anything else, is a
+matter of art, and will not admit of being taken up occasionally as an
+occupation for times of leisure; on the contrary, it is so exacting as to leave
+leisure for nothing else.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Even if they were to touch the moneys at Olympia or Delphi, and try to
+seduce our foreign sailors by the temptation of higher pay, that would only be
+a serious danger if we could not still be a match for them by embarking our own
+citizens and the aliens resident among us. But in fact by this means we are
+always a match for them; and, best of all, we have a larger and higher class of
+native coxswains and sailors among our own citizens than all the rest of
+Hellas. And to say nothing of the danger of such a step, none of our foreign
+sailors would consent to become an outlaw from his country, and to take service
+with them and their hopes, for the sake of a few days&rsquo; high pay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This, I think, is a tolerably fair account of the position of the
+Peloponnesians; that of Athens is free from the defects that I have criticized
+in them, and has other advantages of its own, which they can show nothing to
+equal. If they march against our country we will sail against theirs, and it
+will then be found that the desolation of the whole of Attica is not the same
+as that of even a fraction of Peloponnese; for they will not be able to supply
+the deficiency except by a battle, while we have plenty of land both on the
+islands and the continent. The rule of the sea is indeed a great matter.
+Consider for a moment. Suppose that we were islanders; can you conceive a more
+impregnable position? Well, this in future should, as far as possible, be our
+conception of our position. Dismissing all thought of our land and houses, we
+must vigilantly guard the sea and the city. No irritation that we may feel for
+the former must provoke us to a battle with the numerical superiority of the
+Peloponnesians. A victory would only be succeeded by another battle against the
+same superiority: a reverse involves the loss of our allies, the source of our
+strength, who will not remain quiet a day after we become unable to march
+against them. We must cry not over the loss of houses and land but of
+men&rsquo;s lives; since houses and land do not gain men, but men them. And if
+I had thought that I could persuade you, I would have bid you go out and lay
+them waste with your own hands, and show the Peloponnesians that this at any
+rate will not make you submit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have many other reasons to hope for a favourable issue, if you can
+consent not to combine schemes of fresh conquest with the conduct of the war,
+and will abstain from wilfully involving yourselves in other dangers; indeed, I
+am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy&rsquo;s devices. But these
+matters shall be explained in another speech, as events require; for the
+present dismiss these men with the answer that we will allow Megara the use of
+our market and harbours, when the Lacedaemonians suspend their alien acts in
+favour of us and our allies, there being nothing in the treaty to prevent
+either one or the other: that we will leave the cities independent, if
+independent we found them when we made the treaty, and when the Lacedaemonians
+grant to their cities an independence not involving subservience to
+Lacedaemonian interests, but such as each severally may desire: that we are
+willing to give the legal satisfaction which our agreements specify, and that
+we shall not commence hostilities, but shall resist those who do commence them.
+This is an answer agreeable at once to the rights and the dignity of Athens. It
+must be thoroughly understood that war is a necessity; but that the more
+readily we accept it, the less will be the ardour of our opponents, and that
+out of the greatest dangers communities and individuals acquire the greatest
+glory. Did not our fathers resist the Medes not only with resources far
+different from ours, but even when those resources had been abandoned; and more
+by wisdom than by fortune, more by daring than by strength, did not they beat
+off the barbarian and advance their affairs to their present height? We must
+not fall behind them, but must resist our enemies in any way and in every way,
+and attempt to hand down our power to our posterity unimpaired.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Pericles. The Athenians, persuaded of the wisdom of his
+advice, voted as he desired, and answered the Lacedaemonians as he recommended,
+both on the separate points and in the general; they would do nothing on
+dictation, but were ready to have the complaints settled in a fair and
+impartial manner by the legal method, which the terms of the truce prescribed.
+So the envoys departed home and did not return again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These were the charges and differences existing between the rival powers before
+the war, arising immediately from the affair at Epidamnus and Corcyra. Still
+intercourse continued in spite of them, and mutual communication. It was
+carried on without heralds, but not without suspicion, as events were occurring
+which were equivalent to a breach of the treaty and matter for war.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"></a>
+BOOK II </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"></a>
+CHAPTER VI </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Beginning of the Peloponnesian War&mdash;First Invasion of Attica&mdash;Funeral
+Oration of Pericles
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The war between the Athenians and Peloponnesians and the allies on either side
+now really begins. For now all intercourse except through the medium of heralds
+ceased, and hostilities were commenced and prosecuted without intermission. The
+history follows the chronological order of events by summers and winters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The thirty years&rsquo; truce which was entered into after the conquest of
+Euboea lasted fourteen years. In the fifteenth, in the forty-eighth year of the
+priestess-ship of Chrysis at Argos, in the ephorate of Aenesias at Sparta, in
+the last month but two of the archonship of Pythodorus at Athens, and six
+months after the battle of Potidæa, just at the beginning of spring, a Theban
+force a little over three hundred strong, under the command of their
+Boeotarchs, Pythangelus, son of Phyleides, and Diemporus, son of Onetorides,
+about the first watch of the night, made an armed entry into Plataea, a town of
+Boeotia in alliance with Athens. The gates were opened to them by a Plataean
+called Naucleides, who, with his party, had invited them in, meaning to put to
+death the citizens of the opposite party, bring over the city to Thebes, and
+thus obtain power for themselves. This was arranged through Eurymachus, son of
+Leontiades, a person of great influence at Thebes. For Plataea had always been
+at variance with Thebes; and the latter, foreseeing that war was at hand,
+wished to surprise her old enemy in time of peace, before hostilities had
+actually broken out. Indeed this was how they got in so easily without being
+observed, as no guard had been posted. After the soldiers had grounded arms in
+the market-place, those who had invited them in wished them to set to work at
+once and go to their enemies&rsquo; houses. This, however, the Thebans refused
+to do, but determined to make a conciliatory proclamation, and if possible to
+come to a friendly understanding with the citizens. Their herald accordingly
+invited any who wished to resume their old place in the confederacy of their
+countrymen to ground arms with them, for they thought that in this way the city
+would readily join them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On becoming aware of the presence of the Thebans within their gates, and of the
+sudden occupation of the town, the Plataeans concluded in their alarm that more
+had entered than was really the case, the night preventing their seeing them.
+They accordingly came to terms and, accepting the proposal, made no movement;
+especially as the Thebans offered none of them any violence. But somehow or
+other, during the negotiations, they discovered the scanty numbers of the
+Thebans, and decided that they could easily attack and overpower them; the mass
+of the Plataeans being averse to revolting from Athens. At all events they
+resolved to attempt it. Digging through the party walls of the houses, they
+thus managed to join each other without being seen going through the streets,
+in which they placed wagons without the beasts in them, to serve as a
+barricade, and arranged everything else as seemed convenient for the occasion.
+When everything had been done that circumstances permitted, they watched their
+opportunity and went out of their houses against the enemy. It was still night,
+though daybreak was at hand: in daylight it was thought that their attack would
+be met by men full of courage and on equal terms with their assailants, while
+in darkness it would fall upon panic-stricken troops, who would also be at a
+disadvantage from their enemy&rsquo;s knowledge of the locality. So they made
+their assault at once, and came to close quarters as quickly as they could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Thebans, finding themselves outwitted, immediately closed up to repel all
+attacks made upon them. Twice or thrice they beat back their assailants. But
+the men shouted and charged them, the women and slaves screamed and yelled from
+the houses and pelted them with stones and tiles; besides, it had been raining
+hard all night; and so at last their courage gave way, and they turned and fled
+through the town. Most of the fugitives were quite ignorant of the right ways
+out, and this, with the mud, and the darkness caused by the moon being in her
+last quarter, and the fact that their pursuers knew their way about and could
+easily stop their escape, proved fatal to many. The only gate open was the one
+by which they had entered, and this was shut by one of the Plataeans driving
+the spike of a javelin into the bar instead of the bolt; so that even here
+there was no longer any means of exit. They were now chased all over the town.
+Some got on the wall and threw themselves over, in most cases with a fatal
+result. One party managed to find a deserted gate, and obtaining an axe from a
+woman, cut through the bar; but as they were soon observed only a few succeeded
+in getting out. Others were cut off in detail in different parts of the city.
+The most numerous and compact body rushed into a large building next to the
+city wall: the doors on the side of the street happened to be open, and the
+Thebans fancied that they were the gates of the town, and that there was a
+passage right through to the outside. The Plataeans, seeing their enemies in a
+trap, now consulted whether they should set fire to the building and burn them
+just as they were, or whether there was anything else that they could do with
+them; until at length these and the rest of the Theban survivors found
+wandering about the town agreed to an unconditional surrender of themselves and
+their arms to the Plataeans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While such was the fate of the party in Plataea, the rest of the Thebans who
+were to have joined them with all their forces before daybreak, in case of
+anything miscarrying with the body that had entered, received the news of the
+affair on the road, and pressed forward to their succour. Now Plataea is nearly
+eight miles from Thebes, and their march delayed by the rain that had fallen in
+the night, for the river Asopus had risen and was not easy of passage; and so,
+having to march in the rain, and being hindered in crossing the river, they
+arrived too late, and found the whole party either slain or captive. When they
+learned what had happened, they at once formed a design against the Plataeans
+outside the city. As the attack had been made in time of peace, and was
+perfectly unexpected, there were of course men and stock in the fields; and the
+Thebans wished if possible to have some prisoners to exchange against their
+countrymen in the town, should any chance to have been taken alive. Such was
+their plan. But the Plataeans suspected their intention almost before it was
+formed, and becoming alarmed for their fellow citizens outside the town, sent a
+herald to the Thebans, reproaching them for their unscrupulous attempt to seize
+their city in time of peace, and warning them against any outrage on those
+outside. Should the warning be disregarded, they threatened to put to death the
+men they had in their hands, but added that, on the Thebans retiring from their
+territory, they would surrender the prisoners to their friends. This is the
+Theban account of the matter, and they say that they had an oath given them.
+The Plataeans, on the other hand, do not admit any promise of an immediate
+surrender, but make it contingent upon subsequent negotiation: the oath they
+deny altogether. Be this as it may, upon the Thebans retiring from their
+territory without committing any injury, the Plataeans hastily got in whatever
+they had in the country and immediately put the men to death. The prisoners
+were a hundred and eighty in number; Eurymachus, the person with whom the
+traitors had negotiated, being one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This done, the Plataeans sent a messenger to Athens, gave back the dead to the
+Thebans under a truce, and arranged things in the city as seemed best to meet
+the present emergency. The Athenians meanwhile, having had word of the affair
+sent them immediately after its occurrence, had instantly seized all the
+Boeotians in Attica, and sent a herald to the Plataeans to forbid their
+proceeding to extremities with their Theban prisoners without instructions from
+Athens. The news of the men&rsquo;s death had of course not arrived; the first
+messenger having left Plataea just when the Thebans entered it, the second just
+after their defeat and capture; so there was no later news. Thus the Athenians
+sent orders in ignorance of the facts; and the herald on his arrival found the
+men slain. After this the Athenians marched to Plataea and brought in
+provisions, and left a garrison in the place, also taking away the women and
+children and such of the men as were least efficient.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the affair at Plataea, the treaty had been broken by an overt act, and
+Athens at once prepared for war, as did also Lacedaemon and her allies. They
+resolved to send embassies to the King and to such other of the barbarian
+powers as either party could look to for assistance, and tried to ally
+themselves with the independent states at home. Lacedaemon, in addition to the
+existing marine, gave orders to the states that had declared for her in Italy
+and Sicily to build vessels up to a grand total of five hundred, the quota of
+each city being determined by its size, and also to provide a specified sum of
+money. Till these were ready they were to remain neutral and to admit single
+Athenian ships into their harbours. Athens on her part reviewed her existing
+confederacy, and sent embassies to the places more immediately round
+Peloponnese&mdash;Corcyra, Cephallenia, Acarnania, and
+Zacynthus&mdash;perceiving that if these could be relied on she could carry the
+war all round Peloponnese.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And if both sides nourished the boldest hopes and put forth their utmost
+strength for the war, this was only natural. Zeal is always at its height at
+the commencement of an undertaking; and on this particular occasion Peloponnese
+and Athens were both full of young men whose inexperience made them eager to
+take up arms, while the rest of Hellas stood straining with excitement at the
+conflict of its leading cities. Everywhere predictions were being recited and
+oracles being chanted by such persons as collect them, and this not only in the
+contending cities. Further, some while before this, there was an earthquake at
+Delos, for the first time in the memory of the Hellenes. This was said and
+thought to be ominous of the events impending; indeed, nothing of the kind that
+happened was allowed to pass without remark. The good wishes of men made
+greatly for the Lacedaemonians, especially as they proclaimed themselves the
+liberators of Hellas. No private or public effort that could help them in
+speech or action was omitted; each thinking that the cause suffered wherever he
+could not himself see to it. So general was the indignation felt against
+Athens, whether by those who wished to escape from her empire, or were
+apprehensive of being absorbed by it. Such were the preparations and such the
+feelings with which the contest opened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The allies of the two belligerents were the following. These were the allies of
+Lacedaemon: all the Peloponnesians within the Isthmus except the Argives and
+Achaeans, who were neutral; Pellene being the only Achaean city that first
+joined in the war, though her example was afterwards followed by the rest.
+Outside Peloponnese the Megarians, Locrians, Boeotians, Phocians, Ambraciots,
+Leucadians, and Anactorians. Of these, ships were furnished by the Corinthians,
+Megarians, Sicyonians, Pellenians, Eleans, Ambraciots, and Leucadians; and
+cavalry by the Boeotians, Phocians, and Locrians. The other states sent
+infantry. This was the Lacedaemonian confederacy. That of Athens comprised the
+Chians, Lesbians, Plataeans, the Messenians in Naupactus, most of the
+Acarnanians, the Corcyraeans, Zacynthians, and some tributary cities in the
+following countries, viz., Caria upon the sea with her Dorian neighbours,
+Ionia, the Hellespont, the Thracian towns, the islands lying between
+Peloponnese and Crete towards the east, and all the Cyclades except Melos and
+Thera. Of these, ships were furnished by Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra, infantry
+and money by the rest. Such were the allies of either party and their resources
+for the war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately after the affair at Plataea, Lacedaemon sent round orders to the
+cities in Peloponnese and the rest of her confederacy to prepare troops and the
+provisions requisite for a foreign campaign, in order to invade Attica. The
+several states were ready at the time appointed and assembled at the Isthmus:
+the contingent of each city being two-thirds of its whole force. After the
+whole army had mustered, the Lacedaemonian king, Archidamus, the leader of the
+expedition, called together the generals of all the states and the principal
+persons and officers, and exhorted them as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Peloponnesians and allies, our fathers made many campaigns both within
+and without Peloponnese, and the elder men among us here are not without
+experience in war. Yet we have never set out with a larger force than the
+present; and if our numbers and efficiency are remarkable, so also is the power
+of the state against which we march. We ought not then to show ourselves
+inferior to our ancestors, or unequal to our own reputation. For the hopes and
+attention of all Hellas are bent upon the present effort, and its sympathy is
+with the enemy of the hated Athens. Therefore, numerous as the invading army
+may appear to be, and certain as some may think it that our adversary will not
+meet us in the field, this is no sort of justification for the least negligence
+upon the march; but the officers and men of each particular city should always
+be prepared for the advent of danger in their own quarters. The course of war
+cannot be foreseen, and its attacks are generally dictated by the impulse of
+the moment; and where overweening self-confidence has despised preparation, a
+wise apprehension often been able to make head against superior numbers. Not
+that confidence is out of place in an army of invasion, but in an enemy&rsquo;s
+country it should also be accompanied by the precautions of apprehension:
+troops will by this combination be best inspired for dealing a blow, and best
+secured against receiving one. In the present instance, the city against which
+we are going, far from being so impotent for defence, is on the contrary most
+excellently equipped at all points; so that we have every reason to expect that
+they will take the field against us, and that if they have not set out already
+before we are there, they will certainly do so when they see us in their
+territory wasting and destroying their property. For men are always exasperated
+at suffering injuries to which they are not accustomed, and on seeing them
+inflicted before their very eyes; and where least inclined for reflection, rush
+with the greatest heat to action. The Athenians are the very people of all
+others to do this, as they aspire to rule the rest of the world, and are more
+in the habit of invading and ravaging their neighbours&rsquo; territory, than
+of seeing their own treated in the like fashion. Considering, therefore, the
+power of the state against which we are marching, and the greatness of the
+reputation which, according to the event, we shall win or lose for our
+ancestors and ourselves, remember as you follow where you may be led to regard
+discipline and vigilance as of the first importance, and to obey with alacrity
+the orders transmitted to you; as nothing contributes so much to the credit and
+safety of an army as the union of large bodies by a single discipline.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this brief speech dismissing the assembly, Archidamus first sent off
+Melesippus, son of Diacritus, a Spartan, to Athens, in case she should be more
+inclined to submit on seeing the Peloponnesians actually on the march. But the
+Athenians did not admit into the city or to their assembly, Pericles having
+already carried a motion against admitting either herald or embassy from the
+Lacedaemonians after they had once marched out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The herald was accordingly sent away without an audience, and ordered to be
+beyond the frontier that same day; in future, if those who sent him had a
+proposition to make, they must retire to their own territory before they
+dispatched embassies to Athens. An escort was sent with Melesippus to prevent
+his holding communication with any one. When he reached the frontier and was
+just going to be dismissed, he departed with these words: &ldquo;This day will
+be the beginning of great misfortunes to the Hellenes.&rdquo; As soon as he
+arrived at the camp, and Archidamus learnt that the Athenians had still no
+thoughts of submitting, he at length began his march, and advanced with his
+army into their territory. Meanwhile the Boeotians, sending their contingent
+and cavalry to join the Peloponnesian expedition, went to Plataea with the
+remainder and laid waste the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Peloponnesians were still mustering at the Isthmus, or on the march
+before they invaded Attica, Pericles, son of Xanthippus, one of the ten
+generals of the Athenians, finding that the invasion was to take place,
+conceived the idea that Archidamus, who happened to be his friend, might
+possibly pass by his estate without ravaging it. This he might do, either from
+a personal wish to oblige him, or acting under instructions from Lacedaemon for
+the purpose of creating a prejudice against him, as had been before attempted
+in the demand for the expulsion of the accursed family. He accordingly took the
+precaution of announcing to the Athenians in the assembly that, although
+Archidamus was his friend, yet this friendship should not extend to the
+detriment of the state, and that in case the enemy should make his houses and
+lands an exception to the rest and not pillage them, he at once gave them up to
+be public property, so that they should not bring him into suspicion. He also
+gave the citizens some advice on their present affairs in the same strain as
+before. They were to prepare for the war, and to carry in their property from
+the country. They were not to go out to battle, but to come into the city and
+guard it, and get ready their fleet, in which their real strength lay. They
+were also to keep a tight rein on their allies&mdash;the strength of Athens
+being derived from the money brought in by their payments, and success in war
+depending principally upon conduct and capital, had no reason to despond. Apart
+from other sources of income, an average revenue of six hundred talents of
+silver was drawn from the tribute of the allies; and there were still six
+thousand talents of coined silver in the Acropolis, out of nine thousand seven
+hundred that had once been there, from which the money had been taken for the
+porch of the Acropolis, the other public buildings, and for Potidæa. This did
+not include the uncoined gold and silver in public and private offerings, the
+sacred vessels for the processions and games, the Median spoils, and similar
+resources to the amount of five hundred talents. To this he added the treasures
+of the other temples. These were by no means inconsiderable, and might fairly
+be used. Nay, if they were ever absolutely driven to it, they might take even
+the gold ornaments of Athene herself; for the statue contained forty talents of
+pure gold and it was all removable. This might be used for self-preservation,
+and must every penny of it be restored. Such was their financial
+position&mdash;surely a satisfactory one. Then they had an army of thirteen
+thousand heavy infantry, besides sixteen thousand more in the garrisons and on
+home duty at Athens. This was at first the number of men on guard in the event
+of an invasion: it was composed of the oldest and youngest levies and the
+resident aliens who had heavy armour. The Phaleric wall ran for four miles,
+before it joined that round the city; and of this last nearly five had a guard,
+although part of it was left without one, viz., that between the Long Wall and
+the Phaleric. Then there were the Long Walls to Piraeus, a distance of some
+four miles and a half, the outer of which was manned. Lastly, the circumference
+of Piraeus with Munychia was nearly seven miles and a half; only half of this,
+however, was guarded. Pericles also showed them that they had twelve hundred
+horse including mounted archers, with sixteen hundred archers unmounted, and
+three hundred galleys fit for service. Such were the resources of Athens in the
+different departments when the Peloponnesian invasion was impending and
+hostilities were being commenced. Pericles also urged his usual arguments for
+expecting a favourable issue to the war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians listened to his advice, and began to carry in their wives and
+children from the country, and all their household furniture, even to the
+woodwork of their houses which they took down. Their sheep and cattle they sent
+over to Euboea and the adjacent islands. But they found it hard to move, as
+most of them had been always used to live in the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From very early times this had been more the case with the Athenians than with
+others. Under Cecrops and the first kings, down to the reign of Theseus, Attica
+had always consisted of a number of independent townships, each with its own
+town hall and magistrates. Except in times of danger the king at Athens was not
+consulted; in ordinary seasons they carried on their government and settled
+their affairs without his interference; sometimes even they waged war against
+him, as in the case of the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus. In
+Theseus, however, they had a king of equal intelligence and power; and one of
+the chief features in his organization of the country was to abolish the
+council-chambers and magistrates of the petty cities, and to merge them in the
+single council-chamber and town hall of the present capital. Individuals might
+still enjoy their private property just as before, but they were henceforth
+compelled to have only one political centre, viz., Athens; which thus counted
+all the inhabitants of Attica among her citizens, so that when Theseus died he
+left a great state behind him. Indeed, from him dates the Synoecia, or Feast of
+Union; which is paid for by the state, and which the Athenians still keep in
+honour of the goddess. Before this the city consisted of the present citadel
+and the district beneath it looking rather towards the south. This is shown by
+the fact that the temples of the other deities, besides that of Athene, are in
+the citadel; and even those that are outside it are mostly situated in this
+quarter of the city, as that of the Olympian Zeus, of the Pythian Apollo, of
+Earth, and of Dionysus in the Marshes, the same in whose honour the older
+Dionysia are to this day celebrated in the month of Anthesterion not only by
+the Athenians but also by their Ionian descendants. There are also other
+ancient temples in this quarter. The fountain too, which, since the alteration
+made by the tyrants, has been called Enneacrounos, or Nine Pipes, but which,
+when the spring was open, went by the name of Callirhoe, or Fairwater, was in
+those days, from being so near, used for the most important offices. Indeed,
+the old fashion of using the water before marriage and for other sacred
+purposes is still kept up. Again, from their old residence in that quarter, the
+citadel is still known among Athenians as the city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians thus long lived scattered over Attica in independent townships.
+Even after the centralization of Theseus, old habit still prevailed; and from
+the early times down to the present war most Athenians still lived in the
+country with their families and households, and were consequently not at all
+inclined to move now, especially as they had only just restored their
+establishments after the Median invasion. Deep was their trouble and discontent
+at abandoning their houses and the hereditary temples of the ancient
+constitution, and at having to change their habits of life and to bid farewell
+to what each regarded as his native city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they arrived at Athens, though a few had houses of their own to go to, or
+could find an asylum with friends or relatives, by far the greater number had
+to take up their dwelling in the parts of the city that were not built over and
+in the temples and chapels of the heroes, except the Acropolis and the temple
+of the Eleusinian Demeter and such other Places as were always kept closed. The
+occupation of the plot of ground lying below the citadel called the Pelasgian
+had been forbidden by a curse; and there was also an ominous fragment of a
+Pythian oracle which said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leave the Pelasgian parcel desolate, Woe worth the day that men inhabit it!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet this too was now built over in the necessity of the moment. And in my
+opinion, if the oracle proved true, it was in the opposite sense to what was
+expected. For the misfortunes of the state did not arise from the unlawful
+occupation, but the necessity of the occupation from the war; and though the
+god did not mention this, he foresaw that it would be an evil day for Athens in
+which the plot came to be inhabited. Many also took up their quarters in the
+towers of the walls or wherever else they could. For when they were all come
+in, the city proved too small to hold them; though afterwards they divided the
+Long Walls and a great part of Piraeus into lots and settled there. All this
+while great attention was being given to the war; the allies were being
+mustered, and an armament of a hundred ships equipped for Peloponnese. Such was
+the state of preparation at Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the army of the Peloponnesians was advancing. The first town they
+came to in Attica was Oenoe, where they to enter the country. Sitting down
+before it, they prepared to assault the wall with engines and otherwise. Oenoe,
+standing upon the Athenian and Boeotian border, was of course a walled town,
+and was used as a fortress by the Athenians in time of war. So the
+Peloponnesians prepared for their assault, and wasted some valuable time before
+the place. This delay brought the gravest censure upon Archidamus. Even during
+the levying of the war he had credit for weakness and Athenian sympathies by
+the half measures he had advocated; and after the army had assembled he had
+further injured himself in public estimation by his loitering at the Isthmus
+and the slowness with which the rest of the march had been conducted. But all
+this was as nothing to the delay at Oenoe. During this interval the Athenians
+were carrying in their property; and it was the belief of the Peloponnesians
+that a quick advance would have found everything still out, had it not been for
+his procrastination. Such was the feeling of the army towards Archidamus during
+the siege. But he, it is said, expected that the Athenians would shrink from
+letting their land be wasted, and would make their submission while it was
+still uninjured; and this was why he waited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But after he had assaulted Oenoe, and every possible attempt to take it had
+failed, as no herald came from Athens, he at last broke up his camp and invaded
+Attica. This was about eighty days after the Theban attempt upon Plataea, just
+in the middle of summer, when the corn was ripe, and Archidamus, son of Zeuxis,
+king of Lacedaemon, was in command. Encamping in Eleusis and the Thriasian
+plain, they began their ravages, and putting to flight some Athenian horse at a
+place called Rheiti, or the Brooks, they then advanced, keeping Mount Aegaleus
+on their right, through Cropia, until they reached Acharnae, the largest of the
+Athenian demes or townships. Sitting down before it, they formed a camp there,
+and continued their ravages for a long while.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reason why Archidamus remained in order of battle at Acharnae during this
+incursion, instead of descending into the plain, is said to have been this. He
+hoped that the Athenians might possibly be tempted by the multitude of their
+youth and the unprecedented efficiency of their service to come out to battle
+and attempt to stop the devastation of their lands. Accordingly, as they had
+met him at Eleusis or the Thriasian plain, he tried if they could be provoked
+to a sally by the spectacle of a camp at Acharnae. He thought the place itself
+a good position for encamping; and it seemed likely that such an important part
+of the state as the three thousand heavy infantry of the Acharnians would
+refuse to submit to the ruin of their property, and would force a battle on the
+rest of the citizens. On the other hand, should the Athenians not take the
+field during this incursion, he could then fearlessly ravage the plain in
+future invasions, and extend his advance up to the very walls of Athens. After
+the Acharnians had lost their own property they would be less willing to risk
+themselves for that of their neighbours; and so there would be division in the
+Athenian counsels. These were the motives of Archidamus for remaining at
+Acharnae.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meanwhile, as long as the army was at Eleusis and the Thriasian plain,
+hopes were still entertained of its not advancing any nearer. It was remembered
+that Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon, had invaded Attica with
+a Peloponnesian army fourteen years before, but had retreated without advancing
+farther than Eleusis and Thria, which indeed proved the cause of his exile from
+Sparta, as it was thought he had been bribed to retreat. But when they saw the
+army at Acharnae, barely seven miles from Athens, they lost all patience. The
+territory of Athens was being ravaged before the very eyes of the Athenians, a
+sight which the young men had never seen before and the old only in the Median
+wars; and it was naturally thought a grievous insult, and the determination was
+universal, especially among the young men, to sally forth and stop it. Knots
+were formed in the streets and engaged in hot discussion; for if the proposed
+sally was warmly recommended, it was also in some cases opposed. Oracles of the
+most various import were recited by the collectors, and found eager listeners
+in one or other of the disputants. Foremost in pressing for the sally were the
+Acharnians, as constituting no small part of the army of the state, and as it
+was their land that was being ravaged. In short, the whole city was in a most
+excited state; Pericles was the object of general indignation; his previous
+counsels were totally forgotten; he was abused for not leading out the army
+which he commanded, and was made responsible for the whole of the public
+suffering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He, meanwhile, seeing anger and infatuation just now in the ascendant, and of
+his wisdom in refusing a sally, would not call either assembly or meeting of
+the people, fearing the fatal results of a debate inspired by passion and not
+by prudence. Accordingly he addressed himself to the defence of the city, and
+kept it as quiet as possible, though he constantly sent out cavalry to prevent
+raids on the lands near the city from flying parties of the enemy. There was a
+trifling affair at Phrygia between a squadron of the Athenian horse with the
+Thessalians and the Boeotian cavalry; in which the former had rather the best
+of it, until the heavy infantry advanced to the support of the Boeotians, when
+the Thessalians and Athenians were routed and lost a few men, whose bodies,
+however, were recovered the same day without a truce. The next day the
+Peloponnesians set up a trophy. Ancient alliance brought the Thessalians to the
+aid of Athens; those who came being the Larisaeans, Pharsalians, Cranonians,
+Pyrasians, Gyrtonians, and Pheraeans. The Larisaean commanders were Polymedes
+and Aristonus, two party leaders in Larisa; the Pharsalian general was Menon;
+each of the other cities had also its own commander.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Peloponnesians, as the Athenians did not come out to engage
+them, broke up from Acharnae and ravaged some of the demes between Mount Parnes
+and Brilessus. While they were in Attica the Athenians sent off the hundred
+ships which they had been preparing round Peloponnese, with a thousand heavy
+infantry and four hundred archers on board, under the command of Carcinus, son
+of Xenotimus, Proteas, son of Epicles, and Socrates, son of Antigenes. This
+armament weighed anchor and started on its cruise, and the Peloponnesians,
+after remaining in Attica as long as their provisions lasted, retired through
+Boeotia by a different road to that by which they had entered. As they passed
+Oropus they ravaged the territory of Graea, which is held by the Oropians from
+Athens, and reaching Peloponnese broke up to their respective cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After they had retired the Athenians set guards by land and sea at the points
+at which they intended to have regular stations during the war. They also
+resolved to set apart a special fund of a thousand talents from the moneys in
+the Acropolis. This was not to be spent, but the current expenses of the war
+were to be otherwise provided for. If any one should move or put to the vote a
+proposition for using the money for any purpose whatever except that of
+defending the city in the event of the enemy bringing a fleet to make an attack
+by sea, it should be a capital offence. With this sum of money they also set
+aside a special fleet of one hundred galleys, the best ships of each year, with
+their captains. None of these were to be used except with the money and against
+the same peril, should such peril arise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred ships round Peloponnese, reinforced by a
+Corcyraean squadron of fifty vessels and some others of the allies in those
+parts, cruised about the coasts and ravaged the country. Among other places
+they landed in Laconia and made an assault upon Methone; there being no
+garrison in the place, and the wall being weak. But it so happened that
+Brasidas, son of Tellis, a Spartan, was in command of a guard for the defence
+of the district. Hearing of the attack, he hurried with a hundred heavy
+infantry to the assistance of the besieged, and dashing through the army of the
+Athenians, which was scattered over the country and had its attention turned to
+the wall, threw himself into Methone. He lost a few men in making good his
+entrance, but saved the place and won the thanks of Sparta by his exploit,
+being thus the first officer who obtained this notice during the war. The
+Athenians at once weighed anchor and continued their cruise. Touching at Pheia
+in Elis, they ravaged the country for two days and defeated a picked force of
+three hundred men that had come from the vale of Elis and the immediate
+neighbourhood to the rescue. But a stiff squall came down upon them, and, not
+liking to face it in a place where there was no harbour, most of them got on
+board their ships, and doubling Point Ichthys sailed into the port of Pheia. In
+the meantime the Messenians, and some others who could not get on board,
+marched over by land and took Pheia. The fleet afterwards sailed round and
+picked them up and then put to sea; Pheia being evacuated, as the main army of
+the Eleans had now come up. The Athenians continued their cruise, and ravaged
+other places on the coast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the Athenians sent thirty ships to cruise round Locris and
+also to guard Euboea; Cleopompus, son of Clinias, being in command. Making
+descents from the fleet he ravaged certain places on the sea-coast, and
+captured Thronium and took hostages from it. He also defeated at Alope the
+Locrians that had assembled to resist him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the summer the Athenians also expelled the Aeginetans with their wives
+and children from Aegina, on the ground of their having been the chief agents
+in bringing the war upon them. Besides, Aegina lies so near Peloponnese that it
+seemed safer to send colonists of their own to hold it, and shortly afterwards
+the settlers were sent out. The banished Aeginetans found an asylum in Thyrea,
+which was given to them by Lacedaemon, not only on account of her quarrel with
+Athens, but also because the Aeginetans had laid her under obligations at the
+time of the earthquake and the revolt of the Helots. The territory of Thyrea is
+on the frontier of Argolis and Laconia, reaching down to the sea. Those of the
+Aeginetans who did not settle here were scattered over the rest of Hellas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer, at the beginning of a new lunar month, the only time by the
+way at which it appears possible, the sun was eclipsed after noon. After it had
+assumed the form of a crescent and some of the stars had come out, it returned
+to its natural shape.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the same summer Nymphodorus, son of Pythes, an Abderite, whose sister
+Sitalces had married, was made their proxenus by the Athenians and sent for to
+Athens. They had hitherto considered him their enemy; but he had great
+influence with Sitalces, and they wished this prince to become their ally.
+Sitalces was the son of Teres and King of the Thracians. Teres, the father of
+Sitalces, was the first to establish the great kingdom of the Odrysians on a
+scale quite unknown to the rest of Thrace, a large portion of the Thracians
+being independent. This Teres is in no way related to Tereus who married
+Pandion&rsquo;s daughter Procne from Athens; nor indeed did they belong to the
+same part of Thrace. Tereus lived in Daulis, part of what is now called Phocis,
+but which at that time was inhabited by Thracians. It was in this land that the
+women perpetrated the outrage upon Itys; and many of the poets when they
+mention the nightingale call it the Daulian bird. Besides, Pandion in
+contracting an alliance for his daughter would consider the advantages of
+mutual assistance, and would naturally prefer a match at the above moderate
+distance to the journey of many days which separates Athens from the Odrysians.
+Again the names are different; and this Teres was king of the Odrysians, the
+first by the way who attained to any power. Sitalces, his son, was now sought
+as an ally by the Athenians, who desired his aid in the reduction of the
+Thracian towns and of Perdiccas. Coming to Athens, Nymphodorus concluded the
+alliance with Sitalces and made his son Sadocus an Athenian citizen, and
+promised to finish the war in Thrace by persuading Sitalces to send the
+Athenians a force of Thracian horse and targeteers. He also reconciled them
+with Perdiccas, and induced them to restore Therme to him; upon which Perdiccas
+at once joined the Athenians and Phormio in an expedition against the
+Chalcidians. Thus Sitalces, son of Teres, King of the Thracians, and Perdiccas,
+son of Alexander, King of the Macedonians, became allies of Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred vessels were still cruising round
+Peloponnese. After taking Sollium, a town belonging to Corinth, and presenting
+the city and territory to the Acarnanians of Palaira, they stormed Astacus,
+expelled its tyrant Evarchus, and gained the place for their confederacy. Next
+they sailed to the island of Cephallenia and brought it over without using
+force. Cephallenia lies off Acarnania and Leucas, and consists of four states,
+the Paleans, Cranians, Samaeans, and Pronaeans. Not long afterwards the fleet
+returned to Athens. Towards the autumn of this year the Athenians invaded the
+Megarid with their whole levy, resident aliens included, under the command of
+Pericles, son of Xanthippus. The Athenians in the hundred ships round
+Peloponnese on their journey home had just reached Aegina, and hearing that the
+citizens at home were in full force at Megara, now sailed over and joined them.
+This was without doubt the largest army of Athenians ever assembled, the state
+being still in the flower of her strength and yet unvisited by the plague. Full
+ten thousand heavy infantry were in the field, all Athenian citizens, besides
+the three thousand before Potidæa. Then the resident aliens who joined in the
+incursion were at least three thousand strong; besides which there was a
+multitude of light troops. They ravaged the greater part of the territory, and
+then retired. Other incursions into the Megarid were afterwards made by the
+Athenians annually during the war, sometimes only with cavalry, sometimes with
+all their forces. This went on until the capture of Nisaea. Atalanta also, the
+desert island off the Opuntian coast, was towards the end of this summer
+converted into a fortified post by the Athenians, in order to prevent
+privateers issuing from Opus and the rest of Locris and plundering Euboea. Such
+were the events of this summer after the return of the Peloponnesians from
+Attica.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the ensuing winter the Acarnanian Evarchus, wishing to return to Astacus,
+persuaded the Corinthians to sail over with forty ships and fifteen hundred
+heavy infantry and restore him; himself also hiring some mercenaries. In
+command of the force were Euphamidas, son of Aristonymus, Timoxenus, son of
+Timocrates, and Eumachus, son of Chrysis, who sailed over and restored him and,
+after failing in an attempt on some places on the Acarnanian coast which they
+were desirous of gaining, began their voyage home. Coasting along shore they
+touched at Cephallenia and made a descent on the Cranian territory, and losing
+some men by the treachery of the Cranians, who fell suddenly upon them after
+having agreed to treat, put to sea somewhat hurriedly and returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those who
+had first fallen in this war. It was a custom of their ancestors, and the
+manner of it is as follows. Three days before the ceremony, the bones of the
+dead are laid out in a tent which has been erected; and their friends bring to
+their relatives such offerings as they please. In the funeral procession
+cypress coffins are borne in cars, one for each tribe; the bones of the
+deceased being placed in the coffin of their tribe. Among these is carried one
+empty bier decked for the missing, that is, for those whose bodies could not be
+recovered. Any citizen or stranger who pleases, joins in the procession: and
+the female relatives are there to wail at the burial. The dead are laid in the
+public sepulchre in the Beautiful suburb of the city, in which those who fall
+in war are always buried; with the exception of those slain at Marathon, who
+for their singular and extraordinary valour were interred on the spot where
+they fell. After the bodies have been laid in the earth, a man chosen by the
+state, of approved wisdom and eminent reputation, pronounces over them an
+appropriate panegyric; after which all retire. Such is the manner of the
+burying; and throughout the whole of the war, whenever the occasion arose, the
+established custom was observed. Meanwhile these were the first that had
+fallen, and Pericles, son of Xanthippus, was chosen to pronounce their
+eulogium. When the proper time arrived, he advanced from the sepulchre to an
+elevated platform in order to be heard by as many of the crowd as possible, and
+spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Most of my predecessors in this place have commended him who made this
+speech part of the law, telling us that it is well that it should be delivered
+at the burial of those who fall in battle. For myself, I should have thought
+that the worth which had displayed itself in deeds would be sufficiently
+rewarded by honours also shown by deeds; such as you now see in this funeral
+prepared at the people&rsquo;s cost. And I could have wished that the
+reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a
+single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it
+is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince
+your hearers that you are speaking the truth. On the one hand, the friend who
+is familiar with every fact of the story may think that some point has not been
+set forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on the
+other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be led by envy to suspect
+exaggeration if he hears anything above his own nature. For men can endure to
+hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves of
+their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed,
+envy comes in and with it incredulity. However, since our ancestors have
+stamped this custom with their approval, it becomes my duty to obey the law and
+to try to satisfy your several wishes and opinions as best I may.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that they
+should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like the present.
+They dwelt in the country without break in the succession from generation to
+generation, and handed it down free to the present time by their valour. And if
+our more remote ancestors deserve praise, much more do our own fathers, who
+added to their inheritance the empire which we now possess, and spared no pains
+to be able to leave their acquisitions to us of the present generation. Lastly,
+there are few parts of our dominions that have not been augmented by those of
+us here, who are still more or less in the vigour of life; while the mother
+country has been furnished by us with everything that can enable her to depend
+on her own resources whether for war or for peace. That part of our history
+which tells of the military achievements which gave us our several possessions,
+or of the ready valour with which either we or our fathers stemmed the tide of
+Hellenic or foreign aggression, is a theme too familiar to my hearers for me to
+dilate on, and I shall therefore pass it by. But what was the road by which we
+reached our position, what the form of government under which our greatness
+grew, what the national habits out of which it sprang; these are questions
+which I may try to solve before I proceed to my panegyric upon these men; since
+I think this to be a subject upon which on the present occasion a speaker may
+properly dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether citizens or
+foreigners, may listen with advantage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are
+rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours
+the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look
+to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if
+no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for
+capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor
+again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not
+hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our
+government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a
+jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry
+with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those
+injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no
+positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us
+lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to
+obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the protection
+of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to
+that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged
+disgrace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from
+business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the
+elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure and
+helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our city draws the produce
+of the world into our harbour, so that to the Athenian the fruits of other
+countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our
+antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts
+exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the
+eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in
+system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens; while in
+education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline
+seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just
+as ready to encounter every legitimate danger. In proof of this it may be
+noticed that the Lacedaemonians do not invade our country alone, but bring with
+them all their confederates; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the
+territory of a neighbour, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish
+with ease men who are defending their homes. Our united force was never yet
+encountered by any enemy, because we have at once to attend to our marine and
+to dispatch our citizens by land upon a hundred different services; so that,
+wherever they engage with some such fraction of our strength, a success against
+a detachment is magnified into a victory over the nation, and a defeat into a
+reverse suffered at the hands of our entire people. And yet if with habits not
+of labour but of ease, and courage not of art but of nature, we are still
+willing to encounter danger, we have the double advantage of escaping the
+experience of hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need
+as fearlessly as those who are never free from them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of admiration.
+We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy;
+wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of
+poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it. Our
+public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our
+ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still
+fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who
+takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians
+are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and, instead of looking
+on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an
+indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all. Again, in our enterprises
+we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to
+its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually
+decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of
+courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the
+difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink
+from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by
+conferring, not by receiving, favours. Yet, of course, the doer of the favour
+is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness to keep the
+recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly from the very
+consciousness that the return he makes will be a payment, not a free gift. And
+it is only the Athenians, who, fearless of consequences, confer their benefits
+not from calculations of expediency, but in the confidence of liberality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I
+doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to depend
+upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility, as
+the Athenian. And that this is no mere boast thrown out for the occasion, but
+plain matter of fact, the power of the state acquired by these habits proves.
+For Athens alone of her contemporaries is found when tested to be greater than
+her reputation, and alone gives no occasion to her assailants to blush at the
+antagonist by whom they have been worsted, or to her subjects to question her
+title by merit to rule. Rather, the admiration of the present and succeeding
+ages will be ours, since we have not left our power without witness, but have
+shown it by mighty proofs; and far from needing a Homer for our panegyrist, or
+other of his craft whose verses might charm for the moment only for the
+impression which they gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced every
+sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil
+or for good, have left imperishable monuments behind us. Such is the Athens for
+which these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly
+fought and died; and well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer
+in her cause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our country,
+it has been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the same as theirs
+who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the panegyric of the men over
+whom I am now speaking might be by definite proofs established. That panegyric
+is now in a great measure complete; for the Athens that I have celebrated is
+only what the heroism of these and their like have made her, men whose fame,
+unlike that of most Hellenes, will be found to be only commensurate with their
+deserts. And if a test of worth be wanted, it is to be found in their closing
+scene, and this not only in cases in which it set the final seal upon their
+merit, but also in those in which it gave the first intimation of their having
+any. For there is justice in the claim that steadfastness in his
+country&rsquo;s battles should be as a cloak to cover a man&rsquo;s other
+imperfections; since the good action has blotted out the bad, and his merit as
+a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual. But none of these
+allowed either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his
+spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt him to
+shrink from danger. No, holding that vengeance upon their enemies was more to
+be desired than any personal blessings, and reckoning this to be the most
+glorious of hazards, they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure
+of their vengeance, and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope
+the uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they thought fit
+to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die resisting, rather
+than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour, but met danger face to
+face, and after one brief moment, while at the summit of their fortune,
+escaped, not from their fear, but from their glory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must
+determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray
+that it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas derived only
+from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your
+country, though these would furnish a valuable text to a speaker even before an
+audience so alive to them as the present, you must yourselves realize the power
+of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her from day to day, till love of her fills
+your hearts; and then, when all her greatness shall break upon you, you must
+reflect that it was by courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honour in
+action that men were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in
+an enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their valour,
+but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution that they could
+offer. For this offering of their lives made in common by them all they each of
+them individually received that renown which never grows old, and for a
+sepulchre, not so much that in which their bones have been deposited, but that
+noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be eternally remembered
+upon every occasion on which deed or story shall call for its commemoration.
+For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their
+own, where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every
+breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the
+heart. These take as your model and, judging happiness to be the fruit of
+freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the dangers of war. For it is not
+the miserable that would most justly be unsparing of their lives; these have
+nothing to hope for: it is rather they to whom continued life may bring
+reverses as yet unknown, and to whom a fall, if it came, would be most
+tremendous in its consequences. And surely, to a man of spirit, the degradation
+of cowardice must be immeasurably more grievous than the unfelt death which
+strikes him in the midst of his strength and patriotism!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the
+parents of the dead who may be here. Numberless are the chances to which, as
+they know, the life of man is subject; but fortunate indeed are they who draw
+for their lot a death so glorious as that which has caused your mourning, and
+to whom life has been so exactly measured as to terminate in the happiness in
+which it has been passed. Still I know that this is a hard saying, especially
+when those are in question of whom you will constantly be reminded by seeing in
+the homes of others blessings of which once you also boasted: for grief is felt
+not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that
+to which we have been long accustomed. Yet you who are still of an age to beget
+children must bear up in the hope of having others in their stead; not only
+will they help you to forget those whom you have lost, but will be to the state
+at once a reinforcement and a security; for never can a fair or just policy be
+expected of the citizen who does not, like his fellows, bring to the decision
+the interests and apprehensions of a father. While those of you who have passed
+your prime must congratulate yourselves with the thought that the best part of
+your life was fortunate, and that the brief span that remains will be cheered
+by the fame of the departed. For it is only the love of honour that never grows
+old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart
+of age and helplessness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle
+before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should your
+merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not merely to
+overtake, but even to approach their renown. The living have envy to contend
+with, while those who are no longer in our path are honoured with a goodwill
+into which rivalry does not enter. On the other hand, if I must say anything on
+the subject of female excellence to those of you who will now be in widowhood,
+it will be all comprised in this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in
+not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is
+least talked of among the men, whether for good or for bad.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability,
+and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If deeds
+be in question, those who are here interred have received part of their honours
+already, and for the rest, their children will be brought up till manhood at
+the public expense: the state thus offers a valuable prize, as the garland of
+victory in this race of valour, for the reward both of those who have fallen
+and their survivors. And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are
+found the best citizens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your
+relatives, you may depart.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"></a>
+CHAPTER VII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Second Year of the War&mdash;The Plague of Athens&mdash;Position and Policy of
+Pericles&mdash;Fall of Potidæa
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the funeral that took place during this winter, with which the first
+year of the war came to an end. In the first days of summer the Lacedaemonians
+and their allies, with two-thirds of their forces as before, invaded Attica,
+under the command of Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, King of Lacedaemon, and sat
+down and laid waste the country. Not many days after their arrival in Attica
+the plague first began to show itself among the Athenians. It was said that it
+had broken out in many places previously in the neighbourhood of Lemnos and
+elsewhere; but a pestilence of such extent and mortality was nowhere
+remembered. Neither were the physicians at first of any service, ignorant as
+they were of the proper way to treat it, but they died themselves the most
+thickly, as they visited the sick most often; nor did any human art succeed any
+better. Supplications in the temples, divinations, and so forth were found
+equally futile, till the overwhelming nature of the disaster at last put a stop
+to them altogether.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It first began, it is said, in the parts of Ethiopia above Egypt, and thence
+descended into Egypt and Libya and into most of the King&rsquo;s country.
+Suddenly falling upon Athens, it first attacked the population in
+Piraeus&mdash;which was the occasion of their saying that the Peloponnesians
+had poisoned the reservoirs, there being as yet no wells there&mdash;and
+afterwards appeared in the upper city, when the deaths became much more
+frequent. All speculation as to its origin and its causes, if causes can be
+found adequate to produce so great a disturbance, I leave to other writers,
+whether lay or professional; for myself, I shall simply set down its nature,
+and explain the symptoms by which perhaps it may be recognized by the student,
+if it should ever break out again. This I can the better do, as I had the
+disease myself, and watched its operation in the case of others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That year then is admitted to have been otherwise unprecedentedly free from
+sickness; and such few cases as occurred all determined in this. As a rule,
+however, there was no ostensible cause; but people in good health were all of a
+sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in
+the eyes, the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and
+emitting an unnatural and fetid breath. These symptoms were followed by
+sneezing and hoarseness, after which the pain soon reached the chest, and
+produced a hard cough. When it fixed in the stomach, it upset it; and
+discharges of bile of every kind named by physicians ensued, accompanied by
+very great distress. In most cases also an ineffectual retching followed,
+producing violent spasms, which in some cases ceased soon after, in others much
+later. Externally the body was not very hot to the touch, nor pale in its
+appearance, but reddish, livid, and breaking out into small pustules and
+ulcers. But internally it burned so that the patient could not bear to have on
+him clothing or linen even of the very lightest description; or indeed to be
+otherwise than stark naked. What they would have liked best would have been to
+throw themselves into cold water; as indeed was done by some of the neglected
+sick, who plunged into the rain-tanks in their agonies of unquenchable thirst;
+though it made no difference whether they drank little or much. Besides this,
+the miserable feeling of not being able to rest or sleep never ceased to
+torment them. The body meanwhile did not waste away so long as the distemper
+was at its height, but held out to a marvel against its ravages; so that when
+they succumbed, as in most cases, on the seventh or eighth day to the internal
+inflammation, they had still some strength in them. But if they passed this
+stage, and the disease descended further into the bowels, inducing a violent
+ulceration there accompanied by severe diarrhoea, this brought on a weakness
+which was generally fatal. For the disorder first settled in the head, ran its
+course from thence through the whole of the body, and, even where it did not
+prove mortal, it still left its mark on the extremities; for it settled in the
+privy parts, the fingers and the toes, and many escaped with the loss of these,
+some too with that of their eyes. Others again were seized with an entire loss
+of memory on their first recovery, and did not know either themselves or their
+friends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But while the nature of the distemper was such as to baffle all description,
+and its attacks almost too grievous for human nature to endure, it was still in
+the following circumstance that its difference from all ordinary disorders was
+most clearly shown. All the birds and beasts that prey upon human bodies,
+either abstained from touching them (though there were many lying unburied), or
+died after tasting them. In proof of this, it was noticed that birds of this
+kind actually disappeared; they were not about the bodies, or indeed to be seen
+at all. But of course the effects which I have mentioned could best be studied
+in a domestic animal like the dog.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such then, if we pass over the varieties of particular cases which were many
+and peculiar, were the general features of the distemper. Meanwhile the town
+enjoyed an immunity from all the ordinary disorders; or if any case occurred,
+it ended in this. Some died in neglect, others in the midst of every attention.
+No remedy was found that could be used as a specific; for what did good in one
+case, did harm in another. Strong and weak constitutions proved equally
+incapable of resistance, all alike being swept away, although dieted with the
+utmost precaution. By far the most terrible feature in the malady was the
+dejection which ensued when any one felt himself sickening, for the despair
+into which they instantly fell took away their power of resistance, and left
+them a much easier prey to the disorder; besides which, there was the awful
+spectacle of men dying like sheep, through having caught the infection in
+nursing each other. This caused the greatest mortality. On the one hand, if
+they were afraid to visit each other, they perished from neglect; indeed many
+houses were emptied of their inmates for want of a nurse: on the other, if they
+ventured to do so, death was the consequence. This was especially the case with
+such as made any pretensions to goodness: honour made them unsparing of
+themselves in their attendance in their friends&rsquo; houses, where even the
+members of the family were at last worn out by the moans of the dying, and
+succumbed to the force of the disaster. Yet it was with those who had recovered
+from the disease that the sick and the dying found most compassion. These knew
+what it was from experience, and had now no fear for themselves; for the same
+man was never attacked twice&mdash;never at least fatally. And such persons not
+only received the congratulations of others, but themselves also, in the
+elation of the moment, half entertained the vain hope that they were for the
+future safe from any disease whatsoever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An aggravation of the existing calamity was the influx from the country into
+the city, and this was especially felt by the new arrivals. As there were no
+houses to receive them, they had to be lodged at the hot season of the year in
+stifling cabins, where the mortality raged without restraint. The bodies of
+dying men lay one upon another, and half-dead creatures reeled about the
+streets and gathered round all the fountains in their longing for water. The
+sacred places also in which they had quartered themselves were full of corpses
+of persons that had died there, just as they were; for as the disaster passed
+all bounds, men, not knowing what was to become of them, became utterly
+careless of everything, whether sacred or profane. All the burial rites before
+in use were entirely upset, and they buried the bodies as best they could. Many
+from want of the proper appliances, through so many of their friends having
+died already, had recourse to the most shameless sepultures: sometimes getting
+the start of those who had raised a pile, they threw their own dead body upon
+the stranger&rsquo;s pyre and ignited it; sometimes they tossed the corpse
+which they were carrying on the top of another that was burning, and so went
+off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was this the only form of lawless extravagance which owed its origin to the
+plague. Men now coolly ventured on what they had formerly done in a corner, and
+not just as they pleased, seeing the rapid transitions produced by persons in
+prosperity suddenly dying and those who before had nothing succeeding to their
+property. So they resolved to spend quickly and enjoy themselves, regarding
+their lives and riches as alike things of a day. Perseverance in what men
+called honour was popular with none, it was so uncertain whether they would be
+spared to attain the object; but it was settled that present enjoyment, and all
+that contributed to it, was both honourable and useful. Fear of gods or law of
+man there was none to restrain them. As for the first, they judged it to be
+just the same whether they worshipped them or not, as they saw all alike
+perishing; and for the last, no one expected to live to be brought to trial for
+his offences, but each felt that a far severer sentence had been already passed
+upon them all and hung ever over their heads, and before this fell it was only
+reasonable to enjoy life a little.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the nature of the calamity, and heavily did it weigh on the Athenians;
+death raging within the city and devastation without. Among other things which
+they remembered in their distress was, very naturally, the following verse
+which the old men said had long ago been uttered:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+A Dorian war shall come and with it death.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+So a dispute arose as to whether dearth and not death had not been the word in
+the verse; but at the present juncture, it was of course decided in favour of
+the latter; for the people made their recollection fit in with their
+sufferings. I fancy, however, that if another Dorian war should ever afterwards
+come upon us, and a dearth should happen to accompany it, the verse will
+probably be read accordingly. The oracle also which had been given to the
+Lacedaemonians was now remembered by those who knew of it. When the god was
+asked whether they should go to war, he answered that if they put their might
+into it, victory would be theirs, and that he would himself be with them. With
+this oracle events were supposed to tally. For the plague broke out as soon as
+the Peloponnesians invaded Attica, and never entering Peloponnese (not at least
+to an extent worth noticing), committed its worst ravages at Athens, and next
+to Athens, at the most populous of the other towns. Such was the history of the
+plague.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After ravaging the plain, the Peloponnesians advanced into the Paralian region
+as far as Laurium, where the Athenian silver mines are, and first laid waste
+the side looking towards Peloponnese, next that which faces Euboea and Andros.
+But Pericles, who was still general, held the same opinion as in the former
+invasion, and would not let the Athenians march out against them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, while they were still in the plain, and had not yet entered the
+Paralian land, he had prepared an armament of a hundred ships for Peloponnese,
+and when all was ready put out to sea. On board the ships he took four thousand
+Athenian heavy infantry, and three hundred cavalry in horse transports, and
+then for the first time made out of old galleys; fifty Chian and Lesbian
+vessels also joining in the expedition. When this Athenian armament put out to
+sea, they left the Peloponnesians in Attica in the Paralian region. Arriving at
+Epidaurus in Peloponnese they ravaged most of the territory, and even had hopes
+of taking the town by an assault: in this however they were not successful.
+Putting out from Epidaurus, they laid waste the territory of Troezen, Halieis,
+and Hermione, all towns on the coast of Peloponnese, and thence sailing to
+Prasiai, a maritime town in Laconia, ravaged part of its territory, and took
+and sacked the place itself; after which they returned home, but found the
+Peloponnesians gone and no longer in Attica.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the whole time that the Peloponnesians were in Attica and the Athenians
+on the expedition in their ships, men kept dying of the plague both in the
+armament and in Athens. Indeed it was actually asserted that the departure of
+the Peloponnesians was hastened by fear of the disorder; as they heard from
+deserters that it was in the city, and also could see the burials going on. Yet
+in this invasion they remained longer than in any other, and ravaged the whole
+country, for they were about forty days in Attica.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer Hagnon, son of Nicias, and Cleopompus, son of Clinias, the
+colleagues of Pericles, took the armament of which he had lately made use, and
+went off upon an expedition against the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace
+and Potidæa, which was still under siege. As soon as they arrived, they brought
+up their engines against Potidæa and tried every means of taking it, but did
+not succeed either in capturing the city or in doing anything else worthy of
+their preparations. For the plague attacked them here also, and committed such
+havoc as to cripple them completely, even the previously healthy soldiers of
+the former expedition catching the infection from Hagnon&rsquo;s troops; while
+Phormio and the sixteen hundred men whom he commanded only escaped by being no
+longer in the neighbourhood of the Chalcidians. The end of it was that Hagnon
+returned with his ships to Athens, having lost one thousand and fifty out of
+four thousand heavy infantry in about forty days; though the soldiers stationed
+there before remained in the country and carried on the siege of Potidæa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the second invasion of the Peloponnesians a change came over the spirit
+of the Athenians. Their land had now been twice laid waste; and war and
+pestilence at once pressed heavy upon them. They began to find fault with
+Pericles, as the author of the war and the cause of all their misfortunes, and
+became eager to come to terms with Lacedaemon, and actually sent ambassadors
+thither, who did not however succeed in their mission. Their despair was now
+complete and all vented itself upon Pericles. When he saw them exasperated at
+the present turn of affairs and acting exactly as he had anticipated, he called
+an assembly, being (it must be remembered) still general, with the double
+object of restoring confidence and of leading them from these angry feelings to
+a calmer and more hopeful state of mind. He accordingly came forward and spoke
+as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I was not unprepared for the indignation of which I have been the
+object, as I know its causes; and I have called an assembly for the purpose of
+reminding you upon certain points, and of protesting against your being
+unreasonably irritated with me, or cowed by your sufferings. I am of opinion
+that national greatness is more for the advantage of private citizens, than any
+individual well-being coupled with public humiliation. A man may be personally
+ever so well off, and yet if his country be ruined he must be ruined with it;
+whereas a flourishing commonwealth always affords chances of salvation to
+unfortunate individuals. Since then a state can support the misfortunes of
+private citizens, while they cannot support hers, it is surely the duty of
+every one to be forward in her defence, and not like you to be so confounded
+with your domestic afflictions as to give up all thoughts of the common safety,
+and to blame me for having counselled war and yourselves for having voted it.
+And yet if you are angry with me, it is with one who, as I believe, is second
+to no man either in knowledge of the proper policy, or in the ability to
+expound it, and who is moreover not only a patriot but an honest one. A man
+possessing that knowledge without that faculty of exposition might as well have
+no idea at all on the matter: if he had both these gifts, but no love for his
+country, he would be but a cold advocate for her interests; while were his
+patriotism not proof against bribery, everything would go for a price. So that
+if you thought that I was even moderately distinguished for these qualities
+when you took my advice and went to war, there is certainly no reason now why I
+should be charged with having done wrong.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For those of course who have a free choice in the matter and whose
+fortunes are not at stake, war is the greatest of follies. But if the only
+choice was between submission with loss of independence, and danger with the
+hope of preserving that independence, in such a case it is he who will not
+accept the risk that deserves blame, not he who will. I am the same man and do
+not alter, it is you who change, since in fact you took my advice while unhurt,
+and waited for misfortune to repent of it; and the apparent error of my policy
+lies in the infirmity of your resolution, since the suffering that it entails
+is being felt by every one among you, while its advantage is still remote and
+obscure to all, and a great and sudden reverse having befallen you, your mind
+is too much depressed to persevere in your resolves. For before what is sudden,
+unexpected, and least within calculation, the spirit quails; and putting all
+else aside, the plague has certainly been an emergency of this kind. Born,
+however, as you are, citizens of a great state, and brought up, as you have
+been, with habits equal to your birth, you should be ready to face the greatest
+disasters and still to keep unimpaired the lustre of your name. For the
+judgment of mankind is as relentless to the weakness that falls short of a
+recognized renown, as it is jealous of the arrogance that aspires higher than
+its due. Cease then to grieve for your private afflictions, and address
+yourselves instead to the safety of the commonwealth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you shrink before the exertions which the war makes necessary, and
+fear that after all they may not have a happy result, you know the reasons by
+which I have often demonstrated to you the groundlessness of your
+apprehensions. If those are not enough, I will now reveal an advantage arising
+from the greatness of your dominion, which I think has never yet suggested
+itself to you, which I never mentioned in my previous speeches, and which has
+so bold a sound that I should scarce adventure it now, were it not for the
+unnatural depression which I see around me. You perhaps think that your empire
+extends only over your allies; I will declare to you the truth. The visible
+field of action has two parts, land and sea. In the whole of one of these you
+are completely supreme, not merely as far as you use it at present, but also to
+what further extent you may think fit: in fine, your naval resources are such
+that your vessels may go where they please, without the King or any other
+nation on earth being able to stop them. So that although you may think it a
+great privation to lose the use of your land and houses, still you must see
+that this power is something widely different; and instead of fretting on their
+account, you should really regard them in the light of the gardens and other
+accessories that embellish a great fortune, and as, in comparison, of little
+moment. You should know too that liberty preserved by your efforts will easily
+recover for us what we have lost, while, the knee once bowed, even what you
+have will pass from you. Your fathers receiving these possessions not from
+others, but from themselves, did not let slip what their labour had acquired,
+but delivered them safe to you; and in this respect at least you must prove
+yourselves their equals, remembering that to lose what one has got is more
+disgraceful than to be balked in getting, and you must confront your enemies
+not merely with spirit but with disdain. Confidence indeed a blissful ignorance
+can impart, ay, even to a coward&rsquo;s breast, but disdain is the privilege
+of those who, like us, have been assured by reflection of their superiority to
+their adversary. And where the chances are the same, knowledge fortifies
+courage by the contempt which is its consequence, its trust being placed, not
+in hope, which is the prop of the desperate, but in a judgment grounded upon
+existing resources, whose anticipations are more to be depended upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Again, your country has a right to your services in sustaining the
+glories of her position. These are a common source of pride to you all, and you
+cannot decline the burdens of empire and still expect to share its honours. You
+should remember also that what you are fighting against is not merely slavery
+as an exchange for independence, but also loss of empire and danger from the
+animosities incurred in its exercise. Besides, to recede is no longer possible,
+if indeed any of you in the alarm of the moment has become enamoured of the
+honesty of such an unambitious part. For what you hold is, to speak somewhat
+plainly, a tyranny; to take it perhaps was wrong, but to let it go is unsafe.
+And men of these retiring views, making converts of others, would quickly ruin
+a state; indeed the result would be the same if they could live independent by
+themselves; for the retiring and unambitious are never secure without vigorous
+protectors at their side; in fine, such qualities are useless to an imperial
+city, though they may help a dependency to an unmolested servitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But you must not be seduced by citizens like these or angry with
+me&mdash;who, if I voted for war, only did as you did yourselves&mdash;in spite
+of the enemy having invaded your country and done what you could be certain
+that he would do, if you refused to comply with his demands; and although
+besides what we counted for, the plague has come upon us&mdash;the only point
+indeed at which our calculation has been at fault. It is this, I know, that has
+had a large share in making me more unpopular than I should otherwise have
+been&mdash;quite undeservedly, unless you are also prepared to give me the
+credit of any success with which chance may present you. Besides, the hand of
+heaven must be borne with resignation, that of the enemy with fortitude; this
+was the old way at Athens, and do not you prevent it being so still. Remember,
+too, that if your country has the greatest name in all the world, it is because
+she never bent before disaster; because she has expended more life and effort
+in war than any other city, and has won for herself a power greater than any
+hitherto known, the memory of which will descend to the latest posterity; even
+if now, in obedience to the general law of decay, we should ever be forced to
+yield, still it will be remembered that we held rule over more Hellenes than
+any other Hellenic state, that we sustained the greatest wars against their
+united or separate powers, and inhabited a city unrivalled by any other in
+resources or magnitude. These glories may incur the censure of the slow and
+unambitious; but in the breast of energy they will awake emulation, and in
+those who must remain without them an envious regret. Hatred and unpopularity
+at the moment have fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others;
+but where odium must be incurred, true wisdom incurs it for the highest
+objects. Hatred also is short-lived; but that which makes the splendour of the
+present and the glory of the future remains for ever unforgotten. Make your
+decision, therefore, for glory then and honour now, and attain both objects by
+instant and zealous effort: do not send heralds to Lacedaemon, and do not
+betray any sign of being oppressed by your present sufferings, since they whose
+minds are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet
+it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the arguments by which Pericles tried to cure the Athenians of their
+anger against him and to divert their thoughts from their immediate
+afflictions. As a community he succeeded in convincing them; they not only gave
+up all idea of sending to Lacedaemon, but applied themselves with increased
+energy to the war; still as private individuals they could not help smarting
+under their sufferings, the common people having been deprived of the little
+that they were possessed, while the higher orders had lost fine properties with
+costly establishments and buildings in the country, and, worst of all, had war
+instead of peace. In fact, the public feeling against him did not subside until
+he had been fined. Not long afterwards, however, according to the way of the
+multitude, they again elected him general and committed all their affairs to
+his hands, having now become less sensitive to their private and domestic
+afflictions, and understanding that he was the best man of all for the public
+necessities. For as long as he was at the head of the state during the peace,
+he pursued a moderate and conservative policy; and in his time its greatness
+was at its height. When the war broke out, here also he seems to have rightly
+gauged the power of his country. He outlived its commencement two years and six
+months, and the correctness of his previsions respecting it became better known
+by his death. He told them to wait quietly, to pay attention to their marine,
+to attempt no new conquests, and to expose the city to no hazards during the
+war, and doing this, promised them a favourable result. What they did was the
+very contrary, allowing private ambitions and private interests, in matters
+apparently quite foreign to the war, to lead them into projects unjust both to
+themselves and to their allies&mdash;projects whose success would only conduce
+to the honour and advantage of private persons, and whose failure entailed
+certain disaster on the country in the war. The causes of this are not far to
+seek. Pericles indeed, by his rank, ability, and known integrity, was enabled
+to exercise an independent control over the multitude&mdash;in short, to lead
+them instead of being led by them; for as he never sought power by improper
+means, he was never compelled to flatter them, but, on the contrary, enjoyed so
+high an estimation that he could afford to anger them by contradiction.
+Whenever he saw them unseasonably and insolently elated, he would with a word
+reduce them to alarm; on the other hand, if they fell victims to a panic, he
+could at once restore them to confidence. In short, what was nominally a
+democracy became in his hands government by the first citizen. With his
+successors it was different. More on a level with one another, and each
+grasping at supremacy, they ended by committing even the conduct of state
+affairs to the whims of the multitude. This, as might have been expected in a
+great and sovereign state, produced a host of blunders, and amongst them the
+Sicilian expedition; though this failed not so much through a miscalculation of
+the power of those against whom it was sent, as through a fault in the senders
+in not taking the best measures afterwards to assist those who had gone out,
+but choosing rather to occupy themselves with private cabals for the leadership
+of the commons, by which they not only paralysed operations in the field, but
+also first introduced civil discord at home. Yet after losing most of their
+fleet besides other forces in Sicily, and with faction already dominant in the
+city, they could still for three years make head against their original
+adversaries, joined not only by the Sicilians, but also by their own allies
+nearly all in revolt, and at last by the King&rsquo;s son, Cyrus, who furnished
+the funds for the Peloponnesian navy. Nor did they finally succumb till they
+fell the victims of their own intestine disorders. So superfluously abundant
+were the resources from which the genius of Pericles foresaw an easy triumph in
+the war over the unaided forces of the Peloponnesians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the same summer the Lacedaemonians and their allies made an expedition
+with a hundred ships against Zacynthus, an island lying off the coast of Elis,
+peopled by a colony of Achaeans from Peloponnese, and in alliance with Athens.
+There were a thousand Lacedaemonian heavy infantry on board, and Cnemus, a
+Spartan, as admiral. They made a descent from their ships, and ravaged most of
+the country; but as the inhabitants would not submit, they sailed back home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the end of the same summer the Corinthian Aristeus, Aneristus, Nicolaus, and
+Stratodemus, envoys from Lacedaemon, Timagoras, a Tegean, and a private
+individual named Pollis from Argos, on their way to Asia to persuade the King
+to supply funds and join in the war, came to Sitalces, son of Teres in Thrace,
+with the idea of inducing him, if possible, to forsake the alliance of Athens
+and to march on Potidæa then besieged by an Athenian force, and also of getting
+conveyed by his means to their destination across the Hellespont to
+Pharnabazus, who was to send them up the country to the King. But there chanced
+to be with Sitalces some Athenian ambassadors&mdash;Learchus, son of
+Callimachus, and Ameiniades, son of Philemon&mdash;who persuaded
+Sitalces&rsquo; son, Sadocus, the new Athenian citizen, to put the men into
+their hands and thus prevent their crossing over to the King and doing their
+part to injure the country of his choice. He accordingly had them seized, as
+they were travelling through Thrace to the vessel in which they were to cross
+the Hellespont, by a party whom he had sent on with Learchus and Ameiniades,
+and gave orders for their delivery to the Athenian ambassadors, by whom they
+were brought to Athens. On their arrival, the Athenians, afraid that Aristeus,
+who had been notably the prime mover in the previous affairs of Potidæa and
+their Thracian possessions, might live to do them still more mischief if he
+escaped, slew them all the same day, without giving them a trial or hearing the
+defence which they wished to offer, and cast their bodies into a pit; thinking
+themselves justified in using in retaliation the same mode of warfare which the
+Lacedaemonians had begun, when they slew and cast into pits all the Athenian
+and allied traders whom they caught on board the merchantmen round Peloponnese.
+Indeed, at the outset of the war, the Lacedaemonians butchered as enemies all
+whom they took on the sea, whether allies of Athens or neutrals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time towards the close of the summer, the Ambraciot forces, with
+a number of barbarians that they had raised, marched against the Amphilochian
+Argos and the rest of that country. The origin of their enmity against the
+Argives was this. This Argos and the rest of Amphilochia were colonized by
+Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus. Dissatisfied with the state of affairs at home
+on his return thither after the Trojan War, he built this city in the Ambracian
+Gulf, and named it Argos after his own country. This was the largest town in
+Amphilochia, and its inhabitants the most powerful. Under the pressure of
+misfortune many generations afterwards, they called in the Ambraciots, their
+neighbours on the Amphilochian border, to join their colony; and it was by this
+union with the Ambraciots that they learnt their present Hellenic speech, the
+rest of the Amphilochians being barbarians. After a time the Ambraciots
+expelled the Argives and held the city themselves. Upon this the Amphilochians
+gave themselves over to the Acarnanians; and the two together called the
+Athenians, who sent them Phormio as general and thirty ships; upon whose
+arrival they took Argos by storm, and made slaves of the Ambraciots; and the
+Amphilochians and Acarnanians inhabited the town in common. After this began
+the alliance between the Athenians and Acarnanians. The enmity of the
+Ambraciots against the Argives thus commenced with the enslavement of their
+citizens; and afterwards during the war they collected this armament among
+themselves and the Chaonians, and other of the neighbouring barbarians. Arrived
+before Argos, they became masters of the country; but not being successful in
+their attacks upon the town, returned home and dispersed among their different
+peoples.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the events of the summer. The ensuing winter the Athenians sent
+twenty ships round Peloponnese, under the command of Phormio, who stationed
+himself at Naupactus and kept watch against any one sailing in or out of
+Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf. Six others went to Caria and Lycia under
+Melesander, to collect tribute in those parts, and also to prevent the
+Peloponnesian privateers from taking up their station in those waters and
+molesting the passage of the merchantmen from Phaselis and Phoenicia and the
+adjoining continent. However, Melesander, going up the country into Lycia with
+a force of Athenians from the ships and the allies, was defeated and killed in
+battle, with the loss of a number of his troops.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Potidæans at length found themselves no longer able to hold
+out against their besiegers. The inroads of the Peloponnesians into Attica had
+not had the desired effect of making the Athenians raise the siege. Provisions
+there were none left; and so far had distress for food gone in Potidæa that,
+besides a number of other horrors, instances had even occurred of the people
+having eaten one another. In this extremity they at last made proposals for
+capitulating to the Athenian generals in command against them&mdash;Xenophon,
+son of Euripides, Hestiodorus, son of Aristocleides, and Phanomachus, son of
+Callimachus. The generals accepted their proposals, seeing the sufferings of
+the army in so exposed a position; besides which the state had already spent
+two thousand talents upon the siege. The terms of the capitulation were as
+follows: a free passage out for themselves, their children, wives and
+auxiliaries, with one garment apiece, the women with two, and a fixed sum of
+money for their journey. Under this treaty they went out to Chalcidice and
+other places, according as was their power. The Athenians, however, blamed the
+generals for granting terms without instructions from home, being of opinion
+that the place would have had to surrender at discretion. They afterwards sent
+settlers of their own to Potidæa, and colonized it. Such were the events of the
+winter, and so ended the second year of this war of which Thucydides was the
+historian.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"></a>
+CHAPTER VIII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Third Year of the War&mdash;Investment of Plataea&mdash;Naval Victories of
+Phormio&mdash;Thracian Irruption into Macedonia under Sitalces
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies, instead of invading
+Attica, marched against Plataea, under the command of Archidamus, son of
+Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. He had encamped his army and was about
+to lay waste the country, when the Plataeans hastened to send envoys to him,
+and spoke as follows: &ldquo;Archidamus and Lacedaemonians, in invading the
+Plataean territory, you do what is wrong in itself, and worthy neither of
+yourselves nor of the fathers who begot you. Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus,
+your countryman, after freeing Hellas from the Medes with the help of those
+Hellenes who were willing to undertake the risk of the battle fought near our
+city, offered sacrifice to Zeus the Liberator in the marketplace of Plataea,
+and calling all the allies together restored to the Plataeans their city and
+territory, and declared it independent and inviolate against aggression or
+conquest. Should any such be attempted, the allies present were to help
+according to their power. Your fathers rewarded us thus for the courage and
+patriotism that we displayed at that perilous epoch; but you do just the
+contrary, coming with our bitterest enemies, the Thebans, to enslave us. We
+appeal, therefore, to the gods to whom the oaths were then made, to the gods of
+your ancestors, and lastly to those of our country, and call upon you to
+refrain from violating our territory or transgressing the oaths, and to let us
+live independent, as Pausanias decreed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Plataeans had got thus far when they were cut short by Archidamus saying:
+&ldquo;There is justice, Plataeans, in what you say, if you act up to your
+words. According, to the grant of Pausanias, continue to be independent
+yourselves, and join in freeing those of your fellow countrymen who, after
+sharing in the perils of that period, joined in the oaths to you, and are now
+subject to the Athenians; for it is to free them and the rest that all this
+provision and war has been made. I could wish that you would share our labours
+and abide by the oaths yourselves; if this is impossible, do what we have
+already required of you&mdash;remain neutral, enjoying your own; join neither
+side, but receive both as friends, neither as allies for the war. With this we
+shall be satisfied.&rdquo; Such were the words of Archidamus. The Plataeans,
+after hearing what he had to say, went into the city and acquainted the people
+with what had passed, and presently returned for answer that it was impossible
+for them to do what he proposed without consulting the Athenians, with whom
+their children and wives now were; besides which they had their fears for the
+town. After his departure, what was to prevent the Athenians from coming and
+taking it out of their hands, or the Thebans, who would be included in the
+oaths, from taking advantage of the proposed neutrality to make a second
+attempt to seize the city? Upon these points he tried to reassure them by
+saying: &ldquo;You have only to deliver over the city and houses to us
+Lacedaemonians, to point out the boundaries of your land, the number of your
+fruit-trees, and whatever else can be numerically stated, and yourselves to
+withdraw wherever you like as long as the war shall last. When it is over we
+will restore to you whatever we received, and in the interim hold it in trust
+and keep it in cultivation, paying you a sufficient allowance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they had heard what he had to say, they re-entered the city, and after
+consulting with the people said that they wished first to acquaint the
+Athenians with this proposal, and in the event of their approving to accede to
+it; in the meantime they asked him to grant them a truce and not to lay waste
+their territory. He accordingly granted a truce for the number of days
+requisite for the journey, and meanwhile abstained from ravaging their
+territory. The Plataean envoys went to Athens, and consulted with the
+Athenians, and returned with the following message to those in the city:
+&ldquo;The Athenians say, Plataeans, that they never hitherto, since we became
+their allies, on any occasion abandoned us to an enemy, nor will they now
+neglect us, but will help us according to their ability; and they adjure you by
+the oaths which your fathers swore, to keep the alliance unaltered.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the delivery of this message by the envoys, the Plataeans resolved not to be
+unfaithful to the Athenians but to endure, if it must be, seeing their lands
+laid waste and any other trials that might come to them, and not to send out
+again, but to answer from the wall that it was impossible for them to do as the
+Lacedaemonians proposed. As soon as he had received this answer, King
+Archidamus proceeded first to make a solemn appeal to the gods and heroes of
+the country in words following: &ldquo;Ye gods and heroes of the Plataean
+territory, be my witnesses that not as aggressors originally, nor until these
+had first departed from the common oath, did we invade this land, in which our
+fathers offered you their prayers before defeating the Medes, and which you
+made auspicious to the Hellenic arms; nor shall we be aggressors in the
+measures to which we may now resort, since we have made many fair proposals but
+have not been successful. Graciously accord that those who were the first to
+offend may be punished for it, and that vengeance may be attained by those who
+would righteously inflict it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this appeal to the gods Archidamus put his army in motion. First he
+enclosed the town with a palisade formed of the fruit-trees which they cut
+down, to prevent further egress from Plataea; next they threw up a mound
+against the city, hoping that the largeness of the force employed would ensure
+the speedy reduction of the place. They accordingly cut down timber from
+Cithaeron, and built it up on either side, laying it like lattice-work to serve
+as a wall to keep the mound from spreading abroad, and carried to it wood and
+stones and earth and whatever other material might help to complete it. They
+continued to work at the mound for seventy days and nights without
+intermission, being divided into relief parties to allow of some being employed
+in carrying while others took sleep and refreshment; the Lacedaemonian officer
+attached to each contingent keeping the men to the work. But the Plataeans,
+observing the progress of the mound, constructed a wall of wood and fixed it
+upon that part of the city wall against which the mound was being erected, and
+built up bricks inside it which they took from the neighbouring houses. The
+timbers served to bind the building together, and to prevent its becoming weak
+as it advanced in height; it had also a covering of skins and hides, which
+protected the woodwork against the attacks of burning missiles and allowed the
+men to work in safety. Thus the wall was raised to a great height, and the
+mound opposite made no less rapid progress. The Plataeans also thought of
+another expedient; they pulled out part of the wall upon which the mound
+abutted, and carried the earth into the city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Discovering this the Peloponnesians twisted up clay in wattles of reed and
+threw it into the breach formed in the mound, in order to give it consistency
+and prevent its being carried away like the soil. Stopped in this way the
+Plataeans changed their mode of operation, and digging a mine from the town
+calculated their way under the mound, and began to carry off its material as
+before. This went on for a long while without the enemy outside finding it out,
+so that for all they threw on the top their mound made no progress in
+proportion, being carried away from beneath and constantly settling down in the
+vacuum. But the Plataeans, fearing that even thus they might not be able to
+hold out against the superior numbers of the enemy, had yet another invention.
+They stopped working at the large building in front of the mound, and starting
+at either end of it inside from the old low wall, built a new one in the form
+of a crescent running in towards the town; in order that in the event of the
+great wall being taken this might remain, and the enemy have to throw up a
+fresh mound against it, and as they advanced within might not only have their
+trouble over again, but also be exposed to missiles on their flanks. While
+raising the mound the Peloponnesians also brought up engines against the city,
+one of which was brought up upon the mound against the great building and shook
+down a good piece of it, to the no small alarm of the Plataeans. Others were
+advanced against different parts of the wall but were lassoed and broken by the
+Plataeans; who also hung up great beams by long iron chains from either
+extremity of two poles laid on the wall and projecting over it, and drew them
+up at an angle whenever any point was threatened by the engine, and loosing
+their hold let the beam go with its chains slack, so that it fell with a run
+and snapped off the nose of the battering ram.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Peloponnesians, finding that their engines effected nothing, and
+that their mound was met by the counterwork, concluded that their present means
+of offence were unequal to the taking of the city, and prepared for its
+circumvallation. First, however, they determined to try the effects of fire and
+see whether they could not, with the help of a wind, burn the town, as it was
+not a large one; indeed they thought of every possible expedient by which the
+place might be reduced without the expense of a blockade. They accordingly
+brought faggots of brushwood and threw them from the mound, first into the
+space between it and the wall; and this soon becoming full from the number of
+hands at work, they next heaped the faggots up as far into the town as they
+could reach from the top, and then lighted the wood by setting fire to it with
+sulphur and pitch. The consequence was a fire greater than any one had ever yet
+seen produced by human agency, though it could not of course be compared to the
+spontaneous conflagrations sometimes known to occur through the wind rubbing
+the branches of a mountain forest together. And this fire was not only
+remarkable for its magnitude, but was also, at the end of so many perils,
+within an ace of proving fatal to the Plataeans; a great part of the town
+became entirely inaccessible, and had a wind blown upon it, in accordance with
+the hopes of the enemy, nothing could have saved them. As it was, there is also
+a story of heavy rain and thunder having come on by which the fire was put out
+and the danger averted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Failing in this last attempt the Peloponnesians left a portion of their forces
+on the spot, dismissing the rest, and built a wall of circumvallation round the
+town, dividing the ground among the various cities present; a ditch being made
+within and without the lines, from which they got their bricks. All being
+finished by about the rising of Arcturus, they left men enough to man half the
+wall, the rest being manned by the Boeotians, and drawing off their army
+dispersed to their several cities. The Plataeans had before sent off their
+wives and children and oldest men and the mass of the non-combatants to Athens;
+so that the number of the besieged left in the place comprised four hundred of
+their own citizens, eighty Athenians, and a hundred and ten women to bake their
+bread. This was the sum total at the commencement of the siege, and there was
+no one else within the walls, bond or free. Such were the arrangements made for
+the blockade of Plataea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer and simultaneously with the expedition against Plataea, the
+Athenians marched with two thousand heavy infantry and two hundred horse
+against the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace and the Bottiaeans, just as
+the corn was getting ripe, under the command of Xenophon, son of Euripides,
+with two colleagues. Arriving before Spartolus in Bottiaea, they destroyed the
+corn and had some hopes of the city coming over through the intrigues of a
+faction within. But those of a different way of thinking had sent to Olynthus;
+and a garrison of heavy infantry and other troops arrived accordingly. These
+issuing from Spartolus were engaged by the Athenians in front of the town: the
+Chalcidian heavy infantry, and some auxiliaries with them, were beaten and
+retreated into Spartolus; but the Chalcidian horse and light troops defeated
+the horse and light troops of the Athenians. The Chalcidians had already a few
+targeteers from Crusis, and presently after the battle were joined by some
+others from Olynthus; upon seeing whom the light troops from Spartolus,
+emboldened by this accession and by their previous success, with the help of
+the Chalcidian horse and the reinforcement just arrived again attacked the
+Athenians, who retired upon the two divisions which they had left with their
+baggage. Whenever the Athenians advanced, their adversary gave way, pressing
+them with missiles the instant they began to retire. The Chalcidian horse also,
+riding up and charging them just as they pleased, at last caused a panic
+amongst them and routed and pursued them to a great distance. The Athenians
+took refuge in Potidæa, and afterwards recovered their dead under truce, and
+returned to Athens with the remnant of their army; four hundred and thirty men
+and all the generals having fallen. The Chalcidians and Bottiaeans set up a
+trophy, took up their dead, and dispersed to their several cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer, not long after this, the Ambraciots and Chaonians, being
+desirous of reducing the whole of Acarnania and detaching it from Athens,
+persuaded the Lacedaemonians to equip a fleet from their confederacy and send a
+thousand heavy infantry to Acarnania, representing that, if a combined movement
+were made by land and sea, the coast Acarnanians would be unable to march, and
+the conquest of Zacynthus and Cephallenia easily following on the possession of
+Acarnania, the cruise round Peloponnese would be no longer so convenient for
+the Athenians. Besides which there was a hope of taking Naupactus. The
+Lacedaemonians accordingly at once sent off a few vessels with Cnemus, who was
+still high admiral, and the heavy infantry on board; and sent round orders for
+the fleet to equip as quickly as possible and sail to Leucas. The Corinthians
+were the most forward in the business; the Ambraciots being a colony of theirs.
+While the ships from Corinth, Sicyon, and the neighbourhood were getting ready,
+and those from Leucas, Anactorium, and Ambracia, which had arrived before, were
+waiting for them at Leucas, Cnemus and his thousand heavy infantry had run into
+the gulf, giving the slip to Phormio, the commander of the Athenian squadron
+stationed off Naupactus, and began at once to prepare for the land expedition.
+The Hellenic troops with him consisted of the Ambraciots, Leucadians, and
+Anactorians, and the thousand Peloponnesians with whom he came; the barbarian
+of a thousand Chaonians, who, belonging to a nation that has no king, were led
+by Photys and Nicanor, the two members of the royal family to whom the
+chieftainship for that year had been confided. With the Chaonians came also
+some Thesprotians, like them without a king, some Molossians and Atintanians
+led by Sabylinthus, the guardian of King Tharyps who was still a minor, and
+some Paravaeans, under their king Oroedus, accompanied by a thousand Orestians,
+subjects of King Antichus and placed by him under the command of Oroedus. There
+were also a thousand Macedonians sent by Perdiccas without the knowledge of the
+Athenians, but they arrived too late. With this force Cnemus set out, without
+waiting for the fleet from Corinth. Passing through the territory of
+Amphilochian Argos, and sacking the open village of Limnaea, they advanced to
+Stratus the Acarnanian capital; this once taken, the rest of the country, they
+felt convinced, would speedily follow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Acarnanians, finding themselves invaded by a large army by land, and from
+the sea threatened by a hostile fleet, made no combined attempt at resistance,
+but remained to defend their homes, and sent for help to Phormio, who replied
+that, when a fleet was on the point of sailing from Corinth, it was impossible
+for him to leave Naupactus unprotected. The Peloponnesians meanwhile and their
+allies advanced upon Stratus in three divisions, with the intention of
+encamping near it and attempting the wall by force if they failed to succeed by
+negotiation. The order of march was as follows: the centre was occupied by the
+Chaonians and the rest of the barbarians, with the Leucadians and Anactorians
+and their followers on the right, and Cnemus with the Peloponnesians and
+Ambraciots on the left; each division being a long way off from, and sometimes
+even out of sight of, the others. The Hellenes advanced in good order, keeping
+a look-out till they encamped in a good position; but the Chaonians, filled
+with self-confidence, and having the highest character for courage among the
+tribes of that part of the continent, without waiting to occupy their camp,
+rushed on with the rest of the barbarians, in the idea that they should take
+the town by assault and obtain the sole glory of the enterprise. While they
+were coming on, the Stratians, becoming aware how things stood, and thinking
+that the defeat of this division would considerably dishearten the Hellenes
+behind it, occupied the environs of the town with ambuscades, and as soon as
+they approached engaged them at close quarters from the city and the
+ambuscades. A panic seizing the Chaonians, great numbers of them were slain;
+and as soon as they were seen to give way the rest of the barbarians turned and
+fled. Owing to the distance by which their allies had preceded them, neither of
+the Hellenic divisions knew anything of the battle, but fancied they were
+hastening on to encamp. However, when the flying barbarians broke in upon them,
+they opened their ranks to receive them, brought their divisions together, and
+stopped quiet where they were for the day; the Stratians not offering to engage
+them, as the rest of the Acarnanians had not yet arrived, but contenting
+themselves with slinging at them from a distance, which distressed them
+greatly, as there was no stirring without their armour. The Acarnanians would
+seem to excel in this mode of warfare.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as night fell, Cnemus hastily drew off his army to the river Anapus,
+about nine miles from Stratus, recovering his dead next day under truce, and
+being there joined by the friendly Oeniadae, fell back upon their city before
+the enemy&rsquo;s reinforcements came up. From hence each returned home; and
+the Stratians set up a trophy for the battle with the barbarians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the fleet from Corinth and the rest of the confederates in the
+Crissaean Gulf, which was to have co-operated with Cnemus and prevented the
+coast Acarnanians from joining their countrymen in the interior, was disabled
+from doing so by being compelled about the same time as the battle at Stratus
+to fight with Phormio and the twenty Athenian vessels stationed at Naupactus.
+For they were watched, as they coasted along out of the gulf, by Phormio, who
+wished to attack in the open sea. But the Corinthians and allies had started
+for Acarnania without any idea of fighting at sea, and with vessels more like
+transports for carrying soldiers; besides which, they never dreamed of the
+twenty Athenian ships venturing to engage their forty-seven. However, while
+they were coasting along their own shore, there were the Athenians sailing
+along in line with them; and when they tried to cross over from Patrae in
+Achaea to the mainland on the other side, on their way to Acarnania, they saw
+them again coming out from Chalcis and the river Evenus to meet them. They
+slipped from their moorings in the night, but were observed, and were at length
+compelled to fight in mid passage. Each state that contributed to the armament
+had its own general; the Corinthian commanders were Machaon, Isocrates, and
+Agatharchidas. The Peloponnesians ranged their vessels in as large a circle as
+possible without leaving an opening, with the prows outside and the sterns in;
+and placed within all the small craft in company, and their five best sailers
+to issue out at a moment&rsquo;s notice and strengthen any point threatened by
+the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, formed in line, sailed round and round them, and forced them to
+contract their circle, by continually brushing past and making as though they
+would attack at once, having been previously cautioned by Phormio not to do so
+till he gave the signal. His hope was that the Peloponnesians would not retain
+their order like a force on shore, but that the ships would fall foul of one
+another and the small craft cause confusion; and if the wind should blow from
+the gulf (in expectation of which he kept sailing round them, and which usually
+rose towards morning), they would not, he felt sure, remain steady an instant.
+He also thought that it rested with him to attack when he pleased, as his ships
+were better sailers, and that an attack timed by the coming of the wind would
+tell best. When the wind came down, the enemy&rsquo;s ships were now in a
+narrow space, and what with the wind and the small craft dashing against them,
+at once fell into confusion: ship fell foul of ship, while the crews were
+pushing them off with poles, and by their shouting, swearing, and struggling
+with one another, made captains&rsquo; orders and boatswains&rsquo; cries alike
+inaudible, and through being unable for want of practice to clear their oars in
+the rough water, prevented the vessels from obeying their helmsmen properly. At
+this moment Phormio gave the signal, and the Athenians attacked. Sinking first
+one of the admirals, they then disabled all they came across, so that no one
+thought of resistance for the confusion, but fled for Patrae and Dyme in
+Achaea. The Athenians gave chase and captured twelve ships, and taking most of
+the men out of them sailed to Molycrium, and after setting up a trophy on the
+promontory of Rhium and dedicating a ship to Poseidon, returned to Naupactus.
+As for the Peloponnesians, they at once sailed with their remaining ships along
+the coast from Dyme and Patrae to Cyllene, the Eleian arsenal; where Cnemus,
+and the ships from Leucas that were to have joined them, also arrived after the
+battle at Stratus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians now sent to the fleet to Cnemus three
+commissioners&mdash;Timocrates, Bradidas, and Lycophron&mdash;with orders to
+prepare to engage again with better fortune, and not to be driven from the sea
+by a few vessels; for they could not at all account for their discomfiture, the
+less so as it was their first attempt at sea; and they fancied that it was not
+that their marine was so inferior, but that there had been misconduct
+somewhere, not considering the long experience of the Athenians as compared
+with the little practice which they had had themselves. The commissioners were
+accordingly sent in anger. As soon as they arrived they set to work with Cnemus
+to order ships from the different states, and to put those which they already
+had in fighting order. Meanwhile Phormio sent word to Athens of their
+preparations and his own victory, and desired as many ships as possible to be
+speedily sent to him, as he stood in daily expectation of a battle. Twenty were
+accordingly sent, but instructions were given to their commander to go first to
+Crete. For Nicias, a Cretan of Gortys, who was proxenus of the Athenians, had
+persuaded them to sail against Cydonia, promising to procure the reduction of
+that hostile town; his real wish being to oblige the Polichnitans, neighbours
+of the Cydonians. He accordingly went with the ships to Crete, and, accompanied
+by the Polichnitans, laid waste the lands of the Cydonians; and, what with
+adverse winds and stress of weather wasted no little time there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Athenians were thus detained in Crete, the Peloponnesians in Cyllene
+got ready for battle, and coasted along to Panormus in Achaea, where their land
+army had come to support them. Phormio also coasted along to Molycrian Rhium,
+and anchored outside it with twenty ships, the same as he had fought with
+before. This Rhium was friendly to the Athenians. The other, in Peloponnese,
+lies opposite to it; the sea between them is about three-quarters of a mile
+broad, and forms the mouth of the Crissaean gulf. At this, the Achaean Rhium,
+not far off Panormus, where their army lay, the Peloponnesians now cast anchor
+with seventy-seven ships, when they saw the Athenians do so. For six or seven
+days they remained opposite each other, practising and preparing for the
+battle; the one resolved not to sail out of the Rhia into the open sea, for
+fear of the disaster which had already happened to them, the other not to sail
+into the straits, thinking it advantageous to the enemy, to fight in the
+narrows. At last Cnemus and Brasidas and the rest of the Peloponnesian
+commanders, being desirous of bringing on a battle as soon as possible, before
+reinforcements should arrive from Athens, and noticing that the men were most
+of them cowed by the previous defeat and out of heart for the business, first
+called them together and encouraged them as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Peloponnesians, the late engagement, which may have made some of you
+afraid of the one now in prospect, really gives no just ground for
+apprehension. Preparation for it, as you know, there was little enough; and the
+object of our voyage was not so much to fight at sea as an expedition by land.
+Besides this, the chances of war were largely against us; and perhaps also
+inexperience had something to do with our failure in our first naval action. It
+was not, therefore, cowardice that produced our defeat, nor ought the
+determination which force has not quelled, but which still has a word to say
+with its adversary, to lose its edge from the result of an accident; but
+admitting the possibility of a chance miscarriage, we should know that brave
+hearts must be always brave, and while they remain so can never put forward
+inexperience as an excuse for misconduct. Nor are you so behind the enemy in
+experience as you are ahead of him in courage; and although the science of your
+opponents would, if valour accompanied it, have also the presence of mind to
+carry out at in emergency the lesson it has learnt, yet a faint heart will make
+all art powerless in the face of danger. For fear takes away presence of mind,
+and without valour art is useless. Against their superior experience set your
+superior daring, and against the fear induced by defeat the fact of your having
+been then unprepared; remember, too, that you have always the advantage of
+superior numbers, and of engaging off your own coast, supported by your heavy
+infantry; and as a rule, numbers and equipment give victory. At no point,
+therefore, is defeat likely; and as for our previous mistakes, the very fact of
+their occurrence will teach us better for the future. Steersmen and sailors
+may, therefore, confidently attend to their several duties, none quitting the
+station assigned to them: as for ourselves, we promise to prepare for the
+engagement at least as well as your previous commanders, and to give no excuse
+for any one misconducting himself. Should any insist on doing so, he shall meet
+with the punishment he deserves, while the brave shall be honoured with the
+appropriate rewards of valour.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Peloponnesian commanders encouraged their men after this fashion. Phormio,
+meanwhile, being himself not without fears for the courage of his men, and
+noticing that they were forming in groups among themselves and were alarmed at
+the odds against them, desired to call them together and give them confidence
+and counsel in the present emergency. He had before continually told them, and
+had accustomed their minds to the idea, that there was no numerical superiority
+that they could not face; and the men themselves had long been persuaded that
+Athenians need never retire before any quantity of Peloponnesian vessels. At
+the moment, however, he saw that they were dispirited by the sight before them,
+and wishing to refresh their confidence, called them together and spoke as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I see, my men, that you are frightened by the number of the enemy, and I
+have accordingly called you together, not liking you to be afraid of what is
+not really terrible. In the first place, the Peloponnesians, already defeated,
+and not even themselves thinking that they are a match for us, have not
+ventured to meet us on equal terms, but have equipped this multitude of ships
+against us. Next, as to that upon which they most rely, the courage which they
+suppose constitutional to them, their confidence here only arises from the
+success which their experience in land service usually gives them, and which
+they fancy will do the same for them at sea. But this advantage will in all
+justice belong to us on this element, if to them on that; as they are not
+superior to us in courage, but we are each of us more confident, according to
+our experience in our particular department. Besides, as the Lacedaemonians use
+their supremacy over their allies to promote their own glory, they are most of
+them being brought into danger against their will, or they would never, after
+such a decided defeat, have ventured upon a fresh engagement. You need not,
+therefore, be afraid of their dash. You, on the contrary, inspire a much
+greater and better founded alarm, both because of your late victory and also of
+their belief that we should not face them unless about to do something worthy
+of a success so signal. An adversary numerically superior, like the one before
+us, comes into action trusting more to strength than to resolution; while he
+who voluntarily confronts tremendous odds must have very great internal
+resources to draw upon. For these reasons the Peloponnesians fear our
+irrational audacity more than they would ever have done a more commensurate
+preparation. Besides, many armaments have before now succumbed to an inferior
+through want of skill or sometimes of courage; neither of which defects
+certainly are ours. As to the battle, it shall not be, if I can help it, in the
+strait, nor will I sail in there at all; seeing that in a contest between a
+number of clumsily managed vessels and a small, fast, well-handled squadron,
+want of sea room is an undoubted disadvantage. One cannot run down an enemy
+properly without having a sight of him a good way off, nor can one retire at
+need when pressed; one can neither break the line nor return upon his rear, the
+proper tactics for a fast sailer; but the naval action necessarily becomes a
+land one, in which numbers must decide the matter. For all this I will provide
+as far as can be. Do you stay at your posts by your ships, and be sharp at
+catching the word of command, the more so as we are observing one another from
+so short a distance; and in action think order and silence
+all-important&mdash;qualities useful in war generally, and in naval engagements
+in particular; and behave before the enemy in a manner worthy of your past
+exploits. The issues you will fight for are great&mdash;to destroy the naval
+hopes of the Peloponnesians or to bring nearer to the Athenians their fears for
+the sea. And I may once more remind you that you have defeated most of them
+already; and beaten men do not face a danger twice with the same
+determination.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the exhortation of Phormio. The Peloponnesians finding that the
+Athenians did not sail into the gulf and the narrows, in order to lead them in
+whether they wished it or not, put out at dawn, and forming four abreast,
+sailed inside the gulf in the direction of their own country, the right wing
+leading as they had lain at anchor. In this wing were placed twenty of their
+best sailers; so that in the event of Phormio thinking that their object was
+Naupactus, and coasting along thither to save the place, the Athenians might
+not be able to escape their onset by getting outside their wing, but might be
+cut off by the vessels in question. As they expected, Phormio, in alarm for the
+place at that moment emptied of its garrison, as soon as he saw them put out,
+reluctantly and hurriedly embarked and sailed along shore; the Messenian land
+forces moving along also to support him. The Peloponnesians seeing him coasting
+along with his ships in single file, and by this inside the gulf and close
+inshore as they so much wished, at one signal tacked suddenly and bore down in
+line at their best speed on the Athenians, hoping to cut off the whole
+squadron. The eleven leading vessels, however, escaped the Peloponnesian wing
+and its sudden movement, and reached the more open water; but the rest were
+overtaken as they tried to run through, driven ashore and disabled; such of the
+crews being slain as had not swum out of them. Some of the ships the
+Peloponnesians lashed to their own, and towed off empty; one they took with the
+men in it; others were just being towed off, when they were saved by the
+Messenians dashing into the sea with their armour and fighting from the decks
+that they had boarded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus far victory was with the Peloponnesians, and the Athenian fleet destroyed;
+the twenty ships in the right wing being meanwhile in chase of the eleven
+Athenian vessels that had escaped their sudden movement and reached the more
+open water. These, with the exception of one ship, all outsailed them and got
+safe into Naupactus, and forming close inshore opposite the temple of Apollo,
+with their prows facing the enemy, prepared to defend themselves in case the
+Peloponnesians should sail inshore against them. After a while the
+Peloponnesians came up, chanting the paean for their victory as they sailed on;
+the single Athenian ship remaining being chased by a Leucadian far ahead of the
+rest. But there happened to be a merchantman lying at anchor in the roadstead,
+which the Athenian ship found time to sail round, and struck the Leucadian in
+chase amidships and sank her. An exploit so sudden and unexpected produced a
+panic among the Peloponnesians; and having fallen out of order in the
+excitement of victory, some of them dropped their oars and stopped their way in
+order to let the main body come up&mdash;an unsafe thing to do considering how
+near they were to the enemy&rsquo;s prows; while others ran aground in the
+shallows, in their ignorance of the localities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Elated at this incident, the Athenians at one word gave a cheer, and dashed at
+the enemy, who, embarrassed by his mistakes and the disorder in which he found
+himself, only stood for an instant, and then fled for Panormus, whence he had
+put out. The Athenians following on his heels took the six vessels nearest
+them, and recovered those of their own which had been disabled close inshore
+and taken in tow at the beginning of the action; they killed some of the crews
+and took some prisoners. On board the Leucadian which went down off the
+merchantman, was the Lacedaemonian Timocrates, who killed himself when the ship
+was sunk, and was cast up in the harbour of Naupactus. The Athenians on their
+return set up a trophy on the spot from which they had put out and turned the
+day, and picking up the wrecks and dead that were on their shore, gave back to
+the enemy their dead under truce. The Peloponnesians also set up a trophy as
+victors for the defeat inflicted upon the ships they had disabled in shore, and
+dedicated the vessel which they had taken at Achaean Rhium, side by side with
+the trophy. After this, apprehensive of the reinforcement expected from Athens,
+all except the Leucadians sailed into the Crissaean Gulf for Corinth. Not long
+after their retreat, the twenty Athenian ships, which were to have joined
+Phormio before the battle, arrived at Naupactus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the summer ended. Winter was now at hand; but dispersing the fleet, which
+had retired to Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf, Cnemus, Brasidas, and the other
+Peloponnesian captains allowed themselves to be persuaded by the Megarians to
+make an attempt upon Piraeus, the port of Athens, which from her decided
+superiority at sea had been naturally left unguarded and open. Their plan was
+as follows: The men were each to take their oar, cushion, and rowlock thong,
+and, going overland from Corinth to the sea on the Athenian side, to get to
+Megara as quickly as they could, and launching forty vessels, which happened to
+be in the docks at Nisaea, to sail at once to Piraeus. There was no fleet on
+the look-out in the harbour, and no one had the least idea of the enemy
+attempting a surprise; while an open attack would, it was thought, never be
+deliberately ventured on, or, if in contemplation, would be speedily known at
+Athens. Their plan formed, the next step was to put it in execution. Arriving
+by night and launching the vessels from Nisaea, they sailed, not to Piraeus as
+they had originally intended, being afraid of the risk, besides which there was
+some talk of a wind having stopped them, but to the point of Salamis that looks
+towards Megara; where there was a fort and a squadron of three ships to prevent
+anything sailing in or out of Megara. This fort they assaulted, and towed off
+the galleys empty, and surprising the inhabitants began to lay waste the rest
+of the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile fire signals were raised to alarm Athens, and a panic ensued there as
+serious as any that occurred during the war. The idea in the city was that the
+enemy had already sailed into Piraeus: in Piraeus it was thought that they had
+taken Salamis and might at any moment arrive in the port; as indeed might
+easily have been done if their hearts had been a little firmer: certainly no
+wind would have prevented them. As soon as day broke, the Athenians assembled
+in full force, launched their ships, and embarking in haste and uproar went
+with the fleet to Salamis, while their soldiery mounted guard in Piraeus. The
+Peloponnesians, on becoming aware of the coming relief, after they had overrun
+most of Salamis, hastily sailed off with their plunder and captives and the
+three ships from Fort Budorum to Nisaea; the state of their ships also causing
+them some anxiety, as it was a long while since they had been launched, and
+they were not water-tight. Arrived at Megara, they returned back on foot to
+Corinth. The Athenians finding them no longer at Salamis, sailed back
+themselves; and after this made arrangements for guarding Piraeus more
+diligently in future, by closing the harbours, and by other suitable
+precautions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time, at the beginning of this winter, Sitalces, son of Teres,
+the Odrysian king of Thrace, made an expedition against Perdiccas, son of
+Alexander, king of Macedonia, and the Chalcidians in the neighbourhood of
+Thrace; his object being to enforce one promise and fulfil another. On the one
+hand Perdiccas had made him a promise, when hard pressed at the commencement of
+the war, upon condition that Sitalces should reconcile the Athenians to him and
+not attempt to restore his brother and enemy, the pretender Philip, but had not
+offered to fulfil his engagement; on the other he, Sitalces, on entering into
+alliance with the Athenians, had agreed to put an end to the Chalcidian war in
+Thrace. These were the two objects of his invasion. With him he brought
+Amyntas, the son of Philip, whom he destined for the throne of Macedonia, and
+some Athenian envoys then at his court on this business, and Hagnon as general;
+for the Athenians were to join him against the Chalcidians with a fleet and as
+many soldiers as they could get together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beginning with the Odrysians, he first called out the Thracian tribes subject
+to him between Mounts Haemus and Rhodope and the Euxine and Hellespont; next
+the Getae beyond Haemus, and the other hordes settled south of the Danube in
+the neighbourhood of the Euxine, who, like the Getae, border on the Scythians
+and are armed in the same manner, being all mounted archers. Besides these he
+summoned many of the hill Thracian independent swordsmen, called Dii and mostly
+inhabiting Mount Rhodope, some of whom came as mercenaries, others as
+volunteers; also the Agrianes and Laeaeans, and the rest of the Paeonian tribes
+in his empire, at the confines of which these lay, extending up to the Laeaean
+Paeonians and the river Strymon, which flows from Mount Scombrus through the
+country of the Agrianes and Laeaeans; there the empire of Sitalces ends and the
+territory of the independent Paeonians begins. Bordering on the Triballi, also
+independent, were the Treres and Tilataeans, who dwell to the north of Mount
+Scombrus and extend towards the setting sun as far as the river Oskius. This
+river rises in the same mountains as the Nestus and Hebrus, a wild and
+extensive range connected with Rhodope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The empire of the Odrysians extended along the seaboard from Abdera to the
+mouth of the Danube in the Euxine. The navigation of this coast by the shortest
+route takes a merchantman four days and four nights with a wind astern the
+whole way: by land an active man, travelling by the shortest road, can get from
+Abdera to the Danube in eleven days. Such was the length of its coast line.
+Inland from Byzantium to the Laeaeans and the Strymon, the farthest limit of
+its extension into the interior, it is a journey of thirteen days for an active
+man. The tribute from all the barbarian districts and the Hellenic cities,
+taking what they brought in under Seuthes, the successor of Sitalces, who
+raised it to its greatest height, amounted to about four hundred talents in
+gold and silver. There were also presents in gold and silver to a no less
+amount, besides stuff, plain and embroidered, and other articles, made not only
+for the king, but also for the Odrysian lords and nobles. For there was here
+established a custom opposite to that prevailing in the Persian kingdom,
+namely, of taking rather than giving; more disgrace being attached to not
+giving when asked than to asking and being refused; and although this prevailed
+elsewhere in Thrace, it was practised most extensively among the powerful
+Odrysians, it being impossible to get anything done without a present. It was
+thus a very powerful kingdom; in revenue and general prosperity surpassing all
+in Europe between the Ionian Gulf and the Euxine, and in numbers and military
+resources coming decidedly next to the Scythians, with whom indeed no people in
+Europe can bear comparison, there not being even in Asia any nation singly a
+match for them if unanimous, though of course they are not on a level with
+other races in general intelligence and the arts of civilized life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the master of this empire that now prepared to take the field. When
+everything was ready, he set out on his march for Macedonia, first through his
+own dominions, next over the desolate range of Cercine that divides the
+Sintians and Paeonians, crossing by a road which he had made by felling the
+timber on a former campaign against the latter people. Passing over these
+mountains, with the Paeonians on his right and the Sintians and Maedians on the
+left, he finally arrived at Doberus, in Paeonia, losing none of his army on the
+march, except perhaps by sickness, but receiving some augmentations, many of
+the independent Thracians volunteering to join him in the hope of plunder; so
+that the whole is said to have formed a grand total of a hundred and fifty
+thousand. Most of this was infantry, though there was about a third cavalry,
+furnished principally by the Odrysians themselves and next to them by the
+Getae. The most warlike of the infantry were the independent swordsmen who came
+down from Rhodope; the rest of the mixed multitude that followed him being
+chiefly formidable by their numbers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Assembling in Doberus, they prepared for descending from the heights upon Lower
+Macedonia, where the dominions of Perdiccas lay; for the Lyncestae, Elimiots,
+and other tribes more inland, though Macedonians by blood, and allies and
+dependants of their kindred, still have their own separate governments. The
+country on the sea coast, now called Macedonia, was first acquired by
+Alexander, the father of Perdiccas, and his ancestors, originally Temenids from
+Argos. This was effected by the expulsion from Pieria of the Pierians, who
+afterwards inhabited Phagres and other places under Mount Pangaeus, beyond the
+Strymon (indeed the country between Pangaeus and the sea is still called the
+Pierian Gulf); of the Bottiaeans, at present neighbours of the Chalcidians,
+from Bottia, and by the acquisition in Paeonia of a narrow strip along the
+river Axius extending to Pella and the sea; the district of Mygdonia, between
+the Axius and the Strymon, being also added by the expulsion of the Edonians.
+From Eordia also were driven the Eordians, most of whom perished, though a few
+of them still live round Physca, and the Almopians from Almopia. These
+Macedonians also conquered places belonging to the other tribes, which are
+still theirs&mdash;Anthemus, Crestonia, Bisaltia, and much of Macedonia proper.
+The whole is now called Macedonia, and at the time of the invasion of Sitalces,
+Perdiccas, Alexander&rsquo;s son, was the reigning king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These Macedonians, unable to take the field against so numerous an invader,
+shut themselves up in such strong places and fortresses as the country
+possessed. Of these there was no great number, most of those now found in the
+country having been erected subsequently by Archelaus, the son of Perdiccas, on
+his accession, who also cut straight roads, and otherwise put the kingdom on a
+better footing as regards horses, heavy infantry, and other war material than
+had been done by all the eight kings that preceded him. Advancing from Doberus,
+the Thracian host first invaded what had been once Philip&rsquo;s government,
+and took Idomene by assault, Gortynia, Atalanta, and some other places by
+negotiation, these last coming over for love of Philip&rsquo;s son, Amyntas,
+then with Sitalces. Laying siege to Europus, and failing to take it, he next
+advanced into the rest of Macedonia to the left of Pella and Cyrrhus, not
+proceeding beyond this into Bottiaea and Pieria, but staying to lay waste
+Mygdonia, Crestonia, and Anthemus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Macedonians never even thought of meeting him with infantry; but the
+Thracian host was, as opportunity offered, attacked by handfuls of their horse,
+which had been reinforced from their allies in the interior. Armed with
+cuirasses, and excellent horsemen, wherever these charged they overthrew all
+before them, but ran considerable risk in entangling themselves in the masses
+of the enemy, and so finally desisted from these efforts, deciding that they
+were not strong enough to venture against numbers so superior.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Sitalces opened negotiations with Perdiccas on the objects of his
+expedition; and finding that the Athenians, not believing that he would come,
+did not appear with their fleet, though they sent presents and envoys,
+dispatched a large part of his army against the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans, and
+shutting them up inside their walls laid waste their country. While he remained
+in these parts, the people farther south, such as the Thessalians, Magnetes,
+and the other tribes subject to the Thessalians, and the Hellenes as far as
+Thermopylae, all feared that the army might advance against them, and prepared
+accordingly. These fears were shared by the Thracians beyond the Strymon to the
+north, who inhabited the plains, such as the Panaeans, the Odomanti, the Droi,
+and the Dersaeans, all of whom are independent. It was even matter of
+conversation among the Hellenes who were enemies of Athens whether he might not
+be invited by his ally to advance also against them. Meanwhile he held
+Chalcidice and Bottice and Macedonia, and was ravaging them all; but finding
+that he was not succeeding in any of the objects of his invasion, and that his
+army was without provisions and was suffering from the severity of the season,
+he listened to the advice of Seuthes, son of Spardacus, his nephew and highest
+officer, and decided to retreat without delay. This Seuthes had been secretly
+gained by Perdiccas by the promise of his sister in marriage with a rich dowry.
+In accordance with this advice, and after a stay of thirty days in all, eight
+of which were spent in Chalcidice, he retired home as quickly as he could; and
+Perdiccas afterwards gave his sister Stratonice to Seuthes as he had promised.
+Such was the history of the expedition of Sitalces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the course of this winter, after the dispersion of the Peloponnesian fleet,
+the Athenians in Naupactus, under Phormio, coasted along to Astacus and
+disembarked, and marched into the interior of Acarnania with four hundred
+Athenian heavy infantry and four hundred Messenians. After expelling some
+suspected persons from Stratus, Coronta, and other places, and restoring Cynes,
+son of Theolytus, to Coronta, they returned to their ships, deciding that it
+was impossible in the winter season to march against Oeniadae, a place which,
+unlike the rest of Acarnania, had been always hostile to them; for the river
+Achelous flowing from Mount Pindus through Dolopia and the country of the
+Agraeans and Amphilochians and the plain of Acarnania, past the town of Stratus
+in the upper part of its course, forms lakes where it falls into the sea round
+Oeniadae, and thus makes it impracticable for an army in winter by reason of
+the water. Opposite to Oeniadae lie most of the islands called Echinades, so
+close to the mouths of the Achelous that that powerful stream is constantly
+forming deposits against them, and has already joined some of the islands to
+the continent, and seems likely in no long while to do the same with the rest.
+For the current is strong, deep, and turbid, and the islands are so thick
+together that they serve to imprison the alluvial deposit and prevent its
+dispersing, lying, as they do, not in one line, but irregularly, so as to leave
+no direct passage for the water into the open sea. The islands in question are
+uninhabited and of no great size. There is also a story that Alcmaeon, son of
+Amphiraus, during his wanderings after the murder of his mother was bidden by
+Apollo to inhabit this spot, through an oracle which intimated that he would
+have no release from his terrors until he should find a country to dwell in
+which had not been seen by the sun, or existed as land at the time he slew his
+mother; all else being to him polluted ground. Perplexed at this, the story
+goes on to say, he at last observed this deposit of the Achelous, and
+considered that a place sufficient to support life upon, might have been thrown
+up during the long interval that had elapsed since the death of his mother and
+the beginning of his wanderings. Settling, therefore, in the district round
+Oeniadae, he founded a dominion, and left the country its name from his son
+Acarnan. Such is the story we have received concerning Alcmaeon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians and Phormio putting back from Acarnania and arriving at
+Naupactus, sailed home to Athens in the spring, taking with them the ships that
+they had captured, and such of the prisoners made in the late actions as were
+freemen; who were exchanged, man for man. And so ended this winter, and the
+third year of this war, of which Thucydides was the historian.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"></a>
+BOOK III </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"></a>
+CHAPTER IX </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Fourth and Fifth Years of the War&mdash;Revolt of Mitylene
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next summer, just as the corn was getting ripe, the Peloponnesians and
+their allies invaded Attica under the command of Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus,
+king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat down and ravaged the land; the Athenian
+horse as usual attacking them, wherever it was practicable, and preventing the
+mass of the light troops from advancing from their camp and wasting the parts
+near the city. After staying the time for which they had taken provisions, the
+invaders retired and dispersed to their several cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians all Lesbos, except
+Methymna, revolted from the Athenians. The Lesbians had wished to revolt even
+before the war, but the Lacedaemonians would not receive them; and yet now when
+they did revolt, they were compelled to do so sooner than they had intended.
+While they were waiting until the moles for their harbours and the ships and
+walls that they had in building should be finished, and for the arrival of
+archers and corn and other things that they were engaged in fetching from the
+Pontus, the Tenedians, with whom they were at enmity, and the Methymnians, and
+some factious persons in Mitylene itself, who were proxeni of Athens, informed
+the Athenians that the Mitylenians were forcibly uniting the island under their
+sovereignty, and that the preparations about which they were so active, were
+all concerted with the Boeotians their kindred and the Lacedaemonians with a
+view to a revolt, and that, unless they were immediately prevented, Athens
+would lose Lesbos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, the Athenians, distressed by the plague, and by the war that had
+recently broken out and was now raging, thought it a serious matter to add
+Lesbos with its fleet and untouched resources to the list of their enemies; and
+at first would not believe the charge, giving too much weight to their wish
+that it might not be true. But when an embassy which they sent had failed to
+persuade the Mitylenians to give up the union and preparations complained of,
+they became alarmed, and resolved to strike the first blow. They accordingly
+suddenly sent off forty ships that had been got ready to sail round
+Peloponnese, under the command of Cleippides, son of Deinias, and two others;
+word having been brought them of a festival in honour of the Malean Apollo
+outside the town, which is kept by the whole people of Mitylene, and at which,
+if haste were made, they might hope to take them by surprise. If this plan
+succeeded, well and good; if not, they were to order the Mitylenians to deliver
+up their ships and to pull down their walls, and if they did not obey, to
+declare war. The ships accordingly set out; the ten galleys, forming the
+contingent of the Mitylenians present with the fleet according to the terms of
+the alliance, being detained by the Athenians, and their crews placed in
+custody. However, the Mitylenians were informed of the expedition by a man who
+crossed from Athens to Euboea, and going overland to Geraestus, sailed from
+thence by a merchantman which he found on the point of putting to sea, and so
+arrived at Mitylene the third day after leaving Athens. The Mitylenians
+accordingly refrained from going out to the temple at Malea, and moreover
+barricaded and kept guard round the half-finished parts of their walls and
+harbours.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Athenians sailed in not long after and saw how things stood, the
+generals delivered their orders, and upon the Mitylenians refusing to obey,
+commenced hostilities. The Mitylenians, thus compelled to go to war without
+notice and unprepared, at first sailed out with their fleet and made some show
+of fighting, a little in front of the harbour; but being driven back by the
+Athenian ships, immediately offered to treat with the commanders, wishing, if
+possible, to get the ships away for the present upon any tolerable terms. The
+Athenian commanders accepted their offers, being themselves fearful that they
+might not be able to cope with the whole of Lesbos; and an armistice having
+been concluded, the Mitylenians sent to Athens one of the informers, already
+repentant of his conduct, and others with him, to try to persuade the Athenians
+of the innocence of their intentions and to get the fleet recalled. In the
+meantime, having no great hope of a favourable answer from Athens, they also
+sent off a galley with envoys to Lacedaemon, unobserved by the Athenian fleet
+which was anchored at Malea to the north of the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While these envoys, reaching Lacedaemon after a difficult journey across the
+open sea, were negotiating for succours being sent them, the ambassadors from
+Athens returned without having effected anything; and hostilities were at once
+begun by the Mitylenians and the rest of Lesbos, with the exception of the
+Methymnians, who came to the aid of the Athenians with the Imbrians and
+Lemnians and some few of the other allies. The Mitylenians made a sortie with
+all their forces against the Athenian camp; and a battle ensued, in which they
+gained some slight advantage, but retired notwithstanding, not feeling
+sufficient confidence in themselves to spend the night upon the field. After
+this they kept quiet, wishing to wait for the chance of reinforcements arriving
+from Peloponnese before making a second venture, being encouraged by the
+arrival of Meleas, a Laconian, and Hermaeondas, a Theban, who had been sent off
+before the insurrection but had been unable to reach Lesbos before the Athenian
+expedition, and who now stole in in a galley after the battle, and advised them
+to send another galley and envoys back with them, which the Mitylenians
+accordingly did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians, greatly encouraged by the inaction of the Mitylenians,
+summoned allies to their aid, who came in all the quicker from seeing so little
+vigour displayed by the Lesbians, and bringing round their ships to a new
+station to the south of the town, fortified two camps, one on each side of the
+city, and instituted a blockade of both the harbours. The sea was thus closed
+against the Mitylenians, who, however, commanded the whole country, with the
+rest of the Lesbians who had now joined them; the Athenians only holding a
+limited area round their camps, and using Malea more as the station for their
+ships and their market.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the war went on in this way at Mitylene, the Athenians, about the same
+time in this summer, also sent thirty ships to Peloponnese under Asopius, son
+of Phormio; the Acarnanians insisting that the commander sent should be some
+son or relative of Phormio. As the ships coasted along shore they ravaged the
+seaboard of Laconia; after which Asopius sent most of the fleet home, and
+himself went on with twelve vessels to Naupactus, and afterwards raising the
+whole Acarnanian population made an expedition against Oeniadae, the fleet
+sailing along the Achelous, while the army laid waste the country. The
+inhabitants, however, showing no signs of submitting, he dismissed the land
+forces and himself sailed to Leucas, and making a descent upon Nericus was cut
+off during his retreat, and most of his troops with him, by the people in those
+parts aided by some coastguards; after which the Athenians sailed away,
+recovering their dead from the Leucadians under truce.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the envoys of the Mitylenians sent out in the first ship were told by
+the Lacedaemonians to come to Olympia, in order that the rest of the allies
+might hear them and decide upon their matter, and so they journeyed thither. It
+was the Olympiad in which the Rhodian Dorieus gained his second victory, and
+the envoys having been introduced to make their speech after the festival,
+spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lacedaemonians and allies, the rule established among the Hellenes is
+not unknown to us. Those who revolt in war and forsake their former confederacy
+are favourably regarded by those who receive them, in so far as they are of use
+to them, but otherwise are thought less well of, through being considered
+traitors to their former friends. Nor is this an unfair way of judging, where
+the rebels and the power from whom they secede are at one in policy and
+sympathy, and a match for each other in resources and power, and where no
+reasonable ground exists for the rebellion. But with us and the Athenians this
+was not the case; and no one need think the worse of us for revolting from them
+in danger, after having been honoured by them in time of peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Justice and honesty will be the first topics of our speech, especially
+as we are asking for alliance; because we know that there can never be any
+solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities that is
+worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each other&rsquo;s honesty,
+and be generally congenial the one to the other; since from difference in
+feeling springs also difference in conduct. Between ourselves and the Athenians
+alliance began, when you withdrew from the Median War and they remained to
+finish the business. But we did not become allies of the Athenians for the
+subjugation of the Hellenes, but allies of the Hellenes for their liberation
+from the Mede; and as long as the Athenians led us fairly we followed them
+loyally; but when we saw them relax their hostility to the Mede, to try to
+compass the subjection of the allies, then our apprehensions began. Unable,
+however, to unite and defend themselves, on account of the number of
+confederates that had votes, all the allies were enslaved, except ourselves and
+the Chians, who continued to send our contingents as independent and nominally
+free. Trust in Athens as a leader, however, we could no longer feel, judging by
+the examples already given; it being unlikely that she would reduce our fellow
+confederates, and not do the same by us who were left, if ever she had the
+power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Had we all been still independent, we could have had more faith in their
+not attempting any change; but the greater number being their subjects, while
+they were treating us as equals, they would naturally chafe under this solitary
+instance of independence as contrasted with the submission of the majority;
+particularly as they daily grew more powerful, and we more destitute. Now the
+only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the
+other; he who would like to encroach is then deterred by the reflection that he
+will not have odds in his favour. Again, if we were left independent, it was
+only because they thought they saw their way to empire more clearly by specious
+language and by the paths of policy than by those of force. Not only were we
+useful as evidence that powers who had votes, like themselves, would not,
+surely, join them in their expeditions, against their will, without the party
+attacked being in the wrong; but the same system also enabled them to lead the
+stronger states against the weaker first, and so to leave the former to the
+last, stripped of their natural allies, and less capable of resistance. But if
+they had begun with us, while all the states still had their resources under
+their own control, and there was a centre to rally round, the work of
+subjugation would have been found less easy. Besides this, our navy gave them
+some apprehension: it was always possible that it might unite with you or with
+some other power, and become dangerous to Athens. The court which we paid to
+their commons and its leaders for the time being also helped us to maintain our
+independence. However, we did not expect to be able to do so much longer, if
+this war had not broken out, from the examples that we had had of their conduct
+to the rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How then could we put our trust in such friendship or freedom as we had
+here? We accepted each other against our inclination; fear made them court us
+in war, and us them in peace; sympathy, the ordinary basis of confidence, had
+its place supplied by terror, fear having more share than friendship in
+detaining us in the alliance; and the first party that should be encouraged by
+the hope of impunity was certain to break faith with the other. So that to
+condemn us for being the first to break off, because they delay the blow that
+we dread, instead of ourselves delaying to know for certain whether it will be
+dealt or not, is to take a false view of the case. For if we were equally able
+with them to meet their plots and imitate their delay, we should be their
+equals and should be under no necessity of being their subjects; but the
+liberty of offence being always theirs, that of defence ought clearly to be
+ours.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Such, Lacedaemonians and allies, are the grounds and the reasons of our
+revolt; clear enough to convince our hearers of the fairness of our conduct,
+and sufficient to alarm ourselves, and to make us turn to some means of safety.
+This we wished to do long ago, when we sent to you on the subject while the
+peace yet lasted, but were balked by your refusing to receive us; and now, upon
+the Boeotians inviting us, we at once responded to the call, and decided upon a
+twofold revolt, from the Hellenes and from the Athenians, not to aid the latter
+in harming the former, but to join in their liberation, and not to allow the
+Athenians in the end to destroy us, but to act in time against them. Our
+revolt, however, has taken place prematurely and without preparation&mdash;a
+fact which makes it all the more incumbent on you to receive us into alliance
+and to send us speedy relief, in order to show that you support your friends,
+and at the same time do harm to your enemies. You have an opportunity such as
+you never had before. Disease and expenditure have wasted the Athenians: their
+ships are either cruising round your coasts, or engaged in blockading us; and
+it is not probable that they will have any to spare, if you invade them a
+second time this summer by sea and land; but they will either offer no
+resistance to your vessels, or withdraw from both our shores. Nor must it be
+thought that this is a case of putting yourselves into danger for a country
+which is not yours. Lesbos may appear far off, but when help is wanted she will
+be found near enough. It is not in Attica that the war will be decided, as some
+imagine, but in the countries by which Attica is supported; and the Athenian
+revenue is drawn from the allies, and will become still larger if they reduce
+us; as not only will no other state revolt, but our resources will be added to
+theirs, and we shall be treated worse than those that were enslaved before. But
+if you will frankly support us, you will add to your side a state that has a
+large navy, which is your great want; you will smooth the way to the overthrow
+of the Athenians by depriving them of their allies, who will be greatly
+encouraged to come over; and you will free yourselves from the imputation made
+against you, of not supporting insurrection. In short, only show yourselves as
+liberators, and you may count upon having the advantage in the war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Respect, therefore, the hopes placed in you by the Hellenes, and that
+Olympian Zeus, in whose temple we stand as very suppliants; become the allies
+and defenders of the Mitylenians, and do not sacrifice us, who put our lives
+upon the hazard, in a cause in which general good will result to all from our
+success, and still more general harm if we fail through your refusing to help
+us; but be the men that the Hellenes think you, and our fears desire.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Mitylenians. After hearing them out, the
+Lacedaemonians and confederates granted what they urged, and took the Lesbians
+into alliance, and deciding in favour of the invasion of Attica, told the
+allies present to march as quickly as possible to the Isthmus with two-thirds
+of their forces; and arriving there first themselves, got ready hauling
+machines to carry their ships across from Corinth to the sea on the side of
+Athens, in order to make their attack by sea and land at once. However, the
+zeal which they displayed was not imitated by the rest of the confederates, who
+came in but slowly, being engaged in harvesting their corn and sick of making
+expeditions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians, aware that the preparations of the enemy were due to
+his conviction of their weakness, and wishing to show him that he was mistaken,
+and that they were able, without moving the Lesbian fleet, to repel with ease
+that with which they were menaced from Peloponnese, manned a hundred ships by
+embarking the citizens of Athens, except the knights and Pentacosiomedimni, and
+the resident aliens; and putting out to the Isthmus, displayed their power, and
+made descents upon Peloponnese wherever they pleased. A disappointment so
+signal made the Lacedaemonians think that the Lesbians had not spoken the
+truth; and embarrassed by the non-appearance of the confederates, coupled with
+the news that the thirty ships round Peloponnese were ravaging the lands near
+Sparta, they went back home. Afterwards, however, they got ready a fleet to
+send to Lesbos, and ordering a total of forty ships from the different cities
+in the league, appointed Alcidas to command the expedition in his capacity of
+high admiral. Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred ships, upon seeing the
+Lacedaemonians go home, went home likewise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, at the time that this fleet was at sea, Athens had almost the largest
+number of first-rate ships in commission that she ever possessed at any one
+moment, she had as many or even more when the war began. At that time one
+hundred guarded Attica, Euboea, and Salamis; a hundred more were cruising round
+Peloponnese, besides those employed at Potidæa and in other places; making a
+grand total of two hundred and fifty vessels employed on active service in a
+single summer. It was this, with Potidæa, that most exhausted her
+revenues&mdash;Potidæa being blockaded by a force of heavy infantry (each
+drawing two drachmae a day, one for himself and another for his servant), which
+amounted to three thousand at first, and was kept at this number down to the
+end of the siege; besides sixteen hundred with Phormio who went away before it
+was over; and the ships being all paid at the same rate. In this way her money
+was wasted at first; and this was the largest number of ships ever manned by
+her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time that the Lacedaemonians were at the Isthmus, the
+Mitylenians marched by land with their mercenaries against Methymna, which they
+thought to gain by treachery. After assaulting the town, and not meeting with
+the success that they anticipated, they withdrew to Antissa, Pyrrha, and
+Eresus; and taking measures for the better security of these towns and
+strengthening their walls, hastily returned home. After their departure the
+Methymnians marched against Antissa, but were defeated in a sortie by the
+Antissians and their mercenaries, and retreated in haste after losing many of
+their number. Word of this reaching Athens, and the Athenians learning that the
+Mitylenians were masters of the country and their own soldiers unable to hold
+them in check, they sent out about the beginning of autumn Paches, son of
+Epicurus, to take the command, and a thousand Athenian heavy infantry; who
+worked their own passage and, arriving at Mitylene, built a single wall all
+round it, forts being erected at some of the strongest points. Mitylene was
+thus blockaded strictly on both sides, by land and by sea; and winter now drew
+near.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians needing money for the siege, although they had for the first time
+raised a contribution of two hundred talents from their own citizens, now sent
+out twelve ships to levy subsidies from their allies, with Lysicles and four
+others in command. After cruising to different places and laying them under
+contribution, Lysicles went up the country from Myus, in Caria, across the
+plain of the Meander, as far as the hill of Sandius; and being attacked by the
+Carians and the people of Anaia, was slain with many of his soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Plataeans, who were still being besieged by the
+Peloponnesians and Boeotians, distressed by the failure of their provisions,
+and seeing no hope of relief from Athens, nor any other means of safety, formed
+a scheme with the Athenians besieged with them for escaping, if possible, by
+forcing their way over the enemy&rsquo;s walls; the attempt having been
+suggested by Theaenetus, son of Tolmides, a soothsayer, and Eupompides, son of
+Daimachus, one of their generals. At first all were to join: afterwards, half
+hung back, thinking the risk great; about two hundred and twenty, however,
+voluntarily persevered in the attempt, which was carried out in the following
+way. Ladders were made to match the height of the enemy&rsquo;s wall, which
+they measured by the layers of bricks, the side turned towards them not being
+thoroughly whitewashed. These were counted by many persons at once; and though
+some might miss the right calculation, most would hit upon it, particularly as
+they counted over and over again, and were no great way from the wall, but
+could see it easily enough for their purpose. The length required for the
+ladders was thus obtained, being calculated from the breadth of the brick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the wall of the Peloponnesians was constructed as follows. It consisted of
+two lines drawn round the place, one against the Plataeans, the other against
+any attack on the outside from Athens, about sixteen feet apart. The
+intermediate space of sixteen feet was occupied by huts portioned out among the
+soldiers on guard, and built in one block, so as to give the appearance of a
+single thick wall with battlements on either side. At intervals of every ten
+battlements were towers of considerable size, and the same breadth as the wall,
+reaching right across from its inner to its outer face, with no means of
+passing except through the middle. Accordingly on stormy and wet nights the
+battlements were deserted, and guard kept from the towers, which were not far
+apart and roofed in above.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such being the structure of the wall by which the Plataeans were blockaded,
+when their preparations were completed, they waited for a stormy night of wind
+and rain and without any moon, and then set out, guided by the authors of the
+enterprise. Crossing first the ditch that ran round the town, they next gained
+the wall of the enemy unperceived by the sentinels, who did not see them in the
+darkness, or hear them, as the wind drowned with its roar the noise of their
+approach; besides which they kept a good way off from each other, that they
+might not be betrayed by the clash of their weapons. They were also lightly
+equipped, and had only the left foot shod to preserve them from slipping in the
+mire. They came up to the battlements at one of the intermediate spaces where
+they knew them to be unguarded: those who carried the ladders went first and
+planted them; next twelve light-armed soldiers with only a dagger and a
+breastplate mounted, led by Ammias, son of Coroebus, who was the first on the
+wall; his followers getting up after him and going six to each of the towers.
+After these came another party of light troops armed with spears, whose
+shields, that they might advance the easier, were carried by men behind, who
+were to hand them to them when they found themselves in presence of the enemy.
+After a good many had mounted they were discovered by the sentinels in the
+towers, by the noise made by a tile which was knocked down by one of the
+Plataeans as he was laying hold of the battlements. The alarm was instantly
+given, and the troops rushed to the wall, not knowing the nature of the danger,
+owing to the dark night and stormy weather; the Plataeans in the town having
+also chosen that moment to make a sortie against the wall of the Peloponnesians
+upon the side opposite to that on which their men were getting over, in order
+to divert the attention of the besiegers. Accordingly they remained distracted
+at their several posts, without any venturing to stir to give help from his own
+station, and at a loss to guess what was going on. Meanwhile the three hundred
+set aside for service on emergencies went outside the wall in the direction of
+the alarm. Fire-signals of an attack were also raised towards Thebes; but the
+Plataeans in the town at once displayed a number of others, prepared beforehand
+for this very purpose, in order to render the enemy&rsquo;s signals
+unintelligible, and to prevent his friends getting a true idea of what was
+passing and coming to his aid before their comrades who had gone out should
+have made good their escape and be in safety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the first of the scaling party that had got up, after carrying both
+the towers and putting the sentinels to the sword, posted themselves inside to
+prevent any one coming through against them; and rearing ladders from the wall,
+sent several men up on the towers, and from their summit and base kept in check
+all of the enemy that came up, with their missiles, while their main body
+planted a number of ladders against the wall, and knocking down the
+battlements, passed over between the towers; each as soon as he had got over
+taking up his station at the edge of the ditch, and plying from thence with
+arrows and darts any who came along the wall to stop the passage of his
+comrades. When all were over, the party on the towers came down, the last of
+them not without difficulty, and proceeded to the ditch, just as the three
+hundred came up carrying torches. The Plataeans, standing on the edge of the
+ditch in the dark, had a good view of their opponents, and discharged their
+arrows and darts upon the unarmed parts of their bodies, while they themselves
+could not be so well seen in the obscurity for the torches; and thus even the
+last of them got over the ditch, though not without effort and difficulty; as
+ice had formed in it, not strong enough to walk upon, but of that watery kind
+which generally comes with a wind more east than north, and the snow which this
+wind had caused to fall during the night had made the water in the ditch rise,
+so that they could scarcely breast it as they crossed. However, it was mainly
+the violence of the storm that enabled them to effect their escape at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Starting from the ditch, the Plataeans went all together along the road leading
+to Thebes, keeping the chapel of the hero Androcrates upon their right;
+considering that the last road which the Peloponnesians would suspect them of
+having taken would be that towards their enemies&rsquo; country. Indeed they
+could see them pursuing with torches upon the Athens road towards Cithaeron and
+Druoskephalai or Oakheads. After going for rather more than half a mile upon
+the road to Thebes, the Plataeans turned off and took that leading to the
+mountain, to Erythrae and Hysiae, and reaching the hills, made good their
+escape to Athens, two hundred and twelve men in all; some of their number
+having turned back into the town before getting over the wall, and one archer
+having been taken prisoner at the outer ditch. Meanwhile the Peloponnesians
+gave up the pursuit and returned to their posts; and the Plataeans in the town,
+knowing nothing of what had passed, and informed by those who had turned back
+that not a man had escaped, sent out a herald as soon as it was day to make a
+truce for the recovery of the dead bodies, and then, learning the truth,
+desisted. In this way the Plataean party got over and were saved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Towards the close of the same winter, Salaethus, a Lacedaemonian, was sent out
+in a galley from Lacedaemon to Mitylene. Going by sea to Pyrrha, and from
+thence overland, he passed along the bed of a torrent, where the line of
+circumvallation was passable, and thus entering unperceived into Mitylene told
+the magistrates that Attica would certainly be invaded, and the forty ships
+destined to relieve them arrive, and that he had been sent on to announce this
+and to superintend matters generally. The Mitylenians upon this took courage,
+and laid aside the idea of treating with the Athenians; and now this winter
+ended, and with it ended the fourth year of the war of which Thucydides was the
+historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next summer the Peloponnesians sent off the forty-two ships for Mitylene,
+under Alcidas, their high admiral, and themselves and their allies invaded
+Attica, their object being to distract the Athenians by a double movement, and
+thus to make it less easy for them to act against the fleet sailing to
+Mitylene. The commander in this invasion was Cleomenes, in the place of King
+Pausanias, son of Pleistoanax, his nephew, who was still a minor. Not content
+with laying waste whatever had shot up in the parts which they had before
+devastated, the invaders now extended their ravages to lands passed over in
+their previous incursions; so that this invasion was more severely felt by the
+Athenians than any except the second; the enemy staying on and on until they
+had overrun most of the country, in the expectation of hearing from Lesbos of
+something having been achieved by their fleet, which they thought must now have
+got over. However, as they did not obtain any of the results expected, and
+their provisions began to run short, they retreated and dispersed to their
+different cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Mitylenians, finding their provisions failing, while the
+fleet from Peloponnese was loitering on the way instead of appearing at
+Mitylene, were compelled to come to terms with the Athenians in the following
+manner. Salaethus having himself ceased to expect the fleet to arrive, now
+armed the commons with heavy armour, which they had not before possessed, with
+the intention of making a sortie against the Athenians. The commons, however,
+no sooner found themselves possessed of arms than they refused any longer to
+obey their officers; and forming in knots together, told the authorities to
+bring out in public the provisions and divide them amongst them all, or they
+would themselves come to terms with the Athenians and deliver up the city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The government, aware of their inability to prevent this, and of the danger
+they would be in, if left out of the capitulation, publicly agreed with Paches
+and the army to surrender Mitylene at discretion and to admit the troops into
+the town; upon the understanding that the Mitylenians should be allowed to send
+an embassy to Athens to plead their cause, and that Paches should not imprison,
+make slaves of, or put to death any of the citizens until its return. Such were
+the terms of the capitulation; in spite of which the chief authors of the
+negotiation with Lacedaemon were so completely overcome by terror when the army
+entered that they went and seated themselves by the altars, from which they
+were raised up by Paches under promise that he would do them no wrong, and
+lodged by him in Tenedos, until he should learn the pleasure of the Athenians
+concerning them. Paches also sent some galleys and seized Antissa, and took
+such other military measures as he thought advisable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians in the forty ships, who ought to have made all
+haste to relieve Mitylene, lost time in coming round Peloponnese itself, and
+proceeding leisurely on the remainder of the voyage, made Delos without having
+been seen by the Athenians at Athens, and from thence arriving at Icarus and
+Myconus, there first heard of the fall of Mitylene. Wishing to know the truth,
+they put into Embatum, in the Erythraeid, about seven days after the capture of
+the town. Here they learned the truth, and began to consider what they were to
+do; and Teutiaplus, an Elean, addressed them as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Alcidas and Peloponnesians who share with me the command of this
+armament, my advice is to sail just as we are to Mitylene, before we have been
+heard of. We may expect to find the Athenians as much off their guard as men
+generally are who have just taken a city: this will certainly be so by sea,
+where they have no idea of any enemy attacking them, and where our strength, as
+it happens, mainly lies; while even their land forces are probably scattered
+about the houses in the carelessness of victory. If therefore we were to fall
+upon them suddenly and in the night, I have hopes, with the help of the
+well-wishers that we may have left inside the town, that we shall become
+masters of the place. Let us not shrink from the risk, but let us remember that
+this is just the occasion for one of the baseless panics common in war: and
+that to be able to guard against these in one&rsquo;s own case, and to detect
+the moment when an attack will find an enemy at this disadvantage, is what
+makes a successful general.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These words of Teutiaplus failing to move Alcidas, some of the Ionian exiles
+and the Lesbians with the expedition began to urge him, since this seemed too
+dangerous, to seize one of the Ionian cities or the Aeolic town of Cyme, to use
+as a base for effecting the revolt of Ionia. This was by no means a hopeless
+enterprise, as their coming was welcome everywhere; their object would be by
+this move to deprive Athens of her chief source of revenue, and at the same
+time to saddle her with expense, if she chose to blockade them; and they would
+probably induce Pissuthnes to join them in the war. However, Alcidas gave this
+proposal as bad a reception as the other, being eager, since he had come too
+late for Mitylene, to find himself back in Peloponnese as soon as possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly he put out from Embatum and proceeded along shore; and touching at
+the Teian town, Myonnesus, there butchered most of the prisoners that he had
+taken on his passage. Upon his coming to anchor at Ephesus, envoys came to him
+from the Samians at Anaia, and told him that he was not going the right way to
+free Hellas in massacring men who had never raised a hand against him, and who
+were not enemies of his, but allies of Athens against their will, and that if
+he did not stop he would turn many more friends into enemies than enemies into
+friends. Alcidas agreed to this, and let go all the Chians still in his hands
+and some of the others that he had taken; the inhabitants, instead of flying at
+the sight of his vessels, rather coming up to them, taking them for Athenian,
+having no sort of expectation that while the Athenians commanded the sea
+Peloponnesian ships would venture over to Ionia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Ephesus Alcidas set sail in haste and fled. He had been seen by the
+Salaminian and Paralian galleys, which happened to be sailing from Athens,
+while still at anchor off Clarus; and fearing pursuit he now made across the
+open sea, fully determined to touch nowhere, if he could help it, until he got
+to Peloponnese. Meanwhile news of him had come in to Paches from the
+Erythraeid, and indeed from all quarters. As Ionia was unfortified, great fears
+were felt that the Peloponnesians coasting along shore, even if they did not
+intend to stay, might make descents in passing and plunder the towns; and now
+the Paralian and Salaminian, having seen him at Clarus, themselves brought
+intelligence of the fact. Paches accordingly gave hot chase, and continued the
+pursuit as far as the isle of Patmos, and then finding that Alcidas had got on
+too far to be overtaken, came back again. Meanwhile he thought it fortunate
+that, as he had not fallen in with them out at sea, he had not overtaken them
+anywhere where they would have been forced to encamp, and so give him the
+trouble of blockading them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On his return along shore he touched, among other places, at Notium, the port
+of Colophon, where the Colophonians had settled after the capture of the upper
+town by Itamenes and the barbarians, who had been called in by certain
+individuals in a party quarrel. The capture of the town took place about the
+time of the second Peloponnesian invasion of Attica. However, the refugees,
+after settling at Notium, again split up into factions, one of which called in
+Arcadian and barbarian mercenaries from Pissuthnes and, entrenching these in a
+quarter apart, formed a new community with the Median party of the Colophonians
+who joined them from the upper town. Their opponents had retired into exile,
+and now called in Paches, who invited Hippias, the commander of the Arcadians
+in the fortified quarter, to a parley, upon condition that, if they could not
+agree, he was to be put back safe and sound in the fortification. However, upon
+his coming out to him, he put him into custody, though not in chains, and
+attacked suddenly and took by surprise the fortification, and putting the
+Arcadians and the barbarians found in it to the sword, afterwards took Hippias
+into it as he had promised, and, as soon as he was inside, seized him and shot
+him down. Paches then gave up Notium to the Colophonians not of the Median
+party; and settlers were afterwards sent out from Athens, and the place
+colonized according to Athenian laws, after collecting all the Colophonians
+found in any of the cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arrived at Mitylene, Paches reduced Pyrrha and Eresus; and finding the
+Lacedaemonian, Salaethus, in hiding in the town, sent him off to Athens,
+together with the Mitylenians that he had placed in Tenedos, and any other
+persons that he thought concerned in the revolt. He also sent back the greater
+part of his forces, remaining with the rest to settle Mitylene and the rest of
+Lesbos as he thought best.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the arrival of the prisoners with Salaethus, the Athenians at once put the
+latter to death, although he offered, among other things, to procure the
+withdrawal of the Peloponnesians from Plataea, which was still under siege; and
+after deliberating as to what they should do with the former, in the fury of
+the moment determined to put to death not only the prisoners at Athens, but the
+whole adult male population of Mitylene, and to make slaves of the women and
+children. It was remarked that Mitylene had revolted without being, like the
+rest, subjected to the empire; and what above all swelled the wrath of the
+Athenians was the fact of the Peloponnesian fleet having ventured over to Ionia
+to her support, a fact which was held to argue a long meditated rebellion. They
+accordingly sent a galley to communicate the decree to Paches, commanding him
+to lose no time in dispatching the Mitylenians. The morrow brought repentance
+with it and reflection on the horrid cruelty of a decree, which condemned a
+whole city to the fate merited only by the guilty. This was no sooner perceived
+by the Mitylenian ambassadors at Athens and their Athenian supporters, than
+they moved the authorities to put the question again to the vote; which they
+the more easily consented to do, as they themselves plainly saw that most of
+the citizens wished some one to give them an opportunity for reconsidering the
+matter. An assembly was therefore at once called, and after much expression of
+opinion upon both sides, Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, the same who had carried the
+former motion of putting the Mitylenians to death, the most violent man at
+Athens, and at that time by far the most powerful with the commons, came
+forward again and spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable of
+empire, and never more so than by your present change of mind in the matter of
+Mitylene. Fears or plots being unknown to you in your daily relations with each
+other, you feel just the same with regard to your allies, and never reflect
+that the mistakes into which you may be led by listening to their appeals, or
+by giving way to your own compassion, are full of danger to yourselves, and
+bring you no thanks for your weakness from your allies; entirely forgetting
+that your empire is a despotism and your subjects disaffected conspirators,
+whose obedience is ensured not by your suicidal concessions, but by the
+superiority given you by your own strength and not their loyalty. The most
+alarming feature in the case is the constant change of measures with which we
+appear to be threatened, and our seeming ignorance of the fact that bad laws
+which are never changed are better for a city than good ones that have no
+authority; that unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than quick-witted
+insubordination; and that ordinary men usually manage public affairs better
+than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to appear wiser
+than the laws, and to overrule every proposition brought forward, thinking that
+they cannot show their wit in more important matters, and by such behaviour too
+often ruin their country; while those who mistrust their own cleverness are
+content to be less learned than the laws, and less able to pick holes in the
+speech of a good speaker; and being fair judges rather than rival athletes,
+generally conduct affairs successfully. These we ought to imitate, instead of
+being led on by cleverness and intellectual rivalry to advise your people
+against our real opinions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For myself, I adhere to my former opinion, and wonder at those who have
+proposed to reopen the case of the Mitylenians, and who are thus causing a
+delay which is all in favour of the guilty, by making the sufferer proceed
+against the offender with the edge of his anger blunted; although where
+vengeance follows most closely upon the wrong, it best equals it and most amply
+requites it. I wonder also who will be the man who will maintain the contrary,
+and will pretend to show that the crimes of the Mitylenians are of service to
+us, and our misfortunes injurious to the allies. Such a man must plainly either
+have such confidence in his rhetoric as to adventure to prove that what has
+been once for all decided is still undetermined, or be bribed to try to delude
+us by elaborate sophisms. In such contests the state gives the rewards to
+others, and takes the dangers for herself. The persons to blame are you who are
+so foolish as to institute these contests; who go to see an oration as you
+would to see a sight, take your facts on hearsay, judge of the practicability
+of a project by the wit of its advocates, and trust for the truth as to past
+events not to the fact which you saw more than to the clever strictures which
+you heard; the easy victims of new-fangled arguments, unwilling to follow
+received conclusions; slaves to every new paradox, despisers of the
+commonplace; the first wish of every man being that he could speak himself, the
+next to rival those who can speak by seeming to be quite up with their ideas by
+applauding every hit almost before it is made, and by being as quick in
+catching an argument as you are slow in foreseeing its consequences; asking, if
+I may so say, for something different from the conditions under which we live,
+and yet comprehending inadequately those very conditions; very slaves to the
+pleasure of the ear, and more like the audience of a rhetorician than the
+council of a city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In order to keep you from this, I proceed to show that no one state has
+ever injured you as much as Mitylene. I can make allowance for those who revolt
+because they cannot bear our empire, or who have been forced to do so by the
+enemy. But for those who possessed an island with fortifications; who could
+fear our enemies only by sea, and there had their own force of galleys to
+protect them; who were independent and held in the highest honour by
+you&mdash;to act as these have done, this is not revolt&mdash;revolt implies
+oppression; it is deliberate and wanton aggression; an attempt to ruin us by
+siding with our bitterest enemies; a worse offence than a war undertaken on
+their own account in the acquisition of power. The fate of those of their
+neighbours who had already rebelled and had been subdued was no lesson to them;
+their own prosperity could not dissuade them from affronting danger; but
+blindly confident in the future, and full of hopes beyond their power though
+not beyond their ambition, they declared war and made their decision to prefer
+might to right, their attack being determined not by provocation but by the
+moment which seemed propitious. The truth is that great good fortune coming
+suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people insolent; in most cases it is
+safer for mankind to have success in reason than out of reason; and it is
+easier for them, one may say, to stave off adversity than to preserve
+prosperity. Our mistake has been to distinguish the Mitylenians as we have
+done: had they been long ago treated like the rest, they never would have so
+far forgotten themselves, human nature being as surely made arrogant by
+consideration as it is awed by firmness. Let them now therefore be punished as
+their crime requires, and do not, while you condemn the aristocracy, absolve
+the people. This is certain, that all attacked you without distinction,
+although they might have come over to us and been now again in possession of
+their city. But no, they thought it safer to throw in their lot with the
+aristocracy and so joined their rebellion! Consider therefore: if you subject
+to the same punishment the ally who is forced to rebel by the enemy, and him
+who does so by his own free choice, which of them, think you, is there that
+will not rebel upon the slightest pretext; when the reward of success is
+freedom, and the penalty of failure nothing so very terrible? We meanwhile
+shall have to risk our money and our lives against one state after another; and
+if successful, shall receive a ruined town from which we can no longer draw the
+revenue upon which our strength depends; while if unsuccessful, we shall have
+an enemy the more upon our hands, and shall spend the time that might be
+employed in combating our existing foes in warring with our own allies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No hope, therefore, that rhetoric may instil or money purchase, of the
+mercy due to human infirmity must be held out to the Mitylenians. Their offence
+was not involuntary, but of malice and deliberate; and mercy is only for
+unwilling offenders. I therefore, now as before, persist against your reversing
+your first decision, or giving way to the three failings most fatal to
+empire&mdash;pity, sentiment, and indulgence. Compassion is due to those who
+can reciprocate the feeling, not to those who will never pity us in return, but
+are our natural and necessary foes: the orators who charm us with sentiment may
+find other less important arenas for their talents, in the place of one where
+the city pays a heavy penalty for a momentary pleasure, themselves receiving
+fine acknowledgments for their fine phrases; while indulgence should be shown
+towards those who will be our friends in future, instead of towards men who
+will remain just what they were, and as much our enemies as before. To sum up
+shortly, I say that if you follow my advice you will do what is just towards
+the Mitylenians, and at the same time expedient; while by a different decision
+you will not oblige them so much as pass sentence upon yourselves. For if they
+were right in rebelling, you must be wrong in ruling. However, if, right or
+wrong, you determine to rule, you must carry out your principle and punish the
+Mitylenians as your interest requires; or else you must give up your empire and
+cultivate honesty without danger. Make up your minds, therefore, to give them
+like for like; and do not let the victims who escaped the plot be more
+insensible than the conspirators who hatched it; but reflect what they would
+have done if victorious over you, especially they were the aggressors. It is
+they who wrong their neighbour without a cause, that pursue their victim to the
+death, on account of the danger which they foresee in letting their enemy
+survive; since the object of a wanton wrong is more dangerous, if he escape,
+than an enemy who has not this to complain of. Do not, therefore, be traitors
+to yourselves, but recall as nearly as possible the moment of suffering and the
+supreme importance which you then attached to their reduction; and now pay them
+back in their turn, without yielding to present weakness or forgetting the
+peril that once hung over you. Punish them as they deserve, and teach your
+other allies by a striking example that the penalty of rebellion is death. Let
+them once understand this and you will not have so often to neglect your
+enemies while you are fighting with your own confederates.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Cleon. After him Diodotus, son of Eucrates, who had also
+in the previous assembly spoken most strongly against putting the Mitylenians
+to death, came forward and spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not blame the persons who have reopened the case of the
+Mitylenians, nor do I approve the protests which we have heard against
+important questions being frequently debated. I think the two things most
+opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usually goes hand in hand
+with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind. As for the argument
+that speech ought not to be the exponent of action, the man who uses it must be
+either senseless or interested: senseless if he believes it possible to treat
+of the uncertain future through any other medium; interested if, wishing to
+carry a disgraceful measure and doubting his ability to speak well in a bad
+cause, he thinks to frighten opponents and hearers by well-aimed calumny. What
+is still more intolerable is to accuse a speaker of making a display in order
+to be paid for it. If ignorance only were imputed, an unsuccessful speaker
+might retire with a reputation for honesty, if not for wisdom; while the charge
+of dishonesty makes him suspected, if successful, and thought, if defeated, not
+only a fool but a rogue. The city is no gainer by such a system, since fear
+deprives it of its advisers; although in truth, if our speakers are to make
+such assertions, it would be better for the country if they could not speak at
+all, as we should then make fewer blunders. The good citizen ought to triumph
+not by frightening his opponents but by beating them fairly in argument; and a
+wise city, without over-distinguishing its best advisers, will nevertheless not
+deprive them of their due, and, far from punishing an unlucky counsellor, will
+not even regard him as disgraced. In this way successful orators would be least
+tempted to sacrifice their convictions to popularity, in the hope of still
+higher honours, and unsuccessful speakers to resort to the same popular arts in
+order to win over the multitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This is not our way; and, besides, the moment that a man is suspected of
+giving advice, however good, from corrupt motives, we feel such a grudge
+against him for the gain which after all we are not certain he will receive,
+that we deprive the city of its certain benefit. Plain good advice has thus
+come to be no less suspected than bad; and the advocate of the most monstrous
+measures is not more obliged to use deceit to gain the people, than the best
+counsellor is to lie in order to be believed. The city and the city only, owing
+to these refinements, can never be served openly and without disguise; he who
+does serve it openly being always suspected of serving himself in some secret
+way in return. Still, considering the magnitude of the interests involved, and
+the position of affairs, we orators must make it our business to look a little
+farther than you who judge offhand; especially as we, your advisers, are
+responsible, while you, our audience, are not so. For if those who gave the
+advice, and those who took it, suffered equally, you would judge more calmly;
+as it is, you visit the disasters into which the whim of the moment may have
+led you upon the single person of your adviser, not upon yourselves, his
+numerous companions in error.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;However, I have not come forward either to oppose or to accuse in the
+matter of Mitylene; indeed, the question before us as sensible men is not their
+guilt, but our interests. Though I prove them ever so guilty, I shall not,
+therefore, advise their death, unless it be expedient; nor though they should
+have claims to indulgence, shall I recommend it, unless it be dearly for the
+good of the country. I consider that we are deliberating for the future more
+than for the present; and where Cleon is so positive as to the useful deterrent
+effects that will follow from making rebellion capital, I, who consider the
+interests of the future quite as much as he, as positively maintain the
+contrary. And I require you not to reject my useful considerations for his
+specious ones: his speech may have the attraction of seeming the more just in
+your present temper against Mitylene; but we are not in a court of justice, but
+in a political assembly; and the question is not justice, but how to make the
+Mitylenians useful to Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now of course communities have enacted the penalty of death for many
+offences far lighter than this: still hope leads men to venture, and no one
+ever yet put himself in peril without the inward conviction that he would
+succeed in his design. Again, was there ever city rebelling that did not
+believe that it possessed either in itself or in its alliances resources
+adequate to the enterprise? All, states and individuals, are alike prone to
+err, and there is no law that will prevent them; or why should men have
+exhausted the list of punishments in search of enactments to protect them from
+evildoers? It is probable that in early times the penalties for the greatest
+offences were less severe, and that, as these were disregarded, the penalty of
+death has been by degrees in most cases arrived at, which is itself disregarded
+in like manner. Either then some means of terror more terrible than this must
+be discovered, or it must be owned that this restraint is useless; and that as
+long as poverty gives men the courage of necessity, or plenty fills them with
+the ambition which belongs to insolence and pride, and the other conditions of
+life remain each under the thraldom of some fatal and master passion, so long
+will the impulse never be wanting to drive men into danger. Hope also and
+cupidity, the one leading and the other following, the one conceiving the
+attempt, the other suggesting the facility of succeeding, cause the widest
+ruin, and, although invisible agents, are far stronger than the dangers that
+are seen. Fortune, too, powerfully helps the delusion and, by the unexpected
+aid that she sometimes lends, tempts men to venture with inferior means; and
+this is especially the case with communities, because the stakes played for are
+the highest, freedom or empire, and, when all are acting together, each man
+irrationally magnifies his own capacity. In fine, it is impossible to prevent,
+and only great simplicity can hope to prevent, human nature doing what it has
+once set its mind upon, by force of law or by any other deterrent force
+whatsoever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We must not, therefore, commit ourselves to a false policy through a
+belief in the efficacy of the punishment of death, or exclude rebels from the
+hope of repentance and an early atonement of their error. Consider a moment. At
+present, if a city that has already revolted perceive that it cannot succeed,
+it will come to terms while it is still able to refund expenses, and pay
+tribute afterwards. In the other case, what city, think you, would not prepare
+better than is now done, and hold out to the last against its besiegers, if it
+is all one whether it surrender late or soon? And how can it be otherwise than
+hurtful to us to be put to the expense of a siege, because surrender is out of
+the question; and if we take the city, to receive a ruined town from which we
+can no longer draw the revenue which forms our real strength against the enemy?
+We must not, therefore, sit as strict judges of the offenders to our own
+prejudice, but rather see how by moderate chastisements we may be enabled to
+benefit in future by the revenue-producing powers of our dependencies; and we
+must make up our minds to look for our protection not to legal terrors but to
+careful administration. At present we do exactly the opposite. When a free
+community, held in subjection by force, rises, as is only natural, and asserts
+its independence, it is no sooner reduced than we fancy ourselves obliged to
+punish it severely; although the right course with freemen is not to chastise
+them rigorously when they do rise, but rigorously to watch them before they
+rise, and to prevent their ever entertaining the idea, and, the insurrection
+suppressed, to make as few responsible for it as possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Only consider what a blunder you would commit in doing as Cleon
+recommends. As things are at present, in all the cities the people is your
+friend, and either does not revolt with the oligarchy, or, if forced to do so,
+becomes at once the enemy of the insurgents; so that in the war with the
+hostile city you have the masses on your side. But if you butcher the people of
+Mitylene, who had nothing to do with the revolt, and who, as soon as they got
+arms, of their own motion surrendered the town, first you will commit the crime
+of killing your benefactors; and next you will play directly into the hands of
+the higher classes, who when they induce their cities to rise, will immediately
+have the people on their side, through your having announced in advance the
+same punishment for those who are guilty and for those who are not. On the
+contrary, even if they were guilty, you ought to seem not to notice it, in
+order to avoid alienating the only class still friendly to us. In short, I
+consider it far more useful for the preservation of our empire voluntarily to
+put up with injustice, than to put to death, however justly, those whom it is
+our interest to keep alive. As for Cleon&rsquo;s idea that in punishment the
+claims of justice and expediency can both be satisfied, facts do not confirm
+the possibility of such a combination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Confess, therefore, that this is the wisest course, and without
+conceding too much either to pity or to indulgence, by neither of which motives
+do I any more than Cleon wish you to be influenced, upon the plain merits of
+the case before you, be persuaded by me to try calmly those of the Mitylenians
+whom Paches sent off as guilty, and to leave the rest undisturbed. This is at
+once best for the future, and most terrible to your enemies at the present
+moment; inasmuch as good policy against an adversary is superior to the blind
+attacks of brute force.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Diodotus. The two opinions thus expressed were the ones
+that most directly contradicted each other; and the Athenians, notwithstanding
+their change of feeling, now proceeded to a division, in which the show of
+hands was almost equal, although the motion of Diodotus carried the day.
+Another galley was at once sent off in haste, for fear that the first might
+reach Lesbos in the interval, and the city be found destroyed; the first ship
+having about a day and a night&rsquo;s start. Wine and barley-cakes were
+provided for the vessel by the Mitylenian ambassadors, and great promises made
+if they arrived in time; which caused the men to use such diligence upon the
+voyage that they took their meals of barley-cakes kneaded with oil and wine as
+they rowed, and only slept by turns while the others were at the oar. Luckily
+they met with no contrary wind, and the first ship making no haste upon so
+horrid an errand, while the second pressed on in the manner described, the
+first arrived so little before them, that Paches had only just had time to read
+the decree, and to prepare to execute the sentence, when the second put into
+port and prevented the massacre. The danger of Mitylene had indeed been great.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other party whom Paches had sent off as the prime movers in the rebellion,
+were upon Cleon&rsquo;s motion put to death by the Athenians, the number being
+rather more than a thousand. The Athenians also demolished the walls of the
+Mitylenians, and took possession of their ships. Afterwards tribute was not
+imposed upon the Lesbians; but all their land, except that of the Methymnians,
+was divided into three thousand allotments, three hundred of which were
+reserved as sacred for the gods, and the rest assigned by lot to Athenian
+shareholders, who were sent out to the island. With these the Lesbians agreed
+to pay a rent of two minae a year for each allotment, and cultivated the land
+themselves. The Athenians also took possession of the towns on the continent
+belonging to the Mitylenians, which thus became for the future subject to
+Athens. Such were the events that took place at Lesbos.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"></a>
+CHAPTER X </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Fifth Year of the War&mdash;Trial and Execution of the Plataeans&mdash;
+Corcyraean Revolution
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the same summer, after the reduction of Lesbos, the Athenians under
+Nicias, son of Niceratus, made an expedition against the island of Minoa, which
+lies off Megara and was used as a fortified post by the Megarians, who had
+built a tower upon it. Nicias wished to enable the Athenians to maintain their
+blockade from this nearer station instead of from Budorum and Salamis; to stop
+the Peloponnesian galleys and privateers sailing out unobserved from the
+island, as they had been in the habit of doing; and at the same time prevent
+anything from coming into Megara. Accordingly, after taking two towers
+projecting on the side of Nisaea, by engines from the sea, and clearing the
+entrance into the channel between the island and the shore, he next proceeded
+to cut off all communication by building a wall on the mainland at the point
+where a bridge across a morass enabled succours to be thrown into the island,
+which was not far off from the continent. A few days sufficing to accomplish
+this, he afterwards raised some works in the island also, and leaving a
+garrison there, departed with his forces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time in this summer, the Plataeans, being now without provisions
+and unable to support the siege, surrendered to the Peloponnesians in the
+following manner. An assault had been made upon the wall, which the Plataeans
+were unable to repel. The Lacedaemonian commander, perceiving their weakness,
+wished to avoid taking the place by storm; his instructions from Lacedaemon
+having been so conceived, in order that if at any future time peace should be
+made with Athens, and they should agree each to restore the places that they
+had taken in the war, Plataea might be held to have come over voluntarily, and
+not be included in the list. He accordingly sent a herald to them to ask if
+they were willing voluntarily to surrender the town to the Lacedaemonians, and
+accept them as their judges, upon the understanding that the guilty should be
+punished, but no one without form of law. The Plataeans were now in the last
+state of weakness, and the herald had no sooner delivered his message than they
+surrendered the town. The Peloponnesians fed them for some days until the
+judges from Lacedaemon, who were five in number, arrived. Upon their arrival no
+charge was preferred; they simply called up the Plataeans, and asked them
+whether they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the war then
+raging. The Plataeans asked leave to speak at greater length, and deputed two
+of their number to represent them: Astymachus, son of Asopolaus, and Lacon, son
+of Aeimnestus, proxenus of the Lacedaemonians, who came forward and spoke as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lacedaemonians, when we surrendered our city we trusted in you, and
+looked forward to a trial more agreeable to the forms of law than the present,
+to which we had no idea of being subjected; the judges also in whose hands we
+consented to place ourselves were you, and you only (from whom we thought we
+were most likely to obtain justice), and not other persons, as is now the case.
+As matters stand, we are afraid that we have been doubly deceived. We have good
+reason to suspect, not only that the issue to be tried is the most terrible of
+all, but that you will not prove impartial; if we may argue from the fact that
+no accusation was first brought forward for us to answer, but we had ourselves
+to ask leave to speak, and from the question being put so shortly, that a true
+answer to it tells against us, while a false one can be contradicted. In this
+dilemma, our safest, and indeed our only course, seems to be to say something
+at all risks: placed as we are, we could scarcely be silent without being
+tormented by the damning thought that speaking might have saved us. Another
+difficulty that we have to encounter is the difficulty of convincing you. Were
+we unknown to each other we might profit by bringing forward new matter with
+which you were unacquainted: as it is, we can tell you nothing that you do not
+know already, and we fear, not that you have condemned us in your own minds of
+having failed in our duty towards you, and make this our crime, but that to
+please a third party we have to submit to a trial the result of which is
+already decided. Nevertheless, we will place before you what we can justly
+urge, not only on the question of the quarrel which the Thebans have against
+us, but also as addressing you and the rest of the Hellenes; and we will remind
+you of our good services, and endeavour to prevail with you.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To your short question, whether we have done the Lacedaemonians and
+allies any service in this war, we say, if you ask us as enemies, that to
+refrain from serving you was not to do you injury; if as friends, that you are
+more in fault for having marched against us. During the peace, and against the
+Mede, we acted well: we have not now been the first to break the peace, and we
+were the only Boeotians who then joined in defending against the Mede the
+liberty of Hellas. Although an inland people, we were present at the action at
+Artemisium; in the battle that took place in our territory we fought by the
+side of yourselves and Pausanias; and in all the other Hellenic exploits of the
+time we took a part quite out of proportion to our strength. Besides, you, as
+Lacedaemonians, ought not to forget that at the time of the great panic at
+Sparta, after the earthquake, caused by the secession of the Helots to Ithome,
+we sent the third part of our citizens to assist you.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;On these great and historical occasions such was the part that we chose,
+although afterwards we became your enemies. For this you were to blame. When we
+asked for your alliance against our Theban oppressors, you rejected our
+petition, and told us to go to the Athenians who were our neighbours, as you
+lived too far off. In the war we never have done to you, and never should have
+done to you, anything unreasonable. If we refused to desert the Athenians when
+you asked us, we did no wrong; they had helped us against the Thebans when you
+drew back, and we could no longer give them up with honour; especially as we
+had obtained their alliance and had been admitted to their citizenship at our
+own request, and after receiving benefits at their hands; but it was plainly
+our duty loyally to obey their orders. Besides, the faults that either of you
+may commit in your supremacy must be laid, not upon the followers, but on the
+chiefs that lead them astray.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With regard to the Thebans, they have wronged us repeatedly, and their
+last aggression, which has been the means of bringing us into our present
+position, is within your own knowledge. In seizing our city in time of peace,
+and what is more at a holy time in the month, they justly encountered our
+vengeance, in accordance with the universal law which sanctions resistance to
+an invader; and it cannot now be right that we should suffer on their account.
+By taking your own immediate interest and their animosity as the test of
+justice, you will prove yourselves to be rather waiters on expediency than
+judges of right; although if they seem useful to you now, we and the rest of
+the Hellenes gave you much more valuable help at a time of greater need. Now
+you are the assailants, and others fear you; but at the crisis to which we
+allude, when the barbarian threatened all with slavery, the Thebans were on his
+side. It is just, therefore, to put our patriotism then against our error now,
+if error there has been; and you will find the merit outweighing the fault, and
+displayed at a juncture when there were few Hellenes who would set their valour
+against the strength of Xerxes, and when greater praise was theirs who
+preferred the dangerous path of honour to the safe course of consulting their
+own interest with respect to the invasion. To these few we belonged, and highly
+were we honoured for it; and yet we now fear to perish by having again acted on
+the same principles, and chosen to act well with Athens sooner than wisely with
+Sparta. Yet in justice the same cases should be decided in the same way, and
+policy should not mean anything else than lasting gratitude for the service of
+good ally combined with a proper attention to one&rsquo;s own immediate
+interest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Consider also that at present the Hellenes generally regard you as a
+pattern of worth and honour; and if you pass an unjust sentence upon us in this
+which is no obscure cause, but one in which you, the judges, are as illustrious
+as we, the prisoners, are blameless, take care that displeasure be not felt at
+an unworthy decision in the matter of honourable men made by men yet more
+honourable than they, and at the consecration in the national temples of spoils
+taken from the Plataeans, the benefactors of Hellas. Shocking indeed will it
+seem for Lacedaemonians to destroy Plataea, and for the city whose name your
+fathers inscribed upon the tripod at Delphi for its good service, to be by you
+blotted out from the map of Hellas, to please the Thebans. To such a depth of
+misfortune have we fallen that, while the Medes&rsquo; success had been our
+ruin, Thebans now supplant us in your once fond regards; and we have been
+subjected to two dangers, the greatest of any&mdash;that of dying of starvation
+then, if we had not surrendered our town, and now of being tried for our lives.
+So that we Plataeans, after exertions beyond our power in the cause of the
+Hellenes, are rejected by all, forsaken and unassisted; helped by none of our
+allies, and reduced to doubt the stability of our only hope, yourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Still, in the name of the gods who once presided over our confederacy,
+and of our own good service in the Hellenic cause, we adjure you to relent; to
+recall the decision which we fear that the Thebans may have obtained from you;
+to ask back the gift that you have given them, that they disgrace not you by
+slaying us; to gain a pure instead of a guilty gratitude, and not to gratify
+others to be yourselves rewarded with shame. Our lives may be quickly taken,
+but it will be a heavy task to wipe away the infamy of the deed; as we are no
+enemies whom you might justly punish, but friends forced into taking arms
+against you. To grant us our lives would be, therefore, a righteous judgment;
+if you consider also that we are prisoners who surrendered of their own accord,
+stretching out our hands for quarter, whose slaughter Hellenic law forbids, and
+who besides were always your benefactors. Look at the sepulchres of your
+fathers, slain by the Medes and buried in our country, whom year by year we
+honoured with garments and all other dues, and the first-fruits of all that our
+land produced in their season, as friends from a friendly country and allies to
+our old companions in arms. Should you not decide aright, your conduct would be
+the very opposite to ours. Consider only: Pausanias buried them thinking that
+he was laying them in friendly ground and among men as friendly; but you, if
+you kill us and make the Plataean territory Theban, will leave your fathers and
+kinsmen in a hostile soil and among their murderers, deprived of the honours
+which they now enjoy. What is more, you will enslave the land in which the
+freedom of the Hellenes was won, make desolate the temples of the gods to whom
+they prayed before they overcame the Medes, and take away your ancestral
+sacrifices from those who founded and instituted them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It were not to your glory, Lacedaemonians, either to offend in this way
+against the common law of the Hellenes and against your own ancestors, or to
+kill us your benefactors to gratify another&rsquo;s hatred without having been
+wronged yourselves: it were more so to spare us and to yield to the impressions
+of a reasonable compassion; reflecting not merely on the awful fate in store
+for us, but also on the character of the sufferers, and on the impossibility of
+predicting how soon misfortune may fall even upon those who deserve it not. We,
+as we have a right to do and as our need impels us, entreat you, calling aloud
+upon the gods at whose common altar all the Hellenes worship, to hear our
+request, to be not unmindful of the oaths which your fathers swore, and which
+we now plead&mdash;we supplicate you by the tombs of your fathers, and appeal
+to those that are gone to save us from falling into the hands of the Thebans
+and their dearest friends from being given up to their most detested foes. We
+also remind you of that day on which we did the most glorious deeds, by your
+fathers&rsquo; sides, we who now on this are like to suffer the most dreadful
+fate. Finally, to do what is necessary and yet most difficult for men in our
+situation&mdash;that is, to make an end of speaking, since with that ending the
+peril of our lives draws near&mdash;in conclusion we say that we did not
+surrender our city to the Thebans (to that we would have preferred inglorious
+starvation), but trusted in and capitulated to you; and it would be just, if we
+fail to persuade you, to put us back in the same position and let us take the
+chance that falls to us. And at the same time we adjure you not to give us
+up&mdash;your suppliants, Lacedaemonians, out of your hands and faith,
+Plataeans foremost of the Hellenic patriots, to Thebans, our most hated
+enemies&mdash;but to be our saviours, and not, while you free the rest of the
+Hellenes, to bring us to destruction.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Plataeans. The Thebans, afraid that the
+Lacedaemonians might be moved by what they had heard, came forward and said
+that they too desired to address them, since the Plataeans had, against their
+wish, been allowed to speak at length instead of being confined to a simple
+answer to the question. Leave being granted, the Thebans spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We should never have asked to make this speech if the Plataeans on their
+side had contented themselves with shortly answering the question, and had not
+turned round and made charges against us, coupled with a long defence of
+themselves upon matters outside the present inquiry and not even the subject of
+accusation, and with praise of what no one finds fault with. However, since
+they have done so, we must answer their charges and refute their self-praise,
+in order that neither our bad name nor their good may help them, but that you
+may hear the real truth on both points, and so decide.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The origin of our quarrel was this. We settled Plataea some time after
+the rest of Boeotia, together with other places out of which we had driven the
+mixed population. The Plataeans not choosing to recognize our supremacy, as had
+been first arranged, but separating themselves from the rest of the Boeotians,
+and proving traitors to their nationality, we used compulsion; upon which they
+went over to the Athenians, and with them did as much harm, for which we
+retaliated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Next, when the barbarian invaded Hellas, they say that they were the
+only Boeotians who did not Medize; and this is where they most glorify
+themselves and abuse us. We say that if they did not Medize, it was because the
+Athenians did not do so either; just as afterwards when the Athenians attacked
+the Hellenes they, the Plataeans, were again the only Boeotians who Atticized.
+And yet consider the forms of our respective governments when we so acted. Our
+city at that juncture had neither an oligarchical constitution in which all the
+nobles enjoyed equal rights, nor a democracy, but that which is most opposed to
+law and good government and nearest a tyranny&mdash;the rule of a close cabal.
+These, hoping to strengthen their individual power by the success of the Mede,
+kept down by force the people, and brought him into the town. The city as a
+whole was not its own mistress when it so acted, and ought not to be reproached
+for the errors that it committed while deprived of its constitution. Examine
+only how we acted after the departure of the Mede and the recovery of the
+constitution; when the Athenians attacked the rest of Hellas and endeavoured to
+subjugate our country, of the greater part of which faction had already made
+them masters. Did not we fight and conquer at Coronea and liberate Boeotia, and
+do we not now actively contribute to the liberation of the rest, providing
+horses to the cause and a force unequalled by that of any other state in the
+confederacy?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let this suffice to excuse us for our Medism. We will now endeavour to
+show that you have injured the Hellenes more than we, and are more deserving of
+condign punishment. It was in defence against us, say you, that you became
+allies and citizens of Athens. If so, you ought only to have called in the
+Athenians against us, instead of joining them in attacking others: it was open
+to you to do this if you ever felt that they were leading you where you did not
+wish to follow, as Lacedaemon was already your ally against the Mede, as you so
+much insist; and this was surely sufficient to keep us off, and above all to
+allow you to deliberate in security. Nevertheless, of your own choice and
+without compulsion you chose to throw your lot in with Athens. And you say that
+it had been base for you to betray your benefactors; but it was surely far
+baser and more iniquitous to sacrifice the whole body of the Hellenes, your
+fellow confederates, who were liberating Hellas, than the Athenians only, who
+were enslaving it. The return that you made them was therefore neither equal
+nor honourable, since you called them in, as you say, because you were being
+oppressed yourselves, and then became their accomplices in oppressing others;
+although baseness rather consists in not returning like for like than in not
+returning what is justly due but must be unjustly paid.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Meanwhile, after thus plainly showing that it was not for the sake of
+the Hellenes that you alone then did not Medize, but because the Athenians did
+not do so either, and you wished to side with them and to be against the rest;
+you now claim the benefit of good deeds done to please your neighbours. This
+cannot be admitted: you chose the Athenians, and with them you must stand or
+fall. Nor can you plead the league then made and claim that it should now
+protect you. You abandoned that league, and offended against it by helping
+instead of hindering the subjugation of the Aeginetans and others of its
+members, and that not under compulsion, but while in enjoyment of the same
+institutions that you enjoy to the present hour, and no one forcing you as in
+our case. Lastly, an invitation was addressed to you before you were blockaded
+to be neutral and join neither party: this you did not accept. Who then merit
+the detestation of the Hellenes more justly than you, you who sought their ruin
+under the mask of honour? The former virtues that you allege you now show not
+to be proper to your character; the real bent of your nature has been at length
+damningly proved: when the Athenians took the path of injustice you followed
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of our unwilling Medism and your wilful Atticizing this then is our
+explanation. The last wrong wrong of which you complain consists in our having,
+as you say, lawlessly invaded your town in time of peace and festival. Here
+again we cannot think that we were more in fault than yourselves. If of our own
+proper motion we made an armed attack upon your city and ravaged your
+territory, we are guilty; but if the first men among you in estate and family,
+wishing to put an end to the foreign connection and to restore you to the
+common Boeotian country, of their own free will invited us, wherein is our
+crime? Where wrong is done, those who lead, as you say, are more to blame than
+those who follow. Not that, in our judgment, wrong was done either by them or
+by us. Citizens like yourselves, and with more at stake than you, they opened
+their own walls and introduced us into their own city, not as foes but as
+friends, to prevent the bad among you from becoming worse; to give honest men
+their due; to reform principles without attacking persons, since you were not
+to be banished from your city, but brought home to your kindred, nor to be made
+enemies to any, but friends alike to all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That our intention was not hostile is proved by our behaviour. We did no
+harm to any one, but publicly invited those who wished to live under a
+national, Boeotian government to come over to us; which as first you gladly
+did, and made an agreement with us and remained tranquil, until you became
+aware of the smallness of our numbers. Now it is possible that there may have
+been something not quite fair in our entering without the consent of your
+commons. At any rate you did not repay us in kind. Instead of refraining, as we
+had done, from violence, and inducing us to retire by negotiation, you fell
+upon us in violation of your agreement, and slew some of us in fight, of which
+we do not so much complain, for in that there was a certain justice; but others
+who held out their hands and received quarter, and whose lives you subsequently
+promised us, you lawlessly butchered. If this was not abominable, what is? And
+after these three crimes committed one after the other&mdash;the violation of
+your agreement, the murder of the men afterwards, and the lying breach of your
+promise not to kill them, if we refrained from injuring your property in the
+country&mdash;you still affirm that we are the criminals and yourselves pretend
+to escape justice. Not so, if these your judges decide aright, but you will be
+punished for all together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Such, Lacedaemonians, are the facts. We have gone into them at some
+length both on your account and on our own, that you may fed that you will
+justly condemn the prisoners, and we, that we have given an additional sanction
+to our vengeance. We would also prevent you from being melted by hearing of
+their past virtues, if any such they had: these may be fairly appealed to by
+the victims of injustice, but only aggravate the guilt of criminals, since they
+offend against their better nature. Nor let them gain anything by crying and
+wailing, by calling upon your fathers&rsquo; tombs and their own desolate
+condition. Against this we point to the far more dreadful fate of our youth,
+butchered at their hands; the fathers of whom either fell at Coronea, bringing
+Boeotia over to you, or seated, forlorn old men by desolate hearths, with far
+more reason implore your justice upon the prisoners. The pity which they appeal
+to is rather due to men who suffer unworthily; those who suffer justly as they
+do are on the contrary subjects for triumph. For their present desolate
+condition they have themselves to blame, since they wilfully rejected the
+better alliance. Their lawless act was not provoked by any action of ours:
+hate, not justice, inspired their decision; and even now the satisfaction which
+they afford us is not adequate; they will suffer by a legal sentence, not as
+they pretend as suppliants asking for quarter in battle, but as prisoners who
+have surrendered upon agreement to take their trial. Vindicate, therefore,
+Lacedaemonians, the Hellenic law which they have broken; and to us, the victims
+of its violation, grant the reward merited by our zeal. Nor let us be
+supplanted in your favour by their harangues, but offer an example to the
+Hellenes, that the contests to which you invite them are of deeds, not words:
+good deeds can be shortly stated, but where wrong is done a wealth of language
+is needed to veil its deformity. However, if leading powers were to do what you
+are now doing, and putting one short question to all alike were to decide
+accordingly, men would be less tempted to seek fine phrases to cover bad
+actions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Thebans. The Lacedaemonian judges decided that the
+question whether they had received any service from the Plataeans in the war,
+was a fair one for them to put; as they had always invited them to be neutral,
+agreeably to the original covenant of Pausanias after the defeat of the Mede,
+and had again definitely offered them the same conditions before the blockade.
+This offer having been refused, they were now, they conceived, by the loyalty
+of their intention released from their covenant; and having, as they
+considered, suffered evil at the hands of the Plataeans, they brought them in
+again one by one and asked each of them the same question, that is to say,
+whether they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the war; and
+upon their saying that they had not, took them out and slew them, all without
+exception. The number of Plataeans thus massacred was not less than two
+hundred, with twenty-five Athenians who had shared in the siege. The women were
+taken as slaves. The city the Thebans gave for about a year to some political
+emigrants from Megara and to the surviving Plataeans of their own party to
+inhabit, and afterwards razed it to the ground from the very foundations, and
+built on to the precinct of Hera an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all
+round above and below, making use for this purpose of the roofs and doors of
+the Plataeans: of the rest of the materials in the wall, the brass and the
+iron, they made couches which they dedicated to Hera, for whom they also built
+a stone chapel of a hundred feet square. The land they confiscated and let out
+on a ten years&rsquo; lease to Theban occupiers. The adverse attitude of the
+Lacedaemonians in the whole Plataean affair was mainly adopted to please the
+Thebans, who were thought to be useful in the war at that moment raging. Such
+was the end of Plataea, in the ninety-third year after she became the ally of
+Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the forty ships of the Peloponnesians that had gone to the relief of
+the Lesbians, and which we left flying across the open sea, pursued by the
+Athenians, were caught in a storm off Crete, and scattering from thence made
+their way to Peloponnese, where they found at Cyllene thirteen Leucadian and
+Ambraciot galleys, with Brasidas, son of Tellis, lately arrived as counsellor
+to Alcidas; the Lacedaemonians, upon the failure of the Lesbian expedition,
+having resolved to strengthen their fleet and sail to Corcyra, where a
+revolution had broken out, so as to arrive there before the twelve Athenian
+ships at Naupactus could be reinforced from Athens. Brasidas and Alcidas began
+to prepare accordingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Corcyraean revolution began with the return of the prisoners taken in the
+sea-fights off Epidamnus. These the Corinthians had released, nominally upon
+the security of eight hundred talents given by their proxeni, but in reality
+upon their engagement to bring over Corcyra to Corinth. These men proceeded to
+canvass each of the citizens, and to intrigue with the view of detaching the
+city from Athens. Upon the arrival of an Athenian and a Corinthian vessel, with
+envoys on board, a conference was held in which the Corcyraeans voted to remain
+allies of the Athenians according to their agreement, but to be friends of the
+Peloponnesians as they had been formerly. Meanwhile, the returned prisoners
+brought Peithias, a volunteer proxenus of the Athenians and leader of the
+commons, to trial, upon the charge of enslaving Corcyra to Athens. He, being
+acquitted, retorted by accusing five of the richest of their number of cutting
+stakes in the ground sacred to Zeus and Alcinous; the legal penalty being a
+stater for each stake. Upon their conviction, the amount of the penalty being
+very large, they seated themselves as suppliants in the temples to be allowed
+to pay it by instalments; but Peithias, who was one of the senate, prevailed
+upon that body to enforce the law; upon which the accused, rendered desperate
+by the law, and also learning that Peithias had the intention, while still a
+member of the senate, to persuade the people to conclude a defensive and
+offensive alliance with Athens, banded together armed with daggers, and
+suddenly bursting into the senate killed Peithias and sixty others, senators
+and private persons; some few only of the party of Peithias taking refuge in
+the Athenian galley, which had not yet departed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this outrage, the conspirators summoned the Corcyraeans to an assembly,
+and said that this would turn out for the best, and would save them from being
+enslaved by Athens: for the future, they moved to receive neither party unless
+they came peacefully in a single ship, treating any larger number as enemies.
+This motion made, they compelled it to be adopted, and instantly sent off
+envoys to Athens to justify what had been done and to dissuade the refugees
+there from any hostile proceedings which might lead to a reaction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the arrival of the embassy, the Athenians arrested the envoys and all who
+listened to them, as revolutionists, and lodged them in Aegina. Meanwhile a
+Corinthian galley arriving in the island with Lacedaemonian envoys, the
+dominant Corcyraean party attacked the commons and defeated them in battle.
+Night coming on, the commons took refuge in the Acropolis and the higher parts
+of the city, and concentrated themselves there, having also possession of the
+Hyllaic harbour; their adversaries occupying the market-place, where most of
+them lived, and the harbour adjoining, looking towards the mainland.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day passed in skirmishes of little importance, each party sending into
+the country to offer freedom to the slaves and to invite them to join them. The
+mass of the slaves answered the appeal of the commons; their antagonists being
+reinforced by eight hundred mercenaries from the continent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a day&rsquo;s interval hostilities recommenced, victory remaining with
+the commons, who had the advantage in numbers and position, the women also
+valiantly assisting them, pelting with tiles from the houses, and supporting
+the melee with a fortitude beyond their sex. Towards dusk, the oligarchs in
+full rout, fearing that the victorious commons might assault and carry the
+arsenal and put them to the sword, fired the houses round the marketplace and
+the lodging-houses, in order to bar their advance; sparing neither their own,
+nor those of their neighbours; by which much stuff of the merchants was
+consumed and the city risked total destruction, if a wind had come to help the
+flame by blowing on it. Hostilities now ceasing, both sides kept quiet, passing
+the night on guard, while the Corinthian ship stole out to sea upon the victory
+of the commons, and most of the mercenaries passed over secretly to the
+continent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Athenian general, Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes, came up from
+Naupactus with twelve ships and five hundred Messenian heavy infantry. He at
+once endeavoured to bring about a settlement, and persuaded the two parties to
+agree together to bring to trial ten of the ringleaders, who presently fled,
+while the rest were to live in peace, making terms with each other, and
+entering into a defensive and offensive alliance with the Athenians. This
+arranged, he was about to sail away, when the leaders of the commons induced
+him to leave them five of his ships to make their adversaries less disposed to
+move, while they manned and sent with him an equal number of their own. He had
+no sooner consented, than they began to enroll their enemies for the ships; and
+these, fearing that they might be sent off to Athens, seated themselves as
+suppliants in the temple of the Dioscuri. An attempt on the part of Nicostratus
+to reassure them and to persuade them to rise proving unsuccessful, the commons
+armed upon this pretext, alleging the refusal of their adversaries to sail with
+them as a proof of the hollowness of their intentions, and took their arms out
+of their houses, and would have dispatched some whom they fell in with, if
+Nicostratus had not prevented it. The rest of the party, seeing what was going
+on, seated themselves as suppliants in the temple of Hera, being not less than
+four hundred in number; until the commons, fearing that they might adopt some
+desperate resolution, induced them to rise, and conveyed them over to the
+island in front of the temple, where provisions were sent across to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this stage in the revolution, on the fourth or fifth day after the removal
+of the men to the island, the Peloponnesian ships arrived from Cyllene where
+they had been stationed since their return from Ionia, fifty-three in number,
+still under the command of Alcidas, but with Brasidas also on board as his
+adviser; and dropping anchor at Sybota, a harbour on the mainland, at daybreak
+made sail for Corcyra.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Corcyraeans in great confusion and alarm at the state of things in the city
+and at the approach of the invader, at once proceeded to equip sixty vessels,
+which they sent out, as fast as they were manned, against the enemy, in spite
+of the Athenians recommending them to let them sail out first, and to follow
+themselves afterwards with all their ships together. Upon their vessels coming
+up to the enemy in this straggling fashion, two immediately deserted: in others
+the crews were fighting among themselves, and there was no order in anything
+that was done; so that the Peloponnesians, seeing their confusion, placed
+twenty ships to oppose the Corcyraeans, and ranged the rest against the twelve
+Athenian ships, amongst which were the two vessels Salaminia and Paralus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Corcyraeans, attacking without judgment and in small detachments,
+were already crippled by their own misconduct, the Athenians, afraid of the
+numbers of the enemy and of being surrounded, did not venture to attack the
+main body or even the centre of the division opposed to them, but fell upon its
+wing and sank one vessel; after which the Peloponnesians formed in a circle,
+and the Athenians rowed round them and tried to throw them into disorder.
+Perceiving this, the division opposed to the Corcyraeans, fearing a repetition
+of the disaster of Naupactus, came to support their friends, and the whole
+fleet now bore down, united, upon the Athenians, who retired before it, backing
+water, retiring as leisurely as possible in order to give the Corcyraeans time
+to escape, while the enemy was thus kept occupied. Such was the character of
+this sea-fight, which lasted until sunset.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Corcyraeans now feared that the enemy would follow up their victory and
+sail against the town and rescue the men in the island, or strike some other
+blow equally decisive, and accordingly carried the men over again to the temple
+of Hera, and kept guard over the city. The Peloponnesians, however, although
+victorious in the sea-fight, did not venture to attack the town, but took the
+thirteen Corcyraean vessels which they had captured, and with them sailed back
+to the continent from whence they had put out. The next day equally they
+refrained from attacking the city, although the disorder and panic were at
+their height, and though Brasidas, it is said, urged Alcidas, his superior
+officer, to do so, but they landed upon the promontory of Leukimme and laid
+waste the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the commons in Corcyra, being still in great fear of the fleet
+attacking them, came to a parley with the suppliants and their friends, in
+order to save the town; and prevailed upon some of them to go on board the
+ships, of which they still manned thirty, against the expected attack. But the
+Peloponnesians after ravaging the country until midday sailed away, and towards
+nightfall were informed by beacon signals of the approach of sixty Athenian
+vessels from Leucas, under the command of Eurymedon, son of Thucles; which had
+been sent off by the Athenians upon the news of the revolution and of the fleet
+with Alcidas being about to sail for Corcyra.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Peloponnesians accordingly at once set off in haste by night for home,
+coasting along shore; and hauling their ships across the Isthmus of Leucas, in
+order not to be seen doubling it, so departed. The Corcyraeans, made aware of
+the approach of the Athenian fleet and of the departure of the enemy, brought
+the Messenians from outside the walls into the town, and ordered the fleet
+which they had manned to sail round into the Hyllaic harbour; and while it was
+so doing, slew such of their enemies as they laid hands on, dispatching
+afterwards, as they landed them, those whom they had persuaded to go on board
+the ships. Next they went to the sanctuary of Hera and persuaded about fifty
+men to take their trial, and condemned them all to death. The mass of the
+suppliants who had refused to do so, on seeing what was taking place, slew each
+other there in the consecrated ground; while some hanged themselves upon the
+trees, and others destroyed themselves as they were severally able. During
+seven days that Eurymedon stayed with his sixty ships, the Corcyraeans were
+engaged in butchering those of their fellow citizens whom they regarded as
+their enemies: and although the crime imputed was that of attempting to put
+down the democracy, some were slain also for private hatred, others by their
+debtors because of the moneys owed to them. Death thus raged in every shape;
+and, as usually happens at such times, there was no length to which violence
+did not go; sons were killed by their fathers, and suppliants dragged from the
+altar or slain upon it; while some were even walled up in the temple of
+Dionysus and died there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So bloody was the march of the revolution, and the impression which it made was
+the greater as it was one of the first to occur. Later on, one may say, the
+whole Hellenic world was convulsed; struggles being every, where made by the
+popular chiefs to bring in the Athenians, and by the oligarchs to introduce the
+Lacedaemonians. In peace there would have been neither the pretext nor the wish
+to make such an invitation; but in war, with an alliance always at the command
+of either faction for the hurt of their adversaries and their own corresponding
+advantage, opportunities for bringing in the foreigner were never wanting to
+the revolutionary parties. The sufferings which revolution entailed upon the
+cities were many and terrible, such as have occurred and always will occur, as
+long as the nature of mankind remains the same; though in a severer or milder
+form, and varying in their symptoms, according to the variety of the particular
+cases. In peace and prosperity, states and individuals have better sentiments,
+because they do not find themselves suddenly confronted with imperious
+necessities; but war takes away the easy supply of daily wants, and so proves a
+rough master, that brings most men&rsquo;s characters to a level with their
+fortunes. Revolution thus ran its course from city to city, and the places
+which it arrived at last, from having heard what had been done before, carried
+to a still greater excess the refinement of their inventions, as manifested in
+the cunning of their enterprises and the atrocity of their reprisals. Words had
+to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them.
+Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent
+hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for
+unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question, inaptness to act on any.
+Frantic violence became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting, a
+justifiable means of self-defence. The advocate of extreme measures was always
+trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected. To succeed in a plot was to
+have a shrewd head, to divine a plot a still shrewder; but to try to provide
+against having to do either was to break up your party and to be afraid of your
+adversaries. In fine, to forestall an intending criminal, or to suggest the
+idea of a crime where it was wanting, was equally commended until even blood
+became a weaker tie than party, from the superior readiness of those united by
+the latter to dare everything without reserve; for such associations had not in
+view the blessings derivable from established institutions but were formed by
+ambition for their overthrow; and the confidence of their members in each other
+rested less on any religious sanction than upon complicity in crime. The fair
+proposals of an adversary were met with jealous precautions by the stronger of
+the two, and not with a generous confidence. Revenge also was held of more
+account than self-preservation. Oaths of reconciliation, being only proffered
+on either side to meet an immediate difficulty, only held good so long as no
+other weapon was at hand; but when opportunity offered, he who first ventured
+to seize it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious
+vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of safety apart,
+success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence. Indeed it is
+generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons
+honest, and are as ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the
+first. The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from greed
+and ambition; and from these passions proceeded the violence of parties once
+engaged in contention. The leaders in the cities, each provided with the
+fairest professions, on the one side with the cry of political equality of the
+people, on the other of a moderate aristocracy, sought prizes for themselves in
+those public interests which they pretended to cherish, and, recoiling from no
+means in their struggles for ascendancy engaged in the direst excesses; in
+their acts of vengeance they went to even greater lengths, not stopping at what
+justice or the good of the state demanded, but making the party caprice of the
+moment their only standard, and invoking with equal readiness the condemnation
+of an unjust verdict or the authority of the strong arm to glut the animosities
+of the hour. Thus religion was in honour with neither party; but the use of
+fair phrases to arrive at guilty ends was in high reputation. Meanwhile the
+moderate part of the citizens perished between the two, either for not joining
+in the quarrel, or because envy would not suffer them to escape.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus every form of iniquity took root in the Hellenic countries by reason of
+the troubles. The ancient simplicity into which honour so largely entered was
+laughed down and disappeared; and society became divided into camps in which no
+man trusted his fellow. To put an end to this, there was neither promise to be
+depended upon, nor oath that could command respect; but all parties dwelling
+rather in their calculation upon the hopelessness of a permanent state of
+things, were more intent upon self-defence than capable of confidence. In this
+contest the blunter wits were most successful. Apprehensive of their own
+deficiencies and of the cleverness of their antagonists, they feared to be
+worsted in debate and to be surprised by the combinations of their more
+versatile opponents, and so at once boldly had recourse to action: while their
+adversaries, arrogantly thinking that they should know in time, and that it was
+unnecessary to secure by action what policy afforded, often fell victims to
+their want of precaution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Corcyra gave the first example of most of the crimes alluded to; of
+the reprisals exacted by the governed who had never experienced equitable
+treatment or indeed aught but insolence from their rulers&mdash;when their hour
+came; of the iniquitous resolves of those who desired to get rid of their
+accustomed poverty, and ardently coveted their neighbours&rsquo; goods; and
+lastly, of the savage and pitiless excesses into which men who had begun the
+struggle, not in a class but in a party spirit, were hurried by their
+ungovernable passions. In the confusion into which life was now thrown in the
+cities, human nature, always rebelling against the law and now its master,
+gladly showed itself ungoverned in passion, above respect for justice, and the
+enemy of all superiority; since revenge would not have been set above religion,
+and gain above justice, had it not been for the fatal power of envy. Indeed men
+too often take upon themselves in the prosecution of their revenge to set the
+example of doing away with those general laws to which all alike can look for
+salvation in adversity, instead of allowing them to subsist against the day of
+danger when their aid may be required.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the revolutionary passions thus for the first time displayed themselves
+in the factions of Corcyra, Eurymedon and the Athenian fleet sailed away; after
+which some five hundred Corcyraean exiles who had succeeded in escaping, took
+some forts on the mainland, and becoming masters of the Corcyraean territory
+over the water, made this their base to Plunder their countrymen in the island,
+and did so much damage as to cause a severe famine in the town. They also sent
+envoys to Lacedaemon and Corinth to negotiate their restoration; but meeting
+with no success, afterwards got together boats and mercenaries and crossed over
+to the island, being about six hundred in all; and burning their boats so as to
+have no hope except in becoming masters of the country, went up to Mount
+Istone, and fortifying themselves there, began to annoy those in the city and
+obtained command of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the close of the same summer the Athenians sent twenty ships under the
+command of Laches, son of Melanopus, and Charoeades, son of Euphiletus, to
+Sicily, where the Syracusans and Leontines were at war. The Syracusans had for
+allies all the Dorian cities except Camarina&mdash;these had been included in
+the Lacedaemonian confederacy from the commencement of the war, though they had
+not taken any active part in it&mdash;the Leontines had Camarina and the
+Chalcidian cities. In Italy the Locrians were for the Syracusans, the Rhegians
+for their Leontine kinsmen. The allies of the Leontines now sent to Athens and
+appealed to their ancient alliance and to their Ionian origin, to persuade the
+Athenians to send them a fleet, as the Syracusans were blockading them by land
+and sea. The Athenians sent it upon the plea of their common descent, but in
+reality to prevent the exportation of Sicilian corn to Peloponnese and to test
+the possibility of bringing Sicily into subjection. Accordingly they
+established themselves at Rhegium in Italy, and from thence carried on the war
+in concert with their allies.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"></a>
+CHAPTER XI </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Year of the War&mdash;Campaigns of Demosthenes in Western Greece&mdash;Ruin of
+Ambracia
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The winter following, the plague a second time attacked
+the Athenians; for although it had never entirely left them, still there had
+been a notable abatement in its ravages. The second visit lasted no less than a
+year, the first having lasted two; and nothing distressed the Athenians and
+reduced their power more than this. No less than four thousand four hundred
+heavy infantry in the ranks died of it and three hundred cavalry, besides a
+number of the multitude that was never ascertained. At the same time took place
+the numerous earthquakes in Athens, Euboea, and Boeotia, particularly at
+Orchomenus in the last-named country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily and the Rhegians, with thirty ships,
+made an expedition against the islands of Aeolus; it being impossible to invade
+them in summer, owing to the want of water. These islands are occupied by the
+Liparaeans, a Cnidian colony, who live in one of them of no great size called
+Lipara; and from this as their headquarters cultivate the rest, Didyme,
+Strongyle, and Hiera. In Hiera the people in those parts believe that
+Hephaestus has his forge, from the quantity of flame which they see it send out
+by night, and of smoke by day. These islands lie off the coast of the Sicels
+and Messinese, and were allies of the Syracusans. The Athenians laid waste
+their land, and as the inhabitants did not submit, sailed back to Rhegium. Thus
+the winter ended, and with it ended the fifth year of this war, of which
+Thucydides was the historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies set out to invade Attica
+under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, and went as far as the Isthmus,
+but numerous earthquakes occurring, turned back again without the invasion
+taking place. About the same time that these earthquakes were so common, the
+sea at Orobiae, in Euboea, retiring from the then line of coast, returned in a
+huge wave and invaded a great part of the town, and retreated leaving some of
+it still under water; so that what was once land is now sea; such of the
+inhabitants perishing as could not run up to the higher ground in time. A
+similar inundation also occurred at Atalanta, the island off the Opuntian
+Locrian coast, carrying away part of the Athenian fort and wrecking one of two
+ships which were drawn up on the beach. At Peparethus also the sea retreated a
+little, without however any inundation following; and an earthquake threw down
+part of the wall, the town hall, and a few other buildings. The cause, in my
+opinion, of this phenomenon must be sought in the earthquake. At the point
+where its shock has been the most violent, the sea is driven back and, suddenly
+recoiling with redoubled force, causes the inundation. Without an earthquake I
+do not see how such an accident could happen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the same summer different operations were carried on by the different
+belligerents in Sicily; by the Siceliots themselves against each other, and by
+the Athenians and their allies: I shall however confine myself to the actions
+in which the Athenians took part, choosing the most important. The death of the
+Athenian general Charoeades, killed by the Syracusans in battle, left Laches in
+the sole command of the fleet, which he now directed in concert with the allies
+against Mylae, a place belonging to the Messinese. Two Messinese battalions in
+garrison at Mylae laid an ambush for the party landing from the ships, but were
+routed with great slaughter by the Athenians and their allies, who thereupon
+assaulted the fortification and compelled them to surrender the Acropolis and
+to march with them upon Messina. This town afterwards also submitted upon the
+approach of the Athenians and their allies, and gave hostages and all other
+securities required.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Athenians sent thirty ships round Peloponnese under
+Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, and Procles, son of Theodorus, and sixty
+others, with two thousand heavy infantry, against Melos, under Nicias, son of
+Niceratus; wishing to reduce the Melians, who, although islanders, refused to
+be subjects of Athens or even to join her confederacy. The devastation of their
+land not procuring their submission, the fleet, weighing from Melos, sailed to
+Oropus in the territory of Graea, and landing at nightfall, the heavy infantry
+started at once from the ships by land for Tanagra in Boeotia, where they were
+met by the whole levy from Athens, agreeably to a concerted signal, under the
+command of Hipponicus, son of Callias, and Eurymedon, son of Thucles. They
+encamped, and passing that day in ravaging the Tanagraean territory, remained
+there for the night; and next day, after defeating those of the Tanagraeans who
+sailed out against them and some Thebans who had come up to help the
+Tanagraeans, took some arms, set up a trophy, and retired, the troops to the
+city and the others to the ships. Nicias with his sixty ships coasted
+alongshore and ravaged the Locrian seaboard, and so returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About this time the Lacedaemonians founded their colony of Heraclea in Trachis,
+their object being the following: the Malians form in all three tribes, the
+Paralians, the Hiereans, and the Trachinians. The last of these having suffered
+severely in a war with their neighbours the Oetaeans, at first intended to give
+themselves up to Athens; but afterwards fearing not to find in her the security
+that they sought, sent to Lacedaemon, having chosen Tisamenus for their
+ambassador. In this embassy joined also the Dorians from the mother country of
+the Lacedaemonians, with the same request, as they themselves also suffered
+from the same enemy. After hearing them, the Lacedaemonians determined to send
+out the colony, wishing to assist the Trachinians and Dorians, and also because
+they thought that the proposed town would lie conveniently for the purposes of
+the war against the Athenians. A fleet might be got ready there against Euboea,
+with the advantage of a short passage to the island; and the town would also be
+useful as a station on the road to Thrace. In short, everything made the
+Lacedaemonians eager to found the place. After first consulting the god at
+Delphi and receiving a favourable answer, they sent off the colonists,
+Spartans, and Perioeci, inviting also any of the rest of the Hellenes who might
+wish to accompany them, except Ionians, Achaeans, and certain other
+nationalities; three Lacedaemonians leading as founders of the colony, Leon,
+Alcidas, and Damagon. The settlement effected, they fortified anew the city,
+now called Heraclea, distant about four miles and a half from Thermopylae and
+two miles and a quarter from the sea, and commenced building docks, closing the
+side towards Thermopylae just by the pass itself, in order that they might be
+easily defended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The foundation of this town, evidently meant to annoy Euboea (the passage
+across to Cenaeum in that island being a short one), at first caused some alarm
+at Athens, which the event however did nothing to justify, the town never
+giving them any trouble. The reason of this was as follows. The Thessalians,
+who were sovereign in those parts, and whose territory was menaced by its
+foundation, were afraid that it might prove a very powerful neighbour, and
+accordingly continually harassed and made war upon the new settlers, until they
+at last wore them out in spite of their originally considerable numbers, people
+flocking from all quarters to a place founded by the Lacedaemonians, and thus
+thought secure of prosperity. On the other hand the Lacedaemonians themselves,
+in the persons of their governors, did their full share towards ruining its
+prosperity and reducing its population, as they frightened away the greater
+part of the inhabitants by governing harshly and in some cases not fairly, and
+thus made it easier for their neighbours to prevail against them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer, about the same time that the Athenians were detained at Melos,
+their fellow citizens in the thirty ships cruising round Peloponnese, after
+cutting off some guards in an ambush at Ellomenus in Leucadia, subsequently
+went against Leucas itself with a large armament, having been reinforced by the
+whole levy of the Acarnanians except Oeniadae, and by the Zacynthians and
+Cephallenians and fifteen ships from Corcyra. While the Leucadians witnessed
+the devastation of their land, without and within the isthmus upon which the
+town of Leucas and the temple of Apollo stand, without making any movement on
+account of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the Acarnanians urged
+Demosthenes, the Athenian general, to build a wall so as to cut off the town
+from the continent, a measure which they were convinced would secure its
+capture and rid them once and for all of a most troublesome enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Demosthenes however had in the meanwhile been persuaded by the Messenians that
+it was a fine opportunity for him, having so large an army assembled, to attack
+the Aetolians, who were not only the enemies of Naupactus, but whose reduction
+would further make it easy to gain the rest of that part of the continent for
+the Athenians. The Aetolian nation, although numerous and warlike, yet dwelt in
+unwalled villages scattered far apart, and had nothing but light armour, and
+might, according to the Messenians, be subdued without much difficulty before
+succours could arrive. The plan which they recommended was to attack first the
+Apodotians, next the Ophionians, and after these the Eurytanians, who are the
+largest tribe in Aetolia, and speak, as is said, a language exceedingly
+difficult to understand, and eat their flesh raw. These once subdued, the rest
+would easily come in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this plan Demosthenes consented, not only to please the Messenians, but also
+in the belief that by adding the Aetolians to his other continental allies he
+would be able, without aid from home, to march against the Boeotians by way of
+Ozolian Locris to Kytinium in Doris, keeping Parnassus on his right until he
+descended to the Phocians, whom he could force to join him if their ancient
+friendship for Athens did not, as he anticipated, at once decide them to do so.
+Arrived in Phocis he was already upon the frontier of Boeotia. He accordingly
+weighed from Leucas, against the wish of the Acarnanians, and with his whole
+armament sailed along the coast to Sollium, where he communicated to them his
+intention; and upon their refusing to agree to it on account of the
+non-investment of Leucas, himself with the rest of the forces, the
+Cephallenians, the Messenians, and Zacynthians, and three hundred Athenian
+marines from his own ships (the fifteen Corcyraean vessels having departed),
+started on his expedition against the Aetolians. His base he established at
+Oeneon in Locris, as the Ozolian Locrians were allies of Athens and were to
+meet him with all their forces in the interior. Being neighbours of the
+Aetolians and armed in the same way, it was thought that they would be of great
+service upon the expedition, from their acquaintance with the localities and
+the warfare of the inhabitants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After bivouacking with the army in the precinct of Nemean Zeus, in which the
+poet Hesiod is said to have been killed by the people of the country, according
+to an oracle which had foretold that he should die in Nemea, Demosthenes set
+out at daybreak to invade Aetolia. The first day he took Potidania, the next
+Krokyle, and the third Tichium, where he halted and sent back the booty to
+Eupalium in Locris, having determined to pursue his conquests as far as the
+Ophionians, and, in the event of their refusing to submit, to return to
+Naupactus and make them the objects of a second expedition. Meanwhile the
+Aetolians had been aware of his design from the moment of its formation, and as
+soon as the army invaded their country came up in great force with all their
+tribes; even the most remote Ophionians, the Bomiensians, and Calliensians, who
+extend towards the Malian Gulf, being among the number.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Messenians, however, adhered to their original advice. Assuring Demosthenes
+that the Aetolians were an easy conquest, they urged him to push on as rapidly
+as possible, and to try to take the villages as fast as he came up to them,
+without waiting until the whole nation should be in arms against him. Led on by
+his advisers and trusting in his fortune, as he had met with no opposition,
+without waiting for his Locrian reinforcements, who were to have supplied him
+with the light-armed darters in which he was most deficient, he advanced and
+stormed Aegitium, the inhabitants flying before him and posting themselves upon
+the hills above the town, which stood on high ground about nine miles from the
+sea. Meanwhile the Aetolians had gathered to the rescue, and now attacked the
+Athenians and their allies, running down from the hills on every side and
+darting their javelins, falling back when the Athenian army advanced, and
+coming on as it retired; and for a long while the battle was of this character,
+alternate advance and retreat, in both which operations the Athenians had the
+worst.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still as long as their archers had arrows left and were able to use them, they
+held out, the light-armed Aetolians retiring before the arrows; but after the
+captain of the archers had been killed and his men scattered, the soldiers,
+wearied out with the constant repetition of the same exertions and hard pressed
+by the Aetolians with their javelins, at last turned and fled, and falling into
+pathless gullies and places that they were unacquainted with, thus perished,
+the Messenian Chromon, their guide, having also unfortunately been killed. A
+great many were overtaken in the pursuit by the swift-footed and light-armed
+Aetolians, and fell beneath their javelins; the greater number however missed
+their road and rushed into the wood, which had no ways out, and which was soon
+fired and burnt round them by the enemy. Indeed the Athenian army fell victims
+to death in every form, and suffered all the vicissitudes of flight; the
+survivors escaped with difficulty to the sea and Oeneon in Locris, whence they
+had set out. Many of the allies were killed, and about one hundred and twenty
+Athenian heavy infantry, not a man less, and all in the prime of life. These
+were by far the best men in the city of Athens that fell during this war. Among
+the slain was also Procles, the colleague of Demosthenes. Meanwhile the
+Athenians took up their dead under truce from the Aetolians, and retired to
+Naupactus, and from thence went in their ships to Athens; Demosthenes staying
+behind in Naupactus and in the neighbourhood, being afraid to face the
+Athenians after the disaster.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the Athenians on the coast of Sicily sailed to Locris, and
+in a descent which they made from the ships defeated the Locrians who came
+against them, and took a fort upon the river Halex.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Aetolians, who before the Athenian expedition had sent an
+embassy to Corinth and Lacedaemon, composed of Tolophus, an Ophionian,
+Boriades, an Eurytanian, and Tisander, an Apodotian, obtained that an army
+should be sent them against Naupactus, which had invited the Athenian invasion.
+The Lacedaemonians accordingly sent off towards autumn three thousand heavy
+infantry of the allies, five hundred of whom were from Heraclea, the newly
+founded city in Trachis, under the command of Eurylochus, a Spartan,
+accompanied by Macarius and Menedaius, also Spartans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The army having assembled at Delphi, Eurylochus sent a herald to the Ozolian
+Locrians; the road to Naupactus lying through their territory, and he having
+besides conceived the idea of detaching them from Athens. His chief abettors in
+Locris were the Amphissians, who were alarmed at the hostility of the Phocians.
+These first gave hostages themselves, and induced the rest to do the same for
+fear of the invading army; first, their neighbours the Myonians, who held the
+most difficult of the passes, and after them the Ipnians, Messapians,
+Tritaeans, Chalaeans, Tolophonians, Hessians, and Oeanthians, all of whom
+joined in the expedition; the Olpaeans contenting themselves with giving
+hostages, without accompanying the invasion; and the Hyaeans refusing to do
+either, until the capture of Polis, one of their villages.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His preparations completed, Eurylochus lodged the hostages in Kytinium, in
+Doris, and advanced upon Naupactus through the country of the Locrians, taking
+upon his way Oeneon and Eupalium, two of their towns that refused to join him.
+Arrived in the Naupactian territory, and having been now joined by the
+Aetolians, the army laid waste the land and took the suburb of the town, which
+was unfortified; and after this Molycrium also, a Corinthian colony subject to
+Athens. Meanwhile the Athenian Demosthenes, who since the affair in Aetolia had
+remained near Naupactus, having had notice of the army and fearing for the
+town, went and persuaded the Acarnanians, although not without difficulty
+because of his departure from Leucas, to go to the relief of Naupactus. They
+accordingly sent with him on board his ships a thousand heavy infantry, who
+threw themselves into the place and saved it; the extent of its wall and the
+small number of its defenders otherwise placing it in the greatest danger.
+Meanwhile Eurylochus and his companions, finding that this force had entered
+and that it was impossible to storm the town, withdrew, not to Peloponnese, but
+to the country once called Aeolis, and now Calydon and Pleuron, and to the
+places in that neighbourhood, and Proschium in Aetolia; the Ambraciots having
+come and urged them to combine with them in attacking Amphilochian Argos and
+the rest of Amphilochia and Acarnania; affirming that the conquest of these
+countries would bring all the continent into alliance with Lacedaemon. To this
+Eurylochus consented, and dismissing the Aetolians, now remained quiet with his
+army in those parts, until the time should come for the Ambraciots to take the
+field, and for him to join them before Argos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The winter ensuing, the Athenians in Sicily with their
+Hellenic allies, and such of the Sicel subjects or allies of Syracuse as had
+revolted from her and joined their army, marched against the Sicel town Inessa,
+the acropolis of which was held by the Syracusans, and after attacking it
+without being able to take it, retired. In the retreat, the allies retreating
+after the Athenians were attacked by the Syracusans from the fort, and a large
+part of their army routed with great slaughter. After this, Laches and the
+Athenians from the ships made some descents in Locris, and defeating the
+Locrians, who came against them with Proxenus, son of Capaton, upon the river
+Caicinus, took some arms and departed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Athenians purified Delos, in compliance, it appears, with a
+certain oracle. It had been purified before by Pisistratus the tyrant; not
+indeed the whole island, but as much of it as could be seen from the temple.
+All of it was, however, now purified in the following way. All the sepulchres
+of those that had died in Delos were taken up, and for the future it was
+commanded that no one should be allowed either to die or to give birth to a
+child in the island; but that they should be carried over to Rhenea, which is
+so near to Delos that Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, having added Rhenea to his
+other island conquests during his period of naval ascendancy, dedicated it to
+the Delian Apollo by binding it to Delos with a chain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, after the purification, celebrated, for the first time, the
+quinquennial festival of the Delian games. Once upon a time, indeed, there was
+a great assemblage of the Ionians and the neighbouring islanders at Delos, who
+used to come to the festival, as the Ionians now do to that of Ephesus, and
+athletic and poetical contests took place there, and the cities brought choirs
+of dancers. Nothing can be clearer on this point than the following verses of
+Homer, taken from a hymn to Apollo:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Phœbus, wherever thou strayest, far or near,<br/>
+Delos was still of all thy haunts most dear.<br/>
+Thither the robed Ionians take their way<br/>
+With wife and child to keep thy holiday,<br/>
+Invoke thy favour on each manly game,<br/>
+And dance and sing in honour of thy name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That there was also a poetical contest in which the Ionians went to contend,
+again is shown by the following, taken from the same hymn. After celebrating
+the Delian dance of the women, he ends his song of praise with these verses, in
+which he also alludes to himself:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Well, may Apollo keep you all! and so,<br/>
+Sweethearts, good-bye&mdash;yet tell me not I go<br/>
+Out from your hearts; and if in after hours<br/>
+Some other wanderer in this world of ours<br/>
+Touch at your shores, and ask your maidens here<br/>
+Who sings the songs the sweetest to your ear,<br/>
+Think of me then, and answer with a smile,<br/>
+&lsquo;A blind old man of Scio&rsquo;s rocky isle.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Homer thus attests that there was anciently a great assembly and festival at
+Delos. In later times, although the islanders and the Athenians continued to
+send the choirs of dancers with sacrifices, the contests and most of the
+ceremonies were abolished, probably through adversity, until the Athenians
+celebrated the games upon this occasion with the novelty of horse-races.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Ambraciots, as they had promised Eurylochus when they
+retained his army, marched out against Amphilochian Argos with three thousand
+heavy infantry, and invading the Argive territory occupied Olpae, a stronghold
+on a hill near the sea, which had been formerly fortified by the Acarnanians
+and used as the place of assizes for their nation, and which is about two miles
+and three-quarters from the city of Argos upon the sea-coast. Meanwhile the
+Acarnanians went with a part of their forces to the relief of Argos, and with
+the rest encamped in Amphilochia at the place called Crenae, or the Wells, to
+watch for Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, and to prevent their passing
+through and effecting their junction with the Ambraciots; while they also sent
+for Demosthenes, the commander of the Aetolian expedition, to be their leader,
+and for the twenty Athenian ships that were cruising off Peloponnese under the
+command of Aristotle, son of Timocrates, and Hierophon, son of Antimnestus. On
+their part, the Ambraciots at Olpae sent a messenger to their own city, to beg
+them to come with their whole levy to their assistance, fearing that the army
+of Eurylochus might not be able to pass through the Acarnanians, and that they
+might themselves be obliged to fight single-handed, or be unable to retreat, if
+they wished it, without danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, learning that the Ambraciots at
+Olpae had arrived, set out from Proschium with all haste to join them, and
+crossing the Achelous advanced through Acarnania, which they found deserted by
+its population, who had gone to the relief of Argos; keeping on their right the
+city of the Stratians and its garrison, and on their left the rest of
+Acarnania. Traversing the territory of the Stratians, they advanced through
+Phytia, next, skirting Medeon, through Limnaea; after which they left Acarnania
+behind them and entered a friendly country, that of the Agraeans. From thence
+they reached and crossed Mount Thymaus, which belongs to the Agraeans, and
+descended into the Argive territory after nightfall, and passing between the
+city of Argos and the Acarnanian posts at Crenae, joined the Ambraciots at
+Olpae.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Uniting here at daybreak, they sat down at the place called Metropolis, and
+encamped. Not long afterwards the Athenians in the twenty ships came into the
+Ambracian Gulf to support the Argives, with Demosthenes and two hundred
+Messenian heavy infantry, and sixty Athenian archers. While the fleet off Olpae
+blockaded the hill from the sea, the Acarnanians and a few of the
+Amphilochians, most of whom were kept back by force by the Ambraciots, had
+already arrived at Argos, and were preparing to give battle to the enemy,
+having chosen Demosthenes to command the whole of the allied army in concert
+with their own generals. Demosthenes led them near to Olpae and encamped, a
+great ravine separating the two armies. During five days they remained
+inactive; on the sixth both sides formed in order of battle. The army of the
+Peloponnesians was the largest and outflanked their opponents; and Demosthenes
+fearing that his right might be surrounded, placed in ambush in a hollow way
+overgrown with bushes some four hundred heavy infantry and light troops, who
+were to rise up at the moment of the onset behind the projecting left wing of
+the enemy, and to take them in the rear. When both sides were ready they joined
+battle; Demosthenes being on the right wing with the Messenians and a few
+Athenians, while the rest of the line was made up of the different divisions of
+the Acarnanians, and of the Amphilochian carters. The Peloponnesians and
+Ambraciots were drawn up pell-mell together, with the exception of the
+Mantineans, who were massed on the left, without however reaching to the
+extremity of the wing, where Eurylochus and his men confronted the Messenians
+and Demosthenes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Peloponnesians were now well engaged and with their outflanking wing were
+upon the point of turning their enemy&rsquo;s right; when the Acarnanians from
+the ambuscade set upon them from behind, and broke them at the first attack,
+without their staying to resist; while the panic into which they fell caused
+the flight of most of their army, terrified beyond measure at seeing the
+division of Eurylochus and their best troops cut to pieces. Most of the work
+was done by Demosthenes and his Messenians, who were posted in this part of the
+field. Meanwhile the Ambraciots (who are the best soldiers in those countries)
+and the troops upon the right wing, defeated the division opposed to them and
+pursued it to Argos. Returning from the pursuit, they found their main body
+defeated; and hard pressed by the Acarnanians, with difficulty made good their
+passage to Olpae, suffering heavy loss on the way, as they dashed on without
+discipline or order, the Mantineans excepted, who kept their ranks best of any
+in the army during the retreat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The battle did not end until the evening. The next day Menedaius, who on the
+death of Eurylochus and Macarius had succeeded to the sole command, being at a
+loss after so signal a defeat how to stay and sustain a siege, cut off as he
+was by land and by the Athenian fleet by sea, and equally so how to retreat in
+safety, opened a parley with Demosthenes and the Acarnanian generals for a
+truce and permission to retreat, and at the same time for the recovery of the
+dead. The dead they gave back to him, and setting up a trophy took up their own
+also to the number of about three hundred. The retreat demanded they refused
+publicly to the army; but permission to depart without delay was secretly
+granted to the Mantineans and to Menedaius and the other commanders and
+principal men of the Peloponnesians by Demosthenes and his Acarnanian
+colleagues; who desired to strip the Ambraciots and the mercenary host of
+foreigners of their supporters; and, above all, to discredit the Lacedaemonians
+and Peloponnesians with the Hellenes in those parts, as traitors and
+self-seekers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the enemy was taking up his dead and hastily burying them as he could,
+and those who obtained permission were secretly planning their retreat, word
+was brought to Demosthenes and the Acarnanians that the Ambraciots from the
+city, in compliance with the first message from Olpae, were on the march with
+their whole levy through Amphilochia to join their countrymen at Olpae, knowing
+nothing of what had occurred. Demosthenes prepared to march with his army
+against them, and meanwhile sent on at once a strong division to beset the
+roads and occupy the strong positions. In the meantime the Mantineans and
+others included in the agreement went out under the pretence of gathering herbs
+and firewood, and stole off by twos and threes, picking on the way the things
+which they professed to have come out for, until they had gone some distance
+from Olpae, when they quickened their pace. The Ambraciots and such of the rest
+as had accompanied them in larger parties, seeing them going on, pushed on in
+their turn, and began running in order to catch them up. The Acarnanians at
+first thought that all alike were departing without permission, and began to
+pursue the Peloponnesians; and believing that they were being betrayed, even
+threw a dart or two at some of their generals who tried to stop them and told
+them that leave had been given. Eventually, however, they let pass the
+Mantineans and Peloponnesians, and slew only the Ambraciots, there being much
+dispute and difficulty in distinguishing whether a man was an Ambraciot or a
+Peloponnesian. The number thus slain was about two hundred; the rest escaped
+into the bordering territory of Agraea, and found refuge with Salynthius, the
+friendly king of the Agraeans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Ambraciots from the city arrived at Idomene. Idomene consists of
+two lofty hills, the higher of which the troops sent on by Demosthenes
+succeeded in occupying after nightfall, unobserved by the Ambraciots, who had
+meanwhile ascended the smaller and bivouacked under it. After supper
+Demosthenes set out with the rest of the army, as soon as it was evening;
+himself with half his force making for the pass, and the remainder going by the
+Amphilochian hills. At dawn he fell upon the Ambraciots while they were still
+abed, ignorant of what had passed, and fully thinking that it was their own
+countrymen&mdash;Demosthenes having purposely put the Messenians in front with
+orders to address them in the Doric dialect, and thus to inspire confidence in
+the sentinels, who would not be able to see them as it was still night. In this
+way he routed their army as soon as he attacked it, slaying most of them where
+they were, the rest breaking away in flight over the hills. The roads, however,
+were already occupied, and while the Amphilochians knew their own country, the
+Ambraciots were ignorant of it and could not tell which way to turn, and had
+also heavy armour as against a light-armed enemy, and so fell into ravines and
+into the ambushes which had been set for them, and perished there. In their
+manifold efforts to escape some even turned to the sea, which was not far off,
+and seeing the Athenian ships coasting alongshore just while the action was
+going on, swam off to them, thinking it better in the panic they were in, to
+perish, if perish they must, by the hands of the Athenians, than by those of
+the barbarous and detested Amphilochians. Of the large Ambraciot force
+destroyed in this manner, a few only reached the city in safety; while the
+Acarnanians, after stripping the dead and setting up a trophy, returned to
+Argos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day arrived a herald from the Ambraciots who had fled from Olpae to
+the Agraeans, to ask leave to take up the dead that had fallen after the first
+engagement, when they left the camp with the Mantineans and their companions,
+without, like them, having had permission to do so. At the sight of the arms of
+the Ambraciots from the city, the herald was astonished at their number,
+knowing nothing of the disaster and fancying that they were those of their own
+party. Some one asked him what he was so astonished at, and how many of them
+had been killed, fancying in his turn that this was the herald from the troops
+at Idomene. He replied: &ldquo;About two hundred&rdquo;; upon which his
+interrogator took him up, saying: &ldquo;Why, the arms you see here are of more
+than a thousand.&rdquo; The herald replied: &ldquo;Then they are not the arms
+of those who fought with us?&rdquo; The other answered: &ldquo;Yes, they are,
+if at least you fought at Idomene yesterday.&rdquo; &ldquo;But we fought with
+no one yesterday; but the day before in the retreat.&rdquo; &ldquo;However that
+may be, we fought yesterday with those who came to reinforce you from the city
+of the Ambraciots.&rdquo; When the herald heard this and knew that the
+reinforcement from the city had been destroyed, he broke into wailing and,
+stunned at the magnitude of the present evils, went away at once without having
+performed his errand, or again asking for the dead bodies. Indeed, this was by
+far the greatest disaster that befell any one Hellenic city in an equal number
+of days during this war; and I have not set down the number of the dead,
+because the amount stated seems so out of proportion to the size of the city as
+to be incredible. In any case I know that if the Acarnanians and Amphilochians
+had wished to take Ambracia as the Athenians and Demosthenes advised, they
+would have done so without a blow; as it was, they feared that if the Athenians
+had it they would be worse neighbours to them than the present.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Acarnanians allotted a third of the spoils to the Athenians, and
+divided the rest among their own different towns. The share of the Athenians
+was captured on the voyage home; the arms now deposited in the Attic temples
+are three hundred panoplies, which the Acarnanians set apart for Demosthenes,
+and which he brought to Athens in person, his return to his country after the
+Aetolian disaster being rendered less hazardous by this exploit. The Athenians
+in the twenty ships also went off to Naupactus. The Acarnanians and
+Amphilochians, after the departure of Demosthenes and the Athenians, granted
+the Ambraciots and Peloponnesians who had taken refuge with Salynthius and the
+Agraeans a free retreat from Oeniadae, to which place they had removed from the
+country of Salynthius, and for the future concluded with the Ambraciots a
+treaty and alliance for one hundred years, upon the terms following. It was to
+be a defensive, not an offensive alliance; the Ambraciots could not be required
+to march with the Acarnanians against the Peloponnesians, nor the Acarnanians
+with the Ambraciots against the Athenians; for the rest the Ambraciots were to
+give up the places and hostages that they held of the Amphilochians, and not to
+give help to Anactorium, which was at enmity with the Acarnanians. With this
+arrangement they put an end to the war. After this the Corinthians sent a
+garrison of their own citizens to Ambracia, composed of three hundred heavy
+infantry, under the command of Xenocleides, son of Euthycles, who reached their
+destination after a difficult journey across the continent. Such was the
+history of the affair of Ambracia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily made a descent from their ships upon
+the territory of Himera, in concert with the Sicels, who had invaded its
+borders from the interior, and also sailed to the islands of Aeolus. Upon their
+return to Rhegium they found the Athenian general, Pythodorus, son of
+Isolochus, come to supersede Laches in the command of the fleet. The allies in
+Sicily had sailed to Athens and induced the Athenians to send out more vessels
+to their assistance, pointing out that the Syracusans who already commanded
+their land were making efforts to get together a navy, to avoid being any
+longer excluded from the sea by a few vessels. The Athenians proceeded to man
+forty ships to send to them, thinking that the war in Sicily would thus be the
+sooner ended, and also wishing to exercise their navy. One of the generals,
+Pythodorus, was accordingly sent out with a few ships; Sophocles, son of
+Sostratides, and Eurymedon, son of Thucles, being destined to follow with the
+main body. Meanwhile Pythodorus had taken the command of Laches&rsquo; ships,
+and towards the end of winter sailed against the Locrian fort, which Laches had
+formerly taken, and returned after being defeated in battle by the Locrians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the first days of this spring, the stream of fire issued from Etna, as on
+former occasions, and destroyed some land of the Catanians, who live upon Mount
+Etna, which is the largest mountain in Sicily. Fifty years, it is said, had
+elapsed since the last eruption, there having been three in all since the
+Hellenes have inhabited Sicily. Such were the events of this winter; and with
+it ended the sixth year of this war, of which Thucydides was the historian.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"></a>
+BOOK IV </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"></a>
+CHAPTER XII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Seventh Year of the War&mdash;Occupation of Pylos&mdash;Surrender of the
+Spartan Army in Sphacteria
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next summer, about the time of the corn&rsquo;s coming into ear, ten Syracusan
+and as many Locrian vessels sailed to Messina, in Sicily, and occupied the town
+upon the invitation of the inhabitants; and Messina revolted from the
+Athenians. The Syracusans contrived this chiefly because they saw that the
+place afforded an approach to Sicily, and feared that the Athenians might
+hereafter use it as a base for attacking them with a larger force; the Locrians
+because they wished to carry on hostilities from both sides of the strait and
+to reduce their enemies, the people of Rhegium. Meanwhile, the Locrians had
+invaded the Rhegian territory with all their forces, to prevent their
+succouring Messina, and also at the instance of some exiles from Rhegium who
+were with them; the long factions by which that town had been torn rendering it
+for the moment incapable of resistance, and thus furnishing an additional
+temptation to the invaders. After devastating the country the Locrian land
+forces retired, their ships remaining to guard Messina, while others were being
+manned for the same destination to carry on the war from thence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time in the spring, before the corn was ripe, the Peloponnesians
+and their allies invaded Attica under Agis, the son of Archidamus, king of the
+Lacedaemonians, and sat down and laid waste the country. Meanwhile the
+Athenians sent off the forty ships which they had been preparing to Sicily,
+with the remaining generals Eurymedon and Sophocles; their colleague Pythodorus
+having already preceded them thither. These had also instructions as they
+sailed by to look to the Corcyraeans in the town, who were being plundered by
+the exiles in the mountain. To support these exiles sixty Peloponnesian vessels
+had lately sailed, it being thought that the famine raging in the city would
+make it easy for them to reduce it. Demosthenes also, who had remained without
+employment since his return from Acarnania, applied and obtained permission to
+use the fleet, if he wished it, upon the coast of Peloponnese.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Off Laconia they heard that the Peloponnesian ships were already at Corcyra,
+upon which Eurymedon and Sophocles wished to hasten to the island, but
+Demosthenes required them first to touch at Pylos and do what was wanted there,
+before continuing their voyage. While they were making objections, a squall
+chanced to come on and carried the fleet into Pylos. Demosthenes at once urged
+them to fortify the place, it being for this that he had come on the voyage,
+and made them observe there was plenty of stone and timber on the spot, and
+that the place was strong by nature, and together with much of the country
+round unoccupied; Pylos, or Coryphasium, as the Lacedaemonians call it, being
+about forty-five miles distant from Sparta, and situated in the old country of
+the Messenians. The commanders told him that there was no lack of desert
+headlands in Peloponnese if he wished to put the city to expense by occupying
+them. He, however, thought that this place was distinguished from others of the
+kind by having a harbour close by; while the Messenians, the old natives of the
+country, speaking the same dialect as the Lacedaemonians, could do them the
+greatest mischief by their incursions from it, and would at the same time be a
+trusty garrison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After speaking to the captains of companies on the subject, and failing to
+persuade either the generals or the soldiers, he remained inactive with the
+rest from stress of weather; until the soldiers themselves wanting occupation
+were seized with a sudden impulse to go round and fortify the place.
+Accordingly they set to work in earnest, and having no iron tools, picked up
+stones, and put them together as they happened to fit, and where mortar was
+needed, carried it on their backs for want of hods, stooping down to make it
+stay on, and clasping their hands together behind to prevent it falling off;
+sparing no effort to be able to complete the most vulnerable points before the
+arrival of the Lacedaemonians, most of the place being sufficiently strong by
+nature without further fortifications.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians were celebrating a festival, and also at first
+made light of the news, in the idea that whenever they chose to take the field
+the place would be immediately evacuated by the enemy or easily taken by force;
+the absence of their army before Athens having also something to do with their
+delay. The Athenians fortified the place on the land side, and where it most
+required it, in six days, and leaving Demosthenes with five ships to garrison
+it, with the main body of the fleet hastened on their voyage to Corcyra and
+Sicily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as the Peloponnesians in Attica heard of the occupation of Pylos, they
+hurried back home; the Lacedaemonians and their king Agis thinking that the
+matter touched them nearly. Besides having made their invasion early in the
+season, and while the corn was still green, most of their troops were short of
+provisions: the weather also was unusually bad for the time of year, and
+greatly distressed their army. Many reasons thus combined to hasten their
+departure and to make this invasion a very short one; indeed they only stayed
+fifteen days in Attica.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the Athenian general Simonides getting together a few
+Athenians from the garrisons, and a number of the allies in those parts, took
+Eion in Thrace, a Mendaean colony and hostile to Athens, by treachery, but had
+no sooner done so than the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans came up and beat him out
+of it, with the loss of many of his soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the return of the Peloponnesians from Attica, the Spartans themselves and
+the nearest of the Perioeci at once set out for Pylos, the other Lacedaemonians
+following more slowly, as they had just come in from another campaign. Word was
+also sent round Peloponnese to come up as quickly as possible to Pylos; while
+the sixty Peloponnesian ships were sent for from Corcyra, and being dragged by
+their crews across the isthmus of Leucas, passed unperceived by the Athenian
+squadron at Zacynthus, and reached Pylos, where the land forces had arrived
+before them. Before the Peloponnesian fleet sailed in, Demosthenes found time
+to send out unobserved two ships to inform Eurymedon and the Athenians on board
+the fleet at Zacynthus of the danger of Pylos and to summon them to his
+assistance. While the ships hastened on their voyage in obedience to the orders
+of Demosthenes, the Lacedaemonians prepared to assault the fort by land and
+sea, hoping to capture with ease a work constructed in haste, and held by a
+feeble garrison. Meanwhile, as they expected the Athenian ships to arrive from
+Zacynthus, they intended, if they failed to take the place before, to block up
+the entrances of the harbour to prevent their being able to anchor inside it.
+For the island of Sphacteria, stretching along in a line close in front of the
+harbour, at once makes it safe and narrows its entrances, leaving a passage for
+two ships on the side nearest Pylos and the Athenian fortifications, and for
+eight or nine on that next the rest of the mainland: for the rest, the island
+was entirely covered with wood, and without paths through not being inhabited,
+and about one mile and five furlongs in length. The inlets the Lacedaemonians
+meant to close with a line of ships placed close together, with their prows
+turned towards the sea, and, meanwhile, fearing that the enemy might make use
+of the island to operate against them, carried over some heavy infantry
+thither, stationing others along the coast. By this means the island and the
+continent would be alike hostile to the Athenians, as they would be unable to
+land on either; and the shore of Pylos itself outside the inlet towards the
+open sea having no harbour, and, therefore, presenting no point which they
+could use as a base to relieve their countrymen, they, the Lacedaemonians,
+without sea-fight or risk would in all probability become masters of the place,
+occupied as it had been on the spur of the moment, and unfurnished with
+provisions. This being determined, they carried over to the island the heavy
+infantry, drafted by lot from all the companies. Some others had crossed over
+before in relief parties, but these last who were left there were four hundred
+and twenty in number, with their Helot attendants, commanded by Epitadas, son
+of Molobrus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Demosthenes, seeing the Lacedaemonians about to attack him by sea and
+land at once, himself was not idle. He drew up under the fortification and
+enclosed in a stockade the galleys remaining to him of those which had been
+left him, arming the sailors taken out of them with poor shields made most of
+them of osier, it being impossible to procure arms in such a desert place, and
+even these having been obtained from a thirty-oared Messenian privateer and a
+boat belonging to some Messenians who happened to have come to them. Among
+these Messenians were forty heavy infantry, whom he made use of with the rest.
+Posting most of his men, unarmed and armed, upon the best fortified and strong
+points of the place towards the interior, with orders to repel any attack of
+the land forces, he picked sixty heavy infantry and a few archers from his
+whole force, and with these went outside the wall down to the sea, where he
+thought that the enemy would most likely attempt to land. Although the ground
+was difficult and rocky, looking towards the open sea, the fact that this was
+the weakest part of the wall would, he thought, encourage their ardour, as the
+Athenians, confident in their naval superiority, had here paid little attention
+to their defences, and the enemy if he could force a landing might feel secure
+of taking the place. At this point, accordingly, going down to the
+water&rsquo;s edge, he posted his heavy infantry to prevent, if possible, a
+landing, and encouraged them in the following terms:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Soldiers and comrades in this adventure, I hope that none of you in our
+present strait will think to show his wit by exactly calculating all the perils
+that encompass us, but that you will rather hasten to close with the enemy,
+without staying to count the odds, seeing in this your best chance of safety.
+In emergencies like ours calculation is out of place; the sooner the danger is
+faced the better. To my mind also most of the chances are for us, if we will
+only stand fast and not throw away our advantages, overawed by the numbers of
+the enemy. One of the points in our favour is the awkwardness of the landing.
+This, however, only helps us if we stand our ground. If we give way it will be
+practicable enough, in spite of its natural difficulty, without a defender; and
+the enemy will instantly become more formidable from the difficulty he will
+have in retreating, supposing that we succeed in repulsing him, which we shall
+find it easier to do, while he is on board his ships, than after he has landed
+and meets us on equal terms. As to his numbers, these need not too much alarm
+you. Large as they may be he can only engage in small detachments, from the
+impossibility of bringing to. Besides, the numerical superiority that we have
+to meet is not that of an army on land with everything else equal, but of
+troops on board ship, upon an element where many favourable accidents are
+required to act with effect. I therefore consider that his difficulties may be
+fairly set against our numerical deficiencies, and at the same time I charge
+you, as Athenians who know by experience what landing from ships on a hostile
+territory means, and how impossible it is to drive back an enemy determined
+enough to stand his ground and not to be frightened away by the surf and the
+terrors of the ships sailing in, to stand fast in the present emergency, beat
+back the enemy at the water&rsquo;s edge, and save yourselves and the
+place.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus encouraged by Demosthenes, the Athenians felt more confident, and went
+down to meet the enemy, posting themselves along the edge of the sea. The
+Lacedaemonians now put themselves in movement and simultaneously assaulted the
+fortification with their land forces and with their ships, forty-three in
+number, under their admiral, Thrasymelidas, son of Cratesicles, a Spartan, who
+made his attack just where Demosthenes expected. The Athenians had thus to
+defend themselves on both sides, from the land and from the sea; the enemy
+rowing up in small detachments, the one relieving the other&mdash;it being
+impossible for many to bring to at once&mdash;and showing great ardour and
+cheering each other on, in the endeavour to force a passage and to take the
+fortification. He who most distinguished himself was Brasidas. Captain of a
+galley, and seeing that the captains and steersmen, impressed by the difficulty
+of the position, hung back even where a landing might have seemed possible, for
+fear of wrecking their vessels, he shouted out to them, that they must never
+allow the enemy to fortify himself in their country for the sake of saving
+timber, but must shiver their vessels and force a landing; and bade the allies,
+instead of hesitating in such a moment to sacrifice their ships for Lacedaemon
+in return for her many benefits, to run them boldly aground, land in one way or
+another, and make themselves masters of the place and its garrison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not content with this exhortation, he forced his own steersman to run his ship
+ashore, and stepping on to the gangway, was endeavouring to land, when he was
+cut down by the Athenians, and after receiving many wounds fainted away.
+Falling into the bows, his shield slipped off his arm into the sea, and being
+thrown ashore was picked up by the Athenians, and afterwards used for the
+trophy which they set up for this attack. The rest also did their best, but
+were not able to land, owing to the difficulty of the ground and the
+unflinching tenacity of the Athenians. It was a strange reversal of the order
+of things for Athenians to be fighting from the land, and from Laconian land
+too, against Lacedaemonians coming from the sea; while Lacedaemonians were
+trying to land from shipboard in their own country, now become hostile, to
+attack Athenians, although the former were chiefly famous at the time as an
+inland people and superior by land, the latter as a maritime people with a navy
+that had no equal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After continuing their attacks during that day and most of the next, the
+Peloponnesians desisted, and the day after sent some of their ships to Asine
+for timber to make engines, hoping to take by their aid, in spite of its
+height, the wall opposite the harbour, where the landing was easiest. At this
+moment the Athenian fleet from Zacynthus arrived, now numbering fifty sail,
+having been reinforced by some of the ships on guard at Naupactus and by four
+Chian vessels. Seeing the coast and the island both crowded with heavy
+infantry, and the hostile ships in harbour showing no signs of sailing out, at
+a loss where to anchor, they sailed for the moment to the desert island of
+Prote, not far off, where they passed the night. The next day they got under
+way in readiness to engage in the open sea if the enemy chose to put out to
+meet them, being determined in the event of his not doing so to sail in and
+attack him. The Lacedaemonians did not put out to sea, and having omitted to
+close the inlets as they had intended, remained quiet on shore, engaged in
+manning their ships and getting ready, in the case of any one sailing in, to
+fight in the harbour, which is a fairly large one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perceiving this, the Athenians advanced against them by each inlet, and falling
+on the enemy&rsquo;s fleet, most of which was by this time afloat and in line,
+at once put it to flight, and giving chase as far as the short distance
+allowed, disabled a good many vessels and took five, one with its crew on
+board; dashing in at the rest that had taken refuge on shore, and battering
+some that were still being manned, before they could put out, and lashing on to
+their own ships and towing off empty others whose crews had fled. At this sight
+the Lacedaemonians, maddened by a disaster which cut off their men on the
+island, rushed to the rescue, and going into the sea with their heavy armour,
+laid hold of the ships and tried to drag them back, each man thinking that
+success depended on his individual exertions. Great was the melee, and quite in
+contradiction to the naval tactics usual to the two combatants; the
+Lacedaemonians in their excitement and dismay being actually engaged in a
+sea-fight on land, while the victorious Athenians, in their eagerness to push
+their success as far as possible, were carrying on a land-fight from their
+ships. After great exertions and numerous wounds on both sides they separated,
+the Lacedaemonians saving their empty ships, except those first taken; and both
+parties returning to their camp, the Athenians set up a trophy, gave back the
+dead, secured the wrecks, and at once began to cruise round and jealously watch
+the island, with its intercepted garrison, while the Peloponnesians on the
+mainland, whose contingents had now all come up, stayed where they were before
+Pylos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the news of what had happened at Pylos reached Sparta, the disaster was
+thought so serious that the Lacedaemonians resolved that the authorities should
+go down to the camp, and decide on the spot what was best to be done. There,
+seeing that it was impossible to help their men, and not wishing to risk their
+being reduced by hunger or overpowered by numbers, they determined, with the
+consent of the Athenian generals, to conclude an armistice at Pylos and send
+envoys to Athens to obtain a convention, and to endeavour to get back their men
+as quickly as possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The generals accepting their offers, an armistice was concluded upon the terms
+following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That the Lacedaemonians should bring to Pylos and deliver up to the Athenians
+the ships that had fought in the late engagement, and all in Laconia that were
+vessels of war, and should make no attack on the fortification either by land
+or by sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That the Athenians should allow the Lacedaemonians on the mainland to send to
+the men in the island a certain fixed quantity of corn ready kneaded, that is
+to say, two quarts of barley meal, one pint of wine, and a piece of meat for
+each man, and half the same quantity for a servant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That this allowance should be sent in under the eyes of the Athenians, and that
+no boat should sail to the island except openly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That the Athenians should continue to the island same as before, without
+however landing upon it, and should refrain from attacking the Peloponnesian
+troops either by land or by sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That if either party should infringe any of these terms in the slightest
+particular, the armistice should be at once void.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That the armistice should hold good until the return of the Lacedaemonian
+envoys from Athens&mdash;the Athenians sending them thither in a galley and
+bringing them back again&mdash;and upon the arrival of the envoys should be at
+an end, and the ships be restored by the Athenians in the same state as they
+received them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the terms of the armistice, and the ships were delivered over to the
+number of sixty, and the envoys sent off accordingly. Arrived at Athens they
+spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Athenians, the Lacedaemonians sent us to try to find some way of
+settling the affair of our men on the island, that shall be at once
+satisfactory to our interests, and as consistent with our dignity in our
+misfortune as circumstances permit. We can venture to speak at some length
+without any departure from the habit of our country. Men of few words where
+many are not wanted, we can be less brief when there is a matter of importance
+to be illustrated and an end to be served by its illustration. Meanwhile we beg
+you to take what we may say, not in a hostile spirit, nor as if we thought you
+ignorant and wished to lecture you, but rather as a suggestion on the best
+course to be taken, addressed to intelligent judges. You can now, if you
+choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have
+got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of
+those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by
+hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already
+succeeded without expecting it. While those who have known most vicissitudes of
+good and bad, have also justly least faith in their prosperity; and to teach
+your city and ours this lesson experience has not been wanting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To be convinced of this you have only to look at our present misfortune.
+What power in Hellas stood higher than we did? and yet we are come to you,
+although we formerly thought ourselves more able to grant what we are now here
+to ask. Nevertheless, we have not been brought to this by any decay in our
+power, or through having our heads turned by aggrandizement; no, our resources
+are what they have always been, and our error has been an error of judgment, to
+which all are equally liable. Accordingly, the prosperity which your city now
+enjoys, and the accession that it has lately received, must not make you fancy
+that fortune will be always with you. Indeed sensible men are prudent enough to
+treat their gains as precarious, just as they would also keep a clear head in
+adversity, and think that war, so far from staying within the limit to which a
+combatant may wish to confine it, will run the course that its chances
+prescribe; and thus, not being puffed up by confidence in military success,
+they are less likely to come to grief, and most ready to make peace, if they
+can, while their fortune lasts. This, Athenians, you have a good opportunity to
+do now with us, and thus to escape the possible disasters which may follow upon
+your refusal, and the consequent imputation of having owed to accident even
+your present advantages, when you might have left behind you a reputation for
+power and wisdom which nothing could endanger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Lacedaemonians accordingly invite you to make a treaty and to end
+the war, and offer peace and alliance and the most friendly and intimate
+relations in every way and on every occasion between us; and in return ask for
+the men on the island, thinking it better for both parties not to stand out to
+the end, on the chance of some favourable accident enabling the men to force
+their way out, or of their being compelled to succumb under the pressure of
+blockade. Indeed if great enmities are ever to be really settled, we think it
+will be, not by the system of revenge and military success, and by forcing an
+opponent to swear to a treaty to his disadvantage, but when the more fortunate
+combatant waives these his privileges, to be guided by gentler feelings
+conquers his rival in generosity, and accords peace on more moderate conditions
+than he expected. From that moment, instead of the debt of revenge which
+violence must entail, his adversary owes a debt of generosity to be paid in
+kind, and is inclined by honour to stand to his agreement. And men oftener act
+in this manner towards their greatest enemies than where the quarrel is of less
+importance; they are also by nature as glad to give way to those who first
+yield to them, as they are apt to be provoked by arrogance to risks condemned
+by their own judgment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To apply this to ourselves: if peace was ever desirable for both
+parties, it is surely so at the present moment, before anything irremediable
+befall us and force us to hate you eternally, personally as well as
+politically, and you to miss the advantages that we now offer you. While the
+issue is still in doubt, and you have reputation and our friendship in
+prospect, and we the compromise of our misfortune before anything fatal occur,
+let us be reconciled, and for ourselves choose peace instead of war, and grant
+to the rest of the Hellenes a remission from their sufferings, for which be
+sure they will think they have chiefly you to thank. The war that they labour
+under they know not which began, but the peace that concludes it, as it depends
+on your decision, will by their gratitude be laid to your door. By such a
+decision you can become firm friends with the Lacedaemonians at their own
+invitation, which you do not force from them, but oblige them by accepting. And
+from this friendship consider the advantages that are likely to follow: when
+Attica and Sparta are at one, the rest of Hellas, be sure, will remain in
+respectful inferiority before its heads.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of the Lacedaemonians, their idea being that the Athenians,
+already desirous of a truce and only kept back by their opposition, would
+joyfully accept a peace freely offered, and give back the men. The Athenians,
+however, having the men on the island, thought that the treaty would be ready
+for them whenever they chose to make it, and grasped at something further.
+Foremost to encourage them in this policy was Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, a
+popular leader of the time and very powerful with the multitude, who persuaded
+them to answer as follows: First, the men in the island must surrender
+themselves and their arms and be brought to Athens. Next, the Lacedaemonians
+must restore Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaia, all places acquired not by
+arms, but by the previous convention, under which they had been ceded by Athens
+herself at a moment of disaster, when a truce was more necessary to her than at
+present. This done they might take back their men, and make a truce for as long
+as both parties might agree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this answer the envoys made no reply, but asked that commissioners might be
+chosen with whom they might confer on each point, and quietly talk the matter
+over and try to come to some agreement. Hereupon Cleon violently assailed them,
+saying that he knew from the first that they had no right intentions, and that
+it was clear enough now by their refusing to speak before the people, and
+wanting to confer in secret with a committee of two or three. No, if they meant
+anything honest let them say it out before all. The Lacedaemonians, however,
+seeing that whatever concessions they might be prepared to make in their
+misfortune, it was impossible for them to speak before the multitude and lose
+credit with their allies for a negotiation which might after all miscarry, and
+on the other hand, that the Athenians would never grant what they asked upon
+moderate terms, returned from Athens without having effected anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their arrival at once put an end to the armistice at Pylos, and the
+Lacedaemonians asked back their ships according to the convention. The
+Athenians, however, alleged an attack on the fort in contravention of the
+truce, and other grievances seemingly not worth mentioning, and refused to give
+them back, insisting upon the clause by which the slightest infringement made
+the armistice void. The Lacedaemonians, after denying the contravention and
+protesting against their bad faith in the matter of the ships, went away and
+earnestly addressed themselves to the war. Hostilities were now carried on at
+Pylos upon both sides with vigour. The Athenians cruised round the island all
+day with two ships going different ways; and by night, except on the seaward
+side in windy weather, anchored round it with their whole fleet, which, having
+been reinforced by twenty ships from Athens come to aid in the blockade, now
+numbered seventy sail; while the Peloponnesians remained encamped on the
+continent, making attacks on the fort, and on the look-out for any opportunity
+which might offer itself for the deliverance of their men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Syracusans and their allies in Sicily had brought up to the
+squadron guarding Messina the reinforcement which we left them preparing, and
+carried on the war from thence, incited chiefly by the Locrians from hatred of
+the Rhegians, whose territory they had invaded with all their forces. The
+Syracusans also wished to try their fortune at sea, seeing that the Athenians
+had only a few ships actually at Rhegium, and hearing that the main fleet
+destined to join them was engaged in blockading the island. A naval victory,
+they thought, would enable them to blockade Rhegium by sea and land, and easily
+to reduce it; a success which would at once place their affairs upon a solid
+basis, the promontory of Rhegium in Italy and Messina in Sicily being so near
+each other that it would be impossible for the Athenians to cruise against them
+and command the strait. The strait in question consists of the sea between
+Rhegium and Messina, at the point where Sicily approaches nearest to the
+continent, and is the Charybdis through which the story makes Ulysses sail; and
+the narrowness of the passage and the strength of the current that pours in
+from the vast Tyrrhenian and Sicilian mains, have rightly given it a bad
+reputation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this strait the Syracusans and their allies were compelled to fight, late in
+the day, about the passage of a boat, putting out with rather more than thirty
+ships against sixteen Athenian and eight Rhegian vessels. Defeated by the
+Athenians they hastily set off, each for himself, to their own stations at
+Messina and Rhegium, with the loss of one ship; night coming on before the
+battle was finished. After this the Locrians retired from the Rhegian
+territory, and the ships of the Syracusans and their allies united and came to
+anchor at Cape Pelorus, in the territory of Messina, where their land forces
+joined them. Here the Athenians and Rhegians sailed up, and seeing the ships
+unmanned, made an attack, in which they in their turn lost one vessel, which
+was caught by a grappling iron, the crew saving themselves by swimming. After
+this the Syracusans got on board their ships, and while they were being towed
+alongshore to Messina, were again attacked by the Athenians, but suddenly got
+out to sea and became the assailants, and caused them to lose another vessel.
+After thus holding their own in the voyage alongshore and in the engagement as
+above described, the Syracusans sailed on into the harbour of Messina.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians, having received warning that Camarina was about to be
+betrayed to the Syracusans by Archias and his party, sailed thither; and the
+Messinese took this opportunity to attack by sea and land with all their forces
+their Chalcidian neighbour, Naxos. The first day they forced the Naxians to
+keep their walls, and laid waste their country; the next they sailed round with
+their ships, and laid waste their land on the river Akesines, while their land
+forces menaced the city. Meanwhile the Sicels came down from the high country
+in great numbers, to aid against the Messinese; and the Naxians, elated at the
+sight, and animated by a belief that the Leontines and their other Hellenic
+allies were coming to their support, suddenly sallied out from the town, and
+attacked and routed the Messinese, killing more than a thousand of them; while
+the remainder suffered severely in their retreat home, being attacked by the
+barbarians on the road, and most of them cut off. The ships put in to Messina,
+and afterwards dispersed for their different homes. The Leontines and their
+allies, with the Athenians, upon this at once turned their arms against the now
+weakened Messina, and attacked, the Athenians with their ships on the side of
+the harbour, and the land forces on that of the town. The Messinese, however,
+sallying out with Demoteles and some Locrians who had been left to garrison the
+city after the disaster, suddenly attacked and routed most of the Leontine
+army, killing a great number; upon seeing which the Athenians landed from their
+ships, and falling on the Messinese in disorder chased them back into the town,
+and setting up a trophy retired to Rhegium. After this the Hellenes in Sicily
+continued to make war on each other by land, without the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos were still besieging the Lacedaemonians in the
+island, the Peloponnesian forces on the continent remaining where they were.
+The blockade was very laborious for the Athenians from want of food and water;
+there was no spring except one in the citadel of Pylos itself, and that not a
+large one, and most of them were obliged to grub up the shingle on the sea
+beach and drink such water as they could find. They also suffered from want of
+room, being encamped in a narrow space; and as there was no anchorage for the
+ships, some took their meals on shore in their turn, while the others were
+anchored out at sea. But their greatest discouragement arose from the
+unexpectedly long time which it took to reduce a body of men shut up in a
+desert island, with only brackish water to drink, a matter which they had
+imagined would take them only a few days. The fact was that the Lacedaemonians
+had made advertisement for volunteers to carry into the island ground corn,
+wine, cheese, and any other food useful in a siege; high prices being offered,
+and freedom promised to any of the Helots who should succeed in doing so. The
+Helots accordingly were most forward to engage in this risky traffic, putting
+off from this or that part of Peloponnese, and running in by night on the
+seaward side of the island. They were best pleased, however, when they could
+catch a wind to carry them in. It was more easy to elude the look-out of the
+galleys, when it blew from the seaward, as it became impossible for them to
+anchor round the island; while the Helots had their boats rated at their value
+in money, and ran them ashore, without caring how they landed, being sure to
+find the soldiers waiting for them at the landing-places. But all who risked it
+in fair weather were taken. Divers also swam in under water from the harbour,
+dragging by a cord in skins poppyseed mixed with honey, and bruised linseed;
+these at first escaped notice, but afterwards a look-out was kept for them. In
+short, both sides tried every possible contrivance, the one to throw in
+provisions, and the other to prevent their introduction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Athens, meanwhile, the news that the army was in great distress, and that
+corn found its way in to the men in the island, caused no small perplexity; and
+the Athenians began to fear that winter might come on and find them still
+engaged in the blockade. They saw that the convoying of provisions round
+Peloponnese would be then impossible. The country offered no resources in
+itself, and even in summer they could not send round enough. The blockade of a
+place without harbours could no longer be kept up; and the men would either
+escape by the siege being abandoned, or would watch for bad weather and sail
+out in the boats that brought in their corn. What caused still more alarm was
+the attitude of the Lacedaemonians, who must, it was thought by the Athenians,
+feel themselves on strong ground not to send them any more envoys; and they
+began to repent having rejected the treaty. Cleon, perceiving the disfavour
+with which he was regarded for having stood in the way of the convention, now
+said that their informants did not speak the truth; and upon the messengers
+recommending them, if they did not believe them, to send some commissioners to
+see, Cleon himself and Theagenes were chosen by the Athenians as commissioners.
+Aware that he would now be obliged either to say what had been already said by
+the men whom he was slandering, or be proved a liar if he said the contrary, he
+told the Athenians, whom he saw to be not altogether disinclined for a fresh
+expedition, that instead of sending and wasting their time and opportunities,
+if they believed what was told them, they ought to sail against the men. And
+pointing at Nicias, son of Niceratus, then general, whom he hated, he
+tauntingly said that it would be easy, if they had men for generals, to sail
+with a force and take those in the island, and that if he had himself been in
+command, he would have done it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nicias, seeing the Athenians murmuring against Cleon for not sailing now if it
+seemed to him so easy, and further seeing himself the object of attack, told
+him that for all that the generals cared, he might take what force he chose and
+make the attempt. At first Cleon fancied that this resignation was merely a
+figure of speech, and was ready to go, but finding that it was seriously meant,
+he drew back, and said that Nicias, not he, was general, being now frightened,
+and having never supposed that Nicias would go so far as to retire in his
+favour. Nicias, however, repeated his offer, and resigned the command against
+Pylos, and called the Athenians to witness that he did so. And as the multitude
+is wont to do, the more Cleon shrank from the expedition and tried to back out
+of what he had said, the more they encouraged Nicias to hand over his command,
+and clamoured at Cleon to go. At last, not knowing how to get out of his words,
+he undertook the expedition, and came forward and said that he was not afraid
+of the Lacedaemonians, but would sail without taking any one from the city with
+him, except the Lemnians and Imbrians that were at Athens, with some targeteers
+that had come up from Aenus, and four hundred archers from other quarters. With
+these and the soldiers at Pylos, he would within twenty days either bring the
+Lacedaemonians alive, or kill them on the spot. The Athenians could not help
+laughing at his fatuity, while sensible men comforted themselves with the
+reflection that they must gain in either circumstance; either they would be rid
+of Cleon, which they rather hoped, or if disappointed in this expectation,
+would reduce the Lacedaemonians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After he had settled everything in the assembly, and the Athenians had voted
+him the command of the expedition, he chose as his colleague Demosthenes, one
+of the generals at Pylos, and pushed forward the preparations for his voyage.
+His choice fell upon Demosthenes because he heard that he was contemplating a
+descent on the island; the soldiers distressed by the difficulties of the
+position, and rather besieged than besiegers, being eager to fight it out,
+while the firing of the island had increased the confidence of the general. He
+had been at first afraid, because the island having never been inhabited was
+almost entirely covered with wood and without paths, thinking this to be in the
+enemy&rsquo;s favour, as he might land with a large force, and yet might suffer
+loss by an attack from an unseen position. The mistakes and forces of the enemy
+the wood would in a great measure conceal from him, while every blunder of his
+own troops would be at once detected, and they would be thus able to fall upon
+him unexpectedly just where they pleased, the attack being always in their
+power. If, on the other hand, he should force them to engage in the thicket,
+the smaller number who knew the country would, he thought, have the advantage
+over the larger who were ignorant of it, while his own army might be cut off
+imperceptibly, in spite of its numbers, as the men would not be able to see
+where to succour each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Aetolian disaster, which had been mainly caused by the wood, had not a
+little to do with these reflections. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers who were
+compelled by want of room to land on the extremities of the island and take
+their dinners, with outposts fixed to prevent a surprise, set fire to a little
+of the wood without meaning to do so; and as it came on to blow soon
+afterwards, almost the whole was consumed before they were aware of it.
+Demosthenes was now able for the first time to see how numerous the
+Lacedaemonians really were, having up to this moment been under the impression
+that they took in provisions for a smaller number; he also saw that the
+Athenians thought success important and were anxious about it, and that it was
+now easier to land on the island, and accordingly got ready for the attempt,
+sent for troops from the allies in the neighbourhood, and pushed forward his
+other preparations. At this moment Cleon arrived at Pylos with the troops which
+he had asked for, having sent on word to say that he was coming. The first step
+taken by the two generals after their meeting was to send a herald to the camp
+on the mainland, to ask if they were disposed to avoid all risk and to order
+the men on the island to surrender themselves and their arms, to be kept in
+gentle custody until some general convention should be concluded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the rejection of this proposition the generals let one day pass, and the
+next, embarking all their heavy infantry on board a few ships, put out by
+night, and a little before dawn landed on both sides of the island from the
+open sea and from the harbour, being about eight hundred strong, and advanced
+with a run against the first post in the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The enemy had distributed his force as follows: In this first post there were
+about thirty heavy infantry; the centre and most level part, where the water
+was, was held by the main body, and by Epitadas their commander; while a small
+party guarded the very end of the island, towards Pylos, which was precipitous
+on the sea-side and very difficult to attack from the land, and where there was
+also a sort of old fort of stones rudely put together, which they thought might
+be useful to them, in case they should be forced to retreat. Such was their
+disposition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The advanced post thus attacked by the Athenians was at once put to the sword,
+the men being scarcely out of bed and still arming, the landing having taken
+them by surprise, as they fancied the ships were only sailing as usual to their
+stations for the night. As soon as day broke, the rest of the army landed, that
+is to say, all the crews of rather more than seventy ships, except the lowest
+rank of oars, with the arms they carried, eight hundred archers, and as many
+targeteers, the Messenian reinforcements, and all the other troops on duty
+round Pylos, except the garrison on the fort. The tactics of Demosthenes had
+divided them into companies of two hundred, more or less, and made them occupy
+the highest points in order to paralyse the enemy by surrounding him on every
+side and thus leaving him without any tangible adversary, exposed to the
+cross-fire of their host; plied by those in his rear if he attacked in front,
+and by those on one flank if he moved against those on the other. In short,
+wherever he went he would have the assailants behind him, and these light-armed
+assailants, the most awkward of all; arrows, darts, stones, and slings making
+them formidable at a distance, and there being no means of getting at them at
+close quarters, as they could conquer flying, and the moment their pursuer
+turned they were upon him. Such was the idea that inspired Demosthenes in his
+conception of the descent, and presided over its execution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the main body of the troops in the island (that under Epitadas),
+seeing their outpost cut off and an army advancing against them, serried their
+ranks and pressed forward to close with the Athenian heavy infantry in front of
+them, the light troops being upon their flanks and rear. However, they were not
+able to engage or to profit by their superior skill, the light troops keeping
+them in check on either side with their missiles, and the heavy infantry
+remaining stationary instead of advancing to meet them; and although they
+routed the light troops wherever they ran up and approached too closely, yet
+they retreated fighting, being lightly equipped, and easily getting the start
+in their flight, from the difficult and rugged nature of the ground, in an
+island hitherto desert, over which the Lacedaemonians could not pursue them
+with their heavy armour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this skirmishing had lasted some little while, the Lacedaemonians became
+unable to dash out with the same rapidity as before upon the points attacked,
+and the light troops finding that they now fought with less vigour, became more
+confident. They could see with their own eyes that they were many times more
+numerous than the enemy; they were now more familiar with his aspect and found
+him less terrible, the result not having justified the apprehensions which they
+had suffered, when they first landed in slavish dismay at the idea of attacking
+Lacedaemonians; and accordingly their fear changing to disdain, they now rushed
+all together with loud shouts upon them, and pelted them with stones, darts,
+and arrows, whichever came first to hand. The shouting accompanying their onset
+confounded the Lacedaemonians, unaccustomed to this mode of fighting; dust rose
+from the newly burnt wood, and it was impossible to see in front of one with
+the arrows and stones flying through clouds of dust from the hands of numerous
+assailants. The Lacedaemonians had now to sustain a rude conflict; their caps
+would not keep out the arrows, darts had broken off in the armour of the
+wounded, while they themselves were helpless for offence, being prevented from
+using their eyes to see what was before them, and unable to hear the words of
+command for the hubbub raised by the enemy; danger encompassed them on every
+side, and there was no hope of any means of defence or safety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, after many had been already wounded in the confined space in which
+they were fighting, they formed in close order and retired on the fort at the
+end of the island, which was not far off, and to their friends who held it. The
+moment they gave way, the light troops became bolder and pressed upon them,
+shouting louder than ever, and killed as many as they came up with in their
+retreat, but most of the Lacedaemonians made good their escape to the fort, and
+with the garrison in it ranged themselves all along its whole extent to repulse
+the enemy wherever it was assailable. The Athenians pursuing, unable to
+surround and hem them in, owing to the strength of the ground, attacked them in
+front and tried to storm the position. For a long time, indeed for most of the
+day, both sides held out against all the torments of the battle, thirst, and
+sun, the one endeavouring to drive the enemy from the high ground, the other to
+maintain himself upon it, it being now more easy for the Lacedaemonians to
+defend themselves than before, as they could not be surrounded on the flanks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The struggle began to seem endless, when the commander of the Messenians came
+to Cleon and Demosthenes, and told them that they were losing their labour: but
+if they would give him some archers and light troops to go round on the
+enemy&rsquo;s rear by a way he would undertake to find, he thought he could
+force the approach. Upon receiving what he asked for, he started from a point
+out of sight in order not to be seen by the enemy, and creeping on wherever the
+precipices of the island permitted, and where the Lacedaemonians, trusting to
+the strength of the ground, kept no guard, succeeded after the greatest
+difficulty in getting round without their seeing him, and suddenly appeared on
+the high ground in their rear, to the dismay of the surprised enemy and the
+still greater joy of his expectant friends. The Lacedaemonians thus placed
+between two fires, and in the same dilemma, to compare small things with great,
+as at Thermopylae, where the defenders were cut off through the Persians
+getting round by the path, being now attacked in front and behind, began to
+give way, and overcome by the odds against them and exhausted from want of
+food, retreated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians were already masters of the approaches when Cleon and Demosthenes
+perceiving that, if the enemy gave way a single step further, they would be
+destroyed by their soldiery, put a stop to the battle and held their men back;
+wishing to take the Lacedaemonians alive to Athens, and hoping that their
+stubbornness might relax on hearing the offer of terms, and that they might
+surrender and yield to the present overwhelming danger. Proclamation was
+accordingly made, to know if they would surrender themselves and their arms to
+the Athenians to be dealt at their discretion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians hearing this offer, most of them lowered their shields and
+waved their hands to show that they accepted it. Hostilities now ceased, and a
+parley was held between Cleon and Demosthenes and Styphon, son of Pharax, on
+the other side; since Epitadas, the first of the previous commanders, had been
+killed, and Hippagretas, the next in command, left for dead among the slain,
+though still alive, and thus the command had devolved upon Styphon according to
+the law, in case of anything happening to his superiors. Styphon and his
+companions said they wished to send a herald to the Lacedaemonians on the
+mainland, to know what they were to do. The Athenians would not let any of them
+go, but themselves called for heralds from the mainland, and after questions
+had been carried backwards and forwards two or three times, the last man that
+passed over from the Lacedaemonians on the continent brought this message:
+&ldquo;The Lacedaemonians bid you to decide for yourselves so long as you do
+nothing dishonourable&rdquo;; upon which after consulting together they
+surrendered themselves and their arms. The Athenians, after guarding them that
+day and night, the next morning set up a trophy in the island, and got ready to
+sail, giving their prisoners in batches to be guarded by the captains of the
+galleys; and the Lacedaemonians sent a herald and took up their dead. The
+number of the killed and prisoners taken in the island was as follows: four
+hundred and twenty heavy infantry had passed over; three hundred all but eight
+were taken alive to Athens; the rest were killed. About a hundred and twenty of
+the prisoners were Spartans. The Athenian loss was small, the battle not having
+been fought at close quarters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The blockade in all, counting from the fight at sea to the battle in the
+island, had lasted seventy-two days. For twenty of these, during the absence of
+the envoys sent to treat for peace, the men had provisions given them, for the
+rest they were fed by the smugglers. Corn and other victual was found in the
+island; the commander Epitadas having kept the men upon half rations. The
+Athenians and Peloponnesians now each withdrew their forces from Pylos, and
+went home, and crazy as Cleon&rsquo;s promise was, he fulfilled it, by bringing
+the men to Athens within the twenty days as he had pledged himself to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing that happened in the war surprised the Hellenes so much as this. It was
+the opinion that no force or famine could make the Lacedaemonians give up their
+arms, but that they would fight on as they could, and die with them in their
+hands: indeed people could scarcely believe that those who had surrendered were
+of the same stuff as the fallen; and an Athenian ally, who some time after
+insultingly asked one of the prisoners from the island if those that had fallen
+were men of honour, received for answer that the atraktos&mdash;that is, the
+arrow&mdash;would be worth a great deal if it could tell men of honour from the
+rest; in allusion to the fact that the killed were those whom the stones and
+the arrows happened to hit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the arrival of the men the Athenians determined to keep them in prison
+until the peace, and if the Peloponnesians invaded their country in the
+interval, to bring them out and put them to death. Meanwhile the defence of
+Pylos was not forgotten; the Messenians from Naupactus sent to their old
+country, to which Pylos formerly belonged, some of the likeliest of their
+number, and began a series of incursions into Laconia, which their common
+dialect rendered most destructive. The Lacedaemonians, hitherto without
+experience of incursions or a warfare of the kind, finding the Helots
+deserting, and fearing the march of revolution in their country, began to be
+seriously uneasy, and in spite of their unwillingness to betray this to the
+Athenians began to send envoys to Athens, and tried to recover Pylos and the
+prisoners. The Athenians, however, kept grasping at more, and dismissed envoy
+after envoy without their having effected anything. Such was the history of the
+affair of Pylos.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"></a>
+CHAPTER XIII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Seventh and Eighth Years of the War&mdash;End of Corcyraean Revolution&mdash;
+Peace of Gela&mdash;Capture of Nisaea
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer, directly after these events, the Athenians made an expedition
+against the territory of Corinth with eighty ships and two thousand Athenian
+heavy infantry, and two hundred cavalry on board horse transports, accompanied
+by the Milesians, Andrians, and Carystians from the allies, under the command
+of Nicias, son of Niceratus, with two colleagues. Putting out to sea they made
+land at daybreak between Chersonese and Rheitus, at the beach of the country
+underneath the Solygian hill, upon which the Dorians in old times established
+themselves and carried on war against the Aeolian inhabitants of Corinth, and
+where a village now stands called Solygia. The beach where the fleet came to is
+about a mile and a half from the village, seven miles from Corinth, and two and
+a quarter from the Isthmus. The Corinthians had heard from Argos of the coming
+of the Athenian armament, and had all come up to the Isthmus long before, with
+the exception of those who lived beyond it, and also of five hundred who were
+away in garrison in Ambracia and Leucadia; and they were there in full force
+watching for the Athenians to land. These last, however, gave them the slip by
+coming in the dark; and being informed by signals of the fact the Corinthians
+left half their number at Cenchreae, in case the Athenians should go against
+Crommyon, and marched in all haste to the rescue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Battus, one of the two generals present at the action, went with a company to
+defend the village of Solygia, which was unfortified; Lycophron remaining to
+give battle with the rest. The Corinthians first attacked the right wing of the
+Athenians, which had just landed in front of Chersonese, and afterwards the
+rest of the army. The battle was an obstinate one, and fought throughout hand
+to hand. The right wing of the Athenians and Carystians, who had been placed at
+the end of the line, received and with some difficulty repulsed the
+Corinthians, who thereupon retreated to a wall upon the rising ground behind,
+and throwing down the stones upon them, came on again singing the paean, and
+being received by the Athenians, were again engaged at close quarters. At this
+moment a Corinthian company having come to the relief of the left wing, routed
+and pursued the Athenian right to the sea, whence they were in their turn
+driven back by the Athenians and Carystians from the ships. Meanwhile the rest
+of the army on either side fought on tenaciously, especially the right wing of
+the Corinthians, where Lycophron sustained the attack of the Athenian left,
+which it was feared might attempt the village of Solygia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After holding on for a long while without either giving way, the Athenians
+aided by their horse, of which the enemy had none, at length routed the
+Corinthians, who retired to the hill and, halting, remained quiet there,
+without coming down again. It was in this rout of the right wing that they had
+the most killed, Lycophron their general being among the number. The rest of
+the army, broken and put to flight in this way without being seriously pursued
+or hurried, retired to the high ground and there took up its position. The
+Athenians, finding that the enemy no longer offered to engage them, stripped
+his dead and took up their own and immediately set up a trophy. Meanwhile, the
+half of the Corinthians left at Cenchreae to guard against the Athenians
+sailing on Crommyon, although unable to see the battle for Mount Oneion, found
+out what was going on by the dust, and hurried up to the rescue; as did also
+the older Corinthians from the town, upon discovering what had occurred. The
+Athenians seeing them all coming against them, and thinking that they were
+reinforcements arriving from the neighbouring Peloponnesians, withdrew in haste
+to their ships with their spoils and their own dead, except two that they left
+behind, not being able to find them, and going on board crossed over to the
+islands opposite, and from thence sent a herald, and took up under truce the
+bodies which they had left behind. Two hundred and twelve Corinthians fell in
+the battle, and rather less than fifty Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Weighing from the islands, the Athenians sailed the same day to Crommyon in the
+Corinthian territory, about thirteen miles from the city, and coming to anchor
+laid waste the country, and passed the night there. The next day, after first
+coasting along to the territory of Epidaurus and making a descent there, they
+came to Methana between Epidaurus and Troezen, and drew a wall across and
+fortified the isthmus of the peninsula, and left a post there from which
+incursions were henceforth made upon the country of Troezen, Haliae, and
+Epidaurus. After walling off this spot, the fleet sailed off home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While these events were going on, Eurymedon and Sophocles had put to sea with
+the Athenian fleet from Pylos on their way to Sicily and, arriving at Corcyra,
+joined the townsmen in an expedition against the party established on Mount
+Istone, who had crossed over, as I have mentioned, after the revolution and
+become masters of the country, to the great hurt of the inhabitants. Their
+stronghold having been taken by an attack, the garrison took refuge in a body
+upon some high ground and there capitulated, agreeing to give up their
+mercenary auxiliaries, lay down their arms, and commit themselves to the
+discretion of the Athenian people. The generals carried them across under truce
+to the island of Ptychia, to be kept in custody until they could be sent to
+Athens, upon the understanding that, if any were caught running away, all would
+lose the benefit of the treaty. Meanwhile the leaders of the Corcyraean
+commons, afraid that the Athenians might spare the lives of the prisoners, had
+recourse to the following stratagem. They gained over some few men on the
+island by secretly sending friends with instructions to provide them with a
+boat, and to tell them, as if for their own sakes, that they had best escape as
+quickly as possible, as the Athenian generals were going to give them up to the
+Corcyraean people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These representations succeeding, it was so arranged that the men were caught
+sailing out in the boat that was provided, and the treaty became void
+accordingly, and the whole body were given up to the Corcyraeans. For this
+result the Athenian generals were in a great measure responsible; their evident
+disinclination to sail for Sicily, and thus to leave to others the honour of
+conducting the men to Athens, encouraged the intriguers in their design and
+seemed to affirm the truth of their representations. The prisoners thus handed
+over were shut up by the Corcyraeans in a large building, and afterwards taken
+out by twenties and led past two lines of heavy infantry, one on each side,
+being bound together, and beaten and stabbed by the men in the lines whenever
+any saw pass a personal enemy; while men carrying whips went by their side and
+hastened on the road those that walked too slowly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As many as sixty men were taken out and killed in this way without the
+knowledge of their friends in the building, who fancied they were merely being
+moved from one prison to another. At last, however, someone opened their eyes
+to the truth, upon which they called upon the Athenians to kill them
+themselves, if such was their pleasure, and refused any longer to go out of the
+building, and said they would do all they could to prevent any one coming in.
+The Corcyraeans, not liking themselves to force a passage by the doors, got up
+on the top of the building, and breaking through the roof, threw down the tiles
+and let fly arrows at them, from which the prisoners sheltered themselves as
+well as they could. Most of their number, meanwhile, were engaged in
+dispatching themselves by thrusting into their throats the arrows shot by the
+enemy, and hanging themselves with the cords taken from some beds that happened
+to be there, and with strips made from their clothing; adopting, in short,
+every possible means of self-destruction, and also falling victims to the
+missiles of their enemies on the roof. Night came on while these horrors were
+enacting, and most of it had passed before they were concluded. When it was day
+the Corcyraeans threw them in layers upon wagons and carried them out of the
+city. All the women taken in the stronghold were sold as slaves. In this way
+the Corcyraeans of the mountain were destroyed by the commons; and so after
+terrible excesses the party strife came to an end, at least as far as the
+period of this war is concerned, for of one party there was practically nothing
+left. Meanwhile the Athenians sailed off to Sicily, their primary destination,
+and carried on the war with their allies there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the close of the summer, the Athenians at Naupactus and the Acarnanians made
+an expedition against Anactorium, the Corinthian town lying at the mouth of the
+Ambracian Gulf, and took it by treachery; and the Acarnanians themselves,
+sending settlers from all parts of Acarnania, occupied the place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. During the winter ensuing, Aristides, son of Archippus,
+one of the commanders of the Athenian ships sent to collect money from the
+allies, arrested at Eion, on the Strymon, Artaphernes, a Persian, on his way
+from the King to Lacedaemon. He was conducted to Athens, where the Athenians
+got his dispatches translated from the Assyrian character and read them. With
+numerous references to other subjects, they in substance told the
+Lacedaemonians that the King did not know what they wanted, as of the many
+ambassadors they had sent him no two ever told the same story; if however they
+were prepared to speak plainly they might send him some envoys with this
+Persian. The Athenians afterwards sent back Artaphernes in a galley to Ephesus,
+and ambassadors with him, who heard there of the death of King Artaxerxes, son
+of Xerxes, which took place about that time, and so returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Chians pulled down their new wall at the command of the
+Athenians, who suspected them of meditating an insurrection, after first
+however obtaining pledges from the Athenians, and security as far as this was
+possible for their continuing to treat them as before. Thus the winter ended,
+and with it ended the seventh year of this war of which Thucydides is the
+historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In first days of the next summer there was an eclipse of the sun at the time of
+new moon, and in the early part of the same month an earthquake. Meanwhile, the
+Mitylenian and other Lesbian exiles set out, for the most part from the
+continent, with mercenaries hired in Peloponnese, and others levied on the
+spot, and took Rhoeteum, but restored it without injury on the receipt of two
+thousand Phocaean staters. After this they marched against Antandrus and took
+the town by treachery, their plan being to free Antandrus and the rest of the
+Actaean towns, formerly owned by Mitylene but now held by the Athenians. Once
+fortified there, they would have every facility for ship-building from the
+vicinity of Ida and the consequent abundance of timber, and plenty of other
+supplies, and might from this base easily ravage Lesbos, which was not far off,
+and make themselves masters of the Aeolian towns on the continent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While these were the schemes of the exiles, the Athenians in the same summer
+made an expedition with sixty ships, two thousand heavy infantry, a few
+cavalry, and some allied troops from Miletus and other parts, against Cythera,
+under the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus, Nicostratus, son of Diotrephes,
+and Autocles, son of Tolmaeus. Cythera is an island lying off Laconia, opposite
+Malea; the inhabitants are Lacedaemonians of the class of the Perioeci; and an
+officer called the judge of Cythera went over to the place annually from
+Sparta. A garrison of heavy infantry was also regularly sent there, and great
+attention paid to the island, as it was the landing-place for the merchantmen
+from Egypt and Libya, and at the same time secured Laconia from the attacks of
+privateers from the sea, at the only point where it is assailable, as the whole
+coast rises abruptly towards the Sicilian and Cretan seas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Coming to land here with their armament, the Athenians with ten ships and two
+thousand Milesian heavy infantry took the town of Scandea, on the sea; and with
+the rest of their forces landing on the side of the island looking towards
+Malea, went against the lower town of Cythera, where they found all the
+inhabitants encamped. A battle ensuing, the Cytherians held their ground for
+some little while, and then turned and fled into the upper town, where they
+soon afterwards capitulated to Nicias and his colleagues, agreeing to leave
+their fate to the decision of the Athenians, their lives only being safe. A
+correspondence had previously been going on between Nicias and certain of the
+inhabitants, which caused the surrender to be effected more speedily, and upon
+terms more advantageous, present and future, for the Cytherians; who would
+otherwise have been expelled by the Athenians on account of their being
+Lacedaemonians and their island being so near to Laconia. After the
+capitulation, the Athenians occupied the town of Scandea near the harbour, and
+appointing a garrison for Cythera, sailed to Asine, Helus, and most of the
+places on the sea, and making descents and passing the night on shore at such
+spots as were convenient, continued ravaging the country for about seven days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians seeing the Athenians masters of Cythera, and expecting
+descents of the kind upon their coasts, nowhere opposed them in force, but sent
+garrisons here and there through the country, consisting of as many heavy
+infantry as the points menaced seemed to require, and generally stood very much
+upon the defensive. After the severe and unexpected blow that had befallen them
+in the island, the occupation of Pylos and Cythera, and the apparition on every
+side of a war whose rapidity defied precaution, they lived in constant fear of
+internal revolution, and now took the unusual step of raising four hundred
+horse and a force of archers, and became more timid than ever in military
+matters, finding themselves involved in a maritime struggle, which their
+organization had never contemplated, and that against Athenians, with whom an
+enterprise unattempted was always looked upon as a success sacrificed. Besides
+this, their late numerous reverses of fortune, coming close one upon another
+without any reason, had thoroughly unnerved them, and they were always afraid
+of a second disaster like that on the island, and thus scarcely dared to take
+the field, but fancied that they could not stir without a blunder, for being
+new to the experience of adversity they had lost all confidence in themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly they now allowed the Athenians to ravage their seaboard, without
+making any movement, the garrisons in whose neighbourhood the descents were
+made always thinking their numbers insufficient, and sharing the general
+feeling. A single garrison which ventured to resist, near Cotyrta and
+Aphrodisia, struck terror by its charge into the scattered mob of light troops,
+but retreated, upon being received by the heavy infantry, with the loss of a
+few men and some arms, for which the Athenians set up a trophy, and then sailed
+off to Cythera. From thence they sailed round to Epidaurus Limera, ravaged part
+of the country, and so came to Thyrea in the Cynurian territory, upon the
+Argive and Laconian border. This district had been given by its Lacedaemonian
+owners to the expelled Aeginetans to inhabit, in return for their good offices
+at the time of the earthquake and the rising of the Helots; and also because,
+although subjects of Athens, they had always sided with Lacedaemon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Athenians were still at sea, the Aeginetans evacuated a fort which
+they were building upon the coast, and retreated into the upper town where they
+lived, rather more than a mile from the sea. One of the Lacedaemonian district
+garrisons which was helping them in the work, refused to enter here with them
+at their entreaty, thinking it dangerous to shut themselves up within the wall,
+and retiring to the high ground remained quiet, not considering themselves a
+match for the enemy. Meanwhile the Athenians landed, and instantly advanced
+with all their forces and took Thyrea. The town they burnt, pillaging what was
+in it; the Aeginetans who were not slain in action they took with them to
+Athens, with Tantalus, son of Patrocles, their Lacedaemonian commander, who had
+been wounded and taken prisoner. They also took with them a few men from
+Cythera whom they thought it safest to remove. These the Athenians determined
+to lodge in the islands: the rest of the Cytherians were to retain their lands
+and pay four talents tribute; the Aeginetans captured to be all put to death,
+on account of the old inveterate feud; and Tantalus to share the imprisonment
+of the Lacedaemonians taken on the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer, the inhabitants of Camarina and Gela in Sicily first made an
+armistice with each other, after which embassies from all the other Sicilian
+cities assembled at Gela to try to bring about a pacification. After many
+expressions of opinion on one side and the other, according to the griefs and
+pretensions of the different parties complaining, Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a
+Syracusan, the most influential man among them, addressed the following words
+to the assembly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If I now address you, Sicilians, it is not because my city is the least
+in Sicily or the greatest sufferer by the war, but in order to state publicly
+what appears to me to be the best policy for the whole island. That war is an
+evil is a proposition so familiar to every one that it would be tedious to
+develop it. No one is forced to engage in it by ignorance, or kept out of it by
+fear, if he fancies there is anything to be gained by it. To the former the
+gain appears greater than the danger, while the latter would rather stand the
+risk than put up with any immediate sacrifice. But if both should happen to
+have chosen the wrong moment for acting in this way, advice to make peace would
+not be unserviceable; and this, if we did but see it, is just what we stand
+most in need of at the present juncture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I suppose that no one will dispute that we went to war at first in order
+to serve our own several interests, that we are now, in view of the same
+interests, debating how we can make peace; and that if we separate without
+having as we think our rights, we shall go to war again. And yet, as men of
+sense, we ought to see that our separate interests are not alone at stake in
+the present congress: there is also the question whether we have still time to
+save Sicily, the whole of which in my opinion is menaced by Athenian ambition;
+and we ought to find in the name of that people more imperious arguments for
+peace than any which I can advance, when we see the first power in Hellas
+watching our mistakes with the few ships that she has at present in our waters,
+and under the fair name of alliance speciously seeking to turn to account the
+natural hostility that exists between us. If we go to war, and call in to help
+us a people that are ready enough to carry their arms even where they are not
+invited; and if we injure ourselves at our own expense, and at the same time
+serve as the pioneers of their dominion, we may expect, when they see us worn
+out, that they will one day come with a larger armament, and seek to bring all
+of us into subjection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And yet as sensible men, if we call in allies and court danger, it
+should be in order to enrich our different countries with new acquisitions, and
+not to ruin what they possess already; and we should understand that the
+intestine discords which are so fatal to communities generally, will be equally
+so to Sicily, if we, its inhabitants, absorbed in our local quarrels, neglect
+the common enemy. These considerations should reconcile individual with
+individual, and city with city, and unite us in a common effort to save the
+whole of Sicily. Nor should any one imagine that the Dorians only are enemies
+of Athens, while the Chalcidian race is secured by its Ionian blood; the attack
+in question is not inspired by hatred of one of two nationalities, but by a
+desire for the good things in Sicily, the common property of us all. This is
+proved by the Athenian reception of the Chalcidian invitation: an ally who has
+never given them any assistance whatever, at once receives from them almost
+more than the treaty entitles him to. That the Athenians should cherish this
+ambition and practise this policy is very excusable; and I do not blame those
+who wish to rule, but those who are over-ready to serve. It is just as much in
+men&rsquo;s nature to rule those who submit to them, as it is to resist those
+who molest them; one is not less invariable than the other. Meanwhile all who
+see these dangers and refuse to provide for them properly, or who have come
+here without having made up their minds that our first duty is to unite to get
+rid of the common peril, are mistaken. The quickest way to be rid of it is to
+make peace with each other; since the Athenians menace us not from their own
+country, but from that of those who invited them here. In this way instead of
+war issuing in war, peace quietly ends our quarrels; and the guests who come
+hither under fair pretences for bad ends, will have good reason for going away
+without having attained them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So far as regards the Athenians, such are the great advantages proved
+inherent in a wise policy. Independently of this, in the face of the universal
+consent, that peace is the first of blessings, how can we refuse to make it
+amongst ourselves; or do you not think that the good which you have, and the
+ills that you complain of, would be better preserved and cured by quiet than by
+war; that peace has its honours and splendours of a less perilous kind, not to
+mention the numerous other blessings that one might dilate on, with the not
+less numerous miseries of war? These considerations should teach you not to
+disregard my words, but rather to look in them every one for his own safety. If
+there be any here who feels certain either by right or might to effect his
+object, let not this surprise be to him too severe a disappointment. Let him
+remember that many before now have tried to chastise a wrongdoer, and failing
+to punish their enemy have not even saved themselves; while many who have
+trusted in force to gain an advantage, instead of gaining anything more, have
+been doomed to lose what they had. Vengeance is not necessarily successful
+because wrong has been done, or strength sure because it is confident; but the
+incalculable element in the future exercises the widest influence, and is the
+most treacherous, and yet in fact the most useful of all things, as it
+frightens us all equally, and thus makes us consider before attacking each
+other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let us therefore now allow the undefined fear of this unknown future,
+and the immediate terror of the Athenians&rsquo; presence, to produce their
+natural impression, and let us consider any failure to carry out the programmes
+that we may each have sketched out for ourselves as sufficiently accounted for
+by these obstacles, and send away the intruder from the country; and if
+everlasting peace be impossible between us, let us at all events make a treaty
+for as long a term as possible, and put off our private differences to another
+day. In fine, let us recognize that the adoption of my advice will leave us
+each citizens of a free state, and as such arbiters of our own destiny, able to
+return good or bad offices with equal effect; while its rejection will make us
+dependent on others, and thus not only impotent to repel an insult, but on the
+most favourable supposition, friends to our direst enemies, and at feud with
+our natural friends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For myself, though, as I said at first, the representative of a great
+city, and able to think less of defending myself than of attacking others, I am
+prepared to concede something in prevision of these dangers. I am not inclined
+to ruin myself for the sake of hurting my enemies, or so blinded by animosity
+as to think myself equally master of my own plans and of fortune which I cannot
+command; but I am ready to give up anything in reason. I call upon the rest of
+you to imitate my conduct of your own free will, without being forced to do so
+by the enemy. There is no disgrace in connections giving way to one another, a
+Dorian to a Dorian, or a Chalcidian to his brethren; above and beyond this we
+are neighbours, live in the same country, are girt by the same sea, and go by
+the same name of Sicilians. We shall go to war again, I suppose, when the time
+comes, and again make peace among ourselves by means of future congresses; but
+the foreign invader, if we are wise, will always find us united against him,
+since the hurt of one is the danger of all; and we shall never, in future,
+invite into the island either allies or mediators. By so acting we shall at the
+present moment do for Sicily a double service, ridding her at once of the
+Athenians, and of civil war, and in future shall live in freedom at home, and
+be less menaced from abroad.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Hermocrates. The Sicilians took his advice, and came to
+an understanding among themselves to end the war, each keeping what they
+had&mdash;the Camarinaeans taking Morgantina at a price fixed to be paid to the
+Syracusans&mdash;and the allies of the Athenians called the officers in
+command, and told them that they were going to make peace and that they would
+be included in the treaty. The generals assenting, the peace was concluded, and
+the Athenian fleet afterwards sailed away from Sicily. Upon their arrival at
+Athens, the Athenians banished Pythodorus and Sophocles, and fined Eurymedon
+for having taken bribes to depart when they might have subdued Sicily. So
+thoroughly had the present prosperity persuaded the citizens that nothing could
+withstand them, and that they could achieve what was possible and impracticable
+alike, with means ample or inadequate it mattered not. The secret of this was
+their general extraordinary success, which made them confuse their strength
+with their hopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Megarians in the city, pressed by the hostilities of the
+Athenians, who invaded their country twice every year with all their forces,
+and harassed by the incursions of their own exiles at Pegae, who had been
+expelled in a revolution by the popular party, began to ask each other whether
+it would not be better to receive back their exiles, and free the town from one
+of its two scourges. The friends of the emigrants, perceiving the agitation,
+now more openly than before demanded the adoption of this proposition; and the
+leaders of the commons, seeing that the sufferings of the times had tired out
+the constancy of their supporters, entered in their alarm into correspondence
+with the Athenian generals, Hippocrates, son of Ariphron, and Demosthenes, son
+of Alcisthenes, and resolved to betray the town, thinking this less dangerous
+to themselves than the return of the party which they had banished. It was
+accordingly arranged that the Athenians should first take the long walls
+extending for nearly a mile from the city to the port of Nisaea, to prevent the
+Peloponnesians coming to the rescue from that place, where they formed the sole
+garrison to secure the fidelity of Megara; and that after this the attempt
+should be made to put into their hands the upper town, which it was thought
+would then come over with less difficulty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, after plans had been arranged between themselves and their
+correspondents both as to words and actions, sailed by night to Minoa, the
+island off Megara, with six hundred heavy infantry under the command of
+Hippocrates, and took post in a quarry not far off, out of which bricks used to
+be taken for the walls; while Demosthenes, the other commander, with a
+detachment of Plataean light troops and another of Peripoli, placed himself in
+ambush in the precinct of Enyalius, which was still nearer. No one knew of it,
+except those whose business it was to know that night. A little before
+daybreak, the traitors in Megara began to act. Every night for a long time
+back, under pretence of marauding, in order to have a means of opening the
+gates, they had been used, with the consent of the officer in command, to carry
+by night a sculling boat upon a cart along the ditch to the sea, and so to sail
+out, bringing it back again before day upon the cart, and taking it within the
+wall through the gates, in order, as they pretended, to baffle the Athenian
+blockade at Minoa, there being no boat to be seen in the harbour. On the
+present occasion the cart was already at the gates, which had been opened in
+the usual way for the boat, when the Athenians, with whom this had been
+concerted, saw it, and ran at the top of their speed from the ambush in order
+to reach the gates before they were shut again, and while the cart was still
+there to prevent their being closed; their Megarian accomplices at the same
+moment killing the guard at the gates. The first to run in was Demosthenes with
+his Plataeans and Peripoli, just where the trophy now stands; and he was no
+sooner within the gates than the Plataeans engaged and defeated the nearest
+party of Peloponnesians who had taken the alarm and come to the rescue, and
+secured the gates for the approaching Athenian heavy infantry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this, each of the Athenians as fast as they entered went against the
+wall. A few of the Peloponnesian garrison stood their ground at first, and
+tried to repel the assault, and some of them were killed; but the main body
+took fright and fled; the night attack and the sight of the Megarian traitors
+in arms against them making them think that all Megara had gone over to the
+enemy. It so happened also that the Athenian herald of his own idea called out
+and invited any of the Megarians that wished, to join the Athenian ranks; and
+this was no sooner heard by the garrison than they gave way, and, convinced
+that they were the victims of a concerted attack, took refuge in Nisaea. By
+daybreak, the walls being now taken and the Megarians in the city in great
+agitation, the persons who had negotiated with the Athenians, supported by the
+rest of the popular party which was privy to the plot, said that they ought to
+open the gates and march out to battle. It had been concerted between them that
+the Athenians should rush in, the moment that the gates were opened, while the
+conspirators were to be distinguished from the rest by being anointed with oil,
+and so to avoid being hurt. They could open the gates with more security, as
+four thousand Athenian heavy infantry from Eleusis, and six hundred horse, had
+marched all night, according to agreement, and were now close at hand. The
+conspirators were all ready anointed and at their posts by the gates, when one
+of their accomplices denounced the plot to the opposite party, who gathered
+together and came in a body, and roundly said that they must not march
+out&mdash;a thing they had never yet ventured on even when in greater force
+than at present&mdash;or wantonly compromise the safety of the town, and that
+if what they said was not attended to, the battle would have to be fought in
+Megara. For the rest, they gave no signs of their knowledge of the intrigue,
+but stoutly maintained that their advice was the best, and meanwhile kept close
+by and watched the gates, making it impossible for the conspirators to effect
+their purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenian generals seeing that some obstacle had arisen, and that the
+capture of the town by force was no longer practicable, at once proceeded to
+invest Nisaea, thinking that, if they could take it before relief arrived, the
+surrender of Megara would soon follow. Iron, stone-masons, and everything else
+required quickly coming up from Athens, the Athenians started from the wall
+which they occupied, and from this point built a cross wall looking towards
+Megara down to the sea on either side of Nisaea; the ditch and the walls being
+divided among the army, stones and bricks taken from the suburb, and the
+fruit-trees and timber cut down to make a palisade wherever this seemed
+necessary; the houses also in the suburb with the addition of battlements
+sometimes entering into the fortification. The whole of this day the work
+continued, and by the afternoon of the next the wall was all but completed,
+when the garrison in Nisaea, alarmed by the absolute want of provisions, which
+they used to take in for the day from the upper town, not anticipating any
+speedy relief from the Peloponnesians, and supposing Megara to be hostile,
+capitulated to the Athenians on condition that they should give up their arms,
+and should each be ransomed for a stipulated sum; their Lacedaemonian
+commander, and any others of his countrymen in the place, being left to the
+discretion of the Athenians. On these conditions they surrendered and came out,
+and the Athenians broke down the long walls at their point of junction with
+Megara, took possession of Nisaea, and went on with their other preparations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just at this time the Lacedaemonian Brasidas, son of Tellis, happened to be in
+the neighbourhood of Sicyon and Corinth, getting ready an army for Thrace. As
+soon as he heard of the capture of the walls, fearing for the Peloponnesians in
+Nisaea and the safety of Megara, he sent to the Boeotians to meet him as
+quickly as possible at Tripodiscus, a village so called of the Megarid, under
+Mount Geraneia, and went himself, with two thousand seven hundred Corinthian
+heavy infantry, four hundred Phliasians, six hundred Sicyonians, and such
+troops of his own as he had already levied, expecting to find Nisaea not yet
+taken. Hearing of its fall (he had marched out by night to Tripodiscus), he
+took three hundred picked men from the army, without waiting till his coming
+should be known, and came up to Megara unobserved by the Athenians, who were
+down by the sea, ostensibly, and really if possible, to attempt Nisaea, but
+above all to get into Megara and secure the town. He accordingly invited the
+townspeople to admit his party, saying that he had hopes of recovering Nisaea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, one of the Megarian factions feared that he might expel them and
+restore the exiles; the other that the commons, apprehensive of this very
+danger, might set upon them, and the city be thus destroyed by a battle within
+its gates under the eyes of the ambushed Athenians. He was accordingly refused
+admittance, both parties electing to remain quiet and await the event; each
+expecting a battle between the Athenians and the relieving army, and thinking
+it safer to see their friends victorious before declaring in their favour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unable to carry his point, Brasidas went back to the rest of the army. At
+daybreak the Boeotians joined him. Having determined to relieve Megara, whose
+danger they considered their own, even before hearing from Brasidas, they were
+already in full force at Plataea, when his messenger arrived to add spurs to
+their resolution; and they at once sent on to him two thousand two hundred
+heavy infantry, and six hundred horse, returning home with the main body. The
+whole army thus assembled numbered six thousand heavy infantry. The Athenian
+heavy infantry were drawn up by Nisaea and the sea; but the light troops being
+scattered over the plain were attacked by the Boeotian horse and driven to the
+sea, being taken entirely by surprise, as on previous occasions no relief had
+ever come to the Megarians from any quarter. Here the Boeotians were in their
+turn charged and engaged by the Athenian horse, and a cavalry action ensued
+which lasted a long time, and in which both parties claimed the victory. The
+Athenians killed and stripped the leader of the Boeotian horse and some few of
+his comrades who had charged right up to Nisaea, and remaining masters of the
+bodies gave them back under truce, and set up a trophy; but regarding the
+action as a whole the forces separated without either side having gained a
+decisive advantage, the Boeotians returning to their army and the Athenians to
+Nisaea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this Brasidas and the army came nearer to the sea and to Megara, and
+taking up a convenient position, remained quiet in order of battle, expecting
+to be attacked by the Athenians and knowing that the Megarians were waiting to
+see which would be the victor. This attitude seemed to present two advantages.
+Without taking the offensive or willingly provoking the hazards of a battle,
+they openly showed their readiness to fight, and thus without bearing the
+burden of the day would fairly reap its honours; while at the same time they
+effectually served their interests at Megara. For if they had failed to show
+themselves they would not have had a chance, but would have certainly been
+considered vanquished, and have lost the town. As it was, the Athenians might
+possibly not be inclined to accept their challenge, and their object would be
+attained without fighting. And so it turned out. The Athenians formed outside
+the long walls and, the enemy not attacking, there remained motionless; their
+generals having decided that the risk was too unequal. In fact most of their
+objects had been already attained; and they would have to begin a battle
+against superior numbers, and if victorious could only gain Megara, while a
+defeat would destroy the flower of their heavy soldiery. For the enemy it was
+different; as even the states actually represented in his army risked each only
+a part of its entire force, he might well be more audacious. Accordingly, after
+waiting for some time without either side attacking, the Athenians withdrew to
+Nisaea, and the Peloponnesians after them to the point from which they had set
+out. The friends of the Megarian exiles now threw aside their hesitation, and
+opened the gates to Brasidas and the commanders from the different
+states&mdash;looking upon him as the victor and upon the Athenians as having
+declined the battle&mdash;and receiving them into the town proceeded to discuss
+matters with them; the party in correspondence with the Athenians being
+paralysed by the turn things had taken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Afterwards Brasidas let the allies go home, and himself went back to Corinth,
+to prepare for his expedition to Thrace, his original destination. The
+Athenians also returning home, the Megarians in the city most implicated in the
+Athenian negotiation, knowing that they had been detected, presently
+disappeared; while the rest conferred with the friends of the exiles, and
+restored the party at Pegae, after binding them under solemn oaths to take no
+vengeance for the past, and only to consult the real interests of the town.
+However, as soon as they were in office, they held a review of the heavy
+infantry, and separating the battalions, picked out about a hundred of their
+enemies, and of those who were thought to be most involved in the
+correspondence with the Athenians, brought them before the people, and
+compelling the vote to be given openly, had them condemned and executed, and
+established a close oligarchy in the town&mdash;a revolution which lasted a
+very long while, although effected by a very few partisans.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"></a>
+CHAPTER XIV </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Eighth and Ninth Years of the War&mdash;Invasion of Boeotia&mdash;Fall of
+Amphipolis&mdash;Brilliant Successes of Brasidas
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Mitylenians were about to fortify Antandrus, as they had
+intended, when Demodocus and Aristides, the commanders of the Athenian squadron
+engaged in levying subsidies, heard on the Hellespont of what was being done to
+the place (Lamachus their colleague having sailed with ten ships into the
+Pontus) and conceived fears of its becoming a second Anaia-the place in which
+the Samian exiles had established themselves to annoy Samos, helping the
+Peloponnesians by sending pilots to their navy, and keeping the city in
+agitation and receiving all its outlaws. They accordingly got together a force
+from the allies and set sail, defeated in battle the troops that met them from
+Antandrus, and retook the place. Not long after, Lamachus, who had sailed into
+the Pontus, lost his ships at anchor in the river Calex, in the territory of
+Heraclea, rain having fallen in the interior and the flood coming suddenly down
+upon them; and himself and his troops passed by land through the Bithynian
+Thracians on the Asiatic side, and arrived at Chalcedon, the Megarian colony at
+the mouth of the Pontus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Athenian general, Demosthenes, arrived at Naupactus with
+forty ships immediately after the return from the Megarid. Hippocrates and
+himself had had overtures made to them by certain men in the cities in Boeotia,
+who wished to change the constitution and introduce a democracy as at Athens;
+Ptoeodorus, a Theban exile, being the chief mover in this intrigue. The seaport
+town of Siphae, in the bay of Crisae, in the Thespian territory, was to be
+betrayed to them by one party; Chaeronea (a dependency of what was formerly
+called the Minyan, now the Boeotian, Orchomenus) to be put into their hands by
+another from that town, whose exiles were very active in the business, hiring
+men in Peloponnese. Some Phocians also were in the plot, Chaeronea being the
+frontier town of Boeotia and close to Phanotis in Phocia. Meanwhile the
+Athenians were to seize Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo, in the territory of
+Tanagra looking towards Euboea; and all these events were to take place
+simultaneously upon a day appointed, in order that the Boeotians might be
+unable to unite to oppose them at Delium, being everywhere detained by
+disturbances at home. Should the enterprise succeed, and Delium be fortified,
+its authors confidently expected that even if no revolution should immediately
+follow in Boeotia, yet with these places in their hands, and the country being
+harassed by incursions, and a refuge in each instance near for the partisans
+engaged in them, things would not remain as they were, but that the rebels
+being supported by the Athenians and the forces of the oligarchs divided, it
+would be possible after a while to settle matters according to their wishes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the plot in contemplation. Hippocrates with a force raised at home
+awaited the proper moment to take the field against the Boeotians; while he
+sent on Demosthenes with the forty ships above mentioned to Naupactus, to raise
+in those parts an army of Acarnanians and of the other allies, and sail and
+receive Siphae from the conspirators; a day having been agreed on for the
+simultaneous execution of both these operations. Demosthenes on his arrival
+found Oeniadae already compelled by the united Acarnanians to join the Athenian
+confederacy, and himself raising all the allies in those countries marched
+against and subdued Salynthius and the Agraeans; after which he devoted himself
+to the preparations necessary to enable him to be at Siphae by the time
+appointed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time in the summer, Brasidas set out on his march for the
+Thracian places with seventeen hundred heavy infantry, and arriving at Heraclea
+in Trachis, from thence sent on a messenger to his friends at Pharsalus, to ask
+them to conduct himself and his army through the country. Accordingly there
+came to Melitia in Achaia Panaerus, Dorus, Hippolochidas, Torylaus, and
+Strophacus, the Chalcidian proxenus, under whose escort he resumed his march,
+being accompanied also by other Thessalians, among whom was Niconidas from
+Larissa, a friend of Perdiccas. It was never very easy to traverse Thessaly
+without an escort; and throughout all Hellas for an armed force to pass without
+leave through a neighbour&rsquo;s country was a delicate step to take. Besides
+this the Thessalian people had always sympathized with the Athenians. Indeed if
+instead of the customary close oligarchy there had been a constitutional
+government in Thessaly, he would never have been able to proceed; since even as
+it was, he was met on his march at the river Enipeus by certain of the opposite
+party who forbade his further progress, and complained of his making the
+attempt without the consent of the nation. To this his escort answered that
+they had no intention of taking him through against their will; they were only
+friends in attendance on an unexpected visitor. Brasidas himself added that he
+came as a friend to Thessaly and its inhabitants, his arms not being directed
+against them but against the Athenians, with whom he was at war, and that
+although he knew of no quarrel between the Thessalians and Lacedaemonians to
+prevent the two nations having access to each other&rsquo;s territory, he
+neither would nor could proceed against their wishes; he could only beg them
+not to stop him. With this answer they went away, and he took the advice of his
+escort, and pushed on without halting, before a greater force might gather to
+prevent him. Thus in the day that he set out from Melitia he performed the
+whole distance to Pharsalus, and encamped on the river Apidanus; and so to
+Phacium and from thence to Perrhaebia. Here his Thessalian escort went back,
+and the Perrhaebians, who are subjects of Thessaly, set him down at Dium in the
+dominions of Perdiccas, a Macedonian town under Mount Olympus, looking towards
+Thessaly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this way Brasidas hurried through Thessaly before any one could be got ready
+to stop him, and reached Perdiccas and Chalcidice. The departure of the army
+from Peloponnese had been procured by the Thracian towns in revolt against
+Athens and by Perdiccas, alarmed at the successes of the Athenians. The
+Chalcidians thought that they would be the first objects of an Athenian
+expedition, not that the neighbouring towns which had not yet revolted did not
+also secretly join in the invitation; and Perdiccas also had his apprehensions
+on account of his old quarrels with the Athenians, although not openly at war
+with them, and above all wished to reduce Arrhabaeus, king of the Lyncestians.
+It had been less difficult for them to get an army to leave Peloponnese,
+because of the ill fortune of the Lacedaemonians at the present moment. The
+attacks of the Athenians upon Peloponnese, and in particular upon Laconia,
+might, it was hoped, be diverted most effectually by annoying them in return,
+and by sending an army to their allies, especially as they were willing to
+maintain it and asked for it to aid them in revolting. The Lacedaemonians were
+also glad to have an excuse for sending some of the Helots out of the country,
+for fear that the present aspect of affairs and the occupation of Pylos might
+encourage them to move. Indeed fear of their numbers and obstinacy even
+persuaded the Lacedaemonians to the action which I shall now relate, their
+policy at all times having been governed by the necessity of taking precautions
+against them. The Helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out those of
+their number who claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the
+enemy, in order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to test
+them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom would be the most
+high-spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many as two thousand were selected
+accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples, rejoicing in
+their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them,
+and no one ever knew how each of them perished. The Spartans now therefore
+gladly sent seven hundred as heavy infantry with Brasidas, who recruited the
+rest of his force by means of money in Peloponnese.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasidas himself was sent out by the Lacedaemonians mainly at his own desire,
+although the Chalcidians also were eager to have a man so thorough as he had
+shown himself whenever there was anything to be done at Sparta, and whose
+after-service abroad proved of the utmost use to his country. At the present
+moment his just and moderate conduct towards the towns generally succeeded in
+procuring their revolt, besides the places which he managed to take by
+treachery; and thus when the Lacedaemonians desired to treat, as they
+ultimately did, they had places to offer in exchange, and the burden of war
+meanwhile shifted from Peloponnese. Later on in the war, after the events in
+Sicily, the present valour and conduct of Brasidas, known by experience to
+some, by hearsay to others, was what mainly created in the allies of Athens a
+feeling for the Lacedaemonians. He was the first who went out and showed
+himself so good a man at all points as to leave behind him the conviction that
+the rest were like him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile his arrival in the Thracian country no sooner became known to the
+Athenians than they declared war against Perdiccas, whom they regarded as the
+author of the expedition, and kept a closer watch on their allies in that
+quarter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the arrival of Brasidas and his army, Perdiccas immediately started with
+them and with his own forces against Arrhabaeus, son of Bromerus, king of the
+Lyncestian Macedonians, his neighbour, with whom he had a quarrel and whom he
+wished to subdue. However, when he arrived with his army and Brasidas at the
+pass leading into Lyncus, Brasidas told him that before commencing hostilities
+he wished to go and try to persuade Arrhabaeus to become the ally of
+Lacedaemon, this latter having already made overtures intimating his
+willingness to make Brasidas arbitrator between them, and the Chalcidian envoys
+accompanying him having warned him not to remove the apprehensions of
+Perdiccas, in order to ensure his greater zeal in their cause. Besides, the
+envoys of Perdiccas had talked at Lacedaemon about his bringing many of the
+places round him into alliance with them; and thus Brasidas thought he might
+take a larger view of the question of Arrhabaeus. Perdiccas however retorted
+that he had not brought him with him to arbitrate in their quarrel, but to put
+down the enemies whom he might point out to him; and that while he, Perdiccas,
+maintained half his army it was a breach of faith for Brasidas to parley with
+Arrhabaeus. Nevertheless Brasidas disregarded the wishes of Perdiccas and held
+the parley in spite of him, and suffered himself to be persuaded to lead off
+the army without invading the country of Arrhabaeus; after which Perdiccas,
+holding that faith had not been kept with him, contributed only a third instead
+of half of the support of the army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer, without loss of time, Brasidas marched with the Chalcidians
+against Acanthus, a colony of the Andrians, a little before vintage. The
+inhabitants were divided into two parties on the question of receiving him;
+those who had joined the Chalcidians in inviting him, and the popular party.
+However, fear for their fruit, which was still out, enabled Brasidas to
+persuade the multitude to admit him alone, and to hear what he had to say
+before making a decision; and he was admitted accordingly and appeared before
+the people, and not being a bad speaker for a Lacedaemonian, addressed them as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Acanthians, the Lacedaemonians have sent out me and my army to make good
+the reason that we gave for the war when we began it, viz., that we were going
+to war with the Athenians in order to free Hellas. Our delay in coming has been
+caused by mistaken expectations as to the war at home, which led us to hope, by
+our own unassisted efforts and without your risking anything, to effect the
+speedy downfall of the Athenians; and you must not blame us for this, as we are
+now come the moment that we were able, prepared with your aid to do our best to
+subdue them. Meanwhile I am astonished at finding your gates shut against me,
+and at not meeting with a better welcome. We Lacedaemonians thought of you as
+allies eager to have us, to whom we should come in spirit even before we were
+with you in body; and in this expectation undertook all the risks of a march of
+many days through a strange country, so far did our zeal carry us. It will be a
+terrible thing if after this you have other intentions, and mean to stand in
+the way of your own and Hellenic freedom. It is not merely that you oppose me
+yourselves; but wherever I may go people will be less inclined to join me, on
+the score that you, to whom I first came&mdash;an important town like Acanthus,
+and prudent men like the Acanthians&mdash;refused to admit me. I shall have
+nothing to prove that the reason which I advance is the true one; it will be
+said either that there is something unfair in the freedom which I offer, or
+that I am in insufficient force and unable to protect you against an attack
+from Athens. Yet when I went with the army which I now have to the relief of
+Nisaea, the Athenians did not venture to engage me although in greater force
+than I; and it is not likely they will ever send across sea against you an army
+as numerous as they had at Nisaea. And for myself, I have come here not to hurt
+but to free the Hellenes, witness the solemn oaths by which I have bound my
+government that the allies that I may bring over shall be independent; and
+besides my object in coming is not by force or fraud to obtain your alliance,
+but to offer you mine to help you against your Athenian masters. I protest,
+therefore, against any suspicions of my intentions after the guarantees which I
+offer, and equally so against doubts of my ability to protect you, and I invite
+you to join me without hesitation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Some of you may hang back because they have private enemies, and fear
+that I may put the city into the hands of a party: none need be more tranquil
+than they. I am not come here to help this party or that; and I do not consider
+that I should be bringing you freedom in any real sense, if I should disregard
+your constitution, and enslave the many to the few or the few to the many. This
+would be heavier than a foreign yoke; and we Lacedaemonians, instead of being
+thanked for our pains, should get neither honour nor glory, but, contrariwise,
+reproaches. The charges which strengthen our hands in the war against the
+Athenians would on our own showing be merited by ourselves, and more hateful in
+us than in those who make no pretensions to honesty; as it is more disgraceful
+for persons of character to take what they covet by fair-seeming fraud than by
+open force; the one aggression having for its justification the might which
+fortune gives, the other being simply a piece of clever roguery. A matter which
+concerns us thus nearly we naturally look to most jealously; and over and above
+the oaths that I have mentioned, what stronger assurance can you have, when you
+see that our words, compared with the actual facts, produce the necessary
+conviction that it is our interest to act as we say?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If to these considerations of mine you put in the plea of inability, and
+claim that your friendly feeling should save you from being hurt by your
+refusal; if you say that freedom, in your opinion, is not without its dangers,
+and that it is right to offer it to those who can accept it, but not to force
+it on any against their will, then I shall take the gods and heroes of your
+country to witness that I came for your good and was rejected, and shall do my
+best to compel you by laying waste your land. I shall do so without scruple,
+being justified by the necessity which constrains me, first, to prevent the
+Lacedaemonians from being damaged by you, their friends, in the event of your
+nonadhesion, through the moneys that you pay to the Athenians; and secondly, to
+prevent the Hellenes from being hindered by you in shaking off their servitude.
+Otherwise indeed we should have no right to act as we propose; except in the
+name of some public interest, what call should we Lacedaemonians have to free
+those who do not wish it? Empire we do not aspire to: it is what we are
+labouring to put down; and we should wrong the greater number if we allowed you
+to stand in the way of the independence that we offer to all. Endeavour,
+therefore, to decide wisely, and strive to begin the work of liberation for the
+Hellenes, and lay up for yourselves endless renown, while you escape private
+loss, and cover your commonwealth with glory.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Brasidas. The Acanthians, after much had been said on
+both sides of the question, gave their votes in secret, and the majority,
+influenced by the seductive arguments of Brasidas and by fear for their fruit,
+decided to revolt from Athens; not however admitting the army until they had
+taken his personal security for the oaths sworn by his government before they
+sent him out, assuring the independence of the allies whom he might bring over.
+Not long after, Stagirus, a colony of the Andrians, followed their example and
+revolted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the events of this summer. It was in the first days of the winter
+following that the places in Boeotia were to be put into the hands of the
+Athenian generals, Hippocrates and Demosthenes, the latter of whom was to go
+with his ships to Siphae, the former to Delium. A mistake, however, was made in
+the days on which they were each to start; and Demosthenes, sailing first to
+Siphae, with the Acarnanians and many of the allies from those parts on board,
+failed to effect anything, through the plot having been betrayed by Nicomachus,
+a Phocian from Phanotis, who told the Lacedaemonians, and they the Boeotians.
+Succours accordingly flocked in from all parts of Boeotia, Hippocrates not
+being yet there to make his diversion, and Siphae and Chaeronea were promptly
+secured, and the conspirators, informed of the mistake, did not venture on any
+movement in the towns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Hippocrates made a levy in mass of the citizens, resident aliens, and
+foreigners in Athens, and arrived at his destination after the Boeotians had
+already come back from Siphae, and encamping his army began to fortify Delium,
+the sanctuary of Apollo, in the following manner. A trench was dug all round
+the temple and the consecrated ground, and the earth thrown up from the
+excavation was made to do duty as a wall, in which stakes were also planted,
+the vines round the sanctuary being cut down and thrown in, together with
+stones and bricks pulled down from the houses near; every means, in short,
+being used to run up the rampart. Wooden towers were also erected where they
+were wanted, and where there was no part of the temple buildings left standing,
+as on the side where the gallery once existing had fallen in. The work was
+begun on the third day after leaving home, and continued during the fourth, and
+till dinnertime on the fifth, when most of it being now finished the army
+removed from Delium about a mile and a quarter on its way home. From this point
+most of the light troops went straight on, while the heavy infantry halted and
+remained where they were; Hippocrates having stayed behind at Delium to arrange
+the posts, and to give directions for the completion of such part of the
+outworks as had been left unfinished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the days thus employed the Boeotians were mustering at Tanagra, and by
+the time that they had come in from all the towns, found the Athenians already
+on their way home. The rest of the eleven Boeotarchs were against giving
+battle, as the enemy was no longer in Boeotia, the Athenians being just over
+the Oropian border, when they halted; but Pagondas, son of Aeolidas, one of the
+Boeotarchs of Thebes (Arianthides, son of Lysimachidas, being the other), and
+then commander-in-chief, thought it best to hazard a battle. He accordingly
+called the men to him, company after company, to prevent their all leaving
+their arms at once, and urged them to attack the Athenians, and stand the issue
+of a battle, speaking as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Boeotians, the idea that we ought not to give battle to the Athenians,
+unless we came up with them in Boeotia, is one which should never have entered
+into the head of any of us, your generals. It was to annoy Boeotia that they
+crossed the frontier and built a fort in our country; and they are therefore, I
+imagine, our enemies wherever we may come up with them, and from wheresoever
+they may have come to act as enemies do. And if any one has taken up with the
+idea in question for reasons of safety, it is high time for him to change his
+mind. The party attacked, whose own country is in danger, can scarcely discuss
+what is prudent with the calmness of men who are in full enjoyment of what they
+have got, and are thinking of attacking a neighbour in order to get more. It is
+your national habit, in your country or out of it, to oppose the same
+resistance to a foreign invader; and when that invader is Athenian, and lives
+upon your frontier besides, it is doubly imperative to do so. As between
+neighbours generally, freedom means simply a determination to hold one&rsquo;s
+own; and with neighbours like these, who are trying to enslave near and far
+alike, there is nothing for it but to fight it out to the last. Look at the
+condition of the Euboeans and of most of the rest of Hellas, and be convinced
+that others have to fight with their neighbours for this frontier or that, but
+that for us conquest means one frontier for the whole country, about which no
+dispute can be made, for they will simply come and take by force what we have.
+So much more have we to fear from this neighbour than from another. Besides,
+people who, like the Athenians in the present instance, are tempted by pride of
+strength to attack their neighbours, usually march most confidently against
+those who keep still, and only defend themselves in their own country, but
+think twice before they grapple with those who meet them outside their frontier
+and strike the first blow if opportunity offers. The Athenians have shown us
+this themselves; the defeat which we inflicted upon them at Coronea, at the
+time when our quarrels had allowed them to occupy the country, has given great
+security to Boeotia until the present day. Remembering this, the old must equal
+their ancient exploits, and the young, the sons of the heroes of that time,
+must endeavour not to disgrace their native valour; and trusting in the help of
+the god whose temple has been sacrilegiously fortified, and in the victims
+which in our sacrifices have proved propitious, we must march against the
+enemy, and teach him that he must go and get what he wants by attacking someone
+who will not resist him, but that men whose glory it is to be always ready to
+give battle for the liberty of their own country, and never unjustly to enslave
+that of others, will not let him go without a struggle.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By these arguments Pagondas persuaded the Boeotians to attack the Athenians,
+and quickly breaking up his camp led his army forward, it being now late in the
+day. On nearing the enemy, he halted in a position where a hill intervening
+prevented the two armies from seeing each other, and then formed and prepared
+for action. Meanwhile Hippocrates at Delium, informed of the approach of the
+Boeotians, sent orders to his troops to throw themselves into line, and himself
+joined them not long afterwards, leaving about three hundred horse behind him
+at Delium, at once to guard the place in case of attack, and to watch their
+opportunity and fall upon the Boeotians during the battle. The Boeotians placed
+a detachment to deal with these, and when everything was arranged to their
+satisfaction appeared over the hill, and halted in the order which they had
+determined on, to the number of seven thousand heavy infantry, more than ten
+thousand light troops, one thousand horse, and five hundred targeteers. On
+their right were the Thebans and those of their province, in the centre the
+Haliartians, Coronaeans, Copaeans, and the other people around the lake, and on
+the left the Thespians, Tanagraeans, and Orchomenians, the cavalry and the
+light troops being at the extremity of each wing. The Thebans formed
+twenty-five shields deep, the rest as they pleased. Such was the strength and
+disposition of the Boeotian army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the side of the Athenians, the heavy infantry throughout the whole army
+formed eight deep, being in numbers equal to the enemy, with the cavalry upon
+the two wings. Light troops regularly armed there were none in the army, nor
+had there ever been any at Athens. Those who had joined in the invasion, though
+many times more numerous than those of the enemy, had mostly followed unarmed,
+as part of the levy in mass of the citizens and foreigners at Athens, and
+having started first on their way home were not present in any number. The
+armies being now in line and upon the point of engaging, Hippocrates, the
+general, passed along the Athenian ranks, and encouraged them as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Athenians, I shall only say a few words to you, but brave men require no
+more, and they are addressed more to your understanding than to your courage.
+None of you must fancy that we are going out of our way to run this risk in the
+country of another. Fought in their territory the battle will be for ours: if
+we conquer, the Peloponnesians will never invade your country without the
+Boeotian horse, and in one battle you will win Boeotia and in a manner free
+Attica. Advance to meet them then like citizens of a country in which you all
+glory as the first in Hellas, and like sons of the fathers who beat them at
+Oenophyta with Myronides and thus gained possession of Boeotia.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hippocrates had got half through the army with his exhortation, when the
+Boeotians, after a few more hasty words from Pagondas, struck up the paean, and
+came against them from the hill; the Athenians advancing to meet them, and
+closing at a run. The extreme wing of neither army came into action, one like
+the other being stopped by the water-courses in the way; the rest engaged with
+the utmost obstinacy, shield against shield. The Boeotian left, as far as the
+centre, was worsted by the Athenians. The Thespians in that part of the field
+suffered most severely. The troops alongside them having given way, they were
+surrounded in a narrow space and cut down fighting hand to hand; some of the
+Athenians also fell into confusion in surrounding the enemy and mistook and so
+killed each other. In this part of the field the Boeotians were beaten, and
+retreated upon the troops still fighting; but the right, where the Thebans
+were, got the better of the Athenians and shoved them further and further back,
+though gradually at first. It so happened also that Pagondas, seeing the
+distress of his left, had sent two squadrons of horse, where they could not be
+seen, round the hill, and their sudden appearance struck a panic into the
+victorious wing of the Athenians, who thought that it was another army coming
+against them. At length in both parts of the field, disturbed by this panic,
+and with their line broken by the advancing Thebans, the whole Athenian army
+took to flight. Some made for Delium and the sea, some for Oropus, others for
+Mount Parnes, or wherever they had hopes of safety, pursued and cut down by the
+Boeotians, and in particular by the cavalry, composed partly of Boeotians and
+partly of Locrians, who had come up just as the rout began. Night however
+coming on to interrupt the pursuit, the mass of the fugitives escaped more
+easily than they would otherwise have done. The next day the troops at Oropus
+and Delium returned home by sea, after leaving a garrison in the latter place,
+which they continued to hold notwithstanding the defeat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Boeotians set up a trophy, took up their own dead, and stripped those of
+the enemy, and leaving a guard over them retired to Tanagra, there to take
+measures for attacking Delium. Meanwhile a herald came from the Athenians to
+ask for the dead, but was met and turned back by a Boeotian herald, who told
+him that he would effect nothing until the return of himself the Boeotian
+herald, and who then went on to the Athenians, and told them on the part of the
+Boeotians that they had done wrong in transgressing the law of the Hellenes. Of
+what use was the universal custom protecting the temples in an invaded country,
+if the Athenians were to fortify Delium and live there, acting exactly as if
+they were on unconsecrated ground, and drawing and using for their purposes the
+water which they, the Boeotians, never touched except for sacred uses?
+Accordingly for the god as well as for themselves, in the name of the deities
+concerned, and of Apollo, the Boeotians invited them first to evacuate the
+temple, if they wished to take up the dead that belonged to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After these words from the herald, the Athenians sent their own herald to the
+Boeotians to say that they had not done any wrong to the temple, and for the
+future would do it no more harm than they could help; not having occupied it
+originally in any such design, but to defend themselves from it against those
+who were really wronging them. The law of the Hellenes was that conquest of a
+country, whether more or less extensive, carried with it possession of the
+temples in that country, with the obligation to keep up the usual ceremonies,
+at least as far as possible. The Boeotians and most other people who had turned
+out the owners of a country, and put themselves in their places by force, now
+held as of right the temples which they originally entered as usurpers. If the
+Athenians could have conquered more of Boeotia this would have been the case
+with them: as things stood, the piece of it which they had got they should
+treat as their own, and not quit unless obliged. The water they had disturbed
+under the impulsion of a necessity which they had not wantonly incurred, having
+been forced to use it in defending themselves against the Boeotians who first
+invaded Attica. Besides, anything done under the pressure of war and danger
+might reasonably claim indulgence even in the eye of the god; or why, pray,
+were the altars the asylum for involuntary offences? Transgression also was a
+term applied to presumptuous offenders, not to the victims of adverse
+circumstances. In short, which were most impious&mdash;the Boeotians who wished
+to barter dead bodies for holy places, or the Athenians who refused to give up
+holy places to obtain what was theirs by right? The condition of evacuating
+Boeotia must therefore be withdrawn. They were no longer in Boeotia. They stood
+where they stood by the right of the sword. All that the Boeotians had to do
+was to tell them to take up their dead under a truce according to the national
+custom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Boeotians replied that if they were in Boeotia, they must evacuate that
+country before taking up their dead; if they were in their own territory, they
+could do as they pleased: for they knew that, although the Oropid where the
+bodies as it chanced were lying (the battle having been fought on the borders)
+was subject to Athens, yet the Athenians could not get them without their
+leave. Besides, why should they grant a truce for Athenian ground? And what
+could be fairer than to tell them to evacuate Boeotia if they wished to get
+what they asked? The Athenian herald accordingly returned with this answer,
+without having accomplished his object.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Boeotians at once sent for darters and slingers from the Malian
+Gulf, and with two thousand Corinthian heavy infantry who had joined them after
+the battle, the Peloponnesian garrison which had evacuated Nisaea, and some
+Megarians with them, marched against Delium, and attacked the fort, and after
+divers efforts finally succeeded in taking it by an engine of the following
+description. They sawed in two and scooped out a great beam from end to end,
+and fitting it nicely together again like a pipe, hung by chains a cauldron at
+one extremity, with which communicated an iron tube projecting from the beam,
+which was itself in great part plated with iron. This they brought up from a
+distance upon carts to the part of the wall principally composed of vines and
+timber, and when it was near, inserted huge bellows into their end of the beam
+and blew with them. The blast passing closely confined into the cauldron, which
+was filled with lighted coals, sulphur and pitch, made a great blaze, and set
+fire to the wall, which soon became untenable for its defenders, who left it
+and fled; and in this way the fort was taken. Of the garrison some were killed
+and two hundred made prisoners; most of the rest got on board their ships and
+returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon after the fall of Delium, which took place seventeen days after the
+battle, the Athenian herald, without knowing what had happened, came again for
+the dead, which were now restored by the Boeotians, who no longer answered as
+at first. Not quite five hundred Boeotians fell in the battle, and nearly one
+thousand Athenians, including Hippocrates the general, besides a great number
+of light troops and camp followers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon after this battle Demosthenes, after the failure of his voyage to Siphae
+and of the plot on the town, availed himself of the Acarnanian and Agraean
+troops and of the four hundred Athenian heavy infantry which he had on board,
+to make a descent on the Sicyonian coast. Before however all his ships had come
+to shore, the Sicyonians came up and routed and chased to their ships those
+that had landed, killing some and taking others prisoners; after which they set
+up a trophy, and gave back the dead under truce.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time with the affair of Delium took place the death of Sitalces,
+king of the Odrysians, who was defeated in battle, in a campaign against the
+Triballi; Seuthes, son of Sparadocus, his nephew, succeeding to the kingdom of
+the Odrysians, and of the rest of Thrace ruled by Sitalces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter Brasidas, with his allies in the Thracian places, marched
+against Amphipolis, the Athenian colony on the river Strymon. A settlement upon
+the spot on which the city now stands was before attempted by Aristagoras, the
+Milesian (when he fled from King Darius), who was however dislodged by the
+Edonians; and thirty-two years later by the Athenians, who sent thither ten
+thousand settlers of their own citizens, and whoever else chose to go. These
+were cut off at Drabescus by the Thracians. Twenty-nine years after, the
+Athenians returned (Hagnon, son of Nicias, being sent out as leader of the
+colony) and drove out the Edonians, and founded a town on the spot, formerly
+called Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways. The base from which they started was Eion,
+their commercial seaport at the mouth of the river, not more than three miles
+from the present town, which Hagnon named Amphipolis, because the Strymon flows
+round it on two sides, and he built it so as to be conspicuous from the sea and
+land alike, running a long wall across from river to river, to complete the
+circumference.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasidas now marched against this town, starting from Arne in Chalcidice.
+Arriving about dusk at Aulon and Bromiscus, where the lake of Bolbe runs into
+the sea, he supped there, and went on during the night. The weather was stormy
+and it was snowing a little, which encouraged him to hurry on, in order, if
+possible, to take every one at Amphipolis by surprise, except the party who
+were to betray it. The plot was carried on by some natives of Argilus, an
+Andrian colony, residing in Amphipolis, where they had also other accomplices
+gained over by Perdiccas or the Chalcidians. But the most active in the matter
+were the inhabitants of Argilus itself, which is close by, who had always been
+suspected by the Athenians, and had had designs on the place. These men now saw
+their opportunity arrive with Brasidas, and having for some time been in
+correspondence with their countrymen in Amphipolis for the betrayal of the
+town, at once received him into Argilus, and revolted from the Athenians, and
+that same night took him on to the bridge over the river; where he found only a
+small guard to oppose him, the town being at some distance from the passage,
+and the walls not reaching down to it as at present. This guard he easily drove
+in, partly through there being treason in their ranks, partly from the stormy
+state of the weather and the suddenness of his attack, and so got across the
+bridge, and immediately became master of all the property outside; the
+Amphipolitans having houses all over the quarter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The passage of Brasidas was a complete surprise to the people in the town; and
+the capture of many of those outside, and the flight of the rest within the
+wall, combined to produce great confusion among the citizens; especially as
+they did not trust one another. It is even said that if Brasidas, instead of
+stopping to pillage, had advanced straight against the town, he would probably
+have taken it. In fact, however, he established himself where he was and
+overran the country outside, and for the present remained inactive, vainly
+awaiting a demonstration on the part of his friends within. Meanwhile the party
+opposed to the traitors proved numerous enough to prevent the gates being
+immediately thrown open, and in concert with Eucles, the general, who had come
+from Athens to defend the place, sent to the other commander in Thrace,
+Thucydides, son of Olorus, the author of this history, who was at the isle of
+Thasos, a Parian colony, half a day&rsquo;s sail from Amphipolis, to tell him
+to come to their relief. On receipt of this message he at once set sail with
+seven ships which he had with him, in order, if possible, to reach Amphipolis
+in time to prevent its capitulation, or in any case to save Eion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Brasidas, afraid of succours arriving by sea from Thasos, and
+learning that Thucydides possessed the right of working the gold mines in that
+part of Thrace, and had thus great influence with the inhabitants of the
+continent, hastened to gain the town, if possible, before the people of
+Amphipolis should be encouraged by his arrival to hope that he could save them
+by getting together a force of allies from the sea and from Thrace, and so
+refuse to surrender. He accordingly offered moderate terms, proclaiming that
+any of the Amphipolitans and Athenians who chose, might continue to enjoy their
+property with full rights of citizenship; while those who did not wish to stay
+had five days to depart, taking their property with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bulk of the inhabitants, upon hearing this, began to change their minds,
+especially as only a small number of the citizens were Athenians, the majority
+having come from different quarters, and many of the prisoners outside had
+relations within the walls. They found the proclamation a fair one in
+comparison of what their fear had suggested; the Athenians being glad to go
+out, as they thought they ran more risk than the rest, and further, did not
+expect any speedy relief, and the multitude generally being content at being
+left in possession of their civic rights, and at such an unexpected reprieve
+from danger. The partisans of Brasidas now openly advocated this course, seeing
+that the feeling of the people had changed, and that they no longer gave ear to
+the Athenian general present; and thus the surrender was made and Brasidas was
+admitted by them on the terms of his proclamation. In this way they gave up the
+city, and late in the same day Thucydides and his ships entered the harbour of
+Eion, Brasidas having just got hold of Amphipolis, and having been within a
+night of taking Eion: had the ships been less prompt in relieving it, in the
+morning it would have been his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this Thucydides put all in order at Eion to secure it against any present
+or future attack of Brasidas, and received such as had elected to come there
+from the interior according to the terms agreed on. Meanwhile Brasidas suddenly
+sailed with a number of boats down the river to Eion to see if he could not
+seize the point running out from the wall, and so command the entrance; at the
+same time he attempted it by land, but was beaten off on both sides and had to
+content himself with arranging matters at Amphipolis and in the neighbourhood.
+Myrcinus, an Edonian town, also came over to him; the Edonian king Pittacus
+having been killed by the sons of Goaxis and his own wife Brauro; and Galepsus
+and Oesime, which are Thasian colonies, not long after followed its example.
+Perdiccas too came up immediately after the capture and joined in these
+arrangements.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The news that Amphipolis was in the hands of the enemy caused great alarm at
+Athens. Not only was the town valuable for the timber it afforded for
+shipbuilding, and the money that it brought in; but also, although the escort
+of the Thessalians gave the Lacedaemonians a means of reaching the allies of
+Athens as far as the Strymon, yet as long as they were not masters of the
+bridge but were watched on the side of Eion by the Athenian galleys, and on the
+land side impeded by a large and extensive lake formed by the waters of the
+river, it was impossible for them to go any further. Now, on the contrary, the
+path seemed open. There was also the fear of the allies revolting, owing to the
+moderation displayed by Brasidas in all his conduct, and to the declarations
+which he was everywhere making that he sent out to free Hellas. The towns
+subject to the Athenians, hearing of the capture of Amphipolis and of the terms
+accorded to it, and of the gentleness of Brasidas, felt most strongly
+encouraged to change their condition, and sent secret messages to him, begging
+him to come on to them; each wishing to be the first to revolt. Indeed there
+seemed to be no danger in so doing; their mistake in their estimate of the
+Athenian power was as great as that power afterwards turned out to be, and
+their judgment was based more upon blind wishing than upon any sound prevision;
+for it is a habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for,
+and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not fancy. Besides the
+late severe blow which the Athenians had met with in Boeotia, joined to the
+seductive, though untrue, statements of Brasidas, about the Athenians not
+having ventured to engage his single army at Nisaea, made the allies confident,
+and caused them to believe that no Athenian force would be sent against them.
+Above all the wish to do what was agreeable at the moment, and the likelihood
+that they should find the Lacedaemonians full of zeal at starting, made them
+eager to venture. Observing this, the Athenians sent garrisons to the different
+towns, as far as was possible at such short notice and in winter; while
+Brasidas sent dispatches to Lacedaemon asking for reinforcements, and himself
+made preparations for building galleys in the Strymon. The Lacedaemonians
+however did not send him any, partly through envy on the part of their chief
+men, partly because they were more bent on recovering the prisoners of the
+island and ending the war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Megarians took and razed to the foundations the long walls
+which had been occupied by the Athenians; and Brasidas after the capture of
+Amphipolis marched with his allies against Acte, a promontory running out from
+the King&rsquo;s dike with an inward curve, and ending in Athos, a lofty
+mountain looking towards the Aegean Sea. In it are various towns, Sane, an
+Andrian colony, close to the canal, and facing the sea in the direction of
+Euboea; the others being Thyssus, Cleone, Acrothoi, Olophyxus, and Dium,
+inhabited by mixed barbarian races speaking the two languages. There is also a
+small Chalcidian element; but the greater number are Tyrrheno-Pelasgians once
+settled in Lemnos and Athens, and Bisaltians, Crestonians, and Edonians; the
+towns being all small ones. Most of these came over to Brasidas; but Sane and
+Dium held out and saw their land ravaged by him and his army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon their not submitting, he at once marched against Torone in Chalcidice,
+which was held by an Athenian garrison, having been invited by a few persons
+who were prepared to hand over the town. Arriving in the dark a little before
+daybreak, he sat down with his army near the temple of the Dioscuri, rather
+more than a quarter of a mile from the city. The rest of the town of Torone and
+the Athenians in garrison did not perceive his approach; but his partisans
+knowing that he was coming (a few of them had secretly gone out to meet him)
+were on the watch for his arrival, and were no sooner aware of it than they
+took it to them seven light-armed men with daggers, who alone of twenty men
+ordered on this service dared to enter, commanded by Lysistratus an Olynthian.
+These passed through the sea wall, and without being seen went up and put to
+the sword the garrison of the highest post in the town, which stands on a hill,
+and broke open the postern on the side of Canastraeum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasidas meanwhile came a little nearer and then halted with his main body,
+sending on one hundred targeteers to be ready to rush in first, the moment that
+a gate should be thrown open and the beacon lighted as agreed. After some time
+passed in waiting and wondering at the delay, the targeteers by degrees got up
+close to the town. The Toronaeans inside at work with the party that had
+entered had by this time broken down the postern and opened the gates leading
+to the market-place by cutting through the bar, and first brought some men
+round and let them in by the postern, in order to strike a panic into the
+surprised townsmen by suddenly attacking them from behind and on both sides at
+once; after which they raised the fire-signal as had been agreed, and took in
+by the market gates the rest of the targeteers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasidas seeing the signal told the troops to rise, and dashed forward amid the
+loud hurrahs of his men, which carried dismay among the astonished townspeople.
+Some burst in straight by the gate, others over some square pieces of timber
+placed against the wall (which has fallen down and was being rebuilt) to draw
+up stones; Brasidas and the greater number making straight uphill for the
+higher part of the town, in order to take it from top to bottom, and once for
+all, while the rest of the multitude spread in all directions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The capture of the town was effected before the great body of the Toronaeans
+had recovered from their surprise and confusion; but the conspirators and the
+citizens of their party at once joined the invaders. About fifty of the
+Athenian heavy infantry happened to be sleeping in the market-place when the
+alarm reached them. A few of these were killed fighting; the rest escaped, some
+by land, others to the two ships on the station, and took refuge in Lecythus, a
+fort garrisoned by their own men in the corner of the town running out into the
+sea and cut off by a narrow isthmus; where they were joined by the Toronaeans
+of their party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Day now arrived, and the town being secured, Brasidas made a proclamation to
+the Toronaeans who had taken refuge with the Athenians, to come out, as many as
+chose, to their homes without fearing for their rights or persons, and sent a
+herald to invite the Athenians to accept a truce, and to evacuate Lecythus with
+their property, as being Chalcidian ground. The Athenians refused this offer,
+but asked for a truce for a day to take up their dead. Brasidas granted it for
+two days, which he employed in fortifying the houses near, and the Athenians in
+doing the same to their positions. Meanwhile he called a meeting of the
+Toronaeans, and said very much what he had said at Acanthus, namely, that they
+must not look upon those who had negotiated with him for the capture of the
+town as bad men or as traitors, as they had not acted as they had done from
+corrupt motives or in order to enslave the city, but for the good and freedom
+of Torone; nor again must those who had not shared in the enterprise fancy that
+they would not equally reap its fruits, as he had not come to destroy either
+city or individual. This was the reason of his proclamation to those that had
+fled for refuge to the Athenians: he thought none the worse of them for their
+friendship for the Athenians; he believed that they had only to make trial of
+the Lacedaemonians to like them as well, or even much better, as acting much
+more justly: it was for want of such a trial that they were now afraid of them.
+Meanwhile he warned all of them to prepare to be staunch allies, and for being
+held responsible for all faults in future: for the past, they had not wronged
+the Lacedaemonians but had been wronged by others who were too strong for them,
+and any opposition that they might have offered him could be excused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having encouraged them with this address, as soon as the truce expired he made
+his attack upon Lecythus; the Athenians defending themselves from a poor wall
+and from some houses with parapets. One day they beat him off; the next the
+enemy were preparing to bring up an engine against them from which they meant
+to throw fire upon the wooden defences, and the troops were already coming up
+to the point where they fancied they could best bring up the engine, and where
+place was most assailable; meanwhile the Athenians put a wooden tower upon a
+house opposite, and carried up a quantity of jars and casks of water and big
+stones, and a large number of men also climbed up. The house thus laden too
+heavily suddenly broke down with a loud crash; at which the men who were near
+and saw it were more vexed than frightened; but those not so near, and still
+more those furthest off, thought that the place was already taken at that
+point, and fled in haste to the sea and the ships.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasidas, perceiving that they were deserting the parapet, and seeing what was
+going on, dashed forward with his troops, and immediately took the fort, and
+put to the sword all whom he found in it. In this way the place was evacuated
+by the Athenians, who went across in their boats and ships to Pallene. Now
+there is a temple of Athene in Lecythus, and Brasidas had proclaimed in the
+moment of making the assault that he would give thirty silver minae to the man
+first on the wall. Being now of opinion that the capture was scarcely due to
+human means, he gave the thirty minae to the goddess for her temple, and razed
+and cleared Lecythus, and made the whole of it consecrated ground. The rest of
+the winter he spent in settling the places in his hands, and in making designs
+upon the rest; and with the expiration of the winter the eighth year of this
+war ended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the spring of the summer following, the Lacedaemonians and Athenians made an
+armistice for a year; the Athenians thinking that they would thus have full
+leisure to take their precautions before Brasidas could procure the revolt of
+any more of their towns, and might also, if it suited them, conclude a general
+peace; the Lacedaemonians divining the actual fears of the Athenians, and
+thinking that after once tasting a respite from trouble and misery they would
+be more disposed to consent to a reconciliation, and to give back the
+prisoners, and make a treaty for the longer period. The great idea of the
+Lacedaemonians was to get back their men while Brasidas&rsquo;s good fortune
+lasted: further successes might make the struggle a less unequal one in
+Chalcidice, but would leave them still deprived of their men, and even in
+Chalcidice not more than a match for the Athenians and by no means certain of
+victory. An armistice was accordingly concluded by Lacedaemon and her allies
+upon the terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. As to the temple and oracle of the Pythian Apollo, we are agreed that
+whosoever will shall have access to it, without fraud or fear, according to the
+usages of his forefathers. The Lacedaemonians and the allies present agree to
+this, and promise to send heralds to the Boeotians and Phocians, and to do
+their best to persuade them to agree likewise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. As to the treasure of the god, we agree to exert ourselves to detect all
+malversators, truly and honestly following the customs of our forefathers, we
+and you and all others willing to do so, all following the customs of our
+forefathers. As to these points the Lacedaemonians and the other allies are
+agreed as has been said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. As to what follows, the Lacedaemonians and the other allies agree, if the
+Athenians conclude a treaty, to remain, each of us in our own territory,
+retaining our respective acquisitions: the garrison in Coryphasium keeping
+within Buphras and Tomeus: that in Cythera attempting no communication with the
+Peloponnesian confederacy, neither we with them, nor they with us: that in
+Nisaea and Minoa not crossing the road leading from the gates of the temple of
+Nisus to that of Poseidon and from thence straight to the bridge at Minoa: the
+Megarians and the allies being equally bound not to cross this road, and the
+Athenians retaining the island they have taken, without any communication on
+either side: as to Troezen, each side retaining what it has, and as was
+arranged with the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. As to the use of the sea, so far as refers to their own coast and to that of
+their confederacy, that the Lacedaemonians and their allies may voyage upon it
+in any vessel rowed by oars and of not more than five hundred talents tonnage,
+not a vessel of war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+5. That all heralds and embassies, with as many attendants as they please, for
+concluding the war and adjusting claims, shall have free passage, going and
+coming, to Peloponnese or Athens by land and by sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+6. That during the truce, deserters whether bond or free shall be received
+neither by you, nor by us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+7. Further, that satisfaction shall be given by you to us and by us to you
+according to the public law of our several countries, all disputes being
+settled by law without recourse to hostilities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians and allies agree to these articles; but if you have anything
+fairer or juster to suggest, come to Lacedaemon and let us know: whatever shall
+be just will meet with no objection either from the Lacedaemonians or from the
+allies. Only let those who come come with full powers, as you desire us. The
+truce shall be for one year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Approved by the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tribe of Acamantis had the prytany, Phoenippus was secretary, Niciades
+chairman. Laches moved, in the name of the good luck of the Athenians, that
+they should conclude the armistice upon the terms agreed upon by the
+Lacedaemonians and the allies. It was agreed accordingly in the popular
+assembly that the armistice should be for one year, beginning that very day,
+the fourteenth of the month of Elaphebolion; during which time ambassadors and
+heralds should go and come between the two countries to discuss the bases of a
+pacification. That the generals and prytanes should call an assembly of the
+people, in which the Athenians should first consult on the peace, and on the
+mode in which the embassy for putting an end to the war should be admitted.
+That the embassy now present should at once take the engagement before the
+people to keep well and truly this truce for one year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On these terms the Lacedaemonians concluded with the Athenians and their allies
+on the twelfth day of the Spartan month Gerastius; the allies also taking the
+oaths. Those who concluded and poured the libation were Taurus, son of
+Echetimides, Athenaeus, son of Pericleidas, and Philocharidas, son of
+Eryxidaidas, Lacedaemonians; Aeneas, son of Ocytus, and Euphamidas, son of
+Aristonymus, Corinthians; Damotimus, son of Naucrates, and Onasimus, son of
+Megacles, Sicyonians; Nicasus, son of Cecalus, and Menecrates, son of
+Amphidorus, Megarians; and Amphias, son of Eupaidas, an Epidaurian; and the
+Athenian generals Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes, Nicias, son of Niceratus, and
+Autocles, son of Tolmaeus. Such was the armistice, and during the whole of it
+conferences went on on the subject of a pacification.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the days in which they were going backwards and forwards to these
+conferences, Scione, a town in Pallene, revolted from Athens, and went over to
+Brasidas. The Scionaeans say that they are Pallenians from Peloponnese, and
+that their first founders on their voyage from Troy were carried in to this
+spot by the storm which the Achaeans were caught in, and there settled. The
+Scionaeans had no sooner revolted than Brasidas crossed over by night to
+Scione, with a friendly galley ahead and himself in a small boat some way
+behind; his idea being that if he fell in with a vessel larger than the boat he
+would have the galley to defend him, while a ship that was a match for the
+galley would probably neglect the small vessel to attack the large one, and
+thus leave him time to escape. His passage effected, he called a meeting of the
+Scionaeans and spoke to the same effect as at Acanthus and Torone, adding that
+they merited the utmost commendation, in that, in spite of Pallene within the
+isthmus being cut off by the Athenian occupation of Potidæa and of their own
+practically insular position, they had of their own free will gone forward to
+meet their liberty instead of timorously waiting until they had been by force
+compelled to their own manifest good. This was a sign that they would valiantly
+undergo any trial, however great; and if he should order affairs as he
+intended, he should count them among the truest and sincerest friends of the
+Lacedaemonians, and would in every other way honour them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Scionaeans were elated by his language, and even those who had at first
+disapproved of what was being done catching the general confidence, they
+determined on a vigorous conduct of the war, and welcomed Brasidas with all
+possible honours, publicly crowning him with a crown of gold as the liberator
+of Hellas; while private persons crowded round him and decked him with garlands
+as though he had been an athlete. Meanwhile Brasidas left them a small garrison
+for the present and crossed back again, and not long afterwards sent over a
+larger force, intending with the help of the Scionaeans to attempt Mende and
+Potidæa before the Athenians should arrive; Scione, he felt, being too like an
+island for them not to relieve it. He had besides intelligence in the above
+towns about their betrayal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of his designs upon the towns in question, a galley arrived with
+the commissioners carrying round the news of the armistice, Aristonymus for the
+Athenians and Athenaeus for the Lacedaemonians. The troops now crossed back to
+Torone, and the commissioners gave Brasidas notice of the convention. All the
+Lacedaemonian allies in Thrace accepted what had been done; and Aristonymus
+made no difficulty about the rest, but finding, on counting the days, that the
+Scionaeans had revolted after the date of the convention, refused to include
+them in it. To this Brasidas earnestly objected, asserting that the revolt took
+place before, and would not give up the town. Upon Aristonymus reporting the
+case to Athens, the people at once prepared to send an expedition to Scione.
+Upon this, envoys arrived from Lacedaemon, alleging that this would be a breach
+of the truce, and laying claim to the town upon the faith of the assertion of
+Brasidas, and meanwhile offering to submit the question to arbitration.
+Arbitration, however, was what the Athenians did not choose to risk; being
+determined to send troops at once to the place, and furious at the idea of even
+the islanders now daring to revolt, in a vain reliance upon the power of the
+Lacedaemonians by land. Besides the facts of the revolt were rather as the
+Athenians contended, the Scionaeans having revolted two days after the
+convention. Cleon accordingly succeeded in carrying a decree to reduce and put
+to death the Scionaeans; and the Athenians employed the leisure which they now
+enjoyed in preparing for the expedition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Mende revolted, a town in Pallene and a colony of the Eretrians, and
+was received without scruple by Brasidas, in spite of its having evidently come
+over during the armistice, on account of certain infringements of the truce
+alleged by him against the Athenians. This audacity of Mende was partly caused
+by seeing Brasidas forward in the matter and by the conclusions drawn from his
+refusal to betray Scione; and besides, the conspirators in Mende were few, and,
+as I have already intimated, had carried on their practices too long not to
+fear detection for themselves, and not to wish to force the inclination of the
+multitude. This news made the Athenians more furious than ever, and they at
+once prepared against both towns. Brasidas, expecting their arrival, conveyed
+away to Olynthus in Chalcidice the women and children of the Scionaeans and
+Mendaeans, and sent over to them five hundred Peloponnesian heavy infantry and
+three hundred Chalcidian targeteers, all under the command of Polydamidas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving these two towns to prepare together against the speedy arrival of the
+Athenians, Brasidas and Perdiccas started on a second joint expedition into
+Lyncus against Arrhabaeus; the latter with the forces of his Macedonian
+subjects, and a corps of heavy infantry composed of Hellenes domiciled in the
+country; the former with the Peloponnesians whom he still had with him and the
+Chalcidians, Acanthians, and the rest in such force as they were able. In all
+there were about three thousand Hellenic heavy infantry, accompanied by all the
+Macedonian cavalry with the Chalcidians, near one thousand strong, besides an
+immense crowd of barbarians. On entering the country of Arrhabaeus, they found
+the Lyncestians encamped awaiting them, and themselves took up a position
+opposite. The infantry on either side were upon a hill, with a plain between
+them, into which the horse of both armies first galloped down and engaged a
+cavalry action. After this the Lyncestian heavy infantry advanced from their
+hill to join their cavalry and offered battle; upon which Brasidas and
+Perdiccas also came down to meet them, and engaged and routed them with heavy
+loss; the survivors taking refuge upon the heights and there remaining
+inactive. The victors now set up a trophy and waited two or three days for the
+Illyrian mercenaries who were to join Perdiccas. Perdiccas then wished to go on
+and attack the villages of Arrhabaeus, and to sit still no longer; but
+Brasidas, afraid that the Athenians might sail up during his absence, and of
+something happening to Mende, and seeing besides that the Illyrians did not
+appear, far from seconding this wish was anxious to return.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While they were thus disputing, the news arrived that the Illyrians had
+actually betrayed Perdiccas and had joined Arrhabaeus; and the fear inspired by
+their warlike character made both parties now think it best to retreat.
+However, owing to the dispute, nothing had been settled as to when they should
+start; and night coming on, the Macedonians and the barbarian crowd took fright
+in a moment in one of those mysterious panics to which great armies are liable;
+and persuaded that an army many times more numerous than that which had really
+arrived was advancing and all but upon them, suddenly broke and fled in the
+direction of home, and thus compelled Perdiccas, who at first did not perceive
+what had occurred, to depart without seeing Brasidas, the two armies being
+encamped at a considerable distance from each other. At daybreak Brasidas,
+perceiving that the Macedonians had gone on, and that the Illyrians and
+Arrhabaeus were on the point of attacking him, formed his heavy infantry into a
+square, with the light troops in the centre, and himself also prepared to
+retreat. Posting his youngest soldiers to dash out wherever the enemy should
+attack them, he himself with three hundred picked men in the rear intended to
+face about during the retreat and beat off the most forward of their
+assailants, Meanwhile, before the enemy approached, he sought to sustain the
+courage of his soldiers with the following hasty exhortation:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Peloponnesians, if I did not suspect you of being dismayed at being left
+alone to sustain the attack of a numerous and barbarian enemy, I should just
+have said a few words to you as usual without further explanation. As it is, in
+the face of the desertion of our friends and the numbers of the enemy, I have
+some advice and information to offer, which, brief as they must be, will, I
+hope, suffice for the more important points. The bravery that you habitually
+display in war does not depend on your having allies at your side in this or
+that encounter, but on your native courage; nor have numbers any terrors for
+citizens of states like yours, in which the many do not rule the few, but
+rather the few the many, owing their position to nothing else than to
+superiority in the field. Inexperience now makes you afraid of barbarians; and
+yet the trial of strength which you had with the Macedonians among them, and my
+own judgment, confirmed by what I hear from others, should be enough to satisfy
+you that they will not prove formidable. Where an enemy seems strong but is
+really weak, a true knowledge of the facts makes his adversary the bolder, just
+as a serious antagonist is encountered most confidently by those who do not
+know him. Thus the present enemy might terrify an inexperienced imagination;
+they are formidable in outward bulk, their loud yelling is unbearable, and the
+brandishing of their weapons in the air has a threatening appearance. But when
+it comes to real fighting with an opponent who stands his ground, they are not
+what they seemed; they have no regular order that they should be ashamed of
+deserting their positions when hard pressed; flight and attack are with them
+equally honourable, and afford no test of courage; their independent mode of
+fighting never leaving any one who wants to run away without a fair excuse for
+so doing. In short, they think frightening you at a secure distance a surer
+game than meeting you hand to hand; otherwise they would have done the one and
+not the other. You can thus plainly see that the terrors with which they were
+at first invested are in fact trifling enough, though to the eye and ear very
+prominent. Stand your ground therefore when they advance, and again wait your
+opportunity to retire in good order, and you will reach a place of safety all
+the sooner, and will know for ever afterwards that rabble such as these, to
+those who sustain their first attack, do but show off their courage by threats
+of the terrible things that they are going to do, at a distance, but with those
+who give way to them are quick enough to display their heroism in pursuit when
+they can do so without danger.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this brief address Brasidas began to lead off his army. Seeing this, the
+barbarians came on with much shouting and hubbub, thinking that he was flying
+and that they would overtake him and cut him off. But wherever they charged
+they found the young men ready to dash out against them, while Brasidas with
+his picked company sustained their onset. Thus the Peloponnesians withstood the
+first attack, to the surprise of the enemy, and afterwards received and
+repulsed them as fast as they came on, retiring as soon as their opponents
+became quiet. The main body of the barbarians ceased therefore to molest the
+Hellenes with Brasidas in the open country, and leaving behind a certain number
+to harass their march, the rest went on after the flying Macedonians, slaying
+those with whom they came up, and so arrived in time to occupy the narrow pass
+between two hills that leads into the country of Arrhabaeus. They knew that
+this was the only way by which Brasidas could retreat, and now proceeded to
+surround him just as he entered the most impracticable part of the road, in
+order to cut him off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasidas, perceiving their intention, told his three hundred to run on without
+order, each as quickly as he could, to the hill which seemed easiest to take,
+and to try to dislodge the barbarians already there, before they should be
+joined by the main body closing round him. These attacked and overpowered the
+party upon the hill, and the main army of the Hellenes now advanced with less
+difficulty towards it&mdash;the barbarians being terrified at seeing their men
+on that side driven from the height and no longer following the main body, who,
+they considered, had gained the frontier and made good their escape. The
+heights once gained, Brasidas now proceeded more securely, and the same day
+arrived at Arnisa, the first town in the dominions of Perdiccas. The soldiers,
+enraged at the desertion of the Macedonians, vented their rage on all their
+yokes of oxen which they found on the road, and on any baggage which had
+tumbled off (as might easily happen in the panic of a night retreat), by
+unyoking and cutting down the cattle and taking the baggage for themselves.
+From this moment Perdiccas began to regard Brasidas as an enemy and to feel
+against the Peloponnesians a hatred which could not be congenial to the
+adversary of the Athenians. However, he departed from his natural interests and
+made it his endeavour to come to terms with the latter and to get rid of the
+former.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On his return from Macedonia to Torone, Brasidas found the Athenians already
+masters of Mende, and remained quiet where he was, thinking it now out of his
+power to cross over into Pallene and assist the Mendaeans, but he kept good
+watch over Torone. For about the same time as the campaign in Lyncus, the
+Athenians sailed upon the expedition which we left them preparing against Mende
+and Scione, with fifty ships, ten of which were Chians, one thousand Athenian
+heavy infantry and six hundred archers, one hundred Thracian mercenaries and
+some targeteers drawn from their allies in the neighbourhood, under the command
+of Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes. Weighing from
+Potidæa, the fleet came to land opposite the temple of Poseidon, and proceeded
+against Mende; the men of which town, reinforced by three hundred Scionaeans,
+with their Peloponnesian auxiliaries, seven hundred heavy infantry in all,
+under Polydamidas, they found encamped upon a strong hill outside the city.
+These Nicias, with one hundred and twenty light-armed Methonaeans, sixty picked
+men from the Athenian heavy infantry, and all the archers, tried to reach by a
+path running up the hill, but received a wound and found himself unable to
+force the position; while Nicostratus, with all the rest of the army, advancing
+upon the hill, which was naturally difficult, by a different approach further
+off, was thrown into utter disorder; and the whole Athenian army narrowly
+escaped being defeated. For that day, as the Mendaeans and their allies showed
+no signs of yielding, the Athenians retreated and encamped, and the Mendaeans
+at nightfall returned into the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Athenians sailed round to the Scione side, and took the
+suburb, and all day plundered the country, without any one coming out against
+them, partly because of intestine disturbances in the town; and the following
+night the three hundred Scionaeans returned home. On the morrow Nicias advanced
+with half the army to the frontier of Scione and laid waste the country; while
+Nicostratus with the remainder sat down before the town near the upper gate on
+the road to Potidæa. The arms of the Mendaeans and of their Peloponnesian
+auxiliaries within the wall happened to be piled in that quarter, where
+Polydamidas accordingly began to draw them up for battle, encouraging the
+Mendaeans to make a sortie. At this moment one of the popular party answered
+him factiously that they would not go out and did not want a war, and for thus
+answering was dragged by the arm and knocked about by Polydamidas. Hereupon the
+infuriated commons at once seized their arms and rushed at the Peloponnesians
+and at their allies of the opposite faction. The troops thus assaulted were at
+once routed, partly from the suddenness of the conflict and partly through fear
+of the gates being opened to the Athenians, with whom they imagined that the
+attack had been concerted. As many as were not killed on the spot took refuge
+in the citadel, which they had held from the first; and the whole, Athenian
+army, Nicias having by this time returned and being close to the city, now
+burst into Mende, which had opened its gates without any convention, and sacked
+it just as if they had taken it by storm, the generals even finding some
+difficulty in restraining them from also massacring the inhabitants. After this
+the Athenians told the Mendaeans that they might retain their civil rights, and
+themselves judge the supposed authors of the revolt; and cut off the party in
+the citadel by a wall built down to the sea on either side, appointing troops
+to maintain the blockade. Having thus secured Mende, they proceeded against
+Scione.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Scionaeans and Peloponnesians marched out against them, occupying a strong
+hill in front of the town, which had to be captured by the enemy before they
+could invest the place. The Athenians stormed the hill, defeated and dislodged
+its occupants, and, having encamped and set up a trophy, prepared for the work
+of circumvallation. Not long after they had begun their operations, the
+auxiliaries besieged in the citadel of Mende forced the guard by the sea-side
+and arrived by night at Scione, into which most of them succeeded in entering,
+passing through the besieging army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the investment of Scione was in progress, Perdiccas sent a herald to the
+Athenian generals and made peace with the Athenians, through spite against
+Brasidas for the retreat from Lyncus, from which moment indeed he had begun to
+negotiate. The Lacedaemonian Ischagoras was just then upon the point of
+starting with an army overland to join Brasidas; and Perdiccas, being now
+required by Nicias to give some proof of the sincerity of his reconciliation to
+the Athenians, and being himself no longer disposed to let the Peloponnesians
+into his country, put in motion his friends in Thessaly, with whose chief men
+he always took care to have relations, and so effectually stopped the army and
+its preparation that they did not even try the Thessalians. Ischagoras himself,
+however, with Ameinias and Aristeus, succeeded in reaching Brasidas; they had
+been commissioned by the Lacedaemonians to inspect the state of affairs, and
+brought out from Sparta (in violation of all precedent) some of their young men
+to put in command of the towns, to guard against their being entrusted to the
+persons upon the spot. Brasidas accordingly placed Clearidas, son of Cleonymus,
+in Amphipolis, and Pasitelidas, son of Hegesander, in Torone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Thebans dismantled the wall of the Thespians on the charge
+of Atticism, having always wished to do so, and now finding it an easy matter,
+as the flower of the Thespian youth had perished in the battle with the
+Athenians. The same summer also the temple of Hera at Argos was burnt down,
+through Chrysis, the priestess, placing a lighted torch near the garlands and
+then falling asleep, so that they all caught fire and were in a blaze before
+she observed it. Chrysis that very night fled to Phlius for fear of the
+Argives, who, agreeably to the law in such a case, appointed another priestess
+named Phaeinis. Chrysis at the time of her flight had been priestess for eight
+years of the present war and half the ninth. At the close of the summer the
+investment of Scione was completed, and the Athenians, leaving a detachment to
+maintain the blockade, returned with the rest of their army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the winter following, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were kept quiet
+by the armistice; but the Mantineans and Tegeans, and their respective allies,
+fought a battle at Laodicium, in the Oresthid. The victory remained doubtful,
+as each side routed one of the wings opposed to them, and both set up trophies
+and sent spoils to Delphi. After heavy loss on both sides the battle was
+undecided, and night interrupted the action; yet the Tegeans passed the night
+on the field and set up a trophy at once, while the Mantineans withdrew to
+Bucolion and set up theirs afterwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the close of the same winter, in fact almost in spring, Brasidas made an
+attempt upon Potidæa. He arrived by night, and succeeded in planting a ladder
+against the wall without being discovered, the ladder being planted just in the
+interval between the passing round of the bell and the return of the man who
+brought it back. Upon the garrison, however, taking the alarm immediately
+afterwards, before his men came up, he quickly led off his troops, without
+waiting until it was day. So ended the winter and the ninth year of this war of
+which Thucydides is the historian.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"></a>
+BOOK V </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"></a>
+CHAPTER XV </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Tenth Year of the War&mdash;Death of Cleon and Brasidas&mdash;Peace of Nicias
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next summer the truce for a year ended, after lasting until the Pythian
+games. During the armistice the Athenians expelled the Delians from Delos,
+concluding that they must have been polluted by some old offence at the time of
+their consecration, and that this had been the omission in the previous
+purification of the island, which, as I have related, had been thought to have
+been duly accomplished by the removal of the graves of the dead. The Delians
+had Atramyttium in Asia given them by Pharnaces, and settled there as they
+removed from Delos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Cleon prevailed on the Athenians to let him set sail at the
+expiration of the armistice for the towns in the direction of Thrace with
+twelve hundred heavy infantry and three hundred horse from Athens, a large
+force of the allies, and thirty ships. First touching at the still besieged
+Scione, and taking some heavy infantry from the army there, he next sailed into
+Cophos, a harbour in the territory of Torone, which is not far from the town.
+From thence, having learnt from deserters that Brasidas was not in Torone, and
+that its garrison was not strong enough to give him battle, he advanced with
+his army against the town, sending ten ships to sail round into the harbour. He
+first came to the fortification lately thrown up in front of the town by
+Brasidas in order to take in the suburb, to do which he had pulled down part of
+the original wall and made it all one city. To this point Pasitelidas, the
+Lacedaemonian commander, with such garrison as there was in the place, hurried
+to repel the Athenian assault; but finding himself hard pressed, and seeing the
+ships that had been sent round sailing into the harbour, Pasitelidas began to
+be afraid that they might get up to the city before its defenders were there
+and, the fortification being also carried, he might be taken prisoner, and so
+abandoned the outwork and ran into the town. But the Athenians from the ships
+had already taken Torone, and their land forces following at his heels burst in
+with him with a rush over the part of the old wall that had been pulled down,
+killing some of the Peloponnesians and Toronaeans in the melee, and making
+prisoners of the rest, and Pasitelidas their commander amongst them. Brasidas
+meanwhile had advanced to relieve Torone, and had only about four miles more to
+go when he heard of its fall on the road, and turned back again. Cleon and the
+Athenians set up two trophies, one by the harbour, the other by the
+fortification and, making slaves of the wives and children of the Toronaeans,
+sent the men with the Peloponnesians and any Chalcidians that were there, to
+the number of seven hundred, to Athens; whence, however, they all came home
+afterwards, the Peloponnesians on the conclusion of peace, and the rest by
+being exchanged against other prisoners with the Olynthians. About the same
+time Panactum, a fortress on the Athenian border, was taken by treachery by the
+Boeotians. Meanwhile Cleon, after placing a garrison in Torone, weighed anchor
+and sailed around Athos on his way to Amphipolis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time Phaeax, son of Erasistratus, set sail with two colleagues
+as ambassador from Athens to Italy and Sicily. The Leontines, upon the
+departure of the Athenians from Sicily after the pacification, had placed a
+number of new citizens upon the roll, and the commons had a design for
+redividing the land; but the upper classes, aware of their intention, called in
+the Syracusans and expelled the commons. These last were scattered in various
+directions; but the upper classes came to an agreement with the Syracusans,
+abandoned and laid waste their city, and went and lived at Syracuse, where they
+were made citizens. Afterwards some of them were dissatisfied, and leaving
+Syracuse occupied Phocaeae, a quarter of the town of Leontini, and Bricinniae,
+a strong place in the Leontine country, and being there joined by most of the
+exiled commons carried on war from the fortifications. The Athenians hearing
+this, sent Phaeax to see if they could not by some means so convince their
+allies there and the rest of the Sicilians of the ambitious designs of Syracuse
+as to induce them to form a general coalition against her, and thus save the
+commons of Leontini. Arrived in Sicily, Phaeax succeeded at Camarina and
+Agrigentum, but meeting with a repulse at Gela did not go on to the rest, as he
+saw that he should not succeed with them, but returned through the country of
+the Sicels to Catana, and after visiting Bricinniae as he passed, and
+encouraging its inhabitants, sailed back to Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During his voyage along the coast to and from Sicily, he treated with some
+cities in Italy on the subject of friendship with Athens, and also fell in with
+some Locrian settlers exiled from Messina, who had been sent thither when the
+Locrians were called in by one of the factions that divided Messina after the
+pacification of Sicily, and Messina came for a time into the hands of the
+Locrians. These being met by Phaeax on their return home received no injury at
+his hands, as the Locrians had agreed with him for a treaty with Athens. They
+were the only people of the allies who, when the reconciliation between the
+Sicilians took place, had not made peace with her; nor indeed would they have
+done so now, if they had not been pressed by a war with the Hipponians and
+Medmaeans who lived on their border, and were colonists of theirs. Phaeax
+meanwhile proceeded on his voyage, and at length arrived at Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cleon, whom we left on his voyage from Torone to Amphipolis, made Eion his
+base, and after an unsuccessful assault upon the Andrian colony of Stagirus,
+took Galepsus, a colony of Thasos, by storm. He now sent envoys to Perdiccas to
+command his attendance with an army, as provided by the alliance; and others to
+Thrace, to Polles, king of the Odomantians, who was to bring as many Thracian
+mercenaries as possible; and himself remained inactive in Eion, awaiting their
+arrival. Informed of this, Brasidas on his part took up a position of
+observation upon Cerdylium, a place situated in the Argilian country on high
+ground across the river, not far from Amphipolis, and commanding a view on all
+sides, and thus made it impossible for Cleon&rsquo;s army to move without his
+seeing it; for he fully expected that Cleon, despising the scanty numbers of
+his opponent, would march against Amphipolis with the force that he had got
+with him. At the same time Brasidas made his preparations, calling to his
+standard fifteen hundred Thracian mercenaries and all the Edonians, horse and
+targeteers; he also had a thousand Myrcinian and Chalcidian targeteers, besides
+those in Amphipolis, and a force of heavy infantry numbering altogether about
+two thousand, and three hundred Hellenic horse. Fifteen hundred of these he had
+with him upon Cerdylium; the rest were stationed with Clearidas in Amphipolis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After remaining quiet for some time, Cleon was at length obliged to do as
+Brasidas expected. His soldiers, tired of their inactivity, began also
+seriously to reflect on the weakness and incompetence of their commander, and
+the skill and valour that would be opposed to him, and on their own original
+unwillingness to accompany him. These murmurs coming to the ears of Cleon, he
+resolved not to disgust the army by keeping it in the same place, and broke up
+his camp and advanced. The temper of the general was what it had been at Pylos,
+his success on that occasion having given him confidence in his capacity. He
+never dreamed of any one coming out to fight him, but said that he was rather
+going up to view the place; and if he waited for his reinforcements, it was not
+in order to make victory secure in case he should be compelled to engage, but
+to be enabled to surround and storm the city. He accordingly came and posted
+his army upon a strong hill in front of Amphipolis, and proceeded to examine
+the lake formed by the Strymon, and how the town lay on the side of Thrace. He
+thought to retire at pleasure without fighting, as there was no one to be seen
+upon the wall or coming out of the gates, all of which were shut. Indeed, it
+seemed a mistake not to have brought down engines with him; he could then have
+taken the town, there being no one to defend it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as Brasidas saw the Athenians in motion he descended himself from
+Cerdylium and entered Amphipolis. He did not venture to go out in regular order
+against the Athenians: he mistrusted his strength, and thought it inadequate to
+the attempt; not in numbers&mdash;these were not so unequal&mdash;but in
+quality, the flower of the Athenian army being in the field, with the best of
+the Lemnians and Imbrians. He therefore prepared to assail them by stratagem.
+By showing the enemy the number of his troops, and the shifts which he had been
+put to to to arm them, he thought that he should have less chance of beating
+him than by not letting him have a sight of them, and thus learn how good a
+right he had to despise them. He accordingly picked out a hundred and fifty
+heavy infantry and, putting the rest under Clearidas, determined to attack
+suddenly before the Athenians retired; thinking that he should not have again
+such a chance of catching them alone, if their reinforcements were once allowed
+to come up; and so calling all his soldiers together in order to encourage them
+and explain his intention, spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Peloponnesians, the character of the country from which we have come,
+one which has always owed its freedom to valour, and the fact that you are
+Dorians and the enemy you are about to fight Ionians, whom you are accustomed
+to beat, are things that do not need further comment. But the plan of attack
+that I propose to pursue, this it is as well to explain, in order that the fact
+of our adventuring with a part instead of with the whole of our forces may not
+damp your courage by the apparent disadvantage at which it places you. I
+imagine it is the poor opinion that he has of us, and the fact that he has no
+idea of any one coming out to engage him, that has made the enemy march up to
+the place and carelessly look about him as he is doing, without noticing us.
+But the most successful soldier will always be the man who most happily detects
+a blunder like this, and who carefully consulting his own means makes his
+attack not so much by open and regular approaches, as by seizing the
+opportunity of the moment; and these stratagems, which do the greatest service
+to our friends by most completely deceiving our enemies, have the most
+brilliant name in war. Therefore, while their careless confidence continues,
+and they are still thinking, as in my judgment they are now doing, more of
+retreat than of maintaining their position, while their spirit is slack and not
+high-strung with expectation, I with the men under my command will, if
+possible, take them by surprise and fall with a run upon their centre; and do
+you, Clearidas, afterwards, when you see me already upon them, and, as is
+likely, dealing terror among them, take with you the Amphipolitans, and the
+rest of the allies, and suddenly open the gates and dash at them, and hasten to
+engage as quickly as you can. That is our best chance of establishing a panic
+among them, as a fresh assailant has always more terrors for an enemy than the
+one he is immediately engaged with. Show yourself a brave man, as a Spartan
+should; and do you, allies, follow him like men, and remember that zeal,
+honour, and obedience mark the good soldier, and that this day will make you
+either free men and allies of Lacedaemon, or slaves of Athens; even if you
+escape without personal loss of liberty or life, your bondage will be on
+harsher terms than before, and you will also hinder the liberation of the rest
+of the Hellenes. No cowardice then on your part, seeing the greatness of the
+issues at stake, and I will show that what I preach to others I can practise
+myself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this brief speech Brasidas himself prepared for the sally, and placed the
+rest with Clearidas at the Thracian gates to support him as had been agreed.
+Meanwhile he had been seen coming down from Cerdylium and then in the city,
+which is overlooked from the outside, sacrificing near the temple of Athene; in
+short, all his movements had been observed, and word was brought to Cleon, who
+had at the moment gone on to look about him, that the whole of the
+enemy&rsquo;s force could be seen in the town, and that the feet of horses and
+men in great numbers were visible under the gates, as if a sally were intended.
+Upon hearing this he went up to look, and having done so, being unwilling to
+venture upon the decisive step of a battle before his reinforcements came up,
+and fancying that he would have time to retire, bid the retreat be sounded and
+sent orders to the men to effect it by moving on the left wing in the direction
+of Eion, which was indeed the only way practicable. This however not being
+quick enough for him, he joined the retreat in person and made the right wing
+wheel round, thus turning its unarmed side to the enemy. It was then that
+Brasidas, seeing the Athenian force in motion and his opportunity come, said to
+the men with him and the rest: &ldquo;Those fellows will never stand before us,
+one can see that by the way their spears and heads are going. Troops which do
+as they do seldom stand a charge. Quick, someone, and open the gates I spoke
+of, and let us be out and at them with no fears for the result.&rdquo;
+Accordingly issuing out by the palisade gate and by the first in the long wall
+then existing, he ran at the top of his speed along the straight road, where
+the trophy now stands as you go by the steepest part of the hill, and fell upon
+and routed the centre of the Athenians, panic-stricken by their own disorder
+and astounded at his audacity. At the same moment Clearidas in execution of his
+orders issued out from the Thracian gates to support him, and also attacked the
+enemy. The result was that the Athenians, suddenly and unexpectedly attacked on
+both sides, fell into confusion; and their left towards Eion, which had already
+got on some distance, at once broke and fled. Just as it was in full retreat
+and Brasidas was passing on to attack the right, he received a wound; but his
+fall was not perceived by the Athenians, as he was taken up by those near him
+and carried off the field. The Athenian right made a better stand, and though
+Cleon, who from the first had no thought of fighting, at once fled and was
+overtaken and slain by a Myrcinian targeteer, his infantry forming in close
+order upon the hill twice or thrice repulsed the attacks of Clearidas, and did
+not finally give way until they were surrounded and routed by the missiles of
+the Myrcinian and Chalcidian horse and the targeteers. Thus the Athenian army
+was all now in flight; and such as escaped being killed in the battle, or by
+the Chalcidian horse and the targeteers, dispersed among the hills, and with
+difficulty made their way to Eion. The men who had taken up and rescued
+Brasidas, brought him into the town with the breath still in him: he lived to
+hear of the victory of his troops, and not long after expired. The rest of the
+army returning with Clearidas from the pursuit stripped the dead and set up a
+trophy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this all the allies attended in arms and buried Brasidas at the public
+expense in the city, in front of what is now the marketplace, and the
+Amphipolitans, having enclosed his tomb, ever afterwards sacrifice to him as a
+hero and have given to him the honour of games and annual offerings. They
+constituted him the founder of their colony, and pulled down the Hagnonic
+erections, and obliterated everything that could be interpreted as a memorial
+of his having founded the place; for they considered that Brasidas had been
+their preserver, and courting as they did the alliance of Lacedaemon for fear
+of Athens, in their present hostile relations with the latter they could no
+longer with the same advantage or satisfaction pay Hagnon his honours. They
+also gave the Athenians back their dead. About six hundred of the latter had
+fallen and only seven of the enemy, owing to there having been no regular
+engagement, but the affair of accident and panic that I have described. After
+taking up their dead the Athenians sailed off home, while Clearidas and his
+troops remained to arrange matters at Amphipolis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time three Lacedaemonians&mdash;Ramphias, Autocharidas, and
+Epicydidas&mdash;led a reinforcement of nine hundred heavy infantry to the
+towns in the direction of Thrace, and arriving at Heraclea in Trachis reformed
+matters there as seemed good to them. While they delayed there, this battle
+took place and so the summer ended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the beginning of the winter following, Ramphias and his companions
+penetrated as far as Pierium in Thessaly; but as the Thessalians opposed their
+further advance, and Brasidas whom they came to reinforce was dead, they turned
+back home, thinking that the moment had gone by, the Athenians being defeated
+and gone, and themselves not equal to the execution of Brasidas&rsquo;s
+designs. The main cause however of their return was because they knew that when
+they set out Lacedaemonian opinion was really in favour of peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed it so happened that directly after the battle of Amphipolis and the
+retreat of Ramphias from Thessaly, both sides ceased to prosecute the war and
+turned their attention to peace. Athens had suffered severely at Delium, and
+again shortly afterwards at Amphipolis, and had no longer that confidence in
+her strength which had made her before refuse to treat, in the belief of
+ultimate victory which her success at the moment had inspired; besides, she was
+afraid of her allies being tempted by her reverses to rebel more generally, and
+repented having let go the splendid opportunity for peace which the affair of
+Pylos had offered. Lacedaemon, on the other hand, found the event of the war to
+falsify her notion that a few years would suffice for the overthrow of the
+power of the Athenians by the devastation of their land. She had suffered on
+the island a disaster hitherto unknown at Sparta; she saw her country plundered
+from Pylos and Cythera; the Helots were deserting, and she was in constant
+apprehension that those who remained in Peloponnese would rely upon those
+outside and take advantage of the situation to renew their old attempts at
+revolution. Besides this, as chance would have it, her thirty years&rsquo;
+truce with the Argives was upon the point of expiring; and they refused to
+renew it unless Cynuria were restored to them; so that it seemed impossible to
+fight Argos and Athens at once. She also suspected some of the cities in
+Peloponnese of intending to go over to the enemy and that was indeed the case.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These considerations made both sides disposed for an accommodation; the
+Lacedaemonians being probably the most eager, as they ardently desired to
+recover the men taken upon the island, the Spartans among whom belonged to the
+first families and were accordingly related to the governing body in
+Lacedaemon. Negotiations had been begun directly after their capture, but the
+Athenians in their hour of triumph would not consent to any reasonable terms;
+though after their defeat at Delium, Lacedaemon, knowing that they would be now
+more inclined to listen, at once concluded the armistice for a year, during
+which they were to confer together and see if a longer period could not be
+agreed upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, however, after the Athenian defeat at Amphipolis, and the death of Cleon
+and Brasidas, who had been the two principal opponents of peace on either
+side&mdash;the latter from the success and honour which war gave him, the
+former because he thought that, if tranquillity were restored, his crimes would
+be more open to detection and his slanders less credited&mdash;the foremost
+candidates for power in either city, Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of
+Lacedaemon, and Nicias, son of Niceratus, the most fortunate general of his
+time, each desired peace more ardently than ever. Nicias, while still happy and
+honoured, wished to secure his good fortune, to obtain a present release from
+trouble for himself and his countrymen, and hand down to posterity a name as an
+ever-successful statesman, and thought the way to do this was to keep out of
+danger and commit himself as little as possible to fortune, and that peace
+alone made this keeping out of danger possible. Pleistoanax, again, was
+assailed by his enemies for his restoration, and regularly held up by them to
+the prejudice of his countrymen, upon every reverse that befell them, as though
+his unjust restoration were the cause; the accusation being that he and his
+brother Aristocles had bribed the prophetess of Delphi to tell the
+Lacedaemonian deputations which successively arrived at the temple to bring
+home the seed of the demigod son of Zeus from abroad, else they would have to
+plough with a silver share. In this way, it was insisted, in time he had
+induced the Lacedaemonians in the nineteenth year of his exile to Lycaeum
+(whither he had gone when banished on suspicion of having been bribed to
+retreat from Attica, and had built half his house within the consecrated
+precinct of Zeus for fear of the Lacedaemonians), to restore him with the same
+dances and sacrifices with which they had instituted their kings upon the first
+settlement of Lacedaemon. The smart of this accusation, and the reflection that
+in peace no disaster could occur, and that when Lacedaemon had recovered her
+men there would be nothing for his enemies to take hold of (whereas, while war
+lasted, the highest station must always bear the scandal of everything that
+went wrong), made him ardently desire a settlement. Accordingly this winter was
+employed in conferences; and as spring rapidly approached, the Lacedaemonians
+sent round orders to the cities to prepare for a fortified occupation of
+Attica, and held this as a sword over the heads of the Athenians to induce them
+to listen to their overtures; and at last, after many claims had been urged on
+either side at the conferences a peace was agreed on upon the following basis.
+Each party was to restore its conquests, but Athens was to keep Nisaea; her
+demand for Plataea being met by the Thebans asserting that they had acquired
+the place not by force or treachery, but by the voluntary adhesion upon
+agreement of its citizens; and the same, according to the Athenian account,
+being the history of her acquisition of Nisaea. This arranged, the
+Lacedaemonians summoned their allies, and all voting for peace except the
+Boeotians, Corinthians, Eleans, and Megarians, who did not approve of these
+proceedings, they concluded the treaty and made peace, each of the contracting
+parties swearing to the following articles:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians and Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty, and swore to
+it, city by city, as follows;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Touching the national temples, there shall be a free passage by land and by
+sea to all who wish it, to sacrifice, travel, consult, and attend the oracle or
+games, according to the customs of their countries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. The temple and shrine of Apollo at Delphi and the Delphians shall be
+governed by their own laws, taxed by their own state, and judged by their own
+judges, the land and the people, according to the custom of their country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. The treaty shall be binding for fifty years upon the Athenians and the
+allies of the Athenians, and upon the Lacedaemonians and the allies of the
+Lacedaemonians, without fraud or hurt by land or by sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. It shall not be lawful to take up arms, with intent to do hurt, either for
+the Lacedaemonians and their allies against the Athenians and their allies, or
+for the Athenians and their allies against the Lacedaemonians and their allies,
+in any way or means whatsoever. But should any difference arise between them
+they are to have recourse to law and oaths, according as may be agreed between
+the parties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+5. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall give back Amphipolis to the
+Athenians. Nevertheless, in the case of cities given up by the Lacedaemonians
+to the Athenians, the inhabitants shall be allowed to go where they please and
+to take their property with them: and the cities shall be independent, paying
+only the tribute of Aristides. And it shall not be lawful for the Athenians or
+their allies to carry on war against them after the treaty has been concluded,
+so long as the tribute is paid. The cities referred to are Argilus, Stagirus,
+Acanthus, Scolus, Olynthus, and Spartolus. These cities shall be neutral,
+allies neither of the Lacedaemonians nor of the Athenians: but if the cities
+consent, it shall be lawful for the Athenians to make them their allies,
+provided always that the cities wish it. The Mecybernaeans, Sanaeans, and
+Singaeans shall inhabit their own cities, as also the Olynthians and
+Acanthians: but the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall give back Panactum to
+the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+6. The Athenians shall give back Coryphasium, Cythera, Methana, Lacedaemonians
+that are in the prison at Athens or elsewhere in the Athenian dominions, and
+shall let go the Peloponnesians besieged in Scione, and all others in Scione
+that are allies of the Lacedaemonians, and all whom Brasidas sent in there, and
+any others of the allies of the Lacedaemonians that may be in the prison at
+Athens or elsewhere in the Athenian dominions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+7. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall in like manner give back any of
+the Athenians or their allies that they may have in their hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+8. In the case of Scione, Torone, and Sermylium, and any other cities that the
+Athenians may have, the Athenians may adopt such measures as they please.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+9. The Athenians shall take an oath to the Lacedaemonians and their allies,
+city by city. Every man shall swear by the most binding oath of his country,
+seventeen from each city. The oath shall be as follows; &ldquo;I will abide by
+this agreement and treaty honestly and without deceit.&rdquo; In the same way
+an oath shall be taken by the Lacedaemonians and their allies to the Athenians:
+and the oath shall be renewed annually by both parties. Pillars shall be
+erected at Olympia, Pythia, the Isthmus, at Athens in the Acropolis, and at
+Lacedaemon in the temple at Amyclae.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+10. If anything be forgotten, whatever it be, and on whatever point, it shall
+be consistent with their oath for both parties, the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians, to alter it, according to their discretion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The treaty begins from the ephoralty of Pleistolas in Lacedaemon, on the 27th
+day of the month of Artemisium, and from the archonship, of Alcaeus at Athens,
+on the 25th day of the month of Elaphebolion. Those who took the oath and
+poured the libations for the Lacedaemonians were Pleistoanax, Agis, Pleistolas,
+Damagetis, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus, Daithus, Ischagoras, Philocharidas,
+Zeuxidas, Antippus, Tellis, Alcinadas, Empedias, Menas, and Laphilus: for the
+Athenians, Lampon, Isthmonicus, Nicias, Laches, Euthydemus, Procles,
+Pythodorus, Hagnon, Myrtilus, Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates, Iolcius,
+Timocrates, Leon, Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This treaty was made in the spring, just at the end of winter, directly after
+the city festival of Dionysus, just ten years, with the difference of a few
+days, from the first invasion of Attica and the commencement of this war. This
+must be calculated by the seasons rather than by trusting to the enumeration of
+the names of the several magistrates or offices of honour that are used to mark
+past events. Accuracy is impossible where an event may have occurred in the
+beginning, or middle, or at any period in their tenure of office. But by
+computing by summers and winters, the method adopted in this history, it will
+be found that, each of these amounting to half a year, there were ten summers
+and as many winters contained in this first war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, to whose lot it fell to begin the work of
+restitution, immediately set free all the prisoners of war in their possession,
+and sent Ischagoras, Menas, and Philocharidas as envoys to the towns in the
+direction of Thrace, to order Clearidas to hand over Amphipolis to the
+Athenians, and the rest of their allies each to accept the treaty as it
+affected them. They, however, did not like its terms, and refused to accept it;
+Clearidas also, willing to oblige the Chalcidians, would not hand over the
+town, averring his inability to do so against their will. Meanwhile he hastened
+in person to Lacedaemon with envoys from the place, to defend his disobedience
+against the possible accusations of Ischagoras and his companions, and also to
+see whether it was too late for the agreement to be altered; and on finding the
+Lacedaemonians were bound, quickly set out back again with instructions from
+them to hand over the place, if possible, or at all events to bring out the
+Peloponnesians that were in it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The allies happened to be present in person at Lacedaemon, and those who had
+not accepted the treaty were now asked by the Lacedaemonians to adopt it. This,
+however, they refused to do, for the same reasons as before, unless a fairer
+one than the present were agreed upon; and remaining firm in their
+determination were dismissed by the Lacedaemonians, who now decided on forming
+an alliance with the Athenians, thinking that Argos, who had refused the
+application of Ampelidas and Lichas for a renewal of the treaty, would without
+Athens be no longer formidable, and that the rest of the Peloponnese would be
+most likely to keep quiet, if the coveted alliance of Athens were shut against
+them. Accordingly, after conference with the Athenian ambassadors, an alliance
+was agreed upon and oaths were exchanged, upon the terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. The Lacedaemonians shall be allies of the Athenians for fifty years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. Should any enemy invade the territory of Lacedaemon and injure the
+Lacedaemonians, the Athenians shall help in such way as they most effectively
+can, according to their power. But if the invader be gone after plundering the
+country, that city shall be the enemy of Lacedaemon and Athens, and shall be
+chastised by both, and one shall not make peace without the other. This to be
+honestly, loyally, and without fraud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. Should any enemy invade the territory of Athens and injure the Athenians,
+the Lacedaemonians shall help them in such way as they most effectively can,
+according to their power. But if the invader be gone after plundering the
+country, that city shall be the enemy of Lacedaemon and Athens, and shall be
+chastised by both, and one shall not make peace without the other. This to be
+honestly, loyally, and without fraud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. Should the slave population rise, the Athenians shall help the
+Lacedaemonians with all their might, according to their power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+5. This treaty shall be sworn to by the same persons on either side that swore
+to the other. It shall be renewed annually by the Lacedaemonians going to
+Athens for the Dionysia, and the Athenians to Lacedaemon for the Hyacinthia,
+and a pillar shall be set up by either party: at Lacedaemon near the statue of
+Apollo at Amyclae, and at Athens on the Acropolis near the statue of Athene.
+Should the Lacedaemonians and Athenians see to add to or take away from the
+alliance in any particular, it shall be consistent with their oaths for both
+parties to do so, according to their discretion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those who took the oath for the Lacedaemonians were Pleistoanax, Agis,
+Pleistolas, Damagetus, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus, Daithus, Ischagoras,
+Philocharidas, Zeuxidas, Antippus, Alcinadas, Tellis, Empedias, Menas, and
+Laphilus; for the Athenians, Lampon, Isthmionicus, Laches, Nicias, Euthydemus,
+Procles, Pythodorus, Hagnon, Myrtilus, Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates,
+Iolcius, Timocrates, Leon, Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This alliance was made not long after the treaty; and the Athenians gave back
+the men from the island to the Lacedaemonians, and the summer of the eleventh
+year began. This completes the history of the first war, which occupied the
+whole of the ten years previously.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"></a>
+CHAPTER XVI </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese&mdash;League of the Mantineans, Eleans,
+Argives, and Athenians&mdash;Battle of Mantinea and breaking up of the League
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the treaty and the alliance between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians,
+concluded after the ten years&rsquo; war, in the ephorate of Pleistolas at
+Lacedaemon, and the archonship of Alcaeus at Athens, the states which had
+accepted them were at peace; but the Corinthians and some of the cities in
+Peloponnese trying to disturb the settlement, a fresh agitation was instantly
+commenced by the allies against Lacedaemon. Further, the Lacedaemonians, as
+time went on, became suspected by the Athenians through their not performing
+some of the provisions in the treaty; and though for six years and ten months
+they abstained from invasion of each other&rsquo;s territory, yet abroad an
+unstable armistice did not prevent either party doing the other the most
+effectual injury, until they were finally obliged to break the treaty made
+after the ten years&rsquo; war and to have recourse to open hostilities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The history of this period has been also written by the same Thucydides, an
+Athenian, in the chronological order of events by summers and winters, to the
+time when the Lacedaemonians and their allies put an end to the Athenian
+empire, and took the Long Walls and Piraeus. The war had then lasted for
+twenty-seven years in all. Only a mistaken judgment can object to including the
+interval of treaty in the war. Looked at by the light of facts it cannot, it
+will be found, be rationally considered a state of peace, where neither party
+either gave or got back all that they had agreed, apart from the violations of
+it which occurred on both sides in the Mantinean and Epidaurian wars and other
+instances, and the fact that the allies in the direction of Thrace were in as
+open hostility as ever, while the Boeotians had only a truce renewed every ten
+days. So that the first ten years&rsquo; war, the treacherous armistice that
+followed it, and the subsequent war will, calculating by the seasons, be found
+to make up the number of years which I have mentioned, with the difference of a
+few days, and to afford an instance of faith in oracles being for once
+justified by the event. I certainly all along remember from the beginning to
+the end of the war its being commonly declared that it would last thrice nine
+years. I lived through the whole of it, being of an age to comprehend events,
+and giving my attention to them in order to know the exact truth about them. It
+was also my fate to be an exile from my country for twenty years after my
+command at Amphipolis; and being present with both parties, and more especially
+with the Peloponnesians by reason of my exile, I had leisure to observe affairs
+somewhat particularly. I will accordingly now relate the differences that arose
+after the ten years&rsquo; war, the breach of the treaty, and the hostilities
+that followed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the conclusion of the fifty years&rsquo; truce and of the subsequent
+alliance, the embassies from Peloponnese which had been summoned for this
+business returned from Lacedaemon. The rest went straight home, but the
+Corinthians first turned aside to Argos and opened negotiations with some of
+the men in office there, pointing out that Lacedaemon could have no good end in
+view, but only the subjugation of Peloponnese, or she would never have entered
+into treaty and alliance with the once detested Athenians, and that the duty of
+consulting for the safety of Peloponnese had now fallen upon Argos, who should
+immediately pass a decree inviting any Hellenic state that chose, such state
+being independent and accustomed to meet fellow powers upon the fair and equal
+ground of law and justice, to make a defensive alliance with the Argives;
+appointing a few individuals with plenipotentiary powers, instead of making the
+people the medium of negotiation, in order that, in the case of an applicant
+being rejected, the fact of his overtures might not be made public. They said
+that many would come over from hatred of the Lacedaemonians. After this
+explanation of their views, the Corinthians returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The persons with whom they had communicated reported the proposal to their
+government and people, and the Argives passed the decree and chose twelve men
+to negotiate an alliance for any Hellenic state that wished it, except Athens
+and Lacedaemon, neither of which should be able to join without reference to
+the Argive people. Argos came into the plan the more readily because she saw
+that war with Lacedaemon was inevitable, the truce being on the point of
+expiring; and also because she hoped to gain the supremacy of Peloponnese. For
+at this time Lacedaemon had sunk very low in public estimation because of her
+disasters, while the Argives were in a most flourishing condition, having taken
+no part in the Attic war, but having on the contrary profited largely by their
+neutrality. The Argives accordingly prepared to receive into alliance any of
+the Hellenes that desired it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Mantineans and their allies were the first to come over through fear of the
+Lacedaemonians. Having taken advantage of the war against Athens to reduce a
+large part of Arcadia into subjection, they thought that Lacedaemon would not
+leave them undisturbed in their conquests, now that she had leisure to
+interfere, and consequently gladly turned to a powerful city like Argos, the
+historical enemy of the Lacedaemonians, and a sister democracy. Upon the
+defection of Mantinea, the rest of Peloponnese at once began to agitate the
+propriety of following her example, conceiving that the Mantineans not have
+changed sides without good reason; besides which they were angry with
+Lacedaemon among other reasons for having inserted in the treaty with Athens
+that it should be consistent with their oaths for both parties, Lacedaemonians
+and Athenians, to add to or take away from it according to their discretion. It
+was this clause that was the real origin of the panic in Peloponnese, by
+exciting suspicions of a Lacedaemonian and Athenian combination against their
+liberties: any alteration should properly have been made conditional upon the
+consent of the whole body of the allies. With these apprehensions there was a
+very general desire in each state to place itself in alliance with Argos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians perceiving the agitation going on in
+Peloponnese, and that Corinth was the author of it and was herself about to
+enter into alliance with the Argives, sent ambassadors thither in the hope of
+preventing what was in contemplation. They accused her of having brought it all
+about, and told her that she could not desert Lacedaemon and become the ally of
+Argos, without adding violation of her oaths to the crime which she had already
+committed in not accepting the treaty with Athens, when it had been expressly
+agreed that the decision of the majority of the allies should be binding,
+unless the gods or heroes stood in the way. Corinth in her answer, delivered
+before those of her allies who had like her refused to accept the treaty, and
+whom she had previously invited to attend, refrained from openly stating the
+injuries she complained of, such as the non-recovery of Sollium or Anactorium
+from the Athenians, or any other point in which she thought she had been
+prejudiced, but took shelter under the pretext that she could not give up her
+Thracian allies, to whom her separate individual security had been given, when
+they first rebelled with Potidæa, as well as upon subsequent occasions. She
+denied, therefore, that she committed any violation of her oaths to the allies
+in not entering into the treaty with Athens; having sworn upon the faith of the
+gods to her Thracian friends, she could not honestly give them up. Besides, the
+expression was, &ldquo;unless the gods or heroes stand in the way.&rdquo; Now
+here, as it appeared to her, the gods stood in the way. This was what she said
+on the subject of her former oaths. As to the Argive alliance, she would confer
+with her friends and do whatever was right. The Lacedaemonian envoys returning
+home, some Argive ambassadors who happened to be in Corinth pressed her to
+conclude the alliance without further delay, but were told to attend at the
+next congress to be held at Corinth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately afterwards an Elean embassy arrived, and first making an alliance
+with Corinth went on from thence to Argos, according to their instructions, and
+became allies of the Argives, their country being just then at enmity with
+Lacedaemon and Lepreum. Some time back there had been a war between the
+Lepreans and some of the Arcadians; and the Eleans being called in by the
+former with the offer of half their lands, had put an end to the war, and
+leaving the land in the hands of its Leprean occupiers had imposed upon them
+the tribute of a talent to the Olympian Zeus. Till the Attic war this tribute
+was paid by the Lepreans, who then took the war as an excuse for no longer
+doing so, and upon the Eleans using force appealed to Lacedaemon. The case was
+thus submitted to her arbitrament; but the Eleans, suspecting the fairness of
+the tribunal, renounced the reference and laid waste the Leprean territory. The
+Lacedaemonians nevertheless decided that the Lepreans were independent and the
+Eleans aggressors, and as the latter did not abide by the arbitration, sent a
+garrison of heavy infantry into Lepreum. Upon this the Eleans, holding that
+Lacedaemon had received one of their rebel subjects, put forward the convention
+providing that each confederate should come out of the Attic war in possession
+of what he had when he went into it, and considering that justice had not been
+done them went over to the Argives, and now made the alliance through their
+ambassadors, who had been instructed for that purpose. Immediately after them
+the Corinthians and the Thracian Chalcidians became allies of Argos. Meanwhile
+the Boeotians and Megarians, who acted together, remained quiet, being left to
+do as they pleased by Lacedaemon, and thinking that the Argive democracy would
+not suit so well with their aristocratic government as the Lacedaemonian
+constitution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time in this summer Athens succeeded in reducing Scione, put the
+adult males to death, and, making slaves of the women and children, gave the
+land for the Plataeans to live in. She also brought back the Delians to Delos,
+moved by her misfortunes in the field and by the commands of the god at Delphi.
+Meanwhile the Phocians and Locrians commenced hostilities. The Corinthians and
+Argives, being now in alliance, went to Tegea to bring about its defection from
+Lacedaemon, seeing that, if so considerable a state could be persuaded to join,
+all Peloponnese would be with them. But when the Tegeans said that they would
+do nothing against Lacedaemon, the hitherto zealous Corinthians relaxed their
+activity, and began to fear that none of the rest would now come over. Still
+they went to the Boeotians and tried to persuade them to alliance and a common
+action generally with Argos and themselves, and also begged them to go with
+them to Athens and obtain for them a ten days&rsquo; truce similar to that made
+between the Athenians and Boeotians not long after the fifty years&rsquo;
+treaty, and, in the event of the Athenians refusing, to throw up the armistice,
+and not make any truce in future without Corinth. These were the requests of
+the Corinthians. The Boeotians stopped them on the subject of the Argive
+alliance, but went with them to Athens, where however they failed to obtain the
+ten days&rsquo; truce; the Athenian answer being that the Corinthians had truce
+already, as being allies of Lacedaemon. Nevertheless the Boeotians did not
+throw up their ten days&rsquo; truce, in spite of the prayers and reproaches of
+the Corinthians for their breach of faith; and these last had to content
+themselves with a de facto armistice with Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Lacedaemonians marched into Arcadia with their whole levy
+under Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon, against the
+Parrhasians, who were subjects of Mantinea, and a faction of whom had invited
+their aid. They also meant to demolish, if possible, the fort of Cypsela which
+the Mantineans had built and garrisoned in the Parrhasian territory, to annoy
+the district of Sciritis in Laconia. The Lacedaemonians accordingly laid waste
+the Parrhasian country, and the Mantineans, placing their town in the hands of
+an Argive garrison, addressed themselves to the defence of their confederacy,
+but being unable to save Cypsela or the Parrhasian towns went back to Mantinea.
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians made the Parrhasians independent, razed the
+fortress, and returned home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the soldiers from Thrace who had gone out with Brasidas came
+back, having been brought from thence after the treaty by Clearidas; and the
+Lacedaemonians decreed that the Helots who had fought with Brasidas should be
+free and allowed to live where they liked, and not long afterwards settled them
+with the Neodamodes at Lepreum, which is situated on the Laconian and Elean
+border; Lacedaemon being at this time at enmity with Elis. Those however of the
+Spartans who had been taken prisoners on the island and had surrendered their
+arms might, it was feared, suppose that they were to be subjected to some
+degradation in consequence of their misfortune, and so make some attempt at
+revolution, if left in possession of their franchise. These were therefore at
+once disfranchised, although some of them were in office at the time, and thus
+placed under a disability to take office, or buy and sell anything. After some
+time, however, the franchise was restored to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Dians took Thyssus, a town on Acte by Athos in alliance
+with Athens. During the whole of this summer intercourse between the Athenians
+and Peloponnesians continued, although each party began to suspect the other
+directly after the treaty, because of the places specified in it not being
+restored. Lacedaemon, to whose lot it had fallen to begin by restoring
+Amphipolis and the other towns, had not done so. She had equally failed to get
+the treaty accepted by her Thracian allies, or by the Boeotians or the
+Corinthians; although she was continually promising to unite with Athens in
+compelling their compliance, if it were longer refused. She also kept fixing a
+time at which those who still refused to come in were to be declared enemies to
+both parties, but took care not to bind herself by any written agreement.
+Meanwhile the Athenians, seeing none of these professions performed in fact,
+began to suspect the honesty of her intentions, and consequently not only
+refused to comply with her demands for Pylos, but also repented having given up
+the prisoners from the island, and kept tight hold of the other places, until
+Lacedaemon&rsquo;s part of the treaty should be fulfilled. Lacedaemon, on the
+other hand, said she had done what she could, having given up the Athenian
+prisoners of war in her possession, evacuated Thrace, and performed everything
+else in her power. Amphipolis it was out of her ability to restore; but she
+would endeavour to bring the Boeotians and Corinthians into the treaty, to
+recover Panactum, and send home all the Athenian prisoners of war in Boeotia.
+Meanwhile she required that Pylos should be restored, or at all events that the
+Messenians and Helots should be withdrawn, as her troops had been from Thrace,
+and the place garrisoned, if necessary, by the Athenians themselves. After a
+number of different conferences held during the summer, she succeeded in
+persuading Athens to withdraw from Pylos the Messenians and the rest of the
+Helots and deserters from Laconia, who were accordingly settled by her at
+Cranii in Cephallenia. Thus during this summer there was peace and intercourse
+between the two peoples.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next winter, however, the ephors under whom the treaty had been made were no
+longer in office, and some of their successors were directly opposed to it.
+Embassies now arrived from the Lacedaemonian confederacy, and the Athenians,
+Boeotians, and Corinthians also presented themselves at Lacedaemon, and after
+much discussion and no agreement between them, separated for their several
+homes; when Cleobulus and Xenares, the two ephors who were the most anxious to
+break off the treaty, took advantage of this opportunity to communicate
+privately with the Boeotians and Corinthians, and, advising them to act as much
+as possible together, instructed the former first to enter into alliance with
+Argos, and then try and bring themselves and the Argives into alliance with
+Lacedaemon. The Boeotians would so be least likely to be compelled to come into
+the Attic treaty; and the Lacedaemonians would prefer gaining the friendship
+and alliance of Argos even at the price of the hostility of Athens and the
+rupture of the treaty. The Boeotians knew that an honourable friendship with
+Argos had been long the desire of Lacedaemon; for the Lacedaemonians believed
+that this would considerably facilitate the conduct of the war outside
+Peloponnese. Meanwhile they begged the Boeotians to place Panactum in her hands
+in order that she might, if possible, obtain Pylos in exchange for it, and so
+be more in a position to resume hostilities with Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After receiving these instructions for their governments from Xenares and
+Cleobulus and their friends at Lacedaemon, the Boeotians and Corinthians
+departed. On their way home they were joined by two persons high in office at
+Argos, who had waited for them on the road, and who now sounded them upon the
+possibility of the Boeotians joining the Corinthians, Eleans, and Mantineans in
+becoming the allies of Argos, in the idea that if this could be effected they
+would be able, thus united, to make peace or war as they pleased either against
+Lacedaemon or any other power. The Boeotian envoys were were pleased at thus
+hearing themselves accidentally asked to do what their friends at Lacedaemon
+had told them; and the two Argives perceiving that their proposal was
+agreeable, departed with a promise to send ambassadors to the Boeotians. On
+their arrival the Boeotians reported to the Boeotarchs what had been said to
+them at Lacedaemon and also by the Argives who had met them, and the
+Boeotarchs, pleased with the idea, embraced it with the more eagerness from the
+lucky coincidence of Argos soliciting the very thing wanted by their friends at
+Lacedaemon. Shortly afterwards ambassadors appeared from Argos with the
+proposals indicated; and the Boeotarchs approved of the terms and dismissed the
+ambassadors with a promise to send envoys to Argos to negotiate the alliance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime it was decided by the Boeotarchs, the Corinthians, the
+Megarians, and the envoys from Thrace first to interchange oaths together to
+give help to each other whenever it was required and not to make war or peace
+except in common; after which the Boeotians and Megarians, who acted together,
+should make the alliance with Argos. But before the oaths were taken the
+Boeotarchs communicated these proposals to the four councils of the Boeotians,
+in whom the supreme power resides, and advised them to interchange oaths with
+all such cities as should be willing to enter into a defensive league with the
+Boeotians. But the members of the Boeotian councils refused their assent to the
+proposal, being afraid of offending Lacedaemon by entering into a league with
+the deserter Corinth; the Boeotarchs not having acquainted them with what had
+passed at Lacedaemon and with the advice given by Cleobulus and Xenares and the
+Boeotian partisans there, namely, that they should become allies of Corinth and
+Argos as a preliminary to a junction with Lacedaemon; fancying that, even if
+they should say nothing about this, the councils would not vote against what
+had been decided and advised by the Boeotarchs. This difficulty arising, the
+Corinthians and the envoys from Thrace departed without anything having been
+concluded; and the Boeotarchs, who had previously intended after carrying this
+to try and effect the alliance with Argos, now omitted to bring the Argive
+question before the councils, or to send to Argos the envoys whom they had
+promised; and a general coldness and delay ensued in the matter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this same winter Mecyberna was assaulted and taken by the Olynthians, having
+an Athenian garrison inside it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All this while negotiations had been going on between the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians about the conquests still retained by each, and Lacedaemon,
+hoping that if Athens were to get back Panactum from the Boeotians she might
+herself recover Pylos, now sent an embassy to the Boeotians, and begged them to
+place Panactum and their Athenian prisoners in her hands, in order that she
+might exchange them for Pylos. This the Boeotians refused to do, unless
+Lacedaemon made a separate alliance with them as she had done with Athens.
+Lacedaemon knew that this would be a breach of faith to Athens, as it had been
+agreed that neither of them should make peace or war without the other; yet
+wishing to obtain Panactum which she hoped to exchange for Pylos, and the party
+who pressed for the dissolution of the treaty strongly affecting the Boeotian
+connection, she at length concluded the alliance just as winter gave way to
+spring; and Panactum was instantly razed. And so the eleventh year of the war
+ended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the first days of the summer following, the Argives, seeing that the
+promised ambassadors from Boeotia did not arrive, and that Panactum was being
+demolished, and that a separate alliance had been concluded between the
+Boeotians and Lacedaemonians, began to be afraid that Argos might be left
+alone, and all the confederacy go over to Lacedaemon. They fancied that the
+Boeotians had been persuaded by the Lacedaemonians to raze Panactum and to
+enter into the treaty with the Athenians, and that Athens was privy to this
+arrangement, and even her alliance, therefore, no longer open to them&mdash;a
+resource which they had always counted upon, by reason of the dissensions
+existing, in the event of the noncontinuance of their treaty with Lacedaemon.
+In this strait the Argives, afraid that, as the result of refusing to renew the
+treaty with Lacedaemon and of aspiring to the supremacy in Peloponnese, they
+would have the Lacedaemonians, Tegeans, Boeotians, and Athenians on their hands
+all at once, now hastily sent off Eustrophus and Aeson, who seemed the persons
+most likely to be acceptable, as envoys to Lacedaemon, with the view of making
+as good a treaty as they could with the Lacedaemonians, upon such terms as
+could be got, and being left in peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having reached Lacedaemon, their ambassadors proceeded to negotiate the terms
+of the proposed treaty. What the Argives first demanded was that they might be
+allowed to refer to the arbitration of some state or private person the
+question of the Cynurian land, a piece of frontier territory about which they
+have always been disputing, and which contains the towns of Thyrea and Anthene,
+and is occupied by the Lacedaemonians. The Lacedaemonians at first said that
+they could not allow this point to be discussed, but were ready to conclude
+upon the old terms. Eventually, however, the Argive ambassadors succeeded in
+obtaining from them this concession: For the present there was to be a truce
+for fifty years, but it should be competent for either party, there being
+neither plague nor war in Lacedaemon or Argos, to give a formal challenge and
+decide the question of this territory by battle, as on a former occasion, when
+both sides claimed the victory; pursuit not being allowed beyond the frontier
+of Argos or Lacedaemon. The Lacedaemonians at first thought this mere folly;
+but at last, anxious at any cost to have the friendship of Argos they agreed to
+the terms demanded, and reduced them to writing. However, before any of this
+should become binding, the ambassadors were to return to Argos and communicate
+with their people and, in the event of their approval, to come at the feast of
+the Hyacinthia and take the oaths.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The envoys returned accordingly. In the meantime, while the Argives were
+engaged in these negotiations, the Lacedaemonian ambassadors&mdash;Andromedes,
+Phaedimus, and Antimenidas&mdash;who were to receive the prisoners from the
+Boeotians and restore them and Panactum to the Athenians, found that the
+Boeotians had themselves razed Panactum, upon the plea that oaths had been
+anciently exchanged between their people and the Athenians, after a dispute on
+the subject to the effect that neither should inhabit the place, but that they
+should graze it in common. As for the Athenian prisoners of war in the hands of
+the Boeotians, these were delivered over to Andromedes and his colleagues, and
+by them conveyed to Athens and given back. The envoys at the same time
+announced the razing of Panactum, which to them seemed as good as its
+restitution, as it would no longer lodge an enemy of Athens. This announcement
+was received with great indignation by the Athenians, who thought that the
+Lacedaemonians had played them false, both in the matter of the demolition of
+Panactum, which ought to have been restored to them standing, and in having, as
+they now heard, made a separate alliance with the Boeotians, in spite of their
+previous promise to join Athens in compelling the adhesion of those who refused
+to accede to the treaty. The Athenians also considered the other points in
+which Lacedaemon had failed in her compact, and thinking that they had been
+overreached, gave an angry answer to the ambassadors and sent them away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The breach between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians having gone thus far, the
+party at Athens, also, who wished to cancel the treaty, immediately put
+themselves in motion. Foremost amongst these was Alcibiades, son of Clinias, a
+man yet young in years for any other Hellenic city, but distinguished by the
+splendour of his ancestry. Alcibiades thought the Argive alliance really
+preferable, not that personal pique had not also a great deal to do with his
+opposition; he being offended with the Lacedaemonians for having negotiated the
+treaty through Nicias and Laches, and having overlooked him on account of his
+youth, and also for not having shown him the respect due to the ancient
+connection of his family with them as their proxeni, which, renounced by his
+grandfather, he had lately himself thought to renew by his attentions to their
+prisoners taken in the island. Being thus, as he thought, slighted on all
+hands, he had in the first instance spoken against the treaty, saying that the
+Lacedaemonians were not to be trusted, but that they only treated, in order to
+be enabled by this means to crush Argos, and afterwards to attack Athens alone;
+and now, immediately upon the above occurring, he sent privately to the
+Argives, telling them to come as quickly as possible to Athens, accompanied by
+the Mantineans and Eleans, with proposals of alliance; as the moment was
+propitious and he himself would do all he could to help them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon receiving this message and discovering that the Athenians, far from being
+privy to the Boeotian alliance, were involved in a serious quarrel with the
+Lacedaemonians, the Argives paid no further attention to the embassy which they
+had just sent to Lacedaemon on the subject of the treaty, and began to incline
+rather towards the Athenians, reflecting that, in the event of war, they would
+thus have on their side a city that was not only an ancient ally of Argos, but
+a sister democracy and very powerful at sea. They accordingly at once sent
+ambassadors to Athens to treat for an alliance, accompanied by others from Elis
+and Mantinea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the same time arrived in haste from Lacedaemon an embassy consisting of
+persons reputed well disposed towards the Athenians&mdash;Philocharidas, Leon,
+and Endius&mdash;for fear that the Athenians in their irritation might conclude
+alliance with the Argives, and also to ask back Pylos in exchange for Panactum,
+and in defence of the alliance with the Boeotians to plead that it had not been
+made to hurt the Athenians. Upon the envoys speaking in the senate upon these
+points, and stating that they had come with full powers to settle all others at
+issue between them, Alcibiades became afraid that, if they were to repeat these
+statements to the popular assembly, they might gain the multitude, and the
+Argive alliance might be rejected, and accordingly had recourse to the
+following stratagem. He persuaded the Lacedaemonians by a solemn assurance that
+if they would say nothing of their full powers in the assembly, he would give
+back Pylos to them (himself, the present opponent of its restitution, engaging
+to obtain this from the Athenians), and would settle the other points at issue.
+His plan was to detach them from Nicias and to disgrace them before the people,
+as being without sincerity in their intentions, or even common consistency in
+their language, and so to get the Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans taken into
+alliance. This plan proved successful. When the envoys appeared before the
+people, and upon the question being put to them, did not say as they had said
+in the senate, that they had come with full powers, the Athenians lost all
+patience, and carried away by Alcibiades, who thundered more loudly than ever
+against the Lacedaemonians, were ready instantly to introduce the Argives and
+their companions and to take them into alliance. An earthquake, however,
+occurring, before anything definite had been done, this assembly was adjourned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the assembly held the next day, Nicias, in spite of the Lacedaemonians
+having been deceived themselves, and having allowed him to be deceived also in
+not admitting that they had come with full powers, still maintained that it was
+best to be friends with the Lacedaemonians, and, letting the Argive proposals
+stand over, to send once more to Lacedaemon and learn her intentions. The
+adjournment of the war could only increase their own prestige and injure that
+of their rivals; the excellent state of their affairs making it their interest
+to preserve this prosperity as long as possible, while those of Lacedaemon were
+so desperate that the sooner she could try her fortune again the better. He
+succeeded accordingly in persuading them to send ambassadors, himself being
+among the number, to invite the Lacedaemonians, if they were really sincere, to
+restore Panactum intact with Amphipolis, and to abandon their alliance with the
+Boeotians (unless they consented to accede to the treaty), agreeably to the
+stipulation which forbade either to treat without the other. The ambassadors
+were also directed to say that the Athenians, had they wished to play false,
+might already have made alliance with the Argives, who were indeed come to
+Athens for that very purpose, and went off furnished with instructions as to
+any other complaints that the Athenians had to make. Having reached Lacedaemon,
+they communicated their instructions, and concluded by telling the
+Lacedaemonians that unless they gave up their alliance with the Boeotians, in
+the event of their not acceding to the treaty, the Athenians for their part
+would ally themselves with the Argives and their friends. The Lacedaemonians,
+however, refused to give up the Boeotian alliance&mdash;the party of Xenares
+the ephor, and such as shared their view, carrying the day upon this
+point&mdash;but renewed the oaths at the request of Nicias, who feared to
+return without having accomplished anything and to be disgraced; as was indeed
+his fate, he being held the author of the treaty with Lacedaemon. When he
+returned, and the Athenians heard that nothing had been done at Lacedaemon,
+they flew into a passion, and deciding that faith had not been kept with them,
+took advantage of the presence of the Argives and their allies, who had been
+introduced by Alcibiades, and made a treaty and alliance with them upon the
+terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, acting for themselves and the
+allies in their respective empires, made a treaty for a hundred years, to be
+without fraud or hurt by land and by sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. It shall not be lawful to carry on war, either for the Argives, Eleans,
+Mantineans, and their allies, against the Athenians, or the allies in the
+Athenian empire: or for the Athenians and their allies against the Argives,
+Eleans, Mantineans, or their allies, in any way or means whatsoever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans shall be allies for a hundred
+years upon the terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. If an enemy invade the country of the Athenians, the Argives, Eleans, and
+Mantineans shall go to the relief of Athens, according as the Athenians may
+require by message, in such way as they most effectually can, to the best of
+their power. But if the invader be gone after plundering the territory, the
+offending state shall be the enemy of the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and
+Athenians, and war shall be made against it by all these cities: and no one of
+the cities shall be able to make peace with that state, except all the above
+cities agree to do so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. Likewise the Athenians shall go to the relief of Argos, Mantinea, and Elis,
+if an enemy invade the country of Elis, Mantinea, or Argos, according as the
+above cities may require by message, in such way as they most effectually can,
+to the best of their power. But if the invader be gone after plundering the
+territory, the state offending shall be the enemy of the Athenians, Argives,
+Mantineans, and Eleans, and war shall be made against it by all these cities,
+and peace may not be made with that state except all the above cities agree to
+it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. No armed force shall be allowed to pass for hostile purposes through the
+country of the powers contracting, or of the allies in their respective
+empires, or to go by sea, except all the cities&mdash;that is to say, Athens,
+Argos, Mantinea, and Elis&mdash;vote for such passage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+5. The relieving troops shall be maintained by the city sending them for thirty
+days from their arrival in the city that has required them, and upon their
+return in the same way: if their services be desired for a longer period, the
+city that sent for them shall maintain them, at the rate of three Aeginetan
+obols per day for a heavy-armed soldier, archer, or light soldier, and an
+Aeginetan drachma for a trooper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+6. The city sending for the troops shall have the command when the war is in
+its own country: but in case of the cities resolving upon a joint expedition
+the command shall be equally divided among all the cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+7. The treaty shall be sworn to by the Athenians for themselves and their
+allies, by the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and their allies, by each state
+individually. Each shall swear the oath most binding in his country over
+full-grown victims: the oath being as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I STAND BY THE ALLIANCE AND ITS ARTICLES, JUSTLY, INNOCENTLY, AND
+SINCERELY, AND I WILL NOT TRANSGRESS THE SAME IN ANY WAY OR MEANS
+WHATSOEVER.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The oath shall be taken at Athens by the Senate and the magistrates, the
+Prytanes administering it: at Argos by the Senate, the Eighty, and the Artynae,
+the Eighty administering it: at Mantinea by the Demiurgi, the Senate, and the
+other magistrates, the Theori and Polemarchs administering it: at Elis by the
+Demiurgi, the magistrates, and the Six Hundred, the Demiurgi and the
+Thesmophylaces administering it. The oaths shall be renewed by the Athenians
+going to Elis, Mantinea, and Argos thirty days before the Olympic games: by the
+Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans going to Athens ten days before the great feast
+of the Panathenaea. The articles of the treaty, the oaths, and the alliance
+shall be inscribed on a stone pillar by the Athenians in the citadel, by the
+Argives in the market-place, in the temple of Apollo: by the Mantineans in the
+temple of Zeus, in the market-place: and a brazen pillar shall be erected
+jointly by them at the Olympic games now at hand. Should the above cities see
+good to make any addition in these articles, whatever all the above cities
+shall agree upon, after consulting together, shall be binding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although the treaty and alliances were thus concluded, still the treaty between
+the Lacedaemonians and Athenians was not renounced by either party. Meanwhile
+Corinth, although the ally of the Argives, did not accede to the new treaty,
+any more than she had done to the alliance, defensive and offensive, formed
+before this between the Eleans, Argives, and Mantineans, when she declared
+herself content with the first alliance, which was defensive only, and which
+bound them to help each other, but not to join in attacking any. The
+Corinthians thus stood aloof from their allies, and again turned their thoughts
+towards Lacedaemon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the Olympic games which were held this summer, and in which the Arcadian
+Androsthenes was victor the first time in the wrestling and boxing, the
+Lacedaemonians were excluded from the temple by the Eleans, and thus prevented
+from sacrificing or contending, for having refused to pay the fine specified in
+the Olympic law imposed upon them by the Eleans, who alleged that they had
+attacked Fort Phyrcus, and sent heavy infantry of theirs into Lepreum during
+the Olympic truce. The amount of the fine was two thousand minae, two for each
+heavy-armed soldier, as the law prescribes. The Lacedaemonians sent envoys, and
+pleaded that the imposition was unjust; saying that the truce had not yet been
+proclaimed at Lacedaemon when the heavy infantry were sent off. But the Eleans
+affirmed that the armistice with them had already begun (they proclaim it first
+among themselves), and that the aggression of the Lacedaemonians had taken them
+by surprise while they were living quietly as in time of peace, and not
+expecting anything. Upon this the Lacedaemonians submitted, that if the Eleans
+really believed that they had committed an aggression, it was useless after
+that to proclaim the truce at Lacedaemon; but they had proclaimed it
+notwithstanding, as believing nothing of the kind, and from that moment the
+Lacedaemonians had made no attack upon their country. Nevertheless the Eleans
+adhered to what they had said, that nothing would persuade them that an
+aggression had not been committed; if, however, the Lacedaemonians would
+restore Lepreum, they would give up their own share of the money and pay that
+of the god for them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As this proposal was not accepted, the Eleans tried a second. Instead of
+restoring Lepreum, if this was objected to, the Lacedaemonians should ascend
+the altar of the Olympian Zeus, as they were so anxious to have access to the
+temple, and swear before the Hellenes that they would surely pay the fine at a
+later day. This being also refused, the Lacedaemonians were excluded from the
+temple, the sacrifice, and the games, and sacrificed at home; the Lepreans
+being the only other Hellenes who did not attend. Still the Eleans were afraid
+of the Lacedaemonians sacrificing by force, and kept guard with a heavy-armed
+company of their young men; being also joined by a thousand Argives, the same
+number of Mantineans, and by some Athenian cavalry who stayed at Harpina during
+the feast. Great fears were felt in the assembly of the Lacedaemonians coming
+in arms, especially after Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, a Lacedaemonian, had been
+scourged on the course by the umpires; because, upon his horses being the
+winners, and the Boeotian people being proclaimed the victor on account of his
+having no right to enter, he came forward on the course and crowned the
+charioteer, in order to show that the chariot was his. After this incident all
+were more afraid than ever, and firmly looked for a disturbance: the
+Lacedaemonians, however, kept quiet, and let the feast pass by, as we have
+seen. After the Olympic games, the Argives and the allies repaired to Corinth
+to invite her to come over to them. There they found some Lacedaemonian envoys;
+and a long discussion ensued, which after all ended in nothing, as an
+earthquake occurred, and they dispersed to their different homes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The winter following a battle took place between the
+Heracleots in Trachinia and the Aenianians, Dolopians, Malians, and certain of
+the Thessalians, all tribes bordering on and hostile to the town, which
+directly menaced their country. Accordingly, after having opposed and harassed
+it from its very foundation by every means in their power, they now in this
+battle defeated the Heracleots, Xenares, son of Cnidis, their Lacedaemonian
+commander, being among the slain. Thus the winter ended and the twelfth year of
+this war ended also. After the battle, Heraclea was so terribly reduced that in
+the first days of the summer following the Boeotians occupied the place and
+sent away the Lacedaemonian Agesippidas for misgovernment, fearing that the
+town might be taken by the Athenians while the Lacedaemonians were distracted
+with the affairs of Peloponnese. The Lacedaemonians, nevertheless, were
+offended with them for what they had done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer Alcibiades, son of Clinias, now one of the generals at Athens,
+in concert with the Argives and the allies, went into Peloponnese with a few
+Athenian heavy infantry and archers and some of the allies in those parts whom
+he took up as he passed, and with this army marched here and there through
+Peloponnese, and settled various matters connected with the alliance, and among
+other things induced the Patrians to carry their walls down to the sea,
+intending himself also to build a fort near the Achaean Rhium. However, the
+Corinthians and Sicyonians, and all others who would have suffered by its being
+built, came up and hindered him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer war broke out between the Epidaurians and Argives. The pretext
+was that the Epidaurians did not send an offering for their pasture-land to
+Apollo Pythaeus, as they were bound to do, the Argives having the chief
+management of the temple; but, apart from this pretext, Alcibiades and the
+Argives were determined, if possible, to gain possession of Epidaurus, and thus
+to ensure the neutrality of Corinth and give the Athenians a shorter passage
+for their reinforcements from Aegina than if they had to sail round Scyllaeum.
+The Argives accordingly prepared to invade Epidaurus by themselves, to exact
+the offering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the Lacedaemonians marched out with all their people to
+Leuctra upon their frontier, opposite to Mount Lycaeum, under the command of
+Agis, son of Archidamus, without any one knowing their destination, not even
+the cities that sent the contingents. The sacrifices, however, for crossing the
+frontier not proving propitious, the Lacedaemonians returned home themselves,
+and sent word to the allies to be ready to march after the month ensuing, which
+happened to be the month of Carneus, a holy time for the Dorians. Upon the
+retreat of the Lacedaemonians the Argives marched out on the last day but three
+of the month before Carneus, and keeping this as the day during the whole time
+that they were out, invaded and plundered Epidaurus. The Epidaurians summoned
+their allies to their aid, some of whom pleaded the month as an excuse; others
+came as far as the frontier of Epidaurus and there remained inactive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Argives were in Epidaurus embassies from the cities assembled at
+Mantinea, upon the invitation of the Athenians. The conference having begun,
+the Corinthian Euphamidas said that their actions did not agree with their
+words; while they were sitting deliberating about peace, the Epidaurians and
+their allies and the Argives were arrayed against each other in arms; deputies
+from each party should first go and separate the armies, and then the talk
+about peace might be resumed. In compliance with this suggestion, they went and
+brought back the Argives from Epidaurus, and afterwards reassembled, but
+without succeeding any better in coming to a conclusion; and the Argives a
+second time invaded Epidaurus and plundered the country. The Lacedaemonians
+also marched out to Caryae; but the frontier sacrifices again proving
+unfavourable, they went back again, and the Argives, after ravaging about a
+third of the Epidaurian territory, returned home. Meanwhile a thousand Athenian
+heavy infantry had come to their aid under the command of Alcibiades, but
+finding that the Lacedaemonian expedition was at an end, and that they were no
+longer wanted, went back again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So passed the summer. The next winter the Lacedaemonians managed to elude the
+vigilance of the Athenians, and sent in a garrison of three hundred men to
+Epidaurus, under the command of Agesippidas. Upon this the Argives went to the
+Athenians and complained of their having allowed an enemy to pass by sea, in
+spite of the clause in the treaty by which the allies were not to allow an
+enemy to pass through their country. Unless, therefore, they now put the
+Messenians and Helots in Pylos to annoy the Lacedaemonians, they, the Argives,
+should consider that faith had not been kept with them. The Athenians were
+persuaded by Alcibiades to inscribe at the bottom of the Laconian pillar that
+the Lacedaemonians had not kept their oaths, and to convey the Helots at Cranii
+to Pylos to plunder the country; but for the rest they remained quiet as
+before. During this winter hostilities went on between the Argives and
+Epidaurians, without any pitched battle taking place, but only forays and
+ambuscades, in which the losses were small and fell now on one side and now on
+the other. At the close of the winter, towards the beginning of spring, the
+Argives went with scaling ladders to Epidaurus, expecting to find it left
+unguarded on account of the war and to be able to take it by assault, but
+returned unsuccessful. And the winter ended, and with it the thirteenth year of
+the war ended also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the middle of the next summer the Lacedaemonians, seeing the Epidaurians,
+their allies, in distress, and the rest of Peloponnese either in revolt or
+disaffected, concluded that it was high time for them to interfere if they
+wished to stop the progress of the evil, and accordingly with their full force,
+the Helots included, took the field against Argos, under the command of Agis,
+son of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. The Tegeans and the other
+Arcadian allies of Lacedaemon joined in the expedition. The allies from the
+rest of Peloponnese and from outside mustered at Phlius; the Boeotians with
+five thousand heavy infantry and as many light troops, and five hundred horse
+and the same number of dismounted troopers; the Corinthians with two thousand
+heavy infantry; the rest more or less as might happen; and the Phliasians with
+all their forces, the army being in their country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The preparations of the Lacedaemonians from the first had been known to the
+Argives, who did not, however, take the field until the enemy was on his road
+to join the rest at Phlius. Reinforced by the Mantineans with their allies, and
+by three thousand Elean heavy infantry, they advanced and fell in with the
+Lacedaemonians at Methydrium in Arcadia. Each party took up its position upon a
+hill, and the Argives prepared to engage the Lacedaemonians while they were
+alone; but Agis eluded them by breaking up his camp in the night, and proceeded
+to join the rest of the allies at Phlius. The Argives discovering this at
+daybreak, marched first to Argos and then to the Nemean road, by which they
+expected the Lacedaemonians and their allies would come down. However, Agis,
+instead of taking this road as they expected, gave the Lacedaemonians,
+Arcadians, and Epidaurians their orders, and went along another difficult road,
+and descended into the plain of Argos. The Corinthians, Pellenians, and
+Phliasians marched by another steep road; while the Boeotians, Megarians, and
+Sicyonians had instructions to come down by the Nemean road where the Argives
+were posted, in order that, if the enemy advanced into the plain against the
+troops of Agis, they might fall upon his rear with their cavalry. These
+dispositions concluded, Agis invaded the plain and began to ravage Saminthus
+and other places.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Discovering this, the Argives came up from Nemea, day having now dawned. On
+their way they fell in with the troops of the Phliasians and Corinthians, and
+killed a few of the Phliasians and had perhaps a few more of their own men
+killed by the Corinthians. Meanwhile the Boeotians, Megarians, and Sicyonians,
+advancing upon Nemea according to their instructions, found the Argives no
+longer there, as they had gone down on seeing their property ravaged, and were
+now forming for battle, the Lacedaemonians imitating their example. The Argives
+were now completely surrounded; from the plain the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies shut them off from their city; above them were the Corinthians,
+Phliasians, and Pellenians; and on the side of Nemea the Boeotians, Sicyonians,
+and Megarians. Meanwhile their army was without cavalry, the Athenians alone
+among the allies not having yet arrived. Now the bulk of the Argives and their
+allies did not see the danger of their position, but thought that they could
+not have a fairer field, having intercepted the Lacedaemonians in their own
+country and close to the city. Two men, however, in the Argive army, Thrasylus,
+one of the five generals, and Alciphron, the Lacedaemonian proxenus, just as
+the armies were upon the point of engaging, went and held a parley with Agis
+and urged him not to bring on a battle, as the Argives were ready to refer to
+fair and equal arbitration whatever complaints the Lacedaemonians might have
+against them, and to make a treaty and live in peace in future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Argives who made these statements did so upon their own authority, not by
+order of the people, and Agis on his accepted their proposals, and without
+himself either consulting the majority, simply communicated the matter to a
+single individual, one of the high officers accompanying the expedition, and
+granted the Argives a truce for four months, in which to fulfil their promises;
+after which he immediately led off the army without giving any explanation to
+any of the other allies. The Lacedaemonians and allies followed their general
+out of respect for the law, but amongst themselves loudly blamed Agis for going
+away from so fair a field (the enemy being hemmed in on every side by infantry
+and cavalry) without having done anything worthy of their strength. Indeed this
+was by far the finest Hellenic army ever yet brought together; and it should
+have been seen while it was still united at Nemea, with the Lacedaemonians in
+full force, the Arcadians, Boeotians, Corinthians, Sicyonians, Pellenians,
+Phliasians and Megarians, and all these the flower of their respective
+populations, thinking themselves a match not merely for the Argive confederacy,
+but for another such added to it. The army thus retired blaming Agis, and
+returned every man to his home. The Argives however blamed still more loudly
+the persons who had concluded the truce without consulting the people,
+themselves thinking that they had let escape with the Lacedaemonians an
+opportunity such as they should never see again; as the struggle would have
+been under the walls of their city, and by the side of many and brave allies.
+On their return accordingly they began to stone Thrasylus in the bed of the
+Charadrus, where they try all military causes before entering the city.
+Thrasylus fled to the altar, and so saved his life; his property however they
+confiscated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this arrived a thousand Athenian heavy infantry and three hundred horse,
+under the command of Laches and Nicostratus; whom the Argives, being
+nevertheless loath to break the truce with the Lacedaemonians, begged to
+depart, and refused to bring before the people, to whom they had a
+communication to make, until compelled to do so by the entreaties of the
+Mantineans and Eleans, who were still at Argos. The Athenians, by the mouth of
+Alcibiades their ambassador there present, told the Argives and the allies that
+they had no right to make a truce at all without the consent of their fellow
+confederates, and now that the Athenians had arrived so opportunely the war
+ought to be resumed. These arguments proving successful with the allies, they
+immediately marched upon Orchomenos, all except the Argives, who, although they
+had consented like the rest, stayed behind at first, but eventually joined the
+others. They now all sat down and besieged Orchomenos, and made assaults upon
+it; one of their reasons for desiring to gain this place being that hostages
+from Arcadia had been lodged there by the Lacedaemonians. The Orchomenians,
+alarmed at the weakness of their wall and the numbers of the enemy, and at the
+risk they ran of perishing before relief arrived, capitulated upon condition of
+joining the league, of giving hostages of their own to the Mantineans, and
+giving up those lodged with them by the Lacedaemonians. Orchomenos thus
+secured, the allies now consulted as to which of the remaining places they
+should attack next. The Eleans were urgent for Lepreum; the Mantineans for
+Tegea; and the Argives and Athenians giving their support to the Mantineans,
+the Eleans went home in a rage at their not having voted for Lepreum; while the
+rest of the allies made ready at Mantinea for going against Tegea, which a
+party inside had arranged to put into their hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, upon their return from Argos after concluding the
+four months&rsquo; truce, vehemently blamed Agis for not having subdued Argos,
+after an opportunity such as they thought they had never had before; for it was
+no easy matter to bring so many and so good allies together. But when the news
+arrived of the capture of Orchomenos, they became more angry than ever, and,
+departing from all precedent, in the heat of the moment had almost decided to
+raze his house, and to fine him ten thousand drachmae. Agis however entreated
+them to do none of these things, promising to atone for his fault by good
+service in the field, failing which they might then do to him whatever they
+pleased; and they accordingly abstained from razing his house or fining him as
+they had threatened to do, and now made a law, hitherto unknown at Lacedaemon,
+attaching to him ten Spartans as counsellors, without whose consent he should
+have no power to lead an army out of the city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this juncture arrived word from their friends in Tegea that, unless they
+speedily appeared, Tegea would go over from them to the Argives and their
+allies, if it had not gone over already. Upon this news a force marched out
+from Lacedaemon, of the Spartans and Helots and all their people, and that
+instantly and upon a scale never before witnessed. Advancing to Orestheum in
+Maenalia, they directed the Arcadians in their league to follow close after
+them to Tegea, and, going on themselves as far as Orestheum, from thence sent
+back the sixth part of the Spartans, consisting of the oldest and youngest men,
+to guard their homes, and with the rest of their army arrived at Tegea; where
+their Arcadian allies soon after joined them. Meanwhile they sent to Corinth,
+to the Boeotians, the Phocians, and Locrians, with orders to come up as quickly
+as possible to Mantinea. These had but short notice; and it was not easy except
+all together, and after waiting for each other, to pass through the
+enemy&rsquo;s country, which lay right across and blocked up the line of
+communication. Nevertheless they made what haste they could. Meanwhile the
+Lacedaemonians with the Arcadian allies that had joined them, entered the
+territory of Mantinea, and encamping near the temple of Heracles began to
+plunder the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here they were seen by the Argives and their allies, who immediately took up a
+strong and difficult position, and formed in order of battle. The
+Lacedaemonians at once advanced against them, and came on within a
+stone&rsquo;s throw or javelin&rsquo;s cast, when one of the older men, seeing
+the enemy&rsquo;s position to be a strong one, hallooed to Agis that he was
+minded to cure one evil with another; meaning that he wished to make amends for
+his retreat, which had been so much blamed, from Argos, by his present untimely
+precipitation. Meanwhile Agis, whether in consequence of this halloo or of some
+sudden new idea of his own, quickly led back his army without engaging, and
+entering the Tegean territory, began to turn off into that of Mantinea the
+water about which the Mantineans and Tegeans are always fighting, on account of
+the extensive damage it does to whichever of the two countries it falls into.
+His object in this was to make the Argives and their allies come down from the
+hill, to resist the diversion of the water, as they would be sure to do when
+they knew of it, and thus to fight the battle in the plain. He accordingly
+stayed that day where he was, engaged in turning off the water. The Argives and
+their allies were at first amazed at the sudden retreat of the enemy after
+advancing so near, and did not know what to make of it; but when he had gone
+away and disappeared, without their having stirred to pursue him, they began
+anew to find fault with their generals, who had not only let the Lacedaemonians
+get off before, when they were so happily intercepted before Argos, but who now
+again allowed them to run away, without any one pursuing them, and to escape at
+their leisure while the Argive army was leisurely betrayed. The generals,
+half-stunned for the moment, afterwards led them down from the hill, and went
+forward and encamped in the plain, with the intention of attacking the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Argives and their allies formed in the order in which they
+meant to fight, if they chanced to encounter the enemy; and the Lacedaemonians
+returning from the water to their old encampment by the temple of Heracles,
+suddenly saw their adversaries close in front of them, all in complete order,
+and advanced from the hill. A shock like that of the present moment the
+Lacedaemonians do not ever remember to have experienced: there was scant time
+for preparation, as they instantly and hastily fell into their ranks, Agis,
+their king, directing everything, agreeably to the law. For when a king is in
+the field all commands proceed from him: he gives the word to the Polemarchs;
+they to the Lochages; these to the Pentecostyes; these again to the
+Enomotarchs, and these last to the Enomoties. In short all orders required pass
+in the same way and quickly reach the troops; as almost the whole Lacedaemonian
+army, save for a small part, consists of officers under officers, and the care
+of what is to be done falls upon many.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this battle the left wing was composed of the Sciritae, who in a
+Lacedaemonian army have always that post to themselves alone; next to these
+were the soldiers of Brasidas from Thrace, and the Neodamodes with them; then
+came the Lacedaemonians themselves, company after company, with the Arcadians
+of Heraea at their side. After these were the Maenalians, and on the right wing
+the Tegeans with a few of the Lacedaemonians at the extremity; their cavalry
+being posted upon the two wings. Such was the Lacedaemonian formation. That of
+their opponents was as follows: On the right were the Mantineans, the action
+taking place in their country; next to them the allies from Arcadia; after whom
+came the thousand picked men of the Argives, to whom the state had given a long
+course of military training at the public expense; next to them the rest of the
+Argives, and after them their allies, the Cleonaeans and Orneans, and lastly
+the Athenians on the extreme left, and lastly the Athenians on the extreme
+left, and their own cavalry with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the order and the forces of the two combatants. The Lacedaemonian
+army looked the largest; though as to putting down the numbers of either host,
+or of the contingents composing it, I could not do so with any accuracy. Owing
+to the secrecy of their government the number of the Lacedaemonians was not
+known, and men are so apt to brag about the forces of their country that the
+estimate of their opponents was not trusted. The following calculation,
+however, makes it possible to estimate the numbers of the Lacedaemonians
+present upon this occasion. There were seven companies in the field without
+counting the Sciritae, who numbered six hundred men: in each company there were
+four Pentecostyes, and in the Pentecosty four Enomoties. The first rank of the
+Enomoty was composed of four soldiers: as to the depth, although they had not
+been all drawn up alike, but as each captain chose, they were generally ranged
+eight deep; the first rank along the whole line, exclusive of the Sciritae,
+consisted of four hundred and forty-eight men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The armies being now on the eve of engaging, each contingent received some
+words of encouragement from its own commander. The Mantineans were, reminded
+that they were going to fight for their country and to avoid returning to the
+experience of servitude after having tasted that of empire; the Argives, that
+they would contend for their ancient supremacy, to regain their once equal
+share of Peloponnese of which they had been so long deprived, and to punish an
+enemy and a neighbour for a thousand wrongs; the Athenians, of the glory of
+gaining the honours of the day with so many and brave allies in arms, and that
+a victory over the Lacedaemonians in Peloponnese would cement and extend their
+empire, and would besides preserve Attica from all invasions in future. These
+were the incitements addressed to the Argives and their allies. The
+Lacedaemonians meanwhile, man to man, and with their war-songs in the ranks,
+exhorted each brave comrade to remember what he had learnt before; well aware
+that the long training of action was of more saving virtue than any brief
+verbal exhortation, though never so well delivered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this they joined battle, the Argives and their allies advancing with
+haste and fury, the Lacedaemonians slowly and to the music of many
+flute-players&mdash;a standing institution in their army, that has nothing to
+do with religion, but is meant to make them advance evenly, stepping in time,
+without break their order, as large armies are apt to do in the moment of
+engaging.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just before the battle joined, King Agis resolved upon the following manoeuvre.
+All armies are alike in this: on going into action they get forced out rather
+on their right wing, and one and the other overlap with this adversary&rsquo;s
+left; because fear makes each man do his best to shelter his unarmed side with
+the shield of the man next him on the right, thinking that the closer the
+shields are locked together the better will he be protected. The man primarily
+responsible for this is the first upon the right wing, who is always striving
+to withdraw from the enemy his unarmed side; and the same apprehension makes
+the rest follow him. On the present occasion the Mantineans reached with their
+wing far beyond the Sciritae, and the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans still farther
+beyond the Athenians, as their army was the largest. Agis, afraid of his left
+being surrounded, and thinking that the Mantineans outflanked it too far,
+ordered the Sciritae and Brasideans to move out from their place in the ranks
+and make the line even with the Mantineans, and told the Polemarchs Hipponoidas
+and Aristocles to fill up the gap thus formed, by throwing themselves into it
+with two companies taken from the right wing; thinking that his right would
+still be strong enough and to spare, and that the line fronting the Mantineans
+would gain in solidity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, as he gave these orders in the moment of the onset, and at short
+notice, it so happened that Aristocles and Hipponoidas would not move over, for
+which offence they were afterwards banished from Sparta, as having been guilty
+of cowardice; and the enemy meanwhile closed before the Sciritae (whom Agis on
+seeing that the two companies did not move over ordered to return to their
+place) had time to fill up the breach in question. Now it was, however, that
+the Lacedaemonians, utterly worsted in respect of skill, showed themselves as
+superior in point of courage. As soon as they came to close quarters with the
+enemy, the Mantinean right broke their Sciritae and Brasideans, and, bursting
+in with their allies and the thousand picked Argives into the unclosed breach
+in their line, cut up and surrounded the Lacedaemonians, and drove them in full
+rout to the wagons, slaying some of the older men on guard there. But the
+Lacedaemonians, worsted in this part of the field, with the rest of their army,
+and especially the centre, where the three hundred knights, as they are called,
+fought round King Agis, fell on the older men of the Argives and the five
+companies so named, and on the Cleonaeans, the Orneans, and the Athenians next
+them, and instantly routed them; the greater number not even waiting to strike
+a blow, but giving way the moment that they came on, some even being trodden
+under foot, in their fear of being overtaken by their assailants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The army of the Argives and their allies, having given way in this quarter, was
+now completely cut in two, and the Lacedaemonian and Tegean right
+simultaneously closing round the Athenians with the troops that outflanked
+them, these last found themselves placed between two fires, being surrounded on
+one side and already defeated on the other. Indeed they would have suffered
+more severely than any other part of the army, but for the services of the
+cavalry which they had with them. Agis also on perceiving the distress of his
+left opposed to the Mantineans and the thousand Argives, ordered all the army
+to advance to the support of the defeated wing; and while this took place, as
+the enemy moved past and slanted away from them, the Athenians escaped at their
+leisure, and with them the beaten Argive division. Meanwhile the Mantineans and
+their allies and the picked body of the Argives ceased to press the enemy, and
+seeing their friends defeated and the Lacedaemonians in full advance upon them,
+took to flight. Many of the Mantineans perished; but the bulk of the picked
+body of the Argives made good their escape. The flight and retreat, however,
+were neither hurried nor long; the Lacedaemonians fighting long and stubbornly
+until the rout of their enemy, but that once effected, pursuing for a short
+time and not far.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the battle, as nearly as possible as I have described it; the greatest
+that had occurred for a very long while among the Hellenes, and joined by the
+most considerable states. The Lacedaemonians took up a position in front of the
+enemy&rsquo;s dead, and immediately set up a trophy and stripped the slain;
+they took up their own dead and carried them back to Tegea, where they buried
+them, and restored those of the enemy under truce. The Argives, Orneans, and
+Cleonaeans had seven hundred killed; the Mantineans two hundred, and the
+Athenians and Aeginetans also two hundred, with both their generals. On the
+side of the Lacedaemonians, the allies did not suffer any loss worth speaking
+of: as to the Lacedaemonians themselves it was difficult to learn the truth; it
+is said, however, that there were slain about three hundred of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the battle was impending, Pleistoanax, the other king, set out with a
+reinforcement composed of the oldest and youngest men, and got as far as Tegea,
+where he heard of the victory and went back again. The Lacedaemonians also sent
+and turned back the allies from Corinth and from beyond the Isthmus, and
+returning themselves dismissed their allies, and kept the Carnean holidays,
+which happened to be at that time. The imputations cast upon them by the
+Hellenes at the time, whether of cowardice on account of the disaster in the
+island, or of mismanagement and slowness generally, were all wiped out by this
+single action: fortune, it was thought, might have humbled them, but the men
+themselves were the same as ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day before this battle, the Epidaurians with all their forces invaded the
+deserted Argive territory, and cut off many of the guards left there in the
+absence of the Argive army. After the battle three thousand Elean heavy
+infantry arriving to aid the Mantineans, and a reinforcement of one thousand
+Athenians, all these allies marched at once against Epidaurus, while the
+Lacedaemonians were keeping the Carnea, and dividing the work among them began
+to build a wall round the city. The rest left off; but the Athenians finished
+at once the part assigned to them round Cape Heraeum; and having all joined in
+leaving a garrison in the fortification in question, they returned to their
+respective cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer now came to an end. In the first days of the next winter, when the
+Carnean holidays were over, the Lacedaemonians took the field, and arriving at
+Tegea sent on to Argos proposals of accommodation. They had before had a party
+in the town desirous of overthrowing the democracy; and after the battle that
+had been fought, these were now far more in a position to persuade the people
+to listen to terms. Their plan was first to make a treaty with the
+Lacedaemonians, to be followed by an alliance, and after this to fall upon the
+commons. Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, the Argive proxenus, accordingly arrived at
+Argos with two proposals from Lacedaemon, to regulate the conditions of war or
+peace, according as they preferred the one or the other. After much discussion,
+Alcibiades happening to be in the town, the Lacedaemonian party, who now
+ventured to act openly, persuaded the Argives to accept the proposal for
+accommodation; which ran as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The assembly of the Lacedaemonians agrees to treat with the Argives upon the
+terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. The Argives shall restore to the Orchomenians their children, and to the
+Maenalians their men, and shall restore the men they have in Mantinea to the
+Lacedaemonians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. They shall evacuate Epidaurus, and raze the fortification there. If the
+Athenians refuse to withdraw from Epidaurus, they shall be declared enemies of
+the Argives and of the Lacedaemonians, and of the allies of the Lacedaemonians
+and the allies of the Argives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. If the Lacedaemonians have any children in their custody, they shall restore
+them every one to his city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. As to the offering to the god, the Argives, if they wish, shall impose an
+oath upon the Epidaurians, but, if not, they shall swear it themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+5. All the cities in Peloponnese, both small and great, shall be independent
+according to the customs of their country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+6. If any of the powers outside Peloponnese invade Peloponnesian territory, the
+parties contracting shall unite to repel them, on such terms as they may agree
+upon, as being most fair for the Peloponnesians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+7. All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be on the same
+footing as the Lacedaemonians, and the allies of the Argives shall be on the
+same footing as the Argives, being left in enjoyment of their own possessions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+8. This treaty shall be shown to the allies, and shall be concluded, if they
+approve; if the allies think fit, they may send the treaty to be considered at
+home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Argives began by accepting this proposal, and the Lacedaemonian army
+returned home from Tegea. After this intercourse was renewed between them, and
+not long afterwards the same party contrived that the Argives should give up
+the league with the Mantineans, Eleans, and Athenians, and should make a treaty
+and alliance with the Lacedaemonians; which was consequently done upon the
+terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians and Argives agree to a treaty and alliance for fifty years
+upon the terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. All disputes shall be decided by fair and impartial arbitration, agreeably
+to the customs of the two countries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. The rest of the cities in Peloponnese may be included in this treaty and
+alliance, as independent and sovereign, in full enjoyment of what they possess,
+all disputes being decided by fair and impartial arbitration, agreeably to the
+customs of the said cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be upon the same
+footing as the Lacedaemonians themselves, and the allies of the Argives shall
+be upon the same footing as the Argives themselves, continuing to enjoy what
+they possess.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. If it shall be anywhere necessary to make an expedition in common, the
+Lacedaemonians and Argives shall consult upon it and decide, as may be most
+fair for the allies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+5. If any of the cities, whether inside or outside Peloponnese, have a question
+whether of frontiers or otherwise, it must be settled, but if one allied city
+should have a quarrel with another allied city, it must be referred to some
+third city thought impartial by both parties. Private citizens shall have their
+disputes decided according to the laws of their several countries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The treaty and above alliance concluded, each party at once released everything
+whether acquired by war or otherwise, and thenceforth acting in common voted to
+receive neither herald nor embassy from the Athenians unless they evacuated
+their forts and withdrew from Peloponnese, and also to make neither peace nor
+war with any, except jointly. Zeal was not wanting: both parties sent envoys to
+the Thracian places and to Perdiccas, and persuaded the latter to join their
+league. Still he did not at once break off from Athens, although minded to do
+so upon seeing the way shown him by Argos, the original home of his family.
+They also renewed their old oaths with the Chalcidians and took new ones: the
+Argives, besides, sent ambassadors to the Athenians, bidding them evacuate the
+fort at Epidaurus. The Athenians, seeing their own men outnumbered by the rest
+of the garrison, sent Demosthenes to bring them out. This general, under colour
+of a gymnastic contest which he arranged on his arrival, got the rest of the
+garrison out of the place, and shut the gates behind them. Afterwards the
+Athenians renewed their treaty with the Epidaurians, and by themselves gave up
+the fortress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the defection of Argos from the league, the Mantineans, though they held
+out at first, in the end finding themselves powerless without the Argives,
+themselves too came to terms with Lacedaemon, and gave up their sovereignty
+over the towns. The Lacedaemonians and Argives, each a thousand strong, now
+took the field together, and the former first went by themselves to Sicyon and
+made the government there more oligarchical than before, and then both,
+uniting, put down the democracy at Argos and set up an oligarchy favourable to
+Lacedaemon. These events occurred at the close of the winter, just before
+spring; and the fourteenth year of the war ended. The next summer the people of
+Dium, in Athos, revolted from the Athenians to the Chalcidians, and the
+Lacedaemonians settled affairs in Achaea in a way more agreeable to the
+interests of their country. Meanwhile the popular party at Argos little by
+little gathered new consistency and courage, and waited for the moment of the
+Gymnopaedic festival at Lacedaemon, and then fell upon the oligarchs. After a
+fight in the city, victory declared for the commons, who slew some of their
+opponents and banished others. The Lacedaemonians for a long while let the
+messages of their friends at Argos remain without effect. At last they put off
+the Gymnopaediae and marched to their succour, but learning at Tegea the defeat
+of the oligarchs, refused to go any further in spite of the entreaties of those
+who had escaped, and returned home and kept the festival. Later on, envoys
+arrived with messages from the Argives in the town and from the exiles, when
+the allies were also at Sparta; and after much had been said on both sides, the
+Lacedaemonians decided that the party in the town had done wrong, and resolved
+to march against Argos, but kept delaying and putting off the matter. Meanwhile
+the commons at Argos, in fear of the Lacedaemonians, began again to court the
+Athenian alliance, which they were convinced would be of the greatest service
+to them; and accordingly proceeded to build long walls to the sea, in order
+that in case of a blockade by land; with the help of the Athenians they might
+have the advantage of importing what they wanted by sea. Some of the cities in
+Peloponnese were also privy to the building of these walls; and the Argives
+with all their people, women and slaves not excepted, addressed themselves to
+the work, while carpenters and masons came to them from Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The winter following the Lacedaemonians, hearing of the
+walls that were building, marched against Argos with their allies, the
+Corinthians excepted, being also not without intelligence in the city itself;
+Agis, son of Archidamus, their king, was in command. The intelligence which
+they counted upon within the town came to nothing; they however took and razed
+the walls which were being built, and after capturing the Argive town Hysiae
+and killing all the freemen that fell into their hands, went back and dispersed
+every man to his city. After this the Argives marched into Phlius and plundered
+it for harbouring their exiles, most of whom had settled there, and so returned
+home. The same winter the Athenians blockaded Macedonia, on the score of the
+league entered into by Perdiccas with the Argives and Lacedaemonians, and also
+of his breach of his engagements on the occasion of the expedition prepared by
+Athens against the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace and against
+Amphipolis, under the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus, which had to be
+broken up mainly because of his desertion. He was therefore proclaimed an
+enemy. And thus the winter ended, and the fifteenth year of the war ended with
+it.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"></a>
+CHAPTER XVII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Sixteenth Year of the War&mdash;The Melian Conference&mdash;Fate of Melos
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next summer Alcibiades sailed with twenty ships to Argos and seized the
+suspected persons still left of the Lacedaemonian faction to the number of
+three hundred, whom the Athenians forthwith lodged in the neighbouring islands
+of their empire. The Athenians also made an expedition against the isle of
+Melos with thirty ships of their own, six Chian, and two Lesbian vessels,
+sixteen hundred heavy infantry, three hundred archers, and twenty mounted
+archers from Athens, and about fifteen hundred heavy infantry from the allies
+and the islanders. The Melians are a colony of Lacedaemon that would not submit
+to the Athenians like the other islanders, and at first remained neutral and
+took no part in the struggle, but afterwards upon the Athenians using violence
+and plundering their territory, assumed an attitude of open hostility.
+Cleomedes, son of Lycomedes, and Tisias, son of Tisimachus, the generals,
+encamping in their territory with the above armament, before doing any harm to
+their land, sent envoys to negotiate. These the Melians did not bring before
+the people, but bade them state the object of their mission to the magistrates
+and the few; upon which the Athenian envoys spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Since the negotiations are not to go on before the people, in order
+that we may not be able to speak straight on without interruption, and deceive
+the ears of the multitude by seductive arguments which would pass without
+refutation (for we know that this is the meaning of our being brought before
+the few), what if you who sit there were to pursue a method more cautious
+still? Make no set speech yourselves, but take us up at whatever you do not
+like, and settle that before going any farther. And first tell us if this
+proposition of ours suits you.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Melian commissioners answered:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. To the fairness of quietly instructing each other as you propose there
+is nothing to object; but your military preparations are too far advanced to
+agree with what you say, as we see you are come to be judges in your own cause,
+and that all we can reasonably expect from this negotiation is war, if we prove
+to have right on our side and refuse to submit, and in the contrary case,
+slavery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. If you have met to reason about presentiments of the future, or for
+anything else than to consult for the safety of your state upon the facts that
+you see before you, we will give over; otherwise we will go on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. It is natural and excusable for men in our position to turn more ways
+than one both in thought and utterance. However, the question in this
+conference is, as you say, the safety of our country; and the discussion, if
+you please, can proceed in the way which you propose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious
+pretences&mdash;either of how we have a right to our empire because we
+overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you have
+done us&mdash;and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in return
+we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying that you did
+not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists, or that you have done us
+no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of
+us both; since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only
+in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the
+weak suffer what they must.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. As we think, at any rate, it is expedient&mdash;we speak as we are
+obliged, since you enjoin us to let right alone and talk only of
+interest&mdash;that you should not destroy what is our common protection, the
+privilege of being allowed in danger to invoke what is fair and right, and even
+to profit by arguments not strictly valid if they can be got to pass current.
+And you are as much interested in this as any, as your fall would be a signal
+for the heaviest vengeance and an example for the world to meditate upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. The end of our empire, if end it should, does not frighten us: a
+rival empire like Lacedaemon, even if Lacedaemon was our real antagonist, is
+not so terrible to the vanquished as subjects who by themselves attack and
+overpower their rulers. This, however, is a risk that we are content to take.
+We will now proceed to show you that we are come here in the interest of our
+empire, and that we shall say what we are now going to say, for the
+preservation of your country; as we would fain exercise that empire over you
+without trouble, and see you preserved for the good of us both.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. And how, pray, could it turn out as good for us to serve as for you to
+rule?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Because you would have the advantage of submitting before suffering
+the worst, and we should gain by not destroying you.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. So that you would not consent to our being neutral, friends instead of
+enemies, but allies of neither side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. No; for your hostility cannot so much hurt us as your friendship
+will be an argument to our subjects of our weakness, and your enmity of our
+power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. Is that your subjects&rsquo; idea of equity, to put those who have
+nothing to do with you in the same category with peoples that are most of them
+your own colonists, and some conquered rebels?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. As far as right goes they think one has as much of it as the other,
+and that if any maintain their independence it is because they are strong, and
+that if we do not molest them it is because we are afraid; so that besides
+extending our empire we should gain in security by your subjection; the fact
+that you are islanders and weaker than others rendering it all the more
+important that you should not succeed in baffling the masters of the sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. But do you consider that there is no security in the policy which we
+indicate? For here again if you debar us from talking about justice and invite
+us to obey your interest, we also must explain ours, and try to persuade you,
+if the two happen to coincide. How can you avoid making enemies of all existing
+neutrals who shall look at case from it that one day or another you will attack
+them? And what is this but to make greater the enemies that you have already,
+and to force others to become so who would otherwise have never thought of it?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Why, the fact is that continentals generally give us but little
+alarm; the liberty which they enjoy will long prevent their taking precautions
+against us; it is rather islanders like yourselves, outside our empire, and
+subjects smarting under the yoke, who would be the most likely to take a rash
+step and lead themselves and us into obvious danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. Well then, if you risk so much to retain your empire, and your
+subjects to get rid of it, it were surely great baseness and cowardice in us
+who are still free not to try everything that can be tried, before submitting
+to your yoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Not if you are well advised, the contest not being an equal one,
+with honour as the prize and shame as the penalty, but a question of
+self-preservation and of not resisting those who are far stronger than you are.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. But we know that the fortune of war is sometimes more impartial than
+the disproportion of numbers might lead one to suppose; to submit is to give
+ourselves over to despair, while action still preserves for us a hope that we
+may stand erect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Hope, danger&rsquo;s comforter, may be indulged in by those who have
+abundant resources, if not without loss at all events without ruin; but its
+nature is to be extravagant, and those who go so far as to put their all upon
+the venture see it in its true colours only when they are ruined; but so long
+as the discovery would enable them to guard against it, it is never found
+wanting. Let not this be the case with you, who are weak and hang on a single
+turn of the scale; nor be like the vulgar, who, abandoning such security as
+human means may still afford, when visible hopes fail them in extremity, turn
+to invisible, to prophecies and oracles, and other such inventions that delude
+men with hopes to their destruction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. You may be sure that we are as well aware as you of the difficulty of
+contending against your power and fortune, unless the terms be equal. But we
+trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good as yours, since we are just
+men fighting against unjust, and that what we want in power will be made up by
+the alliance of the Lacedaemonians, who are bound, if only for very shame, to
+come to the aid of their kindred. Our confidence, therefore, after all is not
+so utterly irrational.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. When you speak of the favour of the gods, we may as fairly hope for
+that as yourselves; neither our pretensions nor our conduct being in any way
+contrary to what men believe of the gods, or practise among themselves. Of the
+gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature
+they rule wherever they can. And it is not as if we were the first to make this
+law, or to act upon it when made: we found it existing before us, and shall
+leave it to exist for ever after us; all we do is to make use of it, knowing
+that you and everybody else, having the same power as we have, would do the
+same as we do. Thus, as far as the gods are concerned, we have no fear and no
+reason to fear that we shall be at a disadvantage. But when we come to your
+notion about the Lacedaemonians, which leads you to believe that shame will
+make them help you, here we bless your simplicity but do not envy your folly.
+The Lacedaemonians, when their own interests or their country&rsquo;s laws are
+in question, are the worthiest men alive; of their conduct towards others much
+might be said, but no clearer idea of it could be given than by shortly saying
+that of all the men we know they are most conspicuous in considering what is
+agreeable honourable, and what is expedient just. Such a way of thinking does
+not promise much for the safety which you now unreasonably count upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. But it is for this very reason that we now trust to their respect for
+expediency to prevent them from betraying the Melians, their colonists, and
+thereby losing the confidence of their friends in Hellas and helping their
+enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Then you do not adopt the view that expediency goes with security,
+while justice and honour cannot be followed without danger; and danger the
+Lacedaemonians generally court as little as possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. But we believe that they would be more likely to face even danger for
+our sake, and with more confidence than for others, as our nearness to
+Peloponnese makes it easier for them to act, and our common blood ensures our
+fidelity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Yes, but what an intending ally trusts to is not the goodwill of
+those who ask his aid, but a decided superiority of power for action; and the
+Lacedaemonians look to this even more than others. At least, such is their
+distrust of their home resources that it is only with numerous allies that they
+attack a neighbour; now is it likely that while we are masters of the sea they
+will cross over to an island?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Melians. But they would have others to send. The Cretan Sea is a wide one, and
+it is more difficult for those who command it to intercept others, than for
+those who wish to elude them to do so safely. And should the Lacedaemonians
+miscarry in this, they would fall upon your land, and upon those left of your
+allies whom Brasidas did not reach; and instead of places which are not yours,
+you will have to fight for your own country and your own confederacy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenians. Some diversion of the kind you speak of you may one day experience,
+only to learn, as others have done, that the Athenians never once yet withdrew
+from a siege for fear of any. But we are struck by the fact that, after saying
+you would consult for the safety of your country, in all this discussion you
+have mentioned nothing which men might trust in and think to be saved by. Your
+strongest arguments depend upon hope and the future, and your actual resources
+are too scanty, as compared with those arrayed against you, for you to come out
+victorious. You will therefore show great blindness of judgment, unless, after
+allowing us to retire, you can find some counsel more prudent than this. You
+will surely not be caught by that idea of disgrace, which in dangers that are
+disgraceful, and at the same time too plain to be mistaken, proves so fatal to
+mankind; since in too many cases the very men that have their eyes perfectly
+open to what they are rushing into, let the thing called disgrace, by the mere
+influence of a seductive name, lead them on to a point at which they become so
+enslaved by the phrase as in fact to fall wilfully into hopeless disaster, and
+incur disgrace more disgraceful as the companion of error, than when it comes
+as the result of misfortune. This, if you are well advised, you will guard
+against; and you will not think it dishonourable to submit to the greatest city
+in Hellas, when it makes you the moderate offer of becoming its tributary ally,
+without ceasing to enjoy the country that belongs to you; nor when you have the
+choice given you between war and security, will you be so blinded as to choose
+the worse. And it is certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who
+keep terms with their superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on
+the whole succeed best. Think over the matter, therefore, after our withdrawal,
+and reflect once and again that it is for your country that you are consulting,
+that you have not more than one, and that upon this one deliberation depends
+its prosperity or ruin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians now withdrew from the conference; and the Melians, left to
+themselves, came to a decision corresponding with what they had maintained in
+the discussion, and answered: &ldquo;Our resolution, Athenians, is the same as
+it was at first. We will not in a moment deprive of freedom a city that has
+been inhabited these seven hundred years; but we put our trust in the fortune
+by which the gods have preserved it until now, and in the help of men, that is,
+of the Lacedaemonians; and so we will try and save ourselves. Meanwhile we
+invite you to allow us to be friends to you and foes to neither party, and to
+retire from our country after making such a treaty as shall seem fit to us
+both.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the answer of the Melians. The Athenians now departing from the
+conference said: &ldquo;Well, you alone, as it seems to us, judging from these
+resolutions, regard what is future as more certain than what is before your
+eyes, and what is out of sight, in your eagerness, as already coming to pass;
+and as you have staked most on, and trusted most in, the Lacedaemonians, your
+fortune, and your hopes, so will you be most completely deceived.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenian envoys now returned to the army; and the Melians showing no signs
+of yielding, the generals at once betook themselves to hostilities, and drew a
+line of circumvallation round the Melians, dividing the work among the
+different states. Subsequently the Athenians returned with most of their army,
+leaving behind them a certain number of their own citizens and of the allies to
+keep guard by land and sea. The force thus left stayed on and besieged the
+place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the Argives invaded the territory of Phlius and lost eighty
+men cut off in an ambush by the Phliasians and Argive exiles. Meanwhile the
+Athenians at Pylos took so much plunder from the Lacedaemonians that the
+latter, although they still refrained from breaking off the treaty and going to
+war with Athens, yet proclaimed that any of their people that chose might
+plunder the Athenians. The Corinthians also commenced hostilities with the
+Athenians for private quarrels of their own; but the rest of the Peloponnesians
+stayed quiet. Meanwhile the Melians attacked by night and took the part of the
+Athenian lines over against the market, and killed some of the men, and brought
+in corn and all else that they could find useful to them, and so returned and
+kept quiet, while the Athenians took measures to keep better guard in future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The next winter the Lacedaemonians intended to invade the
+Argive territory, but arriving at the frontier found the sacrifices for
+crossing unfavourable, and went back again. This intention of theirs gave the
+Argives suspicions of certain of their fellow citizens, some of whom they
+arrested; others, however, escaped them. About the same time the Melians again
+took another part of the Athenian lines which were but feebly garrisoned.
+Reinforcements afterwards arriving from Athens in consequence, under the
+command of Philocrates, son of Demeas, the siege was now pressed vigorously;
+and some treachery taking place inside, the Melians surrendered at discretion
+to the Athenians, who put to death all the grown men whom they took, and sold
+the women and children for slaves, and subsequently sent out five hundred
+colonists and inhabited the place themselves.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"></a>
+BOOK VI </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"></a>
+CHAPTER XVIII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Seventeenth Year of the War&mdash;The Sicilian Campaign&mdash;Affair of the
+Hermae&mdash;Departure of the Expedition
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Athenians resolved to sail again to Sicily, with a greater
+armament than that under Laches and Eurymedon, and, if possible, to conquer the
+island; most of them being ignorant of its size and of the number of its
+inhabitants, Hellenic and barbarian, and of the fact that they were undertaking
+a war not much inferior to that against the Peloponnesians. For the voyage
+round Sicily in a merchantman is not far short of eight days; and yet, large as
+the island is, there are only two miles of sea to prevent its being mainland.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was settled originally as follows, and the peoples that occupied it are
+these. The earliest inhabitants spoken of in any part of the country are the
+Cyclopes and Laestrygones; but I cannot tell of what race they were, or whence
+they came or whither they went, and must leave my readers to what the poets
+have said of them and to what may be generally known concerning them. The
+Sicanians appear to have been the next settlers, although they pretend to have
+been the first of all and aborigines; but the facts show that they were
+Iberians, driven by the Ligurians from the river Sicanus in Iberia. It was from
+them that the island, before called Trinacria, took its name of Sicania, and to
+the present day they inhabit the west of Sicily. On the fall of Ilium, some of
+the Trojans escaped from the Achaeans, came in ships to Sicily, and settled
+next to the Sicanians under the general name of Elymi; their towns being called
+Eryx and Egesta. With them settled some of the Phocians carried on their way
+from Troy by a storm, first to Libya, and afterwards from thence to Sicily. The
+Sicels crossed over to Sicily from their first home Italy, flying from the
+Opicans, as tradition says and as seems not unlikely, upon rafts, having
+watched till the wind set down the strait to effect the passage; although
+perhaps they may have sailed over in some other way. Even at the present day
+there are still Sicels in Italy; and the country got its name of Italy from
+Italus, a king of the Sicels, so called. These went with a great host to
+Sicily, defeated the Sicanians in battle and forced them to remove to the south
+and west of the island, which thus came to be called Sicily instead of Sicania,
+and after they crossed over continued to enjoy the richest parts of the country
+for near three hundred years before any Hellenes came to Sicily; indeed they
+still hold the centre and north of the island. There were also Phoenicians
+living all round Sicily, who had occupied promontories upon the sea coasts and
+the islets adjacent for the purpose of trading with the Sicels. But when the
+Hellenes began to arrive in considerable numbers by sea, the Phoenicians
+abandoned most of their stations, and drawing together took up their abode in
+Motye, Soloeis, and Panormus, near the Elymi, partly because they confided in
+their alliance, and also because these are the nearest points for the voyage
+between Carthage and Sicily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These were the barbarians in Sicily, settled as I have said. Of the Hellenes,
+the first to arrive were Chalcidians from Euboea with Thucles, their founder.
+They founded Naxos and built the altar to Apollo Archegetes, which now stands
+outside the town, and upon which the deputies for the games sacrifice before
+sailing from Sicily. Syracuse was founded the year afterwards by Archias, one
+of the Heraclids from Corinth, who began by driving out the Sicels from the
+island upon which the inner city now stands, though it is no longer surrounded
+by water: in process of time the outer town also was taken within the walls and
+became populous. Meanwhile Thucles and the Chalcidians set out from Naxos in
+the fifth year after the foundation of Syracuse, and drove out the Sicels by
+arms and founded Leontini and afterwards Catana; the Catanians themselves
+choosing Evarchus as their founder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time Lamis arrived in Sicily with a colony from Megara, and
+after founding a place called Trotilus beyond the river Pantacyas, and
+afterwards leaving it and for a short while joining the Chalcidians at
+Leontini, was driven out by them and founded Thapsus. After his death his
+companions were driven out of Thapsus, and founded a place called the Hyblaean
+Megara; Hyblon, a Sicel king, having given up the place and inviting them
+thither. Here they lived two hundred and forty-five years; after which they
+were expelled from the city and the country by the Syracusan tyrant Gelo.
+Before their expulsion, however, a hundred years after they had settled there,
+they sent out Pamillus and founded Selinus; he having come from their mother
+country Megara to join them in its foundation. Gela was founded by Antiphemus
+from Rhodes and Entimus from Crete, who joined in leading a colony thither, in
+the forty-fifth year after the foundation of Syracuse. The town took its name
+from the river Gelas, the place where the citadel now stands, and which was
+first fortified, being called Lindii. The institutions which they adopted were
+Dorian. Near one hundred and eight years after the foundation of Gela, the
+Geloans founded Acragas (Agrigentum), so called from the river of that name,
+and made Aristonous and Pystilus their founders; giving their own institutions
+to the colony. Zancle was originally founded by pirates from Cuma, the
+Chalcidian town in the country of the Opicans: afterwards, however, large
+numbers came from Chalcis and the rest of Euboea, and helped to people the
+place; the founders being Perieres and Crataemenes from Cuma and Chalcis
+respectively. It first had the name of Zancle given it by the Sicels, because
+the place is shaped like a sickle, which the Sicels call zanclon; but upon the
+original settlers being afterwards expelled by some Samians and other Ionians
+who landed in Sicily flying from the Medes, and the Samians in their turn not
+long afterwards by Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, the town was by him colonized
+with a mixed population, and its name changed to Messina, after his old
+country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Himera was founded from Zancle by Euclides, Simus, and Sacon, most of those who
+went to the colony being Chalcidians; though they were joined by some exiles
+from Syracuse, defeated in a civil war, called the Myletidae. The language was
+a mixture of Chalcidian and Doric, but the institutions which prevailed were
+the Chalcidian. Acrae and Casmenae were founded by the Syracusans; Acrae
+seventy years after Syracuse, Casmenae nearly twenty after Acrae. Camarina was
+first founded by the Syracusans, close upon a hundred and thirty-five years
+after the building of Syracuse; its founders being Daxon and Menecolus. But the
+Camarinaeans being expelled by arms by the Syracusans for having revolted,
+Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, some time later receiving their land in ransom for
+some Syracusan prisoners, resettled Camarina, himself acting as its founder.
+Lastly, it was again depopulated by Gelo, and settled once more for the third
+time by the Geloans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is the list of the peoples, Hellenic and barbarian, inhabiting Sicily, and
+such the magnitude of the island which the Athenians were now bent upon
+invading; being ambitious in real truth of conquering the whole, although they
+had also the specious design of succouring their kindred and other allies in
+the island. But they were especially incited by envoys from Egesta, who had
+come to Athens and invoked their aid more urgently than ever. The Egestaeans
+had gone to war with their neighbours the Selinuntines upon questions of
+marriage and disputed territory, and the Selinuntines had procured the alliance
+of the Syracusans, and pressed Egesta hard by land and sea. The Egestaeans now
+reminded the Athenians of the alliance made in the time of Laches, during the
+former Leontine war, and begged them to send a fleet to their aid, and among a
+number of other considerations urged as a capital argument that if the
+Syracusans were allowed to go unpunished for their depopulation of Leontini, to
+ruin the allies still left to Athens in Sicily, and to get the whole power of
+the island into their hands, there would be a danger of their one day coming
+with a large force, as Dorians, to the aid of their Dorian brethren, and as
+colonists, to the aid of the Peloponnesians who had sent them out, and joining
+these in pulling down the Athenian empire. The Athenians would, therefore, do
+well to unite with the allies still left to them, and to make a stand against
+the Syracusans; especially as they, the Egestaeans, were prepared to furnish
+money sufficient for the war. The Athenians, hearing these arguments constantly
+repeated in their assemblies by the Egestaeans and their supporters, voted
+first to send envoys to Egesta, to see if there was really the money that they
+talked of in the treasury and temples, and at the same time to ascertain in
+what posture was the war with the Selinuntines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The envoys of the Athenians were accordingly dispatched to Sicily. The same
+winter the Lacedaemonians and their allies, the Corinthians excepted, marched
+into the Argive territory, and ravaged a small part of the land, and took some
+yokes of oxen and carried off some corn. They also settled the Argive exiles at
+Orneae, and left them a few soldiers taken from the rest of the army; and after
+making a truce for a certain while, according to which neither Orneatae nor
+Argives were to injure each other&rsquo;s territory, returned home with the
+army. Not long afterwards the Athenians came with thirty ships and six hundred
+heavy infantry, and the Argives joining them with all their forces, marched out
+and besieged the men in Orneae for one day; but the garrison escaped by night,
+the besiegers having bivouacked some way off. The next day the Argives,
+discovering it, razed Orneae to the ground, and went back again; after which
+the Athenians went home in their ships. Meanwhile the Athenians took by sea to
+Methone on the Macedonian border some cavalry of their own and the Macedonian
+exiles that were at Athens, and plundered the country of Perdiccas. Upon this
+the Lacedaemonians sent to the Thracian Chalcidians, who had a truce with
+Athens from one ten days to another, urging them to join Perdiccas in the war,
+which they refused to do. And the winter ended, and with it ended the sixteenth
+year of this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early in the spring of the following summer the Athenian envoys arrived from
+Sicily, and the Egestaeans with them, bringing sixty talents of uncoined
+silver, as a month&rsquo;s pay for sixty ships, which they were to ask to have
+sent them. The Athenians held an assembly and, after hearing from the
+Egestaeans and their own envoys a report, as attractive as it was untrue, upon
+the state of affairs generally, and in particular as to the money, of which, it
+was said, there was abundance in the temples and the treasury, voted to send
+sixty ships to Sicily, under the command of Alcibiades, son of Clinias, Nicias,
+son of Niceratus, and Lamachus, son of Xenophanes, who were appointed with full
+powers; they were to help the Egestaeans against the Selinuntines, to restore
+Leontini upon gaining any advantage in the war, and to order all other matters
+in Sicily as they should deem best for the interests of Athens. Five days after
+this a second assembly was held, to consider the speediest means of equipping
+the ships, and to vote whatever else might be required by the generals for the
+expedition; and Nicias, who had been chosen to the command against his will,
+and who thought that the state was not well advised, but upon a slight aid
+specious pretext was aspiring to the conquest of the whole of Sicily, a great
+matter to achieve, came forward in the hope of diverting the Athenians from the
+enterprise, and gave them the following counsel:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although this assembly was convened to consider the preparations to be
+made for sailing to Sicily, I think, notwithstanding, that we have still this
+question to examine, whether it be better to send out the ships at all, and
+that we ought not to give so little consideration to a matter of such moment,
+or let ourselves be persuaded by foreigners into undertaking a war with which
+we have nothing to do. And yet, individually, I gain in honour by such a
+course, and fear as little as other men for my person&mdash;not that I think a
+man need be any the worse citizen for taking some thought for his person and
+estate; on the contrary, such a man would for his own sake desire the
+prosperity of his country more than others&mdash;nevertheless, as I have never
+spoken against my convictions to gain honour, I shall not begin to do so now,
+but shall say what I think best. Against your character any words of mine would
+be weak enough, if I were to advise your keeping what you have got and not
+risking what is actually yours for advantages which are dubious in themselves,
+and which you may or may not attain. I will, therefore, content myself with
+showing that your ardour is out of season, and your ambition not easy of
+accomplishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I affirm, then, that you leave many enemies behind you here to go yonder
+and bring more back with you. You imagine, perhaps, that the treaty which you
+have made can be trusted; a treaty that will continue to exist nominally, as
+long as you keep quiet&mdash;for nominal it has become, owing to the practices
+of certain men here and at Sparta&mdash;but which in the event of a serious
+reverse in any quarter would not delay our enemies a moment in attacking us;
+first, because the convention was forced upon them by disaster and was less
+honourable to them than to us; and secondly, because in this very convention
+there are many points that are still disputed. Again, some of the most powerful
+states have never yet accepted the arrangement at all. Some of these are at
+open war with us; others (as the Lacedaemonians do not yet move) are restrained
+by truces renewed every ten days, and it is only too probable that if they
+found our power divided, as we are hurrying to divide it, they would attack us
+vigorously with the Siceliots, whose alliance they would have in the past
+valued as they would that of few others. A man ought, therefore, to consider
+these points, and not to think of running risks with a country placed so
+critically, or of grasping at another empire before we have secured the one we
+have already; for in fact the Thracian Chalcidians have been all these years in
+revolt from us without being yet subdued, and others on the continents yield us
+but a doubtful obedience. Meanwhile the Egestaeans, our allies, have been
+wronged, and we run to help them, while the rebels who have so long wronged us
+still wait for punishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And yet the latter, if brought under, might be kept under; while the
+Sicilians, even if conquered, are too far off and too numerous to be ruled
+without difficulty. Now it is folly to go against men who could not be kept
+under even if conquered, while failure would leave us in a very different
+position from that which we occupied before the enterprise. The Siceliots,
+again, to take them as they are at present, in the event of a Syracusan
+conquest (the favourite bugbear of the Egestaeans), would to my thinking be
+even less dangerous to us than before. At present they might possibly come here
+as separate states for love of Lacedaemon; in the other case one empire would
+scarcely attack another; for after joining the Peloponnesians to overthrow
+ours, they could only expect to see the same hands overthrow their own in the
+same way. The Hellenes in Sicily would fear us most if we never went there at
+all, and next to this, if after displaying our power we went away again as soon
+as possible. We all know that that which is farthest off, and the reputation of
+which can least be tested, is the object of admiration; at the least reverse
+they would at once begin to look down upon us, and would join our enemies here
+against us. You have yourselves experienced this with regard to the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, whom your unexpected success, as compared with
+what you feared at first, has made you suddenly despise, tempting you further
+to aspire to the conquest of Sicily. Instead, however, of being puffed up by
+the misfortunes of your adversaries, you ought to think of breaking their
+spirit before giving yourselves up to confidence, and to understand that the
+one thought awakened in the Lacedaemonians by their disgrace is how they may
+even now, if possible, overthrow us and repair their dishonour; inasmuch as
+military reputation is their oldest and chiefest study. Our struggle,
+therefore, if we are wise, will not be for the barbarian Egestaeans in Sicily,
+but how to defend ourselves most effectually against the oligarchical
+machinations of Lacedaemon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We should also remember that we are but now enjoying some respite from a
+great pestilence and from war, to the no small benefit of our estates and
+persons, and that it is right to employ these at home on our own behalf,
+instead of using them on behalf of these exiles whose interest it is to lie as
+fairly as they can, who do nothing but talk themselves and leave the danger to
+others, and who if they succeed will show no proper gratitude, and if they fail
+will drag down their friends with them. And if there be any man here, overjoyed
+at being chosen to command, who urges you to make the expedition, merely for
+ends of his own&mdash;specially if he be still too young to command&mdash;who
+seeks to be admired for his stud of horses, but on account of its heavy
+expenses hopes for some profit from his appointment, do not allow such a one to
+maintain his private splendour at his country&rsquo;s risk, but remember that
+such persons injure the public fortune while they squander their own, and that
+this is a matter of importance, and not for a young man to decide or hastily to
+take in hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When I see such persons now sitting here at the side of that same
+individual and summoned by him, alarm seizes me; and I, in my turn, summon any
+of the older men that may have such a person sitting next him not to let
+himself be shamed down, for fear of being thought a coward if he do not vote
+for war, but, remembering how rarely success is got by wishing and how often by
+forecast, to leave to them the mad dream of conquest, and as a true lover of
+his country, now threatened by the greatest danger in its history, to hold up
+his hand on the other side; to vote that the Siceliots be left in the limits
+now existing between us, limits of which no one can complain (the Ionian sea
+for the coasting voyage, and the Sicilian across the open main), to enjoy their
+own possessions and to settle their own quarrels; that the Egestaeans, for
+their part, be told to end by themselves with the Selinuntines the war which
+they began without consulting the Athenians; and that for the future we do not
+enter into alliance, as we have been used to do, with people whom we must help
+in their need, and who can never help us in ours.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And you, Prytanis, if you think it your duty to care for the
+commonwealth, and if you wish to show yourself a good citizen, put the question
+to the vote, and take a second time the opinions of the Athenians. If you are
+afraid to move the question again, consider that a violation of the law cannot
+carry any prejudice with so many abettors, that you will be the physician of
+your misguided city, and that the virtue of men in office is briefly this, to
+do their country as much good as they can, or in any case no harm that they can
+avoid.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Nicias. Most of the Athenians that came forward spoke in
+favour of the expedition, and of not annulling what had been voted, although
+some spoke on the other side. By far the warmest advocate of the expedition
+was, however, Alcibiades, son of Clinias, who wished to thwart Nicias both as
+his political opponent and also because of the attack he had made upon him in
+his speech, and who was, besides, exceedingly ambitious of a command by which
+he hoped to reduce Sicily and Carthage, and personally to gain in wealth and
+reputation by means of his successes. For the position he held among the
+citizens led him to indulge his tastes beyond what his real means would bear,
+both in keeping horses and in the rest of his expenditure; and this later on
+had not a little to do with the ruin of the Athenian state. Alarmed at the
+greatness of his licence in his own life and habits, and of the ambition which
+he showed in all things soever that he undertook, the mass of the people set
+him down as a pretender to the tyranny, and became his enemies; and although
+publicly his conduct of the war was as good as could be desired, individually,
+his habits gave offence to every one, and caused them to commit affairs to
+other hands, and thus before long to ruin the city. Meanwhile he now came
+forward and gave the following advice to the Athenians:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Athenians, I have a better right to command than others&mdash;I must
+begin with this as Nicias has attacked me&mdash;and at the same time I believe
+myself to be worthy of it. The things for which I am abused, bring fame to my
+ancestors and to myself, and to the country profit besides. The Hellenes, after
+expecting to see our city ruined by the war, concluded it to be even greater
+than it really is, by reason of the magnificence with which I represented it at
+the Olympic games, when I sent into the lists seven chariots, a number never
+before entered by any private person, and won the first prize, and was second
+and fourth, and took care to have everything else in a style worthy of my
+victory. Custom regards such displays as honourable, and they cannot be made
+without leaving behind them an impression of power. Again, any splendour that I
+may have exhibited at home in providing choruses or otherwise, is naturally
+envied by my fellow citizens, but in the eyes of foreigners has an air of
+strength as in the other instance. And this is no useless folly, when a man at
+his own private cost benefits not himself only, but his city: nor is it unfair
+that he who prides himself on his position should refuse to be upon an equality
+with the rest. He who is badly off has his misfortunes all to himself, and as
+we do not see men courted in adversity, on the like principle a man ought to
+accept the insolence of prosperity; or else, let him first mete out equal
+measure to all, and then demand to have it meted out to him. What I know is
+that persons of this kind and all others that have attained to any distinction,
+although they may be unpopular in their lifetime in their relations with their
+fellow-men and especially with their equals, leave to posterity the desire of
+claiming connection with them even without any ground, and are vaunted by the
+country to which they belonged, not as strangers or ill-doers, but as
+fellow-countrymen and heroes. Such are my aspirations, and however I am abused
+for them in private, the question is whether any one manages public affairs
+better than I do. Having united the most powerful states of Peloponnese,
+without great danger or expense to you, I compelled the Lacedaemonians to stake
+their all upon the issue of a single day at Mantinea; and although victorious
+in the battle, they have never since fully recovered confidence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thus did my youth and so-called monstrous folly find fitting arguments
+to deal with the power of the Peloponnesians, and by its ardour win their
+confidence and prevail. And do not be afraid of my youth now, but while I am
+still in its flower, and Nicias appears fortunate, avail yourselves to the
+utmost of the services of us both. Neither rescind your resolution to sail to
+Sicily, on the ground that you would be going to attack a great power. The
+cities in Sicily are peopled by motley rabbles, and easily change their
+institutions and adopt new ones in their stead; and consequently the
+inhabitants, being without any feeling of patriotism, are not provided with
+arms for their persons, and have not regularly established themselves on the
+land; every man thinks that either by fair words or by party strife he can
+obtain something at the public expense, and then in the event of a catastrophe
+settle in some other country, and makes his preparations accordingly. From a
+mob like this you need not look for either unanimity in counsel or concert in
+action; but they will probably one by one come in as they get a fair offer,
+especially if they are torn by civil strife as we are told. Moreover, the
+Siceliots have not so many heavy infantry as they boast; just as the Hellenes
+generally did not prove so numerous as each state reckoned itself, but Hellas
+greatly over-estimated their numbers, and has hardly had an adequate force of
+heavy infantry throughout this war. The states in Sicily, therefore, from all
+that I can hear, will be found as I say, and I have not pointed out all our
+advantages, for we shall have the help of many barbarians, who from their
+hatred of the Syracusans will join us in attacking them; nor will the powers at
+home prove any hindrance, if you judge rightly. Our fathers with these very
+adversaries, which it is said we shall now leave behind us when we sail, and
+the Mede as their enemy as well, were able to win the empire, depending solely
+on their superiority at sea. The Peloponnesians had never so little hope
+against us as at present; and let them be ever so sanguine, although strong
+enough to invade our country even if we stay at home, they can never hurt us
+with their navy, as we leave one of our own behind us that is a match for them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In this state of things what reason can we give to ourselves for holding
+back, or what excuse can we offer to our allies in Sicily for not helping them?
+They are our confederates, and we are bound to assist them, without objecting
+that they have not assisted us. We did not take them into alliance to have them
+to help us in Hellas, but that they might so annoy our enemies in Sicily as to
+prevent them from coming over here and attacking us. It is thus that empire has
+been won, both by us and by all others that have held it, by a constant
+readiness to support all, whether barbarians or Hellenes, that invite
+assistance; since if all were to keep quiet or to pick and choose whom they
+ought to assist, we should make but few new conquests, and should imperil those
+we have already won. Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a
+superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made. And
+we cannot fix the exact point at which our empire shall stop; we have reached a
+position in which we must not be content with retaining but must scheme to
+extend it, for, if we cease to rule others, we are in danger of being ruled
+ourselves. Nor can you look at inaction from the same point of view as others,
+unless you are prepared to change your habits and make them like theirs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be convinced, then, that we shall augment our power at home by this
+adventure abroad, and let us make the expedition, and so humble the pride of
+the Peloponnesians by sailing off to Sicily, and letting them see how little we
+care for the peace that we are now enjoying; and at the same time we shall
+either become masters, as we very easily may, of the whole of Hellas through
+the accession of the Sicilian Hellenes, or in any case ruin the Syracusans, to
+the no small advantage of ourselves and our allies. The faculty of staying if
+successful, or of returning, will be secured to us by our navy, as we shall be
+superior at sea to all the Siceliots put together. And do not let the
+do-nothing policy which Nicias advocates, or his setting of the young against
+the old, turn you from your purpose, but in the good old fashion by which our
+fathers, old and young together, by their united counsels brought our affairs
+to their present height, do you endeavour still to advance them; understanding
+that neither youth nor old age can do anything the one without the other, but
+that levity, sobriety, and deliberate judgment are strongest when united, and
+that, by sinking into inaction, the city, like everything else, will wear
+itself out, and its skill in everything decay; while each fresh struggle will
+give it fresh experience, and make it more used to defend itself not in word
+but in deed. In short, my conviction is that a city not inactive by nature
+could not choose a quicker way to ruin itself than by suddenly adopting such a
+policy, and that the safest rule of life is to take one&rsquo;s character and
+institutions for better and for worse, and to live up to them as closely as one
+can.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Alcibiades. After hearing him and the Egestaeans and
+some Leontine exiles, who came forward reminding them of their oaths and
+imploring their assistance, the Athenians became more eager for the expedition
+than before. Nicias, perceiving that it would be now useless to try to deter
+them by the old line of argument, but thinking that he might perhaps alter
+their resolution by the extravagance of his estimates, came forward a second
+time and spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I see, Athenians, that you are thoroughly bent upon the expedition, and
+therefore hope that all will turn out as we wish, and proceed to give you my
+opinion at the present juncture. From all that I hear we are going against
+cities that are great and not subject to one another, or in need of change, so
+as to be glad to pass from enforced servitude to an easier condition, or in the
+least likely to accept our rule in exchange for freedom; and, to take only the
+Hellenic towns, they are very numerous for one island. Besides Naxos and
+Catana, which I expect to join us from their connection with Leontini, there
+are seven others armed at all points just like our own power, particularly
+Selinus and Syracuse, the chief objects of our expedition. These are full of
+heavy infantry, archers, and darters, have galleys in abundance and crowds to
+man them; they have also money, partly in the hands of private persons, partly
+in the temples at Selinus, and at Syracuse first-fruits from some of the
+barbarians as well. But their chief advantage over us lies in the number of
+their horses, and in the fact that they grow their corn at home instead of
+importing it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Against a power of this kind it will not do to have merely a weak naval
+armament, but we shall want also a large land army to sail with us, if we are
+to do anything worthy of our ambition, and are not to be shut out from the
+country by a numerous cavalry; especially if the cities should take alarm and
+combine, and we should be left without friends (except the Egestaeans) to
+furnish us with horse to defend ourselves with. It would be disgraceful to have
+to retire under compulsion, or to send back for reinforcements, owing to want
+of reflection at first: we must therefore start from home with a competent
+force, seeing that we are going to sail far from our country, and upon an
+expedition not like any which you may undertaken undertaken the quality of
+allies, among your subject states here in Hellas, where any additional supplies
+needed were easily drawn from the friendly territory; but we are cutting
+ourselves off, and going to a land entirely strange, from which during four
+months in winter it is not even easy for a messenger get to Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think, therefore, that we ought to take great numbers of heavy
+infantry, both from Athens and from our allies, and not merely from our
+subjects, but also any we may be able to get for love or for money in
+Peloponnese, and great numbers also of archers and slingers, to make head
+against the Sicilian horse. Meanwhile we must have an overwhelming superiority
+at sea, to enable us the more easily to carry in what we want; and we must take
+our own corn in merchant vessels, that is to say, wheat and parched barley, and
+bakers from the mills compelled to serve for pay in the proper proportion; in
+order that in case of our being weather-bound the armament may not want
+provisions, as it is not every city that will be able to entertain numbers like
+ours. We must also provide ourselves with everything else as far as we can, so
+as not to be dependent upon others; and above all we must take with us from
+home as much money as possible, as the sums talked of as ready at Egesta are
+readier, you may be sure, in talk than in any other way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed, even if we leave Athens with a force not only equal to that of
+the enemy except in the number of heavy infantry in the field, but even at all
+points superior to him, we shall still find it difficult to conquer Sicily or
+save ourselves. We must not disguise from ourselves that we go to found a city
+among strangers and enemies, and that he who undertakes such an enterprise
+should be prepared to become master of the country the first day he lands, or
+failing in this to find everything hostile to him. Fearing this, and knowing
+that we shall have need of much good counsel and more good fortune&mdash;a hard
+matter for mortal man to aspire to&mdash;I wish as far as may be to make myself
+independent of fortune before sailing, and when I do sail, to be as safe as a
+strong force can make me. This I believe to be surest for the country at large,
+and safest for us who are to go on the expedition. If any one thinks
+differently I resign to him my command.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this Nicias concluded, thinking that he should either disgust the
+Athenians by the magnitude of the undertaking, or, if obliged to sail on the
+expedition, would thus do so in the safest way possible. The Athenians,
+however, far from having their taste for the voyage taken away by the
+burdensomeness of the preparations, became more eager for it than ever; and
+just the contrary took place of what Nicias had thought, as it was held that he
+had given good advice, and that the expedition would be the safest in the
+world. All alike fell in love with the enterprise. The older men thought that
+they would either subdue the places against which they were to sail, or at all
+events, with so large a force, meet with no disaster; those in the prime of
+life felt a longing for foreign sights and spectacles, and had no doubt that
+they should come safe home again; while the idea of the common people and the
+soldiery was to earn wages at the moment, and make conquests that would supply
+a never-ending fund of pay for the future. With this enthusiasm of the
+majority, the few that liked it not, feared to appear unpatriotic by holding up
+their hands against it, and so kept quiet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last one of the Athenians came forward and called upon Nicias and told him
+that he ought not to make excuses or put them off, but say at once before them
+all what forces the Athenians should vote him. Upon this he said, not without
+reluctance, that he would advise upon that matter more at leisure with his
+colleagues; as far however as he could see at present, they must sail with at
+least one hundred galleys&mdash;the Athenians providing as many transports as
+they might determine, and sending for others from the allies&mdash;not less
+than five thousand heavy infantry in all, Athenian and allied, and if possible
+more; and the rest of the armament in proportion; archers from home and from
+Crete, and slingers, and whatever else might seem desirable, being got ready by
+the generals and taken with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon hearing this the Athenians at once voted that the generals should have
+full powers in the matter of the numbers of the army and of the expedition
+generally, to do as they judged best for the interests of Athens. After this
+the preparations began; messages being sent to the allies and the rolls drawn
+up at home. And as the city had just recovered from the plague and the long
+war, and a number of young men had grown up and capital had accumulated by
+reason of the truce, everything was the more easily provided.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of these preparations all the stone Hermae in the city of Athens,
+that is to say the customary square figures, so common in the doorways of
+private houses and temples, had in one night most of them their fares
+mutilated. No one knew who had done it, but large public rewards were offered
+to find the authors; and it was further voted that any one who knew of any
+other act of impiety having been committed should come and give information
+without fear of consequences, whether he were citizen, alien, or slave. The
+matter was taken up the more seriously, as it was thought to be ominous for the
+expedition, and part of a conspiracy to bring about a revolution and to upset
+the democracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Information was given accordingly by some resident aliens and body servants,
+not about the Hermae but about some previous mutilations of other images
+perpetrated by young men in a drunken frolic, and of mock celebrations of the
+mysteries, averred to take place in private houses. Alcibiades being implicated
+in this charge, it was taken hold of by those who could least endure him,
+because he stood in the way of their obtaining the undisturbed direction of the
+people, and who thought that if he were once removed the first place would be
+theirs. These accordingly magnified the matter and loudly proclaimed that the
+affair of the mysteries and the mutilation of the Hermae were part and parcel
+of a scheme to overthrow the democracy, and that nothing of all this had been
+done without Alcibiades; the proofs alleged being the general and undemocratic
+licence of his life and habits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alcibiades repelled on the spot the charges in question, and also before going
+on the expedition, the preparations for which were now complete, offered to
+stand his trial, that it might be seen whether he was guilty of the acts
+imputed to him; desiring to be punished if found guilty, but, if acquitted, to
+take the command. Meanwhile he protested against their receiving slanders
+against him in his absence, and begged them rather to put him to death at once
+if he were guilty, and pointed out the imprudence of sending him out at the
+head of so large an army, with so serious a charge still undecided. But his
+enemies feared that he would have the army for him if he were tried
+immediately, and that the people might relent in favour of the man whom they
+already caressed as the cause of the Argives and some of the Mantineans joining
+in the expedition, and did their utmost to get this proposition rejected,
+putting forward other orators who said that he ought at present to sail and not
+delay the departure of the army, and be tried on his return within a fixed
+number of days; their plan being to have him sent for and brought home for
+trial upon some graver charge, which they would the more easily get up in his
+absence. Accordingly it was decreed that he should sail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the departure for Sicily took place, it being now about midsummer.
+Most of the allies, with the corn transports and the smaller craft and the rest
+of the expedition, had already received orders to muster at Corcyra, to cross
+the Ionian Sea from thence in a body to the Iapygian promontory. But the
+Athenians themselves, and such of their allies as happened to be with them,
+went down to Piraeus upon a day appointed at daybreak, and began to man the
+ships for putting out to sea. With them also went down the whole population,
+one may say, of the city, both citizens and foreigners; the inhabitants of the
+country each escorting those that belonged to them, their friends, their
+relatives, or their sons, with hope and lamentation upon their way, as they
+thought of the conquests which they hoped to make, or of the friends whom they
+might never see again, considering the long voyage which they were going to
+make from their country. Indeed, at this moment, when they were now upon the
+point of parting from one another, the danger came more home to them than when
+they voted for the expedition; although the strength of the armament, and the
+profuse provision which they remarked in every department, was a sight that
+could not but comfort them. As for the foreigners and the rest of the crowd,
+they simply went to see a sight worth looking at and passing all belief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed this armament that first sailed out was by far the most costly and
+splendid Hellenic force that had ever been sent out by a single city up to that
+time. In mere number of ships and heavy infantry that against Epidaurus under
+Pericles, and the same when going against Potidæa under Hagnon, was not
+inferior; containing as it did four thousand Athenian heavy infantry, three
+hundred horse, and one hundred galleys accompanied by fifty Lesbian and Chian
+vessels and many allies besides. But these were sent upon a short voyage and
+with a scanty equipment. The present expedition was formed in contemplation of
+a long term of service by land and sea alike, and was furnished with ships and
+troops so as to be ready for either as required. The fleet had been elaborately
+equipped at great cost to the captains and the state; the treasury giving a
+drachma a day to each seaman, and providing empty ships, sixty men-of-war and
+forty transports, and manning these with the best crews obtainable; while the
+captains gave a bounty in addition to the pay from the treasury to the
+thranitae and crews generally, besides spending lavishly upon figure-heads and
+equipments, and one and all making the utmost exertions to enable their own
+ships to excel in beauty and fast sailing. Meanwhile the land forces had been
+picked from the best muster-rolls, and vied with each other in paying great
+attention to their arms and personal accoutrements. From this resulted not only
+a rivalry among themselves in their different departments, but an idea among
+the rest of the Hellenes that it was more a display of power and resources than
+an armament against an enemy. For if any one had counted up the public
+expenditure of the state, and the private outlay of individuals&mdash;that is
+to say, the sums which the state had already spent upon the expedition and was
+sending out in the hands of the generals, and those which individuals had
+expended upon their personal outfit, or as captains of galleys had laid out and
+were still to lay out upon their vessels; and if he had added to this the
+journey money which each was likely to have provided himself with,
+independently of the pay from the treasury, for a voyage of such length, and
+what the soldiers or traders took with them for the purpose of
+exchange&mdash;it would have been found that many talents in all were being
+taken out of the city. Indeed the expedition became not less famous for its
+wonderful boldness and for the splendour of its appearance, than for its
+overwhelming strength as compared with the peoples against whom it was
+directed, and for the fact that this was the longest passage from home hitherto
+attempted, and the most ambitious in its objects considering the resources of
+those who undertook it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ships being now manned, and everything put on board with which they meant
+to sail, the trumpet commanded silence, and the prayers customary before
+putting out to sea were offered, not in each ship by itself, but by all
+together to the voice of a herald; and bowls of wine were mixed through all the
+armament, and libations made by the soldiers and their officers in gold and
+silver goblets. In their prayers joined also the crowds on shore, the citizens
+and all others that wished them well. The hymn sung and the libations finished,
+they put out to sea, and first out in column then raced each other as far as
+Aegina, and so hastened to reach Corcyra, where the rest of the allied forces
+were also assembling.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"></a>
+CHAPTER XIX </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Seventeenth Year of the War&mdash;Parties at Syracuse&mdash;Story of Harmodius
+and Aristogiton&mdash;Disgrace of Alcibiades
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile at Syracuse news came in from many quarters of the expedition, but
+for a long while met with no credence whatever. Indeed, an assembly was held in
+which speeches, as will be seen, were delivered by different orators, believing
+or contradicting the report of the Athenian expedition; among whom Hermocrates,
+son of Hermon, came forward, being persuaded that he knew the truth of the
+matter, and gave the following counsel:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although I shall perhaps be no better believed than others have been
+when I speak upon the reality of the expedition, and although I know that those
+who either make or repeat statements thought not worthy of belief not only gain
+no converts but are thought fools for their pains, I shall certainly not be
+frightened into holding my tongue when the state is in danger, and when I am
+persuaded that I can speak with more authority on the matter than other
+persons. Much as you wonder at it, the Athenians nevertheless have set out
+against us with a large force, naval and military, professedly to help the
+Egestaeans and to restore Leontini, but really to conquer Sicily, and above all
+our city, which once gained, the rest, they think, will easily follow. Make up
+your minds, therefore, to see them speedily here, and see how you can best
+repel them with the means under your hand, and do be taken off your guard
+through despising the news, or neglect the common weal through disbelieving it.
+Meanwhile those who believe me need not be dismayed at the force or daring of
+the enemy. They will not be able to do us more hurt than we shall do them; nor
+is the greatness of their armament altogether without advantage to us. Indeed,
+the greater it is the better, with regard to the rest of the Siceliots, whom
+dismay will make more ready to join us; and if we defeat or drive them away,
+disappointed of the objects of their ambition (for I do not fear for a moment
+that they will get what they want), it will be a most glorious exploit for us,
+and in my judgment by no means an unlikely one. Few indeed have been the large
+armaments, either Hellenic or barbarian, that have gone far from home and been
+successful. They cannot be more numerous than the people of the country and
+their neighbours, all of whom fear leagues together; and if they miscarry for
+want of supplies in a foreign land, to those against whom their plans were laid
+none the less they leave renown, although they may themselves have been the
+main cause of their own discomfort. Thus these very Athenians rose by the
+defeat of the Mede, in a great measure due to accidental causes, from the mere
+fact that Athens had been the object of his attack; and this may very well be
+the case with us also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let us, therefore, confidently begin preparations here; let us send and
+confirm some of the Sicels, and obtain the friendship and alliance of others,
+and dispatch envoys to the rest of Sicily to show that the danger is common to
+all, and to Italy to get them to become our allies, or at all events to refuse
+to receive the Athenians. I also think that it would be best to send to
+Carthage as well; they are by no means there without apprehension, but it is
+their constant fear that the Athenians may one day attack their city, and they
+may perhaps think that they might themselves suffer by letting Sicily be
+sacrificed, and be willing to help us secretly if not openly, in one way if not
+in another. They are the best able to do so, if they will, of any of the
+present day, as they possess most gold and silver, by which war, like
+everything else, flourishes. Let us also send to Lacedaemon and Corinth, and
+ask them to come here and help us as soon as possible, and to keep alive the
+war in Hellas. But the true thing of all others, in my opinion, to do at the
+present moment, is what you, with your constitutional love of quiet, will be
+slow to see, and what I must nevertheless mention. If we Siceliots, all
+together, or at least as many as possible besides ourselves, would only launch
+the whole of our actual navy with two months&rsquo; provisions, and meet the
+Athenians at Tarentum and the Iapygian promontory, and show them that before
+fighting for Sicily they must first fight for their passage across the Ionian
+Sea, we should strike dismay into their army, and set them on thinking that we
+have a base for our defensive&mdash;for Tarentum is ready to receive
+us&mdash;while they have a wide sea to cross with all their armament, which
+could with difficulty keep its order through so long a voyage, and would be
+easy for us to attack as it came on slowly and in small detachments. On the
+other hand, if they were to lighten their vessels, and draw together their fast
+sailers and with these attack us, we could either fall upon them when they were
+wearied with rowing, or if we did not choose to do so, we could retire to
+Tarentum; while they, having crossed with few provisions just to give battle,
+would be hard put to it in desolate places, and would either have to remain and
+be blockaded, or to try to sail along the coast, abandoning the rest of their
+armament, and being further discouraged by not knowing for certain whether the
+cities would receive them. In my opinion this consideration alone would be
+sufficient to deter them from putting out from Corcyra; and what with
+deliberating and reconnoitring our numbers and whereabouts, they would let the
+season go on until winter was upon them, or, confounded by so unexpected a
+circumstance, would break up the expedition, especially as their most
+experienced general has, as I hear, taken the command against his will, and
+would grasp at the first excuse offered by any serious demonstration of ours.
+We should also be reported, I am certain, as more numerous than we really are,
+and men&rsquo;s minds are affected by what they hear, and besides the first to
+attack, or to show that they mean to defend themselves against an attack,
+inspire greater fear because men see that they are ready for the emergency.
+This would just be the case with the Athenians at present. They are now
+attacking us in the belief that we shall not resist, having a right to judge us
+severely because we did not help the Lacedaemonians in crushing them; but if
+they were to see us showing a courage for which they are not prepared, they
+would be more dismayed by the surprise than they could ever be by our actual
+power. I could wish to persuade you to show this courage; but if this cannot
+be, at all events lose not a moment in preparing generally for the war; and
+remember all of you that contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in
+action, but that for the present the best course is to accept the preparations
+which fear inspires as giving the surest promise of safety, and to act as if
+the danger was real. That the Athenians are coming to attack us, and are
+already upon the voyage, and all but here&mdash;this is what I am sure
+of.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus far spoke Hermocrates. Meanwhile the people of Syracuse were at great
+strife among themselves; some contending that the Athenians had no idea of
+coming and that there was no truth in what he said; some asking if they did
+come what harm they could do that would not be repaid them tenfold in return;
+while others made light of the whole affair and turned it into ridicule. In
+short, there were few that believed Hermocrates and feared for the future.
+Meanwhile Athenagoras, the leader of the people and very powerful at that time
+with the masses, came forward and spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For the Athenians, he who does not wish that they may be as misguided as
+they are supposed to be, and that they may come here to become our subjects, is
+either a coward or a traitor to his country; while as for those who carry such
+tidings and fill you with so much alarm, I wonder less at their audacity than
+at their folly if they flatter themselves that we do not see through them. The
+fact is that they have their private reasons to be afraid, and wish to throw
+the city into consternation to have their own terrors cast into the shade by
+the public alarm. In short, this is what these reports are worth; they do not
+arise of themselves, but are concocted by men who are always causing agitation
+here in Sicily. However, if you are well advised, you will not be guided in
+your calculation of probabilities by what these persons tell you, but by what
+shrewd men and of large experience, as I esteem the Athenians to be, would be
+likely to do. Now it is not likely that they would leave the Peloponnesians
+behind them, and before they have well ended the war in Hellas wantonly come in
+quest of a new war quite as arduous in Sicily; indeed, in my judgment, they are
+only too glad that we do not go and attack them, being so many and so great
+cities as we are.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;However, if they should come as is reported, I consider Sicily better
+able to go through with the war than Peloponnese, as being at all points better
+prepared, and our city by itself far more than a match for this pretended army
+of invasion, even were it twice as large again. I know that they will not have
+horses with them, or get any here, except a few perhaps from the Egestaeans; or
+be able to bring a force of heavy infantry equal in number to our own, in ships
+which will already have enough to do to come all this distance, however lightly
+laden, not to speak of the transport of the other stores required against a
+city of this magnitude, which will be no slight quantity. In fact, so strong is
+my opinion upon the subject, that I do not well see how they could avoid
+annihilation if they brought with them another city as large as Syracuse, and
+settled down and carried on war from our frontier; much less can they hope to
+succeed with all Sicily hostile to them, as all Sicily will be, and with only a
+camp pitched from the ships, and composed of tents and bare necessaries, from
+which they would not be able to stir far for fear of our cavalry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But the Athenians see this as I tell you, and as I have reason to know
+are looking after their possessions at home, while persons here invent stories
+that neither are true nor ever will be. Nor is this the first time that I see
+these persons, when they cannot resort to deeds, trying by such stories and by
+others even more abominable to frighten your people and get into their hands
+the government: it is what I see always. And I cannot help fearing that trying
+so often they may one day succeed, and that we, as long as we do not feel the
+smart, may prove too weak for the task of prevention, or, when the offenders
+are known, of pursuit. The result is that our city is rarely at rest, but is
+subject to constant troubles and to contests as frequent against herself as
+against the enemy, not to speak of occasional tyrannies and infamous cabals.
+However, I will try, if you will support me, to let nothing of this happen in
+our time, by gaining you, the many, and by chastising the authors of such
+machinations, not merely when they are caught in the act&mdash;a difficult feat
+to accomplish&mdash;but also for what they have the wish though not the power
+to do; as it is necessary to punish an enemy not only for what he does, but
+also beforehand for what he intends to do, if the first to relax precaution
+would not be also the first to suffer. I shall also reprove, watch, and on
+occasion warn the few&mdash;the most effectual way, in my opinion, of turning
+them from their evil courses. And after all, as I have often asked, what would
+you have, young men? Would you hold office at once? The law forbids it, a law
+enacted rather because you are not competent than to disgrace you when
+competent. Meanwhile you would not be on a legal equality with the many! But
+how can it be right that citizens of the same state should be held unworthy of
+the same privileges?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It will be said, perhaps, that democracy is neither wise nor equitable,
+but that the holders of property are also the best fitted to rule. I say, on
+the contrary, first, that the word demos, or people, includes the whole state,
+oligarchy only a part; next, that if the best guardians of property are the
+rich, and the best counsellors the wise, none can hear and decide so well as
+the many; and that all these talents, severally and collectively, have their
+just place in a democracy. But an oligarchy gives the many their share of the
+danger, and not content with the largest part takes and keeps the whole of the
+profit; and this is what the powerful and young among you aspire to, but in a
+great city cannot possibly obtain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But even now, foolish men, most senseless of all the Hellenes that I
+know, if you have no sense of the wickedness of your designs, or most criminal
+if you have that sense and still dare to pursue them&mdash;even now, if it is
+not a case for repentance, you may still learn wisdom, and thus advance the
+interest of the country, the common interest of us all. Reflect that in the
+country&rsquo;s prosperity the men of merit in your ranks will have a share and
+a larger share than the great mass of your fellow countrymen, but that if you
+have other designs you run a risk of being deprived of all; and desist from
+reports like these, as the people know your object and will not put up with it.
+If the Athenians arrive, this city will repulse them in a manner worthy of
+itself; we have moreover, generals who will see to this matter. And if nothing
+of this be true, as I incline to believe, the city will not be thrown into a
+panic by your intelligence, or impose upon itself a self-chosen servitude by
+choosing you for its rulers; the city itself will look into the matter, and
+will judge your words as if they were acts, and, instead of allowing itself to
+be deprived of its liberty by listening to you, will strive to preserve that
+liberty, by taking care to have always at hand the means of making itself
+respected.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Athenagoras. One of the generals now stood up and
+stopped any other speakers coming forward, adding these words of his own with
+reference to the matter in hand: &ldquo;It is not well for speakers to utter
+calumnies against one another, or for their hearers to entertain them; we ought
+rather to look to the intelligence that we have received, and see how each man
+by himself and the city as a whole may best prepare to repel the invaders. Even
+if there be no need, there is no harm in the state being furnished with horses
+and arms and all other insignia of war; and we will undertake to see to and
+order this, and to send round to the cities to reconnoitre and do all else that
+may appear desirable. Part of this we have seen to already, and whatever we
+discover shall be laid before you.&rdquo; After these words from the general,
+the Syracusans departed from the assembly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Athenians with all their allies had now arrived at Corcyra.
+Here the generals began by again reviewing the armament, and made arrangements
+as to the order in which they were to anchor and encamp, and dividing the whole
+fleet into three divisions, allotted one to each of their number, to avoid
+sailing all together and being thus embarrassed for water, harbourage, or
+provisions at the stations which they might touch at, and at the same time to
+be generally better ordered and easier to handle, by each squadron having its
+own commander. Next they sent on three ships to Italy and Sicily to find out
+which of the cities would receive them, with instructions to meet them on the
+way and let them know before they put in to land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Athenians weighed from Corcyra, and proceeded to cross to Sicily
+with an armament now consisting of one hundred and thirty-four galleys in all
+(besides two Rhodian fifty-oars), of which one hundred were Athenian
+vessels&mdash;sixty men-of-war, and forty troopships&mdash;and the remainder
+from Chios and the other allies; five thousand and one hundred heavy infantry
+in all, that is to say, fifteen hundred Athenian citizens from the rolls at
+Athens and seven hundred Thetes shipped as marines, and the rest allied troops,
+some of them Athenian subjects, and besides these five hundred Argives, and two
+hundred and fifty Mantineans serving for hire; four hundred and eighty archers
+in all, eighty of whom were Cretans, seven hundred slingers from Rhodes, one
+hundred and twenty light-armed exiles from Megara, and one horse-transport
+carrying thirty horses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the strength of the first armament that sailed over for the war. The
+supplies for this force were carried by thirty ships of burden laden with corn,
+which conveyed the bakers, stone-masons, and carpenters, and the tools for
+raising fortifications, accompanied by one hundred boats, like the former
+pressed into the service, besides many other boats and ships of burden which
+followed the armament voluntarily for purposes of trade; all of which now left
+Corcyra and struck across the Ionian Sea together. The whole force making land
+at the Iapygian promontory and Tarentum, with more or less good fortune,
+coasted along the shores of Italy, the cities shutting their markets and gates
+against them, and according them nothing but water and liberty to anchor, and
+Tarentum and Locri not even that, until they arrived at Rhegium, the extreme
+point of Italy. Here at length they reunited, and not gaining admission within
+the walls pitched a camp outside the city in the precinct of Artemis, where a
+market was also provided for them, and drew their ships on shore and kept
+quiet. Meanwhile they opened negotiations with the Rhegians, and called upon
+them as Chalcidians to assist their Leontine kinsmen; to which the Rhegians
+replied that they would not side with either party, but should await the
+decision of the rest of the Italiots, and do as they did. Upon this the
+Athenians now began to consider what would be the best action to take in the
+affairs of Sicily, and meanwhile waited for the ships sent on to come back from
+Egesta, in order to know whether there was really there the money mentioned by
+the messengers at Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime came in from all quarters to the Syracusans, as well as from
+their own officers sent to reconnoitre, the positive tidings that the fleet was
+at Rhegium; upon which they laid aside their incredulity and threw themselves
+heart and soul into the work of preparation. Guards or envoys, as the case
+might be, were sent round to the Sicels, garrisons put into the posts of the
+Peripoli in the country, horses and arms reviewed in the city to see that
+nothing was wanting, and all other steps taken to prepare for a war which might
+be upon them at any moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the three ships that had been sent on came from Egesta to the
+Athenians at Rhegium, with the news that so far from there being the sums
+promised, all that could be produced was thirty talents. The generals were not
+a little disheartened at being thus disappointed at the outset, and by the
+refusal to join in the expedition of the Rhegians, the people they had first
+tried to gain and had had had most reason to count upon, from their
+relationship to the Leontines and constant friendship for Athens. If Nicias was
+prepared for the news from Egesta, his two colleagues were taken completely by
+surprise. The Egestaeans had had recourse to the following stratagem, when the
+first envoys from Athens came to inspect their resources. They took the envoys
+in question to the temple of Aphrodite at Eryx and showed them the treasures
+deposited there: bowls, wine-ladles, censers, and a large number of other
+pieces of plate, which from being in silver gave an impression of wealth quite
+out of proportion to their really small value. They also privately entertained
+the ships&rsquo; crews, and collected all the cups of gold and silver that they
+could find in Egesta itself or could borrow in the neighbouring Phoenician and
+Hellenic towns, and each brought them to the banquets as their own; and as all
+used pretty nearly the same, and everywhere a great quantity of plate was
+shown, the effect was most dazzling upon the Athenian sailors, and made them
+talk loudly of the riches they had seen when they got back to Athens. The dupes
+in question&mdash;who had in their turn persuaded the rest&mdash;when the news
+got abroad that there was not the money supposed at Egesta, were much blamed by
+the soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the generals consulted upon what was to be done. The opinion of
+Nicias was to sail with all the armament to Selinus, the main object of the
+expedition, and if the Egestaeans could provide money for the whole force, to
+advise accordingly; but if they could not, to require them to supply provisions
+for the sixty ships that they had asked for, to stay and settle matters between
+them and the Selinuntines either by force or by agreement, and then to coast
+past the other cities, and after displaying the power of Athens and proving
+their zeal for their friends and allies, to sail home again (unless they should
+have some sudden and unexpected opportunity of serving the Leontines, or of
+bringing over some of the other cities), and not to endanger the state by
+wasting its home resources.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alcibiades said that a great expedition like the present must not disgrace
+itself by going away without having done anything; heralds must be sent to all
+the cities except Selinus and Syracuse, and efforts be made to make some of the
+Sicels revolt from the Syracusans, and to obtain the friendship of others, in
+order to have corn and troops; and first of all to gain the Messinese, who lay
+right in the passage and entrance to Sicily, and would afford an excellent
+harbour and base for the army. Thus, after bringing over the towns and knowing
+who would be their allies in the war, they might at length attack Syracuse and
+Selinus; unless the latter came to terms with Egesta and the former ceased to
+oppose the restoration of Leontini.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lamachus, on the other hand, said that they ought to sail straight to Syracuse,
+and fight their battle at once under the walls of the town while the people
+were still unprepared, and the panic at its height. Every armament was most
+terrible at first; if it allowed time to run on without showing itself,
+men&rsquo;s courage revived, and they saw it appear at last almost with
+indifference. By attacking suddenly, while Syracuse still trembled at their
+coming, they would have the best chance of gaining a victory for themselves and
+of striking a complete panic into the enemy by the aspect of their
+numbers&mdash;which would never appear so considerable as at present&mdash;by
+the anticipation of coming disaster, and above all by the immediate danger of
+the engagement. They might also count upon surprising many in the fields
+outside, incredulous of their coming; and at the moment that the enemy was
+carrying in his property the army would not want for booty if it sat down in
+force before the city. The rest of the Siceliots would thus be immediately less
+disposed to enter into alliance with the Syracusans, and would join the
+Athenians, without waiting to see which were the strongest. They must make
+Megara their naval station as a place to retreat to and a base from which to
+attack: it was an uninhabited place at no great distance from Syracuse either
+by land or by sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After speaking to this effect, Lamachus nevertheless gave his support to the
+opinion of Alcibiades. After this Alcibiades sailed in his own vessel across to
+Messina with proposals of alliance, but met with no success, the inhabitants
+answering that they could not receive him within their walls, though they would
+provide him with a market outside. Upon this he sailed back to Rhegium.
+Immediately upon his return the generals manned and victualled sixty ships out
+of the whole fleet and coasted along to Naxos, leaving the rest of the armament
+behind them at Rhegium with one of their number. Received by the Naxians, they
+then coasted on to Catana, and being refused admittance by the inhabitants,
+there being a Syracusan party in the town, went on to the river Terias. Here
+they bivouacked, and the next day sailed in single file to Syracuse with all
+their ships except ten which they sent on in front to sail into the great
+harbour and see if there was any fleet launched, and to proclaim by herald from
+shipboard that the Athenians were come to restore the Leontines to their
+country, as being their allies and kinsmen, and that such of them, therefore,
+as were in Syracuse should leave it without fear and join their friends and
+benefactors the Athenians. After making this proclamation and reconnoitring the
+city and the harbours, and the features of the country which they would have to
+make their base of operations in the war, they sailed back to Catana.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An assembly being held here, the inhabitants refused to receive the armament,
+but invited the generals to come in and say what they desired; and while
+Alcibiades was speaking and the citizens were intent on the assembly, the
+soldiers broke down an ill-walled-up postern gate without being observed, and
+getting inside the town, flocked into the marketplace. The Syracusan party in
+the town no sooner saw the army inside than they became frightened and
+withdrew, not being at all numerous; while the rest voted for an alliance with
+the Athenians and invited them to fetch the rest of their forces from Rhegium.
+After this the Athenians sailed to Rhegium, and put off, this time with all the
+armament, for Catana, and fell to work at their camp immediately upon their
+arrival.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile word was brought them from Camarina that if they went there the town
+would go over to them, and also that the Syracusans were manning a fleet. The
+Athenians accordingly sailed alongshore with all their armament, first to
+Syracuse, where they found no fleet manning, and so always along the coast to
+Camarina, where they brought to at the beach, and sent a herald to the people,
+who, however, refused to receive them, saying that their oaths bound them to
+receive the Athenians only with a single vessel, unless they themselves sent
+for more. Disappointed here, the Athenians now sailed back again, and after
+landing and plundering on Syracusan territory and losing some stragglers from
+their light infantry through the coming up of the Syracusan horse, so got back
+to Catana.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There they found the Salaminia come from Athens for Alcibiades, with orders for
+him to sail home to answer the charges which the state brought against him, and
+for certain others of the soldiers who with him were accused of sacrilege in
+the matter of the mysteries and of the Hermae. For the Athenians, after the
+departure of the expedition, had continued as active as ever in investigating
+the facts of the mysteries and of the Hermae, and, instead of testing the
+informers, in their suspicious temper welcomed all indifferently, arresting and
+imprisoning the best citizens upon the evidence of rascals, and preferring to
+sift the matter to the bottom sooner than to let an accused person of good
+character pass unquestioned, owing to the rascality of the informer. The
+commons had heard how oppressive the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons had
+become before it ended, and further that that had been put down at last, not by
+themselves and Harmodius, but by the Lacedaemonians, and so were always in fear
+and took everything suspiciously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, the daring action of Aristogiton and Harmodius was undertaken in
+consequence of a love affair, which I shall relate at some length, to show that
+the Athenians are not more accurate than the rest of the world in their
+accounts of their own tyrants and of the facts of their own history.
+Pisistratus dying at an advanced age in possession of the tyranny, was
+succeeded by his eldest son, Hippias, and not Hipparchus, as is vulgarly
+believed. Harmodius was then in the flower of youthful beauty, and Aristogiton,
+a citizen in the middle rank of life, was his lover and possessed him.
+Solicited without success by Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus, Harmodius told
+Aristogiton, and the enraged lover, afraid that the powerful Hipparchus might
+take Harmodius by force, immediately formed a design, such as his condition in
+life permitted, for overthrowing the tyranny. In the meantime Hipparchus, after
+a second solicitation of Harmodius, attended with no better success, unwilling
+to use violence, arranged to insult him in some covert way. Indeed, generally
+their government was not grievous to the multitude, or in any way odious in
+practice; and these tyrants cultivated wisdom and virtue as much as any, and
+without exacting from the Athenians more than a twentieth of their income,
+splendidly adorned their city, and carried on their wars, and provided
+sacrifices for the temples. For the rest, the city was left in full enjoyment
+of its existing laws, except that care was always taken to have the offices in
+the hands of some one of the family. Among those of them that held the yearly
+archonship at Athens was Pisistratus, son of the tyrant Hippias, and named
+after his grandfather, who dedicated during his term of office the altar to the
+twelve gods in the market-place, and that of Apollo in the Pythian precinct.
+The Athenian people afterwards built on to and lengthened the altar in the
+market-place, and obliterated the inscription; but that in the Pythian precinct
+can still be seen, though in faded letters, and is to the following effect:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pisistratus, the son of Hippias, Sent up this record of his archonship In
+precinct of Apollo Pythias.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That Hippias was the eldest son and succeeded to the government, is what I
+positively assert as a fact upon which I have had more exact accounts than
+others, and may be also ascertained by the following circumstance. He is the
+only one of the legitimate brothers that appears to have had children; as the
+altar shows, and the pillar placed in the Athenian Acropolis, commemorating the
+crime of the tyrants, which mentions no child of Thessalus or of Hipparchus,
+but five of Hippias, which he had by Myrrhine, daughter of Callias, son of
+Hyperechides; and naturally the eldest would have married first. Again, his
+name comes first on the pillar after that of his father; and this too is quite
+natural, as he was the eldest after him, and the reigning tyrant. Nor can I
+ever believe that Hippias would have obtained the tyranny so easily, if
+Hipparchus had been in power when he was killed, and he, Hippias, had had to
+establish himself upon the same day; but he had no doubt been long accustomed
+to overawe the citizens, and to be obeyed by his mercenaries, and thus not only
+conquered, but conquered with ease, without experiencing any of the
+embarrassment of a younger brother unused to the exercise of authority. It was
+the sad fate which made Hipparchus famous that got him also the credit with
+posterity of having been tyrant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return to Harmodius; Hipparchus having been repulsed in his solicitations
+insulted him as he had resolved, by first inviting a sister of his, a young
+girl, to come and bear a basket in a certain procession, and then rejecting
+her, on the plea that she had never been invited at all owing to her
+unworthiness. If Harmodius was indignant at this, Aristogiton for his sake now
+became more exasperated than ever; and having arranged everything with those
+who were to join them in the enterprise, they only waited for the great feast
+of the Panathenaea, the sole day upon which the citizens forming part of the
+procession could meet together in arms without suspicion. Aristogiton and
+Harmodius were to begin, but were to be supported immediately by their
+accomplices against the bodyguard. The conspirators were not many, for better
+security, besides which they hoped that those not in the plot would be carried
+away by the example of a few daring spirits, and use the arms in their hands to
+recover their liberty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last the festival arrived; and Hippias with his bodyguard was outside the
+city in the Ceramicus, arranging how the different parts of the procession were
+to proceed. Harmodius and Aristogiton had already their daggers and were
+getting ready to act, when seeing one of their accomplices talking familiarly
+with Hippias, who was easy of access to every one, they took fright, and
+concluded that they were discovered and on the point of being taken; and eager
+if possible to be revenged first upon the man who had wronged them and for whom
+they had undertaken all this risk, they rushed, as they were, within the gates,
+and meeting with Hipparchus by the Leocorium recklessly fell upon him at once,
+infuriated, Aristogiton by love, and Harmodius by insult, and smote him and
+slew him. Aristogiton escaped the guards at the moment, through the crowd
+running up, but was afterwards taken and dispatched in no merciful way:
+Harmodius was killed on the spot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the news was brought to Hippias in the Ceramicus, he at once proceeded not
+to the scene of action, but to the armed men in the procession, before they,
+being some distance away, knew anything of the matter, and composing his
+features for the occasion, so as not to betray himself, pointed to a certain
+spot, and bade them repair thither without their arms. They withdrew
+accordingly, fancying he had something to say; upon which he told the
+mercenaries to remove the arms, and there and then picked out the men he
+thought guilty and all found with daggers, the shield and spear being the usual
+weapons for a procession.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this way offended love first led Harmodius and Aristogiton to conspire, and
+the alarm of the moment to commit the rash action recounted. After this the
+tyranny pressed harder on the Athenians, and Hippias, now grown more fearful,
+put to death many of the citizens, and at the same time began to turn his eyes
+abroad for a refuge in case of revolution. Thus, although an Athenian, he gave
+his daughter, Archedice, to a Lampsacene, Aeantides, son of the tyrant of
+Lampsacus, seeing that they had great influence with Darius. And there is her
+tomb in Lampsacus with this inscription:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Archedice lies buried in this earth, Hippias her sire, and Athens gave her
+birth; Unto her bosom pride was never known, Though daughter, wife, and sister
+to the throne.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hippias, after reigning three years longer over the Athenians, was deposed in
+the fourth by the Lacedaemonians and the banished Alcmaeonidae, and went with a
+safe conduct to Sigeum, and to Aeantides at Lampsacus, and from thence to King
+Darius; from whose court he set out twenty years after, in his old age, and
+came with the Medes to Marathon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these events in their minds, and recalling everything they knew by hearsay
+on the subject, the Athenian people grow difficult of humour and suspicious of
+the persons charged in the affair of the mysteries, and persuaded that all that
+had taken place was part of an oligarchical and monarchical conspiracy. In the
+state of irritation thus produced, many persons of consideration had been
+already thrown into prison, and far from showing any signs of abating, public
+feeling grew daily more savage, and more arrests were made; until at last one
+of those in custody, thought to be the most guilty of all, was induced by a
+fellow prisoner to make a revelation, whether true or not is a matter on which
+there are two opinions, no one having been able, either then or since, to say
+for certain who did the deed. However this may be, the other found arguments to
+persuade him, that even if he had not done it, he ought to save himself by
+gaining a promise of impunity, and free the state of its present suspicions; as
+he would be surer of safety if he confessed after promise of impunity than if
+he denied and were brought to trial. He accordingly made a revelation,
+affecting himself and others in the affair of the Hermae; and the Athenian
+people, glad at last, as they supposed, to get at the truth, and furious until
+then at not being able to discover those who had conspired against the commons,
+at once let go the informer and all the rest whom he had not denounced, and
+bringing the accused to trial executed as many as were apprehended, and
+condemned to death such as had fled and set a price upon their heads. In this
+it was, after all, not clear whether the sufferers had been punished unjustly,
+while in any case the rest of the city received immediate and manifest relief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return to Alcibiades: public feeling was very hostile to him, being worked
+on by the same enemies who had attacked him before he went out; and now that
+the Athenians fancied that they had got at the truth of the matter of the
+Hermae, they believed more firmly than ever that the affair of the mysteries
+also, in which he was implicated, had been contrived by him in the same
+intention and was connected with the plot against the democracy. Meanwhile it
+so happened that, just at the time of this agitation, a small force of
+Lacedaemonians had advanced as far as the Isthmus, in pursuance of some scheme
+with the Boeotians. It was now thought that this had come by appointment, at
+his instigation, and not on account of the Boeotians, and that, if the citizens
+had not acted on the information received, and forestalled them by arresting
+the prisoners, the city would have been betrayed. The citizens went so far as
+to sleep one night armed in the temple of Theseus within the walls. The friends
+also of Alcibiades at Argos were just at this time suspected of a design to
+attack the commons; and the Argive hostages deposited in the islands were given
+up by the Athenians to the Argive people to be put to death upon that account:
+in short, everywhere something was found to create suspicion against
+Alcibiades. It was therefore decided to bring him to trial and execute him, and
+the Salaminia was sent to Sicily for him and the others named in the
+information, with instructions to order him to come and answer the charges
+against him, but not to arrest him, because they wished to avoid causing any
+agitation in the army or among the enemy in Sicily, and above all to retain the
+services of the Mantineans and Argives, who, it was thought, had been induced
+to join by his influence. Alcibiades, with his own ship and his fellow accused,
+accordingly sailed off with the Salaminia from Sicily, as though to return to
+Athens, and went with her as far as Thurii, and there they left the ship and
+disappeared, being afraid to go home for trial with such a prejudice existing
+against them. The crew of the Salaminia stayed some time looking for Alcibiades
+and his companions, and at length, as they were nowhere to be found, set sail
+and departed. Alcibiades, now an outlaw, crossed in a boat not long after from
+Thurii to Peloponnese; and the Athenians passed sentence of death by default
+upon him and those in his company.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"></a>
+CHAPTER XX </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War&mdash;Inaction of the Athenian
+Army&mdash;Alcibiades at Sparta&mdash;Investment of Syracuse
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenian generals left in Sicily now divided the armament into two parts,
+and, each taking one by lot, sailed with the whole for Selinus and Egesta,
+wishing to know whether the Egestaeans would give the money, and to look into
+the question of Selinus and ascertain the state of the quarrel between her and
+Egesta. Coasting along Sicily, with the shore on their left, on the side
+towards the Tyrrhene Gulf they touched at Himera, the only Hellenic city in
+that part of the island, and being refused admission resumed their voyage. On
+their way they took Hyccara, a petty Sicanian seaport, nevertheless at war with
+Egesta, and making slaves of the inhabitants gave up the town to the
+Egestaeans, some of whose horse had joined them; after which the army proceeded
+through the territory of the Sicels until it reached Catana, while the fleet
+sailed along the coast with the slaves on board. Meanwhile Nicias sailed
+straight from Hyccara along the coast and went to Egesta and, after transacting
+his other business and receiving thirty talents, rejoined the forces. They now
+sold their slaves for the sum of one hundred and twenty talents, and sailed
+round to their Sicel allies to urge them to send troops; and meanwhile went
+with half their own force to the hostile town of Hybla in the territory of
+Gela, but did not succeed in taking it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The winter following, the Athenians at once began to
+prepare for moving on Syracuse, and the Syracusans on their side for marching
+against them. From the moment when the Athenians failed to attack them
+instantly as they at first feared and expected, every day that passed did
+something to revive their courage; and when they saw them sailing far away from
+them on the other side of Sicily, and going to Hybla only to fail in their
+attempts to storm it, they thought less of them than ever, and called upon
+their generals, as the multitude is apt to do in its moments of confidence, to
+lead them to Catana, since the enemy would not come to them. Parties also of
+the Syracusan horse employed in reconnoitring constantly rode up to the
+Athenian armament, and among other insults asked them whether they had not
+really come to settle with the Syracusans in a foreign country rather than to
+resettle the Leontines in their own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Aware of this, the Athenian generals determined to draw them out in mass as far
+as possible from the city, and themselves in the meantime to sail by night
+alongshore, and take up at their leisure a convenient position. This they knew
+they could not so well do, if they had to disembark from their ships in front
+of a force prepared for them, or to go by land openly. The numerous cavalry of
+the Syracusans (a force which they were themselves without) would then be able
+to do the greatest mischief to their light troops and the crowd that followed
+them; but this plan would enable them to take up a position in which the horse
+could do them no hurt worth speaking of, some Syracusan exiles with the army
+having told them of the spot near the Olympieum, which they afterwards
+occupied. In pursuance of their idea, the generals imagined the following
+stratagem. They sent to Syracuse a man devoted to them, and by the Syracusan
+generals thought to be no less in their interest; he was a native of Catana,
+and said he came from persons in that place, whose names the Syracusan generals
+were acquainted with, and whom they knew to be among the members of their party
+still left in the city. He told them that the Athenians passed the night in the
+town, at some distance from their arms, and that if the Syracusans would name a
+day and come with all their people at daybreak to attack the armament, they,
+their friends, would close the gates upon the troops in the city, and set fire
+to the vessels, while the Syracusans would easily take the camp by an attack
+upon the stockade. In this they would be aided by many of the Catanians, who
+were already prepared to act, and from whom he himself came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The generals of the Syracusans, who did not want confidence, and who had
+intended even without this to march on Catana, believed the man without any
+sufficient inquiry, fixed at once a day upon which they would be there, and
+dismissed him, and the Selinuntines and others of their allies having now
+arrived, gave orders for all the Syracusans to march out in mass. Their
+preparations completed, and the time fixed for their arrival being at hand,
+they set out for Catana, and passed the night upon the river Symaethus, in the
+Leontine territory. Meanwhile the Athenians no sooner knew of their approach
+than they took all their forces and such of the Sicels or others as had joined
+them, put them on board their ships and boats, and sailed by night to Syracuse.
+Thus, when morning broke the Athenians were landing opposite the Olympieum
+ready to seize their camping ground, and the Syracusan horse having ridden up
+first to Catana and found that all the armament had put to sea, turned back and
+told the infantry, and then all turned back together, and went to the relief of
+the city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime, as the march before the Syracusans was a long one, the
+Athenians quietly sat down their army in a convenient position, where they
+could begin an engagement when they pleased, and where the Syracusan cavalry
+would have least opportunity of annoying them, either before or during the
+action, being fenced off on one side by walls, houses, trees, and by a marsh,
+and on the other by cliffs. They also felled the neighbouring trees and carried
+them down to the sea, and formed a palisade alongside of their ships, and with
+stones which they picked up and wood hastily raised a fort at Daskon, the most
+vulnerable point of their position, and broke down the bridge over the Anapus.
+These preparations were allowed to go on without any interruption from the
+city, the first hostile force to appear being the Syracusan cavalry, followed
+afterwards by all the foot together. At first they came close up to the
+Athenian army, and then, finding that they did not offer to engage, crossed the
+Helorine road and encamped for the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Athenians and their allies prepared for battle, their
+dispositions being as follows: Their right wing was occupied by the Argives and
+Mantineans, the centre by the Athenians, and the rest of the field by the other
+allies. Half their army was drawn up eight deep in advance, half close to their
+tents in a hollow square, formed also eight deep, which had orders to look out
+and be ready to go to the support of the troops hardest pressed. The camp
+followers were placed inside this reserve. The Syracusans, meanwhile, formed
+their heavy infantry sixteen deep, consisting of the mass levy of their own
+people, and such allies as had joined them, the strongest contingent being that
+of the Selinuntines; next to them the cavalry of the Geloans, numbering two
+hundred in all, with about twenty horse and fifty archers from Camarina. The
+cavalry was posted on their right, full twelve hundred strong, and next to it
+the darters. As the Athenians were about to begin the attack, Nicias went along
+the lines, and addressed these words of encouragement to the army and the
+nations composing it:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Soldiers, a long exhortation is little needed by men like ourselves, who
+are here to fight in the same battle, the force itself being, to my thinking,
+more fit to inspire confidence than a fine speech with a weak army. Where we
+have Argives, Mantineans, Athenians, and the first of the islanders in the
+ranks together, it were strange indeed, with so many and so brave companions in
+arms, if we did not feel confident of victory; especially when we have mass
+levies opposed to our picked troops, and what is more, Siceliots, who may
+disdain us but will not stand against us, their skill not being at all
+commensurate to their rashness. You may also remember that we are far from home
+and have no friendly land near, except what your own swords shall win you; and
+here I put before you a motive just the reverse of that which the enemy are
+appealing to; their cry being that they shall fight for their country, mine
+that we shall fight for a country that is not ours, where we must conquer or
+hardly get away, as we shall have their horse upon us in great numbers.
+Remember, therefore, your renown, and go boldly against the enemy, thinking the
+present strait and necessity more terrible than they.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this address Nicias at once led on the army. The Syracusans were not at
+that moment expecting an immediate engagement, and some had even gone away to
+the town, which was close by; these now ran up as hard as they could and,
+though behind time, took their places here or there in the main body as fast as
+they joined it. Want of zeal or daring was certainly not the fault of the
+Syracusans, either in this or the other battles, but although not inferior in
+courage, so far as their military science might carry them, when this failed
+them they were compelled to give up their resolution also. On the present
+occasion, although they had not supposed that the Athenians would begin the
+attack, and although constrained to stand upon their defence at short notice,
+they at once took up their arms and advanced to meet them. First, the
+stone-throwers, slingers, and archers of either army began skirmishing, and
+routed or were routed by one another, as might be expected between light
+troops; next, soothsayers brought forward the usual victims, and trumpeters
+urged on the heavy infantry to the charge; and thus they advanced, the
+Syracusans to fight for their country, and each individual for his safety that
+day and liberty hereafter; in the enemy&rsquo;s army, the Athenians to make
+another&rsquo;s country theirs and to save their own from suffering by their
+defeat; the Argives and independent allies to help them in getting what they
+came for, and to earn by victory another sight of the country they had left
+behind; while the subject allies owed most of their ardour to the desire of
+self-preservation, which they could only hope for if victorious; next to which,
+as a secondary motive, came the chance of serving on easier terms, after
+helping the Athenians to a fresh conquest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The armies now came to close quarters, and for a long while fought without
+either giving ground. Meanwhile there occurred some claps of thunder with
+lightning and heavy rain, which did not fail to add to the fears of the party
+fighting for the first time, and very little acquainted with war; while to
+their more experienced adversaries these phenomena appeared to be produced by
+the time of year, and much more alarm was felt at the continued resistance of
+the enemy. At last the Argives drove in the Syracusan left, and after them the
+Athenians routed the troops opposed to them, and the Syracusan army was thus
+cut in two and betook itself to flight. The Athenians did not pursue far, being
+held in check by the numerous and undefeated Syracusan horse, who attacked and
+drove back any of their heavy infantry whom they saw pursuing in advance of the
+rest; in spite of which the victors followed so far as was safe in a body, and
+then went back and set up a trophy. Meanwhile the Syracusans rallied at the
+Helorine road, where they re-formed as well as they could under the
+circumstances, and even sent a garrison of their own citizens to the Olympieum,
+fearing that the Athenians might lay hands on some of the treasures there. The
+rest returned to the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, however, did not go to the temple, but collected their dead and
+laid them upon a pyre, and passed the night upon the field. The next day they
+gave the enemy back their dead under truce, to the number of about two hundred
+and sixty, Syracusans and allies, and gathered together the bones of their own,
+some fifty, Athenians and allies, and taking the spoils of the enemy, sailed
+back to Catana. It was now winter; and it did not seem possible for the moment
+to carry on the war before Syracuse, until horse should have been sent for from
+Athens and levied among the allies in Sicily&mdash;to do away with their utter
+inferiority in cavalry&mdash;and money should have been collected in the
+country and received from Athens, and until some of the cities, which they
+hoped would be now more disposed to listen to them after the battle, should
+have been brought over, and corn and all other necessaries provided, for a
+campaign in the spring against Syracuse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this intention they sailed off to Naxos and Catana for the winter.
+Meanwhile the Syracusans burned their dead and then held an assembly, in which
+Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a man who with a general ability of the first order
+had given proofs of military capacity and brilliant courage in the war, came
+forward and encouraged them, and told them not to let what had occurred make
+them give way, since their spirit had not been conquered, but their want of
+discipline had done the mischief. Still they had not been beaten by so much as
+might have been expected, especially as they were, one might say, novices in
+the art of war, an army of artisans opposed to the most practised soldiers in
+Hellas. What had also done great mischief was the number of the generals (there
+were fifteen of them) and the quantity of orders given, combined with the
+disorder and insubordination of the troops. But if they were to have a few
+skilful generals, and used this winter in preparing their heavy infantry,
+finding arms for such as had not got any, so as to make them as numerous as
+possible, and forcing them to attend to their training generally, they would
+have every chance of beating their adversaries, courage being already theirs
+and discipline in the field having thus been added to it. Indeed, both these
+qualities would improve, since danger would exercise them in discipline, while
+their courage would be led to surpass itself by the confidence which skill
+inspires. The generals should be few and elected with full powers, and an oath
+should be taken to leave them entire discretion in their command: if they
+adopted this plan, their secrets would be better kept, all preparations would
+be properly made, and there would be no room for excuses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Syracusans heard him, and voted everything as he advised, and elected three
+generals, Hermocrates himself, Heraclides, son of Lysimachus, and Sicanus, son
+of Execestes. They also sent envoys to Corinth and Lacedaemon to procure a
+force of allies to join them, and to induce the Lacedaemonians for their sakes
+openly to address themselves in real earnest to the war against the Athenians,
+that they might either have to leave Sicily or be less able to send
+reinforcements to their army there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenian forces at Catana now at once sailed against Messina, in the
+expectation of its being betrayed to them. The intrigue, however, after all
+came to nothing: Alcibiades, who was in the secret, when he left his command
+upon the summons from home, foreseeing that he would be outlawed, gave
+information of the plot to the friends of the Syracusans in Messina, who had at
+once put to death its authors, and now rose in arms against the opposite
+faction with those of their way of thinking, and succeeded in preventing the
+admission of the Athenians. The latter waited for thirteen days, and then, as
+they were exposed to the weather and without provisions, and met with no
+success, went back to Naxos, where they made places for their ships to lie in,
+erected a palisade round their camp, and retired into winter quarters;
+meanwhile they sent a galley to Athens for money and cavalry to join them in
+the spring. During the winter the Syracusans built a wall on to the city, so as
+to take in the statue of Apollo Temenites, all along the side looking towards
+Epipolae, to make the task of circumvallation longer and more difficult, in
+case of their being defeated, and also erected a fort at Megara and another in
+the Olympieum, and stuck palisades along the sea wherever there was a landing
+Place. Meanwhile, as they knew that the Athenians were wintering at Naxos, they
+marched with all their people to Catana, and ravaged the land and set fire to
+the tents and encampment of the Athenians, and so returned home. Learning also
+that the Athenians were sending an embassy to Camarina, on the strength of the
+alliance concluded in the time of Laches, to gain, if possible, that city, they
+sent another from Syracuse to oppose them. They had a shrewd suspicion that the
+Camarinaeans had not sent what they did send for the first battle very
+willingly; and they now feared that they would refuse to assist them at all in
+future, after seeing the success of the Athenians in the action, and would join
+the latter on the strength of their old friendship. Hermocrates, with some
+others, accordingly arrived at Camarina from Syracuse, and Euphemus and others
+from the Athenians; and an assembly of the Camarinaeans having been convened,
+Hermocrates spoke as follows, in the hope of prejudicing them against the
+Athenians:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Camarinaeans, we did not come on this embassy because we were afraid of
+your being frightened by the actual forces of the Athenians, but rather of your
+being gained by what they would say to you before you heard anything from us.
+They are come to Sicily with the pretext that you know, and the intention which
+we all suspect, in my opinion less to restore the Leontines to their homes than
+to oust us from ours; as it is out of all reason that they should restore in
+Sicily the cities that they lay waste in Hellas, or should cherish the Leontine
+Chalcidians because of their Ionian blood and keep in servitude the Euboean
+Chalcidians, of whom the Leontines are a colony. No; but the same policy which
+has proved so successful in Hellas is now being tried in Sicily. After being
+chosen as the leaders of the Ionians and of the other allies of Athenian
+origin, to punish the Mede, the Athenians accused some of failure in military
+service, some of fighting against each other, and others, as the case might be,
+upon any colourable pretext that could be found, until they thus subdued them
+all. In fine, in the struggle against the Medes, the Athenians did not fight
+for the liberty of the Hellenes, or the Hellenes for their own liberty, but the
+former to make their countrymen serve them instead of him, the latter to change
+one master for another, wiser indeed than the first, but wiser for evil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But we are not now come to declare to an audience familiar with them the
+misdeeds of a state so open to accusation as is the Athenian, but much rather
+to blame ourselves, who, with the warnings we possess in the Hellenes in those
+parts that have been enslaved through not supporting each other, and seeing the
+same sophisms being now tried upon ourselves&mdash;such as restorations of
+Leontine kinsfolk and support of Egestaean allies&mdash;do not stand together
+and resolutely show them that here are no Ionians, or Hellespontines, or
+islanders, who change continually, but always serve a master, sometimes the
+Mede and sometimes some other, but free Dorians from independent Peloponnese,
+dwelling in Sicily. Or, are we waiting until we be taken in detail, one city
+after another; knowing as we do that in no other way can we be conquered, and
+seeing that they turn to this plan, so as to divide some of us by words, to
+draw some by the bait of an alliance into open war with each other, and to ruin
+others by such flattery as different circumstances may render acceptable? And
+do we fancy when destruction first overtakes a distant fellow countryman that
+the danger will not come to each of us also, or that he who suffers before us
+will suffer in himself alone?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As for the Camarinaean who says that it is the Syracusan, not he, that
+is the enemy of the Athenian, and who thinks it hard to have to encounter risk
+in behalf of my country, I would have him bear in mind that he will fight in my
+country, not more for mine than for his own, and by so much the more safely in
+that he will enter on the struggle not alone, after the way has been cleared by
+my ruin, but with me as his ally, and that the object of the Athenian is not so
+much to punish the enmity of the Syracusan as to use me as a blind to secure
+the friendship of the Camarinaean. As for him who envies or even fears us (and
+envied and feared great powers must always be), and who on this account wishes
+Syracuse to be humbled to teach us a lesson, but would still have her survive,
+in the interest of his own security the wish that he indulges is not humanly
+possible. A man can control his own desires, but he cannot likewise control
+circumstances; and in the event of his calculations proving mistaken, he may
+live to bewail his own misfortune, and wish to be again envying my prosperity.
+An idle wish, if he now sacrifice us and refuse to take his share of perils
+which are the same, in reality though not in name, for him as for us; what is
+nominally the preservation of our power being really his own salvation. It was
+to be expected that you, of all people in the world, Camarinaeans, being our
+immediate neighbours and the next in danger, would have foreseen this, and
+instead of supporting us in the lukewarm way that you are now doing, would
+rather come to us of your own accord, and be now offering at Syracuse the aid
+which you would have asked for at Camarina, if to Camarina the Athenians had
+first come, to encourage us to resist the invader. Neither you, however, nor
+the rest have as yet bestirred yourselves in this direction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fear perhaps will make you study to do right both by us and by the
+invaders, and plead that you have an alliance with the Athenians. But you made
+that alliance, not against your friends, but against the enemies that might
+attack you, and to help the Athenians when they were wronged by others, not
+when as now they are wronging their neighbours. Even the Rhegians, Chalcidians
+though they be, refuse to help to restore the Chalcidian Leontines; and it
+would be strange if, while they suspect the gist of this fine pretence and are
+wise without reason, you, with every reason on your side, should yet choose to
+assist your natural enemies, and should join with their direst foes in undoing
+those whom nature has made your own kinsfolk. This is not to do right; but you
+should help us without fear of their armament, which has no terrors if we hold
+together, but only if we let them succeed in their endeavours to separate us;
+since even after attacking us by ourselves and being victorious in battle, they
+had to go off without effecting their purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;United, therefore, we have no cause to despair, but rather new
+encouragement to league together; especially as succour will come to us from
+the Peloponnesians, in military matters the undoubted superiors of the
+Athenians. And you need not think that your prudent policy of taking sides with
+neither, because allies of both, is either safe for you or fair to us.
+Practically it is not as fair as it pretends to be. If the vanquished be
+defeated, and the victor conquer, through your refusing to join, what is the
+effect of your abstention but to leave the former to perish unaided, and to
+allow the latter to offend unhindered? And yet it were more honourable to join
+those who are not only the injured party, but your own kindred, and by so doing
+to defend the common interests of Sicily and save your friends the Athenians
+from doing wrong.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In conclusion, we Syracusans say that it is useless for us to
+demonstrate either to you or to the rest what you know already as well as we
+do; but we entreat, and if our entreaty fail, we protest that we are menaced by
+our eternal enemies the Ionians, and are betrayed by you our fellow Dorians. If
+the Athenians reduce us, they will owe their victory to your decision, but in
+their own name will reap the honour, and will receive as the prize of their
+triumph the very men who enabled them to gain it. On the other hand, if we are
+the conquerors, you will have to pay for having been the cause of our danger.
+Consider, therefore; and now make your choice between the security which
+present servitude offers and the prospect of conquering with us and so escaping
+disgraceful submission to an Athenian master and avoiding the lasting enmity of
+Syracuse.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Hermocrates; after whom Euphemus, the Athenian
+ambassador, spoke as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although we came here only to renew the former alliance, the attack of
+the Syracusans compels us to speak of our empire and of the good right we have
+to it. The best proof of this the speaker himself furnished, when he called the
+Ionians eternal enemies of the Dorians. It is the fact; and the Peloponnesian
+Dorians being our superiors in numbers and next neighbours, we Ionians looked
+out for the best means of escaping their domination. After the Median War we
+had a fleet, and so got rid of the empire and supremacy of the Lacedaemonians,
+who had no right to give orders to us more than we to them, except that of
+being the strongest at that moment; and being appointed leaders of the
+King&rsquo;s former subjects, we continue to be so, thinking that we are least
+likely to fall under the dominion of the Peloponnesians, if we have a force to
+defend ourselves with, and in strict truth having done nothing unfair in
+reducing to subjection the Ionians and islanders, the kinsfolk whom the
+Syracusans say we have enslaved. They, our kinsfolk, came against their mother
+country, that is to say against us, together with the Mede, and, instead of
+having the courage to revolt and sacrifice their property as we did when we
+abandoned our city, chose to be slaves themselves, and to try to make us so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We, therefore, deserve to rule because we placed the largest fleet and
+an unflinching patriotism at the service of the Hellenes, and because these,
+our subjects, did us mischief by their ready subservience to the Medes; and,
+desert apart, we seek to strengthen ourselves against the Peloponnesians. We
+make no fine profession of having a right to rule because we overthrew the
+barbarian single-handed, or because we risked what we did risk for the freedom
+of the subjects in question any more than for that of all, and for our own: no
+one can be quarrelled with for providing for his proper safety. If we are now
+here in Sicily, it is equally in the interest of our security, with which we
+perceive that your interest also coincides. We prove this from the conduct
+which the Syracusans cast against us and which you somewhat too timorously
+suspect; knowing that those whom fear has made suspicious may be carried away
+by the charm of eloquence for the moment, but when they come to act follow
+their interests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, as we have said, fear makes us hold our empire in Hellas, and fear
+makes us now come, with the help of our friends, to order safely matters in
+Sicily, and not to enslave any but rather to prevent any from being enslaved.
+Meanwhile, let no one imagine that we are interesting ourselves in you without
+your having anything to do with us, seeing that, if you are preserved and able
+to make head against the Syracusans, they will be less likely to harm us by
+sending troops to the Peloponnesians. In this way you have everything to do
+with us, and on this account it is perfectly reasonable for us to restore the
+Leontines, and to make them, not subjects like their kinsmen in Euboea, but as
+powerful as possible, to help us by annoying the Syracusans from their
+frontier. In Hellas we are alone a match for our enemies; and as for the
+assertion that it is out of all reason that we should free the Sicilian, while
+we enslave the Chalcidian, the fact is that the latter is useful to us by being
+without arms and contributing money only; while the former, the Leontines and
+our other friends, cannot be too independent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Besides, for tyrants and imperial cities nothing is unreasonable if
+expedient, no one a kinsman unless sure; but friendship or enmity is everywhere
+an affair of time and circumstance. Here, in Sicily, our interest is not to
+weaken our friends, but by means of their strength to cripple our enemies. Why
+doubt this? In Hellas we treat our allies as we find them useful. The Chians
+and Methymnians govern themselves and furnish ships; most of the rest have
+harder terms and pay tribute in money; while others, although islanders and
+easy for us to take, are free altogether, because they occupy convenient
+positions round Peloponnese. In our settlement of the states here in Sicily, we
+should therefore; naturally be guided by our interest, and by fear, as we say,
+of the Syracusans. Their ambition is to rule you, their object to use the
+suspicions that we excite to unite you, and then, when we have gone away
+without effecting anything, by force or through your isolation, to become the
+masters of Sicily. And masters they must become, if you unite with them; as a
+force of that magnitude would be no longer easy for us to deal with united, and
+they would be more than a match for you as soon as we were away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Any other view of the case is condemned by the facts. When you first
+asked us over, the fear which you held out was that of danger to Athens if we
+let you come under the dominion of Syracuse; and it is not right now to
+mistrust the very same argument by which you claimed to convince us, or to give
+way to suspicion because we are come with a larger force against the power of
+that city. Those whom you should really distrust are the Syracusans. We are not
+able to stay here without you, and if we proved perfidious enough to bring you
+into subjection, we should be unable to keep you in bondage, owing to the
+length of the voyage and the difficulty of guarding large, and in a military
+sense continental, towns: they, the Syracusans, live close to you, not in a
+camp, but in a city greater than the force we have with us, plot always against
+you, never let slip an opportunity once offered, as they have shown in the case
+of the Leontines and others, and now have the face, just as if you were fools,
+to invite you to aid them against the power that hinders this, and that has
+thus far maintained Sicily independent. We, as against them, invite you to a
+much more real safety, when we beg you not to betray that common safety which
+we each have in the other, and to reflect that they, even without allies, will,
+by their numbers, have always the way open to you, while you will not often
+have the opportunity of defending yourselves with such numerous auxiliaries;
+if, through your suspicions, you once let these go away unsuccessful or
+defeated, you will wish to see if only a handful of them back again, when the
+day is past in which their presence could do anything for you.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But we hope, Camarinaeans, that the calumnies of the Syracusans will not
+be allowed to succeed either with you or with the rest: we have told you the
+whole truth upon the things we are suspected of, and will now briefly
+recapitulate, in the hope of convincing you. We assert that we are rulers in
+Hellas in order not to be subjects; liberators in Sicily that we may not be
+harmed by the Sicilians; that we are compelled to interfere in many things,
+because we have many things to guard against; and that now, as before, we are
+come as allies to those of you who suffer wrong in this island, not without
+invitation but upon invitation. Accordingly, instead of making yourselves
+judges or censors of our conduct, and trying to turn us, which it were now
+difficult to do, so far as there is anything in our interfering policy or in
+our character that chimes in with your interest, this take and make use of; and
+be sure that, far from being injurious to all alike, to most of the Hellenes
+that policy is even beneficial. Thanks to it, all men in all places, even where
+we are not, who either apprehend or meditate aggression, from the near prospect
+before them, in the one case, of obtaining our intervention in their favour, in
+the other, of our arrival making the venture dangerous, find themselves
+constrained, respectively, to be moderate against their will, and to be
+preserved without trouble of their own. Do not you reject this security that is
+open to all who desire it, and is now offered to you; but do like others, and
+instead of being always on the defensive against the Syracusans, unite with us,
+and in your turn at last threaten them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Euphemus. What the Camarinaeans felt was this.
+Sympathizing with the Athenians, except in so far as they might be afraid of
+their subjugating Sicily, they had always been at enmity with their neighbour
+Syracuse. From the very fact, however, that they were their neighbours, they
+feared the Syracusans most of the two, and being apprehensive of their
+conquering even without them, both sent them in the first instance the few
+horsemen mentioned, and for the future determined to support them most in fact,
+although as sparingly as possible; but for the moment in order not to seem to
+slight the Athenians, especially as they had been successful in the engagement,
+to answer both alike. Agreeably to this resolution they answered that as both
+the contending parties happened to be allies of theirs, they thought it most
+consistent with their oaths at present to side with neither; with which answer
+the ambassadors of either party departed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime, while Syracuse pursued her preparations for war, the Athenians
+were encamped at Naxos, and tried by negotiation to gain as many of the Sicels
+as possible. Those more in the low lands, and subjects of Syracuse, mostly held
+aloof; but the peoples of the interior who had never been otherwise than
+independent, with few exceptions, at once joined the Athenians, and brought
+down corn to the army, and in some cases even money. The Athenians marched
+against those who refused to join, and forced some of them to do so; in the
+case of others they were stopped by the Syracusans sending garrisons and
+reinforcements. Meanwhile the Athenians moved their winter quarters from Naxos
+to Catana, and reconstructed the camp burnt by the Syracusans, and stayed there
+the rest of the winter. They also sent a galley to Carthage, with proffers of
+friendship, on the chance of obtaining assistance, and another to Tyrrhenia;
+some of the cities there having spontaneously offered to join them in the war.
+They also sent round to the Sicels and to Egesta, desiring them to send them as
+many horses as possible, and meanwhile prepared bricks, iron, and all other
+things necessary for the work of circumvallation, intending by the spring to
+begin hostilities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Syracusan envoys dispatched to Corinth and Lacedaemon tried
+as they passed along the coast to persuade the Italiots to interfere with the
+proceedings of the Athenians, which threatened Italy quite as much as Syracuse,
+and having arrived at Corinth made a speech calling on the Corinthians to
+assist them on the ground of their common origin. The Corinthians voted at once
+to aid them heart and soul themselves, and then sent on envoys with them to
+Lacedaemon, to help them to persuade her also to prosecute the war with the
+Athenians more openly at home and to send succours to Sicily. The envoys from
+Corinth having reached Lacedaemon found there Alcibiades with his fellow
+refugees, who had at once crossed over in a trading vessel from Thurii, first
+to Cyllene in Elis, and afterwards from thence to Lacedaemon; upon the
+Lacedaemonians&rsquo; own invitation, after first obtaining a safe conduct, as
+he feared them for the part he had taken in the affair of Mantinea. The result
+was that the Corinthians, Syracusans, and Alcibiades, pressing all the same
+request in the assembly of the Lacedaemonians, succeeded in persuading them;
+but as the ephors and the authorities, although resolved to send envoys to
+Syracuse to prevent their surrendering to the Athenians, showed no disposition
+to send them any assistance, Alcibiades now came forward and inflamed and
+stirred the Lacedaemonians by speaking as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am forced first to speak to you of the prejudice with which I am
+regarded, in order that suspicion may not make you disinclined to listen to me
+upon public matters. The connection, with you as your proxeni, which the
+ancestors of our family by reason of some discontent renounced, I personally
+tried to renew by my good offices towards you, in particular upon the occasion
+of the disaster at Pylos. But although I maintained this friendly attitude, you
+yet chose to negotiate the peace with the Athenians through my enemies, and
+thus to strengthen them and to discredit me. You had therefore no right to
+complain if I turned to the Mantineans and Argives, and seized other occasions
+of thwarting and injuring you; and the time has now come when those among you,
+who in the bitterness of the moment may have been then unfairly angry with me,
+should look at the matter in its true light, and take a different view. Those
+again who judged me unfavourably, because I leaned rather to the side of the
+commons, must not think that their dislike is any better founded. We have
+always been hostile to tyrants, and all who oppose arbitrary power are called
+commons; hence we continued to act as leaders of the multitude; besides which,
+as democracy was the government of the city, it was necessary in most things to
+conform to established conditions. However, we endeavoured to be more moderate
+than the licentious temper of the times; and while there were others, formerly
+as now, who tried to lead the multitude astray&mdash;the same who banished
+me&mdash;our party was that of the whole people, our creed being to do our part
+in preserving the form of government under which the city enjoyed the utmost
+greatness and freedom, and which we had found existing. As for democracy, the
+men of sense among us knew what it was, and I perhaps as well as any, as I have
+the more cause to complain of it; but there is nothing new to be said of a
+patent absurdity; meanwhile we did not think it safe to alter it under the
+pressure of your hostility.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So much then for the prejudices with which I am regarded: I now can call
+your attention to the questions you must consider, and upon which superior
+knowledge perhaps permits me to speak. We sailed to Sicily first to conquer, if
+possible, the Siceliots, and after them the Italiots also, and finally to
+assail the empire and city of Carthage. In the event of all or most of these
+schemes succeeding, we were then to attack Peloponnese, bringing with us the
+entire force of the Hellenes lately acquired in those parts, and taking a
+number of barbarians into our pay, such as the Iberians and others in those
+countries, confessedly the most warlike known, and building numerous galleys in
+addition to those which we had already, timber being plentiful in Italy; and
+with this fleet blockading Peloponnese from the sea and assailing it with our
+armies by land, taking some of the cities by storm, drawing works of
+circumvallation round others, we hoped without difficulty to effect its
+reduction, and after this to rule the whole of the Hellenic name. Money and
+corn meanwhile for the better execution of these plans were to be supplied in
+sufficient quantities by the newly acquired places in those countries,
+independently of our revenues here at home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You have thus heard the history of the present expedition from the man
+who most exactly knows what our objects were; and the remaining generals will,
+if they can, carry these out just the same. But that the states in Sicily must
+succumb if you do not help them, I will now show. Although the Siceliots, with
+all their inexperience, might even now be saved if their forces were united,
+the Syracusans alone, beaten already in one battle with all their people and
+blockaded from the sea, will be unable to withstand the Athenian armament that
+is now there. But if Syracuse falls, all Sicily falls also, and Italy
+immediately afterwards; and the danger which I just now spoke of from that
+quarter will before long be upon you. None need therefore fancy that Sicily
+only is in question; Peloponnese will be so also, unless you speedily do as I
+tell you, and send on board ship to Syracuse troops that shall able to row
+their ships themselves, and serve as heavy infantry the moment that they land;
+and what I consider even more important than the troops, a Spartan as
+commanding officer to discipline the forces already on foot and to compel
+recusants to serve. The friends that you have already will thus become more
+confident, and the waverers will be encouraged to join you. Meanwhile you must
+carry on the war here more openly, that the Syracusans, seeing that you do not
+forget them, may put heart into their resistance, and that the Athenians may be
+less able to reinforce their armament. You must fortify Decelea in Attica, the
+blow of which the Athenians are always most afraid and the only one that they
+think they have not experienced in the present war; the surest method of
+harming an enemy being to find out what he most fears, and to choose this means
+of attacking him, since every one naturally knows best his own weak points and
+fears accordingly. The fortification in question, while it benefits you, will
+create difficulties for your adversaries, of which I shall pass over many, and
+shall only mention the chief. Whatever property there is in the country will
+most of it become yours, either by capture or surrender; and the Athenians will
+at once be deprived of their revenues from the silver mines at Laurium, of
+their present gains from their land and from the law courts, and above all of
+the revenue from their allies, which will be paid less regularly, as they lose
+their awe of Athens and see you addressing yourselves with vigour to the war.
+The zeal and speed with which all this shall be done depends, Lacedaemonians,
+upon yourselves; as to its possibility, I am quite confident, and I have little
+fear of being mistaken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Meanwhile I hope that none of you will think any the worse of me if,
+after having hitherto passed as a lover of my country, I now actively join its
+worst enemies in attacking it, or will suspect what I say as the fruit of an
+outlaw&rsquo;s enthusiasm. I am an outlaw from the iniquity of those who drove
+me forth, not, if you will be guided by me, from your service; my worst enemies
+are not you who only harmed your foes, but they who forced their friends to
+become enemies; and love of country is what I do not feel when I am wronged,
+but what I felt when secure in my rights as a citizen. Indeed I do not consider
+that I am now attacking a country that is still mine; I am rather trying to
+recover one that is mine no longer; and the true lover of his country is not he
+who consents to lose it unjustly rather than attack it, but he who longs for it
+so much that he will go all lengths to recover it. For myself, therefore,
+Lacedaemonians, I beg you to use me without scruple for danger and trouble of
+every kind, and to remember the argument in every one&rsquo;s mouth, that if I
+did you great harm as an enemy, I could likewise do you good service as a
+friend, inasmuch as I know the plans of the Athenians, while I only guessed
+yours. For yourselves I entreat you to believe that your most capital interests
+are now under deliberation; and I urge you to send without hesitation the
+expeditions to Sicily and Attica; by the presence of a small part of your
+forces you will save important cities in that island, and you will destroy the
+power of Athens both present and prospective; after this you will dwell in
+security and enjoy the supremacy over all Hellas, resting not on force but upon
+consent and affection.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the words of Alcibiades. The Lacedaemonians, who had themselves
+before intended to march against Athens, but were still waiting and looking
+about them, at once became much more in earnest when they received this
+particular information from Alcibiades, and considered that they had heard it
+from the man who best knew the truth of the matter. Accordingly they now turned
+their attention to the fortifying of Decelea and sending immediate aid to the
+Sicilians; and naming Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, to the command of the
+Syracusans, bade him consult with that people and with the Corinthians and
+arrange for succours reaching the island, in the best and speediest way
+possible under the circumstances. Gylippus desired the Corinthians to send him
+at once two ships to Asine, and to prepare the rest that they intended to send,
+and to have them ready to sail at the proper time. Having settled this, the
+envoys departed from Lacedaemon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime arrived the Athenian galley from Sicily sent by the generals
+for money and cavalry; and the Athenians, after hearing what they wanted, voted
+to send the supplies for the armament and the cavalry. And the winter ended,
+and with it ended the seventeenth year of the present war of which Thucydides
+is the historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next summer, at the very beginning of the season, the Athenians in Sicily
+put out from Catana, and sailed along shore to Megara in Sicily, from which, as
+I have mentioned above, the Syracusans expelled the inhabitants in the time of
+their tyrant Gelo, themselves occupying the territory. Here the Athenians
+landed and laid waste the country, and after an unsuccessful attack upon a fort
+of the Syracusans, went on with the fleet and army to the river Terias, and
+advancing inland laid waste the plain and set fire to the corn; and after
+killing some of a small Syracusan party which they encountered, and setting up
+a trophy, went back again to their ships. They now sailed to Catana and took in
+provisions there, and going with their whole force against Centoripa, a town of
+the Sicels, acquired it by capitulation, and departed, after also burning the
+corn of the Inessaeans and Hybleans. Upon their return to Catana they found the
+horsemen arrived from Athens, to the number of two hundred and fifty (with
+their equipments, but without their horses which were to be procured upon the
+spot), and thirty mounted archers and three hundred talents of silver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same spring the Lacedaemonians marched against Argos, and went as far as
+Cleonae, when an earthquake occurred and caused them to return. After this the
+Argives invaded the Thyreatid, which is on their border, and took much booty
+from the Lacedaemonians, which was sold for no less than twenty-five talents.
+The same summer, not long after, the Thespian commons made an attack upon the
+party in office, which was not successful, but succours arrived from Thebes,
+and some were caught, while others took refuge at Athens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Syracusans learned that the Athenians had been joined by
+their cavalry, and were on the point of marching against them; and seeing that
+without becoming masters of Epipolae, a precipitous spot situated exactly over
+the town, the Athenians could not, even if victorious in battle, easily invest
+them, they determined to guard its approaches, in order that the enemy might
+not ascend unobserved by this, the sole way by which ascent was possible, as
+the remainder is lofty ground, and falls right down to the city, and can all be
+seen from inside; and as it lies above the rest the place is called by the
+Syracusans Epipolae or Overtown. They accordingly went out in mass at daybreak
+into the meadow along the river Anapus, their new generals, Hermocrates and his
+colleagues, having just come into office, and held a review of their heavy
+infantry, from whom they first selected a picked body of six hundred, under the
+command of Diomilus, an exile from Andros, to guard Epipolae, and to be ready
+to muster at a moment&rsquo;s notice to help wherever help should be required.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians, the very same morning, were holding a review, having
+already made land unobserved with all the armament from Catana, opposite a
+place called Leon, not much more than half a mile from Epipolae, where they
+disembarked their army, bringing the fleet to anchor at Thapsus, a peninsula
+running out into the sea, with a narrow isthmus, and not far from the city of
+Syracuse either by land or water. While the naval force of the Athenians threw
+a stockade across the isthmus and remained quiet at Thapsus, the land army
+immediately went on at a run to Epipolae, and succeeded in getting up by
+Euryelus before the Syracusans perceived them, or could come up from the meadow
+and the review. Diomilus with his six hundred and the rest advanced as quickly
+as they could, but they had nearly three miles to go from the meadow before
+reaching them. Attacking in this way in considerable disorder, the Syracusans
+were defeated in battle at Epipolae and retired to the town, with a loss of
+about three hundred killed, and Diomilus among the number. After this the
+Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the Syracusans their dead under
+truce, and next day descended to Syracuse itself; and no one coming out to meet
+them, reascended and built a fort at Labdalum, upon the edge of the cliffs of
+Epipolae, looking towards Megara, to serve as a magazine for their baggage and
+money, whenever they advanced to battle or to work at the lines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not long afterwards three hundred cavalry came to them from Egesta, and about a
+hundred from the Sicels, Naxians, and others; and thus, with the two hundred
+and fifty from Athens, for whom they had got horses from the Egestaeans and
+Catanians, besides others that they bought, they now mustered six hundred and
+fifty cavalry in all. After posting a garrison in Labdalum, they advanced to
+Syca, where they sat down and quickly built the Circle or centre of their wall
+of circumvallation. The Syracusans, appalled at the rapidity with which the
+work advanced, determined to go out against them and give battle and interrupt
+it; and the two armies were already in battle array, when the Syracusan
+generals observed that their troops found such difficulty in getting into line,
+and were in such disorder, that they led them back into the town, except part
+of the cavalry. These remained and hindered the Athenians from carrying stones
+or dispersing to any great distance, until a tribe of the Athenian heavy
+infantry, with all the cavalry, charged and routed the Syracusan horse with
+some loss; after which they set up a trophy for the cavalry action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Athenians began building the wall to the north of the Circle,
+at the same time collecting stone and timber, which they kept laying down
+towards Trogilus along the shortest line for their works from the great harbour
+to the sea; while the Syracusans, guided by their generals, and above all by
+Hermocrates, instead of risking any more general engagements, determined to
+build a counterwork in the direction in which the Athenians were going to carry
+their wall. If this could be completed in time, the enemy&rsquo;s lines would
+be cut; and meanwhile, if he were to attempt to interrupt them by an attack,
+they would send a part of their forces against him, and would secure the
+approaches beforehand with their stockade, while the Athenians would have to
+leave off working with their whole force in order to attend to them. They
+accordingly sallied forth and began to build, starting from their city, running
+a cross wall below the Athenian Circle, cutting down the olives and erecting
+wooden towers. As the Athenian fleet had not yet sailed round into the great
+harbour, the Syracusans still commanded the seacoast, and the Athenians brought
+their provisions by land from Thapsus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Syracusans now thought the stockades and stonework of their counterwall
+sufficiently far advanced; and as the Athenians, afraid of being divided and so
+fighting at a disadvantage, and intent upon their own wall, did not come out to
+interrupt them, they left one tribe to guard the new work and went back into
+the city. Meanwhile the Athenians destroyed their pipes of drinking-water
+carried underground into the city; and watching until the rest of the
+Syracusans were in their tents at midday, and some even gone away into the
+city, and those in the stockade keeping but indifferent guard, appointed three
+hundred picked men of their own, and some men picked from the light troops and
+armed for the purpose, to run suddenly as fast as they could to the
+counterwork, while the rest of the army advanced in two divisions, the one with
+one of the generals to the city in case of a sortie, the other with the other
+general to the stockade by the postern gate. The three hundred attacked and
+took the stockade, abandoned by its garrison, who took refuge in the outworks
+round the statue of Apollo Temenites. Here the pursuers burst in with them, and
+after getting in were beaten out by the Syracusans, and some few of the Argives
+and Athenians slain; after which the whole army retired, and having demolished
+the counterwork and pulled up the stockade, carried away the stakes to their
+own lines, and set up a trophy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Athenians from the Circle proceeded to fortify the cliff above
+the marsh which on this side of Epipolae looks towards the great harbour; this
+being also the shortest line for their work to go down across the plain and the
+marsh to the harbour. Meanwhile the Syracusans marched out and began a second
+stockade, starting from the city, across the middle of the marsh, digging a
+trench alongside to make it impossible for the Athenians to carry their wall
+down to the sea. As soon as the Athenians had finished their work at the cliff
+they again attacked the stockade and ditch of the Syracusans. Ordering the
+fleet to sail round from Thapsus into the great harbour of Syracuse, they
+descended at about dawn from Epipolae into the plain, and laying doors and
+planks over the marsh, where it was muddy and firmest, crossed over on these,
+and by daybreak took the ditch and the stockade, except a small portion which
+they captured afterwards. A battle now ensued, in which the Athenians were
+victorious, the right wing of the Syracusans flying to the town and the left to
+the river. The three hundred picked Athenians, wishing to cut off their
+passage, pressed on at a run to the bridge, when the alarmed Syracusans, who
+had with them most of their cavalry, closed and routed them, hurling them back
+upon the Athenian right wing, the first tribe of which was thrown into a panic
+by the shock. Seeing this, Lamachus came to their aid from the Athenian left
+with a few archers and with the Argives, and crossing a ditch, was left alone
+with a few that had crossed with him, and was killed with five or six of his
+men. These the Syracusans managed immediately to snatch up in haste and get
+across the river into a place of security, themselves retreating as the rest of
+the Athenian army now came up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile those who had at first fled for refuge to the city, seeing the turn
+affairs were taking, now rallied from the town and formed against the Athenians
+in front of them, sending also a part of their number to the Circle on
+Epipolae, which they hoped to take while denuded of its defenders. These took
+and destroyed the Athenian outwork of a thousand feet, the Circle itself being
+saved by Nicias, who happened to have been left in it through illness, and who
+now ordered the servants to set fire to the engines and timber thrown down
+before the wall; want of men, as he was aware, rendering all other means of
+escape impossible. This step was justified by the result, the Syracusans not
+coming any further on account of the fire, but retreating. Meanwhile succours
+were coming up from the Athenians below, who had put to flight the troops
+opposed to them; and the fleet also, according to orders, was sailing from
+Thapsus into the great harbour. Seeing this, the troops on the heights retired
+in haste, and the whole army of the Syracusans re-entered the city, thinking
+that with their present force they would no longer be able to hinder the wall
+reaching the sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the Syracusans their
+dead under truce, receiving in return Lamachus and those who had fallen with
+him. The whole of their forces, naval and military, being now with them, they
+began from Epipolae and the cliffs and enclosed the Syracusans with a double
+wall down to the sea. Provisions were now brought in for the armament from all
+parts of Italy; and many of the Sicels, who had hitherto been looking to see
+how things went, came as allies to the Athenians: there also arrived three
+ships of fifty oars from Tyrrhenia. Meanwhile everything else progressed
+favourably for their hopes. The Syracusans began to despair of finding safety
+in arms, no relief having reached them from Peloponnese, and were now proposing
+terms of capitulation among themselves and to Nicias, who after the death of
+Lamachus was left sole commander. No decision was come to, but, as was natural
+with men in difficulties and besieged more straitly than before, there was much
+discussion with Nicias and still more in the town. Their present misfortunes
+had also made them suspicious of one another; and the blame of their disasters
+was thrown upon the ill-fortune or treachery of the generals under whose
+command they had happened; and these were deposed and others, Heraclides,
+Eucles, and Tellias, elected in their stead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonian, Gylippus, and the ships from Corinth were now off
+Leucas, intent upon going with all haste to the relief of Sicily. The reports
+that reached them being of an alarming kind, and all agreeing in the falsehood
+that Syracuse was already completely invested, Gylippus abandoned all hope of
+Sicily, and wishing to save Italy, rapidly crossed the Ionian Sea to Tarentum
+with the Corinthian, Pythen, two Laconian, and two Corinthian vessels, leaving
+the Corinthians to follow him after manning, in addition to their own ten, two
+Leucadian and two Ambraciot ships. From Tarentum Gylippus first went on an
+embassy to Thurii, and claimed anew the rights of citizenship which his father
+had enjoyed; failing to bring over the townspeople, he weighed anchor and
+coasted along Italy. Opposite the Terinaean Gulf he was caught by the wind
+which blows violently and steadily from the north in that quarter, and was
+carried out to sea; and after experiencing very rough weather, remade Tarentum,
+where he hauled ashore and refitted such of his ships as had suffered most from
+the tempest. Nicias heard of his approach, but, like the Thurians, despised the
+scanty number of his ships, and set down piracy as the only probable object of
+the voyage, and so took no precautions for the present.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time in this summer, the Lacedaemonians invaded Argos with their
+allies, and laid waste most of the country. The Athenians went with thirty
+ships to the relief of the Argives, thus breaking their treaty with the
+Lacedaemonians in the most overt manner. Up to this time incursions from Pylos,
+descents on the coast of the rest of Peloponnese, instead of on the Laconian,
+had been the extent of their co-operation with the Argives and Mantineans; and
+although the Argives had often begged them to land, if only for a moment, with
+their heavy infantry in Laconia, lay waste ever so little of it with them, and
+depart, they had always refused to do so. Now, however, under the command of
+Phytodorus, Laespodius, and Demaratus, they landed at Epidaurus Limera,
+Prasiae, and other places, and plundered the country; and thus furnished the
+Lacedaemonians with a better pretext for hostilities against Athens. After the
+Athenians had retired from Argos with their fleet, and the Lacedaemonians also,
+the Argives made an incursion into the Phlisaid, and returned home after
+ravaging their land and killing some of the inhabitants.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"></a>
+BOOK VII </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"></a>
+CHAPTER XXI </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War&mdash;Arrival of Gylippus at
+Syracuse&mdash;Fortification of Decelea&mdash;Successes of the Syracusans
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After refitting their ships, Gylippus and Pythen coasted along from Tarentum to
+Epizephyrian Locris. They now received the more correct information that
+Syracuse was not yet completely invested, but that it was still possible for an
+army arriving at Epipolae to effect an entrance; and they consulted,
+accordingly, whether they should keep Sicily on their right and risk sailing in
+by sea, or, leaving it on their left, should first sail to Himera and, taking
+with them the Himeraeans and any others that might agree to join them, go to
+Syracuse by land. Finally they determined to sail for Himera, especially as the
+four Athenian ships which Nicias had at length sent off, on hearing that they
+were at Locris, had not yet arrived at Rhegium. Accordingly, before these
+reached their post, the Peloponnesians crossed the strait and, after touching
+at Rhegium and Messina, came to Himera. Arrived there, they persuaded the
+Himeraeans to join in the war, and not only to go with them themselves but to
+provide arms for the seamen from their vessels which they had drawn ashore at
+Himera; and they sent and appointed a place for the Selinuntines to meet them
+with all their forces. A few troops were also promised by the Geloans and some
+of the Sicels, who were now ready to join them with much greater alacrity,
+owing to the recent death of Archonidas, a powerful Sicel king in that
+neighbourhood and friendly to Athens, and owing also to the vigour shown by
+Gylippus in coming from Lacedaemon. Gylippus now took with him about seven
+hundred of his sailors and marines, that number only having arms, a thousand
+heavy infantry and light troops from Himera with a body of a hundred horse,
+some light troops and cavalry from Selinus, a few Geloans, and Sicels numbering
+a thousand in all, and set out on his march for Syracuse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Corinthian fleet from Leucas made all haste to arrive; and one of
+their commanders, Gongylus, starting last with a single ship, was the first to
+reach Syracuse, a little before Gylippus. Gongylus found the Syracusans on the
+point of holding an assembly to consider whether they should put an end to the
+war. This he prevented, and reassured them by telling them that more vessels
+were still to arrive, and that Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, had been
+dispatched by the Lacedaemonians to take the command. Upon this the Syracusans
+took courage, and immediately marched out with all their forces to meet
+Gylippus, who they found was now close at hand. Meanwhile Gylippus, after
+taking Ietae, a fort of the Sicels, on his way, formed his army in order of
+battle, and so arrived at Epipolae, and ascending by Euryelus, as the Athenians
+had done at first, now advanced with the Syracusans against the Athenian lines.
+His arrival chanced at a critical moment. The Athenians had already finished a
+double wall of six or seven furlongs to the great harbour, with the exception
+of a small portion next the sea, which they were still engaged upon; and in the
+remainder of the circle towards Trogilus on the other sea, stones had been laid
+ready for building for the greater part of the distance, and some points had
+been left half finished, while others were entirely completed. The danger of
+Syracuse had indeed been great.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenians, recovering from the confusion into which they had been
+first thrown by the sudden approach of Gylippus and the Syracusans, formed in
+order of battle. Gylippus halted at a short distance off and sent on a herald
+to tell them that, if they would evacuate Sicily with bag and baggage within
+five days&rsquo; time, he was willing to make a truce accordingly. The
+Athenians treated this proposition with contempt, and dismissed the herald
+without an answer. After this both sides began to prepare for action. Gylippus,
+observing that the Syracusans were in disorder and did not easily fall into
+line, drew off his troops more into the open ground, while Nicias did not lead
+on the Athenians but lay still by his own wall. When Gylippus saw that they did
+not come on, he led off his army to the citadel of the quarter of Apollo
+Temenites, and passed the night there. On the following day he led out the main
+body of his army, and, drawing them up in order of battle before the walls of
+the Athenians to prevent their going to the relief of any other quarter,
+dispatched a strong force against Fort Labdalum, and took it, and put all whom
+he found in it to the sword, the place not being within sight of the Athenians.
+On the same day an Athenian galley that lay moored off the harbour was captured
+by the Syracusans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Syracusans and their allies began to carry a single wall,
+starting from the city, in a slanting direction up Epipolae, in order that the
+Athenians, unless they could hinder the work, might be no longer able to invest
+them. Meanwhile the Athenians, having now finished their wall down to the sea,
+had come up to the heights; and part of their wall being weak, Gylippus drew
+out his army by night and attacked it. However, the Athenians who happened to
+be bivouacking outside took the alarm and came out to meet him, upon seeing
+which he quickly led his men back again. The Athenians now built their wall
+higher, and in future kept guard at this point themselves, disposing their
+confederates along the remainder of the works, at the stations assigned to
+them. Nicias also determined to fortify Plemmyrium, a promontory over against
+the city, which juts out and narrows the mouth of the Great Harbour. He thought
+that the fortification of this place would make it easier to bring in supplies,
+as they would be able to carry on their blockade from a less distance, near to
+the port occupied by the Syracusans; instead of being obliged, upon every
+movement of the enemy&rsquo;s navy, to put out against them from the bottom of
+the great harbour. Besides this, he now began to pay more attention to the war
+by sea, seeing that the coming of Gylippus had diminished their hopes by land.
+Accordingly, he conveyed over his ships and some troops, and built three forts
+in which he placed most of his baggage, and moored there for the future the
+larger craft and men-of-war. This was the first and chief occasion of the
+losses which the crews experienced. The water which they used was scarce and
+had to be fetched from far, and the sailors could not go out for firewood
+without being cut off by the Syracusan horse, who were masters of the country;
+a third of the enemy&rsquo;s cavalry being stationed at the little town of
+Olympieum, to prevent plundering incursions on the part of the Athenians at
+Plemmyrium. Meanwhile Nicias learned that the rest of the Corinthian fleet was
+approaching, and sent twenty ships to watch for them, with orders to be on the
+look-out for them about Locris and Rhegium and the approach to Sicily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gylippus, meanwhile, went on with the wall across Epipolae, using the stones
+which the Athenians had laid down for their own wall, and at the same time
+constantly led out the Syracusans and their allies, and formed them in order of
+battle in front of the lines, the Athenians forming against him. At last he
+thought that the moment was come, and began the attack; and a hand-to-hand
+fight ensued between the lines, where the Syracusan cavalry could be of no use;
+and the Syracusans and their allies were defeated and took up their dead under
+truce, while the Athenians erected a trophy. After this Gylippus called the
+soldiers together, and said that the fault was not theirs but his; he had kept
+their lines too much within the works, and had thus deprived them of the
+services of their cavalry and darters. He would now, therefore, lead them on a
+second time. He begged them to remember that in material force they would be
+fully a match for their opponents, while, with respect to moral advantages, it
+were intolerable if Peloponnesians and Dorians should not feel confident of
+overcoming Ionians and islanders with the motley rabble that accompanied them,
+and of driving them out of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this he embraced the first opportunity that offered of again leading them
+against the enemy. Now Nicias and the Athenians held the opinion that even if
+the Syracusans should not wish to offer battle, it was necessary for them to
+prevent the building of the cross wall, as it already almost overlapped the
+extreme point of their own, and if it went any further it would from that
+moment make no difference whether they fought ever so many successful actions,
+or never fought at all. They accordingly came out to meet the Syracusans.
+Gylippus led out his heavy infantry further from the fortifications than on the
+former occasion, and so joined battle; posting his horse and darters upon the
+flank of the Athenians in the open space, where the works of the two walls
+terminated. During the engagement the cavalry attacked and routed the left wing
+of the Athenians, which was opposed to them; and the rest of the Athenian army
+was in consequence defeated by the Syracusans and driven headlong within their
+lines. The night following the Syracusans carried their wall up to the Athenian
+works and passed them, thus putting it out of their power any longer to stop
+them, and depriving them, even if victorious in the field, of all chance of
+investing the city for the future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the remaining twelve vessels of the Corinthians, Ambraciots, and
+Leucadians sailed into the harbour under the command of Erasinides, a
+Corinthian, having eluded the Athenian ships on guard, and helped the
+Syracusans in completing the remainder of the cross wall. Meanwhile Gylippus
+went into the rest of Sicily to raise land and naval forces, and also to bring
+over any of the cities that either were lukewarm in the cause or had hitherto
+kept out of the war altogether. Syracusan and Corinthian envoys were also
+dispatched to Lacedaemon and Corinth to get a fresh force sent over, in any way
+that might offer, either in merchant vessels or transports, or in any other
+manner likely to prove successful, as the Athenians too were sending for
+reinforcements; while the Syracusans proceeded to man a fleet and to exercise,
+meaning to try their fortune in this way also, and generally became exceedingly
+confident.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nicias perceiving this, and seeing the strength of the enemy and his own
+difficulties daily increasing, himself also sent to Athens. He had before sent
+frequent reports of events as they occurred, and felt it especially incumbent
+upon him to do so now, as he thought that they were in a critical position, and
+that, unless speedily recalled or strongly reinforced from home, they had no
+hope of safety. He feared, however, that the messengers, either through
+inability to speak, or through failure of memory, or from a wish to please the
+multitude, might not report the truth, and so thought it best to write a
+letter, to ensure that the Athenians should know his own opinion without its
+being lost in transmission, and be able to decide upon the real facts of the
+case.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His emissaries, accordingly, departed with the letter and the requisite verbal
+instructions; and he attended to the affairs of the army, making it his aim now
+to keep on the defensive and to avoid any unnecessary danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the close of the same summer the Athenian general Euetion marched in concert
+with Perdiccas with a large body of Thracians against Amphipolis, and failing
+to take it brought some galleys round into the Strymon, and blockaded the town
+from the river, having his base at Himeraeum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The winter ensuing, the persons sent by Nicias, reaching
+Athens, gave the verbal messages which had been entrusted to them, and answered
+any questions that were asked them, and delivered the letter. The clerk of the
+city now came forward and read out to the Athenians the letter, which was as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Our past operations, Athenians, have been made known to you by many
+other letters; it is now time for you to become equally familiar with our
+present condition, and to take your measures accordingly. We had defeated in
+most of our engagements with them the Syracusans, against whom we were sent,
+and we had built the works which we now occupy, when Gylippus arrived from
+Lacedaemon with an army obtained from Peloponnese and from some of the cities
+in Sicily. In our first battle with him we were victorious; in the battle on
+the following day we were overpowered by a multitude of cavalry and darters,
+and compelled to retire within our lines. We have now, therefore, been forced
+by the numbers of those opposed to us to discontinue the work of
+circumvallation, and to remain inactive; being unable to make use even of all
+the force we have, since a large portion of our heavy infantry is absorbed in
+the defence of our lines. Meanwhile the enemy have carried a single wall past
+our lines, thus making it impossible for us to invest them in future, until
+this cross wall be attacked by a strong force and captured. So that the
+besieger in name has become, at least from the land side, the besieged in
+reality; as we are prevented by their cavalry from even going for any distance
+into the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Besides this, an embassy has been dispatched to Peloponnese to procure
+reinforcements, and Gylippus has gone to the cities in Sicily, partly in the
+hope of inducing those that are at present neutral to join him in the war,
+partly of bringing from his allies additional contingents for the land forces
+and material for the navy. For I understand that they contemplate a combined
+attack, upon our lines with their land forces and with their fleet by sea. You
+must none of you be surprised that I say by sea also. They have discovered that
+the length of the time we have now been in commission has rotted our ships and
+wasted our crews, and that with the entireness of our crews and the soundness
+of our ships the pristine efficiency of our navy has departed. For it is
+impossible for us to haul our ships ashore and careen them, because, the
+enemy&rsquo;s vessels being as many or more than our own, we are constantly
+anticipating an attack. Indeed, they may be seen exercising, and it lies with
+them to take the initiative; and not having to maintain a blockade, they have
+greater facilities for drying their ships.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This we should scarcely be able to do, even if we had plenty of ships to
+spare, and were freed from our present necessity of exhausting all our strength
+upon the blockade. For it is already difficult to carry in supplies past
+Syracuse; and were we to relax our vigilance in the slightest degree it would
+become impossible. The losses which our crews have suffered and still continue
+to suffer arise from the following causes. Expeditions for fuel and for forage,
+and the distance from which water has to be fetched, cause our sailors to be
+cut off by the Syracusan cavalry; the loss of our previous superiority
+emboldens our slaves to desert; our foreign seamen are impressed by the
+unexpected appearance of a navy against us, and the strength of the
+enemy&rsquo;s resistance; such of them as were pressed into the service take
+the first opportunity of departing to their respective cities; such as were
+originally seduced by the temptation of high pay, and expected little fighting
+and large gains, leave us either by desertion to the enemy or by availing
+themselves of one or other of the various facilities of escape which the
+magnitude of Sicily affords them. Some even engage in trade themselves and
+prevail upon the captains to take Hyccaric slaves on board in their place; thus
+they have ruined the efficiency of our navy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now I need not remind you that the time during which a crew is in its
+prime is short, and that the number of sailors who can start a ship on her way
+and keep the rowing in time is small. But by far my greatest trouble is, that
+holding the post which I do, I am prevented by the natural indocility of the
+Athenian seaman from putting a stop to these evils; and that meanwhile we have
+no source from which to recruit our crews, which the enemy can do from many
+quarters, but are compelled to depend both for supplying the crews in service
+and for making good our losses upon the men whom we brought with us. For our
+present confederates, Naxos and Catana, are incapable of supplying us. There is
+only one thing more wanting to our opponents, I mean the defection of our
+Italian markets. If they were to see you neglect to relieve us from our present
+condition, and were to go over to the enemy, famine would compel us to
+evacuate, and Syracuse would finish the war without a blow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I might, it is true, have written to you something different and more
+agreeable than this, but nothing certainly more useful, if it is desirable for
+you to know the real state of things here before taking your measures. Besides
+I know that it is your nature to love to be told the best side of things, and
+then to blame the teller if the expectations which he has raised in your minds
+are not answered by the result; and I therefore thought it safest to declare to
+you the truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now you are not to think that either your generals or your soldiers have
+ceased to be a match for the forces originally opposed to them. But you are to
+reflect that a general Sicilian coalition is being formed against us; that a
+fresh army is expected from Peloponnese, while the force we have here is unable
+to cope even with our present antagonists; and you must promptly decide either
+to recall us or to send out to us another fleet and army as numerous again,
+with a large sum of money, and someone to succeed me, as a disease in the
+kidneys unfits me for retaining my post. I have, I think, some claim on your
+indulgence, as while I was in my prime I did you much good service in my
+commands. But whatever you mean to do, do it at the commencement of spring and
+without delay, as the enemy will obtain his Sicilian reinforcements shortly,
+those from Peloponnese after a longer interval; and unless you attend to the
+matter the former will be here before you, while the latter will elude you as
+they have done before.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the contents of Nicias&rsquo;s letter. When the Athenians had heard
+it they refused to accept his resignation, but chose him two colleagues, naming
+Menander and Euthydemus, two of the officers at the seat of war, to fill their
+places until their arrival, that Nicias might not be left alone in his sickness
+to bear the whole weight of affairs. They also voted to send out another army
+and navy, drawn partly from the Athenians on the muster-roll, partly from the
+allies. The colleagues chosen for Nicias were Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes,
+and Eurymedon, son of Thucles. Eurymedon was sent off at once, about the time
+of the winter solstice, with ten ships, a hundred and twenty talents of silver,
+and instructions to tell the army that reinforcements would arrive, and that
+care would be taken of them; but Demosthenes stayed behind to organize the
+expedition, meaning to start as soon as it was spring, and sent for troops to
+the allies, and meanwhile got together money, ships, and heavy infantry at
+home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians also sent twenty vessels round Peloponnese to prevent any one
+crossing over to Sicily from Corinth or Peloponnese. For the Corinthians,
+filled with confidence by the favourable alteration in Sicilian affairs which
+had been reported by the envoys upon their arrival, and convinced that the
+fleet which they had before sent out had not been without its use, were now
+preparing to dispatch a force of heavy infantry in merchant vessels to Sicily,
+while the Lacedaemonians did the like for the rest of Peloponnese. The
+Corinthians also manned a fleet of twenty-five vessels, intending to try the
+result of a battle with the squadron on guard at Naupactus, and meanwhile to
+make it less easy for the Athenians there to hinder the departure of their
+merchantmen, by obliging them to keep an eye upon the galleys thus arrayed
+against them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians prepared for their invasion of Attica, in
+accordance with their own previous resolve, and at the instigation of the
+Syracusans and Corinthians, who wished for an invasion to arrest the
+reinforcements which they heard that Athens was about to send to Sicily.
+Alcibiades also urgently advised the fortification of Decelea, and a vigorous
+prosecution of the war. But the Lacedaemonians derived most encouragement from
+the belief that Athens, with two wars on her hands, against themselves and
+against the Siceliots, would be more easy to subdue, and from the conviction
+that she had been the first to infringe the truce. In the former war, they
+considered, the offence had been more on their own side, both on account of the
+entrance of the Thebans into Plataea in time of peace, and also of their own
+refusal to listen to the Athenian offer of arbitration, in spite of the clause
+in the former treaty that where arbitration should be offered there should be
+no appeal to arms. For this reason they thought that they deserved their
+misfortunes, and took to heart seriously the disaster at Pylos and whatever
+else had befallen them. But when, besides the ravages from Pylos, which went on
+without any intermission, the thirty Athenian ships came out from Argos and
+wasted part of Epidaurus, Prasiae, and other places; when upon every dispute
+that arose as to the interpretation of any doubtful point in the treaty, their
+own offers of arbitration were always rejected by the Athenians, the
+Lacedaemonians at length decided that Athens had now committed the very same
+offence as they had before done, and had become the guilty party; and they
+began to be full of ardour for the war. They spent this winter in sending round
+to their allies for iron, and in getting ready the other implements for
+building their fort; and meanwhile began raising at home, and also by forced
+requisitions in the rest of Peloponnese, a force to be sent out in the
+merchantmen to their allies in Sicily. Winter thus ended, and with it the
+eighteenth year of this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the first days of the spring following, at an earlier period than usual, the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies invaded Attica, under the command of Agis, son
+of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. They began by devastating the parts
+bordering upon the plain, and next proceeded to fortify Decelea, dividing the
+work among the different cities. Decelea is about thirteen or fourteen miles
+from the city of Athens, and the same distance or not much further from
+Boeotia; and the fort was meant to annoy the plain and the richest parts of the
+country, being in sight of Athens. While the Peloponnesians and their allies in
+Attica were engaged in the work of fortification, their countrymen at home sent
+off, at about the same time, the heavy infantry in the merchant vessels to
+Sicily; the Lacedaemonians furnishing a picked force of Helots and Neodamodes
+(or freedmen), six hundred heavy infantry in all, under the command of
+Eccritus, a Spartan; and the Boeotians three hundred heavy infantry, commanded
+by two Thebans, Xenon and Nicon, and by Hegesander, a Thespian. These were
+among the first to put out into the open sea, starting from Taenarus in
+Laconia. Not long after their departure the Corinthians sent off a force of
+five hundred heavy infantry, consisting partly of men from Corinth itself, and
+partly of Arcadian mercenaries, placed under the command of Alexarchus, a
+Corinthian. The Sicyonians also sent off two hundred heavy infantry at same
+time as the Corinthians, under the command of Sargeus, a Sicyonian. Meantime
+the five-and-twenty vessels manned by Corinth during the winter lay confronting
+the twenty Athenian ships at Naupactus until the heavy infantry in the
+merchantmen were fairly on their way from Peloponnese; thus fulfilling the
+object for which they had been manned originally, which was to divert the
+attention of the Athenians from the merchantmen to the galleys.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During this time the Athenians were not idle. Simultaneously with the
+fortification of Decelea, at the very beginning of spring, they sent thirty
+ships round Peloponnese, under Charicles, son of Apollodorus, with instructions
+to call at Argos and demand a force of their heavy infantry for the fleet,
+agreeably to the alliance. At the same time they dispatched Demosthenes to
+Sicily, as they had intended, with sixty Athenian and five Chian vessels,
+twelve hundred Athenian heavy infantry from the muster-roll, and as many of the
+islanders as could be raised in the different quarters, drawing upon the other
+subject allies for whatever they could supply that would be of use for the war.
+Demosthenes was instructed first to sail round with Charicles and to operate
+with him upon the coasts of Laconia, and accordingly sailed to Aegina and there
+waited for the remainder of his armament, and for Charicles to fetch the Argive
+troops.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Sicily, about the same time in this spring, Gylippus came to Syracuse with
+as many troops as he could bring from the cities which he had persuaded to
+join. Calling the Syracusans together, he told them that they must man as many
+ships as possible, and try their hand at a sea-fight, by which he hoped to
+achieve an advantage in the war not unworthy of the risk. With him Hermocrates
+actively joined in trying to encourage his countrymen to attack the Athenians
+at sea, saying that the latter had not inherited their naval prowess nor would
+they retain it for ever; they had been landsmen even to a greater degree than
+the Syracusans, and had only become a maritime power when obliged by the Mede.
+Besides, to daring spirits like the Athenians, a daring adversary would seem
+the most formidable; and the Athenian plan of paralysing by the boldness of
+their attack a neighbour often not their inferior in strength could now be used
+against them with as good effect by the Syracusans. He was convinced also that
+the unlooked-for spectacle of Syracusans daring to face the Athenian navy would
+cause a terror to the enemy, the advantages of which would far outweigh any
+loss that Athenian science might inflict upon their inexperience. He
+accordingly urged them to throw aside their fears and to try their fortune at
+sea; and the Syracusans, under the influence of Gylippus and Hermocrates, and
+perhaps some others, made up their minds for the sea-fight and began to man
+their vessels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the fleet was ready, Gylippus led out the whole army by night; his plan
+being to assault in person the forts on Plemmyrium by land, while thirty-five
+Syracusan galleys sailed according to appointment against the enemy from the
+great harbour, and the forty-five remaining came round from the lesser harbour,
+where they had their arsenal, in order to effect a junction with those inside
+and simultaneously to attack Plemmyrium, and thus to distract the Athenians by
+assaulting them on two sides at once. The Athenians quickly manned sixty ships,
+and with twenty-five of these engaged the thirty-five of the Syracusans in the
+great harbour, sending the rest to meet those sailing round from the arsenal;
+and an action now ensued directly in front of the mouth of the great harbour,
+maintained with equal tenacity on both sides; the one wishing to force the
+passage, the other to prevent them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime, while the Athenians in Plemmyrium were down at the sea,
+attending to the engagement, Gylippus made a sudden attack on the forts in the
+early morning and took the largest first, and afterwards the two smaller, whose
+garrisons did not wait for him, seeing the largest so easily taken. At the fall
+of the first fort, the men from it who succeeded in taking refuge in their
+boats and merchantmen, found great difficulty in reaching the camp, as the
+Syracusans were having the best of it in the engagement in the great harbour,
+and sent a fast-sailing galley to pursue them. But when the two others fell,
+the Syracusans were now being defeated; and the fugitives from these sailed
+alongshore with more ease. The Syracusan ships fighting off the mouth of the
+harbour forced their way through the Athenian vessels and sailing in without
+any order fell foul of one another, and transferred the victory to the
+Athenians; who not only routed the squadron in question, but also that by which
+they were at first being defeated in the harbour, sinking eleven of the
+Syracusan vessels and killing most of the men, except the crews of three ships
+whom they made prisoners. Their own loss was confined to three vessels; and
+after hauling ashore the Syracusan wrecks and setting up a trophy upon the
+islet in front of Plemmyrium, they retired to their own camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unsuccessful at sea, the Syracusans had nevertheless the forts in Plemmyrium,
+for which they set up three trophies. One of the two last taken they razed, but
+put in order and garrisoned the two others. In the capture of the forts a great
+many men were killed and made prisoners, and a great quantity of property was
+taken in all. As the Athenians had used them as a magazine, there was a large
+stock of goods and corn of the merchants inside, and also a large stock
+belonging to the captains; the masts and other furniture of forty galleys being
+taken, besides three galleys which had been drawn up on shore. Indeed the first
+and chiefest cause of the ruin of the Athenian army was the capture of
+Plemmyrium; even the entrance of the harbour being now no longer safe for
+carrying in provisions, as the Syracusan vessels were stationed there to
+prevent it, and nothing could be brought in without fighting; besides the
+general impression of dismay and discouragement produced upon the army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Syracusans sent out twelve ships under the command of
+Agatharchus, a Syracusan. One of these went to Peloponnese with ambassadors to
+describe the hopeful state of their affairs, and to incite the Peloponnesians
+to prosecute the war there even more actively than they were now doing, while
+the eleven others sailed to Italy, hearing that vessels laden with stores were
+on their way to the Athenians. After falling in with and destroying most of the
+vessels in question, and burning in the Caulonian territory a quantity of
+timber for shipbuilding, which had been got ready for the Athenians, the
+Syracusan squadron went to Locri, and one of the merchantmen from Peloponnese
+coming in, while they were at anchor there, carrying Thespian heavy infantry,
+took these on board and sailed alongshore towards home. The Athenians were on
+the look-out for them with twenty ships at Megara, but were only able to take
+one vessel with its crew; the rest getting clear off to Syracuse. There was
+also some skirmishing in the harbour about the piles which the Syracusans had
+driven in the sea in front of the old docks, to allow their ships to lie at
+anchor inside, without being hurt by the Athenians sailing up and running them
+down. The Athenians brought up to them a ship of ten thousand talents burden
+furnished with wooden turrets and screens, and fastened ropes round the piles
+from their boats, wrenched them up and broke them, or dived down and sawed them
+in two. Meanwhile the Syracusans plied them with missiles from the docks, to
+which they replied from their large vessel; until at last most of the piles
+were removed by the Athenians. But the most awkward part of the stockade was
+the part out of sight: some of the piles which had been driven in did not
+appear above water, so that it was dangerous to sail up, for fear of running
+the ships upon them, just as upon a reef, through not seeing them. However
+divers went down and sawed off even these for reward; although the Syracusans
+drove in others. Indeed there was no end to the contrivances to which they
+resorted against each other, as might be expected between two hostile armies
+confronting each other at such a short distance: and skirmishes and all kinds
+of other attempts were of constant occurrence. Meanwhile the Syracusans sent
+embassies to the cities, composed of Corinthians, Ambraciots, and
+Lacedaemonians, to tell them of the capture of Plemmyrium, and that their
+defeat in the sea-fight was due less to the strength of the enemy than to their
+own disorder; and generally, to let them know that they were full of hope, and
+to desire them to come to their help with ships and troops, as the Athenians
+were expected with a fresh army, and if the one already there could be
+destroyed before the other arrived, the war would be at an end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the contending parties in Sicily were thus engaged, Demosthenes, having
+now got together the armament with which he was to go to the island, put out
+from Aegina, and making sail for Peloponnese, joined Charicles and the thirty
+ships of the Athenians. Taking on board the heavy infantry from Argos they
+sailed to Laconia, and, after first plundering part of Epidaurus Limera, landed
+on the coast of Laconia, opposite Cythera, where the temple of Apollo stands,
+and, laying waste part of the country, fortified a sort of isthmus, to which
+the Helots of the Lacedaemonians might desert, and from whence plundering
+incursions might be made as from Pylos. Demosthenes helped to occupy this
+place, and then immediately sailed on to Corcyra to take up some of the allies
+in that island, and so to proceed without delay to Sicily; while Charicles
+waited until he had completed the fortification of the place and, leaving a
+garrison there, returned home subsequently with his thirty ships and the
+Argives also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This same summer arrived at Athens thirteen hundred targeteers, Thracian
+swordsmen of the tribe of the Dii, who were to have sailed to Sicily with
+Demosthenes. Since they had come too late, the Athenians determined to send
+them back to Thrace, whence they had come; to keep them for the Decelean war
+appearing too expensive, as the pay of each man was a drachma a day. Indeed
+since Decelea had been first fortified by the whole Peloponnesian army during
+this summer, and then occupied for the annoyance of the country by the
+garrisons from the cities relieving each other at stated intervals, it had been
+doing great mischief to the Athenians; in fact this occupation, by the
+destruction of property and loss of men which resulted from it, was one of the
+principal causes of their ruin. Previously the invasions were short, and did
+not prevent their enjoying their land during the rest of the time: the enemy
+was now permanently fixed in Attica; at one time it was an attack in force, at
+another it was the regular garrison overrunning the country and making forays
+for its subsistence, and the Lacedaemonian king, Agis, was in the field and
+diligently prosecuting the war; great mischief was therefore done to the
+Athenians. They were deprived of their whole country: more than twenty thousand
+slaves had deserted, a great part of them artisans, and all their sheep and
+beasts of burden were lost; and as the cavalry rode out daily upon excursions
+to Decelea and to guard the country, their horses were either lamed by being
+constantly worked upon rocky ground, or wounded by the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Besides, the transport of provisions from Euboea, which had before been carried
+on so much more quickly overland by Decelea from Oropus, was now effected at
+great cost by sea round Sunium; everything the city required had to be imported
+from abroad, and instead of a city it became a fortress. Summer and winter the
+Athenians were worn out by having to keep guard on the fortifications, during
+the day by turns, by night all together, the cavalry excepted, at the different
+military posts or upon the wall. But what most oppressed them was that they had
+two wars at once, and had thus reached a pitch of frenzy which no one would
+have believed possible if he had heard of it before it had come to pass. For
+could any one have imagined that even when besieged by the Peloponnesians
+entrenched in Attica, they would still, instead of withdrawing from Sicily,
+stay on there besieging in like manner Syracuse, a town (taken as a town) in no
+way inferior to Athens, or would so thoroughly upset the Hellenic estimate of
+their strength and audacity, as to give the spectacle of a people which, at the
+beginning of the war, some thought might hold out one year, some two, none more
+than three, if the Peloponnesians invaded their country, now seventeen years
+after the first invasion, after having already suffered from all the evils of
+war, going to Sicily and undertaking a new war nothing inferior to that which
+they already had with the Peloponnesians? These causes, the great losses from
+Decelea, and the other heavy charges that fell upon them, produced their
+financial embarrassment; and it was at this time that they imposed upon their
+subjects, instead of the tribute, the tax of a twentieth upon all imports and
+exports by sea, which they thought would bring them in more money; their
+expenditure being now not the same as at first, but having grown with the war
+while their revenues decayed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly, not wishing to incur expense in their present want of money, they
+sent back at once the Thracians who came too late for Demosthenes, under the
+conduct of Diitrephes, who was instructed, as they were to pass through the
+Euripus, to make use of them if possible in the voyage alongshore to injure the
+enemy. Diitrephes first landed them at Tanagra and hastily snatched some booty;
+he then sailed across the Euripus in the evening from Chalcis in Euboea and
+disembarking in Boeotia led them against Mycalessus. The night he passed
+unobserved near the temple of Hermes, not quite two miles from Mycalessus, and
+at daybreak assaulted and took the town, which is not a large one; the
+inhabitants being off their guard and not expecting that any one would ever
+come up so far from the sea to molest them, the wall too being weak, and in
+some places having tumbled down, while in others it had not been built to any
+height, and the gates also being left open through their feeling of security.
+The Thracians bursting into Mycalessus sacked the houses and temples, and
+butchered the inhabitants, sparing neither youth nor age, but killing all they
+fell in with, one after the other, children and women, and even beasts of
+burden, and whatever other living creatures they saw; the Thracian race, like
+the bloodiest of the barbarians, being even more so when it has nothing to
+fear. Everywhere confusion reigned and death in all its shapes; and in
+particular they attacked a boys&rsquo; school, the largest that there was in
+the place, into which the children had just gone, and massacred them all. In
+short, the disaster falling upon the whole town was unsurpassed in magnitude,
+and unapproached by any in suddenness and in horror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Thebans heard of it and marched to the rescue, and overtaking the
+Thracians before they had gone far, recovered the plunder and drove them in
+panic to the Euripus and the sea, where the vessels which brought them were
+lying. The greatest slaughter took place while they were embarking, as they did
+not know how to swim, and those in the vessels on seeing what was going on on
+on shore moored them out of bowshot: in the rest of the retreat the Thracians
+made a very respectable defence against the Theban horse, by which they were
+first attacked, dashing out and closing their ranks according to the tactics of
+their country, and lost only a few men in that part of the affair. A good
+number who were after plunder were actually caught in the town and put to
+death. Altogether the Thracians had two hundred and fifty killed out of
+thirteen hundred, the Thebans and the rest who came to the rescue about twenty,
+troopers and heavy infantry, with Scirphondas, one of the Boeotarchs. The
+Mycalessians lost a large proportion of their population.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While Mycalessus thus experienced a calamity for its extent as lamentable as
+any that happened in the war, Demosthenes, whom we left sailing to Corcyra,
+after the building of the fort in Laconia, found a merchantman lying at Phea in
+Elis, in which the Corinthian heavy infantry were to cross to Sicily. The ship
+he destroyed, but the men escaped, and subsequently got another in which they
+pursued their voyage. After this, arriving at Zacynthus and Cephallenia, he
+took a body of heavy infantry on board, and sending for some of the Messenians
+from Naupactus, crossed over to the opposite coast of Acarnania, to Alyzia, and
+to Anactorium which was held by the Athenians. While he was in these parts he
+was met by Eurymedon returning from Sicily, where he had been sent, as has been
+mentioned, during the winter, with the money for the army, who told him the
+news, and also that he had heard, while at sea, that the Syracusans had taken
+Plemmyrium. Here, also, Conon came to them, the commander at Naupactus, with
+news that the twenty-five Corinthian ships stationed opposite to him, far from
+giving over the war, were meditating an engagement; and he therefore begged
+them to send him some ships, as his own eighteen were not a match for the
+enemy&rsquo;s twenty-five. Demosthenes and Eurymedon, accordingly, sent ten of
+their best sailers with Conon to reinforce the squadron at Naupactus, and
+meanwhile prepared for the muster of their forces; Eurymedon, who was now the
+colleague of Demosthenes, and had turned back in consequence of his
+appointment, sailing to Corcyra to tell them to man fifteen ships and to enlist
+heavy infantry; while Demosthenes raised slingers and darters from the parts
+about Acarnania.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the envoys, already mentioned, who had gone from Syracuse to the
+cities after the capture of Plemmyrium, had succeeded in their mission, and
+were about to bring the army that they had collected, when Nicias got scent of
+it, and sent to the Centoripae and Alicyaeans and other of the friendly Sicels,
+who held the passes, not to let the enemy through, but to combine to prevent
+their passing, there being no other way by which they could even attempt it, as
+the Agrigentines would not give them a passage through their country. Agreeably
+to this request the Sicels laid a triple ambuscade for the Siceliots upon their
+march, and attacking them suddenly, while off their guard, killed about eight
+hundred of them and all the envoys, the Corinthian only excepted, by whom
+fifteen hundred who escaped were conducted to Syracuse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the Camarinaeans also came to the assistance of Syracuse
+with five hundred heavy infantry, three hundred darters, and as many archers,
+while the Geloans sent crews for five ships, four hundred darters, and two
+hundred horse. Indeed almost the whole of Sicily, except the Agrigentines, who
+were neutral, now ceased merely to watch events as it had hitherto done, and
+actively joined Syracuse against the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Syracusans after the Sicel disaster put off any immediate attack upon
+the Athenians, Demosthenes and Eurymedon, whose forces from Corcyra and the
+continent were now ready, crossed the Ionian Gulf with all their armament to
+the Iapygian promontory, and starting from thence touched at the Choerades
+Isles lying off Iapygia, where they took on board a hundred and fifty Iapygian
+darters of the Messapian tribe, and after renewing an old friendship with Artas
+the chief, who had furnished them with the darters, arrived at Metapontium in
+Italy. Here they persuaded their allies the Metapontines to send with them
+three hundred darters and two galleys, and with this reinforcement coasted on
+to Thurii, where they found the party hostile to Athens recently expelled by a
+revolution, and accordingly remained there to muster and review the whole army,
+to see if any had been left behind, and to prevail upon the Thurians resolutely
+to join them in their expedition, and in the circumstances in which they found
+themselves to conclude a defensive and offensive alliance with the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the Peloponnesians in the twenty-five ships stationed
+opposite to the squadron at Naupactus to protect the passage of the transports
+to Sicily had got ready for engaging, and manning some additional vessels, so
+as to be numerically little inferior to the Athenians, anchored off Erineus in
+Achaia in the Rhypic country. The place off which they lay being in the form of
+a crescent, the land forces furnished by the Corinthians and their allies on
+the spot came up and ranged themselves upon the projecting headlands on either
+side, while the fleet, under the command of Polyanthes, a Corinthian, held the
+intervening space and blocked up the entrance. The Athenians under Diphilus now
+sailed out against them with thirty-three ships from Naupactus, and the
+Corinthians, at first not moving, at length thought they saw their opportunity,
+raised the signal, and advanced and engaged the Athenians. After an obstinate
+struggle, the Corinthians lost three ships, and without sinking any altogether,
+disabled seven of the enemy, which were struck prow to prow and had their
+foreships stove in by the Corinthian vessels, whose cheeks had been
+strengthened for this very purpose. After an action of this even character, in
+which either party could claim the victory (although the Athenians became
+masters of the wrecks through the wind driving them out to sea, the Corinthians
+not putting out again to meet them), the two combatants parted. No pursuit took
+place, and no prisoners were made on either side; the Corinthians and
+Peloponnesians who were fighting near the shore escaping with ease, and none of
+the Athenian vessels having been sunk. The Athenians now sailed back to
+Naupactus, and the Corinthians immediately set up a trophy as victors, because
+they had disabled a greater number of the enemy&rsquo;s ships. Moreover they
+held that they had not been worsted, for the very same reason that their
+opponent held that he had not been victorious; the Corinthians considering that
+they were conquerors, if not decidedly conquered, and the Athenians thinking
+themselves vanquished, because not decidedly victorious. However, when the
+Peloponnesians sailed off and their land forces had dispersed, the Athenians
+also set up a trophy as victors in Achaia, about two miles and a quarter from
+Erineus, the Corinthian station.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the termination of the action at Naupactus. To return to Demosthenes
+and Eurymedon: the Thurians having now got ready to join in the expedition with
+seven hundred heavy infantry and three hundred darters, the two generals
+ordered the ships to sail along the coast to the Crotonian territory, and
+meanwhile held a review of all the land forces upon the river Sybaris, and then
+led them through the Thurian country. Arrived at the river Hylias, they here
+received a message from the Crotonians, saying that they would not allow the
+army to pass through their country; upon which the Athenians descended towards
+the shore, and bivouacked near the sea and the mouth of the Hylias, where the
+fleet also met them, and the next day embarked and sailed along the coast
+touching at all the cities except Locri, until they came to Petra in the
+Rhegian territory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Syracusans hearing of their approach resolved to make a second
+attempt with their fleet and their other forces on shore, which they had been
+collecting for this very purpose in order to do something before their arrival.
+In addition to other improvements suggested by the former sea-fight which they
+now adopted in the equipment of their navy, they cut down their prows to a
+smaller compass to make them more solid and made their cheeks stouter, and from
+these let stays into the vessels&rsquo; sides for a length of six cubits within
+and without, in the same way as the Corinthians had altered their prows before
+engaging the squadron at Naupactus. The Syracusans thought that they would thus
+have an advantage over the Athenian vessels, which were not constructed with
+equal strength, but were slight in the bows, from their being more used to sail
+round and charge the enemy&rsquo;s side than to meet him prow to prow, and that
+the battle being in the great harbour, with a great many ships in not much
+room, was also a fact in their favour. Charging prow to prow, they would stave
+in the enemy&rsquo;s bows, by striking with solid and stout beaks against
+hollow and weak ones; and secondly, the Athenians for want of room would be
+unable to use their favourite manoeuvre of breaking the line or of sailing
+round, as the Syracusans would do their best not to let them do the one, and
+want of room would prevent their doing the other. This charging prow to prow,
+which had hitherto been thought want of skill in a helmsman, would be the
+Syracusans&rsquo; chief manoeuvre, as being that which they should find most
+useful, since the Athenians, if repulsed, would not be able to back water in
+any direction except towards the shore, and that only for a little way, and in
+the little space in front of their own camp. The rest of the harbour would be
+commanded by the Syracusans; and the Athenians, if hard pressed, by crowding
+together in a small space and all to the same point, would run foul of one
+another and fall into disorder, which was, in fact, the thing that did the
+Athenians most harm in all the sea-fights, they not having, like the
+Syracusans, the whole harbour to retreat over. As to their sailing round into
+the open sea, this would be impossible, with the Syracusans in possession of
+the way out and in, especially as Plemmyrium would be hostile to them, and the
+mouth of the harbour was not large.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these contrivances to suit their skill and ability, and now more confident
+after the previous sea-fight, the Syracusans attacked by land and sea at once.
+The town force Gylippus led out a little the first and brought them up to the
+wall of the Athenians, where it looked towards the city, while the force from
+the Olympieum, that is to say, the heavy infantry that were there with the
+horse and the light troops of the Syracusans, advanced against the wall from
+the opposite side; the ships of the Syracusans and allies sailing out
+immediately afterwards. The Athenians at first fancied that they were to be
+attacked by land only, and it was not without alarm that they saw the fleet
+suddenly approaching as well; and while some were forming upon the walls and in
+front of them against the advancing enemy, and some marching out in haste
+against the numbers of horse and darters coming from the Olympieum and from
+outside, others manned the ships or rushed down to the beach to oppose the
+enemy, and when the ships were manned put out with seventy-five sail against
+about eighty of the Syracusans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After spending a great part of the day in advancing and retreating and
+skirmishing with each other, without either being able to gain any advantage
+worth speaking of, except that the Syracusans sank one or two of the Athenian
+vessels, they parted, the land force at the same time retiring from the lines.
+The next day the Syracusans remained quiet, and gave no signs of what they were
+going to do; but Nicias, seeing that the battle had been a drawn one, and
+expecting that they would attack again, compelled the captains to refit any of
+the ships that had suffered, and moored merchant vessels before the stockade
+which they had driven into the sea in front of their ships, to serve instead of
+an enclosed harbour, at about two hundred feet from each other, in order that
+any ship that was hard pressed might be able to retreat in safety and sail out
+again at leisure. These preparations occupied the Athenians all day until
+nightfall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Syracusans began operations at an earlier hour, but with the
+same plan of attack by land and sea. A great part of the day the rivals spent
+as before, confronting and skirmishing with each other; until at last Ariston,
+son of Pyrrhicus, a Corinthian, the ablest helmsman in the Syracusan service,
+persuaded their naval commanders to send to the officials in the city, and tell
+them to move the sale market as quickly as they could down to the sea, and
+oblige every one to bring whatever eatables he had and sell them there, thus
+enabling the commanders to land the crews and dine at once close to the ships,
+and shortly afterwards, the selfsame day, to attack the Athenians again when
+they were not expecting it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In compliance with this advice a messenger was sent and the market got ready,
+upon which the Syracusans suddenly backed water and withdrew to the town, and
+at once landed and took their dinner upon the spot; while the Athenians,
+supposing that they had returned to the town because they felt they were
+beaten, disembarked at their leisure and set about getting their dinners and
+about their other occupations, under the idea that they done with fighting for
+that day. Suddenly the Syracusans had manned their ships and again sailed
+against them; and the Athenians, in great confusion and most of them fasting,
+got on board, and with great difficulty put out to meet them. For some time
+both parties remained on the defensive without engaging, until the Athenians at
+last resolved not to let themselves be worn out by waiting where they were, but
+to attack without delay, and giving a cheer, went into action. The Syracusans
+received them, and charging prow to prow as they had intended, stove in a great
+part of the Athenian foreships by the strength of their beaks; the darters on
+the decks also did great damage to the Athenians, but still greater damage was
+done by the Syracusans who went about in small boats, ran in upon the oars of
+the Athenian galleys, and sailed against their sides, and discharged from
+thence their darts upon the sailors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, fighting hard in this fashion, the Syracusans gained the victory, and
+the Athenians turned and fled between the merchantmen to their own station. The
+Syracusan ships pursued them as far as the merchantmen, where they were stopped
+by the beams armed with dolphins suspended from those vessels over the passage.
+Two of the Syracusan vessels went too near in the excitement of victory and
+were destroyed, one of them being taken with its crew. After sinking seven of
+the Athenian vessels and disabling many, and taking most of the men prisoners
+and killing others, the Syracusans retired and set up trophies for both the
+engagements, being now confident of having a decided superiority by sea, and by
+no means despairing of equal success by land.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"></a>
+CHAPTER XXII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Nineteenth Year of the War&mdash;Arrival of Demosthenes&mdash;Defeat of the
+Athenians at Epipolae&mdash;Folly and Obstinancy of Nicias
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime, while the Syracusans were preparing for a second attack upon
+both elements, Demosthenes and Eurymedon arrived with the succours from Athens,
+consisting of about seventy-three ships, including the foreigners; nearly five
+thousand heavy infantry, Athenian and allied; a large number of darters,
+Hellenic and barbarian, and slingers and archers and everything else upon a
+corresponding scale. The Syracusans and their allies were for the moment not a
+little dismayed at the idea that there was to be no term or ending to their
+dangers, seeing, in spite of the fortification of Decelea, a new army arrive
+nearly equal to the former, and the power of Athens proving so great in every
+quarter. On the other hand, the first Athenian armament regained a certain
+confidence in the midst of its misfortunes. Demosthenes, seeing how matters
+stood, felt that he could not drag on and fare as Nicias had done, who by
+wintering in Catana instead of at once attacking Syracuse had allowed the
+terror of his first arrival to evaporate in contempt, and had given time to
+Gylippus to arrive with a force from Peloponnese, which the Syracusans would
+never have sent for if he had attacked immediately; for they fancied that they
+were a match for him by themselves, and would not have discovered their
+inferiority until they were already invested, and even if they then sent for
+succours, they would no longer have been equally able to profit by their
+arrival. Recollecting this, and well aware that it was now on the first day
+after his arrival that he like Nicias was most formidable to the enemy,
+Demosthenes determined to lose no time in drawing the utmost profit from the
+consternation at the moment inspired by his army; and seeing that the
+counterwall of the Syracusans, which hindered the Athenians from investing
+them, was a single one, and that he who should become master of the way up to
+Epipolae, and afterwards of the camp there, would find no difficulty in taking
+it, as no one would even wait for his attack, made all haste to attempt the
+enterprise. This he took to be the shortest way of ending the war, as he would
+either succeed and take Syracuse, or would lead back the armament instead of
+frittering away the lives of the Athenians engaged in the expedition and the
+resources of the country at large.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+First therefore the Athenians went out and laid waste the lands of the
+Syracusans about the Anapus and carried all before them as at first by land and
+by sea, the Syracusans not offering to oppose them upon either element, unless
+it were with their cavalry and darters from the Olympieum. Next Demosthenes
+resolved to attempt the counterwall first by means of engines. As however the
+engines that he brought up were burnt by the enemy fighting from the wall, and
+the rest of the forces repulsed after attacking at many different points, he
+determined to delay no longer, and having obtained the consent of Nicias and
+his fellow commanders, proceeded to put in execution his plan of attacking
+Epipolae. As by day it seemed impossible to approach and get up without being
+observed, he ordered provisions for five days, took all the masons and
+carpenters, and other things, such as arrows, and everything else that they
+could want for the work of fortification if successful, and, after the first
+watch, set out with Eurymedon and Menander and the whole army for Epipolae,
+Nicias being left behind in the lines. Having come up by the hill of Euryelus
+(where the former army had ascended at first) unobserved by the enemy&rsquo;s
+guards, they went up to the fort which the Syracusans had there, and took it,
+and put to the sword part of the garrison. The greater number, however, escaped
+at once and gave the alarm to the camps, of which there were three upon
+Epipolae, defended by outworks, one of the Syracusans, one of the other
+Siceliots, and one of the allies; and also to the six hundred Syracusans
+forming the original garrison for this part of Epipolae. These at once advanced
+against the assailants and, falling in with Demosthenes and the Athenians, were
+routed by them after a sharp resistance, the victors immediately pushing on,
+eager to achieve the objects of the attack without giving time for their ardour
+to cool; meanwhile others from the very beginning were taking the counterwall
+of the Syracusans, which was abandoned by its garrison, and pulling down the
+battlements. The Syracusans and the allies, and Gylippus with the troops under
+his command, advanced to the rescue from the outworks, but engaged in some
+consternation (a night attack being a piece of audacity which they had never
+expected), and were at first compelled to retreat. But while the Athenians,
+flushed with their victory, now advanced with less order, wishing to make their
+way as quickly as possible through the whole force of the enemy not yet
+engaged, without relaxing their attack or giving them time to rally, the
+Boeotians made the first stand against them, attacked them, routed them, and
+put them to flight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians now fell into great disorder and perplexity, so that it was not
+easy to get from one side or the other any detailed account of the affair. By
+day certainly the combatants have a clearer notion, though even then by no
+means of all that takes place, no one knowing much of anything that does not go
+on in his own immediate neighbourhood; but in a night engagement (and this was
+the only one that occurred between great armies during the war) how could any
+one know anything for certain? Although there was a bright moon they saw each
+other only as men do by moonlight, that is to say, they could distinguish the
+form of the body, but could not tell for certain whether it was a friend or an
+enemy. Both had great numbers of heavy infantry moving about in a small space.
+Some of the Athenians were already defeated, while others were coming up yet
+unconquered for their first attack. A large part also of the rest of their
+forces either had only just got up, or were still ascending, so that they did
+not know which way to march. Owing to the rout that had taken place all in
+front was now in confusion, and the noise made it difficult to distinguish
+anything. The victorious Syracusans and allies were cheering each other on with
+loud cries, by night the only possible means of communication, and meanwhile
+receiving all who came against them; while the Athenians were seeking for one
+another, taking all in front of them for enemies, even although they might be
+some of their now flying friends; and by constantly asking for the watchword,
+which was their only means of recognition, not only caused great confusion
+among themselves by asking all at once, but also made it known to the enemy,
+whose own they did not so readily discover, as the Syracusans were victorious
+and not scattered, and thus less easily mistaken. The result was that if the
+Athenians fell in with a party of the enemy that was weaker than they, it
+escaped them through knowing their watchword; while if they themselves failed
+to answer they were put to the sword. But what hurt them as much, or indeed
+more than anything else, was the singing of the paean, from the perplexity
+which it caused by being nearly the same on either side; the Argives and
+Corcyraeans and any other Dorian peoples in the army, struck terror into the
+Athenians whenever they raised their paean, no less than did the enemy. Thus,
+after being once thrown into disorder, they ended by coming into collision with
+each other in many parts of the field, friends with friends, and citizens with
+citizens, and not only terrified one another, but even came to blows and could
+only be parted with difficulty. In the pursuit many perished by throwing
+themselves down the cliffs, the way down from Epipolae being narrow; and of
+those who got down safely into the plain, although many, especially those who
+belonged to the first armament, escaped through their better acquaintance with
+the locality, some of the newcomers lost their way and wandered over the
+country, and were cut off in the morning by the Syracusan cavalry and killed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Syracusans set up two trophies, one upon Epipolae where the
+ascent had been made, and the other on the spot where the first check was given
+by the Boeotians; and the Athenians took back their dead under truce. A great
+many of the Athenians and allies were killed, although still more arms were
+taken than could be accounted for by the number of the dead, as some of those
+who were obliged to leap down from the cliffs without their shields escaped
+with their lives and did not perish like the rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Syracusans, recovering their old confidence at such an
+unexpected stroke of good fortune, dispatched Sicanus with fifteen ships to
+Agrigentum where there was a revolution, to induce if possible the city to join
+them; while Gylippus again went by land into the rest of Sicily to bring up
+reinforcements, being now in hope of taking the Athenian lines by storm, after
+the result of the affair on Epipolae.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Athenian generals consulted upon the disaster which had
+happened, and upon the general weakness of the army. They saw themselves
+unsuccessful in their enterprises, and the soldiers disgusted with their stay;
+disease being rife among them owing to its being the sickly season of the year,
+and to the marshy and unhealthy nature of the spot in which they were encamped;
+and the state of their affairs generally being thought desperate. Accordingly,
+Demosthenes was of opinion that they ought not to stay any longer; but
+agreeably to his original idea in risking the attempt upon Epipolae, now that
+this had failed, he gave his vote for going away without further loss of time,
+while the sea might yet be crossed, and their late reinforcement might give
+them the superiority at all events on that element. He also said that it would
+be more profitable for the state to carry on the war against those who were
+building fortifications in Attica, than against the Syracusans whom it was no
+longer easy to subdue; besides which it was not right to squander large sums of
+money to no purpose by going on with the siege.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the opinion of Demosthenes. Nicias, without denying the bad state of
+their affairs, was unwilling to avow their weakness, or to have it reported to
+the enemy that the Athenians in full council were openly voting for retreat;
+for in that case they would be much less likely to effect it when they wanted
+without discovery. Moreover, his own particular information still gave him
+reason to hope that the affairs of the enemy would soon be in a worse state
+than their own, if the Athenians persevered in the siege; as they would wear
+out the Syracusans by want of money, especially with the more extensive command
+of the sea now given them by their present navy. Besides this, there was a
+party in Syracuse who wished to betray the city to the Athenians, and kept
+sending him messages and telling him not to raise the siege. Accordingly,
+knowing this and really waiting because he hesitated between the two courses
+and wished to see his way more clearly, in his public speech on this occasion
+he refused to lead off the army, saying he was sure the Athenians would never
+approve of their returning without a vote of theirs. Those who would vote upon
+their conduct, instead of judging the facts as eye-witnesses like themselves
+and not from what they might hear from hostile critics, would simply be guided
+by the calumnies of the first clever speaker; while many, indeed most, of the
+soldiers on the spot, who now so loudly proclaimed the danger of their
+position, when they reached Athens would proclaim just as loudly the opposite,
+and would say that their generals had been bribed to betray them and return.
+For himself, therefore, who knew the Athenian temper, sooner than perish under
+a dishonourable charge and by an unjust sentence at the hands of the Athenians,
+he would rather take his chance and die, if die he must, a soldier&rsquo;s
+death at the hand of the enemy. Besides, after all, the Syracusans were in a
+worse case than themselves. What with paying mercenaries, spending upon
+fortified posts, and now for a full year maintaining a large navy, they were
+already at a loss and would soon be at a standstill: they had already spent two
+thousand talents and incurred heavy debts besides, and could not lose even ever
+so small a fraction of their present force through not paying it, without ruin
+to their cause; depending as they did more upon mercenaries than upon soldiers
+obliged to serve, like their own. He therefore said that they ought to stay and
+carry on the siege, and not depart defeated in point of money, in which they
+were much superior.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nicias spoke positively because he had exact information of the financial
+distress at Syracuse, and also because of the strength of the Athenian party
+there which kept sending him messages not to raise the siege; besides which he
+had more confidence than before in his fleet, and felt sure at least of its
+success. Demosthenes, however, would not hear for a moment of continuing the
+siege, but said that if they could not lead off the army without a decree from
+Athens, and if they were obliged to stay on, they ought to remove to Thapsus or
+Catana; where their land forces would have a wide extent of country to overrun,
+and could live by plundering the enemy, and would thus do them damage; while
+the fleet would have the open sea to fight in, that is to say, instead of a
+narrow space which was all in the enemy&rsquo;s favour, a wide sea-room where
+their science would be of use, and where they could retreat or advance without
+being confined or circumscribed either when they put out or put in. In any case
+he was altogether opposed to their staying on where they were, and insisted on
+removing at once, as quickly and with as little delay as possible; and in this
+judgment Eurymedon agreed. Nicias however still objecting, a certain diffidence
+and hesitation came over them, with a suspicion that Nicias might have some
+further information to make him so positive.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"></a>
+CHAPTER XXIII </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Nineteenth Year of the War&mdash;Battles in the Great Harbour&mdash;Retreat and
+Annihilation of the Athenian Army
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Athenians lingered on in this way without moving from where they
+were, Gylippus and Sicanus now arrived at Syracuse. Sicanus had failed to gain
+Agrigentum, the party friendly to the Syracusans having been driven out while
+he was still at Gela; but Gylippus was accompanied not only by a large number
+of troops raised in Sicily, but by the heavy infantry sent off in the spring
+from Peloponnese in the merchantmen, who had arrived at Selinus from Libya.
+They had been carried to Libya by a storm, and having obtained two galleys and
+pilots from the Cyrenians, on their voyage alongshore had taken sides with the
+Euesperitae and had defeated the Libyans who were besieging them, and from
+thence coasting on to Neapolis, a Carthaginian mart, and the nearest point to
+Sicily, from which it is only two days&rsquo; and a night&rsquo;s voyage, there
+crossed over and came to Selinus. Immediately upon their arrival the Syracusans
+prepared to attack the Athenians again by land and sea at once. The Athenian
+generals seeing a fresh army come to the aid of the enemy, and that their own
+circumstances, far from improving, were becoming daily worse, and above all
+distressed by the sickness of the soldiers, now began to repent of not having
+removed before; and Nicias no longer offering the same opposition, except by
+urging that there should be no open voting, they gave orders as secretly as
+possible for all to be prepared to sail out from the camp at a given signal.
+All was at last ready, and they were on the point of sailing away, when an
+eclipse of the moon, which was then at the full, took place. Most of the
+Athenians, deeply impressed by this occurrence, now urged the generals to wait;
+and Nicias, who was somewhat over-addicted to divination and practices of that
+kind, refused from that moment even to take the question of departure into
+consideration, until they had waited the thrice nine days prescribed by the
+soothsayers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The besiegers were thus condemned to stay in the country; and the Syracusans,
+getting wind of what had happened, became more eager than ever to press the
+Athenians, who had now themselves acknowledged that they were no longer their
+superiors either by sea or by land, as otherwise they would never have planned
+to sail away. Besides which the Syracusans did not wish them to settle in any
+other part of Sicily, where they would be more difficult to deal with, but
+desired to force them to fight at sea as quickly as possible, in a position
+favourable to themselves. Accordingly they manned their ships and practised for
+as many days as they thought sufficient. When the moment arrived they assaulted
+on the first day the Athenian lines, and upon a small force of heavy infantry
+and horse sallying out against them by certain gates, cut off some of the
+former and routed and pursued them to the lines, where, as the entrance was
+narrow, the Athenians lost seventy horses and some few of the heavy infantry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drawing off their troops for this day, on the next the Syracusans went out with
+a fleet of seventy-six sail, and at the same time advanced with their land
+forces against the lines. The Athenians put out to meet them with eighty-six
+ships, came to close quarters, and engaged. The Syracusans and their allies
+first defeated the Athenian centre, and then caught Eurymedon, the commander of
+the right wing, who was sailing out from the line more towards the land in
+order to surround the enemy, in the hollow and recess of the harbour, and
+killed him and destroyed the ships accompanying him; after which they now
+chased the whole Athenian fleet before them and drove them ashore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gylippus seeing the enemy&rsquo;s fleet defeated and carried ashore beyond
+their stockades and camp, ran down to the breakwater with some of his troops,
+in order to cut off the men as they landed and make it easier for the
+Syracusans to tow off the vessels by the shore being friendly ground. The
+Tyrrhenians who guarded this point for the Athenians, seeing them come on in
+disorder, advanced out against them and attacked and routed their van, hurling
+it into the marsh of Lysimeleia. Afterwards the Syracusan and allied troops
+arrived in greater numbers, and the Athenians fearing for their ships came up
+also to the rescue and engaged them, and defeated and pursued them to some
+distance and killed a few of their heavy infantry. They succeeded in rescuing
+most of their ships and brought them down by their camp; eighteen however were
+taken by the Syracusans and their allies, and all the men killed. The rest the
+enemy tried to burn by means of an old merchantman which they filled with
+faggots and pine-wood, set on fire, and let drift down the wind which blew full
+on the Athenians. The Athenians, however, alarmed for their ships, contrived
+means for stopping it and putting it out, and checking the flames and the
+nearer approach of the merchantman, thus escaped the danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Syracusans set up a trophy for the sea-fight and for the heavy
+infantry whom they had cut off up at the lines, where they took the horses; and
+the Athenians for the rout of the foot driven by the Tyrrhenians into the
+marsh, and for their own victory with the rest of the army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Syracusans had now gained a decisive victory at sea, where until now they
+had feared the reinforcement brought by Demosthenes, and deep, in consequence,
+was the despondency of the Athenians, and great their disappointment, and
+greater still their regret for having come on the expedition. These were the
+only cities that they had yet encountered, similar to their own in character,
+under democracies like themselves, which had ships and horses, and were of
+considerable magnitude. They had been unable to divide and bring them over by
+holding out the prospect of changes in their governments, or to crush them by
+their great superiority in force, but had failed in most of their attempts, and
+being already in perplexity, had now been defeated at sea, where defeat could
+never have been expected, and were thus plunged deeper in embarrassment than
+ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Syracusans immediately began to sail freely along the harbour,
+and determined to close up its mouth, so that the Athenians might not be able
+to steal out in future, even if they wished. Indeed, the Syracusans no longer
+thought only of saving themselves, but also how to hinder the escape of the
+enemy; thinking, and thinking rightly, that they were now much the stronger,
+and that to conquer the Athenians and their allies by land and sea would win
+them great glory in Hellas. The rest of the Hellenes would thus immediately be
+either freed or released from apprehension, as the remaining forces of Athens
+would be henceforth unable to sustain the war that would be waged against her;
+while they, the Syracusans, would be regarded as the authors of this
+deliverance, and would be held in high admiration, not only with all men now
+living but also with posterity. Nor were these the only considerations that
+gave dignity to the struggle. They would thus conquer not only the Athenians
+but also their numerous allies, and conquer not alone, but with their
+companions in arms, commanding side by side with the Corinthians and
+Lacedaemonians, having offered their city to stand in the van of danger, and
+having been in a great measure the pioneers of naval success.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, there were never so many peoples assembled before a single city, if we
+except the grand total gathered together in this war under Athens and
+Lacedaemon. The following were the states on either side who came to Syracuse
+to fight for or against Sicily, to help to conquer or defend the island. Right
+or community of blood was not the bond of union between them, so much as
+interest or compulsion as the case might be. The Athenians themselves being
+Ionians went against the Dorians of Syracuse of their own free will; and the
+peoples still speaking Attic and using the Athenian laws, the Lemnians,
+Imbrians, and Aeginetans, that is to say the then occupants of Aegina, being
+their colonists, went with them. To these must be also added the Hestiaeans
+dwelling at Hestiaea in Euboea. Of the rest some joined in the expedition as
+subjects of the Athenians, others as independent allies, others as mercenaries.
+To the number of the subjects paying tribute belonged the Eretrians,
+Chalcidians, Styrians, and Carystians from Euboea; the Ceans, Andrians, and
+Tenians from the islands; and the Milesians, Samians, and Chians from Ionia.
+The Chians, however, joined as independent allies, paying no tribute, but
+furnishing ships. Most of these were Ionians and descended from the Athenians,
+except the Carystians, who are Dryopes, and although subjects and obliged to
+serve, were still Ionians fighting against Dorians. Besides these there were
+men of Aeolic race, the Methymnians, subjects who provided ships, not tribute,
+and the Tenedians and Aenians who paid tribute. These Aeolians fought against
+their Aeolian founders, the Boeotians in the Syracusan army, because they were
+obliged, while the Plataeans, the only native Boeotians opposed to Boeotians,
+did so upon a just quarrel. Of the Rhodians and Cytherians, both Dorians, the
+latter, Lacedaemonian colonists, fought in the Athenian ranks against their
+Lacedaemonian countrymen with Gylippus; while the Rhodians, Argives by race,
+were compelled to bear arms against the Dorian Syracusans and their own
+colonists, the Geloans, serving with the Syracusans. Of the islanders round
+Peloponnese, the Cephallenians and Zacynthians accompanied the Athenians as
+independent allies, although their insular position really left them little
+choice in the matter, owing to the maritime supremacy of Athens, while the
+Corcyraeans, who were not only Dorians but Corinthians, were openly serving
+against Corinthians and Syracusans, although colonists of the former and of the
+same race as the latter, under colour of compulsion, but really out of free
+will through hatred of Corinth. The Messenians, as they are now called in
+Naupactus and from Pylos, then held by the Athenians, were taken with them to
+the war. There were also a few Megarian exiles, whose fate it was to be now
+fighting against the Megarian Selinuntines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The engagement of the rest was more of a voluntary nature. It was less the
+league than hatred of the Lacedaemonians and the immediate private advantage of
+each individual that persuaded the Dorian Argives to join the Ionian Athenians
+in a war against Dorians; while the Mantineans and other Arcadian mercenaries,
+accustomed to go against the enemy pointed out to them at the moment, were led
+by interest to regard the Arcadians serving with the Corinthians as just as
+much their enemies as any others. The Cretans and Aetolians also served for
+hire, and the Cretans who had joined the Rhodians in founding Gela, thus came
+to consent to fight for pay against, instead of for, their colonists. There
+were also some Acarnanians paid to serve, although they came chiefly for love
+of Demosthenes and out of goodwill to the Athenians whose allies they were.
+These all lived on the Hellenic side of the Ionian Gulf. Of the Italiots, there
+were the Thurians and Metapontines, dragged into the quarrel by the stern
+necessities of a time of revolution; of the Siceliots, the Naxians and the
+Catanians; and of the barbarians, the Egestaeans, who called in the Athenians,
+most of the Sicels, and outside Sicily some Tyrrhenian enemies of Syracuse and
+Iapygian mercenaries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the peoples serving with the Athenians. Against these the Syracusans
+had the Camarinaeans their neighbours, the Geloans who live next to them; then
+passing over the neutral Agrigentines, the Selinuntines settled on the farther
+side of the island. These inhabit the part of Sicily looking towards Libya; the
+Himeraeans came from the side towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, being the only
+Hellenic inhabitants in that quarter, and the only people that came from thence
+to the aid of the Syracusans. Of the Hellenes in Sicily the above peoples
+joined in the war, all Dorians and independent, and of the barbarians the
+Sicels only, that is to say, such as did not go over to the Athenians. Of the
+Hellenes outside Sicily there were the Lacedaemonians, who provided a Spartan
+to take the command, and a force of Neodamodes or Freedmen, and of Helots; the
+Corinthians, who alone joined with naval and land forces, with their Leucadian
+and Ambraciot kinsmen; some mercenaries sent by Corinth from Arcadia; some
+Sicyonians forced to serve, and from outside Peloponnese the Boeotians. In
+comparison, however, with these foreign auxiliaries, the great Siceliot cities
+furnished more in every department&mdash;numbers of heavy infantry, ships, and
+horses, and an immense multitude besides having been brought together; while in
+comparison, again, one may say, with all the rest put together, more was
+provided by the Syracusans themselves, both from the greatness of the city and
+from the fact that they were in the greatest danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the auxiliaries brought together on either side, all of which had by
+this time joined, neither party experiencing any subsequent accession. It was
+no wonder, therefore, if the Syracusans and their allies thought that it would
+win them great glory if they could follow up their recent victory in the
+sea-fight by the capture of the whole Athenian armada, without letting it
+escape either by sea or by land. They began at once to close up the Great
+Harbour by means of boats, merchant vessels, and galleys moored broadside
+across its mouth, which is nearly a mile wide, and made all their other
+arrangements for the event of the Athenians again venturing to fight at sea.
+There was, in fact, nothing little either in their plans or their ideas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Athenians, seeing them closing up the harbour and informed of their further
+designs, called a council of war. The generals and colonels assembled and
+discussed the difficulties of the situation; the point which pressed most being
+that they no longer had provisions for immediate use (having sent on to Catana
+to tell them not to send any, in the belief that they were going away), and
+that they would not have any in future unless they could command the sea. They
+therefore determined to evacuate their upper lines, to enclose with a cross
+wall and garrison a small space close to the ships, only just sufficient to
+hold their stores and sick, and manning all the ships, seaworthy or not, with
+every man that could be spared from the rest of their land forces, to fight it
+out at sea, and, if victorious, to go to Catana, if not, to burn their vessels,
+form in close order, and retreat by land for the nearest friendly place they
+could reach, Hellenic or barbarian. This was no sooner settled than carried
+into effect; they descended gradually from the upper lines and manned all their
+vessels, compelling all to go on board who were of age to be in any way of use.
+They thus succeeded in manning about one hundred and ten ships in all, on board
+of which they embarked a number of archers and darters taken from the
+Acarnanians and from the other foreigners, making all other provisions allowed
+by the nature of their plan and by the necessities which imposed it. All was
+now nearly ready, and Nicias, seeing the soldiery disheartened by their
+unprecedented and decided defeat at sea, and by reason of the scarcity of
+provisions eager to fight it out as soon as possible, called them all together,
+and first addressed them, speaking as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Soldiers of the Athenians and of the allies, we have all an equal
+interest in the coming struggle, in which life and country are at stake for us
+quite as much as they can be for the enemy; since if our fleet wins the day,
+each can see his native city again, wherever that city may be. You must not
+lose heart, or be like men without any experience, who fail in a first essay
+and ever afterwards fearfully forebode a future as disastrous. But let the
+Athenians among you who have already had experience of many wars, and the
+allies who have joined us in so many expeditions, remember the surprises of
+war, and with the hope that fortune will not be always against us, prepare to
+fight again in a manner worthy of the number which you see yourselves to be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, whatever we thought would be of service against the crush of
+vessels in such a narrow harbour, and against the force upon the decks of the
+enemy, from which we suffered before, has all been considered with the
+helmsmen, and, as far as our means allowed, provided. A number of archers and
+darters will go on board, and a multitude that we should not have employed in
+an action in the open sea, where our science would be crippled by the weight of
+the vessels; but in the present land-fight that we are forced to make from
+shipboard all this will be useful. We have also discovered the changes in
+construction that we must make to meet theirs; and against the thickness of
+their cheeks, which did us the greatest mischief, we have provided
+grappling-irons, which will prevent an assailant backing water after charging,
+if the soldiers on deck here do their duty; since we are absolutely compelled
+to fight a land battle from the fleet, and it seems to be our interest neither
+to back water ourselves, nor to let the enemy do so, especially as the shore,
+except so much of it as may be held by our troops, is hostile ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You must remember this and fight on as long as you can, and must not let
+yourselves be driven ashore, but once alongside must make up your minds not to
+part company until you have swept the heavy infantry from the enemy&rsquo;s
+deck. I say this more for the heavy infantry than for the seamen, as it is more
+the business of the men on deck; and our land forces are even now on the whole
+the strongest. The sailors I advise, and at the same time implore, not to be
+too much daunted by their misfortunes, now that we have our decks better armed
+and greater number of vessels. Bear in mind how well worth preserving is the
+pleasure felt by those of you who through your knowledge of our language and
+imitation of our manners were always considered Athenians, even though not so
+in reality, and as such were honoured throughout Hellas, and had your full
+share of the advantages of our empire, and more than your share in the respect
+of our subjects and in protection from ill treatment. You, therefore, with whom
+alone we freely share our empire, we now justly require not to betray that
+empire in its extremity, and in scorn of Corinthians, whom you have often
+conquered, and of Siceliots, none of whom so much as presumed to stand against
+us when our navy was in its prime, we ask you to repel them, and to show that
+even in sickness and disaster your skill is more than a match for the fortune
+and vigour of any other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For the Athenians among you I add once more this reflection: You left
+behind you no more such ships in your docks as these, no more heavy infantry in
+their flower; if you do aught but conquer, our enemies here will immediately
+sail thither, and those that are left of us at Athens will become unable to
+repel their home assailants, reinforced by these new allies. Here you will fall
+at once into the hands of the Syracusans&mdash;I need not remind you of the
+intentions with which you attacked them&mdash;and your countrymen at home will
+fall into those of the Lacedaemonians. Since the fate of both thus hangs upon
+this single battle, now, if ever, stand firm, and remember, each and all, that
+you who are now going on board are the army and navy of the Athenians, and all
+that is left of the state and the great name of Athens, in whose defence if any
+man has any advantage in skill or courage, now is the time for him to show it,
+and thus serve himself and save all.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this address Nicias at once gave orders to man the ships. Meanwhile
+Gylippus and the Syracusans could perceive by the preparations which they saw
+going on that the Athenians meant to fight at sea. They had also notice of the
+grappling-irons, against which they specially provided by stretching hides over
+the prows and much of the upper part of their vessels, in order that the irons
+when thrown might slip off without taking hold. All being now ready, the
+generals and Gylippus addressed them in the following terms:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Syracusans and allies, the glorious character of our past achievements
+and the no less glorious results at issue in the coming battle are, we think,
+understood by most of you, or you would never have thrown yourselves with such
+ardour into the struggle; and if there be any one not as fully aware of the
+facts as he ought to be, we will declare them to him. The Athenians came to
+this country first to effect the conquest of Sicily, and after that, if
+successful, of Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas, possessing already the
+greatest empire yet known, of present or former times, among the Hellenes. Here
+for the first time they found in you men who faced their navy which made them
+masters everywhere; you have already defeated them in the previous sea-fights,
+and will in all likelihood defeat them again now. When men are once checked in
+what they consider their special excellence, their whole opinion of themselves
+suffers more than if they had not at first believed in their superiority, the
+unexpected shock to their pride causing them to give way more than their real
+strength warrants; and this is probably now the case with the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With us it is different. The original estimate of ourselves which gave
+us courage in the days of our unskilfulness has been strengthened, while the
+conviction superadded to it that we must be the best seamen of the time, if we
+have conquered the best, has given a double measure of hope to every man among
+us; and, for the most part, where there is the greatest hope, there is also the
+greatest ardour for action. The means to combat us which they have tried to
+find in copying our armament are familiar to our warfare, and will be met by
+proper provisions; while they will never be able to have a number of heavy
+infantry on their decks, contrary to their custom, and a number of darters
+(born landsmen, one may say, Acarnanians and others, embarked afloat, who will
+not know how to discharge their weapons when they have to keep still), without
+hampering their vessels and falling all into confusion among themselves through
+fighting not according to their own tactics. For they will gain nothing by the
+number of their ships&mdash;I say this to those of you who may be alarmed by
+having to fight against odds&mdash;as a quantity of ships in a confined space
+will only be slower in executing the movements required, and most exposed to
+injury from our means of offence. Indeed, if you would know the plain truth, as
+we are credibly informed, the excess of their sufferings and the necessities of
+their present distress have made them desperate; they have no confidence in
+their force, but wish to try their fortune in the only way they can, and either
+to force their passage and sail out, or after this to retreat by land, it being
+impossible for them to be worse off than they are.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The fortune of our greatest enemies having thus betrayed itself, and
+their disorder being what I have described, let us engage in anger, convinced
+that, as between adversaries, nothing is more legitimate than to claim to sate
+the whole wrath of one&rsquo;s soul in punishing the aggressor, and nothing
+more sweet, as the proverb has it, than the vengeance upon an enemy, which it
+will now be ours to take. That enemies they are and mortal enemies you all
+know, since they came here to enslave our country, and if successful had in
+reserve for our men all that is most dreadful, and for our children and wives
+all that is most dishonourable, and for the whole city the name which conveys
+the greatest reproach. None should therefore relent or think it gain if they go
+away without further danger to us. This they will do just the same, even if
+they get the victory; while if we succeed, as we may expect, in chastising
+them, and in handing down to all Sicily her ancient freedom strengthened and
+confirmed, we shall have achieved no mean triumph. And the rarest dangers are
+those in which failure brings little loss and success the greatest
+advantage.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the above address to the soldiers on their side, the Syracusan generals
+and Gylippus now perceived that the Athenians were manning their ships, and
+immediately proceeded to man their own also. Meanwhile Nicias, appalled by the
+position of affairs, realizing the greatness and the nearness of the danger now
+that they were on the point of putting out from shore, and thinking, as men are
+apt to think in great crises, that when all has been done they have still
+something left to do, and when all has been said that they have not yet said
+enough, again called on the captains one by one, addressing each by his
+father&rsquo;s name and by his own, and by that of his tribe, and adjured them
+not to belie their own personal renown, or to obscure the hereditary virtues
+for which their ancestors were illustrious: he reminded them of their country,
+the freest of the free, and of the unfettered discretion allowed in it to all
+to live as they pleased; and added other arguments such as men would use at
+such a crisis, and which, with little alteration, are made to serve on all
+occasions alike&mdash;appeals to wives, children, and national
+gods&mdash;without caring whether they are thought commonplace, but loudly
+invoking them in the belief that they will be of use in the consternation of
+the moment. Having thus admonished them, not, he felt, as he would, but as he
+could, Nicias withdrew and led the troops to the sea, and ranged them in as
+long a line as he was able, in order to aid as far as possible in sustaining
+the courage of the men afloat; while Demosthenes, Menander, and Euthydemus, who
+took the command on board, put out from their own camp and sailed straight to
+the barrier across the mouth of the harbour and to the passage left open, to
+try to force their way out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Syracusans and their allies had already put out with about the same number
+of ships as before, a part of which kept guard at the outlet, and the remainder
+all round the rest of the harbour, in order to attack the Athenians on all
+sides at once; while the land forces held themselves in readiness at the points
+at which the vessels might put into the shore. The Syracusan fleet was
+commanded by Sicanus and Agatharchus, who had each a wing of the whole force,
+with Pythen and the Corinthians in the centre. When the rest of the Athenians
+came up to the barrier, with the first shock of their charge they overpowered
+the ships stationed there, and tried to undo the fastenings; after this, as the
+Syracusans and allies bore down upon them from all quarters, the action spread
+from the barrier over the whole harbour, and was more obstinately disputed than
+any of the preceding ones. On either side the rowers showed great zeal in
+bringing up their vessels at the boatswains&rsquo; orders, and the helmsmen
+great skill in manoeuvring, and great emulation one with another; while the
+ships once alongside, the soldiers on board did their best not to let the
+service on deck be outdone by the others; in short, every man strove to prove
+himself the first in his particular department. And as many ships were engaged
+in a small compass (for these were the largest fleets fighting in the narrowest
+space ever known, being together little short of two hundred), the regular
+attacks with the beak were few, there being no opportunity of backing water or
+of breaking the line; while the collisions caused by one ship chancing to run
+foul of another, either in flying from or attacking a third, were more
+frequent. So long as a vessel was coming up to the charge the men on the decks
+rained darts and arrows and stones upon her; but once alongside, the heavy
+infantry tried to board each other&rsquo;s vessel, fighting hand to hand. In
+many quarters it happened, by reason of the narrow room, that a vessel was
+charging an enemy on one side and being charged herself on another, and that
+two or sometimes more ships had perforce got entangled round one, obliging the
+helmsmen to attend to defence here, offence there, not to one thing at once,
+but to many on all sides; while the huge din caused by the number of ships
+crashing together not only spread terror, but made the orders of the boatswains
+inaudible. The boatswains on either side in the discharge of their duty and in
+the heat of the conflict shouted incessantly orders and appeals to their men;
+the Athenians they urged to force the passage out, and now if ever to show
+their mettle and lay hold of a safe return to their country; to the Syracusans
+and their allies they cried that it would be glorious to prevent the escape of
+the enemy, and, conquering, to exalt the countries that were theirs. The
+generals, moreover, on either side, if they saw any in any part of the battle
+backing ashore without being forced to do so, called out to the captain by name
+and asked him&mdash;the Athenians, whether they were retreating because they
+thought the thrice hostile shore more their own than that sea which had cost
+them so much labour to win; the Syracusans, whether they were flying from the
+flying Athenians, whom they well knew to be eager to escape in whatever way
+they could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the two armies on shore, while victory hung in the balance, were a
+prey to the most agonizing and conflicting emotions; the natives thirsting for
+more glory than they had already won, while the invaders feared to find
+themselves in even worse plight than before. The all of the Athenians being set
+upon their fleet, their fear for the event was like nothing they had ever felt;
+while their view of the struggle was necessarily as chequered as the battle
+itself. Close to the scene of action and not all looking at the same point at
+once, some saw their friends victorious and took courage and fell to calling
+upon heaven not to deprive them of salvation, while others who had their eyes
+turned upon the losers, wailed and cried aloud, and, although spectators, were
+more overcome than the actual combatants. Others, again, were gazing at some
+spot where the battle was evenly disputed; as the strife was protracted without
+decision, their swaying bodies reflected the agitation of their minds, and they
+suffered the worst agony of all, ever just within reach of safety or just on
+the point of destruction. In short, in that one Athenian army as long as the
+sea-fight remained doubtful there was every sound to be heard at once, shrieks,
+cheers, &ldquo;We win,&rdquo; &ldquo;We lose,&rdquo; and all the other manifold
+exclamations that a great host would necessarily utter in great peril; and with
+the men in the fleet it was nearly the same; until at last the Syracusans and
+their allies, after the battle had lasted a long while, put the Athenians to
+flight, and with much shouting and cheering chased them in open rout to the
+shore. The naval force, one one way, one another, as many as were not taken
+afloat now ran ashore and rushed from on board their ships to their camp; while
+the army, no more divided, but carried away by one impulse, all with shrieks
+and groans deplored the event, and ran down, some to help the ships, others to
+guard what was left of their wall, while the remaining and most numerous part
+already began to consider how they should save themselves. Indeed, the panic of
+the present moment had never been surpassed. They now suffered very nearly what
+they had inflicted at Pylos; as then the Lacedaemonians with the loss of their
+fleet lost also the men who had crossed over to the island, so now the
+Athenians had no hope of escaping by land, without the help of some
+extraordinary accident.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sea-fight having been a severe one, and many ships and lives having been
+lost on both sides, the victorious Syracusans and their allies now picked up
+their wrecks and dead, and sailed off to the city and set up a trophy. The
+Athenians, overwhelmed by their misfortune, never even thought of asking leave
+to take up their dead or wrecks, but wished to retreat that very night.
+Demosthenes, however, went to Nicias and gave it as his opinion that they
+should man the ships they had left and make another effort to force their
+passage out next morning; saying that they had still left more ships fit for
+service than the enemy, the Athenians having about sixty remaining as against
+less than fifty of their opponents. Nicias was quite of his mind; but when they
+wished to man the vessels, the sailors refused to go on board, being so utterly
+overcome by their defeat as no longer to believe in the possibility of success.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly they all now made up their minds to retreat by land. Meanwhile the
+Syracusan Hermocrates&mdash;suspecting their intention, and impressed by the
+danger of allowing a force of that magnitude to retire by land, establish
+itself in some other part of Sicily, and from thence renew the war&mdash;went
+and stated his views to the authorities, and pointed out to them that they
+ought not to let the enemy get away by night, but that all the Syracusans and
+their allies should at once march out and block up the roads and seize and
+guard the passes. The authorities were entirely of his opinion, and thought
+that it ought to be done, but on the other hand felt sure that the people, who
+had given themselves over to rejoicing, and were taking their ease after a
+great battle at sea, would not be easily brought to obey; besides, they were
+celebrating a festival, having on that day a sacrifice to Heracles, and most of
+them in their rapture at the victory had fallen to drinking at the festival,
+and would probably consent to anything sooner than to take up their arms and
+march out at that moment. For these reasons the thing appeared impracticable to
+the magistrates; and Hermocrates, finding himself unable to do anything further
+with them, had now recourse to the following stratagem of his own. What he
+feared was that the Athenians might quietly get the start of them by passing
+the most difficult places during the night; and he therefore sent, as soon as
+it was dusk, some friends of his own to the camp with some horsemen who rode up
+within earshot and called out to some of the men, as though they were
+well-wishers of the Athenians, and told them to tell Nicias (who had in fact
+some correspondents who informed him of what went on inside the town) not to
+lead off the army by night as the Syracusans were guarding the roads, but to
+make his preparations at his leisure and to retreat by day. After saying this
+they departed; and their hearers informed the Athenian generals, who put off
+going for that night on the strength of this message, not doubting its
+sincerity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since after all they had not set out at once, they now determined to stay also
+the following day to give time to the soldiers to pack up as well as they could
+the most useful articles, and, leaving everything else behind, to start only
+with what was strictly necessary for their personal subsistence. Meanwhile the
+Syracusans and Gylippus marched out and blocked up the roads through the
+country by which the Athenians were likely to pass, and kept guard at the fords
+of the streams and rivers, posting themselves so as to receive them and stop
+the army where they thought best; while their fleet sailed up to the beach and
+towed off the ships of the Athenians. Some few were burned by the Athenians
+themselves as they had intended; the rest the Syracusans lashed on to their own
+at their leisure as they had been thrown up on shore, without any one trying to
+stop them, and conveyed to the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this, Nicias and Demosthenes now thinking that enough had been done in
+the way of preparation, the removal of the army took place upon the second day
+after the sea-fight. It was a lamentable scene, not merely from the single
+circumstance that they were retreating after having lost all their ships, their
+great hopes gone, and themselves and the state in peril; but also in leaving
+the camp there were things most grievous for every eye and heart to
+contemplate. The dead lay unburied, and each man as he recognized a friend
+among them shuddered with grief and horror; while the living whom they were
+leaving behind, wounded or sick, were to the living far more shocking than the
+dead, and more to be pitied than those who had perished. These fell to
+entreating and bewailing until their friends knew not what to do, begging them
+to take them and loudly calling to each individual comrade or relative whom
+they could see, hanging upon the necks of their tent-fellows in the act of
+departure, and following as far as they could, and, when their bodily strength
+failed them, calling again and again upon heaven and shrieking aloud as they
+were left behind. So that the whole army being filled with tears and distracted
+after this fashion found it not easy to go, even from an enemy&rsquo;s land,
+where they had already suffered evils too great for tears and in the unknown
+future before them feared to suffer more. Dejection and self-condemnation were
+also rife among them. Indeed they could only be compared to a starved-out town,
+and that no small one, escaping; the whole multitude upon the march being not
+less than forty thousand men. All carried anything they could which might be of
+use, and the heavy infantry and troopers, contrary to their wont, while under
+arms carried their own victuals, in some cases for want of servants, in others
+through not trusting them; as they had long been deserting and now did so in
+greater numbers than ever. Yet even thus they did not carry enough, as there
+was no longer food in the camp. Moreover their disgrace generally, and the
+universality of their sufferings, however to a certain extent alleviated by
+being borne in company, were still felt at the moment a heavy burden,
+especially when they contrasted the splendour and glory of their setting out
+with the humiliation in which it had ended. For this was by far the greatest
+reverse that ever befell an Hellenic army. They had come to enslave others, and
+were departing in fear of being enslaved themselves: they had sailed out with
+prayer and paeans, and now started to go back with omens directly contrary;
+travelling by land instead of by sea, and trusting not in their fleet but in
+their heavy infantry. Nevertheless the greatness of the danger still impending
+made all this appear tolerable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nicias seeing the army dejected and greatly altered, passed along the ranks and
+encouraged and comforted them as far as was possible under the circumstances,
+raising his voice still higher and higher as he went from one company to
+another in his earnestness, and in his anxiety that the benefit of his words
+might reach as many as possible:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Athenians and allies, even in our present position we must still hope
+on, since men have ere now been saved from worse straits than this; and you
+must not condemn yourselves too severely either because of your disasters or
+because of your present unmerited sufferings. I myself who am not superior to
+any of you in strength&mdash;indeed you see how I am in my sickness&mdash;and
+who in the gifts of fortune am, I think, whether in private life or otherwise,
+the equal of any, am now exposed to the same danger as the meanest among you;
+and yet my life has been one of much devotion toward the gods, and of much
+justice and without offence toward men. I have, therefore, still a strong hope
+for the future, and our misfortunes do not terrify me as much as they might.
+Indeed we may hope that they will be lightened: our enemies have had good
+fortune enough; and if any of the gods was offended at our expedition, we have
+been already amply punished. Others before us have attacked their neighbours
+and have done what men will do without suffering more than they could bear; and
+we may now justly expect to find the gods more kind, for we have become fitter
+objects for their pity than their jealousy. And then look at yourselves, mark
+the numbers and efficiency of the heavy infantry marching in your ranks, and do
+not give way too much to despondency, but reflect that you are yourselves at
+once a city wherever you sit down, and that there is no other in Sicily that
+could easily resist your attack, or expel you when once established. The safety
+and order of the march is for yourselves to look to; the one thought of each
+man being that the spot on which he may be forced to fight must be conquered
+and held as his country and stronghold. Meanwhile we shall hasten on our way
+night and day alike, as our provisions are scanty; and if we can reach some
+friendly place of the Sicels, whom fear of the Syracusans still keeps true to
+us, you may forthwith consider yourselves safe. A message has been sent on to
+them with directions to meet us with supplies of food. To sum up, be convinced,
+soldiers, that you must be brave, as there is no place near for your cowardice
+to take refuge in, and that if you now escape from the enemy, you may all see
+again what your hearts desire, while those of you who are Athenians will raise
+up again the great power of the state, fallen though it be. Men make the city
+and not walls or ships without men in them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he made this address, Nicias went along the ranks, and brought back to their
+place any of the troops that he saw straggling out of the line; while
+Demosthenes did as much for his part of the army, addressing them in words very
+similar. The army marched in a hollow square, the division under Nicias
+leading, and that of Demosthenes following, the heavy infantry being outside
+and the baggage-carriers and the bulk of the army in the middle. When they
+arrived at the ford of the river Anapus there they found drawn up a body of the
+Syracusans and allies, and routing these, made good their passage and pushed
+on, harassed by the charges of the Syracusan horse and by the missiles of their
+light troops. On that day they advanced about four miles and a half, halting
+for the night upon a certain hill. On the next they started early and got on
+about two miles further, and descended into a place in the plain and there
+encamped, in order to procure some eatables from the houses, as the place was
+inhabited, and to carry on with them water from thence, as for many furlongs in
+front, in the direction in which they were going, it was not plentiful. The
+Syracusans meanwhile went on and fortified the pass in front, where there was a
+steep hill with a rocky ravine on each side of it, called the Acraean cliff.
+The next day the Athenians advancing found themselves impeded by the missiles
+and charges of the horse and darters, both very numerous, of the Syracusans and
+allies; and after fighting for a long while, at length retired to the same
+camp, where they had no longer provisions as before, it being impossible to
+leave their position by reason of the cavalry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early next morning they started afresh and forced their way to the hill, which
+had been fortified, where they found before them the enemy&rsquo;s infantry
+drawn up many shields deep to defend the fortification, the pass being narrow.
+The Athenians assaulted the work, but were greeted by a storm of missiles from
+the hill, which told with the greater effect through its being a steep one, and
+unable to force the passage, retreated again and rested. Meanwhile occurred
+some claps of thunder and rain, as often happens towards autumn, which still
+further disheartened the Athenians, who thought all these things to be omens of
+their approaching ruin. While they were resting, Gylippus and the Syracusans
+sent a part of their army to throw up works in their rear on the way by which
+they had advanced; however, the Athenians immediately sent some of their men
+and prevented them; after which they retreated more towards the plain and
+halted for the night. When they advanced the next day the Syracusans surrounded
+and attacked them on every side, and disabled many of them, falling back if the
+Athenians advanced and coming on if they retired, and in particular assaulting
+their rear, in the hope of routing them in detail, and thus striking a panic
+into the whole army. For a long while the Athenians persevered in this fashion,
+but after advancing for four or five furlongs halted to rest in the plain, the
+Syracusans also withdrawing to their own camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the night Nicias and Demosthenes, seeing the wretched condition of their
+troops, now in want of every kind of necessary, and numbers of them disabled in
+the numerous attacks of the enemy, determined to light as many fires as
+possible, and to lead off the army, no longer by the same route as they had
+intended, but towards the sea in the opposite direction to that guarded by the
+Syracusans. The whole of this route was leading the army not to Catana but to
+the other side of Sicily, towards Camarina, Gela, and the other Hellenic and
+barbarian towns in that quarter. They accordingly lit a number of fires and set
+out by night. Now all armies, and the greatest most of all, are liable to fears
+and alarms, especially when they are marching by night through an enemy&rsquo;s
+country and with the enemy near; and the Athenians falling into one of these
+panics, the leading division, that of Nicias, kept together and got on a good
+way in front, while that of Demosthenes, comprising rather more than half the
+army, got separated and marched on in some disorder. By morning, however, they
+reached the sea, and getting into the Helorine road, pushed on in order to
+reach the river Cacyparis, and to follow the stream up through the interior,
+where they hoped to be met by the Sicels whom they had sent for. Arrived at the
+river, they found there also a Syracusan party engaged in barring the passage
+of the ford with a wall and a palisade, and forcing this guard, crossed the
+river and went on to another called the Erineus, according to the advice of
+their guides.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, when day came and the Syracusans and allies found that the Athenians
+were gone, most of them accused Gylippus of having let them escape on purpose,
+and hastily pursuing by the road which they had no difficulty in finding that
+they had taken, overtook them about dinner-time. They first came up with the
+troops under Demosthenes, who were behind and marching somewhat slowly and in
+disorder, owing to the night panic above referred to, and at once attacked and
+engaged them, the Syracusan horse surrounding them with more ease now that they
+were separated from the rest and hemming them in on one spot. The division of
+Nicias was five or six miles on in front, as he led them more rapidly, thinking
+that under the circumstances their safety lay not in staying and fighting,
+unless obliged, but in retreating as fast as possible, and only fighting when
+forced to do so. On the other hand, Demosthenes was, generally speaking,
+harassed more incessantly, as his post in the rear left him the first exposed
+to the attacks of the enemy; and now, finding that the Syracusans were in
+pursuit, he omitted to push on, in order to form his men for battle, and so
+lingered until he was surrounded by his pursuers and himself and the Athenians
+with him placed in the most distressing position, being huddled into an
+enclosure with a wall all round it, a road on this side and on that, and
+olive-trees in great number, where missiles were showered in upon them from
+every quarter. This mode of attack the Syracusans had with good reason adopted
+in preference to fighting at close quarters, as to risk a struggle with
+desperate men was now more for the advantage of the Athenians than for their
+own; besides, their success had now become so certain that they began to spare
+themselves a little in order not to be cut off in the moment of victory,
+thinking too that, as it was, they would be able in this way to subdue and
+capture the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In fact, after plying the Athenians and allies all day long from every side
+with missiles, they at length saw that they were worn out with their wounds and
+other sufferings; and Gylippus and the Syracusans and their allies made a
+proclamation, offering their liberty to any of the islanders who chose to come
+over to them; and some few cities went over. Afterwards a capitulation was
+agreed upon for all the rest with Demosthenes, to lay down their arms on
+condition that no one was to be put to death either by violence or imprisonment
+or want of the necessaries of life. Upon this they surrendered to the number of
+six thousand in all, laying down all the money in their possession, which
+filled the hollows of four shields, and were immediately conveyed by the
+Syracusans to the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Nicias with his division arrived that day at the river Erineus,
+crossed over, and posted his army upon some high ground upon the other side.
+The next day the Syracusans overtook him and told him that the troops under
+Demosthenes had surrendered, and invited him to follow their example.
+Incredulous of the fact, Nicias asked for a truce to send a horseman to see,
+and upon the return of the messenger with the tidings that they had
+surrendered, sent a herald to Gylippus and the Syracusans, saying that he was
+ready to agree with them on behalf of the Athenians to repay whatever money the
+Syracusans had spent upon the war if they would let his army go; and offered
+until the money was paid to give Athenians as hostages, one for every talent.
+The Syracusans and Gylippus rejected this proposition, and attacked this
+division as they had the other, standing all round and plying them with
+missiles until the evening. Food and necessaries were as miserably wanting to
+the troops of Nicias as they had been to their comrades; nevertheless they
+watched for the quiet of the night to resume their march. But as they were
+taking up their arms the Syracusans perceived it and raised their paean, upon
+which the Athenians, finding that they were discovered, laid them down again,
+except about three hundred men who forced their way through the guards and went
+on during the night as they were able.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as it was day Nicias put his army in motion, pressed, as before, by the
+Syracusans and their allies, pelted from every side by their missiles, and
+struck down by their javelins. The Athenians pushed on for the Assinarus,
+impelled by the attacks made upon them from every side by a numerous cavalry
+and the swarm of other arms, fancying that they should breathe more freely if
+once across the river, and driven on also by their exhaustion and craving for
+water. Once there they rushed in, and all order was at an end, each man wanting
+to cross first, and the attacks of the enemy making it difficult to cross at
+all; forced to huddle together, they fell against and trod down one another,
+some dying immediately upon the javelins, others getting entangled together and
+stumbling over the articles of baggage, without being able to rise again.
+Meanwhile the opposite bank, which was steep, was lined by the Syracusans, who
+showered missiles down upon the Athenians, most of them drinking greedily and
+heaped together in disorder in the hollow bed of the river. The Peloponnesians
+also came down and butchered them, especially those in the water, which was
+thus immediately spoiled, but which they went on drinking just the same, mud
+and all, bloody as it was, most even fighting to have it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, when many dead now lay piled one upon another in the stream, and part
+of the army had been destroyed at the river, and the few that escaped from
+thence cut off by the cavalry, Nicias surrendered himself to Gylippus, whom he
+trusted more than he did the Syracusans, and told him and the Lacedaemonians to
+do what they liked with him, but to stop the slaughter of the soldiers.
+Gylippus, after this, immediately gave orders to make prisoners; upon which the
+rest were brought together alive, except a large number secreted by the
+soldiery, and a party was sent in pursuit of the three hundred who had got
+through the guard during the night, and who were now taken with the rest. The
+number of the enemy collected as public property was not considerable; but that
+secreted was very large, and all Sicily was filled with them, no convention
+having been made in their case as for those taken with Demosthenes. Besides
+this, a large portion were killed outright, the carnage being very great, and
+not exceeded by any in this Sicilian war. In the numerous other encounters upon
+the march, not a few also had fallen. Nevertheless many escaped, some at the
+moment, others served as slaves, and then ran away subsequently. These found
+refuge at Catana.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Syracusans and their allies now mustered and took up the spoils and as many
+prisoners as they could, and went back to the city. The rest of their Athenian
+and allied captives were deposited in the quarries, this seeming the safest way
+of keeping them; but Nicias and Demosthenes were butchered, against the will of
+Gylippus, who thought that it would be the crown of his triumph if he could
+take the enemy&rsquo;s generals to Lacedaemon. One of them, as it happened,
+Demosthenes, was one of her greatest enemies, on account of the affair of the
+island and of Pylos; while the other, Nicias, was for the same reasons one of
+her greatest friends, owing to his exertions to procure the release of the
+prisoners by persuading the Athenians to make peace. For these reasons the
+Lacedaemonians felt kindly towards him; and it was in this that Nicias himself
+mainly confided when he surrendered to Gylippus. But some of the Syracusans who
+had been in correspondence with him were afraid, it was said, of his being put
+to the torture and troubling their success by his revelations; others,
+especially the Corinthians, of his escaping, as he was wealthy, by means of
+bribes, and living to do them further mischief; and these persuaded the allies
+and put him to death. This or the like was the cause of the death of a man who,
+of all the Hellenes in my time, least deserved such a fate, seeing that the
+whole course of his life had been regulated with strict attention to virtue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The prisoners in the quarries were at first hardly treated by the Syracusans.
+Crowded in a narrow hole, without any roof to cover them, the heat of the sun
+and the stifling closeness of the air tormented them during the day, and then
+the nights, which came on autumnal and chilly, made them ill by the violence of
+the change; besides, as they had to do everything in the same place for want of
+room, and the bodies of those who died of their wounds or from the variation in
+the temperature, or from similar causes, were left heaped together one upon
+another, intolerable stenches arose; while hunger and thirst never ceased to
+afflict them, each man during eight months having only half a pint of water and
+a pint of corn given him daily. In short, no single suffering to be apprehended
+by men thrust into such a place was spared them. For some seventy days they
+thus lived all together, after which all, except the Athenians and any
+Siceliots or Italiots who had joined in the expedition, were sold. The total
+number of prisoners taken it would be difficult to state exactly, but it could
+not have been less than seven thousand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the greatest Hellenic achievement of any in thig war, or, in my
+opinion, in Hellenic history; at once most glorious to the victors, and most
+calamitous to the conquered. They were beaten at all points and altogether; all
+that they suffered was great; they were destroyed, as the saying is, with a
+total destruction, their fleet, their army, everything was destroyed, and few
+out of many returned home. Such were the events in Sicily.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"></a>
+BOOK VIII </h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"></a>
+CHAPTER XXIV </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War&mdash;Revolt of Ionia&mdash;
+Intervention of Persia&mdash;The War in Ionia
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the news was brought to Athens, for a long while they disbelieved even the
+most respectable of the soldiers who had themselves escaped from the scene of
+action and clearly reported the matter, a destruction so complete not being
+thought credible. When the conviction was forced upon them, they were angry
+with the orators who had joined in promoting the expedition, just as if they
+had not themselves voted it, and were enraged also with the reciters of oracles
+and soothsayers, and all other omen-mongers of the time who had encouraged them
+to hope that they should conquer Sicily. Already distressed at all points and
+in all quarters, after what had now happened, they were seized by a fear and
+consternation quite without example. It was grievous enough for the state and
+for every man in his proper person to lose so many heavy infantry, cavalry, and
+able-bodied troops, and to see none left to replace them; but when they saw,
+also, that they had not sufficient ships in their docks, or money in the
+treasury, or crews for the ships, they began to despair of salvation. They
+thought that their enemies in Sicily would immediately sail with their fleet
+against Piraeus, inflamed by so signal a victory; while their adversaries at
+home, redoubling all their preparations, would vigorously attack them by sea
+and land at once, aided by their own revolted confederates. Nevertheless, with
+such means as they had, it was determined to resist to the last, and to provide
+timber and money, and to equip a fleet as they best could, to take steps to
+secure their confederates and above all Euboea, to reform things in the city
+upon a more economical footing, and to elect a board of elders to advise upon
+the state of affairs as occasion should arise. In short, as is the way of a
+democracy, in the panic of the moment they were ready to be as prudent as
+possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These resolves were at once carried into effect. Summer was now over. The
+winter ensuing saw all Hellas stirring under the impression of the great
+Athenian disaster in Sicily. Neutrals now felt that even if uninvited they
+ought no longer to stand aloof from the war, but should volunteer to march
+against the Athenians, who, as they severally reflected, would probably have
+come against them if the Sicilian campaign had succeeded. Besides, they
+considered that the war would now be short, and that it would be creditable for
+them to take part in it. Meanwhile the allies of the Lacedaemonians felt all
+more anxious than ever to see a speedy end to their heavy labours. But above
+all, the subjects of the Athenians showed a readiness to revolt even beyond
+their ability, judging the circumstances with passion, and refusing even to
+hear of the Athenians being able to last out the coming summer. Beyond all
+this, Lacedaemon was encouraged by the near prospect of being joined in great
+force in the spring by her allies in Sicily, lately forced by events to acquire
+their navy. With these reasons for confidence in every quarter, the
+Lacedaemonians now resolved to throw themselves without reserve into the war,
+considering that, once it was happily terminated, they would be finally
+delivered from such dangers as that which would have threatened them from
+Athens, if she had become mistress of Sicily, and that the overthrow of the
+Athenians would leave them in quiet enjoyment of the supremacy over all Hellas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their king, Agis, accordingly set out at once during this winter with some
+troops from Decelea, and levied from the allies contributions for the fleet,
+and turning towards the Malian Gulf exacted a sum of money from the Oetaeans by
+carrying off most of their cattle in reprisal for their old hostility, and, in
+spite of the protests and opposition of the Thessalians, forced the Achaeans of
+Phthiotis and the other subjects of the Thessalians in those parts to give him
+money and hostages, and deposited the hostages at Corinth, and tried to bring
+their countrymen into the confederacy. The Lacedaemonians now issued a
+requisition to the cities for building a hundred ships, fixing their own quota
+and that of the Boeotians at twenty-five each; that of the Phocians and
+Locrians together at fifteen; that of the Corinthians at fifteen; that of the
+Arcadians, Pellenians, and Sicyonians together at ten; and that of the
+Megarians, Troezenians, Epidaurians, and Hermionians together at ten also; and
+meanwhile made every other preparation for commencing hostilities by the
+spring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Athenians were not idle. During this same winter, as they
+had determined, they contributed timber and pushed on their ship-building, and
+fortified Sunium to enable their corn-ships to round it in safety, and
+evacuated the fort in Laconia which they had built on their way to Sicily;
+while they also, for economy, cut down any other expenses that seemed
+unnecessary, and above all kept a careful look-out against the revolt of their
+confederates.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While both parties were thus engaged, and were as intent upon preparing for the
+war as they had been at the outset, the Euboeans first of all sent envoys
+during this winter to Agis to treat of their revolting from Athens. Agis
+accepted their proposals, and sent for Alcamenes, son of Sthenelaidas, and
+Melanthus from Lacedaemon, to take the command in Euboea. These accordingly
+arrived with some three hundred Neodamodes, and Agis began to arrange for their
+crossing over. But in the meanwhile arrived some Lesbians, who also wished to
+revolt; and these being supported by the Boeotians, Agis was persuaded to defer
+acting in the matter of Euboea, and made arrangements for the revolt of the
+Lesbians, giving them Alcamenes, who was to have sailed to Euboea, as governor,
+and himself promising them ten ships, and the Boeotians the same number. All
+this was done without instructions from home, as Agis while at Decelea with the
+army that he commanded had power to send troops to whatever quarter he pleased,
+and to levy men and money. During this period, one might say, the allies obeyed
+him much more than they did the Lacedaemonians in the city, as the force he had
+with him made him feared at once wherever he went. While Agis was engaged with
+the Lesbians, the Chians and Erythraeans, who were also ready to revolt,
+applied, not to him but at Lacedaemon; where they arrived accompanied by an
+ambassador from Tissaphernes, the commander of King Darius, son of Artaxerxes,
+in the maritime districts, who invited the Peloponnesians to come over, and
+promised to maintain their army. The King had lately called upon him for the
+tribute from his government, for which he was in arrears, being unable to raise
+it from the Hellenic towns by reason of the Athenians; and he therefore
+calculated that by weakening the Athenians he should get the tribute better
+paid, and should also draw the Lacedaemonians into alliance with the King; and
+by this means, as the King had commanded him, take alive or dead Amorges, the
+bastard son of Pissuthnes, who was in rebellion on the coast of Caria.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Chians and Tissaphernes thus joined to effect the same object, about
+the same time Calligeitus, son of Laophon, a Megarian, and Timagoras, son of
+Athenagoras, a Cyzicene, both of them exiles from their country and living at
+the court of Pharnabazus, son of Pharnaces, arrived at Lacedaemon upon a
+mission from Pharnabazus, to procure a fleet for the Hellespont; by means of
+which, if possible, he might himself effect the object of Tissaphernes&rsquo;
+ambition and cause the cities in his government to revolt from the Athenians,
+and so get the tribute, and by his own agency obtain for the King the alliance
+of the Lacedaemonians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The emissaries of Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes treating apart, a keen
+competition now ensued at Lacedaemon as to whether a fleet and army should be
+sent first to Ionia and Chios, or to the Hellespont. The Lacedaemonians,
+however, decidedly favoured the Chians and Tissaphernes, who were seconded by
+Alcibiades, the family friend of Endius, one of the ephors for that year.
+Indeed, this is how their house got its Laconic name, Alcibiades being the
+family name of Endius. Nevertheless the Lacedaemonians first sent to Chios
+Phrynis, one of the Perioeci, to see whether they had as many ships as they
+said, and whether their city generally was as great as was reported; and upon
+his bringing word that they had been told the truth, immediately entered into
+alliance with the Chians and Erythraeans, and voted to send them forty ships,
+there being already, according to the statement of the Chians, not less than
+sixty in the island. At first the Lacedaemonians meant to send ten of these
+forty themselves, with Melanchridas their admiral; but afterwards, an
+earthquake having occurred, they sent Chalcideus instead of Melanchridas, and
+instead of the ten ships equipped only five in Laconia. And the winter ended,
+and with it ended also the nineteenth year of this war of which Thucydides is
+the historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the beginning of the next summer the Chians were urging that the fleet
+should be sent off, being afraid that the Athenians, from whom all these
+embassies were kept a secret, might find out what was going on, and the
+Lacedaemonians at once sent three Spartans to Corinth to haul the ships as
+quickly as possible across the Isthmus from the other sea to that on the side
+of Athens, and to order them all to sail to Chios, those which Agis was
+equipping for Lesbos not excepted. The number of ships from the allied states
+was thirty-nine in all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Calligeitus and Timagoras did not join on behalf of Pharnabazus in
+the expedition to Chios or give the money&mdash;twenty-five talents&mdash;which
+they had brought with them to help in dispatching a force, but determined to
+sail afterwards with another force by themselves. Agis, on the other hand,
+seeing the Lacedaemonians bent upon going to Chios first, himself came in to
+their views; and the allies assembled at Corinth and held a council, in which
+they decided to sail first to Chios under the command of Chalcideus, who was
+equipping the five vessels in Laconia, then to Lesbos, under the command of
+Alcamenes, the same whom Agis had fixed upon, and lastly to go to the
+Hellespont, where the command was given to Clearchus, son of Ramphias.
+Meanwhile they would take only half the ships across the Isthmus first, and let
+those sail off at once, in order that the Athenians might attend less to the
+departing squadron than to those to be taken across afterwards, as no care had
+been taken to keep this voyage secret through contempt of the impotence of the
+Athenians, who had as yet no fleet of any account upon the sea. Agreeably to
+this determination, twenty-one vessels were at once conveyed across the
+Isthmus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were now impatient to set sail, but the Corinthians were not willing to
+accompany them until they had celebrated the Isthmian festival, which fell at
+that time. Upon this Agis proposed to them to save their scruples about
+breaking the Isthmian truce by taking the expedition upon himself. The
+Corinthians not consenting to this, a delay ensued, during which the Athenians
+conceived suspicions of what was preparing at Chios, and sent Aristocrates, one
+of their generals, and charged them with the fact, and, upon the denial of the
+Chians, ordered them to send with them a contingent of ships, as faithful
+confederates. Seven were sent accordingly. The reason of the dispatch of the
+ships lay in the fact that the mass of the Chians were not privy to the
+negotiations, while the few who were in the secret did not wish to break with
+the multitude until they had something positive to lean upon, and no longer
+expected the Peloponnesians to arrive by reason of their delay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Isthmian games took place, and the Athenians, who had been
+also invited, went to attend them, and now seeing more clearly into the designs
+of the Chians, as soon as they returned to Athens took measures to prevent the
+fleet putting out from Cenchreae without their knowledge. After the festival
+the Peloponnesians set sail with twenty-one ships for Chios, under the command
+of Alcamenes. The Athenians first sailed against them with an equal number,
+drawing off towards the open sea. The enemy, however, turning back before he
+had followed them far, the Athenians returned also, not trusting the seven
+Chian ships which formed part of their number, and afterwards manned
+thirty-seven vessels in all and chased him on his passage alongshore into
+Spiraeum, a desert Corinthian port on the edge of the Epidaurian frontier.
+After losing one ship out at sea, the Peloponnesians got the rest together and
+brought them to anchor. The Athenians now attacked not only from the sea with
+their fleet, but also disembarked upon the coast; and a melee ensued of the
+most confused and violent kind, in which the Athenians disabled most of the
+enemy&rsquo;s vessels and killed Alcamenes their commander, losing also a few
+of their own men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this they separated, and the Athenians, detaching a sufficient number of
+ships to blockade those of the enemy, anchored with the rest at the islet
+adjacent, upon which they proceeded to encamp, and sent to Athens for
+reinforcements; the Peloponnesians having been joined on the day after the
+battle by the Corinthians, who came to help the ships, and by the other
+inhabitants in the vicinity not long afterwards. These saw the difficulty of
+keeping guard in a desert place, and in their perplexity at first thought of
+burning the ships, but finally resolved to haul them up on shore and sit down
+and guard them with their land forces until a convenient opportunity for
+escaping should present itself. Agis also, on being informed of the disaster,
+sent them a Spartan of the name of Thermon. The Lacedaemonians first received
+the news of the fleet having put out from the Isthmus, Alcamenes having been
+ordered by the ephors to send off a horseman when this took place, and
+immediately resolved to dispatch their own five vessels under Chalcideus, and
+Alcibiades with him. But while they were full of this resolution came the
+second news of the fleet having taken refuge in Spiraeum; and disheartened at
+their first step in the Ionian war proving a failure, they laid aside the idea
+of sending the ships from their own country, and even wished to recall some
+that had already sailed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perceiving this, Alcibiades again persuaded Endius and the other ephors to
+persevere in the expedition, saying that the voyage would be made before the
+Chians heard of the fleet&rsquo;s misfortune, and that as soon as he set foot
+in Ionia, he should, by assuring them of the weakness of the Athenians and the
+zeal of Lacedaemon, have no difficulty in persuading the cities to revolt, as
+they would readily believe his testimony. He also represented to Endius himself
+in private that it would be glorious for him to be the means of making Ionia
+revolt and the King become the ally of Lacedaemon, instead of that honour being
+left to Agis (Agis, it must be remembered, was the enemy of Alcibiades); and
+Endius and his colleagues thus persuaded, he put to sea with the five ships and
+the Lacedaemonian Chalcideus, and made all haste upon the voyage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About this time the sixteen Peloponnesian ships from Sicily, which had served
+through the war with Gylippus, were caught on their return off Leucadia and
+roughly handled by the twenty-seven Athenian vessels under Hippocles, son of
+Menippus, on the lookout for the ships from Sicily. After losing one of their
+number, the rest escaped from the Athenians and sailed into Corinth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades seized all they met with on their voyage,
+to prevent news of their coming, and let them go at Corycus, the first point
+which they touched at in the continent. Here they were visited by some of their
+Chian correspondents and, being urged by them to sail up to the town without
+announcing their coming, arrived suddenly before Chios. The many were amazed
+and confounded, while the few had so arranged that the council should be
+sitting at the time; and after speeches from Chalcideus and Alcibiades stating
+that many more ships were sailing up, but saying nothing of the fleet being
+blockaded in Spiraeum, the Chians revolted from the Athenians, and the
+Erythraeans immediately afterwards. After this three vessels sailed over to
+Clazomenae, and made that city revolt also; and the Clazomenians immediately
+crossed over to the mainland and began to fortify Polichna, in order to retreat
+there, in case of necessity, from the island where they dwelt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the revolted places were all engaged in fortifying and preparing for the
+war, news of Chios speedily reached Athens. The Athenians thought the danger by
+which they were now menaced great and unmistakable, and that the rest of their
+allies would not consent to keep quiet after the secession of the greatest of
+their number. In the consternation of the moment they at once took off the
+penalty attaching to whoever proposed or put to the vote a proposal for using
+the thousand talents which they had jealously avoided touching throughout the
+whole war, and voted to employ them to man a large number of ships, and to send
+off at once under Strombichides, son of Diotimus, the eight vessels, forming
+part of the blockading fleet at Spiraeum, which had left the blockade and had
+returned after pursuing and failing to overtake the vessels with Chalcideus.
+These were to be followed shortly afterwards by twelve more under Thrasycles,
+also taken from the blockade. They also recalled the seven Chian vessels,
+forming part of their squadron blockading the fleet in Spiraeum, and giving the
+slaves on board their liberty, put the freemen in confinement, and speedily
+manned and sent out ten fresh ships to blockade the Peloponnesians in the place
+of all those that had departed, and decided to man thirty more. Zeal was not
+wanting, and no effort was spared to send relief to Chios.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime Strombichides with his eight ships arrived at Samos, and,
+taking one Samian vessel, sailed to Teos and required them to remain quiet.
+Chalcideus also set sail with twenty-three ships for Teos from Chios, the land
+forces of the Clazomenians and Erythraeans moving alongshore to support him.
+Informed of this in time, Strombichides put out from Teos before their arrival,
+and while out at sea, seeing the number of the ships from Chios, fled towards
+Samos, chased by the enemy. The Teians at first would not receive the land
+forces, but upon the flight of the Athenians took them into the town. There
+they waited for some time for Chalcideus to return from the pursuit, and as
+time went on without his appearing, began themselves to demolish the wall which
+the Athenians had built on the land side of the city of the Teians, being
+assisted by a few of the barbarians who had come up under the command of
+Stages, the lieutenant of Tissaphernes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades, after chasing Strombichides into Samos,
+armed the crews of the ships from Peloponnese and left them at Chios, and
+filling their places with substitutes from Chios and manning twenty others,
+sailed off to effect the revolt of Miletus. The wish of Alcibiades, who had
+friends among the leading men of the Milesians, was to bring over the town
+before the arrival of the ships from Peloponnese, and thus, by causing the
+revolt of as many cities as possible with the help of the Chian power and of
+Chalcideus, to secure the honour for the Chians and himself and Chalcideus,
+and, as he had promised, for Endius who had sent them out. Not discovered until
+their voyage was nearly completed, they arrived a little before Strombichides
+and Thrasycles (who had just come with twelve ships from Athens, and had joined
+Strombichides in pursuing them), and occasioned the revolt of Miletus. The
+Athenians sailing up close on their heels with nineteen ships found Miletus
+closed against them, and took up their station at the adjacent island of Lade.
+The first alliance between the King and the Lacedaemonians was now concluded
+immediately upon the revolt of the Milesians, by Tissaphernes and Chalcideus,
+and was as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty with the King and
+Tissaphernes upon the terms following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Whatever country or cities the King has, or the King&rsquo;s ancestors had,
+shall be the king&rsquo;s: and whatever came in to the Athenians from these
+cities, either money or any other thing, the King and the Lacedaemonians and
+their allies shall jointly hinder the Athenians from receiving either money or
+any other thing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. The war with the Athenians shall be carried on jointly by the King and by
+the Lacedaemonians and their allies: and it shall not be lawful to make peace
+with the Athenians except both agree, the King on his side and the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies on theirs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. If any revolt from the King, they shall be the enemies of the Lacedaemonians
+and their allies. And if any revolt from the Lacedaemonians and their allies,
+they shall be the enemies of the King in like manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the alliance. After this the Chians immediately manned ten more
+vessels and sailed for Anaia, in order to gain intelligence of those in
+Miletus, and also to make the cities revolt. A message, however, reaching them
+from Chalcideus to tell them to go back again, and that Amorges was at hand
+with an army by land, they sailed to the temple of Zeus, and there sighting ten
+more ships sailing up with which Diomedon had started from Athens after
+Thrasycles, fled, one ship to Ephesus, the rest to Teos. The Athenians took
+four of their ships empty, the men finding time to escape ashore; the rest took
+refuge in the city of the Teians; after which the Athenians sailed off to
+Samos, while the Chians put to sea with their remaining vessels, accompanied by
+the land forces, and caused Lebedos to revolt, and after it Erae. After this
+they both returned home, the fleet and the army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time the twenty ships of the Peloponnesians in Spiraeum, which
+we left chased to land and blockaded by an equal number of Athenians, suddenly
+sallied out and defeated the blockading squadron, took four of their ships,
+and, sailing back to Cenchreae, prepared again for the voyage to Chios and
+Ionia. Here they were joined by Astyochus as high admiral from Lacedaemon,
+henceforth invested with the supreme command at sea. The land forces now
+withdrawing from Teos, Tissaphernes repaired thither in person with an army and
+completed the demolition of anything that was left of the wall, and so
+departed. Not long after his departure Diomedon arrived with ten Athenian
+ships, and, having made a convention by which the Teians admitted him as they
+had the enemy, coasted along to Erae, and, failing in an attempt upon the town,
+sailed back again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About this time took place the rising of the commons at Samos against the upper
+classes, in concert with some Athenians, who were there in three vessels. The
+Samian commons put to death some two hundred in all of the upper classes, and
+banished four hundred more, and themselves took their land and houses; after
+which the Athenians decreed their independence, being now sure of their
+fidelity, and the commons henceforth governed the city, excluding the
+landholders from all share in affairs, and forbidding any of the commons to
+give his daughter in marriage to them or to take a wife from them in future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this, during the same summer, the Chians, whose zeal continued as active
+as ever, and who even without the Peloponnesians found themselves in sufficient
+force to effect the revolt of the cities and also wished to have as many
+companions in peril as possible, made an expedition with thirteen ships of
+their own to Lesbos; the instructions from Lacedaemon being to go to that
+island next, and from thence to the Hellespont. Meanwhile the land forces of
+the Peloponnesians who were with the Chians and of the allies on the spot,
+moved alongshore for Clazomenae and Cuma, under the command of Eualas, a
+Spartan; while the fleet under Diniadas, one of the Perioeci, first sailed up
+to Methymna and caused it to revolt, and, leaving four ships there, with the
+rest procured the revolt of Mitylene.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime Astyochus, the Lacedaemonian admiral, set sail from Cenchreae
+with four ships, as he had intended, and arrived at Chios. On the third day
+after his arrival, the Athenian ships, twenty-five in number, sailed to Lesbos
+under Diomedon and Leon, who had lately arrived with a reinforcement of ten
+ships from Athens. Late in the same day Astyochus put to sea, and taking one
+Chian vessel with him sailed to Lesbos to render what assistance he could.
+Arrived at Pyrrha, and from thence the next day at Eresus, he there learned
+that Mitylene had been taken, almost without a blow, by the Athenians, who had
+sailed up and unexpectedly put into the harbour, had beaten the Chian ships,
+and landing and defeating the troops opposed to them had become masters of the
+city. Informed of this by the Eresians and the Chian ships, which had been left
+with Eubulus at Methymna, and had fled upon the capture of Mitylene, and three
+of which he now fell in with, one having been taken by the Athenians, Astyochus
+did not go on to Mitylene, but raised and armed Eresus, and, sending the heavy
+infantry from his own ships by land under Eteonicus to Antissa and Methymna,
+himself proceeded alongshore thither with the ships which he had with him and
+with the three Chians, in the hope that the Methymnians upon seeing them would
+be encouraged to persevere in their revolt. As, however, everything went
+against him in Lesbos, he took up his own force and sailed back to Chios; the
+land forces on board, which were to have gone to the Hellespont, being also
+conveyed back to their different cities. After this six of the allied
+Peloponnesian ships at Cenchreae joined the forces at Chios. The Athenians,
+after restoring matters to their old state in Lesbos, set sail from thence and
+took Polichna, the place that the Clazomenians were fortifying on the
+continent, and carried the inhabitants back to their town upon the island,
+except the authors of the revolt, who withdrew to Daphnus; and thus Clazomenae
+became once more Athenian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer the Athenians in the twenty ships at Lade, blockading Miletus,
+made a descent at Panormus in the Milesian territory, and killed Chalcideus the
+Lacedaemonian commander, who had come with a few men against them, and the
+third day after sailed over and set up a trophy, which, as they were not
+masters of the country, was however pulled down by the Milesians. Meanwhile
+Leon and Diomedon with the Athenian fleet from Lesbos issuing from the
+Oenussae, the isles off Chios, and from their forts of Sidussa and Pteleum in
+the Erythraeid, and from Lesbos, carried on the war against the Chians from the
+ships, having on board heavy infantry from the rolls pressed to serve as
+marines. Landing in Cardamyle and in Bolissus they defeated with heavy loss the
+Chians that took the field against them and, laying desolate the places in that
+neighbourhood, defeated the Chians again in another battle at Phanae, and in a
+third at Leuconium. After this the Chians ceased to meet them in the field,
+while the Athenians devastated the country, which was beautifully stocked and
+had remained uninjured ever since the Median wars. Indeed, after the
+Lacedaemonians, the Chians are the only people that I have known who knew how
+to be wise in prosperity, and who ordered their city the more securely the
+greater it grew. Nor was this revolt, in which they might seem to have erred on
+the side of rashness, ventured upon until they had numerous and gallant allies
+to share the danger with them, and until they perceived the Athenians after the
+Sicilian disaster themselves no longer denying the thoroughly desperate state
+of their affairs. And if they were thrown out by one of the surprises which
+upset human calculations, they found out their mistake in company with many
+others who believed, like them, in the speedy collapse of the Athenian power.
+While they were thus blockaded from the sea and plundered by land, some of the
+citizens undertook to bring the city over to the Athenians. Apprised of this
+the authorities took no action themselves, but brought Astyochus, the admiral,
+from Erythrae, with four ships that he had with him, and considered how they
+could most quietly, either by taking hostages or by some other means, put an
+end to the conspiracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Chians were thus engaged, a thousand Athenian heavy infantry and
+fifteen hundred Argives (five hundred of whom were light troops furnished with
+armour by the Athenians), and one thousand of the allies, towards the close of
+the same summer sailed from Athens in forty-eight ships, some of which were
+transports, under the command of Phrynichus, Onomacles, and Scironides, and
+putting into Samos crossed over and encamped at Miletus. Upon this the
+Milesians came out to the number of eight hundred heavy infantry, with the
+Peloponnesians who had come with Chalcideus, and some foreign mercenaries of
+Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes himself and his cavalry, and engaged the Athenians
+and their allies. While the Argives rushed forward on their own wing with the
+careless disdain of men advancing against Ionians who would never stand their
+charge, and were defeated by the Milesians with a loss little short of three
+hundred men, the Athenians first defeated the Peloponnesians, and driving
+before them the barbarians and the ruck of the army, without engaging the
+Milesians, who after the rout of the Argives retreated into the town upon
+seeing their comrades worsted, crowned their victory by grounding their arms
+under the very walls of Miletus. Thus, in this battle, the Ionians on both
+sides overcame the Dorians, the Athenians defeating the Peloponnesians opposed
+to them, and the Milesians the Argives. After setting up a trophy, the
+Athenians prepared to draw a wall round the place, which stood upon an isthmus;
+thinking that, if they could gain Miletus, the other towns also would easily
+come over to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile about dusk tidings reached them that the fifty-five ships from
+Peloponnese and Sicily might be instantly expected. Of these the Siceliots,
+urged principally by the Syracusan Hermocrates to join in giving the finishing
+blow to the power of Athens, furnished twenty-two&mdash;twenty from Syracuse,
+and two from Silenus; and the ships that we left preparing in Peloponnese being
+now ready, both squadrons had been entrusted to Therimenes, a Lacedaemonian, to
+take to Astyochus, the admiral. They now put in first at Leros the island off
+Miletus, and from thence, discovering that the Athenians were before the town,
+sailed into the Iasic Gulf, in order to learn how matters stood at Miletus.
+Meanwhile Alcibiades came on horseback to Teichiussa in the Milesian territory,
+the point of the gulf at which they had put in for the night, and told them of
+the battle in which he had fought in person by the side of the Milesians and
+Tissaphernes, and advised them, if they did not wish to sacrifice Ionia and
+their cause, to fly to the relief of Miletus and hinder its investment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly they resolved to relieve it the next morning. Meanwhile Phrynichus,
+the Athenian commander, had received precise intelligence of the fleet from
+Leros, and when his colleagues expressed a wish to keep the sea and fight it
+out, flatly refused either to stay himself or to let them or any one else do so
+if he could help it. Where they could hereafter contend, after full and
+undisturbed preparation, with an exact knowledge of the number of the
+enemy&rsquo;s fleet and of the force which they could oppose to him, he would
+never allow the reproach of disgrace to drive him into a risk that was
+unreasonable. It was no disgrace for an Athenian fleet to retreat when it
+suited them: put it as they would, it would be more disgraceful to be beaten,
+and to expose the city not only to disgrace, but to the most serious danger.
+After its late misfortunes it could hardly be justified in voluntarily taking
+the offensive even with the strongest force, except in a case of absolute
+necessity: much less then without compulsion could it rush upon peril of its
+own seeking. He told them to take up their wounded as quickly as they could and
+the troops and stores which they had brought with them, and leaving behind what
+they had taken from the enemy&rsquo;s country, in order to lighten the ships,
+to sail off to Samos, and there concentrating all their ships to attack as
+opportunity served. As he spoke so he acted; and thus not now more than
+afterwards, nor in this alone but in all that he had to do with, did Phrynichus
+show himself a man of sense. In this way that very evening the Athenians broke
+up from before Miletus, leaving their victory unfinished, and the Argives,
+mortified at their disaster, promptly sailed off home from Samos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as it was morning the Peloponnesians weighed from Teichiussa and put
+into Miletus after the departure of the Athenians; they stayed one day, and on
+the next took with them the Chian vessels originally chased into port with
+Chalcideus, and resolved to sail back for the tackle which they had put on
+shore at Teichiussa. Upon their arrival Tissaphernes came to them with his land
+forces and induced them to sail to Iasus, which was held by his enemy Amorges.
+Accordingly they suddenly attacked and took Iasus, whose inhabitants never
+imagined that the ships could be other than Athenian. The Syracusans
+distinguished themselves most in the action. Amorges, a bastard of Pissuthnes
+and a rebel from the King, was taken alive and handed over to Tissaphernes, to
+carry to the King, if he chose, according to his orders: Iasus was sacked by
+the army, who found a very great booty there, the place being wealthy from
+ancient date. The mercenaries serving with Amorges the Peloponnesians received
+and enrolled in their army without doing them any harm, since most of them came
+from Peloponnese, and handed over the town to Tissaphernes with all the
+captives, bond or free, at the stipulated price of one Doric stater a head;
+after which they returned to Miletus. Pedaritus, son of Leon, who had been sent
+by the Lacedaemonians to take the command at Chios, they dispatched by land as
+far as Erythrae with the mercenaries taken from Amorges; appointing Philip to
+remain as governor of Miletus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Summer was now over. The winter following, Tissaphernes put Iasus in a state of
+defence, and passing on to Miletus distributed a month&rsquo;s pay to all the
+ships as he had promised at Lacedaemon, at the rate of an Attic drachma a day
+for each man. In future, however, he was resolved not to give more than three
+obols, until he had consulted the King; when if the King should so order he
+would give, he said, the full drachma. However, upon the protest of the
+Syracusan general Hermocrates (for as Therimenes was not admiral, but only
+accompanied them in order to hand over the ships to Astyochus, he made little
+difficulty about the pay), it was agreed that the amount of five ships&rsquo;
+pay should be given over and above the three obols a day for each man;
+Tissaphernes paying thirty talents a month for fifty-five ships, and to the
+rest, for as many ships as they had beyond that number, at the same rate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Athenians in Samos, having been joined by thirty-five more
+vessels from home under Charminus, Strombichides, and Euctemon, called in their
+squadron at Chios and all the rest, intending to blockade Miletus with their
+navy, and to send a fleet and an army against Chios; drawing lots for the
+respective services. This intention they carried into effect; Strombichides,
+Onamacles, and Euctemon sailing against Chios, which fell to their lot, with
+thirty ships and a part of the thousand heavy infantry, who had been to
+Miletus, in transports; while the rest remained masters of the sea with
+seventy-four ships at Samos, and advanced upon Miletus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Astyochus, whom we left at Chios collecting the hostages required in
+consequence of the conspiracy, stopped upon learning that the fleet with
+Therimenes had arrived, and that the affairs of the league were in a more
+flourishing condition, and putting out to sea with ten Peloponnesian and as
+many Chian vessels, after a futile attack upon Pteleum, coasted on to
+Clazomenae, and ordered the Athenian party to remove inland to Daphnus, and to
+join the Peloponnesians, an order in which also joined Tamos the king&rsquo;s
+lieutenant in Ionia. This order being disregarded, Astyochus made an attack
+upon the town, which was unwalled, and having failed to take it was himself
+carried off by a strong gale to Phocaea and Cuma, while the rest of the ships
+put in at the islands adjacent to Clazomenae&mdash;Marathussa, Pele, and
+Drymussa. Here they were detained eight days by the winds, and, plundering and
+consuming all the property of the Clazomenians there deposited, put the rest on
+shipboard and sailed off to Phocaea and Cuma to join Astyochus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While he was there, envoys arrived from the Lesbians who wished to revolt
+again. With Astyochus they were successful; but the Corinthians and the other
+allies being averse to it by reason of their former failure, he weighed anchor
+and set sail for Chios, where they eventually arrived from different quarters,
+the fleet having been scattered by a storm. After this Pedaritus, whom we left
+marching along the coast from Miletus, arrived at Erythrae, and thence crossed
+over with his army to Chios, where he found also about five hundred soldiers
+who had been left there by Chalcideus from the five ships with their arms.
+Meanwhile some Lesbians making offers to revolt, Astyochus urged upon Pedaritus
+and the Chians that they ought to go with their ships and effect the revolt of
+Lesbos, and so increase the number of their allies, or, if not successful, at
+all events harm the Athenians. The Chians, however, turned a deaf ear to this,
+and Pedaritus flatly refused to give up to him the Chian vessels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon this Astyochus took five Corinthian and one Megarian vessel, with another
+from Hermione, and the ships which had come with him from Laconia, and set sail
+for Miletus to assume his command as admiral; after telling the Chians with
+many threats that he would certainly not come and help them if they should be
+in need. At Corycus in the Erythraeid he brought to for the night; the Athenian
+armament sailing from Samos against Chios being only separated from him by a
+hill, upon the other side of which it brought to; so that neither perceived the
+other. But a letter arriving in the night from Pedaritus to say that some
+liberated Erythraean prisoners had come from Samos to betray Erythrae,
+Astyochus at once put back to Erythrae, and so just escaped falling in with the
+Athenians. Here Pedaritus sailed over to join him; and after inquiry into the
+pretended treachery, finding that the whole story had been made up to procure
+the escape of the men from Samos, they acquitted them of the charge, and sailed
+away, Pedaritus to Chios and Astyochus to Miletus as he had intended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Athenian armament sailing round Corycus fell in with three Chian
+men-of-war off Arginus, and gave immediate chase. A great storm coming on, the
+Chians with difficulty took refuge in the harbour; the three Athenian vessels
+most forward in the pursuit being wrecked and thrown up near the city of Chios,
+and the crews slain or taken prisoners. The rest of the Athenian fleet took
+refuge in the harbour called Phoenicus, under Mount Mimas, and from thence
+afterwards put into Lesbos and prepared for the work of fortification.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same winter the Lacedaemonian Hippocrates sailed out from Peloponnese with
+ten Thurian ships under the command of Dorieus, son of Diagoras, and two
+colleagues, one Laconian and one Syracusan vessel, and arrived at Cnidus, which
+had already revolted at the instigation of Tissaphernes. When their arrival was
+known at Miletus, orders came to them to leave half their squadron to guard
+Cnidus, and with the rest to cruise round Triopium and seize all the
+merchantmen arriving from Egypt. Triopium is a promontory of Cnidus and sacred
+to Apollo. This coming to the knowledge of the Athenians, they sailed from
+Samos and captured the six ships on the watch at Triopium, the crews escaping
+out of them. After this the Athenians sailed into Cnidus and made an assault
+upon the town, which was unfortified, and all but took it; and the next day
+assaulted it again, but with less effect, as the inhabitants had improved their
+defences during the night, and had been reinforced by the crews escaped from
+the ships at Triopium. The Athenians now withdrew, and after plundering the
+Cnidian territory sailed back to Samos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time Astyochus came to the fleet at Miletus. The Peloponnesian
+camp was still plentifully supplied, being in receipt of sufficient pay, and
+the soldiers having still in hand the large booty taken at Iasus. The Milesians
+also showed great ardour for the war. Nevertheless the Peloponnesians thought
+the first convention with Tissaphernes, made with Chalcideus, defective, and
+more advantageous to him than to them, and consequently while Therimenes was
+still there concluded another, which was as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The convention of the Lacedaemonians and the allies with King Darius and the
+sons of the King, and with Tissaphernes for a treaty and friendship, as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Neither the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians shall make
+war against or otherwise injure any country or cities that belong to King
+Darius or did belong to his father or to his ancestors; neither shall the
+Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians exact tribute from such
+cities. Neither shall King Darius nor any of the subjects of the King make war
+against or otherwise injure the Lacedaemonians or their allies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. If the Lacedaemonians or their allies should require any assistance from the
+King, or the King from the Lacedaemonians or their allies, whatever they both
+agree upon they shall be right in doing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. Both shall carry on jointly the war against the Athenians and their allies:
+and if they make peace, both shall do so jointly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. The expense of all troops in the King&rsquo;s country, sent for by the King,
+shall be borne by the King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+5. If any of the states comprised in this convention with the King attack the
+King&rsquo;s country, the rest shall stop them and aid the King to the best of
+their power. And if any in the King&rsquo;s country or in the countries under
+the King&rsquo;s rule attack the country of the Lacedaemonians or their allies,
+the King shall stop it and help them to the best of his power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this convention Therimenes handed over the fleet to Astyochus, sailed off
+in a small boat, and was lost. The Athenian armament had now crossed over from
+Lesbos to Chios, and being master by sea and land began to fortify Delphinium,
+a place naturally strong on the land side, provided with more than one harbour,
+and also not far from the city of Chios. Meanwhile the Chians remained
+inactive. Already defeated in so many battles, they were now also at discord
+among themselves; the execution of the party of Tydeus, son of Ion, by
+Pedaritus upon the charge of Atticism, followed by the forcible imposition of
+an oligarchy upon the rest of the city, having made them suspicious of one
+another; and they therefore thought neither themselves not the mercenaries
+under Pedaritus a match for the enemy. They sent, however, to Miletus to beg
+Astyochus to assist them, which he refused to do, and was accordingly denounced
+at Lacedaemon by Pedaritus as a traitor. Such was the state of the Athenian
+affairs at Chios; while their fleet at Samos kept sailing out against the enemy
+in Miletus, until they found that he would not accept their challenge, and then
+retired again to Samos and remained quiet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the same winter the twenty-seven ships equipped by the Lacedaemonians for
+Pharnabazus through the agency of the Megarian Calligeitus, and the Cyzicene
+Timagoras, put out from Peloponnese and sailed for Ionia about the time of the
+solstice, under the command of Antisthenes, a Spartan. With them the
+Lacedaemonians also sent eleven Spartans as advisers to Astyochus; Lichas, son
+of Arcesilaus, being among the number. Arrived at Miletus, their orders were to
+aid in generally superintending the good conduct of the war; to send off the
+above ships or a greater or less number to the Hellespont to Pharnabazus, if
+they thought proper, appointing Clearchus, son of Ramphias, who sailed with
+them, to the command; and further, if they thought proper, to make Antisthenes
+admiral, dismissing Astyochus, whom the letters of Pedaritus had caused to be
+regarded with suspicion. Sailing accordingly from Malea across the open sea,
+the squadron touched at Melos and there fell in with ten Athenian ships, three
+of which they took empty and burned. After this, being afraid that the Athenian
+vessels escaped from Melos might, as they in fact did, give information of
+their approach to the Athenians at Samos, they sailed to Crete, and having
+lengthened their voyage by way of precaution made land at Caunus in Asia, from
+whence considering themselves in safety they sent a message to the fleet at
+Miletus for a convoy along the coast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Chians and Pedaritus, undeterred by the backwardness of
+Astyochus, went on sending messengers pressing him to come with all the fleet
+to assist them against their besiegers, and not to leave the greatest of the
+allied states in Ionia to be shut up by sea and overrun and pillaged by land.
+There were more slaves at Chios than in any one other city except Lacedaemon,
+and being also by reason of their numbers punished more rigorously when they
+offended, most of them, when they saw the Athenian armament firmly established
+in the island with a fortified position, immediately deserted to the enemy, and
+through their knowledge of the country did the greatest mischief. The Chians
+therefore urged upon Astyochus that it was his duty to assist them, while there
+was still a hope and a possibility of stopping the enemy&rsquo;s progress,
+while Delphinium was still in process of fortification and unfinished, and
+before the completion of a higher rampart which was being added to protect the
+camp and fleet of their besiegers. Astyochus now saw that the allies also
+wished it and prepared to go, in spite of his intention to the contrary owing
+to the threat already referred to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime news came from Caunus of the arrival of the twenty-seven ships
+with the Lacedaemonian commissioners; and Astyochus, postponing everything to
+the duty of convoying a fleet of that importance, in order to be more able to
+command the sea, and to the safe conduct of the Lacedaemonians sent as spies
+over his behaviour, at once gave up going to Chios and set sail for Caunus. As
+he coasted along he landed at the Meropid Cos and sacked the city, which was
+unfortified and had been lately laid in ruins by an earthquake, by far the
+greatest in living memory, and, as the inhabitants had fled to the mountains,
+overran the country and made booty of all it contained, letting go, however,
+the free men. From Cos arriving in the night at Cnidus he was constrained by
+the representations of the Cnidians not to disembark the sailors, but to sail
+as he was straight against the twenty Athenian vessels, which with Charminus,
+one of the commanders at Samos, were on the watch for the very twenty-seven
+ships from Peloponnese which Astyochus was himself sailing to join; the
+Athenians in Samos having heard from Melos of their approach, and Charminus
+being on the look-out off Syme, Chalce, Rhodes, and Lycia, as he now heard that
+they were at Caunus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Astyochus accordingly sailed as he was to Syme, before he was heard of, in the
+hope of catching the enemy somewhere out at sea. Rain, however, and foggy
+weather encountered him, and caused his ships to straggle and get into disorder
+in the dark. In the morning his fleet had parted company and was most of it
+still straggling round the island, and the left wing only in sight of Charminus
+and the Athenians, who took it for the squadron which they were watching for
+from Caunus, and hastily put out against it with part only of their twenty
+vessels, and attacking immediately sank three ships and disabled others, and
+had the advantage in the action until the main body of the fleet unexpectedly
+hove in sight, when they were surrounded on every side. Upon this they took to
+flight, and after losing six ships with the rest escaped to Teutlussa or Beet
+Island, and from thence to Halicarnassus. After this the Peloponnesians put
+into Cnidus and, being joined by the twenty-seven ships from Caunus, sailed all
+together and set up a trophy in Syme, and then returned to anchor at Cnidus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as the Athenians knew of the sea-fight, they sailed with all the ships
+at Samos to Syme, and, without attacking or being attacked by the fleet at
+Cnidus, took the ships&rsquo; tackle left at Syme, and touching at Lorymi on
+the mainland sailed back to Samos. Meanwhile the Peloponnesian ships, being now
+all at Cnidus, underwent such repairs as were needed; while the eleven
+Lacedaemonian commissioners conferred with Tissaphernes, who had come to meet
+them, upon the points which did not satisfy them in the past transactions, and
+upon the best and mutually most advantageous manner of conducting the war in
+future. The severest critic of the present proceedings was Lichas, who said
+that neither of the treaties could stand, neither that of Chalcideus, nor that
+of Therimenes; it being monstrous that the King should at this date pretend to
+the possession of all the country formerly ruled by himself or by his
+ancestors&mdash;a pretension which implicitly put back under the yoke all the
+islands&mdash;Thessaly, Locris, and everything as far as Boeotia&mdash;and made
+the Lacedaemonians give to the Hellenes instead of liberty a Median master. He
+therefore invited Tissaphernes to conclude another and a better treaty, as they
+certainly would not recognize those existing and did not want any of his pay
+upon such conditions. This offended Tissaphernes so much that he went away in a
+rage without settling anything.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"></a>
+CHAPTER XXV </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the War&mdash;Intrigues of
+Alcibiades&mdash;Withdrawal of the Persian Subsidies&mdash;Oligarchical Coup
+d&rsquo;Etat at Athens&mdash;Patriotism of the Army at Samos
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Peloponnesians now determined to sail to Rhodes, upon the invitation of
+some of the principal men there, hoping to gain an island powerful by the
+number of its seamen and by its land forces, and also thinking that they would
+be able to maintain their fleet from their own confederacy, without having to
+ask for money from Tissaphernes. They accordingly at once set sail that same
+winter from Cnidus, and first put in with ninety-four ships at Camirus in the
+Rhodian country, to the great alarm of the mass of the inhabitants, who were
+not privy to the intrigue, and who consequently fled, especially as the town
+was unfortified. They were afterwards, however, assembled by the Lacedaemonians
+together with the inhabitants of the two other towns of Lindus and Ialysus; and
+the Rhodians were persuaded to revolt from the Athenians and the island went
+over to the Peloponnesians. Meanwhile the Athenians had received the alarm and
+set sail with the fleet from Samos to forestall them, and came within sight of
+the island, but being a little too late sailed off for the moment to Chalce,
+and from thence to Samos, and subsequently waged war against Rhodes, issuing
+from Chalce, Cos, and Samos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Peloponnesians now levied a contribution of thirty-two talents from the
+Rhodians, after which they hauled their ships ashore and for eighty days
+remained inactive. During this time, and even earlier, before they removed to
+Rhodes, the following intrigues took place. After the death of Chalcideus and
+the battle at Miletus, Alcibiades began to be suspected by the Peloponnesians;
+and Astyochus received from Lacedaemon an order from them to put him to death,
+he being the personal enemy of Agis, and in other respects thought unworthy of
+confidence. Alcibiades in his alarm first withdrew to Tissaphernes, and
+immediately began to do all he could with him to injure the Peloponnesian
+cause. Henceforth becoming his adviser in everything, he cut down the pay from
+an Attic drachma to three obols a day, and even this not paid too regularly;
+and told Tissaphernes to say to the Peloponnesians that the Athenians, whose
+maritime experience was of an older date than their own, only gave their men
+three obols, not so much from poverty as to prevent their seamen being
+corrupted by being too well off, and injuring their condition by spending money
+upon enervating indulgences, and also paid their crews irregularly in order to
+have a security against their deserting in the arrears which they would leave
+behind them. He also told Tissaphernes to bribe the captains and generals of
+the cities, and so to obtain their connivance&mdash;an expedient which
+succeeded with all except the Syracusans, Hermocrates alone opposing him on
+behalf of the whole confederacy. Meanwhile the cities asking for money
+Alcibiades sent off, by roundly telling them in the name of Tissaphernes that
+it was great impudence in the Chians, the richest people in Hellas, not content
+with being defended by a foreign force, to expect others to risk not only their
+lives but their money as well in behalf of their freedom; while the other
+cities, he said, had had to pay largely to Athens before their rebellion, and
+could not justly refuse to contribute as much or even more now for their own
+selves. He also pointed out that Tissaphernes was at present carrying on the
+war at his own charges, and had good cause for economy, but that as soon as he
+received remittances from the king he would give them their pay in full and do
+what was reasonable for the cities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alcibiades further advised Tissaphernes not to be in too great a hurry to end
+the war, or to let himself be persuaded to bring up the Phoenician fleet which
+he was equipping, or to provide pay for more Hellenes, and thus put the power
+by land and sea into the same hands; but to leave each of the contending
+parties in possession of one element, thus enabling the king when he found one
+troublesome to call in the other. For if the command of the sea and land were
+united in one hand, he would not know where to turn for help to overthrow the
+dominant power; unless he at last chose to stand up himself, and go through
+with the struggle at great expense and hazard. The cheapest plan was to let the
+Hellenes wear each other out, at a small share of the expense and without risk
+to himself. Besides, he would find the Athenians the most convenient partners
+in empire as they did not aim at conquests on shore, and carried on the war
+upon principles and with a practice most advantageous to the King; being
+prepared to combine to conquer the sea for Athens, and for the King all the
+Hellenes inhabiting his country, whom the Peloponnesians, on the contrary, had
+come to liberate. Now it was not likely that the Lacedaemonians would free the
+Hellenes from the Hellenic Athenians, without freeing them also from the
+barbarian Mede, unless overthrown by him in the meanwhile. Alcibiades therefore
+urged him to wear them both out at first, and, after docking the Athenian power
+as much as he could, forthwith to rid the country of the Peloponnesians. In the
+main Tissaphernes approved of this policy, so far at least as could be
+conjectured from his behaviour; since he now gave his confidence to Alcibiades
+in recognition of his good advice, and kept the Peloponnesians short of money,
+and would not let them fight at sea, but ruined their cause by pretending that
+the Phoenician fleet would arrive, and that they would thus be enabled to
+contend with the odds in their favour, and so made their navy lose its
+efficiency, which had been very remarkable, and generally betrayed a coolness
+in the war that was too plain to be mistaken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alcibiades gave this advice to Tissaphernes and the King, with whom he then
+was, not merely because he thought it really the best, but because he was
+studying means to effect his restoration to his country, well knowing that if
+he did not destroy it he might one day hope to persuade the Athenians to recall
+him, and thinking that his best chance of persuading them lay in letting them
+see that he possessed the favour of Tissaphernes. The event proved him to be
+right. When the Athenians at Samos found that he had influence with
+Tissaphernes, principally of their own motion (though partly also through
+Alcibiades himself sending word to their chief men to tell the best men in the
+army that, if there were only an oligarchy in the place of the rascally
+democracy that had banished him, he would be glad to return to his country and
+to make Tissaphernes their friend), the captains and chief men in the armament
+at once embraced the idea of subverting the democracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The design was first mooted in the camp, and afterwards from thence reached the
+city. Some persons crossed over from Samos and had an interview with
+Alcibiades, who immediately offered to make first Tissaphernes, and afterwards
+the King, their friend, if they would give up the democracy and make it
+possible for the King to trust them. The higher class, who also suffered most
+severely from the war, now conceived great hopes of getting the government into
+their own hands, and of triumphing over the enemy. Upon their return to Samos
+the emissaries formed their partisans into a club, and openly told the mass of
+the armament that the King would be their friend, and would provide them with
+money, if Alcibiades were restored and the democracy abolished. The multitude,
+if at first irritated by these intrigues, were nevertheless kept quiet by the
+advantageous prospect of the pay from the King; and the oligarchical
+conspirators, after making this communication to the people, now re-examined
+the proposals of Alcibiades among themselves, with most of their associates.
+Unlike the rest, who thought them advantageous and trustworthy, Phrynichus, who
+was still general, by no means approved of the proposals. Alcibiades, he
+rightly thought, cared no more for an oligarchy than for a democracy, and only
+sought to change the institutions of his country in order to get himself
+recalled by his associates; while for themselves their one object should be to
+avoid civil discord. It was not the King&rsquo;s interest, when the
+Peloponnesians were now their equals at sea, and in possession of some of the
+chief cities in his empire, to go out of his way to side with the Athenians
+whom he did not trust, when he might make friends of the Peloponnesians who had
+never injured him. And as for the allied states to whom oligarchy was now
+offered, because the democracy was to be put down at Athens, he well knew that
+this would not make the rebels come in any the sooner, or confirm the loyal in
+their allegiance; as the allies would never prefer servitude with an oligarchy
+or democracy to freedom with the constitution which they actually enjoyed, to
+whichever type it belonged. Besides, the cities thought that the so-called
+better classes would prove just as oppressive as the commons, as being those
+who originated, proposed, and for the most part benefited from the acts of the
+commons injurious to the confederates. Indeed, if it depended on the better
+classes, the confederates would be put to death without trial and with
+violence; while the commons were their refuge and the chastiser of these men.
+This he positively knew that the cities had learned by experience, and that
+such was their opinion. The propositions of Alcibiades, and the intrigues now
+in progress, could therefore never meet with his approval.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, the members of the club assembled, agreeably to their original
+determination, accepted what was proposed, and prepared to send Pisander and
+others on an embassy to Athens to treat for the restoration of Alcibiades and
+the abolition of the democracy in the city, and thus to make Tissaphernes the
+friend of the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Phrynichus now saw that there would be a proposal to restore Alcibiades, and
+that the Athenians would consent to it; and fearing after what he had said
+against it that Alcibiades, if restored, would revenge himself upon him for his
+opposition, had recourse to the following expedient. He sent a secret letter to
+the Lacedaemonian admiral Astyochus, who was still in the neighbourhood of
+Miletus, to tell him that Alcibiades was ruining their cause by making
+Tissaphernes the friend of the Athenians, and containing an express revelation
+of the rest of the intrigue, desiring to be excused if he sought to harm his
+enemy even at the expense of the interests of his country. However, Astyochus,
+instead of thinking of punishing Alcibiades, who, besides, no longer ventured
+within his reach as formerly, went up to him and Tissaphernes at Magnesia,
+communicated to them the letter from Samos, and turned informer, and, if report
+may be trusted, became the paid creature of Tissaphernes, undertaking to inform
+him as to this and all other matters; which was also the reason why he did not
+remonstrate more strongly against the pay not being given in full. Upon this
+Alcibiades instantly sent to the authorities at Samos a letter against
+Phrynichus, stating what he had done, and requiring that he should be put to
+death. Phrynichus distracted, and placed in the utmost peril by the
+denunciation, sent again to Astyochus, reproaching him with having so ill kept
+the secret of his previous letter, and saying that he was now prepared to give
+them an opportunity of destroying the whole Athenian armament at Samos; giving
+a detailed account of the means which he should employ, Samos being
+unfortified, and pleading that, being in danger of his life on their account,
+he could not now be blamed for doing this or anything else to escape being
+destroyed by his mortal enemies. This also Astyochus revealed to Alcibiades.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Phrynichus having had timely notice that he was playing him false,
+and that a letter on the subject was on the point of arriving from Alcibiades,
+himself anticipated the news, and told the army that the enemy, seeing that
+Samos was unfortified and the fleet not all stationed within the harbour, meant
+to attack the camp, that he could be certain of this intelligence, and that
+they must fortify Samos as quickly as possible, and generally look to their
+defences. It will be remembered that he was general, and had himself authority
+to carry out these measures. Accordingly they addressed themselves to the work
+of fortification, and Samos was thus fortified sooner than it would otherwise
+have been. Not long afterwards came the letter from Alcibiades, saying that the
+army was betrayed by Phrynichus, and the enemy about to attack it. Alcibiades,
+however, gained no credit, it being thought that he was in the secret of the
+enemy&rsquo;s designs, and had tried to fasten them upon Phrynichus, and to
+make out that he was their accomplice, out of hatred; and consequently far from
+hurting him he rather bore witness to what he had said by this intelligence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this Alcibiades set to work to persuade Tissaphernes to become the friend
+of the Athenians. Tissaphernes, although afraid of the Peloponnesians because
+they had more ships in Asia than the Athenians, was yet disposed to be
+persuaded if he could, especially after his quarrel with the Peloponnesians at
+Cnidus about the treaty of Therimenes. The quarrel had already taken place, as
+the Peloponnesians were by this time actually at Rhodes; and in it the original
+argument of Alcibiades touching the liberation of all the towns by the
+Lacedaemonians had been verified by the declaration of Lichas that it was
+impossible to submit to a convention which made the King master of all the
+states at any former time ruled by himself or by his fathers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While Alcibiades was besieging the favour of Tissaphernes with an earnestness
+proportioned to the greatness of the issue, the Athenian envoys who had been
+dispatched from Samos with Pisander arrived at Athens, and made a speech before
+the people, giving a brief summary of their views, and particularly insisting
+that, if Alcibiades were recalled and the democratic constitution changed, they
+could have the King as their ally, and would be able to overcome the
+Peloponnesians. A number of speakers opposed them on the question of the
+democracy, the enemies of Alcibiades cried out against the scandal of a
+restoration to be effected by a violation of the constitution, and the
+Eumolpidae and Ceryces protested in behalf of the mysteries, the cause of his
+banishment, and called upon the gods to avert his recall; when Pisander, in the
+midst of much opposition and abuse, came forward, and taking each of his
+opponents aside asked him the following question: In the face of the fact that
+the Peloponnesians had as many ships as their own confronting them at sea, more
+cities in alliance with them, and the King and Tissaphernes to supply them with
+money, of which the Athenians had none left, had he any hope of saving the
+state, unless someone could induce the King to come over to their side? Upon
+their replying that they had not, he then plainly said to them: &ldquo;This we
+cannot have unless we have a more moderate form of government, and put the
+offices into fewer hands, and so gain the King&rsquo;s confidence, and
+forthwith restore Alcibiades, who is the only man living that can bring this
+about. The safety of the state, not the form of its government, is for the
+moment the most pressing question, as we can always change afterwards whatever
+we do not like.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The people were at first highly irritated at the mention of an oligarchy, but
+upon understanding clearly from Pisander that this was the only resource left,
+they took counsel of their fears, and promised themselves some day to change
+the government again, and gave way. They accordingly voted that Pisander should
+sail with ten others and make the best arrangement that they could with
+Tissaphernes and Alcibiades. At the same time the people, upon a false
+accusation of Pisander, dismissed Phrynichus from his post together with his
+colleague Scironides, sending Diomedon and Leon to replace them in the command
+of the fleet. The accusation was that Phrynichus had betrayed Iasus and
+Amorges; and Pisander brought it because he thought him a man unfit for the
+business now in hand with Alcibiades. Pisander also went the round of all the
+clubs already existing in the city for help in lawsuits and elections, and
+urged them to draw together and to unite their efforts for the overthrow of the
+democracy; and after taking all other measures required by the circumstances,
+so that no time might be lost, set off with his ten companions on his voyage to
+Tissaphernes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the same winter Leon and Diomedon, who had by this time joined the fleet,
+made an attack upon Rhodes. The ships of the Peloponnesians they found hauled
+up on shore, and, after making a descent upon the coast and defeating the
+Rhodians who appeared in the field against them, withdrew to Chalce and made
+that place their base of operations instead of Cos, as they could better
+observe from thence if the Peloponnesian fleet put out to sea. Meanwhile
+Xenophantes, a Laconian, came to Rhodes from Pedaritus at Chios, with the news
+that the fortification of the Athenians was now finished, and that, unless the
+whole Peloponnesian fleet came to the rescue, the cause in Chios must be lost.
+Upon this they resolved to go to his relief. In the meantime Pedaritus, with
+the mercenaries that he had with him and the whole force of the Chians, made an
+assault upon the work round the Athenian ships and took a portion of it, and
+got possession of some vessels that were hauled up on shore, when the Athenians
+sallied out to the rescue, and first routing the Chians, next defeated the
+remainder of the force round Pedaritus, who was himself killed, with many of
+the Chians, a great number of arms being also taken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Chians were besieged even more straitly than before by land and
+sea, and the famine in the place was great. Meanwhile the Athenian envoys with
+Pisander arrived at the court of Tissaphernes, and conferred with him about the
+proposed agreement. However, Alcibiades, not being altogether sure of
+Tissaphernes (who feared the Peloponnesians more than the Athenians, and
+besides wished to wear out both parties, as Alcibiades himself had
+recommended), had recourse to the following stratagem to make the treaty
+between the Athenians and Tissaphernes miscarry by reason of the magnitude of
+his demands. In my opinion Tissaphernes desired this result, fear being his
+motive; while Alcibiades, who now saw that Tissaphernes was determined not to
+treat on any terms, wished the Athenians to think, not that he was unable to
+persuade Tissaphernes, but that after the latter had been persuaded and was
+willing to join them, they had not conceded enough to him. For the demands of
+Alcibiades, speaking for Tissaphernes, who was present, were so extravagant
+that the Athenians, although for a long while they agreed to whatever he asked,
+yet had to bear the blame of failure: he required the cession of the whole of
+Ionia, next of the islands adjacent, besides other concessions, and these
+passed without opposition; at last, in the third interview, Alcibiades, who now
+feared a complete discovery of his inability, required them to allow the King
+to build ships and sail along his own coast wherever and with as many as he
+pleased. Upon this the Athenians would yield no further, and concluding that
+there was nothing to be done, but that they had been deceived by Alcibiades,
+went away in a passion and proceeded to Samos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tissaphernes immediately after this, in the same winter, proceeded along shore
+to Caunus, desiring to bring the Peloponnesian fleet back to Miletus, and to
+supply them with pay, making a fresh convention upon such terms as he could
+get, in order not to bring matters to an absolute breach between them. He was
+afraid that if many of their ships were left without pay they would be
+compelled to engage and be defeated, or that their vessels being left without
+hands the Athenians would attain their objects without his assistance. Still
+more he feared that the Peloponnesians might ravage the continent in search of
+supplies. Having calculated and considered all this, agreeably to his plan of
+keeping the two sides equal, he now sent for the Peloponnesians and gave them
+pay, and concluded with them a third treaty in words following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the thirteenth year of the reign of Darius, while Alexippidas was ephor at
+Lacedaemon, a convention was concluded in the plain of the Maeander by the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies with Tissaphernes, Hieramenes, and the sons of
+Pharnaces, concerning the affairs of the King and of the Lacedaemonians and
+their allies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1. The country of the King in Asia shall be the King&rsquo;s, and the King
+shall treat his own country as he pleases.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall not invade or injure the
+King&rsquo;s country: neither shall the King invade or injure that of the
+Lacedaemonians or of their allies. If any of the Lacedaemonians or of their
+allies invade or injure the King&rsquo;s country, the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies shall prevent it: and if any from the King&rsquo;s country invade or
+injure the country of the Lacedaemonians or of their allies, the King shall
+prevent it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3. Tissaphernes shall provide pay for the ships now present, according to the
+agreement, until the arrival of the King&rsquo;s vessels: but after the arrival
+of the King&rsquo;s vessels the Lacedaemonians and their allies may pay their
+own ships if they wish it. If, however, they choose to receive the pay from
+Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes shall furnish it: and the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies shall repay him at the end of the war such moneys as they shall have
+received.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4. After the vessels have arrived, the ships of the Lacedaemonians and of their
+allies and those of the King shall carry on the war jointly, according as
+Tissaphernes and the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall think best. If they
+wish to make peace with the Athenians, they shall make peace also jointly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the treaty. After this Tissaphernes prepared to bring up the
+Phoenician fleet according to agreement, and to make good his other promises,
+or at all events wished to make it appear that he was so preparing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Winter was now drawing towards its close, when the Boeotians took Oropus by
+treachery, though held by an Athenian garrison. Their accomplices in this were
+some of the Eretrians and of the Oropians themselves, who were plotting the
+revolt of Euboea, as the place was exactly opposite Eretria, and while in
+Athenian hands was necessarily a source of great annoyance to Eretria and the
+rest of Euboea. Oropus being in their hands, the Eretrians now came to Rhodes
+to invite the Peloponnesians into Euboea. The latter, however, were rather bent
+on the relief of the distressed Chians, and accordingly put out to sea and
+sailed with all their ships from Rhodes. Off Triopium they sighted the Athenian
+fleet out at sea sailing from Chalce, and, neither attacking the other,
+arrived, the latter at Samos, the Peloponnesians at Miletus, seeing that it was
+no longer possible to relieve Chios without a battle. And this winter ended,
+and with it ended the twentieth year of this war of which Thucydides is the
+historian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early in the spring of the summer following, Dercyllidas, a Spartan, was sent
+with a small force by land to the Hellespont to effect the revolt of Abydos,
+which is a Milesian colony; and the Chians, while Astyochus was at a loss how
+to help them, were compelled to fight at sea by the pressure of the siege.
+While Astyochus was still at Rhodes they had received from Miletus, as their
+commander after the death of Pedaritus, a Spartan named Leon, who had come out
+with Antisthenes, and twelve vessels which had been on guard at Miletus, five
+of which were Thurian, four Syracusans, one from Anaia, one Milesian, and one
+Leon&rsquo;s own. Accordingly the Chians marched out in mass and took up a
+strong position, while thirty-six of their ships put out and engaged thirty-two
+of the Athenians; and after a tough fight, in which the Chians and their allies
+had rather the best of it, as it was now late, retired to their city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately after this Dercyllidas arrived by land from Miletus; and Abydos in
+the Hellespont revolted to him and Pharnabazus, and Lampsacus two days later.
+Upon receipt of this news Strombichides hastily sailed from Chios with
+twenty-four Athenian ships, some transports carrying heavy infantry being of
+the number, and defeating the Lampsacenes who came out against him, took
+Lampsacus, which was unfortified, at the first assault, and making prize of the
+slaves and goods restored the freemen to their homes, and went on to Abydos.
+The inhabitants, however, refusing to capitulate, and his assaults failing to
+take the place, he sailed over to the coast opposite, and appointed Sestos, the
+town in the Chersonese held by the Medes at a former period in this history, as
+the centre for the defence of the whole Hellespont.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Chians commanded the sea more than before; and the
+Peloponnesians at Miletus and Astyochus, hearing of the sea-fight and of the
+departure of the squadron with Strombichides, took fresh courage. Coasting
+along with two vessels to Chios, Astyochus took the ships from that place, and
+now moved with the whole fleet upon Samos, from whence, however, he sailed back
+to Miletus, as the Athenians did not put out against him, owing to their
+suspicions of one another. For it was about this time, or even before, that the
+democracy was put down at Athens. When Pisander and the envoys returned from
+Tissaphernes to Samos they at once strengthened still further their interest in
+the army itself, and instigated the upper class in Samos to join them in
+establishing an oligarchy, the very form of government which a party of them
+had lately risen to avoid. At the same time the Athenians at Samos, after a
+consultation among themselves, determined to let Alcibiades alone, since he
+refused to join them, and besides was not the man for an oligarchy; and now
+that they were once embarked, to see for themselves how they could best prevent
+the ruin of their cause, and meanwhile to sustain the war, and to contribute
+without stint money and all else that might be required from their own private
+estates, as they would henceforth labour for themselves alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After encouraging each other in these resolutions, they now at once sent off
+half the envoys and Pisander to do what was necessary at Athens (with
+instructions to establish oligarchies on their way in all the subject cities
+which they might touch at), and dispatched the other half in different
+directions to the other dependencies. Diitrephes also, who was in the
+neighbourhood of Chios, and had been elected to the command of the Thracian
+towns, was sent off to his government, and arriving at Thasos abolished the
+democracy there. Two months, however, had not elapsed after his departure
+before the Thasians began to fortify their town, being already tired of an
+aristocracy with Athens, and in daily expectation of freedom from Lacedaemon.
+Indeed there was a party of them (whom the Athenians had banished), with the
+Peloponnesians, who with their friends in the town were already making every
+exertion to bring a squadron, and to effect the revolt of Thasos; and this
+party thus saw exactly what they most wanted done, that is to say, the
+reformation of the government without risk, and the abolition of the democracy
+which would have opposed them. Things at Thasos thus turned out just the
+contrary to what the oligarchical conspirators at Athens expected; and the same
+in my opinion was the case in many of the other dependencies; as the cities no
+sooner got a moderate government and liberty of action, than they went on to
+absolute freedom without being at all seduced by the show of reform offered by
+the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pisander and his colleagues on their voyage alongshore abolished, as had been
+determined, the democracies in the cities, and also took some heavy infantry
+from certain places as their allies, and so came to Athens. Here they found
+most of the work already done by their associates. Some of the younger men had
+banded together, and secretly assassinated one Androcles, the chief leader of
+the commons, and mainly responsible for the banishment of Alcibiades; Androcles
+being singled out both because he was a popular leader and because they sought
+by his death to recommend themselves to Alcibiades, who was, as they supposed,
+to be recalled, and to make Tissaphernes their friend. There were also some
+other obnoxious persons whom they secretly did away with in the same manner.
+Meanwhile their cry in public was that no pay should be given except to persons
+serving in the war, and that not more than five thousand should share in the
+government, and those such as were most able to serve the state in person and
+in purse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But this was a mere catchword for the multitude, as the authors of the
+revolution were really to govern. However, the Assembly and the Council of the
+Bean still met notwithstanding, although they discussed nothing that was not
+approved of by the conspirators, who both supplied the speakers and reviewed in
+advance what they were to say. Fear, and the sight of the numbers of the
+conspirators, closed the mouths of the rest; or if any ventured to rise in
+opposition, he was presently put to death in some convenient way, and there was
+neither search for the murderers nor justice to be had against them if
+suspected; but the people remained motionless, being so thoroughly cowed that
+men thought themselves lucky to escape violence, even when they held their
+tongues. An exaggerated belief in the numbers of the conspirators also
+demoralized the people, rendered helpless by the magnitude of the city, and by
+their want of intelligence with each other, and being without means of finding
+out what those numbers really were. For the same reason it was impossible for
+any one to open his grief to a neighbour and to concert measures to defend
+himself, as he would have had to speak either to one whom he did not know, or
+whom he knew but did not trust. Indeed all the popular party approached each
+other with suspicion, each thinking his neighbour concerned in what was going
+on, the conspirators having in their ranks persons whom no one could ever have
+believed capable of joining an oligarchy; and these it was who made the many so
+suspicious, and so helped to procure impunity for the few, by confirming the
+commons in their mistrust of one another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this juncture arrived Pisander and his colleagues, who lost no time in doing
+the rest. First they assembled the people, and moved to elect ten commissioners
+with full powers to frame a constitution, and that when this was done they
+should on an appointed day lay before the people their opinion as to the best
+mode of governing the city. Afterwards, when the day arrived, the conspirators
+enclosed the assembly in Colonus, a temple of Poseidon, a little more than a
+mile outside the city; when the commissioners simply brought forward this
+single motion, that any Athenian might propose with impunity whatever measure
+he pleased, heavy penalties being imposed upon any who should indict for
+illegality, or otherwise molest him for so doing. The way thus cleared, it was
+now plainly declared that all tenure of office and receipt of pay under the
+existing institutions were at an end, and that five men must be elected as
+presidents, who should in their turn elect one hundred, and each of the hundred
+three apiece; and that this body thus made up to four hundred should enter the
+council chamber with full powers and govern as they judged best, and should
+convene the five thousand whenever they pleased.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man who moved this resolution was Pisander, who was throughout the chief
+ostensible agent in putting down the democracy. But he who concerted the whole
+affair, and prepared the way for the catastrophe, and who had given the
+greatest thought to the matter, was Antiphon, one of the best men of his day in
+Athens; who, with a head to contrive measures and a tongue to recommend them,
+did not willingly come forward in the assembly or upon any public scene, being
+ill looked upon by the multitude owing to his reputation for talent; and who
+yet was the one man best able to aid in the courts, or before the assembly, the
+suitors who required his opinion. Indeed, when he was afterwards himself tried
+for his life on the charge of having been concerned in setting up this very
+government, when the Four Hundred were overthrown and hardly dealt with by the
+commons, he made what would seem to be the best defence of any known up to my
+time. Phrynichus also went beyond all others in his zeal for the oligarchy.
+Afraid of Alcibiades, and assured that he was no stranger to his intrigues with
+Astyochus at Samos, he held that no oligarchy was ever likely to restore him,
+and once embarked in the enterprise, proved, where danger was to be faced, by
+far the staunchest of them all. Theramenes, son of Hagnon, was also one of the
+foremost of the subverters of the democracy&mdash;a man as able in council as
+in debate. Conducted by so many and by such sagacious heads, the enterprise,
+great as it was, not unnaturally went forward; although it was no light matter
+to deprive the Athenian people of its freedom, almost a hundred years after the
+deposition of the tyrants, when it had been not only not subject to any during
+the whole of that period, but accustomed during more than half of it to rule
+over subjects of its own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The assembly ratified the proposed constitution, without a single opposing
+voice, and was then dissolved; after which the Four Hundred were brought into
+the council chamber in the following way. On account of the enemy at Decelea,
+all the Athenians were constantly on the wall or in the ranks at the various
+military posts. On that day the persons not in the secret were allowed to go
+home as usual, while orders were given to the accomplices of the conspirators
+to hang about, without making any demonstration, at some little distance from
+the posts, and in case of any opposition to what was being done, to seize the
+arms and put it down. There were also some Andrians and Tenians, three hundred
+Carystians, and some of the settlers in Aegina come with their own arms for
+this very purpose, who had received similar instructions. These dispositions
+completed, the Four Hundred went, each with a dagger concealed about his
+person, accompanied by one hundred and twenty Hellenic youths, whom they
+employed wherever violence was needed, and appeared before the Councillors of
+the Bean in the council chamber, and told them to take their pay and be gone;
+themselves bringing it for the whole of the residue of their term of office,
+and giving it to them as they went out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the Council withdrawing in this way without venturing any objection, and
+the rest of the citizens making no movement, the Four Hundred entered the
+council chamber, and for the present contented themselves with drawing lots for
+their Prytanes, and making their prayers and sacrifices to the gods upon
+entering office, but afterwards departed widely from the democratic system of
+government, and except that on account of Alcibiades they did not recall the
+exiles, ruled the city by force; putting to death some men, though not many,
+whom they thought it convenient to remove, and imprisoning and banishing
+others. They also sent to Agis, the Lacedaemonian king, at Decelea, to say that
+they desired to make peace, and that he might reasonably be more disposed to
+treat now that he had them to deal with instead of the inconstant commons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Agis, however, did not believe in the tranquillity of the city, or that the
+commons would thus in a moment give up their ancient liberty, but thought that
+the sight of a large Lacedaemonian force would be sufficient to excite them if
+they were not already in commotion, of which he was by no means certain. He
+accordingly gave to the envoys of the Four Hundred an answer which held out no
+hopes of an accommodation, and sending for large reinforcements from
+Peloponnese, not long afterwards, with these and his garrison from Decelea,
+descended to the very walls of Athens; hoping either that civil disturbances
+might help to subdue them to his terms, or that, in the confusion to be
+expected within and without the city, they might even surrender without a blow
+being struck; at all events he thought he would succeed in seizing the Long
+Walls, bared of their defenders. However, the Athenians saw him come close up,
+without making the least disturbance within the city; and sending out their
+cavalry, and a number of their heavy infantry, light troops, and archers, shot
+down some of his soldiers who approached too near, and got possession of some
+arms and dead. Upon this Agis, at last convinced, led his army back again and,
+remaining with his own troops in the old position at Decelea, sent the
+reinforcement back home, after a few days&rsquo; stay in Attica. After this the
+Four Hundred persevering sent another embassy to Agis, and now meeting with a
+better reception, at his suggestion dispatched envoys to Lacedaemon to
+negotiate a treaty, being desirous of making peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They also sent ten men to Samos to reassure the army, and to explain that the
+oligarchy was not established for the hurt of the city or the citizens, but for
+the salvation of the country at large; and that there were five thousand, not
+four hundred only, concerned; although, what with their expeditions and
+employments abroad, the Athenians had never yet assembled to discuss a question
+important enough to bring five thousand of them together. The emissaries were
+also told what to say upon all other points, and were so sent off immediately
+after the establishment of the new government, which feared, as it turned out
+justly, that the mass of seamen would not be willing to remain under the
+oligarchical constitution, and, the evil beginning there, might be the means of
+their overthrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed at Samos the question of the oligarchy had already entered upon a new
+phase, the following events having taken place just at the time that the Four
+Hundred were conspiring. That part of the Samian population which has been
+mentioned as rising against the upper class, and as being the democratic party,
+had now turned round, and yielding to the solicitations of Pisander during his
+visit, and of the Athenians in the conspiracy at Samos, had bound themselves by
+oaths to the number of three hundred, and were about to fall upon the rest of
+their fellow citizens, whom they now in their turn regarded as the democratic
+party. Meanwhile they put to death one Hyperbolus, an Athenian, a pestilent
+fellow that had been ostracized, not from fear of his influence or position,
+but because he was a rascal and a disgrace to the city; being aided in this by
+Charminus, one of the generals, and by some of the Athenians with them, to whom
+they had sworn friendship, and with whom they perpetrated other acts of the
+kind, and now determined to attack the people. The latter got wind of what was
+coming, and told two of the generals, Leon and Diomedon, who, on account of the
+credit which they enjoyed with the commons, were unwilling supporters of the
+oligarchy; and also Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, the former a captain of a
+galley, the latter serving with the heavy infantry, besides certain others who
+had ever been thought most opposed to the conspirators, entreating them not to
+look on and see them destroyed, and Samos, the sole remaining stay of their
+empire, lost to the Athenians. Upon hearing this, the persons whom they
+addressed now went round the soldiers one by one, and urged them to resist,
+especially the crew of the Paralus, which was made up entirely of Athenians and
+freemen, and had from time out of mind been enemies of oligarchy, even when
+there was no such thing existing; and Leon and Diomedon left behind some ships
+for their protection in case of their sailing away anywhere themselves.
+Accordingly, when the Three Hundred attacked the people, all these came to the
+rescue, and foremost of all the crew of the Paralus; and the Samian commons
+gained the victory, and putting to death some thirty of the Three Hundred, and
+banishing three others of the ringleaders, accorded an amnesty to the rest, and
+lived together under a democratic government for the future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ship Paralus, with Chaereas, son of Archestratus, on board, an Athenian who
+had taken an active part in the revolution, was now without loss of time sent
+off by the Samians and the army to Athens to report what had occurred; the fact
+that the Four Hundred were in power not being yet known. When they sailed into
+harbour the Four Hundred immediately arrested two or three of the Parali and,
+taking the vessel from the rest, shifted them into a troopship and set them to
+keep guard round Euboea. Chaereas, however, managed to secrete himself as soon
+as he saw how things stood, and returning to Samos, drew a picture to the
+soldiers of the horrors enacting at Athens, in which everything was
+exaggerated; saying that all were punished with stripes, that no one could say
+a word against the holders of power, that the soldiers&rsquo; wives and
+children were outraged, and that it was intended to seize and shut up the
+relatives of all in the army at Samos who were not of the government&rsquo;s
+way of thinking, to be put to death in case of their disobedience; besides a
+host of other injurious inventions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On hearing this the first thought of the army was to fall upon the chief
+authors of the oligarchy and upon all the rest concerned. Eventually, however,
+they desisted from this idea upon the men of moderate views opposing it and
+warning them against ruining their cause, with the enemy close at hand and
+ready for battle. After this, Thrasybulus, son of Lycus, and Thrasyllus, the
+chief leaders in the revolution, now wishing in the most public manner to
+change the government at Samos to a democracy, bound all the soldiers by the
+most tremendous oaths, and those of the oligarchical party more than any, to
+accept a democratic government, to be united, to prosecute actively the war
+with the Peloponnesians, and to be enemies of the Four Hundred, and to hold no
+communication with them. The same oath was also taken by all the Samians of
+full age; and the soldiers associated the Samians in all their affairs and in
+the fruits of their dangers, having the conviction that there was no way of
+escape for themselves or for them, but that the success of the Four Hundred or
+of the enemy at Miletus must be their ruin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The struggle now was between the army trying to force a democracy upon the
+city, and the Four Hundred an oligarchy upon the camp. Meanwhile the soldiers
+forthwith held an assembly, in which they deposed the former generals and any
+of the captains whom they suspected, and chose new captains and generals to
+replace them, besides Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, whom they had already. They
+also stood up and encouraged one another, and among other things urged that
+they ought not to lose heart because the city had revolted from them, as the
+party seceding was smaller and in every way poorer in resources than
+themselves. They had the whole fleet with which to compel the other cities in
+their empire to give them money just as if they had their base in the capital,
+having a city in Samos which, so far from wanting strength, had when at war
+been within an ace of depriving the Athenians of the command of the sea, while
+as far as the enemy was concerned they had the same base of operations as
+before. Indeed, with the fleet in their hands, they were better able to provide
+themselves with supplies than the government at home. It was their advanced
+position at Samos which had throughout enabled the home authorities to command
+the entrance into Piraeus; and if they refused to give them back the
+constitution, they would now find that the army was more in a position to
+exclude them from the sea than they were to exclude the army. Besides, the city
+was of little or no use towards enabling them to overcome the enemy; and they
+had lost nothing in losing those who had no longer either money to send them
+(the soldiers having to find this for themselves), or good counsel, which
+entitles cities to direct armies. On the contrary, even in this the home
+government had done wrong in abolishing the institutions of their ancestors,
+while the army maintained the said institutions, and would try to force the
+home government to do so likewise. So that even in point of good counsel the
+camp had as good counsellors as the city. Moreover, they had but to grant him
+security for his person and his recall, and Alcibiades would be only too glad
+to procure them the alliance of the King. And above all if they failed
+altogether, with the navy which they possessed, they had numbers of places to
+retire to in which they would find cities and lands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Debating together and comforting themselves after this manner, they pushed on
+their war measures as actively as ever; and the ten envoys sent to Samos by the
+Four Hundred, learning how matters stood while they were still at Delos, stayed
+quiet there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About this time a cry arose a Peloponnesian fleet at Miletus that Astyochus and
+Tissaphernes were ruining their cause. Astyochus had not been willing to fight
+at sea&mdash;either before, while they were still in full vigour and the fleet
+of the Athenians small, or now, when the enemy was, as they were informed, in a
+state of sedition and his ships not yet united&mdash;but kept them waiting for
+the Phoenician fleet from Tissaphernes, which had only a nominal existence, at
+the risk of wasting away in inactivity. While Tissaphernes not only did not
+bring up the fleet in question, but was ruining their navy by payments made
+irregularly, and even then not made in full. They must therefore, they
+insisted, delay no longer, but fight a decisive naval engagement. The
+Syracusans were the most urgent of any.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The confederates and Astyochus, aware of these murmurs, had already decided in
+council to fight a decisive battle; and when the news reached them of the
+disturbance at Samos, they put to sea with all their ships, one hundred and ten
+in number, and, ordering the Milesians to move by land upon Mycale, set sail
+thither. The Athenians with the eighty-two ships from Samos were at the moment
+lying at Glauce in Mycale, a point where Samos approaches near to the
+continent; and, seeing the Peloponnesian fleet sailing against them, retired
+into Samos, not thinking themselves numerically strong enough to stake their
+all upon a battle. Besides, they had notice from Miletus of the wish of the
+enemy to engage, and were expecting to be joined from the Hellespont by
+Strombichides, to whom a messenger had been already dispatched, with the ships
+that had gone from Chios to Abydos. The Athenians accordingly withdrew to
+Samos, and the Peloponnesians put in at Mycale, and encamped with the land
+forces of the Milesians and the people of the neighbourhood. The next day they
+were about to sail against Samos, when tidings reached them of the arrival of
+Strombichides with the squadron from the Hellespont, upon which they
+immediately sailed back to Miletus. The Athenians, thus reinforced, now in
+their turn sailed against Miletus with a hundred and eight ships, wishing to
+fight a decisive battle, but, as no one put out to meet them, sailed back to
+Samos.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"></a>
+CHAPTER XXVI </h2>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Twenty-first Year of the War&mdash;Recall of Alcibiades to Samos&mdash;Revolt
+of Euboea and Downfall of the Four Hundred&mdash;Battle of Cynossema
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the same summer, immediately after this, the Peloponnesians having refused
+to fight with their fleet united, through not thinking themselves a match for
+the enemy, and being at a loss where to look for money for such a number of
+ships, especially as Tissaphernes proved so bad a paymaster, sent off
+Clearchus, son of Ramphias, with forty ships to Pharnabazus, agreeably to the
+original instructions from Peloponnese; Pharnabazus inviting them and being
+prepared to furnish pay, and Byzantium besides sending offers to revolt to
+them. These Peloponnesian ships accordingly put out into the open sea, in order
+to escape the observation of the Athenians, and being overtaken by a storm, the
+majority with Clearchus got into Delos, and afterwards returned to Miletus,
+whence Clearchus proceeded by land to the Hellespont to take the command: ten,
+however, of their number, under the Megarian Helixus, made good their passage
+to the Hellespont, and effected the revolt of Byzantium. After this, the
+commanders at Samos were informed of it, and sent a squadron against them to
+guard the Hellespont; and an encounter took place before Byzantium between
+eight vessels on either side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the chiefs at Samos, and especially Thrasybulus, who from the moment
+that he had changed the government had remained firmly resolved to recall
+Alcibiades, at last in an assembly brought over the mass of the soldiery, and
+upon their voting for his recall and amnesty, sailed over to Tissaphernes and
+brought Alcibiades to Samos, being convinced that their only chance of
+salvation lay in his bringing over Tissaphernes from the Peloponnesians to
+themselves. An assembly was then held in which Alcibiades complained of and
+deplored his private misfortune in having been banished, and speaking at great
+length upon public affairs, highly incited their hopes for the future, and
+extravagantly magnified his own influence with Tissaphernes. His object in this
+was to make the oligarchical government at Athens afraid of him, to hasten the
+dissolution of the clubs, to increase his credit with the army at Samos and
+heighten their own confidence, and lastly to prejudice the enemy as strongly as
+possible against Tissaphernes, and blast the hopes which they entertained.
+Alcibiades accordingly held out to the army such extravagant promises as the
+following: that Tissaphernes had solemnly assured him that if he could only
+trust the Athenians they should never want for supplies while he had anything
+left, no, not even if he should have to coin his own silver couch, and that he
+would bring the Phoenician fleet now at Aspendus to the Athenians instead of to
+the Peloponnesians; but that he could only trust the Athenians if Alcibiades
+were recalled to be his security for them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon hearing this and much more besides, the Athenians at once elected him
+general together with the former ones, and put all their affairs into his
+hands. There was now not a man in the army who would have exchanged his present
+hopes of safety and vengeance upon the Four Hundred for any consideration
+whatever; and after what they had been told they were now inclined to disdain
+the enemy before them, and to sail at once for Piraeus. To the plan of sailing
+for Piraeus, leaving their more immediate enemies behind them, Alcibiades
+opposed the most positive refusal, in spite of the numbers that insisted upon
+it, saying that now that he had been elected general he would first sail to
+Tissaphernes and concert with him measures for carrying on the war.
+Accordingly, upon leaving this assembly, he immediately took his departure in
+order to have it thought that there was an entire confidence between them, and
+also wishing to increase his consideration with Tissaphernes, and to show that
+he had now been elected general and was in a position to do him good or evil as
+he chose; thus managing to frighten the Athenians with Tissaphernes and
+Tissaphernes with the Athenians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians at Miletus heard of the recall of Alcibiades and,
+already distrustful of Tissaphernes, now became far more disgusted with him
+than ever. Indeed after their refusal to go out and give battle to the
+Athenians when they appeared before Miletus, Tissaphernes had grown slacker
+than ever in his payments; and even before this, on account of Alcibiades, his
+unpopularity had been on the increase. Gathering together, just as before, the
+soldiers and some persons of consideration besides the soldiery began to reckon
+up how they had never yet received their pay in full; that what they did
+receive was small in quantity, and even that paid irregularly, and that unless
+they fought a decisive battle or removed to some station where they could get
+supplies, the ships&rsquo; crews would desert; and that it was all the fault of
+Astyochus, who humoured Tissaphernes for his own private advantage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The army was engaged in these reflections, when the following disturbance took
+place about the person of Astyochus. Most of the Syracusan and Thurian sailors
+were freemen, and these the freest crews in the armament were likewise the
+boldest in setting upon Astyochus and demanding their pay. The latter answered
+somewhat stiffly and threatened them, and when Dorieus spoke up for his own
+sailors even went so far as to lift his baton against him; upon seeing which
+the mass of men, in sailor fashion, rushed in a fury to strike Astyochus. He,
+however, saw them in time and fled for refuge to an altar; and they were thus
+parted without his being struck. Meanwhile the fort built by Tissaphernes in
+Miletus was surprised and taken by the Milesians, and the garrison in it turned
+out&mdash;an act which met with the approval of the rest of the allies, and in
+particular of the Syracusans, but which found no favour with Lichas, who said
+moreover that the Milesians and the rest in the King&rsquo;s country ought to
+show a reasonable submission to Tissaphernes and to pay him court, until the
+war should be happily settled. The Milesians were angry with him for this and
+for other things of the kind, and upon his afterwards dying of sickness, would
+not allow him to be buried where the Lacedaemonians with the army desired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The discontent of the army with Astyochus and Tissaphernes had reached this
+pitch, when Mindarus arrived from Lacedaemon to succeed Astyochus as admiral,
+and assumed the command. Astyochus now set sail for home; and Tissaphernes sent
+with him one of his confidants, Gaulites, a Carian, who spoke the two
+languages, to complain of the Milesians for the affair of the fort, and at the
+same time to defend himself against the Milesians, who were, as he was aware,
+on their way to Sparta chiefly to denounce his conduct, and had with them
+Hermocrates, who was to accuse Tissaphernes of joining with Alcibiades to ruin
+the Peloponnesian cause and of playing a double game. Indeed Hermocrates had
+always been at enmity with him about the pay not being restored in full; and
+eventually when he was banished from Syracuse, and new
+commanders&mdash;Potamis, Myscon, and Demarchus&mdash;had come out to Miletus
+to the ships of the Syracusans, Tissaphernes, pressed harder than ever upon him
+in his exile, and among other charges against him accused him of having once
+asked him for money, and then given himself out as his enemy because he failed
+to obtain it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While Astyochus and the Milesians and Hermocrates made sail for Lacedaemon,
+Alcibiades had now crossed back from Tissaphernes to Samos. After his return
+the envoys of the Four Hundred sent, as has been mentioned above, to pacify and
+explain matters to the forces at Samos, arrived from Delos; and an assembly was
+held in which they attempted to speak. The soldiers at first would not hear
+them, and cried out to put to death the subverters of the democracy, but at
+last, after some difficulty, calmed down and gave them a hearing. Upon this the
+envoys proceeded to inform them that the recent change had been made to save
+the city, and not to ruin it or to deliver it over to the enemy, for they had
+already had an opportunity of doing this when he invaded the country during
+their government; that all the Five Thousand would have their proper share in
+the government; and that their hearers&rsquo; relatives had neither outrage, as
+Chaereas had slanderously reported, nor other ill treatment to complain of, but
+were all in undisturbed enjoyment of their property just as they had left them.
+Besides these they made a number of other statements which had no better
+success with their angry auditors; and amid a host of different opinions the
+one which found most favour was that of sailing to Piraeus. Now it was that
+Alcibiades for the first time did the state a service, and one of the most
+signal kind. For when the Athenians at Samos were bent upon sailing against
+their countrymen, in which case Ionia and the Hellespont would most certainly
+at once have passed into possession of the enemy, Alcibiades it was who
+prevented them. At that moment, when no other man would have been able to hold
+back the multitude, he put a stop to the intended expedition, and rebuked and
+turned aside the resentment felt, on personal grounds, against the envoys; he
+dismissed them with an answer from himself, to the effect that he did not
+object to the government of the Five Thousand, but insisted that the Four
+Hundred should be deposed and the Council of Five Hundred reinstated in power:
+meanwhile any retrenchments for economy, by which pay might be better found for
+the armament, met with his entire approval. Generally, he bade them hold out
+and show a bold face to the enemy, since if the city were saved there was good
+hope that the two parties might some day be reconciled, whereas if either were
+once destroyed, that at Samos, or that at Athens, there would no longer be any
+one to be reconciled to. Meanwhile arrived envoys from the Argives, with offers
+of support to the Athenian commons at Samos: these were thanked by Alcibiades,
+and dismissed with a request to come when called upon. The Argives were
+accompanied by the crew of the Paralus, whom we left placed in a troopship by
+the Four Hundred with orders to cruise round Euboea, and who being employed to
+carry to Lacedaemon some Athenian envoys sent by the Four
+Hundred&mdash;Laespodias, Aristophon, and Melesias&mdash;as they sailed by
+Argos laid hands upon the envoys, and delivering them over to the Argives as
+the chief subverters of the democracy, themselves, instead of returning to
+Athens, took the Argive envoys on board, and came to Samos in the galley which
+had been confided to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same summer at the time that the return of Alcibiades coupled with the
+general conduct of Tissaphernes had carried to its height the discontent of the
+Peloponnesians, who no longer entertained any doubt of his having joined the
+Athenians, Tissaphernes wishing, it would seem, to clear himself to them of
+these charges, prepared to go after the Phoenician fleet to Aspendus, and
+invited Lichas to go with him; saying that he would appoint Tamos as his
+lieutenant to provide pay for the armament during his own absence. Accounts
+differ, and it is not easy to ascertain with what intention he went to
+Aspendus, and did not bring the fleet after all. That one hundred and
+forty-seven Phoenician ships came as far as Aspendus is certain; but why they
+did not come on has been variously accounted for. Some think that he went away
+in pursuance of his plan of wasting the Peloponnesian resources, since at any
+rate Tamos, his lieutenant, far from being any better, proved a worse paymaster
+than himself: others that he brought the Phoenicians to Aspendus to exact money
+from them for their discharge, having never intended to employ them: others
+again that it was in view of the outcry against him at Lacedaemon, in order
+that it might be said that he was not in fault, but that the ships were really
+manned and that he had certainly gone to fetch them. To myself it seems only
+too evident that he did not bring up the fleet because he wished to wear out
+and paralyse the Hellenic forces, that is, to waste their strength by the time
+lost during his journey to Aspendus, and to keep them evenly balanced by not
+throwing his weight into either scale. Had he wished to finish the war, he
+could have done so, assuming of course that he made his appearance in a way
+which left no room for doubt; as by bringing up the fleet he would in all
+probability have given the victory to the Lacedaemonians, whose navy, even as
+it was, faced the Athenian more as an equal than as an inferior. But what
+convicts him most clearly, is the excuse which he put forward for not bringing
+the ships. He said that the number assembled was less than the King had
+ordered; but surely it would only have enhanced his credit if he spent little
+of the King&rsquo;s money and effected the same end at less cost. In any case,
+whatever was his intention, Tissaphernes went to Aspendus and saw the
+Phoenicians; and the Peloponnesians at his desire sent a Lacedaemonian called
+Philip with two galleys to fetch the fleet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alcibiades finding that Tissaphernes had gone to Aspendus, himself sailed
+thither with thirteen ships, promising to do a great and certain service to the
+Athenians at Samos, as he would either bring the Phoenician fleet to the
+Athenians, or at all events prevent its joining the Peloponnesians. In all
+probability he had long known that Tissaphernes never meant to bring the fleet
+at all, and wished to compromise him as much as possible in the eyes of the
+Peloponnesians through his apparent friendship for himself and the Athenians,
+and thus in a manner to oblige him to join their side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While Alcibiades weighed anchor and sailed eastward straight for Phaselis and
+Caunus, the envoys sent by the Four Hundred to Samos arrived at Athens. Upon
+their delivering the message from Alcibiades, telling them to hold out and to
+show a firm front to the enemy, and saying that he had great hopes of
+reconciling them with the army and of overcoming the Peloponnesians, the
+majority of the members of the oligarchy, who were already discontented and
+only too much inclined to be quit of the business in any safe way that they
+could, were at once greatly strengthened in their resolve. These now banded
+together and strongly criticized the administration, their leaders being some
+of the principal generals and men in office under the oligarchy, such as
+Theramenes, son of Hagnon, Aristocrates, son of Scellias, and others; who,
+although among the most prominent members of the government (being afraid, as
+they said, of the army at Samos, and most especially of Alcibiades, and also
+lest the envoys whom they had sent to Lacedaemon might do the state some harm
+without the authority of the people), without insisting on objections to the
+excessive concentration of power in a few hands, yet urged that the Five
+Thousand must be shown to exist not merely in name but in reality, and the
+constitution placed upon a fairer basis. But this was merely their political
+cry; most of them being driven by private ambition into the line of conduct so
+surely fatal to oligarchies that arise out of democracies. For all at once
+pretend to be not only equals but each the chief and master of his fellows;
+while under a democracy a disappointed candidate accepts his defeat more
+easily, because he has not the humiliation of being beaten by his equals. But
+what most clearly encouraged the malcontents was the power of Alcibiades at
+Samos, and their own disbelief in the stability of the oligarchy; and it was
+now a race between them as to which should first become the leader of the
+commons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the leaders and members of the Four Hundred most opposed to a
+democratic form of government&mdash;Phrynichus who had had the quarrel with
+Alcibiades during his command at Samos, Aristarchus the bitter and inveterate
+enemy of the commons, and Pisander and Antiphon and others of the chiefs who
+already as soon as they entered upon power, and again when the army at Samos
+seceded from them and declared for a democracy, had sent envoys from their own
+body to Lacedaemon and made every effort for peace, and had built the wall in
+Eetionia&mdash;now redoubled their exertions when their envoys returned from
+Samos, and they saw not only the people but their own most trusted associates
+turning against them. Alarmed at the state of things at Athens as at Samos,
+they now sent off in haste Antiphon and Phrynichus and ten others with
+injunctions to make peace with Lacedaemon upon any terms, no matter what, that
+should be at all tolerable. Meanwhile they pushed on more actively than ever
+with the wall in Eetionia. Now the meaning of this wall, according to
+Theramenes and his supporters, was not so much to keep out the army of Samos,
+in case of its trying to force its way into Piraeus, as to be able to let in,
+at pleasure, the fleet and army of the enemy. For Eetionia is a mole of
+Piraeus, close alongside of the entrance of the harbour, and was now fortified
+in connection with the wall already existing on the land side, so that a few
+men placed in it might be able to command the entrance; the old wall on the
+land side and the new one now being built within on the side of the sea, both
+ending in one of the two towers standing at the narrow mouth of the harbour.
+They also walled off the largest porch in Piraeus which was in immediate
+connection with this wall, and kept it in their own hands, compelling all to
+unload there the corn that came into the harbour, and what they had in stock,
+and to take it out from thence when they sold it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These measures had long provoked the murmurs of Theramenes, and when the envoys
+returned from Lacedaemon without having effected any general pacification, he
+affirmed that this wall was like to prove the ruin of the state. At this moment
+forty-two ships from Peloponnese, including some Siceliot and Italiot vessels
+from Locri and Tarentum, had been invited over by the Euboeans and were already
+riding off Las in Laconia preparing for the voyage to Euboea, under the command
+of Agesandridas, son of Agesander, a Spartan. Theramenes now affirmed that this
+squadron was destined not so much to aid Euboea as the party fortifying
+Eetionia, and that unless precautions were speedily taken the city would be
+surprised and lost. This was no mere calumny, there being really some such plan
+entertained by the accused. Their first wish was to have the oligarchy without
+giving up the empire; failing this to keep their ships and walls and be
+independent; while, if this also were denied them, sooner than be the first
+victims of the restored democracy, they were resolved to call in the enemy and
+make peace, give up their walls and ships, and at all costs retain possession
+of the government, if their lives were only assured to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For this reason they pushed forward the construction of their work with
+posterns and entrances and means of introducing the enemy, being eager to have
+it finished in time. Meanwhile the murmurs against them were at first confined
+to a few persons and went on in secret, until Phrynichus, after his return from
+the embassy to Lacedaemon, was laid wait for and stabbed in full market by one
+of the Peripoli, falling down dead before he had gone far from the council
+chamber. The assassin escaped; but his accomplice, an Argive, was taken and put
+to the torture by the Four Hundred, without their being able to extract from
+him the name of his employer, or anything further than that he knew of many men
+who used to assemble at the house of the commander of the Peripoli and at other
+houses. Here the matter was allowed to drop. This so emboldened Theramenes and
+Aristocrates and the rest of their partisans in the Four Hundred and out of
+doors, that they now resolved to act. For by this time the ships had sailed
+round from Las, and anchoring at Epidaurus had overrun Aegina; and Theramenes
+asserted that, being bound for Euboea, they would never have sailed in to
+Aegina and come back to anchor at Epidaurus, unless they had been invited to
+come to aid in the designs of which he had always accused the government.
+Further inaction had therefore now become impossible. In the end, after a great
+many seditious harangues and suspicions, they set to work in real earnest. The
+heavy infantry in Piraeus building the wall in Eetionia, among whom was
+Aristocrates, a colonel, with his own tribe, laid hands upon Alexicles, a
+general under the oligarchy and the devoted adherent of the cabal, and took him
+into a house and confined him there. In this they were assisted by one Hermon,
+commander of the Peripoli in Munychia, and others, and above all had with them
+the great bulk of the heavy infantry. As soon as the news reached the Four
+Hundred, who happened to be sitting in the council chamber, all except the
+disaffected wished at once to go to the posts where the arms were, and menaced
+Theramenes and his party. Theramenes defended himself, and said that he was
+ready immediately to go and help to rescue Alexicles; and taking with him one
+of the generals belonging to his party, went down to Piraeus, followed by
+Aristarchus and some young men of the cavalry. All was now panic and confusion.
+Those in the city imagined that Piraeus was already taken and the prisoner put
+to death, while those in Piraeus expected every moment to be attacked by the
+party in the city. The older men, however, stopped the persons running up and
+down the town and making for the stands of arms; and Thucydides the Pharsalian,
+proxenus of the city, came forward and threw himself in the way of the rival
+factions, and appealed to them not to ruin the state, while the enemy was still
+at hand waiting for his opportunity, and so at length succeeded in quieting
+them and in keeping their hands off each other. Meanwhile Theramenes came down
+to Piraeus, being himself one of the generals, and raged and stormed against
+the heavy infantry, while Aristarchus and the adversaries of the people were
+angry in right earnest. Most of the heavy infantry, however, went on with the
+business without faltering, and asked Theramenes if he thought the wall had
+been constructed for any good purpose, and whether it would not be better that
+it should be pulled down. To this he answered that if they thought it best to
+pull it down, he for his part agreed with them. Upon this the heavy infantry
+and a number of the people in Piraeus immediately got up on the fortification
+and began to demolish it. Now their cry to the multitude was that all should
+join in the work who wished the Five Thousand to govern instead of the Four
+Hundred. For instead of saying in so many words &ldquo;all who wished the
+commons to govern,&rdquo; they still disguised themselves under the name of the
+Five Thousand; being afraid that these might really exist, and that they might
+be speaking to one of their number and get into trouble through ignorance.
+Indeed this was why the Four Hundred neither wished the Five Thousand to exist,
+nor to have it known that they did not exist; being of opinion that to give
+themselves so many partners in empire would be downright democracy, while the
+mystery in question would make the people afraid of one another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day the Four Hundred, although alarmed, nevertheless assembled in the
+council chamber, while the heavy infantry in Piraeus, after having released
+their prisoner Alexicles and pulled down the fortification, went with their
+arms to the theatre of Dionysus, close to Munychia, and there held an assembly
+in which they decided to march into the city, and setting forth accordingly
+halted in the Anaceum. Here they were joined by some delegates from the Four
+Hundred, who reasoned with them one by one, and persuaded those whom they saw
+to be the most moderate to remain quiet themselves, and to keep in the rest;
+saying that they would make known the Five Thousand, and have the Four Hundred
+chosen from them in rotation, as should be decided by the Five Thousand, and
+meanwhile entreated them not to ruin the state or drive it into the arms of the
+enemy. After a great many had spoken and had been spoken to, the whole body of
+heavy infantry became calmer than before, absorbed by their fears for the
+country at large, and now agreed to hold upon an appointed day an assembly in
+the theatre of Dionysus for the restoration of concord.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the day came for the assembly in the theatre, and they were upon the point
+of assembling, news arrived that the forty-two ships under Agesandridas were
+sailing from Megara along the coast of Salamis. The people to a man now thought
+that it was just what Theramenes and his party had so often said, that the
+ships were sailing to the fortification, and concluded that they had done well
+to demolish it. But though it may possibly have been by appointment that
+Agesandridas hovered about Epidaurus and the neighbourhood, he would also
+naturally be kept there by the hope of an opportunity arising out of the
+troubles in the town. In any case the Athenians, on receipt of the news
+immediately ran down in mass to Piraeus, seeing themselves threatened by the
+enemy with a worse war than their war among themselves, not at a distance, but
+close to the harbour of Athens. Some went on board the ships already afloat,
+while others launched fresh vessels, or ran to defend the walls and the mouth
+of the harbour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesian vessels sailed by, and rounding Sunium anchored
+between Thoricus and Prasiae, and afterwards arrived at Oropus. The Athenians,
+with revolution in the city, and unwilling to lose a moment in going to the
+relief of their most important possession (for Euboea was everything to them
+now that they were shut out from Attica), were compelled to put to sea in haste
+and with untrained crews, and sent Thymochares with some vessels to Eretria.
+These upon their arrival, with the ships already in Euboea, made up a total of
+thirty-six vessels, and were immediately forced to engage. For Agesandridas,
+after his crews had dined, put out from Oropus, which is about seven miles from
+Eretria by sea; and the Athenians, seeing him sailing up, immediately began to
+man their vessels. The sailors, however, instead of being by their ships, as
+they supposed, were gone away to purchase provisions for their dinner in the
+houses in the outskirts of the town; the Eretrians having so arranged that
+there should be nothing on sale in the marketplace, in order that the Athenians
+might be a long time in manning their ships, and, the enemy&rsquo;s attack
+taking them by surprise, might be compelled to put to sea just as they were. A
+signal also was raised in Eretria to give them notice in Oropus when to put to
+sea. The Athenians, forced to put out so poorly prepared, engaged off the
+harbour of Eretria, and after holding their own for some little while
+notwithstanding, were at length put to flight and chased to the shore. Such of
+their number as took refuge in Eretria, which they presumed to be friendly to
+them, found their fate in that city, being butchered by the inhabitants; while
+those who fled to the Athenian fort in the Eretrian territory, and the vessels
+which got to Chalcis, were saved. The Peloponnesians, after taking twenty-two
+Athenian ships, and killing or making prisoners of the crews, set up a trophy,
+and not long afterwards effected the revolt of the whole of Euboea (except
+Oreus, which was held by the Athenians themselves), and made a general
+settlement of the affairs of the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the news of what had happened in Euboea reached Athens, a panic ensued
+such as they had never before known. Neither the disaster in Sicily, great as
+it seemed at the time, nor any other had ever so much alarmed them. The camp at
+Samos was in revolt; they had no more ships or men to man them; they were at
+discord among themselves and might at any moment come to blows; and a disaster
+of this magnitude coming on the top of all, by which they lost their fleet, and
+worst of all Euboea, which was of more value to them than Attica, could not
+occur without throwing them into the deepest despondency. Meanwhile their
+greatest and most immediate trouble was the possibility that the enemy,
+emboldened by his victory, might make straight for them and sail against
+Piraeus, which they had no longer ships to defend; and every moment they
+expected him to arrive. This, with a little more courage, he might easily have
+done, in which case he would either have increased the dissensions of the city
+by his presence, or, if he had stayed to besiege it, have compelled the fleet
+from Ionia, although the enemy of the oligarchy, to come to the rescue of their
+country and of their relatives, and in the meantime would have become master of
+the Hellespont, Ionia, the islands, and of everything as far as Euboea, or, to
+speak roundly, of the whole Athenian empire. But here, as on so many other
+occasions, the Lacedaemonians proved the most convenient people in the world
+for the Athenians to be at war with. The wide difference between the two
+characters, the slowness and want of energy of the Lacedaemonians as contrasted
+with the dash and enterprise of their opponents, proved of the greatest
+service, especially to a maritime empire like Athens. Indeed this was shown by
+the Syracusans, who were most like the Athenians in character, and also most
+successful in combating them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, upon receipt of the news, the Athenians manned twenty ships and
+called immediately a first assembly in the Pnyx, where they had been used to
+meet formerly, and deposed the Four Hundred and voted to hand over the
+government to the Five Thousand, of which body all who furnished a suit of
+armour were to be members, decreeing also that no one should receive pay for
+the discharge of any office, or if he did should be held accursed. Many other
+assemblies were held afterwards, in which law-makers were elected and all other
+measures taken to form a constitution. It was during the first period of this
+constitution that the Athenians appear to have enjoyed the best government that
+they ever did, at least in my time. For the fusion of the high and the low was
+effected with judgment, and this was what first enabled the state to raise up
+her head after her manifold disasters. They also voted for the recall of
+Alcibiades and of other exiles, and sent to him and to the camp at Samos, and
+urged them to devote themselves vigorously to the war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon this revolution taking place, the party of Pisander and Alexicles and the
+chiefs of the oligarchs immediately withdrew to Decelea, with the single
+exception of Aristarchus, one of the generals, who hastily took some of the
+most barbarian of the archers and marched to Oenoe. This was a fort of the
+Athenians upon the Boeotian border, at that moment besieged by the Corinthians,
+irritated by the loss of a party returning from Decelea, who had been cut off
+by the garrison. The Corinthians had volunteered for this service, and had
+called upon the Boeotians to assist them. After communicating with them,
+Aristarchus deceived the garrison in Oenoe by telling them that their
+countrymen in the city had compounded with the Lacedaemonians, and that one of
+the terms of the capitulation was that they must surrender the place to the
+Boeotians. The garrison believed him as he was general, and besides knew
+nothing of what had occurred owing to the siege, and so evacuated the fort
+under truce. In this way the Boeotians gained possession of Oenoe, and the
+oligarchy and the troubles at Athens ended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return to the Peloponnesians in Miletus. No pay was forthcoming from any of
+the agents deputed by Tissaphernes for that purpose upon his departure for
+Aspendus; neither the Phoenician fleet nor Tissaphernes showed any signs of
+appearing, and Philip, who had been sent with him, and another Spartan,
+Hippocrates, who was at Phaselis, wrote word to Mindarus, the admiral, that the
+ships were not coming at all, and that they were being grossly abused by
+Tissaphernes. Meanwhile Pharnabazus was inviting them to come, and making every
+effort to get the fleet and, like Tissaphernes, to cause the revolt of the
+cities in his government still subject to Athens, founding great hopes on his
+success; until at length, at about the period of the summer which we have now
+reached, Mindarus yielded to his importunities, and, with great order and at a
+moment&rsquo;s notice, in order to elude the enemy at Samos, weighed anchor
+with seventy-three ships from Miletus and set sail for the Hellespont. Thither
+sixteen vessels had already preceded him in the same summer, and had overrun
+part of the Chersonese. Being caught in a storm, Mindarus was compelled to run
+in to Icarus and, after being detained five or six days there by stress of
+weather, arrived at Chios.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Thrasyllus had heard of his having put out from Miletus, and
+immediately set sail with fifty-five ships from Samos, in haste to arrive
+before him in the Hellespont. But learning that he was at Chios, and expecting
+that he would stay there, he posted scouts in Lesbos and on the continent
+opposite to prevent the fleet moving without his knowing it, and himself
+coasted along to Methymna, and gave orders to prepare meal and other
+necessaries, in order to attack them from Lesbos in the event of their
+remaining for any length of time at Chios. Meanwhile he resolved to sail
+against Eresus, a town in Lesbos which had revolted, and, if he could, to take
+it. For some of the principal Methymnian exiles had carried over about fifty
+heavy infantry, their sworn associates, from Cuma, and hiring others from the
+continent, so as to make up three hundred in all, chose Anaxander, a Theban, to
+command them, on account of the community of blood existing between the Thebans
+and the Lesbians, and first attacked Methymna. Balked in this attempt by the
+advance of the Athenian guards from Mitylene, and repulsed a second time in a
+battle outside the city, they then crossed the mountain and effected the revolt
+of Eresus. Thrasyllus accordingly determined to go there with all his ships and
+to attack the place. Meanwhile Thrasybulus had preceded him thither with five
+ships from Samos, as soon as he heard that the exiles had crossed over, and
+coming too late to save Eresus, went on and anchored before the town. Here they
+were joined also by two vessels on their way home from the Hellespont, and by
+the ships of the Methymnians, making a grand total of sixty-seven vessels; and
+the forces on board now made ready with engines and every other means available
+to do their utmost to storm Eresus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime Mindarus and the Peloponnesian fleet at Chios, after taking
+provisions for two days and receiving three Chian pieces of money for each man
+from the Chians, on the third day put out in haste from the island; in order to
+avoid falling in with the ships at Eresus, they did not make for the open sea,
+but keeping Lesbos on their left, sailed for the continent. After touching at
+the port of Carteria, in the Phocaeid, and dining, they went on along the
+Cumaean coast and supped at Arginusae, on the continent over against Mitylene.
+From thence they continued their voyage along the coast, although it was late
+in the night, and arriving at Harmatus on the continent opposite Methymna,
+dined there; and swiftly passing Lectum, Larisa, Hamaxitus, and the
+neighbouring towns, arrived a little before midnight at Rhoeteum. Here they
+were now in the Hellespont. Some of the ships also put in at Sigeum and at
+other places in the neighbourhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the warnings of the fire signals and the sudden increase in the
+number of fires on the enemy&rsquo;s shore informed the eighteen Athenian ships
+at Sestos of the approach of the Peloponnesian fleet. That very night they set
+sail in haste just as they were, and, hugging the shore of the Chersonese,
+coasted along to Elaeus, in order to sail out into the open sea away from the
+fleet of the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After passing unobserved the sixteen ships at Abydos, which had nevertheless
+been warned by their approaching friends to be on the alert to prevent their
+sailing out, at dawn they sighted the fleet of Mindarus, which immediately gave
+chase. All had not time to get away; the greater number however escaped to
+Imbros and Lemnos, while four of the hindmost were overtaken off Elaeus. One of
+these was stranded opposite to the temple of Protesilaus and taken with its
+crew, two others without their crews; the fourth was abandoned on the shore of
+Imbros and burned by the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Peloponnesians were joined by the squadron from Abydos, which
+made up their fleet to a grand total of eighty-six vessels; they spent the day
+in unsuccessfully besieging Elaeus, and then sailed back to Abydos. Meanwhile
+the Athenians, deceived by their scouts, and never dreaming of the
+enemy&rsquo;s fleet getting by undetected, were tranquilly besieging Eresus. As
+soon as they heard the news they instantly abandoned Eresus, and made with all
+speed for the Hellespont, and after taking two of the Peloponnesian ships which
+had been carried out too far into the open sea in the ardour of the pursuit and
+now fell in their way, the next day dropped anchor at Elaeus, and, bringing
+back the ships that had taken refuge at Imbros, during five days prepared for
+the coming engagement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this they engaged in the following way. The Athenians formed in column
+and sailed close alongshore to Sestos; upon perceiving which the Peloponnesians
+put out from Abydos to meet them. Realizing that a battle was now imminent,
+both combatants extended their flank; the Athenians along the Chersonese from
+Idacus to Arrhiani with seventy-six ships; the Peloponnesians from Abydos to
+Dardanus with eighty-six. The Peloponnesian right wing was occupied by the
+Syracusans, their left by Mindarus in person with the best sailers in the navy;
+the Athenian left by Thrasyllus, their right by Thrasybulus, the other
+commanders being in different parts of the fleet. The Peloponnesians hastened
+to engage first, and outflanking with their left the Athenian right sought to
+cut them off, if possible, from sailing out of the straits, and to drive their
+centre upon the shore, which was not far off. The Athenians perceiving their
+intention extended their own wing and outsailed them, while their left had by
+this time passed the point of Cynossema. This, however, obliged them to thin
+and weaken their centre, especially as they had fewer ships than the enemy, and
+as the coast round Point Cynossema formed a sharp angle which prevented their
+seeing what was going on on the other side of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Peloponnesians now attacked their centre and drove ashore the ships of the
+Athenians, and disembarked to follow up their victory. No help could be given
+to the centre either by the squadron of Thrasybulus on the right, on account of
+the number of ships attacking him, or by that of Thrasyllus on the left, from
+whom the point of Cynossema hid what was going on, and who was also hindered by
+his Syracusan and other opponents, whose numbers were fully equal to his own.
+At length, however, the Peloponnesians in the confidence of victory began to
+scatter in pursuit of the ships of the enemy, and allowed a considerable part
+of their fleet to get into disorder. On seeing this the squadron of Thrasybulus
+discontinued their lateral movement and, facing about, attacked and routed the
+ships opposed to them, and next fell roughly upon the scattered vessels of the
+victorious Peloponnesian division, and put most of them to flight without a
+blow. The Syracusans also had by this time given way before the squadron of
+Thrasyllus, and now openly took to flight upon seeing the flight of their
+comrades.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rout was now complete. Most of the Peloponnesians fled for refuge first to
+the river Midius, and afterwards to Abydos. Only a few ships were taken by the
+Athenians; as owing to the narrowness of the Hellespont the enemy had not far
+to go to be in safety. Nevertheless nothing could have been more opportune for
+them than this victory. Up to this time they had feared the Peloponnesian
+fleet, owing to a number of petty losses and to the disaster in Sicily; but
+they now ceased to mistrust themselves or any longer to think their enemies
+good for anything at sea. Meanwhile they took from the enemy eight Chian
+vessels, five Corinthian, two Ambraciot, two Boeotian, one Leucadian,
+Lacedaemonian, Syracusan, and Pellenian, losing fifteen of their own. After
+setting up a trophy upon Point Cynossema, securing the wrecks, and restoring to
+the enemy his dead under truce, they sent off a galley to Athens with the news
+of their victory. The arrival of this vessel with its unhoped-for good news,
+after the recent disasters of Euboea, and in the revolution at Athens, gave
+fresh courage to the Athenians, and caused them to believe that if they put
+their shoulders to the wheel their cause might yet prevail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the fourth day after the sea-fight the Athenians in Sestos having hastily
+refitted their ships sailed against Cyzicus, which had revolted. Off Harpagium
+and Priapus they sighted at anchor the eight vessels from Byzantium, and,
+sailing up and routing the troops on shore, took the ships, and then went on
+and recovered the town of Cyzicus, which was unfortified, and levied money from
+the citizens. In the meantime the Peloponnesians sailed from Abydos to Elaeus,
+and recovered such of their captured galleys as were still uninjured, the rest
+having been burned by the Elaeusians, and sent Hippocrates and Epicles to
+Euboea to fetch the squadron from that island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the same time Alcibiades returned with his thirteen ships from Caunus and
+Phaselis to Samos, bringing word that he had prevented the Phoenician fleet
+from joining the Peloponnesians, and had made Tissaphernes more friendly to the
+Athenians than before. Alcibiades now manned nine more ships, and levied large
+sums of money from the Halicarnassians, and fortified Cos. After doing this and
+placing a governor in Cos, he sailed back to Samos, autumn being now at hand.
+Meanwhile Tissaphernes, upon hearing that the Peloponnesian fleet had sailed
+from Miletus to the Hellespont, set off again back from Aspendus, and made all
+sail for Ionia. While the Peloponnesians were in the Hellespont, the
+Antandrians, a people of Aeolic extraction, conveyed by land across Mount Ida
+some heavy infantry from Abydos, and introduced them into the town; having been
+ill-treated by Arsaces, the Persian lieutenant of Tissaphernes. This same
+Arsaces had, upon pretence of a secret quarrel, invited the chief men of the
+Delians to undertake military service (these were Delians who had settled at
+Atramyttium after having been driven from their homes by the Athenians for the
+sake of purifying Delos); and after drawing them out from their town as his
+friends and allies, had laid wait for them at dinner, and surrounded them and
+caused them to be shot down by his soldiers. This deed made the Antandrians
+fear that he might some day do them some mischief; and as he also laid upon
+them burdens too heavy for them to bear, they expelled his garrison from their
+citadel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tissaphernes, upon hearing of this act of the Peloponnesians in addition to
+what had occurred at Miletus and Cnidus, where his garrisons had been also
+expelled, now saw that the breach between them was serious; and fearing further
+injury from them, and being also vexed to think that Pharnabazus should receive
+them, and in less time and at less cost perhaps succeed better against Athens
+than he had done, determined to rejoin them in the Hellespont, in order to
+complain of the events at Antandros and excuse himself as best he could in the
+matter of the Phoenician fleet and of the other charges against him.
+Accordingly he went first to Ephesus and offered sacrifice to Artemis....
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[When the winter after this summer is over the twenty-first year of this war
+will be completed. ]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+THE END
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR ***</div>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #7142 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7142)
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+Project Gutenberg's The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The History of the Peloponnesian War
+
+Author: Thucydides
+
+Translator: Richard Crawley
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7142]
+Posting Date: May 1, 2009
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELOPONNESIAN WAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Albert Imrie
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
+
+By Thucydides 431 BC
+
+Translated by Richard Crawley
+
+
+
+
+     With Permission
+           to
+     CONNOP THIRLWALL
+     Historian of Greece
+     This Translation of the Work of His
+     Great Predecessor
+     is Respectfully Inscribed
+     by --The Translator--
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+     BOOK I
+
+     CHAPTER I
+     The state of Greece from the earliest Times to the
+     Commencement of the Peloponnesian War
+
+     CHAPTER II
+     Causes of the War--The Affair of Epidamnus--
+     The Affair of Potidaea
+
+     CHAPTER III
+     Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at
+     Lacedaemon
+
+     CHAPTER IV
+     From the End of the Persian to the Beginning of
+     the Peloponnesian War--The Progress from
+     Supremacy to Empire
+
+     CHAPTER V
+     Second Congress at Lacedaemon--Preparations for
+     War and Diplomatic Skirmishes--Cylon--
+     Pausanias--Themistocles
+
+
+     BOOK II
+
+     CHAPTER VI
+     Beginning of the Peloponnesian War--First
+     Invasion of Attica--Funeral Oration of Pericles
+
+     CHAPTER VII
+     Second Year of the War--The Plague of Athens--
+     Position and Policy of Pericles--Fall of Potidaea
+
+     CHAPTER VIII
+     Third Year of the War--Investment of Plataea--
+     Naval Victories of Phormio--Thracian Irruption
+     into Macedonia under Sitalces
+
+
+     BOOK III
+
+     CHAPTER IX
+     Fourth and Fifth Years of the War--Revolt of
+     Mitylene
+
+     CHAPTER X
+     Fifth Year of the War--Trial and Execution of the
+     Plataeans--Corcyraean Revolution
+
+     CHAPTER XI
+     Sixth Year of the War--Campaigns of Demosthenes
+     in Western Greece--Ruin of Ambracia
+
+
+     BOOK IV
+
+     CHAPTER XII
+     Seventh Year of the War--Occupation of pylos--
+     Surrender of the Spartan Army in Sphacteria
+
+     CHAPTER XIII
+     Seventh and Eighth Years of the War--End of
+     Corcyraean Revolution--Peace of Gela--
+     Capture of Nisaea
+
+     CHAPTER XIV
+     Eighth and Ninth Years of the War--Invasion of
+     Boeotia--Fall of Amphipolis--Brilliant Successes
+     of Brasidas
+
+
+     BOOK V
+
+     CHAPTER XV
+     Tenth Year of the War--Death of Cleon and
+     Brasidas--Peace of Nicias
+
+     CHAPTER XVI
+     Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese--League
+     of the Mantineans, Eleans, Argives, and
+     Athenians--Battle of Mantinea and breaking up of
+     the League
+
+     CHAPTER XVII
+     Sixteenth Year of the War--The Melian
+     Conference--Fate of Melos
+
+
+     BOOK VI
+
+     CHAPTER XVIII
+     Seventeenth Year of the War--The Sicilian
+     Campaign--Affair of the Hermae--Departure of the
+     Expedition
+
+     CHAPTER XIX
+     Seventeenth Year of the War--Parties at Syracuse--
+     Story of Harmodius and Aristogiton--
+     Disgrace of Alcibiades
+
+     CHAPTER XX
+     Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War--
+     Inaction of the Athenian Army--Alcibiades at
+     Sparta--Investment of Syracuse
+
+
+     BOOK VII
+
+     CHAPTER XXI
+     Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War--
+     Arrival of Gylippus at Syracuse--Fortification
+     of Decelea--Successes of the Syracusans
+
+     CHAPTER XXII
+     Nineteenth Year of the War--Arrival of
+     Demosthenes--Defeat of the Athenians at Epipolae--
+     Folly and Obstinacy of Nicias
+
+     CHAPTER XXIII
+     Nineteenth Year of the War--Battles in the Great
+     Harbour--Retreat and Annihilation of the
+     Athenian Army
+
+
+     BOOK VIII
+
+     CHAPTER XXIV
+     Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War--
+     Revolt of Ionia--Intervention of Persia--The
+     War in Ionia
+
+     CHAPTER XXV
+     Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the War--
+     Intrigues of Alcibiades--Withdrawal of the
+     Persian Subsidies--Oligarchical Coup d'Etat
+     at Athens--Patriotism of the Army at Samos
+
+     CHAPTER XXVI
+     Twenty first Year of the War--Recall of
+     Alcibiades to Samos--Revolt of Euboea and
+     Downfall of the Four Hundred--Battle of Cynossema
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+_The State of Greece from the earliest Times to the Commencement of the
+Peloponnesian War_
+
+Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the
+Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke
+out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of
+relation than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without
+its grounds. The preparations of both the combatants were in every
+department in the last state of perfection; and he could see the rest of
+the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing
+so at once having it in contemplation. Indeed this was the greatest
+movement yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes, but of a large
+part of the barbarian world--I had almost said of mankind. For though
+the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more immediately
+preceded the war, could not from lapse of time be clearly ascertained,
+yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as was
+practicable leads me to trust, all point to the conclusion that there
+was nothing on a great scale, either in war or in other matters.
+
+For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in
+ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of
+frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes
+under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without
+freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more
+of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of
+capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an
+invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come
+they had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily
+sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared
+little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built
+large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The richest
+soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the
+district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia
+excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness
+of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and
+thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also
+invited invasion. Accordingly Attica, from the poverty of its soil
+enjoying from a very remote period freedom from faction, never changed
+its inhabitants. And here is no inconsiderable exemplification of
+my assertion that the migrations were the cause of there being no
+correspondent growth in other parts. The most powerful victims of war or
+faction from the rest of Hellas took refuge with the Athenians as a
+safe retreat; and at an early period, becoming naturalized, swelled the
+already large population of the city to such a height that Attica became
+at last too small to hold them, and they had to send out colonies to
+Ionia.
+
+There is also another circumstance that contributes not a little to my
+conviction of the weakness of ancient times. Before the Trojan war
+there is no indication of any common action in Hellas, nor indeed of the
+universal prevalence of the name; on the contrary, before the time of
+Hellen, son of Deucalion, no such appellation existed, but the country
+went by the names of the different tribes, in particular of the
+Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen and his sons grew strong in Phthiotis,
+and were invited as allies into the other cities, that one by one they
+gradually acquired from the connection the name of Hellenes; though a
+long time elapsed before that name could fasten itself upon all. The
+best proof of this is furnished by Homer. Born long after the Trojan
+War, he nowhere calls all of them by that name, nor indeed any of them
+except the followers of Achilles from Phthiotis, who were the original
+Hellenes: in his poems they are called Danaans, Argives, and Achaeans.
+He does not even use the term barbarian, probably because the
+Hellenes had not yet been marked off from the rest of the world by one
+distinctive appellation. It appears therefore that the several Hellenic
+communities, comprising not only those who first acquired the name,
+city by city, as they came to understand each other, but also those who
+assumed it afterwards as the name of the whole people, were before the
+Trojan war prevented by their want of strength and the absence of mutual
+intercourse from displaying any collective action.
+
+Indeed, they could not unite for this expedition till they had gained
+increased familiarity with the sea. And the first person known to us by
+tradition as having established a navy is Minos. He made himself master
+of what is now called the Hellenic sea, and ruled over the Cyclades,
+into most of which he sent the first colonies, expelling the Carians
+and appointing his own sons governors; and thus did his best to put down
+piracy in those waters, a necessary step to secure the revenues for his
+own use.
+
+For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast and
+islands, as communication by sea became more common, were tempted to
+turn pirates, under the conduct of their most powerful men; the motives
+being to serve their own cupidity and to support the needy. They
+would fall upon a town unprotected by walls, and consisting of a mere
+collection of villages, and would plunder it; indeed, this came to be
+the main source of their livelihood, no disgrace being yet attached to
+such an achievement, but even some glory. An illustration of this
+is furnished by the honour with which some of the inhabitants of the
+continent still regard a successful marauder, and by the question we
+find the old poets everywhere representing the people as asking of
+voyagers--"Are they pirates?"--as if those who are asked the question
+would have no idea of disclaiming the imputation, or their interrogators
+of reproaching them for it. The same rapine prevailed also by land.
+
+And even at the present day many of Hellas still follow the old fashion,
+the Ozolian Locrians for instance, the Aetolians, the Acarnanians, and
+that region of the continent; and the custom of carrying arms is still
+kept up among these continentals, from the old piratical habits.
+The whole of Hellas used once to carry arms, their habitations being
+unprotected and their communication with each other unsafe; indeed,
+to wear arms was as much a part of everyday life with them as with the
+barbarians. And the fact that the people in these parts of Hellas are
+still living in the old way points to a time when the same mode of life
+was once equally common to all. The Athenians were the first to lay
+aside their weapons, and to adopt an easier and more luxurious mode of
+life; indeed, it is only lately that their rich old men left off the
+luxury of wearing undergarments of linen, and fastening a knot of their
+hair with a tie of golden grasshoppers, a fashion which spread to
+their Ionian kindred and long prevailed among the old men there. On the
+contrary, a modest style of dressing, more in conformity with modern
+ideas, was first adopted by the Lacedaemonians, the rich doing their
+best to assimilate their way of life to that of the common people.
+They also set the example of contending naked, publicly stripping and
+anointing themselves with oil in their gymnastic exercises. Formerly,
+even in the Olympic contests, the athletes who contended wore belts
+across their middles; and it is but a few years since that the practice
+ceased. To this day among some of the barbarians, especially in Asia,
+when prizes for boxing and wrestling are offered, belts are worn by the
+combatants. And there are many other points in which a likeness might be
+shown between the life of the Hellenic world of old and the barbarian of
+to-day.
+
+With respect to their towns, later on, at an era of increased facilities
+of navigation and a greater supply of capital, we find the shores
+becoming the site of walled towns, and the isthmuses being occupied for
+the purposes of commerce and defence against a neighbour. But the old
+towns, on account of the great prevalence of piracy, were built away
+from the sea, whether on the islands or the continent, and still remain
+in their old sites. For the pirates used to plunder one another, and
+indeed all coast populations, whether seafaring or not.
+
+The islanders, too, were great pirates. These islanders were Carians and
+Phoenicians, by whom most of the islands were colonized, as was proved
+by the following fact. During the purification of Delos by Athens in
+this war all the graves in the island were taken up, and it was found
+that above half their inmates were Carians: they were identified by the
+fashion of the arms buried with them, and by the method of interment,
+which was the same as the Carians still follow. But as soon as Minos
+had formed his navy, communication by sea became easier, as he colonized
+most of the islands, and thus expelled the malefactors. The coast
+population now began to apply themselves more closely to the acquisition
+of wealth, and their life became more settled; some even began to build
+themselves walls on the strength of their newly acquired riches. For the
+love of gain would reconcile the weaker to the dominion of the stronger,
+and the possession of capital enabled the more powerful to reduce the
+smaller towns to subjection. And it was at a somewhat later stage of
+this development that they went on the expedition against Troy.
+
+What enabled Agamemnon to raise the armament was more, in my opinion,
+his superiority in strength, than the oaths of Tyndareus, which
+bound the suitors to follow him. Indeed, the account given by those
+Peloponnesians who have been the recipients of the most credible
+tradition is this. First of all Pelops, arriving among a needy
+population from Asia with vast wealth, acquired such power that,
+stranger though he was, the country was called after him; and this power
+fortune saw fit materially to increase in the hands of his descendants.
+Eurystheus had been killed in Attica by the Heraclids. Atreus was his
+mother's brother; and to the hands of his relation, who had left his
+father on account of the death of Chrysippus, Eurystheus, when he set
+out on his expedition, had committed Mycenae and the government. As time
+went on and Eurystheus did not return, Atreus complied with the
+wishes of the Mycenaeans, who were influenced by fear of the
+Heraclids--besides, his power seemed considerable, and he had not
+neglected to court the favour of the populace--and assumed the sceptre
+of Mycenae and the rest of the dominions of Eurystheus. And so the
+power of the descendants of Pelops came to be greater than that of the
+descendants of Perseus. To all this Agamemnon succeeded. He had also a
+navy far stronger than his contemporaries, so that, in my opinion,
+fear was quite as strong an element as love in the formation of the
+confederate expedition. The strength of his navy is shown by the fact
+that his own was the largest contingent, and that of the Arcadians was
+furnished by him; this at least is what Homer says, if his testimony is
+deemed sufficient. Besides, in his account of the transmission of the
+sceptre, he calls him
+
+   Of many an isle, and of all Argos king.
+
+Now Agamemnon's was a continental power; and he could not have been
+master of any except the adjacent islands (and these would not be many),
+but through the possession of a fleet.
+
+And from this expedition we may infer the character of earlier
+enterprises. Now Mycenae may have been a small place, and many of the
+towns of that age may appear comparatively insignificant, but no exact
+observer would therefore feel justified in rejecting the estimate given
+by the poets and by tradition of the magnitude of the armament. For I
+suppose if Lacedaemon were to become desolate, and the temples and the
+foundations of the public buildings were left, that as time went on
+there would be a strong disposition with posterity to refuse to accept
+her fame as a true exponent of her power. And yet they occupy two-fifths
+of Peloponnese and lead the whole, not to speak of their numerous allies
+without. Still, as the city is neither built in a compact form nor
+adorned with magnificent temples and public edifices, but composed of
+villages after the old fashion of Hellas, there would be an impression
+of inadequacy. Whereas, if Athens were to suffer the same misfortune,
+I suppose that any inference from the appearance presented to the eye
+would make her power to have been twice as great as it is. We have
+therefore no right to be sceptical, nor to content ourselves with an
+inspection of a town to the exclusion of a consideration of its power;
+but we may safely conclude that the armament in question surpassed
+all before it, as it fell short of modern efforts; if we can here also
+accept the testimony of Homer's poems, in which, without allowing for
+the exaggeration which a poet would feel himself licensed to employ, we
+can see that it was far from equalling ours. He has represented it as
+consisting of twelve hundred vessels; the Boeotian complement of each
+ship being a hundred and twenty men, that of the ships of Philoctetes
+fifty. By this, I conceive, he meant to convey the maximum and the
+minimum complement: at any rate, he does not specify the amount of any
+others in his catalogue of the ships. That they were all rowers as well
+as warriors we see from his account of the ships of Philoctetes, in
+which all the men at the oar are bowmen. Now it is improbable that
+many supernumeraries sailed, if we except the kings and high officers;
+especially as they had to cross the open sea with munitions of war,
+in ships, moreover, that had no decks, but were equipped in the old
+piratical fashion. So that if we strike the average of the largest
+and smallest ships, the number of those who sailed will appear
+inconsiderable, representing, as they did, the whole force of Hellas.
+And this was due not so much to scarcity of men as of money. Difficulty
+of subsistence made the invaders reduce the numbers of the army to a
+point at which it might live on the country during the prosecution of
+the war. Even after the victory they obtained on their arrival--and a
+victory there must have been, or the fortifications of the naval camp
+could never have been built--there is no indication of their whole
+force having been employed; on the contrary, they seem to have turned to
+cultivation of the Chersonese and to piracy from want of supplies. This
+was what really enabled the Trojans to keep the field for ten years
+against them; the dispersion of the enemy making them always a match for
+the detachment left behind. If they had brought plenty of supplies with
+them, and had persevered in the war without scattering for piracy and
+agriculture, they would have easily defeated the Trojans in the field,
+since they could hold their own against them with the division on
+service. In short, if they had stuck to the siege, the capture of Troy
+would have cost them less time and less trouble. But as want of money
+proved the weakness of earlier expeditions, so from the same cause
+even the one in question, more famous than its predecessors, may be
+pronounced on the evidence of what it effected to have been inferior to
+its renown and to the current opinion about it formed under the tuition
+of the poets.
+
+Even after the Trojan War, Hellas was still engaged in removing and
+settling, and thus could not attain to the quiet which must precede
+growth. The late return of the Hellenes from Ilium caused many
+revolutions, and factions ensued almost everywhere; and it was the
+citizens thus driven into exile who founded the cities. Sixty years
+after the capture of Ilium, the modern Boeotians were driven out of
+Arne by the Thessalians, and settled in the present Boeotia, the former
+Cadmeis; though there was a division of them there before, some of whom
+joined the expedition to Ilium. Twenty years later, the Dorians and the
+Heraclids became masters of Peloponnese; so that much had to be done
+and many years had to elapse before Hellas could attain to a durable
+tranquillity undisturbed by removals, and could begin to send out
+colonies, as Athens did to Ionia and most of the islands, and the
+Peloponnesians to most of Italy and Sicily and some places in the rest
+of Hellas. All these places were founded subsequently to the war with
+Troy.
+
+But as the power of Hellas grew, and the acquisition of wealth became
+more an object, the revenues of the states increasing, tyrannies were
+by their means established almost everywhere--the old form of government
+being hereditary monarchy with definite prerogatives--and Hellas began
+to fit out fleets and apply herself more closely to the sea. It is said
+that the Corinthians were the first to approach the modern style of
+naval architecture, and that Corinth was the first place in Hellas where
+galleys were built; and we have Ameinocles, a Corinthian shipwright,
+making four ships for the Samians. Dating from the end of this war, it
+is nearly three hundred years ago that Ameinocles went to Samos. Again,
+the earliest sea-fight in history was between the Corinthians and
+Corcyraeans; this was about two hundred and sixty years ago, dating from
+the same time. Planted on an isthmus, Corinth had from time out of mind
+been a commercial emporium; as formerly almost all communication between
+the Hellenes within and without Peloponnese was carried on overland, and
+the Corinthian territory was the highway through which it travelled.
+She had consequently great money resources, as is shown by the epithet
+"wealthy" bestowed by the old poets on the place, and this enabled her,
+when traffic by sea became more common, to procure her navy and put down
+piracy; and as she could offer a mart for both branches of the trade,
+she acquired for herself all the power which a large revenue affords.
+Subsequently the Ionians attained to great naval strength in the reign
+of Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, and of his son Cambyses, and
+while they were at war with the former commanded for a while the Ionian
+sea. Polycrates also, the tyrant of Samos, had a powerful navy in the
+reign of Cambyses, with which he reduced many of the islands, and among
+them Rhenea, which he consecrated to the Delian Apollo. About this time
+also the Phocaeans, while they were founding Marseilles, defeated the
+Carthaginians in a sea-fight. These were the most powerful navies. And
+even these, although so many generations had elapsed since the Trojan
+war, seem to have been principally composed of the old fifty-oars and
+long-boats, and to have counted few galleys among their ranks. Indeed it
+was only shortly the Persian war, and the death of Darius the successor
+of Cambyses, that the Sicilian tyrants and the Corcyraeans acquired any
+large number of galleys. For after these there were no navies of any
+account in Hellas till the expedition of Xerxes; Aegina, Athens, and
+others may have possessed a few vessels, but they were principally
+fifty-oars. It was quite at the end of this period that the war with
+Aegina and the prospect of the barbarian invasion enabled Themistocles
+to persuade the Athenians to build the fleet with which they fought at
+Salamis; and even these vessels had not complete decks.
+
+The navies, then, of the Hellenes during the period we have traversed
+were what I have described. All their insignificance did not prevent
+their being an element of the greatest power to those who cultivated
+them, alike in revenue and in dominion. They were the means by which the
+islands were reached and reduced, those of the smallest area falling the
+easiest prey. Wars by land there were none, none at least by which
+power was acquired; we have the usual border contests, but of distant
+expeditions with conquest for object we hear nothing among the Hellenes.
+There was no union of subject cities round a great state, no spontaneous
+combination of equals for confederate expeditions; what fighting there
+was consisted merely of local warfare between rival neighbours. The
+nearest approach to a coalition took place in the old war between
+Chalcis and Eretria; this was a quarrel in which the rest of the
+Hellenic name did to some extent take sides.
+
+Various, too, were the obstacles which the national growth encountered
+in various localities. The power of the Ionians was advancing with rapid
+strides, when it came into collision with Persia, under King Cyrus, who,
+after having dethroned Croesus and overrun everything between the Halys
+and the sea, stopped not till he had reduced the cities of the coast;
+the islands being only left to be subdued by Darius and the Phoenician
+navy.
+
+Again, wherever there were tyrants, their habit of providing simply
+for themselves, of looking solely to their personal comfort and family
+aggrandizement, made safety the great aim of their policy, and prevented
+anything great proceeding from them; though they would each have their
+affairs with their immediate neighbours. All this is only true of the
+mother country, for in Sicily they attained to very great power. Thus
+for a long time everywhere in Hellas do we find causes which make the
+states alike incapable of combination for great and national ends, or of
+any vigorous action of their own.
+
+But at last a time came when the tyrants of Athens and the far older
+tyrannies of the rest of Hellas were, with the exception of those in
+Sicily, once and for all put down by Lacedaemon; for this city, though
+after the settlement of the Dorians, its present inhabitants, it
+suffered from factions for an unparalleled length of time, still at a
+very early period obtained good laws, and enjoyed a freedom from tyrants
+which was unbroken; it has possessed the same form of government for
+more than four hundred years, reckoning to the end of the late war, and
+has thus been in a position to arrange the affairs of the other states.
+Not many years after the deposition of the tyrants, the battle of
+Marathon was fought between the Medes and the Athenians. Ten years
+afterwards, the barbarian returned with the armada for the subjugation
+of Hellas. In the face of this great danger, the command of the
+confederate Hellenes was assumed by the Lacedaemonians in virtue of
+their superior power; and the Athenians, having made up their minds to
+abandon their city, broke up their homes, threw themselves into their
+ships, and became a naval people. This coalition, after repulsing the
+barbarian, soon afterwards split into two sections, which included the
+Hellenes who had revolted from the King, as well as those who had aided
+him in the war. At the end of the one stood Athens, at the head of the
+other Lacedaemon, one the first naval, the other the first military
+power in Hellas. For a short time the league held together, till the
+Lacedaemonians and Athenians quarrelled and made war upon each other
+with their allies, a duel into which all the Hellenes sooner or later
+were drawn, though some might at first remain neutral. So that the whole
+period from the Median war to this, with some peaceful intervals, was
+spent by each power in war, either with its rival, or with its own
+revolted allies, and consequently afforded them constant practice in
+military matters, and that experience which is learnt in the school of
+danger.
+
+The policy of Lacedaemon was not to exact tribute from her allies, but
+merely to secure their subservience to her interests by establishing
+oligarchies among them; Athens, on the contrary, had by degrees deprived
+hers of their ships, and imposed instead contributions in money on
+all except Chios and Lesbos. Both found their resources for this
+war separately to exceed the sum of their strength when the alliance
+flourished intact.
+
+Having now given the result of my inquiries into early times, I grant
+that there will be a difficulty in believing every particular detail.
+The way that most men deal with traditions, even traditions of their
+own country, is to receive them all alike as they are delivered, without
+applying any critical test whatever. The general Athenian public fancy
+that Hipparchus was tyrant when he fell by the hands of Harmodius
+and Aristogiton, not knowing that Hippias, the eldest of the sons of
+Pisistratus, was really supreme, and that Hipparchus and Thessalus were
+his brothers; and that Harmodius and Aristogiton suspecting, on the very
+day, nay at the very moment fixed on for the deed, that information had
+been conveyed to Hippias by their accomplices, concluded that he had
+been warned, and did not attack him, yet, not liking to be apprehended
+and risk their lives for nothing, fell upon Hipparchus near the
+temple of the daughters of Leos, and slew him as he was arranging the
+Panathenaic procession.
+
+There are many other unfounded ideas current among the rest of the
+Hellenes, even on matters of contemporary history, which have not
+been obscured by time. For instance, there is the notion that the
+Lacedaemonian kings have two votes each, the fact being that they have
+only one; and that there is a company of Pitane, there being simply no
+such thing. So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation
+of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand. On the
+whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs quoted may,
+I believe, safely be relied on. Assuredly they will not be disturbed
+either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration of his craft,
+or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are attractive at truth's
+expense; the subjects they treat of being out of the reach of evidence,
+and time having robbed most of them of historical value by enthroning
+them in the region of legend. Turning from these, we can rest satisfied
+with having proceeded upon the clearest data, and having arrived at
+conclusions as exact as can be expected in matters of such antiquity.
+To come to this war: despite the known disposition of the actors in a
+struggle to overrate its importance, and when it is over to return to
+their admiration of earlier events, yet an examination of the facts will
+show that it was much greater than the wars which preceded it.
+
+With reference to the speeches in this history, some were delivered
+before the war began, others while it was going on; some I heard myself,
+others I got from various quarters; it was in all cases difficult to
+carry them word for word in one's memory, so my habit has been to make
+the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various
+occasions, of course adhering as closely as possible to the general
+sense of what they really said. And with reference to the narrative of
+events, far from permitting myself to derive it from the first source
+that came to hand, I did not even trust my own impressions, but it
+rests partly on what I saw myself, partly on what others saw for me,
+the accuracy of the report being always tried by the most severe and
+detailed tests possible. My conclusions have cost me some labour from
+the want of coincidence between accounts of the same occurrences by
+different eye-witnesses, arising sometimes from imperfect memory,
+sometimes from undue partiality for one side or the other. The absence
+of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its
+interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire
+an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the
+future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not
+reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as
+an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession
+for all time.
+
+The Median War, the greatest achievement of past times, yet found a
+speedy decision in two actions by sea and two by land. The Peloponnesian
+War was prolonged to an immense length, and, long as it was, it was
+short without parallel for the misfortunes that it brought upon Hellas.
+Never had so many cities been taken and laid desolate, here by the
+barbarians, here by the parties contending (the old inhabitants being
+sometimes removed to make room for others); never was there so much
+banishing and blood-shedding, now on the field of battle, now in the
+strife of faction. Old stories of occurrences handed down by tradition,
+but scantily confirmed by experience, suddenly ceased to be incredible;
+there were earthquakes of unparalleled extent and violence; eclipses of
+the sun occurred with a frequency unrecorded in previous history; there
+were great droughts in sundry places and consequent famines, and that
+most calamitous and awfully fatal visitation, the plague. All this
+came upon them with the late war, which was begun by the Athenians and
+Peloponnesians by the dissolution of the thirty years' truce made after
+the conquest of Euboea. To the question why they broke the treaty, I
+answer by placing first an account of their grounds of complaint and
+points of difference, that no one may ever have to ask the immediate
+cause which plunged the Hellenes into a war of such magnitude. The
+real cause I consider to be the one which was formally most kept out
+of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this
+inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable. Still it is well to give
+the grounds alleged by either side which led to the dissolution of the
+treaty and the breaking out of the war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+_Causes of the War--The Affair of Epidamnus--The Affair of Potidaea_
+
+The city of Epidamnus stands on the right of the entrance of the Ionic
+Gulf. Its vicinity is inhabited by the Taulantians, an Illyrian
+people. The place is a colony from Corcyra, founded by Phalius, son
+of Eratocleides, of the family of the Heraclids, who had according to
+ancient usage been summoned for the purpose from Corinth, the mother
+country. The colonists were joined by some Corinthians, and others of
+the Dorian race. Now, as time went on, the city of Epidamnus became
+great and populous; but falling a prey to factions arising, it is
+said, from a war with her neighbours the barbarians, she became much
+enfeebled, and lost a considerable amount of her power. The last act
+before the war was the expulsion of the nobles by the people. The exiled
+party joined the barbarians, and proceeded to plunder those in the city
+by sea and land; and the Epidamnians, finding themselves hard pressed,
+sent ambassadors to Corcyra beseeching their mother country not to allow
+them to perish, but to make up matters between them and the exiles,
+and to rid them of the war with the barbarians. The ambassadors seated
+themselves in the temple of Hera as suppliants, and made the above
+requests to the Corcyraeans. But the Corcyraeans refused to accept their
+supplication, and they were dismissed without having effected anything.
+
+When the Epidamnians found that no help could be expected from Corcyra,
+they were in a strait what to do next. So they sent to Delphi and
+inquired of the God whether they should deliver their city to the
+Corinthians and endeavour to obtain some assistance from their founders.
+The answer he gave them was to deliver the city and place themselves
+under Corinthian protection. So the Epidamnians went to Corinth and
+delivered over the colony in obedience to the commands of the oracle.
+They showed that their founder came from Corinth, and revealed the
+answer of the god; and they begged them not to allow them to perish,
+but to assist them. This the Corinthians consented to do. Believing the
+colony to belong as much to themselves as to the Corcyraeans, they felt
+it to be a kind of duty to undertake their protection. Besides, they
+hated the Corcyraeans for their contempt of the mother country. Instead
+of meeting with the usual honours accorded to the parent city by every
+other colony at public assemblies, such as precedence at sacrifices,
+Corinth found herself treated with contempt by a power which in point of
+wealth could stand comparison with any even of the richest communities
+in Hellas, which possessed great military strength, and which sometimes
+could not repress a pride in the high naval position of an island
+whose nautical renown dated from the days of its old inhabitants, the
+Phaeacians. This was one reason of the care that they lavished on their
+fleet, which became very efficient; indeed they began the war with a
+force of a hundred and twenty galleys.
+
+All these grievances made Corinth eager to send the promised aid to
+Epidamnus. Advertisement was made for volunteer settlers, and a force of
+Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Corinthians was dispatched. They marched by
+land to Apollonia, a Corinthian colony, the route by sea being avoided
+from fear of Corcyraean interruption. When the Corcyraeans heard of the
+arrival of the settlers and troops in Epidamnus, and the surrender of
+the colony to Corinth, they took fire. Instantly putting to sea with
+five-and-twenty ships, which were quickly followed by others, they
+insolently commanded the Epidamnians to receive back the banished
+nobles--(it must be premised that the Epidamnian exiles had come to
+Corcyra and, pointing to the sepulchres of their ancestors, had appealed
+to their kindred to restore them)--and to dismiss the Corinthian
+garrison and settlers. But to all this the Epidamnians turned a deaf
+ear. Upon this the Corcyraeans commenced operations against them with
+a fleet of forty sail. They took with them the exiles, with a view
+to their restoration, and also secured the services of the Illyrians.
+Sitting down before the city, they issued a proclamation to the effect
+that any of the natives that chose, and the foreigners, might depart
+unharmed, with the alternative of being treated as enemies. On their
+refusal the Corcyraeans proceeded to besiege the city, which stands
+on an isthmus; and the Corinthians, receiving intelligence of the
+investment of Epidamnus, got together an armament and proclaimed a
+colony to Epidamnus, perfect political equality being guaranteed to all
+who chose to go. Any who were not prepared to sail at once might, by
+paying down the sum of fifty Corinthian drachmae, have a share in the
+colony without leaving Corinth. Great numbers took advantage of this
+proclamation, some being ready to start directly, others paying the
+requisite forfeit. In case of their passage being disputed by the
+Corcyraeans, several cities were asked to lend them a convoy. Megara
+prepared to accompany them with eight ships, Pale in Cephallonia with
+four; Epidaurus furnished five, Hermione one, Troezen two, Leucas ten,
+and Ambracia eight. The Thebans and Phliasians were asked for money, the
+Eleans for hulls as well; while Corinth herself furnished thirty ships
+and three thousand heavy infantry.
+
+When the Corcyraeans heard of their preparations they came to Corinth
+with envoys from Lacedaemon and Sicyon, whom they persuaded to accompany
+them, and bade her recall the garrison and settlers, as she had nothing
+to do with Epidamnus. If, however, she had any claims to make, they were
+willing to submit the matter to the arbitration of such of the cities in
+Peloponnese as should be chosen by mutual agreement, and that the colony
+should remain with the city to whom the arbitrators might assign it.
+They were also willing to refer the matter to the oracle at Delphi. If,
+in defiance of their protestations, war was appealed to, they should be
+themselves compelled by this violence to seek friends in quarters where
+they had no desire to seek them, and to make even old ties give way to
+the necessity of assistance. The answer they got from Corinth was that,
+if they would withdraw their fleet and the barbarians from Epidamnus,
+negotiation might be possible; but, while the town was still being
+besieged, going before arbitrators was out of the question. The
+Corcyraeans retorted that if Corinth would withdraw her troops from
+Epidamnus they would withdraw theirs, or they were ready to let both
+parties remain in statu quo, an armistice being concluded till judgment
+could be given.
+
+Turning a deaf ear to all these proposals, when their ships were manned
+and their allies had come in, the Corinthians sent a herald before them
+to declare war and, getting under way with seventy-five ships and two
+thousand heavy infantry, sailed for Epidamnus to give battle to the
+Corcyraeans. The fleet was under the command of Aristeus, son of
+Pellichas, Callicrates, son of Callias, and Timanor, son of Timanthes;
+the troops under that of Archetimus, son of Eurytimus, and Isarchidas,
+son of Isarchus. When they had reached Actium in the territory of
+Anactorium, at the mouth of the mouth of the Gulf of Ambracia, where
+the temple of Apollo stands, the Corcyraeans sent on a herald in a light
+boat to warn them not to sail against them. Meanwhile they proceeded
+to man their ships, all of which had been equipped for action, the old
+vessels being undergirded to make them seaworthy. On the return of the
+herald without any peaceful answer from the Corinthians, their ships
+being now manned, they put out to sea to meet the enemy with a fleet of
+eighty sail (forty were engaged in the siege of Epidamnus), formed
+line, and went into action, and gained a decisive victory, and destroyed
+fifteen of the Corinthian vessels. The same day had seen Epidamnus
+compelled by its besiegers to capitulate; the conditions being that the
+foreigners should be sold, and the Corinthians kept as prisoners of war,
+till their fate should be otherwise decided.
+
+After the engagement the Corcyraeans set up a trophy on Leukimme, a
+headland of Corcyra, and slew all their captives except the Corinthians,
+whom they kept as prisoners of war. Defeated at sea, the Corinthians and
+their allies repaired home, and left the Corcyraeans masters of all
+the sea about those parts. Sailing to Leucas, a Corinthian colony, they
+ravaged their territory, and burnt Cyllene, the harbour of the Eleans,
+because they had furnished ships and money to Corinth. For almost the
+whole of the period that followed the battle they remained masters of
+the sea, and the allies of Corinth were harassed by Corcyraean cruisers.
+At last Corinth, roused by the sufferings of her allies, sent out ships
+and troops in the fall of the summer, who formed an encampment at Actium
+and about Chimerium, in Thesprotis, for the protection of Leucas and
+the rest of the friendly cities. The Corcyraeans on their part formed a
+similar station on Leukimme. Neither party made any movement, but they
+remained confronting each other till the end of the summer, and winter
+was at hand before either of them returned home.
+
+Corinth, exasperated by the war with the Corcyraeans, spent the whole of
+the year after the engagement and that succeeding it in building ships,
+and in straining every nerve to form an efficient fleet; rowers being
+drawn from Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas by the inducement of large
+bounties. The Corcyraeans, alarmed at the news of their preparations,
+being without a single ally in Hellas (for they had not enrolled
+themselves either in the Athenian or in the Lacedaemonian confederacy),
+decided to repair to Athens in order to enter into alliance and to
+endeavour to procure support from her. Corinth also, hearing of their
+intentions, sent an embassy to Athens to prevent the Corcyraean navy
+being joined by the Athenian, and her prospect of ordering the war
+according to her wishes being thus impeded. An assembly was convoked,
+and the rival advocates appeared: the Corcyraeans spoke as follows:
+
+"Athenians! when a people that have not rendered any important service
+or support to their neighbours in times past, for which they might claim
+to be repaid, appear before them as we now appear before you to solicit
+their assistance, they may fairly be required to satisfy certain
+preliminary conditions. They should show, first, that it is expedient
+or at least safe to grant their request; next, that they will retain a
+lasting sense of the kindness. But if they cannot clearly establish any
+of these points, they must not be annoyed if they meet with a rebuff.
+Now the Corcyraeans believe that with their petition for assistance they
+can also give you a satisfactory answer on these points, and they have
+therefore dispatched us hither. It has so happened that our policy as
+regards you with respect to this request, turns out to be inconsistent,
+and as regards our interests, to be at the present crisis inexpedient.
+We say inconsistent, because a power which has never in the whole of her
+past history been willing to ally herself with any of her neighbours,
+is now found asking them to ally themselves with her. And we say
+inexpedient, because in our present war with Corinth it has left us in
+a position of entire isolation, and what once seemed the wise precaution
+of refusing to involve ourselves in alliances with other powers, lest we
+should also involve ourselves in risks of their choosing, has now proved
+to be folly and weakness. It is true that in the late naval engagement
+we drove back the Corinthians from our shores single-handed. But they
+have now got together a still larger armament from Peloponnese and the
+rest of Hellas; and we, seeing our utter inability to cope with them
+without foreign aid, and the magnitude of the danger which subjection
+to them implies, find it necessary to ask help from you and from every
+other power. And we hope to be excused if we forswear our old principle
+of complete political isolation, a principle which was not adopted with
+any sinister intention, but was rather the consequence of an error in
+judgment.
+
+"Now there are many reasons why in the event of your compliance you will
+congratulate yourselves on this request having been made to you. First,
+because your assistance will be rendered to a power which, herself
+inoffensive, is a victim to the injustice of others. Secondly, because
+all that we most value is at stake in the present contest, and your
+welcome of us under these circumstances will be a proof of goodwill
+which will ever keep alive the gratitude you will lay up in our hearts.
+Thirdly, yourselves excepted, we are the greatest naval power in Hellas.
+Moreover, can you conceive a stroke of good fortune more rare in
+itself, or more disheartening to your enemies, than that the power whose
+adhesion you would have valued above much material and moral strength
+should present herself self-invited, should deliver herself into your
+hands without danger and without expense, and should lastly put you
+in the way of gaining a high character in the eyes of the world, the
+gratitude of those whom you shall assist, and a great accession of
+strength for yourselves? You may search all history without finding
+many instances of a people gaining all these advantages at once, or
+many instances of a power that comes in quest of assistance being in
+a position to give to the people whose alliance she solicits as much
+safety and honour as she will receive. But it will be urged that it
+is only in the case of a war that we shall be found useful. To this
+we answer that if any of you imagine that that war is far off, he is
+grievously mistaken, and is blind to the fact that Lacedaemon regards
+you with jealousy and desires war, and that Corinth is powerful
+there--the same, remember, that is your enemy, and is even now trying
+to subdue us as a preliminary to attacking you. And this she does to
+prevent our becoming united by a common enmity, and her having us both
+on her hands, and also to ensure getting the start of you in one of two
+ways, either by crippling our power or by making its strength her own.
+Now it is our policy to be beforehand with her--that is, for Corcyra to
+make an offer of alliance and for you to accept it; in fact, we ought to
+form plans against her instead of waiting to defeat the plans she forms
+against us.
+
+"If she asserts that for you to receive a colony of hers into alliance
+is not right, let her know that every colony that is well treated
+honours its parent state, but becomes estranged from it by injustice.
+For colonists are not sent forth on the understanding that they are to
+be the slaves of those that remain behind, but that they are to be their
+equals. And that Corinth was injuring us is clear. Invited to refer the
+dispute about Epidamnus to arbitration, they chose to prosecute their
+complaints war rather than by a fair trial. And let their conduct
+towards us who are their kindred be a warning to you not to be misled
+by their deceit, nor to yield to their direct requests; concessions to
+adversaries only end in self-reproach, and the more strictly they are
+avoided the greater will be the chance of security.
+
+"If it be urged that your reception of us will be a breach of the treaty
+existing between you and Lacedaemon, the answer is that we are a neutral
+state, and that one of the express provisions of that treaty is that
+it shall be competent for any Hellenic state that is neutral to join
+whichever side it pleases. And it is intolerable for Corinth to be
+allowed to obtain men for her navy not only from her allies, but also
+from the rest of Hellas, no small number being furnished by your own
+subjects; while we are to be excluded both from the alliance left open
+to us by treaty, and from any assistance that we might get from other
+quarters, and you are to be accused of political immorality if you
+comply with our request. On the other hand, we shall have much greater
+cause to complain of you, if you do not comply with it; if we, who are
+in peril and are no enemies of yours, meet with a repulse at your hands,
+while Corinth, who is the aggressor and your enemy, not only meets with
+no hindrance from you, but is even allowed to draw material for war from
+your dependencies. This ought not to be, but you should either forbid
+her enlisting men in your dominions, or you should lend us too what help
+you may think advisable.
+
+"But your real policy is to afford us avowed countenance and support.
+The advantages of this course, as we premised in the beginning of our
+speech, are many. We mention one that is perhaps the chief. Could there
+be a clearer guarantee of our good faith than is offered by the fact
+that the power which is at enmity with you is also at enmity with us,
+and that that power is fully able to punish defection? And there is a
+wide difference between declining the alliance of an inland and of
+a maritime power. For your first endeavour should be to prevent, if
+possible, the existence of any naval power except your own; failing
+this, to secure the friendship of the strongest that does exist. And if
+any of you believe that what we urge is expedient, but fear to act upon
+this belief, lest it should lead to a breach of the treaty, you must
+remember that on the one hand, whatever your fears, your strength will
+be formidable to your antagonists; on the other, whatever the confidence
+you derive from refusing to receive us, your weakness will have no
+terrors for a strong enemy. You must also remember that your decision
+is for Athens no less than Corcyra, and that you are not making the
+best provision for her interests, if at a time when you are anxiously
+scanning the horizon that you may be in readiness for the breaking out
+of the war which is all but upon you, you hesitate to attach to your
+side a place whose adhesion or estrangement is alike pregnant with
+the most vital consequences. For it lies conveniently for the
+coast-navigation in the direction of Italy and Sicily, being able to bar
+the passage of naval reinforcements from thence to Peloponnese, and
+from Peloponnese thither; and it is in other respects a most desirable
+station. To sum up as shortly as possible, embracing both general and
+particular considerations, let this show you the folly of sacrificing
+us. Remember that there are but three considerable naval powers in
+Hellas--Athens, Corcyra, and Corinth--and that if you allow two of these
+three to become one, and Corinth to secure us for herself, you will have
+to hold the sea against the united fleets of Corcyra and Peloponnese.
+But if you receive us, you will have our ships to reinforce you in the
+struggle."
+
+Such were the words of the Corcyraeans. After they had finished, the
+Corinthians spoke as follows:
+
+"These Corcyraeans in the speech we have just heard do not confine
+themselves to the question of their reception into your alliance. They
+also talk of our being guilty of injustice, and their being the victims
+of an unjustifiable war. It becomes necessary for us to touch upon both
+these points before we proceed to the rest of what we have to say, that
+you may have a more correct idea of the grounds of our claim, and have
+good cause to reject their petition. According to them, their old policy
+of refusing all offers of alliance was a policy of moderation. It was in
+fact adopted for bad ends, not for good; indeed their conduct is such
+as to make them by no means desirous of having allies present to witness
+it, or of having the shame of asking their concurrence. Besides,
+their geographical situation makes them independent of others, and
+consequently the decision in cases where they injure any lies not with
+judges appointed by mutual agreement, but with themselves, because,
+while they seldom make voyages to their neighbours, they are constantly
+being visited by foreign vessels which are compelled to put in to
+Corcyra. In short, the object that they propose to themselves, in their
+specious policy of complete isolation, is not to avoid sharing in the
+crimes of others, but to secure monopoly of crime to themselves--the
+licence of outrage wherever they can compel, of fraud wherever they can
+elude, and the enjoyment of their gains without shame. And yet if they
+were the honest men they pretend to be, the less hold that others had
+upon them, the stronger would be the light in which they might have put
+their honesty by giving and taking what was just.
+
+"But such has not been their conduct either towards others or towards
+us. The attitude of our colony towards us has always been one of
+estrangement and is now one of hostility; for, say they: 'We were not
+sent out to be ill-treated.' We rejoin that we did not found the colony
+to be insulted by them, but to be their head and to be regarded with
+a proper respect. At any rate our other colonies honour us, and we
+are much beloved by our colonists; and clearly, if the majority are
+satisfied with us, these can have no good reason for a dissatisfaction
+in which they stand alone, and we are not acting improperly in making
+war against them, nor are we making war against them without having
+received signal provocation. Besides, if we were in the wrong, it would
+be honourable in them to give way to our wishes, and disgraceful for us
+to trample on their moderation; but in the pride and licence of wealth
+they have sinned again and again against us, and never more deeply than
+when Epidamnus, our dependency, which they took no steps to claim in its
+distress upon our coming to relieve it, was by them seized, and is now
+held by force of arms.
+
+"As to their allegation that they wished the question to be first
+submitted to arbitration, it is obvious that a challenge coming from the
+party who is safe in a commanding position cannot gain the credit due
+only to him who, before appealing to arms, in deeds as well as words,
+places himself on a level with his adversary. In their case, it was not
+before they laid siege to the place, but after they at length understood
+that we should not tamely suffer it, that they thought of the specious
+word arbitration. And not satisfied with their own misconduct there,
+they appear here now requiring you to join with them not in alliance but
+in crime, and to receive them in spite of their being at enmity with us.
+But it was when they stood firmest that they should have made overtures
+to you, and not at a time when we have been wronged and they are in
+peril; nor yet at a time when you will be admitting to a share in your
+protection those who never admitted you to a share in their power, and
+will be incurring an equal amount of blame from us with those in whose
+offences you had no hand. No, they should have shared their power with
+you before they asked you to share your fortunes with them.
+
+"So then the reality of the grievances we come to complain of, and the
+violence and rapacity of our opponents, have both been proved. But that
+you cannot equitably receive them, this you have still to learn. It may
+be true that one of the provisions of the treaty is that it shall be
+competent for any state, whose name was not down on the list, to join
+whichever side it pleases. But this agreement is not meant for those
+whose object in joining is the injury of other powers, but for those
+whose need of support does not arise from the fact of defection, and
+whose adhesion will not bring to the power that is mad enough to receive
+them war instead of peace; which will be the case with you, if you
+refuse to listen to us. For you cannot become their auxiliary and remain
+our friend; if you join in their attack, you must share the punishment
+which the defenders inflict on them. And yet you have the best possible
+right to be neutral, or, failing this, you should on the contrary join
+us against them. Corinth is at least in treaty with you; with Corcyra
+you were never even in truce. But do not lay down the principle that
+defection is to be patronized. Did we on the defection of the Samians
+record our vote against you, when the rest of the Peloponnesian powers
+were equally divided on the question whether they should assist them?
+No, we told them to their face that every power has a right to punish
+its own allies. Why, if you make it your policy to receive and assist
+all offenders, you will find that just as many of your dependencies will
+come over to us, and the principle that you establish will press less
+heavily on us than on yourselves.
+
+"This then is what Hellenic law entitles us to demand as a right. But
+we have also advice to offer and claims on your gratitude, which, since
+there is no danger of our injuring you, as we are not enemies, and since
+our friendship does not amount to very frequent intercourse, we say
+ought to be liquidated at the present juncture. When you were in want
+of ships of war for the war against the Aeginetans, before the Persian
+invasion, Corinth supplied you with twenty vessels. That good turn, and
+the line we took on the Samian question, when we were the cause of the
+Peloponnesians refusing to assist them, enabled you to conquer Aegina
+and to punish Samos. And we acted thus at crises when, if ever, men are
+wont in their efforts against their enemies to forget everything for the
+sake of victory, regarding him who assists them then as a friend, even
+if thus far he has been a foe, and him who opposes them then as a foe,
+even if he has thus far been a friend; indeed they allow their real
+interests to suffer from their absorbing preoccupation in the struggle.
+
+"Weigh well these considerations, and let your youth learn what they are
+from their elders, and let them determine to do unto us as we have done
+unto you. And let them not acknowledge the justice of what we say,
+but dispute its wisdom in the contingency of war. Not only is the
+straightest path generally speaking the wisest; but the coming of the
+war, which the Corcyraeans have used as a bugbear to persuade you to do
+wrong, is still uncertain, and it is not worth while to be carried away
+by it into gaining the instant and declared enmity of Corinth. It were,
+rather, wise to try and counteract the unfavourable impression which
+your conduct to Megara has created. For kindness opportunely shown has a
+greater power of removing old grievances than the facts of the case
+may warrant. And do not be seduced by the prospect of a great naval
+alliance. Abstinence from all injustice to other first-rate powers is
+a greater tower of strength than anything that can be gained by the
+sacrifice of permanent tranquillity for an apparent temporary advantage.
+It is now our turn to benefit by the principle that we laid down at
+Lacedaemon, that every power has a right to punish her own allies.
+We now claim to receive the same from you, and protest against your
+rewarding us for benefiting you by our vote by injuring us by yours.
+On the contrary, return us like for like, remembering that this is
+that very crisis in which he who lends aid is most a friend, and he who
+opposes is most a foe. And for these Corcyraeans--neither receive them
+into alliance in our despite, nor be their abettors in crime. So do, and
+you will act as we have a right to expect of you, and at the same time
+best consult your own interests."
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians.
+
+When the Athenians had heard both out, two assemblies were held. In the
+first there was a manifest disposition to listen to the representations
+of Corinth; in the second, public feeling had changed and an alliance
+with Corcyra was decided on, with certain reservations. It was to be a
+defensive, not an offensive alliance. It did not involve a breach of the
+treaty with Peloponnese: Athens could not be required to join Corcyra in
+any attack upon Corinth. But each of the contracting parties had a right
+to the other's assistance against invasion, whether of his own territory
+or that of an ally. For it began now to be felt that the coming of the
+Peloponnesian war was only a question of time, and no one was willing
+to see a naval power of such magnitude as Corcyra sacrificed to Corinth;
+though if they could let them weaken each other by mutual conflict, it
+would be no bad preparation for the struggle which Athens might one day
+have to wage with Corinth and the other naval powers. At the same time
+the island seemed to lie conveniently on the coasting passage to Italy
+and Sicily. With these views, Athens received Corcyra into alliance and,
+on the departure of the Corinthians not long afterwards, sent ten ships
+to their assistance. They were commanded by Lacedaemonius, the son
+of Cimon, Diotimus, the son of Strombichus, and Proteas, the son of
+Epicles. Their instructions were to avoid collision with the Corinthian
+fleet except under certain circumstances. If it sailed to Corcyra and
+threatened a landing on her coast, or in any of her possessions, they
+were to do their utmost to prevent it. These instructions were prompted
+by an anxiety to avoid a breach of the treaty.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthians completed their preparations, and sailed for
+Corcyra with a hundred and fifty ships. Of these Elis furnished ten,
+Megara twelve, Leucas ten, Ambracia twenty-seven, Anactorium one, and
+Corinth herself ninety. Each of these contingents had its own admiral,
+the Corinthian being under the command of Xenoclides, son of Euthycles,
+with four colleagues. Sailing from Leucas, they made land at the part
+of the continent opposite Corcyra. They anchored in the harbour of
+Chimerium, in the territory of Thesprotis, above which, at some distance
+from the sea, lies the city of Ephyre, in the Elean district. By this
+city the Acherusian lake pours its waters into the sea. It gets its name
+from the river Acheron, which flows through Thesprotis and falls into
+the lake. There also the river Thyamis flows, forming the boundary
+between Thesprotis and Kestrine; and between these rivers rises the
+point of Chimerium. In this part of the continent the Corinthians now
+came to anchor, and formed an encampment. When the Corcyraeans saw them
+coming, they manned a hundred and ten ships, commanded by Meikiades,
+Aisimides, and Eurybatus, and stationed themselves at one of the Sybota
+isles; the ten Athenian ships being present. On Point Leukimme they
+posted their land forces, and a thousand heavy infantry who had come
+from Zacynthus to their assistance. Nor were the Corinthians on the
+mainland without their allies. The barbarians flocked in large numbers
+to their assistance, the inhabitants of this part of the continent being
+old allies of theirs.
+
+When the Corinthian preparations were completed, they took three days'
+provisions and put out from Chimerium by night, ready for action.
+Sailing with the dawn, they sighted the Corcyraean fleet out at sea and
+coming towards them. When they perceived each other, both sides formed
+in order of battle. On the Corcyraean right wing lay the Athenian ships,
+the rest of the line being occupied by their own vessels formed in three
+squadrons, each of which was commanded by one of the three admirals.
+Such was the Corcyraean formation. The Corinthian was as follows: on the
+right wing lay the Megarian and Ambraciot ships, in the centre the rest
+of the allies in order. But the left was composed of the best sailers
+in the Corinthian navy, to encounter the Athenians and the right wing of
+the Corcyraeans. As soon as the signals were raised on either side, they
+joined battle. Both sides had a large number of heavy infantry on their
+decks, and a large number of archers and darters, the old imperfect
+armament still prevailing. The sea-fight was an obstinate one, though
+not remarkable for its science; indeed it was more like a battle by
+land. Whenever they charged each other, the multitude and crush of the
+vessels made it by no means easy to get loose; besides, their hopes of
+victory lay principally in the heavy infantry on the decks, who stood
+and fought in order, the ships remaining stationary. The manoeuvre of
+breaking the line was not tried; in short, strength and pluck had more
+share in the fight than science. Everywhere tumult reigned, the battle
+being one scene of confusion; meanwhile the Athenian ships, by coming
+up to the Corcyraeans whenever they were pressed, served to alarm the
+enemy, though their commanders could not join in the battle from fear of
+their instructions. The right wing of the Corinthians suffered most. The
+Corcyraeans routed it, and chased them in disorder to the continent with
+twenty ships, sailed up to their camp, and burnt the tents which they
+found empty, and plundered the stuff. So in this quarter the Corinthians
+and their allies were defeated, and the Corcyraeans were victorious.
+But where the Corinthians themselves were, on the left, they gained
+a decided success; the scanty forces of the Corcyraeans being further
+weakened by the want of the twenty ships absent on the pursuit. Seeing
+the Corcyraeans hard pressed, the Athenians began at length to assist
+them more unequivocally. At first, it is true, they refrained from
+charging any ships; but when the rout was becoming patent, and the
+Corinthians were pressing on, the time at last came when every one set
+to, and all distinction was laid aside, and it came to this point, that
+the Corinthians and Athenians raised their hands against each other.
+
+After the rout, the Corinthians, instead of employing themselves in
+lashing fast and hauling after them the hulls of the vessels which they
+had disabled, turned their attention to the men, whom they butchered as
+they sailed through, not caring so much to make prisoners. Some even of
+their own friends were slain by them, by mistake, in their ignorance of
+the defeat of the right wing For the number of the ships on both sides,
+and the distance to which they covered the sea, made it difficult, after
+they had once joined, to distinguish between the conquering and the
+conquered; this battle proving far greater than any before it, any at
+least between Hellenes, for the number of vessels engaged. After the
+Corinthians had chased the Corcyraeans to the land, they turned to the
+wrecks and their dead, most of whom they succeeded in getting hold of
+and conveying to Sybota, the rendezvous of the land forces furnished by
+their barbarian allies. Sybota, it must be known, is a desert harbour of
+Thesprotis. This task over, they mustered anew, and sailed against the
+Corcyraeans, who on their part advanced to meet them with all their
+ships that were fit for service and remaining to them, accompanied by
+the Athenian vessels, fearing that they might attempt a landing in their
+territory. It was by this time getting late, and the paean had been sung
+for the attack, when the Corinthians suddenly began to back water. They
+had observed twenty Athenian ships sailing up, which had been sent out
+afterwards to reinforce the ten vessels by the Athenians, who feared, as
+it turned out justly, the defeat of the Corcyraeans and the inability
+of their handful of ships to protect them. These ships were thus seen
+by the Corinthians first. They suspected that they were from Athens, and
+that those which they saw were not all, but that there were more behind;
+they accordingly began to retire. The Corcyraeans meanwhile had not
+sighted them, as they were advancing from a point which they could not
+so well see, and were wondering why the Corinthians were backing water,
+when some caught sight of them, and cried out that there were ships in
+sight ahead. Upon this they also retired; for it was now getting dark,
+and the retreat of the Corinthians had suspended hostilities. Thus
+they parted from each other, and the battle ceased with night. The
+Corcyraeans were in their camp at Leukimme, when these twenty ships from
+Athens, under the command of Glaucon, the son of Leagrus, and Andocides,
+son of Leogoras, bore on through the corpses and the wrecks, and sailed
+up to the camp, not long after they were sighted. It was now night, and
+the Corcyraeans feared that they might be hostile vessels; but they soon
+knew them, and the ships came to anchor.
+
+The next day the thirty Athenian vessels put out to sea, accompanied by
+all the Corcyraean ships that were seaworthy, and sailed to the harbour
+at Sybota, where the Corinthians lay, to see if they would engage. The
+Corinthians put out from the land and formed a line in the open sea, but
+beyond this made no further movement, having no intention of assuming
+the offensive. For they saw reinforcements arrived fresh from Athens,
+and themselves confronted by numerous difficulties, such as the
+necessity of guarding the prisoners whom they had on board and the want
+of all means of refitting their ships in a desert place. What they were
+thinking more about was how their voyage home was to be effected; they
+feared that the Athenians might consider that the treaty was dissolved
+by the collision which had occurred, and forbid their departure.
+
+Accordingly they resolved to put some men on board a boat, and send them
+without a herald's wand to the Athenians, as an experiment. Having done
+so, they spoke as follows: "You do wrong, Athenians, to begin war and
+break the treaty. Engaged in chastising our enemies, we find you placing
+yourselves in our path in arms against us. Now if your intentions are to
+prevent us sailing to Corcyra, or anywhere else that we may wish, and if
+you are for breaking the treaty, first take us that are here and treat
+us as enemies." Such was what they said, and all the Corcyraean armament
+that were within hearing immediately called out to take them and kill
+them. But the Athenians answered as follows: "Neither are we beginning
+war, Peloponnesians, nor are we breaking the treaty; but these
+Corcyraeans are our allies, and we are come to help them. So if you want
+to sail anywhere else, we place no obstacle in your way; but if you are
+going to sail against Corcyra, or any of her possessions, we shall do
+our best to stop you."
+
+Receiving this answer from the Athenians, the Corinthians commenced
+preparations for their voyage home, and set up a trophy in Sybota, on
+the continent; while the Corcyraeans took up the wrecks and dead that
+had been carried out to them by the current, and by a wind which rose in
+the night and scattered them in all directions, and set up their trophy
+in Sybota, on the island, as victors. The reasons each side had for
+claiming the victory were these. The Corinthians had been victorious
+in the sea-fight until night; and having thus been enabled to carry
+off most wrecks and dead, they were in possession of no fewer than a
+thousand prisoners of war, and had sunk close upon seventy vessels. The
+Corcyraeans had destroyed about thirty ships, and after the arrival of
+the Athenians had taken up the wrecks and dead on their side; they had
+besides seen the Corinthians retire before them, backing water on sight
+of the Athenian vessels, and upon the arrival of the Athenians refuse to
+sail out against them from Sybota. Thus both sides claimed the victory.
+
+The Corinthians on the voyage home took Anactorium, which stands at the
+mouth of the Ambracian gulf. The place was taken by treachery, being
+common ground to the Corcyraeans and Corinthians. After establishing
+Corinthian settlers there, they retired home. Eight hundred of the
+Corcyraeans were slaves; these they sold; two hundred and fifty they
+retained in captivity, and treated with great attention, in the hope
+that they might bring over their country to Corinth on their return;
+most of them being, as it happened, men of very high position in
+Corcyra. In this way Corcyra maintained her political existence in the
+war with Corinth, and the Athenian vessels left the island. This was
+the first cause of the war that Corinth had against the Athenians,
+viz., that they had fought against them with the Corcyraeans in time of
+treaty.
+
+Almost immediately after this, fresh differences arose between the
+Athenians and Peloponnesians, and contributed their share to the war.
+Corinth was forming schemes for retaliation, and Athens suspected her
+hostility. The Potidaeans, who inhabit the isthmus of Pallene, being a
+Corinthian colony, but tributary allies of Athens, were ordered to
+raze the wall looking towards Pallene, to give hostages, to dismiss the
+Corinthian magistrates, and in future not to receive the persons sent
+from Corinth annually to succeed them. It was feared that they might be
+persuaded by Perdiccas and the Corinthians to revolt, and might draw the
+rest of the allies in the direction of Thrace to revolt with them.
+These precautions against the Potidaeans were taken by the Athenians
+immediately after the battle at Corcyra. Not only was Corinth at
+length openly hostile, but Perdiccas, son of Alexander, king of the
+Macedonians, had from an old friend and ally been made an enemy. He
+had been made an enemy by the Athenians entering into alliance with his
+brother Philip and Derdas, who were in league against him. In his alarm
+he had sent to Lacedaemon to try and involve the Athenians in a war with
+the Peloponnesians, and was endeavouring to win over Corinth in order
+to bring about the revolt of Potidaea. He also made overtures to the
+Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace, and to the Bottiaeans, to
+persuade them to join in the revolt; for he thought that if these places
+on the border could be made his allies, it would be easier to carry
+on the war with their co-operation. Alive to all this, and wishing to
+anticipate the revolt of the cities, the Athenians acted as follows.
+They were just then sending off thirty ships and a thousand heavy
+infantry for his country under the command of Archestratus, son of
+Lycomedes, with four colleagues. They instructed the captains to take
+hostages of the Potidaeans, to raze the wall, and to be on their guard
+against the revolt of the neighbouring cities.
+
+Meanwhile the Potidaeans sent envoys to Athens on the chance of
+persuading them to take no new steps in their matters; they also went
+to Lacedaemon with the Corinthians to secure support in case of need.
+Failing after prolonged negotiation to obtain anything satisfactory
+from the Athenians; being unable, for all they could say, to prevent the
+vessels that were destined for Macedonia from also sailing against them;
+and receiving from the Lacedaemonian government a promise to invade
+Attica, if the Athenians should attack Potidaea, the Potidaeans, thus
+favoured by the moment, at last entered into league with the Chalcidians
+and Bottiaeans, and revolted. And Perdiccas induced the Chalcidians to
+abandon and demolish their towns on the seaboard and, settling inland at
+Olynthus, to make that one city a strong place: meanwhile to those who
+followed his advice he gave a part of his territory in Mygdonia round
+Lake Bolbe as a place of abode while the war against the Athenians
+should last. They accordingly demolished their towns, removed inland and
+prepared for war. The thirty ships of the Athenians, arriving before
+the Thracian places, found Potidaea and the rest in revolt. Their
+commanders, considering it to be quite impossible with their present
+force to carry on war with Perdiccas and with the confederate towns
+as well turned to Macedonia, their original destination, and, having
+established themselves there, carried on war in co-operation with
+Philip, and the brothers of Derdas, who had invaded the country from the
+interior.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthians, with Potidaea in revolt and the Athenian
+ships on the coast of Macedonia, alarmed for the safety of the place
+and thinking its danger theirs, sent volunteers from Corinth, and
+mercenaries from the rest of Peloponnese, to the number of sixteen
+hundred heavy infantry in all, and four hundred light troops. Aristeus,
+son of Adimantus, who was always a steady friend to the Potidaeans, took
+command of the expedition, and it was principally for love of him that
+most of the men from Corinth volunteered. They arrived in Thrace forty
+days after the revolt of Potidaea.
+
+The Athenians also immediately received the news of the revolt of the
+cities. On being informed that Aristeus and his reinforcements were on
+their way, they sent two thousand heavy infantry of their own citizens
+and forty ships against the places in revolt, under the command
+of Callias, son of Calliades, and four colleagues. They arrived in
+Macedonia first, and found the force of a thousand men that had been
+first sent out, just become masters of Therme and besieging Pydna.
+Accordingly they also joined in the investment, and besieged Pydna for
+a while. Subsequently they came to terms and concluded a forced alliance
+with Perdiccas, hastened by the calls of Potidaea and by the arrival of
+Aristeus at that place. They withdrew from Macedonia, going to Beroea
+and thence to Strepsa, and, after a futile attempt on the latter place,
+they pursued by land their march to Potidaea with three thousand heavy
+infantry of their own citizens, besides a number of their allies, and
+six hundred Macedonian horsemen, the followers of Philip and Pausanias.
+With these sailed seventy ships along the coast. Advancing by short
+marches, on the third day they arrived at Gigonus, where they encamped.
+
+Meanwhile the Potidaeans and the Peloponnesians with Aristeus were
+encamped on the side looking towards Olynthus on the isthmus, in
+expectation of the Athenians, and had established their market outside
+the city. The allies had chosen Aristeus general of all the infantry;
+while the command of the cavalry was given to Perdiccas, who had at
+once left the alliance of the Athenians and gone back to that of the
+Potidaeans, having deputed Iolaus as his general: The plan of Aristeus
+was to keep his own force on the isthmus, and await the attack of the
+Athenians; leaving the Chalcidians and the allies outside the isthmus,
+and the two hundred cavalry from Perdiccas in Olynthus to act upon the
+Athenian rear, on the occasion of their advancing against him; and thus
+to place the enemy between two fires. While Callias the Athenian general
+and his colleagues dispatched the Macedonian horse and a few of the
+allies to Olynthus, to prevent any movement being made from that
+quarter, the Athenians themselves broke up their camp and marched
+against Potidaea. After they had arrived at the isthmus, and saw the
+enemy preparing for battle, they formed against him, and soon afterwards
+engaged. The wing of Aristeus, with the Corinthians and other picked
+troops round him, routed the wing opposed to it, and followed for
+a considerable distance in pursuit. But the rest of the army of the
+Potidaeans and of the Peloponnesians was defeated by the Athenians,
+and took refuge within the fortifications. Returning from the pursuit,
+Aristeus perceived the defeat of the rest of the army. Being at a
+loss which of the two risks to choose, whether to go to Olynthus or to
+Potidaea, he at last determined to draw his men into as small a space
+as possible, and force his way with a run into Potidaea. Not without
+difficulty, through a storm of missiles, he passed along by the
+breakwater through the sea, and brought off most of his men safe,
+though a few were lost. Meanwhile the auxiliaries of the Potidaeans from
+Olynthus, which is about seven miles off and in sight of Potidaea, when
+the battle began and the signals were raised, advanced a little way
+to render assistance; and the Macedonian horse formed against them to
+prevent it. But on victory speedily declaring for the Athenians and the
+signals being taken down, they retired back within the wall; and the
+Macedonians returned to the Athenians. Thus there were no cavalry
+present on either side. After the battle the Athenians set up a trophy,
+and gave back their dead to the Potidaeans under truce. The Potidaeans
+and their allies had close upon three hundred killed; the Athenians a
+hundred and fifty of their own citizens, and Callias their general.
+
+The wall on the side of the isthmus had now works at once raised against
+it, and manned by the Athenians. That on the side of Pallene had no
+works raised against it. They did not think themselves strong enough at
+once to keep a garrison in the isthmus and to cross over to Pallene and
+raise works there; they were afraid that the Potidaeans and their allies
+might take advantage of their division to attack them. Meanwhile the
+Athenians at home learning that there were no works at Pallene, some
+time afterwards sent off sixteen hundred heavy infantry of their own
+citizens under the command of Phormio, son of Asopius. Arrived at
+Pallene, he fixed his headquarters at Aphytis, and led his army against
+Potidaea by short marches, ravaging the country as he advanced. No one
+venturing to meet him in the field, he raised works against the wall
+on the side of Pallene. So at length Potidaea was strongly invested on
+either side, and from the sea by the ships co-operating in the blockade.
+Aristeus, seeing its investment complete, and having no hope of its
+salvation, except in the event of some movement from the Peloponnese, or
+of some other improbable contingency, advised all except five hundred
+to watch for a wind and sail out of the place, in order that their
+provisions might last the longer. He was willing to be himself one of
+those who remained. Unable to persuade them, and desirous of acting on
+the next alternative, and of having things outside in the best posture
+possible, he eluded the guardships of the Athenians and sailed out.
+Remaining among the Chalcidians, he continued to carry on the war; in
+particular he laid an ambuscade near the city of the Sermylians, and cut
+off many of them; he also communicated with Peloponnese, and tried to
+contrive some method by which help might be brought. Meanwhile, after
+the completion of the investment of Potidaea, Phormio next employed
+his sixteen hundred men in ravaging Chalcidice and Bottica: some of the
+towns also were taken by him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+_Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at Lacedaemon_
+
+The Athenians and Peloponnesians had these antecedent grounds of
+complaint against each other: the complaint of Corinth was that her
+colony of Potidaea, and Corinthian and Peloponnesian citizens within it,
+were being besieged; that of Athens against the Peloponnesians that they
+had incited a town of hers, a member of her alliance and a contributor
+to her revenue, to revolt, and had come and were openly fighting against
+her on the side of the Potidaeans. For all this, war had not yet
+broken out: there was still truce for a while; for this was a private
+enterprise on the part of Corinth.
+
+But the siege of Potidaea put an end to her inaction; she had men inside
+it: besides, she feared for the place. Immediately summoning the allies
+to Lacedaemon, she came and loudly accused Athens of breach of the
+treaty and aggression on the rights of Peloponnese. With her, the
+Aeginetans, formally unrepresented from fear of Athens, in secret proved
+not the least urgent of the advocates for war, asserting that they had
+not the independence guaranteed to them by the treaty. After extending
+the summons to any of their allies and others who might have complaints
+to make of Athenian aggression, the Lacedaemonians held their ordinary
+assembly, and invited them to speak. There were many who came forward
+and made their several accusations; among them the Megarians, in a
+long list of grievances, called special attention to the fact of their
+exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and the market of
+Athens, in defiance of the treaty. Last of all the Corinthians
+came forward, and having let those who preceded them inflame the
+Lacedaemonians, now followed with a speech to this effect:
+
+"Lacedaemonians! the confidence which you feel in your constitution and
+social order, inclines you to receive any reflections of ours on other
+powers with a certain scepticism. Hence springs your moderation, but
+hence also the rather limited knowledge which you betray in dealing with
+foreign politics. Time after time was our voice raised to warn you of
+the blows about to be dealt us by Athens, and time after time, instead
+of taking the trouble to ascertain the worth of our communications, you
+contented yourselves with suspecting the speakers of being inspired
+by private interest. And so, instead of calling these allies together
+before the blow fell, you have delayed to do so till we are smarting
+under it; allies among whom we have not the worst title to speak, as
+having the greatest complaints to make, complaints of Athenian outrage
+and Lacedaemonian neglect. Now if these assaults on the rights of Hellas
+had been made in the dark, you might be unacquainted with the facts, and
+it would be our duty to enlighten you. As it is, long speeches are not
+needed where you see servitude accomplished for some of us, meditated
+for others--in particular for our allies--and prolonged preparations in
+the aggressor against the hour of war. Or what, pray, is the meaning of
+their reception of Corcyra by fraud, and their holding it against us
+by force? what of the siege of Potidaea?--places one of which lies most
+conveniently for any action against the Thracian towns; while the other
+would have contributed a very large navy to the Peloponnesians?
+
+"For all this you are responsible. You it was who first allowed them
+to fortify their city after the Median war, and afterwards to erect the
+long walls--you who, then and now, are always depriving of freedom not
+only those whom they have enslaved, but also those who have as yet been
+your allies. For the true author of the subjugation of a people is not
+so much the immediate agent, as the power which permits it having the
+means to prevent it; particularly if that power aspires to the glory of
+being the liberator of Hellas. We are at last assembled. It has not been
+easy to assemble, nor even now are our objects defined. We ought not to
+be still inquiring into the fact of our wrongs, but into the means of
+our defence. For the aggressors with matured plans to oppose to our
+indecision have cast threats aside and betaken themselves to action. And
+we know what are the paths by which Athenian aggression travels, and how
+insidious is its progress. A degree of confidence she may feel from the
+idea that your bluntness of perception prevents your noticing her; but
+it is nothing to the impulse which her advance will receive from
+the knowledge that you see, but do not care to interfere. You,
+Lacedaemonians, of all the Hellenes are alone inactive, and defend
+yourselves not by doing anything but by looking as if you would do
+something; you alone wait till the power of an enemy is becoming twice
+its original size, instead of crushing it in its infancy. And yet the
+world used to say that you were to be depended upon; but in your case,
+we fear, it said more than the truth. The Mede, we ourselves know, had
+time to come from the ends of the earth to Peloponnese, without any
+force of yours worthy of the name advancing to meet him. But this was a
+distant enemy. Well, Athens at all events is a near neighbour, and yet
+Athens you utterly disregard; against Athens you prefer to act on the
+defensive instead of on the offensive, and to make it an affair of
+chances by deferring the struggle till she has grown far stronger than
+at first. And yet you know that on the whole the rock on which the
+barbarian was wrecked was himself, and that if our present enemy Athens
+has not again and again annihilated us, we owe it more to her blunders
+than to your protection; Indeed, expectations from you have before now
+been the ruin of some, whose faith induced them to omit preparation.
+
+"We hope that none of you will consider these words of remonstrance to
+be rather words of hostility; men remonstrate with friends who are
+in error, accusations they reserve for enemies who have wronged them.
+Besides, we consider that we have as good a right as any one to point
+out a neighbour's faults, particularly when we contemplate the great
+contrast between the two national characters; a contrast of which,
+as far as we can see, you have little perception, having never yet
+considered what sort of antagonists you will encounter in the Athenians,
+how widely, how absolutely different from yourselves. The Athenians are
+addicted to innovation, and their designs are characterized by swiftness
+alike in conception and execution; you have a genius for keeping what
+you have got, accompanied by a total want of invention, and when forced
+to act you never go far enough. Again, they are adventurous beyond
+their power, and daring beyond their judgment, and in danger they are
+sanguine; your wont is to attempt less than is justified by your power,
+to mistrust even what is sanctioned by your judgment, and to fancy that
+from danger there is no release. Further, there is promptitude on their
+side against procrastination on yours; they are never at home, you
+are never from it: for they hope by their absence to extend their
+acquisitions, you fear by your advance to endanger what you have left
+behind. They are swift to follow up a success, and slow to recoil from a
+reverse. Their bodies they spend ungrudgingly in their country's cause;
+their intellect they jealously husband to be employed in her service. A
+scheme unexecuted is with them a positive loss, a successful enterprise
+a comparative failure. The deficiency created by the miscarriage of an
+undertaking is soon filled up by fresh hopes; for they alone are enabled
+to call a thing hoped for a thing got, by the speed with which they act
+upon their resolutions. Thus they toil on in trouble and danger all the
+days of their life, with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever
+engaged in getting: their only idea of a holiday is to do what the
+occasion demands, and to them laborious occupation is less of a
+misfortune than the peace of a quiet life. To describe their character
+in a word, one might truly say that they were born into the world to
+take no rest themselves and to give none to others.
+
+"Such is Athens, your antagonist. And yet, Lacedaemonians, you still
+delay, and fail to see that peace stays longest with those, who are not
+more careful to use their power justly than to show their determination
+not to submit to injustice. On the contrary, your ideal of fair dealing
+is based on the principle that, if you do not injure others, you need
+not risk your own fortunes in preventing others from injuring you. Now
+you could scarcely have succeeded in such a policy even with a neighbour
+like yourselves; but in the present instance, as we have just shown,
+your habits are old-fashioned as compared with theirs. It is the law as
+in art, so in politics, that improvements ever prevail; and though fixed
+usages may be best for undisturbed communities, constant necessities of
+action must be accompanied by the constant improvement of methods. Thus
+it happens that the vast experience of Athens has carried her further
+than you on the path of innovation.
+
+"Here, at least, let your procrastination end. For the present, assist
+your allies and Potidaea in particular, as you promised, by a speedy
+invasion of Attica, and do not sacrifice friends and kindred to their
+bitterest enemies, and drive the rest of us in despair to some other
+alliance. Such a step would not be condemned either by the Gods who
+received our oaths, or by the men who witnessed them. The breach of a
+treaty cannot be laid to the people whom desertion compels to seek new
+relations, but to the power that fails to assist its confederate. But if
+you will only act, we will stand by you; it would be unnatural for us to
+change, and never should we meet with such a congenial ally. For these
+reasons choose the right course, and endeavour not to let Peloponnese
+under your supremacy degenerate from the prestige that it enjoyed under
+that of your ancestors."
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians. There happened to be Athenian
+envoys present at Lacedaemon on other business. On hearing the speeches
+they thought themselves called upon to come before the Lacedaemonians.
+Their intention was not to offer a defence on any of the charges which
+the cities brought against them, but to show on a comprehensive view
+that it was not a matter to be hastily decided on, but one that demanded
+further consideration. There was also a wish to call attention to
+the great power of Athens, and to refresh the memory of the old and
+enlighten the ignorance of the young, from a notion that their words
+might have the effect of inducing them to prefer tranquillity to war. So
+they came to the Lacedaemonians and said that they too, if there was no
+objection, wished to speak to their assembly. They replied by inviting
+them to come forward. The Athenians advanced, and spoke as follows:
+
+"The object of our mission here was not to argue with your allies, but
+to attend to the matters on which our state dispatched us. However, the
+vehemence of the outcry that we hear against us has prevailed on us to
+come forward. It is not to combat the accusations of the cities (indeed
+you are not the judges before whom either we or they can plead), but to
+prevent your taking the wrong course on matters of great importance by
+yielding too readily to the persuasions of your allies. We also wish to
+show on a review of the whole indictment that we have a fair title to
+our possessions, and that our country has claims to consideration. We
+need not refer to remote antiquity: there we could appeal to the voice
+of tradition, but not to the experience of our audience. But to the
+Median War and contemporary history we must refer, although we are
+rather tired of continually bringing this subject forward. In our action
+during that war we ran great risk to obtain certain advantages: you had
+your share in the solid results, do not try to rob us of all share in
+the good that the glory may do us. However, the story shall be told not
+so much to deprecate hostility as to testify against it, and to show,
+if you are so ill advised as to enter into a struggle with Athens, what
+sort of an antagonist she is likely to prove. We assert that at Marathon
+we were at the front, and faced the barbarian single-handed. That when
+he came the second time, unable to cope with him by land we went
+on board our ships with all our people, and joined in the action at
+Salamis. This prevented his taking the Peloponnesian states in detail,
+and ravaging them with his fleet; when the multitude of his vessels
+would have made any combination for self-defence impossible. The best
+proof of this was furnished by the invader himself. Defeated at sea, he
+considered his power to be no longer what it had been, and retired as
+speedily as possible with the greater part of his army.
+
+"Such, then, was the result of the matter, and it was clearly proved
+that it was on the fleet of Hellas that her cause depended. Well, to
+this result we contributed three very useful elements, viz., the
+largest number of ships, the ablest commander, and the most unhesitating
+patriotism. Our contingent of ships was little less than two-thirds of
+the whole four hundred; the commander was Themistocles, through
+whom chiefly it was that the battle took place in the straits, the
+acknowledged salvation of our cause. Indeed, this was the reason of
+your receiving him with honours such as had never been accorded to any
+foreign visitor. While for daring patriotism we had no competitors.
+Receiving no reinforcements from behind, seeing everything in front of
+us already subjugated, we had the spirit, after abandoning our city,
+after sacrificing our property (instead of deserting the remainder of
+the league or depriving them of our services by dispersing), to throw
+ourselves into our ships and meet the danger, without a thought of
+resenting your neglect to assist us. We assert, therefore, that we
+conferred on you quite as much as we received. For you had a stake to
+fight for; the cities which you had left were still filled with your
+homes, and you had the prospect of enjoying them again; and your coming
+was prompted quite as much by fear for yourselves as for us; at all
+events, you never appeared till we had nothing left to lose. But we left
+behind us a city that was a city no longer, and staked our lives for a
+city that had an existence only in desperate hope, and so bore our full
+share in your deliverance and in ours. But if we had copied others, and
+allowed fears for our territory to make us give in our adhesion to the
+Mede before you came, or if we had suffered our ruin to break our spirit
+and prevent us embarking in our ships, your naval inferiority would have
+made a sea-fight unnecessary, and his objects would have been peaceably
+attained.
+
+"Surely, Lacedaemonians, neither by the patriotism that we displayed at
+that crisis, nor by the wisdom of our counsels, do we merit our extreme
+unpopularity with the Hellenes, not at least unpopularity for our
+empire. That empire we acquired by no violent means, but because you
+were unwilling to prosecute to its conclusion the war against the
+barbarian, and because the allies attached themselves to us and
+spontaneously asked us to assume the command. And the nature of the case
+first compelled us to advance our empire to its present height; fear
+being our principal motive, though honour and interest afterwards
+came in. And at last, when almost all hated us, when some had already
+revolted and had been subdued, when you had ceased to be the friends
+that you once were, and had become objects of suspicion and dislike,
+it appeared no longer safe to give up our empire; especially as all
+who left us would fall to you. And no one can quarrel with a people for
+making, in matters of tremendous risk, the best provision that it can
+for its interest.
+
+"You, at all events, Lacedaemonians, have used your supremacy to settle
+the states in Peloponnese as is agreeable to you. And if at the period
+of which we were speaking you had persevered to the end of the matter,
+and had incurred hatred in your command, we are sure that you would
+have made yourselves just as galling to the allies, and would have been
+forced to choose between a strong government and danger to yourselves.
+It follows that it was not a very wonderful action, or contrary to the
+common practice of mankind, if we did accept an empire that was offered
+to us, and refused to give it up under the pressure of three of the
+strongest motives, fear, honour, and interest. And it was not we who
+set the example, for it has always been law that the weaker should be
+subject to the stronger. Besides, we believed ourselves to be worthy
+of our position, and so you thought us till now, when calculations of
+interest have made you take up the cry of justice--a consideration which
+no one ever yet brought forward to hinder his ambition when he had a
+chance of gaining anything by might. And praise is due to all who,
+if not so superior to human nature as to refuse dominion, yet respect
+justice more than their position compels them to do.
+
+"We imagine that our moderation would be best demonstrated by the
+conduct of others who should be placed in our position; but even our
+equity has very unreasonably subjected us to condemnation instead of
+approval. Our abatement of our rights in the contract trials with our
+allies, and our causing them to be decided by impartial laws at Athens,
+have gained us the character of being litigious. And none care to
+inquire why this reproach is not brought against other imperial powers,
+who treat their subjects with less moderation than we do; the secret
+being that where force can be used, law is not needed. But our subjects
+are so habituated to associate with us as equals that any defeat
+whatever that clashes with their notions of justice, whether it proceeds
+from a legal judgment or from the power which our empire gives us, makes
+them forget to be grateful for being allowed to retain most of their
+possessions, and more vexed at a part being taken, than if we had from
+the first cast law aside and openly gratified our covetousness. If we
+had done so, not even would they have disputed that the weaker must give
+way to the stronger. Men's indignation, it seems, is more excited by
+legal wrong than by violent wrong; the first looks like being cheated by
+an equal, the second like being compelled by a superior. At all events
+they contrived to put up with much worse treatment than this from the
+Mede, yet they think our rule severe, and this is to be expected, for
+the present always weighs heavy on the conquered. This at least is
+certain. If you were to succeed in overthrowing us and in taking our
+place, you would speedily lose the popularity with which fear of us
+has invested you, if your policy of to-day is at all to tally with
+the sample that you gave of it during the brief period of your command
+against the Mede. Not only is your life at home regulated by rules and
+institutions incompatible with those of others, but your citizens abroad
+act neither on these rules nor on those which are recognized by the rest
+of Hellas.
+
+"Take time then in forming your resolution, as the matter is of great
+importance; and do not be persuaded by the opinions and complaints of
+others to bring trouble on yourselves, but consider the vast influence
+of accident in war, before you are engaged in it. As it continues, it
+generally becomes an affair of chances, chances from which neither of
+us is exempt, and whose event we must risk in the dark. It is a common
+mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and
+wait for disaster to discuss the matter. But we are not yet by any means
+so misguided, nor, so far as we can see, are you; accordingly, while it
+is still open to us both to choose aright, we bid you not to dissolve
+the treaty, or to break your oaths, but to have our differences settled
+by arbitration according to our agreement. Or else we take the gods who
+heard the oaths to witness, and if you begin hostilities, whatever line
+of action you choose, we will try not to be behindhand in repelling
+you."
+
+Such were the words of the Athenians. After the Lacedaemonians had heard
+the complaints of the allies against the Athenians, and the observations
+of the latter, they made all withdraw, and consulted by themselves on
+the question before them. The opinions of the majority all led to the
+same conclusion; the Athenians were open aggressors, and war must be
+declared at once. But Archidamus, the Lacedaemonian king, came forward,
+who had the reputation of being at once a wise and a moderate man, and
+made the following speech:
+
+"I have not lived so long, Lacedaemonians, without having had the
+experience of many wars, and I see those among you of the same age as
+myself, who will not fall into the common misfortune of longing for
+war from inexperience or from a belief in its advantage and its safety.
+This, the war on which you are now debating, would be one of the
+greatest magnitude, on a sober consideration of the matter. In a
+struggle with Peloponnesians and neighbours our strength is of the same
+character, and it is possible to move swiftly on the different points.
+But a struggle with a people who live in a distant land, who have also
+an extraordinary familiarity with the sea, and who are in the highest
+state of preparation in every other department; with wealth private and
+public, with ships, and horses, and heavy infantry, and a population
+such as no one other Hellenic place can equal, and lastly a number
+of tributary allies--what can justify us in rashly beginning such a
+struggle? wherein is our trust that we should rush on it unprepared? Is
+it in our ships? There we are inferior; while if we are to practise and
+become a match for them, time must intervene. Is it in our money? There
+we have a far greater deficiency. We neither have it in our treasury,
+nor are we ready to contribute it from our private funds. Confidence
+might possibly be felt in our superiority in heavy infantry and
+population, which will enable us to invade and devastate their lands.
+But the Athenians have plenty of other land in their empire, and
+can import what they want by sea. Again, if we are to attempt an
+insurrection of their allies, these will have to be supported with a
+fleet, most of them being islanders. What then is to be our war? For
+unless we can either beat them at sea, or deprive them of the revenues
+which feed their navy, we shall meet with little but disaster. Meanwhile
+our honour will be pledged to keeping on, particularly if it be the
+opinion that we began the quarrel. For let us never be elated by the
+fatal hope of the war being quickly ended by the devastation of their
+lands. I fear rather that we may leave it as a legacy to our children;
+so improbable is it that the Athenian spirit will be the slave of their
+land, or Athenian experience be cowed by war.
+
+"Not that I would bid you be so unfeeling as to suffer them to injure
+your allies, and to refrain from unmasking their intrigues; but I do bid
+you not to take up arms at once, but to send and remonstrate with
+them in a tone not too suggestive of war, nor again too suggestive
+of submission, and to employ the interval in perfecting our own
+preparations. The means will be, first, the acquisition of allies,
+Hellenic or barbarian it matters not, so long as they are an accession
+to our strength naval or pecuniary--I say Hellenic or barbarian, because
+the odium of such an accession to all who like us are the objects of
+the designs of the Athenians is taken away by the law of
+self-preservation--and secondly the development of our home resources.
+If they listen to our embassy, so much the better; but if not, after
+the lapse of two or three years our position will have become materially
+strengthened, and we can then attack them if we think proper. Perhaps
+by that time the sight of our preparations, backed by language equally
+significant, will have disposed them to submission, while their land
+is still untouched, and while their counsels may be directed to the
+retention of advantages as yet undestroyed. For the only light in which
+you can view their land is that of a hostage in your hands, a hostage
+the more valuable the better it is cultivated. This you ought to spare
+as long as possible, and not make them desperate, and so increase the
+difficulty of dealing with them. For if while still unprepared, hurried
+away by the complaints of our allies, we are induced to lay it waste,
+have a care that we do not bring deep disgrace and deep perplexity upon
+Peloponnese. Complaints, whether of communities or individuals, it is
+possible to adjust; but war undertaken by a coalition for sectional
+interests, whose progress there is no means of foreseeing, does not
+easily admit of creditable settlement.
+
+"And none need think it cowardice for a number of confederates to pause
+before they attack a single city. The Athenians have allies as numerous
+as our own, and allies that pay tribute, and war is a matter not so much
+of arms as of money, which makes arms of use. And this is more than ever
+true in a struggle between a continental and a maritime power. First,
+then, let us provide money, and not allow ourselves to be carried away
+by the talk of our allies before we have done so: as we shall have the
+largest share of responsibility for the consequences be they good or
+bad, we have also a right to a tranquil inquiry respecting them.
+
+"And the slowness and procrastination, the parts of our character that
+are most assailed by their criticism, need not make you blush. If
+we undertake the war without preparation, we should by hastening its
+commencement only delay its conclusion: further, a free and a famous
+city has through all time been ours. The quality which they condemn is
+really nothing but a wise moderation; thanks to its possession, we
+alone do not become insolent in success and give way less than others in
+misfortune; we are not carried away by the pleasure of hearing ourselves
+cheered on to risks which our judgment condemns; nor, if annoyed, are
+we any the more convinced by attempts to exasperate us by accusation.
+We are both warlike and wise, and it is our sense of order that makes
+us so. We are warlike, because self-control contains honour as a
+chief constituent, and honour bravery. And we are wise, because we are
+educated with too little learning to despise the laws, and with too
+severe a self-control to disobey them, and are brought up not to be
+too knowing in useless matters--such as the knowledge which can give a
+specious criticism of an enemy's plans in theory, but fails to assail
+them with equal success in practice--but are taught to consider that
+the schemes of our enemies are not dissimilar to our own, and that the
+freaks of chance are not determinable by calculation. In practice we
+always base our preparations against an enemy on the assumption that his
+plans are good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes not on a belief
+in his blunders, but on the soundness of our provisions. Nor ought we to
+believe that there is much difference between man and man, but to think
+that the superiority lies with him who is reared in the severest school.
+These practices, then, which our ancestors have delivered to us, and by
+whose maintenance we have always profited, must not be given up. And
+we must not be hurried into deciding in a day's brief space a question
+which concerns many lives and fortunes and many cities, and in which
+honour is deeply involved--but we must decide calmly. This our strength
+peculiarly enables us to do. As for the Athenians, send to them on the
+matter of Potidaea, send on the matter of the alleged wrongs of the
+allies, particularly as they are prepared with legal satisfaction; and
+to proceed against one who offers arbitration as against a wrongdoer,
+law forbids. Meanwhile do not omit preparation for war. This decision
+will be the best for yourselves, the most terrible to your opponents."
+
+Such were the words of Archidamus. Last came forward Sthenelaidas, one
+of the ephors for that year, and spoke to the Lacedaemonians as follows:
+
+"The long speech of the Athenians I do not pretend to understand. They
+said a good deal in praise of themselves, but nowhere denied that they
+are injuring our allies and Peloponnese. And yet if they behaved well
+against the Mede then, but ill towards us now, they deserve double
+punishment for having ceased to be good and for having become bad. We
+meanwhile are the same then and now, and shall not, if we are wise,
+disregard the wrongs of our allies, or put off till to-morrow the duty
+of assisting those who must suffer to-day. Others have much money and
+ships and horses, but we have good allies whom we must not give up to
+the Athenians, nor by lawsuits and words decide the matter, as it is
+anything but in word that we are harmed, but render instant and powerful
+help. And let us not be told that it is fitting for us to deliberate
+under injustice; long deliberation is rather fitting for those who have
+injustice in contemplation. Vote therefore, Lacedaemonians, for war,
+as the honour of Sparta demands, and neither allow the further
+aggrandizement of Athens, nor betray our allies to ruin, but with the
+gods let us advance against the aggressors."
+
+With these words he, as ephor, himself put the question to the assembly
+of the Lacedaemonians. He said that he could not determine which was
+the loudest acclamation (their mode of decision is by acclamation not
+by voting); the fact being that he wished to make them declare their
+opinion openly and thus to increase their ardour for war. Accordingly
+he said: "All Lacedaemonians who are of opinion that the treaty has
+been broken, and that Athens is guilty, leave your seats and go there,"
+pointing out a certain place; "all who are of the opposite opinion,
+there." They accordingly stood up and divided; and those who held that
+the treaty had been broken were in a decided majority. Summoning the
+allies, they told them that their opinion was that Athens had been
+guilty of injustice, but that they wished to convoke all the allies and
+put it to the vote; in order that they might make war, if they decided
+to do so, on a common resolution. Having thus gained their point, the
+delegates returned home at once; the Athenian envoys a little later,
+when they had dispatched the objects of their mission. This decision of
+the assembly, judging that the treaty had been broken, was made in the
+fourteenth year of the thirty years' truce, which was entered into after
+the affair of Euboea.
+
+The Lacedaemonians voted that the treaty had been broken, and that the
+war must be declared, not so much because they were persuaded by the
+arguments of the allies, as because they feared the growth of the power
+of the Athenians, seeing most of Hellas already subject to them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+_From the end of the Persian to the beginning of the Peloponnesian
+War--The Progress from Supremacy to Empire_
+
+The way in which Athens came to be placed in the circumstances under
+which her power grew was this. After the Medes had returned from Europe,
+defeated by sea and land by the Hellenes, and after those of them who
+had fled with their ships to Mycale had been destroyed, Leotychides,
+king of the Lacedaemonians, the commander of the Hellenes at Mycale,
+departed home with the allies from Peloponnese. But the Athenians and
+the allies from Ionia and Hellespont, who had now revolted from the
+King, remained and laid siege to Sestos, which was still held by the
+Medes. After wintering before it, they became masters of the place on
+its evacuation by the barbarians; and after this they sailed away from
+Hellespont to their respective cities. Meanwhile the Athenian people,
+after the departure of the barbarian from their country, at once
+proceeded to carry over their children and wives, and such property
+as they had left, from the places where they had deposited them, and
+prepared to rebuild their city and their walls. For only isolated
+portions of the circumference had been left standing, and most of
+the houses were in ruins; though a few remained, in which the Persian
+grandees had taken up their quarters.
+
+Perceiving what they were going to do, the Lacedaemonians sent an
+embassy to Athens. They would have themselves preferred to see neither
+her nor any other city in possession of a wall; though here they acted
+principally at the instigation of their allies, who were alarmed at
+the strength of her newly acquired navy and the valour which she had
+displayed in the war with the Medes. They begged her not only to abstain
+from building walls for herself, but also to join them in throwing down
+the walls that still held together of the ultra-Peloponnesian cities.
+The real meaning of their advice, the suspicion that it contained
+against the Athenians, was not proclaimed; it was urged that so the
+barbarian, in the event of a third invasion, would not have any strong
+place, such as he now had in Thebes, for his base of operations; and
+that Peloponnese would suffice for all as a base both for retreat and
+offence. After the Lacedaemonians had thus spoken, they were, on the
+advice of Themistocles, immediately dismissed by the Athenians, with
+the answer that ambassadors should be sent to Sparta to discuss the
+question. Themistocles told the Athenians to send him off with all speed
+to Lacedaemon, but not to dispatch his colleagues as soon as they had
+selected them, but to wait until they had raised their wall to the
+height from which defence was possible. Meanwhile the whole population
+in the city was to labour at the wall, the Athenians, their wives, and
+their children, sparing no edifice, private or public, which might be
+of any use to the work, but throwing all down. After giving these
+instructions, and adding that he would be responsible for all other
+matters there, he departed. Arrived at Lacedaemon he did not seek an
+audience with the authorities, but tried to gain time and made excuses.
+When any of the government asked him why he did not appear in the
+assembly, he would say that he was waiting for his colleagues, who had
+been detained in Athens by some engagement; however, that he expected
+their speedy arrival, and wondered that they were not yet there. At
+first the Lacedaemonians trusted the words of Themistocles, through
+their friendship for him; but when others arrived, all distinctly
+declaring that the work was going on and already attaining some
+elevation, they did not know how to disbelieve it. Aware of this, he
+told them that rumours are deceptive, and should not be trusted; they
+should send some reputable persons from Sparta to inspect, whose report
+might be trusted. They dispatched them accordingly. Concerning these
+Themistocles secretly sent word to the Athenians to detain them as far
+as possible without putting them under open constraint, and not to let
+them go until they had themselves returned. For his colleagues had
+now joined him, Abronichus, son of Lysicles, and Aristides, son of
+Lysimachus, with the news that the wall was sufficiently advanced;
+and he feared that when the Lacedaemonians heard the facts, they might
+refuse to let them go. So the Athenians detained the envoys according to
+his message, and Themistocles had an audience with the Lacedaemonians,
+and at last openly told them that Athens was now fortified sufficiently
+to protect its inhabitants; that any embassy which the Lacedaemonians or
+their allies might wish to send to them should in future proceed on
+the assumption that the people to whom they were going was able to
+distinguish both its own and the general interests. That when the
+Athenians thought fit to abandon their city and to embark in their
+ships, they ventured on that perilous step without consulting them;
+and that on the other hand, wherever they had deliberated with the
+Lacedaemonians, they had proved themselves to be in judgment second to
+none. That they now thought it fit that their city should have a wall,
+and that this would be more for the advantage of both the citizens of
+Athens and the Hellenic confederacy; for without equal military strength
+it was impossible to contribute equal or fair counsel to the common
+interest. It followed, he observed, either that all the members of the
+confederacy should be without walls, or that the present step should be
+considered a right one.
+
+The Lacedaemonians did not betray any open signs of anger against the
+Athenians at what they heard. The embassy, it seems, was prompted not
+by a desire to obstruct, but to guide the counsels of their government:
+besides, Spartan feeling was at that time very friendly towards Athens
+on account of the patriotism which she had displayed in the struggle
+with the Mede. Still the defeat of their wishes could not but cause
+them secret annoyance. The envoys of each state departed home without
+complaint.
+
+In this way the Athenians walled their city in a little while. To
+this day the building shows signs of the haste of its execution; the
+foundations are laid of stones of all kinds, and in some places not
+wrought or fitted, but placed just in the order in which they were
+brought by the different hands; and many columns, too, from tombs, and
+sculptured stones were put in with the rest. For the bounds of the city
+were extended at every point of the circumference; and so they laid
+hands on everything without exception in their haste. Themistocles also
+persuaded them to finish the walls of Piraeus, which had been begun
+before, in his year of office as archon; being influenced alike by the
+fineness of a locality that has three natural harbours, and by the great
+start which the Athenians would gain in the acquisition of power by
+becoming a naval people. For he first ventured to tell them to stick to
+the sea and forthwith began to lay the foundations of the empire. It was
+by his advice, too, that they built the walls of that thickness which
+can still be discerned round Piraeus, the stones being brought up by
+two wagons meeting each other. Between the walls thus formed there
+was neither rubble nor mortar, but great stones hewn square and fitted
+together, cramped to each other on the outside with iron and lead. About
+half the height that he intended was finished. His idea was by their
+size and thickness to keep off the attacks of an enemy; he thought that
+they might be adequately defended by a small garrison of invalids, and
+the rest be freed for service in the fleet. For the fleet claimed most
+of his attention. He saw, as I think, that the approach by sea was
+easier for the king's army than that by land: he also thought Piraeus
+more valuable than the upper city; indeed, he was always advising the
+Athenians, if a day should come when they were hard pressed by land,
+to go down into Piraeus, and defy the world with their fleet. Thus,
+therefore, the Athenians completed their wall, and commenced their other
+buildings immediately after the retreat of the Mede.
+
+Meanwhile Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, was sent out from Lacedaemon as
+commander-in-chief of the Hellenes, with twenty ships from Peloponnese.
+With him sailed the Athenians with thirty ships, and a number of the
+other allies. They made an expedition against Cyprus and subdued most of
+the island, and afterwards against Byzantium, which was in the hands of
+the Medes, and compelled it to surrender. This event took place while
+the Spartans were still supreme. But the violence of Pausanias had
+already begun to be disagreeable to the Hellenes, particularly to the
+Ionians and the newly liberated populations. These resorted to the
+Athenians and requested them as their kinsmen to become their leaders,
+and to stop any attempt at violence on the part of Pausanias. The
+Athenians accepted their overtures, and determined to put down any
+attempt of the kind and to settle everything else as their interests
+might seem to demand. In the meantime the Lacedaemonians recalled
+Pausanias for an investigation of the reports which had reached them.
+Manifold and grave accusations had been brought against him by Hellenes
+arriving in Sparta; and, to all appearance, there had been in him more
+of the mimicry of a despot than of the attitude of a general. As it
+happened, his recall came just at the time when the hatred which he
+had inspired had induced the allies to desert him, the soldiers from
+Peloponnese excepted, and to range themselves by the side of the
+Athenians. On his arrival at Lacedaemon, he was censured for his
+private acts of oppression, but was acquitted on the heaviest counts and
+pronounced not guilty; it must be known that the charge of Medism formed
+one of the principal, and to all appearance one of the best founded,
+articles against him. The Lacedaemonians did not, however, restore him
+to his command, but sent out Dorkis and certain others with a small
+force; who found the allies no longer inclined to concede to them the
+supremacy. Perceiving this they departed, and the Lacedaemonians did
+not send out any to succeed them. They feared for those who went out
+a deterioration similar to that observable in Pausanias; besides,
+they desired to be rid of the Median War, and were satisfied of the
+competency of the Athenians for the position, and of their friendship at
+the time towards themselves.
+
+The Athenians, having thus succeeded to the supremacy by the voluntary
+act of the allies through their hatred of Pausanias, fixed which cities
+were to contribute money against the barbarian, which ships; their
+professed object being to retaliate for their sufferings by ravaging
+the King's country. Now was the time that the office of "Treasurers for
+Hellas" was first instituted by the Athenians. These officers received
+the tribute, as the money contributed was called. The tribute was first
+fixed at four hundred and sixty talents. The common treasury was at
+Delos, and the congresses were held in the temple. Their supremacy
+commenced with independent allies who acted on the resolutions of a
+common congress. It was marked by the following undertakings in war and
+in administration during the interval between the Median and the present
+war, against the barbarian, against their own rebel allies, and against
+the Peloponnesian powers which would come in contact with them on
+various occasions. My excuse for relating these events, and for
+venturing on this digression, is that this passage of history has been
+omitted by all my predecessors, who have confined themselves either
+to Hellenic history before the Median War, or the Median War itself.
+Hellanicus, it is true, did touch on these events in his Athenian
+history; but he is somewhat concise and not accurate in his dates.
+Besides, the history of these events contains an explanation of the
+growth of the Athenian empire.
+
+First the Athenians besieged and captured Eion on the Strymon from the
+Medes, and made slaves of the inhabitants, being under the command of
+Cimon, son of Miltiades. Next they enslaved Scyros, the island in the
+Aegean, containing a Dolopian population, and colonized it themselves.
+This was followed by a war against Carystus, in which the rest of Euboea
+remained neutral, and which was ended by surrender on conditions. After
+this Naxos left the confederacy, and a war ensued, and she had to return
+after a siege; this was the first instance of the engagement being
+broken by the subjugation of an allied city, a precedent which
+was followed by that of the rest in the order which circumstances
+prescribed. Of all the causes of defection, that connected with arrears
+of tribute and vessels, and with failure of service, was the chief;
+for the Athenians were very severe and exacting, and made themselves
+offensive by applying the screw of necessity to men who were not used
+to and in fact not disposed for any continuous labour. In some other
+respects the Athenians were not the old popular rulers they had been
+at first; and if they had more than their fair share of service, it
+was correspondingly easy for them to reduce any that tried to leave the
+confederacy. For this the allies had themselves to blame; the wish to
+get off service making most of them arrange to pay their share of the
+expense in money instead of in ships, and so to avoid having to leave
+their homes. Thus while Athens was increasing her navy with the funds
+which they contributed, a revolt always found them without resources or
+experience for war.
+
+Next we come to the actions by land and by sea at the river Eurymedon,
+between the Athenians with their allies, and the Medes, when the
+Athenians won both battles on the same day under the conduct of Cimon,
+son of Miltiades, and captured and destroyed the whole Phoenician fleet,
+consisting of two hundred vessels. Some time afterwards occurred the
+defection of the Thasians, caused by disagreements about the marts on
+the opposite coast of Thrace, and about the mine in their possession.
+Sailing with a fleet to Thasos, the Athenians defeated them at sea and
+effected a landing on the island. About the same time they sent ten
+thousand settlers of their own citizens and the allies to settle
+the place then called Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways, now Amphipolis. They
+succeeded in gaining possession of Ennea Hodoi from the Edonians, but on
+advancing into the interior of Thrace were cut off in Drabescus, a town
+of the Edonians, by the assembled Thracians, who regarded the settlement
+of the place Ennea Hodoi as an act of hostility. Meanwhile the Thasians
+being defeated in the field and suffering siege, appealed to Lacedaemon,
+and desired her to assist them by an invasion of Attica. Without
+informing Athens, she promised and intended to do so, but was prevented
+by the occurrence of the earthquake, accompanied by the secession of the
+Helots and the Thuriats and Aethaeans of the Perioeci to Ithome. Most of
+the Helots were the descendants of the old Messenians that were enslaved
+in the famous war; and so all of them came to be called Messenians. So
+the Lacedaemonians being engaged in a war with the rebels in Ithome,
+the Thasians in the third year of the siege obtained terms from
+the Athenians by razing their walls, delivering up their ships, and
+arranging to pay the moneys demanded at once, and tribute in future;
+giving up their possessions on the continent together with the mine.
+
+The Lacedaemonians, meanwhile, finding the war against the rebels in
+Ithome likely to last, invoked the aid of their allies, and especially
+of the Athenians, who came in some force under the command of Cimon.
+The reason for this pressing summons lay in their reputed skill in
+siege operations; a long siege had taught the Lacedaemonians their own
+deficiency in this art, else they would have taken the place by assault.
+The first open quarrel between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians arose
+out of this expedition. The Lacedaemonians, when assault failed to take
+the place, apprehensive of the enterprising and revolutionary character
+of the Athenians, and further looking upon them as of alien extraction,
+began to fear that, if they remained, they might be tempted by the
+besieged in Ithome to attempt some political changes. They accordingly
+dismissed them alone of the allies, without declaring their suspicions,
+but merely saying that they had now no need of them. But the Athenians,
+aware that their dismissal did not proceed from the more honourable
+reason of the two, but from suspicions which had been conceived, went
+away deeply offended, and conscious of having done nothing to merit such
+treatment from the Lacedaemonians; and the instant that they returned
+home they broke off the alliance which had been made against the Mede,
+and allied themselves with Sparta's enemy Argos; each of the contracting
+parties taking the same oaths and making the same alliance with the
+Thessalians.
+
+Meanwhile the rebels in Ithome, unable to prolong further a ten years'
+resistance, surrendered to Lacedaemon; the conditions being that they
+should depart from Peloponnese under safe conduct, and should never set
+foot in it again: any one who might hereafter be found there was to be
+the slave of his captor. It must be known that the Lacedaemonians had
+an old oracle from Delphi, to the effect that they should let go the
+suppliant of Zeus at Ithome. So they went forth with their children and
+their wives, and being received by Athens from the hatred that she now
+felt for the Lacedaemonians, were located at Naupactus, which she had
+lately taken from the Ozolian Locrians. The Athenians received
+another addition to their confederacy in the Megarians; who left the
+Lacedaemonian alliance, annoyed by a war about boundaries forced on
+them by Corinth. The Athenians occupied Megara and Pegae, and built the
+Megarians their long walls from the city to Nisaea, in which they placed
+an Athenian garrison. This was the principal cause of the Corinthians
+conceiving such a deadly hatred against Athens.
+
+Meanwhile Inaros, son of Psammetichus, a Libyan king of the Libyans on
+the Egyptian border, having his headquarters at Marea, the town
+above Pharos, caused a revolt of almost the whole of Egypt from King
+Artaxerxes and, placing himself at its head, invited the Athenians to
+his assistance. Abandoning a Cyprian expedition upon which they happened
+to be engaged with two hundred ships of their own and their allies,
+they arrived in Egypt and sailed from the sea into the Nile, and making
+themselves masters of the river and two-thirds of Memphis, addressed
+themselves to the attack of the remaining third, which is called White
+Castle. Within it were Persians and Medes who had taken refuge there,
+and Egyptians who had not joined the rebellion.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, making a descent from their fleet upon
+Haliae, were engaged by a force of Corinthians and Epidaurians; and
+the Corinthians were victorious. Afterwards the Athenians engaged the
+Peloponnesian fleet off Cecruphalia; and the Athenians were victorious.
+Subsequently war broke out between Aegina and Athens, and there was a
+great battle at sea off Aegina between the Athenians and Aeginetans,
+each being aided by their allies; in which victory remained with the
+Athenians, who took seventy of the enemy's ships, and landed in the
+country and commenced a siege under the command of Leocrates, son
+of Stroebus. Upon this the Peloponnesians, desirous of aiding the
+Aeginetans, threw into Aegina a force of three hundred heavy infantry,
+who had before been serving with the Corinthians and Epidaurians.
+Meanwhile the Corinthians and their allies occupied the heights of
+Geraneia, and marched down into the Megarid, in the belief that, with a
+large force absent in Aegina and Egypt, Athens would be unable to help
+the Megarians without raising the siege of Aegina. But the Athenians,
+instead of moving the army of Aegina, raised a force of the old and
+young men that had been left in the city, and marched into the
+Megarid under the command of Myronides. After a drawn battle with the
+Corinthians, the rival hosts parted, each with the impression that they
+had gained the victory. The Athenians, however, if anything, had rather
+the advantage, and on the departure of the Corinthians set up a trophy.
+Urged by the taunts of the elders in their city, the Corinthians made
+their preparations, and about twelve days afterwards came and set up
+their trophy as victors. Sallying out from Megara, the Athenians cut
+off the party that was employed in erecting the trophy, and engaged and
+defeated the rest. In the retreat of the vanquished army, a considerable
+division, pressed by the pursuers and mistaking the road, dashed into a
+field on some private property, with a deep trench all round it, and
+no way out. Being acquainted with the place, the Athenians hemmed their
+front with heavy infantry and, placing the light troops round in a
+circle, stoned all who had gone in. Corinth here suffered a severe blow.
+The bulk of her army continued its retreat home.
+
+About this time the Athenians began to build the long walls to the sea,
+that towards Phalerum and that towards Piraeus. Meanwhile the Phocians
+made an expedition against Doris, the old home of the Lacedaemonians,
+containing the towns of Boeum, Kitinium, and Erineum. They had taken
+one of these towns, when the Lacedaemonians under Nicomedes, son of
+Cleombrotus, commanding for King Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, who was
+still a minor, came to the aid of the Dorians with fifteen hundred
+heavy infantry of their own, and ten thousand of their allies. After
+compelling the Phocians to restore the town on conditions, they began
+their retreat. The route by sea, across the Crissaean Gulf, exposed them
+to the risk of being stopped by the Athenian fleet; that across Geraneia
+seemed scarcely safe, the Athenians holding Megara and Pegae. For the
+pass was a difficult one, and was always guarded by the Athenians; and,
+in the present instance, the Lacedaemonians had information that they
+meant to dispute their passage. So they resolved to remain in Boeotia,
+and to consider which would be the safest line of march. They had also
+another reason for this resolve. Secret encouragement had been given
+them by a party in Athens, who hoped to put an end to the reign of
+democracy and the building of the Long Walls. Meanwhile the Athenians
+marched against them with their whole levy and a thousand Argives and
+the respective contingents of the rest of their allies. Altogether they
+were fourteen thousand strong. The march was prompted by the notion that
+the Lacedaemonians were at a loss how to effect their passage, and also
+by suspicions of an attempt to overthrow the democracy. Some cavalry
+also joined the Athenians from their Thessalian allies; but these went
+over to the Lacedaemonians during the battle.
+
+The battle was fought at Tanagra in Boeotia. After heavy loss on both
+sides, victory declared for the Lacedaemonians and their allies.
+After entering the Megarid and cutting down the fruit trees, the
+Lacedaemonians returned home across Geraneia and the isthmus. Sixty-two
+days after the battle the Athenians marched into Boeotia under the
+command of Myronides, defeated the Boeotians in battle at Oenophyta, and
+became masters of Boeotia and Phocis. They dismantled the walls of the
+Tanagraeans, took a hundred of the richest men of the Opuntian Locrians
+as hostages, and finished their own long walls. This was followed by the
+surrender of the Aeginetans to Athens on conditions; they pulled down
+their walls, gave up their ships, and agreed to pay tribute in future.
+The Athenians sailed round Peloponnese under Tolmides, son of
+Tolmaeus, burnt the arsenal of Lacedaemon, took Chalcis, a town of the
+Corinthians, and in a descent upon Sicyon defeated the Sicyonians in
+battle.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in Egypt and their allies were still there,
+and encountered all the vicissitudes of war. First the Athenians were
+masters of Egypt, and the King sent Megabazus a Persian to Lacedaemon
+with money to bribe the Peloponnesians to invade Attica and so draw off
+the Athenians from Egypt. Finding that the matter made no progress, and
+that the money was only being wasted, he recalled Megabazus with the
+remainder of the money, and sent Megabuzus, son of Zopyrus, a Persian,
+with a large army to Egypt. Arriving by land he defeated the Egyptians
+and their allies in a battle, and drove the Hellenes out of Memphis, and
+at length shut them up in the island of Prosopitis, where he besieged
+them for a year and six months. At last, draining the canal of its
+waters, which he diverted into another channel, he left their ships high
+and dry and joined most of the island to the mainland, and then marched
+over on foot and captured it. Thus the enterprise of the Hellenes came
+to ruin after six years of war. Of all that large host a few travelling
+through Libya reached Cyrene in safety, but most of them perished. And
+thus Egypt returned to its subjection to the King, except Amyrtaeus, the
+king in the marshes, whom they were unable to capture from the extent
+of the marsh; the marshmen being also the most warlike of the Egyptians.
+Inaros, the Libyan king, the sole author of the Egyptian revolt, was
+betrayed, taken, and crucified. Meanwhile a relieving squadron of fifty
+vessels had sailed from Athens and the rest of the confederacy for
+Egypt. They put in to shore at the Mendesian mouth of the Nile, in total
+ignorance of what had occurred. Attacked on the land side by the
+troops, and from the sea by the Phoenician navy, most of the ships were
+destroyed; the few remaining being saved by retreat. Such was the end of
+the great expedition of the Athenians and their allies to Egypt.
+
+Meanwhile Orestes, son of Echecratidas, the Thessalian king, being an
+exile from Thessaly, persuaded the Athenians to restore him. Taking with
+them the Boeotians and Phocians their allies, the Athenians marched to
+Pharsalus in Thessaly. They became masters of the country, though only
+in the immediate vicinity of the camp; beyond which they could not go
+for fear of the Thessalian cavalry. But they failed to take the city
+or to attain any of the other objects of their expedition, and returned
+home with Orestes without having effected anything. Not long after this
+a thousand of the Athenians embarked in the vessels that were at Pegae
+(Pegae, it must be remembered, was now theirs), and sailed along the
+coast to Sicyon under the command of Pericles, son of Xanthippus.
+Landing in Sicyon and defeating the Sicyonians who engaged them, they
+immediately took with them the Achaeans and, sailing across, marched
+against and laid siege to Oeniadae in Acarnania. Failing however to take
+it, they returned home.
+
+Three years afterwards a truce was made between the Peloponnesians and
+Athenians for five years. Released from Hellenic war, the Athenians made
+an expedition to Cyprus with two hundred vessels of their own and their
+allies, under the command of Cimon. Sixty of these were detached to
+Egypt at the instance of Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes; the rest
+laid siege to Kitium, from which, however, they were compelled to retire
+by the death of Cimon and by scarcity of provisions. Sailing off Salamis
+in Cyprus, they fought with the Phoenicians, Cyprians, and Cilicians by
+land and sea, and, being victorious on both elements departed home,
+and with them the returned squadron from Egypt. After this the
+Lacedaemonians marched out on a sacred war, and, becoming masters of the
+temple at Delphi, it in the hands of the Delphians. Immediately after
+their retreat, the Athenians marched out, became masters of the temple,
+and placed it in the hands of the Phocians.
+
+Some time after this, Orchomenus, Chaeronea, and some other places in
+Boeotia being in the hands of the Boeotian exiles, the Athenians marched
+against the above-mentioned hostile places with a thousand Athenian
+heavy infantry and the allied contingents, under the command of
+Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus. They took Chaeronea, and made slaves of the
+inhabitants, and, leaving a garrison, commenced their return. On
+their road they were attacked at Coronea by the Boeotian exiles from
+Orchomenus, with some Locrians and Euboean exiles, and others who were
+of the same way of thinking, were defeated in battle, and some killed,
+others taken captive. The Athenians evacuated all Boeotia by a treaty
+providing for the recovery of the men; and the exiled Boeotians
+returned, and with all the rest regained their independence.
+
+This was soon afterwards followed by the revolt of Euboea from Athens.
+Pericles had already crossed over with an army of Athenians to the
+island, when news was brought to him that Megara had revolted, that
+the Peloponnesians were on the point of invading Attica, and that the
+Athenian garrison had been cut off by the Megarians, with the exception
+of a few who had taken refuge in Nisaea. The Megarians had introduced
+the Corinthians, Sicyonians, and Epidaurians into the town before they
+revolted. Meanwhile Pericles brought his army back in all haste from
+Euboea. After this the Peloponnesians marched into Attica as far as
+Eleusis and Thrius, ravaging the country under the conduct of King
+Pleistoanax, the son of Pausanias, and without advancing further
+returned home. The Athenians then crossed over again to Euboea under
+the command of Pericles, and subdued the whole of the island: all but
+Histiaea was settled by convention; the Histiaeans they expelled from
+their homes, and occupied their territory themselves.
+
+Not long after their return from Euboea, they made a truce with the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies for thirty years, giving up the posts
+which they occupied in Peloponnese--Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaia.
+In the sixth year of the truce, war broke out between the Samians and
+Milesians about Priene. Worsted in the war, the Milesians came to Athens
+with loud complaints against the Samians. In this they were joined by
+certain private persons from Samos itself, who wished to revolutionize
+the government. Accordingly the Athenians sailed to Samos with forty
+ships and set up a democracy; took hostages from the Samians, fifty boys
+and as many men, lodged them in Lemnos, and after leaving a garrison in
+the island returned home. But some of the Samians had not remained in
+the island, but had fled to the continent. Making an agreement with the
+most powerful of those in the city, and an alliance with Pissuthnes, son
+of Hystaspes, the then satrap of Sardis, they got together a force of
+seven hundred mercenaries, and under cover of night crossed over to
+Samos. Their first step was to rise on the commons, most of whom they
+secured; their next to steal their hostages from Lemnos; after which
+they revolted, gave up the Athenian garrison left with them and its
+commanders to Pissuthnes, and instantly prepared for an expedition
+against Miletus. The Byzantines also revolted with them.
+
+As soon as the Athenians heard the news, they sailed with sixty ships
+against Samos. Sixteen of these went to Caria to look out for the
+Phoenician fleet, and to Chios and Lesbos carrying round orders for
+reinforcements, and so never engaged; but forty-four ships under the
+command of Pericles with nine colleagues gave battle, off the island of
+Tragia, to seventy Samian vessels, of which twenty were transports, as
+they were sailing from Miletus. Victory remained with the Athenians.
+Reinforced afterwards by forty ships from Athens, and twenty-five Chian
+and Lesbian vessels, the Athenians landed, and having the superiority by
+land invested the city with three walls; it was also invested from the
+sea. Meanwhile Pericles took sixty ships from the blockading squadron,
+and departed in haste for Caunus and Caria, intelligence having been
+brought in of the approach of the Phoenician fleet to the aid of the
+Samians; indeed Stesagoras and others had left the island with five
+ships to bring them. But in the meantime the Samians made a sudden
+sally, and fell on the camp, which they found unfortified. Destroying
+the look-out vessels, and engaging and defeating such as were being
+launched to meet them, they remained masters of their own seas for
+fourteen days, and carried in and carried out what they pleased. But
+on the arrival of Pericles, they were once more shut up. Fresh
+reinforcements afterwards arrived--forty ships from Athens with
+Thucydides, Hagnon, and Phormio; twenty with Tlepolemus and Anticles,
+and thirty vessels from Chios and Lesbos. After a brief attempt at
+fighting, the Samians, unable to hold out, were reduced after a nine
+months' siege and surrendered on conditions; they razed their walls,
+gave hostages, delivered up their ships, and arranged to pay the
+expenses of the war by instalments. The Byzantines also agreed to be
+subject as before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+_Second Congress at Lacedaemon--Preparations for War and Diplomatic
+Skirmishes--Cylon--Pausanias--Themistocles_
+
+After this, though not many years later, we at length come to what
+has been already related, the affairs of Corcyra and Potidaea, and the
+events that served as a pretext for the present war. All these actions
+of the Hellenes against each other and the barbarian occurred in the
+fifty years' interval between the retreat of Xerxes and the beginning of
+the present war. During this interval the Athenians succeeded in placing
+their empire on a firmer basis, and advanced their own home power to a
+very great height. The Lacedaemonians, though fully aware of it, opposed
+it only for a little while, but remained inactive during most of the
+period, being of old slow to go to war except under the pressure of
+necessity, and in the present instance being hampered by wars at home;
+until the growth of the Athenian power could be no longer ignored, and
+their own confederacy became the object of its encroachments. They then
+felt that they could endure it no longer, but that the time had come
+for them to throw themselves heart and soul upon the hostile power, and
+break it, if they could, by commencing the present war. And though the
+Lacedaemonians had made up their own minds on the fact of the breach of
+the treaty and the guilt of the Athenians, yet they sent to Delphi and
+inquired of the God whether it would be well with them if they went to
+war; and, as it is reported, received from him the answer that if they
+put their whole strength into the war, victory would be theirs, and
+the promise that he himself would be with them, whether invoked or
+uninvoked. Still they wished to summon their allies again, and to take
+their vote on the propriety of making war. After the ambassadors from
+the confederates had arrived and a congress had been convened, they all
+spoke their minds, most of them denouncing the Athenians and demanding
+that the war should begin. In particular the Corinthians. They had
+before on their own account canvassed the cities in detail to induce
+them to vote for the war, in the fear that it might come too late to
+save Potidaea; they were present also on this occasion, and came forward
+the last, and made the following speech:
+
+"Fellow allies, we can no longer accuse the Lacedaemonians of having
+failed in their duty: they have not only voted for war themselves,
+but have assembled us here for that purpose. We say their duty, for
+supremacy has its duties. Besides equitably administering private
+interests, leaders are required to show a special care for the common
+welfare in return for the special honours accorded to them by all in
+other ways. For ourselves, all who have already had dealings with the
+Athenians require no warning to be on their guard against them. The
+states more inland and out of the highway of communication should
+understand that, if they omit to support the coast powers, the result
+will be to injure the transit of their produce for exportation and the
+reception in exchange of their imports from the sea; and they must not
+be careless judges of what is now said, as if it had nothing to do with
+them, but must expect that the sacrifice of the powers on the coast will
+one day be followed by the extension of the danger to the interior,
+and must recognize that their own interests are deeply involved in this
+discussion. For these reasons they should not hesitate to exchange peace
+for war. If wise men remain quiet, while they are not injured, brave
+men abandon peace for war when they are injured, returning to an
+understanding on a favourable opportunity: in fact, they are neither
+intoxicated by their success in war, nor disposed to take an injury for
+the sake of the delightful tranquillity of peace. Indeed, to falter for
+the sake of such delights is, if you remain inactive, the quickest way
+of losing the sweets of repose to which you cling; while to conceive
+extravagant pretensions from success in war is to forget how hollow is
+the confidence by which you are elated. For if many ill-conceived plans
+have succeeded through the still greater fatuity of an opponent, many
+more, apparently well laid, have on the contrary ended in disgrace. The
+confidence with which we form our schemes is never completely justified
+in their execution; speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it
+comes to action, fear causes failure.
+
+"To apply these rules to ourselves, if we are now kindling war it is
+under the pressure of injury, with adequate grounds of complaint; and
+after we have chastised the Athenians we will in season desist. We have
+many reasons to expect success--first, superiority in numbers and in
+military experience, and secondly our general and unvarying obedience in
+the execution of orders. The naval strength which they possess shall
+be raised by us from our respective antecedent resources, and from the
+moneys at Olympia and Delphi. A loan from these enables us to seduce
+their foreign sailors by the offer of higher pay. For the power of
+Athens is more mercenary than national; while ours will not be exposed
+to the same risk, as its strength lies more in men than in money. A
+single defeat at sea is in all likelihood their ruin: should they
+hold out, in that case there will be the more time for us to exercise
+ourselves in naval matters; and as soon as we have arrived at an
+equality in science, we need scarcely ask whether we shall be their
+superiors in courage. For the advantages that we have by nature they
+cannot acquire by education; while their superiority in science must be
+removed by our practice. The money required for these objects shall be
+provided by our contributions: nothing indeed could be more monstrous
+than the suggestion that, while their allies never tire of contributing
+for their own servitude, we should refuse to spend for vengeance and
+self-preservation the treasure which by such refusal we shall forfeit to
+Athenian rapacity and see employed for our own ruin.
+
+"We have also other ways of carrying on the war, such as revolt of their
+allies, the surest method of depriving them of their revenues, which are
+the source of their strength, and establishment of fortified positions
+in their country, and various operations which cannot be foreseen at
+present. For war of all things proceeds least upon definite rules, but
+draws principally upon itself for contrivances to meet an emergency; and
+in such cases the party who faces the struggle and keeps his temper
+best meets with most security, and he who loses his temper about it
+with correspondent disaster. Let us also reflect that if it was merely
+a number of disputes of territory between rival neighbours, it might be
+borne; but here we have an enemy in Athens that is a match for our whole
+coalition, and more than a match for any of its members; so that unless
+as a body and as individual nationalities and individual cities we make
+an unanimous stand against her, she will easily conquer us divided and
+in detail. That conquest, terrible as it may sound, would, it must be
+known, have no other end than slavery pure and simple; a word which
+Peloponnese cannot even hear whispered without disgrace, or without
+disgrace see so many states abused by one. Meanwhile the opinion would
+be either that we were justly so used, or that we put up with it from
+cowardice, and were proving degenerate sons in not even securing for
+ourselves the freedom which our fathers gave to Hellas; and in allowing
+the establishment in Hellas of a tyrant state, though in individual
+states we think it our duty to put down sole rulers. And we do not know
+how this conduct can be held free from three of the gravest failings,
+want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance. For we do not suppose that
+you have taken refuge in that contempt of an enemy which has proved so
+fatal in so many instances--a feeling which from the numbers that it has
+ruined has come to be called not contemptuous but contemptible.
+
+"There is, however, no advantage in reflections on the past further
+than may be of service to the present. For the future we must provide by
+maintaining what the present gives us and redoubling our efforts; it is
+hereditary to us to win virtue as the fruit of labour, and you must
+not change the habit, even though you should have a slight advantage
+in wealth and resources; for it is not right that what was won in want
+should be lost in plenty; no, we must boldly advance to the war for many
+reasons; the god has commanded it and promised to be with us, and the
+rest of Hellas will all join in the struggle, part from fear, part from
+interest. You will be the first to break a treaty which the god, in
+advising us to go to war, judges to be violated already, but rather to
+support a treaty that has been outraged: indeed, treaties are broken not
+by resistance but by aggression.
+
+"Your position, therefore, from whatever quarter you may view it, will
+amply justify you in going to war; and this step we recommend in the
+interests of all, bearing in mind that identity of interest is the
+surest of bonds, whether between states or individuals. Delay not,
+therefore, to assist Potidaea, a Dorian city besieged by Ionians, which
+is quite a reversal of the order of things; nor to assert the freedom
+of the rest. It is impossible for us to wait any longer when waiting
+can only mean immediate disaster for some of us, and, if it comes to be
+known that we have conferred but do not venture to protect ourselves,
+like disaster in the near future for the rest. Delay not, fellow allies,
+but, convinced of the necessity of the crisis and the wisdom of this
+counsel, vote for the war, undeterred by its immediate terrors, but
+looking beyond to the lasting peace by which it will be succeeded. Out
+of war peace gains fresh stability, but to refuse to abandon repose for
+war is not so sure a method of avoiding danger. We must believe that
+the tyrant city that has been established in Hellas has been established
+against all alike, with a programme of universal empire, part fulfilled,
+part in contemplation; let us then attack and reduce it, and win
+future security for ourselves and freedom for the Hellenes who are now
+enslaved."
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians. The Lacedaemonians, having now
+heard all, give their opinion, took the vote of all the allied states
+present in order, great and small alike; and the majority voted for war.
+This decided, it was still impossible for them to commence at once, from
+their want of preparation; but it was resolved that the means requisite
+were to be procured by the different states, and that there was to be
+no delay. And indeed, in spite of the time occupied with the necessary
+arrangements, less than a year elapsed before Attica was invaded, and
+the war openly begun.
+
+This interval was spent in sending embassies to Athens charged with
+complaints, in order to obtain as good a pretext for war as possible,
+in the event of her paying no attention to them. The first Lacedaemonian
+embassy was to order the Athenians to drive out the curse of the
+goddess; the history of which is as follows. In former generations there
+was an Athenian of the name of Cylon, a victor at the Olympic games,
+of good birth and powerful position, who had married a daughter of
+Theagenes, a Megarian, at that time tyrant of Megara. Now this Cylon was
+inquiring at Delphi; when he was told by the god to seize the Acropolis
+of Athens on the grand festival of Zeus. Accordingly, procuring a force
+from Theagenes and persuading his friends to join him, when the
+Olympic festival in Peloponnese came, he seized the Acropolis, with the
+intention of making himself tyrant, thinking that this was the grand
+festival of Zeus, and also an occasion appropriate for a victor at the
+Olympic games. Whether the grand festival that was meant was in Attica
+or elsewhere was a question which he never thought of, and which the
+oracle did not offer to solve. For the Athenians also have a festival
+which is called the grand festival of Zeus Meilichios or Gracious, viz.,
+the Diasia. It is celebrated outside the city, and the whole people
+sacrifice not real victims but a number of bloodless offerings peculiar
+to the country. However, fancying he had chosen the right time, he made
+the attempt. As soon as the Athenians perceived it, they flocked in, one
+and all, from the country, and sat down, and laid siege to the citadel.
+But as time went on, weary of the labour of blockade, most of them
+departed; the responsibility of keeping guard being left to the nine
+archons, with plenary powers to arrange everything according to their
+good judgment. It must be known that at that time most political
+functions were discharged by the nine archons. Meanwhile Cylon and
+his besieged companions were distressed for want of food and water.
+Accordingly Cylon and his brother made their escape; but the rest
+being hard pressed, and some even dying of famine, seated themselves as
+suppliants at the altar in the Acropolis. The Athenians who were charged
+with the duty of keeping guard, when they saw them at the point of death
+in the temple, raised them up on the understanding that no harm should
+be done to them, led them out, and slew them. Some who as they passed by
+took refuge at the altars of the awful goddesses were dispatched on the
+spot. From this deed the men who killed them were called accursed and
+guilty against the goddess, they and their descendants. Accordingly
+these cursed ones were driven out by the Athenians, driven out again by
+Cleomenes of Lacedaemon and an Athenian faction; the living were driven
+out, and the bones of the dead were taken up; thus they were cast out.
+For all that, they came back afterwards, and their descendants are still
+in the city.
+
+This, then was the curse that the Lacedaemonians ordered them to drive
+out. They were actuated primarily, as they pretended, by a care for the
+honour of the gods; but they also know that Pericles, son of Xanthippus,
+was connected with the curse on his mother's side, and they thought that
+his banishment would materially advance their designs on Athens. Not
+that they really hoped to succeed in procuring this; they rather thought
+to create a prejudice against him in the eyes of his countrymen from the
+feeling that the war would be partly caused by his misfortune. For being
+the most powerful man of his time, and the leading Athenian statesman,
+he opposed the Lacedaemonians in everything, and would have no
+concessions, but ever urged the Athenians on to war.
+
+The Athenians retorted by ordering the Lacedaemonians to drive out the
+curse of Taenarus. The Lacedaemonians had once raised up some Helot
+suppliants from the temple of Poseidon at Taenarus, led them away and
+slain them; for which they believe the great earthquake at Sparta to
+have been a retribution. The Athenians also ordered them to drive out
+the curse of the goddess of the Brazen House; the history of which is
+as follows. After Pausanias the Lacedaemonian had been recalled by the
+Spartans from his command in the Hellespont (this is his first recall),
+and had been tried by them and acquitted, not being again sent out in a
+public capacity, he took a galley of Hermione on his own responsibility,
+without the authority of the Lacedaemonians, and arrived as a private
+person in the Hellespont. He came ostensibly for the Hellenic war,
+really to carry on his intrigues with the King, which he had begun
+before his recall, being ambitious of reigning over Hellas. The
+circumstance which first enabled him to lay the King under an
+obligation, and to make a beginning of the whole design, was this. Some
+connections and kinsmen of the King had been taken in Byzantium, on its
+capture from the Medes, when he was first there, after the return from
+Cyprus. These captives he sent off to the King without the knowledge
+of the rest of the allies, the account being that they had escaped from
+him. He managed this with the help of Gongylus, an Eretrian, whom he had
+placed in charge of Byzantium and the prisoners. He also gave Gongylus
+a letter for the King, the contents of which were as follows, as was
+afterwards discovered: "Pausanias, the general of Sparta, anxious to do
+you a favour, sends you these his prisoners of war. I propose also, with
+your approval, to marry your daughter, and to make Sparta and the rest
+of Hellas subject to you. I may say that I think I am able to do this,
+with your co-operation. Accordingly if any of this please you, send
+a safe man to the sea through whom we may in future conduct our
+correspondence."
+
+This was all that was revealed in the writing, and Xerxes was pleased
+with the letter. He sent off Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, to the sea
+with orders to supersede Megabates, the previous governor in the satrapy
+of Daskylion, and to send over as quickly as possible to Pausanias at
+Byzantium a letter which he entrusted to him; to show him the royal
+signet, and to execute any commission which he might receive from
+Pausanias on the King's matters with all care and fidelity. Artabazus
+on his arrival carried the King's orders into effect, and sent over the
+letter, which contained the following answer: "Thus saith King Xerxes
+to Pausanias. For the men whom you have saved for me across sea from
+Byzantium, an obligation is laid up for you in our house, recorded for
+ever; and with your proposals I am well pleased. Let neither night nor
+day stop you from diligently performing any of your promises to me;
+neither for cost of gold nor of silver let them be hindered, nor yet for
+number of troops, wherever it may be that their presence is needed; but
+with Artabazus, an honourable man whom I send you, boldly advance my
+objects and yours, as may be most for the honour and interest of us
+both."
+
+Before held in high honour by the Hellenes as the hero of Plataea,
+Pausanias, after the receipt of this letter, became prouder than ever,
+and could no longer live in the usual style, but went out of Byzantium
+in a Median dress, was attended on his march through Thrace by a
+bodyguard of Medes and Egyptians, kept a Persian table, and was quite
+unable to contain his intentions, but betrayed by his conduct in trifles
+what his ambition looked one day to enact on a grander scale. He also
+made himself difficult of access, and displayed so violent a temper to
+every one without exception that no one could come near him. Indeed,
+this was the principal reason why the confederacy went over to the
+Athenians.
+
+The above-mentioned conduct, coming to the ears of the Lacedaemonians,
+occasioned his first recall. And after his second voyage out in the ship
+of Hermione, without their orders, he gave proofs of similar behaviour.
+Besieged and expelled from Byzantium by the Athenians, he did not return
+to Sparta; but news came that he had settled at Colonae in the Troad,
+and was intriguing with the barbarians, and that his stay there was for
+no good purpose; and the ephors, now no longer hesitating, sent him a
+herald and a scytale with orders to accompany the herald or be declared
+a public enemy. Anxious above everything to avoid suspicion, and
+confident that he could quash the charge by means of money, he returned
+a second time to Sparta. At first thrown into prison by the ephors
+(whose powers enable them to do this to the King), soon compromised
+the matter and came out again, and offered himself for trial to any who
+wished to institute an inquiry concerning him.
+
+Now the Spartans had no tangible proof against him--neither his enemies
+nor the nation--of that indubitable kind required for the punishment
+of a member of the royal family, and at that moment in high office; he
+being regent for his first cousin King Pleistarchus, Leonidas's son, who
+was still a minor. But by his contempt of the laws and imitation of the
+barbarians, he gave grounds for much suspicion of his being discontented
+with things established; all the occasions on which he had in any way
+departed from the regular customs were passed in review, and it was
+remembered that he had taken upon himself to have inscribed on
+the tripod at Delphi, which was dedicated by the Hellenes as the
+first-fruits of the spoil of the Medes, the following couplet:
+
+   The Mede defeated, great Pausanias raised
+   This monument, that Phoebus might be praised.
+
+At the time the Lacedaemonians had at once erased the couplet, and
+inscribed the names of the cities that had aided in the overthrow of
+the barbarian and dedicated the offering. Yet it was considered that
+Pausanias had here been guilty of a grave offence, which, interpreted
+by the light of the attitude which he had since assumed, gained a
+new significance, and seemed to be quite in keeping with his present
+schemes. Besides, they were informed that he was even intriguing with
+the Helots; and such indeed was the fact, for he promised them freedom
+and citizenship if they would join him in insurrection and would
+help him to carry out his plans to the end. Even now, mistrusting the
+evidence even of the Helots themselves, the ephors would not consent
+to take any decided step against him; in accordance with their regular
+custom towards themselves, namely, to be slow in taking any irrevocable
+resolve in the matter of a Spartan citizen without indisputable proof.
+At last, it is said, the person who was going to carry to Artabazus the
+last letter for the King, a man of Argilus, once the favourite and most
+trusty servant of Pausanias, turned informer. Alarmed by the reflection
+that none of the previous messengers had ever returned, having
+counterfeited the seal, in order that, if he found himself mistaken in
+his surmises, or if Pausanias should ask to make some correction, he
+might not be discovered, he undid the letter, and found the postscript
+that he had suspected, viz. an order to put him to death.
+
+On being shown the letter, the ephors now felt more certain. Still, they
+wished to hear Pausanias commit himself with their own ears. Accordingly
+the man went by appointment to Taenarus as a suppliant, and there built
+himself a hut divided into two by a partition; within which he concealed
+some of the ephors and let them hear the whole matter plainly. For
+Pausanias came to him and asked him the reason of his suppliant
+position; and the man reproached him with the order that he had
+written concerning him, and one by one declared all the rest of the
+circumstances, how he who had never yet brought him into any danger,
+while employed as agent between him and the King, was yet just like the
+mass of his servants to be rewarded with death. Admitting all this, and
+telling him not to be angry about the matter, Pausanias gave him the
+pledge of raising him up from the temple, and begged him to set off as
+quickly as possible, and not to hinder the business in hand.
+
+The ephors listened carefully, and then departed, taking no action for
+the moment, but, having at last attained to certainty, were preparing
+to arrest him in the city. It is reported that, as he was about to be
+arrested in the street, he saw from the face of one of the ephors what
+he was coming for; another, too, made him a secret signal, and betrayed
+it to him from kindness. Setting off with a run for the temple of the
+goddess of the Brazen House, the enclosure of which was near at hand, he
+succeeded in taking sanctuary before they took him, and entering into a
+small chamber, which formed part of the temple, to avoid being exposed
+to the weather, lay still there. The ephors, for the moment distanced
+in the pursuit, afterwards took off the roof of the chamber, and having
+made sure that he was inside, shut him in, barricaded the doors, and
+staying before the place, reduced him by starvation. When they found
+that he was on the point of expiring, just as he was, in the chamber,
+they brought him out of the temple, while the breath was still in him,
+and as soon as he was brought out he died. They were going to throw
+him into the Kaiadas, where they cast criminals, but finally decided to
+inter him somewhere near. But the god at Delphi afterwards ordered the
+Lacedaemonians to remove the tomb to the place of his death--where he
+now lies in the consecrated ground, as an inscription on a monument
+declares--and, as what had been done was a curse to them, to give back
+two bodies instead of one to the goddess of the Brazen House. So they
+had two brazen statues made, and dedicated them as a substitute for
+Pausanias. The Athenians retorted by telling the Lacedaemonians to drive
+out what the god himself had pronounced to be a curse.
+
+To return to the Medism of Pausanias. Matter was found in the course
+of the inquiry to implicate Themistocles; and the Lacedaemonians
+accordingly sent envoys to the Athenians and required them to punish him
+as they had punished Pausanias. The Athenians consented to do so. But
+he had, as it happened, been ostracized, and, with a residence at Argos,
+was in the habit of visiting other parts of Peloponnese. So they sent
+with the Lacedaemonians, who were ready to join in the pursuit, persons
+with instructions to take him wherever they found him. But Themistocles
+got scent of their intentions, and fled from Peloponnese to Corcyra,
+which was under obligations towards him. But the Corcyraeans alleged
+that they could not venture to shelter him at the cost of offending
+Athens and Lacedaemon, and they conveyed him over to the continent
+opposite. Pursued by the officers who hung on the report of his
+movements, at a loss where to turn, he was compelled to stop at the
+house of Admetus, the Molossian king, though they were not on friendly
+terms. Admetus happened not to be indoors, but his wife, to whom he made
+himself a suppliant, instructed him to take their child in his arms
+and sit down by the hearth. Soon afterwards Admetus came in, and
+Themistocles told him who he was, and begged him not to revenge on
+Themistocles in exile any opposition which his requests might have
+experienced from Themistocles at Athens. Indeed, he was now far too
+low for his revenge; retaliation was only honourable between equals.
+Besides, his opposition to the king had only affected the success of a
+request, not the safety of his person; if the king were to give him up
+to the pursuers that he mentioned, and the fate which they intended for
+him, he would just be consigning him to certain death.
+
+The King listened to him and raised him up with his son, as he was
+sitting with him in his arms after the most effectual method of
+supplication, and on the arrival of the Lacedaemonians not long
+afterwards, refused to give him up for anything they could say, but sent
+him off by land to the other sea to Pydna in Alexander's dominions, as
+he wished to go to the Persian king. There he met with a merchantman
+on the point of starting for Ionia. Going on board, he was carried by
+a storm to the Athenian squadron which was blockading Naxos. In his
+alarm--he was luckily unknown to the people in the vessel--he told
+the master who he was and what he was flying for, and said that, if
+he refused to save him, he would declare that he was taking him for a
+bribe. Meanwhile their safety consisted in letting no one leave the ship
+until a favourable time for sailing should arise. If he complied with
+his wishes, he promised him a proper recompense. The master acted as he
+desired, and, after lying to for a day and a night out of reach of the
+squadron, at length arrived at Ephesus.
+
+After having rewarded him with a present of money, as soon as he
+received some from his friends at Athens and from his secret hoards at
+Argos, Themistocles started inland with one of the coast Persians, and
+sent a letter to King Artaxerxes, Xerxes's son, who had just come to the
+throne. Its contents were as follows: "I, Themistocles, am come to
+you, who did your house more harm than any of the Hellenes, when I
+was compelled to defend myself against your father's invasion--harm,
+however, far surpassed by the good that I did him during his retreat,
+which brought no danger for me but much for him. For the past, you are a
+good turn in my debt"--here he mentioned the warning sent to Xerxes from
+Salamis to retreat, as well as his finding the bridges unbroken, which,
+as he falsely pretended, was due to him--"for the present, able to do
+you great service, I am here, pursued by the Hellenes for my friendship
+for you. However, I desire a year's grace, when I shall be able to
+declare in person the objects of my coming."
+
+It is said that the King approved his intention, and told him to do as
+he said. He employed the interval in making what progress he could in
+the study of the Persian tongue, and of the customs of the country.
+Arrived at court at the end of the year, he attained to very high
+consideration there, such as no Hellene has ever possessed before or
+since; partly from his splendid antecedents, partly from the hopes
+which he held out of effecting for him the subjugation of Hellas, but
+principally by the proof which experience daily gave of his capacity.
+For Themistocles was a man who exhibited the most indubitable signs
+of genius; indeed, in this particular he has a claim on our admiration
+quite extraordinary and unparalleled. By his own native capacity, alike
+unformed and unsupplemented by study, he was at once the best judge in
+those sudden crises which admit of little or of no deliberation, and the
+best prophet of the future, even to its most distant possibilities. An
+able theoretical expositor of all that came within the sphere of his
+practice, he was not without the power of passing an adequate judgment
+in matters in which he had no experience. He could also excellently
+divine the good and evil which lay hid in the unseen future. In fine,
+whether we consider the extent of his natural powers, or the slightness
+of his application, this extraordinary man must be allowed to have
+surpassed all others in the faculty of intuitively meeting an emergency.
+Disease was the real cause of his death; though there is a story of his
+having ended his life by poison, on finding himself unable to fulfil his
+promises to the king. However this may be, there is a monument to him
+in the marketplace of Asiatic Magnesia. He was governor of the district,
+the King having given him Magnesia, which brought in fifty talents a
+year, for bread, Lampsacus, which was considered to be the richest wine
+country, for wine, and Myos for other provisions. His bones, it is said,
+were conveyed home by his relatives in accordance with his wishes, and
+interred in Attic ground. This was done without the knowledge of the
+Athenians; as it is against the law to bury in Attica an outlaw
+for treason. So ends the history of Pausanias and Themistocles, the
+Lacedaemonian and the Athenian, the most famous men of their time in
+Hellas.
+
+To return to the Lacedaemonians. The history of their first embassy,
+the injunctions which it conveyed, and the rejoinder which it provoked,
+concerning the expulsion of the accursed persons, have been related
+already. It was followed by a second, which ordered Athens to raise the
+siege of Potidaea, and to respect the independence of Aegina. Above all,
+it gave her most distinctly to understand that war might be prevented
+by the revocation of the Megara decree, excluding the Megarians from the
+use of Athenian harbours and of the market of Athens. But Athens was
+not inclined either to revoke the decree, or to entertain their other
+proposals; she accused the Megarians of pushing their cultivation into
+the consecrated ground and the unenclosed land on the border, and of
+harbouring her runaway slaves. At last an embassy arrived with the
+Lacedaemonian ultimatum. The ambassadors were Ramphias, Melesippus, and
+Agesander. Not a word was said on any of the old subjects; there was
+simply this: "Lacedaemon wishes the peace to continue, and there is no
+reason why it should not, if you would leave the Hellenes independent."
+Upon this the Athenians held an assembly, and laid the matter before
+their consideration. It was resolved to deliberate once for all on all
+their demands, and to give them an answer. There were many speakers who
+came forward and gave their support to one side or the other, urging
+the necessity of war, or the revocation of the decree and the folly
+of allowing it to stand in the way of peace. Among them came forward
+Pericles, son of Xanthippus, the first man of his time at Athens, ablest
+alike in counsel and in action, and gave the following advice:
+
+"There is one principle, Athenians, which I hold to through everything,
+and that is the principle of no concession to the Peloponnesians. I know
+that the spirit which inspires men while they are being persuaded to
+make war is not always retained in action; that as circumstances change,
+resolutions change. Yet I see that now as before the same, almost
+literally the same, counsel is demanded of me; and I put it to those of
+you who are allowing yourselves to be persuaded, to support the national
+resolves even in the case of reverses, or to forfeit all credit for
+their wisdom in the event of success. For sometimes the course of things
+is as arbitrary as the plans of man; indeed this is why we usually blame
+chance for whatever does not happen as we expected. Now it was clear
+before that Lacedaemon entertained designs against us; it is still
+more clear now. The treaty provides that we shall mutually submit our
+differences to legal settlement, and that we shall meanwhile each keep
+what we have. Yet the Lacedaemonians never yet made us any such offer,
+never yet would accept from us any such offer; on the contrary, they
+wish complaints to be settled by war instead of by negotiation; and
+in the end we find them here dropping the tone of expostulation and
+adopting that of command. They order us to raise the siege of Potidaea,
+to let Aegina be independent, to revoke the Megara decree; and they
+conclude with an ultimatum warning us to leave the Hellenes independent.
+I hope that you will none of you think that we shall be going to war
+for a trifle if we refuse to revoke the Megara decree, which appears
+in front of their complaints, and the revocation of which is to save us
+from war, or let any feeling of self-reproach linger in your minds, as
+if you went to war for slight cause. Why, this trifle contains the whole
+seal and trial of your resolution. If you give way, you will instantly
+have to meet some greater demand, as having been frightened into
+obedience in the first instance; while a firm refusal will make them
+clearly understand that they must treat you more as equals. Make your
+decision therefore at once, either to submit before you are harmed, or
+if we are to go to war, as I for one think we ought, to do so without
+caring whether the ostensible cause be great or small, resolved
+against making concessions or consenting to a precarious tenure of our
+possessions. For all claims from an equal, urged upon a neighbour as
+commands before any attempt at legal settlement, be they great or be
+they small, have only one meaning, and that is slavery.
+
+"As to the war and the resources of either party, a detailed comparison
+will not show you the inferiority of Athens. Personally engaged in the
+cultivation of their land, without funds either private or public, the
+Peloponnesians are also without experience in long wars across sea, from
+the strict limit which poverty imposes on their attacks upon each other.
+Powers of this description are quite incapable of often manning a fleet
+or often sending out an army: they cannot afford the absence from their
+homes, the expenditure from their own funds; and besides, they have not
+command of the sea. Capital, it must be remembered, maintains a war more
+than forced contributions. Farmers are a class of men that are always
+more ready to serve in person than in purse. Confident that the former
+will survive the dangers, they are by no means so sure that the latter
+will not be prematurely exhausted, especially if the war last longer
+than they expect, which it very likely will. In a single battle the
+Peloponnesians and their allies may be able to defy all Hellas, but they
+are incapacitated from carrying on a war against a power different in
+character from their own, by the want of the single council-chamber
+requisite to prompt and vigorous action, and the substitution of a diet
+composed of various races, in which every state possesses an equal vote,
+and each presses its own ends, a condition of things which generally
+results in no action at all. The great wish of some is to avenge
+themselves on some particular enemy, the great wish of others to save
+their own pocket. Slow in assembling, they devote a very small fraction
+of the time to the consideration of any public object, most of it to the
+prosecution of their own objects. Meanwhile each fancies that no harm
+will come of his neglect, that it is the business of somebody else
+to look after this or that for him; and so, by the same notion being
+entertained by all separately, the common cause imperceptibly decays.
+
+"But the principal point is the hindrance that they will experience from
+want of money. The slowness with which it comes in will cause delay; but
+the opportunities of war wait for no man. Again, we need not be alarmed
+either at the possibility of their raising fortifications in Attica, or
+at their navy. It would be difficult for any system of fortifications to
+establish a rival city, even in time of peace, much more, surely, in
+an enemy's country, with Athens just as much fortified against it as it
+against Athens; while a mere post might be able to do some harm to the
+country by incursions and by the facilities which it would afford for
+desertion, but can never prevent our sailing into their country and
+raising fortifications there, and making reprisals with our powerful
+fleet. For our naval skill is of more use to us for service on land,
+than their military skill for service at sea. Familiarity with the sea
+they will not find an easy acquisition. If you who have been practising
+at it ever since the Median invasion have not yet brought it to
+perfection, is there any chance of anything considerable being effected
+by an agricultural, unseafaring population, who will besides be
+prevented from practising by the constant presence of strong squadrons
+of observation from Athens? With a small squadron they might hazard an
+engagement, encouraging their ignorance by numbers; but the restraint of
+a strong force will prevent their moving, and through want of practice
+they will grow more clumsy, and consequently more timid. It must be kept
+in mind that seamanship, just like anything else, is a matter of art,
+and will not admit of being taken up occasionally as an occupation for
+times of leisure; on the contrary, it is so exacting as to leave leisure
+for nothing else.
+
+"Even if they were to touch the moneys at Olympia or Delphi, and try to
+seduce our foreign sailors by the temptation of higher pay, that would
+only be a serious danger if we could not still be a match for them by
+embarking our own citizens and the aliens resident among us. But in fact
+by this means we are always a match for them; and, best of all, we have
+a larger and higher class of native coxswains and sailors among our own
+citizens than all the rest of Hellas. And to say nothing of the danger
+of such a step, none of our foreign sailors would consent to become an
+outlaw from his country, and to take service with them and their hopes,
+for the sake of a few days' high pay.
+
+"This, I think, is a tolerably fair account of the position of the
+Peloponnesians; that of Athens is free from the defects that I have
+criticized in them, and has other advantages of its own, which they can
+show nothing to equal. If they march against our country we will sail
+against theirs, and it will then be found that the desolation of
+the whole of Attica is not the same as that of even a fraction of
+Peloponnese; for they will not be able to supply the deficiency except
+by a battle, while we have plenty of land both on the islands and the
+continent. The rule of the sea is indeed a great matter. Consider for
+a moment. Suppose that we were islanders; can you conceive a more
+impregnable position? Well, this in future should, as far as possible,
+be our conception of our position. Dismissing all thought of our land
+and houses, we must vigilantly guard the sea and the city. No irritation
+that we may feel for the former must provoke us to a battle with the
+numerical superiority of the Peloponnesians. A victory would only be
+succeeded by another battle against the same superiority: a reverse
+involves the loss of our allies, the source of our strength, who will
+not remain quiet a day after we become unable to march against them. We
+must cry not over the loss of houses and land but of men's lives; since
+houses and land do not gain men, but men them. And if I had thought that
+I could persuade you, I would have bid you go out and lay them waste
+with your own hands, and show the Peloponnesians that this at any rate
+will not make you submit.
+
+"I have many other reasons to hope for a favourable issue, if you can
+consent not to combine schemes of fresh conquest with the conduct of
+the war, and will abstain from wilfully involving yourselves in other
+dangers; indeed, I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the
+enemy's devices. But these matters shall be explained in another speech,
+as events require; for the present dismiss these men with the answer
+that we will allow Megara the use of our market and harbours, when the
+Lacedaemonians suspend their alien acts in favour of us and our allies,
+there being nothing in the treaty to prevent either one or the other:
+that we will leave the cities independent, if independent we found them
+when we made the treaty, and when the Lacedaemonians grant to their
+cities an independence not involving subservience to Lacedaemonian
+interests, but such as each severally may desire: that we are willing
+to give the legal satisfaction which our agreements specify, and that we
+shall not commence hostilities, but shall resist those who do commence
+them. This is an answer agreeable at once to the rights and the dignity
+of Athens. It must be thoroughly understood that war is a necessity; but
+that the more readily we accept it, the less will be the ardour of
+our opponents, and that out of the greatest dangers communities and
+individuals acquire the greatest glory. Did not our fathers resist the
+Medes not only with resources far different from ours, but even when
+those resources had been abandoned; and more by wisdom than by fortune,
+more by daring than by strength, did not they beat off the barbarian and
+advance their affairs to their present height? We must not fall behind
+them, but must resist our enemies in any way and in every way, and
+attempt to hand down our power to our posterity unimpaired."
+
+Such were the words of Pericles. The Athenians, persuaded of the wisdom
+of his advice, voted as he desired, and answered the Lacedaemonians as
+he recommended, both on the separate points and in the general; they
+would do nothing on dictation, but were ready to have the complaints
+settled in a fair and impartial manner by the legal method, which the
+terms of the truce prescribed. So the envoys departed home and did not
+return again.
+
+These were the charges and differences existing between the rival powers
+before the war, arising immediately from the affair at Epidamnus and
+Corcyra. Still intercourse continued in spite of them, and mutual
+communication. It was carried on without heralds, but not without
+suspicion, as events were occurring which were equivalent to a breach of
+the treaty and matter for war.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+_Beginning of the Peloponnesian War--First Invasion of Attica--Funeral
+Oration of Pericles_
+
+The war between the Athenians and Peloponnesians and the allies on
+either side now really begins. For now all intercourse except through
+the medium of heralds ceased, and hostilities were commenced and
+prosecuted without intermission. The history follows the chronological
+order of events by summers and winters.
+
+The thirty years' truce which was entered into after the conquest of
+Euboea lasted fourteen years. In the fifteenth, in the forty-eighth year
+of the priestess-ship of Chrysis at Argos, in the ephorate of Aenesias
+at Sparta, in the last month but two of the archonship of Pythodorus
+at Athens, and six months after the battle of Potidaea, just at the
+beginning of spring, a Theban force a little over three hundred strong,
+under the command of their Boeotarchs, Pythangelus, son of Phyleides,
+and Diemporus, son of Onetorides, about the first watch of the night,
+made an armed entry into Plataea, a town of Boeotia in alliance with
+Athens. The gates were opened to them by a Plataean called Naucleides,
+who, with his party, had invited them in, meaning to put to death the
+citizens of the opposite party, bring over the city to Thebes, and thus
+obtain power for themselves. This was arranged through Eurymachus, son
+of Leontiades, a person of great influence at Thebes. For Plataea had
+always been at variance with Thebes; and the latter, foreseeing that war
+was at hand, wished to surprise her old enemy in time of peace, before
+hostilities had actually broken out. Indeed this was how they got in so
+easily without being observed, as no guard had been posted. After the
+soldiers had grounded arms in the market-place, those who had invited
+them in wished them to set to work at once and go to their enemies'
+houses. This, however, the Thebans refused to do, but determined to
+make a conciliatory proclamation, and if possible to come to a friendly
+understanding with the citizens. Their herald accordingly invited
+any who wished to resume their old place in the confederacy of their
+countrymen to ground arms with them, for they thought that in this way
+the city would readily join them.
+
+On becoming aware of the presence of the Thebans within their gates, and
+of the sudden occupation of the town, the Plataeans concluded in
+their alarm that more had entered than was really the case, the night
+preventing their seeing them. They accordingly came to terms and,
+accepting the proposal, made no movement; especially as the Thebans
+offered none of them any violence. But somehow or other, during the
+negotiations, they discovered the scanty numbers of the Thebans, and
+decided that they could easily attack and overpower them; the mass of
+the Plataeans being averse to revolting from Athens. At all events they
+resolved to attempt it. Digging through the party walls of the houses,
+they thus managed to join each other without being seen going through
+the streets, in which they placed wagons without the beasts in them, to
+serve as a barricade, and arranged everything else as seemed convenient
+for the occasion. When everything had been done that circumstances
+permitted, they watched their opportunity and went out of their houses
+against the enemy. It was still night, though daybreak was at hand: in
+daylight it was thought that their attack would be met by men full of
+courage and on equal terms with their assailants, while in darkness
+it would fall upon panic-stricken troops, who would also be at a
+disadvantage from their enemy's knowledge of the locality. So they made
+their assault at once, and came to close quarters as quickly as they
+could.
+
+The Thebans, finding themselves outwitted, immediately closed up to
+repel all attacks made upon them. Twice or thrice they beat back their
+assailants. But the men shouted and charged them, the women and slaves
+screamed and yelled from the houses and pelted them with stones and
+tiles; besides, it had been raining hard all night; and so at last their
+courage gave way, and they turned and fled through the town. Most of the
+fugitives were quite ignorant of the right ways out, and this, with the
+mud, and the darkness caused by the moon being in her last quarter, and
+the fact that their pursuers knew their way about and could easily stop
+their escape, proved fatal to many. The only gate open was the one
+by which they had entered, and this was shut by one of the Plataeans
+driving the spike of a javelin into the bar instead of the bolt; so that
+even here there was no longer any means of exit. They were now chased
+all over the town. Some got on the wall and threw themselves over, in
+most cases with a fatal result. One party managed to find a deserted
+gate, and obtaining an axe from a woman, cut through the bar; but as
+they were soon observed only a few succeeded in getting out. Others were
+cut off in detail in different parts of the city. The most numerous and
+compact body rushed into a large building next to the city wall: the
+doors on the side of the street happened to be open, and the Thebans
+fancied that they were the gates of the town, and that there was a
+passage right through to the outside. The Plataeans, seeing their
+enemies in a trap, now consulted whether they should set fire to the
+building and burn them just as they were, or whether there was anything
+else that they could do with them; until at length these and the rest
+of the Theban survivors found wandering about the town agreed to an
+unconditional surrender of themselves and their arms to the Plataeans.
+
+While such was the fate of the party in Plataea, the rest of the Thebans
+who were to have joined them with all their forces before daybreak, in
+case of anything miscarrying with the body that had entered, received
+the news of the affair on the road, and pressed forward to their
+succour. Now Plataea is nearly eight miles from Thebes, and their march
+delayed by the rain that had fallen in the night, for the river Asopus
+had risen and was not easy of passage; and so, having to march in the
+rain, and being hindered in crossing the river, they arrived too late,
+and found the whole party either slain or captive. When they learned
+what had happened, they at once formed a design against the Plataeans
+outside the city. As the attack had been made in time of peace, and was
+perfectly unexpected, there were of course men and stock in the fields;
+and the Thebans wished if possible to have some prisoners to exchange
+against their countrymen in the town, should any chance to have been
+taken alive. Such was their plan. But the Plataeans suspected their
+intention almost before it was formed, and becoming alarmed for
+their fellow citizens outside the town, sent a herald to the Thebans,
+reproaching them for their unscrupulous attempt to seize their city in
+time of peace, and warning them against any outrage on those outside.
+Should the warning be disregarded, they threatened to put to death the
+men they had in their hands, but added that, on the Thebans retiring
+from their territory, they would surrender the prisoners to their
+friends. This is the Theban account of the matter, and they say that
+they had an oath given them. The Plataeans, on the other hand, do not
+admit any promise of an immediate surrender, but make it contingent upon
+subsequent negotiation: the oath they deny altogether. Be this as it
+may, upon the Thebans retiring from their territory without committing
+any injury, the Plataeans hastily got in whatever they had in the
+country and immediately put the men to death. The prisoners were a
+hundred and eighty in number; Eurymachus, the person with whom the
+traitors had negotiated, being one.
+
+This done, the Plataeans sent a messenger to Athens, gave back the dead
+to the Thebans under a truce, and arranged things in the city as seemed
+best to meet the present emergency. The Athenians meanwhile, having
+had word of the affair sent them immediately after its occurrence, had
+instantly seized all the Boeotians in Attica, and sent a herald to the
+Plataeans to forbid their proceeding to extremities with their Theban
+prisoners without instructions from Athens. The news of the men's death
+had of course not arrived; the first messenger having left Plataea just
+when the Thebans entered it, the second just after their defeat and
+capture; so there was no later news. Thus the Athenians sent orders
+in ignorance of the facts; and the herald on his arrival found the
+men slain. After this the Athenians marched to Plataea and brought in
+provisions, and left a garrison in the place, also taking away the women
+and children and such of the men as were least efficient.
+
+After the affair at Plataea, the treaty had been broken by an overt
+act, and Athens at once prepared for war, as did also Lacedaemon and her
+allies. They resolved to send embassies to the King and to such other of
+the barbarian powers as either party could look to for assistance,
+and tried to ally themselves with the independent states at home.
+Lacedaemon, in addition to the existing marine, gave orders to the
+states that had declared for her in Italy and Sicily to build vessels
+up to a grand total of five hundred, the quota of each city being
+determined by its size, and also to provide a specified sum of money.
+Till these were ready they were to remain neutral and to admit single
+Athenian ships into their harbours. Athens on her part reviewed her
+existing confederacy, and sent embassies to the places more
+immediately round Peloponnese--Corcyra, Cephallenia, Acarnania, and
+Zacynthus--perceiving that if these could be relied on she could carry
+the war all round Peloponnese.
+
+And if both sides nourished the boldest hopes and put forth their utmost
+strength for the war, this was only natural. Zeal is always at its
+height at the commencement of an undertaking; and on this particular
+occasion Peloponnese and Athens were both full of young men whose
+inexperience made them eager to take up arms, while the rest of Hellas
+stood straining with excitement at the conflict of its leading cities.
+Everywhere predictions were being recited and oracles being chanted
+by such persons as collect them, and this not only in the contending
+cities. Further, some while before this, there was an earthquake at
+Delos, for the first time in the memory of the Hellenes. This was said
+and thought to be ominous of the events impending; indeed, nothing of
+the kind that happened was allowed to pass without remark. The good
+wishes of men made greatly for the Lacedaemonians, especially as they
+proclaimed themselves the liberators of Hellas. No private or public
+effort that could help them in speech or action was omitted; each
+thinking that the cause suffered wherever he could not himself see to
+it. So general was the indignation felt against Athens, whether by those
+who wished to escape from her empire, or were apprehensive of being
+absorbed by it. Such were the preparations and such the feelings with
+which the contest opened.
+
+The allies of the two belligerents were the following. These were the
+allies of Lacedaemon: all the Peloponnesians within the Isthmus except
+the Argives and Achaeans, who were neutral; Pellene being the only
+Achaean city that first joined in the war, though her example was
+afterwards followed by the rest. Outside Peloponnese the Megarians,
+Locrians, Boeotians, Phocians, Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Anactorians.
+Of these, ships were furnished by the Corinthians, Megarians,
+Sicyonians, Pellenians, Eleans, Ambraciots, and Leucadians; and
+cavalry by the Boeotians, Phocians, and Locrians. The other states
+sent infantry. This was the Lacedaemonian confederacy. That of Athens
+comprised the Chians, Lesbians, Plataeans, the Messenians in Naupactus,
+most of the Acarnanians, the Corcyraeans, Zacynthians, and some
+tributary cities in the following countries, viz., Caria upon the sea
+with her Dorian neighbours, Ionia, the Hellespont, the Thracian towns,
+the islands lying between Peloponnese and Crete towards the east, and
+all the Cyclades except Melos and Thera. Of these, ships were furnished
+by Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra, infantry and money by the rest. Such were
+the allies of either party and their resources for the war.
+
+Immediately after the affair at Plataea, Lacedaemon sent round orders
+to the cities in Peloponnese and the rest of her confederacy to prepare
+troops and the provisions requisite for a foreign campaign, in order to
+invade Attica. The several states were ready at the time appointed and
+assembled at the Isthmus: the contingent of each city being two-thirds
+of its whole force. After the whole army had mustered, the Lacedaemonian
+king, Archidamus, the leader of the expedition, called together the
+generals of all the states and the principal persons and officers, and
+exhorted them as follows:
+
+"Peloponnesians and allies, our fathers made many campaigns both within
+and without Peloponnese, and the elder men among us here are not without
+experience in war. Yet we have never set out with a larger force than
+the present; and if our numbers and efficiency are remarkable, so also
+is the power of the state against which we march. We ought not then
+to show ourselves inferior to our ancestors, or unequal to our own
+reputation. For the hopes and attention of all Hellas are bent upon the
+present effort, and its sympathy is with the enemy of the hated Athens.
+Therefore, numerous as the invading army may appear to be, and certain
+as some may think it that our adversary will not meet us in the field,
+this is no sort of justification for the least negligence upon the
+march; but the officers and men of each particular city should always be
+prepared for the advent of danger in their own quarters. The course of
+war cannot be foreseen, and its attacks are generally dictated by
+the impulse of the moment; and where overweening self-confidence has
+despised preparation, a wise apprehension often been able to make head
+against superior numbers. Not that confidence is out of place in an army
+of invasion, but in an enemy's country it should also be accompanied by
+the precautions of apprehension: troops will by this combination be best
+inspired for dealing a blow, and best secured against receiving one.
+In the present instance, the city against which we are going, far from
+being so impotent for defence, is on the contrary most excellently
+equipped at all points; so that we have every reason to expect that
+they will take the field against us, and that if they have not set out
+already before we are there, they will certainly do so when they see us
+in their territory wasting and destroying their property. For men
+are always exasperated at suffering injuries to which they are not
+accustomed, and on seeing them inflicted before their very eyes; and
+where least inclined for reflection, rush with the greatest heat to
+action. The Athenians are the very people of all others to do this, as
+they aspire to rule the rest of the world, and are more in the habit of
+invading and ravaging their neighbours' territory, than of seeing their
+own treated in the like fashion. Considering, therefore, the power
+of the state against which we are marching, and the greatness of the
+reputation which, according to the event, we shall win or lose for our
+ancestors and ourselves, remember as you follow where you may be led to
+regard discipline and vigilance as of the first importance, and to obey
+with alacrity the orders transmitted to you; as nothing contributes so
+much to the credit and safety of an army as the union of large bodies by
+a single discipline."
+
+With this brief speech dismissing the assembly, Archidamus first sent
+off Melesippus, son of Diacritus, a Spartan, to Athens, in case she
+should be more inclined to submit on seeing the Peloponnesians actually
+on the march. But the Athenians did not admit into the city or to their
+assembly, Pericles having already carried a motion against admitting
+either herald or embassy from the Lacedaemonians after they had once
+marched out.
+
+The herald was accordingly sent away without an audience, and ordered to
+be beyond the frontier that same day; in future, if those who sent
+him had a proposition to make, they must retire to their own territory
+before they dispatched embassies to Athens. An escort was sent with
+Melesippus to prevent his holding communication with any one. When he
+reached the frontier and was just going to be dismissed, he departed
+with these words: "This day will be the beginning of great misfortunes
+to the Hellenes." As soon as he arrived at the camp, and Archidamus
+learnt that the Athenians had still no thoughts of submitting, he at
+length began his march, and advanced with his army into their territory.
+Meanwhile the Boeotians, sending their contingent and cavalry to join
+the Peloponnesian expedition, went to Plataea with the remainder and
+laid waste the country.
+
+While the Peloponnesians were still mustering at the Isthmus, or on the
+march before they invaded Attica, Pericles, son of Xanthippus, one of
+the ten generals of the Athenians, finding that the invasion was to
+take place, conceived the idea that Archidamus, who happened to be his
+friend, might possibly pass by his estate without ravaging it. This he
+might do, either from a personal wish to oblige him, or acting under
+instructions from Lacedaemon for the purpose of creating a prejudice
+against him, as had been before attempted in the demand for the
+expulsion of the accursed family. He accordingly took the precaution of
+announcing to the Athenians in the assembly that, although Archidamus
+was his friend, yet this friendship should not extend to the detriment
+of the state, and that in case the enemy should make his houses and
+lands an exception to the rest and not pillage them, he at once gave
+them up to be public property, so that they should not bring him into
+suspicion. He also gave the citizens some advice on their present
+affairs in the same strain as before. They were to prepare for the war,
+and to carry in their property from the country. They were not to go out
+to battle, but to come into the city and guard it, and get ready their
+fleet, in which their real strength lay. They were also to keep a tight
+rein on their allies--the strength of Athens being derived from the
+money brought in by their payments, and success in war depending
+principally upon conduct and capital, had no reason to despond. Apart
+from other sources of income, an average revenue of six hundred talents
+of silver was drawn from the tribute of the allies; and there were still
+six thousand talents of coined silver in the Acropolis, out of nine
+thousand seven hundred that had once been there, from which the
+money had been taken for the porch of the Acropolis, the other public
+buildings, and for Potidaea. This did not include the uncoined gold
+and silver in public and private offerings, the sacred vessels for the
+processions and games, the Median spoils, and similar resources to the
+amount of five hundred talents. To this he added the treasures of the
+other temples. These were by no means inconsiderable, and might fairly
+be used. Nay, if they were ever absolutely driven to it, they might
+take even the gold ornaments of Athene herself; for the statue contained
+forty talents of pure gold and it was all removable. This might be used
+for self-preservation, and must every penny of it be restored. Such was
+their financial position--surely a satisfactory one. Then they had an
+army of thirteen thousand heavy infantry, besides sixteen thousand
+more in the garrisons and on home duty at Athens. This was at first the
+number of men on guard in the event of an invasion: it was composed of
+the oldest and youngest levies and the resident aliens who had heavy
+armour. The Phaleric wall ran for four miles, before it joined that
+round the city; and of this last nearly five had a guard, although part
+of it was left without one, viz., that between the Long Wall and the
+Phaleric. Then there were the Long Walls to Piraeus, a distance of
+some four miles and a half, the outer of which was manned. Lastly, the
+circumference of Piraeus with Munychia was nearly seven miles and a
+half; only half of this, however, was guarded. Pericles also showed
+them that they had twelve hundred horse including mounted archers, with
+sixteen hundred archers unmounted, and three hundred galleys fit for
+service. Such were the resources of Athens in the different departments
+when the Peloponnesian invasion was impending and hostilities were
+being commenced. Pericles also urged his usual arguments for expecting a
+favourable issue to the war.
+
+The Athenians listened to his advice, and began to carry in their wives
+and children from the country, and all their household furniture, even
+to the woodwork of their houses which they took down. Their sheep and
+cattle they sent over to Euboea and the adjacent islands. But they found
+it hard to move, as most of them had been always used to live in the
+country.
+
+From very early times this had been more the case with the Athenians
+than with others. Under Cecrops and the first kings, down to the reign
+of Theseus, Attica had always consisted of a number of independent
+townships, each with its own town hall and magistrates. Except in times
+of danger the king at Athens was not consulted; in ordinary seasons
+they carried on their government and settled their affairs without his
+interference; sometimes even they waged war against him, as in the
+case of the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus. In Theseus,
+however, they had a king of equal intelligence and power; and one of
+the chief features in his organization of the country was to abolish the
+council-chambers and magistrates of the petty cities, and to merge them
+in the single council-chamber and town hall of the present capital.
+Individuals might still enjoy their private property just as before, but
+they were henceforth compelled to have only one political centre, viz.,
+Athens; which thus counted all the inhabitants of Attica among her
+citizens, so that when Theseus died he left a great state behind him.
+Indeed, from him dates the Synoecia, or Feast of Union; which is paid
+for by the state, and which the Athenians still keep in honour of the
+goddess. Before this the city consisted of the present citadel and the
+district beneath it looking rather towards the south. This is shown by
+the fact that the temples of the other deities, besides that of Athene,
+are in the citadel; and even those that are outside it are mostly
+situated in this quarter of the city, as that of the Olympian Zeus, of
+the Pythian Apollo, of Earth, and of Dionysus in the Marshes, the same
+in whose honour the older Dionysia are to this day celebrated in the
+month of Anthesterion not only by the Athenians but also by their Ionian
+descendants. There are also other ancient temples in this quarter. The
+fountain too, which, since the alteration made by the tyrants, has been
+called Enneacrounos, or Nine Pipes, but which, when the spring was open,
+went by the name of Callirhoe, or Fairwater, was in those days, from
+being so near, used for the most important offices. Indeed, the old
+fashion of using the water before marriage and for other sacred purposes
+is still kept up. Again, from their old residence in that quarter, the
+citadel is still known among Athenians as the city.
+
+The Athenians thus long lived scattered over Attica in independent
+townships. Even after the centralization of Theseus, old habit still
+prevailed; and from the early times down to the present war most
+Athenians still lived in the country with their families and households,
+and were consequently not at all inclined to move now, especially
+as they had only just restored their establishments after the Median
+invasion. Deep was their trouble and discontent at abandoning their
+houses and the hereditary temples of the ancient constitution, and at
+having to change their habits of life and to bid farewell to what each
+regarded as his native city.
+
+When they arrived at Athens, though a few had houses of their own to
+go to, or could find an asylum with friends or relatives, by far the
+greater number had to take up their dwelling in the parts of the city
+that were not built over and in the temples and chapels of the heroes,
+except the Acropolis and the temple of the Eleusinian Demeter and such
+other Places as were always kept closed. The occupation of the plot of
+ground lying below the citadel called the Pelasgian had been forbidden
+by a curse; and there was also an ominous fragment of a Pythian oracle
+which said:
+
+Leave the Pelasgian parcel desolate, Woe worth the day that men inhabit
+it!
+
+Yet this too was now built over in the necessity of the moment. And in
+my opinion, if the oracle proved true, it was in the opposite sense to
+what was expected. For the misfortunes of the state did not arise from
+the unlawful occupation, but the necessity of the occupation from the
+war; and though the god did not mention this, he foresaw that it would
+be an evil day for Athens in which the plot came to be inhabited. Many
+also took up their quarters in the towers of the walls or wherever else
+they could. For when they were all come in, the city proved too small
+to hold them; though afterwards they divided the Long Walls and a
+great part of Piraeus into lots and settled there. All this while great
+attention was being given to the war; the allies were being mustered,
+and an armament of a hundred ships equipped for Peloponnese. Such was
+the state of preparation at Athens.
+
+Meanwhile the army of the Peloponnesians was advancing. The first town
+they came to in Attica was Oenoe, where they to enter the country.
+Sitting down before it, they prepared to assault the wall with engines
+and otherwise. Oenoe, standing upon the Athenian and Boeotian border,
+was of course a walled town, and was used as a fortress by the Athenians
+in time of war. So the Peloponnesians prepared for their assault, and
+wasted some valuable time before the place. This delay brought the
+gravest censure upon Archidamus. Even during the levying of the war he
+had credit for weakness and Athenian sympathies by the half measures he
+had advocated; and after the army had assembled he had further injured
+himself in public estimation by his loitering at the Isthmus and the
+slowness with which the rest of the march had been conducted. But all
+this was as nothing to the delay at Oenoe. During this interval the
+Athenians were carrying in their property; and it was the belief of the
+Peloponnesians that a quick advance would have found everything still
+out, had it not been for his procrastination. Such was the feeling
+of the army towards Archidamus during the siege. But he, it is said,
+expected that the Athenians would shrink from letting their land be
+wasted, and would make their submission while it was still uninjured;
+and this was why he waited.
+
+But after he had assaulted Oenoe, and every possible attempt to take it
+had failed, as no herald came from Athens, he at last broke up his camp
+and invaded Attica. This was about eighty days after the Theban attempt
+upon Plataea, just in the middle of summer, when the corn was ripe, and
+Archidamus, son of Zeuxis, king of Lacedaemon, was in command. Encamping
+in Eleusis and the Thriasian plain, they began their ravages, and
+putting to flight some Athenian horse at a place called Rheiti, or
+the Brooks, they then advanced, keeping Mount Aegaleus on their right,
+through Cropia, until they reached Acharnae, the largest of the Athenian
+demes or townships. Sitting down before it, they formed a camp there,
+and continued their ravages for a long while.
+
+The reason why Archidamus remained in order of battle at Acharnae during
+this incursion, instead of descending into the plain, is said to have
+been this. He hoped that the Athenians might possibly be tempted by
+the multitude of their youth and the unprecedented efficiency of their
+service to come out to battle and attempt to stop the devastation
+of their lands. Accordingly, as they had met him at Eleusis or the
+Thriasian plain, he tried if they could be provoked to a sally by the
+spectacle of a camp at Acharnae. He thought the place itself a good
+position for encamping; and it seemed likely that such an important
+part of the state as the three thousand heavy infantry of the Acharnians
+would refuse to submit to the ruin of their property, and would force
+a battle on the rest of the citizens. On the other hand, should the
+Athenians not take the field during this incursion, he could then
+fearlessly ravage the plain in future invasions, and extend his advance
+up to the very walls of Athens. After the Acharnians had lost their own
+property they would be less willing to risk themselves for that of their
+neighbours; and so there would be division in the Athenian counsels.
+These were the motives of Archidamus for remaining at Acharnae.
+
+In the meanwhile, as long as the army was at Eleusis and the Thriasian
+plain, hopes were still entertained of its not advancing any nearer. It
+was remembered that Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon,
+had invaded Attica with a Peloponnesian army fourteen years before, but
+had retreated without advancing farther than Eleusis and Thria, which
+indeed proved the cause of his exile from Sparta, as it was thought
+he had been bribed to retreat. But when they saw the army at Acharnae,
+barely seven miles from Athens, they lost all patience. The territory of
+Athens was being ravaged before the very eyes of the Athenians, a sight
+which the young men had never seen before and the old only in the
+Median wars; and it was naturally thought a grievous insult, and the
+determination was universal, especially among the young men, to sally
+forth and stop it. Knots were formed in the streets and engaged in hot
+discussion; for if the proposed sally was warmly recommended, it was
+also in some cases opposed. Oracles of the most various import were
+recited by the collectors, and found eager listeners in one or other of
+the disputants. Foremost in pressing for the sally were the Acharnians,
+as constituting no small part of the army of the state, and as it was
+their land that was being ravaged. In short, the whole city was in a
+most excited state; Pericles was the object of general indignation; his
+previous counsels were totally forgotten; he was abused for not leading
+out the army which he commanded, and was made responsible for the whole
+of the public suffering.
+
+He, meanwhile, seeing anger and infatuation just now in the ascendant,
+and of his wisdom in refusing a sally, would not call either assembly or
+meeting of the people, fearing the fatal results of a debate inspired
+by passion and not by prudence. Accordingly he addressed himself to
+the defence of the city, and kept it as quiet as possible, though he
+constantly sent out cavalry to prevent raids on the lands near the city
+from flying parties of the enemy. There was a trifling affair at Phrygia
+between a squadron of the Athenian horse with the Thessalians and the
+Boeotian cavalry; in which the former had rather the best of it, until
+the heavy infantry advanced to the support of the Boeotians, when the
+Thessalians and Athenians were routed and lost a few men, whose bodies,
+however, were recovered the same day without a truce. The next day the
+Peloponnesians set up a trophy. Ancient alliance brought the Thessalians
+to the aid of Athens; those who came being the Larisaeans, Pharsalians,
+Cranonians, Pyrasians, Gyrtonians, and Pheraeans. The Larisaean
+commanders were Polymedes and Aristonus, two party leaders in Larisa;
+the Pharsalian general was Menon; each of the other cities had also its
+own commander.
+
+In the meantime the Peloponnesians, as the Athenians did not come out
+to engage them, broke up from Acharnae and ravaged some of the demes
+between Mount Parnes and Brilessus. While they were in Attica the
+Athenians sent off the hundred ships which they had been preparing round
+Peloponnese, with a thousand heavy infantry and four hundred archers on
+board, under the command of Carcinus, son of Xenotimus, Proteas, son of
+Epicles, and Socrates, son of Antigenes. This armament weighed anchor
+and started on its cruise, and the Peloponnesians, after remaining in
+Attica as long as their provisions lasted, retired through Boeotia by a
+different road to that by which they had entered. As they passed Oropus
+they ravaged the territory of Graea, which is held by the Oropians from
+Athens, and reaching Peloponnese broke up to their respective cities.
+
+After they had retired the Athenians set guards by land and sea at the
+points at which they intended to have regular stations during the war.
+They also resolved to set apart a special fund of a thousand talents
+from the moneys in the Acropolis. This was not to be spent, but the
+current expenses of the war were to be otherwise provided for. If any
+one should move or put to the vote a proposition for using the money for
+any purpose whatever except that of defending the city in the event
+of the enemy bringing a fleet to make an attack by sea, it should be a
+capital offence. With this sum of money they also set aside a special
+fleet of one hundred galleys, the best ships of each year, with their
+captains. None of these were to be used except with the money and
+against the same peril, should such peril arise.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred ships round Peloponnese,
+reinforced by a Corcyraean squadron of fifty vessels and some others
+of the allies in those parts, cruised about the coasts and ravaged the
+country. Among other places they landed in Laconia and made an assault
+upon Methone; there being no garrison in the place, and the wall being
+weak. But it so happened that Brasidas, son of Tellis, a Spartan, was
+in command of a guard for the defence of the district. Hearing of the
+attack, he hurried with a hundred heavy infantry to the assistance of
+the besieged, and dashing through the army of the Athenians, which was
+scattered over the country and had its attention turned to the wall,
+threw himself into Methone. He lost a few men in making good his
+entrance, but saved the place and won the thanks of Sparta by his
+exploit, being thus the first officer who obtained this notice during
+the war. The Athenians at once weighed anchor and continued their
+cruise. Touching at Pheia in Elis, they ravaged the country for two days
+and defeated a picked force of three hundred men that had come from the
+vale of Elis and the immediate neighbourhood to the rescue. But a stiff
+squall came down upon them, and, not liking to face it in a place
+where there was no harbour, most of them got on board their ships, and
+doubling Point Ichthys sailed into the port of Pheia. In the meantime
+the Messenians, and some others who could not get on board, marched over
+by land and took Pheia. The fleet afterwards sailed round and picked
+them up and then put to sea; Pheia being evacuated, as the main army of
+the Eleans had now come up. The Athenians continued their cruise, and
+ravaged other places on the coast.
+
+About the same time the Athenians sent thirty ships to cruise round
+Locris and also to guard Euboea; Cleopompus, son of Clinias, being in
+command. Making descents from the fleet he ravaged certain places on
+the sea-coast, and captured Thronium and took hostages from it. He also
+defeated at Alope the Locrians that had assembled to resist him.
+
+During the summer the Athenians also expelled the Aeginetans with their
+wives and children from Aegina, on the ground of their having been the
+chief agents in bringing the war upon them. Besides, Aegina lies so near
+Peloponnese that it seemed safer to send colonists of their own to hold
+it, and shortly afterwards the settlers were sent out. The banished
+Aeginetans found an asylum in Thyrea, which was given to them by
+Lacedaemon, not only on account of her quarrel with Athens, but also
+because the Aeginetans had laid her under obligations at the time of the
+earthquake and the revolt of the Helots. The territory of Thyrea is on
+the frontier of Argolis and Laconia, reaching down to the sea. Those of
+the Aeginetans who did not settle here were scattered over the rest of
+Hellas.
+
+The same summer, at the beginning of a new lunar month, the only time by
+the way at which it appears possible, the sun was eclipsed after noon.
+After it had assumed the form of a crescent and some of the stars had
+come out, it returned to its natural shape.
+
+During the same summer Nymphodorus, son of Pythes, an Abderite, whose
+sister Sitalces had married, was made their proxenus by the Athenians
+and sent for to Athens. They had hitherto considered him their enemy;
+but he had great influence with Sitalces, and they wished this prince
+to become their ally. Sitalces was the son of Teres and King of the
+Thracians. Teres, the father of Sitalces, was the first to establish the
+great kingdom of the Odrysians on a scale quite unknown to the rest of
+Thrace, a large portion of the Thracians being independent. This Teres
+is in no way related to Tereus who married Pandion's daughter Procne
+from Athens; nor indeed did they belong to the same part of Thrace.
+Tereus lived in Daulis, part of what is now called Phocis, but which at
+that time was inhabited by Thracians. It was in this land that the
+women perpetrated the outrage upon Itys; and many of the poets when they
+mention the nightingale call it the Daulian bird. Besides, Pandion in
+contracting an alliance for his daughter would consider the advantages
+of mutual assistance, and would naturally prefer a match at the above
+moderate distance to the journey of many days which separates Athens
+from the Odrysians. Again the names are different; and this Teres was
+king of the Odrysians, the first by the way who attained to any power.
+Sitalces, his son, was now sought as an ally by the Athenians, who
+desired his aid in the reduction of the Thracian towns and of Perdiccas.
+Coming to Athens, Nymphodorus concluded the alliance with Sitalces and
+made his son Sadocus an Athenian citizen, and promised to finish the
+war in Thrace by persuading Sitalces to send the Athenians a force of
+Thracian horse and targeteers. He also reconciled them with Perdiccas,
+and induced them to restore Therme to him; upon which Perdiccas at
+once joined the Athenians and Phormio in an expedition against the
+Chalcidians. Thus Sitalces, son of Teres, King of the Thracians, and
+Perdiccas, son of Alexander, King of the Macedonians, became allies of
+Athens.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred vessels were still cruising round
+Peloponnese. After taking Sollium, a town belonging to Corinth, and
+presenting the city and territory to the Acarnanians of Palaira, they
+stormed Astacus, expelled its tyrant Evarchus, and gained the place for
+their confederacy. Next they sailed to the island of Cephallenia and
+brought it over without using force. Cephallenia lies off Acarnania and
+Leucas, and consists of four states, the Paleans, Cranians, Samaeans,
+and Pronaeans. Not long afterwards the fleet returned to Athens. Towards
+the autumn of this year the Athenians invaded the Megarid with their
+whole levy, resident aliens included, under the command of Pericles, son
+of Xanthippus. The Athenians in the hundred ships round Peloponnese
+on their journey home had just reached Aegina, and hearing that the
+citizens at home were in full force at Megara, now sailed over and
+joined them. This was without doubt the largest army of Athenians ever
+assembled, the state being still in the flower of her strength and yet
+unvisited by the plague. Full ten thousand heavy infantry were in
+the field, all Athenian citizens, besides the three thousand before
+Potidaea. Then the resident aliens who joined in the incursion were
+at least three thousand strong; besides which there was a multitude of
+light troops. They ravaged the greater part of the territory, and then
+retired. Other incursions into the Megarid were afterwards made by
+the Athenians annually during the war, sometimes only with cavalry,
+sometimes with all their forces. This went on until the capture of
+Nisaea. Atalanta also, the desert island off the Opuntian coast, was
+towards the end of this summer converted into a fortified post by the
+Athenians, in order to prevent privateers issuing from Opus and the rest
+of Locris and plundering Euboea. Such were the events of this summer
+after the return of the Peloponnesians from Attica.
+
+In the ensuing winter the Acarnanian Evarchus, wishing to return to
+Astacus, persuaded the Corinthians to sail over with forty ships and
+fifteen hundred heavy infantry and restore him; himself also hiring
+some mercenaries. In command of the force were Euphamidas, son of
+Aristonymus, Timoxenus, son of Timocrates, and Eumachus, son of Chrysis,
+who sailed over and restored him and, after failing in an attempt on
+some places on the Acarnanian coast which they were desirous of
+gaining, began their voyage home. Coasting along shore they touched at
+Cephallenia and made a descent on the Cranian territory, and losing some
+men by the treachery of the Cranians, who fell suddenly upon them after
+having agreed to treat, put to sea somewhat hurriedly and returned home.
+
+In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost
+to those who had first fallen in this war. It was a custom of their
+ancestors, and the manner of it is as follows. Three days before the
+ceremony, the bones of the dead are laid out in a tent which has been
+erected; and their friends bring to their relatives such offerings as
+they please. In the funeral procession cypress coffins are borne in
+cars, one for each tribe; the bones of the deceased being placed in the
+coffin of their tribe. Among these is carried one empty bier decked for
+the missing, that is, for those whose bodies could not be recovered. Any
+citizen or stranger who pleases, joins in the procession: and the female
+relatives are there to wail at the burial. The dead are laid in the
+public sepulchre in the Beautiful suburb of the city, in which those
+who fall in war are always buried; with the exception of those slain at
+Marathon, who for their singular and extraordinary valour were interred
+on the spot where they fell. After the bodies have been laid in the
+earth, a man chosen by the state, of approved wisdom and eminent
+reputation, pronounces over them an appropriate panegyric; after which
+all retire. Such is the manner of the burying; and throughout the whole
+of the war, whenever the occasion arose, the established custom was
+observed. Meanwhile these were the first that had fallen, and Pericles,
+son of Xanthippus, was chosen to pronounce their eulogium. When the
+proper time arrived, he advanced from the sepulchre to an elevated
+platform in order to be heard by as many of the crowd as possible, and
+spoke as follows:
+
+"Most of my predecessors in this place have commended him who made this
+speech part of the law, telling us that it is well that it should be
+delivered at the burial of those who fall in battle. For myself, I
+should have thought that the worth which had displayed itself in deeds
+would be sufficiently rewarded by honours also shown by deeds; such as
+you now see in this funeral prepared at the people's cost. And I could
+have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be
+imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall
+according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon
+a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you
+are speaking the truth. On the one hand, the friend who is familiar with
+every fact of the story may think that some point has not been set
+forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on the
+other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be led by envy to suspect
+exaggeration if he hears anything above his own nature. For men can
+endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally
+persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted:
+when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity.
+However, since our ancestors have stamped this custom with their
+approval, it becomes my duty to obey the law and to try to satisfy your
+several wishes and opinions as best I may.
+
+"I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that they
+should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like the
+present. They dwelt in the country without break in the succession from
+generation to generation, and handed it down free to the present time by
+their valour. And if our more remote ancestors deserve praise, much more
+do our own fathers, who added to their inheritance the empire which we
+now possess, and spared no pains to be able to leave their acquisitions
+to us of the present generation. Lastly, there are few parts of our
+dominions that have not been augmented by those of us here, who are
+still more or less in the vigour of life; while the mother country has
+been furnished by us with everything that can enable her to depend on
+her own resources whether for war or for peace. That part of our history
+which tells of the military achievements which gave us our several
+possessions, or of the ready valour with which either we or our fathers
+stemmed the tide of Hellenic or foreign aggression, is a theme too
+familiar to my hearers for me to dilate on, and I shall therefore pass
+it by. But what was the road by which we reached our position, what the
+form of government under which our greatness grew, what the national
+habits out of which it sprang; these are questions which I may try to
+solve before I proceed to my panegyric upon these men; since I think
+this to be a subject upon which on the present occasion a speaker may
+properly dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether citizens or
+foreigners, may listen with advantage.
+
+"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are
+rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration
+favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a
+democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in
+their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public
+life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being
+allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if
+a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of
+his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also
+to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance
+over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our
+neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious
+looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no
+positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations does not
+make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard,
+teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as
+regard the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the
+statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet
+cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.
+
+"Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from
+business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the
+elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure
+and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our city draws
+the produce of the world into our harbour, so that to the Athenian the
+fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.
+
+"If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our
+antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien
+acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing,
+although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality;
+trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our
+citizens; while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles
+by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly
+as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate
+danger. In proof of this it may be noticed that the Lacedaemonians
+do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their
+confederates; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the territory
+of a neighbour, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with
+ease men who are defending their homes. Our united force was never
+yet encountered by any enemy, because we have at once to attend to our
+marine and to dispatch our citizens by land upon a hundred different
+services; so that, wherever they engage with some such fraction of our
+strength, a success against a detachment is magnified into a victory
+over the nation, and a defeat into a reverse suffered at the hands of
+our entire people. And yet if with habits not of labour but of ease,
+and courage not of art but of nature, we are still willing to encounter
+danger, we have the double advantage of escaping the experience of
+hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need as
+fearlessly as those who are never free from them.
+
+"Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of
+admiration. We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge
+without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and
+place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but
+in declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides
+politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens,
+though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of
+public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no
+part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians
+are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and, instead
+of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we
+think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all. Again,
+in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and
+deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in
+the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance,
+hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be
+adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between
+hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger.
+In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by
+conferring, not by receiving, favours. Yet, of course, the doer of the
+favour is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness
+to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly
+from the very consciousness that the return he makes will be a payment,
+not a free gift. And it is only the Athenians, who, fearless of
+consequences, confer their benefits not from calculations of expediency,
+but in the confidence of liberality.
+
+"In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I
+doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to
+depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a
+versatility, as the Athenian. And that this is no mere boast thrown
+out for the occasion, but plain matter of fact, the power of the state
+acquired by these habits proves. For Athens alone of her contemporaries
+is found when tested to be greater than her reputation, and alone gives
+no occasion to her assailants to blush at the antagonist by whom they
+have been worsted, or to her subjects to question her title by merit to
+rule. Rather, the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be
+ours, since we have not left our power without witness, but have shown
+it by mighty proofs; and far from needing a Homer for our panegyrist, or
+other of his craft whose verses might charm for the moment only for the
+impression which they gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced
+every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere,
+whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable monuments behind
+us. Such is the Athens for which these men, in the assertion of their
+resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and well may every one
+of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.
+
+"Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our
+country, it has been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the
+same as theirs who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the
+panegyric of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by definite
+proofs established. That panegyric is now in a great measure complete;
+for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what the heroism of
+these and their like have made her, men whose fame, unlike that of most
+Hellenes, will be found to be only commensurate with their deserts. And
+if a test of worth be wanted, it is to be found in their closing scene,
+and this not only in cases in which it set the final seal upon their
+merit, but also in those in which it gave the first intimation of their
+having any. For there is justice in the claim that steadfastness in
+his country's battles should be as a cloak to cover a man's other
+imperfections; since the good action has blotted out the bad, and his
+merit as a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual.
+But none of these allowed either wealth with its prospect of future
+enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of
+freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. No, holding that
+vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than any personal
+blessings, and reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they
+joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their vengeance,
+and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope the
+uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they thought
+fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die
+resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from
+dishonour, but met danger face to face, and after one brief moment,
+while at the summit of their fortune, escaped, not from their fear, but
+from their glory.
+
+"So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must
+determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you
+may pray that it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas
+derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the
+defence of your country, though these would furnish a valuable text to
+a speaker even before an audience so alive to them as the present, you
+must yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her
+from day to day, till love of her fills your hearts; and then, when
+all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by
+courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honour in action that
+men were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an
+enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their
+valour, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution
+that they could offer. For this offering of their lives made in common
+by them all they each of them individually received that renown which
+never grows old, and for a sepulchre, not so much that in which their
+bones have been deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their
+glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on which
+deed or story shall call for its commemoration. For heroes have the
+whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the
+column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast
+a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the
+heart. These take as your model and, judging happiness to be the fruit
+of freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the dangers of war. For
+it is not the miserable that would most justly be unsparing of their
+lives; these have nothing to hope for: it is rather they to whom
+continued life may bring reverses as yet unknown, and to whom a fall, if
+it came, would be most tremendous in its consequences. And surely, to
+a man of spirit, the degradation of cowardice must be immeasurably more
+grievous than the unfelt death which strikes him in the midst of his
+strength and patriotism!
+
+"Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the
+parents of the dead who may be here. Numberless are the chances to
+which, as they know, the life of man is subject; but fortunate indeed
+are they who draw for their lot a death so glorious as that which has
+caused your mourning, and to whom life has been so exactly measured as
+to terminate in the happiness in which it has been passed. Still I know
+that this is a hard saying, especially when those are in question of
+whom you will constantly be reminded by seeing in the homes of others
+blessings of which once you also boasted: for grief is felt not so much
+for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to
+which we have been long accustomed. Yet you who are still of an age to
+beget children must bear up in the hope of having others in their stead;
+not only will they help you to forget those whom you have lost, but will
+be to the state at once a reinforcement and a security; for never can
+a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who does not, like
+his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and apprehensions of a
+father. While those of you who have passed your prime must congratulate
+yourselves with the thought that the best part of your life was
+fortunate, and that the brief span that remains will be cheered by the
+fame of the departed. For it is only the love of honour that never grows
+old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices
+the heart of age and helplessness.
+
+"Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle
+before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should
+your merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not
+merely to overtake, but even to approach their renown. The living have
+envy to contend with, while those who are no longer in our path are
+honoured with a goodwill into which rivalry does not enter. On the other
+hand, if I must say anything on the subject of female excellence to
+those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised in
+this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling short of
+your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of
+among the men, whether for good or for bad.
+
+"My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability,
+and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If
+deeds be in question, those who are here interred have received part of
+their honours already, and for the rest, their children will be brought
+up till manhood at the public expense: the state thus offers a valuable
+prize, as the garland of victory in this race of valour, for the reward
+both of those who have fallen and their survivors. And where the rewards
+for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens.
+
+"And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your
+relatives, you may depart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+_Second Year of the War--The Plague of Athens--Position and Policy of
+Pericles--Fall of Potidaea_
+
+Such was the funeral that took place during this winter, with which the
+first year of the war came to an end. In the first days of summer the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, with two-thirds of their forces
+as before, invaded Attica, under the command of Archidamus, son of
+Zeuxidamus, King of Lacedaemon, and sat down and laid waste the country.
+Not many days after their arrival in Attica the plague first began to
+show itself among the Athenians. It was said that it had broken out in
+many places previously in the neighbourhood of Lemnos and elsewhere;
+but a pestilence of such extent and mortality was nowhere remembered.
+Neither were the physicians at first of any service, ignorant as they
+were of the proper way to treat it, but they died themselves the most
+thickly, as they visited the sick most often; nor did any human art
+succeed any better. Supplications in the temples, divinations, and so
+forth were found equally futile, till the overwhelming nature of the
+disaster at last put a stop to them altogether.
+
+It first began, it is said, in the parts of Ethiopia above Egypt,
+and thence descended into Egypt and Libya and into most of the King's
+country. Suddenly falling upon Athens, it first attacked the
+population in Piraeus--which was the occasion of their saying that the
+Peloponnesians had poisoned the reservoirs, there being as yet no wells
+there--and afterwards appeared in the upper city, when the deaths became
+much more frequent. All speculation as to its origin and its causes, if
+causes can be found adequate to produce so great a disturbance, I leave
+to other writers, whether lay or professional; for myself, I shall
+simply set down its nature, and explain the symptoms by which perhaps
+it may be recognized by the student, if it should ever break out again.
+This I can the better do, as I had the disease myself, and watched its
+operation in the case of others.
+
+That year then is admitted to have been otherwise unprecedentedly free
+from sickness; and such few cases as occurred all determined in this.
+As a rule, however, there was no ostensible cause; but people in good
+health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and
+redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the
+throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid
+breath. These symptoms were followed by sneezing and hoarseness, after
+which the pain soon reached the chest, and produced a hard cough. When
+it fixed in the stomach, it upset it; and discharges of bile of every
+kind named by physicians ensued, accompanied by very great distress.
+In most cases also an ineffectual retching followed, producing violent
+spasms, which in some cases ceased soon after, in others much later.
+Externally the body was not very hot to the touch, nor pale in its
+appearance, but reddish, livid, and breaking out into small pustules and
+ulcers. But internally it burned so that the patient could not bear to
+have on him clothing or linen even of the very lightest description; or
+indeed to be otherwise than stark naked. What they would have liked best
+would have been to throw themselves into cold water; as indeed was done
+by some of the neglected sick, who plunged into the rain-tanks in their
+agonies of unquenchable thirst; though it made no difference whether
+they drank little or much. Besides this, the miserable feeling of not
+being able to rest or sleep never ceased to torment them. The body
+meanwhile did not waste away so long as the distemper was at its
+height, but held out to a marvel against its ravages; so that when
+they succumbed, as in most cases, on the seventh or eighth day to the
+internal inflammation, they had still some strength in them. But if they
+passed this stage, and the disease descended further into the bowels,
+inducing a violent ulceration there accompanied by severe diarrhoea,
+this brought on a weakness which was generally fatal. For the disorder
+first settled in the head, ran its course from thence through the whole
+of the body, and, even where it did not prove mortal, it still left its
+mark on the extremities; for it settled in the privy parts, the fingers
+and the toes, and many escaped with the loss of these, some too with
+that of their eyes. Others again were seized with an entire loss of
+memory on their first recovery, and did not know either themselves or
+their friends.
+
+But while the nature of the distemper was such as to baffle all
+description, and its attacks almost too grievous for human nature to
+endure, it was still in the following circumstance that its difference
+from all ordinary disorders was most clearly shown. All the birds and
+beasts that prey upon human bodies, either abstained from touching them
+(though there were many lying unburied), or died after tasting them.
+In proof of this, it was noticed that birds of this kind actually
+disappeared; they were not about the bodies, or indeed to be seen at
+all. But of course the effects which I have mentioned could best be
+studied in a domestic animal like the dog.
+
+Such then, if we pass over the varieties of particular cases which were
+many and peculiar, were the general features of the distemper. Meanwhile
+the town enjoyed an immunity from all the ordinary disorders; or if any
+case occurred, it ended in this. Some died in neglect, others in the
+midst of every attention. No remedy was found that could be used as a
+specific; for what did good in one case, did harm in another. Strong
+and weak constitutions proved equally incapable of resistance, all alike
+being swept away, although dieted with the utmost precaution. By far the
+most terrible feature in the malady was the dejection which ensued
+when any one felt himself sickening, for the despair into which they
+instantly fell took away their power of resistance, and left them a
+much easier prey to the disorder; besides which, there was the awful
+spectacle of men dying like sheep, through having caught the infection
+in nursing each other. This caused the greatest mortality. On the
+one hand, if they were afraid to visit each other, they perished from
+neglect; indeed many houses were emptied of their inmates for want of
+a nurse: on the other, if they ventured to do so, death was the
+consequence. This was especially the case with such as made any
+pretensions to goodness: honour made them unsparing of themselves in
+their attendance in their friends' houses, where even the members of the
+family were at last worn out by the moans of the dying, and succumbed to
+the force of the disaster. Yet it was with those who had recovered from
+the disease that the sick and the dying found most compassion. These
+knew what it was from experience, and had now no fear for themselves;
+for the same man was never attacked twice--never at least fatally.
+And such persons not only received the congratulations of others, but
+themselves also, in the elation of the moment, half entertained the vain
+hope that they were for the future safe from any disease whatsoever.
+
+An aggravation of the existing calamity was the influx from the country
+into the city, and this was especially felt by the new arrivals. As
+there were no houses to receive them, they had to be lodged at the hot
+season of the year in stifling cabins, where the mortality raged without
+restraint. The bodies of dying men lay one upon another, and half-dead
+creatures reeled about the streets and gathered round all the fountains
+in their longing for water. The sacred places also in which they had
+quartered themselves were full of corpses of persons that had died
+there, just as they were; for as the disaster passed all bounds, men,
+not knowing what was to become of them, became utterly careless of
+everything, whether sacred or profane. All the burial rites before in
+use were entirely upset, and they buried the bodies as best they could.
+Many from want of the proper appliances, through so many of their
+friends having died already, had recourse to the most shameless
+sepultures: sometimes getting the start of those who had raised a pile,
+they threw their own dead body upon the stranger's pyre and ignited it;
+sometimes they tossed the corpse which they were carrying on the top of
+another that was burning, and so went off.
+
+Nor was this the only form of lawless extravagance which owed its origin
+to the plague. Men now coolly ventured on what they had formerly done
+in a corner, and not just as they pleased, seeing the rapid transitions
+produced by persons in prosperity suddenly dying and those who before
+had nothing succeeding to their property. So they resolved to spend
+quickly and enjoy themselves, regarding their lives and riches as alike
+things of a day. Perseverance in what men called honour was popular with
+none, it was so uncertain whether they would be spared to attain
+the object; but it was settled that present enjoyment, and all that
+contributed to it, was both honourable and useful. Fear of gods or law
+of man there was none to restrain them. As for the first, they judged it
+to be just the same whether they worshipped them or not, as they saw all
+alike perishing; and for the last, no one expected to live to be brought
+to trial for his offences, but each felt that a far severer sentence had
+been already passed upon them all and hung ever over their heads, and
+before this fell it was only reasonable to enjoy life a little.
+
+Such was the nature of the calamity, and heavily did it weigh on the
+Athenians; death raging within the city and devastation without.
+Among other things which they remembered in their distress was, very
+naturally, the following verse which the old men said had long ago been
+uttered:
+
+   A Dorian war shall come and with it death.
+
+So a dispute arose as to whether dearth and not death had not been the
+word in the verse; but at the present juncture, it was of course decided
+in favour of the latter; for the people made their recollection fit
+in with their sufferings. I fancy, however, that if another Dorian
+war should ever afterwards come upon us, and a dearth should happen to
+accompany it, the verse will probably be read accordingly. The oracle
+also which had been given to the Lacedaemonians was now remembered by
+those who knew of it. When the god was asked whether they should go to
+war, he answered that if they put their might into it, victory would be
+theirs, and that he would himself be with them. With this oracle
+events were supposed to tally. For the plague broke out as soon as the
+Peloponnesians invaded Attica, and never entering Peloponnese (not
+at least to an extent worth noticing), committed its worst ravages at
+Athens, and next to Athens, at the most populous of the other towns.
+Such was the history of the plague.
+
+After ravaging the plain, the Peloponnesians advanced into the Paralian
+region as far as Laurium, where the Athenian silver mines are, and first
+laid waste the side looking towards Peloponnese, next that which faces
+Euboea and Andros. But Pericles, who was still general, held the same
+opinion as in the former invasion, and would not let the Athenians march
+out against them.
+
+However, while they were still in the plain, and had not yet entered
+the Paralian land, he had prepared an armament of a hundred ships for
+Peloponnese, and when all was ready put out to sea. On board the ships
+he took four thousand Athenian heavy infantry, and three hundred
+cavalry in horse transports, and then for the first time made out of old
+galleys; fifty Chian and Lesbian vessels also joining in the expedition.
+When this Athenian armament put out to sea, they left the Peloponnesians
+in Attica in the Paralian region. Arriving at Epidaurus in Peloponnese
+they ravaged most of the territory, and even had hopes of taking the
+town by an assault: in this however they were not successful. Putting
+out from Epidaurus, they laid waste the territory of Troezen, Halieis,
+and Hermione, all towns on the coast of Peloponnese, and thence sailing
+to Prasiai, a maritime town in Laconia, ravaged part of its territory,
+and took and sacked the place itself; after which they returned home,
+but found the Peloponnesians gone and no longer in Attica.
+
+During the whole time that the Peloponnesians were in Attica and the
+Athenians on the expedition in their ships, men kept dying of the plague
+both in the armament and in Athens. Indeed it was actually asserted
+that the departure of the Peloponnesians was hastened by fear of the
+disorder; as they heard from deserters that it was in the city, and
+also could see the burials going on. Yet in this invasion they remained
+longer than in any other, and ravaged the whole country, for they were
+about forty days in Attica.
+
+The same summer Hagnon, son of Nicias, and Cleopompus, son of Clinias,
+the colleagues of Pericles, took the armament of which he had lately
+made use, and went off upon an expedition against the Chalcidians in the
+direction of Thrace and Potidaea, which was still under siege. As soon
+as they arrived, they brought up their engines against Potidaea and
+tried every means of taking it, but did not succeed either in capturing
+the city or in doing anything else worthy of their preparations. For the
+plague attacked them here also, and committed such havoc as to cripple
+them completely, even the previously healthy soldiers of the former
+expedition catching the infection from Hagnon's troops; while Phormio
+and the sixteen hundred men whom he commanded only escaped by being no
+longer in the neighbourhood of the Chalcidians. The end of it was that
+Hagnon returned with his ships to Athens, having lost one thousand and
+fifty out of four thousand heavy infantry in about forty days; though
+the soldiers stationed there before remained in the country and carried
+on the siege of Potidaea.
+
+After the second invasion of the Peloponnesians a change came over the
+spirit of the Athenians. Their land had now been twice laid waste; and
+war and pestilence at once pressed heavy upon them. They began to find
+fault with Pericles, as the author of the war and the cause of all their
+misfortunes, and became eager to come to terms with Lacedaemon, and
+actually sent ambassadors thither, who did not however succeed in their
+mission. Their despair was now complete and all vented itself upon
+Pericles. When he saw them exasperated at the present turn of affairs
+and acting exactly as he had anticipated, he called an assembly,
+being (it must be remembered) still general, with the double object of
+restoring confidence and of leading them from these angry feelings to a
+calmer and more hopeful state of mind. He accordingly came forward and
+spoke as follows:
+
+"I was not unprepared for the indignation of which I have been the
+object, as I know its causes; and I have called an assembly for the
+purpose of reminding you upon certain points, and of protesting against
+your being unreasonably irritated with me, or cowed by your sufferings.
+I am of opinion that national greatness is more for the advantage of
+private citizens, than any individual well-being coupled with public
+humiliation. A man may be personally ever so well off, and yet if his
+country be ruined he must be ruined with it; whereas a flourishing
+commonwealth always affords chances of salvation to unfortunate
+individuals. Since then a state can support the misfortunes of private
+citizens, while they cannot support hers, it is surely the duty of every
+one to be forward in her defence, and not like you to be so confounded
+with your domestic afflictions as to give up all thoughts of the common
+safety, and to blame me for having counselled war and yourselves for
+having voted it. And yet if you are angry with me, it is with one who,
+as I believe, is second to no man either in knowledge of the proper
+policy, or in the ability to expound it, and who is moreover not only a
+patriot but an honest one. A man possessing that knowledge without that
+faculty of exposition might as well have no idea at all on the matter:
+if he had both these gifts, but no love for his country, he would be but
+a cold advocate for her interests; while were his patriotism not proof
+against bribery, everything would go for a price. So that if you thought
+that I was even moderately distinguished for these qualities when you
+took my advice and went to war, there is certainly no reason now why I
+should be charged with having done wrong.
+
+"For those of course who have a free choice in the matter and whose
+fortunes are not at stake, war is the greatest of follies. But if the
+only choice was between submission with loss of independence, and danger
+with the hope of preserving that independence, in such a case it is he
+who will not accept the risk that deserves blame, not he who will. I am
+the same man and do not alter, it is you who change, since in fact you
+took my advice while unhurt, and waited for misfortune to repent of
+it; and the apparent error of my policy lies in the infirmity of your
+resolution, since the suffering that it entails is being felt by every
+one among you, while its advantage is still remote and obscure to all,
+and a great and sudden reverse having befallen you, your mind is too
+much depressed to persevere in your resolves. For before what is sudden,
+unexpected, and least within calculation, the spirit quails; and putting
+all else aside, the plague has certainly been an emergency of this kind.
+Born, however, as you are, citizens of a great state, and brought up, as
+you have been, with habits equal to your birth, you should be ready to
+face the greatest disasters and still to keep unimpaired the lustre of
+your name. For the judgment of mankind is as relentless to the weakness
+that falls short of a recognized renown, as it is jealous of the
+arrogance that aspires higher than its due. Cease then to grieve for
+your private afflictions, and address yourselves instead to the safety
+of the commonwealth.
+
+"If you shrink before the exertions which the war makes necessary,
+and fear that after all they may not have a happy result, you know the
+reasons by which I have often demonstrated to you the groundlessness
+of your apprehensions. If those are not enough, I will now reveal an
+advantage arising from the greatness of your dominion, which I think
+has never yet suggested itself to you, which I never mentioned in my
+previous speeches, and which has so bold a sound that I should scarce
+adventure it now, were it not for the unnatural depression which I see
+around me. You perhaps think that your empire extends only over your
+allies; I will declare to you the truth. The visible field of action has
+two parts, land and sea. In the whole of one of these you are completely
+supreme, not merely as far as you use it at present, but also to what
+further extent you may think fit: in fine, your naval resources are
+such that your vessels may go where they please, without the King or any
+other nation on earth being able to stop them. So that although you
+may think it a great privation to lose the use of your land and houses,
+still you must see that this power is something widely different; and
+instead of fretting on their account, you should really regard them in
+the light of the gardens and other accessories that embellish a great
+fortune, and as, in comparison, of little moment. You should know too
+that liberty preserved by your efforts will easily recover for us what
+we have lost, while, the knee once bowed, even what you have will pass
+from you. Your fathers receiving these possessions not from others, but
+from themselves, did not let slip what their labour had acquired, but
+delivered them safe to you; and in this respect at least you must prove
+yourselves their equals, remembering that to lose what one has got is
+more disgraceful than to be balked in getting, and you must confront
+your enemies not merely with spirit but with disdain. Confidence indeed
+a blissful ignorance can impart, ay, even to a coward's breast, but
+disdain is the privilege of those who, like us, have been assured
+by reflection of their superiority to their adversary. And where the
+chances are the same, knowledge fortifies courage by the contempt which
+is its consequence, its trust being placed, not in hope, which is
+the prop of the desperate, but in a judgment grounded upon existing
+resources, whose anticipations are more to be depended upon.
+
+"Again, your country has a right to your services in sustaining the
+glories of her position. These are a common source of pride to you all,
+and you cannot decline the burdens of empire and still expect to share
+its honours. You should remember also that what you are fighting against
+is not merely slavery as an exchange for independence, but also loss
+of empire and danger from the animosities incurred in its exercise.
+Besides, to recede is no longer possible, if indeed any of you in the
+alarm of the moment has become enamoured of the honesty of such an
+unambitious part. For what you hold is, to speak somewhat plainly, a
+tyranny; to take it perhaps was wrong, but to let it go is unsafe. And
+men of these retiring views, making converts of others, would quickly
+ruin a state; indeed the result would be the same if they could live
+independent by themselves; for the retiring and unambitious are
+never secure without vigorous protectors at their side; in fine, such
+qualities are useless to an imperial city, though they may help a
+dependency to an unmolested servitude.
+
+"But you must not be seduced by citizens like these or angry with
+me--who, if I voted for war, only did as you did yourselves--in spite of
+the enemy having invaded your country and done what you could be
+certain that he would do, if you refused to comply with his demands; and
+although besides what we counted for, the plague has come upon us--the
+only point indeed at which our calculation has been at fault. It is
+this, I know, that has had a large share in making me more unpopular
+than I should otherwise have been--quite undeservedly, unless you are
+also prepared to give me the credit of any success with which chance may
+present you. Besides, the hand of heaven must be borne with resignation,
+that of the enemy with fortitude; this was the old way at Athens, and do
+not you prevent it being so still. Remember, too, that if your country
+has the greatest name in all the world, it is because she never bent
+before disaster; because she has expended more life and effort in war
+than any other city, and has won for herself a power greater than
+any hitherto known, the memory of which will descend to the latest
+posterity; even if now, in obedience to the general law of decay, we
+should ever be forced to yield, still it will be remembered that we held
+rule over more Hellenes than any other Hellenic state, that we sustained
+the greatest wars against their united or separate powers, and inhabited
+a city unrivalled by any other in resources or magnitude. These glories
+may incur the censure of the slow and unambitious; but in the breast of
+energy they will awake emulation, and in those who must remain without
+them an envious regret. Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have
+fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others; but where
+odium must be incurred, true wisdom incurs it for the highest objects.
+Hatred also is short-lived; but that which makes the splendour of the
+present and the glory of the future remains for ever unforgotten. Make
+your decision, therefore, for glory then and honour now, and attain
+both objects by instant and zealous effort: do not send heralds to
+Lacedaemon, and do not betray any sign of being oppressed by your
+present sufferings, since they whose minds are least sensitive to
+calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest
+men and the greatest communities."
+
+Such were the arguments by which Pericles tried to cure the Athenians
+of their anger against him and to divert their thoughts from their
+immediate afflictions. As a community he succeeded in convincing them;
+they not only gave up all idea of sending to Lacedaemon, but applied
+themselves with increased energy to the war; still as private
+individuals they could not help smarting under their sufferings,
+the common people having been deprived of the little that they were
+possessed, while the higher orders had lost fine properties with costly
+establishments and buildings in the country, and, worst of all, had
+war instead of peace. In fact, the public feeling against him did not
+subside until he had been fined. Not long afterwards, however, according
+to the way of the multitude, they again elected him general and
+committed all their affairs to his hands, having now become less
+sensitive to their private and domestic afflictions, and understanding
+that he was the best man of all for the public necessities. For as
+long as he was at the head of the state during the peace, he pursued a
+moderate and conservative policy; and in his time its greatness was at
+its height. When the war broke out, here also he seems to have rightly
+gauged the power of his country. He outlived its commencement two years
+and six months, and the correctness of his previsions respecting it
+became better known by his death. He told them to wait quietly, to pay
+attention to their marine, to attempt no new conquests, and to expose
+the city to no hazards during the war, and doing this, promised them a
+favourable result. What they did was the very contrary, allowing private
+ambitions and private interests, in matters apparently quite foreign
+to the war, to lead them into projects unjust both to themselves and to
+their allies--projects whose success would only conduce to the honour
+and advantage of private persons, and whose failure entailed certain
+disaster on the country in the war. The causes of this are not far to
+seek. Pericles indeed, by his rank, ability, and known integrity, was
+enabled to exercise an independent control over the multitude--in short,
+to lead them instead of being led by them; for as he never sought power
+by improper means, he was never compelled to flatter them, but, on the
+contrary, enjoyed so high an estimation that he could afford to anger
+them by contradiction. Whenever he saw them unseasonably and insolently
+elated, he would with a word reduce them to alarm; on the other hand,
+if they fell victims to a panic, he could at once restore them to
+confidence. In short, what was nominally a democracy became in his hands
+government by the first citizen. With his successors it was different.
+More on a level with one another, and each grasping at supremacy, they
+ended by committing even the conduct of state affairs to the whims
+of the multitude. This, as might have been expected in a great and
+sovereign state, produced a host of blunders, and amongst them
+the Sicilian expedition; though this failed not so much through a
+miscalculation of the power of those against whom it was sent,
+as through a fault in the senders in not taking the best measures
+afterwards to assist those who had gone out, but choosing rather to
+occupy themselves with private cabals for the leadership of the commons,
+by which they not only paralysed operations in the field, but also first
+introduced civil discord at home. Yet after losing most of their fleet
+besides other forces in Sicily, and with faction already dominant in the
+city, they could still for three years make head against their original
+adversaries, joined not only by the Sicilians, but also by their own
+allies nearly all in revolt, and at last by the King's son, Cyrus, who
+furnished the funds for the Peloponnesian navy. Nor did they finally
+succumb till they fell the victims of their own intestine disorders.
+So superfluously abundant were the resources from which the genius of
+Pericles foresaw an easy triumph in the war over the unaided forces of
+the Peloponnesians.
+
+During the same summer the Lacedaemonians and their allies made an
+expedition with a hundred ships against Zacynthus, an island lying off
+the coast of Elis, peopled by a colony of Achaeans from Peloponnese,
+and in alliance with Athens. There were a thousand Lacedaemonian heavy
+infantry on board, and Cnemus, a Spartan, as admiral. They made a
+descent from their ships, and ravaged most of the country; but as the
+inhabitants would not submit, they sailed back home.
+
+At the end of the same summer the Corinthian Aristeus, Aneristus,
+Nicolaus, and Stratodemus, envoys from Lacedaemon, Timagoras, a Tegean,
+and a private individual named Pollis from Argos, on their way to
+Asia to persuade the King to supply funds and join in the war, came
+to Sitalces, son of Teres in Thrace, with the idea of inducing him, if
+possible, to forsake the alliance of Athens and to march on Potidaea
+then besieged by an Athenian force, and also of getting conveyed by his
+means to their destination across the Hellespont to Pharnabazus, who was
+to send them up the country to the King. But there chanced to be with
+Sitalces some Athenian ambassadors--Learchus, son of Callimachus, and
+Ameiniades, son of Philemon--who persuaded Sitalces' son, Sadocus, the
+new Athenian citizen, to put the men into their hands and thus prevent
+their crossing over to the King and doing their part to injure the
+country of his choice. He accordingly had them seized, as they were
+travelling through Thrace to the vessel in which they were to cross the
+Hellespont, by a party whom he had sent on with Learchus and Ameiniades,
+and gave orders for their delivery to the Athenian ambassadors, by whom
+they were brought to Athens. On their arrival, the Athenians, afraid
+that Aristeus, who had been notably the prime mover in the previous
+affairs of Potidaea and their Thracian possessions, might live to do
+them still more mischief if he escaped, slew them all the same day,
+without giving them a trial or hearing the defence which they wished to
+offer, and cast their bodies into a pit; thinking themselves
+justified in using in retaliation the same mode of warfare which the
+Lacedaemonians had begun, when they slew and cast into pits all the
+Athenian and allied traders whom they caught on board the merchantmen
+round Peloponnese. Indeed, at the outset of the war, the Lacedaemonians
+butchered as enemies all whom they took on the sea, whether allies of
+Athens or neutrals.
+
+About the same time towards the close of the summer, the Ambraciot
+forces, with a number of barbarians that they had raised, marched
+against the Amphilochian Argos and the rest of that country. The origin
+of their enmity against the Argives was this. This Argos and the rest
+of Amphilochia were colonized by Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus.
+Dissatisfied with the state of affairs at home on his return thither
+after the Trojan War, he built this city in the Ambracian Gulf, and
+named it Argos after his own country. This was the largest town in
+Amphilochia, and its inhabitants the most powerful. Under the
+pressure of misfortune many generations afterwards, they called in the
+Ambraciots, their neighbours on the Amphilochian border, to join their
+colony; and it was by this union with the Ambraciots that they learnt
+their present Hellenic speech, the rest of the Amphilochians being
+barbarians. After a time the Ambraciots expelled the Argives and held
+the city themselves. Upon this the Amphilochians gave themselves over
+to the Acarnanians; and the two together called the Athenians, who sent
+them Phormio as general and thirty ships; upon whose arrival they took
+Argos by storm, and made slaves of the Ambraciots; and the Amphilochians
+and Acarnanians inhabited the town in common. After this began the
+alliance between the Athenians and Acarnanians. The enmity of the
+Ambraciots against the Argives thus commenced with the enslavement
+of their citizens; and afterwards during the war they collected
+this armament among themselves and the Chaonians, and other of the
+neighbouring barbarians. Arrived before Argos, they became masters of
+the country; but not being successful in their attacks upon the town,
+returned home and dispersed among their different peoples.
+
+Such were the events of the summer. The ensuing winter the Athenians
+sent twenty ships round Peloponnese, under the command of Phormio, who
+stationed himself at Naupactus and kept watch against any one sailing in
+or out of Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf. Six others went to Caria and
+Lycia under Melesander, to collect tribute in those parts, and also to
+prevent the Peloponnesian privateers from taking up their station in
+those waters and molesting the passage of the merchantmen from Phaselis
+and Phoenicia and the adjoining continent. However, Melesander, going up
+the country into Lycia with a force of Athenians from the ships and the
+allies, was defeated and killed in battle, with the loss of a number of
+his troops.
+
+The same winter the Potidaeans at length found themselves no longer able
+to hold out against their besiegers. The inroads of the Peloponnesians
+into Attica had not had the desired effect of making the Athenians raise
+the siege. Provisions there were none left; and so far had distress for
+food gone in Potidaea that, besides a number of other horrors, instances
+had even occurred of the people having eaten one another. In this
+extremity they at last made proposals for capitulating to the
+Athenian generals in command against them--Xenophon, son of Euripides,
+Hestiodorus, son of Aristocleides, and Phanomachus, son of Callimachus.
+The generals accepted their proposals, seeing the sufferings of the army
+in so exposed a position; besides which the state had already spent two
+thousand talents upon the siege. The terms of the capitulation were as
+follows: a free passage out for themselves, their children, wives and
+auxiliaries, with one garment apiece, the women with two, and a fixed
+sum of money for their journey. Under this treaty they went out
+to Chalcidice and other places, according as was their power. The
+Athenians, however, blamed the generals for granting terms without
+instructions from home, being of opinion that the place would have had
+to surrender at discretion. They afterwards sent settlers of their own
+to Potidaea, and colonized it. Such were the events of the winter,
+and so ended the second year of this war of which Thucydides was the
+historian.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+_Third Year of the War--Investment of Plataea--Naval Victories of
+Phormio--Thracian Irruption into Macedonia under Sitalces_
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies, instead of invading
+Attica, marched against Plataea, under the command of Archidamus, son of
+Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. He had encamped his army and
+was about to lay waste the country, when the Plataeans hastened to send
+envoys to him, and spoke as follows: "Archidamus and Lacedaemonians,
+in invading the Plataean territory, you do what is wrong in itself,
+and worthy neither of yourselves nor of the fathers who begot you.
+Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, your countryman, after freeing Hellas
+from the Medes with the help of those Hellenes who were willing to
+undertake the risk of the battle fought near our city, offered sacrifice
+to Zeus the Liberator in the marketplace of Plataea, and calling all the
+allies together restored to the Plataeans their city and territory, and
+declared it independent and inviolate against aggression or conquest.
+Should any such be attempted, the allies present were to help according
+to their power. Your fathers rewarded us thus for the courage and
+patriotism that we displayed at that perilous epoch; but you do just the
+contrary, coming with our bitterest enemies, the Thebans, to enslave us.
+We appeal, therefore, to the gods to whom the oaths were then made, to
+the gods of your ancestors, and lastly to those of our country, and call
+upon you to refrain from violating our territory or transgressing the
+oaths, and to let us live independent, as Pausanias decreed."
+
+The Plataeans had got thus far when they were cut short by Archidamus
+saying: "There is justice, Plataeans, in what you say, if you act up
+to your words. According, to the grant of Pausanias, continue to
+be independent yourselves, and join in freeing those of your fellow
+countrymen who, after sharing in the perils of that period, joined in
+the oaths to you, and are now subject to the Athenians; for it is to
+free them and the rest that all this provision and war has been made.
+I could wish that you would share our labours and abide by the oaths
+yourselves; if this is impossible, do what we have already required of
+you--remain neutral, enjoying your own; join neither side, but receive
+both as friends, neither as allies for the war. With this we shall be
+satisfied." Such were the words of Archidamus. The Plataeans, after
+hearing what he had to say, went into the city and acquainted the people
+with what had passed, and presently returned for answer that it was
+impossible for them to do what he proposed without consulting the
+Athenians, with whom their children and wives now were; besides which
+they had their fears for the town. After his departure, what was to
+prevent the Athenians from coming and taking it out of their hands, or
+the Thebans, who would be included in the oaths, from taking advantage
+of the proposed neutrality to make a second attempt to seize the city?
+Upon these points he tried to reassure them by saying: "You have only to
+deliver over the city and houses to us Lacedaemonians, to point out the
+boundaries of your land, the number of your fruit-trees, and whatever
+else can be numerically stated, and yourselves to withdraw wherever you
+like as long as the war shall last. When it is over we will restore to
+you whatever we received, and in the interim hold it in trust and keep
+it in cultivation, paying you a sufficient allowance."
+
+When they had heard what he had to say, they re-entered the city, and
+after consulting with the people said that they wished first to acquaint
+the Athenians with this proposal, and in the event of their approving to
+accede to it; in the meantime they asked him to grant them a truce and
+not to lay waste their territory. He accordingly granted a truce for the
+number of days requisite for the journey, and meanwhile abstained
+from ravaging their territory. The Plataean envoys went to Athens, and
+consulted with the Athenians, and returned with the following message
+to those in the city: "The Athenians say, Plataeans, that they never
+hitherto, since we became their allies, on any occasion abandoned us to
+an enemy, nor will they now neglect us, but will help us according
+to their ability; and they adjure you by the oaths which your fathers
+swore, to keep the alliance unaltered."
+
+On the delivery of this message by the envoys, the Plataeans resolved
+not to be unfaithful to the Athenians but to endure, if it must be,
+seeing their lands laid waste and any other trials that might come to
+them, and not to send out again, but to answer from the wall that it was
+impossible for them to do as the Lacedaemonians proposed. As soon as
+he had received this answer, King Archidamus proceeded first to make a
+solemn appeal to the gods and heroes of the country in words following:
+"Ye gods and heroes of the Plataean territory, be my witnesses that not
+as aggressors originally, nor until these had first departed from the
+common oath, did we invade this land, in which our fathers offered you
+their prayers before defeating the Medes, and which you made auspicious
+to the Hellenic arms; nor shall we be aggressors in the measures to
+which we may now resort, since we have made many fair proposals but have
+not been successful. Graciously accord that those who were the first
+to offend may be punished for it, and that vengeance may be attained by
+those who would righteously inflict it."
+
+After this appeal to the gods Archidamus put his army in motion. First
+he enclosed the town with a palisade formed of the fruit-trees which
+they cut down, to prevent further egress from Plataea; next they threw
+up a mound against the city, hoping that the largeness of the
+force employed would ensure the speedy reduction of the place. They
+accordingly cut down timber from Cithaeron, and built it up on either
+side, laying it like lattice-work to serve as a wall to keep the mound
+from spreading abroad, and carried to it wood and stones and earth and
+whatever other material might help to complete it. They continued to
+work at the mound for seventy days and nights without intermission,
+being divided into relief parties to allow of some being employed in
+carrying while others took sleep and refreshment; the Lacedaemonian
+officer attached to each contingent keeping the men to the work. But the
+Plataeans, observing the progress of the mound, constructed a wall of
+wood and fixed it upon that part of the city wall against which the
+mound was being erected, and built up bricks inside it which they took
+from the neighbouring houses. The timbers served to bind the building
+together, and to prevent its becoming weak as it advanced in height;
+it had also a covering of skins and hides, which protected the woodwork
+against the attacks of burning missiles and allowed the men to work
+in safety. Thus the wall was raised to a great height, and the mound
+opposite made no less rapid progress. The Plataeans also thought of
+another expedient; they pulled out part of the wall upon which the mound
+abutted, and carried the earth into the city.
+
+Discovering this the Peloponnesians twisted up clay in wattles of reed
+and threw it into the breach formed in the mound, in order to give it
+consistency and prevent its being carried away like the soil. Stopped
+in this way the Plataeans changed their mode of operation, and digging
+a mine from the town calculated their way under the mound, and began to
+carry off its material as before. This went on for a long while without
+the enemy outside finding it out, so that for all they threw on the
+top their mound made no progress in proportion, being carried away from
+beneath and constantly settling down in the vacuum. But the Plataeans,
+fearing that even thus they might not be able to hold out against the
+superior numbers of the enemy, had yet another invention. They stopped
+working at the large building in front of the mound, and starting at
+either end of it inside from the old low wall, built a new one in the
+form of a crescent running in towards the town; in order that in the
+event of the great wall being taken this might remain, and the enemy
+have to throw up a fresh mound against it, and as they advanced within
+might not only have their trouble over again, but also be exposed to
+missiles on their flanks. While raising the mound the Peloponnesians
+also brought up engines against the city, one of which was brought up
+upon the mound against the great building and shook down a good piece of
+it, to the no small alarm of the Plataeans. Others were advanced
+against different parts of the wall but were lassoed and broken by the
+Plataeans; who also hung up great beams by long iron chains from either
+extremity of two poles laid on the wall and projecting over it, and drew
+them up at an angle whenever any point was threatened by the engine,
+and loosing their hold let the beam go with its chains slack, so that it
+fell with a run and snapped off the nose of the battering ram.
+
+After this the Peloponnesians, finding that their engines effected
+nothing, and that their mound was met by the counterwork, concluded that
+their present means of offence were unequal to the taking of the city,
+and prepared for its circumvallation. First, however, they determined to
+try the effects of fire and see whether they could not, with the help of
+a wind, burn the town, as it was not a large one; indeed they thought of
+every possible expedient by which the place might be reduced without the
+expense of a blockade. They accordingly brought faggots of brushwood and
+threw them from the mound, first into the space between it and the wall;
+and this soon becoming full from the number of hands at work, they next
+heaped the faggots up as far into the town as they could reach from the
+top, and then lighted the wood by setting fire to it with sulphur and
+pitch. The consequence was a fire greater than any one had ever yet seen
+produced by human agency, though it could not of course be compared to
+the spontaneous conflagrations sometimes known to occur through the wind
+rubbing the branches of a mountain forest together. And this fire was
+not only remarkable for its magnitude, but was also, at the end of so
+many perils, within an ace of proving fatal to the Plataeans; a great
+part of the town became entirely inaccessible, and had a wind blown upon
+it, in accordance with the hopes of the enemy, nothing could have saved
+them. As it was, there is also a story of heavy rain and thunder having
+come on by which the fire was put out and the danger averted.
+
+Failing in this last attempt the Peloponnesians left a portion of
+their forces on the spot, dismissing the rest, and built a wall of
+circumvallation round the town, dividing the ground among the various
+cities present; a ditch being made within and without the lines, from
+which they got their bricks. All being finished by about the rising
+of Arcturus, they left men enough to man half the wall, the rest being
+manned by the Boeotians, and drawing off their army dispersed to their
+several cities. The Plataeans had before sent off their wives and
+children and oldest men and the mass of the non-combatants to Athens; so
+that the number of the besieged left in the place comprised four hundred
+of their own citizens, eighty Athenians, and a hundred and ten women
+to bake their bread. This was the sum total at the commencement of the
+siege, and there was no one else within the walls, bond or free. Such
+were the arrangements made for the blockade of Plataea.
+
+The same summer and simultaneously with the expedition against Plataea,
+the Athenians marched with two thousand heavy infantry and two hundred
+horse against the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace and the
+Bottiaeans, just as the corn was getting ripe, under the command
+of Xenophon, son of Euripides, with two colleagues. Arriving before
+Spartolus in Bottiaea, they destroyed the corn and had some hopes of the
+city coming over through the intrigues of a faction within. But those
+of a different way of thinking had sent to Olynthus; and a garrison of
+heavy infantry and other troops arrived accordingly. These issuing
+from Spartolus were engaged by the Athenians in front of the town: the
+Chalcidian heavy infantry, and some auxiliaries with them, were beaten
+and retreated into Spartolus; but the Chalcidian horse and light troops
+defeated the horse and light troops of the Athenians. The Chalcidians
+had already a few targeteers from Crusis, and presently after the battle
+were joined by some others from Olynthus; upon seeing whom the light
+troops from Spartolus, emboldened by this accession and by their
+previous success, with the help of the Chalcidian horse and the
+reinforcement just arrived again attacked the Athenians, who retired
+upon the two divisions which they had left with their baggage. Whenever
+the Athenians advanced, their adversary gave way, pressing them with
+missiles the instant they began to retire. The Chalcidian horse also,
+riding up and charging them just as they pleased, at last caused a
+panic amongst them and routed and pursued them to a great distance. The
+Athenians took refuge in Potidaea, and afterwards recovered their dead
+under truce, and returned to Athens with the remnant of their army;
+four hundred and thirty men and all the generals having fallen. The
+Chalcidians and Bottiaeans set up a trophy, took up their dead, and
+dispersed to their several cities.
+
+The same summer, not long after this, the Ambraciots and Chaonians,
+being desirous of reducing the whole of Acarnania and detaching it
+from Athens, persuaded the Lacedaemonians to equip a fleet from
+their confederacy and send a thousand heavy infantry to Acarnania,
+representing that, if a combined movement were made by land and sea,
+the coast Acarnanians would be unable to march, and the conquest
+of Zacynthus and Cephallenia easily following on the possession of
+Acarnania, the cruise round Peloponnese would be no longer so convenient
+for the Athenians. Besides which there was a hope of taking Naupactus.
+The Lacedaemonians accordingly at once sent off a few vessels with
+Cnemus, who was still high admiral, and the heavy infantry on board; and
+sent round orders for the fleet to equip as quickly as possible and sail
+to Leucas. The Corinthians were the most forward in the business; the
+Ambraciots being a colony of theirs. While the ships from Corinth,
+Sicyon, and the neighbourhood were getting ready, and those from Leucas,
+Anactorium, and Ambracia, which had arrived before, were waiting for
+them at Leucas, Cnemus and his thousand heavy infantry had run into the
+gulf, giving the slip to Phormio, the commander of the Athenian squadron
+stationed off Naupactus, and began at once to prepare for the land
+expedition. The Hellenic troops with him consisted of the Ambraciots,
+Leucadians, and Anactorians, and the thousand Peloponnesians with whom
+he came; the barbarian of a thousand Chaonians, who, belonging to a
+nation that has no king, were led by Photys and Nicanor, the two members
+of the royal family to whom the chieftainship for that year had been
+confided. With the Chaonians came also some Thesprotians, like them
+without a king, some Molossians and Atintanians led by Sabylinthus, the
+guardian of King Tharyps who was still a minor, and some Paravaeans,
+under their king Oroedus, accompanied by a thousand Orestians, subjects
+of King Antichus and placed by him under the command of Oroedus. There
+were also a thousand Macedonians sent by Perdiccas without the knowledge
+of the Athenians, but they arrived too late. With this force Cnemus set
+out, without waiting for the fleet from Corinth. Passing through
+the territory of Amphilochian Argos, and sacking the open village of
+Limnaea, they advanced to Stratus the Acarnanian capital; this once
+taken, the rest of the country, they felt convinced, would speedily
+follow.
+
+The Acarnanians, finding themselves invaded by a large army by land, and
+from the sea threatened by a hostile fleet, made no combined attempt
+at resistance, but remained to defend their homes, and sent for help to
+Phormio, who replied that, when a fleet was on the point of sailing from
+Corinth, it was impossible for him to leave Naupactus unprotected. The
+Peloponnesians meanwhile and their allies advanced upon Stratus in three
+divisions, with the intention of encamping near it and attempting the
+wall by force if they failed to succeed by negotiation. The order of
+march was as follows: the centre was occupied by the Chaonians and the
+rest of the barbarians, with the Leucadians and Anactorians and
+their followers on the right, and Cnemus with the Peloponnesians and
+Ambraciots on the left; each division being a long way off from, and
+sometimes even out of sight of, the others. The Hellenes advanced in
+good order, keeping a look-out till they encamped in a good position;
+but the Chaonians, filled with self-confidence, and having the highest
+character for courage among the tribes of that part of the continent,
+without waiting to occupy their camp, rushed on with the rest of the
+barbarians, in the idea that they should take the town by assault and
+obtain the sole glory of the enterprise. While they were coming on, the
+Stratians, becoming aware how things stood, and thinking that the defeat
+of this division would considerably dishearten the Hellenes behind it,
+occupied the environs of the town with ambuscades, and as soon as
+they approached engaged them at close quarters from the city and the
+ambuscades. A panic seizing the Chaonians, great numbers of them
+were slain; and as soon as they were seen to give way the rest of the
+barbarians turned and fled. Owing to the distance by which their allies
+had preceded them, neither of the Hellenic divisions knew anything of
+the battle, but fancied they were hastening on to encamp. However, when
+the flying barbarians broke in upon them, they opened their ranks to
+receive them, brought their divisions together, and stopped quiet where
+they were for the day; the Stratians not offering to engage them, as the
+rest of the Acarnanians had not yet arrived, but contenting themselves
+with slinging at them from a distance, which distressed them greatly, as
+there was no stirring without their armour. The Acarnanians would seem
+to excel in this mode of warfare.
+
+As soon as night fell, Cnemus hastily drew off his army to the river
+Anapus, about nine miles from Stratus, recovering his dead next day
+under truce, and being there joined by the friendly Oeniadae, fell back
+upon their city before the enemy's reinforcements came up. From hence
+each returned home; and the Stratians set up a trophy for the battle
+with the barbarians.
+
+Meanwhile the fleet from Corinth and the rest of the confederates in the
+Crissaean Gulf, which was to have co-operated with Cnemus and prevented
+the coast Acarnanians from joining their countrymen in the interior,
+was disabled from doing so by being compelled about the same time as the
+battle at Stratus to fight with Phormio and the twenty Athenian vessels
+stationed at Naupactus. For they were watched, as they coasted along out
+of the gulf, by Phormio, who wished to attack in the open sea. But the
+Corinthians and allies had started for Acarnania without any idea of
+fighting at sea, and with vessels more like transports for carrying
+soldiers; besides which, they never dreamed of the twenty Athenian ships
+venturing to engage their forty-seven. However, while they were coasting
+along their own shore, there were the Athenians sailing along in line
+with them; and when they tried to cross over from Patrae in Achaea to
+the mainland on the other side, on their way to Acarnania, they saw them
+again coming out from Chalcis and the river Evenus to meet them. They
+slipped from their moorings in the night, but were observed, and were at
+length compelled to fight in mid passage. Each state that contributed
+to the armament had its own general; the Corinthian commanders were
+Machaon, Isocrates, and Agatharchidas. The Peloponnesians ranged their
+vessels in as large a circle as possible without leaving an opening,
+with the prows outside and the sterns in; and placed within all the
+small craft in company, and their five best sailers to issue out at a
+moment's notice and strengthen any point threatened by the enemy.
+
+The Athenians, formed in line, sailed round and round them, and forced
+them to contract their circle, by continually brushing past and making
+as though they would attack at once, having been previously cautioned
+by Phormio not to do so till he gave the signal. His hope was that the
+Peloponnesians would not retain their order like a force on shore, but
+that the ships would fall foul of one another and the small craft cause
+confusion; and if the wind should blow from the gulf (in expectation
+of which he kept sailing round them, and which usually rose towards
+morning), they would not, he felt sure, remain steady an instant. He
+also thought that it rested with him to attack when he pleased, as his
+ships were better sailers, and that an attack timed by the coming of the
+wind would tell best. When the wind came down, the enemy's ships were
+now in a narrow space, and what with the wind and the small craft
+dashing against them, at once fell into confusion: ship fell foul of
+ship, while the crews were pushing them off with poles, and by their
+shouting, swearing, and struggling with one another, made captains'
+orders and boatswains' cries alike inaudible, and through being unable
+for want of practice to clear their oars in the rough water, prevented
+the vessels from obeying their helmsmen properly. At this moment Phormio
+gave the signal, and the Athenians attacked. Sinking first one of
+the admirals, they then disabled all they came across, so that no one
+thought of resistance for the confusion, but fled for Patrae and Dyme in
+Achaea. The Athenians gave chase and captured twelve ships, and taking
+most of the men out of them sailed to Molycrium, and after setting up
+a trophy on the promontory of Rhium and dedicating a ship to Poseidon,
+returned to Naupactus. As for the Peloponnesians, they at once sailed
+with their remaining ships along the coast from Dyme and Patrae to
+Cyllene, the Eleian arsenal; where Cnemus, and the ships from Leucas
+that were to have joined them, also arrived after the battle at Stratus.
+
+The Lacedaemonians now sent to the fleet to Cnemus three
+commissioners--Timocrates, Bradidas, and Lycophron--with orders to
+prepare to engage again with better fortune, and not to be driven from
+the sea by a few vessels; for they could not at all account for their
+discomfiture, the less so as it was their first attempt at sea; and
+they fancied that it was not that their marine was so inferior, but that
+there had been misconduct somewhere, not considering the long experience
+of the Athenians as compared with the little practice which they had had
+themselves. The commissioners were accordingly sent in anger. As soon
+as they arrived they set to work with Cnemus to order ships from the
+different states, and to put those which they already had in fighting
+order. Meanwhile Phormio sent word to Athens of their preparations and
+his own victory, and desired as many ships as possible to be speedily
+sent to him, as he stood in daily expectation of a battle. Twenty were
+accordingly sent, but instructions were given to their commander to go
+first to Crete. For Nicias, a Cretan of Gortys, who was proxenus of
+the Athenians, had persuaded them to sail against Cydonia, promising
+to procure the reduction of that hostile town; his real wish being to
+oblige the Polichnitans, neighbours of the Cydonians. He accordingly
+went with the ships to Crete, and, accompanied by the Polichnitans,
+laid waste the lands of the Cydonians; and, what with adverse winds and
+stress of weather wasted no little time there.
+
+While the Athenians were thus detained in Crete, the Peloponnesians in
+Cyllene got ready for battle, and coasted along to Panormus in Achaea,
+where their land army had come to support them. Phormio also coasted
+along to Molycrian Rhium, and anchored outside it with twenty ships,
+the same as he had fought with before. This Rhium was friendly to the
+Athenians. The other, in Peloponnese, lies opposite to it; the sea
+between them is about three-quarters of a mile broad, and forms the
+mouth of the Crissaean gulf. At this, the Achaean Rhium, not far off
+Panormus, where their army lay, the Peloponnesians now cast anchor with
+seventy-seven ships, when they saw the Athenians do so. For six or seven
+days they remained opposite each other, practising and preparing for the
+battle; the one resolved not to sail out of the Rhia into the open sea,
+for fear of the disaster which had already happened to them, the other
+not to sail into the straits, thinking it advantageous to the enemy, to
+fight in the narrows. At last Cnemus and Brasidas and the rest of the
+Peloponnesian commanders, being desirous of bringing on a battle as
+soon as possible, before reinforcements should arrive from Athens, and
+noticing that the men were most of them cowed by the previous defeat and
+out of heart for the business, first called them together and encouraged
+them as follows:
+
+"Peloponnesians, the late engagement, which may have made some of you
+afraid of the one now in prospect, really gives no just ground for
+apprehension. Preparation for it, as you know, there was little enough;
+and the object of our voyage was not so much to fight at sea as an
+expedition by land. Besides this, the chances of war were largely
+against us; and perhaps also inexperience had something to do with our
+failure in our first naval action. It was not, therefore, cowardice that
+produced our defeat, nor ought the determination which force has not
+quelled, but which still has a word to say with its adversary, to lose
+its edge from the result of an accident; but admitting the possibility
+of a chance miscarriage, we should know that brave hearts must be always
+brave, and while they remain so can never put forward inexperience as an
+excuse for misconduct. Nor are you so behind the enemy in experience
+as you are ahead of him in courage; and although the science of your
+opponents would, if valour accompanied it, have also the presence of
+mind to carry out at in emergency the lesson it has learnt, yet a faint
+heart will make all art powerless in the face of danger. For fear takes
+away presence of mind, and without valour art is useless. Against their
+superior experience set your superior daring, and against the fear
+induced by defeat the fact of your having been then unprepared;
+remember, too, that you have always the advantage of superior numbers,
+and of engaging off your own coast, supported by your heavy infantry;
+and as a rule, numbers and equipment give victory. At no point,
+therefore, is defeat likely; and as for our previous mistakes, the very
+fact of their occurrence will teach us better for the future. Steersmen
+and sailors may, therefore, confidently attend to their several duties,
+none quitting the station assigned to them: as for ourselves, we
+promise to prepare for the engagement at least as well as your previous
+commanders, and to give no excuse for any one misconducting himself.
+Should any insist on doing so, he shall meet with the punishment he
+deserves, while the brave shall be honoured with the appropriate rewards
+of valour."
+
+The Peloponnesian commanders encouraged their men after this fashion.
+Phormio, meanwhile, being himself not without fears for the courage of
+his men, and noticing that they were forming in groups among themselves
+and were alarmed at the odds against them, desired to call them together
+and give them confidence and counsel in the present emergency. He had
+before continually told them, and had accustomed their minds to the
+idea, that there was no numerical superiority that they could not face;
+and the men themselves had long been persuaded that Athenians need never
+retire before any quantity of Peloponnesian vessels. At the moment,
+however, he saw that they were dispirited by the sight before them, and
+wishing to refresh their confidence, called them together and spoke as
+follows:
+
+"I see, my men, that you are frightened by the number of the enemy, and
+I have accordingly called you together, not liking you to be afraid of
+what is not really terrible. In the first place, the Peloponnesians,
+already defeated, and not even themselves thinking that they are a match
+for us, have not ventured to meet us on equal terms, but have equipped
+this multitude of ships against us. Next, as to that upon which they
+most rely, the courage which they suppose constitutional to them, their
+confidence here only arises from the success which their experience in
+land service usually gives them, and which they fancy will do the same
+for them at sea. But this advantage will in all justice belong to us
+on this element, if to them on that; as they are not superior to us
+in courage, but we are each of us more confident, according to our
+experience in our particular department. Besides, as the Lacedaemonians
+use their supremacy over their allies to promote their own glory, they
+are most of them being brought into danger against their will, or they
+would never, after such a decided defeat, have ventured upon a fresh
+engagement. You need not, therefore, be afraid of their dash. You, on
+the contrary, inspire a much greater and better founded alarm, both
+because of your late victory and also of their belief that we should not
+face them unless about to do something worthy of a success so signal.
+An adversary numerically superior, like the one before us, comes into
+action trusting more to strength than to resolution; while he who
+voluntarily confronts tremendous odds must have very great internal
+resources to draw upon. For these reasons the Peloponnesians fear
+our irrational audacity more than they would ever have done a more
+commensurate preparation. Besides, many armaments have before now
+succumbed to an inferior through want of skill or sometimes of courage;
+neither of which defects certainly are ours. As to the battle, it shall
+not be, if I can help it, in the strait, nor will I sail in there at
+all; seeing that in a contest between a number of clumsily managed
+vessels and a small, fast, well-handled squadron, want of sea room is
+an undoubted disadvantage. One cannot run down an enemy properly without
+having a sight of him a good way off, nor can one retire at need when
+pressed; one can neither break the line nor return upon his rear, the
+proper tactics for a fast sailer; but the naval action necessarily
+becomes a land one, in which numbers must decide the matter. For all
+this I will provide as far as can be. Do you stay at your posts by your
+ships, and be sharp at catching the word of command, the more so as we
+are observing one another from so short a distance; and in action think
+order and silence all-important--qualities useful in war generally, and
+in naval engagements in particular; and behave before the enemy in a
+manner worthy of your past exploits. The issues you will fight for are
+great--to destroy the naval hopes of the Peloponnesians or to bring
+nearer to the Athenians their fears for the sea. And I may once more
+remind you that you have defeated most of them already; and beaten men
+do not face a danger twice with the same determination."
+
+Such was the exhortation of Phormio. The Peloponnesians finding that the
+Athenians did not sail into the gulf and the narrows, in order to lead
+them in whether they wished it or not, put out at dawn, and forming four
+abreast, sailed inside the gulf in the direction of their own country,
+the right wing leading as they had lain at anchor. In this wing were
+placed twenty of their best sailers; so that in the event of Phormio
+thinking that their object was Naupactus, and coasting along thither to
+save the place, the Athenians might not be able to escape their onset
+by getting outside their wing, but might be cut off by the vessels in
+question. As they expected, Phormio, in alarm for the place at that
+moment emptied of its garrison, as soon as he saw them put out,
+reluctantly and hurriedly embarked and sailed along shore; the Messenian
+land forces moving along also to support him. The Peloponnesians seeing
+him coasting along with his ships in single file, and by this inside
+the gulf and close inshore as they so much wished, at one signal tacked
+suddenly and bore down in line at their best speed on the Athenians,
+hoping to cut off the whole squadron. The eleven leading vessels,
+however, escaped the Peloponnesian wing and its sudden movement, and
+reached the more open water; but the rest were overtaken as they tried
+to run through, driven ashore and disabled; such of the crews being
+slain as had not swum out of them. Some of the ships the Peloponnesians
+lashed to their own, and towed off empty; one they took with the men
+in it; others were just being towed off, when they were saved by the
+Messenians dashing into the sea with their armour and fighting from the
+decks that they had boarded.
+
+Thus far victory was with the Peloponnesians, and the Athenian fleet
+destroyed; the twenty ships in the right wing being meanwhile in chase
+of the eleven Athenian vessels that had escaped their sudden movement
+and reached the more open water. These, with the exception of one
+ship, all outsailed them and got safe into Naupactus, and forming close
+inshore opposite the temple of Apollo, with their prows facing the
+enemy, prepared to defend themselves in case the Peloponnesians should
+sail inshore against them. After a while the Peloponnesians came up,
+chanting the paean for their victory as they sailed on; the single
+Athenian ship remaining being chased by a Leucadian far ahead of the
+rest. But there happened to be a merchantman lying at anchor in the
+roadstead, which the Athenian ship found time to sail round, and struck
+the Leucadian in chase amidships and sank her. An exploit so sudden and
+unexpected produced a panic among the Peloponnesians; and having fallen
+out of order in the excitement of victory, some of them dropped their
+oars and stopped their way in order to let the main body come up--an
+unsafe thing to do considering how near they were to the enemy's prows;
+while others ran aground in the shallows, in their ignorance of the
+localities.
+
+Elated at this incident, the Athenians at one word gave a cheer, and
+dashed at the enemy, who, embarrassed by his mistakes and the disorder
+in which he found himself, only stood for an instant, and then fled for
+Panormus, whence he had put out. The Athenians following on his heels
+took the six vessels nearest them, and recovered those of their own
+which had been disabled close inshore and taken in tow at the beginning
+of the action; they killed some of the crews and took some prisoners.
+On board the Leucadian which went down off the merchantman, was the
+Lacedaemonian Timocrates, who killed himself when the ship was sunk, and
+was cast up in the harbour of Naupactus. The Athenians on their return
+set up a trophy on the spot from which they had put out and turned the
+day, and picking up the wrecks and dead that were on their shore, gave
+back to the enemy their dead under truce. The Peloponnesians also set
+up a trophy as victors for the defeat inflicted upon the ships they
+had disabled in shore, and dedicated the vessel which they had taken at
+Achaean Rhium, side by side with the trophy. After this, apprehensive of
+the reinforcement expected from Athens, all except the Leucadians sailed
+into the Crissaean Gulf for Corinth. Not long after their retreat, the
+twenty Athenian ships, which were to have joined Phormio before the
+battle, arrived at Naupactus.
+
+Thus the summer ended. Winter was now at hand; but dispersing the fleet,
+which had retired to Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf, Cnemus, Brasidas,
+and the other Peloponnesian captains allowed themselves to be persuaded
+by the Megarians to make an attempt upon Piraeus, the port of Athens,
+which from her decided superiority at sea had been naturally left
+unguarded and open. Their plan was as follows: The men were each to take
+their oar, cushion, and rowlock thong, and, going overland from Corinth
+to the sea on the Athenian side, to get to Megara as quickly as they
+could, and launching forty vessels, which happened to be in the docks at
+Nisaea, to sail at once to Piraeus. There was no fleet on the look-out
+in the harbour, and no one had the least idea of the enemy attempting
+a surprise; while an open attack would, it was thought, never be
+deliberately ventured on, or, if in contemplation, would be speedily
+known at Athens. Their plan formed, the next step was to put it in
+execution. Arriving by night and launching the vessels from Nisaea, they
+sailed, not to Piraeus as they had originally intended, being afraid
+of the risk, besides which there was some talk of a wind having stopped
+them, but to the point of Salamis that looks towards Megara; where there
+was a fort and a squadron of three ships to prevent anything sailing in
+or out of Megara. This fort they assaulted, and towed off the galleys
+empty, and surprising the inhabitants began to lay waste the rest of the
+island.
+
+Meanwhile fire signals were raised to alarm Athens, and a panic ensued
+there as serious as any that occurred during the war. The idea in the
+city was that the enemy had already sailed into Piraeus: in Piraeus it
+was thought that they had taken Salamis and might at any moment arrive
+in the port; as indeed might easily have been done if their hearts had
+been a little firmer: certainly no wind would have prevented them. As
+soon as day broke, the Athenians assembled in full force, launched their
+ships, and embarking in haste and uproar went with the fleet to Salamis,
+while their soldiery mounted guard in Piraeus. The Peloponnesians, on
+becoming aware of the coming relief, after they had overrun most of
+Salamis, hastily sailed off with their plunder and captives and the
+three ships from Fort Budorum to Nisaea; the state of their ships also
+causing them some anxiety, as it was a long while since they had
+been launched, and they were not water-tight. Arrived at Megara, they
+returned back on foot to Corinth. The Athenians finding them no longer
+at Salamis, sailed back themselves; and after this made arrangements for
+guarding Piraeus more diligently in future, by closing the harbours, and
+by other suitable precautions.
+
+About the same time, at the beginning of this winter, Sitalces, son
+of Teres, the Odrysian king of Thrace, made an expedition against
+Perdiccas, son of Alexander, king of Macedonia, and the Chalcidians in
+the neighbourhood of Thrace; his object being to enforce one promise and
+fulfil another. On the one hand Perdiccas had made him a promise,
+when hard pressed at the commencement of the war, upon condition that
+Sitalces should reconcile the Athenians to him and not attempt to
+restore his brother and enemy, the pretender Philip, but had not offered
+to fulfil his engagement; on the other he, Sitalces, on entering into
+alliance with the Athenians, had agreed to put an end to the Chalcidian
+war in Thrace. These were the two objects of his invasion. With him he
+brought Amyntas, the son of Philip, whom he destined for the throne of
+Macedonia, and some Athenian envoys then at his court on this business,
+and Hagnon as general; for the Athenians were to join him against
+the Chalcidians with a fleet and as many soldiers as they could get
+together.
+
+Beginning with the Odrysians, he first called out the Thracian tribes
+subject to him between Mounts Haemus and Rhodope and the Euxine and
+Hellespont; next the Getae beyond Haemus, and the other hordes settled
+south of the Danube in the neighbourhood of the Euxine, who, like the
+Getae, border on the Scythians and are armed in the same manner, being
+all mounted archers. Besides these he summoned many of the hill Thracian
+independent swordsmen, called Dii and mostly inhabiting Mount Rhodope,
+some of whom came as mercenaries, others as volunteers; also the
+Agrianes and Laeaeans, and the rest of the Paeonian tribes in his
+empire, at the confines of which these lay, extending up to the Laeaean
+Paeonians and the river Strymon, which flows from Mount Scombrus through
+the country of the Agrianes and Laeaeans; there the empire of Sitalces
+ends and the territory of the independent Paeonians begins. Bordering
+on the Triballi, also independent, were the Treres and Tilataeans, who
+dwell to the north of Mount Scombrus and extend towards the setting sun
+as far as the river Oskius. This river rises in the same mountains
+as the Nestus and Hebrus, a wild and extensive range connected with
+Rhodope.
+
+The empire of the Odrysians extended along the seaboard from Abdera to
+the mouth of the Danube in the Euxine. The navigation of this coast by
+the shortest route takes a merchantman four days and four nights with
+a wind astern the whole way: by land an active man, travelling by the
+shortest road, can get from Abdera to the Danube in eleven days. Such
+was the length of its coast line. Inland from Byzantium to the Laeaeans
+and the Strymon, the farthest limit of its extension into the interior,
+it is a journey of thirteen days for an active man. The tribute from
+all the barbarian districts and the Hellenic cities, taking what they
+brought in under Seuthes, the successor of Sitalces, who raised it to
+its greatest height, amounted to about four hundred talents in gold and
+silver. There were also presents in gold and silver to a no less amount,
+besides stuff, plain and embroidered, and other articles, made not only
+for the king, but also for the Odrysian lords and nobles. For there was
+here established a custom opposite to that prevailing in the Persian
+kingdom, namely, of taking rather than giving; more disgrace being
+attached to not giving when asked than to asking and being refused;
+and although this prevailed elsewhere in Thrace, it was practised most
+extensively among the powerful Odrysians, it being impossible to get
+anything done without a present. It was thus a very powerful kingdom;
+in revenue and general prosperity surpassing all in Europe between the
+Ionian Gulf and the Euxine, and in numbers and military resources coming
+decidedly next to the Scythians, with whom indeed no people in Europe
+can bear comparison, there not being even in Asia any nation singly a
+match for them if unanimous, though of course they are not on a level
+with other races in general intelligence and the arts of civilized life.
+
+It was the master of this empire that now prepared to take the field.
+When everything was ready, he set out on his march for Macedonia, first
+through his own dominions, next over the desolate range of Cercine that
+divides the Sintians and Paeonians, crossing by a road which he had made
+by felling the timber on a former campaign against the latter people.
+Passing over these mountains, with the Paeonians on his right and the
+Sintians and Maedians on the left, he finally arrived at Doberus,
+in Paeonia, losing none of his army on the march, except perhaps by
+sickness, but receiving some augmentations, many of the independent
+Thracians volunteering to join him in the hope of plunder; so that
+the whole is said to have formed a grand total of a hundred and fifty
+thousand. Most of this was infantry, though there was about a third
+cavalry, furnished principally by the Odrysians themselves and next to
+them by the Getae. The most warlike of the infantry were the independent
+swordsmen who came down from Rhodope; the rest of the mixed multitude
+that followed him being chiefly formidable by their numbers.
+
+Assembling in Doberus, they prepared for descending from the heights
+upon Lower Macedonia, where the dominions of Perdiccas lay; for the
+Lyncestae, Elimiots, and other tribes more inland, though Macedonians by
+blood, and allies and dependants of their kindred, still have their
+own separate governments. The country on the sea coast, now called
+Macedonia, was first acquired by Alexander, the father of Perdiccas, and
+his ancestors, originally Temenids from Argos. This was effected by the
+expulsion from Pieria of the Pierians, who afterwards inhabited Phagres
+and other places under Mount Pangaeus, beyond the Strymon (indeed the
+country between Pangaeus and the sea is still called the Pierian Gulf);
+of the Bottiaeans, at present neighbours of the Chalcidians, from
+Bottia, and by the acquisition in Paeonia of a narrow strip along the
+river Axius extending to Pella and the sea; the district of Mygdonia,
+between the Axius and the Strymon, being also added by the expulsion of
+the Edonians. From Eordia also were driven the Eordians, most of
+whom perished, though a few of them still live round Physca, and
+the Almopians from Almopia. These Macedonians also conquered places
+belonging to the other tribes, which are still theirs--Anthemus,
+Crestonia, Bisaltia, and much of Macedonia proper. The whole is
+now called Macedonia, and at the time of the invasion of Sitalces,
+Perdiccas, Alexander's son, was the reigning king.
+
+These Macedonians, unable to take the field against so numerous an
+invader, shut themselves up in such strong places and fortresses as the
+country possessed. Of these there was no great number, most of those now
+found in the country having been erected subsequently by Archelaus, the
+son of Perdiccas, on his accession, who also cut straight roads, and
+otherwise put the kingdom on a better footing as regards horses, heavy
+infantry, and other war material than had been done by all the eight
+kings that preceded him. Advancing from Doberus, the Thracian host first
+invaded what had been once Philip's government, and took Idomene by
+assault, Gortynia, Atalanta, and some other places by negotiation, these
+last coming over for love of Philip's son, Amyntas, then with Sitalces.
+Laying siege to Europus, and failing to take it, he next advanced into
+the rest of Macedonia to the left of Pella and Cyrrhus, not proceeding
+beyond this into Bottiaea and Pieria, but staying to lay waste Mygdonia,
+Crestonia, and Anthemus.
+
+The Macedonians never even thought of meeting him with infantry; but the
+Thracian host was, as opportunity offered, attacked by handfuls of their
+horse, which had been reinforced from their allies in the interior.
+Armed with cuirasses, and excellent horsemen, wherever these charged
+they overthrew all before them, but ran considerable risk in entangling
+themselves in the masses of the enemy, and so finally desisted from
+these efforts, deciding that they were not strong enough to venture
+against numbers so superior.
+
+Meanwhile Sitalces opened negotiations with Perdiccas on the objects of
+his expedition; and finding that the Athenians, not believing that he
+would come, did not appear with their fleet, though they sent presents
+and envoys, dispatched a large part of his army against the Chalcidians
+and Bottiaeans, and shutting them up inside their walls laid waste their
+country. While he remained in these parts, the people farther south,
+such as the Thessalians, Magnetes, and the other tribes subject to the
+Thessalians, and the Hellenes as far as Thermopylae, all feared that the
+army might advance against them, and prepared accordingly. These fears
+were shared by the Thracians beyond the Strymon to the north, who
+inhabited the plains, such as the Panaeans, the Odomanti, the Droi,
+and the Dersaeans, all of whom are independent. It was even matter of
+conversation among the Hellenes who were enemies of Athens whether he
+might not be invited by his ally to advance also against them. Meanwhile
+he held Chalcidice and Bottice and Macedonia, and was ravaging them
+all; but finding that he was not succeeding in any of the objects of
+his invasion, and that his army was without provisions and was suffering
+from the severity of the season, he listened to the advice of Seuthes,
+son of Spardacus, his nephew and highest officer, and decided to retreat
+without delay. This Seuthes had been secretly gained by Perdiccas by the
+promise of his sister in marriage with a rich dowry. In accordance with
+this advice, and after a stay of thirty days in all, eight of which
+were spent in Chalcidice, he retired home as quickly as he could; and
+Perdiccas afterwards gave his sister Stratonice to Seuthes as he had
+promised. Such was the history of the expedition of Sitalces.
+
+In the course of this winter, after the dispersion of the Peloponnesian
+fleet, the Athenians in Naupactus, under Phormio, coasted along to
+Astacus and disembarked, and marched into the interior of Acarnania with
+four hundred Athenian heavy infantry and four hundred Messenians.
+After expelling some suspected persons from Stratus, Coronta, and other
+places, and restoring Cynes, son of Theolytus, to Coronta, they returned
+to their ships, deciding that it was impossible in the winter season to
+march against Oeniadae, a place which, unlike the rest of Acarnania, had
+been always hostile to them; for the river Achelous flowing from Mount
+Pindus through Dolopia and the country of the Agraeans and Amphilochians
+and the plain of Acarnania, past the town of Stratus in the upper part
+of its course, forms lakes where it falls into the sea round Oeniadae,
+and thus makes it impracticable for an army in winter by reason of the
+water. Opposite to Oeniadae lie most of the islands called Echinades,
+so close to the mouths of the Achelous that that powerful stream is
+constantly forming deposits against them, and has already joined some
+of the islands to the continent, and seems likely in no long while to do
+the same with the rest. For the current is strong, deep, and turbid,
+and the islands are so thick together that they serve to imprison the
+alluvial deposit and prevent its dispersing, lying, as they do, not
+in one line, but irregularly, so as to leave no direct passage for the
+water into the open sea. The islands in question are uninhabited and of
+no great size. There is also a story that Alcmaeon, son of Amphiraus,
+during his wanderings after the murder of his mother was bidden by
+Apollo to inhabit this spot, through an oracle which intimated that he
+would have no release from his terrors until he should find a country to
+dwell in which had not been seen by the sun, or existed as land at
+the time he slew his mother; all else being to him polluted ground.
+Perplexed at this, the story goes on to say, he at last observed this
+deposit of the Achelous, and considered that a place sufficient to
+support life upon, might have been thrown up during the long interval
+that had elapsed since the death of his mother and the beginning of
+his wanderings. Settling, therefore, in the district round Oeniadae, he
+founded a dominion, and left the country its name from his son Acarnan.
+Such is the story we have received concerning Alcmaeon.
+
+The Athenians and Phormio putting back from Acarnania and arriving at
+Naupactus, sailed home to Athens in the spring, taking with them the
+ships that they had captured, and such of the prisoners made in the late
+actions as were freemen; who were exchanged, man for man. And so ended
+this winter, and the third year of this war, of which Thucydides was the
+historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+_Fourth and Fifth Years of the War--Revolt of Mitylene_
+
+The next summer, just as the corn was getting ripe, the Peloponnesians
+and their allies invaded Attica under the command of Archidamus, son
+of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat down and ravaged
+the land; the Athenian horse as usual attacking them, wherever it was
+practicable, and preventing the mass of the light troops from advancing
+from their camp and wasting the parts near the city. After staying
+the time for which they had taken provisions, the invaders retired and
+dispersed to their several cities.
+
+Immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians all Lesbos, except
+Methymna, revolted from the Athenians. The Lesbians had wished to revolt
+even before the war, but the Lacedaemonians would not receive them; and
+yet now when they did revolt, they were compelled to do so sooner than
+they had intended. While they were waiting until the moles for their
+harbours and the ships and walls that they had in building should be
+finished, and for the arrival of archers and corn and other things that
+they were engaged in fetching from the Pontus, the Tenedians, with whom
+they were at enmity, and the Methymnians, and some factious persons in
+Mitylene itself, who were proxeni of Athens, informed the Athenians
+that the Mitylenians were forcibly uniting the island under their
+sovereignty, and that the preparations about which they were so
+active, were all concerted with the Boeotians their kindred and the
+Lacedaemonians with a view to a revolt, and that, unless they were
+immediately prevented, Athens would lose Lesbos.
+
+However, the Athenians, distressed by the plague, and by the war that
+had recently broken out and was now raging, thought it a serious matter
+to add Lesbos with its fleet and untouched resources to the list of
+their enemies; and at first would not believe the charge, giving too
+much weight to their wish that it might not be true. But when an embassy
+which they sent had failed to persuade the Mitylenians to give up the
+union and preparations complained of, they became alarmed, and resolved
+to strike the first blow. They accordingly suddenly sent off forty ships
+that had been got ready to sail round Peloponnese, under the command
+of Cleippides, son of Deinias, and two others; word having been brought
+them of a festival in honour of the Malean Apollo outside the town,
+which is kept by the whole people of Mitylene, and at which, if haste
+were made, they might hope to take them by surprise. If this plan
+succeeded, well and good; if not, they were to order the Mitylenians to
+deliver up their ships and to pull down their walls, and if they did not
+obey, to declare war. The ships accordingly set out; the ten galleys,
+forming the contingent of the Mitylenians present with the fleet
+according to the terms of the alliance, being detained by the Athenians,
+and their crews placed in custody. However, the Mitylenians were
+informed of the expedition by a man who crossed from Athens to Euboea,
+and going overland to Geraestus, sailed from thence by a merchantman
+which he found on the point of putting to sea, and so arrived at
+Mitylene the third day after leaving Athens. The Mitylenians accordingly
+refrained from going out to the temple at Malea, and moreover barricaded
+and kept guard round the half-finished parts of their walls and
+harbours.
+
+When the Athenians sailed in not long after and saw how things stood,
+the generals delivered their orders, and upon the Mitylenians refusing
+to obey, commenced hostilities. The Mitylenians, thus compelled to go to
+war without notice and unprepared, at first sailed out with their fleet
+and made some show of fighting, a little in front of the harbour; but
+being driven back by the Athenian ships, immediately offered to treat
+with the commanders, wishing, if possible, to get the ships away for the
+present upon any tolerable terms. The Athenian commanders accepted their
+offers, being themselves fearful that they might not be able to cope
+with the whole of Lesbos; and an armistice having been concluded, the
+Mitylenians sent to Athens one of the informers, already repentant of
+his conduct, and others with him, to try to persuade the Athenians of
+the innocence of their intentions and to get the fleet recalled. In the
+meantime, having no great hope of a favourable answer from Athens, they
+also sent off a galley with envoys to Lacedaemon, unobserved by the
+Athenian fleet which was anchored at Malea to the north of the town.
+
+While these envoys, reaching Lacedaemon after a difficult journey
+across the open sea, were negotiating for succours being sent them, the
+ambassadors from Athens returned without having effected anything;
+and hostilities were at once begun by the Mitylenians and the rest of
+Lesbos, with the exception of the Methymnians, who came to the aid of
+the Athenians with the Imbrians and Lemnians and some few of the other
+allies. The Mitylenians made a sortie with all their forces against the
+Athenian camp; and a battle ensued, in which they gained some slight
+advantage, but retired notwithstanding, not feeling sufficient
+confidence in themselves to spend the night upon the field. After
+this they kept quiet, wishing to wait for the chance of reinforcements
+arriving from Peloponnese before making a second venture, being
+encouraged by the arrival of Meleas, a Laconian, and Hermaeondas, a
+Theban, who had been sent off before the insurrection but had been
+unable to reach Lesbos before the Athenian expedition, and who now stole
+in in a galley after the battle, and advised them to send another galley
+and envoys back with them, which the Mitylenians accordingly did.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, greatly encouraged by the inaction of the
+Mitylenians, summoned allies to their aid, who came in all the quicker
+from seeing so little vigour displayed by the Lesbians, and bringing
+round their ships to a new station to the south of the town, fortified
+two camps, one on each side of the city, and instituted a blockade of
+both the harbours. The sea was thus closed against the Mitylenians, who,
+however, commanded the whole country, with the rest of the Lesbians who
+had now joined them; the Athenians only holding a limited area round
+their camps, and using Malea more as the station for their ships and
+their market.
+
+While the war went on in this way at Mitylene, the Athenians, about the
+same time in this summer, also sent thirty ships to Peloponnese under
+Asopius, son of Phormio; the Acarnanians insisting that the commander
+sent should be some son or relative of Phormio. As the ships coasted
+along shore they ravaged the seaboard of Laconia; after which Asopius
+sent most of the fleet home, and himself went on with twelve vessels to
+Naupactus, and afterwards raising the whole Acarnanian population made
+an expedition against Oeniadae, the fleet sailing along the Achelous,
+while the army laid waste the country. The inhabitants, however, showing
+no signs of submitting, he dismissed the land forces and himself sailed
+to Leucas, and making a descent upon Nericus was cut off during his
+retreat, and most of his troops with him, by the people in those parts
+aided by some coastguards; after which the Athenians sailed away,
+recovering their dead from the Leucadians under truce.
+
+Meanwhile the envoys of the Mitylenians sent out in the first ship were
+told by the Lacedaemonians to come to Olympia, in order that the rest
+of the allies might hear them and decide upon their matter, and so they
+journeyed thither. It was the Olympiad in which the Rhodian Dorieus
+gained his second victory, and the envoys having been introduced to make
+their speech after the festival, spoke as follows:
+
+"Lacedaemonians and allies, the rule established among the Hellenes
+is not unknown to us. Those who revolt in war and forsake their former
+confederacy are favourably regarded by those who receive them, in so
+far as they are of use to them, but otherwise are thought less well of,
+through being considered traitors to their former friends. Nor is this
+an unfair way of judging, where the rebels and the power from whom they
+secede are at one in policy and sympathy, and a match for each other
+in resources and power, and where no reasonable ground exists for the
+rebellion. But with us and the Athenians this was not the case; and no
+one need think the worse of us for revolting from them in danger, after
+having been honoured by them in time of peace.
+
+"Justice and honesty will be the first topics of our speech, especially
+as we are asking for alliance; because we know that there can never be
+any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities
+that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each other's
+honesty, and be generally congenial the one to the other; since from
+difference in feeling springs also difference in conduct. Between
+ourselves and the Athenians alliance began, when you withdrew from the
+Median War and they remained to finish the business. But we did not
+become allies of the Athenians for the subjugation of the Hellenes, but
+allies of the Hellenes for their liberation from the Mede; and as long
+as the Athenians led us fairly we followed them loyally; but when we saw
+them relax their hostility to the Mede, to try to compass the subjection
+of the allies, then our apprehensions began. Unable, however, to unite
+and defend themselves, on account of the number of confederates that had
+votes, all the allies were enslaved, except ourselves and the Chians,
+who continued to send our contingents as independent and nominally free.
+Trust in Athens as a leader, however, we could no longer feel, judging
+by the examples already given; it being unlikely that she would reduce
+our fellow confederates, and not do the same by us who were left, if
+ever she had the power.
+
+"Had we all been still independent, we could have had more faith in
+their not attempting any change; but the greater number being their
+subjects, while they were treating us as equals, they would naturally
+chafe under this solitary instance of independence as contrasted with
+the submission of the majority; particularly as they daily grew more
+powerful, and we more destitute. Now the only sure basis of an alliance
+is for each party to be equally afraid of the other; he who would like
+to encroach is then deterred by the reflection that he will not have
+odds in his favour. Again, if we were left independent, it was only
+because they thought they saw their way to empire more clearly by
+specious language and by the paths of policy than by those of force.
+Not only were we useful as evidence that powers who had votes, like
+themselves, would not, surely, join them in their expeditions, against
+their will, without the party attacked being in the wrong; but the same
+system also enabled them to lead the stronger states against the weaker
+first, and so to leave the former to the last, stripped of their natural
+allies, and less capable of resistance. But if they had begun with us,
+while all the states still had their resources under their own control,
+and there was a centre to rally round, the work of subjugation would
+have been found less easy. Besides this, our navy gave them some
+apprehension: it was always possible that it might unite with you or
+with some other power, and become dangerous to Athens. The court which
+we paid to their commons and its leaders for the time being also helped
+us to maintain our independence. However, we did not expect to be able
+to do so much longer, if this war had not broken out, from the examples
+that we had had of their conduct to the rest.
+
+"How then could we put our trust in such friendship or freedom as we
+had here? We accepted each other against our inclination; fear made them
+court us in war, and us them in peace; sympathy, the ordinary basis of
+confidence, had its place supplied by terror, fear having more share
+than friendship in detaining us in the alliance; and the first party
+that should be encouraged by the hope of impunity was certain to break
+faith with the other. So that to condemn us for being the first to break
+off, because they delay the blow that we dread, instead of ourselves
+delaying to know for certain whether it will be dealt or not, is to take
+a false view of the case. For if we were equally able with them to
+meet their plots and imitate their delay, we should be their equals and
+should be under no necessity of being their subjects; but the liberty of
+offence being always theirs, that of defence ought clearly to be ours.
+
+"Such, Lacedaemonians and allies, are the grounds and the reasons of
+our revolt; clear enough to convince our hearers of the fairness of our
+conduct, and sufficient to alarm ourselves, and to make us turn to some
+means of safety. This we wished to do long ago, when we sent to you on
+the subject while the peace yet lasted, but were balked by your refusing
+to receive us; and now, upon the Boeotians inviting us, we at once
+responded to the call, and decided upon a twofold revolt, from the
+Hellenes and from the Athenians, not to aid the latter in harming the
+former, but to join in their liberation, and not to allow the Athenians
+in the end to destroy us, but to act in time against them. Our revolt,
+however, has taken place prematurely and without preparation--a fact
+which makes it all the more incumbent on you to receive us into alliance
+and to send us speedy relief, in order to show that you support your
+friends, and at the same time do harm to your enemies. You have an
+opportunity such as you never had before. Disease and expenditure have
+wasted the Athenians: their ships are either cruising round your coasts,
+or engaged in blockading us; and it is not probable that they will have
+any to spare, if you invade them a second time this summer by sea and
+land; but they will either offer no resistance to your vessels, or
+withdraw from both our shores. Nor must it be thought that this is a
+case of putting yourselves into danger for a country which is not yours.
+Lesbos may appear far off, but when help is wanted she will be found
+near enough. It is not in Attica that the war will be decided, as some
+imagine, but in the countries by which Attica is supported; and the
+Athenian revenue is drawn from the allies, and will become still larger
+if they reduce us; as not only will no other state revolt, but our
+resources will be added to theirs, and we shall be treated worse than
+those that were enslaved before. But if you will frankly support us, you
+will add to your side a state that has a large navy, which is your
+great want; you will smooth the way to the overthrow of the Athenians by
+depriving them of their allies, who will be greatly encouraged to come
+over; and you will free yourselves from the imputation made against
+you, of not supporting insurrection. In short, only show yourselves as
+liberators, and you may count upon having the advantage in the war.
+
+"Respect, therefore, the hopes placed in you by the Hellenes, and that
+Olympian Zeus, in whose temple we stand as very suppliants; become the
+allies and defenders of the Mitylenians, and do not sacrifice us, who
+put our lives upon the hazard, in a cause in which general good will
+result to all from our success, and still more general harm if we fail
+through your refusing to help us; but be the men that the Hellenes think
+you, and our fears desire."
+
+Such were the words of the Mitylenians. After hearing them out, the
+Lacedaemonians and confederates granted what they urged, and took
+the Lesbians into alliance, and deciding in favour of the invasion of
+Attica, told the allies present to march as quickly as possible to
+the Isthmus with two-thirds of their forces; and arriving there first
+themselves, got ready hauling machines to carry their ships across from
+Corinth to the sea on the side of Athens, in order to make their attack
+by sea and land at once. However, the zeal which they displayed was not
+imitated by the rest of the confederates, who came in but slowly, being
+engaged in harvesting their corn and sick of making expeditions.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, aware that the preparations of the enemy were
+due to his conviction of their weakness, and wishing to show him that he
+was mistaken, and that they were able, without moving the Lesbian fleet,
+to repel with ease that with which they were menaced from Peloponnese,
+manned a hundred ships by embarking the citizens of Athens, except the
+knights and Pentacosiomedimni, and the resident aliens; and putting
+out to the Isthmus, displayed their power, and made descents upon
+Peloponnese wherever they pleased. A disappointment so signal made the
+Lacedaemonians think that the Lesbians had not spoken the truth; and
+embarrassed by the non-appearance of the confederates, coupled with the
+news that the thirty ships round Peloponnese were ravaging the lands
+near Sparta, they went back home. Afterwards, however, they got ready
+a fleet to send to Lesbos, and ordering a total of forty ships from
+the different cities in the league, appointed Alcidas to command the
+expedition in his capacity of high admiral. Meanwhile the Athenians in
+the hundred ships, upon seeing the Lacedaemonians go home, went home
+likewise.
+
+If, at the time that this fleet was at sea, Athens had almost the
+largest number of first-rate ships in commission that she ever possessed
+at any one moment, she had as many or even more when the war began. At
+that time one hundred guarded Attica, Euboea, and Salamis; a hundred
+more were cruising round Peloponnese, besides those employed at Potidaea
+and in other places; making a grand total of two hundred and fifty
+vessels employed on active service in a single summer. It was this, with
+Potidaea, that most exhausted her revenues--Potidaea being blockaded
+by a force of heavy infantry (each drawing two drachmae a day, one for
+himself and another for his servant), which amounted to three thousand
+at first, and was kept at this number down to the end of the siege;
+besides sixteen hundred with Phormio who went away before it was over;
+and the ships being all paid at the same rate. In this way her money was
+wasted at first; and this was the largest number of ships ever manned by
+her.
+
+About the same time that the Lacedaemonians were at the Isthmus, the
+Mitylenians marched by land with their mercenaries against Methymna,
+which they thought to gain by treachery. After assaulting the town, and
+not meeting with the success that they anticipated, they withdrew to
+Antissa, Pyrrha, and Eresus; and taking measures for the better security
+of these towns and strengthening their walls, hastily returned home.
+After their departure the Methymnians marched against Antissa, but
+were defeated in a sortie by the Antissians and their mercenaries,
+and retreated in haste after losing many of their number. Word of this
+reaching Athens, and the Athenians learning that the Mitylenians were
+masters of the country and their own soldiers unable to hold them
+in check, they sent out about the beginning of autumn Paches, son of
+Epicurus, to take the command, and a thousand Athenian heavy infantry;
+who worked their own passage and, arriving at Mitylene, built a single
+wall all round it, forts being erected at some of the strongest points.
+Mitylene was thus blockaded strictly on both sides, by land and by sea;
+and winter now drew near.
+
+The Athenians needing money for the siege, although they had for the
+first time raised a contribution of two hundred talents from their own
+citizens, now sent out twelve ships to levy subsidies from their allies,
+with Lysicles and four others in command. After cruising to different
+places and laying them under contribution, Lysicles went up the country
+from Myus, in Caria, across the plain of the Meander, as far as the hill
+of Sandius; and being attacked by the Carians and the people of Anaia,
+was slain with many of his soldiers.
+
+The same winter the Plataeans, who were still being besieged by the
+Peloponnesians and Boeotians, distressed by the failure of their
+provisions, and seeing no hope of relief from Athens, nor any other
+means of safety, formed a scheme with the Athenians besieged with them
+for escaping, if possible, by forcing their way over the enemy's walls;
+the attempt having been suggested by Theaenetus, son of Tolmides, a
+soothsayer, and Eupompides, son of Daimachus, one of their generals. At
+first all were to join: afterwards, half hung back, thinking the risk
+great; about two hundred and twenty, however, voluntarily persevered in
+the attempt, which was carried out in the following way. Ladders were
+made to match the height of the enemy's wall, which they measured by
+the layers of bricks, the side turned towards them not being thoroughly
+whitewashed. These were counted by many persons at once; and though some
+might miss the right calculation, most would hit upon it, particularly
+as they counted over and over again, and were no great way from the
+wall, but could see it easily enough for their purpose. The length
+required for the ladders was thus obtained, being calculated from the
+breadth of the brick.
+
+Now the wall of the Peloponnesians was constructed as follows. It
+consisted of two lines drawn round the place, one against the Plataeans,
+the other against any attack on the outside from Athens, about sixteen
+feet apart. The intermediate space of sixteen feet was occupied by huts
+portioned out among the soldiers on guard, and built in one block, so as
+to give the appearance of a single thick wall with battlements on either
+side. At intervals of every ten battlements were towers of considerable
+size, and the same breadth as the wall, reaching right across from its
+inner to its outer face, with no means of passing except through the
+middle. Accordingly on stormy and wet nights the battlements were
+deserted, and guard kept from the towers, which were not far apart and
+roofed in above.
+
+Such being the structure of the wall by which the Plataeans were
+blockaded, when their preparations were completed, they waited for a
+stormy night of wind and rain and without any moon, and then set out,
+guided by the authors of the enterprise. Crossing first the ditch that
+ran round the town, they next gained the wall of the enemy unperceived
+by the sentinels, who did not see them in the darkness, or hear them,
+as the wind drowned with its roar the noise of their approach; besides
+which they kept a good way off from each other, that they might not be
+betrayed by the clash of their weapons. They were also lightly equipped,
+and had only the left foot shod to preserve them from slipping in the
+mire. They came up to the battlements at one of the intermediate spaces
+where they knew them to be unguarded: those who carried the ladders went
+first and planted them; next twelve light-armed soldiers with only a
+dagger and a breastplate mounted, led by Ammias, son of Coroebus, who
+was the first on the wall; his followers getting up after him and going
+six to each of the towers. After these came another party of light
+troops armed with spears, whose shields, that they might advance the
+easier, were carried by men behind, who were to hand them to them when
+they found themselves in presence of the enemy. After a good many had
+mounted they were discovered by the sentinels in the towers, by the
+noise made by a tile which was knocked down by one of the Plataeans as
+he was laying hold of the battlements. The alarm was instantly given,
+and the troops rushed to the wall, not knowing the nature of the danger,
+owing to the dark night and stormy weather; the Plataeans in the town
+having also chosen that moment to make a sortie against the wall of the
+Peloponnesians upon the side opposite to that on which their men
+were getting over, in order to divert the attention of the besiegers.
+Accordingly they remained distracted at their several posts, without any
+venturing to stir to give help from his own station, and at a loss
+to guess what was going on. Meanwhile the three hundred set aside for
+service on emergencies went outside the wall in the direction of the
+alarm. Fire-signals of an attack were also raised towards Thebes; but
+the Plataeans in the town at once displayed a number of others, prepared
+beforehand for this very purpose, in order to render the enemy's signals
+unintelligible, and to prevent his friends getting a true idea of what
+was passing and coming to his aid before their comrades who had gone out
+should have made good their escape and be in safety.
+
+Meanwhile the first of the scaling party that had got up, after
+carrying both the towers and putting the sentinels to the sword, posted
+themselves inside to prevent any one coming through against them; and
+rearing ladders from the wall, sent several men up on the towers, and
+from their summit and base kept in check all of the enemy that came up,
+with their missiles, while their main body planted a number of ladders
+against the wall, and knocking down the battlements, passed over between
+the towers; each as soon as he had got over taking up his station at the
+edge of the ditch, and plying from thence with arrows and darts any who
+came along the wall to stop the passage of his comrades. When all were
+over, the party on the towers came down, the last of them not without
+difficulty, and proceeded to the ditch, just as the three hundred came
+up carrying torches. The Plataeans, standing on the edge of the ditch
+in the dark, had a good view of their opponents, and discharged their
+arrows and darts upon the unarmed parts of their bodies, while they
+themselves could not be so well seen in the obscurity for the torches;
+and thus even the last of them got over the ditch, though not without
+effort and difficulty; as ice had formed in it, not strong enough to
+walk upon, but of that watery kind which generally comes with a wind
+more east than north, and the snow which this wind had caused to fall
+during the night had made the water in the ditch rise, so that they
+could scarcely breast it as they crossed. However, it was mainly the
+violence of the storm that enabled them to effect their escape at all.
+
+Starting from the ditch, the Plataeans went all together along the road
+leading to Thebes, keeping the chapel of the hero Androcrates upon their
+right; considering that the last road which the Peloponnesians would
+suspect them of having taken would be that towards their enemies'
+country. Indeed they could see them pursuing with torches upon the
+Athens road towards Cithaeron and Druoskephalai or Oakheads. After going
+for rather more than half a mile upon the road to Thebes, the Plataeans
+turned off and took that leading to the mountain, to Erythrae and
+Hysiae, and reaching the hills, made good their escape to Athens, two
+hundred and twelve men in all; some of their number having turned back
+into the town before getting over the wall, and one archer having been
+taken prisoner at the outer ditch. Meanwhile the Peloponnesians gave up
+the pursuit and returned to their posts; and the Plataeans in the town,
+knowing nothing of what had passed, and informed by those who had turned
+back that not a man had escaped, sent out a herald as soon as it was day
+to make a truce for the recovery of the dead bodies, and then, learning
+the truth, desisted. In this way the Plataean party got over and were
+saved.
+
+Towards the close of the same winter, Salaethus, a Lacedaemonian,
+was sent out in a galley from Lacedaemon to Mitylene. Going by sea to
+Pyrrha, and from thence overland, he passed along the bed of a torrent,
+where the line of circumvallation was passable, and thus entering
+unperceived into Mitylene told the magistrates that Attica would
+certainly be invaded, and the forty ships destined to relieve them
+arrive, and that he had been sent on to announce this and to superintend
+matters generally. The Mitylenians upon this took courage, and laid
+aside the idea of treating with the Athenians; and now this winter
+ended, and with it ended the fourth year of the war of which Thucydides
+was the historian.
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians sent off the forty-two ships for
+Mitylene, under Alcidas, their high admiral, and themselves and their
+allies invaded Attica, their object being to distract the Athenians by
+a double movement, and thus to make it less easy for them to act against
+the fleet sailing to Mitylene. The commander in this invasion was
+Cleomenes, in the place of King Pausanias, son of Pleistoanax, his
+nephew, who was still a minor. Not content with laying waste whatever
+had shot up in the parts which they had before devastated, the invaders
+now extended their ravages to lands passed over in their previous
+incursions; so that this invasion was more severely felt by the
+Athenians than any except the second; the enemy staying on and on until
+they had overrun most of the country, in the expectation of hearing
+from Lesbos of something having been achieved by their fleet, which they
+thought must now have got over. However, as they did not obtain any
+of the results expected, and their provisions began to run short, they
+retreated and dispersed to their different cities.
+
+In the meantime the Mitylenians, finding their provisions failing, while
+the fleet from Peloponnese was loitering on the way instead of appearing
+at Mitylene, were compelled to come to terms with the Athenians in the
+following manner. Salaethus having himself ceased to expect the fleet
+to arrive, now armed the commons with heavy armour, which they had not
+before possessed, with the intention of making a sortie against the
+Athenians. The commons, however, no sooner found themselves possessed of
+arms than they refused any longer to obey their officers; and forming
+in knots together, told the authorities to bring out in public the
+provisions and divide them amongst them all, or they would themselves
+come to terms with the Athenians and deliver up the city.
+
+The government, aware of their inability to prevent this, and of the
+danger they would be in, if left out of the capitulation, publicly
+agreed with Paches and the army to surrender Mitylene at discretion
+and to admit the troops into the town; upon the understanding that the
+Mitylenians should be allowed to send an embassy to Athens to plead
+their cause, and that Paches should not imprison, make slaves of, or put
+to death any of the citizens until its return. Such were the terms of
+the capitulation; in spite of which the chief authors of the negotiation
+with Lacedaemon were so completely overcome by terror when the army
+entered that they went and seated themselves by the altars, from which
+they were raised up by Paches under promise that he would do them no
+wrong, and lodged by him in Tenedos, until he should learn the pleasure
+of the Athenians concerning them. Paches also sent some galleys and
+seized Antissa, and took such other military measures as he thought
+advisable.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians in the forty ships, who ought to have made
+all haste to relieve Mitylene, lost time in coming round Peloponnese
+itself, and proceeding leisurely on the remainder of the voyage, made
+Delos without having been seen by the Athenians at Athens, and from
+thence arriving at Icarus and Myconus, there first heard of the fall
+of Mitylene. Wishing to know the truth, they put into Embatum, in the
+Erythraeid, about seven days after the capture of the town. Here they
+learned the truth, and began to consider what they were to do; and
+Teutiaplus, an Elean, addressed them as follows:
+
+"Alcidas and Peloponnesians who share with me the command of this
+armament, my advice is to sail just as we are to Mitylene, before we
+have been heard of. We may expect to find the Athenians as much off
+their guard as men generally are who have just taken a city: this will
+certainly be so by sea, where they have no idea of any enemy attacking
+them, and where our strength, as it happens, mainly lies; while even
+their land forces are probably scattered about the houses in the
+carelessness of victory. If therefore we were to fall upon them suddenly
+and in the night, I have hopes, with the help of the well-wishers that
+we may have left inside the town, that we shall become masters of the
+place. Let us not shrink from the risk, but let us remember that this is
+just the occasion for one of the baseless panics common in war: and that
+to be able to guard against these in one's own case, and to detect the
+moment when an attack will find an enemy at this disadvantage, is what
+makes a successful general."
+
+These words of Teutiaplus failing to move Alcidas, some of the Ionian
+exiles and the Lesbians with the expedition began to urge him, since
+this seemed too dangerous, to seize one of the Ionian cities or the
+Aeolic town of Cyme, to use as a base for effecting the revolt of Ionia.
+This was by no means a hopeless enterprise, as their coming was welcome
+everywhere; their object would be by this move to deprive Athens of
+her chief source of revenue, and at the same time to saddle her with
+expense, if she chose to blockade them; and they would probably induce
+Pissuthnes to join them in the war. However, Alcidas gave this proposal
+as bad a reception as the other, being eager, since he had come too late
+for Mitylene, to find himself back in Peloponnese as soon as possible.
+
+Accordingly he put out from Embatum and proceeded along shore; and
+touching at the Teian town, Myonnesus, there butchered most of the
+prisoners that he had taken on his passage. Upon his coming to anchor at
+Ephesus, envoys came to him from the Samians at Anaia, and told him that
+he was not going the right way to free Hellas in massacring men who had
+never raised a hand against him, and who were not enemies of his, but
+allies of Athens against their will, and that if he did not stop he
+would turn many more friends into enemies than enemies into friends.
+Alcidas agreed to this, and let go all the Chians still in his hands and
+some of the others that he had taken; the inhabitants, instead of flying
+at the sight of his vessels, rather coming up to them, taking them
+for Athenian, having no sort of expectation that while the Athenians
+commanded the sea Peloponnesian ships would venture over to Ionia.
+
+From Ephesus Alcidas set sail in haste and fled. He had been seen by
+the Salaminian and Paralian galleys, which happened to be sailing from
+Athens, while still at anchor off Clarus; and fearing pursuit he now
+made across the open sea, fully determined to touch nowhere, if he could
+help it, until he got to Peloponnese. Meanwhile news of him had come in
+to Paches from the Erythraeid, and indeed from all quarters. As Ionia
+was unfortified, great fears were felt that the Peloponnesians coasting
+along shore, even if they did not intend to stay, might make descents
+in passing and plunder the towns; and now the Paralian and Salaminian,
+having seen him at Clarus, themselves brought intelligence of the fact.
+Paches accordingly gave hot chase, and continued the pursuit as far as
+the isle of Patmos, and then finding that Alcidas had got on too far to
+be overtaken, came back again. Meanwhile he thought it fortunate that,
+as he had not fallen in with them out at sea, he had not overtaken them
+anywhere where they would have been forced to encamp, and so give him
+the trouble of blockading them.
+
+On his return along shore he touched, among other places, at Notium, the
+port of Colophon, where the Colophonians had settled after the capture
+of the upper town by Itamenes and the barbarians, who had been called in
+by certain individuals in a party quarrel. The capture of the town took
+place about the time of the second Peloponnesian invasion of Attica.
+However, the refugees, after settling at Notium, again split up into
+factions, one of which called in Arcadian and barbarian mercenaries
+from Pissuthnes and, entrenching these in a quarter apart, formed a new
+community with the Median party of the Colophonians who joined them from
+the upper town. Their opponents had retired into exile, and now called
+in Paches, who invited Hippias, the commander of the Arcadians in the
+fortified quarter, to a parley, upon condition that, if they could
+not agree, he was to be put back safe and sound in the fortification.
+However, upon his coming out to him, he put him into custody, though not
+in chains, and attacked suddenly and took by surprise the fortification,
+and putting the Arcadians and the barbarians found in it to the sword,
+afterwards took Hippias into it as he had promised, and, as soon as he
+was inside, seized him and shot him down. Paches then gave up Notium to
+the Colophonians not of the Median party; and settlers were afterwards
+sent out from Athens, and the place colonized according to Athenian
+laws, after collecting all the Colophonians found in any of the cities.
+
+Arrived at Mitylene, Paches reduced Pyrrha and Eresus; and finding the
+Lacedaemonian, Salaethus, in hiding in the town, sent him off to Athens,
+together with the Mitylenians that he had placed in Tenedos, and any
+other persons that he thought concerned in the revolt. He also sent
+back the greater part of his forces, remaining with the rest to settle
+Mitylene and the rest of Lesbos as he thought best.
+
+Upon the arrival of the prisoners with Salaethus, the Athenians at once
+put the latter to death, although he offered, among other things, to
+procure the withdrawal of the Peloponnesians from Plataea, which was
+still under siege; and after deliberating as to what they should do with
+the former, in the fury of the moment determined to put to death not
+only the prisoners at Athens, but the whole adult male population of
+Mitylene, and to make slaves of the women and children. It was remarked
+that Mitylene had revolted without being, like the rest, subjected to
+the empire; and what above all swelled the wrath of the Athenians was
+the fact of the Peloponnesian fleet having ventured over to Ionia to her
+support, a fact which was held to argue a long meditated rebellion.
+They accordingly sent a galley to communicate the decree to Paches,
+commanding him to lose no time in dispatching the Mitylenians. The
+morrow brought repentance with it and reflection on the horrid cruelty
+of a decree, which condemned a whole city to the fate merited only by
+the guilty. This was no sooner perceived by the Mitylenian ambassadors
+at Athens and their Athenian supporters, than they moved the authorities
+to put the question again to the vote; which they the more easily
+consented to do, as they themselves plainly saw that most of the
+citizens wished some one to give them an opportunity for reconsidering
+the matter. An assembly was therefore at once called, and after much
+expression of opinion upon both sides, Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, the
+same who had carried the former motion of putting the Mitylenians to
+death, the most violent man at Athens, and at that time by far the most
+powerful with the commons, came forward again and spoke as follows:
+
+"I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable
+of empire, and never more so than by your present change of mind in the
+matter of Mitylene. Fears or plots being unknown to you in your daily
+relations with each other, you feel just the same with regard to your
+allies, and never reflect that the mistakes into which you may be led by
+listening to their appeals, or by giving way to your own compassion, are
+full of danger to yourselves, and bring you no thanks for your weakness
+from your allies; entirely forgetting that your empire is a despotism
+and your subjects disaffected conspirators, whose obedience is ensured
+not by your suicidal concessions, but by the superiority given you by
+your own strength and not their loyalty. The most alarming feature in
+the case is the constant change of measures with which we appear to be
+threatened, and our seeming ignorance of the fact that bad laws which
+are never changed are better for a city than good ones that have no
+authority; that unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than quick-witted
+insubordination; and that ordinary men usually manage public affairs
+better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to
+appear wiser than the laws, and to overrule every proposition brought
+forward, thinking that they cannot show their wit in more important
+matters, and by such behaviour too often ruin their country; while those
+who mistrust their own cleverness are content to be less learned than
+the laws, and less able to pick holes in the speech of a good speaker;
+and being fair judges rather than rival athletes, generally conduct
+affairs successfully. These we ought to imitate, instead of being led on
+by cleverness and intellectual rivalry to advise your people against our
+real opinions.
+
+"For myself, I adhere to my former opinion, and wonder at those who have
+proposed to reopen the case of the Mitylenians, and who are thus causing
+a delay which is all in favour of the guilty, by making the sufferer
+proceed against the offender with the edge of his anger blunted;
+although where vengeance follows most closely upon the wrong, it best
+equals it and most amply requites it. I wonder also who will be the man
+who will maintain the contrary, and will pretend to show that the crimes
+of the Mitylenians are of service to us, and our misfortunes injurious
+to the allies. Such a man must plainly either have such confidence in
+his rhetoric as to adventure to prove that what has been once for all
+decided is still undetermined, or be bribed to try to delude us by
+elaborate sophisms. In such contests the state gives the rewards to
+others, and takes the dangers for herself. The persons to blame are
+you who are so foolish as to institute these contests; who go to see an
+oration as you would to see a sight, take your facts on hearsay, judge
+of the practicability of a project by the wit of its advocates, and
+trust for the truth as to past events not to the fact which you saw
+more than to the clever strictures which you heard; the easy victims of
+new-fangled arguments, unwilling to follow received conclusions; slaves
+to every new paradox, despisers of the commonplace; the first wish of
+every man being that he could speak himself, the next to rival those who
+can speak by seeming to be quite up with their ideas by applauding
+every hit almost before it is made, and by being as quick in catching
+an argument as you are slow in foreseeing its consequences; asking, if
+I may so say, for something different from the conditions under which
+we live, and yet comprehending inadequately those very conditions;
+very slaves to the pleasure of the ear, and more like the audience of a
+rhetorician than the council of a city.
+
+"In order to keep you from this, I proceed to show that no one state has
+ever injured you as much as Mitylene. I can make allowance for those who
+revolt because they cannot bear our empire, or who have been forced
+to do so by the enemy. But for those who possessed an island with
+fortifications; who could fear our enemies only by sea, and there had
+their own force of galleys to protect them; who were independent and
+held in the highest honour by you--to act as these have done, this
+is not revolt--revolt implies oppression; it is deliberate and wanton
+aggression; an attempt to ruin us by siding with our bitterest enemies;
+a worse offence than a war undertaken on their own account in the
+acquisition of power. The fate of those of their neighbours who had
+already rebelled and had been subdued was no lesson to them; their own
+prosperity could not dissuade them from affronting danger; but blindly
+confident in the future, and full of hopes beyond their power though
+not beyond their ambition, they declared war and made their decision to
+prefer might to right, their attack being determined not by provocation
+but by the moment which seemed propitious. The truth is that great
+good fortune coming suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people
+insolent; in most cases it is safer for mankind to have success in
+reason than out of reason; and it is easier for them, one may say, to
+stave off adversity than to preserve prosperity. Our mistake has been
+to distinguish the Mitylenians as we have done: had they been long
+ago treated like the rest, they never would have so far forgotten
+themselves, human nature being as surely made arrogant by consideration
+as it is awed by firmness. Let them now therefore be punished as their
+crime requires, and do not, while you condemn the aristocracy, absolve
+the people. This is certain, that all attacked you without distinction,
+although they might have come over to us and been now again in
+possession of their city. But no, they thought it safer to throw in
+their lot with the aristocracy and so joined their rebellion! Consider
+therefore: if you subject to the same punishment the ally who is forced
+to rebel by the enemy, and him who does so by his own free choice, which
+of them, think you, is there that will not rebel upon the slightest
+pretext; when the reward of success is freedom, and the penalty of
+failure nothing so very terrible? We meanwhile shall have to risk our
+money and our lives against one state after another; and if successful,
+shall receive a ruined town from which we can no longer draw the revenue
+upon which our strength depends; while if unsuccessful, we shall have
+an enemy the more upon our hands, and shall spend the time that might be
+employed in combating our existing foes in warring with our own allies.
+
+"No hope, therefore, that rhetoric may instil or money purchase, of the
+mercy due to human infirmity must be held out to the Mitylenians. Their
+offence was not involuntary, but of malice and deliberate; and mercy
+is only for unwilling offenders. I therefore, now as before, persist
+against your reversing your first decision, or giving way to the
+three failings most fatal to empire--pity, sentiment, and indulgence.
+Compassion is due to those who can reciprocate the feeling, not to those
+who will never pity us in return, but are our natural and necessary
+foes: the orators who charm us with sentiment may find other less
+important arenas for their talents, in the place of one where the city
+pays a heavy penalty for a momentary pleasure, themselves receiving fine
+acknowledgments for their fine phrases; while indulgence should be shown
+towards those who will be our friends in future, instead of towards men
+who will remain just what they were, and as much our enemies as before.
+To sum up shortly, I say that if you follow my advice you will do what
+is just towards the Mitylenians, and at the same time expedient;
+while by a different decision you will not oblige them so much as pass
+sentence upon yourselves. For if they were right in rebelling, you must
+be wrong in ruling. However, if, right or wrong, you determine to rule,
+you must carry out your principle and punish the Mitylenians as your
+interest requires; or else you must give up your empire and cultivate
+honesty without danger. Make up your minds, therefore, to give them
+like for like; and do not let the victims who escaped the plot be more
+insensible than the conspirators who hatched it; but reflect what
+they would have done if victorious over you, especially they were the
+aggressors. It is they who wrong their neighbour without a cause, that
+pursue their victim to the death, on account of the danger which they
+foresee in letting their enemy survive; since the object of a wanton
+wrong is more dangerous, if he escape, than an enemy who has not this to
+complain of. Do not, therefore, be traitors to yourselves, but recall
+as nearly as possible the moment of suffering and the supreme importance
+which you then attached to their reduction; and now pay them back in
+their turn, without yielding to present weakness or forgetting the peril
+that once hung over you. Punish them as they deserve, and teach your
+other allies by a striking example that the penalty of rebellion is
+death. Let them once understand this and you will not have so often to
+neglect your enemies while you are fighting with your own confederates."
+
+Such were the words of Cleon. After him Diodotus, son of Eucrates, who
+had also in the previous assembly spoken most strongly against putting
+the Mitylenians to death, came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+"I do not blame the persons who have reopened the case of the
+Mitylenians, nor do I approve the protests which we have heard against
+important questions being frequently debated. I think the two things
+most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usually goes
+hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind.
+As for the argument that speech ought not to be the exponent of action,
+the man who uses it must be either senseless or interested: senseless
+if he believes it possible to treat of the uncertain future through any
+other medium; interested if, wishing to carry a disgraceful measure and
+doubting his ability to speak well in a bad cause, he thinks to
+frighten opponents and hearers by well-aimed calumny. What is still more
+intolerable is to accuse a speaker of making a display in order to be
+paid for it. If ignorance only were imputed, an unsuccessful speaker
+might retire with a reputation for honesty, if not for wisdom; while the
+charge of dishonesty makes him suspected, if successful, and thought, if
+defeated, not only a fool but a rogue. The city is no gainer by such a
+system, since fear deprives it of its advisers; although in truth, if
+our speakers are to make such assertions, it would be better for the
+country if they could not speak at all, as we should then make fewer
+blunders. The good citizen ought to triumph not by frightening his
+opponents but by beating them fairly in argument; and a wise city,
+without over-distinguishing its best advisers, will nevertheless
+not deprive them of their due, and, far from punishing an unlucky
+counsellor, will not even regard him as disgraced. In this way
+successful orators would be least tempted to sacrifice their convictions
+to popularity, in the hope of still higher honours, and unsuccessful
+speakers to resort to the same popular arts in order to win over the
+multitude.
+
+"This is not our way; and, besides, the moment that a man is suspected
+of giving advice, however good, from corrupt motives, we feel such a
+grudge against him for the gain which after all we are not certain he
+will receive, that we deprive the city of its certain benefit. Plain
+good advice has thus come to be no less suspected than bad; and the
+advocate of the most monstrous measures is not more obliged to use
+deceit to gain the people, than the best counsellor is to lie in order
+to be believed. The city and the city only, owing to these refinements,
+can never be served openly and without disguise; he who does serve it
+openly being always suspected of serving himself in some secret way in
+return. Still, considering the magnitude of the interests involved, and
+the position of affairs, we orators must make it our business to look
+a little farther than you who judge offhand; especially as we, your
+advisers, are responsible, while you, our audience, are not so. For if
+those who gave the advice, and those who took it, suffered equally, you
+would judge more calmly; as it is, you visit the disasters into which
+the whim of the moment may have led you upon the single person of your
+adviser, not upon yourselves, his numerous companions in error.
+
+"However, I have not come forward either to oppose or to accuse in the
+matter of Mitylene; indeed, the question before us as sensible men is
+not their guilt, but our interests. Though I prove them ever so guilty,
+I shall not, therefore, advise their death, unless it be expedient;
+nor though they should have claims to indulgence, shall I recommend it,
+unless it be dearly for the good of the country. I consider that we are
+deliberating for the future more than for the present; and where Cleon
+is so positive as to the useful deterrent effects that will follow from
+making rebellion capital, I, who consider the interests of the future
+quite as much as he, as positively maintain the contrary. And I require
+you not to reject my useful considerations for his specious ones: his
+speech may have the attraction of seeming the more just in your present
+temper against Mitylene; but we are not in a court of justice, but in a
+political assembly; and the question is not justice, but how to make the
+Mitylenians useful to Athens.
+
+"Now of course communities have enacted the penalty of death for many
+offences far lighter than this: still hope leads men to venture, and no
+one ever yet put himself in peril without the inward conviction that he
+would succeed in his design. Again, was there ever city rebelling that
+did not believe that it possessed either in itself or in its alliances
+resources adequate to the enterprise? All, states and individuals, are
+alike prone to err, and there is no law that will prevent them; or
+why should men have exhausted the list of punishments in search of
+enactments to protect them from evildoers? It is probable that in early
+times the penalties for the greatest offences were less severe, and
+that, as these were disregarded, the penalty of death has been by
+degrees in most cases arrived at, which is itself disregarded in like
+manner. Either then some means of terror more terrible than this must be
+discovered, or it must be owned that this restraint is useless; and that
+as long as poverty gives men the courage of necessity, or plenty fills
+them with the ambition which belongs to insolence and pride, and the
+other conditions of life remain each under the thraldom of some fatal
+and master passion, so long will the impulse never be wanting to drive
+men into danger. Hope also and cupidity, the one leading and the other
+following, the one conceiving the attempt, the other suggesting the
+facility of succeeding, cause the widest ruin, and, although invisible
+agents, are far stronger than the dangers that are seen. Fortune,
+too, powerfully helps the delusion and, by the unexpected aid that she
+sometimes lends, tempts men to venture with inferior means; and this is
+especially the case with communities, because the stakes played for are
+the highest, freedom or empire, and, when all are acting together, each
+man irrationally magnifies his own capacity. In fine, it is impossible
+to prevent, and only great simplicity can hope to prevent, human nature
+doing what it has once set its mind upon, by force of law or by any
+other deterrent force whatsoever.
+
+"We must not, therefore, commit ourselves to a false policy through a
+belief in the efficacy of the punishment of death, or exclude rebels
+from the hope of repentance and an early atonement of their error.
+Consider a moment. At present, if a city that has already revolted
+perceive that it cannot succeed, it will come to terms while it is still
+able to refund expenses, and pay tribute afterwards. In the other case,
+what city, think you, would not prepare better than is now done, and
+hold out to the last against its besiegers, if it is all one whether it
+surrender late or soon? And how can it be otherwise than hurtful to us
+to be put to the expense of a siege, because surrender is out of the
+question; and if we take the city, to receive a ruined town from which
+we can no longer draw the revenue which forms our real strength against
+the enemy? We must not, therefore, sit as strict judges of the offenders
+to our own prejudice, but rather see how by moderate chastisements we
+may be enabled to benefit in future by the revenue-producing powers
+of our dependencies; and we must make up our minds to look for our
+protection not to legal terrors but to careful administration. At
+present we do exactly the opposite. When a free community, held
+in subjection by force, rises, as is only natural, and asserts its
+independence, it is no sooner reduced than we fancy ourselves obliged
+to punish it severely; although the right course with freemen is not to
+chastise them rigorously when they do rise, but rigorously to watch them
+before they rise, and to prevent their ever entertaining the idea,
+and, the insurrection suppressed, to make as few responsible for it as
+possible.
+
+"Only consider what a blunder you would commit in doing as Cleon
+recommends. As things are at present, in all the cities the people
+is your friend, and either does not revolt with the oligarchy, or, if
+forced to do so, becomes at once the enemy of the insurgents; so that in
+the war with the hostile city you have the masses on your side. But
+if you butcher the people of Mitylene, who had nothing to do with
+the revolt, and who, as soon as they got arms, of their own motion
+surrendered the town, first you will commit the crime of killing your
+benefactors; and next you will play directly into the hands of the
+higher classes, who when they induce their cities to rise, will
+immediately have the people on their side, through your having announced
+in advance the same punishment for those who are guilty and for those
+who are not. On the contrary, even if they were guilty, you ought to
+seem not to notice it, in order to avoid alienating the only class
+still friendly to us. In short, I consider it far more useful for the
+preservation of our empire voluntarily to put up with injustice, than
+to put to death, however justly, those whom it is our interest to keep
+alive. As for Cleon's idea that in punishment the claims of justice and
+expediency can both be satisfied, facts do not confirm the possibility
+of such a combination.
+
+"Confess, therefore, that this is the wisest course, and without
+conceding too much either to pity or to indulgence, by neither of which
+motives do I any more than Cleon wish you to be influenced, upon the
+plain merits of the case before you, be persuaded by me to try calmly
+those of the Mitylenians whom Paches sent off as guilty, and to leave
+the rest undisturbed. This is at once best for the future, and most
+terrible to your enemies at the present moment; inasmuch as good policy
+against an adversary is superior to the blind attacks of brute force."
+
+Such were the words of Diodotus. The two opinions thus expressed were
+the ones that most directly contradicted each other; and the Athenians,
+notwithstanding their change of feeling, now proceeded to a division,
+in which the show of hands was almost equal, although the motion of
+Diodotus carried the day. Another galley was at once sent off in haste,
+for fear that the first might reach Lesbos in the interval, and the
+city be found destroyed; the first ship having about a day and a
+night's start. Wine and barley-cakes were provided for the vessel by the
+Mitylenian ambassadors, and great promises made if they arrived in time;
+which caused the men to use such diligence upon the voyage that they
+took their meals of barley-cakes kneaded with oil and wine as they
+rowed, and only slept by turns while the others were at the oar. Luckily
+they met with no contrary wind, and the first ship making no haste
+upon so horrid an errand, while the second pressed on in the manner
+described, the first arrived so little before them, that Paches had
+only just had time to read the decree, and to prepare to execute the
+sentence, when the second put into port and prevented the massacre. The
+danger of Mitylene had indeed been great.
+
+The other party whom Paches had sent off as the prime movers in the
+rebellion, were upon Cleon's motion put to death by the Athenians, the
+number being rather more than a thousand. The Athenians also demolished
+the walls of the Mitylenians, and took possession of their ships.
+Afterwards tribute was not imposed upon the Lesbians; but all their
+land, except that of the Methymnians, was divided into three thousand
+allotments, three hundred of which were reserved as sacred for the gods,
+and the rest assigned by lot to Athenian shareholders, who were sent out
+to the island. With these the Lesbians agreed to pay a rent of two
+minae a year for each allotment, and cultivated the land themselves. The
+Athenians also took possession of the towns on the continent belonging
+to the Mitylenians, which thus became for the future subject to Athens.
+Such were the events that took place at Lesbos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+_Fifth Year of the War--Trial and Execution of the Plataeans--
+Corcyraean Revolution_
+
+During the same summer, after the reduction of Lesbos, the Athenians
+under Nicias, son of Niceratus, made an expedition against the island
+of Minoa, which lies off Megara and was used as a fortified post by the
+Megarians, who had built a tower upon it. Nicias wished to enable the
+Athenians to maintain their blockade from this nearer station instead
+of from Budorum and Salamis; to stop the Peloponnesian galleys and
+privateers sailing out unobserved from the island, as they had been in
+the habit of doing; and at the same time prevent anything from coming
+into Megara. Accordingly, after taking two towers projecting on the side
+of Nisaea, by engines from the sea, and clearing the entrance into the
+channel between the island and the shore, he next proceeded to cut off
+all communication by building a wall on the mainland at the point where
+a bridge across a morass enabled succours to be thrown into the island,
+which was not far off from the continent. A few days sufficing to
+accomplish this, he afterwards raised some works in the island also, and
+leaving a garrison there, departed with his forces.
+
+About the same time in this summer, the Plataeans, being now without
+provisions and unable to support the siege, surrendered to the
+Peloponnesians in the following manner. An assault had been made upon
+the wall, which the Plataeans were unable to repel. The Lacedaemonian
+commander, perceiving their weakness, wished to avoid taking the place
+by storm; his instructions from Lacedaemon having been so conceived, in
+order that if at any future time peace should be made with Athens, and
+they should agree each to restore the places that they had taken in the
+war, Plataea might be held to have come over voluntarily, and not be
+included in the list. He accordingly sent a herald to them to ask
+if they were willing voluntarily to surrender the town to the
+Lacedaemonians, and accept them as their judges, upon the understanding
+that the guilty should be punished, but no one without form of law. The
+Plataeans were now in the last state of weakness, and the herald had
+no sooner delivered his message than they surrendered the town. The
+Peloponnesians fed them for some days until the judges from Lacedaemon,
+who were five in number, arrived. Upon their arrival no charge was
+preferred; they simply called up the Plataeans, and asked them whether
+they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the war
+then raging. The Plataeans asked leave to speak at greater length,
+and deputed two of their number to represent them: Astymachus, son of
+Asopolaus, and Lacon, son of Aeimnestus, proxenus of the Lacedaemonians,
+who came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+"Lacedaemonians, when we surrendered our city we trusted in you, and
+looked forward to a trial more agreeable to the forms of law than the
+present, to which we had no idea of being subjected; the judges also in
+whose hands we consented to place ourselves were you, and you only (from
+whom we thought we were most likely to obtain justice), and not other
+persons, as is now the case. As matters stand, we are afraid that we
+have been doubly deceived. We have good reason to suspect, not only that
+the issue to be tried is the most terrible of all, but that you will not
+prove impartial; if we may argue from the fact that no accusation was
+first brought forward for us to answer, but we had ourselves to ask
+leave to speak, and from the question being put so shortly, that a true
+answer to it tells against us, while a false one can be contradicted. In
+this dilemma, our safest, and indeed our only course, seems to be to say
+something at all risks: placed as we are, we could scarcely be silent
+without being tormented by the damning thought that speaking might have
+saved us. Another difficulty that we have to encounter is the difficulty
+of convincing you. Were we unknown to each other we might profit by
+bringing forward new matter with which you were unacquainted: as it is,
+we can tell you nothing that you do not know already, and we fear, not
+that you have condemned us in your own minds of having failed in our
+duty towards you, and make this our crime, but that to please a third
+party we have to submit to a trial the result of which is already
+decided. Nevertheless, we will place before you what we can justly urge,
+not only on the question of the quarrel which the Thebans have against
+us, but also as addressing you and the rest of the Hellenes; and we will
+remind you of our good services, and endeavour to prevail with you.
+
+"To your short question, whether we have done the Lacedaemonians and
+allies any service in this war, we say, if you ask us as enemies, that
+to refrain from serving you was not to do you injury; if as friends,
+that you are more in fault for having marched against us. During the
+peace, and against the Mede, we acted well: we have not now been the
+first to break the peace, and we were the only Boeotians who then joined
+in defending against the Mede the liberty of Hellas. Although an inland
+people, we were present at the action at Artemisium; in the battle that
+took place in our territory we fought by the side of yourselves and
+Pausanias; and in all the other Hellenic exploits of the time we took
+a part quite out of proportion to our strength. Besides, you, as
+Lacedaemonians, ought not to forget that at the time of the great panic
+at Sparta, after the earthquake, caused by the secession of the Helots
+to Ithome, we sent the third part of our citizens to assist you.
+
+"On these great and historical occasions such was the part that we
+chose, although afterwards we became your enemies. For this you were to
+blame. When we asked for your alliance against our Theban oppressors,
+you rejected our petition, and told us to go to the Athenians who were
+our neighbours, as you lived too far off. In the war we never have done
+to you, and never should have done to you, anything unreasonable. If we
+refused to desert the Athenians when you asked us, we did no wrong; they
+had helped us against the Thebans when you drew back, and we could no
+longer give them up with honour; especially as we had obtained their
+alliance and had been admitted to their citizenship at our own request,
+and after receiving benefits at their hands; but it was plainly our duty
+loyally to obey their orders. Besides, the faults that either of you may
+commit in your supremacy must be laid, not upon the followers, but on
+the chiefs that lead them astray.
+
+"With regard to the Thebans, they have wronged us repeatedly, and
+their last aggression, which has been the means of bringing us into our
+present position, is within your own knowledge. In seizing our city in
+time of peace, and what is more at a holy time in the month, they justly
+encountered our vengeance, in accordance with the universal law which
+sanctions resistance to an invader; and it cannot now be right that we
+should suffer on their account. By taking your own immediate interest
+and their animosity as the test of justice, you will prove yourselves to
+be rather waiters on expediency than judges of right; although if they
+seem useful to you now, we and the rest of the Hellenes gave you
+much more valuable help at a time of greater need. Now you are the
+assailants, and others fear you; but at the crisis to which we allude,
+when the barbarian threatened all with slavery, the Thebans were on
+his side. It is just, therefore, to put our patriotism then against
+our error now, if error there has been; and you will find the merit
+outweighing the fault, and displayed at a juncture when there were few
+Hellenes who would set their valour against the strength of Xerxes,
+and when greater praise was theirs who preferred the dangerous path of
+honour to the safe course of consulting their own interest with respect
+to the invasion. To these few we belonged, and highly were we honoured
+for it; and yet we now fear to perish by having again acted on the same
+principles, and chosen to act well with Athens sooner than wisely with
+Sparta. Yet in justice the same cases should be decided in the same way,
+and policy should not mean anything else than lasting gratitude for
+the service of good ally combined with a proper attention to one's own
+immediate interest.
+
+"Consider also that at present the Hellenes generally regard you as a
+pattern of worth and honour; and if you pass an unjust sentence upon us
+in this which is no obscure cause, but one in which you, the judges,
+are as illustrious as we, the prisoners, are blameless, take care
+that displeasure be not felt at an unworthy decision in the matter of
+honourable men made by men yet more honourable than they, and at the
+consecration in the national temples of spoils taken from the
+Plataeans, the benefactors of Hellas. Shocking indeed will it seem for
+Lacedaemonians to destroy Plataea, and for the city whose name your
+fathers inscribed upon the tripod at Delphi for its good service, to
+be by you blotted out from the map of Hellas, to please the Thebans. To
+such a depth of misfortune have we fallen that, while the Medes' success
+had been our ruin, Thebans now supplant us in your once fond regards;
+and we have been subjected to two dangers, the greatest of any--that of
+dying of starvation then, if we had not surrendered our town, and now of
+being tried for our lives. So that we Plataeans, after exertions beyond
+our power in the cause of the Hellenes, are rejected by all, forsaken
+and unassisted; helped by none of our allies, and reduced to doubt the
+stability of our only hope, yourselves.
+
+"Still, in the name of the gods who once presided over our confederacy,
+and of our own good service in the Hellenic cause, we adjure you to
+relent; to recall the decision which we fear that the Thebans may have
+obtained from you; to ask back the gift that you have given them, that
+they disgrace not you by slaying us; to gain a pure instead of a guilty
+gratitude, and not to gratify others to be yourselves rewarded with
+shame. Our lives may be quickly taken, but it will be a heavy task to
+wipe away the infamy of the deed; as we are no enemies whom you might
+justly punish, but friends forced into taking arms against you. To grant
+us our lives would be, therefore, a righteous judgment; if you consider
+also that we are prisoners who surrendered of their own accord,
+stretching out our hands for quarter, whose slaughter Hellenic law
+forbids, and who besides were always your benefactors. Look at the
+sepulchres of your fathers, slain by the Medes and buried in our
+country, whom year by year we honoured with garments and all other dues,
+and the first-fruits of all that our land produced in their season,
+as friends from a friendly country and allies to our old companions
+in arms. Should you not decide aright, your conduct would be the very
+opposite to ours. Consider only: Pausanias buried them thinking that he
+was laying them in friendly ground and among men as friendly; but you,
+if you kill us and make the Plataean territory Theban, will leave
+your fathers and kinsmen in a hostile soil and among their murderers,
+deprived of the honours which they now enjoy. What is more, you will
+enslave the land in which the freedom of the Hellenes was won, make
+desolate the temples of the gods to whom they prayed before they
+overcame the Medes, and take away your ancestral sacrifices from those
+who founded and instituted them.
+
+"It were not to your glory, Lacedaemonians, either to offend in this way
+against the common law of the Hellenes and against your own ancestors,
+or to kill us your benefactors to gratify another's hatred without
+having been wronged yourselves: it were more so to spare us and to yield
+to the impressions of a reasonable compassion; reflecting not merely
+on the awful fate in store for us, but also on the character of the
+sufferers, and on the impossibility of predicting how soon misfortune
+may fall even upon those who deserve it not. We, as we have a right to
+do and as our need impels us, entreat you, calling aloud upon the gods
+at whose common altar all the Hellenes worship, to hear our request, to
+be not unmindful of the oaths which your fathers swore, and which we
+now plead--we supplicate you by the tombs of your fathers, and appeal
+to those that are gone to save us from falling into the hands of the
+Thebans and their dearest friends from being given up to their most
+detested foes. We also remind you of that day on which we did the most
+glorious deeds, by your fathers' sides, we who now on this are like to
+suffer the most dreadful fate. Finally, to do what is necessary and
+yet most difficult for men in our situation--that is, to make an end of
+speaking, since with that ending the peril of our lives draws near--in
+conclusion we say that we did not surrender our city to the Thebans (to
+that we would have preferred inglorious starvation), but trusted in and
+capitulated to you; and it would be just, if we fail to persuade you, to
+put us back in the same position and let us take the chance that falls
+to us. And at the same time we adjure you not to give us up--your
+suppliants, Lacedaemonians, out of your hands and faith, Plataeans
+foremost of the Hellenic patriots, to Thebans, our most hated
+enemies--but to be our saviours, and not, while you free the rest of the
+Hellenes, to bring us to destruction."
+
+Such were the words of the Plataeans. The Thebans, afraid that the
+Lacedaemonians might be moved by what they had heard, came forward and
+said that they too desired to address them, since the Plataeans had,
+against their wish, been allowed to speak at length instead of being
+confined to a simple answer to the question. Leave being granted, the
+Thebans spoke as follows:
+
+"We should never have asked to make this speech if the Plataeans on
+their side had contented themselves with shortly answering the question,
+and had not turned round and made charges against us, coupled with a
+long defence of themselves upon matters outside the present inquiry and
+not even the subject of accusation, and with praise of what no one
+finds fault with. However, since they have done so, we must answer their
+charges and refute their self-praise, in order that neither our bad name
+nor their good may help them, but that you may hear the real truth on
+both points, and so decide.
+
+"The origin of our quarrel was this. We settled Plataea some time after
+the rest of Boeotia, together with other places out of which we had
+driven the mixed population. The Plataeans not choosing to recognize our
+supremacy, as had been first arranged, but separating themselves from
+the rest of the Boeotians, and proving traitors to their nationality,
+we used compulsion; upon which they went over to the Athenians, and with
+them did as much harm, for which we retaliated.
+
+"Next, when the barbarian invaded Hellas, they say that they were the
+only Boeotians who did not Medize; and this is where they most glorify
+themselves and abuse us. We say that if they did not Medize, it was
+because the Athenians did not do so either; just as afterwards when the
+Athenians attacked the Hellenes they, the Plataeans, were again the only
+Boeotians who Atticized. And yet consider the forms of our respective
+governments when we so acted. Our city at that juncture had neither an
+oligarchical constitution in which all the nobles enjoyed equal
+rights, nor a democracy, but that which is most opposed to law and good
+government and nearest a tyranny--the rule of a close cabal. These,
+hoping to strengthen their individual power by the success of the Mede,
+kept down by force the people, and brought him into the town. The city
+as a whole was not its own mistress when it so acted, and ought not to
+be reproached for the errors that it committed while deprived of its
+constitution. Examine only how we acted after the departure of the Mede
+and the recovery of the constitution; when the Athenians attacked the
+rest of Hellas and endeavoured to subjugate our country, of the greater
+part of which faction had already made them masters. Did not we fight
+and conquer at Coronea and liberate Boeotia, and do we not now actively
+contribute to the liberation of the rest, providing horses to the cause
+and a force unequalled by that of any other state in the confederacy?
+
+"Let this suffice to excuse us for our Medism. We will now endeavour
+to show that you have injured the Hellenes more than we, and are more
+deserving of condign punishment. It was in defence against us, say you,
+that you became allies and citizens of Athens. If so, you ought only
+to have called in the Athenians against us, instead of joining them in
+attacking others: it was open to you to do this if you ever felt that
+they were leading you where you did not wish to follow, as Lacedaemon
+was already your ally against the Mede, as you so much insist; and this
+was surely sufficient to keep us off, and above all to allow you to
+deliberate in security. Nevertheless, of your own choice and without
+compulsion you chose to throw your lot in with Athens. And you say that
+it had been base for you to betray your benefactors; but it was surely
+far baser and more iniquitous to sacrifice the whole body of the
+Hellenes, your fellow confederates, who were liberating Hellas, than the
+Athenians only, who were enslaving it. The return that you made them was
+therefore neither equal nor honourable, since you called them in, as you
+say, because you were being oppressed yourselves, and then became their
+accomplices in oppressing others; although baseness rather consists in
+not returning like for like than in not returning what is justly due but
+must be unjustly paid.
+
+"Meanwhile, after thus plainly showing that it was not for the sake
+of the Hellenes that you alone then did not Medize, but because the
+Athenians did not do so either, and you wished to side with them and
+to be against the rest; you now claim the benefit of good deeds done
+to please your neighbours. This cannot be admitted: you chose the
+Athenians, and with them you must stand or fall. Nor can you plead the
+league then made and claim that it should now protect you. You abandoned
+that league, and offended against it by helping instead of hindering the
+subjugation of the Aeginetans and others of its members, and that not
+under compulsion, but while in enjoyment of the same institutions that
+you enjoy to the present hour, and no one forcing you as in our case.
+Lastly, an invitation was addressed to you before you were blockaded
+to be neutral and join neither party: this you did not accept. Who then
+merit the detestation of the Hellenes more justly than you, you who
+sought their ruin under the mask of honour? The former virtues that you
+allege you now show not to be proper to your character; the real bent of
+your nature has been at length damningly proved: when the Athenians took
+the path of injustice you followed them.
+
+"Of our unwilling Medism and your wilful Atticizing this then is our
+explanation. The last wrong wrong of which you complain consists in our
+having, as you say, lawlessly invaded your town in time of peace and
+festival. Here again we cannot think that we were more in fault than
+yourselves. If of our own proper motion we made an armed attack upon
+your city and ravaged your territory, we are guilty; but if the first
+men among you in estate and family, wishing to put an end to the foreign
+connection and to restore you to the common Boeotian country, of their
+own free will invited us, wherein is our crime? Where wrong is done,
+those who lead, as you say, are more to blame than those who follow. Not
+that, in our judgment, wrong was done either by them or by us. Citizens
+like yourselves, and with more at stake than you, they opened their own
+walls and introduced us into their own city, not as foes but as friends,
+to prevent the bad among you from becoming worse; to give honest men
+their due; to reform principles without attacking persons, since
+you were not to be banished from your city, but brought home to your
+kindred, nor to be made enemies to any, but friends alike to all.
+
+"That our intention was not hostile is proved by our behaviour. We did
+no harm to any one, but publicly invited those who wished to live under
+a national, Boeotian government to come over to us; which as first you
+gladly did, and made an agreement with us and remained tranquil, until
+you became aware of the smallness of our numbers. Now it is possible
+that there may have been something not quite fair in our entering
+without the consent of your commons. At any rate you did not repay us in
+kind. Instead of refraining, as we had done, from violence, and inducing
+us to retire by negotiation, you fell upon us in violation of your
+agreement, and slew some of us in fight, of which we do not so much
+complain, for in that there was a certain justice; but others who held
+out their hands and received quarter, and whose lives you subsequently
+promised us, you lawlessly butchered. If this was not abominable, what
+is? And after these three crimes committed one after the other--the
+violation of your agreement, the murder of the men afterwards, and the
+lying breach of your promise not to kill them, if we refrained from
+injuring your property in the country--you still affirm that we are the
+criminals and yourselves pretend to escape justice. Not so, if these
+your judges decide aright, but you will be punished for all together.
+
+"Such, Lacedaemonians, are the facts. We have gone into them at some
+length both on your account and on our own, that you may fed that
+you will justly condemn the prisoners, and we, that we have given an
+additional sanction to our vengeance. We would also prevent you from
+being melted by hearing of their past virtues, if any such they had:
+these may be fairly appealed to by the victims of injustice, but only
+aggravate the guilt of criminals, since they offend against their better
+nature. Nor let them gain anything by crying and wailing, by calling
+upon your fathers' tombs and their own desolate condition. Against this
+we point to the far more dreadful fate of our youth, butchered at their
+hands; the fathers of whom either fell at Coronea, bringing Boeotia over
+to you, or seated, forlorn old men by desolate hearths, with far more
+reason implore your justice upon the prisoners. The pity which they
+appeal to is rather due to men who suffer unworthily; those who suffer
+justly as they do are on the contrary subjects for triumph. For their
+present desolate condition they have themselves to blame, since they
+wilfully rejected the better alliance. Their lawless act was not
+provoked by any action of ours: hate, not justice, inspired their
+decision; and even now the satisfaction which they afford us is not
+adequate; they will suffer by a legal sentence, not as they pretend
+as suppliants asking for quarter in battle, but as prisoners who have
+surrendered upon agreement to take their trial. Vindicate, therefore,
+Lacedaemonians, the Hellenic law which they have broken; and to us, the
+victims of its violation, grant the reward merited by our zeal. Nor let
+us be supplanted in your favour by their harangues, but offer an example
+to the Hellenes, that the contests to which you invite them are of
+deeds, not words: good deeds can be shortly stated, but where wrong is
+done a wealth of language is needed to veil its deformity. However, if
+leading powers were to do what you are now doing, and putting one short
+question to all alike were to decide accordingly, men would be less
+tempted to seek fine phrases to cover bad actions."
+
+Such were the words of the Thebans. The Lacedaemonian judges decided
+that the question whether they had received any service from the
+Plataeans in the war, was a fair one for them to put; as they had
+always invited them to be neutral, agreeably to the original covenant of
+Pausanias after the defeat of the Mede, and had again definitely offered
+them the same conditions before the blockade. This offer having
+been refused, they were now, they conceived, by the loyalty of their
+intention released from their covenant; and having, as they considered,
+suffered evil at the hands of the Plataeans, they brought them in again
+one by one and asked each of them the same question, that is to say,
+whether they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the
+war; and upon their saying that they had not, took them out and slew
+them, all without exception. The number of Plataeans thus massacred was
+not less than two hundred, with twenty-five Athenians who had shared in
+the siege. The women were taken as slaves. The city the Thebans gave
+for about a year to some political emigrants from Megara and to the
+surviving Plataeans of their own party to inhabit, and afterwards razed
+it to the ground from the very foundations, and built on to the precinct
+of Hera an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all round above
+and below, making use for this purpose of the roofs and doors of the
+Plataeans: of the rest of the materials in the wall, the brass and the
+iron, they made couches which they dedicated to Hera, for whom they also
+built a stone chapel of a hundred feet square. The land they confiscated
+and let out on a ten years' lease to Theban occupiers. The adverse
+attitude of the Lacedaemonians in the whole Plataean affair was mainly
+adopted to please the Thebans, who were thought to be useful in the war
+at that moment raging. Such was the end of Plataea, in the ninety-third
+year after she became the ally of Athens.
+
+Meanwhile, the forty ships of the Peloponnesians that had gone to the
+relief of the Lesbians, and which we left flying across the open
+sea, pursued by the Athenians, were caught in a storm off Crete, and
+scattering from thence made their way to Peloponnese, where they found
+at Cyllene thirteen Leucadian and Ambraciot galleys, with Brasidas, son
+of Tellis, lately arrived as counsellor to Alcidas; the Lacedaemonians,
+upon the failure of the Lesbian expedition, having resolved to
+strengthen their fleet and sail to Corcyra, where a revolution had
+broken out, so as to arrive there before the twelve Athenian ships at
+Naupactus could be reinforced from Athens. Brasidas and Alcidas began to
+prepare accordingly.
+
+The Corcyraean revolution began with the return of the prisoners taken
+in the sea-fights off Epidamnus. These the Corinthians had released,
+nominally upon the security of eight hundred talents given by their
+proxeni, but in reality upon their engagement to bring over Corcyra to
+Corinth. These men proceeded to canvass each of the citizens, and to
+intrigue with the view of detaching the city from Athens. Upon the
+arrival of an Athenian and a Corinthian vessel, with envoys on board, a
+conference was held in which the Corcyraeans voted to remain allies of
+the Athenians according to their agreement, but to be friends of the
+Peloponnesians as they had been formerly. Meanwhile, the returned
+prisoners brought Peithias, a volunteer proxenus of the Athenians and
+leader of the commons, to trial, upon the charge of enslaving Corcyra to
+Athens. He, being acquitted, retorted by accusing five of the richest
+of their number of cutting stakes in the ground sacred to Zeus and
+Alcinous; the legal penalty being a stater for each stake. Upon their
+conviction, the amount of the penalty being very large, they seated
+themselves as suppliants in the temples to be allowed to pay it by
+instalments; but Peithias, who was one of the senate, prevailed upon
+that body to enforce the law; upon which the accused, rendered desperate
+by the law, and also learning that Peithias had the intention, while
+still a member of the senate, to persuade the people to conclude a
+defensive and offensive alliance with Athens, banded together armed with
+daggers, and suddenly bursting into the senate killed Peithias and sixty
+others, senators and private persons; some few only of the party
+of Peithias taking refuge in the Athenian galley, which had not yet
+departed.
+
+After this outrage, the conspirators summoned the Corcyraeans to an
+assembly, and said that this would turn out for the best, and would
+save them from being enslaved by Athens: for the future, they moved
+to receive neither party unless they came peacefully in a single ship,
+treating any larger number as enemies. This motion made, they compelled
+it to be adopted, and instantly sent off envoys to Athens to justify
+what had been done and to dissuade the refugees there from any hostile
+proceedings which might lead to a reaction.
+
+Upon the arrival of the embassy, the Athenians arrested the envoys and
+all who listened to them, as revolutionists, and lodged them in Aegina.
+Meanwhile a Corinthian galley arriving in the island with Lacedaemonian
+envoys, the dominant Corcyraean party attacked the commons and defeated
+them in battle. Night coming on, the commons took refuge in the
+Acropolis and the higher parts of the city, and concentrated themselves
+there, having also possession of the Hyllaic harbour; their adversaries
+occupying the market-place, where most of them lived, and the harbour
+adjoining, looking towards the mainland.
+
+The next day passed in skirmishes of little importance, each party
+sending into the country to offer freedom to the slaves and to invite
+them to join them. The mass of the slaves answered the appeal of the
+commons; their antagonists being reinforced by eight hundred mercenaries
+from the continent.
+
+After a day's interval hostilities recommenced, victory remaining with
+the commons, who had the advantage in numbers and position, the women
+also valiantly assisting them, pelting with tiles from the houses, and
+supporting the melee with a fortitude beyond their sex. Towards dusk,
+the oligarchs in full rout, fearing that the victorious commons might
+assault and carry the arsenal and put them to the sword, fired the
+houses round the marketplace and the lodging-houses, in order to bar
+their advance; sparing neither their own, nor those of their neighbours;
+by which much stuff of the merchants was consumed and the city risked
+total destruction, if a wind had come to help the flame by blowing on
+it. Hostilities now ceasing, both sides kept quiet, passing the night
+on guard, while the Corinthian ship stole out to sea upon the victory
+of the commons, and most of the mercenaries passed over secretly to the
+continent.
+
+The next day the Athenian general, Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes, came
+up from Naupactus with twelve ships and five hundred Messenian heavy
+infantry. He at once endeavoured to bring about a settlement, and
+persuaded the two parties to agree together to bring to trial ten of the
+ringleaders, who presently fled, while the rest were to live in
+peace, making terms with each other, and entering into a defensive and
+offensive alliance with the Athenians. This arranged, he was about to
+sail away, when the leaders of the commons induced him to leave them
+five of his ships to make their adversaries less disposed to move, while
+they manned and sent with him an equal number of their own. He had no
+sooner consented, than they began to enroll their enemies for the
+ships; and these, fearing that they might be sent off to Athens, seated
+themselves as suppliants in the temple of the Dioscuri. An attempt on
+the part of Nicostratus to reassure them and to persuade them to rise
+proving unsuccessful, the commons armed upon this pretext, alleging
+the refusal of their adversaries to sail with them as a proof of the
+hollowness of their intentions, and took their arms out of their houses,
+and would have dispatched some whom they fell in with, if Nicostratus
+had not prevented it. The rest of the party, seeing what was going on,
+seated themselves as suppliants in the temple of Hera, being not less
+than four hundred in number; until the commons, fearing that they might
+adopt some desperate resolution, induced them to rise, and conveyed them
+over to the island in front of the temple, where provisions were sent
+across to them.
+
+At this stage in the revolution, on the fourth or fifth day after the
+removal of the men to the island, the Peloponnesian ships arrived from
+Cyllene where they had been stationed since their return from Ionia,
+fifty-three in number, still under the command of Alcidas, but with
+Brasidas also on board as his adviser; and dropping anchor at Sybota, a
+harbour on the mainland, at daybreak made sail for Corcyra.
+
+The Corcyraeans in great confusion and alarm at the state of things in
+the city and at the approach of the invader, at once proceeded to equip
+sixty vessels, which they sent out, as fast as they were manned, against
+the enemy, in spite of the Athenians recommending them to let them sail
+out first, and to follow themselves afterwards with all their ships
+together. Upon their vessels coming up to the enemy in this straggling
+fashion, two immediately deserted: in others the crews were fighting
+among themselves, and there was no order in anything that was done; so
+that the Peloponnesians, seeing their confusion, placed twenty ships to
+oppose the Corcyraeans, and ranged the rest against the twelve Athenian
+ships, amongst which were the two vessels Salaminia and Paralus.
+
+While the Corcyraeans, attacking without judgment and in small
+detachments, were already crippled by their own misconduct, the
+Athenians, afraid of the numbers of the enemy and of being surrounded,
+did not venture to attack the main body or even the centre of the
+division opposed to them, but fell upon its wing and sank one vessel;
+after which the Peloponnesians formed in a circle, and the Athenians
+rowed round them and tried to throw them into disorder. Perceiving this,
+the division opposed to the Corcyraeans, fearing a repetition of the
+disaster of Naupactus, came to support their friends, and the whole
+fleet now bore down, united, upon the Athenians, who retired before it,
+backing water, retiring as leisurely as possible in order to give the
+Corcyraeans time to escape, while the enemy was thus kept occupied. Such
+was the character of this sea-fight, which lasted until sunset.
+
+The Corcyraeans now feared that the enemy would follow up their victory
+and sail against the town and rescue the men in the island, or strike
+some other blow equally decisive, and accordingly carried the men
+over again to the temple of Hera, and kept guard over the city. The
+Peloponnesians, however, although victorious in the sea-fight, did not
+venture to attack the town, but took the thirteen Corcyraean vessels
+which they had captured, and with them sailed back to the continent
+from whence they had put out. The next day equally they refrained
+from attacking the city, although the disorder and panic were at their
+height, and though Brasidas, it is said, urged Alcidas, his superior
+officer, to do so, but they landed upon the promontory of Leukimme and
+laid waste the country.
+
+Meanwhile the commons in Corcyra, being still in great fear of the fleet
+attacking them, came to a parley with the suppliants and their friends,
+in order to save the town; and prevailed upon some of them to go on
+board the ships, of which they still manned thirty, against the expected
+attack. But the Peloponnesians after ravaging the country until midday
+sailed away, and towards nightfall were informed by beacon signals of
+the approach of sixty Athenian vessels from Leucas, under the command of
+Eurymedon, son of Thucles; which had been sent off by the Athenians upon
+the news of the revolution and of the fleet with Alcidas being about to
+sail for Corcyra.
+
+The Peloponnesians accordingly at once set off in haste by night for
+home, coasting along shore; and hauling their ships across the Isthmus
+of Leucas, in order not to be seen doubling it, so departed. The
+Corcyraeans, made aware of the approach of the Athenian fleet and of the
+departure of the enemy, brought the Messenians from outside the walls
+into the town, and ordered the fleet which they had manned to sail round
+into the Hyllaic harbour; and while it was so doing, slew such of their
+enemies as they laid hands on, dispatching afterwards, as they landed
+them, those whom they had persuaded to go on board the ships. Next they
+went to the sanctuary of Hera and persuaded about fifty men to take
+their trial, and condemned them all to death. The mass of the suppliants
+who had refused to do so, on seeing what was taking place, slew each
+other there in the consecrated ground; while some hanged themselves upon
+the trees, and others destroyed themselves as they were severally
+able. During seven days that Eurymedon stayed with his sixty ships, the
+Corcyraeans were engaged in butchering those of their fellow citizens
+whom they regarded as their enemies: and although the crime imputed was
+that of attempting to put down the democracy, some were slain also for
+private hatred, others by their debtors because of the moneys owed to
+them. Death thus raged in every shape; and, as usually happens at such
+times, there was no length to which violence did not go; sons were
+killed by their fathers, and suppliants dragged from the altar or slain
+upon it; while some were even walled up in the temple of Dionysus and
+died there.
+
+So bloody was the march of the revolution, and the impression which it
+made was the greater as it was one of the first to occur. Later on, one
+may say, the whole Hellenic world was convulsed; struggles being every,
+where made by the popular chiefs to bring in the Athenians, and by the
+oligarchs to introduce the Lacedaemonians. In peace there would have
+been neither the pretext nor the wish to make such an invitation; but
+in war, with an alliance always at the command of either faction for
+the hurt of their adversaries and their own corresponding advantage,
+opportunities for bringing in the foreigner were never wanting to the
+revolutionary parties. The sufferings which revolution entailed upon
+the cities were many and terrible, such as have occurred and always will
+occur, as long as the nature of mankind remains the same; though in a
+severer or milder form, and varying in their symptoms, according to the
+variety of the particular cases. In peace and prosperity, states and
+individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find themselves
+suddenly confronted with imperious necessities; but war takes away the
+easy supply of daily wants, and so proves a rough master, that brings
+most men's characters to a level with their fortunes. Revolution thus
+ran its course from city to city, and the places which it arrived at
+last, from having heard what had been done before, carried to a still
+greater excess the refinement of their inventions, as manifested in the
+cunning of their enterprises and the atrocity of their reprisals. Words
+had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now
+given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a
+loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held
+to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question,
+inaptness to act on any. Frantic violence became the attribute of
+manliness; cautious plotting, a justifiable means of self-defence. The
+advocate of extreme measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a
+man to be suspected. To succeed in a plot was to have a shrewd head, to
+divine a plot a still shrewder; but to try to provide against having
+to do either was to break up your party and to be afraid of your
+adversaries. In fine, to forestall an intending criminal, or to suggest
+the idea of a crime where it was wanting, was equally commended until
+even blood became a weaker tie than party, from the superior readiness
+of those united by the latter to dare everything without reserve;
+for such associations had not in view the blessings derivable from
+established institutions but were formed by ambition for their
+overthrow; and the confidence of their members in each other rested
+less on any religious sanction than upon complicity in crime. The fair
+proposals of an adversary were met with jealous precautions by the
+stronger of the two, and not with a generous confidence. Revenge
+also was held of more account than self-preservation. Oaths of
+reconciliation, being only proffered on either side to meet an immediate
+difficulty, only held good so long as no other weapon was at hand; but
+when opportunity offered, he who first ventured to seize it and to take
+his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious vengeance sweeter than
+an open one, since, considerations of safety apart, success by treachery
+won him the palm of superior intelligence. Indeed it is generally the
+case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest,
+and are as ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the
+first. The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from
+greed and ambition; and from these passions proceeded the violence of
+parties once engaged in contention. The leaders in the cities, each
+provided with the fairest professions, on the one side with the cry
+of political equality of the people, on the other of a moderate
+aristocracy, sought prizes for themselves in those public interests
+which they pretended to cherish, and, recoiling from no means in their
+struggles for ascendancy engaged in the direst excesses; in their acts
+of vengeance they went to even greater lengths, not stopping at what
+justice or the good of the state demanded, but making the party caprice
+of the moment their only standard, and invoking with equal readiness the
+condemnation of an unjust verdict or the authority of the strong arm
+to glut the animosities of the hour. Thus religion was in honour with
+neither party; but the use of fair phrases to arrive at guilty ends was
+in high reputation. Meanwhile the moderate part of the citizens perished
+between the two, either for not joining in the quarrel, or because envy
+would not suffer them to escape.
+
+Thus every form of iniquity took root in the Hellenic countries by
+reason of the troubles. The ancient simplicity into which honour so
+largely entered was laughed down and disappeared; and society became
+divided into camps in which no man trusted his fellow. To put an end to
+this, there was neither promise to be depended upon, nor oath that could
+command respect; but all parties dwelling rather in their calculation
+upon the hopelessness of a permanent state of things, were more intent
+upon self-defence than capable of confidence. In this contest
+the blunter wits were most successful. Apprehensive of their own
+deficiencies and of the cleverness of their antagonists, they feared to
+be worsted in debate and to be surprised by the combinations of their
+more versatile opponents, and so at once boldly had recourse to action:
+while their adversaries, arrogantly thinking that they should know
+in time, and that it was unnecessary to secure by action what policy
+afforded, often fell victims to their want of precaution.
+
+Meanwhile Corcyra gave the first example of most of the crimes alluded
+to; of the reprisals exacted by the governed who had never experienced
+equitable treatment or indeed aught but insolence from their
+rulers--when their hour came; of the iniquitous resolves of those who
+desired to get rid of their accustomed poverty, and ardently coveted
+their neighbours' goods; and lastly, of the savage and pitiless excesses
+into which men who had begun the struggle, not in a class but in a party
+spirit, were hurried by their ungovernable passions. In the confusion
+into which life was now thrown in the cities, human nature, always
+rebelling against the law and now its master, gladly showed itself
+ungoverned in passion, above respect for justice, and the enemy of all
+superiority; since revenge would not have been set above religion, and
+gain above justice, had it not been for the fatal power of envy. Indeed
+men too often take upon themselves in the prosecution of their revenge
+to set the example of doing away with those general laws to which all
+alike can look for salvation in adversity, instead of allowing them to
+subsist against the day of danger when their aid may be required.
+
+While the revolutionary passions thus for the first time displayed
+themselves in the factions of Corcyra, Eurymedon and the Athenian fleet
+sailed away; after which some five hundred Corcyraean exiles who had
+succeeded in escaping, took some forts on the mainland, and becoming
+masters of the Corcyraean territory over the water, made this their base
+to Plunder their countrymen in the island, and did so much damage as to
+cause a severe famine in the town. They also sent envoys to Lacedaemon
+and Corinth to negotiate their restoration; but meeting with no success,
+afterwards got together boats and mercenaries and crossed over to the
+island, being about six hundred in all; and burning their boats so as to
+have no hope except in becoming masters of the country, went up to Mount
+Istone, and fortifying themselves there, began to annoy those in the
+city and obtained command of the country.
+
+At the close of the same summer the Athenians sent twenty ships
+under the command of Laches, son of Melanopus, and Charoeades, son of
+Euphiletus, to Sicily, where the Syracusans and Leontines were at
+war. The Syracusans had for allies all the Dorian cities except
+Camarina--these had been included in the Lacedaemonian confederacy from
+the commencement of the war, though they had not taken any active part
+in it--the Leontines had Camarina and the Chalcidian cities. In Italy
+the Locrians were for the Syracusans, the Rhegians for their Leontine
+kinsmen. The allies of the Leontines now sent to Athens and appealed
+to their ancient alliance and to their Ionian origin, to persuade the
+Athenians to send them a fleet, as the Syracusans were blockading them
+by land and sea. The Athenians sent it upon the plea of their common
+descent, but in reality to prevent the exportation of Sicilian corn
+to Peloponnese and to test the possibility of bringing Sicily into
+subjection. Accordingly they established themselves at Rhegium in Italy,
+and from thence carried on the war in concert with their allies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+_Year of the War--Campaigns of Demosthenes in Western Greece--Ruin of
+Ambracia_
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following, the plague a second time
+attacked the Athenians; for although it had never entirely left them,
+still there had been a notable abatement in its ravages. The second
+visit lasted no less than a year, the first having lasted two; and
+nothing distressed the Athenians and reduced their power more than this.
+No less than four thousand four hundred heavy infantry in the ranks died
+of it and three hundred cavalry, besides a number of the multitude
+that was never ascertained. At the same time took place the numerous
+earthquakes in Athens, Euboea, and Boeotia, particularly at Orchomenus
+in the last-named country.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily and the Rhegians, with thirty
+ships, made an expedition against the islands of Aeolus; it being
+impossible to invade them in summer, owing to the want of water. These
+islands are occupied by the Liparaeans, a Cnidian colony, who live
+in one of them of no great size called Lipara; and from this as their
+headquarters cultivate the rest, Didyme, Strongyle, and Hiera. In Hiera
+the people in those parts believe that Hephaestus has his forge, from
+the quantity of flame which they see it send out by night, and of smoke
+by day. These islands lie off the coast of the Sicels and Messinese, and
+were allies of the Syracusans. The Athenians laid waste their land,
+and as the inhabitants did not submit, sailed back to Rhegium. Thus the
+winter ended, and with it ended the fifth year of this war, of which
+Thucydides was the historian.
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies set out to invade
+Attica under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, and went as far
+as the Isthmus, but numerous earthquakes occurring, turned back again
+without the invasion taking place. About the same time that these
+earthquakes were so common, the sea at Orobiae, in Euboea, retiring from
+the then line of coast, returned in a huge wave and invaded a great part
+of the town, and retreated leaving some of it still under water; so
+that what was once land is now sea; such of the inhabitants perishing as
+could not run up to the higher ground in time. A similar inundation
+also occurred at Atalanta, the island off the Opuntian Locrian coast,
+carrying away part of the Athenian fort and wrecking one of two ships
+which were drawn up on the beach. At Peparethus also the sea retreated
+a little, without however any inundation following; and an earthquake
+threw down part of the wall, the town hall, and a few other buildings.
+The cause, in my opinion, of this phenomenon must be sought in the
+earthquake. At the point where its shock has been the most violent, the
+sea is driven back and, suddenly recoiling with redoubled force, causes
+the inundation. Without an earthquake I do not see how such an accident
+could happen.
+
+During the same summer different operations were carried on by the
+different belligerents in Sicily; by the Siceliots themselves against
+each other, and by the Athenians and their allies: I shall however
+confine myself to the actions in which the Athenians took part, choosing
+the most important. The death of the Athenian general Charoeades, killed
+by the Syracusans in battle, left Laches in the sole command of the
+fleet, which he now directed in concert with the allies against Mylae,
+a place belonging to the Messinese. Two Messinese battalions in garrison
+at Mylae laid an ambush for the party landing from the ships, but were
+routed with great slaughter by the Athenians and their allies, who
+thereupon assaulted the fortification and compelled them to surrender
+the Acropolis and to march with them upon Messina. This town afterwards
+also submitted upon the approach of the Athenians and their allies, and
+gave hostages and all other securities required.
+
+The same summer the Athenians sent thirty ships round Peloponnese under
+Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, and Procles, son of Theodorus, and
+sixty others, with two thousand heavy infantry, against Melos, under
+Nicias, son of Niceratus; wishing to reduce the Melians, who, although
+islanders, refused to be subjects of Athens or even to join her
+confederacy. The devastation of their land not procuring their
+submission, the fleet, weighing from Melos, sailed to Oropus in the
+territory of Graea, and landing at nightfall, the heavy infantry started
+at once from the ships by land for Tanagra in Boeotia, where they were
+met by the whole levy from Athens, agreeably to a concerted signal,
+under the command of Hipponicus, son of Callias, and Eurymedon, son of
+Thucles. They encamped, and passing that day in ravaging the Tanagraean
+territory, remained there for the night; and next day, after defeating
+those of the Tanagraeans who sailed out against them and some Thebans
+who had come up to help the Tanagraeans, took some arms, set up a
+trophy, and retired, the troops to the city and the others to the ships.
+Nicias with his sixty ships coasted alongshore and ravaged the Locrian
+seaboard, and so returned home.
+
+About this time the Lacedaemonians founded their colony of Heraclea in
+Trachis, their object being the following: the Malians form in all three
+tribes, the Paralians, the Hiereans, and the Trachinians. The last
+of these having suffered severely in a war with their neighbours
+the Oetaeans, at first intended to give themselves up to Athens; but
+afterwards fearing not to find in her the security that they sought,
+sent to Lacedaemon, having chosen Tisamenus for their ambassador. In
+this embassy joined also the Dorians from the mother country of the
+Lacedaemonians, with the same request, as they themselves also suffered
+from the same enemy. After hearing them, the Lacedaemonians determined
+to send out the colony, wishing to assist the Trachinians and Dorians,
+and also because they thought that the proposed town would lie
+conveniently for the purposes of the war against the Athenians. A fleet
+might be got ready there against Euboea, with the advantage of a short
+passage to the island; and the town would also be useful as a station on
+the road to Thrace. In short, everything made the Lacedaemonians
+eager to found the place. After first consulting the god at Delphi and
+receiving a favourable answer, they sent off the colonists, Spartans,
+and Perioeci, inviting also any of the rest of the Hellenes who might
+wish to accompany them, except Ionians, Achaeans, and certain other
+nationalities; three Lacedaemonians leading as founders of the colony,
+Leon, Alcidas, and Damagon. The settlement effected, they fortified anew
+the city, now called Heraclea, distant about four miles and a half from
+Thermopylae and two miles and a quarter from the sea, and commenced
+building docks, closing the side towards Thermopylae just by the pass
+itself, in order that they might be easily defended.
+
+The foundation of this town, evidently meant to annoy Euboea (the
+passage across to Cenaeum in that island being a short one), at first
+caused some alarm at Athens, which the event however did nothing to
+justify, the town never giving them any trouble. The reason of this
+was as follows. The Thessalians, who were sovereign in those parts, and
+whose territory was menaced by its foundation, were afraid that it might
+prove a very powerful neighbour, and accordingly continually harassed
+and made war upon the new settlers, until they at last wore them out in
+spite of their originally considerable numbers, people flocking from
+all quarters to a place founded by the Lacedaemonians, and thus thought
+secure of prosperity. On the other hand the Lacedaemonians themselves,
+in the persons of their governors, did their full share towards ruining
+its prosperity and reducing its population, as they frightened away the
+greater part of the inhabitants by governing harshly and in some cases
+not fairly, and thus made it easier for their neighbours to prevail
+against them.
+
+The same summer, about the same time that the Athenians were detained
+at Melos, their fellow citizens in the thirty ships cruising round
+Peloponnese, after cutting off some guards in an ambush at Ellomenus in
+Leucadia, subsequently went against Leucas itself with a large armament,
+having been reinforced by the whole levy of the Acarnanians except
+Oeniadae, and by the Zacynthians and Cephallenians and fifteen ships
+from Corcyra. While the Leucadians witnessed the devastation of their
+land, without and within the isthmus upon which the town of Leucas and
+the temple of Apollo stand, without making any movement on account
+of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the Acarnanians urged
+Demosthenes, the Athenian general, to build a wall so as to cut off
+the town from the continent, a measure which they were convinced would
+secure its capture and rid them once and for all of a most troublesome
+enemy.
+
+Demosthenes however had in the meanwhile been persuaded by the
+Messenians that it was a fine opportunity for him, having so large an
+army assembled, to attack the Aetolians, who were not only the enemies
+of Naupactus, but whose reduction would further make it easy to gain
+the rest of that part of the continent for the Athenians. The Aetolian
+nation, although numerous and warlike, yet dwelt in unwalled villages
+scattered far apart, and had nothing but light armour, and might,
+according to the Messenians, be subdued without much difficulty before
+succours could arrive. The plan which they recommended was to attack
+first the Apodotians, next the Ophionians, and after these the
+Eurytanians, who are the largest tribe in Aetolia, and speak, as is
+said, a language exceedingly difficult to understand, and eat their
+flesh raw. These once subdued, the rest would easily come in.
+
+To this plan Demosthenes consented, not only to please the Messenians,
+but also in the belief that by adding the Aetolians to his other
+continental allies he would be able, without aid from home, to march
+against the Boeotians by way of Ozolian Locris to Kytinium in Doris,
+keeping Parnassus on his right until he descended to the Phocians, whom
+he could force to join him if their ancient friendship for Athens did
+not, as he anticipated, at once decide them to do so. Arrived in Phocis
+he was already upon the frontier of Boeotia. He accordingly weighed from
+Leucas, against the wish of the Acarnanians, and with his whole armament
+sailed along the coast to Sollium, where he communicated to them his
+intention; and upon their refusing to agree to it on account of the
+non-investment of Leucas, himself with the rest of the forces, the
+Cephallenians, the Messenians, and Zacynthians, and three hundred
+Athenian marines from his own ships (the fifteen Corcyraean vessels
+having departed), started on his expedition against the Aetolians. His
+base he established at Oeneon in Locris, as the Ozolian Locrians were
+allies of Athens and were to meet him with all their forces in the
+interior. Being neighbours of the Aetolians and armed in the same way,
+it was thought that they would be of great service upon the expedition,
+from their acquaintance with the localities and the warfare of the
+inhabitants.
+
+After bivouacking with the army in the precinct of Nemean Zeus, in
+which the poet Hesiod is said to have been killed by the people of the
+country, according to an oracle which had foretold that he should die in
+Nemea, Demosthenes set out at daybreak to invade Aetolia. The first day
+he took Potidania, the next Krokyle, and the third Tichium, where he
+halted and sent back the booty to Eupalium in Locris, having determined
+to pursue his conquests as far as the Ophionians, and, in the event
+of their refusing to submit, to return to Naupactus and make them the
+objects of a second expedition. Meanwhile the Aetolians had been aware
+of his design from the moment of its formation, and as soon as the army
+invaded their country came up in great force with all their tribes;
+even the most remote Ophionians, the Bomiensians, and Calliensians, who
+extend towards the Malian Gulf, being among the number.
+
+The Messenians, however, adhered to their original advice. Assuring
+Demosthenes that the Aetolians were an easy conquest, they urged him to
+push on as rapidly as possible, and to try to take the villages as fast
+as he came up to them, without waiting until the whole nation should be
+in arms against him. Led on by his advisers and trusting in his fortune,
+as he had met with no opposition, without waiting for his Locrian
+reinforcements, who were to have supplied him with the light-armed
+darters in which he was most deficient, he advanced and stormed
+Aegitium, the inhabitants flying before him and posting themselves upon
+the hills above the town, which stood on high ground about nine miles
+from the sea. Meanwhile the Aetolians had gathered to the rescue, and
+now attacked the Athenians and their allies, running down from the hills
+on every side and darting their javelins, falling back when the Athenian
+army advanced, and coming on as it retired; and for a long while the
+battle was of this character, alternate advance and retreat, in both
+which operations the Athenians had the worst.
+
+Still as long as their archers had arrows left and were able to use
+them, they held out, the light-armed Aetolians retiring before the
+arrows; but after the captain of the archers had been killed and his men
+scattered, the soldiers, wearied out with the constant repetition of the
+same exertions and hard pressed by the Aetolians with their javelins, at
+last turned and fled, and falling into pathless gullies and places that
+they were unacquainted with, thus perished, the Messenian Chromon,
+their guide, having also unfortunately been killed. A great many were
+overtaken in the pursuit by the swift-footed and light-armed Aetolians,
+and fell beneath their javelins; the greater number however missed their
+road and rushed into the wood, which had no ways out, and which was soon
+fired and burnt round them by the enemy. Indeed the Athenian army fell
+victims to death in every form, and suffered all the vicissitudes of
+flight; the survivors escaped with difficulty to the sea and Oeneon in
+Locris, whence they had set out. Many of the allies were killed, and
+about one hundred and twenty Athenian heavy infantry, not a man less,
+and all in the prime of life. These were by far the best men in the city
+of Athens that fell during this war. Among the slain was also Procles,
+the colleague of Demosthenes. Meanwhile the Athenians took up their
+dead under truce from the Aetolians, and retired to Naupactus, and from
+thence went in their ships to Athens; Demosthenes staying behind in
+Naupactus and in the neighbourhood, being afraid to face the Athenians
+after the disaster.
+
+About the same time the Athenians on the coast of Sicily sailed to
+Locris, and in a descent which they made from the ships defeated the
+Locrians who came against them, and took a fort upon the river Halex.
+
+The same summer the Aetolians, who before the Athenian expedition had
+sent an embassy to Corinth and Lacedaemon, composed of Tolophus, an
+Ophionian, Boriades, an Eurytanian, and Tisander, an Apodotian, obtained
+that an army should be sent them against Naupactus, which had invited
+the Athenian invasion. The Lacedaemonians accordingly sent off towards
+autumn three thousand heavy infantry of the allies, five hundred of whom
+were from Heraclea, the newly founded city in Trachis, under the command
+of Eurylochus, a Spartan, accompanied by Macarius and Menedaius, also
+Spartans.
+
+The army having assembled at Delphi, Eurylochus sent a herald to the
+Ozolian Locrians; the road to Naupactus lying through their territory,
+and he having besides conceived the idea of detaching them from Athens.
+His chief abettors in Locris were the Amphissians, who were alarmed at
+the hostility of the Phocians. These first gave hostages themselves, and
+induced the rest to do the same for fear of the invading army; first,
+their neighbours the Myonians, who held the most difficult of the
+passes, and after them the Ipnians, Messapians, Tritaeans, Chalaeans,
+Tolophonians, Hessians, and Oeanthians, all of whom joined in the
+expedition; the Olpaeans contenting themselves with giving hostages,
+without accompanying the invasion; and the Hyaeans refusing to do
+either, until the capture of Polis, one of their villages.
+
+His preparations completed, Eurylochus lodged the hostages in Kytinium,
+in Doris, and advanced upon Naupactus through the country of the
+Locrians, taking upon his way Oeneon and Eupalium, two of their towns
+that refused to join him. Arrived in the Naupactian territory, and
+having been now joined by the Aetolians, the army laid waste the land
+and took the suburb of the town, which was unfortified; and after this
+Molycrium also, a Corinthian colony subject to Athens. Meanwhile the
+Athenian Demosthenes, who since the affair in Aetolia had remained near
+Naupactus, having had notice of the army and fearing for the town, went
+and persuaded the Acarnanians, although not without difficulty because
+of his departure from Leucas, to go to the relief of Naupactus. They
+accordingly sent with him on board his ships a thousand heavy infantry,
+who threw themselves into the place and saved it; the extent of its
+wall and the small number of its defenders otherwise placing it in the
+greatest danger. Meanwhile Eurylochus and his companions, finding that
+this force had entered and that it was impossible to storm the town,
+withdrew, not to Peloponnese, but to the country once called Aeolis, and
+now Calydon and Pleuron, and to the places in that neighbourhood, and
+Proschium in Aetolia; the Ambraciots having come and urged them to
+combine with them in attacking Amphilochian Argos and the rest of
+Amphilochia and Acarnania; affirming that the conquest of these
+countries would bring all the continent into alliance with Lacedaemon.
+To this Eurylochus consented, and dismissing the Aetolians, now remained
+quiet with his army in those parts, until the time should come for the
+Ambraciots to take the field, and for him to join them before Argos.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter ensuing, the Athenians in Sicily with
+their Hellenic allies, and such of the Sicel subjects or allies of
+Syracuse as had revolted from her and joined their army, marched
+against the Sicel town Inessa, the acropolis of which was held by
+the Syracusans, and after attacking it without being able to take it,
+retired. In the retreat, the allies retreating after the Athenians were
+attacked by the Syracusans from the fort, and a large part of their army
+routed with great slaughter. After this, Laches and the Athenians from
+the ships made some descents in Locris, and defeating the Locrians,
+who came against them with Proxenus, son of Capaton, upon the river
+Caicinus, took some arms and departed.
+
+The same winter the Athenians purified Delos, in compliance, it appears,
+with a certain oracle. It had been purified before by Pisistratus the
+tyrant; not indeed the whole island, but as much of it as could be seen
+from the temple. All of it was, however, now purified in the following
+way. All the sepulchres of those that had died in Delos were taken up,
+and for the future it was commanded that no one should be allowed either
+to die or to give birth to a child in the island; but that they should
+be carried over to Rhenea, which is so near to Delos that Polycrates,
+tyrant of Samos, having added Rhenea to his other island conquests
+during his period of naval ascendancy, dedicated it to the Delian Apollo
+by binding it to Delos with a chain.
+
+The Athenians, after the purification, celebrated, for the first time,
+the quinquennial festival of the Delian games. Once upon a time,
+indeed, there was a great assemblage of the Ionians and the neighbouring
+islanders at Delos, who used to come to the festival, as the Ionians
+now do to that of Ephesus, and athletic and poetical contests took place
+there, and the cities brought choirs of dancers. Nothing can be clearer
+on this point than the following verses of Homer, taken from a hymn to
+Apollo:
+
+   Phoebus, wherever thou strayest, far or near,
+   Delos was still of all thy haunts most dear.
+   Thither the robed Ionians take their way
+   With wife and child to keep thy holiday,
+   Invoke thy favour on each manly game,
+   And dance and sing in honour of thy name.
+
+That there was also a poetical contest in which the Ionians went to
+contend, again is shown by the following, taken from the same hymn.
+After celebrating the Delian dance of the women, he ends his song of
+praise with these verses, in which he also alludes to himself:
+
+   Well, may Apollo keep you all! and so,
+   Sweethearts, good-bye--yet tell me not I go
+   Out from your hearts; and if in after hours
+   Some other wanderer in this world of ours
+   Touch at your shores, and ask your maidens here
+   Who sings the songs the sweetest to your ear,
+   Think of me then, and answer with a smile,
+   'A blind old man of Scio's rocky isle.'
+
+Homer thus attests that there was anciently a great assembly and
+festival at Delos. In later times, although the islanders and the
+Athenians continued to send the choirs of dancers with sacrifices, the
+contests and most of the ceremonies were abolished, probably through
+adversity, until the Athenians celebrated the games upon this occasion
+with the novelty of horse-races.
+
+The same winter the Ambraciots, as they had promised Eurylochus when
+they retained his army, marched out against Amphilochian Argos with
+three thousand heavy infantry, and invading the Argive territory
+occupied Olpae, a stronghold on a hill near the sea, which had been
+formerly fortified by the Acarnanians and used as the place of assizes
+for their nation, and which is about two miles and three-quarters from
+the city of Argos upon the sea-coast. Meanwhile the Acarnanians went
+with a part of their forces to the relief of Argos, and with the rest
+encamped in Amphilochia at the place called Crenae, or the Wells,
+to watch for Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, and to prevent their
+passing through and effecting their junction with the Ambraciots;
+while they also sent for Demosthenes, the commander of the Aetolian
+expedition, to be their leader, and for the twenty Athenian ships that
+were cruising off Peloponnese under the command of Aristotle, son
+of Timocrates, and Hierophon, son of Antimnestus. On their part, the
+Ambraciots at Olpae sent a messenger to their own city, to beg them to
+come with their whole levy to their assistance, fearing that the army of
+Eurylochus might not be able to pass through the Acarnanians, and that
+they might themselves be obliged to fight single-handed, or be unable to
+retreat, if they wished it, without danger.
+
+Meanwhile Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, learning that the
+Ambraciots at Olpae had arrived, set out from Proschium with all haste
+to join them, and crossing the Achelous advanced through Acarnania,
+which they found deserted by its population, who had gone to the relief
+of Argos; keeping on their right the city of the Stratians and its
+garrison, and on their left the rest of Acarnania. Traversing the
+territory of the Stratians, they advanced through Phytia, next, skirting
+Medeon, through Limnaea; after which they left Acarnania behind them
+and entered a friendly country, that of the Agraeans. From thence they
+reached and crossed Mount Thymaus, which belongs to the Agraeans, and
+descended into the Argive territory after nightfall, and passing
+between the city of Argos and the Acarnanian posts at Crenae, joined the
+Ambraciots at Olpae.
+
+Uniting here at daybreak, they sat down at the place called Metropolis,
+and encamped. Not long afterwards the Athenians in the twenty ships came
+into the Ambracian Gulf to support the Argives, with Demosthenes and two
+hundred Messenian heavy infantry, and sixty Athenian archers. While the
+fleet off Olpae blockaded the hill from the sea, the Acarnanians and a
+few of the Amphilochians, most of whom were kept back by force by the
+Ambraciots, had already arrived at Argos, and were preparing to give
+battle to the enemy, having chosen Demosthenes to command the whole of
+the allied army in concert with their own generals. Demosthenes led them
+near to Olpae and encamped, a great ravine separating the two armies.
+During five days they remained inactive; on the sixth both sides formed
+in order of battle. The army of the Peloponnesians was the largest and
+outflanked their opponents; and Demosthenes fearing that his right might
+be surrounded, placed in ambush in a hollow way overgrown with bushes
+some four hundred heavy infantry and light troops, who were to rise up
+at the moment of the onset behind the projecting left wing of the enemy,
+and to take them in the rear. When both sides were ready they joined
+battle; Demosthenes being on the right wing with the Messenians and a
+few Athenians, while the rest of the line was made up of the different
+divisions of the Acarnanians, and of the Amphilochian carters. The
+Peloponnesians and Ambraciots were drawn up pell-mell together, with
+the exception of the Mantineans, who were massed on the left, without
+however reaching to the extremity of the wing, where Eurylochus and his
+men confronted the Messenians and Demosthenes.
+
+The Peloponnesians were now well engaged and with their outflanking wing
+were upon the point of turning their enemy's right; when the Acarnanians
+from the ambuscade set upon them from behind, and broke them at the
+first attack, without their staying to resist; while the panic into
+which they fell caused the flight of most of their army, terrified
+beyond measure at seeing the division of Eurylochus and their best
+troops cut to pieces. Most of the work was done by Demosthenes and his
+Messenians, who were posted in this part of the field. Meanwhile the
+Ambraciots (who are the best soldiers in those countries) and the troops
+upon the right wing, defeated the division opposed to them and pursued
+it to Argos. Returning from the pursuit, they found their main body
+defeated; and hard pressed by the Acarnanians, with difficulty made good
+their passage to Olpae, suffering heavy loss on the way, as they dashed
+on without discipline or order, the Mantineans excepted, who kept their
+ranks best of any in the army during the retreat.
+
+The battle did not end until the evening. The next day Menedaius, who on
+the death of Eurylochus and Macarius had succeeded to the sole command,
+being at a loss after so signal a defeat how to stay and sustain a
+siege, cut off as he was by land and by the Athenian fleet by sea, and
+equally so how to retreat in safety, opened a parley with Demosthenes
+and the Acarnanian generals for a truce and permission to retreat, and
+at the same time for the recovery of the dead. The dead they gave back
+to him, and setting up a trophy took up their own also to the number of
+about three hundred. The retreat demanded they refused publicly to the
+army; but permission to depart without delay was secretly granted to the
+Mantineans and to Menedaius and the other commanders and principal men
+of the Peloponnesians by Demosthenes and his Acarnanian colleagues; who
+desired to strip the Ambraciots and the mercenary host of foreigners of
+their supporters; and, above all, to discredit the Lacedaemonians
+and Peloponnesians with the Hellenes in those parts, as traitors and
+self-seekers.
+
+While the enemy was taking up his dead and hastily burying them as he
+could, and those who obtained permission were secretly planning their
+retreat, word was brought to Demosthenes and the Acarnanians that the
+Ambraciots from the city, in compliance with the first message from
+Olpae, were on the march with their whole levy through Amphilochia to
+join their countrymen at Olpae, knowing nothing of what had occurred.
+Demosthenes prepared to march with his army against them, and meanwhile
+sent on at once a strong division to beset the roads and occupy the
+strong positions. In the meantime the Mantineans and others included
+in the agreement went out under the pretence of gathering herbs and
+firewood, and stole off by twos and threes, picking on the way the
+things which they professed to have come out for, until they had gone
+some distance from Olpae, when they quickened their pace. The Ambraciots
+and such of the rest as had accompanied them in larger parties, seeing
+them going on, pushed on in their turn, and began running in order to
+catch them up. The Acarnanians at first thought that all alike were
+departing without permission, and began to pursue the Peloponnesians;
+and believing that they were being betrayed, even threw a dart or two at
+some of their generals who tried to stop them and told them that leave
+had been given. Eventually, however, they let pass the Mantineans and
+Peloponnesians, and slew only the Ambraciots, there being much dispute
+and difficulty in distinguishing whether a man was an Ambraciot or a
+Peloponnesian. The number thus slain was about two hundred; the rest
+escaped into the bordering territory of Agraea, and found refuge with
+Salynthius, the friendly king of the Agraeans.
+
+Meanwhile the Ambraciots from the city arrived at Idomene. Idomene
+consists of two lofty hills, the higher of which the troops sent on by
+Demosthenes succeeded in occupying after nightfall, unobserved by the
+Ambraciots, who had meanwhile ascended the smaller and bivouacked under
+it. After supper Demosthenes set out with the rest of the army, as soon
+as it was evening; himself with half his force making for the pass, and
+the remainder going by the Amphilochian hills. At dawn he fell upon the
+Ambraciots while they were still abed, ignorant of what had passed,
+and fully thinking that it was their own countrymen--Demosthenes having
+purposely put the Messenians in front with orders to address them in
+the Doric dialect, and thus to inspire confidence in the sentinels,
+who would not be able to see them as it was still night. In this way he
+routed their army as soon as he attacked it, slaying most of them where
+they were, the rest breaking away in flight over the hills. The roads,
+however, were already occupied, and while the Amphilochians knew their
+own country, the Ambraciots were ignorant of it and could not tell which
+way to turn, and had also heavy armour as against a light-armed enemy,
+and so fell into ravines and into the ambushes which had been set for
+them, and perished there. In their manifold efforts to escape some even
+turned to the sea, which was not far off, and seeing the Athenian ships
+coasting alongshore just while the action was going on, swam off to
+them, thinking it better in the panic they were in, to perish, if perish
+they must, by the hands of the Athenians, than by those of the barbarous
+and detested Amphilochians. Of the large Ambraciot force destroyed
+in this manner, a few only reached the city in safety; while the
+Acarnanians, after stripping the dead and setting up a trophy, returned
+to Argos.
+
+The next day arrived a herald from the Ambraciots who had fled from
+Olpae to the Agraeans, to ask leave to take up the dead that had fallen
+after the first engagement, when they left the camp with the Mantineans
+and their companions, without, like them, having had permission to do
+so. At the sight of the arms of the Ambraciots from the city, the herald
+was astonished at their number, knowing nothing of the disaster and
+fancying that they were those of their own party. Some one asked him
+what he was so astonished at, and how many of them had been killed,
+fancying in his turn that this was the herald from the troops at
+Idomene. He replied: "About two hundred"; upon which his interrogator
+took him up, saying: "Why, the arms you see here are of more than a
+thousand." The herald replied: "Then they are not the arms of those who
+fought with us?" The other answered: "Yes, they are, if at least you
+fought at Idomene yesterday." "But we fought with no one yesterday;
+but the day before in the retreat." "However that may be, we fought
+yesterday with those who came to reinforce you from the city of the
+Ambraciots." When the herald heard this and knew that the reinforcement
+from the city had been destroyed, he broke into wailing and, stunned
+at the magnitude of the present evils, went away at once without having
+performed his errand, or again asking for the dead bodies. Indeed, this
+was by far the greatest disaster that befell any one Hellenic city in an
+equal number of days during this war; and I have not set down the number
+of the dead, because the amount stated seems so out of proportion to
+the size of the city as to be incredible. In any case I know that if
+the Acarnanians and Amphilochians had wished to take Ambracia as the
+Athenians and Demosthenes advised, they would have done so without a
+blow; as it was, they feared that if the Athenians had it they would be
+worse neighbours to them than the present.
+
+After this the Acarnanians allotted a third of the spoils to the
+Athenians, and divided the rest among their own different towns. The
+share of the Athenians was captured on the voyage home; the arms now
+deposited in the Attic temples are three hundred panoplies, which the
+Acarnanians set apart for Demosthenes, and which he brought to Athens
+in person, his return to his country after the Aetolian disaster being
+rendered less hazardous by this exploit. The Athenians in the twenty
+ships also went off to Naupactus. The Acarnanians and Amphilochians,
+after the departure of Demosthenes and the Athenians, granted the
+Ambraciots and Peloponnesians who had taken refuge with Salynthius
+and the Agraeans a free retreat from Oeniadae, to which place they had
+removed from the country of Salynthius, and for the future concluded
+with the Ambraciots a treaty and alliance for one hundred years,
+upon the terms following. It was to be a defensive, not an offensive
+alliance; the Ambraciots could not be required to march with the
+Acarnanians against the Peloponnesians, nor the Acarnanians with the
+Ambraciots against the Athenians; for the rest the Ambraciots were to
+give up the places and hostages that they held of the Amphilochians,
+and not to give help to Anactorium, which was at enmity with the
+Acarnanians. With this arrangement they put an end to the war. After
+this the Corinthians sent a garrison of their own citizens to Ambracia,
+composed of three hundred heavy infantry, under the command of
+Xenocleides, son of Euthycles, who reached their destination after a
+difficult journey across the continent. Such was the history of the
+affair of Ambracia.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily made a descent from their
+ships upon the territory of Himera, in concert with the Sicels, who had
+invaded its borders from the interior, and also sailed to the islands
+of Aeolus. Upon their return to Rhegium they found the Athenian general,
+Pythodorus, son of Isolochus, come to supersede Laches in the command
+of the fleet. The allies in Sicily had sailed to Athens and induced the
+Athenians to send out more vessels to their assistance, pointing out
+that the Syracusans who already commanded their land were making efforts
+to get together a navy, to avoid being any longer excluded from the sea
+by a few vessels. The Athenians proceeded to man forty ships to send to
+them, thinking that the war in Sicily would thus be the sooner
+ended, and also wishing to exercise their navy. One of the generals,
+Pythodorus, was accordingly sent out with a few ships; Sophocles, son
+of Sostratides, and Eurymedon, son of Thucles, being destined to follow
+with the main body. Meanwhile Pythodorus had taken the command of
+Laches' ships, and towards the end of winter sailed against the Locrian
+fort, which Laches had formerly taken, and returned after being defeated
+in battle by the Locrians.
+
+In the first days of this spring, the stream of fire issued from Etna,
+as on former occasions, and destroyed some land of the Catanians, who
+live upon Mount Etna, which is the largest mountain in Sicily. Fifty
+years, it is said, had elapsed since the last eruption, there having
+been three in all since the Hellenes have inhabited Sicily. Such were
+the events of this winter; and with it ended the sixth year of this war,
+of which Thucydides was the historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+_Seventh Year of the War--Occupation of Pylos--Surrender of the Spartan
+Army in Sphacteria_
+
+Next summer, about the time of the corn's coming into ear, ten Syracusan
+and as many Locrian vessels sailed to Messina, in Sicily, and occupied
+the town upon the invitation of the inhabitants; and Messina revolted
+from the Athenians. The Syracusans contrived this chiefly because they
+saw that the place afforded an approach to Sicily, and feared that the
+Athenians might hereafter use it as a base for attacking them with a
+larger force; the Locrians because they wished to carry on hostilities
+from both sides of the strait and to reduce their enemies, the people of
+Rhegium. Meanwhile, the Locrians had invaded the Rhegian territory with
+all their forces, to prevent their succouring Messina, and also at
+the instance of some exiles from Rhegium who were with them; the long
+factions by which that town had been torn rendering it for the moment
+incapable of resistance, and thus furnishing an additional temptation
+to the invaders. After devastating the country the Locrian land forces
+retired, their ships remaining to guard Messina, while others were being
+manned for the same destination to carry on the war from thence.
+
+About the same time in the spring, before the corn was ripe, the
+Peloponnesians and their allies invaded Attica under Agis, the son of
+Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat down and laid waste the
+country. Meanwhile the Athenians sent off the forty ships which they
+had been preparing to Sicily, with the remaining generals Eurymedon
+and Sophocles; their colleague Pythodorus having already preceded them
+thither. These had also instructions as they sailed by to look to the
+Corcyraeans in the town, who were being plundered by the exiles in the
+mountain. To support these exiles sixty Peloponnesian vessels had lately
+sailed, it being thought that the famine raging in the city would
+make it easy for them to reduce it. Demosthenes also, who had remained
+without employment since his return from Acarnania, applied and
+obtained permission to use the fleet, if he wished it, upon the coast of
+Peloponnese.
+
+Off Laconia they heard that the Peloponnesian ships were already at
+Corcyra, upon which Eurymedon and Sophocles wished to hasten to the
+island, but Demosthenes required them first to touch at Pylos and do
+what was wanted there, before continuing their voyage. While they were
+making objections, a squall chanced to come on and carried the fleet
+into Pylos. Demosthenes at once urged them to fortify the place, it
+being for this that he had come on the voyage, and made them observe
+there was plenty of stone and timber on the spot, and that the place
+was strong by nature, and together with much of the country round
+unoccupied; Pylos, or Coryphasium, as the Lacedaemonians call it, being
+about forty-five miles distant from Sparta, and situated in the old
+country of the Messenians. The commanders told him that there was no
+lack of desert headlands in Peloponnese if he wished to put the city
+to expense by occupying them. He, however, thought that this place was
+distinguished from others of the kind by having a harbour close by;
+while the Messenians, the old natives of the country, speaking the same
+dialect as the Lacedaemonians, could do them the greatest mischief
+by their incursions from it, and would at the same time be a trusty
+garrison.
+
+After speaking to the captains of companies on the subject, and failing
+to persuade either the generals or the soldiers, he remained inactive
+with the rest from stress of weather; until the soldiers themselves
+wanting occupation were seized with a sudden impulse to go round and
+fortify the place. Accordingly they set to work in earnest, and having
+no iron tools, picked up stones, and put them together as they happened
+to fit, and where mortar was needed, carried it on their backs for want
+of hods, stooping down to make it stay on, and clasping their hands
+together behind to prevent it falling off; sparing no effort to be
+able to complete the most vulnerable points before the arrival of the
+Lacedaemonians, most of the place being sufficiently strong by nature
+without further fortifications.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians were celebrating a festival, and also at
+first made light of the news, in the idea that whenever they chose to
+take the field the place would be immediately evacuated by the enemy or
+easily taken by force; the absence of their army before Athens having
+also something to do with their delay. The Athenians fortified the
+place on the land side, and where it most required it, in six days, and
+leaving Demosthenes with five ships to garrison it, with the main body
+of the fleet hastened on their voyage to Corcyra and Sicily.
+
+As soon as the Peloponnesians in Attica heard of the occupation of
+Pylos, they hurried back home; the Lacedaemonians and their king Agis
+thinking that the matter touched them nearly. Besides having made their
+invasion early in the season, and while the corn was still green, most
+of their troops were short of provisions: the weather also was unusually
+bad for the time of year, and greatly distressed their army. Many
+reasons thus combined to hasten their departure and to make this
+invasion a very short one; indeed they only stayed fifteen days in
+Attica.
+
+About the same time the Athenian general Simonides getting together a
+few Athenians from the garrisons, and a number of the allies in those
+parts, took Eion in Thrace, a Mendaean colony and hostile to Athens, by
+treachery, but had no sooner done so than the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans
+came up and beat him out of it, with the loss of many of his soldiers.
+
+On the return of the Peloponnesians from Attica, the Spartans themselves
+and the nearest of the Perioeci at once set out for Pylos, the other
+Lacedaemonians following more slowly, as they had just come in from
+another campaign. Word was also sent round Peloponnese to come up as
+quickly as possible to Pylos; while the sixty Peloponnesian ships were
+sent for from Corcyra, and being dragged by their crews across the
+isthmus of Leucas, passed unperceived by the Athenian squadron at
+Zacynthus, and reached Pylos, where the land forces had arrived before
+them. Before the Peloponnesian fleet sailed in, Demosthenes found time
+to send out unobserved two ships to inform Eurymedon and the Athenians
+on board the fleet at Zacynthus of the danger of Pylos and to summon
+them to his assistance. While the ships hastened on their voyage in
+obedience to the orders of Demosthenes, the Lacedaemonians prepared to
+assault the fort by land and sea, hoping to capture with ease a work
+constructed in haste, and held by a feeble garrison. Meanwhile, as they
+expected the Athenian ships to arrive from Zacynthus, they intended, if
+they failed to take the place before, to block up the entrances of the
+harbour to prevent their being able to anchor inside it. For the island
+of Sphacteria, stretching along in a line close in front of the harbour,
+at once makes it safe and narrows its entrances, leaving a passage for
+two ships on the side nearest Pylos and the Athenian fortifications, and
+for eight or nine on that next the rest of the mainland: for the rest,
+the island was entirely covered with wood, and without paths through
+not being inhabited, and about one mile and five furlongs in length.
+The inlets the Lacedaemonians meant to close with a line of ships placed
+close together, with their prows turned towards the sea, and, meanwhile,
+fearing that the enemy might make use of the island to operate against
+them, carried over some heavy infantry thither, stationing others along
+the coast. By this means the island and the continent would be alike
+hostile to the Athenians, as they would be unable to land on either; and
+the shore of Pylos itself outside the inlet towards the open sea having
+no harbour, and, therefore, presenting no point which they could use as
+a base to relieve their countrymen, they, the Lacedaemonians, without
+sea-fight or risk would in all probability become masters of the place,
+occupied as it had been on the spur of the moment, and unfurnished with
+provisions. This being determined, they carried over to the island the
+heavy infantry, drafted by lot from all the companies. Some others had
+crossed over before in relief parties, but these last who were
+left there were four hundred and twenty in number, with their Helot
+attendants, commanded by Epitadas, son of Molobrus.
+
+Meanwhile Demosthenes, seeing the Lacedaemonians about to attack him
+by sea and land at once, himself was not idle. He drew up under the
+fortification and enclosed in a stockade the galleys remaining to him of
+those which had been left him, arming the sailors taken out of them with
+poor shields made most of them of osier, it being impossible to procure
+arms in such a desert place, and even these having been obtained from a
+thirty-oared Messenian privateer and a boat belonging to some Messenians
+who happened to have come to them. Among these Messenians were forty
+heavy infantry, whom he made use of with the rest. Posting most of his
+men, unarmed and armed, upon the best fortified and strong points of the
+place towards the interior, with orders to repel any attack of the land
+forces, he picked sixty heavy infantry and a few archers from his whole
+force, and with these went outside the wall down to the sea, where he
+thought that the enemy would most likely attempt to land. Although the
+ground was difficult and rocky, looking towards the open sea, the fact
+that this was the weakest part of the wall would, he thought, encourage
+their ardour, as the Athenians, confident in their naval superiority,
+had here paid little attention to their defences, and the enemy if he
+could force a landing might feel secure of taking the place. At this
+point, accordingly, going down to the water's edge, he posted his heavy
+infantry to prevent, if possible, a landing, and encouraged them in the
+following terms:
+
+"Soldiers and comrades in this adventure, I hope that none of you in our
+present strait will think to show his wit by exactly calculating all the
+perils that encompass us, but that you will rather hasten to close with
+the enemy, without staying to count the odds, seeing in this your best
+chance of safety. In emergencies like ours calculation is out of place;
+the sooner the danger is faced the better. To my mind also most of the
+chances are for us, if we will only stand fast and not throw away our
+advantages, overawed by the numbers of the enemy. One of the points in
+our favour is the awkwardness of the landing. This, however, only helps
+us if we stand our ground. If we give way it will be practicable enough,
+in spite of its natural difficulty, without a defender; and the enemy
+will instantly become more formidable from the difficulty he will have
+in retreating, supposing that we succeed in repulsing him, which we
+shall find it easier to do, while he is on board his ships, than after
+he has landed and meets us on equal terms. As to his numbers, these need
+not too much alarm you. Large as they may be he can only engage in
+small detachments, from the impossibility of bringing to. Besides, the
+numerical superiority that we have to meet is not that of an army on
+land with everything else equal, but of troops on board ship, upon an
+element where many favourable accidents are required to act with effect.
+I therefore consider that his difficulties may be fairly set against our
+numerical deficiencies, and at the same time I charge you, as Athenians
+who know by experience what landing from ships on a hostile territory
+means, and how impossible it is to drive back an enemy determined enough
+to stand his ground and not to be frightened away by the surf and the
+terrors of the ships sailing in, to stand fast in the present emergency,
+beat back the enemy at the water's edge, and save yourselves and the
+place."
+
+Thus encouraged by Demosthenes, the Athenians felt more confident, and
+went down to meet the enemy, posting themselves along the edge of
+the sea. The Lacedaemonians now put themselves in movement and
+simultaneously assaulted the fortification with their land forces
+and with their ships, forty-three in number, under their admiral,
+Thrasymelidas, son of Cratesicles, a Spartan, who made his attack just
+where Demosthenes expected. The Athenians had thus to defend themselves
+on both sides, from the land and from the sea; the enemy rowing up in
+small detachments, the one relieving the other--it being impossible for
+many to bring to at once--and showing great ardour and cheering
+each other on, in the endeavour to force a passage and to take the
+fortification. He who most distinguished himself was Brasidas. Captain
+of a galley, and seeing that the captains and steersmen, impressed by
+the difficulty of the position, hung back even where a landing might
+have seemed possible, for fear of wrecking their vessels, he shouted
+out to them, that they must never allow the enemy to fortify himself
+in their country for the sake of saving timber, but must shiver their
+vessels and force a landing; and bade the allies, instead of hesitating
+in such a moment to sacrifice their ships for Lacedaemon in return
+for her many benefits, to run them boldly aground, land in one way or
+another, and make themselves masters of the place and its garrison.
+
+Not content with this exhortation, he forced his own steersman to run
+his ship ashore, and stepping on to the gangway, was endeavouring to
+land, when he was cut down by the Athenians, and after receiving many
+wounds fainted away. Falling into the bows, his shield slipped off
+his arm into the sea, and being thrown ashore was picked up by the
+Athenians, and afterwards used for the trophy which they set up for this
+attack. The rest also did their best, but were not able to land, owing
+to the difficulty of the ground and the unflinching tenacity of
+the Athenians. It was a strange reversal of the order of things for
+Athenians to be fighting from the land, and from Laconian land too,
+against Lacedaemonians coming from the sea; while Lacedaemonians were
+trying to land from shipboard in their own country, now become hostile,
+to attack Athenians, although the former were chiefly famous at the
+time as an inland people and superior by land, the latter as a maritime
+people with a navy that had no equal.
+
+After continuing their attacks during that day and most of the next, the
+Peloponnesians desisted, and the day after sent some of their ships to
+Asine for timber to make engines, hoping to take by their aid, in spite
+of its height, the wall opposite the harbour, where the landing was
+easiest. At this moment the Athenian fleet from Zacynthus arrived, now
+numbering fifty sail, having been reinforced by some of the ships on
+guard at Naupactus and by four Chian vessels. Seeing the coast and
+the island both crowded with heavy infantry, and the hostile ships in
+harbour showing no signs of sailing out, at a loss where to anchor, they
+sailed for the moment to the desert island of Prote, not far off, where
+they passed the night. The next day they got under way in readiness to
+engage in the open sea if the enemy chose to put out to meet them, being
+determined in the event of his not doing so to sail in and attack him.
+The Lacedaemonians did not put out to sea, and having omitted to close
+the inlets as they had intended, remained quiet on shore, engaged in
+manning their ships and getting ready, in the case of any one sailing
+in, to fight in the harbour, which is a fairly large one.
+
+Perceiving this, the Athenians advanced against them by each inlet, and
+falling on the enemy's fleet, most of which was by this time afloat and
+in line, at once put it to flight, and giving chase as far as the short
+distance allowed, disabled a good many vessels and took five, one with
+its crew on board; dashing in at the rest that had taken refuge on
+shore, and battering some that were still being manned, before they
+could put out, and lashing on to their own ships and towing off empty
+others whose crews had fled. At this sight the Lacedaemonians, maddened
+by a disaster which cut off their men on the island, rushed to the
+rescue, and going into the sea with their heavy armour, laid hold of
+the ships and tried to drag them back, each man thinking that success
+depended on his individual exertions. Great was the melee, and quite
+in contradiction to the naval tactics usual to the two combatants; the
+Lacedaemonians in their excitement and dismay being actually engaged in
+a sea-fight on land, while the victorious Athenians, in their eagerness
+to push their success as far as possible, were carrying on a land-fight
+from their ships. After great exertions and numerous wounds on both
+sides they separated, the Lacedaemonians saving their empty ships,
+except those first taken; and both parties returning to their camp, the
+Athenians set up a trophy, gave back the dead, secured the wrecks, and
+at once began to cruise round and jealously watch the island, with its
+intercepted garrison, while the Peloponnesians on the mainland, whose
+contingents had now all come up, stayed where they were before Pylos.
+
+When the news of what had happened at Pylos reached Sparta, the disaster
+was thought so serious that the Lacedaemonians resolved that the
+authorities should go down to the camp, and decide on the spot what was
+best to be done. There, seeing that it was impossible to help their men,
+and not wishing to risk their being reduced by hunger or overpowered by
+numbers, they determined, with the consent of the Athenian generals,
+to conclude an armistice at Pylos and send envoys to Athens to obtain
+a convention, and to endeavour to get back their men as quickly as
+possible.
+
+The generals accepting their offers, an armistice was concluded upon the
+terms following:
+
+That the Lacedaemonians should bring to Pylos and deliver up to the
+Athenians the ships that had fought in the late engagement, and all
+in Laconia that were vessels of war, and should make no attack on the
+fortification either by land or by sea.
+
+That the Athenians should allow the Lacedaemonians on the mainland to
+send to the men in the island a certain fixed quantity of corn ready
+kneaded, that is to say, two quarts of barley meal, one pint of wine,
+and a piece of meat for each man, and half the same quantity for a
+servant.
+
+That this allowance should be sent in under the eyes of the Athenians,
+and that no boat should sail to the island except openly.
+
+That the Athenians should continue to the island same as before,
+without however landing upon it, and should refrain from attacking the
+Peloponnesian troops either by land or by sea.
+
+That if either party should infringe any of these terms in the slightest
+particular, the armistice should be at once void.
+
+That the armistice should hold good until the return of the
+Lacedaemonian envoys from Athens--the Athenians sending them thither
+in a galley and bringing them back again--and upon the arrival of the
+envoys should be at an end, and the ships be restored by the Athenians
+in the same state as they received them.
+
+Such were the terms of the armistice, and the ships were delivered over
+to the number of sixty, and the envoys sent off accordingly. Arrived at
+Athens they spoke as follows:
+
+"Athenians, the Lacedaemonians sent us to try to find some way of
+settling the affair of our men on the island, that shall be at once
+satisfactory to our interests, and as consistent with our dignity in
+our misfortune as circumstances permit. We can venture to speak at some
+length without any departure from the habit of our country. Men of few
+words where many are not wanted, we can be less brief when there is a
+matter of importance to be illustrated and an end to be served by its
+illustration. Meanwhile we beg you to take what we may say, not in a
+hostile spirit, nor as if we thought you ignorant and wished to
+lecture you, but rather as a suggestion on the best course to be taken,
+addressed to intelligent judges. You can now, if you choose, employ your
+present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and gain
+honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of those
+who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by
+hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already
+succeeded without expecting it. While those who have known most
+vicissitudes of good and bad, have also justly least faith in their
+prosperity; and to teach your city and ours this lesson experience has
+not been wanting.
+
+"To be convinced of this you have only to look at our present
+misfortune. What power in Hellas stood higher than we did? and yet we
+are come to you, although we formerly thought ourselves more able
+to grant what we are now here to ask. Nevertheless, we have not been
+brought to this by any decay in our power, or through having our heads
+turned by aggrandizement; no, our resources are what they have always
+been, and our error has been an error of judgment, to which all are
+equally liable. Accordingly, the prosperity which your city now enjoys,
+and the accession that it has lately received, must not make you fancy
+that fortune will be always with you. Indeed sensible men are prudent
+enough to treat their gains as precarious, just as they would also
+keep a clear head in adversity, and think that war, so far from staying
+within the limit to which a combatant may wish to confine it, will run
+the course that its chances prescribe; and thus, not being puffed up by
+confidence in military success, they are less likely to come to grief,
+and most ready to make peace, if they can, while their fortune lasts.
+This, Athenians, you have a good opportunity to do now with us, and thus
+to escape the possible disasters which may follow upon your refusal, and
+the consequent imputation of having owed to accident even your present
+advantages, when you might have left behind you a reputation for power
+and wisdom which nothing could endanger.
+
+"The Lacedaemonians accordingly invite you to make a treaty and to end
+the war, and offer peace and alliance and the most friendly and intimate
+relations in every way and on every occasion between us; and in return
+ask for the men on the island, thinking it better for both parties
+not to stand out to the end, on the chance of some favourable accident
+enabling the men to force their way out, or of their being compelled
+to succumb under the pressure of blockade. Indeed if great enmities are
+ever to be really settled, we think it will be, not by the system of
+revenge and military success, and by forcing an opponent to swear to a
+treaty to his disadvantage, but when the more fortunate combatant waives
+these his privileges, to be guided by gentler feelings conquers his
+rival in generosity, and accords peace on more moderate conditions than
+he expected. From that moment, instead of the debt of revenge which
+violence must entail, his adversary owes a debt of generosity to be paid
+in kind, and is inclined by honour to stand to his agreement. And men
+oftener act in this manner towards their greatest enemies than where the
+quarrel is of less importance; they are also by nature as glad to give
+way to those who first yield to them, as they are apt to be provoked by
+arrogance to risks condemned by their own judgment.
+
+"To apply this to ourselves: if peace was ever desirable for both
+parties, it is surely so at the present moment, before anything
+irremediable befall us and force us to hate you eternally, personally
+as well as politically, and you to miss the advantages that we now offer
+you. While the issue is still in doubt, and you have reputation and our
+friendship in prospect, and we the compromise of our misfortune before
+anything fatal occur, let us be reconciled, and for ourselves choose
+peace instead of war, and grant to the rest of the Hellenes a remission
+from their sufferings, for which be sure they will think they have
+chiefly you to thank. The war that they labour under they know not which
+began, but the peace that concludes it, as it depends on your decision,
+will by their gratitude be laid to your door. By such a decision you
+can become firm friends with the Lacedaemonians at their own invitation,
+which you do not force from them, but oblige them by accepting. And from
+this friendship consider the advantages that are likely to follow: when
+Attica and Sparta are at one, the rest of Hellas, be sure, will remain
+in respectful inferiority before its heads."
+
+Such were the words of the Lacedaemonians, their idea being that the
+Athenians, already desirous of a truce and only kept back by their
+opposition, would joyfully accept a peace freely offered, and give back
+the men. The Athenians, however, having the men on the island, thought
+that the treaty would be ready for them whenever they chose to make it,
+and grasped at something further. Foremost to encourage them in this
+policy was Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, a popular leader of the time
+and very powerful with the multitude, who persuaded them to answer as
+follows: First, the men in the island must surrender themselves and
+their arms and be brought to Athens. Next, the Lacedaemonians must
+restore Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaia, all places acquired not by
+arms, but by the previous convention, under which they had been ceded by
+Athens herself at a moment of disaster, when a truce was more necessary
+to her than at present. This done they might take back their men, and
+make a truce for as long as both parties might agree.
+
+To this answer the envoys made no reply, but asked that commissioners
+might be chosen with whom they might confer on each point, and quietly
+talk the matter over and try to come to some agreement. Hereupon Cleon
+violently assailed them, saying that he knew from the first that they
+had no right intentions, and that it was clear enough now by their
+refusing to speak before the people, and wanting to confer in secret
+with a committee of two or three. No, if they meant anything honest let
+them say it out before all. The Lacedaemonians, however, seeing that
+whatever concessions they might be prepared to make in their misfortune,
+it was impossible for them to speak before the multitude and lose credit
+with their allies for a negotiation which might after all miscarry, and
+on the other hand, that the Athenians would never grant what they
+asked upon moderate terms, returned from Athens without having effected
+anything.
+
+Their arrival at once put an end to the armistice at Pylos, and the
+Lacedaemonians asked back their ships according to the convention. The
+Athenians, however, alleged an attack on the fort in contravention of
+the truce, and other grievances seemingly not worth mentioning, and
+refused to give them back, insisting upon the clause by which the
+slightest infringement made the armistice void. The Lacedaemonians,
+after denying the contravention and protesting against their bad faith
+in the matter of the ships, went away and earnestly addressed themselves
+to the war. Hostilities were now carried on at Pylos upon both sides
+with vigour. The Athenians cruised round the island all day with two
+ships going different ways; and by night, except on the seaward side in
+windy weather, anchored round it with their whole fleet, which, having
+been reinforced by twenty ships from Athens come to aid in the blockade,
+now numbered seventy sail; while the Peloponnesians remained encamped on
+the continent, making attacks on the fort, and on the look-out for any
+opportunity which might offer itself for the deliverance of their men.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans and their allies in Sicily had brought up
+to the squadron guarding Messina the reinforcement which we left them
+preparing, and carried on the war from thence, incited chiefly by the
+Locrians from hatred of the Rhegians, whose territory they had invaded
+with all their forces. The Syracusans also wished to try their fortune
+at sea, seeing that the Athenians had only a few ships actually at
+Rhegium, and hearing that the main fleet destined to join them was
+engaged in blockading the island. A naval victory, they thought, would
+enable them to blockade Rhegium by sea and land, and easily to reduce
+it; a success which would at once place their affairs upon a solid
+basis, the promontory of Rhegium in Italy and Messina in Sicily being so
+near each other that it would be impossible for the Athenians to cruise
+against them and command the strait. The strait in question consists
+of the sea between Rhegium and Messina, at the point where Sicily
+approaches nearest to the continent, and is the Charybdis through which
+the story makes Ulysses sail; and the narrowness of the passage and
+the strength of the current that pours in from the vast Tyrrhenian and
+Sicilian mains, have rightly given it a bad reputation.
+
+In this strait the Syracusans and their allies were compelled to fight,
+late in the day, about the passage of a boat, putting out with rather
+more than thirty ships against sixteen Athenian and eight Rhegian
+vessels. Defeated by the Athenians they hastily set off, each for
+himself, to their own stations at Messina and Rhegium, with the loss of
+one ship; night coming on before the battle was finished. After this
+the Locrians retired from the Rhegian territory, and the ships of the
+Syracusans and their allies united and came to anchor at Cape Pelorus,
+in the territory of Messina, where their land forces joined them. Here
+the Athenians and Rhegians sailed up, and seeing the ships unmanned,
+made an attack, in which they in their turn lost one vessel, which was
+caught by a grappling iron, the crew saving themselves by swimming.
+After this the Syracusans got on board their ships, and while they were
+being towed alongshore to Messina, were again attacked by the Athenians,
+but suddenly got out to sea and became the assailants, and caused them
+to lose another vessel. After thus holding their own in the voyage
+alongshore and in the engagement as above described, the Syracusans
+sailed on into the harbour of Messina.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, having received warning that Camarina was
+about to be betrayed to the Syracusans by Archias and his party, sailed
+thither; and the Messinese took this opportunity to attack by sea and
+land with all their forces their Chalcidian neighbour, Naxos. The first
+day they forced the Naxians to keep their walls, and laid waste their
+country; the next they sailed round with their ships, and laid waste
+their land on the river Akesines, while their land forces menaced the
+city. Meanwhile the Sicels came down from the high country in great
+numbers, to aid against the Messinese; and the Naxians, elated at the
+sight, and animated by a belief that the Leontines and their other
+Hellenic allies were coming to their support, suddenly sallied out from
+the town, and attacked and routed the Messinese, killing more than a
+thousand of them; while the remainder suffered severely in their retreat
+home, being attacked by the barbarians on the road, and most of them
+cut off. The ships put in to Messina, and afterwards dispersed for their
+different homes. The Leontines and their allies, with the Athenians,
+upon this at once turned their arms against the now weakened Messina,
+and attacked, the Athenians with their ships on the side of the harbour,
+and the land forces on that of the town. The Messinese, however,
+sallying out with Demoteles and some Locrians who had been left to
+garrison the city after the disaster, suddenly attacked and routed most
+of the Leontine army, killing a great number; upon seeing which the
+Athenians landed from their ships, and falling on the Messinese in
+disorder chased them back into the town, and setting up a trophy retired
+to Rhegium. After this the Hellenes in Sicily continued to make war on
+each other by land, without the Athenians.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos were still besieging the Lacedaemonians
+in the island, the Peloponnesian forces on the continent remaining where
+they were. The blockade was very laborious for the Athenians from want
+of food and water; there was no spring except one in the citadel of
+Pylos itself, and that not a large one, and most of them were obliged to
+grub up the shingle on the sea beach and drink such water as they could
+find. They also suffered from want of room, being encamped in a narrow
+space; and as there was no anchorage for the ships, some took their
+meals on shore in their turn, while the others were anchored out at sea.
+But their greatest discouragement arose from the unexpectedly long time
+which it took to reduce a body of men shut up in a desert island, with
+only brackish water to drink, a matter which they had imagined would
+take them only a few days. The fact was that the Lacedaemonians had made
+advertisement for volunteers to carry into the island ground corn, wine,
+cheese, and any other food useful in a siege; high prices being offered,
+and freedom promised to any of the Helots who should succeed in doing
+so. The Helots accordingly were most forward to engage in this risky
+traffic, putting off from this or that part of Peloponnese, and running
+in by night on the seaward side of the island. They were best pleased,
+however, when they could catch a wind to carry them in. It was more easy
+to elude the look-out of the galleys, when it blew from the seaward,
+as it became impossible for them to anchor round the island; while
+the Helots had their boats rated at their value in money, and ran them
+ashore, without caring how they landed, being sure to find the soldiers
+waiting for them at the landing-places. But all who risked it in fair
+weather were taken. Divers also swam in under water from the harbour,
+dragging by a cord in skins poppyseed mixed with honey, and bruised
+linseed; these at first escaped notice, but afterwards a look-out was
+kept for them. In short, both sides tried every possible contrivance,
+the one to throw in provisions, and the other to prevent their
+introduction.
+
+At Athens, meanwhile, the news that the army was in great distress, and
+that corn found its way in to the men in the island, caused no small
+perplexity; and the Athenians began to fear that winter might come on
+and find them still engaged in the blockade. They saw that the convoying
+of provisions round Peloponnese would be then impossible. The country
+offered no resources in itself, and even in summer they could not send
+round enough. The blockade of a place without harbours could no
+longer be kept up; and the men would either escape by the siege being
+abandoned, or would watch for bad weather and sail out in the boats that
+brought in their corn. What caused still more alarm was the attitude
+of the Lacedaemonians, who must, it was thought by the Athenians, feel
+themselves on strong ground not to send them any more envoys; and
+they began to repent having rejected the treaty. Cleon, perceiving the
+disfavour with which he was regarded for having stood in the way of the
+convention, now said that their informants did not speak the truth; and
+upon the messengers recommending them, if they did not believe them, to
+send some commissioners to see, Cleon himself and Theagenes were chosen
+by the Athenians as commissioners. Aware that he would now be obliged
+either to say what had been already said by the men whom he was
+slandering, or be proved a liar if he said the contrary, he told the
+Athenians, whom he saw to be not altogether disinclined for a fresh
+expedition, that instead of sending and wasting their time and
+opportunities, if they believed what was told them, they ought to sail
+against the men. And pointing at Nicias, son of Niceratus, then general,
+whom he hated, he tauntingly said that it would be easy, if they had
+men for generals, to sail with a force and take those in the island, and
+that if he had himself been in command, he would have done it.
+
+Nicias, seeing the Athenians murmuring against Cleon for not sailing now
+if it seemed to him so easy, and further seeing himself the object of
+attack, told him that for all that the generals cared, he might take
+what force he chose and make the attempt. At first Cleon fancied that
+this resignation was merely a figure of speech, and was ready to go, but
+finding that it was seriously meant, he drew back, and said that Nicias,
+not he, was general, being now frightened, and having never supposed
+that Nicias would go so far as to retire in his favour. Nicias, however,
+repeated his offer, and resigned the command against Pylos, and called
+the Athenians to witness that he did so. And as the multitude is wont to
+do, the more Cleon shrank from the expedition and tried to back out
+of what he had said, the more they encouraged Nicias to hand over his
+command, and clamoured at Cleon to go. At last, not knowing how to get
+out of his words, he undertook the expedition, and came forward and said
+that he was not afraid of the Lacedaemonians, but would sail without
+taking any one from the city with him, except the Lemnians and Imbrians
+that were at Athens, with some targeteers that had come up from Aenus,
+and four hundred archers from other quarters. With these and the
+soldiers at Pylos, he would within twenty days either bring the
+Lacedaemonians alive, or kill them on the spot. The Athenians could not
+help laughing at his fatuity, while sensible men comforted themselves
+with the reflection that they must gain in either circumstance; either
+they would be rid of Cleon, which they rather hoped, or if disappointed
+in this expectation, would reduce the Lacedaemonians.
+
+After he had settled everything in the assembly, and the Athenians
+had voted him the command of the expedition, he chose as his colleague
+Demosthenes, one of the generals at Pylos, and pushed forward the
+preparations for his voyage. His choice fell upon Demosthenes because
+he heard that he was contemplating a descent on the island; the soldiers
+distressed by the difficulties of the position, and rather besieged than
+besiegers, being eager to fight it out, while the firing of the island
+had increased the confidence of the general. He had been at first
+afraid, because the island having never been inhabited was almost
+entirely covered with wood and without paths, thinking this to be in
+the enemy's favour, as he might land with a large force, and yet might
+suffer loss by an attack from an unseen position. The mistakes and
+forces of the enemy the wood would in a great measure conceal from him,
+while every blunder of his own troops would be at once detected, and
+they would be thus able to fall upon him unexpectedly just where they
+pleased, the attack being always in their power. If, on the other hand,
+he should force them to engage in the thicket, the smaller number who
+knew the country would, he thought, have the advantage over the
+larger who were ignorant of it, while his own army might be cut off
+imperceptibly, in spite of its numbers, as the men would not be able to
+see where to succour each other.
+
+The Aetolian disaster, which had been mainly caused by the wood, had not
+a little to do with these reflections. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers
+who were compelled by want of room to land on the extremities of
+the island and take their dinners, with outposts fixed to prevent a
+surprise, set fire to a little of the wood without meaning to do so;
+and as it came on to blow soon afterwards, almost the whole was consumed
+before they were aware of it. Demosthenes was now able for the first
+time to see how numerous the Lacedaemonians really were, having up to
+this moment been under the impression that they took in provisions for a
+smaller number; he also saw that the Athenians thought success important
+and were anxious about it, and that it was now easier to land on the
+island, and accordingly got ready for the attempt, sent for troops
+from the allies in the neighbourhood, and pushed forward his other
+preparations. At this moment Cleon arrived at Pylos with the troops
+which he had asked for, having sent on word to say that he was coming.
+The first step taken by the two generals after their meeting was to send
+a herald to the camp on the mainland, to ask if they were disposed
+to avoid all risk and to order the men on the island to surrender
+themselves and their arms, to be kept in gentle custody until some
+general convention should be concluded.
+
+On the rejection of this proposition the generals let one day pass, and
+the next, embarking all their heavy infantry on board a few ships,
+put out by night, and a little before dawn landed on both sides of the
+island from the open sea and from the harbour, being about eight hundred
+strong, and advanced with a run against the first post in the island.
+
+The enemy had distributed his force as follows: In this first post there
+were about thirty heavy infantry; the centre and most level part,
+where the water was, was held by the main body, and by Epitadas their
+commander; while a small party guarded the very end of the island,
+towards Pylos, which was precipitous on the sea-side and very difficult
+to attack from the land, and where there was also a sort of old fort of
+stones rudely put together, which they thought might be useful to them,
+in case they should be forced to retreat. Such was their disposition.
+
+The advanced post thus attacked by the Athenians was at once put to the
+sword, the men being scarcely out of bed and still arming, the landing
+having taken them by surprise, as they fancied the ships were only
+sailing as usual to their stations for the night. As soon as day broke,
+the rest of the army landed, that is to say, all the crews of rather
+more than seventy ships, except the lowest rank of oars, with the
+arms they carried, eight hundred archers, and as many targeteers, the
+Messenian reinforcements, and all the other troops on duty round Pylos,
+except the garrison on the fort. The tactics of Demosthenes had divided
+them into companies of two hundred, more or less, and made them occupy
+the highest points in order to paralyse the enemy by surrounding him on
+every side and thus leaving him without any tangible adversary, exposed
+to the cross-fire of their host; plied by those in his rear if he
+attacked in front, and by those on one flank if he moved against those
+on the other. In short, wherever he went he would have the assailants
+behind him, and these light-armed assailants, the most awkward of all;
+arrows, darts, stones, and slings making them formidable at a distance,
+and there being no means of getting at them at close quarters, as they
+could conquer flying, and the moment their pursuer turned they were upon
+him. Such was the idea that inspired Demosthenes in his conception of
+the descent, and presided over its execution.
+
+Meanwhile the main body of the troops in the island (that under
+Epitadas), seeing their outpost cut off and an army advancing against
+them, serried their ranks and pressed forward to close with the Athenian
+heavy infantry in front of them, the light troops being upon their
+flanks and rear. However, they were not able to engage or to profit by
+their superior skill, the light troops keeping them in check on either
+side with their missiles, and the heavy infantry remaining stationary
+instead of advancing to meet them; and although they routed the light
+troops wherever they ran up and approached too closely, yet they
+retreated fighting, being lightly equipped, and easily getting the start
+in their flight, from the difficult and rugged nature of the ground,
+in an island hitherto desert, over which the Lacedaemonians could not
+pursue them with their heavy armour.
+
+After this skirmishing had lasted some little while, the Lacedaemonians
+became unable to dash out with the same rapidity as before upon the
+points attacked, and the light troops finding that they now fought with
+less vigour, became more confident. They could see with their own eyes
+that they were many times more numerous than the enemy; they were now
+more familiar with his aspect and found him less terrible, the result
+not having justified the apprehensions which they had suffered,
+when they first landed in slavish dismay at the idea of attacking
+Lacedaemonians; and accordingly their fear changing to disdain, they
+now rushed all together with loud shouts upon them, and pelted them with
+stones, darts, and arrows, whichever came first to hand. The shouting
+accompanying their onset confounded the Lacedaemonians, unaccustomed to
+this mode of fighting; dust rose from the newly burnt wood, and it was
+impossible to see in front of one with the arrows and stones flying
+through clouds of dust from the hands of numerous assailants. The
+Lacedaemonians had now to sustain a rude conflict; their caps would not
+keep out the arrows, darts had broken off in the armour of the wounded,
+while they themselves were helpless for offence, being prevented from
+using their eyes to see what was before them, and unable to hear the
+words of command for the hubbub raised by the enemy; danger encompassed
+them on every side, and there was no hope of any means of defence or
+safety.
+
+At last, after many had been already wounded in the confined space in
+which they were fighting, they formed in close order and retired on
+the fort at the end of the island, which was not far off, and to their
+friends who held it. The moment they gave way, the light troops became
+bolder and pressed upon them, shouting louder than ever, and killed
+as many as they came up with in their retreat, but most of the
+Lacedaemonians made good their escape to the fort, and with the garrison
+in it ranged themselves all along its whole extent to repulse the enemy
+wherever it was assailable. The Athenians pursuing, unable to surround
+and hem them in, owing to the strength of the ground, attacked them in
+front and tried to storm the position. For a long time, indeed for most
+of the day, both sides held out against all the torments of the battle,
+thirst, and sun, the one endeavouring to drive the enemy from the high
+ground, the other to maintain himself upon it, it being now more easy
+for the Lacedaemonians to defend themselves than before, as they could
+not be surrounded on the flanks.
+
+The struggle began to seem endless, when the commander of the Messenians
+came to Cleon and Demosthenes, and told them that they were losing their
+labour: but if they would give him some archers and light troops to
+go round on the enemy's rear by a way he would undertake to find, he
+thought he could force the approach. Upon receiving what he asked for,
+he started from a point out of sight in order not to be seen by the
+enemy, and creeping on wherever the precipices of the island permitted,
+and where the Lacedaemonians, trusting to the strength of the ground,
+kept no guard, succeeded after the greatest difficulty in getting round
+without their seeing him, and suddenly appeared on the high ground in
+their rear, to the dismay of the surprised enemy and the still greater
+joy of his expectant friends. The Lacedaemonians thus placed between two
+fires, and in the same dilemma, to compare small things with great, as
+at Thermopylae, where the defenders were cut off through the Persians
+getting round by the path, being now attacked in front and behind, began
+to give way, and overcome by the odds against them and exhausted from
+want of food, retreated.
+
+The Athenians were already masters of the approaches when Cleon and
+Demosthenes perceiving that, if the enemy gave way a single step
+further, they would be destroyed by their soldiery, put a stop to the
+battle and held their men back; wishing to take the Lacedaemonians alive
+to Athens, and hoping that their stubbornness might relax on hearing the
+offer of terms, and that they might surrender and yield to the present
+overwhelming danger. Proclamation was accordingly made, to know if they
+would surrender themselves and their arms to the Athenians to be dealt
+at their discretion.
+
+The Lacedaemonians hearing this offer, most of them lowered their
+shields and waved their hands to show that they accepted it. Hostilities
+now ceased, and a parley was held between Cleon and Demosthenes and
+Styphon, son of Pharax, on the other side; since Epitadas, the first of
+the previous commanders, had been killed, and Hippagretas, the next in
+command, left for dead among the slain, though still alive, and thus
+the command had devolved upon Styphon according to the law, in case of
+anything happening to his superiors. Styphon and his companions said
+they wished to send a herald to the Lacedaemonians on the mainland, to
+know what they were to do. The Athenians would not let any of them go,
+but themselves called for heralds from the mainland, and after questions
+had been carried backwards and forwards two or three times, the last man
+that passed over from the Lacedaemonians on the continent brought this
+message: "The Lacedaemonians bid you to decide for yourselves so long as
+you do nothing dishonourable"; upon which after consulting together they
+surrendered themselves and their arms. The Athenians, after guarding
+them that day and night, the next morning set up a trophy in the island,
+and got ready to sail, giving their prisoners in batches to be guarded
+by the captains of the galleys; and the Lacedaemonians sent a herald and
+took up their dead. The number of the killed and prisoners taken in the
+island was as follows: four hundred and twenty heavy infantry had passed
+over; three hundred all but eight were taken alive to Athens; the rest
+were killed. About a hundred and twenty of the prisoners were Spartans.
+The Athenian loss was small, the battle not having been fought at close
+quarters.
+
+The blockade in all, counting from the fight at sea to the battle in
+the island, had lasted seventy-two days. For twenty of these, during the
+absence of the envoys sent to treat for peace, the men had provisions
+given them, for the rest they were fed by the smugglers. Corn and other
+victual was found in the island; the commander Epitadas having kept
+the men upon half rations. The Athenians and Peloponnesians now each
+withdrew their forces from Pylos, and went home, and crazy as Cleon's
+promise was, he fulfilled it, by bringing the men to Athens within the
+twenty days as he had pledged himself to do.
+
+Nothing that happened in the war surprised the Hellenes so much as this.
+It was the opinion that no force or famine could make the Lacedaemonians
+give up their arms, but that they would fight on as they could, and
+die with them in their hands: indeed people could scarcely believe that
+those who had surrendered were of the same stuff as the fallen; and
+an Athenian ally, who some time after insultingly asked one of the
+prisoners from the island if those that had fallen were men of honour,
+received for answer that the atraktos--that is, the arrow--would be
+worth a great deal if it could tell men of honour from the rest; in
+allusion to the fact that the killed were those whom the stones and the
+arrows happened to hit.
+
+Upon the arrival of the men the Athenians determined to keep them in
+prison until the peace, and if the Peloponnesians invaded their country
+in the interval, to bring them out and put them to death. Meanwhile the
+defence of Pylos was not forgotten; the Messenians from Naupactus sent
+to their old country, to which Pylos formerly belonged, some of the
+likeliest of their number, and began a series of incursions into
+Laconia, which their common dialect rendered most destructive. The
+Lacedaemonians, hitherto without experience of incursions or a warfare
+of the kind, finding the Helots deserting, and fearing the march of
+revolution in their country, began to be seriously uneasy, and in spite
+of their unwillingness to betray this to the Athenians began to send
+envoys to Athens, and tried to recover Pylos and the prisoners. The
+Athenians, however, kept grasping at more, and dismissed envoy after
+envoy without their having effected anything. Such was the history of
+the affair of Pylos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+_Seventh and Eighth Years of the War--End of Corcyraean Revolution--
+Peace of Gela--Capture of Nisaea_
+
+The same summer, directly after these events, the Athenians made an
+expedition against the territory of Corinth with eighty ships and two
+thousand Athenian heavy infantry, and two hundred cavalry on board horse
+transports, accompanied by the Milesians, Andrians, and Carystians from
+the allies, under the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus, with two
+colleagues. Putting out to sea they made land at daybreak between
+Chersonese and Rheitus, at the beach of the country underneath
+the Solygian hill, upon which the Dorians in old times established
+themselves and carried on war against the Aeolian inhabitants of
+Corinth, and where a village now stands called Solygia. The beach where
+the fleet came to is about a mile and a half from the village, seven
+miles from Corinth, and two and a quarter from the Isthmus. The
+Corinthians had heard from Argos of the coming of the Athenian armament,
+and had all come up to the Isthmus long before, with the exception of
+those who lived beyond it, and also of five hundred who were away in
+garrison in Ambracia and Leucadia; and they were there in full force
+watching for the Athenians to land. These last, however, gave them the
+slip by coming in the dark; and being informed by signals of the
+fact the Corinthians left half their number at Cenchreae, in case the
+Athenians should go against Crommyon, and marched in all haste to the
+rescue.
+
+Battus, one of the two generals present at the action, went with
+a company to defend the village of Solygia, which was unfortified;
+Lycophron remaining to give battle with the rest. The Corinthians first
+attacked the right wing of the Athenians, which had just landed in front
+of Chersonese, and afterwards the rest of the army. The battle was an
+obstinate one, and fought throughout hand to hand. The right wing of the
+Athenians and Carystians, who had been placed at the end of the
+line, received and with some difficulty repulsed the Corinthians,
+who thereupon retreated to a wall upon the rising ground behind, and
+throwing down the stones upon them, came on again singing the paean, and
+being received by the Athenians, were again engaged at close quarters.
+At this moment a Corinthian company having come to the relief of the
+left wing, routed and pursued the Athenian right to the sea, whence they
+were in their turn driven back by the Athenians and Carystians from
+the ships. Meanwhile the rest of the army on either side fought on
+tenaciously, especially the right wing of the Corinthians, where
+Lycophron sustained the attack of the Athenian left, which it was feared
+might attempt the village of Solygia.
+
+After holding on for a long while without either giving way, the
+Athenians aided by their horse, of which the enemy had none, at length
+routed the Corinthians, who retired to the hill and, halting, remained
+quiet there, without coming down again. It was in this rout of the right
+wing that they had the most killed, Lycophron their general being among
+the number. The rest of the army, broken and put to flight in this way
+without being seriously pursued or hurried, retired to the high ground
+and there took up its position. The Athenians, finding that the enemy no
+longer offered to engage them, stripped his dead and took up their own
+and immediately set up a trophy. Meanwhile, the half of the Corinthians
+left at Cenchreae to guard against the Athenians sailing on Crommyon,
+although unable to see the battle for Mount Oneion, found out what was
+going on by the dust, and hurried up to the rescue; as did also the
+older Corinthians from the town, upon discovering what had occurred. The
+Athenians seeing them all coming against them, and thinking that they
+were reinforcements arriving from the neighbouring Peloponnesians,
+withdrew in haste to their ships with their spoils and their own dead,
+except two that they left behind, not being able to find them, and going
+on board crossed over to the islands opposite, and from thence sent a
+herald, and took up under truce the bodies which they had left behind.
+Two hundred and twelve Corinthians fell in the battle, and rather less
+than fifty Athenians.
+
+Weighing from the islands, the Athenians sailed the same day to Crommyon
+in the Corinthian territory, about thirteen miles from the city, and
+coming to anchor laid waste the country, and passed the night there. The
+next day, after first coasting along to the territory of Epidaurus
+and making a descent there, they came to Methana between Epidaurus
+and Troezen, and drew a wall across and fortified the isthmus of the
+peninsula, and left a post there from which incursions were henceforth
+made upon the country of Troezen, Haliae, and Epidaurus. After walling
+off this spot, the fleet sailed off home.
+
+While these events were going on, Eurymedon and Sophocles had put to sea
+with the Athenian fleet from Pylos on their way to Sicily and, arriving
+at Corcyra, joined the townsmen in an expedition against the party
+established on Mount Istone, who had crossed over, as I have mentioned,
+after the revolution and become masters of the country, to the great
+hurt of the inhabitants. Their stronghold having been taken by an
+attack, the garrison took refuge in a body upon some high ground and
+there capitulated, agreeing to give up their mercenary auxiliaries, lay
+down their arms, and commit themselves to the discretion of the Athenian
+people. The generals carried them across under truce to the island of
+Ptychia, to be kept in custody until they could be sent to Athens, upon
+the understanding that, if any were caught running away, all would
+lose the benefit of the treaty. Meanwhile the leaders of the Corcyraean
+commons, afraid that the Athenians might spare the lives of the
+prisoners, had recourse to the following stratagem. They gained over
+some few men on the island by secretly sending friends with instructions
+to provide them with a boat, and to tell them, as if for their own
+sakes, that they had best escape as quickly as possible, as the Athenian
+generals were going to give them up to the Corcyraean people.
+
+These representations succeeding, it was so arranged that the men were
+caught sailing out in the boat that was provided, and the treaty became
+void accordingly, and the whole body were given up to the Corcyraeans.
+For this result the Athenian generals were in a great measure
+responsible; their evident disinclination to sail for Sicily, and
+thus to leave to others the honour of conducting the men to Athens,
+encouraged the intriguers in their design and seemed to affirm the truth
+of their representations. The prisoners thus handed over were shut up
+by the Corcyraeans in a large building, and afterwards taken out by
+twenties and led past two lines of heavy infantry, one on each side,
+being bound together, and beaten and stabbed by the men in the lines
+whenever any saw pass a personal enemy; while men carrying whips went by
+their side and hastened on the road those that walked too slowly.
+
+As many as sixty men were taken out and killed in this way without the
+knowledge of their friends in the building, who fancied they were merely
+being moved from one prison to another. At last, however, someone opened
+their eyes to the truth, upon which they called upon the Athenians to
+kill them themselves, if such was their pleasure, and refused any longer
+to go out of the building, and said they would do all they could to
+prevent any one coming in. The Corcyraeans, not liking themselves to
+force a passage by the doors, got up on the top of the building, and
+breaking through the roof, threw down the tiles and let fly arrows at
+them, from which the prisoners sheltered themselves as well as they
+could. Most of their number, meanwhile, were engaged in dispatching
+themselves by thrusting into their throats the arrows shot by the enemy,
+and hanging themselves with the cords taken from some beds that happened
+to be there, and with strips made from their clothing; adopting, in
+short, every possible means of self-destruction, and also falling
+victims to the missiles of their enemies on the roof. Night came on
+while these horrors were enacting, and most of it had passed before they
+were concluded. When it was day the Corcyraeans threw them in layers
+upon wagons and carried them out of the city. All the women taken in
+the stronghold were sold as slaves. In this way the Corcyraeans of the
+mountain were destroyed by the commons; and so after terrible excesses
+the party strife came to an end, at least as far as the period of this
+war is concerned, for of one party there was practically nothing left.
+Meanwhile the Athenians sailed off to Sicily, their primary destination,
+and carried on the war with their allies there.
+
+At the close of the summer, the Athenians at Naupactus and the
+Acarnanians made an expedition against Anactorium, the Corinthian town
+lying at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, and took it by treachery;
+and the Acarnanians themselves, sending settlers from all parts of
+Acarnania, occupied the place.
+
+Summer was now over. During the winter ensuing, Aristides, son of
+Archippus, one of the commanders of the Athenian ships sent to collect
+money from the allies, arrested at Eion, on the Strymon, Artaphernes,
+a Persian, on his way from the King to Lacedaemon. He was conducted
+to Athens, where the Athenians got his dispatches translated from the
+Assyrian character and read them. With numerous references to other
+subjects, they in substance told the Lacedaemonians that the King did
+not know what they wanted, as of the many ambassadors they had sent him
+no two ever told the same story; if however they were prepared to speak
+plainly they might send him some envoys with this Persian. The Athenians
+afterwards sent back Artaphernes in a galley to Ephesus, and ambassadors
+with him, who heard there of the death of King Artaxerxes, son of
+Xerxes, which took place about that time, and so returned home.
+
+The same winter the Chians pulled down their new wall at the command of
+the Athenians, who suspected them of meditating an insurrection, after
+first however obtaining pledges from the Athenians, and security as far
+as this was possible for their continuing to treat them as before. Thus
+the winter ended, and with it ended the seventh year of this war of
+which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+In first days of the next summer there was an eclipse of the sun at the
+time of new moon, and in the early part of the same month an earthquake.
+Meanwhile, the Mitylenian and other Lesbian exiles set out, for the
+most part from the continent, with mercenaries hired in Peloponnese, and
+others levied on the spot, and took Rhoeteum, but restored it without
+injury on the receipt of two thousand Phocaean staters. After this they
+marched against Antandrus and took the town by treachery, their plan
+being to free Antandrus and the rest of the Actaean towns, formerly
+owned by Mitylene but now held by the Athenians. Once fortified there,
+they would have every facility for ship-building from the vicinity
+of Ida and the consequent abundance of timber, and plenty of other
+supplies, and might from this base easily ravage Lesbos, which was
+not far off, and make themselves masters of the Aeolian towns on the
+continent.
+
+While these were the schemes of the exiles, the Athenians in the same
+summer made an expedition with sixty ships, two thousand heavy infantry,
+a few cavalry, and some allied troops from Miletus and other parts,
+against Cythera, under the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus,
+Nicostratus, son of Diotrephes, and Autocles, son of Tolmaeus. Cythera
+is an island lying off Laconia, opposite Malea; the inhabitants are
+Lacedaemonians of the class of the Perioeci; and an officer called the
+judge of Cythera went over to the place annually from Sparta. A garrison
+of heavy infantry was also regularly sent there, and great attention
+paid to the island, as it was the landing-place for the merchantmen from
+Egypt and Libya, and at the same time secured Laconia from the attacks
+of privateers from the sea, at the only point where it is assailable, as
+the whole coast rises abruptly towards the Sicilian and Cretan seas.
+
+Coming to land here with their armament, the Athenians with ten ships
+and two thousand Milesian heavy infantry took the town of Scandea, on
+the sea; and with the rest of their forces landing on the side of the
+island looking towards Malea, went against the lower town of Cythera,
+where they found all the inhabitants encamped. A battle ensuing, the
+Cytherians held their ground for some little while, and then turned
+and fled into the upper town, where they soon afterwards capitulated to
+Nicias and his colleagues, agreeing to leave their fate to the decision
+of the Athenians, their lives only being safe. A correspondence had
+previously been going on between Nicias and certain of the inhabitants,
+which caused the surrender to be effected more speedily, and upon terms
+more advantageous, present and future, for the Cytherians; who would
+otherwise have been expelled by the Athenians on account of their being
+Lacedaemonians and their island being so near to Laconia. After the
+capitulation, the Athenians occupied the town of Scandea near the
+harbour, and appointing a garrison for Cythera, sailed to Asine, Helus,
+and most of the places on the sea, and making descents and passing the
+night on shore at such spots as were convenient, continued ravaging the
+country for about seven days.
+
+The Lacedaemonians seeing the Athenians masters of Cythera, and
+expecting descents of the kind upon their coasts, nowhere opposed
+them in force, but sent garrisons here and there through the country,
+consisting of as many heavy infantry as the points menaced seemed to
+require, and generally stood very much upon the defensive. After the
+severe and unexpected blow that had befallen them in the island, the
+occupation of Pylos and Cythera, and the apparition on every side of
+a war whose rapidity defied precaution, they lived in constant fear
+of internal revolution, and now took the unusual step of raising four
+hundred horse and a force of archers, and became more timid than ever
+in military matters, finding themselves involved in a maritime struggle,
+which their organization had never contemplated, and that against
+Athenians, with whom an enterprise unattempted was always looked upon
+as a success sacrificed. Besides this, their late numerous reverses
+of fortune, coming close one upon another without any reason, had
+thoroughly unnerved them, and they were always afraid of a second
+disaster like that on the island, and thus scarcely dared to take the
+field, but fancied that they could not stir without a blunder, for
+being new to the experience of adversity they had lost all confidence in
+themselves.
+
+Accordingly they now allowed the Athenians to ravage their seaboard,
+without making any movement, the garrisons in whose neighbourhood the
+descents were made always thinking their numbers insufficient, and
+sharing the general feeling. A single garrison which ventured to resist,
+near Cotyrta and Aphrodisia, struck terror by its charge into the
+scattered mob of light troops, but retreated, upon being received by the
+heavy infantry, with the loss of a few men and some arms, for which the
+Athenians set up a trophy, and then sailed off to Cythera. From thence
+they sailed round to Epidaurus Limera, ravaged part of the country,
+and so came to Thyrea in the Cynurian territory, upon the Argive and
+Laconian border. This district had been given by its Lacedaemonian
+owners to the expelled Aeginetans to inhabit, in return for their good
+offices at the time of the earthquake and the rising of the Helots; and
+also because, although subjects of Athens, they had always sided with
+Lacedaemon.
+
+While the Athenians were still at sea, the Aeginetans evacuated a fort
+which they were building upon the coast, and retreated into the upper
+town where they lived, rather more than a mile from the sea. One of the
+Lacedaemonian district garrisons which was helping them in the work,
+refused to enter here with them at their entreaty, thinking it dangerous
+to shut themselves up within the wall, and retiring to the high ground
+remained quiet, not considering themselves a match for the enemy.
+Meanwhile the Athenians landed, and instantly advanced with all their
+forces and took Thyrea. The town they burnt, pillaging what was in
+it; the Aeginetans who were not slain in action they took with them to
+Athens, with Tantalus, son of Patrocles, their Lacedaemonian commander,
+who had been wounded and taken prisoner. They also took with them a
+few men from Cythera whom they thought it safest to remove. These the
+Athenians determined to lodge in the islands: the rest of the Cytherians
+were to retain their lands and pay four talents tribute; the Aeginetans
+captured to be all put to death, on account of the old inveterate feud;
+and Tantalus to share the imprisonment of the Lacedaemonians taken on
+the island.
+
+The same summer, the inhabitants of Camarina and Gela in Sicily first
+made an armistice with each other, after which embassies from all
+the other Sicilian cities assembled at Gela to try to bring about a
+pacification. After many expressions of opinion on one side and the
+other, according to the griefs and pretensions of the different
+parties complaining, Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a Syracusan, the
+most influential man among them, addressed the following words to the
+assembly:
+
+"If I now address you, Sicilians, it is not because my city is the least
+in Sicily or the greatest sufferer by the war, but in order to state
+publicly what appears to me to be the best policy for the whole island.
+That war is an evil is a proposition so familiar to every one that it
+would be tedious to develop it. No one is forced to engage in it by
+ignorance, or kept out of it by fear, if he fancies there is anything to
+be gained by it. To the former the gain appears greater than the danger,
+while the latter would rather stand the risk than put up with any
+immediate sacrifice. But if both should happen to have chosen the
+wrong moment for acting in this way, advice to make peace would not be
+unserviceable; and this, if we did but see it, is just what we stand
+most in need of at the present juncture.
+
+"I suppose that no one will dispute that we went to war at first in
+order to serve our own several interests, that we are now, in view
+of the same interests, debating how we can make peace; and that if
+we separate without having as we think our rights, we shall go to war
+again. And yet, as men of sense, we ought to see that our separate
+interests are not alone at stake in the present congress: there is also
+the question whether we have still time to save Sicily, the whole of
+which in my opinion is menaced by Athenian ambition; and we ought to
+find in the name of that people more imperious arguments for peace than
+any which I can advance, when we see the first power in Hellas watching
+our mistakes with the few ships that she has at present in our waters,
+and under the fair name of alliance speciously seeking to turn to
+account the natural hostility that exists between us. If we go to war,
+and call in to help us a people that are ready enough to carry their
+arms even where they are not invited; and if we injure ourselves at
+our own expense, and at the same time serve as the pioneers of their
+dominion, we may expect, when they see us worn out, that they will
+one day come with a larger armament, and seek to bring all of us into
+subjection.
+
+"And yet as sensible men, if we call in allies and court danger,
+it should be in order to enrich our different countries with new
+acquisitions, and not to ruin what they possess already; and we should
+understand that the intestine discords which are so fatal to communities
+generally, will be equally so to Sicily, if we, its inhabitants,
+absorbed in our local quarrels, neglect the common enemy. These
+considerations should reconcile individual with individual, and city
+with city, and unite us in a common effort to save the whole of Sicily.
+Nor should any one imagine that the Dorians only are enemies of Athens,
+while the Chalcidian race is secured by its Ionian blood; the attack in
+question is not inspired by hatred of one of two nationalities, but by
+a desire for the good things in Sicily, the common property of us all.
+This is proved by the Athenian reception of the Chalcidian invitation:
+an ally who has never given them any assistance whatever, at once
+receives from them almost more than the treaty entitles him to. That the
+Athenians should cherish this ambition and practise this policy is very
+excusable; and I do not blame those who wish to rule, but those who are
+over-ready to serve. It is just as much in men's nature to rule those
+who submit to them, as it is to resist those who molest them; one is not
+less invariable than the other. Meanwhile all who see these dangers
+and refuse to provide for them properly, or who have come here without
+having made up their minds that our first duty is to unite to get rid of
+the common peril, are mistaken. The quickest way to be rid of it is to
+make peace with each other; since the Athenians menace us not from their
+own country, but from that of those who invited them here. In this way
+instead of war issuing in war, peace quietly ends our quarrels; and the
+guests who come hither under fair pretences for bad ends, will have good
+reason for going away without having attained them.
+
+"So far as regards the Athenians, such are the great advantages proved
+inherent in a wise policy. Independently of this, in the face of the
+universal consent, that peace is the first of blessings, how can we
+refuse to make it amongst ourselves; or do you not think that the good
+which you have, and the ills that you complain of, would be better
+preserved and cured by quiet than by war; that peace has its honours and
+splendours of a less perilous kind, not to mention the numerous other
+blessings that one might dilate on, with the not less numerous miseries
+of war? These considerations should teach you not to disregard my words,
+but rather to look in them every one for his own safety. If there be any
+here who feels certain either by right or might to effect his object,
+let not this surprise be to him too severe a disappointment. Let him
+remember that many before now have tried to chastise a wrongdoer, and
+failing to punish their enemy have not even saved themselves; while
+many who have trusted in force to gain an advantage, instead of gaining
+anything more, have been doomed to lose what they had. Vengeance is not
+necessarily successful because wrong has been done, or strength sure
+because it is confident; but the incalculable element in the future
+exercises the widest influence, and is the most treacherous, and yet in
+fact the most useful of all things, as it frightens us all equally, and
+thus makes us consider before attacking each other.
+
+"Let us therefore now allow the undefined fear of this unknown future,
+and the immediate terror of the Athenians' presence, to produce their
+natural impression, and let us consider any failure to carry out
+the programmes that we may each have sketched out for ourselves as
+sufficiently accounted for by these obstacles, and send away the
+intruder from the country; and if everlasting peace be impossible
+between us, let us at all events make a treaty for as long a term as
+possible, and put off our private differences to another day. In fine,
+let us recognize that the adoption of my advice will leave us each
+citizens of a free state, and as such arbiters of our own destiny, able
+to return good or bad offices with equal effect; while its rejection
+will make us dependent on others, and thus not only impotent to repel
+an insult, but on the most favourable supposition, friends to our direst
+enemies, and at feud with our natural friends.
+
+"For myself, though, as I said at first, the representative of a great
+city, and able to think less of defending myself than of attacking
+others, I am prepared to concede something in prevision of these
+dangers. I am not inclined to ruin myself for the sake of hurting my
+enemies, or so blinded by animosity as to think myself equally master
+of my own plans and of fortune which I cannot command; but I am ready
+to give up anything in reason. I call upon the rest of you to imitate
+my conduct of your own free will, without being forced to do so by the
+enemy. There is no disgrace in connections giving way to one another,
+a Dorian to a Dorian, or a Chalcidian to his brethren; above and beyond
+this we are neighbours, live in the same country, are girt by the same
+sea, and go by the same name of Sicilians. We shall go to war again, I
+suppose, when the time comes, and again make peace among ourselves by
+means of future congresses; but the foreign invader, if we are wise,
+will always find us united against him, since the hurt of one is the
+danger of all; and we shall never, in future, invite into the island
+either allies or mediators. By so acting we shall at the present moment
+do for Sicily a double service, ridding her at once of the Athenians,
+and of civil war, and in future shall live in freedom at home, and be
+less menaced from abroad."
+
+Such were the words of Hermocrates. The Sicilians took his advice, and
+came to an understanding among themselves to end the war, each keeping
+what they had--the Camarinaeans taking Morgantina at a price fixed to
+be paid to the Syracusans--and the allies of the Athenians called the
+officers in command, and told them that they were going to make peace
+and that they would be included in the treaty. The generals assenting,
+the peace was concluded, and the Athenian fleet afterwards sailed
+away from Sicily. Upon their arrival at Athens, the Athenians banished
+Pythodorus and Sophocles, and fined Eurymedon for having taken bribes
+to depart when they might have subdued Sicily. So thoroughly had the
+present prosperity persuaded the citizens that nothing could withstand
+them, and that they could achieve what was possible and impracticable
+alike, with means ample or inadequate it mattered not. The secret of
+this was their general extraordinary success, which made them confuse
+their strength with their hopes.
+
+The same summer the Megarians in the city, pressed by the hostilities of
+the Athenians, who invaded their country twice every year with all their
+forces, and harassed by the incursions of their own exiles at Pegae,
+who had been expelled in a revolution by the popular party, began to ask
+each other whether it would not be better to receive back their exiles,
+and free the town from one of its two scourges. The friends of the
+emigrants, perceiving the agitation, now more openly than before
+demanded the adoption of this proposition; and the leaders of the
+commons, seeing that the sufferings of the times had tired out
+the constancy of their supporters, entered in their alarm into
+correspondence with the Athenian generals, Hippocrates, son of Ariphron,
+and Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, and resolved to betray the town,
+thinking this less dangerous to themselves than the return of the party
+which they had banished. It was accordingly arranged that the Athenians
+should first take the long walls extending for nearly a mile from the
+city to the port of Nisaea, to prevent the Peloponnesians coming to the
+rescue from that place, where they formed the sole garrison to secure
+the fidelity of Megara; and that after this the attempt should be made
+to put into their hands the upper town, which it was thought would then
+come over with less difficulty.
+
+The Athenians, after plans had been arranged between themselves and
+their correspondents both as to words and actions, sailed by night to
+Minoa, the island off Megara, with six hundred heavy infantry under the
+command of Hippocrates, and took post in a quarry not far off, out of
+which bricks used to be taken for the walls; while Demosthenes, the
+other commander, with a detachment of Plataean light troops and another
+of Peripoli, placed himself in ambush in the precinct of Enyalius, which
+was still nearer. No one knew of it, except those whose business it was
+to know that night. A little before daybreak, the traitors in Megara
+began to act. Every night for a long time back, under pretence of
+marauding, in order to have a means of opening the gates, they had been
+used, with the consent of the officer in command, to carry by night a
+sculling boat upon a cart along the ditch to the sea, and so to sail
+out, bringing it back again before day upon the cart, and taking it
+within the wall through the gates, in order, as they pretended, to
+baffle the Athenian blockade at Minoa, there being no boat to be seen in
+the harbour. On the present occasion the cart was already at the gates,
+which had been opened in the usual way for the boat, when the Athenians,
+with whom this had been concerted, saw it, and ran at the top of their
+speed from the ambush in order to reach the gates before they were shut
+again, and while the cart was still there to prevent their being closed;
+their Megarian accomplices at the same moment killing the guard at
+the gates. The first to run in was Demosthenes with his Plataeans and
+Peripoli, just where the trophy now stands; and he was no sooner within
+the gates than the Plataeans engaged and defeated the nearest party
+of Peloponnesians who had taken the alarm and come to the rescue, and
+secured the gates for the approaching Athenian heavy infantry.
+
+After this, each of the Athenians as fast as they entered went against
+the wall. A few of the Peloponnesian garrison stood their ground at
+first, and tried to repel the assault, and some of them were killed; but
+the main body took fright and fled; the night attack and the sight of
+the Megarian traitors in arms against them making them think that all
+Megara had gone over to the enemy. It so happened also that the Athenian
+herald of his own idea called out and invited any of the Megarians that
+wished, to join the Athenian ranks; and this was no sooner heard by the
+garrison than they gave way, and, convinced that they were the victims
+of a concerted attack, took refuge in Nisaea. By daybreak, the walls
+being now taken and the Megarians in the city in great agitation, the
+persons who had negotiated with the Athenians, supported by the rest of
+the popular party which was privy to the plot, said that they ought to
+open the gates and march out to battle. It had been concerted between
+them that the Athenians should rush in, the moment that the gates were
+opened, while the conspirators were to be distinguished from the rest by
+being anointed with oil, and so to avoid being hurt. They could open the
+gates with more security, as four thousand Athenian heavy infantry from
+Eleusis, and six hundred horse, had marched all night, according to
+agreement, and were now close at hand. The conspirators were all ready
+anointed and at their posts by the gates, when one of their accomplices
+denounced the plot to the opposite party, who gathered together and came
+in a body, and roundly said that they must not march out--a thing they
+had never yet ventured on even when in greater force than at present--or
+wantonly compromise the safety of the town, and that if what they said
+was not attended to, the battle would have to be fought in Megara. For
+the rest, they gave no signs of their knowledge of the intrigue, but
+stoutly maintained that their advice was the best, and meanwhile
+kept close by and watched the gates, making it impossible for the
+conspirators to effect their purpose.
+
+The Athenian generals seeing that some obstacle had arisen, and that
+the capture of the town by force was no longer practicable, at once
+proceeded to invest Nisaea, thinking that, if they could take it
+before relief arrived, the surrender of Megara would soon follow.
+Iron, stone-masons, and everything else required quickly coming up from
+Athens, the Athenians started from the wall which they occupied, and
+from this point built a cross wall looking towards Megara down to the
+sea on either side of Nisaea; the ditch and the walls being divided
+among the army, stones and bricks taken from the suburb, and the
+fruit-trees and timber cut down to make a palisade wherever this
+seemed necessary; the houses also in the suburb with the addition of
+battlements sometimes entering into the fortification. The whole of this
+day the work continued, and by the afternoon of the next the wall was
+all but completed, when the garrison in Nisaea, alarmed by the absolute
+want of provisions, which they used to take in for the day from the
+upper town, not anticipating any speedy relief from the Peloponnesians,
+and supposing Megara to be hostile, capitulated to the Athenians on
+condition that they should give up their arms, and should each be
+ransomed for a stipulated sum; their Lacedaemonian commander, and any
+others of his countrymen in the place, being left to the discretion of
+the Athenians. On these conditions they surrendered and came out, and
+the Athenians broke down the long walls at their point of junction
+with Megara, took possession of Nisaea, and went on with their other
+preparations.
+
+Just at this time the Lacedaemonian Brasidas, son of Tellis, happened to
+be in the neighbourhood of Sicyon and Corinth, getting ready an army for
+Thrace. As soon as he heard of the capture of the walls, fearing for
+the Peloponnesians in Nisaea and the safety of Megara, he sent to the
+Boeotians to meet him as quickly as possible at Tripodiscus, a village
+so called of the Megarid, under Mount Geraneia, and went himself, with
+two thousand seven hundred Corinthian heavy infantry, four hundred
+Phliasians, six hundred Sicyonians, and such troops of his own as he had
+already levied, expecting to find Nisaea not yet taken. Hearing of its
+fall (he had marched out by night to Tripodiscus), he took three hundred
+picked men from the army, without waiting till his coming should be
+known, and came up to Megara unobserved by the Athenians, who were down
+by the sea, ostensibly, and really if possible, to attempt Nisaea, but
+above all to get into Megara and secure the town. He accordingly
+invited the townspeople to admit his party, saying that he had hopes of
+recovering Nisaea.
+
+However, one of the Megarian factions feared that he might expel them
+and restore the exiles; the other that the commons, apprehensive of this
+very danger, might set upon them, and the city be thus destroyed by a
+battle within its gates under the eyes of the ambushed Athenians. He was
+accordingly refused admittance, both parties electing to remain quiet
+and await the event; each expecting a battle between the Athenians
+and the relieving army, and thinking it safer to see their friends
+victorious before declaring in their favour.
+
+Unable to carry his point, Brasidas went back to the rest of the army.
+At daybreak the Boeotians joined him. Having determined to relieve
+Megara, whose danger they considered their own, even before hearing from
+Brasidas, they were already in full force at Plataea, when his messenger
+arrived to add spurs to their resolution; and they at once sent on to
+him two thousand two hundred heavy infantry, and six hundred horse,
+returning home with the main body. The whole army thus assembled
+numbered six thousand heavy infantry. The Athenian heavy infantry were
+drawn up by Nisaea and the sea; but the light troops being scattered
+over the plain were attacked by the Boeotian horse and driven to the
+sea, being taken entirely by surprise, as on previous occasions no
+relief had ever come to the Megarians from any quarter. Here the
+Boeotians were in their turn charged and engaged by the Athenian horse,
+and a cavalry action ensued which lasted a long time, and in which
+both parties claimed the victory. The Athenians killed and stripped
+the leader of the Boeotian horse and some few of his comrades who had
+charged right up to Nisaea, and remaining masters of the bodies gave
+them back under truce, and set up a trophy; but regarding the action
+as a whole the forces separated without either side having gained
+a decisive advantage, the Boeotians returning to their army and the
+Athenians to Nisaea.
+
+After this Brasidas and the army came nearer to the sea and to Megara,
+and taking up a convenient position, remained quiet in order of battle,
+expecting to be attacked by the Athenians and knowing that the Megarians
+were waiting to see which would be the victor. This attitude seemed
+to present two advantages. Without taking the offensive or willingly
+provoking the hazards of a battle, they openly showed their readiness to
+fight, and thus without bearing the burden of the day would fairly
+reap its honours; while at the same time they effectually served their
+interests at Megara. For if they had failed to show themselves they
+would not have had a chance, but would have certainly been considered
+vanquished, and have lost the town. As it was, the Athenians might
+possibly not be inclined to accept their challenge, and their object
+would be attained without fighting. And so it turned out. The Athenians
+formed outside the long walls and, the enemy not attacking, there
+remained motionless; their generals having decided that the risk was too
+unequal. In fact most of their objects had been already attained; and
+they would have to begin a battle against superior numbers, and if
+victorious could only gain Megara, while a defeat would destroy the
+flower of their heavy soldiery. For the enemy it was different; as even
+the states actually represented in his army risked each only a part of
+its entire force, he might well be more audacious. Accordingly, after
+waiting for some time without either side attacking, the Athenians
+withdrew to Nisaea, and the Peloponnesians after them to the point from
+which they had set out. The friends of the Megarian exiles now threw
+aside their hesitation, and opened the gates to Brasidas and the
+commanders from the different states--looking upon him as the victor
+and upon the Athenians as having declined the battle--and receiving
+them into the town proceeded to discuss matters with them; the party in
+correspondence with the Athenians being paralysed by the turn things had
+taken.
+
+Afterwards Brasidas let the allies go home, and himself went back
+to Corinth, to prepare for his expedition to Thrace, his original
+destination. The Athenians also returning home, the Megarians in the
+city most implicated in the Athenian negotiation, knowing that they had
+been detected, presently disappeared; while the rest conferred with the
+friends of the exiles, and restored the party at Pegae, after binding
+them under solemn oaths to take no vengeance for the past, and only to
+consult the real interests of the town. However, as soon as they were
+in office, they held a review of the heavy infantry, and separating the
+battalions, picked out about a hundred of their enemies, and of those
+who were thought to be most involved in the correspondence with the
+Athenians, brought them before the people, and compelling the vote to be
+given openly, had them condemned and executed, and established a close
+oligarchy in the town--a revolution which lasted a very long while,
+although effected by a very few partisans.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+_Eighth and Ninth Years of the War--Invasion of Boeotia--Fall of
+Amphipolis--Brilliant Successes of Brasidas_
+
+The same summer the Mitylenians were about to fortify Antandrus, as
+they had intended, when Demodocus and Aristides, the commanders of the
+Athenian squadron engaged in levying subsidies, heard on the Hellespont
+of what was being done to the place (Lamachus their colleague having
+sailed with ten ships into the Pontus) and conceived fears of its
+becoming a second Anaia-the place in which the Samian exiles had
+established themselves to annoy Samos, helping the Peloponnesians by
+sending pilots to their navy, and keeping the city in agitation and
+receiving all its outlaws. They accordingly got together a force from
+the allies and set sail, defeated in battle the troops that met them
+from Antandrus, and retook the place. Not long after, Lamachus, who had
+sailed into the Pontus, lost his ships at anchor in the river Calex, in
+the territory of Heraclea, rain having fallen in the interior and the
+flood coming suddenly down upon them; and himself and his troops passed
+by land through the Bithynian Thracians on the Asiatic side, and arrived
+at Chalcedon, the Megarian colony at the mouth of the Pontus.
+
+The same summer the Athenian general, Demosthenes, arrived at Naupactus
+with forty ships immediately after the return from the Megarid.
+Hippocrates and himself had had overtures made to them by certain men
+in the cities in Boeotia, who wished to change the constitution and
+introduce a democracy as at Athens; Ptoeodorus, a Theban exile, being
+the chief mover in this intrigue. The seaport town of Siphae, in the bay
+of Crisae, in the Thespian territory, was to be betrayed to them by one
+party; Chaeronea (a dependency of what was formerly called the Minyan,
+now the Boeotian, Orchomenus) to be put into their hands by another from
+that town, whose exiles were very active in the business, hiring men in
+Peloponnese. Some Phocians also were in the plot, Chaeronea being the
+frontier town of Boeotia and close to Phanotis in Phocia. Meanwhile
+the Athenians were to seize Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo, in the
+territory of Tanagra looking towards Euboea; and all these events were
+to take place simultaneously upon a day appointed, in order that the
+Boeotians might be unable to unite to oppose them at Delium, being
+everywhere detained by disturbances at home. Should the enterprise
+succeed, and Delium be fortified, its authors confidently expected that
+even if no revolution should immediately follow in Boeotia, yet
+with these places in their hands, and the country being harassed by
+incursions, and a refuge in each instance near for the partisans engaged
+in them, things would not remain as they were, but that the rebels being
+supported by the Athenians and the forces of the oligarchs divided, it
+would be possible after a while to settle matters according to their
+wishes.
+
+Such was the plot in contemplation. Hippocrates with a force raised at
+home awaited the proper moment to take the field against the Boeotians;
+while he sent on Demosthenes with the forty ships above mentioned to
+Naupactus, to raise in those parts an army of Acarnanians and of the
+other allies, and sail and receive Siphae from the conspirators; a
+day having been agreed on for the simultaneous execution of both these
+operations. Demosthenes on his arrival found Oeniadae already compelled
+by the united Acarnanians to join the Athenian confederacy, and himself
+raising all the allies in those countries marched against and subdued
+Salynthius and the Agraeans; after which he devoted himself to the
+preparations necessary to enable him to be at Siphae by the time
+appointed.
+
+About the same time in the summer, Brasidas set out on his march for the
+Thracian places with seventeen hundred heavy infantry, and arriving at
+Heraclea in Trachis, from thence sent on a messenger to his friends
+at Pharsalus, to ask them to conduct himself and his army through the
+country. Accordingly there came to Melitia in Achaia Panaerus, Dorus,
+Hippolochidas, Torylaus, and Strophacus, the Chalcidian proxenus, under
+whose escort he resumed his march, being accompanied also by other
+Thessalians, among whom was Niconidas from Larissa, a friend of
+Perdiccas. It was never very easy to traverse Thessaly without an
+escort; and throughout all Hellas for an armed force to pass without
+leave through a neighbour's country was a delicate step to take. Besides
+this the Thessalian people had always sympathized with the Athenians.
+Indeed if instead of the customary close oligarchy there had been a
+constitutional government in Thessaly, he would never have been able
+to proceed; since even as it was, he was met on his march at the
+river Enipeus by certain of the opposite party who forbade his further
+progress, and complained of his making the attempt without the consent
+of the nation. To this his escort answered that they had no intention
+of taking him through against their will; they were only friends in
+attendance on an unexpected visitor. Brasidas himself added that he came
+as a friend to Thessaly and its inhabitants, his arms not being directed
+against them but against the Athenians, with whom he was at war,
+and that although he knew of no quarrel between the Thessalians and
+Lacedaemonians to prevent the two nations having access to each other's
+territory, he neither would nor could proceed against their wishes; he
+could only beg them not to stop him. With this answer they went away,
+and he took the advice of his escort, and pushed on without halting,
+before a greater force might gather to prevent him. Thus in the day that
+he set out from Melitia he performed the whole distance to Pharsalus,
+and encamped on the river Apidanus; and so to Phacium and from thence to
+Perrhaebia. Here his Thessalian escort went back, and the Perrhaebians,
+who are subjects of Thessaly, set him down at Dium in the dominions
+of Perdiccas, a Macedonian town under Mount Olympus, looking towards
+Thessaly.
+
+In this way Brasidas hurried through Thessaly before any one could
+be got ready to stop him, and reached Perdiccas and Chalcidice. The
+departure of the army from Peloponnese had been procured by the
+Thracian towns in revolt against Athens and by Perdiccas, alarmed at the
+successes of the Athenians. The Chalcidians thought that they would be
+the first objects of an Athenian expedition, not that the neighbouring
+towns which had not yet revolted did not also secretly join in the
+invitation; and Perdiccas also had his apprehensions on account of his
+old quarrels with the Athenians, although not openly at war with them,
+and above all wished to reduce Arrhabaeus, king of the Lyncestians. It
+had been less difficult for them to get an army to leave Peloponnese,
+because of the ill fortune of the Lacedaemonians at the present moment.
+The attacks of the Athenians upon Peloponnese, and in particular upon
+Laconia, might, it was hoped, be diverted most effectually by annoying
+them in return, and by sending an army to their allies, especially
+as they were willing to maintain it and asked for it to aid them in
+revolting. The Lacedaemonians were also glad to have an excuse for
+sending some of the Helots out of the country, for fear that the present
+aspect of affairs and the occupation of Pylos might encourage them to
+move. Indeed fear of their numbers and obstinacy even persuaded the
+Lacedaemonians to the action which I shall now relate, their policy at
+all times having been governed by the necessity of taking precautions
+against them. The Helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out
+those of their number who claimed to have most distinguished themselves
+against the enemy, in order that they might receive their freedom; the
+object being to test them, as it was thought that the first to claim
+their freedom would be the most high-spirited and the most apt to
+rebel. As many as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned
+themselves and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom.
+The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one
+ever knew how each of them perished. The Spartans now therefore gladly
+sent seven hundred as heavy infantry with Brasidas, who recruited the
+rest of his force by means of money in Peloponnese.
+
+Brasidas himself was sent out by the Lacedaemonians mainly at his
+own desire, although the Chalcidians also were eager to have a man so
+thorough as he had shown himself whenever there was anything to be done
+at Sparta, and whose after-service abroad proved of the utmost use to
+his country. At the present moment his just and moderate conduct towards
+the towns generally succeeded in procuring their revolt, besides
+the places which he managed to take by treachery; and thus when the
+Lacedaemonians desired to treat, as they ultimately did, they had places
+to offer in exchange, and the burden of war meanwhile shifted from
+Peloponnese. Later on in the war, after the events in Sicily, the
+present valour and conduct of Brasidas, known by experience to some,
+by hearsay to others, was what mainly created in the allies of Athens a
+feeling for the Lacedaemonians. He was the first who went out and
+showed himself so good a man at all points as to leave behind him the
+conviction that the rest were like him.
+
+Meanwhile his arrival in the Thracian country no sooner became known
+to the Athenians than they declared war against Perdiccas, whom they
+regarded as the author of the expedition, and kept a closer watch on
+their allies in that quarter.
+
+Upon the arrival of Brasidas and his army, Perdiccas immediately started
+with them and with his own forces against Arrhabaeus, son of Bromerus,
+king of the Lyncestian Macedonians, his neighbour, with whom he had a
+quarrel and whom he wished to subdue. However, when he arrived with his
+army and Brasidas at the pass leading into Lyncus, Brasidas told him
+that before commencing hostilities he wished to go and try to persuade
+Arrhabaeus to become the ally of Lacedaemon, this latter having already
+made overtures intimating his willingness to make Brasidas arbitrator
+between them, and the Chalcidian envoys accompanying him having warned
+him not to remove the apprehensions of Perdiccas, in order to ensure his
+greater zeal in their cause. Besides, the envoys of Perdiccas had talked
+at Lacedaemon about his bringing many of the places round him into
+alliance with them; and thus Brasidas thought he might take a larger
+view of the question of Arrhabaeus. Perdiccas however retorted that he
+had not brought him with him to arbitrate in their quarrel, but to put
+down the enemies whom he might point out to him; and that while he,
+Perdiccas, maintained half his army it was a breach of faith for
+Brasidas to parley with Arrhabaeus. Nevertheless Brasidas disregarded
+the wishes of Perdiccas and held the parley in spite of him, and
+suffered himself to be persuaded to lead off the army without invading
+the country of Arrhabaeus; after which Perdiccas, holding that faith had
+not been kept with him, contributed only a third instead of half of the
+support of the army.
+
+The same summer, without loss of time, Brasidas marched with the
+Chalcidians against Acanthus, a colony of the Andrians, a little before
+vintage. The inhabitants were divided into two parties on the question
+of receiving him; those who had joined the Chalcidians in inviting him,
+and the popular party. However, fear for their fruit, which was still
+out, enabled Brasidas to persuade the multitude to admit him alone, and
+to hear what he had to say before making a decision; and he was admitted
+accordingly and appeared before the people, and not being a bad speaker
+for a Lacedaemonian, addressed them as follows:
+
+"Acanthians, the Lacedaemonians have sent out me and my army to make
+good the reason that we gave for the war when we began it, viz., that we
+were going to war with the Athenians in order to free Hellas. Our delay
+in coming has been caused by mistaken expectations as to the war at
+home, which led us to hope, by our own unassisted efforts and without
+your risking anything, to effect the speedy downfall of the Athenians;
+and you must not blame us for this, as we are now come the moment that
+we were able, prepared with your aid to do our best to subdue them.
+Meanwhile I am astonished at finding your gates shut against me, and at
+not meeting with a better welcome. We Lacedaemonians thought of you as
+allies eager to have us, to whom we should come in spirit even before we
+were with you in body; and in this expectation undertook all the risks
+of a march of many days through a strange country, so far did our zeal
+carry us. It will be a terrible thing if after this you have other
+intentions, and mean to stand in the way of your own and Hellenic
+freedom. It is not merely that you oppose me yourselves; but wherever I
+may go people will be less inclined to join me, on the score that you,
+to whom I first came--an important town like Acanthus, and prudent men
+like the Acanthians--refused to admit me. I shall have nothing to prove
+that the reason which I advance is the true one; it will be said either
+that there is something unfair in the freedom which I offer, or that
+I am in insufficient force and unable to protect you against an attack
+from Athens. Yet when I went with the army which I now have to the
+relief of Nisaea, the Athenians did not venture to engage me although
+in greater force than I; and it is not likely they will ever send across
+sea against you an army as numerous as they had at Nisaea. And for
+myself, I have come here not to hurt but to free the Hellenes, witness
+the solemn oaths by which I have bound my government that the allies
+that I may bring over shall be independent; and besides my object in
+coming is not by force or fraud to obtain your alliance, but to
+offer you mine to help you against your Athenian masters. I protest,
+therefore, against any suspicions of my intentions after the guarantees
+which I offer, and equally so against doubts of my ability to protect
+you, and I invite you to join me without hesitation.
+
+"Some of you may hang back because they have private enemies, and fear
+that I may put the city into the hands of a party: none need be more
+tranquil than they. I am not come here to help this party or that; and I
+do not consider that I should be bringing you freedom in any real sense,
+if I should disregard your constitution, and enslave the many to the few
+or the few to the many. This would be heavier than a foreign yoke; and
+we Lacedaemonians, instead of being thanked for our pains, should get
+neither honour nor glory, but, contrariwise, reproaches. The charges
+which strengthen our hands in the war against the Athenians would on
+our own showing be merited by ourselves, and more hateful in us than in
+those who make no pretensions to honesty; as it is more disgraceful for
+persons of character to take what they covet by fair-seeming fraud than
+by open force; the one aggression having for its justification the might
+which fortune gives, the other being simply a piece of clever roguery.
+A matter which concerns us thus nearly we naturally look to most
+jealously; and over and above the oaths that I have mentioned, what
+stronger assurance can you have, when you see that our words, compared
+with the actual facts, produce the necessary conviction that it is our
+interest to act as we say?
+
+"If to these considerations of mine you put in the plea of inability,
+and claim that your friendly feeling should save you from being hurt by
+your refusal; if you say that freedom, in your opinion, is not without
+its dangers, and that it is right to offer it to those who can accept
+it, but not to force it on any against their will, then I shall take the
+gods and heroes of your country to witness that I came for your good and
+was rejected, and shall do my best to compel you by laying waste your
+land. I shall do so without scruple, being justified by the necessity
+which constrains me, first, to prevent the Lacedaemonians from being
+damaged by you, their friends, in the event of your nonadhesion, through
+the moneys that you pay to the Athenians; and secondly, to prevent the
+Hellenes from being hindered by you in shaking off their servitude.
+Otherwise indeed we should have no right to act as we propose; except
+in the name of some public interest, what call should we Lacedaemonians
+have to free those who do not wish it? Empire we do not aspire to: it
+is what we are labouring to put down; and we should wrong the greater
+number if we allowed you to stand in the way of the independence that
+we offer to all. Endeavour, therefore, to decide wisely, and strive to
+begin the work of liberation for the Hellenes, and lay up for
+yourselves endless renown, while you escape private loss, and cover your
+commonwealth with glory."
+
+Such were the words of Brasidas. The Acanthians, after much had been
+said on both sides of the question, gave their votes in secret, and the
+majority, influenced by the seductive arguments of Brasidas and by fear
+for their fruit, decided to revolt from Athens; not however admitting
+the army until they had taken his personal security for the oaths sworn
+by his government before they sent him out, assuring the independence of
+the allies whom he might bring over. Not long after, Stagirus, a colony
+of the Andrians, followed their example and revolted.
+
+Such were the events of this summer. It was in the first days of the
+winter following that the places in Boeotia were to be put into the
+hands of the Athenian generals, Hippocrates and Demosthenes, the latter
+of whom was to go with his ships to Siphae, the former to Delium. A
+mistake, however, was made in the days on which they were each to start;
+and Demosthenes, sailing first to Siphae, with the Acarnanians and many
+of the allies from those parts on board, failed to effect anything,
+through the plot having been betrayed by Nicomachus, a Phocian from
+Phanotis, who told the Lacedaemonians, and they the Boeotians. Succours
+accordingly flocked in from all parts of Boeotia, Hippocrates not being
+yet there to make his diversion, and Siphae and Chaeronea were promptly
+secured, and the conspirators, informed of the mistake, did not venture
+on any movement in the towns.
+
+Meanwhile Hippocrates made a levy in mass of the citizens, resident
+aliens, and foreigners in Athens, and arrived at his destination after
+the Boeotians had already come back from Siphae, and encamping his
+army began to fortify Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo, in the following
+manner. A trench was dug all round the temple and the consecrated
+ground, and the earth thrown up from the excavation was made to do
+duty as a wall, in which stakes were also planted, the vines round the
+sanctuary being cut down and thrown in, together with stones and bricks
+pulled down from the houses near; every means, in short, being used
+to run up the rampart. Wooden towers were also erected where they
+were wanted, and where there was no part of the temple buildings left
+standing, as on the side where the gallery once existing had fallen in.
+The work was begun on the third day after leaving home, and continued
+during the fourth, and till dinnertime on the fifth, when most of it
+being now finished the army removed from Delium about a mile and a
+quarter on its way home. From this point most of the light troops went
+straight on, while the heavy infantry halted and remained where they
+were; Hippocrates having stayed behind at Delium to arrange the posts,
+and to give directions for the completion of such part of the outworks
+as had been left unfinished.
+
+During the days thus employed the Boeotians were mustering at Tanagra,
+and by the time that they had come in from all the towns, found the
+Athenians already on their way home. The rest of the eleven Boeotarchs
+were against giving battle, as the enemy was no longer in Boeotia, the
+Athenians being just over the Oropian border, when they halted; but
+Pagondas, son of Aeolidas, one of the Boeotarchs of Thebes (Arianthides,
+son of Lysimachidas, being the other), and then commander-in-chief,
+thought it best to hazard a battle. He accordingly called the men to
+him, company after company, to prevent their all leaving their arms at
+once, and urged them to attack the Athenians, and stand the issue of a
+battle, speaking as follows:
+
+"Boeotians, the idea that we ought not to give battle to the Athenians,
+unless we came up with them in Boeotia, is one which should never have
+entered into the head of any of us, your generals. It was to annoy
+Boeotia that they crossed the frontier and built a fort in our country;
+and they are therefore, I imagine, our enemies wherever we may come up
+with them, and from wheresoever they may have come to act as enemies
+do. And if any one has taken up with the idea in question for reasons of
+safety, it is high time for him to change his mind. The party attacked,
+whose own country is in danger, can scarcely discuss what is prudent
+with the calmness of men who are in full enjoyment of what they have
+got, and are thinking of attacking a neighbour in order to get more. It
+is your national habit, in your country or out of it, to oppose the same
+resistance to a foreign invader; and when that invader is Athenian, and
+lives upon your frontier besides, it is doubly imperative to do so. As
+between neighbours generally, freedom means simply a determination
+to hold one's own; and with neighbours like these, who are trying to
+enslave near and far alike, there is nothing for it but to fight it out
+to the last. Look at the condition of the Euboeans and of most of the
+rest of Hellas, and be convinced that others have to fight with their
+neighbours for this frontier or that, but that for us conquest means one
+frontier for the whole country, about which no dispute can be made, for
+they will simply come and take by force what we have. So much more have
+we to fear from this neighbour than from another. Besides, people who,
+like the Athenians in the present instance, are tempted by pride of
+strength to attack their neighbours, usually march most confidently
+against those who keep still, and only defend themselves in their own
+country, but think twice before they grapple with those who meet them
+outside their frontier and strike the first blow if opportunity offers.
+The Athenians have shown us this themselves; the defeat which we
+inflicted upon them at Coronea, at the time when our quarrels had
+allowed them to occupy the country, has given great security to Boeotia
+until the present day. Remembering this, the old must equal their
+ancient exploits, and the young, the sons of the heroes of that time,
+must endeavour not to disgrace their native valour; and trusting in the
+help of the god whose temple has been sacrilegiously fortified, and
+in the victims which in our sacrifices have proved propitious, we must
+march against the enemy, and teach him that he must go and get what he
+wants by attacking someone who will not resist him, but that men whose
+glory it is to be always ready to give battle for the liberty of their
+own country, and never unjustly to enslave that of others, will not let
+him go without a struggle."
+
+By these arguments Pagondas persuaded the Boeotians to attack the
+Athenians, and quickly breaking up his camp led his army forward, it
+being now late in the day. On nearing the enemy, he halted in a position
+where a hill intervening prevented the two armies from seeing each
+other, and then formed and prepared for action. Meanwhile Hippocrates
+at Delium, informed of the approach of the Boeotians, sent orders to his
+troops to throw themselves into line, and himself joined them not long
+afterwards, leaving about three hundred horse behind him at Delium,
+at once to guard the place in case of attack, and to watch their
+opportunity and fall upon the Boeotians during the battle. The Boeotians
+placed a detachment to deal with these, and when everything was arranged
+to their satisfaction appeared over the hill, and halted in the order
+which they had determined on, to the number of seven thousand heavy
+infantry, more than ten thousand light troops, one thousand horse, and
+five hundred targeteers. On their right were the Thebans and those of
+their province, in the centre the Haliartians, Coronaeans, Copaeans,
+and the other people around the lake, and on the left the Thespians,
+Tanagraeans, and Orchomenians, the cavalry and the light troops being at
+the extremity of each wing. The Thebans formed twenty-five shields deep,
+the rest as they pleased. Such was the strength and disposition of the
+Boeotian army.
+
+On the side of the Athenians, the heavy infantry throughout the whole
+army formed eight deep, being in numbers equal to the enemy, with the
+cavalry upon the two wings. Light troops regularly armed there were none
+in the army, nor had there ever been any at Athens. Those who had joined
+in the invasion, though many times more numerous than those of the
+enemy, had mostly followed unarmed, as part of the levy in mass of the
+citizens and foreigners at Athens, and having started first on their way
+home were not present in any number. The armies being now in line and
+upon the point of engaging, Hippocrates, the general, passed along the
+Athenian ranks, and encouraged them as follows:
+
+"Athenians, I shall only say a few words to you, but brave men require
+no more, and they are addressed more to your understanding than to your
+courage. None of you must fancy that we are going out of our way to
+run this risk in the country of another. Fought in their territory the
+battle will be for ours: if we conquer, the Peloponnesians will never
+invade your country without the Boeotian horse, and in one battle you
+will win Boeotia and in a manner free Attica. Advance to meet them
+then like citizens of a country in which you all glory as the first in
+Hellas, and like sons of the fathers who beat them at Oenophyta with
+Myronides and thus gained possession of Boeotia."
+
+Hippocrates had got half through the army with his exhortation, when
+the Boeotians, after a few more hasty words from Pagondas, struck up the
+paean, and came against them from the hill; the Athenians advancing to
+meet them, and closing at a run. The extreme wing of neither army came
+into action, one like the other being stopped by the water-courses in
+the way; the rest engaged with the utmost obstinacy, shield against
+shield. The Boeotian left, as far as the centre, was worsted by the
+Athenians. The Thespians in that part of the field suffered most
+severely. The troops alongside them having given way, they were
+surrounded in a narrow space and cut down fighting hand to hand; some
+of the Athenians also fell into confusion in surrounding the enemy
+and mistook and so killed each other. In this part of the field the
+Boeotians were beaten, and retreated upon the troops still fighting; but
+the right, where the Thebans were, got the better of the Athenians and
+shoved them further and further back, though gradually at first. It so
+happened also that Pagondas, seeing the distress of his left, had sent
+two squadrons of horse, where they could not be seen, round the hill,
+and their sudden appearance struck a panic into the victorious wing of
+the Athenians, who thought that it was another army coming against them.
+At length in both parts of the field, disturbed by this panic, and with
+their line broken by the advancing Thebans, the whole Athenian army took
+to flight. Some made for Delium and the sea, some for Oropus, others for
+Mount Parnes, or wherever they had hopes of safety, pursued and cut down
+by the Boeotians, and in particular by the cavalry, composed partly
+of Boeotians and partly of Locrians, who had come up just as the rout
+began. Night however coming on to interrupt the pursuit, the mass of the
+fugitives escaped more easily than they would otherwise have done. The
+next day the troops at Oropus and Delium returned home by sea, after
+leaving a garrison in the latter place, which they continued to hold
+notwithstanding the defeat.
+
+The Boeotians set up a trophy, took up their own dead, and stripped
+those of the enemy, and leaving a guard over them retired to Tanagra,
+there to take measures for attacking Delium. Meanwhile a herald came
+from the Athenians to ask for the dead, but was met and turned back by
+a Boeotian herald, who told him that he would effect nothing until
+the return of himself the Boeotian herald, and who then went on to the
+Athenians, and told them on the part of the Boeotians that they had
+done wrong in transgressing the law of the Hellenes. Of what use was the
+universal custom protecting the temples in an invaded country, if the
+Athenians were to fortify Delium and live there, acting exactly as
+if they were on unconsecrated ground, and drawing and using for their
+purposes the water which they, the Boeotians, never touched except for
+sacred uses? Accordingly for the god as well as for themselves, in the
+name of the deities concerned, and of Apollo, the Boeotians invited them
+first to evacuate the temple, if they wished to take up the dead that
+belonged to them.
+
+After these words from the herald, the Athenians sent their own herald
+to the Boeotians to say that they had not done any wrong to the temple,
+and for the future would do it no more harm than they could help;
+not having occupied it originally in any such design, but to defend
+themselves from it against those who were really wronging them. The law
+of the Hellenes was that conquest of a country, whether more or less
+extensive, carried with it possession of the temples in that country,
+with the obligation to keep up the usual ceremonies, at least as far
+as possible. The Boeotians and most other people who had turned out the
+owners of a country, and put themselves in their places by force, now
+held as of right the temples which they originally entered as usurpers.
+If the Athenians could have conquered more of Boeotia this would have
+been the case with them: as things stood, the piece of it which they
+had got they should treat as their own, and not quit unless obliged. The
+water they had disturbed under the impulsion of a necessity which they
+had not wantonly incurred, having been forced to use it in defending
+themselves against the Boeotians who first invaded Attica. Besides,
+anything done under the pressure of war and danger might reasonably
+claim indulgence even in the eye of the god; or why, pray, were the
+altars the asylum for involuntary offences? Transgression also was a
+term applied to presumptuous offenders, not to the victims of adverse
+circumstances. In short, which were most impious--the Boeotians who
+wished to barter dead bodies for holy places, or the Athenians who
+refused to give up holy places to obtain what was theirs by right? The
+condition of evacuating Boeotia must therefore be withdrawn. They were
+no longer in Boeotia. They stood where they stood by the right of the
+sword. All that the Boeotians had to do was to tell them to take up
+their dead under a truce according to the national custom.
+
+The Boeotians replied that if they were in Boeotia, they must evacuate
+that country before taking up their dead; if they were in their own
+territory, they could do as they pleased: for they knew that, although
+the Oropid where the bodies as it chanced were lying (the battle having
+been fought on the borders) was subject to Athens, yet the Athenians
+could not get them without their leave. Besides, why should they grant a
+truce for Athenian ground? And what could be fairer than to tell them
+to evacuate Boeotia if they wished to get what they asked? The
+Athenian herald accordingly returned with this answer, without having
+accomplished his object.
+
+Meanwhile the Boeotians at once sent for darters and slingers from the
+Malian Gulf, and with two thousand Corinthian heavy infantry who had
+joined them after the battle, the Peloponnesian garrison which had
+evacuated Nisaea, and some Megarians with them, marched against Delium,
+and attacked the fort, and after divers efforts finally succeeded in
+taking it by an engine of the following description. They sawed in two
+and scooped out a great beam from end to end, and fitting it nicely
+together again like a pipe, hung by chains a cauldron at one extremity,
+with which communicated an iron tube projecting from the beam, which
+was itself in great part plated with iron. This they brought up from
+a distance upon carts to the part of the wall principally composed of
+vines and timber, and when it was near, inserted huge bellows into their
+end of the beam and blew with them. The blast passing closely confined
+into the cauldron, which was filled with lighted coals, sulphur and
+pitch, made a great blaze, and set fire to the wall, which soon became
+untenable for its defenders, who left it and fled; and in this way the
+fort was taken. Of the garrison some were killed and two hundred made
+prisoners; most of the rest got on board their ships and returned home.
+
+Soon after the fall of Delium, which took place seventeen days after
+the battle, the Athenian herald, without knowing what had happened, came
+again for the dead, which were now restored by the Boeotians, who no
+longer answered as at first. Not quite five hundred Boeotians fell in
+the battle, and nearly one thousand Athenians, including Hippocrates the
+general, besides a great number of light troops and camp followers.
+
+Soon after this battle Demosthenes, after the failure of his voyage to
+Siphae and of the plot on the town, availed himself of the Acarnanian
+and Agraean troops and of the four hundred Athenian heavy infantry
+which he had on board, to make a descent on the Sicyonian coast. Before
+however all his ships had come to shore, the Sicyonians came up and
+routed and chased to their ships those that had landed, killing some and
+taking others prisoners; after which they set up a trophy, and gave back
+the dead under truce.
+
+About the same time with the affair of Delium took place the death
+of Sitalces, king of the Odrysians, who was defeated in battle, in a
+campaign against the Triballi; Seuthes, son of Sparadocus, his nephew,
+succeeding to the kingdom of the Odrysians, and of the rest of Thrace
+ruled by Sitalces.
+
+The same winter Brasidas, with his allies in the Thracian places,
+marched against Amphipolis, the Athenian colony on the river Strymon.
+A settlement upon the spot on which the city now stands was before
+attempted by Aristagoras, the Milesian (when he fled from King Darius),
+who was however dislodged by the Edonians; and thirty-two years later
+by the Athenians, who sent thither ten thousand settlers of their own
+citizens, and whoever else chose to go. These were cut off at Drabescus
+by the Thracians. Twenty-nine years after, the Athenians returned
+(Hagnon, son of Nicias, being sent out as leader of the colony) and
+drove out the Edonians, and founded a town on the spot, formerly called
+Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways. The base from which they started was Eion,
+their commercial seaport at the mouth of the river, not more than three
+miles from the present town, which Hagnon named Amphipolis, because
+the Strymon flows round it on two sides, and he built it so as to be
+conspicuous from the sea and land alike, running a long wall across from
+river to river, to complete the circumference.
+
+Brasidas now marched against this town, starting from Arne in
+Chalcidice. Arriving about dusk at Aulon and Bromiscus, where the lake
+of Bolbe runs into the sea, he supped there, and went on during the
+night. The weather was stormy and it was snowing a little, which
+encouraged him to hurry on, in order, if possible, to take every one at
+Amphipolis by surprise, except the party who were to betray it. The plot
+was carried on by some natives of Argilus, an Andrian colony, residing
+in Amphipolis, where they had also other accomplices gained over by
+Perdiccas or the Chalcidians. But the most active in the matter were the
+inhabitants of Argilus itself, which is close by, who had always been
+suspected by the Athenians, and had had designs on the place. These men
+now saw their opportunity arrive with Brasidas, and having for some
+time been in correspondence with their countrymen in Amphipolis for the
+betrayal of the town, at once received him into Argilus, and revolted
+from the Athenians, and that same night took him on to the bridge over
+the river; where he found only a small guard to oppose him, the town
+being at some distance from the passage, and the walls not reaching down
+to it as at present. This guard he easily drove in, partly through
+there being treason in their ranks, partly from the stormy state of the
+weather and the suddenness of his attack, and so got across the
+bridge, and immediately became master of all the property outside; the
+Amphipolitans having houses all over the quarter.
+
+The passage of Brasidas was a complete surprise to the people in the
+town; and the capture of many of those outside, and the flight of the
+rest within the wall, combined to produce great confusion among the
+citizens; especially as they did not trust one another. It is even said
+that if Brasidas, instead of stopping to pillage, had advanced straight
+against the town, he would probably have taken it. In fact, however, he
+established himself where he was and overran the country outside, and
+for the present remained inactive, vainly awaiting a demonstration
+on the part of his friends within. Meanwhile the party opposed to the
+traitors proved numerous enough to prevent the gates being immediately
+thrown open, and in concert with Eucles, the general, who had come
+from Athens to defend the place, sent to the other commander in Thrace,
+Thucydides, son of Olorus, the author of this history, who was at the
+isle of Thasos, a Parian colony, half a day's sail from Amphipolis, to
+tell him to come to their relief. On receipt of this message he at once
+set sail with seven ships which he had with him, in order, if possible,
+to reach Amphipolis in time to prevent its capitulation, or in any case
+to save Eion.
+
+Meanwhile Brasidas, afraid of succours arriving by sea from Thasos, and
+learning that Thucydides possessed the right of working the gold
+mines in that part of Thrace, and had thus great influence with the
+inhabitants of the continent, hastened to gain the town, if possible,
+before the people of Amphipolis should be encouraged by his arrival to
+hope that he could save them by getting together a force of allies from
+the sea and from Thrace, and so refuse to surrender. He accordingly
+offered moderate terms, proclaiming that any of the Amphipolitans and
+Athenians who chose, might continue to enjoy their property with full
+rights of citizenship; while those who did not wish to stay had five
+days to depart, taking their property with them.
+
+The bulk of the inhabitants, upon hearing this, began to change their
+minds, especially as only a small number of the citizens were Athenians,
+the majority having come from different quarters, and many of the
+prisoners outside had relations within the walls. They found the
+proclamation a fair one in comparison of what their fear had suggested;
+the Athenians being glad to go out, as they thought they ran more risk
+than the rest, and further, did not expect any speedy relief, and the
+multitude generally being content at being left in possession of their
+civic rights, and at such an unexpected reprieve from danger. The
+partisans of Brasidas now openly advocated this course, seeing that the
+feeling of the people had changed, and that they no longer gave ear
+to the Athenian general present; and thus the surrender was made and
+Brasidas was admitted by them on the terms of his proclamation. In this
+way they gave up the city, and late in the same day Thucydides and his
+ships entered the harbour of Eion, Brasidas having just got hold of
+Amphipolis, and having been within a night of taking Eion: had the ships
+been less prompt in relieving it, in the morning it would have been his.
+
+After this Thucydides put all in order at Eion to secure it against any
+present or future attack of Brasidas, and received such as had elected
+to come there from the interior according to the terms agreed on.
+Meanwhile Brasidas suddenly sailed with a number of boats down the river
+to Eion to see if he could not seize the point running out from the
+wall, and so command the entrance; at the same time he attempted it by
+land, but was beaten off on both sides and had to content himself with
+arranging matters at Amphipolis and in the neighbourhood. Myrcinus, an
+Edonian town, also came over to him; the Edonian king Pittacus having
+been killed by the sons of Goaxis and his own wife Brauro; and Galepsus
+and Oesime, which are Thasian colonies, not long after followed its
+example. Perdiccas too came up immediately after the capture and joined
+in these arrangements.
+
+The news that Amphipolis was in the hands of the enemy caused great
+alarm at Athens. Not only was the town valuable for the timber it
+afforded for shipbuilding, and the money that it brought in; but also,
+although the escort of the Thessalians gave the Lacedaemonians a means
+of reaching the allies of Athens as far as the Strymon, yet as long as
+they were not masters of the bridge but were watched on the side of Eion
+by the Athenian galleys, and on the land side impeded by a large and
+extensive lake formed by the waters of the river, it was impossible
+for them to go any further. Now, on the contrary, the path seemed open.
+There was also the fear of the allies revolting, owing to the moderation
+displayed by Brasidas in all his conduct, and to the declarations which
+he was everywhere making that he sent out to free Hellas. The towns
+subject to the Athenians, hearing of the capture of Amphipolis and of
+the terms accorded to it, and of the gentleness of Brasidas, felt most
+strongly encouraged to change their condition, and sent secret messages
+to him, begging him to come on to them; each wishing to be the first to
+revolt. Indeed there seemed to be no danger in so doing; their mistake
+in their estimate of the Athenian power was as great as that power
+afterwards turned out to be, and their judgment was based more upon
+blind wishing than upon any sound prevision; for it is a habit of
+mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use
+sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not fancy. Besides the
+late severe blow which the Athenians had met with in Boeotia, joined
+to the seductive, though untrue, statements of Brasidas, about the
+Athenians not having ventured to engage his single army at Nisaea, made
+the allies confident, and caused them to believe that no Athenian force
+would be sent against them. Above all the wish to do what was
+agreeable at the moment, and the likelihood that they should find the
+Lacedaemonians full of zeal at starting, made them eager to venture.
+Observing this, the Athenians sent garrisons to the different towns, as
+far as was possible at such short notice and in winter; while Brasidas
+sent dispatches to Lacedaemon asking for reinforcements, and
+himself made preparations for building galleys in the Strymon. The
+Lacedaemonians however did not send him any, partly through envy on
+the part of their chief men, partly because they were more bent on
+recovering the prisoners of the island and ending the war.
+
+The same winter the Megarians took and razed to the foundations the long
+walls which had been occupied by the Athenians; and Brasidas after the
+capture of Amphipolis marched with his allies against Acte, a promontory
+running out from the King's dike with an inward curve, and ending
+in Athos, a lofty mountain looking towards the Aegean Sea. In it are
+various towns, Sane, an Andrian colony, close to the canal, and facing
+the sea in the direction of Euboea; the others being Thyssus, Cleone,
+Acrothoi, Olophyxus, and Dium, inhabited by mixed barbarian races
+speaking the two languages. There is also a small Chalcidian element;
+but the greater number are Tyrrheno-Pelasgians once settled in Lemnos
+and Athens, and Bisaltians, Crestonians, and Edonians; the towns being
+all small ones. Most of these came over to Brasidas; but Sane and Dium
+held out and saw their land ravaged by him and his army.
+
+Upon their not submitting, he at once marched against Torone in
+Chalcidice, which was held by an Athenian garrison, having been invited
+by a few persons who were prepared to hand over the town. Arriving in
+the dark a little before daybreak, he sat down with his army near the
+temple of the Dioscuri, rather more than a quarter of a mile from the
+city. The rest of the town of Torone and the Athenians in garrison did
+not perceive his approach; but his partisans knowing that he was coming
+(a few of them had secretly gone out to meet him) were on the watch for
+his arrival, and were no sooner aware of it than they took it to them
+seven light-armed men with daggers, who alone of twenty men ordered
+on this service dared to enter, commanded by Lysistratus an Olynthian.
+These passed through the sea wall, and without being seen went up and
+put to the sword the garrison of the highest post in the town, which
+stands on a hill, and broke open the postern on the side of Canastraeum.
+
+Brasidas meanwhile came a little nearer and then halted with his main
+body, sending on one hundred targeteers to be ready to rush in first,
+the moment that a gate should be thrown open and the beacon lighted as
+agreed. After some time passed in waiting and wondering at the delay,
+the targeteers by degrees got up close to the town. The Toronaeans
+inside at work with the party that had entered had by this time broken
+down the postern and opened the gates leading to the market-place by
+cutting through the bar, and first brought some men round and let
+them in by the postern, in order to strike a panic into the surprised
+townsmen by suddenly attacking them from behind and on both sides at
+once; after which they raised the fire-signal as had been agreed, and
+took in by the market gates the rest of the targeteers.
+
+Brasidas seeing the signal told the troops to rise, and dashed forward
+amid the loud hurrahs of his men, which carried dismay among the
+astonished townspeople. Some burst in straight by the gate, others over
+some square pieces of timber placed against the wall (which has fallen
+down and was being rebuilt) to draw up stones; Brasidas and the greater
+number making straight uphill for the higher part of the town, in order
+to take it from top to bottom, and once for all, while the rest of the
+multitude spread in all directions.
+
+The capture of the town was effected before the great body of the
+Toronaeans had recovered from their surprise and confusion; but
+the conspirators and the citizens of their party at once joined the
+invaders. About fifty of the Athenian heavy infantry happened to be
+sleeping in the market-place when the alarm reached them. A few of these
+were killed fighting; the rest escaped, some by land, others to the two
+ships on the station, and took refuge in Lecythus, a fort garrisoned by
+their own men in the corner of the town running out into the sea and
+cut off by a narrow isthmus; where they were joined by the Toronaeans of
+their party.
+
+Day now arrived, and the town being secured, Brasidas made a
+proclamation to the Toronaeans who had taken refuge with the Athenians,
+to come out, as many as chose, to their homes without fearing for their
+rights or persons, and sent a herald to invite the Athenians to accept a
+truce, and to evacuate Lecythus with their property, as being Chalcidian
+ground. The Athenians refused this offer, but asked for a truce for a
+day to take up their dead. Brasidas granted it for two days, which he
+employed in fortifying the houses near, and the Athenians in doing
+the same to their positions. Meanwhile he called a meeting of the
+Toronaeans, and said very much what he had said at Acanthus, namely,
+that they must not look upon those who had negotiated with him for the
+capture of the town as bad men or as traitors, as they had not acted as
+they had done from corrupt motives or in order to enslave the city, but
+for the good and freedom of Torone; nor again must those who had not
+shared in the enterprise fancy that they would not equally reap its
+fruits, as he had not come to destroy either city or individual. This
+was the reason of his proclamation to those that had fled for refuge to
+the Athenians: he thought none the worse of them for their friendship
+for the Athenians; he believed that they had only to make trial of the
+Lacedaemonians to like them as well, or even much better, as acting much
+more justly: it was for want of such a trial that they were now afraid
+of them. Meanwhile he warned all of them to prepare to be staunch
+allies, and for being held responsible for all faults in future: for the
+past, they had not wronged the Lacedaemonians but had been wronged by
+others who were too strong for them, and any opposition that they might
+have offered him could be excused.
+
+Having encouraged them with this address, as soon as the truce expired
+he made his attack upon Lecythus; the Athenians defending themselves
+from a poor wall and from some houses with parapets. One day they beat
+him off; the next the enemy were preparing to bring up an engine against
+them from which they meant to throw fire upon the wooden defences, and
+the troops were already coming up to the point where they fancied they
+could best bring up the engine, and where place was most assailable;
+meanwhile the Athenians put a wooden tower upon a house opposite, and
+carried up a quantity of jars and casks of water and big stones, and a
+large number of men also climbed up. The house thus laden too heavily
+suddenly broke down with a loud crash; at which the men who were near
+and saw it were more vexed than frightened; but those not so near, and
+still more those furthest off, thought that the place was already taken
+at that point, and fled in haste to the sea and the ships.
+
+Brasidas, perceiving that they were deserting the parapet, and seeing
+what was going on, dashed forward with his troops, and immediately took
+the fort, and put to the sword all whom he found in it. In this way the
+place was evacuated by the Athenians, who went across in their boats
+and ships to Pallene. Now there is a temple of Athene in Lecythus, and
+Brasidas had proclaimed in the moment of making the assault that he
+would give thirty silver minae to the man first on the wall. Being now
+of opinion that the capture was scarcely due to human means, he gave
+the thirty minae to the goddess for her temple, and razed and cleared
+Lecythus, and made the whole of it consecrated ground. The rest of
+the winter he spent in settling the places in his hands, and in making
+designs upon the rest; and with the expiration of the winter the eighth
+year of this war ended.
+
+In the spring of the summer following, the Lacedaemonians and Athenians
+made an armistice for a year; the Athenians thinking that they would
+thus have full leisure to take their precautions before Brasidas could
+procure the revolt of any more of their towns, and might also, if it
+suited them, conclude a general peace; the Lacedaemonians divining the
+actual fears of the Athenians, and thinking that after once tasting a
+respite from trouble and misery they would be more disposed to consent
+to a reconciliation, and to give back the prisoners, and make a treaty
+for the longer period. The great idea of the Lacedaemonians was to get
+back their men while Brasidas's good fortune lasted: further successes
+might make the struggle a less unequal one in Chalcidice, but would
+leave them still deprived of their men, and even in Chalcidice not more
+than a match for the Athenians and by no means certain of victory. An
+armistice was accordingly concluded by Lacedaemon and her allies upon
+the terms following:
+
+1. As to the temple and oracle of the Pythian Apollo, we are agreed that
+whosoever will shall have access to it, without fraud or fear, according
+to the usages of his forefathers. The Lacedaemonians and the allies
+present agree to this, and promise to send heralds to the Boeotians and
+Phocians, and to do their best to persuade them to agree likewise.
+
+2. As to the treasure of the god, we agree to exert ourselves to detect
+all malversators, truly and honestly following the customs of our
+forefathers, we and you and all others willing to do so, all following
+the customs of our forefathers. As to these points the Lacedaemonians
+and the other allies are agreed as has been said.
+
+3. As to what follows, the Lacedaemonians and the other allies agree,
+if the Athenians conclude a treaty, to remain, each of us in our own
+territory, retaining our respective acquisitions: the garrison
+in Coryphasium keeping within Buphras and Tomeus: that in Cythera
+attempting no communication with the Peloponnesian confederacy, neither
+we with them, nor they with us: that in Nisaea and Minoa not crossing
+the road leading from the gates of the temple of Nisus to that of
+Poseidon and from thence straight to the bridge at Minoa: the Megarians
+and the allies being equally bound not to cross this road, and
+the Athenians retaining the island they have taken, without any
+communication on either side: as to Troezen, each side retaining what it
+has, and as was arranged with the Athenians.
+
+4. As to the use of the sea, so far as refers to their own coast and to
+that of their confederacy, that the Lacedaemonians and their allies may
+voyage upon it in any vessel rowed by oars and of not more than five
+hundred talents tonnage, not a vessel of war.
+
+5. That all heralds and embassies, with as many attendants as they
+please, for concluding the war and adjusting claims, shall have free
+passage, going and coming, to Peloponnese or Athens by land and by sea.
+
+6. That during the truce, deserters whether bond or free shall be
+received neither by you, nor by us.
+
+7. Further, that satisfaction shall be given by you to us and by us to
+you according to the public law of our several countries, all disputes
+being settled by law without recourse to hostilities.
+
+The Lacedaemonians and allies agree to these articles; but if you have
+anything fairer or juster to suggest, come to Lacedaemon and let us
+know: whatever shall be just will meet with no objection either from
+the Lacedaemonians or from the allies. Only let those who come come with
+full powers, as you desire us. The truce shall be for one year.
+
+Approved by the people.
+
+The tribe of Acamantis had the prytany, Phoenippus was secretary,
+Niciades chairman. Laches moved, in the name of the good luck of the
+Athenians, that they should conclude the armistice upon the terms agreed
+upon by the Lacedaemonians and the allies. It was agreed accordingly
+in the popular assembly that the armistice should be for one year,
+beginning that very day, the fourteenth of the month of Elaphebolion;
+during which time ambassadors and heralds should go and come between the
+two countries to discuss the bases of a pacification. That the generals
+and prytanes should call an assembly of the people, in which the
+Athenians should first consult on the peace, and on the mode in which
+the embassy for putting an end to the war should be admitted. That the
+embassy now present should at once take the engagement before the people
+to keep well and truly this truce for one year.
+
+On these terms the Lacedaemonians concluded with the Athenians and their
+allies on the twelfth day of the Spartan month Gerastius; the allies
+also taking the oaths. Those who concluded and poured the libation
+were Taurus, son of Echetimides, Athenaeus, son of Pericleidas, and
+Philocharidas, son of Eryxidaidas, Lacedaemonians; Aeneas, son of
+Ocytus, and Euphamidas, son of Aristonymus, Corinthians; Damotimus, son
+of Naucrates, and Onasimus, son of Megacles, Sicyonians; Nicasus, son of
+Cecalus, and Menecrates, son of Amphidorus, Megarians; and Amphias, son
+of Eupaidas, an Epidaurian; and the Athenian generals Nicostratus, son
+of Diitrephes, Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Autocles, son of Tolmaeus.
+Such was the armistice, and during the whole of it conferences went on
+on the subject of a pacification.
+
+In the days in which they were going backwards and forwards to these
+conferences, Scione, a town in Pallene, revolted from Athens, and went
+over to Brasidas. The Scionaeans say that they are Pallenians from
+Peloponnese, and that their first founders on their voyage from Troy
+were carried in to this spot by the storm which the Achaeans were
+caught in, and there settled. The Scionaeans had no sooner revolted than
+Brasidas crossed over by night to Scione, with a friendly galley ahead
+and himself in a small boat some way behind; his idea being that if he
+fell in with a vessel larger than the boat he would have the galley to
+defend him, while a ship that was a match for the galley would probably
+neglect the small vessel to attack the large one, and thus leave
+him time to escape. His passage effected, he called a meeting of the
+Scionaeans and spoke to the same effect as at Acanthus and Torone,
+adding that they merited the utmost commendation, in that, in spite of
+Pallene within the isthmus being cut off by the Athenian occupation
+of Potidaea and of their own practically insular position, they had
+of their own free will gone forward to meet their liberty instead of
+timorously waiting until they had been by force compelled to their own
+manifest good. This was a sign that they would valiantly undergo any
+trial, however great; and if he should order affairs as he intended,
+he should count them among the truest and sincerest friends of the
+Lacedaemonians, and would in every other way honour them.
+
+The Scionaeans were elated by his language, and even those who had
+at first disapproved of what was being done catching the general
+confidence, they determined on a vigorous conduct of the war, and
+welcomed Brasidas with all possible honours, publicly crowning him
+with a crown of gold as the liberator of Hellas; while private persons
+crowded round him and decked him with garlands as though he had been an
+athlete. Meanwhile Brasidas left them a small garrison for the present
+and crossed back again, and not long afterwards sent over a larger
+force, intending with the help of the Scionaeans to attempt Mende and
+Potidaea before the Athenians should arrive; Scione, he felt, being too
+like an island for them not to relieve it. He had besides intelligence
+in the above towns about their betrayal.
+
+In the midst of his designs upon the towns in question, a galley
+arrived with the commissioners carrying round the news of the armistice,
+Aristonymus for the Athenians and Athenaeus for the Lacedaemonians. The
+troops now crossed back to Torone, and the commissioners gave Brasidas
+notice of the convention. All the Lacedaemonian allies in Thrace
+accepted what had been done; and Aristonymus made no difficulty about
+the rest, but finding, on counting the days, that the Scionaeans had
+revolted after the date of the convention, refused to include them in
+it. To this Brasidas earnestly objected, asserting that the revolt took
+place before, and would not give up the town. Upon Aristonymus reporting
+the case to Athens, the people at once prepared to send an expedition
+to Scione. Upon this, envoys arrived from Lacedaemon, alleging that this
+would be a breach of the truce, and laying claim to the town upon the
+faith of the assertion of Brasidas, and meanwhile offering to submit the
+question to arbitration. Arbitration, however, was what the Athenians
+did not choose to risk; being determined to send troops at once to
+the place, and furious at the idea of even the islanders now daring to
+revolt, in a vain reliance upon the power of the Lacedaemonians by land.
+Besides the facts of the revolt were rather as the Athenians contended,
+the Scionaeans having revolted two days after the convention. Cleon
+accordingly succeeded in carrying a decree to reduce and put to death
+the Scionaeans; and the Athenians employed the leisure which they now
+enjoyed in preparing for the expedition.
+
+Meanwhile Mende revolted, a town in Pallene and a colony of the
+Eretrians, and was received without scruple by Brasidas, in spite of its
+having evidently come over during the armistice, on account of certain
+infringements of the truce alleged by him against the Athenians. This
+audacity of Mende was partly caused by seeing Brasidas forward in the
+matter and by the conclusions drawn from his refusal to betray Scione;
+and besides, the conspirators in Mende were few, and, as I have already
+intimated, had carried on their practices too long not to fear detection
+for themselves, and not to wish to force the inclination of the
+multitude. This news made the Athenians more furious than ever, and they
+at once prepared against both towns. Brasidas, expecting their arrival,
+conveyed away to Olynthus in Chalcidice the women and children of
+the Scionaeans and Mendaeans, and sent over to them five hundred
+Peloponnesian heavy infantry and three hundred Chalcidian targeteers,
+all under the command of Polydamidas.
+
+Leaving these two towns to prepare together against the speedy arrival
+of the Athenians, Brasidas and Perdiccas started on a second joint
+expedition into Lyncus against Arrhabaeus; the latter with the forces
+of his Macedonian subjects, and a corps of heavy infantry composed of
+Hellenes domiciled in the country; the former with the Peloponnesians
+whom he still had with him and the Chalcidians, Acanthians, and the rest
+in such force as they were able. In all there were about three thousand
+Hellenic heavy infantry, accompanied by all the Macedonian cavalry with
+the Chalcidians, near one thousand strong, besides an immense crowd
+of barbarians. On entering the country of Arrhabaeus, they found the
+Lyncestians encamped awaiting them, and themselves took up a position
+opposite. The infantry on either side were upon a hill, with a plain
+between them, into which the horse of both armies first galloped down
+and engaged a cavalry action. After this the Lyncestian heavy infantry
+advanced from their hill to join their cavalry and offered battle; upon
+which Brasidas and Perdiccas also came down to meet them, and engaged
+and routed them with heavy loss; the survivors taking refuge upon the
+heights and there remaining inactive. The victors now set up a trophy
+and waited two or three days for the Illyrian mercenaries who were to
+join Perdiccas. Perdiccas then wished to go on and attack the villages
+of Arrhabaeus, and to sit still no longer; but Brasidas, afraid that the
+Athenians might sail up during his absence, and of something happening
+to Mende, and seeing besides that the Illyrians did not appear, far from
+seconding this wish was anxious to return.
+
+While they were thus disputing, the news arrived that the Illyrians
+had actually betrayed Perdiccas and had joined Arrhabaeus; and the fear
+inspired by their warlike character made both parties now think it best
+to retreat. However, owing to the dispute, nothing had been settled as
+to when they should start; and night coming on, the Macedonians and
+the barbarian crowd took fright in a moment in one of those mysterious
+panics to which great armies are liable; and persuaded that an army many
+times more numerous than that which had really arrived was advancing and
+all but upon them, suddenly broke and fled in the direction of home,
+and thus compelled Perdiccas, who at first did not perceive what had
+occurred, to depart without seeing Brasidas, the two armies being
+encamped at a considerable distance from each other. At daybreak
+Brasidas, perceiving that the Macedonians had gone on, and that the
+Illyrians and Arrhabaeus were on the point of attacking him, formed his
+heavy infantry into a square, with the light troops in the centre, and
+himself also prepared to retreat. Posting his youngest soldiers to dash
+out wherever the enemy should attack them, he himself with three hundred
+picked men in the rear intended to face about during the retreat and
+beat off the most forward of their assailants, Meanwhile, before the
+enemy approached, he sought to sustain the courage of his soldiers with
+the following hasty exhortation:
+
+"Peloponnesians, if I did not suspect you of being dismayed at being
+left alone to sustain the attack of a numerous and barbarian enemy,
+I should just have said a few words to you as usual without further
+explanation. As it is, in the face of the desertion of our friends and
+the numbers of the enemy, I have some advice and information to offer,
+which, brief as they must be, will, I hope, suffice for the more
+important points. The bravery that you habitually display in war does
+not depend on your having allies at your side in this or that encounter,
+but on your native courage; nor have numbers any terrors for citizens of
+states like yours, in which the many do not rule the few, but rather the
+few the many, owing their position to nothing else than to superiority
+in the field. Inexperience now makes you afraid of barbarians; and yet
+the trial of strength which you had with the Macedonians among them, and
+my own judgment, confirmed by what I hear from others, should be enough
+to satisfy you that they will not prove formidable. Where an enemy
+seems strong but is really weak, a true knowledge of the facts makes his
+adversary the bolder, just as a serious antagonist is encountered most
+confidently by those who do not know him. Thus the present enemy might
+terrify an inexperienced imagination; they are formidable in outward
+bulk, their loud yelling is unbearable, and the brandishing of their
+weapons in the air has a threatening appearance. But when it comes to
+real fighting with an opponent who stands his ground, they are not what
+they seemed; they have no regular order that they should be ashamed of
+deserting their positions when hard pressed; flight and attack are
+with them equally honourable, and afford no test of courage; their
+independent mode of fighting never leaving any one who wants to run away
+without a fair excuse for so doing. In short, they think frightening
+you at a secure distance a surer game than meeting you hand to hand;
+otherwise they would have done the one and not the other. You can thus
+plainly see that the terrors with which they were at first invested are
+in fact trifling enough, though to the eye and ear very prominent. Stand
+your ground therefore when they advance, and again wait your opportunity
+to retire in good order, and you will reach a place of safety all the
+sooner, and will know for ever afterwards that rabble such as these, to
+those who sustain their first attack, do but show off their courage by
+threats of the terrible things that they are going to do, at a distance,
+but with those who give way to them are quick enough to display their
+heroism in pursuit when they can do so without danger."
+
+With this brief address Brasidas began to lead off his army. Seeing
+this, the barbarians came on with much shouting and hubbub, thinking
+that he was flying and that they would overtake him and cut him off. But
+wherever they charged they found the young men ready to dash out against
+them, while Brasidas with his picked company sustained their onset. Thus
+the Peloponnesians withstood the first attack, to the surprise of the
+enemy, and afterwards received and repulsed them as fast as they came
+on, retiring as soon as their opponents became quiet. The main body of
+the barbarians ceased therefore to molest the Hellenes with Brasidas in
+the open country, and leaving behind a certain number to harass their
+march, the rest went on after the flying Macedonians, slaying those
+with whom they came up, and so arrived in time to occupy the narrow pass
+between two hills that leads into the country of Arrhabaeus. They knew
+that this was the only way by which Brasidas could retreat, and now
+proceeded to surround him just as he entered the most impracticable part
+of the road, in order to cut him off.
+
+Brasidas, perceiving their intention, told his three hundred to run on
+without order, each as quickly as he could, to the hill which seemed
+easiest to take, and to try to dislodge the barbarians already there,
+before they should be joined by the main body closing round him. These
+attacked and overpowered the party upon the hill, and the main army
+of the Hellenes now advanced with less difficulty towards it--the
+barbarians being terrified at seeing their men on that side driven from
+the height and no longer following the main body, who, they considered,
+had gained the frontier and made good their escape. The heights once
+gained, Brasidas now proceeded more securely, and the same day arrived
+at Arnisa, the first town in the dominions of Perdiccas. The soldiers,
+enraged at the desertion of the Macedonians, vented their rage on all
+their yokes of oxen which they found on the road, and on any baggage
+which had tumbled off (as might easily happen in the panic of a night
+retreat), by unyoking and cutting down the cattle and taking the baggage
+for themselves. From this moment Perdiccas began to regard Brasidas as
+an enemy and to feel against the Peloponnesians a hatred which could
+not be congenial to the adversary of the Athenians. However, he departed
+from his natural interests and made it his endeavour to come to terms
+with the latter and to get rid of the former.
+
+On his return from Macedonia to Torone, Brasidas found the Athenians
+already masters of Mende, and remained quiet where he was, thinking
+it now out of his power to cross over into Pallene and assist the
+Mendaeans, but he kept good watch over Torone. For about the same time
+as the campaign in Lyncus, the Athenians sailed upon the expedition
+which we left them preparing against Mende and Scione, with fifty ships,
+ten of which were Chians, one thousand Athenian heavy infantry and six
+hundred archers, one hundred Thracian mercenaries and some targeteers
+drawn from their allies in the neighbourhood, under the command of
+Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes. Weighing
+from Potidaea, the fleet came to land opposite the temple of Poseidon,
+and proceeded against Mende; the men of which town, reinforced by three
+hundred Scionaeans, with their Peloponnesian auxiliaries, seven hundred
+heavy infantry in all, under Polydamidas, they found encamped upon a
+strong hill outside the city. These Nicias, with one hundred and twenty
+light-armed Methonaeans, sixty picked men from the Athenian heavy
+infantry, and all the archers, tried to reach by a path running up
+the hill, but received a wound and found himself unable to force the
+position; while Nicostratus, with all the rest of the army, advancing
+upon the hill, which was naturally difficult, by a different approach
+further off, was thrown into utter disorder; and the whole Athenian
+army narrowly escaped being defeated. For that day, as the Mendaeans and
+their allies showed no signs of yielding, the Athenians retreated and
+encamped, and the Mendaeans at nightfall returned into the town.
+
+The next day the Athenians sailed round to the Scione side, and took the
+suburb, and all day plundered the country, without any one coming out
+against them, partly because of intestine disturbances in the town; and
+the following night the three hundred Scionaeans returned home. On the
+morrow Nicias advanced with half the army to the frontier of Scione and
+laid waste the country; while Nicostratus with the remainder sat down
+before the town near the upper gate on the road to Potidaea. The arms
+of the Mendaeans and of their Peloponnesian auxiliaries within the wall
+happened to be piled in that quarter, where Polydamidas accordingly
+began to draw them up for battle, encouraging the Mendaeans to make a
+sortie. At this moment one of the popular party answered him factiously
+that they would not go out and did not want a war, and for thus
+answering was dragged by the arm and knocked about by Polydamidas.
+Hereupon the infuriated commons at once seized their arms and rushed
+at the Peloponnesians and at their allies of the opposite faction. The
+troops thus assaulted were at once routed, partly from the suddenness
+of the conflict and partly through fear of the gates being opened to the
+Athenians, with whom they imagined that the attack had been concerted.
+As many as were not killed on the spot took refuge in the citadel,
+which they had held from the first; and the whole, Athenian army, Nicias
+having by this time returned and being close to the city, now burst into
+Mende, which had opened its gates without any convention, and sacked it
+just as if they had taken it by storm, the generals even finding some
+difficulty in restraining them from also massacring the inhabitants.
+After this the Athenians told the Mendaeans that they might retain their
+civil rights, and themselves judge the supposed authors of the revolt;
+and cut off the party in the citadel by a wall built down to the sea
+on either side, appointing troops to maintain the blockade. Having thus
+secured Mende, they proceeded against Scione.
+
+The Scionaeans and Peloponnesians marched out against them, occupying a
+strong hill in front of the town, which had to be captured by the enemy
+before they could invest the place. The Athenians stormed the hill,
+defeated and dislodged its occupants, and, having encamped and set up
+a trophy, prepared for the work of circumvallation. Not long after they
+had begun their operations, the auxiliaries besieged in the citadel of
+Mende forced the guard by the sea-side and arrived by night at Scione,
+into which most of them succeeded in entering, passing through the
+besieging army.
+
+While the investment of Scione was in progress, Perdiccas sent a herald
+to the Athenian generals and made peace with the Athenians, through
+spite against Brasidas for the retreat from Lyncus, from which moment
+indeed he had begun to negotiate. The Lacedaemonian Ischagoras was just
+then upon the point of starting with an army overland to join Brasidas;
+and Perdiccas, being now required by Nicias to give some proof of the
+sincerity of his reconciliation to the Athenians, and being himself
+no longer disposed to let the Peloponnesians into his country, put in
+motion his friends in Thessaly, with whose chief men he always took
+care to have relations, and so effectually stopped the army and its
+preparation that they did not even try the Thessalians. Ischagoras
+himself, however, with Ameinias and Aristeus, succeeded in reaching
+Brasidas; they had been commissioned by the Lacedaemonians to inspect
+the state of affairs, and brought out from Sparta (in violation of all
+precedent) some of their young men to put in command of the towns,
+to guard against their being entrusted to the persons upon the spot.
+Brasidas accordingly placed Clearidas, son of Cleonymus, in Amphipolis,
+and Pasitelidas, son of Hegesander, in Torone.
+
+The same summer the Thebans dismantled the wall of the Thespians on the
+charge of Atticism, having always wished to do so, and now finding it
+an easy matter, as the flower of the Thespian youth had perished in the
+battle with the Athenians. The same summer also the temple of Hera at
+Argos was burnt down, through Chrysis, the priestess, placing a lighted
+torch near the garlands and then falling asleep, so that they all caught
+fire and were in a blaze before she observed it. Chrysis that very night
+fled to Phlius for fear of the Argives, who, agreeably to the law in
+such a case, appointed another priestess named Phaeinis. Chrysis at the
+time of her flight had been priestess for eight years of the present war
+and half the ninth. At the close of the summer the investment of Scione
+was completed, and the Athenians, leaving a detachment to maintain the
+blockade, returned with the rest of their army.
+
+During the winter following, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were
+kept quiet by the armistice; but the Mantineans and Tegeans, and their
+respective allies, fought a battle at Laodicium, in the Oresthid. The
+victory remained doubtful, as each side routed one of the wings opposed
+to them, and both set up trophies and sent spoils to Delphi. After heavy
+loss on both sides the battle was undecided, and night interrupted
+the action; yet the Tegeans passed the night on the field and set up
+a trophy at once, while the Mantineans withdrew to Bucolion and set up
+theirs afterwards.
+
+At the close of the same winter, in fact almost in spring, Brasidas made
+an attempt upon Potidaea. He arrived by night, and succeeded in planting
+a ladder against the wall without being discovered, the ladder being
+planted just in the interval between the passing round of the bell and
+the return of the man who brought it back. Upon the garrison, however,
+taking the alarm immediately afterwards, before his men came up, he
+quickly led off his troops, without waiting until it was day. So ended
+the winter and the ninth year of this war of which Thucydides is the
+historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+_Tenth Year of the War--Death of Cleon and Brasidas--Peace of Nicias_
+
+The next summer the truce for a year ended, after lasting until the
+Pythian games. During the armistice the Athenians expelled the Delians
+from Delos, concluding that they must have been polluted by some old
+offence at the time of their consecration, and that this had been the
+omission in the previous purification of the island, which, as I have
+related, had been thought to have been duly accomplished by the removal
+of the graves of the dead. The Delians had Atramyttium in Asia given
+them by Pharnaces, and settled there as they removed from Delos.
+
+Meanwhile Cleon prevailed on the Athenians to let him set sail at the
+expiration of the armistice for the towns in the direction of Thrace
+with twelve hundred heavy infantry and three hundred horse from Athens,
+a large force of the allies, and thirty ships. First touching at the
+still besieged Scione, and taking some heavy infantry from the army
+there, he next sailed into Cophos, a harbour in the territory of
+Torone, which is not far from the town. From thence, having learnt from
+deserters that Brasidas was not in Torone, and that its garrison was not
+strong enough to give him battle, he advanced with his army against the
+town, sending ten ships to sail round into the harbour. He first came to
+the fortification lately thrown up in front of the town by Brasidas in
+order to take in the suburb, to do which he had pulled down part of the
+original wall and made it all one city. To this point Pasitelidas, the
+Lacedaemonian commander, with such garrison as there was in the place,
+hurried to repel the Athenian assault; but finding himself hard pressed,
+and seeing the ships that had been sent round sailing into the harbour,
+Pasitelidas began to be afraid that they might get up to the city before
+its defenders were there and, the fortification being also carried, he
+might be taken prisoner, and so abandoned the outwork and ran into the
+town. But the Athenians from the ships had already taken Torone, and
+their land forces following at his heels burst in with him with a rush
+over the part of the old wall that had been pulled down, killing some of
+the Peloponnesians and Toronaeans in the melee, and making prisoners
+of the rest, and Pasitelidas their commander amongst them. Brasidas
+meanwhile had advanced to relieve Torone, and had only about four miles
+more to go when he heard of its fall on the road, and turned back again.
+Cleon and the Athenians set up two trophies, one by the harbour, the
+other by the fortification and, making slaves of the wives and children
+of the Toronaeans, sent the men with the Peloponnesians and any
+Chalcidians that were there, to the number of seven hundred, to Athens;
+whence, however, they all came home afterwards, the Peloponnesians on
+the conclusion of peace, and the rest by being exchanged against other
+prisoners with the Olynthians. About the same time Panactum, a fortress
+on the Athenian border, was taken by treachery by the Boeotians.
+Meanwhile Cleon, after placing a garrison in Torone, weighed anchor and
+sailed around Athos on his way to Amphipolis.
+
+About the same time Phaeax, son of Erasistratus, set sail with two
+colleagues as ambassador from Athens to Italy and Sicily. The Leontines,
+upon the departure of the Athenians from Sicily after the pacification,
+had placed a number of new citizens upon the roll, and the commons had
+a design for redividing the land; but the upper classes, aware of their
+intention, called in the Syracusans and expelled the commons. These last
+were scattered in various directions; but the upper classes came to an
+agreement with the Syracusans, abandoned and laid waste their city, and
+went and lived at Syracuse, where they were made citizens. Afterwards
+some of them were dissatisfied, and leaving Syracuse occupied Phocaeae,
+a quarter of the town of Leontini, and Bricinniae, a strong place in the
+Leontine country, and being there joined by most of the exiled commons
+carried on war from the fortifications. The Athenians hearing this, sent
+Phaeax to see if they could not by some means so convince their allies
+there and the rest of the Sicilians of the ambitious designs of Syracuse
+as to induce them to form a general coalition against her, and thus save
+the commons of Leontini. Arrived in Sicily, Phaeax succeeded at Camarina
+and Agrigentum, but meeting with a repulse at Gela did not go on to
+the rest, as he saw that he should not succeed with them, but returned
+through the country of the Sicels to Catana, and after visiting
+Bricinniae as he passed, and encouraging its inhabitants, sailed back to
+Athens.
+
+During his voyage along the coast to and from Sicily, he treated with
+some cities in Italy on the subject of friendship with Athens, and also
+fell in with some Locrian settlers exiled from Messina, who had been
+sent thither when the Locrians were called in by one of the factions
+that divided Messina after the pacification of Sicily, and Messina came
+for a time into the hands of the Locrians. These being met by Phaeax on
+their return home received no injury at his hands, as the Locrians had
+agreed with him for a treaty with Athens. They were the only people
+of the allies who, when the reconciliation between the Sicilians took
+place, had not made peace with her; nor indeed would they have done
+so now, if they had not been pressed by a war with the Hipponians and
+Medmaeans who lived on their border, and were colonists of theirs.
+Phaeax meanwhile proceeded on his voyage, and at length arrived at
+Athens.
+
+Cleon, whom we left on his voyage from Torone to Amphipolis, made Eion
+his base, and after an unsuccessful assault upon the Andrian colony
+of Stagirus, took Galepsus, a colony of Thasos, by storm. He now sent
+envoys to Perdiccas to command his attendance with an army, as
+provided by the alliance; and others to Thrace, to Polles, king of the
+Odomantians, who was to bring as many Thracian mercenaries as possible;
+and himself remained inactive in Eion, awaiting their arrival. Informed
+of this, Brasidas on his part took up a position of observation upon
+Cerdylium, a place situated in the Argilian country on high ground
+across the river, not far from Amphipolis, and commanding a view on all
+sides, and thus made it impossible for Cleon's army to move without
+his seeing it; for he fully expected that Cleon, despising the scanty
+numbers of his opponent, would march against Amphipolis with the
+force that he had got with him. At the same time Brasidas made
+his preparations, calling to his standard fifteen hundred Thracian
+mercenaries and all the Edonians, horse and targeteers; he also had
+a thousand Myrcinian and Chalcidian targeteers, besides those in
+Amphipolis, and a force of heavy infantry numbering altogether about two
+thousand, and three hundred Hellenic horse. Fifteen hundred of these he
+had with him upon Cerdylium; the rest were stationed with Clearidas in
+Amphipolis.
+
+After remaining quiet for some time, Cleon was at length obliged to do
+as Brasidas expected. His soldiers, tired of their inactivity, began
+also seriously to reflect on the weakness and incompetence of their
+commander, and the skill and valour that would be opposed to him, and on
+their own original unwillingness to accompany him. These murmurs coming
+to the ears of Cleon, he resolved not to disgust the army by keeping it
+in the same place, and broke up his camp and advanced. The temper of
+the general was what it had been at Pylos, his success on that occasion
+having given him confidence in his capacity. He never dreamed of any one
+coming out to fight him, but said that he was rather going up to view
+the place; and if he waited for his reinforcements, it was not in order
+to make victory secure in case he should be compelled to engage, but
+to be enabled to surround and storm the city. He accordingly came and
+posted his army upon a strong hill in front of Amphipolis, and proceeded
+to examine the lake formed by the Strymon, and how the town lay on the
+side of Thrace. He thought to retire at pleasure without fighting, as
+there was no one to be seen upon the wall or coming out of the gates,
+all of which were shut. Indeed, it seemed a mistake not to have brought
+down engines with him; he could then have taken the town, there being no
+one to defend it.
+
+As soon as Brasidas saw the Athenians in motion he descended himself
+from Cerdylium and entered Amphipolis. He did not venture to go out in
+regular order against the Athenians: he mistrusted his strength, and
+thought it inadequate to the attempt; not in numbers--these were not so
+unequal--but in quality, the flower of the Athenian army being in the
+field, with the best of the Lemnians and Imbrians. He therefore prepared
+to assail them by stratagem. By showing the enemy the number of his
+troops, and the shifts which he had been put to to to arm them, he
+thought that he should have less chance of beating him than by not
+letting him have a sight of them, and thus learn how good a right he
+had to despise them. He accordingly picked out a hundred and fifty heavy
+infantry and, putting the rest under Clearidas, determined to attack
+suddenly before the Athenians retired; thinking that he should not have
+again such a chance of catching them alone, if their reinforcements were
+once allowed to come up; and so calling all his soldiers together in
+order to encourage them and explain his intention, spoke as follows:
+
+"Peloponnesians, the character of the country from which we have come,
+one which has always owed its freedom to valour, and the fact that you
+are Dorians and the enemy you are about to fight Ionians, whom you are
+accustomed to beat, are things that do not need further comment. But the
+plan of attack that I propose to pursue, this it is as well to explain,
+in order that the fact of our adventuring with a part instead of with
+the whole of our forces may not damp your courage by the apparent
+disadvantage at which it places you. I imagine it is the poor opinion
+that he has of us, and the fact that he has no idea of any one coming
+out to engage him, that has made the enemy march up to the place and
+carelessly look about him as he is doing, without noticing us. But the
+most successful soldier will always be the man who most happily detects
+a blunder like this, and who carefully consulting his own means makes
+his attack not so much by open and regular approaches, as by seizing the
+opportunity of the moment; and these stratagems, which do the greatest
+service to our friends by most completely deceiving our enemies,
+have the most brilliant name in war. Therefore, while their careless
+confidence continues, and they are still thinking, as in my judgment
+they are now doing, more of retreat than of maintaining their position,
+while their spirit is slack and not high-strung with expectation, I with
+the men under my command will, if possible, take them by surprise and
+fall with a run upon their centre; and do you, Clearidas, afterwards,
+when you see me already upon them, and, as is likely, dealing terror
+among them, take with you the Amphipolitans, and the rest of the allies,
+and suddenly open the gates and dash at them, and hasten to engage as
+quickly as you can. That is our best chance of establishing a panic
+among them, as a fresh assailant has always more terrors for an enemy
+than the one he is immediately engaged with. Show yourself a brave
+man, as a Spartan should; and do you, allies, follow him like men, and
+remember that zeal, honour, and obedience mark the good soldier, and
+that this day will make you either free men and allies of Lacedaemon, or
+slaves of Athens; even if you escape without personal loss of liberty
+or life, your bondage will be on harsher terms than before, and you will
+also hinder the liberation of the rest of the Hellenes. No cowardice
+then on your part, seeing the greatness of the issues at stake, and I
+will show that what I preach to others I can practise myself."
+
+After this brief speech Brasidas himself prepared for the sally, and
+placed the rest with Clearidas at the Thracian gates to support him as
+had been agreed. Meanwhile he had been seen coming down from Cerdylium
+and then in the city, which is overlooked from the outside, sacrificing
+near the temple of Athene; in short, all his movements had been
+observed, and word was brought to Cleon, who had at the moment gone on
+to look about him, that the whole of the enemy's force could be seen
+in the town, and that the feet of horses and men in great numbers were
+visible under the gates, as if a sally were intended. Upon hearing this
+he went up to look, and having done so, being unwilling to venture upon
+the decisive step of a battle before his reinforcements came up, and
+fancying that he would have time to retire, bid the retreat be sounded
+and sent orders to the men to effect it by moving on the left wing in
+the direction of Eion, which was indeed the only way practicable. This
+however not being quick enough for him, he joined the retreat in person
+and made the right wing wheel round, thus turning its unarmed side
+to the enemy. It was then that Brasidas, seeing the Athenian force in
+motion and his opportunity come, said to the men with him and the rest:
+"Those fellows will never stand before us, one can see that by the way
+their spears and heads are going. Troops which do as they do seldom
+stand a charge. Quick, someone, and open the gates I spoke of, and let
+us be out and at them with no fears for the result." Accordingly
+issuing out by the palisade gate and by the first in the long wall then
+existing, he ran at the top of his speed along the straight road, where
+the trophy now stands as you go by the steepest part of the hill, and
+fell upon and routed the centre of the Athenians, panic-stricken by
+their own disorder and astounded at his audacity. At the same moment
+Clearidas in execution of his orders issued out from the Thracian gates
+to support him, and also attacked the enemy. The result was that the
+Athenians, suddenly and unexpectedly attacked on both sides, fell into
+confusion; and their left towards Eion, which had already got on some
+distance, at once broke and fled. Just as it was in full retreat and
+Brasidas was passing on to attack the right, he received a wound; but
+his fall was not perceived by the Athenians, as he was taken up by those
+near him and carried off the field. The Athenian right made a better
+stand, and though Cleon, who from the first had no thought of fighting,
+at once fled and was overtaken and slain by a Myrcinian targeteer, his
+infantry forming in close order upon the hill twice or thrice repulsed
+the attacks of Clearidas, and did not finally give way until they were
+surrounded and routed by the missiles of the Myrcinian and Chalcidian
+horse and the targeteers. Thus the Athenian army was all now in flight;
+and such as escaped being killed in the battle, or by the Chalcidian
+horse and the targeteers, dispersed among the hills, and with difficulty
+made their way to Eion. The men who had taken up and rescued Brasidas,
+brought him into the town with the breath still in him: he lived to hear
+of the victory of his troops, and not long after expired. The rest of
+the army returning with Clearidas from the pursuit stripped the dead and
+set up a trophy.
+
+After this all the allies attended in arms and buried Brasidas at the
+public expense in the city, in front of what is now the marketplace, and
+the Amphipolitans, having enclosed his tomb, ever afterwards sacrifice
+to him as a hero and have given to him the honour of games and annual
+offerings. They constituted him the founder of their colony, and pulled
+down the Hagnonic erections, and obliterated everything that could be
+interpreted as a memorial of his having founded the place; for they
+considered that Brasidas had been their preserver, and courting as they
+did the alliance of Lacedaemon for fear of Athens, in their present
+hostile relations with the latter they could no longer with the same
+advantage or satisfaction pay Hagnon his honours. They also gave the
+Athenians back their dead. About six hundred of the latter had fallen
+and only seven of the enemy, owing to there having been no regular
+engagement, but the affair of accident and panic that I have described.
+After taking up their dead the Athenians sailed off home, while
+Clearidas and his troops remained to arrange matters at Amphipolis.
+
+About the same time three Lacedaemonians--Ramphias, Autocharidas, and
+Epicydidas--led a reinforcement of nine hundred heavy infantry to the
+towns in the direction of Thrace, and arriving at Heraclea in Trachis
+reformed matters there as seemed good to them. While they delayed there,
+this battle took place and so the summer ended.
+
+With the beginning of the winter following, Ramphias and his companions
+penetrated as far as Pierium in Thessaly; but as the Thessalians opposed
+their further advance, and Brasidas whom they came to reinforce was
+dead, they turned back home, thinking that the moment had gone by,
+the Athenians being defeated and gone, and themselves not equal to the
+execution of Brasidas's designs. The main cause however of their return
+was because they knew that when they set out Lacedaemonian opinion was
+really in favour of peace.
+
+Indeed it so happened that directly after the battle of Amphipolis and
+the retreat of Ramphias from Thessaly, both sides ceased to prosecute
+the war and turned their attention to peace. Athens had suffered
+severely at Delium, and again shortly afterwards at Amphipolis, and
+had no longer that confidence in her strength which had made her before
+refuse to treat, in the belief of ultimate victory which her success
+at the moment had inspired; besides, she was afraid of her allies being
+tempted by her reverses to rebel more generally, and repented having
+let go the splendid opportunity for peace which the affair of Pylos had
+offered. Lacedaemon, on the other hand, found the event of the war to
+falsify her notion that a few years would suffice for the overthrow of
+the power of the Athenians by the devastation of their land. She had
+suffered on the island a disaster hitherto unknown at Sparta; she saw
+her country plundered from Pylos and Cythera; the Helots were deserting,
+and she was in constant apprehension that those who remained in
+Peloponnese would rely upon those outside and take advantage of the
+situation to renew their old attempts at revolution. Besides this, as
+chance would have it, her thirty years' truce with the Argives was upon
+the point of expiring; and they refused to renew it unless Cynuria were
+restored to them; so that it seemed impossible to fight Argos and
+Athens at once. She also suspected some of the cities in Peloponnese of
+intending to go over to the enemy and that was indeed the case.
+
+These considerations made both sides disposed for an accommodation; the
+Lacedaemonians being probably the most eager, as they ardently desired
+to recover the men taken upon the island, the Spartans among whom
+belonged to the first families and were accordingly related to the
+governing body in Lacedaemon. Negotiations had been begun directly after
+their capture, but the Athenians in their hour of triumph would not
+consent to any reasonable terms; though after their defeat at Delium,
+Lacedaemon, knowing that they would be now more inclined to listen,
+at once concluded the armistice for a year, during which they were to
+confer together and see if a longer period could not be agreed upon.
+
+Now, however, after the Athenian defeat at Amphipolis, and the death of
+Cleon and Brasidas, who had been the two principal opponents of peace on
+either side--the latter from the success and honour which war gave him,
+the former because he thought that, if tranquillity were restored,
+his crimes would be more open to detection and his slanders less
+credited--the foremost candidates for power in either city, Pleistoanax,
+son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon, and Nicias, son of Niceratus, the
+most fortunate general of his time, each desired peace more ardently
+than ever. Nicias, while still happy and honoured, wished to secure his
+good fortune, to obtain a present release from trouble for himself and
+his countrymen, and hand down to posterity a name as an ever-successful
+statesman, and thought the way to do this was to keep out of danger and
+commit himself as little as possible to fortune, and that peace alone
+made this keeping out of danger possible. Pleistoanax, again, was
+assailed by his enemies for his restoration, and regularly held up by
+them to the prejudice of his countrymen, upon every reverse that befell
+them, as though his unjust restoration were the cause; the accusation
+being that he and his brother Aristocles had bribed the prophetess of
+Delphi to tell the Lacedaemonian deputations which successively arrived
+at the temple to bring home the seed of the demigod son of Zeus from
+abroad, else they would have to plough with a silver share. In this
+way, it was insisted, in time he had induced the Lacedaemonians in
+the nineteenth year of his exile to Lycaeum (whither he had gone when
+banished on suspicion of having been bribed to retreat from Attica, and
+had built half his house within the consecrated precinct of Zeus for
+fear of the Lacedaemonians), to restore him with the same dances and
+sacrifices with which they had instituted their kings upon the first
+settlement of Lacedaemon. The smart of this accusation, and the
+reflection that in peace no disaster could occur, and that when
+Lacedaemon had recovered her men there would be nothing for his enemies
+to take hold of (whereas, while war lasted, the highest station must
+always bear the scandal of everything that went wrong), made him
+ardently desire a settlement. Accordingly this winter was employed in
+conferences; and as spring rapidly approached, the Lacedaemonians sent
+round orders to the cities to prepare for a fortified occupation of
+Attica, and held this as a sword over the heads of the Athenians to
+induce them to listen to their overtures; and at last, after many claims
+had been urged on either side at the conferences a peace was agreed on
+upon the following basis. Each party was to restore its conquests,
+but Athens was to keep Nisaea; her demand for Plataea being met by
+the Thebans asserting that they had acquired the place not by force or
+treachery, but by the voluntary adhesion upon agreement of its citizens;
+and the same, according to the Athenian account, being the history of
+her acquisition of Nisaea. This arranged, the Lacedaemonians
+summoned their allies, and all voting for peace except the Boeotians,
+Corinthians, Eleans, and Megarians, who did not approve of these
+proceedings, they concluded the treaty and made peace, each of the
+contracting parties swearing to the following articles:
+
+The Athenians and Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty, and
+swore to it, city by city, as follows;
+
+1. Touching the national temples, there shall be a free passage by land
+and by sea to all who wish it, to sacrifice, travel, consult, and attend
+the oracle or games, according to the customs of their countries.
+
+2. The temple and shrine of Apollo at Delphi and the Delphians shall
+be governed by their own laws, taxed by their own state, and judged by
+their own judges, the land and the people, according to the custom of
+their country.
+
+3. The treaty shall be binding for fifty years upon the Athenians and
+the allies of the Athenians, and upon the Lacedaemonians and the allies
+of the Lacedaemonians, without fraud or hurt by land or by sea.
+
+4. It shall not be lawful to take up arms, with intent to do hurt,
+either for the Lacedaemonians and their allies against the Athenians
+and their allies, or for the Athenians and their allies against the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, in any way or means whatsoever. But
+should any difference arise between them they are to have recourse to
+law and oaths, according as may be agreed between the parties.
+
+5. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall give back Amphipolis to
+the Athenians. Nevertheless, in the case of cities given up by the
+Lacedaemonians to the Athenians, the inhabitants shall be allowed to go
+where they please and to take their property with them: and the cities
+shall be independent, paying only the tribute of Aristides. And it shall
+not be lawful for the Athenians or their allies to carry on war against
+them after the treaty has been concluded, so long as the tribute is
+paid. The cities referred to are Argilus, Stagirus, Acanthus, Scolus,
+Olynthus, and Spartolus. These cities shall be neutral, allies neither
+of the Lacedaemonians nor of the Athenians: but if the cities consent,
+it shall be lawful for the Athenians to make them their allies, provided
+always that the cities wish it. The Mecybernaeans, Sanaeans, and
+Singaeans shall inhabit their own cities, as also the Olynthians and
+Acanthians: but the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall give back
+Panactum to the Athenians.
+
+6. The Athenians shall give back Coryphasium, Cythera, Methana,
+Lacedaemonians that are in the prison at Athens or elsewhere in the
+Athenian dominions, and shall let go the Peloponnesians besieged in
+Scione, and all others in Scione that are allies of the Lacedaemonians,
+and all whom Brasidas sent in there, and any others of the allies of the
+Lacedaemonians that may be in the prison at Athens or elsewhere in the
+Athenian dominions.
+
+7. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall in like manner give back
+any of the Athenians or their allies that they may have in their hands.
+
+8. In the case of Scione, Torone, and Sermylium, and any other cities
+that the Athenians may have, the Athenians may adopt such measures as
+they please.
+
+9. The Athenians shall take an oath to the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies, city by city. Every man shall swear by the most binding oath of
+his country, seventeen from each city. The oath shall be as follows; "I
+will abide by this agreement and treaty honestly and without deceit."
+In the same way an oath shall be taken by the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies to the Athenians: and the oath shall be renewed annually by both
+parties. Pillars shall be erected at Olympia, Pythia, the Isthmus, at
+Athens in the Acropolis, and at Lacedaemon in the temple at Amyclae.
+
+10. If anything be forgotten, whatever it be, and on whatever point, it
+shall be consistent with their oath for both parties, the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians, to alter it, according to their discretion.
+
+The treaty begins from the ephoralty of Pleistolas in Lacedaemon, on the
+27th day of the month of Artemisium, and from the archonship, of Alcaeus
+at Athens, on the 25th day of the month of Elaphebolion. Those who
+took the oath and poured the libations for the Lacedaemonians were
+Pleistoanax, Agis, Pleistolas, Damagetis, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus,
+Daithus, Ischagoras, Philocharidas, Zeuxidas, Antippus, Tellis,
+Alcinadas, Empedias, Menas, and Laphilus: for the Athenians, Lampon,
+Isthmonicus, Nicias, Laches, Euthydemus, Procles, Pythodorus, Hagnon,
+Myrtilus, Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates, Iolcius, Timocrates,
+Leon, Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+
+This treaty was made in the spring, just at the end of winter, directly
+after the city festival of Dionysus, just ten years, with the difference
+of a few days, from the first invasion of Attica and the commencement of
+this war. This must be calculated by the seasons rather than by trusting
+to the enumeration of the names of the several magistrates or offices of
+honour that are used to mark past events. Accuracy is impossible where
+an event may have occurred in the beginning, or middle, or at any period
+in their tenure of office. But by computing by summers and winters, the
+method adopted in this history, it will be found that, each of these
+amounting to half a year, there were ten summers and as many winters
+contained in this first war.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, to whose lot it fell to begin the work
+of restitution, immediately set free all the prisoners of war in their
+possession, and sent Ischagoras, Menas, and Philocharidas as envoys to
+the towns in the direction of Thrace, to order Clearidas to hand over
+Amphipolis to the Athenians, and the rest of their allies each to accept
+the treaty as it affected them. They, however, did not like its
+terms, and refused to accept it; Clearidas also, willing to oblige the
+Chalcidians, would not hand over the town, averring his inability to
+do so against their will. Meanwhile he hastened in person to Lacedaemon
+with envoys from the place, to defend his disobedience against the
+possible accusations of Ischagoras and his companions, and also to see
+whether it was too late for the agreement to be altered; and on
+finding the Lacedaemonians were bound, quickly set out back again with
+instructions from them to hand over the place, if possible, or at all
+events to bring out the Peloponnesians that were in it.
+
+The allies happened to be present in person at Lacedaemon, and those
+who had not accepted the treaty were now asked by the Lacedaemonians
+to adopt it. This, however, they refused to do, for the same reasons
+as before, unless a fairer one than the present were agreed upon;
+and remaining firm in their determination were dismissed by the
+Lacedaemonians, who now decided on forming an alliance with the
+Athenians, thinking that Argos, who had refused the application of
+Ampelidas and Lichas for a renewal of the treaty, would without Athens
+be no longer formidable, and that the rest of the Peloponnese would be
+most likely to keep quiet, if the coveted alliance of Athens were
+shut against them. Accordingly, after conference with the Athenian
+ambassadors, an alliance was agreed upon and oaths were exchanged, upon
+the terms following:
+
+1. The Lacedaemonians shall be allies of the Athenians for fifty years.
+
+2. Should any enemy invade the territory of Lacedaemon and injure
+the Lacedaemonians, the Athenians shall help in such way as they most
+effectively can, according to their power. But if the invader be gone
+after plundering the country, that city shall be the enemy of Lacedaemon
+and Athens, and shall be chastised by both, and one shall not make peace
+without the other. This to be honestly, loyally, and without fraud.
+
+3. Should any enemy invade the territory of Athens and injure the
+Athenians, the Lacedaemonians shall help them in such way as they most
+effectively can, according to their power. But if the invader be gone
+after plundering the country, that city shall be the enemy of Lacedaemon
+and Athens, and shall be chastised by both, and one shall not make peace
+without the other. This to be honestly, loyally, and without fraud.
+
+4. Should the slave population rise, the Athenians shall help the
+Lacedaemonians with all their might, according to their power.
+
+5. This treaty shall be sworn to by the same persons on either side that
+swore to the other. It shall be renewed annually by the Lacedaemonians
+going to Athens for the Dionysia, and the Athenians to Lacedaemon
+for the Hyacinthia, and a pillar shall be set up by either party: at
+Lacedaemon near the statue of Apollo at Amyclae, and at Athens on the
+Acropolis near the statue of Athene. Should the Lacedaemonians
+and Athenians see to add to or take away from the alliance in any
+particular, it shall be consistent with their oaths for both parties to
+do so, according to their discretion.
+
+Those who took the oath for the Lacedaemonians were Pleistoanax,
+Agis, Pleistolas, Damagetus, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus, Daithus,
+Ischagoras, Philocharidas, Zeuxidas, Antippus, Alcinadas, Tellis,
+Empedias, Menas, and Laphilus; for the Athenians, Lampon, Isthmionicus,
+Laches, Nicias, Euthydemus, Procles, Pythodorus, Hagnon, Myrtilus,
+Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates, Iolcius, Timocrates, Leon,
+Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+
+This alliance was made not long after the treaty; and the Athenians gave
+back the men from the island to the Lacedaemonians, and the summer of
+the eleventh year began. This completes the history of the first war,
+which occupied the whole of the ten years previously.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+_Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese--League of the Mantineans,
+Eleans, Argives, and Athenians--Battle of Mantinea and breaking up of
+the League_
+
+After the treaty and the alliance between the Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians, concluded after the ten years' war, in the ephorate of
+Pleistolas at Lacedaemon, and the archonship of Alcaeus at Athens, the
+states which had accepted them were at peace; but the Corinthians and
+some of the cities in Peloponnese trying to disturb the settlement,
+a fresh agitation was instantly commenced by the allies against
+Lacedaemon. Further, the Lacedaemonians, as time went on, became
+suspected by the Athenians through their not performing some of the
+provisions in the treaty; and though for six years and ten months
+they abstained from invasion of each other's territory, yet abroad an
+unstable armistice did not prevent either party doing the other the most
+effectual injury, until they were finally obliged to break the treaty
+made after the ten years' war and to have recourse to open hostilities.
+
+The history of this period has been also written by the same Thucydides,
+an Athenian, in the chronological order of events by summers and
+winters, to the time when the Lacedaemonians and their allies put an end
+to the Athenian empire, and took the Long Walls and Piraeus. The war had
+then lasted for twenty-seven years in all. Only a mistaken judgment can
+object to including the interval of treaty in the war. Looked at by the
+light of facts it cannot, it will be found, be rationally considered
+a state of peace, where neither party either gave or got back all that
+they had agreed, apart from the violations of it which occurred on both
+sides in the Mantinean and Epidaurian wars and other instances, and
+the fact that the allies in the direction of Thrace were in as open
+hostility as ever, while the Boeotians had only a truce renewed every
+ten days. So that the first ten years' war, the treacherous armistice
+that followed it, and the subsequent war will, calculating by the
+seasons, be found to make up the number of years which I have mentioned,
+with the difference of a few days, and to afford an instance of faith
+in oracles being for once justified by the event. I certainly all along
+remember from the beginning to the end of the war its being commonly
+declared that it would last thrice nine years. I lived through the whole
+of it, being of an age to comprehend events, and giving my attention to
+them in order to know the exact truth about them. It was also my fate
+to be an exile from my country for twenty years after my command at
+Amphipolis; and being present with both parties, and more especially
+with the Peloponnesians by reason of my exile, I had leisure to observe
+affairs somewhat particularly. I will accordingly now relate the
+differences that arose after the ten years' war, the breach of the
+treaty, and the hostilities that followed.
+
+After the conclusion of the fifty years' truce and of the subsequent
+alliance, the embassies from Peloponnese which had been summoned for
+this business returned from Lacedaemon. The rest went straight home, but
+the Corinthians first turned aside to Argos and opened negotiations with
+some of the men in office there, pointing out that Lacedaemon could have
+no good end in view, but only the subjugation of Peloponnese, or she
+would never have entered into treaty and alliance with the once detested
+Athenians, and that the duty of consulting for the safety of Peloponnese
+had now fallen upon Argos, who should immediately pass a decree
+inviting any Hellenic state that chose, such state being independent and
+accustomed to meet fellow powers upon the fair and equal ground of law
+and justice, to make a defensive alliance with the Argives; appointing
+a few individuals with plenipotentiary powers, instead of making the
+people the medium of negotiation, in order that, in the case of an
+applicant being rejected, the fact of his overtures might not be
+made public. They said that many would come over from hatred of the
+Lacedaemonians. After this explanation of their views, the Corinthians
+returned home.
+
+The persons with whom they had communicated reported the proposal to
+their government and people, and the Argives passed the decree and chose
+twelve men to negotiate an alliance for any Hellenic state that wished
+it, except Athens and Lacedaemon, neither of which should be able to
+join without reference to the Argive people. Argos came into the
+plan the more readily because she saw that war with Lacedaemon was
+inevitable, the truce being on the point of expiring; and also because
+she hoped to gain the supremacy of Peloponnese. For at this time
+Lacedaemon had sunk very low in public estimation because of her
+disasters, while the Argives were in a most flourishing condition,
+having taken no part in the Attic war, but having on the contrary
+profited largely by their neutrality. The Argives accordingly prepared
+to receive into alliance any of the Hellenes that desired it.
+
+The Mantineans and their allies were the first to come over through fear
+of the Lacedaemonians. Having taken advantage of the war against Athens
+to reduce a large part of Arcadia into subjection, they thought that
+Lacedaemon would not leave them undisturbed in their conquests, now
+that she had leisure to interfere, and consequently gladly turned to a
+powerful city like Argos, the historical enemy of the Lacedaemonians,
+and a sister democracy. Upon the defection of Mantinea, the rest of
+Peloponnese at once began to agitate the propriety of following her
+example, conceiving that the Mantineans not have changed sides without
+good reason; besides which they were angry with Lacedaemon among other
+reasons for having inserted in the treaty with Athens that it should
+be consistent with their oaths for both parties, Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians, to add to or take away from it according to their discretion.
+It was this clause that was the real origin of the panic in Peloponnese,
+by exciting suspicions of a Lacedaemonian and Athenian combination
+against their liberties: any alteration should properly have been made
+conditional upon the consent of the whole body of the allies. With these
+apprehensions there was a very general desire in each state to place
+itself in alliance with Argos.
+
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians perceiving the agitation going on in
+Peloponnese, and that Corinth was the author of it and was herself about
+to enter into alliance with the Argives, sent ambassadors thither in the
+hope of preventing what was in contemplation. They accused her of having
+brought it all about, and told her that she could not desert Lacedaemon
+and become the ally of Argos, without adding violation of her oaths to
+the crime which she had already committed in not accepting the treaty
+with Athens, when it had been expressly agreed that the decision of
+the majority of the allies should be binding, unless the gods or heroes
+stood in the way. Corinth in her answer, delivered before those of her
+allies who had like her refused to accept the treaty, and whom she had
+previously invited to attend, refrained from openly stating the injuries
+she complained of, such as the non-recovery of Sollium or Anactorium
+from the Athenians, or any other point in which she thought she had been
+prejudiced, but took shelter under the pretext that she could not give
+up her Thracian allies, to whom her separate individual security had
+been given, when they first rebelled with Potidaea, as well as upon
+subsequent occasions. She denied, therefore, that she committed any
+violation of her oaths to the allies in not entering into the treaty
+with Athens; having sworn upon the faith of the gods to her Thracian
+friends, she could not honestly give them up. Besides, the expression
+was, "unless the gods or heroes stand in the way." Now here, as it
+appeared to her, the gods stood in the way. This was what she said on
+the subject of her former oaths. As to the Argive alliance, she would
+confer with her friends and do whatever was right. The Lacedaemonian
+envoys returning home, some Argive ambassadors who happened to be in
+Corinth pressed her to conclude the alliance without further delay, but
+were told to attend at the next congress to be held at Corinth.
+
+Immediately afterwards an Elean embassy arrived, and first making an
+alliance with Corinth went on from thence to Argos, according to their
+instructions, and became allies of the Argives, their country being just
+then at enmity with Lacedaemon and Lepreum. Some time back there had
+been a war between the Lepreans and some of the Arcadians; and the
+Eleans being called in by the former with the offer of half their lands,
+had put an end to the war, and leaving the land in the hands of its
+Leprean occupiers had imposed upon them the tribute of a talent to the
+Olympian Zeus. Till the Attic war this tribute was paid by the Lepreans,
+who then took the war as an excuse for no longer doing so, and upon the
+Eleans using force appealed to Lacedaemon. The case was thus submitted
+to her arbitrament; but the Eleans, suspecting the fairness of the
+tribunal, renounced the reference and laid waste the Leprean territory.
+The Lacedaemonians nevertheless decided that the Lepreans were
+independent and the Eleans aggressors, and as the latter did not abide
+by the arbitration, sent a garrison of heavy infantry into Lepreum. Upon
+this the Eleans, holding that Lacedaemon had received one of their rebel
+subjects, put forward the convention providing that each confederate
+should come out of the Attic war in possession of what he had when he
+went into it, and considering that justice had not been done them
+went over to the Argives, and now made the alliance through their
+ambassadors, who had been instructed for that purpose. Immediately
+after them the Corinthians and the Thracian Chalcidians became allies
+of Argos. Meanwhile the Boeotians and Megarians, who acted together,
+remained quiet, being left to do as they pleased by Lacedaemon, and
+thinking that the Argive democracy would not suit so well with their
+aristocratic government as the Lacedaemonian constitution.
+
+About the same time in this summer Athens succeeded in reducing Scione,
+put the adult males to death, and, making slaves of the women and
+children, gave the land for the Plataeans to live in. She also brought
+back the Delians to Delos, moved by her misfortunes in the field and by
+the commands of the god at Delphi. Meanwhile the Phocians and Locrians
+commenced hostilities. The Corinthians and Argives, being now in
+alliance, went to Tegea to bring about its defection from Lacedaemon,
+seeing that, if so considerable a state could be persuaded to join,
+all Peloponnese would be with them. But when the Tegeans said that they
+would do nothing against Lacedaemon, the hitherto zealous Corinthians
+relaxed their activity, and began to fear that none of the rest would
+now come over. Still they went to the Boeotians and tried to persuade
+them to alliance and a common action generally with Argos and
+themselves, and also begged them to go with them to Athens and obtain
+for them a ten days' truce similar to that made between the Athenians
+and Boeotians not long after the fifty years' treaty, and, in the event
+of the Athenians refusing, to throw up the armistice, and not make
+any truce in future without Corinth. These were the requests of the
+Corinthians. The Boeotians stopped them on the subject of the Argive
+alliance, but went with them to Athens, where however they failed
+to obtain the ten days' truce; the Athenian answer being that
+the Corinthians had truce already, as being allies of Lacedaemon.
+Nevertheless the Boeotians did not throw up their ten days' truce, in
+spite of the prayers and reproaches of the Corinthians for their breach
+of faith; and these last had to content themselves with a de facto
+armistice with Athens.
+
+The same summer the Lacedaemonians marched into Arcadia with their whole
+levy under Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon, against
+the Parrhasians, who were subjects of Mantinea, and a faction of whom
+had invited their aid. They also meant to demolish, if possible, the
+fort of Cypsela which the Mantineans had built and garrisoned in the
+Parrhasian territory, to annoy the district of Sciritis in Laconia. The
+Lacedaemonians accordingly laid waste the Parrhasian country, and the
+Mantineans, placing their town in the hands of an Argive garrison,
+addressed themselves to the defence of their confederacy, but being
+unable to save Cypsela or the Parrhasian towns went back to Mantinea.
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians made the Parrhasians independent, razed the
+fortress, and returned home.
+
+The same summer the soldiers from Thrace who had gone out with
+Brasidas came back, having been brought from thence after the treaty by
+Clearidas; and the Lacedaemonians decreed that the Helots who had fought
+with Brasidas should be free and allowed to live where they liked, and
+not long afterwards settled them with the Neodamodes at Lepreum, which
+is situated on the Laconian and Elean border; Lacedaemon being at this
+time at enmity with Elis. Those however of the Spartans who had been
+taken prisoners on the island and had surrendered their arms might, it
+was feared, suppose that they were to be subjected to some degradation
+in consequence of their misfortune, and so make some attempt at
+revolution, if left in possession of their franchise. These were
+therefore at once disfranchised, although some of them were in office at
+the time, and thus placed under a disability to take office, or buy and
+sell anything. After some time, however, the franchise was restored to
+them.
+
+The same summer the Dians took Thyssus, a town on Acte by Athos in
+alliance with Athens. During the whole of this summer intercourse
+between the Athenians and Peloponnesians continued, although each party
+began to suspect the other directly after the treaty, because of the
+places specified in it not being restored. Lacedaemon, to whose lot it
+had fallen to begin by restoring Amphipolis and the other towns, had
+not done so. She had equally failed to get the treaty accepted by her
+Thracian allies, or by the Boeotians or the Corinthians; although she
+was continually promising to unite with Athens in compelling their
+compliance, if it were longer refused. She also kept fixing a time at
+which those who still refused to come in were to be declared enemies
+to both parties, but took care not to bind herself by any written
+agreement. Meanwhile the Athenians, seeing none of these professions
+performed in fact, began to suspect the honesty of her intentions, and
+consequently not only refused to comply with her demands for Pylos, but
+also repented having given up the prisoners from the island, and kept
+tight hold of the other places, until Lacedaemon's part of the treaty
+should be fulfilled. Lacedaemon, on the other hand, said she had done
+what she could, having given up the Athenian prisoners of war in her
+possession, evacuated Thrace, and performed everything else in her
+power. Amphipolis it was out of her ability to restore; but she would
+endeavour to bring the Boeotians and Corinthians into the treaty, to
+recover Panactum, and send home all the Athenian prisoners of war in
+Boeotia. Meanwhile she required that Pylos should be restored, or at all
+events that the Messenians and Helots should be withdrawn, as her troops
+had been from Thrace, and the place garrisoned, if necessary, by the
+Athenians themselves. After a number of different conferences held
+during the summer, she succeeded in persuading Athens to withdraw from
+Pylos the Messenians and the rest of the Helots and deserters from
+Laconia, who were accordingly settled by her at Cranii in Cephallenia.
+Thus during this summer there was peace and intercourse between the two
+peoples.
+
+Next winter, however, the ephors under whom the treaty had been made
+were no longer in office, and some of their successors were directly
+opposed to it. Embassies now arrived from the Lacedaemonian confederacy,
+and the Athenians, Boeotians, and Corinthians also presented themselves
+at Lacedaemon, and after much discussion and no agreement between them,
+separated for their several homes; when Cleobulus and Xenares, the two
+ephors who were the most anxious to break off the treaty, took advantage
+of this opportunity to communicate privately with the Boeotians and
+Corinthians, and, advising them to act as much as possible together,
+instructed the former first to enter into alliance with Argos, and then
+try and bring themselves and the Argives into alliance with Lacedaemon.
+The Boeotians would so be least likely to be compelled to come into the
+Attic treaty; and the Lacedaemonians would prefer gaining the friendship
+and alliance of Argos even at the price of the hostility of Athens
+and the rupture of the treaty. The Boeotians knew that an honourable
+friendship with Argos had been long the desire of Lacedaemon; for the
+Lacedaemonians believed that this would considerably facilitate the
+conduct of the war outside Peloponnese. Meanwhile they begged the
+Boeotians to place Panactum in her hands in order that she might, if
+possible, obtain Pylos in exchange for it, and so be more in a position
+to resume hostilities with Athens.
+
+After receiving these instructions for their governments from Xenares
+and Cleobulus and their friends at Lacedaemon, the Boeotians and
+Corinthians departed. On their way home they were joined by two persons
+high in office at Argos, who had waited for them on the road, and who
+now sounded them upon the possibility of the Boeotians joining the
+Corinthians, Eleans, and Mantineans in becoming the allies of Argos, in
+the idea that if this could be effected they would be able, thus united,
+to make peace or war as they pleased either against Lacedaemon or any
+other power. The Boeotian envoys were were pleased at thus hearing
+themselves accidentally asked to do what their friends at Lacedaemon
+had told them; and the two Argives perceiving that their proposal was
+agreeable, departed with a promise to send ambassadors to the Boeotians.
+On their arrival the Boeotians reported to the Boeotarchs what had been
+said to them at Lacedaemon and also by the Argives who had met them,
+and the Boeotarchs, pleased with the idea, embraced it with the more
+eagerness from the lucky coincidence of Argos soliciting the very thing
+wanted by their friends at Lacedaemon. Shortly afterwards ambassadors
+appeared from Argos with the proposals indicated; and the Boeotarchs
+approved of the terms and dismissed the ambassadors with a promise to
+send envoys to Argos to negotiate the alliance.
+
+In the meantime it was decided by the Boeotarchs, the Corinthians,
+the Megarians, and the envoys from Thrace first to interchange oaths
+together to give help to each other whenever it was required and not
+to make war or peace except in common; after which the Boeotians and
+Megarians, who acted together, should make the alliance with Argos. But
+before the oaths were taken the Boeotarchs communicated these proposals
+to the four councils of the Boeotians, in whom the supreme power
+resides, and advised them to interchange oaths with all such cities as
+should be willing to enter into a defensive league with the Boeotians.
+But the members of the Boeotian councils refused their assent to the
+proposal, being afraid of offending Lacedaemon by entering into a league
+with the deserter Corinth; the Boeotarchs not having acquainted
+them with what had passed at Lacedaemon and with the advice given by
+Cleobulus and Xenares and the Boeotian partisans there, namely, that
+they should become allies of Corinth and Argos as a preliminary to a
+junction with Lacedaemon; fancying that, even if they should say nothing
+about this, the councils would not vote against what had been decided
+and advised by the Boeotarchs. This difficulty arising, the Corinthians
+and the envoys from Thrace departed without anything having been
+concluded; and the Boeotarchs, who had previously intended after
+carrying this to try and effect the alliance with Argos, now omitted to
+bring the Argive question before the councils, or to send to Argos the
+envoys whom they had promised; and a general coldness and delay ensued
+in the matter.
+
+In this same winter Mecyberna was assaulted and taken by the Olynthians,
+having an Athenian garrison inside it.
+
+All this while negotiations had been going on between the Athenians
+and Lacedaemonians about the conquests still retained by each, and
+Lacedaemon, hoping that if Athens were to get back Panactum from the
+Boeotians she might herself recover Pylos, now sent an embassy to
+the Boeotians, and begged them to place Panactum and their Athenian
+prisoners in her hands, in order that she might exchange them for Pylos.
+This the Boeotians refused to do, unless Lacedaemon made a separate
+alliance with them as she had done with Athens. Lacedaemon knew that
+this would be a breach of faith to Athens, as it had been agreed that
+neither of them should make peace or war without the other; yet wishing
+to obtain Panactum which she hoped to exchange for Pylos, and the party
+who pressed for the dissolution of the treaty strongly affecting the
+Boeotian connection, she at length concluded the alliance just as
+winter gave way to spring; and Panactum was instantly razed. And so the
+eleventh year of the war ended.
+
+In the first days of the summer following, the Argives, seeing that the
+promised ambassadors from Boeotia did not arrive, and that Panactum
+was being demolished, and that a separate alliance had been concluded
+between the Boeotians and Lacedaemonians, began to be afraid that Argos
+might be left alone, and all the confederacy go over to Lacedaemon. They
+fancied that the Boeotians had been persuaded by the Lacedaemonians to
+raze Panactum and to enter into the treaty with the Athenians, and that
+Athens was privy to this arrangement, and even her alliance, therefore,
+no longer open to them--a resource which they had always counted
+upon, by reason of the dissensions existing, in the event of the
+noncontinuance of their treaty with Lacedaemon. In this strait the
+Argives, afraid that, as the result of refusing to renew the treaty with
+Lacedaemon and of aspiring to the supremacy in Peloponnese, they would
+have the Lacedaemonians, Tegeans, Boeotians, and Athenians on their
+hands all at once, now hastily sent off Eustrophus and Aeson, who seemed
+the persons most likely to be acceptable, as envoys to Lacedaemon,
+with the view of making as good a treaty as they could with the
+Lacedaemonians, upon such terms as could be got, and being left in
+peace.
+
+Having reached Lacedaemon, their ambassadors proceeded to negotiate the
+terms of the proposed treaty. What the Argives first demanded was that
+they might be allowed to refer to the arbitration of some state or
+private person the question of the Cynurian land, a piece of frontier
+territory about which they have always been disputing, and which
+contains the towns of Thyrea and Anthene, and is occupied by the
+Lacedaemonians. The Lacedaemonians at first said that they could not
+allow this point to be discussed, but were ready to conclude upon the
+old terms. Eventually, however, the Argive ambassadors succeeded in
+obtaining from them this concession: For the present there was to be
+a truce for fifty years, but it should be competent for either party,
+there being neither plague nor war in Lacedaemon or Argos, to give a
+formal challenge and decide the question of this territory by battle, as
+on a former occasion, when both sides claimed the victory; pursuit
+not being allowed beyond the frontier of Argos or Lacedaemon. The
+Lacedaemonians at first thought this mere folly; but at last, anxious
+at any cost to have the friendship of Argos they agreed to the terms
+demanded, and reduced them to writing. However, before any of this
+should become binding, the ambassadors were to return to Argos and
+communicate with their people and, in the event of their approval, to
+come at the feast of the Hyacinthia and take the oaths.
+
+The envoys returned accordingly. In the meantime, while the
+Argives were engaged in these negotiations, the Lacedaemonian
+ambassadors--Andromedes, Phaedimus, and Antimenidas--who were to receive
+the prisoners from the Boeotians and restore them and Panactum to the
+Athenians, found that the Boeotians had themselves razed Panactum, upon
+the plea that oaths had been anciently exchanged between their people
+and the Athenians, after a dispute on the subject to the effect that
+neither should inhabit the place, but that they should graze it in
+common. As for the Athenian prisoners of war in the hands of the
+Boeotians, these were delivered over to Andromedes and his colleagues,
+and by them conveyed to Athens and given back. The envoys at the same
+time announced the razing of Panactum, which to them seemed as good as
+its restitution, as it would no longer lodge an enemy of Athens. This
+announcement was received with great indignation by the Athenians,
+who thought that the Lacedaemonians had played them false, both in the
+matter of the demolition of Panactum, which ought to have been restored
+to them standing, and in having, as they now heard, made a separate
+alliance with the Boeotians, in spite of their previous promise to join
+Athens in compelling the adhesion of those who refused to accede to
+the treaty. The Athenians also considered the other points in which
+Lacedaemon had failed in her compact, and thinking that they had been
+overreached, gave an angry answer to the ambassadors and sent them away.
+
+The breach between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians having gone thus
+far, the party at Athens, also, who wished to cancel the treaty,
+immediately put themselves in motion. Foremost amongst these was
+Alcibiades, son of Clinias, a man yet young in years for any other
+Hellenic city, but distinguished by the splendour of his ancestry.
+Alcibiades thought the Argive alliance really preferable, not that
+personal pique had not also a great deal to do with his opposition; he
+being offended with the Lacedaemonians for having negotiated the treaty
+through Nicias and Laches, and having overlooked him on account of his
+youth, and also for not having shown him the respect due to the ancient
+connection of his family with them as their proxeni, which, renounced
+by his grandfather, he had lately himself thought to renew by his
+attentions to their prisoners taken in the island. Being thus, as he
+thought, slighted on all hands, he had in the first instance spoken
+against the treaty, saying that the Lacedaemonians were not to be
+trusted, but that they only treated, in order to be enabled by this
+means to crush Argos, and afterwards to attack Athens alone; and now,
+immediately upon the above occurring, he sent privately to the Argives,
+telling them to come as quickly as possible to Athens, accompanied by
+the Mantineans and Eleans, with proposals of alliance; as the moment was
+propitious and he himself would do all he could to help them.
+
+Upon receiving this message and discovering that the Athenians, far from
+being privy to the Boeotian alliance, were involved in a serious quarrel
+with the Lacedaemonians, the Argives paid no further attention to the
+embassy which they had just sent to Lacedaemon on the subject of the
+treaty, and began to incline rather towards the Athenians, reflecting
+that, in the event of war, they would thus have on their side a city
+that was not only an ancient ally of Argos, but a sister democracy
+and very powerful at sea. They accordingly at once sent ambassadors to
+Athens to treat for an alliance, accompanied by others from Elis and
+Mantinea.
+
+At the same time arrived in haste from Lacedaemon an embassy consisting
+of persons reputed well disposed towards the Athenians--Philocharidas,
+Leon, and Endius--for fear that the Athenians in their irritation
+might conclude alliance with the Argives, and also to ask back Pylos in
+exchange for Panactum, and in defence of the alliance with the Boeotians
+to plead that it had not been made to hurt the Athenians. Upon the
+envoys speaking in the senate upon these points, and stating that they
+had come with full powers to settle all others at issue between them,
+Alcibiades became afraid that, if they were to repeat these statements
+to the popular assembly, they might gain the multitude, and the
+Argive alliance might be rejected, and accordingly had recourse to
+the following stratagem. He persuaded the Lacedaemonians by a solemn
+assurance that if they would say nothing of their full powers in
+the assembly, he would give back Pylos to them (himself, the present
+opponent of its restitution, engaging to obtain this from the
+Athenians), and would settle the other points at issue. His plan was to
+detach them from Nicias and to disgrace them before the people, as being
+without sincerity in their intentions, or even common consistency in
+their language, and so to get the Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans taken
+into alliance. This plan proved successful. When the envoys appeared
+before the people, and upon the question being put to them, did not say
+as they had said in the senate, that they had come with full powers,
+the Athenians lost all patience, and carried away by Alcibiades, who
+thundered more loudly than ever against the Lacedaemonians, were ready
+instantly to introduce the Argives and their companions and to take
+them into alliance. An earthquake, however, occurring, before anything
+definite had been done, this assembly was adjourned.
+
+In the assembly held the next day, Nicias, in spite of the
+Lacedaemonians having been deceived themselves, and having allowed
+him to be deceived also in not admitting that they had come with
+full powers, still maintained that it was best to be friends with the
+Lacedaemonians, and, letting the Argive proposals stand over, to send
+once more to Lacedaemon and learn her intentions. The adjournment of
+the war could only increase their own prestige and injure that of their
+rivals; the excellent state of their affairs making it their interest to
+preserve this prosperity as long as possible, while those of Lacedaemon
+were so desperate that the sooner she could try her fortune again the
+better. He succeeded accordingly in persuading them to send ambassadors,
+himself being among the number, to invite the Lacedaemonians, if they
+were really sincere, to restore Panactum intact with Amphipolis, and
+to abandon their alliance with the Boeotians (unless they consented to
+accede to the treaty), agreeably to the stipulation which forbade either
+to treat without the other. The ambassadors were also directed to say
+that the Athenians, had they wished to play false, might already have
+made alliance with the Argives, who were indeed come to Athens for that
+very purpose, and went off furnished with instructions as to any other
+complaints that the Athenians had to make. Having reached Lacedaemon,
+they communicated their instructions, and concluded by telling the
+Lacedaemonians that unless they gave up their alliance with the
+Boeotians, in the event of their not acceding to the treaty, the
+Athenians for their part would ally themselves with the Argives and
+their friends. The Lacedaemonians, however, refused to give up the
+Boeotian alliance--the party of Xenares the ephor, and such as shared
+their view, carrying the day upon this point--but renewed the oaths at
+the request of Nicias, who feared to return without having accomplished
+anything and to be disgraced; as was indeed his fate, he being held
+the author of the treaty with Lacedaemon. When he returned, and the
+Athenians heard that nothing had been done at Lacedaemon, they flew into
+a passion, and deciding that faith had not been kept with them, took
+advantage of the presence of the Argives and their allies, who had been
+introduced by Alcibiades, and made a treaty and alliance with them upon
+the terms following:
+
+The Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, acting for themselves
+and the allies in their respective empires, made a treaty for a hundred
+years, to be without fraud or hurt by land and by sea.
+
+1. It shall not be lawful to carry on war, either for the Argives,
+Eleans, Mantineans, and their allies, against the Athenians, or the
+allies in the Athenian empire: or for the Athenians and their allies
+against the Argives, Eleans, Mantineans, or their allies, in any way or
+means whatsoever.
+
+The Athenians, Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans shall be allies for a
+hundred years upon the terms following:
+
+2. If an enemy invade the country of the Athenians, the Argives, Eleans,
+and Mantineans shall go to the relief of Athens, according as the
+Athenians may require by message, in such way as they most effectually
+can, to the best of their power. But if the invader be gone after
+plundering the territory, the offending state shall be the enemy of
+the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and Athenians, and war shall be made
+against it by all these cities: and no one of the cities shall be able
+to make peace with that state, except all the above cities agree to do
+so.
+
+3. Likewise the Athenians shall go to the relief of Argos, Mantinea,
+and Elis, if an enemy invade the country of Elis, Mantinea, or Argos,
+according as the above cities may require by message, in such way
+as they most effectually can, to the best of their power. But if the
+invader be gone after plundering the territory, the state offending
+shall be the enemy of the Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans,
+and war shall be made against it by all these cities, and peace may not
+be made with that state except all the above cities agree to it.
+
+4. No armed force shall be allowed to pass for hostile purposes through
+the country of the powers contracting, or of the allies in their
+respective empires, or to go by sea, except all the cities--that is to
+say, Athens, Argos, Mantinea, and Elis--vote for such passage.
+
+5. The relieving troops shall be maintained by the city sending them for
+thirty days from their arrival in the city that has required them, and
+upon their return in the same way: if their services be desired for a
+longer period, the city that sent for them shall maintain them, at the
+rate of three Aeginetan obols per day for a heavy-armed soldier, archer,
+or light soldier, and an Aeginetan drachma for a trooper.
+
+6. The city sending for the troops shall have the command when the war
+is in its own country: but in case of the cities resolving upon a joint
+expedition the command shall be equally divided among all the cities.
+
+7. The treaty shall be sworn to by the Athenians for themselves and
+their allies, by the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and their allies, by
+each state individually. Each shall swear the oath most binding in his
+country over full-grown victims: the oath being as follows:
+
+"I STAND BY THE ALLIANCE AND ITS ARTICLES, JUSTLY, INNOCENTLY, AND
+SINCERELY, AND I WILL NOT TRANSGRESS THE SAME IN ANY WAY OR MEANS
+WHATSOEVER."
+
+The oath shall be taken at Athens by the Senate and the magistrates, the
+Prytanes administering it: at Argos by the Senate, the Eighty, and the
+Artynae, the Eighty administering it: at Mantinea by the Demiurgi,
+the Senate, and the other magistrates, the Theori and Polemarchs
+administering it: at Elis by the Demiurgi, the magistrates, and the Six
+Hundred, the Demiurgi and the Thesmophylaces administering it. The oaths
+shall be renewed by the Athenians going to Elis, Mantinea, and Argos
+thirty days before the Olympic games: by the Argives, Mantineans,
+and Eleans going to Athens ten days before the great feast of the
+Panathenaea. The articles of the treaty, the oaths, and the alliance
+shall be inscribed on a stone pillar by the Athenians in the citadel,
+by the Argives in the market-place, in the temple of Apollo: by the
+Mantineans in the temple of Zeus, in the market-place: and a brazen
+pillar shall be erected jointly by them at the Olympic games now at
+hand. Should the above cities see good to make any addition in these
+articles, whatever all the above cities shall agree upon, after
+consulting together, shall be binding.
+
+Although the treaty and alliances were thus concluded, still the treaty
+between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians was not renounced by either
+party. Meanwhile Corinth, although the ally of the Argives, did not
+accede to the new treaty, any more than she had done to the alliance,
+defensive and offensive, formed before this between the Eleans, Argives,
+and Mantineans, when she declared herself content with the first
+alliance, which was defensive only, and which bound them to help each
+other, but not to join in attacking any. The Corinthians thus stood
+aloof from their allies, and again turned their thoughts towards
+Lacedaemon.
+
+At the Olympic games which were held this summer, and in which the
+Arcadian Androsthenes was victor the first time in the wrestling and
+boxing, the Lacedaemonians were excluded from the temple by the Eleans,
+and thus prevented from sacrificing or contending, for having refused
+to pay the fine specified in the Olympic law imposed upon them by the
+Eleans, who alleged that they had attacked Fort Phyrcus, and sent heavy
+infantry of theirs into Lepreum during the Olympic truce. The amount of
+the fine was two thousand minae, two for each heavy-armed soldier, as
+the law prescribes. The Lacedaemonians sent envoys, and pleaded that the
+imposition was unjust; saying that the truce had not yet been proclaimed
+at Lacedaemon when the heavy infantry were sent off. But the Eleans
+affirmed that the armistice with them had already begun (they
+proclaim it first among themselves), and that the aggression of the
+Lacedaemonians had taken them by surprise while they were living
+quietly as in time of peace, and not expecting anything. Upon this the
+Lacedaemonians submitted, that if the Eleans really believed that they
+had committed an aggression, it was useless after that to proclaim the
+truce at Lacedaemon; but they had proclaimed it notwithstanding, as
+believing nothing of the kind, and from that moment the Lacedaemonians
+had made no attack upon their country. Nevertheless the Eleans adhered
+to what they had said, that nothing would persuade them that an
+aggression had not been committed; if, however, the Lacedaemonians would
+restore Lepreum, they would give up their own share of the money and pay
+that of the god for them.
+
+As this proposal was not accepted, the Eleans tried a second. Instead
+of restoring Lepreum, if this was objected to, the Lacedaemonians should
+ascend the altar of the Olympian Zeus, as they were so anxious to have
+access to the temple, and swear before the Hellenes that they would
+surely pay the fine at a later day. This being also refused, the
+Lacedaemonians were excluded from the temple, the sacrifice, and
+the games, and sacrificed at home; the Lepreans being the only other
+Hellenes who did not attend. Still the Eleans were afraid of the
+Lacedaemonians sacrificing by force, and kept guard with a heavy-armed
+company of their young men; being also joined by a thousand Argives, the
+same number of Mantineans, and by some Athenian cavalry who stayed at
+Harpina during the feast. Great fears were felt in the assembly of
+the Lacedaemonians coming in arms, especially after Lichas, son of
+Arcesilaus, a Lacedaemonian, had been scourged on the course by the
+umpires; because, upon his horses being the winners, and the Boeotian
+people being proclaimed the victor on account of his having no right
+to enter, he came forward on the course and crowned the charioteer, in
+order to show that the chariot was his. After this incident all
+were more afraid than ever, and firmly looked for a disturbance: the
+Lacedaemonians, however, kept quiet, and let the feast pass by, as we
+have seen. After the Olympic games, the Argives and the allies repaired
+to Corinth to invite her to come over to them. There they found some
+Lacedaemonian envoys; and a long discussion ensued, which after all
+ended in nothing, as an earthquake occurred, and they dispersed to their
+different homes.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following a battle took place between
+the Heracleots in Trachinia and the Aenianians, Dolopians, Malians, and
+certain of the Thessalians, all tribes bordering on and hostile to the
+town, which directly menaced their country. Accordingly, after having
+opposed and harassed it from its very foundation by every means in their
+power, they now in this battle defeated the Heracleots, Xenares, son of
+Cnidis, their Lacedaemonian commander, being among the slain. Thus the
+winter ended and the twelfth year of this war ended also. After the
+battle, Heraclea was so terribly reduced that in the first days of the
+summer following the Boeotians occupied the place and sent away the
+Lacedaemonian Agesippidas for misgovernment, fearing that the town might
+be taken by the Athenians while the Lacedaemonians were distracted
+with the affairs of Peloponnese. The Lacedaemonians, nevertheless, were
+offended with them for what they had done.
+
+The same summer Alcibiades, son of Clinias, now one of the generals
+at Athens, in concert with the Argives and the allies, went into
+Peloponnese with a few Athenian heavy infantry and archers and some of
+the allies in those parts whom he took up as he passed, and with this
+army marched here and there through Peloponnese, and settled various
+matters connected with the alliance, and among other things induced the
+Patrians to carry their walls down to the sea, intending himself also
+to build a fort near the Achaean Rhium. However, the Corinthians and
+Sicyonians, and all others who would have suffered by its being built,
+came up and hindered him.
+
+The same summer war broke out between the Epidaurians and Argives. The
+pretext was that the Epidaurians did not send an offering for their
+pasture-land to Apollo Pythaeus, as they were bound to do, the Argives
+having the chief management of the temple; but, apart from this pretext,
+Alcibiades and the Argives were determined, if possible, to gain
+possession of Epidaurus, and thus to ensure the neutrality of Corinth
+and give the Athenians a shorter passage for their reinforcements from
+Aegina than if they had to sail round Scyllaeum. The Argives accordingly
+prepared to invade Epidaurus by themselves, to exact the offering.
+
+About the same time the Lacedaemonians marched out with all their people
+to Leuctra upon their frontier, opposite to Mount Lycaeum, under the
+command of Agis, son of Archidamus, without any one knowing their
+destination, not even the cities that sent the contingents. The
+sacrifices, however, for crossing the frontier not proving propitious,
+the Lacedaemonians returned home themselves, and sent word to the allies
+to be ready to march after the month ensuing, which happened to be the
+month of Carneus, a holy time for the Dorians. Upon the retreat of the
+Lacedaemonians the Argives marched out on the last day but three of the
+month before Carneus, and keeping this as the day during the whole time
+that they were out, invaded and plundered Epidaurus. The Epidaurians
+summoned their allies to their aid, some of whom pleaded the month as
+an excuse; others came as far as the frontier of Epidaurus and there
+remained inactive.
+
+While the Argives were in Epidaurus embassies from the cities assembled
+at Mantinea, upon the invitation of the Athenians. The conference having
+begun, the Corinthian Euphamidas said that their actions did not agree
+with their words; while they were sitting deliberating about peace, the
+Epidaurians and their allies and the Argives were arrayed against each
+other in arms; deputies from each party should first go and separate the
+armies, and then the talk about peace might be resumed. In compliance
+with this suggestion, they went and brought back the Argives from
+Epidaurus, and afterwards reassembled, but without succeeding any
+better in coming to a conclusion; and the Argives a second time invaded
+Epidaurus and plundered the country. The Lacedaemonians also marched out
+to Caryae; but the frontier sacrifices again proving unfavourable, they
+went back again, and the Argives, after ravaging about a third of the
+Epidaurian territory, returned home. Meanwhile a thousand Athenian heavy
+infantry had come to their aid under the command of Alcibiades, but
+finding that the Lacedaemonian expedition was at an end, and that they
+were no longer wanted, went back again.
+
+So passed the summer. The next winter the Lacedaemonians managed to
+elude the vigilance of the Athenians, and sent in a garrison of three
+hundred men to Epidaurus, under the command of Agesippidas. Upon this
+the Argives went to the Athenians and complained of their having allowed
+an enemy to pass by sea, in spite of the clause in the treaty by which
+the allies were not to allow an enemy to pass through their country.
+Unless, therefore, they now put the Messenians and Helots in Pylos to
+annoy the Lacedaemonians, they, the Argives, should consider that faith
+had not been kept with them. The Athenians were persuaded by Alcibiades
+to inscribe at the bottom of the Laconian pillar that the Lacedaemonians
+had not kept their oaths, and to convey the Helots at Cranii to Pylos
+to plunder the country; but for the rest they remained quiet as
+before. During this winter hostilities went on between the Argives and
+Epidaurians, without any pitched battle taking place, but only forays
+and ambuscades, in which the losses were small and fell now on one side
+and now on the other. At the close of the winter, towards the beginning
+of spring, the Argives went with scaling ladders to Epidaurus, expecting
+to find it left unguarded on account of the war and to be able to take
+it by assault, but returned unsuccessful. And the winter ended, and with
+it the thirteenth year of the war ended also.
+
+In the middle of the next summer the Lacedaemonians, seeing the
+Epidaurians, their allies, in distress, and the rest of Peloponnese
+either in revolt or disaffected, concluded that it was high time for
+them to interfere if they wished to stop the progress of the evil, and
+accordingly with their full force, the Helots included, took the field
+against Argos, under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, king of the
+Lacedaemonians. The Tegeans and the other Arcadian allies of Lacedaemon
+joined in the expedition. The allies from the rest of Peloponnese and
+from outside mustered at Phlius; the Boeotians with five thousand heavy
+infantry and as many light troops, and five hundred horse and the same
+number of dismounted troopers; the Corinthians with two thousand heavy
+infantry; the rest more or less as might happen; and the Phliasians with
+all their forces, the army being in their country.
+
+The preparations of the Lacedaemonians from the first had been known to
+the Argives, who did not, however, take the field until the enemy was on
+his road to join the rest at Phlius. Reinforced by the Mantineans with
+their allies, and by three thousand Elean heavy infantry, they advanced
+and fell in with the Lacedaemonians at Methydrium in Arcadia. Each party
+took up its position upon a hill, and the Argives prepared to engage the
+Lacedaemonians while they were alone; but Agis eluded them by breaking
+up his camp in the night, and proceeded to join the rest of the allies
+at Phlius. The Argives discovering this at daybreak, marched first
+to Argos and then to the Nemean road, by which they expected the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies would come down. However, Agis,
+instead of taking this road as they expected, gave the Lacedaemonians,
+Arcadians, and Epidaurians their orders, and went along another
+difficult road, and descended into the plain of Argos. The Corinthians,
+Pellenians, and Phliasians marched by another steep road; while the
+Boeotians, Megarians, and Sicyonians had instructions to come down by
+the Nemean road where the Argives were posted, in order that, if the
+enemy advanced into the plain against the troops of Agis, they might
+fall upon his rear with their cavalry. These dispositions concluded,
+Agis invaded the plain and began to ravage Saminthus and other places.
+
+Discovering this, the Argives came up from Nemea, day having now
+dawned. On their way they fell in with the troops of the Phliasians and
+Corinthians, and killed a few of the Phliasians and had perhaps a
+few more of their own men killed by the Corinthians. Meanwhile the
+Boeotians, Megarians, and Sicyonians, advancing upon Nemea according to
+their instructions, found the Argives no longer there, as they had gone
+down on seeing their property ravaged, and were now forming for battle,
+the Lacedaemonians imitating their example. The Argives were now
+completely surrounded; from the plain the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies shut them off from their city; above them were the Corinthians,
+Phliasians, and Pellenians; and on the side of Nemea the Boeotians,
+Sicyonians, and Megarians. Meanwhile their army was without cavalry, the
+Athenians alone among the allies not having yet arrived. Now the bulk of
+the Argives and their allies did not see the danger of their position,
+but thought that they could not have a fairer field, having intercepted
+the Lacedaemonians in their own country and close to the city. Two men,
+however, in the Argive army, Thrasylus, one of the five generals, and
+Alciphron, the Lacedaemonian proxenus, just as the armies were upon the
+point of engaging, went and held a parley with Agis and urged him not to
+bring on a battle, as the Argives were ready to refer to fair and equal
+arbitration whatever complaints the Lacedaemonians might have against
+them, and to make a treaty and live in peace in future.
+
+The Argives who made these statements did so upon their own authority,
+not by order of the people, and Agis on his accepted their proposals,
+and without himself either consulting the majority, simply communicated
+the matter to a single individual, one of the high officers accompanying
+the expedition, and granted the Argives a truce for four months, in
+which to fulfil their promises; after which he immediately led off the
+army without giving any explanation to any of the other allies. The
+Lacedaemonians and allies followed their general out of respect for the
+law, but amongst themselves loudly blamed Agis for going away from so
+fair a field (the enemy being hemmed in on every side by infantry and
+cavalry) without having done anything worthy of their strength. Indeed
+this was by far the finest Hellenic army ever yet brought together; and
+it should have been seen while it was still united at Nemea, with the
+Lacedaemonians in full force, the Arcadians, Boeotians, Corinthians,
+Sicyonians, Pellenians, Phliasians and Megarians, and all these the
+flower of their respective populations, thinking themselves a match not
+merely for the Argive confederacy, but for another such added to it. The
+army thus retired blaming Agis, and returned every man to his home. The
+Argives however blamed still more loudly the persons who had concluded
+the truce without consulting the people, themselves thinking that they
+had let escape with the Lacedaemonians an opportunity such as they
+should never see again; as the struggle would have been under the walls
+of their city, and by the side of many and brave allies. On their return
+accordingly they began to stone Thrasylus in the bed of the Charadrus,
+where they try all military causes before entering the city. Thrasylus
+fled to the altar, and so saved his life; his property however they
+confiscated.
+
+After this arrived a thousand Athenian heavy infantry and three hundred
+horse, under the command of Laches and Nicostratus; whom the Argives,
+being nevertheless loath to break the truce with the Lacedaemonians,
+begged to depart, and refused to bring before the people, to whom they
+had a communication to make, until compelled to do so by the entreaties
+of the Mantineans and Eleans, who were still at Argos. The Athenians, by
+the mouth of Alcibiades their ambassador there present, told the Argives
+and the allies that they had no right to make a truce at all without
+the consent of their fellow confederates, and now that the Athenians
+had arrived so opportunely the war ought to be resumed. These arguments
+proving successful with the allies, they immediately marched upon
+Orchomenos, all except the Argives, who, although they had consented
+like the rest, stayed behind at first, but eventually joined the others.
+They now all sat down and besieged Orchomenos, and made assaults upon
+it; one of their reasons for desiring to gain this place being that
+hostages from Arcadia had been lodged there by the Lacedaemonians. The
+Orchomenians, alarmed at the weakness of their wall and the numbers of
+the enemy, and at the risk they ran of perishing before relief arrived,
+capitulated upon condition of joining the league, of giving hostages of
+their own to the Mantineans, and giving up those lodged with them by the
+Lacedaemonians. Orchomenos thus secured, the allies now consulted as to
+which of the remaining places they should attack next. The Eleans
+were urgent for Lepreum; the Mantineans for Tegea; and the Argives and
+Athenians giving their support to the Mantineans, the Eleans went home
+in a rage at their not having voted for Lepreum; while the rest of the
+allies made ready at Mantinea for going against Tegea, which a party
+inside had arranged to put into their hands.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, upon their return from Argos after
+concluding the four months' truce, vehemently blamed Agis for not having
+subdued Argos, after an opportunity such as they thought they had never
+had before; for it was no easy matter to bring so many and so good
+allies together. But when the news arrived of the capture of Orchomenos,
+they became more angry than ever, and, departing from all precedent, in
+the heat of the moment had almost decided to raze his house, and to fine
+him ten thousand drachmae. Agis however entreated them to do none of
+these things, promising to atone for his fault by good service in the
+field, failing which they might then do to him whatever they pleased;
+and they accordingly abstained from razing his house or fining him
+as they had threatened to do, and now made a law, hitherto unknown at
+Lacedaemon, attaching to him ten Spartans as counsellors, without whose
+consent he should have no power to lead an army out of the city.
+
+At this juncture arrived word from their friends in Tegea that, unless
+they speedily appeared, Tegea would go over from them to the Argives and
+their allies, if it had not gone over already. Upon this news a force
+marched out from Lacedaemon, of the Spartans and Helots and all their
+people, and that instantly and upon a scale never before witnessed.
+Advancing to Orestheum in Maenalia, they directed the Arcadians in their
+league to follow close after them to Tegea, and, going on themselves as
+far as Orestheum, from thence sent back the sixth part of the Spartans,
+consisting of the oldest and youngest men, to guard their homes, and
+with the rest of their army arrived at Tegea; where their Arcadian
+allies soon after joined them. Meanwhile they sent to Corinth, to the
+Boeotians, the Phocians, and Locrians, with orders to come up as quickly
+as possible to Mantinea. These had but short notice; and it was not easy
+except all together, and after waiting for each other, to pass through
+the enemy's country, which lay right across and blocked up the line of
+communication. Nevertheless they made what haste they could. Meanwhile
+the Lacedaemonians with the Arcadian allies that had joined them,
+entered the territory of Mantinea, and encamping near the temple of
+Heracles began to plunder the country.
+
+Here they were seen by the Argives and their allies, who immediately
+took up a strong and difficult position, and formed in order of battle.
+The Lacedaemonians at once advanced against them, and came on within a
+stone's throw or javelin's cast, when one of the older men, seeing the
+enemy's position to be a strong one, hallooed to Agis that he was minded
+to cure one evil with another; meaning that he wished to make amends for
+his retreat, which had been so much blamed, from Argos, by his present
+untimely precipitation. Meanwhile Agis, whether in consequence of this
+halloo or of some sudden new idea of his own, quickly led back his army
+without engaging, and entering the Tegean territory, began to turn off
+into that of Mantinea the water about which the Mantineans and Tegeans
+are always fighting, on account of the extensive damage it does to
+whichever of the two countries it falls into. His object in this was to
+make the Argives and their allies come down from the hill, to resist the
+diversion of the water, as they would be sure to do when they knew of
+it, and thus to fight the battle in the plain. He accordingly stayed
+that day where he was, engaged in turning off the water. The Argives
+and their allies were at first amazed at the sudden retreat of the enemy
+after advancing so near, and did not know what to make of it; but when
+he had gone away and disappeared, without their having stirred to pursue
+him, they began anew to find fault with their generals, who had not
+only let the Lacedaemonians get off before, when they were so happily
+intercepted before Argos, but who now again allowed them to run away,
+without any one pursuing them, and to escape at their leisure while the
+Argive army was leisurely betrayed.  The generals, half-stunned for the
+moment, afterwards led them down from the hill, and went forward and
+encamped in the plain, with the intention of attacking the enemy.
+
+The next day the Argives and their allies formed in the order in which
+they meant to fight, if they chanced to encounter the enemy; and the
+Lacedaemonians returning from the water to their old encampment by the
+temple of Heracles, suddenly saw their adversaries close in front of
+them, all in complete order, and advanced from the hill. A shock like
+that of the present moment the Lacedaemonians do not ever remember
+to have experienced: there was scant time for preparation, as they
+instantly and hastily fell into their ranks, Agis, their king, directing
+everything, agreeably to the law. For when a king is in the field all
+commands proceed from him: he gives the word to the Polemarchs; they to
+the Lochages; these to the Pentecostyes; these again to the Enomotarchs,
+and these last to the Enomoties. In short all orders required pass
+in the same way and quickly reach the troops; as almost the whole
+Lacedaemonian army, save for a small part, consists of officers under
+officers, and the care of what is to be done falls upon many.
+
+In this battle the left wing was composed of the Sciritae, who in a
+Lacedaemonian army have always that post to themselves alone; next to
+these were the soldiers of Brasidas from Thrace, and the Neodamodes with
+them; then came the Lacedaemonians themselves, company after company,
+with the Arcadians of Heraea at their side. After these were the
+Maenalians, and on the right wing the Tegeans with a few of the
+Lacedaemonians at the extremity; their cavalry being posted upon the two
+wings. Such was the Lacedaemonian formation. That of their opponents was
+as follows: On the right were the Mantineans, the action taking place in
+their country; next to them the allies from Arcadia; after whom came the
+thousand picked men of the Argives, to whom the state had given a long
+course of military training at the public expense; next to them the rest
+of the Argives, and after them their allies, the Cleonaeans and Orneans,
+and lastly the Athenians on the extreme left, and lastly the Athenians
+on the extreme left, and their own cavalry with them.
+
+Such were the order and the forces of the two combatants. The
+Lacedaemonian army looked the largest; though as to putting down the
+numbers of either host, or of the contingents composing it, I could not
+do so with any accuracy. Owing to the secrecy of their government the
+number of the Lacedaemonians was not known, and men are so apt to brag
+about the forces of their country that the estimate of their opponents
+was not trusted. The following calculation, however, makes it possible
+to estimate the numbers of the Lacedaemonians present upon this
+occasion. There were seven companies in the field without counting the
+Sciritae, who numbered six hundred men: in each company there were four
+Pentecostyes, and in the Pentecosty four Enomoties. The first rank of
+the Enomoty was composed of four soldiers: as to the depth, although
+they had not been all drawn up alike, but as each captain chose, they
+were generally ranged eight deep; the first rank along the whole line,
+exclusive of the Sciritae, consisted of four hundred and forty-eight
+men.
+
+The armies being now on the eve of engaging, each contingent received
+some words of encouragement from its own commander. The Mantineans were,
+reminded that they were going to fight for their country and to avoid
+returning to the experience of servitude after having tasted that
+of empire; the Argives, that they would contend for their ancient
+supremacy, to regain their once equal share of Peloponnese of which they
+had been so long deprived, and to punish an enemy and a neighbour for a
+thousand wrongs; the Athenians, of the glory of gaining the honours of
+the day with so many and brave allies in arms, and that a victory over
+the Lacedaemonians in Peloponnese would cement and extend their empire,
+and would besides preserve Attica from all invasions in future. These
+were the incitements addressed to the Argives and their allies. The
+Lacedaemonians meanwhile, man to man, and with their war-songs in
+the ranks, exhorted each brave comrade to remember what he had learnt
+before; well aware that the long training of action was of more
+saving virtue than any brief verbal exhortation, though never so well
+delivered.
+
+After this they joined battle, the Argives and their allies advancing
+with haste and fury, the Lacedaemonians slowly and to the music of many
+flute-players--a standing institution in their army, that has nothing to
+do with religion, but is meant to make them advance evenly, stepping in
+time, without break their order, as large armies are apt to do in the
+moment of engaging.
+
+Just before the battle joined, King Agis resolved upon the following
+manoeuvre. All armies are alike in this: on going into action they get
+forced out rather on their right wing, and one and the other overlap
+with this adversary's left; because fear makes each man do his best
+to shelter his unarmed side with the shield of the man next him on the
+right, thinking that the closer the shields are locked together the
+better will he be protected. The man primarily responsible for this is
+the first upon the right wing, who is always striving to withdraw from
+the enemy his unarmed side; and the same apprehension makes the rest
+follow him. On the present occasion the Mantineans reached with their
+wing far beyond the Sciritae, and the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans still
+farther beyond the Athenians, as their army was the largest. Agis,
+afraid of his left being surrounded, and thinking that the Mantineans
+outflanked it too far, ordered the Sciritae and Brasideans to move
+out from their place in the ranks and make the line even with the
+Mantineans, and told the Polemarchs Hipponoidas and Aristocles to
+fill up the gap thus formed, by throwing themselves into it with two
+companies taken from the right wing; thinking that his right would still
+be strong enough and to spare, and that the line fronting the Mantineans
+would gain in solidity.
+
+However, as he gave these orders in the moment of the onset, and at
+short notice, it so happened that Aristocles and Hipponoidas would not
+move over, for which offence they were afterwards banished from Sparta,
+as having been guilty of cowardice; and the enemy meanwhile closed
+before the Sciritae (whom Agis on seeing that the two companies did
+not move over ordered to return to their place) had time to fill up
+the breach in question. Now it was, however, that the Lacedaemonians,
+utterly worsted in respect of skill, showed themselves as superior in
+point of courage. As soon as they came to close quarters with the enemy,
+the Mantinean right broke their Sciritae and Brasideans, and, bursting
+in with their allies and the thousand picked Argives into the unclosed
+breach in their line, cut up and surrounded the Lacedaemonians, and
+drove them in full rout to the wagons, slaying some of the older men on
+guard there. But the Lacedaemonians, worsted in this part of the field,
+with the rest of their army, and especially the centre, where the three
+hundred knights, as they are called, fought round King Agis, fell on
+the older men of the Argives and the five companies so named, and on
+the Cleonaeans, the Orneans, and the Athenians next them, and instantly
+routed them; the greater number not even waiting to strike a blow, but
+giving way the moment that they came on, some even being trodden under
+foot, in their fear of being overtaken by their assailants.
+
+The army of the Argives and their allies, having given way in this
+quarter, was now completely cut in two, and the Lacedaemonian and Tegean
+right simultaneously closing round the Athenians with the troops that
+outflanked them, these last found themselves placed between two fires,
+being surrounded on one side and already defeated on the other. Indeed
+they would have suffered more severely than any other part of the army,
+but for the services of the cavalry which they had with them. Agis also
+on perceiving the distress of his left opposed to the Mantineans and the
+thousand Argives, ordered all the army to advance to the support of the
+defeated wing; and while this took place, as the enemy moved past and
+slanted away from them, the Athenians escaped at their leisure, and
+with them the beaten Argive division. Meanwhile the Mantineans and their
+allies and the picked body of the Argives ceased to press the enemy,
+and seeing their friends defeated and the Lacedaemonians in full advance
+upon them, took to flight. Many of the Mantineans perished; but the bulk
+of the picked body of the Argives made good their escape. The flight
+and retreat, however, were neither hurried nor long; the Lacedaemonians
+fighting long and stubbornly until the rout of their enemy, but that
+once effected, pursuing for a short time and not far.
+
+Such was the battle, as nearly as possible as I have described it; the
+greatest that had occurred for a very long while among the Hellenes,
+and joined by the most considerable states. The Lacedaemonians took up
+a position in front of the enemy's dead, and immediately set up a trophy
+and stripped the slain; they took up their own dead and carried them
+back to Tegea, where they buried them, and restored those of the enemy
+under truce. The Argives, Orneans, and Cleonaeans had seven hundred
+killed; the Mantineans two hundred, and the Athenians and Aeginetans
+also two hundred, with both their generals. On the side of the
+Lacedaemonians, the allies did not suffer any loss worth speaking of: as
+to the Lacedaemonians themselves it was difficult to learn the truth; it
+is said, however, that there were slain about three hundred of them.
+
+While the battle was impending, Pleistoanax, the other king, set out
+with a reinforcement composed of the oldest and youngest men, and got
+as far as Tegea, where he heard of the victory and went back again. The
+Lacedaemonians also sent and turned back the allies from Corinth and
+from beyond the Isthmus, and returning themselves dismissed their
+allies, and kept the Carnean holidays, which happened to be at that
+time. The imputations cast upon them by the Hellenes at the time,
+whether of cowardice on account of the disaster in the island, or of
+mismanagement and slowness generally, were all wiped out by this single
+action: fortune, it was thought, might have humbled them, but the men
+themselves were the same as ever.
+
+The day before this battle, the Epidaurians with all their forces
+invaded the deserted Argive territory, and cut off many of the guards
+left there in the absence of the Argive army. After the battle three
+thousand Elean heavy infantry arriving to aid the Mantineans, and a
+reinforcement of one thousand Athenians, all these allies marched
+at once against Epidaurus, while the Lacedaemonians were keeping the
+Carnea, and dividing the work among them began to build a wall round
+the city. The rest left off; but the Athenians finished at once the part
+assigned to them round Cape Heraeum; and having all joined in leaving
+a garrison in the fortification in question, they returned to their
+respective cities.
+
+Summer now came to an end. In the first days of the next winter, when
+the Carnean holidays were over, the Lacedaemonians took the field, and
+arriving at Tegea sent on to Argos proposals of accommodation. They had
+before had a party in the town desirous of overthrowing the democracy;
+and after the battle that had been fought, these were now far more in a
+position to persuade the people to listen to terms. Their plan was first
+to make a treaty with the Lacedaemonians, to be followed by an alliance,
+and after this to fall upon the commons. Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, the
+Argive proxenus, accordingly arrived at Argos with two proposals from
+Lacedaemon, to regulate the conditions of war or peace, according as
+they preferred the one or the other. After much discussion, Alcibiades
+happening to be in the town, the Lacedaemonian party, who now ventured
+to act openly, persuaded the Argives to accept the proposal for
+accommodation; which ran as follows:
+
+The assembly of the Lacedaemonians agrees to treat with the Argives upon
+the terms following:
+
+1. The Argives shall restore to the Orchomenians their children, and
+to the Maenalians their men, and shall restore the men they have in
+Mantinea to the Lacedaemonians.
+
+2. They shall evacuate Epidaurus, and raze the fortification there. If
+the Athenians refuse to withdraw from Epidaurus, they shall be declared
+enemies of the Argives and of the Lacedaemonians, and of the allies of
+the Lacedaemonians and the allies of the Argives.
+
+3. If the Lacedaemonians have any children in their custody, they shall
+restore them every one to his city.
+
+4. As to the offering to the god, the Argives, if they wish, shall
+impose an oath upon the Epidaurians, but, if not, they shall swear it
+themselves.
+
+5. All the cities in Peloponnese, both small and great, shall be
+independent according to the customs of their country.
+
+6. If any of the powers outside Peloponnese invade Peloponnesian
+territory, the parties contracting shall unite to repel them, on such
+terms as they may agree upon, as being most fair for the Peloponnesians.
+
+7. All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be on the
+same footing as the Lacedaemonians, and the allies of the Argives shall
+be on the same footing as the Argives, being left in enjoyment of their
+own possessions.
+
+8. This treaty shall be shown to the allies, and shall be concluded, if
+they approve; if the allies think fit, they may send the treaty to be
+considered at home.
+
+The Argives began by accepting this proposal, and the Lacedaemonian army
+returned home from Tegea. After this intercourse was renewed between
+them, and not long afterwards the same party contrived that the Argives
+should give up the league with the Mantineans, Eleans, and Athenians,
+and should make a treaty and alliance with the Lacedaemonians; which was
+consequently done upon the terms following:
+
+The Lacedaemonians and Argives agree to a treaty and alliance for fifty
+years upon the terms following:
+
+1. All disputes shall be decided by fair and impartial arbitration,
+agreeably to the customs of the two countries.
+
+2. The rest of the cities in Peloponnese may be included in this treaty
+and alliance, as independent and sovereign, in full enjoyment of
+what they possess, all disputes being decided by fair and impartial
+arbitration, agreeably to the customs of the said cities.
+
+3. All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be upon
+the same footing as the Lacedaemonians themselves, and the allies of
+the Argives shall be upon the same footing as the Argives themselves,
+continuing to enjoy what they possess.
+
+4. If it shall be anywhere necessary to make an expedition in common,
+the Lacedaemonians and Argives shall consult upon it and decide, as may
+be most fair for the allies.
+
+5. If any of the cities, whether inside or outside Peloponnese, have a
+question whether of frontiers or otherwise, it must be settled, but if
+one allied city should have a quarrel with another allied city, it
+must be referred to some third city thought impartial by both parties.
+Private citizens shall have their disputes decided according to the laws
+of their several countries.
+
+The treaty and above alliance concluded, each party at once released
+everything whether acquired by war or otherwise, and thenceforth acting
+in common voted to receive neither herald nor embassy from the Athenians
+unless they evacuated their forts and withdrew from Peloponnese, and
+also to make neither peace nor war with any, except jointly. Zeal was
+not wanting: both parties sent envoys to the Thracian places and to
+Perdiccas, and persuaded the latter to join their league. Still he did
+not at once break off from Athens, although minded to do so upon seeing
+the way shown him by Argos, the original home of his family. They also
+renewed their old oaths with the Chalcidians and took new ones: the
+Argives, besides, sent ambassadors to the Athenians, bidding them
+evacuate the fort at Epidaurus. The Athenians, seeing their own men
+outnumbered by the rest of the garrison, sent Demosthenes to bring them
+out. This general, under colour of a gymnastic contest which he arranged
+on his arrival, got the rest of the garrison out of the place, and shut
+the gates behind them. Afterwards the Athenians renewed their treaty
+with the Epidaurians, and by themselves gave up the fortress.
+
+After the defection of Argos from the league, the Mantineans, though
+they held out at first, in the end finding themselves powerless without
+the Argives, themselves too came to terms with Lacedaemon, and gave up
+their sovereignty over the towns. The Lacedaemonians and Argives, each a
+thousand strong, now took the field together, and the former first went
+by themselves to Sicyon and made the government there more oligarchical
+than before, and then both, uniting, put down the democracy at Argos and
+set up an oligarchy favourable to Lacedaemon. These events occurred at
+the close of the winter, just before spring; and the fourteenth year of
+the war ended. The next summer the people of Dium, in Athos, revolted
+from the Athenians to the Chalcidians, and the Lacedaemonians settled
+affairs in Achaea in a way more agreeable to the interests of their
+country. Meanwhile the popular party at Argos little by little
+gathered new consistency and courage, and waited for the moment of the
+Gymnopaedic festival at Lacedaemon, and then fell upon the oligarchs.
+After a fight in the city, victory declared for the commons, who slew
+some of their opponents and banished others. The Lacedaemonians for a
+long while let the messages of their friends at Argos remain without
+effect. At last they put off the Gymnopaediae and marched to their
+succour, but learning at Tegea the defeat of the oligarchs, refused to
+go any further in spite of the entreaties of those who had escaped,
+and returned home and kept the festival. Later on, envoys arrived with
+messages from the Argives in the town and from the exiles, when the
+allies were also at Sparta; and after much had been said on both sides,
+the Lacedaemonians decided that the party in the town had done wrong,
+and resolved to march against Argos, but kept delaying and putting
+off the matter. Meanwhile the commons at Argos, in fear of the
+Lacedaemonians, began again to court the Athenian alliance, which they
+were convinced would be of the greatest service to them; and accordingly
+proceeded to build long walls to the sea, in order that in case of a
+blockade by land; with the help of the Athenians they might have the
+advantage of importing what they wanted by sea. Some of the cities in
+Peloponnese were also privy to the building of these walls; and the
+Argives with all their people, women and slaves not excepted, addressed
+themselves to the work, while carpenters and masons came to them from
+Athens.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following the Lacedaemonians, hearing of
+the walls that were building, marched against Argos with their allies,
+the Corinthians excepted, being also not without intelligence in the
+city itself; Agis, son of Archidamus, their king, was in command. The
+intelligence which they counted upon within the town came to nothing;
+they however took and razed the walls which were being built, and after
+capturing the Argive town Hysiae and killing all the freemen that fell
+into their hands, went back and dispersed every man to his city. After
+this the Argives marched into Phlius and plundered it for harbouring
+their exiles, most of whom had settled there, and so returned home.
+The same winter the Athenians blockaded Macedonia, on the score of the
+league entered into by Perdiccas with the Argives and Lacedaemonians,
+and also of his breach of his engagements on the occasion of the
+expedition prepared by Athens against the Chalcidians in the direction
+of Thrace and against Amphipolis, under the command of Nicias, son of
+Niceratus, which had to be broken up mainly because of his desertion.
+He was therefore proclaimed an enemy. And thus the winter ended, and the
+fifteenth year of the war ended with it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+_Sixteenth Year of the War--The Melian Conference--Fate of Melos_
+
+The next summer Alcibiades sailed with twenty ships to Argos and seized
+the suspected persons still left of the Lacedaemonian faction to the
+number of three hundred, whom the Athenians forthwith lodged in the
+neighbouring islands of their empire. The Athenians also made an
+expedition against the isle of Melos with thirty ships of their own, six
+Chian, and two Lesbian vessels, sixteen hundred heavy infantry, three
+hundred archers, and twenty mounted archers from Athens, and about
+fifteen hundred heavy infantry from the allies and the islanders.
+The Melians are a colony of Lacedaemon that would not submit to the
+Athenians like the other islanders, and at first remained neutral and
+took no part in the struggle, but afterwards upon the Athenians using
+violence and plundering their territory, assumed an attitude of open
+hostility. Cleomedes, son of Lycomedes, and Tisias, son of Tisimachus,
+the generals, encamping in their territory with the above armament,
+before doing any harm to their land, sent envoys to negotiate. These the
+Melians did not bring before the people, but bade them state the object
+of their mission to the magistrates and the few; upon which the Athenian
+envoys spoke as follows:
+
+Athenians. Since the negotiations are not to go on before the people, in
+order that we may not be able to speak straight on without interruption,
+and deceive the ears of the multitude by seductive arguments which would
+pass without refutation (for we know that this is the meaning of our
+being brought before the few), what if you who sit there were to pursue
+a method more cautious still? Make no set speech yourselves, but take
+us up at whatever you do not like, and settle that before going any
+farther. And first tell us if this proposition of ours suits you.
+
+The Melian commissioners answered:
+
+Melians. To the fairness of quietly instructing each other as you
+propose there is nothing to object; but your military preparations are
+too far advanced to agree with what you say, as we see you are come to
+be judges in your own cause, and that all we can reasonably expect
+from this negotiation is war, if we prove to have right on our side and
+refuse to submit, and in the contrary case, slavery.
+
+Athenians. If you have met to reason about presentiments of the future,
+or for anything else than to consult for the safety of your state upon
+the facts that you see before you, we will give over; otherwise we will
+go on.
+
+Melians. It is natural and excusable for men in our position to turn
+more ways than one both in thought and utterance. However, the question
+in this conference is, as you say, the safety of our country; and the
+discussion, if you please, can proceed in the way which you propose.
+
+Athenians. For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious
+pretences--either of how we have a right to our empire because we
+overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you
+have done us--and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in
+return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying
+that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists, or
+that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding
+in view the real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we
+do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in
+power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they
+must.
+
+Melians. As we think, at any rate, it is expedient--we speak as we
+are obliged, since you enjoin us to let right alone and talk only of
+interest--that you should not destroy what is our common protection, the
+privilege of being allowed in danger to invoke what is fair and right,
+and even to profit by arguments not strictly valid if they can be got
+to pass current. And you are as much interested in this as any, as your
+fall would be a signal for the heaviest vengeance and an example for the
+world to meditate upon.
+
+Athenians. The end of our empire, if end it should, does not frighten
+us: a rival empire like Lacedaemon, even if Lacedaemon was our real
+antagonist, is not so terrible to the vanquished as subjects who by
+themselves attack and overpower their rulers. This, however, is a risk
+that we are content to take. We will now proceed to show you that we are
+come here in the interest of our empire, and that we shall say what we
+are now going to say, for the preservation of your country; as we
+would fain exercise that empire over you without trouble, and see you
+preserved for the good of us both.
+
+Melians. And how, pray, could it turn out as good for us to serve as for
+you to rule?
+
+Athenians. Because you would have the advantage of submitting before
+suffering the worst, and we should gain by not destroying you.
+
+Melians. So that you would not consent to our being neutral, friends
+instead of enemies, but allies of neither side.
+
+Athenians. No; for your hostility cannot so much hurt us as your
+friendship will be an argument to our subjects of our weakness, and your
+enmity of our power.
+
+Melians. Is that your subjects' idea of equity, to put those who have
+nothing to do with you in the same category with peoples that are most
+of them your own colonists, and some conquered rebels?
+
+Athenians. As far as right goes they think one has as much of it as the
+other, and that if any maintain their independence it is because they
+are strong, and that if we do not molest them it is because we are
+afraid; so that besides extending our empire we should gain in security
+by your subjection; the fact that you are islanders and weaker than
+others rendering it all the more important that you should not succeed
+in baffling the masters of the sea.
+
+Melians. But do you consider that there is no security in the policy
+which we indicate? For here again if you debar us from talking about
+justice and invite us to obey your interest, we also must explain ours,
+and try to persuade you, if the two happen to coincide. How can you
+avoid making enemies of all existing neutrals who shall look at case
+from it that one day or another you will attack them? And what is this
+but to make greater the enemies that you have already, and to force
+others to become so who would otherwise have never thought of it?
+
+Athenians. Why, the fact is that continentals generally give us but
+little alarm; the liberty which they enjoy will long prevent their
+taking precautions against us; it is rather islanders like yourselves,
+outside our empire, and subjects smarting under the yoke, who would
+be the most likely to take a rash step and lead themselves and us into
+obvious danger.
+
+Melians. Well then, if you risk so much to retain your empire, and your
+subjects to get rid of it, it were surely great baseness and cowardice
+in us who are still free not to try everything that can be tried, before
+submitting to your yoke.
+
+Athenians. Not if you are well advised, the contest not being an equal
+one, with honour as the prize and shame as the penalty, but a question
+of self-preservation and of not resisting those who are far stronger
+than you are.
+
+Melians. But we know that the fortune of war is sometimes more impartial
+than the disproportion of numbers might lead one to suppose; to submit
+is to give ourselves over to despair, while action still preserves for
+us a hope that we may stand erect.
+
+Athenians. Hope, danger's comforter, may be indulged in by those who
+have abundant resources, if not without loss at all events without ruin;
+but its nature is to be extravagant, and those who go so far as to put
+their all upon the venture see it in its true colours only when they are
+ruined; but so long as the discovery would enable them to guard against
+it, it is never found wanting. Let not this be the case with you, who
+are weak and hang on a single turn of the scale; nor be like the vulgar,
+who, abandoning such security as human means may still afford, when
+visible hopes fail them in extremity, turn to invisible, to prophecies
+and oracles, and other such inventions that delude men with hopes to
+their destruction.
+
+Melians. You may be sure that we are as well aware as you of the
+difficulty of contending against your power and fortune, unless the
+terms be equal. But we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good
+as yours, since we are just men fighting against unjust, and that what
+we want in power will be made up by the alliance of the Lacedaemonians,
+who are bound, if only for very shame, to come to the aid of their
+kindred. Our confidence, therefore, after all is not so utterly
+irrational.
+
+Athenians. When you speak of the favour of the gods, we may as fairly
+hope for that as yourselves; neither our pretensions nor our conduct
+being in any way contrary to what men believe of the gods, or practise
+among themselves. Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a
+necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can. And it is not
+as if we were the first to make this law, or to act upon it when made:
+we found it existing before us, and shall leave it to exist for ever
+after us; all we do is to make use of it, knowing that you and everybody
+else, having the same power as we have, would do the same as we do.
+Thus, as far as the gods are concerned, we have no fear and no reason to
+fear that we shall be at a disadvantage. But when we come to your notion
+about the Lacedaemonians, which leads you to believe that shame will
+make them help you, here we bless your simplicity but do not envy your
+folly. The Lacedaemonians, when their own interests or their country's
+laws are in question, are the worthiest men alive; of their conduct
+towards others much might be said, but no clearer idea of it could be
+given than by shortly saying that of all the men we know they are most
+conspicuous in considering what is agreeable honourable, and what is
+expedient just. Such a way of thinking does not promise much for the
+safety which you now unreasonably count upon.
+
+Melians. But it is for this very reason that we now trust to their
+respect for expediency to prevent them from betraying the Melians, their
+colonists, and thereby losing the confidence of their friends in Hellas
+and helping their enemies.
+
+Athenians. Then you do not adopt the view that expediency goes with
+security, while justice and honour cannot be followed without danger;
+and danger the Lacedaemonians generally court as little as possible.
+
+Melians. But we believe that they would be more likely to face even
+danger for our sake, and with more confidence than for others, as our
+nearness to Peloponnese makes it easier for them to act, and our common
+blood ensures our fidelity.
+
+Athenians. Yes, but what an intending ally trusts to is not the goodwill
+of those who ask his aid, but a decided superiority of power for action;
+and the Lacedaemonians look to this even more than others. At least,
+such is their distrust of their home resources that it is only with
+numerous allies that they attack a neighbour; now is it likely that
+while we are masters of the sea they will cross over to an island?
+
+Melians. But they would have others to send. The Cretan Sea is a wide
+one, and it is more difficult for those who command it to intercept
+others, than for those who wish to elude them to do so safely. And
+should the Lacedaemonians miscarry in this, they would fall upon your
+land, and upon those left of your allies whom Brasidas did not reach;
+and instead of places which are not yours, you will have to fight for
+your own country and your own confederacy.
+
+Athenians. Some diversion of the kind you speak of you may one day
+experience, only to learn, as others have done, that the Athenians never
+once yet withdrew from a siege for fear of any. But we are struck by
+the fact that, after saying you would consult for the safety of your
+country, in all this discussion you have mentioned nothing which men
+might trust in and think to be saved by. Your strongest arguments depend
+upon hope and the future, and your actual resources are too scanty, as
+compared with those arrayed against you, for you to come out victorious.
+You will therefore show great blindness of judgment, unless, after
+allowing us to retire, you can find some counsel more prudent than this.
+You will surely not be caught by that idea of disgrace, which in dangers
+that are disgraceful, and at the same time too plain to be mistaken,
+proves so fatal to mankind; since in too many cases the very men that
+have their eyes perfectly open to what they are rushing into, let the
+thing called disgrace, by the mere influence of a seductive name, lead
+them on to a point at which they become so enslaved by the phrase as in
+fact to fall wilfully into hopeless disaster, and incur disgrace more
+disgraceful as the companion of error, than when it comes as the result
+of misfortune. This, if you are well advised, you will guard against;
+and you will not think it dishonourable to submit to the greatest
+city in Hellas, when it makes you the moderate offer of becoming its
+tributary ally, without ceasing to enjoy the country that belongs to
+you; nor when you have the choice given you between war and security,
+will you be so blinded as to choose the worse. And it is certain that
+those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms with their
+superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on the whole
+succeed best. Think over the matter, therefore, after our withdrawal,
+and reflect once and again that it is for your country that you are
+consulting, that you have not more than one, and that upon this one
+deliberation depends its prosperity or ruin.
+
+The Athenians now withdrew from the conference; and the Melians, left
+to themselves, came to a decision corresponding with what they had
+maintained in the discussion, and answered: "Our resolution, Athenians,
+is the same as it was at first. We will not in a moment deprive of
+freedom a city that has been inhabited these seven hundred years; but we
+put our trust in the fortune by which the gods have preserved it until
+now, and in the help of men, that is, of the Lacedaemonians; and so we
+will try and save ourselves. Meanwhile we invite you to allow us to be
+friends to you and foes to neither party, and to retire from our country
+after making such a treaty as shall seem fit to us both."
+
+Such was the answer of the Melians. The Athenians now departing from the
+conference said: "Well, you alone, as it seems to us, judging from these
+resolutions, regard what is future as more certain than what is before
+your eyes, and what is out of sight, in your eagerness, as already
+coming to pass; and as you have staked most on, and trusted most in,
+the Lacedaemonians, your fortune, and your hopes, so will you be most
+completely deceived."
+
+The Athenian envoys now returned to the army; and the Melians showing
+no signs of yielding, the generals at once betook themselves to
+hostilities, and drew a line of circumvallation round the Melians,
+dividing the work among the different states. Subsequently the Athenians
+returned with most of their army, leaving behind them a certain number
+of their own citizens and of the allies to keep guard by land and sea.
+The force thus left stayed on and besieged the place.
+
+About the same time the Argives invaded the territory of Phlius and lost
+eighty men cut off in an ambush by the Phliasians and Argive exiles.
+Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos took so much plunder from the
+Lacedaemonians that the latter, although they still refrained from
+breaking off the treaty and going to war with Athens, yet proclaimed
+that any of their people that chose might plunder the Athenians. The
+Corinthians also commenced hostilities with the Athenians for private
+quarrels of their own; but the rest of the Peloponnesians stayed
+quiet. Meanwhile the Melians attacked by night and took the part of the
+Athenian lines over against the market, and killed some of the men, and
+brought in corn and all else that they could find useful to them, and
+so returned and kept quiet, while the Athenians took measures to keep
+better guard in future.
+
+Summer was now over. The next winter the Lacedaemonians intended to
+invade the Argive territory, but arriving at the frontier found
+the sacrifices for crossing unfavourable, and went back again. This
+intention of theirs gave the Argives suspicions of certain of their
+fellow citizens, some of whom they arrested; others, however, escaped
+them. About the same time the Melians again took another part of
+the Athenian lines which were but feebly garrisoned. Reinforcements
+afterwards arriving from Athens in consequence, under the command of
+Philocrates, son of Demeas, the siege was now pressed vigorously;
+and some treachery taking place inside, the Melians surrendered at
+discretion to the Athenians, who put to death all the grown men whom
+they took, and sold the women and children for slaves, and subsequently
+sent out five hundred colonists and inhabited the place themselves.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+_Seventeenth Year of the War--The Sicilian Campaign--Affair of the
+Hermae--Departure of the Expedition_
+
+The same winter the Athenians resolved to sail again to Sicily, with a
+greater armament than that under Laches and Eurymedon, and, if possible,
+to conquer the island; most of them being ignorant of its size and of
+the number of its inhabitants, Hellenic and barbarian, and of the fact
+that they were undertaking a war not much inferior to that against the
+Peloponnesians. For the voyage round Sicily in a merchantman is not far
+short of eight days; and yet, large as the island is, there are only two
+miles of sea to prevent its being mainland.
+
+It was settled originally as follows, and the peoples that occupied it
+are these. The earliest inhabitants spoken of in any part of the country
+are the Cyclopes and Laestrygones; but I cannot tell of what race
+they were, or whence they came or whither they went, and must leave my
+readers to what the poets have said of them and to what may be generally
+known concerning them. The Sicanians appear to have been the next
+settlers, although they pretend to have been the first of all and
+aborigines; but the facts show that they were Iberians, driven by the
+Ligurians from the river Sicanus in Iberia. It was from them that the
+island, before called Trinacria, took its name of Sicania, and to the
+present day they inhabit the west of Sicily. On the fall of Ilium, some
+of the Trojans escaped from the Achaeans, came in ships to Sicily, and
+settled next to the Sicanians under the general name of Elymi; their
+towns being called Eryx and Egesta. With them settled some of the
+Phocians carried on their way from Troy by a storm, first to Libya, and
+afterwards from thence to Sicily. The Sicels crossed over to Sicily from
+their first home Italy, flying from the Opicans, as tradition says and
+as seems not unlikely, upon rafts, having watched till the wind set down
+the strait to effect the passage; although perhaps they may have sailed
+over in some other way. Even at the present day there are still Sicels
+in Italy; and the country got its name of Italy from Italus, a king of
+the Sicels, so called. These went with a great host to Sicily, defeated
+the Sicanians in battle and forced them to remove to the south and west
+of the island, which thus came to be called Sicily instead of Sicania,
+and after they crossed over continued to enjoy the richest parts of the
+country for near three hundred years before any Hellenes came to Sicily;
+indeed they still hold the centre and north of the island. There were
+also Phoenicians living all round Sicily, who had occupied promontories
+upon the sea coasts and the islets adjacent for the purpose of trading
+with the Sicels. But when the Hellenes began to arrive in considerable
+numbers by sea, the Phoenicians abandoned most of their stations, and
+drawing together took up their abode in Motye, Soloeis, and Panormus,
+near the Elymi, partly because they confided in their alliance, and also
+because these are the nearest points for the voyage between Carthage and
+Sicily.
+
+These were the barbarians in Sicily, settled as I have said. Of the
+Hellenes, the first to arrive were Chalcidians from Euboea with
+Thucles, their founder. They founded Naxos and built the altar to
+Apollo Archegetes, which now stands outside the town, and upon which the
+deputies for the games sacrifice before sailing from Sicily. Syracuse
+was founded the year afterwards by Archias, one of the Heraclids from
+Corinth, who began by driving out the Sicels from the island upon which
+the inner city now stands, though it is no longer surrounded by water:
+in process of time the outer town also was taken within the walls and
+became populous. Meanwhile Thucles and the Chalcidians set out from
+Naxos in the fifth year after the foundation of Syracuse, and drove
+out the Sicels by arms and founded Leontini and afterwards Catana; the
+Catanians themselves choosing Evarchus as their founder.
+
+About the same time Lamis arrived in Sicily with a colony from Megara,
+and after founding a place called Trotilus beyond the river Pantacyas,
+and afterwards leaving it and for a short while joining the Chalcidians
+at Leontini, was driven out by them and founded Thapsus. After his death
+his companions were driven out of Thapsus, and founded a place called
+the Hyblaean Megara; Hyblon, a Sicel king, having given up the place and
+inviting them thither. Here they lived two hundred and forty-five years;
+after which they were expelled from the city and the country by the
+Syracusan tyrant Gelo. Before their expulsion, however, a hundred
+years after they had settled there, they sent out Pamillus and founded
+Selinus; he having come from their mother country Megara to join them in
+its foundation. Gela was founded by Antiphemus from Rhodes and Entimus
+from Crete, who joined in leading a colony thither, in the forty-fifth
+year after the foundation of Syracuse. The town took its name from the
+river Gelas, the place where the citadel now stands, and which was first
+fortified, being called Lindii. The institutions which they adopted were
+Dorian. Near one hundred and eight years after the foundation of Gela,
+the Geloans founded Acragas (Agrigentum), so called from the river of
+that name, and made Aristonous and Pystilus their founders; giving their
+own institutions to the colony. Zancle was originally founded by
+pirates from Cuma, the Chalcidian town in the country of the Opicans:
+afterwards, however, large numbers came from Chalcis and the rest of
+Euboea, and helped to people the place; the founders being Perieres and
+Crataemenes from Cuma and Chalcis respectively. It first had the name
+of Zancle given it by the Sicels, because the place is shaped like a
+sickle, which the Sicels call zanclon; but upon the original settlers
+being afterwards expelled by some Samians and other Ionians who landed
+in Sicily flying from the Medes, and the Samians in their turn not long
+afterwards by Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, the town was by him colonized
+with a mixed population, and its name changed to Messina, after his old
+country.
+
+Himera was founded from Zancle by Euclides, Simus, and Sacon, most of
+those who went to the colony being Chalcidians; though they were joined
+by some exiles from Syracuse, defeated in a civil war, called the
+Myletidae. The language was a mixture of Chalcidian and Doric, but the
+institutions which prevailed were the Chalcidian. Acrae and Casmenae
+were founded by the Syracusans; Acrae seventy years after Syracuse,
+Casmenae nearly twenty after Acrae. Camarina was first founded by
+the Syracusans, close upon a hundred and thirty-five years after the
+building of Syracuse; its founders being Daxon and Menecolus. But
+the Camarinaeans being expelled by arms by the Syracusans for having
+revolted, Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, some time later receiving their
+land in ransom for some Syracusan prisoners, resettled Camarina, himself
+acting as its founder. Lastly, it was again depopulated by Gelo, and
+settled once more for the third time by the Geloans.
+
+Such is the list of the peoples, Hellenic and barbarian, inhabiting
+Sicily, and such the magnitude of the island which the Athenians were
+now bent upon invading; being ambitious in real truth of conquering the
+whole, although they had also the specious design of succouring their
+kindred and other allies in the island. But they were especially incited
+by envoys from Egesta, who had come to Athens and invoked their aid more
+urgently than ever. The Egestaeans had gone to war with their neighbours
+the Selinuntines upon questions of marriage and disputed territory,
+and the Selinuntines had procured the alliance of the Syracusans, and
+pressed Egesta hard by land and sea. The Egestaeans now reminded the
+Athenians of the alliance made in the time of Laches, during the former
+Leontine war, and begged them to send a fleet to their aid, and among a
+number of other considerations urged as a capital argument that if
+the Syracusans were allowed to go unpunished for their depopulation of
+Leontini, to ruin the allies still left to Athens in Sicily, and to get
+the whole power of the island into their hands, there would be a danger
+of their one day coming with a large force, as Dorians, to the aid
+of their Dorian brethren, and as colonists, to the aid of the
+Peloponnesians who had sent them out, and joining these in pulling down
+the Athenian empire. The Athenians would, therefore, do well to unite
+with the allies still left to them, and to make a stand against the
+Syracusans; especially as they, the Egestaeans, were prepared to furnish
+money sufficient for the war. The Athenians, hearing these arguments
+constantly repeated in their assemblies by the Egestaeans and their
+supporters, voted first to send envoys to Egesta, to see if there was
+really the money that they talked of in the treasury and temples, and
+at the same time to ascertain in what posture was the war with the
+Selinuntines.
+
+The envoys of the Athenians were accordingly dispatched to Sicily.
+The same winter the Lacedaemonians and their allies, the Corinthians
+excepted, marched into the Argive territory, and ravaged a small part
+of the land, and took some yokes of oxen and carried off some corn. They
+also settled the Argive exiles at Orneae, and left them a few soldiers
+taken from the rest of the army; and after making a truce for a certain
+while, according to which neither Orneatae nor Argives were to injure
+each other's territory, returned home with the army. Not long afterwards
+the Athenians came with thirty ships and six hundred heavy infantry, and
+the Argives joining them with all their forces, marched out and besieged
+the men in Orneae for one day; but the garrison escaped by night, the
+besiegers having bivouacked some way off. The next day the Argives,
+discovering it, razed Orneae to the ground, and went back again; after
+which the Athenians went home in their ships. Meanwhile the Athenians
+took by sea to Methone on the Macedonian border some cavalry of their
+own and the Macedonian exiles that were at Athens, and plundered the
+country of Perdiccas. Upon this the Lacedaemonians sent to the Thracian
+Chalcidians, who had a truce with Athens from one ten days to another,
+urging them to join Perdiccas in the war, which they refused to do. And
+the winter ended, and with it ended the sixteenth year of this war of
+which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+Early in the spring of the following summer the Athenian envoys arrived
+from Sicily, and the Egestaeans with them, bringing sixty talents of
+uncoined silver, as a month's pay for sixty ships, which they were to
+ask to have sent them. The Athenians held an assembly and, after hearing
+from the Egestaeans and their own envoys a report, as attractive as it
+was untrue, upon the state of affairs generally, and in particular as to
+the money, of which, it was said, there was abundance in the temples and
+the treasury, voted to send sixty ships to Sicily, under the command of
+Alcibiades, son of Clinias, Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Lamachus, son
+of Xenophanes, who were appointed with full powers; they were to help
+the Egestaeans against the Selinuntines, to restore Leontini upon
+gaining any advantage in the war, and to order all other matters in
+Sicily as they should deem best for the interests of Athens. Five days
+after this a second assembly was held, to consider the speediest means
+of equipping the ships, and to vote whatever else might be required by
+the generals for the expedition; and Nicias, who had been chosen to the
+command against his will, and who thought that the state was not well
+advised, but upon a slight aid specious pretext was aspiring to the
+conquest of the whole of Sicily, a great matter to achieve, came forward
+in the hope of diverting the Athenians from the enterprise, and gave
+them the following counsel:
+
+"Although this assembly was convened to consider the preparations to be
+made for sailing to Sicily, I think, notwithstanding, that we have still
+this question to examine, whether it be better to send out the ships at
+all, and that we ought not to give so little consideration to a matter
+of such moment, or let ourselves be persuaded by foreigners into
+undertaking a war with which we have nothing to do. And yet,
+individually, I gain in honour by such a course, and fear as little as
+other men for my person--not that I think a man need be any the worse
+citizen for taking some thought for his person and estate; on the
+contrary, such a man would for his own sake desire the prosperity of his
+country more than others--nevertheless, as I have never spoken against
+my convictions to gain honour, I shall not begin to do so now, but shall
+say what I think best. Against your character any words of mine would be
+weak enough, if I were to advise your keeping what you have got and
+not risking what is actually yours for advantages which are dubious
+in themselves, and which you may or may not attain. I will, therefore,
+content myself with showing that your ardour is out of season, and your
+ambition not easy of accomplishment.
+
+"I affirm, then, that you leave many enemies behind you here to go
+yonder and bring more back with you. You imagine, perhaps, that the
+treaty which you have made can be trusted; a treaty that will continue
+to exist nominally, as long as you keep quiet--for nominal it has
+become, owing to the practices of certain men here and at Sparta--but
+which in the event of a serious reverse in any quarter would not delay
+our enemies a moment in attacking us; first, because the convention was
+forced upon them by disaster and was less honourable to them than to us;
+and secondly, because in this very convention there are many points that
+are still disputed. Again, some of the most powerful states have never
+yet accepted the arrangement at all. Some of these are at open war with
+us; others (as the Lacedaemonians do not yet move) are restrained by
+truces renewed every ten days, and it is only too probable that if they
+found our power divided, as we are hurrying to divide it, they would
+attack us vigorously with the Siceliots, whose alliance they would
+have in the past valued as they would that of few others. A man ought,
+therefore, to consider these points, and not to think of running risks
+with a country placed so critically, or of grasping at another empire
+before we have secured the one we have already; for in fact the Thracian
+Chalcidians have been all these years in revolt from us without being
+yet subdued, and others on the continents yield us but a doubtful
+obedience. Meanwhile the Egestaeans, our allies, have been wronged, and
+we run to help them, while the rebels who have so long wronged us still
+wait for punishment.
+
+"And yet the latter, if brought under, might be kept under; while the
+Sicilians, even if conquered, are too far off and too numerous to be
+ruled without difficulty. Now it is folly to go against men who could
+not be kept under even if conquered, while failure would leave us in
+a very different position from that which we occupied before the
+enterprise. The Siceliots, again, to take them as they are at present,
+in the event of a Syracusan conquest (the favourite bugbear of the
+Egestaeans), would to my thinking be even less dangerous to us than
+before. At present they might possibly come here as separate states for
+love of Lacedaemon; in the other case one empire would scarcely attack
+another; for after joining the Peloponnesians to overthrow ours, they
+could only expect to see the same hands overthrow their own in the same
+way. The Hellenes in Sicily would fear us most if we never went there at
+all, and next to this, if after displaying our power we went away again
+as soon as possible. We all know that that which is farthest off,
+and the reputation of which can least be tested, is the object of
+admiration; at the least reverse they would at once begin to look down
+upon us, and would join our enemies here against us. You have yourselves
+experienced this with regard to the Lacedaemonians and their allies,
+whom your unexpected success, as compared with what you feared at first,
+has made you suddenly despise, tempting you further to aspire to
+the conquest of Sicily. Instead, however, of being puffed up by the
+misfortunes of your adversaries, you ought to think of breaking their
+spirit before giving yourselves up to confidence, and to understand that
+the one thought awakened in the Lacedaemonians by their disgrace is how
+they may even now, if possible, overthrow us and repair their dishonour;
+inasmuch as military reputation is their oldest and chiefest study.
+Our struggle, therefore, if we are wise, will not be for the barbarian
+Egestaeans in Sicily, but how to defend ourselves most effectually
+against the oligarchical machinations of Lacedaemon.
+
+"We should also remember that we are but now enjoying some respite from
+a great pestilence and from war, to the no small benefit of our estates
+and persons, and that it is right to employ these at home on our own
+behalf, instead of using them on behalf of these exiles whose interest
+it is to lie as fairly as they can, who do nothing but talk themselves
+and leave the danger to others, and who if they succeed will show no
+proper gratitude, and if they fail will drag down their friends with
+them. And if there be any man here, overjoyed at being chosen to
+command, who urges you to make the expedition, merely for ends of his
+own--specially if he be still too young to command--who seeks to be
+admired for his stud of horses, but on account of its heavy expenses
+hopes for some profit from his appointment, do not allow such a one to
+maintain his private splendour at his country's risk, but remember that
+such persons injure the public fortune while they squander their own,
+and that this is a matter of importance, and not for a young man to
+decide or hastily to take in hand.
+
+"When I see such persons now sitting here at the side of that same
+individual and summoned by him, alarm seizes me; and I, in my turn,
+summon any of the older men that may have such a person sitting next him
+not to let himself be shamed down, for fear of being thought a coward
+if he do not vote for war, but, remembering how rarely success is got
+by wishing and how often by forecast, to leave to them the mad dream
+of conquest, and as a true lover of his country, now threatened by the
+greatest danger in its history, to hold up his hand on the other side;
+to vote that the Siceliots be left in the limits now existing between
+us, limits of which no one can complain (the Ionian sea for the coasting
+voyage, and the Sicilian across the open main), to enjoy their own
+possessions and to settle their own quarrels; that the Egestaeans, for
+their part, be told to end by themselves with the Selinuntines the war
+which they began without consulting the Athenians; and that for the
+future we do not enter into alliance, as we have been used to do, with
+people whom we must help in their need, and who can never help us in
+ours.
+
+"And you, Prytanis, if you think it your duty to care for the
+commonwealth, and if you wish to show yourself a good citizen, put
+the question to the vote, and take a second time the opinions of the
+Athenians. If you are afraid to move the question again, consider that
+a violation of the law cannot carry any prejudice with so many abettors,
+that you will be the physician of your misguided city, and that the
+virtue of men in office is briefly this, to do their country as much
+good as they can, or in any case no harm that they can avoid."
+
+Such were the words of Nicias. Most of the Athenians that came forward
+spoke in favour of the expedition, and of not annulling what had
+been voted, although some spoke on the other side. By far the warmest
+advocate of the expedition was, however, Alcibiades, son of Clinias, who
+wished to thwart Nicias both as his political opponent and also because
+of the attack he had made upon him in his speech, and who was, besides,
+exceedingly ambitious of a command by which he hoped to reduce Sicily
+and Carthage, and personally to gain in wealth and reputation by means
+of his successes. For the position he held among the citizens led him
+to indulge his tastes beyond what his real means would bear, both in
+keeping horses and in the rest of his expenditure; and this later on had
+not a little to do with the ruin of the Athenian state. Alarmed at the
+greatness of his licence in his own life and habits, and of the ambition
+which he showed in all things soever that he undertook, the mass of
+the people set him down as a pretender to the tyranny, and became his
+enemies; and although publicly his conduct of the war was as good as
+could be desired, individually, his habits gave offence to every one,
+and caused them to commit affairs to other hands, and thus before long
+to ruin the city. Meanwhile he now came forward and gave the following
+advice to the Athenians:
+
+"Athenians, I have a better right to command than others--I must begin
+with this as Nicias has attacked me--and at the same time I believe
+myself to be worthy of it. The things for which I am abused, bring fame
+to my ancestors and to myself, and to the country profit besides. The
+Hellenes, after expecting to see our city ruined by the war, concluded
+it to be even greater than it really is, by reason of the magnificence
+with which I represented it at the Olympic games, when I sent into
+the lists seven chariots, a number never before entered by any private
+person, and won the first prize, and was second and fourth, and took
+care to have everything else in a style worthy of my victory. Custom
+regards such displays as honourable, and they cannot be made without
+leaving behind them an impression of power. Again, any splendour that
+I may have exhibited at home in providing choruses or otherwise, is
+naturally envied by my fellow citizens, but in the eyes of foreigners
+has an air of strength as in the other instance. And this is no useless
+folly, when a man at his own private cost benefits not himself only, but
+his city: nor is it unfair that he who prides himself on his position
+should refuse to be upon an equality with the rest. He who is badly off
+has his misfortunes all to himself, and as we do not see men courted in
+adversity, on the like principle a man ought to accept the insolence of
+prosperity; or else, let him first mete out equal measure to all, and
+then demand to have it meted out to him. What I know is that persons of
+this kind and all others that have attained to any distinction, although
+they may be unpopular in their lifetime in their relations with their
+fellow-men and especially with their equals, leave to posterity the
+desire of claiming connection with them even without any ground, and
+are vaunted by the country to which they belonged, not as strangers or
+ill-doers, but as fellow-countrymen and heroes. Such are my aspirations,
+and however I am abused for them in private, the question is whether
+any one manages public affairs better than I do. Having united the most
+powerful states of Peloponnese, without great danger or expense to you,
+I compelled the Lacedaemonians to stake their all upon the issue of a
+single day at Mantinea; and although victorious in the battle, they have
+never since fully recovered confidence.
+
+"Thus did my youth and so-called monstrous folly find fitting arguments
+to deal with the power of the Peloponnesians, and by its ardour win
+their confidence and prevail. And do not be afraid of my youth now,
+but while I am still in its flower, and Nicias appears fortunate, avail
+yourselves to the utmost of the services of us both. Neither rescind
+your resolution to sail to Sicily, on the ground that you would be going
+to attack a great power. The cities in Sicily are peopled by motley
+rabbles, and easily change their institutions and adopt new ones in
+their stead; and consequently the inhabitants, being without any feeling
+of patriotism, are not provided with arms for their persons, and have
+not regularly established themselves on the land; every man thinks that
+either by fair words or by party strife he can obtain something at the
+public expense, and then in the event of a catastrophe settle in some
+other country, and makes his preparations accordingly. From a mob like
+this you need not look for either unanimity in counsel or concert in
+action; but they will probably one by one come in as they get a fair
+offer, especially if they are torn by civil strife as we are told.
+Moreover, the Siceliots have not so many heavy infantry as they boast;
+just as the Hellenes generally did not prove so numerous as each state
+reckoned itself, but Hellas greatly over-estimated their numbers, and
+has hardly had an adequate force of heavy infantry throughout this war.
+The states in Sicily, therefore, from all that I can hear, will be found
+as I say, and I have not pointed out all our advantages, for we
+shall have the help of many barbarians, who from their hatred of the
+Syracusans will join us in attacking them; nor will the powers at home
+prove any hindrance, if you judge rightly. Our fathers with these very
+adversaries, which it is said we shall now leave behind us when we
+sail, and the Mede as their enemy as well, were able to win the empire,
+depending solely on their superiority at sea. The Peloponnesians had
+never so little hope against us as at present; and let them be ever so
+sanguine, although strong enough to invade our country even if we stay
+at home, they can never hurt us with their navy, as we leave one of our
+own behind us that is a match for them.
+
+"In this state of things what reason can we give to ourselves for
+holding back, or what excuse can we offer to our allies in Sicily for
+not helping them? They are our confederates, and we are bound to assist
+them, without objecting that they have not assisted us. We did not take
+them into alliance to have them to help us in Hellas, but that they
+might so annoy our enemies in Sicily as to prevent them from coming over
+here and attacking us. It is thus that empire has been won, both by us
+and by all others that have held it, by a constant readiness to support
+all, whether barbarians or Hellenes, that invite assistance; since if
+all were to keep quiet or to pick and choose whom they ought to assist,
+we should make but few new conquests, and should imperil those we have
+already won. Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a
+superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being
+made. And we cannot fix the exact point at which our empire shall
+stop; we have reached a position in which we must not be content with
+retaining but must scheme to extend it, for, if we cease to rule others,
+we are in danger of being ruled ourselves. Nor can you look at inaction
+from the same point of view as others, unless you are prepared to change
+your habits and make them like theirs.
+
+"Be convinced, then, that we shall augment our power at home by this
+adventure abroad, and let us make the expedition, and so humble the
+pride of the Peloponnesians by sailing off to Sicily, and letting them
+see how little we care for the peace that we are now enjoying; and at
+the same time we shall either become masters, as we very easily may, of
+the whole of Hellas through the accession of the Sicilian Hellenes, or
+in any case ruin the Syracusans, to the no small advantage of ourselves
+and our allies. The faculty of staying if successful, or of returning,
+will be secured to us by our navy, as we shall be superior at sea to all
+the Siceliots put together. And do not let the do-nothing policy which
+Nicias advocates, or his setting of the young against the old, turn you
+from your purpose, but in the good old fashion by which our fathers,
+old and young together, by their united counsels brought our affairs
+to their present height, do you endeavour still to advance them;
+understanding that neither youth nor old age can do anything the one
+without the other, but that levity, sobriety, and deliberate judgment
+are strongest when united, and that, by sinking into inaction, the city,
+like everything else, will wear itself out, and its skill in everything
+decay; while each fresh struggle will give it fresh experience, and
+make it more used to defend itself not in word but in deed. In short,
+my conviction is that a city not inactive by nature could not choose a
+quicker way to ruin itself than by suddenly adopting such a policy, and
+that the safest rule of life is to take one's character and institutions
+for better and for worse, and to live up to them as closely as one can."
+
+Such were the words of Alcibiades. After hearing him and the Egestaeans
+and some Leontine exiles, who came forward reminding them of their oaths
+and imploring their assistance, the Athenians became more eager for the
+expedition than before. Nicias, perceiving that it would be now useless
+to try to deter them by the old line of argument, but thinking that
+he might perhaps alter their resolution by the extravagance of his
+estimates, came forward a second time and spoke as follows:
+
+"I see, Athenians, that you are thoroughly bent upon the expedition, and
+therefore hope that all will turn out as we wish, and proceed to give
+you my opinion at the present juncture. From all that I hear we are
+going against cities that are great and not subject to one another, or
+in need of change, so as to be glad to pass from enforced servitude
+to an easier condition, or in the least likely to accept our rule in
+exchange for freedom; and, to take only the Hellenic towns, they are
+very numerous for one island. Besides Naxos and Catana, which I expect
+to join us from their connection with Leontini, there are seven others
+armed at all points just like our own power, particularly Selinus and
+Syracuse, the chief objects of our expedition. These are full of heavy
+infantry, archers, and darters, have galleys in abundance and crowds to
+man them; they have also money, partly in the hands of private persons,
+partly in the temples at Selinus, and at Syracuse first-fruits from some
+of the barbarians as well. But their chief advantage over us lies in
+the number of their horses, and in the fact that they grow their corn at
+home instead of importing it.
+
+"Against a power of this kind it will not do to have merely a weak naval
+armament, but we shall want also a large land army to sail with us, if
+we are to do anything worthy of our ambition, and are not to be shut out
+from the country by a numerous cavalry; especially if the cities should
+take alarm and combine, and we should be left without friends (except
+the Egestaeans) to furnish us with horse to defend ourselves with. It
+would be disgraceful to have to retire under compulsion, or to send
+back for reinforcements, owing to want of reflection at first: we must
+therefore start from home with a competent force, seeing that we are
+going to sail far from our country, and upon an expedition not like any
+which you may undertaken undertaken the quality of allies, among your
+subject states here in Hellas, where any additional supplies needed were
+easily drawn from the friendly territory; but we are cutting ourselves
+off, and going to a land entirely strange, from which during four months
+in winter it is not even easy for a messenger get to Athens.
+
+"I think, therefore, that we ought to take great numbers of heavy
+infantry, both from Athens and from our allies, and not merely from our
+subjects, but also any we may be able to get for love or for money in
+Peloponnese, and great numbers also of archers and slingers, to make
+head against the Sicilian horse. Meanwhile we must have an overwhelming
+superiority at sea, to enable us the more easily to carry in what we
+want; and we must take our own corn in merchant vessels, that is to say,
+wheat and parched barley, and bakers from the mills compelled to serve
+for pay in the proper proportion; in order that in case of our being
+weather-bound the armament may not want provisions, as it is not every
+city that will be able to entertain numbers like ours. We must also
+provide ourselves with everything else as far as we can, so as not to be
+dependent upon others; and above all we must take with us from home as
+much money as possible, as the sums talked of as ready at Egesta are
+readier, you may be sure, in talk than in any other way.
+
+"Indeed, even if we leave Athens with a force not only equal to that of
+the enemy except in the number of heavy infantry in the field, but
+even at all points superior to him, we shall still find it difficult to
+conquer Sicily or save ourselves. We must not disguise from ourselves
+that we go to found a city among strangers and enemies, and that he who
+undertakes such an enterprise should be prepared to become master of the
+country the first day he lands, or failing in this to find everything
+hostile to him. Fearing this, and knowing that we shall have need of
+much good counsel and more good fortune--a hard matter for mortal man to
+aspire to--I wish as far as may be to make myself independent of fortune
+before sailing, and when I do sail, to be as safe as a strong force
+can make me. This I believe to be surest for the country at large,
+and safest for us who are to go on the expedition. If any one thinks
+differently I resign to him my command."
+
+With this Nicias concluded, thinking that he should either disgust the
+Athenians by the magnitude of the undertaking, or, if obliged to sail
+on the expedition, would thus do so in the safest way possible. The
+Athenians, however, far from having their taste for the voyage taken
+away by the burdensomeness of the preparations, became more eager for it
+than ever; and just the contrary took place of what Nicias had thought,
+as it was held that he had given good advice, and that the expedition
+would be the safest in the world. All alike fell in love with the
+enterprise. The older men thought that they would either subdue the
+places against which they were to sail, or at all events, with so
+large a force, meet with no disaster; those in the prime of life felt
+a longing for foreign sights and spectacles, and had no doubt that they
+should come safe home again; while the idea of the common people and the
+soldiery was to earn wages at the moment, and make conquests that would
+supply a never-ending fund of pay for the future. With this enthusiasm
+of the majority, the few that liked it not, feared to appear unpatriotic
+by holding up their hands against it, and so kept quiet.
+
+At last one of the Athenians came forward and called upon Nicias and
+told him that he ought not to make excuses or put them off, but say at
+once before them all what forces the Athenians should vote him. Upon
+this he said, not without reluctance, that he would advise upon that
+matter more at leisure with his colleagues; as far however as he could
+see at present, they must sail with at least one hundred galleys--the
+Athenians providing as many transports as they might determine, and
+sending for others from the allies--not less than five thousand heavy
+infantry in all, Athenian and allied, and if possible more; and the rest
+of the armament in proportion; archers from home and from Crete, and
+slingers, and whatever else might seem desirable, being got ready by the
+generals and taken with them.
+
+Upon hearing this the Athenians at once voted that the generals should
+have full powers in the matter of the numbers of the army and of the
+expedition generally, to do as they judged best for the interests of
+Athens. After this the preparations began; messages being sent to
+the allies and the rolls drawn up at home. And as the city had just
+recovered from the plague and the long war, and a number of young
+men had grown up and capital had accumulated by reason of the truce,
+everything was the more easily provided.
+
+In the midst of these preparations all the stone Hermae in the city of
+Athens, that is to say the customary square figures, so common in the
+doorways of private houses and temples, had in one night most of them
+their fares mutilated. No one knew who had done it, but large public
+rewards were offered to find the authors; and it was further voted
+that any one who knew of any other act of impiety having been committed
+should come and give information without fear of consequences, whether
+he were citizen, alien, or slave. The matter was taken up the more
+seriously, as it was thought to be ominous for the expedition, and part
+of a conspiracy to bring about a revolution and to upset the democracy.
+
+Information was given accordingly by some resident aliens and body
+servants, not about the Hermae but about some previous mutilations of
+other images perpetrated by young men in a drunken frolic, and of mock
+celebrations of the mysteries, averred to take place in private houses.
+Alcibiades being implicated in this charge, it was taken hold of by
+those who could least endure him, because he stood in the way of their
+obtaining the undisturbed direction of the people, and who thought
+that if he were once removed the first place would be theirs. These
+accordingly magnified the matter and loudly proclaimed that the affair
+of the mysteries and the mutilation of the Hermae were part and parcel
+of a scheme to overthrow the democracy, and that nothing of all this had
+been done without Alcibiades; the proofs alleged being the general and
+undemocratic licence of his life and habits.
+
+Alcibiades repelled on the spot the charges in question, and also before
+going on the expedition, the preparations for which were now complete,
+offered to stand his trial, that it might be seen whether he was guilty
+of the acts imputed to him; desiring to be punished if found guilty,
+but, if acquitted, to take the command. Meanwhile he protested against
+their receiving slanders against him in his absence, and begged them
+rather to put him to death at once if he were guilty, and pointed out
+the imprudence of sending him out at the head of so large an army, with
+so serious a charge still undecided. But his enemies feared that he
+would have the army for him if he were tried immediately, and that the
+people might relent in favour of the man whom they already caressed
+as the cause of the Argives and some of the Mantineans joining in the
+expedition, and did their utmost to get this proposition rejected,
+putting forward other orators who said that he ought at present to sail
+and not delay the departure of the army, and be tried on his return
+within a fixed number of days; their plan being to have him sent for
+and brought home for trial upon some graver charge, which they would the
+more easily get up in his absence. Accordingly it was decreed that he
+should sail.
+
+After this the departure for Sicily took place, it being now about
+midsummer. Most of the allies, with the corn transports and the smaller
+craft and the rest of the expedition, had already received orders to
+muster at Corcyra, to cross the Ionian Sea from thence in a body to the
+Iapygian promontory. But the Athenians themselves, and such of their
+allies as happened to be with them, went down to Piraeus upon a day
+appointed at daybreak, and began to man the ships for putting out to
+sea. With them also went down the whole population, one may say, of the
+city, both citizens and foreigners; the inhabitants of the country each
+escorting those that belonged to them, their friends, their relatives,
+or their sons, with hope and lamentation upon their way, as they thought
+of the conquests which they hoped to make, or of the friends whom they
+might never see again, considering the long voyage which they were going
+to make from their country. Indeed, at this moment, when they were now
+upon the point of parting from one another, the danger came more home to
+them than when they voted for the expedition; although the strength of
+the armament, and the profuse provision which they remarked in every
+department, was a sight that could not but comfort them. As for the
+foreigners and the rest of the crowd, they simply went to see a sight
+worth looking at and passing all belief.
+
+Indeed this armament that first sailed out was by far the most costly
+and splendid Hellenic force that had ever been sent out by a single city
+up to that time. In mere number of ships and heavy infantry that against
+Epidaurus under Pericles, and the same when going against Potidaea under
+Hagnon, was not inferior; containing as it did four thousand Athenian
+heavy infantry, three hundred horse, and one hundred galleys accompanied
+by fifty Lesbian and Chian vessels and many allies besides. But these
+were sent upon a short voyage and with a scanty equipment. The present
+expedition was formed in contemplation of a long term of service by land
+and sea alike, and was furnished with ships and troops so as to be ready
+for either as required. The fleet had been elaborately equipped at great
+cost to the captains and the state; the treasury giving a drachma a day
+to each seaman, and providing empty ships, sixty men-of-war and forty
+transports, and manning these with the best crews obtainable; while the
+captains gave a bounty in addition to the pay from the treasury to
+the thranitae and crews generally, besides spending lavishly upon
+figure-heads and equipments, and one and all making the utmost exertions
+to enable their own ships to excel in beauty and fast sailing. Meanwhile
+the land forces had been picked from the best muster-rolls, and vied
+with each other in paying great attention to their arms and personal
+accoutrements. From this resulted not only a rivalry among themselves in
+their different departments, but an idea among the rest of the Hellenes
+that it was more a display of power and resources than an armament
+against an enemy. For if any one had counted up the public expenditure
+of the state, and the private outlay of individuals--that is to say,
+the sums which the state had already spent upon the expedition and was
+sending out in the hands of the generals, and those which individuals
+had expended upon their personal outfit, or as captains of galleys had
+laid out and were still to lay out upon their vessels; and if he had
+added to this the journey money which each was likely to have provided
+himself with, independently of the pay from the treasury, for a voyage
+of such length, and what the soldiers or traders took with them for the
+purpose of exchange--it would have been found that many talents in all
+were being taken out of the city. Indeed the expedition became not
+less famous for its wonderful boldness and for the splendour of its
+appearance, than for its overwhelming strength as compared with the
+peoples against whom it was directed, and for the fact that this was the
+longest passage from home hitherto attempted, and the most ambitious in
+its objects considering the resources of those who undertook it.
+
+The ships being now manned, and everything put on board with which they
+meant to sail, the trumpet commanded silence, and the prayers customary
+before putting out to sea were offered, not in each ship by itself, but
+by all together to the voice of a herald; and bowls of wine were mixed
+through all the armament, and libations made by the soldiers and their
+officers in gold and silver goblets. In their prayers joined also the
+crowds on shore, the citizens and all others that wished them well. The
+hymn sung and the libations finished, they put out to sea, and first
+out in column then raced each other as far as Aegina, and so hastened to
+reach Corcyra, where the rest of the allied forces were also assembling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+_Seventeenth Year of the War--Parties at Syracuse--Story of Harmodius
+and Aristogiton--Disgrace of Alcibiades_
+
+Meanwhile at Syracuse news came in from many quarters of the expedition,
+but for a long while met with no credence whatever. Indeed, an assembly
+was held in which speeches, as will be seen, were delivered by
+different orators, believing or contradicting the report of the Athenian
+expedition; among whom Hermocrates, son of Hermon, came forward, being
+persuaded that he knew the truth of the matter, and gave the following
+counsel:
+
+"Although I shall perhaps be no better believed than others have been
+when I speak upon the reality of the expedition, and although I know
+that those who either make or repeat statements thought not worthy of
+belief not only gain no converts but are thought fools for their pains,
+I shall certainly not be frightened into holding my tongue when the
+state is in danger, and when I am persuaded that I can speak with more
+authority on the matter than other persons. Much as you wonder at it,
+the Athenians nevertheless have set out against us with a large force,
+naval and military, professedly to help the Egestaeans and to restore
+Leontini, but really to conquer Sicily, and above all our city, which
+once gained, the rest, they think, will easily follow. Make up your
+minds, therefore, to see them speedily here, and see how you can best
+repel them with the means under your hand, and do be taken off your
+guard through despising the news, or neglect the common weal through
+disbelieving it. Meanwhile those who believe me need not be dismayed at
+the force or daring of the enemy. They will not be able to do us more
+hurt than we shall do them; nor is the greatness of their armament
+altogether without advantage to us. Indeed, the greater it is the
+better, with regard to the rest of the Siceliots, whom dismay will make
+more ready to join us; and if we defeat or drive them away, disappointed
+of the objects of their ambition (for I do not fear for a moment that
+they will get what they want), it will be a most glorious exploit for
+us, and in my judgment by no means an unlikely one. Few indeed have been
+the large armaments, either Hellenic or barbarian, that have gone far
+from home and been successful. They cannot be more numerous than the
+people of the country and their neighbours, all of whom fear leagues
+together; and if they miscarry for want of supplies in a foreign land,
+to those against whom their plans were laid none the less they leave
+renown, although they may themselves have been the main cause of their
+own discomfort. Thus these very Athenians rose by the defeat of the
+Mede, in a great measure due to accidental causes, from the mere fact
+that Athens had been the object of his attack; and this may very well be
+the case with us also.
+
+"Let us, therefore, confidently begin preparations here; let us send and
+confirm some of the Sicels, and obtain the friendship and alliance
+of others, and dispatch envoys to the rest of Sicily to show that the
+danger is common to all, and to Italy to get them to become our allies,
+or at all events to refuse to receive the Athenians. I also think that
+it would be best to send to Carthage as well; they are by no means there
+without apprehension, but it is their constant fear that the Athenians
+may one day attack their city, and they may perhaps think that they
+might themselves suffer by letting Sicily be sacrificed, and be willing
+to help us secretly if not openly, in one way if not in another. They
+are the best able to do so, if they will, of any of the present day, as
+they possess most gold and silver, by which war, like everything else,
+flourishes. Let us also send to Lacedaemon and Corinth, and ask them to
+come here and help us as soon as possible, and to keep alive the war in
+Hellas. But the true thing of all others, in my opinion, to do at the
+present moment, is what you, with your constitutional love of quiet,
+will be slow to see, and what I must nevertheless mention. If we
+Siceliots, all together, or at least as many as possible besides
+ourselves, would only launch the whole of our actual navy with two
+months' provisions, and meet the Athenians at Tarentum and the Iapygian
+promontory, and show them that before fighting for Sicily they must
+first fight for their passage across the Ionian Sea, we should strike
+dismay into their army, and set them on thinking that we have a base for
+our defensive--for Tarentum is ready to receive us--while they have a
+wide sea to cross with all their armament, which could with difficulty
+keep its order through so long a voyage, and would be easy for us to
+attack as it came on slowly and in small detachments. On the other hand,
+if they were to lighten their vessels, and draw together their fast
+sailers and with these attack us, we could either fall upon them when
+they were wearied with rowing, or if we did not choose to do so, we
+could retire to Tarentum; while they, having crossed with few provisions
+just to give battle, would be hard put to it in desolate places, and
+would either have to remain and be blockaded, or to try to sail along
+the coast, abandoning the rest of their armament, and being further
+discouraged by not knowing for certain whether the cities would receive
+them. In my opinion this consideration alone would be sufficient to
+deter them from putting out from Corcyra; and what with deliberating and
+reconnoitring our numbers and whereabouts, they would let the season
+go on until winter was upon them, or, confounded by so unexpected a
+circumstance, would break up the expedition, especially as their most
+experienced general has, as I hear, taken the command against his will,
+and would grasp at the first excuse offered by any serious demonstration
+of ours. We should also be reported, I am certain, as more numerous
+than we really are, and men's minds are affected by what they hear,
+and besides the first to attack, or to show that they mean to defend
+themselves against an attack, inspire greater fear because men see that
+they are ready for the emergency. This would just be the case with the
+Athenians at present. They are now attacking us in the belief that we
+shall not resist, having a right to judge us severely because we did
+not help the Lacedaemonians in crushing them; but if they were to see
+us showing a courage for which they are not prepared, they would be more
+dismayed by the surprise than they could ever be by our actual power. I
+could wish to persuade you to show this courage; but if this cannot be,
+at all events lose not a moment in preparing generally for the war;
+and remember all of you that contempt for an assailant is best shown by
+bravery in action, but that for the present the best course is to accept
+the preparations which fear inspires as giving the surest promise of
+safety, and to act as if the danger was real. That the Athenians are
+coming to attack us, and are already upon the voyage, and all but
+here--this is what I am sure of."
+
+Thus far spoke Hermocrates. Meanwhile the people of Syracuse were at
+great strife among themselves; some contending that the Athenians had no
+idea of coming and that there was no truth in what he said; some asking
+if they did come what harm they could do that would not be repaid them
+tenfold in return; while others made light of the whole affair and
+turned it into ridicule. In short, there were few that believed
+Hermocrates and feared for the future. Meanwhile Athenagoras, the leader
+of the people and very powerful at that time with the masses, came
+forward and spoke as follows:
+
+"For the Athenians, he who does not wish that they may be as misguided
+as they are supposed to be, and that they may come here to become our
+subjects, is either a coward or a traitor to his country; while as for
+those who carry such tidings and fill you with so much alarm, I wonder
+less at their audacity than at their folly if they flatter themselves
+that we do not see through them. The fact is that they have their
+private reasons to be afraid, and wish to throw the city into
+consternation to have their own terrors cast into the shade by the
+public alarm. In short, this is what these reports are worth; they do
+not arise of themselves, but are concocted by men who are always causing
+agitation here in Sicily. However, if you are well advised, you will
+not be guided in your calculation of probabilities by what these persons
+tell you, but by what shrewd men and of large experience, as I esteem
+the Athenians to be, would be likely to do. Now it is not likely that
+they would leave the Peloponnesians behind them, and before they have
+well ended the war in Hellas wantonly come in quest of a new war quite
+as arduous in Sicily; indeed, in my judgment, they are only too glad
+that we do not go and attack them, being so many and so great cities as
+we are.
+
+"However, if they should come as is reported, I consider Sicily better
+able to go through with the war than Peloponnese, as being at all points
+better prepared, and our city by itself far more than a match for this
+pretended army of invasion, even were it twice as large again. I know
+that they will not have horses with them, or get any here, except a
+few perhaps from the Egestaeans; or be able to bring a force of heavy
+infantry equal in number to our own, in ships which will already have
+enough to do to come all this distance, however lightly laden, not to
+speak of the transport of the other stores required against a city of
+this magnitude, which will be no slight quantity. In fact, so strong is
+my opinion upon the subject, that I do not well see how they could
+avoid annihilation if they brought with them another city as large as
+Syracuse, and settled down and carried on war from our frontier; much
+less can they hope to succeed with all Sicily hostile to them, as
+all Sicily will be, and with only a camp pitched from the ships, and
+composed of tents and bare necessaries, from which they would not be
+able to stir far for fear of our cavalry.
+
+"But the Athenians see this as I tell you, and as I have reason to know
+are looking after their possessions at home, while persons here invent
+stories that neither are true nor ever will be. Nor is this the first
+time that I see these persons, when they cannot resort to deeds, trying
+by such stories and by others even more abominable to frighten your
+people and get into their hands the government: it is what I see always.
+And I cannot help fearing that trying so often they may one day succeed,
+and that we, as long as we do not feel the smart, may prove too weak for
+the task of prevention, or, when the offenders are known, of pursuit.
+The result is that our city is rarely at rest, but is subject to
+constant troubles and to contests as frequent against herself as against
+the enemy, not to speak of occasional tyrannies and infamous cabals.
+However, I will try, if you will support me, to let nothing of this
+happen in our time, by gaining you, the many, and by chastising the
+authors of such machinations, not merely when they are caught in the
+act--a difficult feat to accomplish--but also for what they have the
+wish though not the power to do; as it is necessary to punish an enemy
+not only for what he does, but also beforehand for what he intends to
+do, if the first to relax precaution would not be also the first to
+suffer. I shall also reprove, watch, and on occasion warn the few--the
+most effectual way, in my opinion, of turning them from their evil
+courses. And after all, as I have often asked, what would you have,
+young men? Would you hold office at once? The law forbids it, a law
+enacted rather because you are not competent than to disgrace you when
+competent. Meanwhile you would not be on a legal equality with the many!
+But how can it be right that citizens of the same state should be held
+unworthy of the same privileges?
+
+"It will be said, perhaps, that democracy is neither wise nor equitable,
+but that the holders of property are also the best fitted to rule. I
+say, on the contrary, first, that the word demos, or people, includes
+the whole state, oligarchy only a part; next, that if the best guardians
+of property are the rich, and the best counsellors the wise, none
+can hear and decide so well as the many; and that all these talents,
+severally and collectively, have their just place in a democracy. But an
+oligarchy gives the many their share of the danger, and not content with
+the largest part takes and keeps the whole of the profit; and this is
+what the powerful and young among you aspire to, but in a great city
+cannot possibly obtain.
+
+"But even now, foolish men, most senseless of all the Hellenes that I
+know, if you have no sense of the wickedness of your designs, or most
+criminal if you have that sense and still dare to pursue them--even now,
+if it is not a case for repentance, you may still learn wisdom, and
+thus advance the interest of the country, the common interest of us all.
+Reflect that in the country's prosperity the men of merit in your ranks
+will have a share and a larger share than the great mass of your fellow
+countrymen, but that if you have other designs you run a risk of being
+deprived of all; and desist from reports like these, as the people know
+your object and will not put up with it. If the Athenians arrive, this
+city will repulse them in a manner worthy of itself; we have moreover,
+generals who will see to this matter. And if nothing of this be true, as
+I incline to believe, the city will not be thrown into a panic by your
+intelligence, or impose upon itself a self-chosen servitude by choosing
+you for its rulers; the city itself will look into the matter, and will
+judge your words as if they were acts, and, instead of allowing itself
+to be deprived of its liberty by listening to you, will strive to
+preserve that liberty, by taking care to have always at hand the means
+of making itself respected."
+
+Such were the words of Athenagoras. One of the generals now stood up and
+stopped any other speakers coming forward, adding these words of his own
+with reference to the matter in hand: "It is not well for speakers to
+utter calumnies against one another, or for their hearers to entertain
+them; we ought rather to look to the intelligence that we have received,
+and see how each man by himself and the city as a whole may best prepare
+to repel the invaders. Even if there be no need, there is no harm in
+the state being furnished with horses and arms and all other insignia of
+war; and we will undertake to see to and order this, and to send round
+to the cities to reconnoitre and do all else that may appear desirable.
+Part of this we have seen to already, and whatever we discover shall
+be laid before you." After these words from the general, the Syracusans
+departed from the assembly.
+
+In the meantime the Athenians with all their allies had now arrived at
+Corcyra. Here the generals began by again reviewing the armament, and
+made arrangements as to the order in which they were to anchor and
+encamp, and dividing the whole fleet into three divisions, allotted one
+to each of their number, to avoid sailing all together and being thus
+embarrassed for water, harbourage, or provisions at the stations which
+they might touch at, and at the same time to be generally better ordered
+and easier to handle, by each squadron having its own commander. Next
+they sent on three ships to Italy and Sicily to find out which of the
+cities would receive them, with instructions to meet them on the way and
+let them know before they put in to land.
+
+After this the Athenians weighed from Corcyra, and proceeded to cross
+to Sicily with an armament now consisting of one hundred and thirty-four
+galleys in all (besides two Rhodian fifty-oars), of which one hundred
+were Athenian vessels--sixty men-of-war, and forty troopships--and the
+remainder from Chios and the other allies; five thousand and one hundred
+heavy infantry in all, that is to say, fifteen hundred Athenian citizens
+from the rolls at Athens and seven hundred Thetes shipped as marines,
+and the rest allied troops, some of them Athenian subjects, and besides
+these five hundred Argives, and two hundred and fifty Mantineans serving
+for hire; four hundred and eighty archers in all, eighty of whom were
+Cretans, seven hundred slingers from Rhodes, one hundred and twenty
+light-armed exiles from Megara, and one horse-transport carrying thirty
+horses.
+
+Such was the strength of the first armament that sailed over for the
+war. The supplies for this force were carried by thirty ships of
+burden laden with corn, which conveyed the bakers, stone-masons, and
+carpenters, and the tools for raising fortifications, accompanied by one
+hundred boats, like the former pressed into the service, besides many
+other boats and ships of burden which followed the armament voluntarily
+for purposes of trade; all of which now left Corcyra and struck across
+the Ionian Sea together. The whole force making land at the Iapygian
+promontory and Tarentum, with more or less good fortune, coasted along
+the shores of Italy, the cities shutting their markets and gates against
+them, and according them nothing but water and liberty to anchor, and
+Tarentum and Locri not even that, until they arrived at Rhegium, the
+extreme point of Italy. Here at length they reunited, and not gaining
+admission within the walls pitched a camp outside the city in the
+precinct of Artemis, where a market was also provided for them, and drew
+their ships on shore and kept quiet. Meanwhile they opened negotiations
+with the Rhegians, and called upon them as Chalcidians to assist their
+Leontine kinsmen; to which the Rhegians replied that they would not
+side with either party, but should await the decision of the rest of
+the Italiots, and do as they did. Upon this the Athenians now began to
+consider what would be the best action to take in the affairs of Sicily,
+and meanwhile waited for the ships sent on to come back from Egesta, in
+order to know whether there was really there the money mentioned by the
+messengers at Athens.
+
+In the meantime came in from all quarters to the Syracusans, as well as
+from their own officers sent to reconnoitre, the positive tidings that
+the fleet was at Rhegium; upon which they laid aside their incredulity
+and threw themselves heart and soul into the work of preparation.
+Guards or envoys, as the case might be, were sent round to the Sicels,
+garrisons put into the posts of the Peripoli in the country, horses and
+arms reviewed in the city to see that nothing was wanting, and all other
+steps taken to prepare for a war which might be upon them at any moment.
+
+Meanwhile the three ships that had been sent on came from Egesta to the
+Athenians at Rhegium, with the news that so far from there being the
+sums promised, all that could be produced was thirty talents. The
+generals were not a little disheartened at being thus disappointed
+at the outset, and by the refusal to join in the expedition of the
+Rhegians, the people they had first tried to gain and had had had most
+reason to count upon, from their relationship to the Leontines and
+constant friendship for Athens. If Nicias was prepared for the news
+from Egesta, his two colleagues were taken completely by surprise. The
+Egestaeans had had recourse to the following stratagem, when the first
+envoys from Athens came to inspect their resources. They took the envoys
+in question to the temple of Aphrodite at Eryx and showed them the
+treasures deposited there: bowls, wine-ladles, censers, and a large
+number of other pieces of plate, which from being in silver gave an
+impression of wealth quite out of proportion to their really small
+value. They also privately entertained the ships' crews, and collected
+all the cups of gold and silver that they could find in Egesta itself or
+could borrow in the neighbouring Phoenician and Hellenic towns, and each
+brought them to the banquets as their own; and as all used pretty nearly
+the same, and everywhere a great quantity of plate was shown, the effect
+was most dazzling upon the Athenian sailors, and made them talk loudly
+of the riches they had seen when they got back to Athens. The dupes in
+question--who had in their turn persuaded the rest--when the news got
+abroad that there was not the money supposed at Egesta, were much blamed
+by the soldiers.
+
+Meanwhile the generals consulted upon what was to be done. The opinion
+of Nicias was to sail with all the armament to Selinus, the main object
+of the expedition, and if the Egestaeans could provide money for the
+whole force, to advise accordingly; but if they could not, to require
+them to supply provisions for the sixty ships that they had asked for,
+to stay and settle matters between them and the Selinuntines either
+by force or by agreement, and then to coast past the other cities, and
+after displaying the power of Athens and proving their zeal for their
+friends and allies, to sail home again (unless they should have some
+sudden and unexpected opportunity of serving the Leontines, or of
+bringing over some of the other cities), and not to endanger the state
+by wasting its home resources.
+
+Alcibiades said that a great expedition like the present must not
+disgrace itself by going away without having done anything; heralds must
+be sent to all the cities except Selinus and Syracuse, and efforts
+be made to make some of the Sicels revolt from the Syracusans, and to
+obtain the friendship of others, in order to have corn and troops; and
+first of all to gain the Messinese, who lay right in the passage and
+entrance to Sicily, and would afford an excellent harbour and base for
+the army. Thus, after bringing over the towns and knowing who would
+be their allies in the war, they might at length attack Syracuse and
+Selinus; unless the latter came to terms with Egesta and the former
+ceased to oppose the restoration of Leontini.
+
+Lamachus, on the other hand, said that they ought to sail straight to
+Syracuse, and fight their battle at once under the walls of the town
+while the people were still unprepared, and the panic at its height.
+Every armament was most terrible at first; if it allowed time to run on
+without showing itself, men's courage revived, and they saw it appear
+at last almost with indifference. By attacking suddenly, while Syracuse
+still trembled at their coming, they would have the best chance of
+gaining a victory for themselves and of striking a complete panic into
+the enemy by the aspect of their numbers--which would never appear so
+considerable as at present--by the anticipation of coming disaster, and
+above all by the immediate danger of the engagement. They might also
+count upon surprising many in the fields outside, incredulous of their
+coming; and at the moment that the enemy was carrying in his property
+the army would not want for booty if it sat down in force before the
+city. The rest of the Siceliots would thus be immediately less
+disposed to enter into alliance with the Syracusans, and would join the
+Athenians, without waiting to see which were the strongest. They must
+make Megara their naval station as a place to retreat to and a base from
+which to attack: it was an uninhabited place at no great distance from
+Syracuse either by land or by sea.
+
+After speaking to this effect, Lamachus nevertheless gave his support
+to the opinion of Alcibiades. After this Alcibiades sailed in his own
+vessel across to Messina with proposals of alliance, but met with no
+success, the inhabitants answering that they could not receive him
+within their walls, though they would provide him with a market outside.
+Upon this he sailed back to Rhegium. Immediately upon his return the
+generals manned and victualled sixty ships out of the whole fleet and
+coasted along to Naxos, leaving the rest of the armament behind them
+at Rhegium with one of their number. Received by the Naxians, they then
+coasted on to Catana, and being refused admittance by the inhabitants,
+there being a Syracusan party in the town, went on to the river Terias.
+Here they bivouacked, and the next day sailed in single file to Syracuse
+with all their ships except ten which they sent on in front to sail
+into the great harbour and see if there was any fleet launched, and
+to proclaim by herald from shipboard that the Athenians were come
+to restore the Leontines to their country, as being their allies and
+kinsmen, and that such of them, therefore, as were in Syracuse should
+leave it without fear and join their friends and benefactors the
+Athenians. After making this proclamation and reconnoitring the city and
+the harbours, and the features of the country which they would have to
+make their base of operations in the war, they sailed back to Catana.
+
+An assembly being held here, the inhabitants refused to receive the
+armament, but invited the generals to come in and say what they desired;
+and while Alcibiades was speaking and the citizens were intent on the
+assembly, the soldiers broke down an ill-walled-up postern gate
+without being observed, and getting inside the town, flocked into the
+marketplace. The Syracusan party in the town no sooner saw the army
+inside than they became frightened and withdrew, not being at all
+numerous; while the rest voted for an alliance with the Athenians and
+invited them to fetch the rest of their forces from Rhegium. After this
+the Athenians sailed to Rhegium, and put off, this time with all the
+armament, for Catana, and fell to work at their camp immediately upon
+their arrival.
+
+Meanwhile word was brought them from Camarina that if they went there
+the town would go over to them, and also that the Syracusans were
+manning a fleet. The Athenians accordingly sailed alongshore with all
+their armament, first to Syracuse, where they found no fleet manning,
+and so always along the coast to Camarina, where they brought to at the
+beach, and sent a herald to the people, who, however, refused to receive
+them, saying that their oaths bound them to receive the Athenians only
+with a single vessel, unless they themselves sent for more. Disappointed
+here, the Athenians now sailed back again, and after landing and
+plundering on Syracusan territory and losing some stragglers from their
+light infantry through the coming up of the Syracusan horse, so got back
+to Catana.
+
+There they found the Salaminia come from Athens for Alcibiades, with
+orders for him to sail home to answer the charges which the state
+brought against him, and for certain others of the soldiers who with
+him were accused of sacrilege in the matter of the mysteries and of the
+Hermae. For the Athenians, after the departure of the expedition, had
+continued as active as ever in investigating the facts of the mysteries
+and of the Hermae, and, instead of testing the informers, in their
+suspicious temper welcomed all indifferently, arresting and imprisoning
+the best citizens upon the evidence of rascals, and preferring to sift
+the matter to the bottom sooner than to let an accused person of good
+character pass unquestioned, owing to the rascality of the informer. The
+commons had heard how oppressive the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons
+had become before it ended, and further that that had been put down at
+last, not by themselves and Harmodius, but by the Lacedaemonians, and so
+were always in fear and took everything suspiciously.
+
+Indeed, the daring action of Aristogiton and Harmodius was undertaken
+in consequence of a love affair, which I shall relate at some length, to
+show that the Athenians are not more accurate than the rest of the world
+in their accounts of their own tyrants and of the facts of their own
+history. Pisistratus dying at an advanced age in possession of the
+tyranny, was succeeded by his eldest son, Hippias, and not Hipparchus,
+as is vulgarly believed. Harmodius was then in the flower of youthful
+beauty, and Aristogiton, a citizen in the middle rank of life, was his
+lover and possessed him. Solicited without success by Hipparchus, son of
+Pisistratus, Harmodius told Aristogiton, and the enraged lover, afraid
+that the powerful Hipparchus might take Harmodius by force, immediately
+formed a design, such as his condition in life permitted, for
+overthrowing the tyranny. In the meantime Hipparchus, after a second
+solicitation of Harmodius, attended with no better success, unwilling
+to use violence, arranged to insult him in some covert way. Indeed,
+generally their government was not grievous to the multitude, or in any
+way odious in practice; and these tyrants cultivated wisdom and virtue
+as much as any, and without exacting from the Athenians more than a
+twentieth of their income, splendidly adorned their city, and carried on
+their wars, and provided sacrifices for the temples. For the rest, the
+city was left in full enjoyment of its existing laws, except that care
+was always taken to have the offices in the hands of some one of the
+family. Among those of them that held the yearly archonship at Athens
+was Pisistratus, son of the tyrant Hippias, and named after his
+grandfather, who dedicated during his term of office the altar to the
+twelve gods in the market-place, and that of Apollo in the Pythian
+precinct. The Athenian people afterwards built on to and lengthened the
+altar in the market-place, and obliterated the inscription; but that in
+the Pythian precinct can still be seen, though in faded letters, and is
+to the following effect:
+
+Pisistratus, the son of Hippias, Sent up this record of his archonship
+In precinct of Apollo Pythias.
+
+That Hippias was the eldest son and succeeded to the government, is what
+I positively assert as a fact upon which I have had more exact accounts
+than others, and may be also ascertained by the following circumstance.
+He is the only one of the legitimate brothers that appears to have had
+children; as the altar shows, and the pillar placed in the Athenian
+Acropolis, commemorating the crime of the tyrants, which mentions no
+child of Thessalus or of Hipparchus, but five of Hippias, which he had
+by Myrrhine, daughter of Callias, son of Hyperechides; and naturally
+the eldest would have married first. Again, his name comes first on the
+pillar after that of his father; and this too is quite natural, as
+he was the eldest after him, and the reigning tyrant. Nor can I ever
+believe that Hippias would have obtained the tyranny so easily, if
+Hipparchus had been in power when he was killed, and he, Hippias, had
+had to establish himself upon the same day; but he had no doubt been
+long accustomed to overawe the citizens, and to be obeyed by his
+mercenaries, and thus not only conquered, but conquered with ease,
+without experiencing any of the embarrassment of a younger brother
+unused to the exercise of authority. It was the sad fate which made
+Hipparchus famous that got him also the credit with posterity of having
+been tyrant.
+
+To return to Harmodius; Hipparchus having been repulsed in his
+solicitations insulted him as he had resolved, by first inviting a
+sister of his, a young girl, to come and bear a basket in a certain
+procession, and then rejecting her, on the plea that she had never been
+invited at all owing to her unworthiness. If Harmodius was indignant at
+this, Aristogiton for his sake now became more exasperated than ever;
+and having arranged everything with those who were to join them in the
+enterprise, they only waited for the great feast of the Panathenaea, the
+sole day upon which the citizens forming part of the procession could
+meet together in arms without suspicion. Aristogiton and Harmodius were
+to begin, but were to be supported immediately by their accomplices
+against the bodyguard. The conspirators were not many, for better
+security, besides which they hoped that those not in the plot would be
+carried away by the example of a few daring spirits, and use the arms in
+their hands to recover their liberty.
+
+At last the festival arrived; and Hippias with his bodyguard was outside
+the city in the Ceramicus, arranging how the different parts of the
+procession were to proceed. Harmodius and Aristogiton had already
+their daggers and were getting ready to act, when seeing one of their
+accomplices talking familiarly with Hippias, who was easy of access to
+every one, they took fright, and concluded that they were discovered and
+on the point of being taken; and eager if possible to be revenged first
+upon the man who had wronged them and for whom they had undertaken all
+this risk, they rushed, as they were, within the gates, and meeting
+with Hipparchus by the Leocorium recklessly fell upon him at once,
+infuriated, Aristogiton by love, and Harmodius by insult, and smote him
+and slew him. Aristogiton escaped the guards at the moment, through the
+crowd running up, but was afterwards taken and dispatched in no merciful
+way: Harmodius was killed on the spot.
+
+When the news was brought to Hippias in the Ceramicus, he at once
+proceeded not to the scene of action, but to the armed men in the
+procession, before they, being some distance away, knew anything of the
+matter, and composing his features for the occasion, so as not to betray
+himself, pointed to a certain spot, and bade them repair thither without
+their arms. They withdrew accordingly, fancying he had something to say;
+upon which he told the mercenaries to remove the arms, and there and
+then picked out the men he thought guilty and all found with daggers,
+the shield and spear being the usual weapons for a procession.
+
+In this way offended love first led Harmodius and Aristogiton to
+conspire, and the alarm of the moment to commit the rash action
+recounted. After this the tyranny pressed harder on the Athenians, and
+Hippias, now grown more fearful, put to death many of the citizens, and
+at the same time began to turn his eyes abroad for a refuge in case of
+revolution. Thus, although an Athenian, he gave his daughter, Archedice,
+to a Lampsacene, Aeantides, son of the tyrant of Lampsacus, seeing that
+they had great influence with Darius. And there is her tomb in Lampsacus
+with this inscription:
+
+Archedice lies buried in this earth, Hippias her sire, and Athens gave
+her birth; Unto her bosom pride was never known, Though daughter, wife,
+and sister to the throne.
+
+Hippias, after reigning three years longer over the Athenians,
+was deposed in the fourth by the Lacedaemonians and the banished
+Alcmaeonidae, and went with a safe conduct to Sigeum, and to Aeantides
+at Lampsacus, and from thence to King Darius; from whose court he set
+out twenty years after, in his old age, and came with the Medes to
+Marathon.
+
+With these events in their minds, and recalling everything they knew by
+hearsay on the subject, the Athenian people grow difficult of humour and
+suspicious of the persons charged in the affair of the mysteries, and
+persuaded that all that had taken place was part of an oligarchical and
+monarchical conspiracy. In the state of irritation thus produced, many
+persons of consideration had been already thrown into prison, and
+far from showing any signs of abating, public feeling grew daily more
+savage, and more arrests were made; until at last one of those in
+custody, thought to be the most guilty of all, was induced by a fellow
+prisoner to make a revelation, whether true or not is a matter on which
+there are two opinions, no one having been able, either then or since,
+to say for certain who did the deed. However this may be, the other
+found arguments to persuade him, that even if he had not done it, he
+ought to save himself by gaining a promise of impunity, and free the
+state of its present suspicions; as he would be surer of safety if he
+confessed after promise of impunity than if he denied and were brought
+to trial. He accordingly made a revelation, affecting himself and others
+in the affair of the Hermae; and the Athenian people, glad at last, as
+they supposed, to get at the truth, and furious until then at not being
+able to discover those who had conspired against the commons, at once
+let go the informer and all the rest whom he had not denounced, and
+bringing the accused to trial executed as many as were apprehended, and
+condemned to death such as had fled and set a price upon their heads.
+In this it was, after all, not clear whether the sufferers had been
+punished unjustly, while in any case the rest of the city received
+immediate and manifest relief.
+
+To return to Alcibiades: public feeling was very hostile to him, being
+worked on by the same enemies who had attacked him before he went out;
+and now that the Athenians fancied that they had got at the truth of
+the matter of the Hermae, they believed more firmly than ever that
+the affair of the mysteries also, in which he was implicated, had been
+contrived by him in the same intention and was connected with the plot
+against the democracy. Meanwhile it so happened that, just at the time
+of this agitation, a small force of Lacedaemonians had advanced as far
+as the Isthmus, in pursuance of some scheme with the Boeotians. It was
+now thought that this had come by appointment, at his instigation, and
+not on account of the Boeotians, and that, if the citizens had not
+acted on the information received, and forestalled them by arresting the
+prisoners, the city would have been betrayed. The citizens went so far
+as to sleep one night armed in the temple of Theseus within the walls.
+The friends also of Alcibiades at Argos were just at this time suspected
+of a design to attack the commons; and the Argive hostages deposited in
+the islands were given up by the Athenians to the Argive people to be
+put to death upon that account: in short, everywhere something was found
+to create suspicion against Alcibiades. It was therefore decided to
+bring him to trial and execute him, and the Salaminia was sent to Sicily
+for him and the others named in the information, with instructions to
+order him to come and answer the charges against him, but not to arrest
+him, because they wished to avoid causing any agitation in the army or
+among the enemy in Sicily, and above all to retain the services of the
+Mantineans and Argives, who, it was thought, had been induced to join
+by his influence. Alcibiades, with his own ship and his fellow accused,
+accordingly sailed off with the Salaminia from Sicily, as though to
+return to Athens, and went with her as far as Thurii, and there they
+left the ship and disappeared, being afraid to go home for trial with
+such a prejudice existing against them. The crew of the Salaminia stayed
+some time looking for Alcibiades and his companions, and at length, as
+they were nowhere to be found, set sail and departed. Alcibiades, now an
+outlaw, crossed in a boat not long after from Thurii to Peloponnese; and
+the Athenians passed sentence of death by default upon him and those in
+his company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+_Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War--Inaction of the Athenian
+Army--Alcibiades at Sparta--Investment of Syracuse_
+
+The Athenian generals left in Sicily now divided the armament into two
+parts, and, each taking one by lot, sailed with the whole for Selinus
+and Egesta, wishing to know whether the Egestaeans would give the money,
+and to look into the question of Selinus and ascertain the state of the
+quarrel between her and Egesta. Coasting along Sicily, with the shore
+on their left, on the side towards the Tyrrhene Gulf they touched at
+Himera, the only Hellenic city in that part of the island, and being
+refused admission resumed their voyage. On their way they took Hyccara,
+a petty Sicanian seaport, nevertheless at war with Egesta, and making
+slaves of the inhabitants gave up the town to the Egestaeans, some of
+whose horse had joined them; after which the army proceeded through the
+territory of the Sicels until it reached Catana, while the fleet sailed
+along the coast with the slaves on board. Meanwhile Nicias sailed
+straight from Hyccara along the coast and went to Egesta and, after
+transacting his other business and receiving thirty talents, rejoined
+the forces. They now sold their slaves for the sum of one hundred and
+twenty talents, and sailed round to their Sicel allies to urge them to
+send troops; and meanwhile went with half their own force to the hostile
+town of Hybla in the territory of Gela, but did not succeed in taking
+it.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following, the Athenians at once began
+to prepare for moving on Syracuse, and the Syracusans on their side
+for marching against them. From the moment when the Athenians failed to
+attack them instantly as they at first feared and expected, every day
+that passed did something to revive their courage; and when they saw
+them sailing far away from them on the other side of Sicily, and going
+to Hybla only to fail in their attempts to storm it, they thought less
+of them than ever, and called upon their generals, as the multitude is
+apt to do in its moments of confidence, to lead them to Catana, since
+the enemy would not come to them. Parties also of the Syracusan horse
+employed in reconnoitring constantly rode up to the Athenian armament,
+and among other insults asked them whether they had not really come to
+settle with the Syracusans in a foreign country rather than to resettle
+the Leontines in their own.
+
+Aware of this, the Athenian generals determined to draw them out in mass
+as far as possible from the city, and themselves in the meantime to sail
+by night alongshore, and take up at their leisure a convenient position.
+This they knew they could not so well do, if they had to disembark from
+their ships in front of a force prepared for them, or to go by land
+openly. The numerous cavalry of the Syracusans (a force which they were
+themselves without) would then be able to do the greatest mischief to
+their light troops and the crowd that followed them; but this plan would
+enable them to take up a position in which the horse could do them no
+hurt worth speaking of, some Syracusan exiles with the army having told
+them of the spot near the Olympieum, which they afterwards occupied. In
+pursuance of their idea, the generals imagined the following stratagem.
+They sent to Syracuse a man devoted to them, and by the Syracusan
+generals thought to be no less in their interest; he was a native of
+Catana, and said he came from persons in that place, whose names the
+Syracusan generals were acquainted with, and whom they knew to be among
+the members of their party still left in the city. He told them that
+the Athenians passed the night in the town, at some distance from their
+arms, and that if the Syracusans would name a day and come with all
+their people at daybreak to attack the armament, they, their friends,
+would close the gates upon the troops in the city, and set fire to the
+vessels, while the Syracusans would easily take the camp by an attack
+upon the stockade. In this they would be aided by many of the Catanians,
+who were already prepared to act, and from whom he himself came.
+
+The generals of the Syracusans, who did not want confidence, and who had
+intended even without this to march on Catana, believed the man without
+any sufficient inquiry, fixed at once a day upon which they would be
+there, and dismissed him, and the Selinuntines and others of their
+allies having now arrived, gave orders for all the Syracusans to march
+out in mass. Their preparations completed, and the time fixed for their
+arrival being at hand, they set out for Catana, and passed the night
+upon the river Symaethus, in the Leontine territory. Meanwhile the
+Athenians no sooner knew of their approach than they took all their
+forces and such of the Sicels or others as had joined them, put them on
+board their ships and boats, and sailed by night to Syracuse. Thus, when
+morning broke the Athenians were landing opposite the Olympieum ready
+to seize their camping ground, and the Syracusan horse having ridden up
+first to Catana and found that all the armament had put to sea, turned
+back and told the infantry, and then all turned back together, and went
+to the relief of the city.
+
+In the meantime, as the march before the Syracusans was a long one, the
+Athenians quietly sat down their army in a convenient position,
+where they could begin an engagement when they pleased, and where the
+Syracusan cavalry would have least opportunity of annoying them, either
+before or during the action, being fenced off on one side by walls,
+houses, trees, and by a marsh, and on the other by cliffs. They also
+felled the neighbouring trees and carried them down to the sea, and
+formed a palisade alongside of their ships, and with stones which they
+picked up and wood hastily raised a fort at Daskon, the most vulnerable
+point of their position, and broke down the bridge over the Anapus.
+These preparations were allowed to go on without any interruption from
+the city, the first hostile force to appear being the Syracusan cavalry,
+followed afterwards by all the foot together. At first they came close
+up to the Athenian army, and then, finding that they did not offer to
+engage, crossed the Helorine road and encamped for the night.
+
+The next day the Athenians and their allies prepared for battle, their
+dispositions being as follows: Their right wing was occupied by the
+Argives and Mantineans, the centre by the Athenians, and the rest of the
+field by the other allies. Half their army was drawn up eight deep in
+advance, half close to their tents in a hollow square, formed also eight
+deep, which had orders to look out and be ready to go to the support of
+the troops hardest pressed. The camp followers were placed inside this
+reserve. The Syracusans, meanwhile, formed their heavy infantry sixteen
+deep, consisting of the mass levy of their own people, and such
+allies as had joined them, the strongest contingent being that of the
+Selinuntines; next to them the cavalry of the Geloans, numbering two
+hundred in all, with about twenty horse and fifty archers from Camarina.
+The cavalry was posted on their right, full twelve hundred strong, and
+next to it the darters. As the Athenians were about to begin the attack,
+Nicias went along the lines, and addressed these words of encouragement
+to the army and the nations composing it:
+
+"Soldiers, a long exhortation is little needed by men like ourselves,
+who are here to fight in the same battle, the force itself being, to my
+thinking, more fit to inspire confidence than a fine speech with a weak
+army. Where we have Argives, Mantineans, Athenians, and the first of the
+islanders in the ranks together, it were strange indeed, with so
+many and so brave companions in arms, if we did not feel confident
+of victory; especially when we have mass levies opposed to our picked
+troops, and what is more, Siceliots, who may disdain us but will not
+stand against us, their skill not being at all commensurate to their
+rashness. You may also remember that we are far from home and have no
+friendly land near, except what your own swords shall win you; and here
+I put before you a motive just the reverse of that which the enemy are
+appealing to; their cry being that they shall fight for their country,
+mine that we shall fight for a country that is not ours, where we must
+conquer or hardly get away, as we shall have their horse upon us in
+great numbers. Remember, therefore, your renown, and go boldly against
+the enemy, thinking the present strait and necessity more terrible than
+they."
+
+After this address Nicias at once led on the army. The Syracusans were
+not at that moment expecting an immediate engagement, and some had even
+gone away to the town, which was close by; these now ran up as hard as
+they could and, though behind time, took their places here or there
+in the main body as fast as they joined it. Want of zeal or daring was
+certainly not the fault of the Syracusans, either in this or the other
+battles, but although not inferior in courage, so far as their military
+science might carry them, when this failed them they were compelled to
+give up their resolution also. On the present occasion, although they
+had not supposed that the Athenians would begin the attack, and although
+constrained to stand upon their defence at short notice, they at once
+took up their arms and advanced to meet them. First, the stone-throwers,
+slingers, and archers of either army began skirmishing, and routed or
+were routed by one another, as might be expected between light troops;
+next, soothsayers brought forward the usual victims, and trumpeters
+urged on the heavy infantry to the charge; and thus they advanced,
+the Syracusans to fight for their country, and each individual for
+his safety that day and liberty hereafter; in the enemy's army, the
+Athenians to make another's country theirs and to save their own from
+suffering by their defeat; the Argives and independent allies to help
+them in getting what they came for, and to earn by victory another sight
+of the country they had left behind; while the subject allies owed most
+of their ardour to the desire of self-preservation, which they could
+only hope for if victorious; next to which, as a secondary motive, came
+the chance of serving on easier terms, after helping the Athenians to a
+fresh conquest.
+
+The armies now came to close quarters, and for a long while fought
+without either giving ground. Meanwhile there occurred some claps of
+thunder with lightning and heavy rain, which did not fail to add to
+the fears of the party fighting for the first time, and very little
+acquainted with war; while to their more experienced adversaries these
+phenomena appeared to be produced by the time of year, and much more
+alarm was felt at the continued resistance of the enemy. At last the
+Argives drove in the Syracusan left, and after them the Athenians routed
+the troops opposed to them, and the Syracusan army was thus cut in two
+and betook itself to flight. The Athenians did not pursue far, being
+held in check by the numerous and undefeated Syracusan horse, who
+attacked and drove back any of their heavy infantry whom they saw
+pursuing in advance of the rest; in spite of which the victors followed
+so far as was safe in a body, and then went back and set up a trophy.
+Meanwhile the Syracusans rallied at the Helorine road, where they
+re-formed as well as they could under the circumstances, and even sent
+a garrison of their own citizens to the Olympieum, fearing that the
+Athenians might lay hands on some of the treasures there. The rest
+returned to the town.
+
+The Athenians, however, did not go to the temple, but collected their
+dead and laid them upon a pyre, and passed the night upon the field. The
+next day they gave the enemy back their dead under truce, to the number
+of about two hundred and sixty, Syracusans and allies, and gathered
+together the bones of their own, some fifty, Athenians and allies,
+and taking the spoils of the enemy, sailed back to Catana. It was now
+winter; and it did not seem possible for the moment to carry on the war
+before Syracuse, until horse should have been sent for from Athens
+and levied among the allies in Sicily--to do away with their utter
+inferiority in cavalry--and money should have been collected in the
+country and received from Athens, and until some of the cities, which
+they hoped would be now more disposed to listen to them after
+the battle, should have been brought over, and corn and all other
+necessaries provided, for a campaign in the spring against Syracuse.
+
+With this intention they sailed off to Naxos and Catana for the winter.
+Meanwhile the Syracusans burned their dead and then held an assembly,
+in which Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a man who with a general ability
+of the first order had given proofs of military capacity and brilliant
+courage in the war, came forward and encouraged them, and told them not
+to let what had occurred make them give way, since their spirit had
+not been conquered, but their want of discipline had done the mischief.
+Still they had not been beaten by so much as might have been expected,
+especially as they were, one might say, novices in the art of war, an
+army of artisans opposed to the most practised soldiers in Hellas. What
+had also done great mischief was the number of the generals (there were
+fifteen of them) and the quantity of orders given, combined with the
+disorder and insubordination of the troops. But if they were to have
+a few skilful generals, and used this winter in preparing their heavy
+infantry, finding arms for such as had not got any, so as to make them
+as numerous as possible, and forcing them to attend to their training
+generally, they would have every chance of beating their adversaries,
+courage being already theirs and discipline in the field having thus
+been added to it. Indeed, both these qualities would improve, since
+danger would exercise them in discipline, while their courage would
+be led to surpass itself by the confidence which skill inspires. The
+generals should be few and elected with full powers, and an oath should
+be taken to leave them entire discretion in their command: if they
+adopted this plan, their secrets would be better kept, all preparations
+would be properly made, and there would be no room for excuses.
+
+The Syracusans heard him, and voted everything as he advised, and
+elected three generals, Hermocrates himself, Heraclides, son of
+Lysimachus, and Sicanus, son of Execestes. They also sent envoys to
+Corinth and Lacedaemon to procure a force of allies to join them, and to
+induce the Lacedaemonians for their sakes openly to address themselves
+in real earnest to the war against the Athenians, that they might either
+have to leave Sicily or be less able to send reinforcements to their
+army there.
+
+The Athenian forces at Catana now at once sailed against Messina, in the
+expectation of its being betrayed to them. The intrigue, however, after
+all came to nothing: Alcibiades, who was in the secret, when he left
+his command upon the summons from home, foreseeing that he would be
+outlawed, gave information of the plot to the friends of the Syracusans
+in Messina, who had at once put to death its authors, and now rose in
+arms against the opposite faction with those of their way of thinking,
+and succeeded in preventing the admission of the Athenians. The latter
+waited for thirteen days, and then, as they were exposed to the weather
+and without provisions, and met with no success, went back to Naxos,
+where they made places for their ships to lie in, erected a palisade
+round their camp, and retired into winter quarters; meanwhile they sent
+a galley to Athens for money and cavalry to join them in the spring.
+During the winter the Syracusans built a wall on to the city, so as
+to take in the statue of Apollo Temenites, all along the side looking
+towards Epipolae, to make the task of circumvallation longer and more
+difficult, in case of their being defeated, and also erected a fort at
+Megara and another in the Olympieum, and stuck palisades along the sea
+wherever there was a landing Place. Meanwhile, as they knew that the
+Athenians were wintering at Naxos, they marched with all their people to
+Catana, and ravaged the land and set fire to the tents and encampment
+of the Athenians, and so returned home. Learning also that the Athenians
+were sending an embassy to Camarina, on the strength of the alliance
+concluded in the time of Laches, to gain, if possible, that city, they
+sent another from Syracuse to oppose them. They had a shrewd suspicion
+that the Camarinaeans had not sent what they did send for the first
+battle very willingly; and they now feared that they would refuse to
+assist them at all in future, after seeing the success of the Athenians
+in the action, and would join the latter on the strength of their
+old friendship. Hermocrates, with some others, accordingly arrived at
+Camarina from Syracuse, and Euphemus and others from the Athenians; and
+an assembly of the Camarinaeans having been convened, Hermocrates spoke
+as follows, in the hope of prejudicing them against the Athenians:
+
+"Camarinaeans, we did not come on this embassy because we were afraid of
+your being frightened by the actual forces of the Athenians, but rather
+of your being gained by what they would say to you before you heard
+anything from us. They are come to Sicily with the pretext that you
+know, and the intention which we all suspect, in my opinion less to
+restore the Leontines to their homes than to oust us from ours; as it
+is out of all reason that they should restore in Sicily the cities that
+they lay waste in Hellas, or should cherish the Leontine Chalcidians
+because of their Ionian blood and keep in servitude the Euboean
+Chalcidians, of whom the Leontines are a colony. No; but the same policy
+which has proved so successful in Hellas is now being tried in Sicily.
+After being chosen as the leaders of the Ionians and of the other allies
+of Athenian origin, to punish the Mede, the Athenians accused some of
+failure in military service, some of fighting against each other, and
+others, as the case might be, upon any colourable pretext that could
+be found, until they thus subdued them all. In fine, in the struggle
+against the Medes, the Athenians did not fight for the liberty of the
+Hellenes, or the Hellenes for their own liberty, but the former to make
+their countrymen serve them instead of him, the latter to change one
+master for another, wiser indeed than the first, but wiser for evil.
+
+"But we are not now come to declare to an audience familiar with them
+the misdeeds of a state so open to accusation as is the Athenian, but
+much rather to blame ourselves, who, with the warnings we possess in the
+Hellenes in those parts that have been enslaved through not supporting
+each other, and seeing the same sophisms being now tried upon
+ourselves--such as restorations of Leontine kinsfolk and support of
+Egestaean allies--do not stand together and resolutely show them
+that here are no Ionians, or Hellespontines, or islanders, who change
+continually, but always serve a master, sometimes the Mede and sometimes
+some other, but free Dorians from independent Peloponnese, dwelling in
+Sicily. Or, are we waiting until we be taken in detail, one city after
+another; knowing as we do that in no other way can we be conquered, and
+seeing that they turn to this plan, so as to divide some of us by words,
+to draw some by the bait of an alliance into open war with each other,
+and to ruin others by such flattery as different circumstances may
+render acceptable? And do we fancy when destruction first overtakes a
+distant fellow countryman that the danger will not come to each of us
+also, or that he who suffers before us will suffer in himself alone?
+
+"As for the Camarinaean who says that it is the Syracusan, not he,
+that is the enemy of the Athenian, and who thinks it hard to have to
+encounter risk in behalf of my country, I would have him bear in mind
+that he will fight in my country, not more for mine than for his own,
+and by so much the more safely in that he will enter on the struggle
+not alone, after the way has been cleared by my ruin, but with me as his
+ally, and that the object of the Athenian is not so much to punish the
+enmity of the Syracusan as to use me as a blind to secure the friendship
+of the Camarinaean. As for him who envies or even fears us (and envied
+and feared great powers must always be), and who on this account wishes
+Syracuse to be humbled to teach us a lesson, but would still have her
+survive, in the interest of his own security the wish that he indulges
+is not humanly possible. A man can control his own desires, but
+he cannot likewise control circumstances; and in the event of his
+calculations proving mistaken, he may live to bewail his own misfortune,
+and wish to be again envying my prosperity. An idle wish, if he now
+sacrifice us and refuse to take his share of perils which are the same,
+in reality though not in name, for him as for us; what is nominally the
+preservation of our power being really his own salvation. It was to be
+expected that you, of all people in the world, Camarinaeans, being our
+immediate neighbours and the next in danger, would have foreseen this,
+and instead of supporting us in the lukewarm way that you are now doing,
+would rather come to us of your own accord, and be now offering at
+Syracuse the aid which you would have asked for at Camarina, if to
+Camarina the Athenians had first come, to encourage us to resist the
+invader. Neither you, however, nor the rest have as yet bestirred
+yourselves in this direction.
+
+"Fear perhaps will make you study to do right both by us and by the
+invaders, and plead that you have an alliance with the Athenians.
+But you made that alliance, not against your friends, but against the
+enemies that might attack you, and to help the Athenians when they were
+wronged by others, not when as now they are wronging their neighbours.
+Even the Rhegians, Chalcidians though they be, refuse to help to restore
+the Chalcidian Leontines; and it would be strange if, while they suspect
+the gist of this fine pretence and are wise without reason, you, with
+every reason on your side, should yet choose to assist your natural
+enemies, and should join with their direst foes in undoing those whom
+nature has made your own kinsfolk. This is not to do right; but you
+should help us without fear of their armament, which has no terrors if
+we hold together, but only if we let them succeed in their endeavours
+to separate us; since even after attacking us by ourselves and being
+victorious in battle, they had to go off without effecting their
+purpose.
+
+"United, therefore, we have no cause to despair, but rather new
+encouragement to league together; especially as succour will come to us
+from the Peloponnesians, in military matters the undoubted superiors of
+the Athenians. And you need not think that your prudent policy of taking
+sides with neither, because allies of both, is either safe for you or
+fair to us. Practically it is not as fair as it pretends to be. If the
+vanquished be defeated, and the victor conquer, through your refusing to
+join, what is the effect of your abstention but to leave the former to
+perish unaided, and to allow the latter to offend unhindered? And yet it
+were more honourable to join those who are not only the injured party,
+but your own kindred, and by so doing to defend the common interests of
+Sicily and save your friends the Athenians from doing wrong.
+
+"In conclusion, we Syracusans say that it is useless for us to
+demonstrate either to you or to the rest what you know already as well
+as we do; but we entreat, and if our entreaty fail, we protest that we
+are menaced by our eternal enemies the Ionians, and are betrayed by
+you our fellow Dorians. If the Athenians reduce us, they will owe their
+victory to your decision, but in their own name will reap the honour,
+and will receive as the prize of their triumph the very men who enabled
+them to gain it. On the other hand, if we are the conquerors, you
+will have to pay for having been the cause of our danger. Consider,
+therefore; and now make your choice between the security which present
+servitude offers and the prospect of conquering with us and so escaping
+disgraceful submission to an Athenian master and avoiding the lasting
+enmity of Syracuse."
+
+Such were the words of Hermocrates; after whom Euphemus, the Athenian
+ambassador, spoke as follows:
+
+"Although we came here only to renew the former alliance, the attack of
+the Syracusans compels us to speak of our empire and of the good right
+we have to it. The best proof of this the speaker himself furnished,
+when he called the Ionians eternal enemies of the Dorians. It is the
+fact; and the Peloponnesian Dorians being our superiors in numbers and
+next neighbours, we Ionians looked out for the best means of escaping
+their domination. After the Median War we had a fleet, and so got rid of
+the empire and supremacy of the Lacedaemonians, who had no right to give
+orders to us more than we to them, except that of being the strongest at
+that moment; and being appointed leaders of the King's former subjects,
+we continue to be so, thinking that we are least likely to fall under
+the dominion of the Peloponnesians, if we have a force to defend
+ourselves with, and in strict truth having done nothing unfair in
+reducing to subjection the Ionians and islanders, the kinsfolk whom the
+Syracusans say we have enslaved. They, our kinsfolk, came against their
+mother country, that is to say against us, together with the Mede, and,
+instead of having the courage to revolt and sacrifice their property as
+we did when we abandoned our city, chose to be slaves themselves, and to
+try to make us so.
+
+"We, therefore, deserve to rule because we placed the largest fleet and
+an unflinching patriotism at the service of the Hellenes, and because
+these, our subjects, did us mischief by their ready subservience to the
+Medes; and, desert apart, we seek to strengthen ourselves against the
+Peloponnesians. We make no fine profession of having a right to rule
+because we overthrew the barbarian single-handed, or because we risked
+what we did risk for the freedom of the subjects in question any more
+than for that of all, and for our own: no one can be quarrelled with
+for providing for his proper safety. If we are now here in Sicily, it
+is equally in the interest of our security, with which we perceive that
+your interest also coincides. We prove this from the conduct which
+the Syracusans cast against us and which you somewhat too timorously
+suspect; knowing that those whom fear has made suspicious may be carried
+away by the charm of eloquence for the moment, but when they come to act
+follow their interests.
+
+"Now, as we have said, fear makes us hold our empire in Hellas, and fear
+makes us now come, with the help of our friends, to order safely matters
+in Sicily, and not to enslave any but rather to prevent any from
+being enslaved. Meanwhile, let no one imagine that we are interesting
+ourselves in you without your having anything to do with us, seeing
+that, if you are preserved and able to make head against the
+Syracusans, they will be less likely to harm us by sending troops to the
+Peloponnesians. In this way you have everything to do with us, and on
+this account it is perfectly reasonable for us to restore the Leontines,
+and to make them, not subjects like their kinsmen in Euboea, but as
+powerful as possible, to help us by annoying the Syracusans from their
+frontier. In Hellas we are alone a match for our enemies; and as for the
+assertion that it is out of all reason that we should free the Sicilian,
+while we enslave the Chalcidian, the fact is that the latter is useful
+to us by being without arms and contributing money only; while the
+former, the Leontines and our other friends, cannot be too independent.
+
+"Besides, for tyrants and imperial cities nothing is unreasonable if
+expedient, no one a kinsman unless sure; but friendship or enmity is
+everywhere an affair of time and circumstance. Here, in Sicily, our
+interest is not to weaken our friends, but by means of their strength to
+cripple our enemies. Why doubt this? In Hellas we treat our allies as
+we find them useful. The Chians and Methymnians govern themselves and
+furnish ships; most of the rest have harder terms and pay tribute in
+money; while others, although islanders and easy for us to take,
+are free altogether, because they occupy convenient positions round
+Peloponnese. In our settlement of the states here in Sicily, we should
+therefore; naturally be guided by our interest, and by fear, as we say,
+of the Syracusans. Their ambition is to rule you, their object to use
+the suspicions that we excite to unite you, and then, when we have gone
+away without effecting anything, by force or through your isolation, to
+become the masters of Sicily. And masters they must become, if you unite
+with them; as a force of that magnitude would be no longer easy for us
+to deal with united, and they would be more than a match for you as soon
+as we were away.
+
+"Any other view of the case is condemned by the facts. When you first
+asked us over, the fear which you held out was that of danger to Athens
+if we let you come under the dominion of Syracuse; and it is not right
+now to mistrust the very same argument by which you claimed to convince
+us, or to give way to suspicion because we are come with a larger force
+against the power of that city. Those whom you should really distrust
+are the Syracusans. We are not able to stay here without you, and if
+we proved perfidious enough to bring you into subjection, we should be
+unable to keep you in bondage, owing to the length of the voyage and
+the difficulty of guarding large, and in a military sense continental,
+towns: they, the Syracusans, live close to you, not in a camp, but in
+a city greater than the force we have with us, plot always against you,
+never let slip an opportunity once offered, as they have shown in the
+case of the Leontines and others, and now have the face, just as if you
+were fools, to invite you to aid them against the power that hinders
+this, and that has thus far maintained Sicily independent. We, as
+against them, invite you to a much more real safety, when we beg you
+not to betray that common safety which we each have in the other, and
+to reflect that they, even without allies, will, by their numbers,
+have always the way open to you, while you will not often have the
+opportunity of defending yourselves with such numerous auxiliaries;
+if, through your suspicions, you once let these go away unsuccessful
+or defeated, you will wish to see if only a handful of them back again,
+when the day is past in which their presence could do anything for you.
+
+"But we hope, Camarinaeans, that the calumnies of the Syracusans will
+not be allowed to succeed either with you or with the rest: we have told
+you the whole truth upon the things we are suspected of, and will now
+briefly recapitulate, in the hope of convincing you. We assert that we
+are rulers in Hellas in order not to be subjects; liberators in Sicily
+that we may not be harmed by the Sicilians; that we are compelled to
+interfere in many things, because we have many things to guard against;
+and that now, as before, we are come as allies to those of you who
+suffer wrong in this island, not without invitation but upon invitation.
+Accordingly, instead of making yourselves judges or censors of our
+conduct, and trying to turn us, which it were now difficult to do, so
+far as there is anything in our interfering policy or in our character
+that chimes in with your interest, this take and make use of; and
+be sure that, far from being injurious to all alike, to most of the
+Hellenes that policy is even beneficial. Thanks to it, all men in
+all places, even where we are not, who either apprehend or meditate
+aggression, from the near prospect before them, in the one case, of
+obtaining our intervention in their favour, in the other, of our arrival
+making the venture dangerous, find themselves constrained, respectively,
+to be moderate against their will, and to be preserved without trouble
+of their own. Do not you reject this security that is open to all who
+desire it, and is now offered to you; but do like others, and instead of
+being always on the defensive against the Syracusans, unite with us, and
+in your turn at last threaten them."
+
+Such were the words of Euphemus. What the Camarinaeans felt was this.
+Sympathizing with the Athenians, except in so far as they might be
+afraid of their subjugating Sicily, they had always been at enmity with
+their neighbour Syracuse. From the very fact, however, that they were
+their neighbours, they feared the Syracusans most of the two, and being
+apprehensive of their conquering even without them, both sent them
+in the first instance the few horsemen mentioned, and for the future
+determined to support them most in fact, although as sparingly as
+possible; but for the moment in order not to seem to slight the
+Athenians, especially as they had been successful in the engagement, to
+answer both alike. Agreeably to this resolution they answered that
+as both the contending parties happened to be allies of theirs, they
+thought it most consistent with their oaths at present to side with
+neither; with which answer the ambassadors of either party departed.
+
+In the meantime, while Syracuse pursued her preparations for war, the
+Athenians were encamped at Naxos, and tried by negotiation to gain
+as many of the Sicels as possible. Those more in the low lands, and
+subjects of Syracuse, mostly held aloof; but the peoples of the interior
+who had never been otherwise than independent, with few exceptions, at
+once joined the Athenians, and brought down corn to the army, and in
+some cases even money. The Athenians marched against those who refused
+to join, and forced some of them to do so; in the case of others they
+were stopped by the Syracusans sending garrisons and reinforcements.
+Meanwhile the Athenians moved their winter quarters from Naxos to
+Catana, and reconstructed the camp burnt by the Syracusans, and stayed
+there the rest of the winter. They also sent a galley to Carthage,
+with proffers of friendship, on the chance of obtaining assistance,
+and another to Tyrrhenia; some of the cities there having spontaneously
+offered to join them in the war. They also sent round to the Sicels and
+to Egesta, desiring them to send them as many horses as possible, and
+meanwhile prepared bricks, iron, and all other things necessary for the
+work of circumvallation, intending by the spring to begin hostilities.
+
+In the meantime the Syracusan envoys dispatched to Corinth and
+Lacedaemon tried as they passed along the coast to persuade the Italiots
+to interfere with the proceedings of the Athenians, which threatened
+Italy quite as much as Syracuse, and having arrived at Corinth made a
+speech calling on the Corinthians to assist them on the ground of their
+common origin. The Corinthians voted at once to aid them heart and soul
+themselves, and then sent on envoys with them to Lacedaemon, to help
+them to persuade her also to prosecute the war with the Athenians more
+openly at home and to send succours to Sicily. The envoys from Corinth
+having reached Lacedaemon found there Alcibiades with his fellow
+refugees, who had at once crossed over in a trading vessel from Thurii,
+first to Cyllene in Elis, and afterwards from thence to Lacedaemon;
+upon the Lacedaemonians' own invitation, after first obtaining a safe
+conduct, as he feared them for the part he had taken in the affair
+of Mantinea. The result was that the Corinthians, Syracusans, and
+Alcibiades, pressing all the same request in the assembly of the
+Lacedaemonians, succeeded in persuading them; but as the ephors and the
+authorities, although resolved to send envoys to Syracuse to prevent
+their surrendering to the Athenians, showed no disposition to send them
+any assistance, Alcibiades now came forward and inflamed and stirred the
+Lacedaemonians by speaking as follows:
+
+"I am forced first to speak to you of the prejudice with which I am
+regarded, in order that suspicion may not make you disinclined to listen
+to me upon public matters. The connection, with you as your proxeni,
+which the ancestors of our family by reason of some discontent
+renounced, I personally tried to renew by my good offices towards you,
+in particular upon the occasion of the disaster at Pylos. But although I
+maintained this friendly attitude, you yet chose to negotiate the peace
+with the Athenians through my enemies, and thus to strengthen them and
+to discredit me. You had therefore no right to complain if I turned to
+the Mantineans and Argives, and seized other occasions of thwarting and
+injuring you; and the time has now come when those among you, who in
+the bitterness of the moment may have been then unfairly angry with me,
+should look at the matter in its true light, and take a different view.
+Those again who judged me unfavourably, because I leaned rather to the
+side of the commons, must not think that their dislike is any better
+founded. We have always been hostile to tyrants, and all who oppose
+arbitrary power are called commons; hence we continued to act as leaders
+of the multitude; besides which, as democracy was the government of
+the city, it was necessary in most things to conform to established
+conditions. However, we endeavoured to be more moderate than the
+licentious temper of the times; and while there were others, formerly
+as now, who tried to lead the multitude astray--the same who banished
+me--our party was that of the whole people, our creed being to do our
+part in preserving the form of government under which the city enjoyed
+the utmost greatness and freedom, and which we had found existing. As
+for democracy, the men of sense among us knew what it was, and I perhaps
+as well as any, as I have the more cause to complain of it; but there is
+nothing new to be said of a patent absurdity; meanwhile we did not think
+it safe to alter it under the pressure of your hostility.
+
+"So much then for the prejudices with which I am regarded: I now can
+call your attention to the questions you must consider, and upon which
+superior knowledge perhaps permits me to speak. We sailed to Sicily
+first to conquer, if possible, the Siceliots, and after them the
+Italiots also, and finally to assail the empire and city of Carthage.
+In the event of all or most of these schemes succeeding, we were then
+to attack Peloponnese, bringing with us the entire force of the Hellenes
+lately acquired in those parts, and taking a number of barbarians into
+our pay, such as the Iberians and others in those countries, confessedly
+the most warlike known, and building numerous galleys in addition to
+those which we had already, timber being plentiful in Italy; and with
+this fleet blockading Peloponnese from the sea and assailing it with
+our armies by land, taking some of the cities by storm, drawing works of
+circumvallation round others, we hoped without difficulty to effect its
+reduction, and after this to rule the whole of the Hellenic name. Money
+and corn meanwhile for the better execution of these plans were to be
+supplied in sufficient quantities by the newly acquired places in those
+countries, independently of our revenues here at home.
+
+"You have thus heard the history of the present expedition from the man
+who most exactly knows what our objects were; and the remaining generals
+will, if they can, carry these out just the same. But that the states in
+Sicily must succumb if you do not help them, I will now show. Although
+the Siceliots, with all their inexperience, might even now be saved if
+their forces were united, the Syracusans alone, beaten already in one
+battle with all their people and blockaded from the sea, will be unable
+to withstand the Athenian armament that is now there. But if Syracuse
+falls, all Sicily falls also, and Italy immediately afterwards; and the
+danger which I just now spoke of from that quarter will before long be
+upon you. None need therefore fancy that Sicily only is in question;
+Peloponnese will be so also, unless you speedily do as I tell you, and
+send on board ship to Syracuse troops that shall able to row their ships
+themselves, and serve as heavy infantry the moment that they land;
+and what I consider even more important than the troops, a Spartan
+as commanding officer to discipline the forces already on foot and to
+compel recusants to serve. The friends that you have already will thus
+become more confident, and the waverers will be encouraged to join
+you. Meanwhile you must carry on the war here more openly, that the
+Syracusans, seeing that you do not forget them, may put heart into their
+resistance, and that the Athenians may be less able to reinforce their
+armament. You must fortify Decelea in Attica, the blow of which the
+Athenians are always most afraid and the only one that they think they
+have not experienced in the present war; the surest method of harming an
+enemy being to find out what he most fears, and to choose this means of
+attacking him, since every one naturally knows best his own weak points
+and fears accordingly. The fortification in question, while it benefits
+you, will create difficulties for your adversaries, of which I shall
+pass over many, and shall only mention the chief. Whatever property
+there is in the country will most of it become yours, either by capture
+or surrender; and the Athenians will at once be deprived of their
+revenues from the silver mines at Laurium, of their present gains from
+their land and from the law courts, and above all of the revenue from
+their allies, which will be paid less regularly, as they lose their awe
+of Athens and see you addressing yourselves with vigour to the war.
+The zeal and speed with which all this shall be done depends,
+Lacedaemonians, upon yourselves; as to its possibility, I am quite
+confident, and I have little fear of being mistaken.
+
+"Meanwhile I hope that none of you will think any the worse of me if,
+after having hitherto passed as a lover of my country, I now actively
+join its worst enemies in attacking it, or will suspect what I say as
+the fruit of an outlaw's enthusiasm. I am an outlaw from the iniquity
+of those who drove me forth, not, if you will be guided by me, from your
+service; my worst enemies are not you who only harmed your foes, but
+they who forced their friends to become enemies; and love of country is
+what I do not feel when I am wronged, but what I felt when secure in my
+rights as a citizen. Indeed I do not consider that I am now attacking
+a country that is still mine; I am rather trying to recover one that is
+mine no longer; and the true lover of his country is not he who consents
+to lose it unjustly rather than attack it, but he who longs for it so
+much that he will go all lengths to recover it. For myself, therefore,
+Lacedaemonians, I beg you to use me without scruple for danger and
+trouble of every kind, and to remember the argument in every one's
+mouth, that if I did you great harm as an enemy, I could likewise do you
+good service as a friend, inasmuch as I know the plans of the Athenians,
+while I only guessed yours. For yourselves I entreat you to believe that
+your most capital interests are now under deliberation; and I urge you
+to send without hesitation the expeditions to Sicily and Attica; by the
+presence of a small part of your forces you will save important cities
+in that island, and you will destroy the power of Athens both present
+and prospective; after this you will dwell in security and enjoy the
+supremacy over all Hellas, resting not on force but upon consent and
+affection."
+
+Such were the words of Alcibiades. The Lacedaemonians, who had
+themselves before intended to march against Athens, but were still
+waiting and looking about them, at once became much more in earnest
+when they received this particular information from Alcibiades, and
+considered that they had heard it from the man who best knew the truth
+of the matter. Accordingly they now turned their attention to the
+fortifying of Decelea and sending immediate aid to the Sicilians; and
+naming Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, to the command of the Syracusans,
+bade him consult with that people and with the Corinthians and arrange
+for succours reaching the island, in the best and speediest way possible
+under the circumstances. Gylippus desired the Corinthians to send him at
+once two ships to Asine, and to prepare the rest that they intended to
+send, and to have them ready to sail at the proper time. Having settled
+this, the envoys departed from Lacedaemon.
+
+In the meantime arrived the Athenian galley from Sicily sent by the
+generals for money and cavalry; and the Athenians, after hearing
+what they wanted, voted to send the supplies for the armament and the
+cavalry. And the winter ended, and with it ended the seventeenth year of
+the present war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+The next summer, at the very beginning of the season, the Athenians in
+Sicily put out from Catana, and sailed along shore to Megara in Sicily,
+from which, as I have mentioned above, the Syracusans expelled the
+inhabitants in the time of their tyrant Gelo, themselves occupying the
+territory. Here the Athenians landed and laid waste the country, and
+after an unsuccessful attack upon a fort of the Syracusans, went on with
+the fleet and army to the river Terias, and advancing inland laid waste
+the plain and set fire to the corn; and after killing some of a small
+Syracusan party which they encountered, and setting up a trophy,
+went back again to their ships. They now sailed to Catana and took in
+provisions there, and going with their whole force against Centoripa,
+a town of the Sicels, acquired it by capitulation, and departed, after
+also burning the corn of the Inessaeans and Hybleans. Upon their return
+to Catana they found the horsemen arrived from Athens, to the number of
+two hundred and fifty (with their equipments, but without their horses
+which were to be procured upon the spot), and thirty mounted archers and
+three hundred talents of silver.
+
+The same spring the Lacedaemonians marched against Argos, and went as
+far as Cleonae, when an earthquake occurred and caused them to return.
+After this the Argives invaded the Thyreatid, which is on their border,
+and took much booty from the Lacedaemonians, which was sold for no less
+than twenty-five talents. The same summer, not long after, the
+Thespian commons made an attack upon the party in office, which was
+not successful, but succours arrived from Thebes, and some were caught,
+while others took refuge at Athens.
+
+The same summer the Syracusans learned that the Athenians had been
+joined by their cavalry, and were on the point of marching against them;
+and seeing that without becoming masters of Epipolae, a precipitous
+spot situated exactly over the town, the Athenians could not, even if
+victorious in battle, easily invest them, they determined to guard its
+approaches, in order that the enemy might not ascend unobserved by this,
+the sole way by which ascent was possible, as the remainder is lofty
+ground, and falls right down to the city, and can all be seen from
+inside; and as it lies above the rest the place is called by the
+Syracusans Epipolae or Overtown. They accordingly went out in mass at
+daybreak into the meadow along the river Anapus, their new generals,
+Hermocrates and his colleagues, having just come into office, and held
+a review of their heavy infantry, from whom they first selected a
+picked body of six hundred, under the command of Diomilus, an exile
+from Andros, to guard Epipolae, and to be ready to muster at a moment's
+notice to help wherever help should be required.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, the very same morning, were holding a review,
+having already made land unobserved with all the armament from Catana,
+opposite a place called Leon, not much more than half a mile from
+Epipolae, where they disembarked their army, bringing the fleet to
+anchor at Thapsus, a peninsula running out into the sea, with a narrow
+isthmus, and not far from the city of Syracuse either by land or water.
+While the naval force of the Athenians threw a stockade across the
+isthmus and remained quiet at Thapsus, the land army immediately went on
+at a run to Epipolae, and succeeded in getting up by Euryelus before
+the Syracusans perceived them, or could come up from the meadow and the
+review. Diomilus with his six hundred and the rest advanced as quickly
+as they could, but they had nearly three miles to go from the meadow
+before reaching them. Attacking in this way in considerable disorder,
+the Syracusans were defeated in battle at Epipolae and retired to the
+town, with a loss of about three hundred killed, and Diomilus among the
+number. After this the Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the
+Syracusans their dead under truce, and next day descended to Syracuse
+itself; and no one coming out to meet them, reascended and built a fort
+at Labdalum, upon the edge of the cliffs of Epipolae, looking towards
+Megara, to serve as a magazine for their baggage and money, whenever
+they advanced to battle or to work at the lines.
+
+Not long afterwards three hundred cavalry came to them from Egesta, and
+about a hundred from the Sicels, Naxians, and others; and thus, with the
+two hundred and fifty from Athens, for whom they had got horses from
+the Egestaeans and Catanians, besides others that they bought, they now
+mustered six hundred and fifty cavalry in all. After posting a garrison
+in Labdalum, they advanced to Syca, where they sat down and quickly
+built the Circle or centre of their wall of circumvallation. The
+Syracusans, appalled at the rapidity with which the work advanced,
+determined to go out against them and give battle and interrupt it; and
+the two armies were already in battle array, when the Syracusan generals
+observed that their troops found such difficulty in getting into line,
+and were in such disorder, that they led them back into the town, except
+part of the cavalry. These remained and hindered the Athenians from
+carrying stones or dispersing to any great distance, until a tribe of
+the Athenian heavy infantry, with all the cavalry, charged and routed
+the Syracusan horse with some loss; after which they set up a trophy for
+the cavalry action.
+
+The next day the Athenians began building the wall to the north of the
+Circle, at the same time collecting stone and timber, which they kept
+laying down towards Trogilus along the shortest line for their works
+from the great harbour to the sea; while the Syracusans, guided by their
+generals, and above all by Hermocrates, instead of risking any more
+general engagements, determined to build a counterwork in the direction
+in which the Athenians were going to carry their wall. If this could be
+completed in time, the enemy's lines would be cut; and meanwhile, if he
+were to attempt to interrupt them by an attack, they would send a part
+of their forces against him, and would secure the approaches beforehand
+with their stockade, while the Athenians would have to leave off working
+with their whole force in order to attend to them. They accordingly
+sallied forth and began to build, starting from their city, running
+a cross wall below the Athenian Circle, cutting down the olives and
+erecting wooden towers. As the Athenian fleet had not yet sailed round
+into the great harbour, the Syracusans still commanded the seacoast, and
+the Athenians brought their provisions by land from Thapsus.
+
+The Syracusans now thought the stockades and stonework of their
+counterwall sufficiently far advanced; and as the Athenians, afraid of
+being divided and so fighting at a disadvantage, and intent upon their
+own wall, did not come out to interrupt them, they left one tribe to
+guard the new work and went back into the city. Meanwhile the Athenians
+destroyed their pipes of drinking-water carried underground into the
+city; and watching until the rest of the Syracusans were in their tents
+at midday, and some even gone away into the city, and those in the
+stockade keeping but indifferent guard, appointed three hundred picked
+men of their own, and some men picked from the light troops and
+armed for the purpose, to run suddenly as fast as they could to the
+counterwork, while the rest of the army advanced in two divisions, the
+one with one of the generals to the city in case of a sortie, the other
+with the other general to the stockade by the postern gate. The three
+hundred attacked and took the stockade, abandoned by its garrison, who
+took refuge in the outworks round the statue of Apollo Temenites. Here
+the pursuers burst in with them, and after getting in were beaten out by
+the Syracusans, and some few of the Argives and Athenians slain; after
+which the whole army retired, and having demolished the counterwork and
+pulled up the stockade, carried away the stakes to their own lines, and
+set up a trophy.
+
+The next day the Athenians from the Circle proceeded to fortify the
+cliff above the marsh which on this side of Epipolae looks towards the
+great harbour; this being also the shortest line for their work to
+go down across the plain and the marsh to the harbour. Meanwhile the
+Syracusans marched out and began a second stockade, starting from the
+city, across the middle of the marsh, digging a trench alongside to make
+it impossible for the Athenians to carry their wall down to the sea. As
+soon as the Athenians had finished their work at the cliff they again
+attacked the stockade and ditch of the Syracusans. Ordering the fleet
+to sail round from Thapsus into the great harbour of Syracuse, they
+descended at about dawn from Epipolae into the plain, and laying doors
+and planks over the marsh, where it was muddy and firmest, crossed over
+on these, and by daybreak took the ditch and the stockade, except a
+small portion which they captured afterwards. A battle now ensued, in
+which the Athenians were victorious, the right wing of the Syracusans
+flying to the town and the left to the river. The three hundred picked
+Athenians, wishing to cut off their passage, pressed on at a run to the
+bridge, when the alarmed Syracusans, who had with them most of their
+cavalry, closed and routed them, hurling them back upon the Athenian
+right wing, the first tribe of which was thrown into a panic by the
+shock. Seeing this, Lamachus came to their aid from the Athenian left
+with a few archers and with the Argives, and crossing a ditch, was left
+alone with a few that had crossed with him, and was killed with five or
+six of his men. These the Syracusans managed immediately to snatch up
+in haste and get across the river into a place of security, themselves
+retreating as the rest of the Athenian army now came up.
+
+Meanwhile those who had at first fled for refuge to the city, seeing the
+turn affairs were taking, now rallied from the town and formed against
+the Athenians in front of them, sending also a part of their number to
+the Circle on Epipolae, which they hoped to take while denuded of its
+defenders. These took and destroyed the Athenian outwork of a thousand
+feet, the Circle itself being saved by Nicias, who happened to have been
+left in it through illness, and who now ordered the servants to set fire
+to the engines and timber thrown down before the wall; want of men, as
+he was aware, rendering all other means of escape impossible. This step
+was justified by the result, the Syracusans not coming any further on
+account of the fire, but retreating. Meanwhile succours were coming up
+from the Athenians below, who had put to flight the troops opposed to
+them; and the fleet also, according to orders, was sailing from Thapsus
+into the great harbour. Seeing this, the troops on the heights retired
+in haste, and the whole army of the Syracusans re-entered the city,
+thinking that with their present force they would no longer be able to
+hinder the wall reaching the sea.
+
+After this the Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the Syracusans
+their dead under truce, receiving in return Lamachus and those who had
+fallen with him. The whole of their forces, naval and military, being
+now with them, they began from Epipolae and the cliffs and enclosed
+the Syracusans with a double wall down to the sea. Provisions were now
+brought in for the armament from all parts of Italy; and many of the
+Sicels, who had hitherto been looking to see how things went, came as
+allies to the Athenians: there also arrived three ships of fifty oars
+from Tyrrhenia. Meanwhile everything else progressed favourably for
+their hopes. The Syracusans began to despair of finding safety in arms,
+no relief having reached them from Peloponnese, and were now proposing
+terms of capitulation among themselves and to Nicias, who after the
+death of Lamachus was left sole commander. No decision was come to, but,
+as was natural with men in difficulties and besieged more straitly than
+before, there was much discussion with Nicias and still more in the
+town. Their present misfortunes had also made them suspicious of
+one another; and the blame of their disasters was thrown upon the
+ill-fortune or treachery of the generals under whose command they had
+happened; and these were deposed and others, Heraclides, Eucles, and
+Tellias, elected in their stead.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonian, Gylippus, and the ships from Corinth
+were now off Leucas, intent upon going with all haste to the relief of
+Sicily. The reports that reached them being of an alarming kind, and all
+agreeing in the falsehood that Syracuse was already completely invested,
+Gylippus abandoned all hope of Sicily, and wishing to save Italy,
+rapidly crossed the Ionian Sea to Tarentum with the Corinthian, Pythen,
+two Laconian, and two Corinthian vessels, leaving the Corinthians to
+follow him after manning, in addition to their own ten, two Leucadian
+and two Ambraciot ships. From Tarentum Gylippus first went on an embassy
+to Thurii, and claimed anew the rights of citizenship which his father
+had enjoyed; failing to bring over the townspeople, he weighed anchor
+and coasted along Italy. Opposite the Terinaean Gulf he was caught
+by the wind which blows violently and steadily from the north in that
+quarter, and was carried out to sea; and after experiencing very rough
+weather, remade Tarentum, where he hauled ashore and refitted such of
+his ships as had suffered most from the tempest. Nicias heard of his
+approach, but, like the Thurians, despised the scanty number of his
+ships, and set down piracy as the only probable object of the voyage,
+and so took no precautions for the present.
+
+About the same time in this summer, the Lacedaemonians invaded Argos
+with their allies, and laid waste most of the country. The Athenians
+went with thirty ships to the relief of the Argives, thus breaking their
+treaty with the Lacedaemonians in the most overt manner. Up to this time
+incursions from Pylos, descents on the coast of the rest of Peloponnese,
+instead of on the Laconian, had been the extent of their co-operation
+with the Argives and Mantineans; and although the Argives had often
+begged them to land, if only for a moment, with their heavy infantry in
+Laconia, lay waste ever so little of it with them, and depart, they had
+always refused to do so. Now, however, under the command of Phytodorus,
+Laespodius, and Demaratus, they landed at Epidaurus Limera, Prasiae,
+and other places, and plundered the country; and thus furnished the
+Lacedaemonians with a better pretext for hostilities against Athens.
+After the Athenians had retired from Argos with their fleet, and the
+Lacedaemonians also, the Argives made an incursion into the Phlisaid,
+and returned home after ravaging their land and killing some of the
+inhabitants.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+_Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War--Arrival of Gylippus at
+Syracuse--Fortification of Decelea--Successes of the Syracusans_
+
+After refitting their ships, Gylippus and Pythen coasted along from
+Tarentum to Epizephyrian Locris. They now received the more correct
+information that Syracuse was not yet completely invested, but that
+it was still possible for an army arriving at Epipolae to effect an
+entrance; and they consulted, accordingly, whether they should keep
+Sicily on their right and risk sailing in by sea, or, leaving it on
+their left, should first sail to Himera and, taking with them the
+Himeraeans and any others that might agree to join them, go to Syracuse
+by land. Finally they determined to sail for Himera, especially as the
+four Athenian ships which Nicias had at length sent off, on hearing that
+they were at Locris, had not yet arrived at Rhegium. Accordingly, before
+these reached their post, the Peloponnesians crossed the strait and,
+after touching at Rhegium and Messina, came to Himera. Arrived there,
+they persuaded the Himeraeans to join in the war, and not only to go
+with them themselves but to provide arms for the seamen from their
+vessels which they had drawn ashore at Himera; and they sent and
+appointed a place for the Selinuntines to meet them with all their
+forces. A few troops were also promised by the Geloans and some of the
+Sicels, who were now ready to join them with much greater alacrity,
+owing to the recent death of Archonidas, a powerful Sicel king in that
+neighbourhood and friendly to Athens, and owing also to the vigour shown
+by Gylippus in coming from Lacedaemon. Gylippus now took with him about
+seven hundred of his sailors and marines, that number only having arms,
+a thousand heavy infantry and light troops from Himera with a body of
+a hundred horse, some light troops and cavalry from Selinus, a few
+Geloans, and Sicels numbering a thousand in all, and set out on his
+march for Syracuse.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthian fleet from Leucas made all haste to arrive; and
+one of their commanders, Gongylus, starting last with a single ship, was
+the first to reach Syracuse, a little before Gylippus. Gongylus found
+the Syracusans on the point of holding an assembly to consider whether
+they should put an end to the war. This he prevented, and reassured
+them by telling them that more vessels were still to arrive, and that
+Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, had been dispatched by the Lacedaemonians
+to take the command. Upon this the Syracusans took courage, and
+immediately marched out with all their forces to meet Gylippus, who they
+found was now close at hand. Meanwhile Gylippus, after taking Ietae, a
+fort of the Sicels, on his way, formed his army in order of battle, and
+so arrived at Epipolae, and ascending by Euryelus, as the Athenians had
+done at first, now advanced with the Syracusans against the Athenian
+lines. His arrival chanced at a critical moment. The Athenians had
+already finished a double wall of six or seven furlongs to the great
+harbour, with the exception of a small portion next the sea, which they
+were still engaged upon; and in the remainder of the circle towards
+Trogilus on the other sea, stones had been laid ready for building for
+the greater part of the distance, and some points had been left half
+finished, while others were entirely completed. The danger of Syracuse
+had indeed been great.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, recovering from the confusion into which
+they had been first thrown by the sudden approach of Gylippus and
+the Syracusans, formed in order of battle. Gylippus halted at a short
+distance off and sent on a herald to tell them that, if they would
+evacuate Sicily with bag and baggage within five days' time, he
+was willing to make a truce accordingly. The Athenians treated this
+proposition with contempt, and dismissed the herald without an answer.
+After this both sides began to prepare for action. Gylippus, observing
+that the Syracusans were in disorder and did not easily fall into line,
+drew off his troops more into the open ground, while Nicias did not lead
+on the Athenians but lay still by his own wall. When Gylippus saw that
+they did not come on, he led off his army to the citadel of the quarter
+of Apollo Temenites, and passed the night there. On the following day
+he led out the main body of his army, and, drawing them up in order of
+battle before the walls of the Athenians to prevent their going to the
+relief of any other quarter, dispatched a strong force against Fort
+Labdalum, and took it, and put all whom he found in it to the sword,
+the place not being within sight of the Athenians. On the same day an
+Athenian galley that lay moored off the harbour was captured by the
+Syracusans.
+
+After this the Syracusans and their allies began to carry a single wall,
+starting from the city, in a slanting direction up Epipolae, in order
+that the Athenians, unless they could hinder the work, might be no
+longer able to invest them. Meanwhile the Athenians, having now finished
+their wall down to the sea, had come up to the heights; and part of
+their wall being weak, Gylippus drew out his army by night and attacked
+it. However, the Athenians who happened to be bivouacking outside took
+the alarm and came out to meet him, upon seeing which he quickly led his
+men back again. The Athenians now built their wall higher, and in future
+kept guard at this point themselves, disposing their confederates along
+the remainder of the works, at the stations assigned to them. Nicias
+also determined to fortify Plemmyrium, a promontory over against the
+city, which juts out and narrows the mouth of the Great Harbour. He
+thought that the fortification of this place would make it easier to
+bring in supplies, as they would be able to carry on their blockade from
+a less distance, near to the port occupied by the Syracusans; instead
+of being obliged, upon every movement of the enemy's navy, to put out
+against them from the bottom of the great harbour. Besides this, he now
+began to pay more attention to the war by sea, seeing that the coming
+of Gylippus had diminished their hopes by land. Accordingly, he conveyed
+over his ships and some troops, and built three forts in which he placed
+most of his baggage, and moored there for the future the larger craft
+and men-of-war. This was the first and chief occasion of the losses
+which the crews experienced. The water which they used was scarce
+and had to be fetched from far, and the sailors could not go out for
+firewood without being cut off by the Syracusan horse, who were masters
+of the country; a third of the enemy's cavalry being stationed at the
+little town of Olympieum, to prevent plundering incursions on the part
+of the Athenians at Plemmyrium. Meanwhile Nicias learned that the rest
+of the Corinthian fleet was approaching, and sent twenty ships to watch
+for them, with orders to be on the look-out for them about Locris and
+Rhegium and the approach to Sicily.
+
+Gylippus, meanwhile, went on with the wall across Epipolae, using the
+stones which the Athenians had laid down for their own wall, and at the
+same time constantly led out the Syracusans and their allies, and formed
+them in order of battle in front of the lines, the Athenians forming
+against him. At last he thought that the moment was come, and began the
+attack; and a hand-to-hand fight ensued between the lines, where the
+Syracusan cavalry could be of no use; and the Syracusans and their
+allies were defeated and took up their dead under truce, while the
+Athenians erected a trophy. After this Gylippus called the soldiers
+together, and said that the fault was not theirs but his; he had kept
+their lines too much within the works, and had thus deprived them of
+the services of their cavalry and darters. He would now, therefore, lead
+them on a second time. He begged them to remember that in material force
+they would be fully a match for their opponents, while, with respect
+to moral advantages, it were intolerable if Peloponnesians and Dorians
+should not feel confident of overcoming Ionians and islanders with the
+motley rabble that accompanied them, and of driving them out of the
+country.
+
+After this he embraced the first opportunity that offered of again
+leading them against the enemy. Now Nicias and the Athenians held the
+opinion that even if the Syracusans should not wish to offer battle, it
+was necessary for them to prevent the building of the cross wall, as it
+already almost overlapped the extreme point of their own, and if it went
+any further it would from that moment make no difference whether they
+fought ever so many successful actions, or never fought at all. They
+accordingly came out to meet the Syracusans. Gylippus led out his heavy
+infantry further from the fortifications than on the former occasion,
+and so joined battle; posting his horse and darters upon the flank
+of the Athenians in the open space, where the works of the two walls
+terminated. During the engagement the cavalry attacked and routed the
+left wing of the Athenians, which was opposed to them; and the rest
+of the Athenian army was in consequence defeated by the Syracusans and
+driven headlong within their lines. The night following the Syracusans
+carried their wall up to the Athenian works and passed them, thus
+putting it out of their power any longer to stop them, and depriving
+them, even if victorious in the field, of all chance of investing the
+city for the future.
+
+After this the remaining twelve vessels of the Corinthians, Ambraciots,
+and Leucadians sailed into the harbour under the command of Erasinides,
+a Corinthian, having eluded the Athenian ships on guard, and helped
+the Syracusans in completing the remainder of the cross wall. Meanwhile
+Gylippus went into the rest of Sicily to raise land and naval forces,
+and also to bring over any of the cities that either were lukewarm in
+the cause or had hitherto kept out of the war altogether. Syracusan and
+Corinthian envoys were also dispatched to Lacedaemon and Corinth to get
+a fresh force sent over, in any way that might offer, either in
+merchant vessels or transports, or in any other manner likely to prove
+successful, as the Athenians too were sending for reinforcements; while
+the Syracusans proceeded to man a fleet and to exercise, meaning to
+try their fortune in this way also, and generally became exceedingly
+confident.
+
+Nicias perceiving this, and seeing the strength of the enemy and his
+own difficulties daily increasing, himself also sent to Athens. He had
+before sent frequent reports of events as they occurred, and felt it
+especially incumbent upon him to do so now, as he thought that they were
+in a critical position, and that, unless speedily recalled or strongly
+reinforced from home, they had no hope of safety. He feared, however,
+that the messengers, either through inability to speak, or through
+failure of memory, or from a wish to please the multitude, might not
+report the truth, and so thought it best to write a letter, to ensure
+that the Athenians should know his own opinion without its being lost in
+transmission, and be able to decide upon the real facts of the case.
+
+His emissaries, accordingly, departed with the letter and the requisite
+verbal instructions; and he attended to the affairs of the army, making
+it his aim now to keep on the defensive and to avoid any unnecessary
+danger.
+
+At the close of the same summer the Athenian general Euetion marched
+in concert with Perdiccas with a large body of Thracians against
+Amphipolis, and failing to take it brought some galleys round into
+the Strymon, and blockaded the town from the river, having his base at
+Himeraeum.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter ensuing, the persons sent by Nicias,
+reaching Athens, gave the verbal messages which had been entrusted to
+them, and answered any questions that were asked them, and delivered
+the letter. The clerk of the city now came forward and read out to the
+Athenians the letter, which was as follows:
+
+"Our past operations, Athenians, have been made known to you by many
+other letters; it is now time for you to become equally familiar with
+our present condition, and to take your measures accordingly. We had
+defeated in most of our engagements with them the Syracusans, against
+whom we were sent, and we had built the works which we now occupy, when
+Gylippus arrived from Lacedaemon with an army obtained from Peloponnese
+and from some of the cities in Sicily. In our first battle with him we
+were victorious; in the battle on the following day we were overpowered
+by a multitude of cavalry and darters, and compelled to retire within
+our lines. We have now, therefore, been forced by the numbers of those
+opposed to us to discontinue the work of circumvallation, and to remain
+inactive; being unable to make use even of all the force we have, since
+a large portion of our heavy infantry is absorbed in the defence of our
+lines. Meanwhile the enemy have carried a single wall past our lines,
+thus making it impossible for us to invest them in future, until this
+cross wall be attacked by a strong force and captured. So that the
+besieger in name has become, at least from the land side, the besieged
+in reality; as we are prevented by their cavalry from even going for any
+distance into the country.
+
+"Besides this, an embassy has been dispatched to Peloponnese to procure
+reinforcements, and Gylippus has gone to the cities in Sicily, partly
+in the hope of inducing those that are at present neutral to join him in
+the war, partly of bringing from his allies additional contingents for
+the land forces and material for the navy. For I understand that they
+contemplate a combined attack, upon our lines with their land forces and
+with their fleet by sea. You must none of you be surprised that I say by
+sea also. They have discovered that the length of the time we have now
+been in commission has rotted our ships and wasted our crews, and that
+with the entireness of our crews and the soundness of our ships the
+pristine efficiency of our navy has departed. For it is impossible
+for us to haul our ships ashore and careen them, because, the
+enemy's vessels being as many or more than our own, we are constantly
+anticipating an attack. Indeed, they may be seen exercising, and it lies
+with them to take the initiative; and not having to maintain a blockade,
+they have greater facilities for drying their ships.
+
+"This we should scarcely be able to do, even if we had plenty of ships
+to spare, and were freed from our present necessity of exhausting all
+our strength upon the blockade. For it is already difficult to carry
+in supplies past Syracuse; and were we to relax our vigilance in the
+slightest degree it would become impossible. The losses which our crews
+have suffered and still continue to suffer arise from the following
+causes. Expeditions for fuel and for forage, and the distance from
+which water has to be fetched, cause our sailors to be cut off by the
+Syracusan cavalry; the loss of our previous superiority emboldens our
+slaves to desert; our foreign seamen are impressed by the unexpected
+appearance of a navy against us, and the strength of the enemy's
+resistance; such of them as were pressed into the service take the
+first opportunity of departing to their respective cities; such as were
+originally seduced by the temptation of high pay, and expected little
+fighting and large gains, leave us either by desertion to the enemy
+or by availing themselves of one or other of the various facilities of
+escape which the magnitude of Sicily affords them. Some even engage in
+trade themselves and prevail upon the captains to take Hyccaric slaves
+on board in their place; thus they have ruined the efficiency of our
+navy.
+
+"Now I need not remind you that the time during which a crew is in its
+prime is short, and that the number of sailors who can start a ship on
+her way and keep the rowing in time is small. But by far my greatest
+trouble is, that holding the post which I do, I am prevented by the
+natural indocility of the Athenian seaman from putting a stop to these
+evils; and that meanwhile we have no source from which to recruit our
+crews, which the enemy can do from many quarters, but are compelled to
+depend both for supplying the crews in service and for making good
+our losses upon the men whom we brought with us. For our present
+confederates, Naxos and Catana, are incapable of supplying us. There is
+only one thing more wanting to our opponents, I mean the defection of
+our Italian markets. If they were to see you neglect to relieve us from
+our present condition, and were to go over to the enemy, famine would
+compel us to evacuate, and Syracuse would finish the war without a blow.
+
+"I might, it is true, have written to you something different and
+more agreeable than this, but nothing certainly more useful, if it is
+desirable for you to know the real state of things here before taking
+your measures. Besides I know that it is your nature to love to be
+told the best side of things, and then to blame the teller if the
+expectations which he has raised in your minds are not answered by the
+result; and I therefore thought it safest to declare to you the truth.
+
+"Now you are not to think that either your generals or your soldiers
+have ceased to be a match for the forces originally opposed to them.
+But you are to reflect that a general Sicilian coalition is being formed
+against us; that a fresh army is expected from Peloponnese, while the
+force we have here is unable to cope even with our present antagonists;
+and you must promptly decide either to recall us or to send out to us
+another fleet and army as numerous again, with a large sum of money,
+and someone to succeed me, as a disease in the kidneys unfits me for
+retaining my post. I have, I think, some claim on your indulgence, as
+while I was in my prime I did you much good service in my commands. But
+whatever you mean to do, do it at the commencement of spring and without
+delay, as the enemy will obtain his Sicilian reinforcements shortly,
+those from Peloponnese after a longer interval; and unless you attend
+to the matter the former will be here before you, while the latter will
+elude you as they have done before."
+
+Such were the contents of Nicias's letter. When the Athenians had heard
+it they refused to accept his resignation, but chose him two colleagues,
+naming Menander and Euthydemus, two of the officers at the seat of war,
+to fill their places until their arrival, that Nicias might not be left
+alone in his sickness to bear the whole weight of affairs. They also
+voted to send out another army and navy, drawn partly from the Athenians
+on the muster-roll, partly from the allies. The colleagues chosen for
+Nicias were Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, and Eurymedon, son of
+Thucles. Eurymedon was sent off at once, about the time of the winter
+solstice, with ten ships, a hundred and twenty talents of silver, and
+instructions to tell the army that reinforcements would arrive, and that
+care would be taken of them; but Demosthenes stayed behind to organize
+the expedition, meaning to start as soon as it was spring, and sent for
+troops to the allies, and meanwhile got together money, ships, and heavy
+infantry at home.
+
+The Athenians also sent twenty vessels round Peloponnese to prevent
+any one crossing over to Sicily from Corinth or Peloponnese. For the
+Corinthians, filled with confidence by the favourable alteration in
+Sicilian affairs which had been reported by the envoys upon their
+arrival, and convinced that the fleet which they had before sent out
+had not been without its use, were now preparing to dispatch a force of
+heavy infantry in merchant vessels to Sicily, while the Lacedaemonians
+did the like for the rest of Peloponnese. The Corinthians also manned
+a fleet of twenty-five vessels, intending to try the result of a battle
+with the squadron on guard at Naupactus, and meanwhile to make it
+less easy for the Athenians there to hinder the departure of their
+merchantmen, by obliging them to keep an eye upon the galleys thus
+arrayed against them.
+
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians prepared for their invasion of
+Attica, in accordance with their own previous resolve, and at the
+instigation of the Syracusans and Corinthians, who wished for an
+invasion to arrest the reinforcements which they heard that Athens
+was about to send to Sicily. Alcibiades also urgently advised the
+fortification of Decelea, and a vigorous prosecution of the war. But the
+Lacedaemonians derived most encouragement from the belief that
+Athens, with two wars on her hands, against themselves and against the
+Siceliots, would be more easy to subdue, and from the conviction that
+she had been the first to infringe the truce. In the former war, they
+considered, the offence had been more on their own side, both on account
+of the entrance of the Thebans into Plataea in time of peace, and also
+of their own refusal to listen to the Athenian offer of arbitration, in
+spite of the clause in the former treaty that where arbitration should
+be offered there should be no appeal to arms. For this reason they
+thought that they deserved their misfortunes, and took to heart
+seriously the disaster at Pylos and whatever else had befallen them.
+But when, besides the ravages from Pylos, which went on without any
+intermission, the thirty Athenian ships came out from Argos and wasted
+part of Epidaurus, Prasiae, and other places; when upon every dispute
+that arose as to the interpretation of any doubtful point in the treaty,
+their own offers of arbitration were always rejected by the Athenians,
+the Lacedaemonians at length decided that Athens had now committed the
+very same offence as they had before done, and had become the guilty
+party; and they began to be full of ardour for the war. They spent this
+winter in sending round to their allies for iron, and in getting ready
+the other implements for building their fort; and meanwhile began
+raising at home, and also by forced requisitions in the rest of
+Peloponnese, a force to be sent out in the merchantmen to their allies
+in Sicily. Winter thus ended, and with it the eighteenth year of this
+war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+In the first days of the spring following, at an earlier period than
+usual, the Lacedaemonians and their allies invaded Attica, under the
+command of Agis, son of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. They
+began by devastating the parts bordering upon the plain, and next
+proceeded to fortify Decelea, dividing the work among the different
+cities. Decelea is about thirteen or fourteen miles from the city of
+Athens, and the same distance or not much further from Boeotia; and the
+fort was meant to annoy the plain and the richest parts of the country,
+being in sight of Athens. While the Peloponnesians and their allies in
+Attica were engaged in the work of fortification, their countrymen
+at home sent off, at about the same time, the heavy infantry in the
+merchant vessels to Sicily; the Lacedaemonians furnishing a picked force
+of Helots and Neodamodes (or freedmen), six hundred heavy infantry in
+all, under the command of Eccritus, a Spartan; and the Boeotians three
+hundred heavy infantry, commanded by two Thebans, Xenon and Nicon, and
+by Hegesander, a Thespian. These were among the first to put out into
+the open sea, starting from Taenarus in Laconia. Not long after their
+departure the Corinthians sent off a force of five hundred heavy
+infantry, consisting partly of men from Corinth itself, and partly
+of Arcadian mercenaries, placed under the command of Alexarchus, a
+Corinthian. The Sicyonians also sent off two hundred heavy infantry at
+same time as the Corinthians, under the command of Sargeus, a Sicyonian.
+Meantime the five-and-twenty vessels manned by Corinth during the winter
+lay confronting the twenty Athenian ships at Naupactus until the heavy
+infantry in the merchantmen were fairly on their way from Peloponnese;
+thus fulfilling the object for which they had been manned originally,
+which was to divert the attention of the Athenians from the merchantmen
+to the galleys.
+
+During this time the Athenians were not idle. Simultaneously with the
+fortification of Decelea, at the very beginning of spring, they sent
+thirty ships round Peloponnese, under Charicles, son of Apollodorus,
+with instructions to call at Argos and demand a force of their heavy
+infantry for the fleet, agreeably to the alliance. At the same time
+they dispatched Demosthenes to Sicily, as they had intended, with sixty
+Athenian and five Chian vessels, twelve hundred Athenian heavy infantry
+from the muster-roll, and as many of the islanders as could be raised
+in the different quarters, drawing upon the other subject allies for
+whatever they could supply that would be of use for the war. Demosthenes
+was instructed first to sail round with Charicles and to operate with
+him upon the coasts of Laconia, and accordingly sailed to Aegina and
+there waited for the remainder of his armament, and for Charicles to
+fetch the Argive troops.
+
+In Sicily, about the same time in this spring, Gylippus came to Syracuse
+with as many troops as he could bring from the cities which he had
+persuaded to join. Calling the Syracusans together, he told them
+that they must man as many ships as possible, and try their hand at
+a sea-fight, by which he hoped to achieve an advantage in the war not
+unworthy of the risk. With him Hermocrates actively joined in trying to
+encourage his countrymen to attack the Athenians at sea, saying that the
+latter had not inherited their naval prowess nor would they retain
+it for ever; they had been landsmen even to a greater degree than the
+Syracusans, and had only become a maritime power when obliged by the
+Mede. Besides, to daring spirits like the Athenians, a daring adversary
+would seem the most formidable; and the Athenian plan of paralysing by
+the boldness of their attack a neighbour often not their inferior in
+strength could now be used against them with as good effect by the
+Syracusans. He was convinced also that the unlooked-for spectacle of
+Syracusans daring to face the Athenian navy would cause a terror to the
+enemy, the advantages of which would far outweigh any loss that Athenian
+science might inflict upon their inexperience. He accordingly urged
+them to throw aside their fears and to try their fortune at sea; and the
+Syracusans, under the influence of Gylippus and Hermocrates, and perhaps
+some others, made up their minds for the sea-fight and began to man
+their vessels.
+
+When the fleet was ready, Gylippus led out the whole army by night; his
+plan being to assault in person the forts on Plemmyrium by land, while
+thirty-five Syracusan galleys sailed according to appointment against
+the enemy from the great harbour, and the forty-five remaining came
+round from the lesser harbour, where they had their arsenal, in order
+to effect a junction with those inside and simultaneously to attack
+Plemmyrium, and thus to distract the Athenians by assaulting them on
+two sides at once. The Athenians quickly manned sixty ships, and with
+twenty-five of these engaged the thirty-five of the Syracusans in the
+great harbour, sending the rest to meet those sailing round from the
+arsenal; and an action now ensued directly in front of the mouth of the
+great harbour, maintained with equal tenacity on both sides; the one
+wishing to force the passage, the other to prevent them.
+
+In the meantime, while the Athenians in Plemmyrium were down at the sea,
+attending to the engagement, Gylippus made a sudden attack on the forts
+in the early morning and took the largest first, and afterwards the two
+smaller, whose garrisons did not wait for him, seeing the largest
+so easily taken. At the fall of the first fort, the men from it who
+succeeded in taking refuge in their boats and merchantmen, found great
+difficulty in reaching the camp, as the Syracusans were having the best
+of it in the engagement in the great harbour, and sent a fast-sailing
+galley to pursue them. But when the two others fell, the Syracusans were
+now being defeated; and the fugitives from these sailed alongshore with
+more ease. The Syracusan ships fighting off the mouth of the harbour
+forced their way through the Athenian vessels and sailing in without
+any order fell foul of one another, and transferred the victory to the
+Athenians; who not only routed the squadron in question, but also that
+by which they were at first being defeated in the harbour, sinking
+eleven of the Syracusan vessels and killing most of the men, except
+the crews of three ships whom they made prisoners. Their own loss was
+confined to three vessels; and after hauling ashore the Syracusan wrecks
+and setting up a trophy upon the islet in front of Plemmyrium, they
+retired to their own camp.
+
+Unsuccessful at sea, the Syracusans had nevertheless the forts in
+Plemmyrium, for which they set up three trophies. One of the two last
+taken they razed, but put in order and garrisoned the two others. In the
+capture of the forts a great many men were killed and made prisoners,
+and a great quantity of property was taken in all. As the Athenians had
+used them as a magazine, there was a large stock of goods and corn of
+the merchants inside, and also a large stock belonging to the captains;
+the masts and other furniture of forty galleys being taken, besides
+three galleys which had been drawn up on shore. Indeed the first and
+chiefest cause of the ruin of the Athenian army was the capture of
+Plemmyrium; even the entrance of the harbour being now no longer safe
+for carrying in provisions, as the Syracusan vessels were stationed
+there to prevent it, and nothing could be brought in without fighting;
+besides the general impression of dismay and discouragement produced
+upon the army.
+
+After this the Syracusans sent out twelve ships under the command
+of Agatharchus, a Syracusan. One of these went to Peloponnese with
+ambassadors to describe the hopeful state of their affairs, and to
+incite the Peloponnesians to prosecute the war there even more actively
+than they were now doing, while the eleven others sailed to Italy,
+hearing that vessels laden with stores were on their way to the
+Athenians. After falling in with and destroying most of the vessels in
+question, and burning in the Caulonian territory a quantity of timber
+for shipbuilding, which had been got ready for the Athenians, the
+Syracusan squadron went to Locri, and one of the merchantmen from
+Peloponnese coming in, while they were at anchor there, carrying
+Thespian heavy infantry, took these on board and sailed alongshore
+towards home. The Athenians were on the look-out for them with twenty
+ships at Megara, but were only able to take one vessel with its crew;
+the rest getting clear off to Syracuse. There was also some skirmishing
+in the harbour about the piles which the Syracusans had driven in the
+sea in front of the old docks, to allow their ships to lie at anchor
+inside, without being hurt by the Athenians sailing up and running them
+down. The Athenians brought up to them a ship of ten thousand talents
+burden furnished with wooden turrets and screens, and fastened ropes
+round the piles from their boats, wrenched them up and broke them, or
+dived down and sawed them in two. Meanwhile the Syracusans plied them
+with missiles from the docks, to which they replied from their large
+vessel; until at last most of the piles were removed by the Athenians.
+But the most awkward part of the stockade was the part out of sight:
+some of the piles which had been driven in did not appear above water,
+so that it was dangerous to sail up, for fear of running the ships upon
+them, just as upon a reef, through not seeing them. However divers went
+down and sawed off even these for reward; although the Syracusans drove
+in others. Indeed there was no end to the contrivances to which they
+resorted against each other, as might be expected between two hostile
+armies confronting each other at such a short distance: and skirmishes
+and all kinds of other attempts were of constant occurrence. Meanwhile
+the Syracusans sent embassies to the cities, composed of Corinthians,
+Ambraciots, and Lacedaemonians, to tell them of the capture of
+Plemmyrium, and that their defeat in the sea-fight was due less to the
+strength of the enemy than to their own disorder; and generally, to let
+them know that they were full of hope, and to desire them to come to
+their help with ships and troops, as the Athenians were expected with a
+fresh army, and if the one already there could be destroyed before the
+other arrived, the war would be at an end.
+
+While the contending parties in Sicily were thus engaged, Demosthenes,
+having now got together the armament with which he was to go to the
+island, put out from Aegina, and making sail for Peloponnese, joined
+Charicles and the thirty ships of the Athenians. Taking on board the
+heavy infantry from Argos they sailed to Laconia, and, after first
+plundering part of Epidaurus Limera, landed on the coast of Laconia,
+opposite Cythera, where the temple of Apollo stands, and, laying waste
+part of the country, fortified a sort of isthmus, to which the Helots of
+the Lacedaemonians might desert, and from whence plundering incursions
+might be made as from Pylos. Demosthenes helped to occupy this place,
+and then immediately sailed on to Corcyra to take up some of the
+allies in that island, and so to proceed without delay to Sicily; while
+Charicles waited until he had completed the fortification of the place
+and, leaving a garrison there, returned home subsequently with his
+thirty ships and the Argives also.
+
+This same summer arrived at Athens thirteen hundred targeteers, Thracian
+swordsmen of the tribe of the Dii, who were to have sailed to Sicily
+with Demosthenes. Since they had come too late, the Athenians determined
+to send them back to Thrace, whence they had come; to keep them for
+the Decelean war appearing too expensive, as the pay of each man was
+a drachma a day. Indeed since Decelea had been first fortified by the
+whole Peloponnesian army during this summer, and then occupied for the
+annoyance of the country by the garrisons from the cities relieving
+each other at stated intervals, it had been doing great mischief to the
+Athenians; in fact this occupation, by the destruction of property and
+loss of men which resulted from it, was one of the principal causes of
+their ruin. Previously the invasions were short, and did not prevent
+their enjoying their land during the rest of the time: the enemy was now
+permanently fixed in Attica; at one time it was an attack in force, at
+another it was the regular garrison overrunning the country and making
+forays for its subsistence, and the Lacedaemonian king, Agis, was in the
+field and diligently prosecuting the war; great mischief was therefore
+done to the Athenians. They were deprived of their whole country: more
+than twenty thousand slaves had deserted, a great part of them artisans,
+and all their sheep and beasts of burden were lost; and as the cavalry
+rode out daily upon excursions to Decelea and to guard the country,
+their horses were either lamed by being constantly worked upon rocky
+ground, or wounded by the enemy.
+
+Besides, the transport of provisions from Euboea, which had before been
+carried on so much more quickly overland by Decelea from Oropus, was now
+effected at great cost by sea round Sunium; everything the city required
+had to be imported from abroad, and instead of a city it became a
+fortress. Summer and winter the Athenians were worn out by having to
+keep guard on the fortifications, during the day by turns, by night all
+together, the cavalry excepted, at the different military posts or upon
+the wall. But what most oppressed them was that they had two wars at
+once, and had thus reached a pitch of frenzy which no one would have
+believed possible if he had heard of it before it had come to pass.
+For could any one have imagined that even when besieged by the
+Peloponnesians entrenched in Attica, they would still, instead of
+withdrawing from Sicily, stay on there besieging in like manner
+Syracuse, a town (taken as a town) in no way inferior to Athens, or
+would so thoroughly upset the Hellenic estimate of their strength and
+audacity, as to give the spectacle of a people which, at the beginning
+of the war, some thought might hold out one year, some two, none more
+than three, if the Peloponnesians invaded their country, now seventeen
+years after the first invasion, after having already suffered from all
+the evils of war, going to Sicily and undertaking a new war nothing
+inferior to that which they already had with the Peloponnesians? These
+causes, the great losses from Decelea, and the other heavy charges that
+fell upon them, produced their financial embarrassment; and it was at
+this time that they imposed upon their subjects, instead of the tribute,
+the tax of a twentieth upon all imports and exports by sea, which they
+thought would bring them in more money; their expenditure being now not
+the same as at first, but having grown with the war while their revenues
+decayed.
+
+Accordingly, not wishing to incur expense in their present want of
+money, they sent back at once the Thracians who came too late for
+Demosthenes, under the conduct of Diitrephes, who was instructed, as
+they were to pass through the Euripus, to make use of them if possible
+in the voyage alongshore to injure the enemy. Diitrephes first landed
+them at Tanagra and hastily snatched some booty; he then sailed across
+the Euripus in the evening from Chalcis in Euboea and disembarking in
+Boeotia led them against Mycalessus. The night he passed unobserved
+near the temple of Hermes, not quite two miles from Mycalessus, and
+at daybreak assaulted and took the town, which is not a large one; the
+inhabitants being off their guard and not expecting that any one would
+ever come up so far from the sea to molest them, the wall too being
+weak, and in some places having tumbled down, while in others it had
+not been built to any height, and the gates also being left open through
+their feeling of security. The Thracians bursting into Mycalessus sacked
+the houses and temples, and butchered the inhabitants, sparing neither
+youth nor age, but killing all they fell in with, one after the other,
+children and women, and even beasts of burden, and whatever other
+living creatures they saw; the Thracian race, like the bloodiest of the
+barbarians, being even more so when it has nothing to fear. Everywhere
+confusion reigned and death in all its shapes; and in particular they
+attacked a boys' school, the largest that there was in the place, into
+which the children had just gone, and massacred them all. In short, the
+disaster falling upon the whole town was unsurpassed in magnitude, and
+unapproached by any in suddenness and in horror.
+
+Meanwhile the Thebans heard of it and marched to the rescue, and
+overtaking the Thracians before they had gone far, recovered the plunder
+and drove them in panic to the Euripus and the sea, where the vessels
+which brought them were lying. The greatest slaughter took place while
+they were embarking, as they did not know how to swim, and those in
+the vessels on seeing what was going on on on shore moored them out
+of bowshot: in the rest of the retreat the Thracians made a very
+respectable defence against the Theban horse, by which they were first
+attacked, dashing out and closing their ranks according to the tactics
+of their country, and lost only a few men in that part of the affair. A
+good number who were after plunder were actually caught in the town and
+put to death. Altogether the Thracians had two hundred and fifty killed
+out of thirteen hundred, the Thebans and the rest who came to the rescue
+about twenty, troopers and heavy infantry, with Scirphondas, one of
+the Boeotarchs. The Mycalessians lost a large proportion of their
+population.
+
+While Mycalessus thus experienced a calamity for its extent as
+lamentable as any that happened in the war, Demosthenes, whom we left
+sailing to Corcyra, after the building of the fort in Laconia, found
+a merchantman lying at Phea in Elis, in which the Corinthian heavy
+infantry were to cross to Sicily. The ship he destroyed, but the men
+escaped, and subsequently got another in which they pursued their
+voyage. After this, arriving at Zacynthus and Cephallenia, he took a
+body of heavy infantry on board, and sending for some of the Messenians
+from Naupactus, crossed over to the opposite coast of Acarnania, to
+Alyzia, and to Anactorium which was held by the Athenians. While he was
+in these parts he was met by Eurymedon returning from Sicily, where he
+had been sent, as has been mentioned, during the winter, with the money
+for the army, who told him the news, and also that he had heard, while
+at sea, that the Syracusans had taken Plemmyrium. Here, also, Conon
+came to them, the commander at Naupactus, with news that the twenty-five
+Corinthian ships stationed opposite to him, far from giving over the
+war, were meditating an engagement; and he therefore begged them to send
+him some ships, as his own eighteen were not a match for the enemy's
+twenty-five. Demosthenes and Eurymedon, accordingly, sent ten of their
+best sailers with Conon to reinforce the squadron at Naupactus, and
+meanwhile prepared for the muster of their forces; Eurymedon, who was
+now the colleague of Demosthenes, and had turned back in consequence of
+his appointment, sailing to Corcyra to tell them to man fifteen ships
+and to enlist heavy infantry; while Demosthenes raised slingers and
+darters from the parts about Acarnania.
+
+Meanwhile the envoys, already mentioned, who had gone from Syracuse
+to the cities after the capture of Plemmyrium, had succeeded in their
+mission, and were about to bring the army that they had collected, when
+Nicias got scent of it, and sent to the Centoripae and Alicyaeans and
+other of the friendly Sicels, who held the passes, not to let the enemy
+through, but to combine to prevent their passing, there being no other
+way by which they could even attempt it, as the Agrigentines would not
+give them a passage through their country. Agreeably to this request the
+Sicels laid a triple ambuscade for the Siceliots upon their march,
+and attacking them suddenly, while off their guard, killed about eight
+hundred of them and all the envoys, the Corinthian only excepted, by
+whom fifteen hundred who escaped were conducted to Syracuse.
+
+About the same time the Camarinaeans also came to the assistance of
+Syracuse with five hundred heavy infantry, three hundred darters, and as
+many archers, while the Geloans sent crews for five ships, four hundred
+darters, and two hundred horse. Indeed almost the whole of Sicily,
+except the Agrigentines, who were neutral, now ceased merely to watch
+events as it had hitherto done, and actively joined Syracuse against the
+Athenians.
+
+While the Syracusans after the Sicel disaster put off any immediate
+attack upon the Athenians, Demosthenes and Eurymedon, whose forces from
+Corcyra and the continent were now ready, crossed the Ionian Gulf with
+all their armament to the Iapygian promontory, and starting from thence
+touched at the Choerades Isles lying off Iapygia, where they took on
+board a hundred and fifty Iapygian darters of the Messapian tribe, and
+after renewing an old friendship with Artas the chief, who had furnished
+them with the darters, arrived at Metapontium in Italy. Here they
+persuaded their allies the Metapontines to send with them three hundred
+darters and two galleys, and with this reinforcement coasted on to
+Thurii, where they found the party hostile to Athens recently expelled
+by a revolution, and accordingly remained there to muster and review the
+whole army, to see if any had been left behind, and to prevail upon
+the Thurians resolutely to join them in their expedition, and in the
+circumstances in which they found themselves to conclude a defensive and
+offensive alliance with the Athenians.
+
+About the same time the Peloponnesians in the twenty-five ships
+stationed opposite to the squadron at Naupactus to protect the passage
+of the transports to Sicily had got ready for engaging, and manning
+some additional vessels, so as to be numerically little inferior to the
+Athenians, anchored off Erineus in Achaia in the Rhypic country. The
+place off which they lay being in the form of a crescent, the land
+forces furnished by the Corinthians and their allies on the spot came
+up and ranged themselves upon the projecting headlands on either side,
+while the fleet, under the command of Polyanthes, a Corinthian, held
+the intervening space and blocked up the entrance. The Athenians under
+Diphilus now sailed out against them with thirty-three ships from
+Naupactus, and the Corinthians, at first not moving, at length thought
+they saw their opportunity, raised the signal, and advanced and engaged
+the Athenians. After an obstinate struggle, the Corinthians lost three
+ships, and without sinking any altogether, disabled seven of the enemy,
+which were struck prow to prow and had their foreships stove in by the
+Corinthian vessels, whose cheeks had been strengthened for this very
+purpose. After an action of this even character, in which either party
+could claim the victory (although the Athenians became masters of the
+wrecks through the wind driving them out to sea, the Corinthians not
+putting out again to meet them), the two combatants parted. No pursuit
+took place, and no prisoners were made on either side; the Corinthians
+and Peloponnesians who were fighting near the shore escaping with ease,
+and none of the Athenian vessels having been sunk. The Athenians now
+sailed back to Naupactus, and the Corinthians immediately set up a
+trophy as victors, because they had disabled a greater number of the
+enemy's ships. Moreover they held that they had not been worsted, for
+the very same reason that their opponent held that he had not been
+victorious; the Corinthians considering that they were conquerors,
+if not decidedly conquered, and the Athenians thinking themselves
+vanquished, because not decidedly victorious. However, when the
+Peloponnesians sailed off and their land forces had dispersed, the
+Athenians also set up a trophy as victors in Achaia, about two miles and
+a quarter from Erineus, the Corinthian station.
+
+This was the termination of the action at Naupactus. To return to
+Demosthenes and Eurymedon: the Thurians having now got ready to join
+in the expedition with seven hundred heavy infantry and three hundred
+darters, the two generals ordered the ships to sail along the coast to
+the Crotonian territory, and meanwhile held a review of all the land
+forces upon the river Sybaris, and then led them through the Thurian
+country. Arrived at the river Hylias, they here received a message
+from the Crotonians, saying that they would not allow the army to pass
+through their country; upon which the Athenians descended towards the
+shore, and bivouacked near the sea and the mouth of the Hylias, where
+the fleet also met them, and the next day embarked and sailed along the
+coast touching at all the cities except Locri, until they came to Petra
+in the Rhegian territory.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans hearing of their approach resolved to make a
+second attempt with their fleet and their other forces on shore, which
+they had been collecting for this very purpose in order to do something
+before their arrival. In addition to other improvements suggested by the
+former sea-fight which they now adopted in the equipment of their navy,
+they cut down their prows to a smaller compass to make them more
+solid and made their cheeks stouter, and from these let stays into the
+vessels' sides for a length of six cubits within and without, in the
+same way as the Corinthians had altered their prows before engaging the
+squadron at Naupactus. The Syracusans thought that they would thus have
+an advantage over the Athenian vessels, which were not constructed with
+equal strength, but were slight in the bows, from their being more used
+to sail round and charge the enemy's side than to meet him prow to prow,
+and that the battle being in the great harbour, with a great many ships
+in not much room, was also a fact in their favour. Charging prow to
+prow, they would stave in the enemy's bows, by striking with solid and
+stout beaks against hollow and weak ones; and secondly, the Athenians
+for want of room would be unable to use their favourite manoeuvre of
+breaking the line or of sailing round, as the Syracusans would do their
+best not to let them do the one, and want of room would prevent their
+doing the other. This charging prow to prow, which had hitherto been
+thought want of skill in a helmsman, would be the Syracusans' chief
+manoeuvre, as being that which they should find most useful, since the
+Athenians, if repulsed, would not be able to back water in any direction
+except towards the shore, and that only for a little way, and in the
+little space in front of their own camp. The rest of the harbour would
+be commanded by the Syracusans; and the Athenians, if hard pressed, by
+crowding together in a small space and all to the same point, would
+run foul of one another and fall into disorder, which was, in fact, the
+thing that did the Athenians most harm in all the sea-fights, they not
+having, like the Syracusans, the whole harbour to retreat over. As to
+their sailing round into the open sea, this would be impossible, with
+the Syracusans in possession of the way out and in, especially as
+Plemmyrium would be hostile to them, and the mouth of the harbour was
+not large.
+
+With these contrivances to suit their skill and ability, and now more
+confident after the previous sea-fight, the Syracusans attacked by land
+and sea at once. The town force Gylippus led out a little the first and
+brought them up to the wall of the Athenians, where it looked towards
+the city, while the force from the Olympieum, that is to say, the heavy
+infantry that were there with the horse and the light troops of the
+Syracusans, advanced against the wall from the opposite side; the ships
+of the Syracusans and allies sailing out immediately afterwards. The
+Athenians at first fancied that they were to be attacked by land
+only, and it was not without alarm that they saw the fleet suddenly
+approaching as well; and while some were forming upon the walls and
+in front of them against the advancing enemy, and some marching out in
+haste against the numbers of horse and darters coming from the Olympieum
+and from outside, others manned the ships or rushed down to the beach
+to oppose the enemy, and when the ships were manned put out with
+seventy-five sail against about eighty of the Syracusans.
+
+After spending a great part of the day in advancing and retreating
+and skirmishing with each other, without either being able to gain any
+advantage worth speaking of, except that the Syracusans sank one or two
+of the Athenian vessels, they parted, the land force at the same time
+retiring from the lines. The next day the Syracusans remained quiet, and
+gave no signs of what they were going to do; but Nicias, seeing that the
+battle had been a drawn one, and expecting that they would attack again,
+compelled the captains to refit any of the ships that had suffered, and
+moored merchant vessels before the stockade which they had driven
+into the sea in front of their ships, to serve instead of an enclosed
+harbour, at about two hundred feet from each other, in order that any
+ship that was hard pressed might be able to retreat in safety and sail
+out again at leisure. These preparations occupied the Athenians all day
+until nightfall.
+
+The next day the Syracusans began operations at an earlier hour, but
+with the same plan of attack by land and sea. A great part of the day
+the rivals spent as before, confronting and skirmishing with each
+other; until at last Ariston, son of Pyrrhicus, a Corinthian, the ablest
+helmsman in the Syracusan service, persuaded their naval commanders to
+send to the officials in the city, and tell them to move the sale market
+as quickly as they could down to the sea, and oblige every one to
+bring whatever eatables he had and sell them there, thus enabling the
+commanders to land the crews and dine at once close to the ships, and
+shortly afterwards, the selfsame day, to attack the Athenians again when
+they were not expecting it.
+
+In compliance with this advice a messenger was sent and the market got
+ready, upon which the Syracusans suddenly backed water and withdrew to
+the town, and at once landed and took their dinner upon the spot; while
+the Athenians, supposing that they had returned to the town because
+they felt they were beaten, disembarked at their leisure and set about
+getting their dinners and about their other occupations, under the idea
+that they done with fighting for that day. Suddenly the Syracusans had
+manned their ships and again sailed against them; and the Athenians, in
+great confusion and most of them fasting, got on board, and with great
+difficulty put out to meet them. For some time both parties remained on
+the defensive without engaging, until the Athenians at last resolved not
+to let themselves be worn out by waiting where they were, but to attack
+without delay, and giving a cheer, went into action. The Syracusans
+received them, and charging prow to prow as they had intended, stove in
+a great part of the Athenian foreships by the strength of their beaks;
+the darters on the decks also did great damage to the Athenians, but
+still greater damage was done by the Syracusans who went about in small
+boats, ran in upon the oars of the Athenian galleys, and sailed against
+their sides, and discharged from thence their darts upon the sailors.
+
+At last, fighting hard in this fashion, the Syracusans gained the
+victory, and the Athenians turned and fled between the merchantmen
+to their own station. The Syracusan ships pursued them as far as the
+merchantmen, where they were stopped by the beams armed with dolphins
+suspended from those vessels over the passage. Two of the Syracusan
+vessels went too near in the excitement of victory and were destroyed,
+one of them being taken with its crew. After sinking seven of the
+Athenian vessels and disabling many, and taking most of the men
+prisoners and killing others, the Syracusans retired and set up trophies
+for both the engagements, being now confident of having a decided
+superiority by sea, and by no means despairing of equal success by land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+_Nineteenth Year of the War--Arrival of Demosthenes--Defeat of the
+Athenians at Epipolae--Folly and Obstinancy of Nicias_
+
+In the meantime, while the Syracusans were preparing for a second attack
+upon both elements, Demosthenes and Eurymedon arrived with the succours
+from Athens, consisting of about seventy-three ships, including the
+foreigners; nearly five thousand heavy infantry, Athenian and allied;
+a large number of darters, Hellenic and barbarian, and slingers and
+archers and everything else upon a corresponding scale. The Syracusans
+and their allies were for the moment not a little dismayed at the idea
+that there was to be no term or ending to their dangers, seeing, in
+spite of the fortification of Decelea, a new army arrive nearly equal to
+the former, and the power of Athens proving so great in every quarter.
+On the other hand, the first Athenian armament regained a certain
+confidence in the midst of its misfortunes. Demosthenes, seeing how
+matters stood, felt that he could not drag on and fare as Nicias had
+done, who by wintering in Catana instead of at once attacking Syracuse
+had allowed the terror of his first arrival to evaporate in contempt,
+and had given time to Gylippus to arrive with a force from Peloponnese,
+which the Syracusans would never have sent for if he had attacked
+immediately; for they fancied that they were a match for him by
+themselves, and would not have discovered their inferiority until they
+were already invested, and even if they then sent for succours, they
+would no longer have been equally able to profit by their arrival.
+Recollecting this, and well aware that it was now on the first day
+after his arrival that he like Nicias was most formidable to the enemy,
+Demosthenes determined to lose no time in drawing the utmost profit from
+the consternation at the moment inspired by his army; and seeing that
+the counterwall of the Syracusans, which hindered the Athenians from
+investing them, was a single one, and that he who should become master
+of the way up to Epipolae, and afterwards of the camp there, would find
+no difficulty in taking it, as no one would even wait for his attack,
+made all haste to attempt the enterprise. This he took to be the
+shortest way of ending the war, as he would either succeed and take
+Syracuse, or would lead back the armament instead of frittering away the
+lives of the Athenians engaged in the expedition and the resources of
+the country at large.
+
+First therefore the Athenians went out and laid waste the lands of the
+Syracusans about the Anapus and carried all before them as at first by
+land and by sea, the Syracusans not offering to oppose them upon
+either element, unless it were with their cavalry and darters from the
+Olympieum. Next Demosthenes resolved to attempt the counterwall first by
+means of engines. As however the engines that he brought up were burnt
+by the enemy fighting from the wall, and the rest of the forces repulsed
+after attacking at many different points, he determined to delay
+no longer, and having obtained the consent of Nicias and his fellow
+commanders, proceeded to put in execution his plan of attacking
+Epipolae. As by day it seemed impossible to approach and get up without
+being observed, he ordered provisions for five days, took all the masons
+and carpenters, and other things, such as arrows, and everything else
+that they could want for the work of fortification if successful, and,
+after the first watch, set out with Eurymedon and Menander and the whole
+army for Epipolae, Nicias being left behind in the lines. Having come
+up by the hill of Euryelus (where the former army had ascended at first)
+unobserved by the enemy's guards, they went up to the fort which the
+Syracusans had there, and took it, and put to the sword part of the
+garrison. The greater number, however, escaped at once and gave the
+alarm to the camps, of which there were three upon Epipolae, defended by
+outworks, one of the Syracusans, one of the other Siceliots, and one of
+the allies; and also to the six hundred Syracusans forming the original
+garrison for this part of Epipolae. These at once advanced against the
+assailants and, falling in with Demosthenes and the Athenians, were
+routed by them after a sharp resistance, the victors immediately pushing
+on, eager to achieve the objects of the attack without giving time for
+their ardour to cool; meanwhile others from the very beginning were
+taking the counterwall of the Syracusans, which was abandoned by its
+garrison, and pulling down the battlements. The Syracusans and the
+allies, and Gylippus with the troops under his command, advanced to the
+rescue from the outworks, but engaged in some consternation (a night
+attack being a piece of audacity which they had never expected), and
+were at first compelled to retreat. But while the Athenians, flushed
+with their victory, now advanced with less order, wishing to make their
+way as quickly as possible through the whole force of the enemy not yet
+engaged, without relaxing their attack or giving them time to rally, the
+Boeotians made the first stand against them, attacked them, routed them,
+and put them to flight.
+
+The Athenians now fell into great disorder and perplexity, so that it
+was not easy to get from one side or the other any detailed account
+of the affair. By day certainly the combatants have a clearer notion,
+though even then by no means of all that takes place, no one knowing
+much of anything that does not go on in his own immediate neighbourhood;
+but in a night engagement (and this was the only one that occurred
+between great armies during the war) how could any one know anything for
+certain? Although there was a bright moon they saw each other only as
+men do by moonlight, that is to say, they could distinguish the form of
+the body, but could not tell for certain whether it was a friend or an
+enemy. Both had great numbers of heavy infantry moving about in a small
+space. Some of the Athenians were already defeated, while others were
+coming up yet unconquered for their first attack. A large part also
+of the rest of their forces either had only just got up, or were still
+ascending, so that they did not know which way to march. Owing to the
+rout that had taken place all in front was now in confusion, and
+the noise made it difficult to distinguish anything. The victorious
+Syracusans and allies were cheering each other on with loud cries, by
+night the only possible means of communication, and meanwhile receiving
+all who came against them; while the Athenians were seeking for one
+another, taking all in front of them for enemies, even although they
+might be some of their now flying friends; and by constantly asking
+for the watchword, which was their only means of recognition, not only
+caused great confusion among themselves by asking all at once, but also
+made it known to the enemy, whose own they did not so readily discover,
+as the Syracusans were victorious and not scattered, and thus less
+easily mistaken. The result was that if the Athenians fell in with a
+party of the enemy that was weaker than they, it escaped them through
+knowing their watchword; while if they themselves failed to answer they
+were put to the sword. But what hurt them as much, or indeed more than
+anything else, was the singing of the paean, from the perplexity which
+it caused by being nearly the same on either side; the Argives and
+Corcyraeans and any other Dorian peoples in the army, struck terror into
+the Athenians whenever they raised their paean, no less than did the
+enemy. Thus, after being once thrown into disorder, they ended by coming
+into collision with each other in many parts of the field, friends with
+friends, and citizens with citizens, and not only terrified one another,
+but even came to blows and could only be parted with difficulty. In the
+pursuit many perished by throwing themselves down the cliffs, the way
+down from Epipolae being narrow; and of those who got down safely into
+the plain, although many, especially those who belonged to the first
+armament, escaped through their better acquaintance with the locality,
+some of the newcomers lost their way and wandered over the country, and
+were cut off in the morning by the Syracusan cavalry and killed.
+
+The next day the Syracusans set up two trophies, one upon Epipolae where
+the ascent had been made, and the other on the spot where the first
+check was given by the Boeotians; and the Athenians took back their
+dead under truce. A great many of the Athenians and allies were killed,
+although still more arms were taken than could be accounted for by the
+number of the dead, as some of those who were obliged to leap down from
+the cliffs without their shields escaped with their lives and did not
+perish like the rest.
+
+After this the Syracusans, recovering their old confidence at such an
+unexpected stroke of good fortune, dispatched Sicanus with fifteen ships
+to Agrigentum where there was a revolution, to induce if possible the
+city to join them; while Gylippus again went by land into the rest
+of Sicily to bring up reinforcements, being now in hope of taking the
+Athenian lines by storm, after the result of the affair on Epipolae.
+
+In the meantime the Athenian generals consulted upon the disaster
+which had happened, and upon the general weakness of the army. They saw
+themselves unsuccessful in their enterprises, and the soldiers disgusted
+with their stay; disease being rife among them owing to its being the
+sickly season of the year, and to the marshy and unhealthy nature of
+the spot in which they were encamped; and the state of their affairs
+generally being thought desperate. Accordingly, Demosthenes was of
+opinion that they ought not to stay any longer; but agreeably to his
+original idea in risking the attempt upon Epipolae, now that this had
+failed, he gave his vote for going away without further loss of time,
+while the sea might yet be crossed, and their late reinforcement might
+give them the superiority at all events on that element. He also said
+that it would be more profitable for the state to carry on the war
+against those who were building fortifications in Attica, than against
+the Syracusans whom it was no longer easy to subdue; besides which it
+was not right to squander large sums of money to no purpose by going on
+with the siege.
+
+This was the opinion of Demosthenes. Nicias, without denying the bad
+state of their affairs, was unwilling to avow their weakness, or to have
+it reported to the enemy that the Athenians in full council were openly
+voting for retreat; for in that case they would be much less likely
+to effect it when they wanted without discovery. Moreover, his own
+particular information still gave him reason to hope that the affairs
+of the enemy would soon be in a worse state than their own, if the
+Athenians persevered in the siege; as they would wear out the Syracusans
+by want of money, especially with the more extensive command of the sea
+now given them by their present navy. Besides this, there was a party
+in Syracuse who wished to betray the city to the Athenians, and
+kept sending him messages and telling him not to raise the siege.
+Accordingly, knowing this and really waiting because he hesitated
+between the two courses and wished to see his way more clearly, in his
+public speech on this occasion he refused to lead off the army, saying
+he was sure the Athenians would never approve of their returning without
+a vote of theirs. Those who would vote upon their conduct, instead of
+judging the facts as eye-witnesses like themselves and not from what
+they might hear from hostile critics, would simply be guided by the
+calumnies of the first clever speaker; while many, indeed most, of the
+soldiers on the spot, who now so loudly proclaimed the danger of their
+position, when they reached Athens would proclaim just as loudly the
+opposite, and would say that their generals had been bribed to betray
+them and return. For himself, therefore, who knew the Athenian temper,
+sooner than perish under a dishonourable charge and by an unjust
+sentence at the hands of the Athenians, he would rather take his chance
+and die, if die he must, a soldier's death at the hand of the enemy.
+Besides, after all, the Syracusans were in a worse case than themselves.
+What with paying mercenaries, spending upon fortified posts, and now for
+a full year maintaining a large navy, they were already at a loss and
+would soon be at a standstill: they had already spent two thousand
+talents and incurred heavy debts besides, and could not lose even
+ever so small a fraction of their present force through not paying it,
+without ruin to their cause; depending as they did more upon mercenaries
+than upon soldiers obliged to serve, like their own. He therefore said
+that they ought to stay and carry on the siege, and not depart defeated
+in point of money, in which they were much superior.
+
+Nicias spoke positively because he had exact information of the
+financial distress at Syracuse, and also because of the strength of the
+Athenian party there which kept sending him messages not to raise the
+siege; besides which he had more confidence than before in his fleet,
+and felt sure at least of its success. Demosthenes, however, would not
+hear for a moment of continuing the siege, but said that if they could
+not lead off the army without a decree from Athens, and if they were
+obliged to stay on, they ought to remove to Thapsus or Catana; where
+their land forces would have a wide extent of country to overrun, and
+could live by plundering the enemy, and would thus do them damage; while
+the fleet would have the open sea to fight in, that is to say, instead
+of a narrow space which was all in the enemy's favour, a wide sea-room
+where their science would be of use, and where they could retreat or
+advance without being confined or circumscribed either when they put
+out or put in. In any case he was altogether opposed to their staying on
+where they were, and insisted on removing at once, as quickly and with
+as little delay as possible; and in this judgment Eurymedon agreed.
+Nicias however still objecting, a certain diffidence and hesitation
+came over them, with a suspicion that Nicias might have some further
+information to make him so positive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+_Nineteenth Year of the War--Battles in the Great Harbour--Retreat and
+Annihilation of the Athenian Army_
+
+While the Athenians lingered on in this way without moving from where
+they were, Gylippus and Sicanus now arrived at Syracuse. Sicanus had
+failed to gain Agrigentum, the party friendly to the Syracusans having
+been driven out while he was still at Gela; but Gylippus was accompanied
+not only by a large number of troops raised in Sicily, but by the heavy
+infantry sent off in the spring from Peloponnese in the merchantmen, who
+had arrived at Selinus from Libya. They had been carried to Libya by a
+storm, and having obtained two galleys and pilots from the Cyrenians,
+on their voyage alongshore had taken sides with the Euesperitae and had
+defeated the Libyans who were besieging them, and from thence coasting
+on to Neapolis, a Carthaginian mart, and the nearest point to Sicily,
+from which it is only two days' and a night's voyage, there crossed
+over and came to Selinus. Immediately upon their arrival the Syracusans
+prepared to attack the Athenians again by land and sea at once. The
+Athenian generals seeing a fresh army come to the aid of the enemy, and
+that their own circumstances, far from improving, were becoming daily
+worse, and above all distressed by the sickness of the soldiers, now
+began to repent of not having removed before; and Nicias no longer
+offering the same opposition, except by urging that there should be
+no open voting, they gave orders as secretly as possible for all to be
+prepared to sail out from the camp at a given signal. All was at last
+ready, and they were on the point of sailing away, when an eclipse of
+the moon, which was then at the full, took place. Most of the Athenians,
+deeply impressed by this occurrence, now urged the generals to wait; and
+Nicias, who was somewhat over-addicted to divination and practices
+of that kind, refused from that moment even to take the question of
+departure into consideration, until they had waited the thrice nine days
+prescribed by the soothsayers.
+
+The besiegers were thus condemned to stay in the country; and the
+Syracusans, getting wind of what had happened, became more eager than
+ever to press the Athenians, who had now themselves acknowledged
+that they were no longer their superiors either by sea or by land, as
+otherwise they would never have planned to sail away. Besides which
+the Syracusans did not wish them to settle in any other part of Sicily,
+where they would be more difficult to deal with, but desired to force
+them to fight at sea as quickly as possible, in a position favourable
+to themselves. Accordingly they manned their ships and practised for
+as many days as they thought sufficient. When the moment arrived they
+assaulted on the first day the Athenian lines, and upon a small force of
+heavy infantry and horse sallying out against them by certain gates, cut
+off some of the former and routed and pursued them to the lines, where,
+as the entrance was narrow, the Athenians lost seventy horses and some
+few of the heavy infantry.
+
+Drawing off their troops for this day, on the next the Syracusans went
+out with a fleet of seventy-six sail, and at the same time advanced with
+their land forces against the lines. The Athenians put out to meet
+them with eighty-six ships, came to close quarters, and engaged. The
+Syracusans and their allies first defeated the Athenian centre, and then
+caught Eurymedon, the commander of the right wing, who was sailing out
+from the line more towards the land in order to surround the enemy, in
+the hollow and recess of the harbour, and killed him and destroyed the
+ships accompanying him; after which they now chased the whole Athenian
+fleet before them and drove them ashore.
+
+Gylippus seeing the enemy's fleet defeated and carried ashore beyond
+their stockades and camp, ran down to the breakwater with some of his
+troops, in order to cut off the men as they landed and make it easier
+for the Syracusans to tow off the vessels by the shore being friendly
+ground. The Tyrrhenians who guarded this point for the Athenians, seeing
+them come on in disorder, advanced out against them and attacked and
+routed their van, hurling it into the marsh of Lysimeleia. Afterwards
+the Syracusan and allied troops arrived in greater numbers, and the
+Athenians fearing for their ships came up also to the rescue and engaged
+them, and defeated and pursued them to some distance and killed a few of
+their heavy infantry. They succeeded in rescuing most of their ships
+and brought them down by their camp; eighteen however were taken by the
+Syracusans and their allies, and all the men killed. The rest the enemy
+tried to burn by means of an old merchantman which they filled with
+faggots and pine-wood, set on fire, and let drift down the wind which
+blew full on the Athenians. The Athenians, however, alarmed for their
+ships, contrived means for stopping it and putting it out, and checking
+the flames and the nearer approach of the merchantman, thus escaped the
+danger.
+
+After this the Syracusans set up a trophy for the sea-fight and for the
+heavy infantry whom they had cut off up at the lines, where they took
+the horses; and the Athenians for the rout of the foot driven by the
+Tyrrhenians into the marsh, and for their own victory with the rest of
+the army.
+
+The Syracusans had now gained a decisive victory at sea, where until now
+they had feared the reinforcement brought by Demosthenes, and deep,
+in consequence, was the despondency of the Athenians, and great their
+disappointment, and greater still their regret for having come on the
+expedition. These were the only cities that they had yet encountered,
+similar to their own in character, under democracies like themselves,
+which had ships and horses, and were of considerable magnitude. They had
+been unable to divide and bring them over by holding out the prospect
+of changes in their governments, or to crush them by their great
+superiority in force, but had failed in most of their attempts, and
+being already in perplexity, had now been defeated at sea, where
+defeat could never have been expected, and were thus plunged deeper in
+embarrassment than ever.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans immediately began to sail freely along the
+harbour, and determined to close up its mouth, so that the Athenians
+might not be able to steal out in future, even if they wished. Indeed,
+the Syracusans no longer thought only of saving themselves, but also how
+to hinder the escape of the enemy; thinking, and thinking rightly, that
+they were now much the stronger, and that to conquer the Athenians and
+their allies by land and sea would win them great glory in Hellas. The
+rest of the Hellenes would thus immediately be either freed or released
+from apprehension, as the remaining forces of Athens would be henceforth
+unable to sustain the war that would be waged against her; while they,
+the Syracusans, would be regarded as the authors of this deliverance,
+and would be held in high admiration, not only with all men now living
+but also with posterity. Nor were these the only considerations that
+gave dignity to the struggle. They would thus conquer not only the
+Athenians but also their numerous allies, and conquer not alone,
+but with their companions in arms, commanding side by side with the
+Corinthians and Lacedaemonians, having offered their city to stand in
+the van of danger, and having been in a great measure the pioneers of
+naval success.
+
+Indeed, there were never so many peoples assembled before a single city,
+if we except the grand total gathered together in this war under Athens
+and Lacedaemon. The following were the states on either side who came
+to Syracuse to fight for or against Sicily, to help to conquer or
+defend the island. Right or community of blood was not the bond of union
+between them, so much as interest or compulsion as the case might be.
+The Athenians themselves being Ionians went against the Dorians of
+Syracuse of their own free will; and the peoples still speaking Attic
+and using the Athenian laws, the Lemnians, Imbrians, and Aeginetans,
+that is to say the then occupants of Aegina, being their colonists,
+went with them. To these must be also added the Hestiaeans dwelling
+at Hestiaea in Euboea. Of the rest some joined in the expedition as
+subjects of the Athenians, others as independent allies, others as
+mercenaries. To the number of the subjects paying tribute belonged the
+Eretrians, Chalcidians, Styrians, and Carystians from Euboea; the Ceans,
+Andrians, and Tenians from the islands; and the Milesians, Samians, and
+Chians from Ionia. The Chians, however, joined as independent allies,
+paying no tribute, but furnishing ships. Most of these were Ionians and
+descended from the Athenians, except the Carystians, who are Dryopes,
+and although subjects and obliged to serve, were still Ionians fighting
+against Dorians. Besides these there were men of Aeolic race, the
+Methymnians, subjects who provided ships, not tribute, and the Tenedians
+and Aenians who paid tribute. These Aeolians fought against their
+Aeolian founders, the Boeotians in the Syracusan army, because they
+were obliged, while the Plataeans, the only native Boeotians opposed to
+Boeotians, did so upon a just quarrel. Of the Rhodians and Cytherians,
+both Dorians, the latter, Lacedaemonian colonists, fought in the
+Athenian ranks against their Lacedaemonian countrymen with Gylippus;
+while the Rhodians, Argives by race, were compelled to bear arms against
+the Dorian Syracusans and their own colonists, the Geloans, serving with
+the Syracusans. Of the islanders round Peloponnese, the Cephallenians
+and Zacynthians accompanied the Athenians as independent allies,
+although their insular position really left them little choice in
+the matter, owing to the maritime supremacy of Athens, while the
+Corcyraeans, who were not only Dorians but Corinthians, were openly
+serving against Corinthians and Syracusans, although colonists of the
+former and of the same race as the latter, under colour of compulsion,
+but really out of free will through hatred of Corinth. The Messenians,
+as they are now called in Naupactus and from Pylos, then held by the
+Athenians, were taken with them to the war. There were also a few
+Megarian exiles, whose fate it was to be now fighting against the
+Megarian Selinuntines.
+
+The engagement of the rest was more of a voluntary nature. It was less
+the league than hatred of the Lacedaemonians and the immediate private
+advantage of each individual that persuaded the Dorian Argives to join
+the Ionian Athenians in a war against Dorians; while the Mantineans and
+other Arcadian mercenaries, accustomed to go against the enemy pointed
+out to them at the moment, were led by interest to regard the Arcadians
+serving with the Corinthians as just as much their enemies as any
+others. The Cretans and Aetolians also served for hire, and the Cretans
+who had joined the Rhodians in founding Gela, thus came to consent to
+fight for pay against, instead of for, their colonists. There were also
+some Acarnanians paid to serve, although they came chiefly for love of
+Demosthenes and out of goodwill to the Athenians whose allies they
+were. These all lived on the Hellenic side of the Ionian Gulf. Of the
+Italiots, there were the Thurians and Metapontines, dragged into
+the quarrel by the stern necessities of a time of revolution; of the
+Siceliots, the Naxians and the Catanians; and of the barbarians, the
+Egestaeans, who called in the Athenians, most of the Sicels, and outside
+Sicily some Tyrrhenian enemies of Syracuse and Iapygian mercenaries.
+
+Such were the peoples serving with the Athenians. Against these the
+Syracusans had the Camarinaeans their neighbours, the Geloans who
+live next to them; then passing over the neutral Agrigentines, the
+Selinuntines settled on the farther side of the island. These inhabit
+the part of Sicily looking towards Libya; the Himeraeans came from the
+side towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, being the only Hellenic inhabitants in
+that quarter, and the only people that came from thence to the aid of
+the Syracusans. Of the Hellenes in Sicily the above peoples joined in
+the war, all Dorians and independent, and of the barbarians the Sicels
+only, that is to say, such as did not go over to the Athenians. Of the
+Hellenes outside Sicily there were the Lacedaemonians, who provided a
+Spartan to take the command, and a force of Neodamodes or Freedmen, and
+of Helots; the Corinthians, who alone joined with naval and land forces,
+with their Leucadian and Ambraciot kinsmen; some mercenaries sent by
+Corinth from Arcadia; some Sicyonians forced to serve, and from outside
+Peloponnese the Boeotians. In comparison, however, with these foreign
+auxiliaries, the great Siceliot cities furnished more in every
+department--numbers of heavy infantry, ships, and horses, and an immense
+multitude besides having been brought together; while in comparison,
+again, one may say, with all the rest put together, more was provided by
+the Syracusans themselves, both from the greatness of the city and from
+the fact that they were in the greatest danger.
+
+Such were the auxiliaries brought together on either side, all of which
+had by this time joined, neither party experiencing any subsequent
+accession. It was no wonder, therefore, if the Syracusans and their
+allies thought that it would win them great glory if they could follow
+up their recent victory in the sea-fight by the capture of the whole
+Athenian armada, without letting it escape either by sea or by land.
+They began at once to close up the Great Harbour by means of boats,
+merchant vessels, and galleys moored broadside across its mouth, which
+is nearly a mile wide, and made all their other arrangements for the
+event of the Athenians again venturing to fight at sea. There was, in
+fact, nothing little either in their plans or their ideas.
+
+The Athenians, seeing them closing up the harbour and informed of their
+further designs, called a council of war. The generals and colonels
+assembled and discussed the difficulties of the situation; the point
+which pressed most being that they no longer had provisions for
+immediate use (having sent on to Catana to tell them not to send any, in
+the belief that they were going away), and that they would not have any
+in future unless they could command the sea. They therefore determined
+to evacuate their upper lines, to enclose with a cross wall and garrison
+a small space close to the ships, only just sufficient to hold their
+stores and sick, and manning all the ships, seaworthy or not, with every
+man that could be spared from the rest of their land forces, to fight it
+out at sea, and, if victorious, to go to Catana, if not, to burn their
+vessels, form in close order, and retreat by land for the nearest
+friendly place they could reach, Hellenic or barbarian. This was no
+sooner settled than carried into effect; they descended gradually from
+the upper lines and manned all their vessels, compelling all to go on
+board who were of age to be in any way of use. They thus succeeded in
+manning about one hundred and ten ships in all, on board of which they
+embarked a number of archers and darters taken from the Acarnanians and
+from the other foreigners, making all other provisions allowed by the
+nature of their plan and by the necessities which imposed it. All was
+now nearly ready, and Nicias, seeing the soldiery disheartened by their
+unprecedented and decided defeat at sea, and by reason of the scarcity
+of provisions eager to fight it out as soon as possible, called them all
+together, and first addressed them, speaking as follows:
+
+"Soldiers of the Athenians and of the allies, we have all an equal
+interest in the coming struggle, in which life and country are at stake
+for us quite as much as they can be for the enemy; since if our fleet
+wins the day, each can see his native city again, wherever that city may
+be. You must not lose heart, or be like men without any experience, who
+fail in a first essay and ever afterwards fearfully forebode a future
+as disastrous. But let the Athenians among you who have already had
+experience of many wars, and the allies who have joined us in so many
+expeditions, remember the surprises of war, and with the hope that
+fortune will not be always against us, prepare to fight again in a
+manner worthy of the number which you see yourselves to be.
+
+"Now, whatever we thought would be of service against the crush of
+vessels in such a narrow harbour, and against the force upon the decks
+of the enemy, from which we suffered before, has all been considered
+with the helmsmen, and, as far as our means allowed, provided. A number
+of archers and darters will go on board, and a multitude that we should
+not have employed in an action in the open sea, where our science would
+be crippled by the weight of the vessels; but in the present land-fight
+that we are forced to make from shipboard all this will be useful. We
+have also discovered the changes in construction that we must make to
+meet theirs; and against the thickness of their cheeks, which did us the
+greatest mischief, we have provided grappling-irons, which will prevent
+an assailant backing water after charging, if the soldiers on deck here
+do their duty; since we are absolutely compelled to fight a land battle
+from the fleet, and it seems to be our interest neither to back water
+ourselves, nor to let the enemy do so, especially as the shore, except
+so much of it as may be held by our troops, is hostile ground.
+
+"You must remember this and fight on as long as you can, and must not
+let yourselves be driven ashore, but once alongside must make up your
+minds not to part company until you have swept the heavy infantry from
+the enemy's deck. I say this more for the heavy infantry than for the
+seamen, as it is more the business of the men on deck; and our land
+forces are even now on the whole the strongest. The sailors I advise,
+and at the same time implore, not to be too much daunted by their
+misfortunes, now that we have our decks better armed and greater number
+of vessels. Bear in mind how well worth preserving is the pleasure felt
+by those of you who through your knowledge of our language and imitation
+of our manners were always considered Athenians, even though not so in
+reality, and as such were honoured throughout Hellas, and had your full
+share of the advantages of our empire, and more than your share in
+the respect of our subjects and in protection from ill treatment. You,
+therefore, with whom alone we freely share our empire, we now justly
+require not to betray that empire in its extremity, and in scorn of
+Corinthians, whom you have often conquered, and of Siceliots, none of
+whom so much as presumed to stand against us when our navy was in its
+prime, we ask you to repel them, and to show that even in sickness and
+disaster your skill is more than a match for the fortune and vigour of
+any other.
+
+"For the Athenians among you I add once more this reflection: You left
+behind you no more such ships in your docks as these, no more heavy
+infantry in their flower; if you do aught but conquer, our enemies here
+will immediately sail thither, and those that are left of us at Athens
+will become unable to repel their home assailants, reinforced by
+these new allies. Here you will fall at once into the hands of the
+Syracusans--I need not remind you of the intentions with which you
+attacked them--and your countrymen at home will fall into those of
+the Lacedaemonians. Since the fate of both thus hangs upon this single
+battle, now, if ever, stand firm, and remember, each and all, that you
+who are now going on board are the army and navy of the Athenians, and
+all that is left of the state and the great name of Athens, in whose
+defence if any man has any advantage in skill or courage, now is the
+time for him to show it, and thus serve himself and save all."
+
+After this address Nicias at once gave orders to man the ships.
+Meanwhile Gylippus and the Syracusans could perceive by the preparations
+which they saw going on that the Athenians meant to fight at sea. They
+had also notice of the grappling-irons, against which they specially
+provided by stretching hides over the prows and much of the upper part
+of their vessels, in order that the irons when thrown might slip off
+without taking hold. All being now ready, the generals and Gylippus
+addressed them in the following terms:
+
+"Syracusans and allies, the glorious character of our past achievements
+and the no less glorious results at issue in the coming battle are,
+we think, understood by most of you, or you would never have thrown
+yourselves with such ardour into the struggle; and if there be any one
+not as fully aware of the facts as he ought to be, we will declare them
+to him. The Athenians came to this country first to effect the conquest
+of Sicily, and after that, if successful, of Peloponnese and the rest of
+Hellas, possessing already the greatest empire yet known, of present or
+former times, among the Hellenes. Here for the first time they found
+in you men who faced their navy which made them masters everywhere; you
+have already defeated them in the previous sea-fights, and will in all
+likelihood defeat them again now. When men are once checked in what they
+consider their special excellence, their whole opinion of themselves
+suffers more than if they had not at first believed in their
+superiority, the unexpected shock to their pride causing them to give
+way more than their real strength warrants; and this is probably now the
+case with the Athenians.
+
+"With us it is different. The original estimate of ourselves which gave
+us courage in the days of our unskilfulness has been strengthened, while
+the conviction superadded to it that we must be the best seamen of the
+time, if we have conquered the best, has given a double measure of
+hope to every man among us; and, for the most part, where there is the
+greatest hope, there is also the greatest ardour for action. The means
+to combat us which they have tried to find in copying our armament are
+familiar to our warfare, and will be met by proper provisions; while
+they will never be able to have a number of heavy infantry on their
+decks, contrary to their custom, and a number of darters (born landsmen,
+one may say, Acarnanians and others, embarked afloat, who will not know
+how to discharge their weapons when they have to keep still), without
+hampering their vessels and falling all into confusion among themselves
+through fighting not according to their own tactics. For they will gain
+nothing by the number of their ships--I say this to those of you who may
+be alarmed by having to fight against odds--as a quantity of ships in a
+confined space will only be slower in executing the movements required,
+and most exposed to injury from our means of offence. Indeed, if you
+would know the plain truth, as we are credibly informed, the excess of
+their sufferings and the necessities of their present distress have made
+them desperate; they have no confidence in their force, but wish to
+try their fortune in the only way they can, and either to force their
+passage and sail out, or after this to retreat by land, it being
+impossible for them to be worse off than they are.
+
+"The fortune of our greatest enemies having thus betrayed itself, and
+their disorder being what I have described, let us engage in anger,
+convinced that, as between adversaries, nothing is more legitimate
+than to claim to sate the whole wrath of one's soul in punishing the
+aggressor, and nothing more sweet, as the proverb has it, than the
+vengeance upon an enemy, which it will now be ours to take. That enemies
+they are and mortal enemies you all know, since they came here to
+enslave our country, and if successful had in reserve for our men all
+that is most dreadful, and for our children and wives all that is
+most dishonourable, and for the whole city the name which conveys the
+greatest reproach. None should therefore relent or think it gain if they
+go away without further danger to us. This they will do just the same,
+even if they get the victory; while if we succeed, as we may expect, in
+chastising them, and in handing down to all Sicily her ancient freedom
+strengthened and confirmed, we shall have achieved no mean triumph. And
+the rarest dangers are those in which failure brings little loss and
+success the greatest advantage."
+
+After the above address to the soldiers on their side, the Syracusan
+generals and Gylippus now perceived that the Athenians were manning
+their ships, and immediately proceeded to man their own also. Meanwhile
+Nicias, appalled by the position of affairs, realizing the greatness and
+the nearness of the danger now that they were on the point of putting
+out from shore, and thinking, as men are apt to think in great crises,
+that when all has been done they have still something left to do, and
+when all has been said that they have not yet said enough, again called
+on the captains one by one, addressing each by his father's name and by
+his own, and by that of his tribe, and adjured them not to belie their
+own personal renown, or to obscure the hereditary virtues for which
+their ancestors were illustrious: he reminded them of their country, the
+freest of the free, and of the unfettered discretion allowed in it to
+all to live as they pleased; and added other arguments such as men would
+use at such a crisis, and which, with little alteration, are made to
+serve on all occasions alike--appeals to wives, children, and national
+gods--without caring whether they are thought commonplace, but
+loudly invoking them in the belief that they will be of use in the
+consternation of the moment. Having thus admonished them, not, he felt,
+as he would, but as he could, Nicias withdrew and led the troops to the
+sea, and ranged them in as long a line as he was able, in order to aid
+as far as possible in sustaining the courage of the men afloat; while
+Demosthenes, Menander, and Euthydemus, who took the command on board,
+put out from their own camp and sailed straight to the barrier across
+the mouth of the harbour and to the passage left open, to try to force
+their way out.
+
+The Syracusans and their allies had already put out with about the same
+number of ships as before, a part of which kept guard at the outlet, and
+the remainder all round the rest of the harbour, in order to attack the
+Athenians on all sides at once; while the land forces held themselves in
+readiness at the points at which the vessels might put into the shore.
+The Syracusan fleet was commanded by Sicanus and Agatharchus, who had
+each a wing of the whole force, with Pythen and the Corinthians in the
+centre. When the rest of the Athenians came up to the barrier, with the
+first shock of their charge they overpowered the ships stationed there,
+and tried to undo the fastenings; after this, as the Syracusans and
+allies bore down upon them from all quarters, the action spread from the
+barrier over the whole harbour, and was more obstinately disputed than
+any of the preceding ones. On either side the rowers showed great zeal
+in bringing up their vessels at the boatswains' orders, and the helmsmen
+great skill in manoeuvring, and great emulation one with another; while
+the ships once alongside, the soldiers on board did their best not to
+let the service on deck be outdone by the others; in short, every man
+strove to prove himself the first in his particular department. And as
+many ships were engaged in a small compass (for these were the largest
+fleets fighting in the narrowest space ever known, being together little
+short of two hundred), the regular attacks with the beak were few, there
+being no opportunity of backing water or of breaking the line; while the
+collisions caused by one ship chancing to run foul of another, either
+in flying from or attacking a third, were more frequent. So long as a
+vessel was coming up to the charge the men on the decks rained darts and
+arrows and stones upon her; but once alongside, the heavy infantry tried
+to board each other's vessel, fighting hand to hand. In many quarters
+it happened, by reason of the narrow room, that a vessel was charging an
+enemy on one side and being charged herself on another, and that two or
+sometimes more ships had perforce got entangled round one, obliging the
+helmsmen to attend to defence here, offence there, not to one thing at
+once, but to many on all sides; while the huge din caused by the number
+of ships crashing together not only spread terror, but made the orders
+of the boatswains inaudible. The boatswains on either side in the
+discharge of their duty and in the heat of the conflict shouted
+incessantly orders and appeals to their men; the Athenians they urged to
+force the passage out, and now if ever to show their mettle and lay hold
+of a safe return to their country; to the Syracusans and their allies
+they cried that it would be glorious to prevent the escape of the enemy,
+and, conquering, to exalt the countries that were theirs. The generals,
+moreover, on either side, if they saw any in any part of the battle
+backing ashore without being forced to do so, called out to the captain
+by name and asked him--the Athenians, whether they were retreating
+because they thought the thrice hostile shore more their own than that
+sea which had cost them so much labour to win; the Syracusans, whether
+they were flying from the flying Athenians, whom they well knew to be
+eager to escape in whatever way they could.
+
+Meanwhile the two armies on shore, while victory hung in the balance,
+were a prey to the most agonizing and conflicting emotions; the natives
+thirsting for more glory than they had already won, while the invaders
+feared to find themselves in even worse plight than before. The all of
+the Athenians being set upon their fleet, their fear for the event was
+like nothing they had ever felt; while their view of the struggle was
+necessarily as chequered as the battle itself. Close to the scene of
+action and not all looking at the same point at once, some saw their
+friends victorious and took courage and fell to calling upon heaven not
+to deprive them of salvation, while others who had their eyes turned
+upon the losers, wailed and cried aloud, and, although spectators, were
+more overcome than the actual combatants. Others, again, were gazing
+at some spot where the battle was evenly disputed; as the strife
+was protracted without decision, their swaying bodies reflected the
+agitation of their minds, and they suffered the worst agony of all,
+ever just within reach of safety or just on the point of destruction.
+In short, in that one Athenian army as long as the sea-fight remained
+doubtful there was every sound to be heard at once, shrieks, cheers, "We
+win," "We lose," and all the other manifold exclamations that a great
+host would necessarily utter in great peril; and with the men in the
+fleet it was nearly the same; until at last the Syracusans and their
+allies, after the battle had lasted a long while, put the Athenians to
+flight, and with much shouting and cheering chased them in open rout to
+the shore. The naval force, one one way, one another, as many as were
+not taken afloat now ran ashore and rushed from on board their ships
+to their camp; while the army, no more divided, but carried away by one
+impulse, all with shrieks and groans deplored the event, and ran down,
+some to help the ships, others to guard what was left of their wall,
+while the remaining and most numerous part already began to consider how
+they should save themselves. Indeed, the panic of the present moment
+had never been surpassed. They now suffered very nearly what they had
+inflicted at Pylos; as then the Lacedaemonians with the loss of their
+fleet lost also the men who had crossed over to the island, so now the
+Athenians had no hope of escaping by land, without the help of some
+extraordinary accident.
+
+The sea-fight having been a severe one, and many ships and lives having
+been lost on both sides, the victorious Syracusans and their allies now
+picked up their wrecks and dead, and sailed off to the city and set up
+a trophy. The Athenians, overwhelmed by their misfortune, never even
+thought of asking leave to take up their dead or wrecks, but wished to
+retreat that very night. Demosthenes, however, went to Nicias and gave
+it as his opinion that they should man the ships they had left and make
+another effort to force their passage out next morning; saying that they
+had still left more ships fit for service than the enemy, the Athenians
+having about sixty remaining as against less than fifty of their
+opponents. Nicias was quite of his mind; but when they wished to man the
+vessels, the sailors refused to go on board, being so utterly overcome
+by their defeat as no longer to believe in the possibility of success.
+
+Accordingly they all now made up their minds to retreat by land.
+Meanwhile the Syracusan Hermocrates--suspecting their intention, and
+impressed by the danger of allowing a force of that magnitude to retire
+by land, establish itself in some other part of Sicily, and from thence
+renew the war--went and stated his views to the authorities, and pointed
+out to them that they ought not to let the enemy get away by night, but
+that all the Syracusans and their allies should at once march out and
+block up the roads and seize and guard the passes. The authorities were
+entirely of his opinion, and thought that it ought to be done, but on
+the other hand felt sure that the people, who had given themselves over
+to rejoicing, and were taking their ease after a great battle at sea,
+would not be easily brought to obey; besides, they were celebrating a
+festival, having on that day a sacrifice to Heracles, and most of them
+in their rapture at the victory had fallen to drinking at the festival,
+and would probably consent to anything sooner than to take up their
+arms and march out at that moment. For these reasons the thing appeared
+impracticable to the magistrates; and Hermocrates, finding himself
+unable to do anything further with them, had now recourse to the
+following stratagem of his own. What he feared was that the Athenians
+might quietly get the start of them by passing the most difficult places
+during the night; and he therefore sent, as soon as it was dusk, some
+friends of his own to the camp with some horsemen who rode up within
+earshot and called out to some of the men, as though they were
+well-wishers of the Athenians, and told them to tell Nicias (who had
+in fact some correspondents who informed him of what went on inside the
+town) not to lead off the army by night as the Syracusans were guarding
+the roads, but to make his preparations at his leisure and to retreat
+by day. After saying this they departed; and their hearers informed the
+Athenian generals, who put off going for that night on the strength of
+this message, not doubting its sincerity.
+
+Since after all they had not set out at once, they now determined to
+stay also the following day to give time to the soldiers to pack up as
+well as they could the most useful articles, and, leaving everything
+else behind, to start only with what was strictly necessary for their
+personal subsistence. Meanwhile the Syracusans and Gylippus marched out
+and blocked up the roads through the country by which the Athenians were
+likely to pass, and kept guard at the fords of the streams and rivers,
+posting themselves so as to receive them and stop the army where they
+thought best; while their fleet sailed up to the beach and towed off the
+ships of the Athenians. Some few were burned by the Athenians themselves
+as they had intended; the rest the Syracusans lashed on to their own
+at their leisure as they had been thrown up on shore, without any one
+trying to stop them, and conveyed to the town.
+
+After this, Nicias and Demosthenes now thinking that enough had been
+done in the way of preparation, the removal of the army took place
+upon the second day after the sea-fight. It was a lamentable scene,
+not merely from the single circumstance that they were retreating after
+having lost all their ships, their great hopes gone, and themselves and
+the state in peril; but also in leaving the camp there were things most
+grievous for every eye and heart to contemplate. The dead lay unburied,
+and each man as he recognized a friend among them shuddered with grief
+and horror; while the living whom they were leaving behind, wounded or
+sick, were to the living far more shocking than the dead, and more to
+be pitied than those who had perished. These fell to entreating and
+bewailing until their friends knew not what to do, begging them to take
+them and loudly calling to each individual comrade or relative whom they
+could see, hanging upon the necks of their tent-fellows in the act of
+departure, and following as far as they could, and, when their bodily
+strength failed them, calling again and again upon heaven and shrieking
+aloud as they were left behind. So that the whole army being filled with
+tears and distracted after this fashion found it not easy to go, even
+from an enemy's land, where they had already suffered evils too great
+for tears and in the unknown future before them feared to suffer more.
+Dejection and self-condemnation were also rife among them. Indeed they
+could only be compared to a starved-out town, and that no small one,
+escaping; the whole multitude upon the march being not less than forty
+thousand men. All carried anything they could which might be of use,
+and the heavy infantry and troopers, contrary to their wont, while under
+arms carried their own victuals, in some cases for want of servants, in
+others through not trusting them; as they had long been deserting and
+now did so in greater numbers than ever. Yet even thus they did not
+carry enough, as there was no longer food in the camp. Moreover their
+disgrace generally, and the universality of their sufferings, however to
+a certain extent alleviated by being borne in company, were still
+felt at the moment a heavy burden, especially when they contrasted the
+splendour and glory of their setting out with the humiliation in which
+it had ended. For this was by far the greatest reverse that ever befell
+an Hellenic army. They had come to enslave others, and were departing in
+fear of being enslaved themselves: they had sailed out with prayer
+and paeans, and now started to go back with omens directly contrary;
+travelling by land instead of by sea, and trusting not in their fleet
+but in their heavy infantry. Nevertheless the greatness of the danger
+still impending made all this appear tolerable.
+
+Nicias seeing the army dejected and greatly altered, passed along the
+ranks and encouraged and comforted them as far as was possible under the
+circumstances, raising his voice still higher and higher as he went from
+one company to another in his earnestness, and in his anxiety that the
+benefit of his words might reach as many as possible:
+
+"Athenians and allies, even in our present position we must still hope
+on, since men have ere now been saved from worse straits than this;
+and you must not condemn yourselves too severely either because of your
+disasters or because of your present unmerited sufferings. I myself who
+am not superior to any of you in strength--indeed you see how I am in
+my sickness--and who in the gifts of fortune am, I think, whether in
+private life or otherwise, the equal of any, am now exposed to the same
+danger as the meanest among you; and yet my life has been one of much
+devotion toward the gods, and of much justice and without offence toward
+men. I have, therefore, still a strong hope for the future, and our
+misfortunes do not terrify me as much as they might. Indeed we may hope
+that they will be lightened: our enemies have had good fortune enough;
+and if any of the gods was offended at our expedition, we have been
+already amply punished. Others before us have attacked their neighbours
+and have done what men will do without suffering more than they could
+bear; and we may now justly expect to find the gods more kind, for we
+have become fitter objects for their pity than their jealousy. And
+then look at yourselves, mark the numbers and efficiency of the heavy
+infantry marching in your ranks, and do not give way too much to
+despondency, but reflect that you are yourselves at once a city wherever
+you sit down, and that there is no other in Sicily that could easily
+resist your attack, or expel you when once established. The safety and
+order of the march is for yourselves to look to; the one thought of
+each man being that the spot on which he may be forced to fight must
+be conquered and held as his country and stronghold. Meanwhile we shall
+hasten on our way night and day alike, as our provisions are scanty;
+and if we can reach some friendly place of the Sicels, whom fear of the
+Syracusans still keeps true to us, you may forthwith consider yourselves
+safe. A message has been sent on to them with directions to meet us with
+supplies of food. To sum up, be convinced, soldiers, that you must be
+brave, as there is no place near for your cowardice to take refuge in,
+and that if you now escape from the enemy, you may all see again what
+your hearts desire, while those of you who are Athenians will raise up
+again the great power of the state, fallen though it be. Men make the
+city and not walls or ships without men in them."
+
+As he made this address, Nicias went along the ranks, and brought back
+to their place any of the troops that he saw straggling out of the line;
+while Demosthenes did as much for his part of the army, addressing them
+in words very similar. The army marched in a hollow square, the division
+under Nicias leading, and that of Demosthenes following, the heavy
+infantry being outside and the baggage-carriers and the bulk of the army
+in the middle. When they arrived at the ford of the river Anapus there
+they found drawn up a body of the Syracusans and allies, and routing
+these, made good their passage and pushed on, harassed by the charges of
+the Syracusan horse and by the missiles of their light troops. On that
+day they advanced about four miles and a half, halting for the night
+upon a certain hill. On the next they started early and got on about
+two miles further, and descended into a place in the plain and there
+encamped, in order to procure some eatables from the houses, as the
+place was inhabited, and to carry on with them water from thence, as for
+many furlongs in front, in the direction in which they were going, it
+was not plentiful. The Syracusans meanwhile went on and fortified the
+pass in front, where there was a steep hill with a rocky ravine on
+each side of it, called the Acraean cliff. The next day the Athenians
+advancing found themselves impeded by the missiles and charges of the
+horse and darters, both very numerous, of the Syracusans and allies;
+and after fighting for a long while, at length retired to the same camp,
+where they had no longer provisions as before, it being impossible to
+leave their position by reason of the cavalry.
+
+Early next morning they started afresh and forced their way to the
+hill, which had been fortified, where they found before them the enemy's
+infantry drawn up many shields deep to defend the fortification, the
+pass being narrow. The Athenians assaulted the work, but were greeted
+by a storm of missiles from the hill, which told with the greater
+effect through its being a steep one, and unable to force the passage,
+retreated again and rested. Meanwhile occurred some claps of thunder and
+rain, as often happens towards autumn, which still further disheartened
+the Athenians, who thought all these things to be omens of their
+approaching ruin. While they were resting, Gylippus and the Syracusans
+sent a part of their army to throw up works in their rear on the way by
+which they had advanced; however, the Athenians immediately sent some
+of their men and prevented them; after which they retreated more towards
+the plain and halted for the night. When they advanced the next day the
+Syracusans surrounded and attacked them on every side, and disabled many
+of them, falling back if the Athenians advanced and coming on if they
+retired, and in particular assaulting their rear, in the hope of routing
+them in detail, and thus striking a panic into the whole army. For a
+long while the Athenians persevered in this fashion, but after advancing
+for four or five furlongs halted to rest in the plain, the Syracusans
+also withdrawing to their own camp.
+
+During the night Nicias and Demosthenes, seeing the wretched condition
+of their troops, now in want of every kind of necessary, and numbers of
+them disabled in the numerous attacks of the enemy, determined to light
+as many fires as possible, and to lead off the army, no longer by the
+same route as they had intended, but towards the sea in the opposite
+direction to that guarded by the Syracusans. The whole of this route was
+leading the army not to Catana but to the other side of Sicily, towards
+Camarina, Gela, and the other Hellenic and barbarian towns in that
+quarter. They accordingly lit a number of fires and set out by night.
+Now all armies, and the greatest most of all, are liable to fears and
+alarms, especially when they are marching by night through an enemy's
+country and with the enemy near; and the Athenians falling into one of
+these panics, the leading division, that of Nicias, kept together and
+got on a good way in front, while that of Demosthenes, comprising rather
+more than half the army, got separated and marched on in some disorder.
+By morning, however, they reached the sea, and getting into the Helorine
+road, pushed on in order to reach the river Cacyparis, and to follow the
+stream up through the interior, where they hoped to be met by the Sicels
+whom they had sent for. Arrived at the river, they found there also a
+Syracusan party engaged in barring the passage of the ford with a wall
+and a palisade, and forcing this guard, crossed the river and went on to
+another called the Erineus, according to the advice of their guides.
+
+Meanwhile, when day came and the Syracusans and allies found that the
+Athenians were gone, most of them accused Gylippus of having let them
+escape on purpose, and hastily pursuing by the road which they had
+no difficulty in finding that they had taken, overtook them about
+dinner-time. They first came up with the troops under Demosthenes, who
+were behind and marching somewhat slowly and in disorder, owing to the
+night panic above referred to, and at once attacked and engaged them,
+the Syracusan horse surrounding them with more ease now that they were
+separated from the rest and hemming them in on one spot. The division of
+Nicias was five or six miles on in front, as he led them more rapidly,
+thinking that under the circumstances their safety lay not in staying
+and fighting, unless obliged, but in retreating as fast as possible, and
+only fighting when forced to do so. On the other hand, Demosthenes was,
+generally speaking, harassed more incessantly, as his post in the rear
+left him the first exposed to the attacks of the enemy; and now, finding
+that the Syracusans were in pursuit, he omitted to push on, in order to
+form his men for battle, and so lingered until he was surrounded by
+his pursuers and himself and the Athenians with him placed in the most
+distressing position, being huddled into an enclosure with a wall all
+round it, a road on this side and on that, and olive-trees in great
+number, where missiles were showered in upon them from every quarter.
+This mode of attack the Syracusans had with good reason adopted in
+preference to fighting at close quarters, as to risk a struggle with
+desperate men was now more for the advantage of the Athenians than for
+their own; besides, their success had now become so certain that they
+began to spare themselves a little in order not to be cut off in the
+moment of victory, thinking too that, as it was, they would be able in
+this way to subdue and capture the enemy.
+
+In fact, after plying the Athenians and allies all day long from every
+side with missiles, they at length saw that they were worn out with
+their wounds and other sufferings; and Gylippus and the Syracusans and
+their allies made a proclamation, offering their liberty to any of the
+islanders who chose to come over to them; and some few cities went
+over. Afterwards a capitulation was agreed upon for all the rest with
+Demosthenes, to lay down their arms on condition that no one was to
+be put to death either by violence or imprisonment or want of the
+necessaries of life. Upon this they surrendered to the number of six
+thousand in all, laying down all the money in their possession, which
+filled the hollows of four shields, and were immediately conveyed by the
+Syracusans to the town.
+
+Meanwhile Nicias with his division arrived that day at the river
+Erineus, crossed over, and posted his army upon some high ground upon
+the other side. The next day the Syracusans overtook him and told him
+that the troops under Demosthenes had surrendered, and invited him to
+follow their example. Incredulous of the fact, Nicias asked for a truce
+to send a horseman to see, and upon the return of the messenger with
+the tidings that they had surrendered, sent a herald to Gylippus and the
+Syracusans, saying that he was ready to agree with them on behalf of the
+Athenians to repay whatever money the Syracusans had spent upon the war
+if they would let his army go; and offered until the money was paid to
+give Athenians as hostages, one for every talent. The Syracusans and
+Gylippus rejected this proposition, and attacked this division as they
+had the other, standing all round and plying them with missiles until
+the evening. Food and necessaries were as miserably wanting to the
+troops of Nicias as they had been to their comrades; nevertheless they
+watched for the quiet of the night to resume their march. But as they
+were taking up their arms the Syracusans perceived it and raised their
+paean, upon which the Athenians, finding that they were discovered, laid
+them down again, except about three hundred men who forced their way
+through the guards and went on during the night as they were able.
+
+As soon as it was day Nicias put his army in motion, pressed, as before,
+by the Syracusans and their allies, pelted from every side by their
+missiles, and struck down by their javelins. The Athenians pushed on for
+the Assinarus, impelled by the attacks made upon them from every side
+by a numerous cavalry and the swarm of other arms, fancying that they
+should breathe more freely if once across the river, and driven on also
+by their exhaustion and craving for water. Once there they rushed in,
+and all order was at an end, each man wanting to cross first, and the
+attacks of the enemy making it difficult to cross at all; forced to
+huddle together, they fell against and trod down one another, some dying
+immediately upon the javelins, others getting entangled together and
+stumbling over the articles of baggage, without being able to rise
+again. Meanwhile the opposite bank, which was steep, was lined by the
+Syracusans, who showered missiles down upon the Athenians, most of them
+drinking greedily and heaped together in disorder in the hollow bed
+of the river. The Peloponnesians also came down and butchered them,
+especially those in the water, which was thus immediately spoiled, but
+which they went on drinking just the same, mud and all, bloody as it
+was, most even fighting to have it.
+
+At last, when many dead now lay piled one upon another in the stream,
+and part of the army had been destroyed at the river, and the few that
+escaped from thence cut off by the cavalry, Nicias surrendered himself
+to Gylippus, whom he trusted more than he did the Syracusans, and told
+him and the Lacedaemonians to do what they liked with him, but to stop
+the slaughter of the soldiers. Gylippus, after this, immediately gave
+orders to make prisoners; upon which the rest were brought together
+alive, except a large number secreted by the soldiery, and a party
+was sent in pursuit of the three hundred who had got through the guard
+during the night, and who were now taken with the rest. The number of
+the enemy collected as public property was not considerable; but
+that secreted was very large, and all Sicily was filled with them,
+no convention having been made in their case as for those taken with
+Demosthenes. Besides this, a large portion were killed outright, the
+carnage being very great, and not exceeded by any in this Sicilian war.
+In the numerous other encounters upon the march, not a few also had
+fallen. Nevertheless many escaped, some at the moment, others served as
+slaves, and then ran away subsequently. These found refuge at Catana.
+
+The Syracusans and their allies now mustered and took up the spoils and
+as many prisoners as they could, and went back to the city. The rest of
+their Athenian and allied captives were deposited in the quarries, this
+seeming the safest way of keeping them; but Nicias and Demosthenes were
+butchered, against the will of Gylippus, who thought that it would
+be the crown of his triumph if he could take the enemy's generals to
+Lacedaemon. One of them, as it happened, Demosthenes, was one of her
+greatest enemies, on account of the affair of the island and of Pylos;
+while the other, Nicias, was for the same reasons one of her greatest
+friends, owing to his exertions to procure the release of the prisoners
+by persuading the Athenians to make peace. For these reasons the
+Lacedaemonians felt kindly towards him; and it was in this that Nicias
+himself mainly confided when he surrendered to Gylippus. But some of the
+Syracusans who had been in correspondence with him were afraid, it was
+said, of his being put to the torture and troubling their success by his
+revelations; others, especially the Corinthians, of his escaping, as he
+was wealthy, by means of bribes, and living to do them further mischief;
+and these persuaded the allies and put him to death. This or the like
+was the cause of the death of a man who, of all the Hellenes in my time,
+least deserved such a fate, seeing that the whole course of his life had
+been regulated with strict attention to virtue.
+
+The prisoners in the quarries were at first hardly treated by the
+Syracusans. Crowded in a narrow hole, without any roof to cover them,
+the heat of the sun and the stifling closeness of the air tormented them
+during the day, and then the nights, which came on autumnal and chilly,
+made them ill by the violence of the change; besides, as they had to do
+everything in the same place for want of room, and the bodies of those
+who died of their wounds or from the variation in the temperature,
+or from similar causes, were left heaped together one upon another,
+intolerable stenches arose; while hunger and thirst never ceased to
+afflict them, each man during eight months having only half a pint of
+water and a pint of corn given him daily. In short, no single suffering
+to be apprehended by men thrust into such a place was spared them. For
+some seventy days they thus lived all together, after which all, except
+the Athenians and any Siceliots or Italiots who had joined in the
+expedition, were sold. The total number of prisoners taken it would be
+difficult to state exactly, but it could not have been less than seven
+thousand.
+
+This was the greatest Hellenic achievement of any in thig war, or, in my
+opinion, in Hellenic history; at once most glorious to the victors, and
+most calamitous to the conquered. They were beaten at all points and
+altogether; all that they suffered was great; they were destroyed,
+as the saying is, with a total destruction, their fleet, their army,
+everything was destroyed, and few out of many returned home. Such were
+the events in Sicily.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+_Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War--Revolt of Ionia--
+Intervention of Persia--The War in Ionia_
+
+When the news was brought to Athens, for a long while they disbelieved
+even the most respectable of the soldiers who had themselves escaped
+from the scene of action and clearly reported the matter, a destruction
+so complete not being thought credible. When the conviction was forced
+upon them, they were angry with the orators who had joined in promoting
+the expedition, just as if they had not themselves voted it, and were
+enraged also with the reciters of oracles and soothsayers, and all
+other omen-mongers of the time who had encouraged them to hope that
+they should conquer Sicily. Already distressed at all points and in all
+quarters, after what had now happened, they were seized by a fear and
+consternation quite without example. It was grievous enough for the
+state and for every man in his proper person to lose so many heavy
+infantry, cavalry, and able-bodied troops, and to see none left to
+replace them; but when they saw, also, that they had not sufficient
+ships in their docks, or money in the treasury, or crews for the ships,
+they began to despair of salvation. They thought that their enemies in
+Sicily would immediately sail with their fleet against Piraeus, inflamed
+by so signal a victory; while their adversaries at home, redoubling
+all their preparations, would vigorously attack them by sea and land at
+once, aided by their own revolted confederates. Nevertheless, with
+such means as they had, it was determined to resist to the last, and to
+provide timber and money, and to equip a fleet as they best could, to
+take steps to secure their confederates and above all Euboea, to reform
+things in the city upon a more economical footing, and to elect a board
+of elders to advise upon the state of affairs as occasion should arise.
+In short, as is the way of a democracy, in the panic of the moment they
+were ready to be as prudent as possible.
+
+These resolves were at once carried into effect. Summer was now over.
+The winter ensuing saw all Hellas stirring under the impression of
+the great Athenian disaster in Sicily. Neutrals now felt that even if
+uninvited they ought no longer to stand aloof from the war, but should
+volunteer to march against the Athenians, who, as they severally
+reflected, would probably have come against them if the Sicilian
+campaign had succeeded. Besides, they considered that the war would now
+be short, and that it would be creditable for them to take part in it.
+Meanwhile the allies of the Lacedaemonians felt all more anxious than
+ever to see a speedy end to their heavy labours. But above all, the
+subjects of the Athenians showed a readiness to revolt even beyond their
+ability, judging the circumstances with passion, and refusing even to
+hear of the Athenians being able to last out the coming summer. Beyond
+all this, Lacedaemon was encouraged by the near prospect of being joined
+in great force in the spring by her allies in Sicily, lately forced by
+events to acquire their navy. With these reasons for confidence in every
+quarter, the Lacedaemonians now resolved to throw themselves without
+reserve into the war, considering that, once it was happily terminated,
+they would be finally delivered from such dangers as that which would
+have threatened them from Athens, if she had become mistress of Sicily,
+and that the overthrow of the Athenians would leave them in quiet
+enjoyment of the supremacy over all Hellas.
+
+Their king, Agis, accordingly set out at once during this winter with
+some troops from Decelea, and levied from the allies contributions for
+the fleet, and turning towards the Malian Gulf exacted a sum of money
+from the Oetaeans by carrying off most of their cattle in reprisal for
+their old hostility, and, in spite of the protests and opposition of the
+Thessalians, forced the Achaeans of Phthiotis and the other subjects
+of the Thessalians in those parts to give him money and hostages, and
+deposited the hostages at Corinth, and tried to bring their countrymen
+into the confederacy. The Lacedaemonians now issued a requisition to the
+cities for building a hundred ships, fixing their own quota and that
+of the Boeotians at twenty-five each; that of the Phocians and Locrians
+together at fifteen; that of the Corinthians at fifteen; that of the
+Arcadians, Pellenians, and Sicyonians together at ten; and that of the
+Megarians, Troezenians, Epidaurians, and Hermionians together at
+ten also; and meanwhile made every other preparation for commencing
+hostilities by the spring.
+
+In the meantime the Athenians were not idle. During this same winter,
+as they had determined, they contributed timber and pushed on their
+ship-building, and fortified Sunium to enable their corn-ships to round
+it in safety, and evacuated the fort in Laconia which they had built on
+their way to Sicily; while they also, for economy, cut down any other
+expenses that seemed unnecessary, and above all kept a careful look-out
+against the revolt of their confederates.
+
+While both parties were thus engaged, and were as intent upon preparing
+for the war as they had been at the outset, the Euboeans first of all
+sent envoys during this winter to Agis to treat of their revolting from
+Athens. Agis accepted their proposals, and sent for Alcamenes, son of
+Sthenelaidas, and Melanthus from Lacedaemon, to take the command in
+Euboea. These accordingly arrived with some three hundred Neodamodes,
+and Agis began to arrange for their crossing over. But in the meanwhile
+arrived some Lesbians, who also wished to revolt; and these being
+supported by the Boeotians, Agis was persuaded to defer acting in the
+matter of Euboea, and made arrangements for the revolt of the Lesbians,
+giving them Alcamenes, who was to have sailed to Euboea, as governor,
+and himself promising them ten ships, and the Boeotians the same number.
+All this was done without instructions from home, as Agis while at
+Decelea with the army that he commanded had power to send troops to
+whatever quarter he pleased, and to levy men and money. During this
+period, one might say, the allies obeyed him much more than they did the
+Lacedaemonians in the city, as the force he had with him made him feared
+at once wherever he went. While Agis was engaged with the Lesbians, the
+Chians and Erythraeans, who were also ready to revolt, applied, not to
+him but at Lacedaemon; where they arrived accompanied by an ambassador
+from Tissaphernes, the commander of King Darius, son of Artaxerxes, in
+the maritime districts, who invited the Peloponnesians to come over, and
+promised to maintain their army. The King had lately called upon him
+for the tribute from his government, for which he was in arrears, being
+unable to raise it from the Hellenic towns by reason of the Athenians;
+and he therefore calculated that by weakening the Athenians he should
+get the tribute better paid, and should also draw the Lacedaemonians
+into alliance with the King; and by this means, as the King had
+commanded him, take alive or dead Amorges, the bastard son of
+Pissuthnes, who was in rebellion on the coast of Caria.
+
+While the Chians and Tissaphernes thus joined to effect the same
+object, about the same time Calligeitus, son of Laophon, a Megarian,
+and Timagoras, son of Athenagoras, a Cyzicene, both of them exiles from
+their country and living at the court of Pharnabazus, son of Pharnaces,
+arrived at Lacedaemon upon a mission from Pharnabazus, to procure a
+fleet for the Hellespont; by means of which, if possible, he might
+himself effect the object of Tissaphernes' ambition and cause the cities
+in his government to revolt from the Athenians, and so get the
+tribute, and by his own agency obtain for the King the alliance of the
+Lacedaemonians.
+
+The emissaries of Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes treating apart, a keen
+competition now ensued at Lacedaemon as to whether a fleet and army
+should be sent first to Ionia and Chios, or to the Hellespont. The
+Lacedaemonians, however, decidedly favoured the Chians and Tissaphernes,
+who were seconded by Alcibiades, the family friend of Endius, one of the
+ephors for that year. Indeed, this is how their house got its Laconic
+name, Alcibiades being the family name of Endius. Nevertheless the
+Lacedaemonians first sent to Chios Phrynis, one of the Perioeci, to
+see whether they had as many ships as they said, and whether their city
+generally was as great as was reported; and upon his bringing word that
+they had been told the truth, immediately entered into alliance with the
+Chians and Erythraeans, and voted to send them forty ships, there being
+already, according to the statement of the Chians, not less than sixty
+in the island. At first the Lacedaemonians meant to send ten of these
+forty themselves, with Melanchridas their admiral; but afterwards,
+an earthquake having occurred, they sent Chalcideus instead of
+Melanchridas, and instead of the ten ships equipped only five in
+Laconia. And the winter ended, and with it ended also the nineteenth
+year of this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+At the beginning of the next summer the Chians were urging that the
+fleet should be sent off, being afraid that the Athenians, from whom all
+these embassies were kept a secret, might find out what was going on,
+and the Lacedaemonians at once sent three Spartans to Corinth to haul
+the ships as quickly as possible across the Isthmus from the other sea
+to that on the side of Athens, and to order them all to sail to Chios,
+those which Agis was equipping for Lesbos not excepted. The number of
+ships from the allied states was thirty-nine in all.
+
+Meanwhile Calligeitus and Timagoras did not join on behalf of
+Pharnabazus in the expedition to Chios or give the money--twenty-five
+talents--which they had brought with them to help in dispatching
+a force, but determined to sail afterwards with another force by
+themselves. Agis, on the other hand, seeing the Lacedaemonians bent upon
+going to Chios first, himself came in to their views; and the allies
+assembled at Corinth and held a council, in which they decided to sail
+first to Chios under the command of Chalcideus, who was equipping the
+five vessels in Laconia, then to Lesbos, under the command of Alcamenes,
+the same whom Agis had fixed upon, and lastly to go to the Hellespont,
+where the command was given to Clearchus, son of Ramphias. Meanwhile
+they would take only half the ships across the Isthmus first, and let
+those sail off at once, in order that the Athenians might attend less to
+the departing squadron than to those to be taken across afterwards, as
+no care had been taken to keep this voyage secret through contempt of
+the impotence of the Athenians, who had as yet no fleet of any account
+upon the sea. Agreeably to this determination, twenty-one vessels were
+at once conveyed across the Isthmus.
+
+They were now impatient to set sail, but the Corinthians were not
+willing to accompany them until they had celebrated the Isthmian
+festival, which fell at that time. Upon this Agis proposed to them to
+save their scruples about breaking the Isthmian truce by taking the
+expedition upon himself. The Corinthians not consenting to this, a delay
+ensued, during which the Athenians conceived suspicions of what was
+preparing at Chios, and sent Aristocrates, one of their generals, and
+charged them with the fact, and, upon the denial of the Chians, ordered
+them to send with them a contingent of ships, as faithful confederates.
+Seven were sent accordingly. The reason of the dispatch of the ships
+lay in the fact that the mass of the Chians were not privy to the
+negotiations, while the few who were in the secret did not wish to break
+with the multitude until they had something positive to lean upon,
+and no longer expected the Peloponnesians to arrive by reason of their
+delay.
+
+In the meantime the Isthmian games took place, and the Athenians, who
+had been also invited, went to attend them, and now seeing more clearly
+into the designs of the Chians, as soon as they returned to Athens took
+measures to prevent the fleet putting out from Cenchreae without
+their knowledge. After the festival the Peloponnesians set sail
+with twenty-one ships for Chios, under the command of Alcamenes. The
+Athenians first sailed against them with an equal number, drawing off
+towards the open sea. The enemy, however, turning back before he had
+followed them far, the Athenians returned also, not trusting the seven
+Chian ships which formed part of their number, and afterwards manned
+thirty-seven vessels in all and chased him on his passage alongshore
+into Spiraeum, a desert Corinthian port on the edge of the Epidaurian
+frontier. After losing one ship out at sea, the Peloponnesians got the
+rest together and brought them to anchor. The Athenians now attacked not
+only from the sea with their fleet, but also disembarked upon the coast;
+and a melee ensued of the most confused and violent kind, in which the
+Athenians disabled most of the enemy's vessels and killed Alcamenes
+their commander, losing also a few of their own men.
+
+After this they separated, and the Athenians, detaching a sufficient
+number of ships to blockade those of the enemy, anchored with the rest
+at the islet adjacent, upon which they proceeded to encamp, and sent to
+Athens for reinforcements; the Peloponnesians having been joined on the
+day after the battle by the Corinthians, who came to help the ships, and
+by the other inhabitants in the vicinity not long afterwards. These
+saw the difficulty of keeping guard in a desert place, and in their
+perplexity at first thought of burning the ships, but finally resolved
+to haul them up on shore and sit down and guard them with their land
+forces until a convenient opportunity for escaping should present
+itself. Agis also, on being informed of the disaster, sent them a
+Spartan of the name of Thermon. The Lacedaemonians first received the
+news of the fleet having put out from the Isthmus, Alcamenes having been
+ordered by the ephors to send off a horseman when this took place,
+and immediately resolved to dispatch their own five vessels under
+Chalcideus, and Alcibiades with him. But while they were full of this
+resolution came the second news of the fleet having taken refuge in
+Spiraeum; and disheartened at their first step in the Ionian war proving
+a failure, they laid aside the idea of sending the ships from their own
+country, and even wished to recall some that had already sailed.
+
+Perceiving this, Alcibiades again persuaded Endius and the other ephors
+to persevere in the expedition, saying that the voyage would be made
+before the Chians heard of the fleet's misfortune, and that as soon as
+he set foot in Ionia, he should, by assuring them of the weakness of the
+Athenians and the zeal of Lacedaemon, have no difficulty in persuading
+the cities to revolt, as they would readily believe his testimony. He
+also represented to Endius himself in private that it would be glorious
+for him to be the means of making Ionia revolt and the King become the
+ally of Lacedaemon, instead of that honour being left to Agis (Agis,
+it must be remembered, was the enemy of Alcibiades); and Endius and his
+colleagues thus persuaded, he put to sea with the five ships and the
+Lacedaemonian Chalcideus, and made all haste upon the voyage.
+
+About this time the sixteen Peloponnesian ships from Sicily, which had
+served through the war with Gylippus, were caught on their return off
+Leucadia and roughly handled by the twenty-seven Athenian vessels under
+Hippocles, son of Menippus, on the lookout for the ships from Sicily.
+After losing one of their number, the rest escaped from the Athenians
+and sailed into Corinth.
+
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades seized all they met with on their
+voyage, to prevent news of their coming, and let them go at Corycus,
+the first point which they touched at in the continent. Here they were
+visited by some of their Chian correspondents and, being urged by them
+to sail up to the town without announcing their coming, arrived suddenly
+before Chios. The many were amazed and confounded, while the few had
+so arranged that the council should be sitting at the time; and after
+speeches from Chalcideus and Alcibiades stating that many more ships
+were sailing up, but saying nothing of the fleet being blockaded in
+Spiraeum, the Chians revolted from the Athenians, and the Erythraeans
+immediately afterwards. After this three vessels sailed over to
+Clazomenae, and made that city revolt also; and the Clazomenians
+immediately crossed over to the mainland and began to fortify Polichna,
+in order to retreat there, in case of necessity, from the island where
+they dwelt.
+
+While the revolted places were all engaged in fortifying and preparing
+for the war, news of Chios speedily reached Athens. The Athenians
+thought the danger by which they were now menaced great and
+unmistakable, and that the rest of their allies would not consent to
+keep quiet after the secession of the greatest of their number. In the
+consternation of the moment they at once took off the penalty attaching
+to whoever proposed or put to the vote a proposal for using the thousand
+talents which they had jealously avoided touching throughout the whole
+war, and voted to employ them to man a large number of ships, and
+to send off at once under Strombichides, son of Diotimus, the eight
+vessels, forming part of the blockading fleet at Spiraeum, which
+had left the blockade and had returned after pursuing and failing to
+overtake the vessels with Chalcideus. These were to be followed
+shortly afterwards by twelve more under Thrasycles, also taken from the
+blockade. They also recalled the seven Chian vessels, forming part of
+their squadron blockading the fleet in Spiraeum, and giving the slaves
+on board their liberty, put the freemen in confinement, and speedily
+manned and sent out ten fresh ships to blockade the Peloponnesians in
+the place of all those that had departed, and decided to man thirty
+more. Zeal was not wanting, and no effort was spared to send relief to
+Chios.
+
+In the meantime Strombichides with his eight ships arrived at Samos,
+and, taking one Samian vessel, sailed to Teos and required them to
+remain quiet. Chalcideus also set sail with twenty-three ships for Teos
+from Chios, the land forces of the Clazomenians and Erythraeans moving
+alongshore to support him. Informed of this in time, Strombichides put
+out from Teos before their arrival, and while out at sea, seeing the
+number of the ships from Chios, fled towards Samos, chased by the enemy.
+The Teians at first would not receive the land forces, but upon the
+flight of the Athenians took them into the town. There they waited for
+some time for Chalcideus to return from the pursuit, and as time went on
+without his appearing, began themselves to demolish the wall which the
+Athenians had built on the land side of the city of the Teians, being
+assisted by a few of the barbarians who had come up under the command of
+Stages, the lieutenant of Tissaphernes.
+
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades, after chasing Strombichides into
+Samos, armed the crews of the ships from Peloponnese and left them at
+Chios, and filling their places with substitutes from Chios and manning
+twenty others, sailed off to effect the revolt of Miletus. The wish of
+Alcibiades, who had friends among the leading men of the Milesians, was
+to bring over the town before the arrival of the ships from Peloponnese,
+and thus, by causing the revolt of as many cities as possible with the
+help of the Chian power and of Chalcideus, to secure the honour for the
+Chians and himself and Chalcideus, and, as he had promised, for Endius
+who had sent them out. Not discovered until their voyage was nearly
+completed, they arrived a little before Strombichides and Thrasycles
+(who had just come with twelve ships from Athens, and had joined
+Strombichides in pursuing them), and occasioned the revolt of Miletus.
+The Athenians sailing up close on their heels with nineteen ships found
+Miletus closed against them, and took up their station at the
+adjacent island of Lade. The first alliance between the King and the
+Lacedaemonians was now concluded immediately upon the revolt of the
+Milesians, by Tissaphernes and Chalcideus, and was as follows:
+
+The Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty with the King and
+Tissaphernes upon the terms following:
+
+1. Whatever country or cities the King has, or the King's ancestors had,
+shall be the king's: and whatever came in to the Athenians from these
+cities, either money or any other thing, the King and the Lacedaemonians
+and their allies shall jointly hinder the Athenians from receiving
+either money or any other thing.
+
+2. The war with the Athenians shall be carried on jointly by the King
+and by the Lacedaemonians and their allies: and it shall not be lawful
+to make peace with the Athenians except both agree, the King on his side
+and the Lacedaemonians and their allies on theirs.
+
+3. If any revolt from the King, they shall be the enemies of
+the Lacedaemonians and their allies. And if any revolt from the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, they shall be the enemies of the King
+in like manner.
+
+This was the alliance. After this the Chians immediately manned ten more
+vessels and sailed for Anaia, in order to gain intelligence of those
+in Miletus, and also to make the cities revolt. A message, however,
+reaching them from Chalcideus to tell them to go back again, and that
+Amorges was at hand with an army by land, they sailed to the temple of
+Zeus, and there sighting ten more ships sailing up with which Diomedon
+had started from Athens after Thrasycles, fled, one ship to Ephesus,
+the rest to Teos. The Athenians took four of their ships empty, the men
+finding time to escape ashore; the rest took refuge in the city of the
+Teians; after which the Athenians sailed off to Samos, while the Chians
+put to sea with their remaining vessels, accompanied by the land forces,
+and caused Lebedos to revolt, and after it Erae. After this they both
+returned home, the fleet and the army.
+
+About the same time the twenty ships of the Peloponnesians in Spiraeum,
+which we left chased to land and blockaded by an equal number of
+Athenians, suddenly sallied out and defeated the blockading squadron,
+took four of their ships, and, sailing back to Cenchreae, prepared again
+for the voyage to Chios and Ionia. Here they were joined by Astyochus
+as high admiral from Lacedaemon, henceforth invested with the supreme
+command at sea. The land forces now withdrawing from Teos, Tissaphernes
+repaired thither in person with an army and completed the demolition of
+anything that was left of the wall, and so departed. Not long after his
+departure Diomedon arrived with ten Athenian ships, and, having made
+a convention by which the Teians admitted him as they had the enemy,
+coasted along to Erae, and, failing in an attempt upon the town, sailed
+back again.
+
+About this time took place the rising of the commons at Samos against
+the upper classes, in concert with some Athenians, who were there in
+three vessels. The Samian commons put to death some two hundred in all
+of the upper classes, and banished four hundred more, and themselves
+took their land and houses; after which the Athenians decreed their
+independence, being now sure of their fidelity, and the commons
+henceforth governed the city, excluding the landholders from all share
+in affairs, and forbidding any of the commons to give his daughter in
+marriage to them or to take a wife from them in future.
+
+After this, during the same summer, the Chians, whose zeal continued as
+active as ever, and who even without the Peloponnesians found themselves
+in sufficient force to effect the revolt of the cities and also wished
+to have as many companions in peril as possible, made an expedition with
+thirteen ships of their own to Lesbos; the instructions from Lacedaemon
+being to go to that island next, and from thence to the Hellespont.
+Meanwhile the land forces of the Peloponnesians who were with the Chians
+and of the allies on the spot, moved alongshore for Clazomenae and Cuma,
+under the command of Eualas, a Spartan; while the fleet under Diniadas,
+one of the Perioeci, first sailed up to Methymna and caused it to
+revolt, and, leaving four ships there, with the rest procured the revolt
+of Mitylene.
+
+In the meantime Astyochus, the Lacedaemonian admiral, set sail from
+Cenchreae with four ships, as he had intended, and arrived at Chios.
+On the third day after his arrival, the Athenian ships, twenty-five in
+number, sailed to Lesbos under Diomedon and Leon, who had lately arrived
+with a reinforcement of ten ships from Athens. Late in the same day
+Astyochus put to sea, and taking one Chian vessel with him sailed to
+Lesbos to render what assistance he could. Arrived at Pyrrha, and from
+thence the next day at Eresus, he there learned that Mitylene had been
+taken, almost without a blow, by the Athenians, who had sailed up and
+unexpectedly put into the harbour, had beaten the Chian ships, and
+landing and defeating the troops opposed to them had become masters of
+the city. Informed of this by the Eresians and the Chian ships, which
+had been left with Eubulus at Methymna, and had fled upon the capture of
+Mitylene, and three of which he now fell in with, one having been taken
+by the Athenians, Astyochus did not go on to Mitylene, but raised and
+armed Eresus, and, sending the heavy infantry from his own ships by land
+under Eteonicus to Antissa and Methymna, himself proceeded alongshore
+thither with the ships which he had with him and with the three Chians,
+in the hope that the Methymnians upon seeing them would be encouraged to
+persevere in their revolt. As, however, everything went against him
+in Lesbos, he took up his own force and sailed back to Chios; the land
+forces on board, which were to have gone to the Hellespont, being also
+conveyed back to their different cities. After this six of the allied
+Peloponnesian ships at Cenchreae joined the forces at Chios. The
+Athenians, after restoring matters to their old state in Lesbos, set
+sail from thence and took Polichna, the place that the Clazomenians were
+fortifying on the continent, and carried the inhabitants back to their
+town upon the island, except the authors of the revolt, who withdrew to
+Daphnus; and thus Clazomenae became once more Athenian.
+
+The same summer the Athenians in the twenty ships at Lade, blockading
+Miletus, made a descent at Panormus in the Milesian territory, and
+killed Chalcideus the Lacedaemonian commander, who had come with a
+few men against them, and the third day after sailed over and set up
+a trophy, which, as they were not masters of the country, was however
+pulled down by the Milesians. Meanwhile Leon and Diomedon with the
+Athenian fleet from Lesbos issuing from the Oenussae, the isles off
+Chios, and from their forts of Sidussa and Pteleum in the Erythraeid,
+and from Lesbos, carried on the war against the Chians from the ships,
+having on board heavy infantry from the rolls pressed to serve as
+marines. Landing in Cardamyle and in Bolissus they defeated with heavy
+loss the Chians that took the field against them and, laying desolate
+the places in that neighbourhood, defeated the Chians again in another
+battle at Phanae, and in a third at Leuconium. After this the Chians
+ceased to meet them in the field, while the Athenians devastated the
+country, which was beautifully stocked and had remained uninjured ever
+since the Median wars. Indeed, after the Lacedaemonians, the Chians are
+the only people that I have known who knew how to be wise in prosperity,
+and who ordered their city the more securely the greater it grew. Nor
+was this revolt, in which they might seem to have erred on the side of
+rashness, ventured upon until they had numerous and gallant allies to
+share the danger with them, and until they perceived the Athenians
+after the Sicilian disaster themselves no longer denying the thoroughly
+desperate state of their affairs. And if they were thrown out by one
+of the surprises which upset human calculations, they found out their
+mistake in company with many others who believed, like them, in the
+speedy collapse of the Athenian power. While they were thus blockaded
+from the sea and plundered by land, some of the citizens undertook to
+bring the city over to the Athenians. Apprised of this the authorities
+took no action themselves, but brought Astyochus, the admiral, from
+Erythrae, with four ships that he had with him, and considered how they
+could most quietly, either by taking hostages or by some other means,
+put an end to the conspiracy.
+
+While the Chians were thus engaged, a thousand Athenian heavy infantry
+and fifteen hundred Argives (five hundred of whom were light troops
+furnished with armour by the Athenians), and one thousand of the allies,
+towards the close of the same summer sailed from Athens in forty-eight
+ships, some of which were transports, under the command of Phrynichus,
+Onomacles, and Scironides, and putting into Samos crossed over and
+encamped at Miletus. Upon this the Milesians came out to the number of
+eight hundred heavy infantry, with the Peloponnesians who had come with
+Chalcideus, and some foreign mercenaries of Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes
+himself and his cavalry, and engaged the Athenians and their allies.
+While the Argives rushed forward on their own wing with the careless
+disdain of men advancing against Ionians who would never stand their
+charge, and were defeated by the Milesians with a loss little short of
+three hundred men, the Athenians first defeated the Peloponnesians, and
+driving before them the barbarians and the ruck of the army, without
+engaging the Milesians, who after the rout of the Argives retreated into
+the town upon seeing their comrades worsted, crowned their victory by
+grounding their arms under the very walls of Miletus. Thus, in this
+battle, the Ionians on both sides overcame the Dorians, the Athenians
+defeating the Peloponnesians opposed to them, and the Milesians the
+Argives. After setting up a trophy, the Athenians prepared to draw a
+wall round the place, which stood upon an isthmus; thinking that, if
+they could gain Miletus, the other towns also would easily come over to
+them.
+
+Meanwhile about dusk tidings reached them that the fifty-five ships
+from Peloponnese and Sicily might be instantly expected. Of these the
+Siceliots, urged principally by the Syracusan Hermocrates to join
+in giving the finishing blow to the power of Athens, furnished
+twenty-two--twenty from Syracuse, and two from Silenus; and the ships
+that we left preparing in Peloponnese being now ready, both squadrons
+had been entrusted to Therimenes, a Lacedaemonian, to take to Astyochus,
+the admiral. They now put in first at Leros the island off Miletus, and
+from thence, discovering that the Athenians were before the town, sailed
+into the Iasic Gulf, in order to learn how matters stood at Miletus.
+Meanwhile Alcibiades came on horseback to Teichiussa in the Milesian
+territory, the point of the gulf at which they had put in for the night,
+and told them of the battle in which he had fought in person by the side
+of the Milesians and Tissaphernes, and advised them, if they did not
+wish to sacrifice Ionia and their cause, to fly to the relief of Miletus
+and hinder its investment.
+
+Accordingly they resolved to relieve it the next morning. Meanwhile
+Phrynichus, the Athenian commander, had received precise intelligence of
+the fleet from Leros, and when his colleagues expressed a wish to keep
+the sea and fight it out, flatly refused either to stay himself or to
+let them or any one else do so if he could help it. Where they could
+hereafter contend, after full and undisturbed preparation, with an exact
+knowledge of the number of the enemy's fleet and of the force which they
+could oppose to him, he would never allow the reproach of disgrace to
+drive him into a risk that was unreasonable. It was no disgrace for an
+Athenian fleet to retreat when it suited them: put it as they would, it
+would be more disgraceful to be beaten, and to expose the city not only
+to disgrace, but to the most serious danger. After its late misfortunes
+it could hardly be justified in voluntarily taking the offensive even
+with the strongest force, except in a case of absolute necessity:
+much less then without compulsion could it rush upon peril of its own
+seeking. He told them to take up their wounded as quickly as they could
+and the troops and stores which they had brought with them, and leaving
+behind what they had taken from the enemy's country, in order to lighten
+the ships, to sail off to Samos, and there concentrating all their ships
+to attack as opportunity served. As he spoke so he acted; and thus not
+now more than afterwards, nor in this alone but in all that he had to do
+with, did Phrynichus show himself a man of sense. In this way that
+very evening the Athenians broke up from before Miletus, leaving their
+victory unfinished, and the Argives, mortified at their disaster,
+promptly sailed off home from Samos.
+
+As soon as it was morning the Peloponnesians weighed from Teichiussa and
+put into Miletus after the departure of the Athenians; they stayed one
+day, and on the next took with them the Chian vessels originally chased
+into port with Chalcideus, and resolved to sail back for the tackle
+which they had put on shore at Teichiussa. Upon their arrival
+Tissaphernes came to them with his land forces and induced them to sail
+to Iasus, which was held by his enemy Amorges. Accordingly they suddenly
+attacked and took Iasus, whose inhabitants never imagined that the ships
+could be other than Athenian. The Syracusans distinguished themselves
+most in the action. Amorges, a bastard of Pissuthnes and a rebel from
+the King, was taken alive and handed over to Tissaphernes, to carry to
+the King, if he chose, according to his orders: Iasus was sacked by the
+army, who found a very great booty there, the place being wealthy from
+ancient date. The mercenaries serving with Amorges the Peloponnesians
+received and enrolled in their army without doing them any harm,
+since most of them came from Peloponnese, and handed over the town to
+Tissaphernes with all the captives, bond or free, at the stipulated
+price of one Doric stater a head; after which they returned to Miletus.
+Pedaritus, son of Leon, who had been sent by the Lacedaemonians to take
+the command at Chios, they dispatched by land as far as Erythrae with
+the mercenaries taken from Amorges; appointing Philip to remain as
+governor of Miletus.
+
+Summer was now over. The winter following, Tissaphernes put Iasus in a
+state of defence, and passing on to Miletus distributed a month's pay to
+all the ships as he had promised at Lacedaemon, at the rate of an Attic
+drachma a day for each man. In future, however, he was resolved not to
+give more than three obols, until he had consulted the King; when if the
+King should so order he would give, he said, the full drachma. However,
+upon the protest of the Syracusan general Hermocrates (for as Therimenes
+was not admiral, but only accompanied them in order to hand over the
+ships to Astyochus, he made little difficulty about the pay), it was
+agreed that the amount of five ships' pay should be given over and above
+the three obols a day for each man; Tissaphernes paying thirty talents
+a month for fifty-five ships, and to the rest, for as many ships as they
+had beyond that number, at the same rate.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Samos, having been joined by
+thirty-five more vessels from home under Charminus, Strombichides, and
+Euctemon, called in their squadron at Chios and all the rest, intending
+to blockade Miletus with their navy, and to send a fleet and an army
+against Chios; drawing lots for the respective services. This intention
+they carried into effect; Strombichides, Onamacles, and Euctemon sailing
+against Chios, which fell to their lot, with thirty ships and a part
+of the thousand heavy infantry, who had been to Miletus, in transports;
+while the rest remained masters of the sea with seventy-four ships at
+Samos, and advanced upon Miletus.
+
+Meanwhile Astyochus, whom we left at Chios collecting the hostages
+required in consequence of the conspiracy, stopped upon learning that
+the fleet with Therimenes had arrived, and that the affairs of the
+league were in a more flourishing condition, and putting out to sea with
+ten Peloponnesian and as many Chian vessels, after a futile attack upon
+Pteleum, coasted on to Clazomenae, and ordered the Athenian party to
+remove inland to Daphnus, and to join the Peloponnesians, an order in
+which also joined Tamos the king's lieutenant in Ionia. This order being
+disregarded, Astyochus made an attack upon the town, which was unwalled,
+and having failed to take it was himself carried off by a strong gale
+to Phocaea and Cuma, while the rest of the ships put in at the islands
+adjacent to Clazomenae--Marathussa, Pele, and Drymussa. Here they were
+detained eight days by the winds, and, plundering and consuming all the
+property of the Clazomenians there deposited, put the rest on shipboard
+and sailed off to Phocaea and Cuma to join Astyochus.
+
+While he was there, envoys arrived from the Lesbians who wished to
+revolt again. With Astyochus they were successful; but the Corinthians
+and the other allies being averse to it by reason of their former
+failure, he weighed anchor and set sail for Chios, where they eventually
+arrived from different quarters, the fleet having been scattered by a
+storm. After this Pedaritus, whom we left marching along the coast from
+Miletus, arrived at Erythrae, and thence crossed over with his army to
+Chios, where he found also about five hundred soldiers who had been left
+there by Chalcideus from the five ships with their arms. Meanwhile some
+Lesbians making offers to revolt, Astyochus urged upon Pedaritus and the
+Chians that they ought to go with their ships and effect the revolt
+of Lesbos, and so increase the number of their allies, or, if not
+successful, at all events harm the Athenians. The Chians, however,
+turned a deaf ear to this, and Pedaritus flatly refused to give up to
+him the Chian vessels.
+
+Upon this Astyochus took five Corinthian and one Megarian vessel,
+with another from Hermione, and the ships which had come with him from
+Laconia, and set sail for Miletus to assume his command as admiral;
+after telling the Chians with many threats that he would certainly
+not come and help them if they should be in need. At Corycus in the
+Erythraeid he brought to for the night; the Athenian armament sailing
+from Samos against Chios being only separated from him by a hill, upon
+the other side of which it brought to; so that neither perceived the
+other. But a letter arriving in the night from Pedaritus to say that
+some liberated Erythraean prisoners had come from Samos to betray
+Erythrae, Astyochus at once put back to Erythrae, and so just escaped
+falling in with the Athenians. Here Pedaritus sailed over to join him;
+and after inquiry into the pretended treachery, finding that the whole
+story had been made up to procure the escape of the men from Samos, they
+acquitted them of the charge, and sailed away, Pedaritus to Chios and
+Astyochus to Miletus as he had intended.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenian armament sailing round Corycus fell in with three
+Chian men-of-war off Arginus, and gave immediate chase. A great storm
+coming on, the Chians with difficulty took refuge in the harbour; the
+three Athenian vessels most forward in the pursuit being wrecked
+and thrown up near the city of Chios, and the crews slain or taken
+prisoners. The rest of the Athenian fleet took refuge in the harbour
+called Phoenicus, under Mount Mimas, and from thence afterwards put into
+Lesbos and prepared for the work of fortification.
+
+The same winter the Lacedaemonian Hippocrates sailed out from
+Peloponnese with ten Thurian ships under the command of Dorieus, son of
+Diagoras, and two colleagues, one Laconian and one Syracusan vessel,
+and arrived at Cnidus, which had already revolted at the instigation of
+Tissaphernes. When their arrival was known at Miletus, orders came to
+them to leave half their squadron to guard Cnidus, and with the rest to
+cruise round Triopium and seize all the merchantmen arriving from Egypt.
+Triopium is a promontory of Cnidus and sacred to Apollo. This coming to
+the knowledge of the Athenians, they sailed from Samos and captured
+the six ships on the watch at Triopium, the crews escaping out of them.
+After this the Athenians sailed into Cnidus and made an assault upon
+the town, which was unfortified, and all but took it; and the next
+day assaulted it again, but with less effect, as the inhabitants had
+improved their defences during the night, and had been reinforced by the
+crews escaped from the ships at Triopium. The Athenians now withdrew,
+and after plundering the Cnidian territory sailed back to Samos.
+
+About the same time Astyochus came to the fleet at Miletus. The
+Peloponnesian camp was still plentifully supplied, being in receipt of
+sufficient pay, and the soldiers having still in hand the large booty
+taken at Iasus. The Milesians also showed great ardour for the war.
+Nevertheless the Peloponnesians thought the first convention with
+Tissaphernes, made with Chalcideus, defective, and more advantageous
+to him than to them, and consequently while Therimenes was still there
+concluded another, which was as follows:
+
+The convention of the Lacedaemonians and the allies with King Darius and
+the sons of the King, and with Tissaphernes for a treaty and friendship,
+as follows:
+
+1. Neither the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians shall
+make war against or otherwise injure any country or cities that belong
+to King Darius or did belong to his father or to his ancestors; neither
+shall the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians exact
+tribute from such cities. Neither shall King Darius nor any of
+the subjects of the King make war against or otherwise injure the
+Lacedaemonians or their allies.
+
+2. If the Lacedaemonians or their allies should require any assistance
+from the King, or the King from the Lacedaemonians or their allies,
+whatever they both agree upon they shall be right in doing.
+
+3. Both shall carry on jointly the war against the Athenians and their
+allies: and if they make peace, both shall do so jointly.
+
+4. The expense of all troops in the King's country, sent for by the
+King, shall be borne by the King.
+
+5. If any of the states comprised in this convention with the King
+attack the King's country, the rest shall stop them and aid the King
+to the best of their power. And if any in the King's country or in the
+countries under the King's rule attack the country of the Lacedaemonians
+or their allies, the King shall stop it and help them to the best of his
+power.
+
+After this convention Therimenes handed over the fleet to Astyochus,
+sailed off in a small boat, and was lost. The Athenian armament had
+now crossed over from Lesbos to Chios, and being master by sea and land
+began to fortify Delphinium, a place naturally strong on the land side,
+provided with more than one harbour, and also not far from the city of
+Chios. Meanwhile the Chians remained inactive. Already defeated in
+so many battles, they were now also at discord among themselves; the
+execution of the party of Tydeus, son of Ion, by Pedaritus upon the
+charge of Atticism, followed by the forcible imposition of an oligarchy
+upon the rest of the city, having made them suspicious of one another;
+and they therefore thought neither themselves not the mercenaries under
+Pedaritus a match for the enemy. They sent, however, to Miletus to beg
+Astyochus to assist them, which he refused to do, and was accordingly
+denounced at Lacedaemon by Pedaritus as a traitor. Such was the state of
+the Athenian affairs at Chios; while their fleet at Samos kept sailing
+out against the enemy in Miletus, until they found that he would not
+accept their challenge, and then retired again to Samos and remained
+quiet.
+
+In the same winter the twenty-seven ships equipped by the Lacedaemonians
+for Pharnabazus through the agency of the Megarian Calligeitus, and the
+Cyzicene Timagoras, put out from Peloponnese and sailed for Ionia about
+the time of the solstice, under the command of Antisthenes, a Spartan.
+With them the Lacedaemonians also sent eleven Spartans as advisers to
+Astyochus; Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, being among the number. Arrived at
+Miletus, their orders were to aid in generally superintending the good
+conduct of the war; to send off the above ships or a greater or less
+number to the Hellespont to Pharnabazus, if they thought proper,
+appointing Clearchus, son of Ramphias, who sailed with them, to the
+command; and further, if they thought proper, to make Antisthenes
+admiral, dismissing Astyochus, whom the letters of Pedaritus had caused
+to be regarded with suspicion. Sailing accordingly from Malea across
+the open sea, the squadron touched at Melos and there fell in with ten
+Athenian ships, three of which they took empty and burned. After this,
+being afraid that the Athenian vessels escaped from Melos might, as
+they in fact did, give information of their approach to the Athenians at
+Samos, they sailed to Crete, and having lengthened their voyage by
+way of precaution made land at Caunus in Asia, from whence considering
+themselves in safety they sent a message to the fleet at Miletus for a
+convoy along the coast.
+
+Meanwhile the Chians and Pedaritus, undeterred by the backwardness of
+Astyochus, went on sending messengers pressing him to come with all
+the fleet to assist them against their besiegers, and not to leave the
+greatest of the allied states in Ionia to be shut up by sea and overrun
+and pillaged by land. There were more slaves at Chios than in any one
+other city except Lacedaemon, and being also by reason of their numbers
+punished more rigorously when they offended, most of them, when they saw
+the Athenian armament firmly established in the island with a fortified
+position, immediately deserted to the enemy, and through their knowledge
+of the country did the greatest mischief. The Chians therefore urged
+upon Astyochus that it was his duty to assist them, while there was
+still a hope and a possibility of stopping the enemy's progress, while
+Delphinium was still in process of fortification and unfinished, and
+before the completion of a higher rampart which was being added to
+protect the camp and fleet of their besiegers. Astyochus now saw that
+the allies also wished it and prepared to go, in spite of his intention
+to the contrary owing to the threat already referred to.
+
+In the meantime news came from Caunus of the arrival of the twenty-seven
+ships with the Lacedaemonian commissioners; and Astyochus, postponing
+everything to the duty of convoying a fleet of that importance, in
+order to be more able to command the sea, and to the safe conduct of the
+Lacedaemonians sent as spies over his behaviour, at once gave up going
+to Chios and set sail for Caunus. As he coasted along he landed at the
+Meropid Cos and sacked the city, which was unfortified and had been
+lately laid in ruins by an earthquake, by far the greatest in living
+memory, and, as the inhabitants had fled to the mountains, overran the
+country and made booty of all it contained, letting go, however, the
+free men. From Cos arriving in the night at Cnidus he was constrained by
+the representations of the Cnidians not to disembark the sailors, but to
+sail as he was straight against the twenty Athenian vessels, which with
+Charminus, one of the commanders at Samos, were on the watch for the
+very twenty-seven ships from Peloponnese which Astyochus was himself
+sailing to join; the Athenians in Samos having heard from Melos of their
+approach, and Charminus being on the look-out off Syme, Chalce, Rhodes,
+and Lycia, as he now heard that they were at Caunus.
+
+Astyochus accordingly sailed as he was to Syme, before he was heard of,
+in the hope of catching the enemy somewhere out at sea. Rain, however,
+and foggy weather encountered him, and caused his ships to straggle
+and get into disorder in the dark. In the morning his fleet had parted
+company and was most of it still straggling round the island, and the
+left wing only in sight of Charminus and the Athenians, who took it for
+the squadron which they were watching for from Caunus, and hastily put
+out against it with part only of their twenty vessels, and attacking
+immediately sank three ships and disabled others, and had the advantage
+in the action until the main body of the fleet unexpectedly hove in
+sight, when they were surrounded on every side. Upon this they took to
+flight, and after losing six ships with the rest escaped to Teutlussa
+or Beet Island, and from thence to Halicarnassus. After this the
+Peloponnesians put into Cnidus and, being joined by the twenty-seven
+ships from Caunus, sailed all together and set up a trophy in Syme, and
+then returned to anchor at Cnidus.
+
+As soon as the Athenians knew of the sea-fight, they sailed with all the
+ships at Samos to Syme, and, without attacking or being attacked by the
+fleet at Cnidus, took the ships' tackle left at Syme, and touching at
+Lorymi on the mainland sailed back to Samos. Meanwhile the Peloponnesian
+ships, being now all at Cnidus, underwent such repairs as were
+needed; while the eleven Lacedaemonian commissioners conferred with
+Tissaphernes, who had come to meet them, upon the points which did not
+satisfy them in the past transactions, and upon the best and mutually
+most advantageous manner of conducting the war in future. The severest
+critic of the present proceedings was Lichas, who said that neither
+of the treaties could stand, neither that of Chalcideus, nor that of
+Therimenes; it being monstrous that the King should at this date pretend
+to the possession of all the country formerly ruled by himself or by his
+ancestors--a pretension which implicitly put back under the yoke all the
+islands--Thessaly, Locris, and everything as far as Boeotia--and made
+the Lacedaemonians give to the Hellenes instead of liberty a Median
+master. He therefore invited Tissaphernes to conclude another and a
+better treaty, as they certainly would not recognize those existing
+and did not want any of his pay upon such conditions. This offended
+Tissaphernes so much that he went away in a rage without settling
+anything.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+_Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the War--Intrigues of
+Alcibiades--Withdrawal of the Persian Subsidies--Oligarchical Coup
+d'Etat at Athens--Patriotism of the Army at Samos_
+
+The Peloponnesians now determined to sail to Rhodes, upon the invitation
+of some of the principal men there, hoping to gain an island powerful by
+the number of its seamen and by its land forces, and also thinking that
+they would be able to maintain their fleet from their own confederacy,
+without having to ask for money from Tissaphernes. They accordingly
+at once set sail that same winter from Cnidus, and first put in with
+ninety-four ships at Camirus in the Rhodian country, to the great alarm
+of the mass of the inhabitants, who were not privy to the intrigue, and
+who consequently fled, especially as the town was unfortified. They were
+afterwards, however, assembled by the Lacedaemonians together with
+the inhabitants of the two other towns of Lindus and Ialysus; and the
+Rhodians were persuaded to revolt from the Athenians and the island went
+over to the Peloponnesians. Meanwhile the Athenians had received the
+alarm and set sail with the fleet from Samos to forestall them, and came
+within sight of the island, but being a little too late sailed off for
+the moment to Chalce, and from thence to Samos, and subsequently waged
+war against Rhodes, issuing from Chalce, Cos, and Samos.
+
+The Peloponnesians now levied a contribution of thirty-two talents from
+the Rhodians, after which they hauled their ships ashore and for eighty
+days remained inactive. During this time, and even earlier, before they
+removed to Rhodes, the following intrigues took place. After the
+death of Chalcideus and the battle at Miletus, Alcibiades began to be
+suspected by the Peloponnesians; and Astyochus received from Lacedaemon
+an order from them to put him to death, he being the personal enemy of
+Agis, and in other respects thought unworthy of confidence. Alcibiades
+in his alarm first withdrew to Tissaphernes, and immediately began to
+do all he could with him to injure the Peloponnesian cause. Henceforth
+becoming his adviser in everything, he cut down the pay from an Attic
+drachma to three obols a day, and even this not paid too regularly; and
+told Tissaphernes to say to the Peloponnesians that the Athenians, whose
+maritime experience was of an older date than their own, only gave their
+men three obols, not so much from poverty as to prevent their seamen
+being corrupted by being too well off, and injuring their condition by
+spending money upon enervating indulgences, and also paid their crews
+irregularly in order to have a security against their deserting in the
+arrears which they would leave behind them. He also told Tissaphernes
+to bribe the captains and generals of the cities, and so to obtain their
+connivance--an expedient which succeeded with all except the Syracusans,
+Hermocrates alone opposing him on behalf of the whole confederacy.
+Meanwhile the cities asking for money Alcibiades sent off, by roundly
+telling them in the name of Tissaphernes that it was great impudence
+in the Chians, the richest people in Hellas, not content with being
+defended by a foreign force, to expect others to risk not only their
+lives but their money as well in behalf of their freedom; while the
+other cities, he said, had had to pay largely to Athens before their
+rebellion, and could not justly refuse to contribute as much or even
+more now for their own selves. He also pointed out that Tissaphernes was
+at present carrying on the war at his own charges, and had good cause
+for economy, but that as soon as he received remittances from the king
+he would give them their pay in full and do what was reasonable for the
+cities.
+
+Alcibiades further advised Tissaphernes not to be in too great a
+hurry to end the war, or to let himself be persuaded to bring up the
+Phoenician fleet which he was equipping, or to provide pay for more
+Hellenes, and thus put the power by land and sea into the same hands;
+but to leave each of the contending parties in possession of one
+element, thus enabling the king when he found one troublesome to call
+in the other. For if the command of the sea and land were united in one
+hand, he would not know where to turn for help to overthrow the dominant
+power; unless he at last chose to stand up himself, and go through with
+the struggle at great expense and hazard. The cheapest plan was to let
+the Hellenes wear each other out, at a small share of the expense and
+without risk to himself. Besides, he would find the Athenians the most
+convenient partners in empire as they did not aim at conquests on
+shore, and carried on the war upon principles and with a practice most
+advantageous to the King; being prepared to combine to conquer the sea
+for Athens, and for the King all the Hellenes inhabiting his country,
+whom the Peloponnesians, on the contrary, had come to liberate. Now it
+was not likely that the Lacedaemonians would free the Hellenes from the
+Hellenic Athenians, without freeing them also from the barbarian Mede,
+unless overthrown by him in the meanwhile. Alcibiades therefore urged
+him to wear them both out at first, and, after docking the Athenian
+power as much as he could, forthwith to rid the country of the
+Peloponnesians. In the main Tissaphernes approved of this policy, so far
+at least as could be conjectured from his behaviour; since he now gave
+his confidence to Alcibiades in recognition of his good advice, and kept
+the Peloponnesians short of money, and would not let them fight at sea,
+but ruined their cause by pretending that the Phoenician fleet would
+arrive, and that they would thus be enabled to contend with the odds in
+their favour, and so made their navy lose its efficiency, which had been
+very remarkable, and generally betrayed a coolness in the war that was
+too plain to be mistaken.
+
+Alcibiades gave this advice to Tissaphernes and the King, with whom he
+then was, not merely because he thought it really the best, but because
+he was studying means to effect his restoration to his country, well
+knowing that if he did not destroy it he might one day hope to persuade
+the Athenians to recall him, and thinking that his best chance of
+persuading them lay in letting them see that he possessed the favour of
+Tissaphernes. The event proved him to be right. When the Athenians at
+Samos found that he had influence with Tissaphernes, principally of
+their own motion (though partly also through Alcibiades himself sending
+word to their chief men to tell the best men in the army that, if there
+were only an oligarchy in the place of the rascally democracy that had
+banished him, he would be glad to return to his country and to make
+Tissaphernes their friend), the captains and chief men in the armament
+at once embraced the idea of subverting the democracy.
+
+The design was first mooted in the camp, and afterwards from thence
+reached the city. Some persons crossed over from Samos and had an
+interview with Alcibiades, who immediately offered to make first
+Tissaphernes, and afterwards the King, their friend, if they would give
+up the democracy and make it possible for the King to trust them.
+The higher class, who also suffered most severely from the war, now
+conceived great hopes of getting the government into their own hands,
+and of triumphing over the enemy. Upon their return to Samos the
+emissaries formed their partisans into a club, and openly told the mass
+of the armament that the King would be their friend, and would
+provide them with money, if Alcibiades were restored and the democracy
+abolished. The multitude, if at first irritated by these intrigues, were
+nevertheless kept quiet by the advantageous prospect of the pay from the
+King; and the oligarchical conspirators, after making this communication
+to the people, now re-examined the proposals of Alcibiades among
+themselves, with most of their associates. Unlike the rest, who thought
+them advantageous and trustworthy, Phrynichus, who was still general,
+by no means approved of the proposals. Alcibiades, he rightly thought,
+cared no more for an oligarchy than for a democracy, and only sought to
+change the institutions of his country in order to get himself recalled
+by his associates; while for themselves their one object should be
+to avoid civil discord. It was not the King's interest, when the
+Peloponnesians were now their equals at sea, and in possession of some
+of the chief cities in his empire, to go out of his way to side with
+the Athenians whom he did not trust, when he might make friends of the
+Peloponnesians who had never injured him. And as for the allied states
+to whom oligarchy was now offered, because the democracy was to be put
+down at Athens, he well knew that this would not make the rebels come in
+any the sooner, or confirm the loyal in their allegiance; as the allies
+would never prefer servitude with an oligarchy or democracy to freedom
+with the constitution which they actually enjoyed, to whichever type it
+belonged. Besides, the cities thought that the so-called better classes
+would prove just as oppressive as the commons, as being those who
+originated, proposed, and for the most part benefited from the acts of
+the commons injurious to the confederates. Indeed, if it depended on the
+better classes, the confederates would be put to death without trial and
+with violence; while the commons were their refuge and the chastiser
+of these men. This he positively knew that the cities had learned
+by experience, and that such was their opinion. The propositions of
+Alcibiades, and the intrigues now in progress, could therefore never
+meet with his approval.
+
+However, the members of the club assembled, agreeably to their original
+determination, accepted what was proposed, and prepared to send Pisander
+and others on an embassy to Athens to treat for the restoration of
+Alcibiades and the abolition of the democracy in the city, and thus to
+make Tissaphernes the friend of the Athenians.
+
+Phrynichus now saw that there would be a proposal to restore Alcibiades,
+and that the Athenians would consent to it; and fearing after what he
+had said against it that Alcibiades, if restored, would revenge himself
+upon him for his opposition, had recourse to the following expedient.
+He sent a secret letter to the Lacedaemonian admiral Astyochus, who was
+still in the neighbourhood of Miletus, to tell him that Alcibiades was
+ruining their cause by making Tissaphernes the friend of the Athenians,
+and containing an express revelation of the rest of the intrigue,
+desiring to be excused if he sought to harm his enemy even at the
+expense of the interests of his country. However, Astyochus, instead
+of thinking of punishing Alcibiades, who, besides, no longer ventured
+within his reach as formerly, went up to him and Tissaphernes at
+Magnesia, communicated to them the letter from Samos, and turned
+informer, and, if report may be trusted, became the paid creature
+of Tissaphernes, undertaking to inform him as to this and all other
+matters; which was also the reason why he did not remonstrate more
+strongly against the pay not being given in full. Upon this Alcibiades
+instantly sent to the authorities at Samos a letter against Phrynichus,
+stating what he had done, and requiring that he should be put to
+death. Phrynichus distracted, and placed in the utmost peril by the
+denunciation, sent again to Astyochus, reproaching him with having so
+ill kept the secret of his previous letter, and saying that he was now
+prepared to give them an opportunity of destroying the whole Athenian
+armament at Samos; giving a detailed account of the means which he
+should employ, Samos being unfortified, and pleading that, being in
+danger of his life on their account, he could not now be blamed for
+doing this or anything else to escape being destroyed by his mortal
+enemies. This also Astyochus revealed to Alcibiades.
+
+Meanwhile Phrynichus having had timely notice that he was playing him
+false, and that a letter on the subject was on the point of arriving
+from Alcibiades, himself anticipated the news, and told the army that
+the enemy, seeing that Samos was unfortified and the fleet not all
+stationed within the harbour, meant to attack the camp, that he could
+be certain of this intelligence, and that they must fortify Samos as
+quickly as possible, and generally look to their defences. It will be
+remembered that he was general, and had himself authority to carry out
+these measures. Accordingly they addressed themselves to the work
+of fortification, and Samos was thus fortified sooner than it
+would otherwise have been. Not long afterwards came the letter from
+Alcibiades, saying that the army was betrayed by Phrynichus, and the
+enemy about to attack it. Alcibiades, however, gained no credit, it
+being thought that he was in the secret of the enemy's designs, and had
+tried to fasten them upon Phrynichus, and to make out that he was their
+accomplice, out of hatred; and consequently far from hurting him he
+rather bore witness to what he had said by this intelligence.
+
+After this Alcibiades set to work to persuade Tissaphernes to become
+the friend of the Athenians. Tissaphernes, although afraid of the
+Peloponnesians because they had more ships in Asia than the Athenians,
+was yet disposed to be persuaded if he could, especially after
+his quarrel with the Peloponnesians at Cnidus about the treaty of
+Therimenes. The quarrel had already taken place, as the Peloponnesians
+were by this time actually at Rhodes; and in it the original argument
+of Alcibiades touching the liberation of all the towns by the
+Lacedaemonians had been verified by the declaration of Lichas that it
+was impossible to submit to a convention which made the King master of
+all the states at any former time ruled by himself or by his fathers.
+
+While Alcibiades was besieging the favour of Tissaphernes with an
+earnestness proportioned to the greatness of the issue, the Athenian
+envoys who had been dispatched from Samos with Pisander arrived at
+Athens, and made a speech before the people, giving a brief summary
+of their views, and particularly insisting that, if Alcibiades were
+recalled and the democratic constitution changed, they could have the
+King as their ally, and would be able to overcome the Peloponnesians.
+A number of speakers opposed them on the question of the democracy, the
+enemies of Alcibiades cried out against the scandal of a restoration to
+be effected by a violation of the constitution, and the Eumolpidae
+and Ceryces protested in behalf of the mysteries, the cause of his
+banishment, and called upon the gods to avert his recall; when Pisander,
+in the midst of much opposition and abuse, came forward, and taking each
+of his opponents aside asked him the following question: In the face
+of the fact that the Peloponnesians had as many ships as their own
+confronting them at sea, more cities in alliance with them, and the King
+and Tissaphernes to supply them with money, of which the Athenians had
+none left, had he any hope of saving the state, unless someone could
+induce the King to come over to their side? Upon their replying that
+they had not, he then plainly said to them: "This we cannot have unless
+we have a more moderate form of government, and put the offices into
+fewer hands, and so gain the King's confidence, and forthwith restore
+Alcibiades, who is the only man living that can bring this about. The
+safety of the state, not the form of its government, is for the moment
+the most pressing question, as we can always change afterwards whatever
+we do not like."
+
+The people were at first highly irritated at the mention of an
+oligarchy, but upon understanding clearly from Pisander that this was
+the only resource left, they took counsel of their fears, and promised
+themselves some day to change the government again, and gave way. They
+accordingly voted that Pisander should sail with ten others and make the
+best arrangement that they could with Tissaphernes and Alcibiades. At
+the same time the people, upon a false accusation of Pisander, dismissed
+Phrynichus from his post together with his colleague Scironides, sending
+Diomedon and Leon to replace them in the command of the fleet. The
+accusation was that Phrynichus had betrayed Iasus and Amorges; and
+Pisander brought it because he thought him a man unfit for the business
+now in hand with Alcibiades. Pisander also went the round of all the
+clubs already existing in the city for help in lawsuits and elections,
+and urged them to draw together and to unite their efforts for the
+overthrow of the democracy; and after taking all other measures required
+by the circumstances, so that no time might be lost, set off with his
+ten companions on his voyage to Tissaphernes.
+
+In the same winter Leon and Diomedon, who had by this time joined the
+fleet, made an attack upon Rhodes. The ships of the Peloponnesians they
+found hauled up on shore, and, after making a descent upon the coast and
+defeating the Rhodians who appeared in the field against them, withdrew
+to Chalce and made that place their base of operations instead of Cos,
+as they could better observe from thence if the Peloponnesian fleet
+put out to sea. Meanwhile Xenophantes, a Laconian, came to Rhodes
+from Pedaritus at Chios, with the news that the fortification of the
+Athenians was now finished, and that, unless the whole Peloponnesian
+fleet came to the rescue, the cause in Chios must be lost. Upon this
+they resolved to go to his relief. In the meantime Pedaritus, with the
+mercenaries that he had with him and the whole force of the Chians, made
+an assault upon the work round the Athenian ships and took a portion
+of it, and got possession of some vessels that were hauled up on shore,
+when the Athenians sallied out to the rescue, and first routing the
+Chians, next defeated the remainder of the force round Pedaritus, who
+was himself killed, with many of the Chians, a great number of arms
+being also taken.
+
+After this the Chians were besieged even more straitly than before
+by land and sea, and the famine in the place was great. Meanwhile the
+Athenian envoys with Pisander arrived at the court of Tissaphernes, and
+conferred with him about the proposed agreement. However, Alcibiades,
+not being altogether sure of Tissaphernes (who feared the Peloponnesians
+more than the Athenians, and besides wished to wear out both parties,
+as Alcibiades himself had recommended), had recourse to the following
+stratagem to make the treaty between the Athenians and Tissaphernes
+miscarry by reason of the magnitude of his demands. In my opinion
+Tissaphernes desired this result, fear being his motive; while
+Alcibiades, who now saw that Tissaphernes was determined not to treat
+on any terms, wished the Athenians to think, not that he was unable to
+persuade Tissaphernes, but that after the latter had been persuaded and
+was willing to join them, they had not conceded enough to him. For the
+demands of Alcibiades, speaking for Tissaphernes, who was present, were
+so extravagant that the Athenians, although for a long while they agreed
+to whatever he asked, yet had to bear the blame of failure: he required
+the cession of the whole of Ionia, next of the islands adjacent, besides
+other concessions, and these passed without opposition; at last, in the
+third interview, Alcibiades, who now feared a complete discovery of his
+inability, required them to allow the King to build ships and sail along
+his own coast wherever and with as many as he pleased. Upon this the
+Athenians would yield no further, and concluding that there was nothing
+to be done, but that they had been deceived by Alcibiades, went away in
+a passion and proceeded to Samos.
+
+Tissaphernes immediately after this, in the same winter, proceeded
+along shore to Caunus, desiring to bring the Peloponnesian fleet back
+to Miletus, and to supply them with pay, making a fresh convention upon
+such terms as he could get, in order not to bring matters to an absolute
+breach between them. He was afraid that if many of their ships were left
+without pay they would be compelled to engage and be defeated, or that
+their vessels being left without hands the Athenians would attain
+their objects without his assistance. Still more he feared that the
+Peloponnesians might ravage the continent in search of supplies. Having
+calculated and considered all this, agreeably to his plan of keeping the
+two sides equal, he now sent for the Peloponnesians and gave them pay,
+and concluded with them a third treaty in words following:
+
+In the thirteenth year of the reign of Darius, while Alexippidas was
+ephor at Lacedaemon, a convention was concluded in the plain of the
+Maeander by the Lacedaemonians and their allies with Tissaphernes,
+Hieramenes, and the sons of Pharnaces, concerning the affairs of the
+King and of the Lacedaemonians and their allies.
+
+1. The country of the King in Asia shall be the King's, and the King
+shall treat his own country as he pleases.
+
+2. The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall not invade or injure the
+King's country: neither shall the King invade or injure that of the
+Lacedaemonians or of their allies. If any of the Lacedaemonians or of
+their allies invade or injure the King's country, the Lacedaemonians and
+their allies shall prevent it: and if any from the King's country invade
+or injure the country of the Lacedaemonians or of their allies, the King
+shall prevent it.
+
+3. Tissaphernes shall provide pay for the ships now present, according
+to the agreement, until the arrival of the King's vessels: but after the
+arrival of the King's vessels the Lacedaemonians and their allies may
+pay their own ships if they wish it. If, however, they choose to receive
+the pay from Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes shall furnish it: and the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies shall repay him at the end of the war
+such moneys as they shall have received.
+
+4. After the vessels have arrived, the ships of the Lacedaemonians and
+of their allies and those of the King shall carry on the war jointly,
+according as Tissaphernes and the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall
+think best. If they wish to make peace with the Athenians, they shall
+make peace also jointly.
+
+This was the treaty. After this Tissaphernes prepared to bring up the
+Phoenician fleet according to agreement, and to make good his other
+promises, or at all events wished to make it appear that he was so
+preparing.
+
+Winter was now drawing towards its close, when the Boeotians took Oropus
+by treachery, though held by an Athenian garrison. Their accomplices in
+this were some of the Eretrians and of the Oropians themselves, who
+were plotting the revolt of Euboea, as the place was exactly opposite
+Eretria, and while in Athenian hands was necessarily a source of great
+annoyance to Eretria and the rest of Euboea. Oropus being in their
+hands, the Eretrians now came to Rhodes to invite the Peloponnesians
+into Euboea. The latter, however, were rather bent on the relief of the
+distressed Chians, and accordingly put out to sea and sailed with all
+their ships from Rhodes. Off Triopium they sighted the Athenian fleet
+out at sea sailing from Chalce, and, neither attacking the other,
+arrived, the latter at Samos, the Peloponnesians at Miletus, seeing that
+it was no longer possible to relieve Chios without a battle. And this
+winter ended, and with it ended the twentieth year of this war of which
+Thucydides is the historian.
+
+Early in the spring of the summer following, Dercyllidas, a Spartan, was
+sent with a small force by land to the Hellespont to effect the revolt
+of Abydos, which is a Milesian colony; and the Chians, while Astyochus
+was at a loss how to help them, were compelled to fight at sea by the
+pressure of the siege. While Astyochus was still at Rhodes they had
+received from Miletus, as their commander after the death of Pedaritus,
+a Spartan named Leon, who had come out with Antisthenes, and twelve
+vessels which had been on guard at Miletus, five of which were Thurian,
+four Syracusans, one from Anaia, one Milesian, and one Leon's own.
+Accordingly the Chians marched out in mass and took up a strong
+position, while thirty-six of their ships put out and engaged thirty-two
+of the Athenians; and after a tough fight, in which the Chians and their
+allies had rather the best of it, as it was now late, retired to their
+city.
+
+Immediately after this Dercyllidas arrived by land from Miletus; and
+Abydos in the Hellespont revolted to him and Pharnabazus, and Lampsacus
+two days later. Upon receipt of this news Strombichides hastily sailed
+from Chios with twenty-four Athenian ships, some transports carrying
+heavy infantry being of the number, and defeating the Lampsacenes who
+came out against him, took Lampsacus, which was unfortified, at the
+first assault, and making prize of the slaves and goods restored the
+freemen to their homes, and went on to Abydos. The inhabitants, however,
+refusing to capitulate, and his assaults failing to take the place, he
+sailed over to the coast opposite, and appointed Sestos, the town in the
+Chersonese held by the Medes at a former period in this history, as the
+centre for the defence of the whole Hellespont.
+
+In the meantime the Chians commanded the sea more than before; and the
+Peloponnesians at Miletus and Astyochus, hearing of the sea-fight and
+of the departure of the squadron with Strombichides, took fresh courage.
+Coasting along with two vessels to Chios, Astyochus took the ships from
+that place, and now moved with the whole fleet upon Samos, from whence,
+however, he sailed back to Miletus, as the Athenians did not put out
+against him, owing to their suspicions of one another. For it was about
+this time, or even before, that the democracy was put down at Athens.
+When Pisander and the envoys returned from Tissaphernes to Samos they at
+once strengthened still further their interest in the army itself, and
+instigated the upper class in Samos to join them in establishing an
+oligarchy, the very form of government which a party of them had
+lately risen to avoid. At the same time the Athenians at Samos, after a
+consultation among themselves, determined to let Alcibiades alone, since
+he refused to join them, and besides was not the man for an oligarchy;
+and now that they were once embarked, to see for themselves how they
+could best prevent the ruin of their cause, and meanwhile to sustain the
+war, and to contribute without stint money and all else that might be
+required from their own private estates, as they would henceforth labour
+for themselves alone.
+
+After encouraging each other in these resolutions, they now at once
+sent off half the envoys and Pisander to do what was necessary at Athens
+(with instructions to establish oligarchies on their way in all the
+subject cities which they might touch at), and dispatched the other half
+in different directions to the other dependencies. Diitrephes also, who
+was in the neighbourhood of Chios, and had been elected to the command
+of the Thracian towns, was sent off to his government, and arriving
+at Thasos abolished the democracy there. Two months, however, had not
+elapsed after his departure before the Thasians began to fortify their
+town, being already tired of an aristocracy with Athens, and in daily
+expectation of freedom from Lacedaemon. Indeed there was a party of them
+(whom the Athenians had banished), with the Peloponnesians, who with
+their friends in the town were already making every exertion to bring
+a squadron, and to effect the revolt of Thasos; and this party thus saw
+exactly what they most wanted done, that is to say, the reformation of
+the government without risk, and the abolition of the democracy which
+would have opposed them. Things at Thasos thus turned out just the
+contrary to what the oligarchical conspirators at Athens expected; and
+the same in my opinion was the case in many of the other dependencies;
+as the cities no sooner got a moderate government and liberty of action,
+than they went on to absolute freedom without being at all seduced by
+the show of reform offered by the Athenians.
+
+Pisander and his colleagues on their voyage alongshore abolished, as had
+been determined, the democracies in the cities, and also took some heavy
+infantry from certain places as their allies, and so came to Athens.
+Here they found most of the work already done by their associates. Some
+of the younger men had banded together, and secretly assassinated one
+Androcles, the chief leader of the commons, and mainly responsible for
+the banishment of Alcibiades; Androcles being singled out both because
+he was a popular leader and because they sought by his death to
+recommend themselves to Alcibiades, who was, as they supposed, to be
+recalled, and to make Tissaphernes their friend. There were also some
+other obnoxious persons whom they secretly did away with in the same
+manner. Meanwhile their cry in public was that no pay should be given
+except to persons serving in the war, and that not more than five
+thousand should share in the government, and those such as were most
+able to serve the state in person and in purse.
+
+But this was a mere catchword for the multitude, as the authors of the
+revolution were really to govern. However, the Assembly and the Council
+of the Bean still met notwithstanding, although they discussed nothing
+that was not approved of by the conspirators, who both supplied the
+speakers and reviewed in advance what they were to say. Fear, and the
+sight of the numbers of the conspirators, closed the mouths of the rest;
+or if any ventured to rise in opposition, he was presently put to death
+in some convenient way, and there was neither search for the murderers
+nor justice to be had against them if suspected; but the people remained
+motionless, being so thoroughly cowed that men thought themselves lucky
+to escape violence, even when they held their tongues. An exaggerated
+belief in the numbers of the conspirators also demoralized the people,
+rendered helpless by the magnitude of the city, and by their want of
+intelligence with each other, and being without means of finding out
+what those numbers really were. For the same reason it was impossible
+for any one to open his grief to a neighbour and to concert measures to
+defend himself, as he would have had to speak either to one whom he
+did not know, or whom he knew but did not trust. Indeed all the popular
+party approached each other with suspicion, each thinking his neighbour
+concerned in what was going on, the conspirators having in their ranks
+persons whom no one could ever have believed capable of joining an
+oligarchy; and these it was who made the many so suspicious, and so
+helped to procure impunity for the few, by confirming the commons in
+their mistrust of one another.
+
+At this juncture arrived Pisander and his colleagues, who lost no time
+in doing the rest. First they assembled the people, and moved to elect
+ten commissioners with full powers to frame a constitution, and that
+when this was done they should on an appointed day lay before the people
+their opinion as to the best mode of governing the city. Afterwards,
+when the day arrived, the conspirators enclosed the assembly in Colonus,
+a temple of Poseidon, a little more than a mile outside the city; when
+the commissioners simply brought forward this single motion, that any
+Athenian might propose with impunity whatever measure he pleased, heavy
+penalties being imposed upon any who should indict for illegality, or
+otherwise molest him for so doing. The way thus cleared, it was now
+plainly declared that all tenure of office and receipt of pay under the
+existing institutions were at an end, and that five men must be elected
+as presidents, who should in their turn elect one hundred, and each
+of the hundred three apiece; and that this body thus made up to four
+hundred should enter the council chamber with full powers and govern
+as they judged best, and should convene the five thousand whenever they
+pleased.
+
+The man who moved this resolution was Pisander, who was throughout
+the chief ostensible agent in putting down the democracy. But he who
+concerted the whole affair, and prepared the way for the catastrophe,
+and who had given the greatest thought to the matter, was Antiphon,
+one of the best men of his day in Athens; who, with a head to contrive
+measures and a tongue to recommend them, did not willingly come forward
+in the assembly or upon any public scene, being ill looked upon by the
+multitude owing to his reputation for talent; and who yet was the one
+man best able to aid in the courts, or before the assembly, the suitors
+who required his opinion. Indeed, when he was afterwards himself tried
+for his life on the charge of having been concerned in setting up this
+very government, when the Four Hundred were overthrown and hardly dealt
+with by the commons, he made what would seem to be the best defence of
+any known up to my time. Phrynichus also went beyond all others in his
+zeal for the oligarchy. Afraid of Alcibiades, and assured that he was
+no stranger to his intrigues with Astyochus at Samos, he held that
+no oligarchy was ever likely to restore him, and once embarked in the
+enterprise, proved, where danger was to be faced, by far the staunchest
+of them all. Theramenes, son of Hagnon, was also one of the foremost of
+the subverters of the democracy--a man as able in council as in debate.
+Conducted by so many and by such sagacious heads, the enterprise, great
+as it was, not unnaturally went forward; although it was no light matter
+to deprive the Athenian people of its freedom, almost a hundred years
+after the deposition of the tyrants, when it had been not only not
+subject to any during the whole of that period, but accustomed during
+more than half of it to rule over subjects of its own.
+
+The assembly ratified the proposed constitution, without a single
+opposing voice, and was then dissolved; after which the Four Hundred
+were brought into the council chamber in the following way. On account
+of the enemy at Decelea, all the Athenians were constantly on the wall
+or in the ranks at the various military posts. On that day the persons
+not in the secret were allowed to go home as usual, while orders were
+given to the accomplices of the conspirators to hang about, without
+making any demonstration, at some little distance from the posts, and in
+case of any opposition to what was being done, to seize the arms and
+put it down. There were also some Andrians and Tenians, three hundred
+Carystians, and some of the settlers in Aegina come with their own arms
+for this very purpose, who had received similar instructions. These
+dispositions completed, the Four Hundred went, each with a dagger
+concealed about his person, accompanied by one hundred and twenty
+Hellenic youths, whom they employed wherever violence was needed, and
+appeared before the Councillors of the Bean in the council chamber, and
+told them to take their pay and be gone; themselves bringing it for the
+whole of the residue of their term of office, and giving it to them as
+they went out.
+
+Upon the Council withdrawing in this way without venturing any
+objection, and the rest of the citizens making no movement, the Four
+Hundred entered the council chamber, and for the present contented
+themselves with drawing lots for their Prytanes, and making their
+prayers and sacrifices to the gods upon entering office, but afterwards
+departed widely from the democratic system of government, and except
+that on account of Alcibiades they did not recall the exiles, ruled the
+city by force; putting to death some men, though not many, whom they
+thought it convenient to remove, and imprisoning and banishing others.
+They also sent to Agis, the Lacedaemonian king, at Decelea, to say
+that they desired to make peace, and that he might reasonably be more
+disposed to treat now that he had them to deal with instead of the
+inconstant commons.
+
+Agis, however, did not believe in the tranquillity of the city, or that
+the commons would thus in a moment give up their ancient liberty,
+but thought that the sight of a large Lacedaemonian force would be
+sufficient to excite them if they were not already in commotion, of
+which he was by no means certain. He accordingly gave to the envoys of
+the Four Hundred an answer which held out no hopes of an accommodation,
+and sending for large reinforcements from Peloponnese, not long
+afterwards, with these and his garrison from Decelea, descended to the
+very walls of Athens; hoping either that civil disturbances might help
+to subdue them to his terms, or that, in the confusion to be expected
+within and without the city, they might even surrender without a blow
+being struck; at all events he thought he would succeed in seizing the
+Long Walls, bared of their defenders. However, the Athenians saw him
+come close up, without making the least disturbance within the city; and
+sending out their cavalry, and a number of their heavy infantry, light
+troops, and archers, shot down some of his soldiers who approached too
+near, and got possession of some arms and dead. Upon this Agis, at last
+convinced, led his army back again and, remaining with his own troops in
+the old position at Decelea, sent the reinforcement back home, after a
+few days' stay in Attica. After this the Four Hundred persevering sent
+another embassy to Agis, and now meeting with a better reception, at his
+suggestion dispatched envoys to Lacedaemon to negotiate a treaty, being
+desirous of making peace.
+
+They also sent ten men to Samos to reassure the army, and to explain
+that the oligarchy was not established for the hurt of the city or the
+citizens, but for the salvation of the country at large; and that there
+were five thousand, not four hundred only, concerned; although, what
+with their expeditions and employments abroad, the Athenians had never
+yet assembled to discuss a question important enough to bring five
+thousand of them together. The emissaries were also told what to say
+upon all other points, and were so sent off immediately after the
+establishment of the new government, which feared, as it turned out
+justly, that the mass of seamen would not be willing to remain under the
+oligarchical constitution, and, the evil beginning there, might be the
+means of their overthrow.
+
+Indeed at Samos the question of the oligarchy had already entered upon a
+new phase, the following events having taken place just at the time that
+the Four Hundred were conspiring. That part of the Samian population
+which has been mentioned as rising against the upper class, and as
+being the democratic party, had now turned round, and yielding to the
+solicitations of Pisander during his visit, and of the Athenians in
+the conspiracy at Samos, had bound themselves by oaths to the number
+of three hundred, and were about to fall upon the rest of their fellow
+citizens, whom they now in their turn regarded as the democratic party.
+Meanwhile they put to death one Hyperbolus, an Athenian, a pestilent
+fellow that had been ostracized, not from fear of his influence or
+position, but because he was a rascal and a disgrace to the city; being
+aided in this by Charminus, one of the generals, and by some of the
+Athenians with them, to whom they had sworn friendship, and with whom
+they perpetrated other acts of the kind, and now determined to attack
+the people. The latter got wind of what was coming, and told two of the
+generals, Leon and Diomedon, who, on account of the credit which they
+enjoyed with the commons, were unwilling supporters of the oligarchy;
+and also Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, the former a captain of a galley,
+the latter serving with the heavy infantry, besides certain others who
+had ever been thought most opposed to the conspirators, entreating them
+not to look on and see them destroyed, and Samos, the sole remaining
+stay of their empire, lost to the Athenians. Upon hearing this, the
+persons whom they addressed now went round the soldiers one by one, and
+urged them to resist, especially the crew of the Paralus, which was made
+up entirely of Athenians and freemen, and had from time out of mind been
+enemies of oligarchy, even when there was no such thing existing; and
+Leon and Diomedon left behind some ships for their protection in case
+of their sailing away anywhere themselves. Accordingly, when the Three
+Hundred attacked the people, all these came to the rescue, and foremost
+of all the crew of the Paralus; and the Samian commons gained the
+victory, and putting to death some thirty of the Three Hundred, and
+banishing three others of the ringleaders, accorded an amnesty to the
+rest, and lived together under a democratic government for the future.
+
+The ship Paralus, with Chaereas, son of Archestratus, on board, an
+Athenian who had taken an active part in the revolution, was now without
+loss of time sent off by the Samians and the army to Athens to report
+what had occurred; the fact that the Four Hundred were in power
+not being yet known. When they sailed into harbour the Four Hundred
+immediately arrested two or three of the Parali and, taking the vessel
+from the rest, shifted them into a troopship and set them to keep guard
+round Euboea. Chaereas, however, managed to secrete himself as soon as
+he saw how things stood, and returning to Samos, drew a picture to the
+soldiers of the horrors enacting at Athens, in which everything was
+exaggerated; saying that all were punished with stripes, that no one
+could say a word against the holders of power, that the soldiers' wives
+and children were outraged, and that it was intended to seize and
+shut up the relatives of all in the army at Samos who were not of
+the government's way of thinking, to be put to death in case of their
+disobedience; besides a host of other injurious inventions.
+
+On hearing this the first thought of the army was to fall upon the chief
+authors of the oligarchy and upon all the rest concerned. Eventually,
+however, they desisted from this idea upon the men of moderate views
+opposing it and warning them against ruining their cause, with the enemy
+close at hand and ready for battle. After this, Thrasybulus, son of
+Lycus, and Thrasyllus, the chief leaders in the revolution, now wishing
+in the most public manner to change the government at Samos to a
+democracy, bound all the soldiers by the most tremendous oaths, and
+those of the oligarchical party more than any, to accept a democratic
+government, to be united, to prosecute actively the war with the
+Peloponnesians, and to be enemies of the Four Hundred, and to hold no
+communication with them. The same oath was also taken by all the Samians
+of full age; and the soldiers associated the Samians in all their
+affairs and in the fruits of their dangers, having the conviction that
+there was no way of escape for themselves or for them, but that the
+success of the Four Hundred or of the enemy at Miletus must be their
+ruin.
+
+The struggle now was between the army trying to force a democracy upon
+the city, and the Four Hundred an oligarchy upon the camp. Meanwhile the
+soldiers forthwith held an assembly, in which they deposed the former
+generals and any of the captains whom they suspected, and chose
+new captains and generals to replace them, besides Thrasybulus and
+Thrasyllus, whom they had already. They also stood up and encouraged one
+another, and among other things urged that they ought not to lose heart
+because the city had revolted from them, as the party seceding was
+smaller and in every way poorer in resources than themselves. They had
+the whole fleet with which to compel the other cities in their empire to
+give them money just as if they had their base in the capital, having a
+city in Samos which, so far from wanting strength, had when at war been
+within an ace of depriving the Athenians of the command of the sea,
+while as far as the enemy was concerned they had the same base of
+operations as before. Indeed, with the fleet in their hands, they were
+better able to provide themselves with supplies than the government
+at home. It was their advanced position at Samos which had throughout
+enabled the home authorities to command the entrance into Piraeus; and
+if they refused to give them back the constitution, they would now find
+that the army was more in a position to exclude them from the sea than
+they were to exclude the army. Besides, the city was of little or no use
+towards enabling them to overcome the enemy; and they had lost nothing
+in losing those who had no longer either money to send them (the
+soldiers having to find this for themselves), or good counsel, which
+entitles cities to direct armies. On the contrary, even in this the
+home government had done wrong in abolishing the institutions of their
+ancestors, while the army maintained the said institutions, and would
+try to force the home government to do so likewise. So that even in
+point of good counsel the camp had as good counsellors as the city.
+Moreover, they had but to grant him security for his person and his
+recall, and Alcibiades would be only too glad to procure them the
+alliance of the King. And above all if they failed altogether, with the
+navy which they possessed, they had numbers of places to retire to in
+which they would find cities and lands.
+
+Debating together and comforting themselves after this manner, they
+pushed on their war measures as actively as ever; and the ten envoys
+sent to Samos by the Four Hundred, learning how matters stood while they
+were still at Delos, stayed quiet there.  About this time a cry arose a
+ Peloponnesian fleet at Miletus that Astyochus and Tissaphernes
+were ruining their cause. Astyochus had not been willing to fight at
+sea--either before, while they were still in full vigour and the
+fleet of the Athenians small, or now, when the enemy was, as they were
+informed, in a state of sedition and his ships not yet united--but kept
+them waiting for the Phoenician fleet from Tissaphernes, which had only
+a nominal existence, at the risk of wasting away in inactivity. While
+Tissaphernes not only did not bring up the fleet in question, but was
+ruining their navy by payments made irregularly, and even then not made
+in full. They must therefore, they insisted, delay no longer, but fight
+a decisive naval engagement. The Syracusans were the most urgent of any.
+
+The confederates and Astyochus, aware of these murmurs, had already
+decided in council to fight a decisive battle; and when the news reached
+them of the disturbance at Samos, they put to sea with all their ships,
+one hundred and ten in number, and, ordering the Milesians to move by
+land upon Mycale, set sail thither. The Athenians with the eighty-two
+ships from Samos were at the moment lying at Glauce in Mycale, a
+point where Samos approaches near to the continent; and, seeing the
+Peloponnesian fleet sailing against them, retired into Samos, not
+thinking themselves numerically strong enough to stake their all upon a
+battle. Besides, they had notice from Miletus of the wish of the enemy
+to engage, and were expecting to be joined from the Hellespont by
+Strombichides, to whom a messenger had been already dispatched, with
+the ships that had gone from Chios to Abydos. The Athenians accordingly
+withdrew to Samos, and the Peloponnesians put in at Mycale, and
+encamped with the land forces of the Milesians and the people of the
+neighbourhood. The next day they were about to sail against Samos, when
+tidings reached them of the arrival of Strombichides with the squadron
+from the Hellespont, upon which they immediately sailed back to Miletus.
+The Athenians, thus reinforced, now in their turn sailed against Miletus
+with a hundred and eight ships, wishing to fight a decisive battle, but,
+as no one put out to meet them, sailed back to Samos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+_Twenty-first Year of the War--Recall of Alcibiades to Samos--Revolt of
+Euboea and Downfall of the Four Hundred--Battle of Cynossema_
+
+In the same summer, immediately after this, the Peloponnesians
+having refused to fight with their fleet united, through not thinking
+themselves a match for the enemy, and being at a loss where to look for
+money for such a number of ships, especially as Tissaphernes proved so
+bad a paymaster, sent off Clearchus, son of Ramphias, with forty ships
+to Pharnabazus, agreeably to the original instructions from Peloponnese;
+Pharnabazus inviting them and being prepared to furnish pay, and
+Byzantium besides sending offers to revolt to them. These Peloponnesian
+ships accordingly put out into the open sea, in order to escape the
+observation of the Athenians, and being overtaken by a storm, the
+majority with Clearchus got into Delos, and afterwards returned to
+Miletus, whence Clearchus proceeded by land to the Hellespont to take
+the command: ten, however, of their number, under the Megarian Helixus,
+made good their passage to the Hellespont, and effected the revolt of
+Byzantium. After this, the commanders at Samos were informed of it, and
+sent a squadron against them to guard the Hellespont; and an encounter
+took place before Byzantium between eight vessels on either side.
+
+Meanwhile the chiefs at Samos, and especially Thrasybulus, who from the
+moment that he had changed the government had remained firmly resolved
+to recall Alcibiades, at last in an assembly brought over the mass of
+the soldiery, and upon their voting for his recall and amnesty, sailed
+over to Tissaphernes and brought Alcibiades to Samos, being convinced
+that their only chance of salvation lay in his bringing over
+Tissaphernes from the Peloponnesians to themselves. An assembly was
+then held in which Alcibiades complained of and deplored his private
+misfortune in having been banished, and speaking at great length
+upon public affairs, highly incited their hopes for the future, and
+extravagantly magnified his own influence with Tissaphernes. His object
+in this was to make the oligarchical government at Athens afraid of him,
+to hasten the dissolution of the clubs, to increase his credit with the
+army at Samos and heighten their own confidence, and lastly to prejudice
+the enemy as strongly as possible against Tissaphernes, and blast the
+hopes which they entertained. Alcibiades accordingly held out to the
+army such extravagant promises as the following: that Tissaphernes had
+solemnly assured him that if he could only trust the Athenians they
+should never want for supplies while he had anything left, no, not even
+if he should have to coin his own silver couch, and that he would bring
+the Phoenician fleet now at Aspendus to the Athenians instead of to the
+Peloponnesians; but that he could only trust the Athenians if Alcibiades
+were recalled to be his security for them.
+
+Upon hearing this and much more besides, the Athenians at once elected
+him general together with the former ones, and put all their affairs
+into his hands. There was now not a man in the army who would have
+exchanged his present hopes of safety and vengeance upon the Four
+Hundred for any consideration whatever; and after what they had been
+told they were now inclined to disdain the enemy before them, and to
+sail at once for Piraeus. To the plan of sailing for Piraeus, leaving
+their more immediate enemies behind them, Alcibiades opposed the most
+positive refusal, in spite of the numbers that insisted upon it,
+saying that now that he had been elected general he would first sail
+to Tissaphernes and concert with him measures for carrying on the
+war. Accordingly, upon leaving this assembly, he immediately took
+his departure in order to have it thought that there was an entire
+confidence between them, and also wishing to increase his consideration
+with Tissaphernes, and to show that he had now been elected general and
+was in a position to do him good or evil as he chose; thus managing
+to frighten the Athenians with Tissaphernes and Tissaphernes with the
+Athenians.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians at Miletus heard of the recall of
+Alcibiades and, already distrustful of Tissaphernes, now became far more
+disgusted with him than ever. Indeed after their refusal to go out
+and give battle to the Athenians when they appeared before Miletus,
+Tissaphernes had grown slacker than ever in his payments; and even
+before this, on account of Alcibiades, his unpopularity had been on
+the increase. Gathering together, just as before, the soldiers and some
+persons of consideration besides the soldiery began to reckon up how
+they had never yet received their pay in full; that what they did
+receive was small in quantity, and even that paid irregularly, and that
+unless they fought a decisive battle or removed to some station where
+they could get supplies, the ships' crews would desert; and that it
+was all the fault of Astyochus, who humoured Tissaphernes for his own
+private advantage.
+
+The army was engaged in these reflections, when the following
+disturbance took place about the person of Astyochus. Most of the
+Syracusan and Thurian sailors were freemen, and these the freest crews
+in the armament were likewise the boldest in setting upon Astyochus and
+demanding their pay. The latter answered somewhat stiffly and threatened
+them, and when Dorieus spoke up for his own sailors even went so far
+as to lift his baton against him; upon seeing which the mass of men, in
+sailor fashion, rushed in a fury to strike Astyochus. He, however, saw
+them in time and fled for refuge to an altar; and they were thus parted
+without his being struck. Meanwhile the fort built by Tissaphernes in
+Miletus was surprised and taken by the Milesians, and the garrison in
+it turned out--an act which met with the approval of the rest of the
+allies, and in particular of the Syracusans, but which found no favour
+with Lichas, who said moreover that the Milesians and the rest in the
+King's country ought to show a reasonable submission to Tissaphernes and
+to pay him court, until the war should be happily settled. The Milesians
+were angry with him for this and for other things of the kind, and upon
+his afterwards dying of sickness, would not allow him to be buried where
+the Lacedaemonians with the army desired.
+
+The discontent of the army with Astyochus and Tissaphernes had reached
+this pitch, when Mindarus arrived from Lacedaemon to succeed Astyochus
+as admiral, and assumed the command. Astyochus now set sail for home;
+and Tissaphernes sent with him one of his confidants, Gaulites, a
+Carian, who spoke the two languages, to complain of the Milesians for
+the affair of the fort, and at the same time to defend himself against
+the Milesians, who were, as he was aware, on their way to Sparta chiefly
+to denounce his conduct, and had with them Hermocrates, who was to
+accuse Tissaphernes of joining with Alcibiades to ruin the Peloponnesian
+cause and of playing a double game. Indeed Hermocrates had always
+been at enmity with him about the pay not being restored in full;
+and eventually when he was banished from Syracuse, and new
+commanders--Potamis, Myscon, and Demarchus--had come out to Miletus to
+the ships of the Syracusans, Tissaphernes, pressed harder than ever upon
+him in his exile, and among other charges against him accused him of
+having once asked him for money, and then given himself out as his enemy
+because he failed to obtain it.
+
+While Astyochus and the Milesians and Hermocrates made sail for
+Lacedaemon, Alcibiades had now crossed back from Tissaphernes to Samos.
+After his return the envoys of the Four Hundred sent, as has been
+mentioned above, to pacify and explain matters to the forces at Samos,
+arrived from Delos; and an assembly was held in which they attempted to
+speak. The soldiers at first would not hear them, and cried out to
+put to death the subverters of the democracy, but at last, after some
+difficulty, calmed down and gave them a hearing. Upon this the envoys
+proceeded to inform them that the recent change had been made to save
+the city, and not to ruin it or to deliver it over to the enemy, for
+they had already had an opportunity of doing this when he invaded the
+country during their government; that all the Five Thousand would have
+their proper share in the government; and that their hearers' relatives
+had neither outrage, as Chaereas had slanderously reported, nor other
+ill treatment to complain of, but were all in undisturbed enjoyment of
+their property just as they had left them. Besides these they made a
+number of other statements which had no better success with their angry
+auditors; and amid a host of different opinions the one which found most
+favour was that of sailing to Piraeus. Now it was that Alcibiades for
+the first time did the state a service, and one of the most signal kind.
+For when the Athenians at Samos were bent upon sailing against their
+countrymen, in which case Ionia and the Hellespont would most certainly
+at once have passed into possession of the enemy, Alcibiades it was who
+prevented them. At that moment, when no other man would have been able
+to hold back the multitude, he put a stop to the intended expedition,
+and rebuked and turned aside the resentment felt, on personal grounds,
+against the envoys; he dismissed them with an answer from himself,
+to the effect that he did not object to the government of the Five
+Thousand, but insisted that the Four Hundred should be deposed and the
+Council of Five Hundred reinstated in power: meanwhile any retrenchments
+for economy, by which pay might be better found for the armament, met
+with his entire approval. Generally, he bade them hold out and show a
+bold face to the enemy, since if the city were saved there was good hope
+that the two parties might some day be reconciled, whereas if either
+were once destroyed, that at Samos, or that at Athens, there would no
+longer be any one to be reconciled to. Meanwhile arrived envoys from the
+Argives, with offers of support to the Athenian commons at Samos: these
+were thanked by Alcibiades, and dismissed with a request to come when
+called upon. The Argives were accompanied by the crew of the Paralus,
+whom we left placed in a troopship by the Four Hundred with orders to
+cruise round Euboea, and who being employed to carry to Lacedaemon some
+Athenian envoys sent by the Four Hundred--Laespodias, Aristophon,
+and Melesias--as they sailed by Argos laid hands upon the envoys, and
+delivering them over to the Argives as the chief subverters of the
+democracy, themselves, instead of returning to Athens, took the Argive
+envoys on board, and came to Samos in the galley which had been confided
+to them.
+
+The same summer at the time that the return of Alcibiades coupled
+with the general conduct of Tissaphernes had carried to its height the
+discontent of the Peloponnesians, who no longer entertained any doubt of
+his having joined the Athenians, Tissaphernes wishing, it would seem,
+to clear himself to them of these charges, prepared to go after the
+Phoenician fleet to Aspendus, and invited Lichas to go with him; saying
+that he would appoint Tamos as his lieutenant to provide pay for the
+armament during his own absence. Accounts differ, and it is not easy to
+ascertain with what intention he went to Aspendus, and did not bring the
+fleet after all. That one hundred and forty-seven Phoenician ships came
+as far as Aspendus is certain; but why they did not come on has been
+variously accounted for. Some think that he went away in pursuance
+of his plan of wasting the Peloponnesian resources, since at any
+rate Tamos, his lieutenant, far from being any better, proved a worse
+paymaster than himself: others that he brought the Phoenicians to
+Aspendus to exact money from them for their discharge, having never
+intended to employ them: others again that it was in view of the outcry
+against him at Lacedaemon, in order that it might be said that he was
+not in fault, but that the ships were really manned and that he had
+certainly gone to fetch them. To myself it seems only too evident that
+he did not bring up the fleet because he wished to wear out and paralyse
+the Hellenic forces, that is, to waste their strength by the time lost
+during his journey to Aspendus, and to keep them evenly balanced by not
+throwing his weight into either scale. Had he wished to finish the war,
+he could have done so, assuming of course that he made his appearance in
+a way which left no room for doubt; as by bringing up the fleet he would
+in all probability have given the victory to the Lacedaemonians, whose
+navy, even as it was, faced the Athenian more as an equal than as an
+inferior. But what convicts him most clearly, is the excuse which he put
+forward for not bringing the ships. He said that the number assembled
+was less than the King had ordered; but surely it would only have
+enhanced his credit if he spent little of the King's money and effected
+the same end at less cost. In any case, whatever was his intention,
+Tissaphernes went to Aspendus and saw the Phoenicians; and the
+Peloponnesians at his desire sent a Lacedaemonian called Philip with two
+galleys to fetch the fleet.
+
+Alcibiades finding that Tissaphernes had gone to Aspendus, himself
+sailed thither with thirteen ships, promising to do a great and
+certain service to the Athenians at Samos, as he would either bring the
+Phoenician fleet to the Athenians, or at all events prevent its
+joining the Peloponnesians. In all probability he had long known that
+Tissaphernes never meant to bring the fleet at all, and wished to
+compromise him as much as possible in the eyes of the Peloponnesians
+through his apparent friendship for himself and the Athenians, and thus
+in a manner to oblige him to join their side.
+
+While Alcibiades weighed anchor and sailed eastward straight for
+Phaselis and Caunus, the envoys sent by the Four Hundred to Samos
+arrived at Athens. Upon their delivering the message from Alcibiades,
+telling them to hold out and to show a firm front to the enemy, and
+saying that he had great hopes of reconciling them with the army and
+of overcoming the Peloponnesians, the majority of the members of the
+oligarchy, who were already discontented and only too much inclined to
+be quit of the business in any safe way that they could, were at once
+greatly strengthened in their resolve. These now banded together and
+strongly criticized the administration, their leaders being some of
+the principal generals and men in office under the oligarchy, such as
+Theramenes, son of Hagnon, Aristocrates, son of Scellias, and others;
+who, although among the most prominent members of the government (being
+afraid, as they said, of the army at Samos, and most especially of
+Alcibiades, and also lest the envoys whom they had sent to Lacedaemon
+might do the state some harm without the authority of the people),
+without insisting on objections to the excessive concentration of power
+in a few hands, yet urged that the Five Thousand must be shown to exist
+not merely in name but in reality, and the constitution placed upon
+a fairer basis. But this was merely their political cry; most of them
+being driven by private ambition into the line of conduct so surely
+fatal to oligarchies that arise out of democracies. For all at once
+pretend to be not only equals but each the chief and master of his
+fellows; while under a democracy a disappointed candidate accepts his
+defeat more easily, because he has not the humiliation of being beaten
+by his equals. But what most clearly encouraged the malcontents was the
+power of Alcibiades at Samos, and their own disbelief in the stability
+of the oligarchy; and it was now a race between them as to which should
+first become the leader of the commons.
+
+Meanwhile the leaders and members of the Four Hundred most opposed to a
+democratic form of government--Phrynichus who had had the quarrel with
+Alcibiades during his command at Samos, Aristarchus the bitter and
+inveterate enemy of the commons, and Pisander and Antiphon and others
+of the chiefs who already as soon as they entered upon power, and again
+when the army at Samos seceded from them and declared for a democracy,
+had sent envoys from their own body to Lacedaemon and made every effort
+for peace, and had built the wall in Eetionia--now redoubled their
+exertions when their envoys returned from Samos, and they saw not only
+the people but their own most trusted associates turning against them.
+Alarmed at the state of things at Athens as at Samos, they now sent off
+in haste Antiphon and Phrynichus and ten others with injunctions to make
+peace with Lacedaemon upon any terms, no matter what, that should be at
+all tolerable. Meanwhile they pushed on more actively than ever with the
+wall in Eetionia. Now the meaning of this wall, according to Theramenes
+and his supporters, was not so much to keep out the army of Samos, in
+case of its trying to force its way into Piraeus, as to be able to let
+in, at pleasure, the fleet and army of the enemy. For Eetionia is a mole
+of Piraeus, close alongside of the entrance of the harbour, and was now
+fortified in connection with the wall already existing on the land side,
+so that a few men placed in it might be able to command the entrance;
+the old wall on the land side and the new one now being built within on
+the side of the sea, both ending in one of the two towers standing at
+the narrow mouth of the harbour. They also walled off the largest porch
+in Piraeus which was in immediate connection with this wall, and kept
+it in their own hands, compelling all to unload there the corn that came
+into the harbour, and what they had in stock, and to take it out from
+thence when they sold it.
+
+These measures had long provoked the murmurs of Theramenes, and when
+the envoys returned from Lacedaemon without having effected any general
+pacification, he affirmed that this wall was like to prove the ruin of
+the state. At this moment forty-two ships from Peloponnese, including
+some Siceliot and Italiot vessels from Locri and Tarentum, had been
+invited over by the Euboeans and were already riding off Las in Laconia
+preparing for the voyage to Euboea, under the command of Agesandridas,
+son of Agesander, a Spartan. Theramenes now affirmed that this squadron
+was destined not so much to aid Euboea as the party fortifying Eetionia,
+and that unless precautions were speedily taken the city would be
+surprised and lost. This was no mere calumny, there being really some
+such plan entertained by the accused. Their first wish was to have the
+oligarchy without giving up the empire; failing this to keep their ships
+and walls and be independent; while, if this also were denied them,
+sooner than be the first victims of the restored democracy, they were
+resolved to call in the enemy and make peace, give up their walls and
+ships, and at all costs retain possession of the government, if their
+lives were only assured to them.
+
+For this reason they pushed forward the construction of their work with
+posterns and entrances and means of introducing the enemy, being eager
+to have it finished in time. Meanwhile the murmurs against them were at
+first confined to a few persons and went on in secret, until Phrynichus,
+after his return from the embassy to Lacedaemon, was laid wait for and
+stabbed in full market by one of the Peripoli, falling down dead before
+he had gone far from the council chamber. The assassin escaped; but
+his accomplice, an Argive, was taken and put to the torture by the Four
+Hundred, without their being able to extract from him the name of his
+employer, or anything further than that he knew of many men who used
+to assemble at the house of the commander of the Peripoli and at
+other houses. Here the matter was allowed to drop. This so emboldened
+Theramenes and Aristocrates and the rest of their partisans in the Four
+Hundred and out of doors, that they now resolved to act. For by this
+time the ships had sailed round from Las, and anchoring at Epidaurus had
+overrun Aegina; and Theramenes asserted that, being bound for Euboea,
+they would never have sailed in to Aegina and come back to anchor at
+Epidaurus, unless they had been invited to come to aid in the designs
+of which he had always accused the government. Further inaction
+had therefore now become impossible. In the end, after a great many
+seditious harangues and suspicions, they set to work in real earnest.
+The heavy infantry in Piraeus building the wall in Eetionia, among
+whom was Aristocrates, a colonel, with his own tribe, laid hands upon
+Alexicles, a general under the oligarchy and the devoted adherent of the
+cabal, and took him into a house and confined him there. In this they
+were assisted by one Hermon, commander of the Peripoli in Munychia,
+and others, and above all had with them the great bulk of the heavy
+infantry. As soon as the news reached the Four Hundred, who happened to
+be sitting in the council chamber, all except the disaffected wished at
+once to go to the posts where the arms were, and menaced Theramenes
+and his party. Theramenes defended himself, and said that he was ready
+immediately to go and help to rescue Alexicles; and taking with him one
+of the generals belonging to his party, went down to Piraeus, followed
+by Aristarchus and some young men of the cavalry. All was now panic and
+confusion. Those in the city imagined that Piraeus was already taken and
+the prisoner put to death, while those in Piraeus expected every moment
+to be attacked by the party in the city. The older men, however, stopped
+the persons running up and down the town and making for the stands of
+arms; and Thucydides the Pharsalian, proxenus of the city, came forward
+and threw himself in the way of the rival factions, and appealed to them
+not to ruin the state, while the enemy was still at hand waiting for his
+opportunity, and so at length succeeded in quieting them and in keeping
+their hands off each other. Meanwhile Theramenes came down to Piraeus,
+being himself one of the generals, and raged and stormed against the
+heavy infantry, while Aristarchus and the adversaries of the people were
+angry in right earnest. Most of the heavy infantry, however, went on
+with the business without faltering, and asked Theramenes if he thought
+the wall had been constructed for any good purpose, and whether it would
+not be better that it should be pulled down. To this he answered that if
+they thought it best to pull it down, he for his part agreed with them.
+Upon this the heavy infantry and a number of the people in Piraeus
+immediately got up on the fortification and began to demolish it. Now
+their cry to the multitude was that all should join in the work who
+wished the Five Thousand to govern instead of the Four Hundred. For
+instead of saying in so many words "all who wished the commons to
+govern," they still disguised themselves under the name of the Five
+Thousand; being afraid that these might really exist, and that they
+might be speaking to one of their number and get into trouble through
+ignorance. Indeed this was why the Four Hundred neither wished the Five
+Thousand to exist, nor to have it known that they did not exist; being
+of opinion that to give themselves so many partners in empire would be
+downright democracy, while the mystery in question would make the people
+afraid of one another.
+
+The next day the Four Hundred, although alarmed, nevertheless assembled
+in the council chamber, while the heavy infantry in Piraeus,
+after having released their prisoner Alexicles and pulled down the
+fortification, went with their arms to the theatre of Dionysus, close to
+Munychia, and there held an assembly in which they decided to march into
+the city, and setting forth accordingly halted in the Anaceum. Here they
+were joined by some delegates from the Four Hundred, who reasoned
+with them one by one, and persuaded those whom they saw to be the most
+moderate to remain quiet themselves, and to keep in the rest; saying
+that they would make known the Five Thousand, and have the Four Hundred
+chosen from them in rotation, as should be decided by the Five Thousand,
+and meanwhile entreated them not to ruin the state or drive it into the
+arms of the enemy. After a great many had spoken and had been spoken to,
+the whole body of heavy infantry became calmer than before, absorbed
+by their fears for the country at large, and now agreed to hold upon an
+appointed day an assembly in the theatre of Dionysus for the restoration
+of concord.
+
+When the day came for the assembly in the theatre, and they were upon
+the point of assembling, news arrived that the forty-two ships under
+Agesandridas were sailing from Megara along the coast of Salamis. The
+people to a man now thought that it was just what Theramenes and
+his party had so often said, that the ships were sailing to the
+fortification, and concluded that they had done well to demolish it.
+But though it may possibly have been by appointment that Agesandridas
+hovered about Epidaurus and the neighbourhood, he would also naturally
+be kept there by the hope of an opportunity arising out of the
+troubles in the town. In any case the Athenians, on receipt of the news
+immediately ran down in mass to Piraeus, seeing themselves threatened
+by the enemy with a worse war than their war among themselves, not at
+a distance, but close to the harbour of Athens. Some went on board the
+ships already afloat, while others launched fresh vessels, or ran to
+defend the walls and the mouth of the harbour.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesian vessels sailed by, and rounding Sunium
+anchored between Thoricus and Prasiae, and afterwards arrived at Oropus.
+The Athenians, with revolution in the city, and unwilling to lose a
+moment in going to the relief of their most important possession (for
+Euboea was everything to them now that they were shut out from Attica),
+were compelled to put to sea in haste and with untrained crews, and sent
+Thymochares with some vessels to Eretria. These upon their arrival, with
+the ships already in Euboea, made up a total of thirty-six vessels, and
+were immediately forced to engage. For Agesandridas, after his crews had
+dined, put out from Oropus, which is about seven miles from Eretria by
+sea; and the Athenians, seeing him sailing up, immediately began to man
+their vessels. The sailors, however, instead of being by their ships, as
+they supposed, were gone away to purchase provisions for their dinner
+in the houses in the outskirts of the town; the Eretrians having so
+arranged that there should be nothing on sale in the marketplace, in
+order that the Athenians might be a long time in manning their ships,
+and, the enemy's attack taking them by surprise, might be compelled to
+put to sea just as they were. A signal also was raised in Eretria to
+give them notice in Oropus when to put to sea. The Athenians, forced
+to put out so poorly prepared, engaged off the harbour of Eretria, and
+after holding their own for some little while notwithstanding, were at
+length put to flight and chased to the shore. Such of their number as
+took refuge in Eretria, which they presumed to be friendly to them,
+found their fate in that city, being butchered by the inhabitants; while
+those who fled to the Athenian fort in the Eretrian territory, and the
+vessels which got to Chalcis, were saved. The Peloponnesians, after
+taking twenty-two Athenian ships, and killing or making prisoners of the
+crews, set up a trophy, and not long afterwards effected the revolt
+of the whole of Euboea (except Oreus, which was held by the Athenians
+themselves), and made a general settlement of the affairs of the island.
+
+When the news of what had happened in Euboea reached Athens, a panic
+ensued such as they had never before known. Neither the disaster in
+Sicily, great as it seemed at the time, nor any other had ever so much
+alarmed them. The camp at Samos was in revolt; they had no more ships or
+men to man them; they were at discord among themselves and might at any
+moment come to blows; and a disaster of this magnitude coming on the top
+of all, by which they lost their fleet, and worst of all Euboea, which
+was of more value to them than Attica, could not occur without throwing
+them into the deepest despondency. Meanwhile their greatest and most
+immediate trouble was the possibility that the enemy, emboldened by his
+victory, might make straight for them and sail against Piraeus, which
+they had no longer ships to defend; and every moment they expected him
+to arrive. This, with a little more courage, he might easily have done,
+in which case he would either have increased the dissensions of the city
+by his presence, or, if he had stayed to besiege it, have compelled the
+fleet from Ionia, although the enemy of the oligarchy, to come to the
+rescue of their country and of their relatives, and in the meantime
+would have become master of the Hellespont, Ionia, the islands, and of
+everything as far as Euboea, or, to speak roundly, of the whole Athenian
+empire. But here, as on so many other occasions, the Lacedaemonians
+proved the most convenient people in the world for the Athenians to
+be at war with. The wide difference between the two characters, the
+slowness and want of energy of the Lacedaemonians as contrasted with the
+dash and enterprise of their opponents, proved of the greatest service,
+especially to a maritime empire like Athens. Indeed this was shown by
+the Syracusans, who were most like the Athenians in character, and also
+most successful in combating them.
+
+Nevertheless, upon receipt of the news, the Athenians manned twenty
+ships and called immediately a first assembly in the Pnyx, where they
+had been used to meet formerly, and deposed the Four Hundred and voted
+to hand over the government to the Five Thousand, of which body all who
+furnished a suit of armour were to be members, decreeing also that no
+one should receive pay for the discharge of any office, or if he did
+should be held accursed. Many other assemblies were held afterwards,
+in which law-makers were elected and all other measures taken to form a
+constitution. It was during the first period of this constitution that
+the Athenians appear to have enjoyed the best government that they ever
+did, at least in my time. For the fusion of the high and the low was
+effected with judgment, and this was what first enabled the state to
+raise up her head after her manifold disasters. They also voted for the
+recall of Alcibiades and of other exiles, and sent to him and to the
+camp at Samos, and urged them to devote themselves vigorously to the
+war.
+
+Upon this revolution taking place, the party of Pisander and Alexicles
+and the chiefs of the oligarchs immediately withdrew to Decelea, with
+the single exception of Aristarchus, one of the generals, who hastily
+took some of the most barbarian of the archers and marched to Oenoe.
+This was a fort of the Athenians upon the Boeotian border, at that
+moment besieged by the Corinthians, irritated by the loss of a party
+returning from Decelea, who had been cut off by the garrison. The
+Corinthians had volunteered for this service, and had called upon the
+Boeotians to assist them. After communicating with them, Aristarchus
+deceived the garrison in Oenoe by telling them that their countrymen
+in the city had compounded with the Lacedaemonians, and that one of the
+terms of the capitulation was that they must surrender the place to the
+Boeotians. The garrison believed him as he was general, and besides knew
+nothing of what had occurred owing to the siege, and so evacuated the
+fort under truce. In this way the Boeotians gained possession of Oenoe,
+and the oligarchy and the troubles at Athens ended.
+
+To return to the Peloponnesians in Miletus. No pay was forthcoming from
+any of the agents deputed by Tissaphernes for that purpose upon his
+departure for Aspendus; neither the Phoenician fleet nor Tissaphernes
+showed any signs of appearing, and Philip, who had been sent with him,
+and another Spartan, Hippocrates, who was at Phaselis, wrote word to
+Mindarus, the admiral, that the ships were not coming at all, and that
+they were being grossly abused by Tissaphernes. Meanwhile Pharnabazus
+was inviting them to come, and making every effort to get the fleet and,
+like Tissaphernes, to cause the revolt of the cities in his government
+still subject to Athens, founding great hopes on his success; until at
+length, at about the period of the summer which we have now reached,
+Mindarus yielded to his importunities, and, with great order and at a
+moment's notice, in order to elude the enemy at Samos, weighed anchor
+with seventy-three ships from Miletus and set sail for the Hellespont.
+Thither sixteen vessels had already preceded him in the same summer, and
+had overrun part of the Chersonese. Being caught in a storm, Mindarus
+was compelled to run in to Icarus and, after being detained five or six
+days there by stress of weather, arrived at Chios.
+
+Meanwhile Thrasyllus had heard of his having put out from Miletus,
+and immediately set sail with fifty-five ships from Samos, in haste to
+arrive before him in the Hellespont. But learning that he was at Chios,
+and expecting that he would stay there, he posted scouts in Lesbos
+and on the continent opposite to prevent the fleet moving without his
+knowing it, and himself coasted along to Methymna, and gave orders to
+prepare meal and other necessaries, in order to attack them from
+Lesbos in the event of their remaining for any length of time at Chios.
+Meanwhile he resolved to sail against Eresus, a town in Lesbos which
+had revolted, and, if he could, to take it. For some of the principal
+Methymnian exiles had carried over about fifty heavy infantry, their
+sworn associates, from Cuma, and hiring others from the continent, so as
+to make up three hundred in all, chose Anaxander, a Theban, to command
+them, on account of the community of blood existing between the Thebans
+and the Lesbians, and first attacked Methymna. Balked in this attempt by
+the advance of the Athenian guards from Mitylene, and repulsed a second
+time in a battle outside the city, they then crossed the mountain and
+effected the revolt of Eresus. Thrasyllus accordingly determined to go
+there with all his ships and to attack the place. Meanwhile Thrasybulus
+had preceded him thither with five ships from Samos, as soon as he heard
+that the exiles had crossed over, and coming too late to save Eresus,
+went on and anchored before the town. Here they were joined also by two
+vessels on their way home from the Hellespont, and by the ships of the
+Methymnians, making a grand total of sixty-seven vessels; and the forces
+on board now made ready with engines and every other means available to
+do their utmost to storm Eresus.
+
+In the meantime Mindarus and the Peloponnesian fleet at Chios, after
+taking provisions for two days and receiving three Chian pieces of money
+for each man from the Chians, on the third day put out in haste from the
+island; in order to avoid falling in with the ships at Eresus, they did
+not make for the open sea, but keeping Lesbos on their left, sailed for
+the continent. After touching at the port of Carteria, in the Phocaeid,
+and dining, they went on along the Cumaean coast and supped at
+Arginusae, on the continent over against Mitylene. From thence they
+continued their voyage along the coast, although it was late in the
+night, and arriving at Harmatus on the continent opposite Methymna,
+dined there; and swiftly passing Lectum, Larisa, Hamaxitus, and the
+neighbouring towns, arrived a little before midnight at Rhoeteum. Here
+they were now in the Hellespont. Some of the ships also put in at Sigeum
+and at other places in the neighbourhood.
+
+Meanwhile the warnings of the fire signals and the sudden increase in
+the number of fires on the enemy's shore informed the eighteen Athenian
+ships at Sestos of the approach of the Peloponnesian fleet. That very
+night they set sail in haste just as they were, and, hugging the shore
+of the Chersonese, coasted along to Elaeus, in order to sail out into
+the open sea away from the fleet of the enemy.
+
+After passing unobserved the sixteen ships at Abydos, which had
+nevertheless been warned by their approaching friends to be on the
+alert to prevent their sailing out, at dawn they sighted the fleet of
+Mindarus, which immediately gave chase. All had not time to get away;
+the greater number however escaped to Imbros and Lemnos, while four
+of the hindmost were overtaken off Elaeus. One of these was stranded
+opposite to the temple of Protesilaus and taken with its crew, two
+others without their crews; the fourth was abandoned on the shore of
+Imbros and burned by the enemy.
+
+After this the Peloponnesians were joined by the squadron from Abydos,
+which made up their fleet to a grand total of eighty-six vessels; they
+spent the day in unsuccessfully besieging Elaeus, and then sailed back
+to Abydos. Meanwhile the Athenians, deceived by their scouts, and never
+dreaming of the enemy's fleet getting by undetected, were tranquilly
+besieging Eresus. As soon as they heard the news they instantly
+abandoned Eresus, and made with all speed for the Hellespont, and after
+taking two of the Peloponnesian ships which had been carried out too
+far into the open sea in the ardour of the pursuit and now fell in their
+way, the next day dropped anchor at Elaeus, and, bringing back the
+ships that had taken refuge at Imbros, during five days prepared for the
+coming engagement.
+
+After this they engaged in the following way. The Athenians formed in
+column and sailed close alongshore to Sestos; upon perceiving which the
+Peloponnesians put out from Abydos to meet them. Realizing that a battle
+was now imminent, both combatants extended their flank; the Athenians
+along the Chersonese from Idacus to Arrhiani with seventy-six ships;
+the Peloponnesians from Abydos to Dardanus with eighty-six. The
+Peloponnesian right wing was occupied by the Syracusans, their left by
+Mindarus in person with the best sailers in the navy; the Athenian left
+by Thrasyllus, their right by Thrasybulus, the other commanders being
+in different parts of the fleet. The Peloponnesians hastened to engage
+first, and outflanking with their left the Athenian right sought to cut
+them off, if possible, from sailing out of the straits, and to drive
+their centre upon the shore, which was not far off. The Athenians
+perceiving their intention extended their own wing and outsailed them,
+while their left had by this time passed the point of Cynossema. This,
+however, obliged them to thin and weaken their centre, especially
+as they had fewer ships than the enemy, and as the coast round Point
+Cynossema formed a sharp angle which prevented their seeing what was
+going on on the other side of it.
+
+The Peloponnesians now attacked their centre and drove ashore the ships
+of the Athenians, and disembarked to follow up their victory. No help
+could be given to the centre either by the squadron of Thrasybulus on
+the right, on account of the number of ships attacking him, or by that
+of Thrasyllus on the left, from whom the point of Cynossema hid what
+was going on, and who was also hindered by his Syracusan and other
+opponents, whose numbers were fully equal to his own. At length,
+however, the Peloponnesians in the confidence of victory began to
+scatter in pursuit of the ships of the enemy, and allowed a considerable
+part of their fleet to get into disorder. On seeing this the squadron
+of Thrasybulus discontinued their lateral movement and, facing about,
+attacked and routed the ships opposed to them, and next fell roughly
+upon the scattered vessels of the victorious Peloponnesian division, and
+put most of them to flight without a blow. The Syracusans also had by
+this time given way before the squadron of Thrasyllus, and now openly
+took to flight upon seeing the flight of their comrades.
+
+The rout was now complete. Most of the Peloponnesians fled for refuge
+first to the river Midius, and afterwards to Abydos. Only a few
+ships were taken by the Athenians; as owing to the narrowness of the
+Hellespont the enemy had not far to go to be in safety. Nevertheless
+nothing could have been more opportune for them than this victory. Up to
+this time they had feared the Peloponnesian fleet, owing to a number
+of petty losses and to the disaster in Sicily; but they now ceased
+to mistrust themselves or any longer to think their enemies good for
+anything at sea. Meanwhile they took from the enemy eight Chian
+vessels, five Corinthian, two Ambraciot, two Boeotian, one Leucadian,
+Lacedaemonian, Syracusan, and Pellenian, losing fifteen of their own.
+After setting up a trophy upon Point Cynossema, securing the wrecks, and
+restoring to the enemy his dead under truce, they sent off a galley to
+Athens with the news of their victory. The arrival of this vessel with
+its unhoped-for good news, after the recent disasters of Euboea, and
+in the revolution at Athens, gave fresh courage to the Athenians, and
+caused them to believe that if they put their shoulders to the wheel
+their cause might yet prevail.
+
+On the fourth day after the sea-fight the Athenians in Sestos having
+hastily refitted their ships sailed against Cyzicus, which had revolted.
+Off Harpagium and Priapus they sighted at anchor the eight vessels from
+Byzantium, and, sailing up and routing the troops on shore, took the
+ships, and then went on and recovered the town of Cyzicus, which was
+unfortified, and levied money from the citizens. In the meantime the
+Peloponnesians sailed from Abydos to Elaeus, and recovered such of their
+captured galleys as were still uninjured, the rest having been burned by
+the Elaeusians, and sent Hippocrates and Epicles to Euboea to fetch the
+squadron from that island.
+
+About the same time Alcibiades returned with his thirteen ships from
+Caunus and Phaselis to Samos, bringing word that he had prevented
+the Phoenician fleet from joining the Peloponnesians, and had made
+Tissaphernes more friendly to the Athenians than before. Alcibiades
+now manned nine more ships, and levied large sums of money from the
+Halicarnassians, and fortified Cos. After doing this and placing a
+governor in Cos, he sailed back to Samos, autumn being now at hand.
+Meanwhile Tissaphernes, upon hearing that the Peloponnesian fleet had
+sailed from Miletus to the Hellespont, set off again back from Aspendus,
+and made all sail for Ionia. While the Peloponnesians were in the
+Hellespont, the Antandrians, a people of Aeolic extraction, conveyed by
+land across Mount Ida some heavy infantry from Abydos, and introduced
+them into the town; having been ill-treated by Arsaces, the Persian
+lieutenant of Tissaphernes. This same Arsaces had, upon pretence of
+a secret quarrel, invited the chief men of the Delians to undertake
+military service (these were Delians who had settled at Atramyttium
+after having been driven from their homes by the Athenians for the sake
+of purifying Delos); and after drawing them out from their town as his
+friends and allies, had laid wait for them at dinner, and surrounded
+them and caused them to be shot down by his soldiers. This deed made the
+Antandrians fear that he might some day do them some mischief; and as
+he also laid upon them burdens too heavy for them to bear, they expelled
+his garrison from their citadel.
+
+Tissaphernes, upon hearing of this act of the Peloponnesians in addition
+to what had occurred at Miletus and Cnidus, where his garrisons had been
+also expelled, now saw that the breach between them was serious; and
+fearing further injury from them, and being also vexed to think that
+Pharnabazus should receive them, and in less time and at less cost
+perhaps succeed better against Athens than he had done, determined to
+rejoin them in the Hellespont, in order to complain of the events at
+Antandros and excuse himself as best he could in the matter of the
+Phoenician fleet and of the other charges against him. Accordingly he
+went first to Ephesus and offered sacrifice to Artemis....
+
+[When the winter after this summer is over the twenty-first year of this
+war will be completed. ]
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
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+Project Gutenberg's The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The History of the Peloponnesian War
+
+Author: Thucydides
+        translated by Richard Crawley
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7142]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 15, 2003]
+[Date last updated: June 19, 2004]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR ***
+
+
+
+
+This etext was prepared by Albert Imrie, Colorado, USA
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
+by Thucydides 431 BC
+
+translated by Richard Crawley
+
+
+
+
+With Permission
+to
+CONNOP THIRLWALL
+Historian of Greece
+This Translation of the Work of His
+Great Predecessor
+is Respectfully Inscribed
+by
+-The Translator-
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+CHAPTER I
+The state of Greece from the earliest Times to the
+Commencement of the Peloponnesian War
+
+CHAPTER II
+Causes of the War - The Affair of Epidamnus -
+The Affair of Potidaea
+
+CHAPTER III
+Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at
+Lacedaemon
+
+CHAPTER IV
+From the End of the Persian to the Beginning of
+the Peloponnesian War - The Progress from
+Supremacy to Empire
+
+CHAPTER V
+Second Congress at Lacedaemon - Preparations for
+War and Diplomatic Skirmishes - Cylon -
+Pausanias - Themistocles
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+CHAPTER VI
+Beginning of the Peloponnesian War - First
+Invasion of Attica - Funeral Oration of Pericles
+
+CHAPTER VII
+Second Year of the War - The Plague of Athens -
+Position and Policy of Pericles - Fall of Potidaea
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+Third Year of the War - Investment of Plataea -
+Naval Victories of Phormio - Thracian Irruption
+into Macedonia under Sitalces
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+CHAPTER IX
+Fourth and Fifth Years of the War - Revolt of
+Mitylene
+
+CHAPTER X
+Fifth Year of the War - Trial and Execution of the
+Plataeans - Corcyraean Revolution
+
+CHAPTER XI
+Sixth Year of the War - Campaigns of Demosthenes
+in Western Greece - Ruin of Ambracia
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+CHAPTER XII
+Seventh Year of the War - Occupation of pylos -
+Surrender of the Spartan Army in Sphacteria
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+Seventh and Eighth Years of the War - End of
+Corcyraean Revolution - Peace of Gela -
+Capture of Nisaea
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+Eighth and Ninth Years of the War - Invasion of
+Boeotia - Fall of Amphipolis - Brilliant Successes
+of Brasidas
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+CHAPTER XV
+Tenth Year of the War - Death of Cleon and
+Brasidas - Peace of Nicias
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese - League
+of the Mantineans, Eleans, Argives, and
+Athenians - Battle of Mantinea and breaking up of
+the League
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+Sixteenth Year of the War - The Melian
+Conference - Fate of Melos
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+Seventeenth Year of the War - The Sicilian
+Campaign - Affair of the Hermae - Departure of the
+Expedition
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+Seventeenth Year of the War - Parties at Syracuse -
+Story of Harmodius and Aristogiton -
+Disgrace of Alcibiades
+
+CHAPTER XX
+Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War -
+Inaction of the Athenian Army - Alcibiades at
+Sparta -Investment of Syracuse
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War -
+Arrival of Gylippus at Syracuse - Fortification
+of Decelea - Successes of the Syracusans
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+Nineteenth Year of the War - Arrival of
+Demosthenes - Defeat of the Athenians at Epipolae -
+Folly and Obstinacy of Nicias
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+Nineteenth Year of the War - Battles in the Great
+Harbour - Retreat and Annihilation of the
+Athenian Army
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War -
+Revolt of Ionia - Intervention of Persia - The
+War in Ionia
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the War -
+Intrigues of Alcibiades - Withdrawal of the
+Persian Subsidies - Oligarchical Coup d'Etat
+at Athens - Patriotism of the Army at Samos
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+Twenty first Year of the War - Recall of
+Alcibiades to Samos - Revolt of Euboea and
+Downfall of the Four Hundred - Battle of Cynossema
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+_The State of Greece from the earliest Times to the
+Commencement of the Peloponnesian War_
+
+Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between
+the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment
+that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war
+and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it.
+This belief was not without its grounds.  The preparations of
+both the combatants were in every department in the last state
+of perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race
+taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing so at once
+having it in contemplation.  Indeed this was the greatest movement
+yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes, but of a large
+part of the barbarian world--I had almost said of mankind.  For
+though the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more
+immediately preceded the war, could not from lapse of time be
+clearly ascertained, yet the evidences which an inquiry carried
+as far back as was practicable leads me to trust, all point to
+the conclusion that there was nothing on a great scale, either in
+war or in other matters.
+
+For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas
+had in ancient times no settled population; on the contrary,
+migrations were of frequent occurrence, the several tribes
+readily abandoning their homes under the pressure of superior
+numbers.  Without commerce, without freedom of communication
+either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory
+than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital,
+never planting their land (for they could not tell when an invader
+might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they
+had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of
+daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as
+another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and
+consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other
+form of greatness.  The richest soils were always most subject
+to this change of masters; such as the district now called
+Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia excepted,
+and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas.  The goodness
+of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals,
+and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin.
+It also invited invasion. Accordingly Attica, from the poverty
+of its soil enjoying from a very remote period freedom from
+faction, never changed its inhabitants.  And here is no
+inconsiderable exemplification of my assertion that the migrations
+were the cause of there being no correspondent growth in other
+parts.  The most powerful victims of war or faction from
+the rest of Hellas took refuge with the Athenians as a safe
+retreat; and at an early period, becoming naturalized,
+swelled the already large population of the city to such a
+height that Attica became at last too small to hold them, and
+they had to send out colonies to Ionia.
+
+There is also another circumstance that contributes not a little
+to my conviction of the weakness of ancient times.  Before the Trojan
+war there is no indication of any common action in Hellas, nor
+indeed of the universal prevalence of the name; on the contrary,
+before the time of Hellen, son of Deucalion, no such appellation
+existed, but the country went by the names of the different tribes, in
+particular of the Pelasgian.  It was not till Hellen and his sons
+grew strong in Phthiotis, and were invited as allies into the other
+cities, that one by one they gradually acquired from the connection
+the name of Hellenes; though a long time elapsed before that name
+could fasten itself upon all.  The best proof of this is furnished by
+Homer.  Born long after the Trojan War, he nowhere calls all of them by
+that name, nor indeed any of them except the followers of Achilles
+from Phthiotis, who were the original Hellenes: in his poems they
+are called Danaans, Argives, and Achaeans.  He does not even use the
+term barbarian, probably because the Hellenes had not yet been
+marked off from the rest of the world by one distinctive
+appellation.  It appears therefore that the several Hellenic
+communities, comprising not only those who first acquired the name,
+city by city, as they came to understand each other, but also those
+who assumed it afterwards as the name of the whole people, were before
+the Trojan war prevented by their want of strength and the absence
+of mutual intercourse from displaying any collective action.
+
+Indeed, they could not unite for this expedition till they had
+gained increased familiarity with the sea.  And the first person
+known to us by tradition as having established a navy is Minos.  He
+made himself master of what is now called the Hellenic sea, and
+ruled over the Cyclades, into most of which he sent the first
+colonies, expelling the Carians and appointing his own sons governors;
+and thus did his best to put down piracy in those waters, a
+necessary step to secure the revenues for his own use.
+
+For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast
+and islands, as communication by sea became more common, were
+tempted to turn pirates, under the conduct of their most powerful men;
+the motives being to serve their own cupidity and to support the
+needy.  They would fall upon a town unprotected by walls, and
+consisting of a mere collection of villages, and would plunder it;
+indeed, this came to be the main source of their livelihood, no
+disgrace being yet attached to such an achievement, but even some
+glory.  An illustration of this is furnished by the honour with which
+some of the inhabitants of the continent still regard a successful
+marauder, and by the question we find the old poets everywhere
+representing the people as asking of voyagers--"Are they pirates?"--as
+if those who are asked the question would have no idea of
+disclaiming the imputation, or their interrogators of reproaching them
+for it.  The same rapine prevailed also by land.
+
+And even at the present day many of Hellas still follow the old
+fashion, the Ozolian Locrians for instance, the Aetolians, the
+Acarnanians, and that region of the continent; and the custom of
+carrying arms is still kept up among these continentals, from the
+old piratical habits.  The whole of Hellas used once to carry arms,
+their habitations being unprotected and their communication with
+each other unsafe; indeed, to wear arms was as much a part of everyday
+life with them as with the barbarians.  And the fact that the people in
+these parts of Hellas are still living in the old way points to a time
+when the same mode of life was once equally common to all.  The
+Athenians were the first to lay aside their weapons, and to adopt an
+easier and more luxurious mode of life; indeed, it is only lately that
+their rich old men left off the luxury of wearing undergarments of
+linen, and fastening a knot of their hair with a tie of golden
+grasshoppers, a fashion which spread to their Ionian kindred and
+long prevailed among the old men there.  On the contrary, a modest
+style of dressing, more in conformity with modern ideas, was first
+adopted by the Lacedaemonians, the rich doing their best to assimilate
+their way of life to that of the common people.  They also set the
+example of contending naked, publicly stripping and anointing
+themselves with oil in their gymnastic exercises.  Formerly, even in
+the Olympic contests, the athletes who contended wore belts across
+their middles; and it is but a few years since that the practice
+ceased.  To this day among some of the barbarians, especially in
+Asia, when prizes for boxing and wrestling are offered, belts are worn
+by the combatants.  And there are many other points in which a likeness
+might be shown between the life of the Hellenic world of old and the
+barbarian of to-day.
+
+With respect to their towns, later on, at an era of increased
+facilities of navigation and a greater supply of capital, we find
+the shores becoming the site of walled towns, and the isthmuses
+being occupied for the purposes of commerce and defence against a
+neighbour.  But the old towns, on account of the great prevalence of
+piracy, were built away from the sea, whether on the islands or the
+continent, and still remain in their old sites.  For the pirates used
+to plunder one another, and indeed all coast populations, whether
+seafaring or not.
+
+The islanders, too, were great pirates.  These islanders were Carians
+and Phoenicians, by whom most of the islands were colonized, as was
+proved by the following fact.  During the purification of Delos by
+Athens in this war all the graves in the island were taken up, and
+it was found that above half their inmates were Carians: they were
+identified by the fashion of the arms buried with them, and by the
+method of interment, which was the same as the Carians still follow.
+But as soon as Minos had formed his navy, communication by sea
+became easier, as he colonized most of the islands, and thus
+expelled the malefactors.  The coast population now began to apply
+themselves more closely to the acquisition of wealth, and their life
+became more settled; some even began to build themselves walls on
+the strength of their newly acquired riches.  For the love of gain
+would reconcile the weaker to the dominion of the stronger, and the
+possession of capital enabled the more powerful to reduce the
+smaller towns to subjection.  And it was at a somewhat later stage of
+this development that they went on the expedition against Troy.
+
+What enabled Agamemnon to raise the armament was more, in my
+opinion, his superiority in strength, than the oaths of Tyndareus,
+which bound the suitors to follow him.  Indeed, the account given by
+those Peloponnesians who have been the recipients of the most credible
+tradition is this.  First of all Pelops, arriving among a needy
+population from Asia with vast wealth, acquired such power that,
+stranger though he was, the country was called after him; and this
+power fortune saw fit materially to increase in the hands of his
+descendants.  Eurystheus had been killed in Attica by the Heraclids.
+Atreus was his mother's brother; and to the hands of his relation, who
+had left his father on account of the death of Chrysippus, Eurystheus,
+when he set out on his expedition, had committed Mycenae and the
+government.  As time went on and Eurystheus did not return, Atreus
+complied with the wishes of the Mycenaeans, who were influenced by
+fear of the Heraclids--besides, his power seemed considerable, and he
+had not neglected to court the favour of the populace--and assumed
+the sceptre of Mycenae and the rest of the dominions of Eurystheus.
+And so the power of the descendants of Pelops came to be greater
+than that of the descendants of Perseus.  To all this Agamemnon
+succeeded.  He had also a navy far stronger than his contemporaries, so
+that, in my opinion, fear was quite as strong an element as love in
+the formation of the confederate expedition.  The strength of his
+navy is shown by the fact that his own was the largest contingent, and
+that of the Arcadians was furnished by him; this at least is what
+Homer says, if his testimony is deemed sufficient.  Besides, in his
+account of the transmission of the sceptre, he calls him
+
+   Of many an isle, and of all Argos king.
+
+Now Agamemnon's was a continental power; and he could not have been
+master of any except the adjacent islands (and these would not be
+many), but through the possession of a fleet.
+
+And from this expedition we may infer the character of earlier
+enterprises.  Now Mycenae may have been a small place, and many of
+the towns of that age may appear comparatively insignificant, but no
+exact observer would therefore feel justified in rejecting the
+estimate given by the poets and by tradition of the magnitude of the
+armament.  For I suppose if Lacedaemon were to become desolate, and the
+temples and the foundations of the public buildings were left, that as
+time went on there would be a strong disposition with posterity to
+refuse to accept her fame as a true exponent of her power.  And yet
+they occupy two-fifths of Peloponnese and lead the whole, not to speak
+of their numerous allies without.  Still, as the city is neither
+built in a compact form nor adorned with magnificent temples and
+public edifices, but composed of villages after the old fashion of
+Hellas, there would be an impression of inadequacy.  Whereas, if Athens
+were to suffer the same misfortune, I suppose that any inference
+from the appearance presented to the eye would make her power to
+have been twice as great as it is.  We have therefore no right to be
+sceptical, nor to content ourselves with an inspection of a town to
+the exclusion of a consideration of its power; but we may safely
+conclude that the armament in question surpassed all before it, as
+it fell short of modern efforts; if we can here also accept the
+testimony of Homer's poems, in which, without allowing for the
+exaggeration which a poet would feel himself licensed to employ, we
+can see that it was far from equalling ours.  He has represented it
+as consisting of twelve hundred vessels; the Boeotian complement of
+each ship being a hundred and twenty men, that of the ships of
+Philoctetes fifty.  By this, I conceive, he meant to convey the maximum
+and the minimum complement: at any rate, he does not specify the
+amount of any others in his catalogue of the ships.  That they were all
+rowers as well as warriors we see from his account of the ships of
+Philoctetes, in which all the men at the oar are bowmen.  Now it is
+improbable that many supernumeraries sailed, if we except the kings
+and high officers; especially as they had to cross the open sea with
+munitions of war, in ships, moreover, that had no decks, but were
+equipped in the old piratical fashion.  So that if we strike the
+average of the largest and smallest ships, the number of those who
+sailed will appear inconsiderable, representing, as they did, the
+whole force of Hellas.  And this was due not so much to scarcity of men
+as of money.  Difficulty of subsistence made the invaders reduce the
+numbers of the army to a point at which it might live on the country
+during the prosecution of the war.  Even after the victory they
+obtained on their arrival--and a victory there must have been, or the
+fortifications of the naval camp could never have been built--there
+is no indication of their whole force having been employed; on the
+contrary, they seem to have turned to cultivation of the Chersonese
+and to piracy from want of supplies.  This was what really enabled
+the Trojans to keep the field for ten years against them; the
+dispersion of the enemy making them always a match for the
+detachment left behind.  If they had brought plenty of supplies with
+them, and had persevered in the war without scattering for piracy
+and agriculture, they would have easily defeated the Trojans in the
+field, since they could hold their own against them with the
+division on service.  In short, if they had stuck to the siege, the
+capture of Troy would have cost them less time and less trouble.  But
+as want of money proved the weakness of earlier expeditions, so from
+the same cause even the one in question, more famous than its
+predecessors, may be pronounced on the evidence of what it effected to
+have been inferior to its renown and to the current opinion about it
+formed under the tuition of the poets.
+
+Even after the Trojan War, Hellas was still engaged in removing
+and settling, and thus could not attain to the quiet which must
+precede growth.  The late return of the Hellenes from Ilium caused many
+revolutions, and factions ensued almost everywhere; and it was the
+citizens thus driven into exile who founded the cities.  Sixty years
+after the capture of Ilium, the modern Boeotians were driven out of
+Arne by the Thessalians, and settled in the present Boeotia, the
+former Cadmeis; though there was a division of them there before, some
+of whom joined the expedition to Ilium.  Twenty years later, the
+Dorians and the Heraclids became masters of Peloponnese; so that
+much had to be done and many years had to elapse before Hellas could
+attain to a durable tranquillity undisturbed by removals, and could
+begin to send out colonies, as Athens did to Ionia and most of the
+islands, and the Peloponnesians to most of Italy and Sicily and some
+places in the rest of Hellas.  All these places were founded
+subsequently to the war with Troy.
+
+But as the power of Hellas grew, and the acquisition of wealth
+became more an object, the revenues of the states increasing,
+tyrannies were by their means established almost everywhere--the old
+form of government being hereditary monarchy with definite
+prerogatives--and Hellas began to fit out fleets and apply herself
+more closely to the sea.  It is said that the Corinthians were the
+first to approach the modern style of naval architecture, and that
+Corinth was the first place in Hellas where galleys were built; and
+we have Ameinocles, a Corinthian shipwright, making four ships for
+the Samians.  Dating from the end of this war, it is nearly three
+hundred years ago that Ameinocles went to Samos.  Again, the earliest
+sea-fight in history was between the Corinthians and Corcyraeans; this
+was about two hundred and sixty years ago, dating from the same time.
+Planted on an isthmus, Corinth had from time out of mind been a
+commercial emporium; as formerly almost all communication between the
+Hellenes within and without Peloponnese was carried on overland, and
+the Corinthian territory was the highway through which it travelled.
+She had consequently great money resources, as is shown by the epithet
+"wealthy" bestowed by the old poets on the place, and this enabled
+her, when traffic by sea became more common, to procure her navy and
+put down piracy; and as she could offer a mart for both branches of
+the trade, she acquired for herself all the power which a large
+revenue affords.  Subsequently the Ionians attained to great naval
+strength in the reign of Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, and of
+his son Cambyses, and while they were at war with the former commanded
+for a while the Ionian sea.  Polycrates also, the tyrant of Samos,
+had a powerful navy in the reign of Cambyses, with which he reduced
+many of the islands, and among them Rhenea, which he consecrated to
+the Delian Apollo.  About this time also the Phocaeans, while they were
+founding Marseilles, defeated the Carthaginians in a sea-fight.
+These were the most powerful navies.  And even these, although so
+many generations had elapsed since the Trojan war, seem to have been
+principally composed of the old fifty-oars and long-boats, and to have
+counted few galleys among their ranks.  Indeed it was only shortly
+the Persian war, and the death of Darius the successor of Cambyses,
+that the Sicilian tyrants and the Corcyraeans acquired any large
+number of galleys.  For after these there were no navies of any account
+in Hellas till the expedition of Xerxes; Aegina, Athens, and others
+may have possessed a few vessels, but they were principally
+fifty-oars.  It was quite at the end of this period that the war with
+Aegina and the prospect of the barbarian invasion enabled Themistocles
+to persuade the Athenians to build the fleet with which they fought at
+Salamis; and even these vessels had not complete decks.
+
+The navies, then, of the Hellenes during the period we have
+traversed were what I have described.  All their insignificance did not
+prevent their being an element of the greatest power to those who
+cultivated them, alike in revenue and in dominion.  They were the means
+by which the islands were reached and reduced, those of the smallest
+area falling the easiest prey.  Wars by land there were none, none at
+least by which power was acquired; we have the usual border
+contests, but of distant expeditions with conquest for object we
+hear nothing among the Hellenes.  There was no union of subject
+cities round a great state, no spontaneous combination of equals for
+confederate expeditions; what fighting there was consisted merely of
+local warfare between rival neighbours.  The nearest approach to a
+coalition took place in the old war between Chalcis and Eretria;
+this was a quarrel in which the rest of the Hellenic name did to
+some extent take sides.
+
+Various, too, were the obstacles which the national growth
+encountered in various localities.  The power of the Ionians was
+advancing with rapid strides, when it came into collision with Persia,
+under King Cyrus, who, after having dethroned Croesus and overrun
+everything between the Halys and the sea, stopped not till he had
+reduced the cities of the coast; the islands being only left to be
+subdued by Darius and the Phoenician navy.
+
+Again, wherever there were tyrants, their habit of providing
+simply for themselves, of looking solely to their personal comfort and
+family aggrandizement, made safety the great aim of their policy,
+and prevented anything great proceeding from them; though they would
+each have their affairs with their immediate neighbours.  All this is
+only true of the mother country, for in Sicily they attained to very
+great power.  Thus for a long time everywhere in Hellas do we find
+causes which make the states alike incapable of combination for
+great and national ends, or of any vigorous action of their own.
+
+But at last a time came when the tyrants of Athens and the far older
+tyrannies of the rest of Hellas were, with the exception of those in
+Sicily, once and for all put down by Lacedaemon; for this city, though
+after the settlement of the Dorians, its present inhabitants, it
+suffered from factions for an unparalleled length of time, still at
+a very early period obtained good laws, and enjoyed a freedom from
+tyrants which was unbroken; it has possessed the same form of
+government for more than four hundred years, reckoning to the end of
+the late war, and has thus been in a position to arrange the affairs
+of the other states.  Not many years after the deposition of the
+tyrants, the battle of Marathon was fought between the Medes and the
+Athenians.  Ten years afterwards, the barbarian returned with the
+armada for the subjugation of Hellas.  In the face of this great
+danger, the command of the confederate Hellenes was assumed by the
+Lacedaemonians in virtue of their superior power; and the Athenians,
+having made up their minds to abandon their city, broke up their
+homes, threw themselves into their ships, and became a naval people.
+This coalition, after repulsing the barbarian, soon afterwards split
+into two sections, which included the Hellenes who had revolted from
+the King, as well as those who had aided him in the war.  At the end of
+the one stood Athens, at the head of the other Lacedaemon, one the
+first naval, the other the first military power in Hellas.  For a short
+time the league held together, till the Lacedaemonians and Athenians
+quarrelled and made war upon each other with their allies, a duel into
+which all the Hellenes sooner or later were drawn, though some might
+at first remain neutral.  So that the whole period from the Median
+war to this, with some peaceful intervals, was spent by each power
+in war, either with its rival, or with its own revolted allies, and
+consequently afforded them constant practice in military matters,
+and that experience which is learnt in the school of danger.
+
+The policy of Lacedaemon was not to exact tribute from her allies,
+but merely to secure their subservience to her interests by
+establishing oligarchies among them; Athens, on the contrary, had by
+degrees deprived hers of their ships, and imposed instead
+contributions in money on all except Chios and Lesbos.  Both found
+their resources for this war separately to exceed the sum of their
+strength when the alliance flourished intact.
+
+Having now given the result of my inquiries into early times, I
+grant that there will be a difficulty in believing every particular
+detail.  The way that most men deal with traditions, even traditions of
+their own country, is to receive them all alike as they are delivered,
+without applying any critical test whatever.  The general Athenian
+public fancy that Hipparchus was tyrant when he fell by the hands of
+Harmodius and Aristogiton, not knowing that Hippias, the eldest of the
+sons of Pisistratus, was really supreme, and that Hipparchus and
+Thessalus were his brothers; and that Harmodius and Aristogiton
+suspecting, on the very day, nay at the very moment fixed on for the
+deed, that information had been conveyed to Hippias by their
+accomplices, concluded that he had been warned, and did not attack
+him, yet, not liking to be apprehended and risk their lives for
+nothing, fell upon Hipparchus near the temple of the daughters of
+Leos, and slew him as he was arranging the Panathenaic procession.
+
+There are many other unfounded ideas current among the rest of the
+Hellenes, even on matters of contemporary history, which have not been
+obscured by time.  For instance, there is the notion that the
+Lacedaemonian kings have two votes each, the fact being that they have
+only one; and that there is a company of Pitane, there being simply no
+such thing.  So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of
+truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand.  On the
+whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs quoted
+may, I believe, safely be relied on.  Assuredly they will not be
+disturbed either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration
+of his craft, or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are
+attractive at truth's expense; the subjects they treat of being out of
+the reach of evidence, and time having robbed most of them of
+historical value by enthroning them in the region of legend.  Turning
+from these, we can rest satisfied with having proceeded upon the
+clearest data, and having arrived at conclusions as exact as can be
+expected in matters of such antiquity.  To come to this war: despite
+the known disposition of the actors in a struggle to overrate its
+importance, and when it is over to return to their admiration of
+earlier events, yet an examination of the facts will show that it
+was much greater than the wars which preceded it.
+
+With reference to the speeches in this history, some were
+delivered before the war began, others while it was going on; some I
+heard myself, others I got from various quarters; it was in all
+cases difficult to carry them word for word in one's memory, so my
+habit has been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion
+demanded of them by the various occasions, of course adhering as
+closely as possible to the general sense of what they really said.  And
+with reference to the narrative of events, far from permitting
+myself to derive it from the first source that came to hand, I did not
+even trust my own impressions, but it rests partly on what I saw
+myself, partly on what others saw for me, the accuracy of the report
+being always tried by the most severe and detailed tests possible.
+My conclusions have cost me some labour from the want of coincidence
+between accounts of the same occurrences by different eye-witnesses,
+arising sometimes from imperfect memory, sometimes from undue
+partiality for one side or the other.  The absence of romance in my
+history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be
+judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of
+the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the
+course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I
+shall be content.  In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay
+which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for
+all time.
+
+The Median War, the greatest achievement of past times, yet found
+a speedy decision in two actions by sea and two by land.  The
+Peloponnesian War was prolonged to an immense length, and, long as
+it was, it was short without parallel for the misfortunes that it
+brought upon Hellas.  Never had so many cities been taken and laid
+desolate, here by the barbarians, here by the parties contending
+(the old inhabitants being sometimes removed to make room for others);
+never was there so much banishing and blood-shedding, now on the field
+of battle, now in the strife of faction.  Old stories of occurrences
+handed down by tradition, but scantily confirmed by experience,
+suddenly ceased to be incredible; there were earthquakes of
+unparalleled extent and violence; eclipses of the sun occurred with
+a frequency unrecorded in previous history; there were great
+droughts in sundry places and consequent famines, and that most
+calamitous and awfully fatal visitation, the plague.  All this came
+upon them with the late war, which was begun by the Athenians and
+Peloponnesians by the dissolution of the thirty years' truce made
+after the conquest of Euboea.  To the question why they broke the
+treaty, I answer by placing first an account of their grounds of
+complaint and points of difference, that no one may ever have to ask
+the immediate cause which plunged the Hellenes into a war of such
+magnitude.  The real cause I consider to be the one which was
+formally most kept out of sight.  The growth of the power of Athens,
+and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war
+inevitable.  Still it is well to give the grounds alleged by either
+side which led to the dissolution of the treaty and the breaking out
+of the war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+_Causes of the War - The Affair of Epidamnus -
+The Affair of Potidaea_
+
+The city of Epidamnus stands on the right of the entrance of the
+Ionic Gulf.  Its vicinity is inhabited by the Taulantians, an
+Illyrian people.  The place is a colony from Corcyra, founded by
+Phalius, son of Eratocleides, of the family of the Heraclids, who
+had according to ancient usage been summoned for the purpose from
+Corinth, the mother country.  The colonists were joined by some
+Corinthians, and others of the Dorian race.  Now, as time went on,
+the city of Epidamnus became great and populous; but falling a prey to
+factions arising, it is said, from a war with her neighbours the
+barbarians, she became much enfeebled, and lost a considerable
+amount of her power.  The last act before the war was the expulsion
+of the nobles by the people.  The exiled party joined the barbarians,
+and proceeded to plunder those in the city by sea and land; and the
+Epidamnians, finding themselves hard pressed, sent ambassadors to
+Corcyra beseeching their mother country not to allow them to perish,
+but to make up matters between them and the exiles, and to rid them of
+the war with the barbarians.  The ambassadors seated themselves in
+the temple of Hera as suppliants, and made the above requests to the
+Corcyraeans.  But the Corcyraeans refused to accept their supplication,
+and they were dismissed without having effected anything.
+
+When the Epidamnians found that no help could be expected from
+Corcyra, they were in a strait what to do next.  So they sent to Delphi
+and inquired of the God whether they should deliver their city to
+the Corinthians and endeavour to obtain some assistance from their
+founders.  The answer he gave them was to deliver the city and place
+themselves under Corinthian protection.  So the Epidamnians went to
+Corinth and delivered over the colony in obedience to the commands
+of the oracle.  They showed that their founder came from Corinth, and
+revealed the answer of the god; and they begged them not to allow them
+to perish, but to assist them.  This the Corinthians consented to do.
+Believing the colony to belong as much to themselves as to the
+Corcyraeans, they felt it to be a kind of duty to undertake their
+protection.  Besides, they hated the Corcyraeans for their contempt
+of the mother country.  Instead of meeting with the usual honours
+accorded to the parent city by every other colony at public
+assemblies, such as precedence at sacrifices, Corinth found herself
+treated with contempt by a power which in point of wealth could
+stand comparison with any even of the richest communities in Hellas,
+which possessed great military strength, and which sometimes could not
+repress a pride in the high naval position of an, island whose
+nautical renown dated from the days of its old inhabitants, the
+Phaeacians.  This was one reason of the care that they lavished on
+their fleet, which became very efficient; indeed they began the war
+with a force of a hundred and twenty galleys.
+
+All these grievances made Corinth eager to send the promised aid
+to Epidamnus.  Advertisement was made for volunteer settlers, and a
+force of Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Corinthians was dispatched.
+They marched by land to Apollonia, a Corinthian colony, the route by
+sea being avoided from fear of Corcyraean interruption.  When the
+Corcyraeans heard of the arrival of the settlers and troops in
+Epidamnus, and the surrender of the colony to Corinth, they took fire.
+Instantly putting to sea with five-and-twenty ships, which were
+quickly followed by others, they insolently commanded the
+Epidamnians to receive back the banished nobles--(it must be premised
+that the Epidamnian exiles had come to Corcyra and, pointing to the
+sepulchres of their ancestors, had appealed to their kindred to
+restore them)--and to dismiss the Corinthian garrison and settlers.
+But to all this the Epidamnians turned a deaf ear.  Upon this the
+Corcyraeans commenced operations against them with a fleet of forty
+sail.  They took with them the exiles, with a view to their
+restoration, and also secured the services of the Illyrians.  Sitting
+down before the city, they issued a proclamation to the effect that
+any of the natives that chose, and the foreigners, might depart
+unharmed, with the alternative of being treated as enemies.  On their
+refusal the Corcyraeans proceeded to besiege the city, which stands on
+an isthmus; and the Corinthians, receiving intelligence of the
+investment of Epidamnus, got together an armament and proclaimed a
+colony to Epidamnus, perfect political equality being guaranteed to
+all who chose to go.  Any who were not prepared to sail at once
+might, by paying down the sum of fifty Corinthian drachmae, have a
+share in the colony without leaving Corinth.  Great numbers took
+advantage of this proclamation, some being ready to start directly,
+others paying the requisite forfeit.  In case of their passage being
+disputed by the Corcyraeans, several cities were asked to lend them
+a convoy.  Megara prepared to accompany them with eight ships, Pale
+in Cephallonia with four; Epidaurus furnished five, Hermione one,
+Troezen two, Leucas ten, and Ambracia eight.  The Thebans and
+Phliasians were asked for money, the Eleans for hulls as well; while
+Corinth herself furnished thirty ships and three thousand heavy
+infantry.
+
+When the Corcyraeans heard of their preparations they came to
+Corinth with envoys from Lacedaemon and Sicyon, whom they persuaded to
+accompany them, and bade her recall the garrison and settlers, as
+she had nothing to do with Epidamnus.  If, however, she had any
+claims to make, they were willing to submit the matter to the
+arbitration of such of the cities in Peloponnese as should be chosen
+by mutual agreement, and that the colony should remain with the city
+to whom the arbitrators might assign it.  They were also willing to
+refer the matter to the oracle at Delphi.  If, in defiance of their
+protestations, war was appealed to, they should be themselves
+compelled by this violence to seek friends in quarters where they
+had no desire to seek them, and to make even old ties give way to
+the necessity of assistance.  The answer they got from Corinth was
+that, if they would withdraw their fleet and the barbarians from
+Epidamnus, negotiation might be possible; but, while the town was
+still being besieged, going before arbitrators was out of the
+question.  The Corcyraeans retorted that if Corinth would withdraw
+her troops from Epidamnus they would withdraw theirs, or they were
+ready to let both parties remain in statu quo, an armistice being
+concluded till judgment could be given.
+
+Turning a deaf ear to all these proposals, when their ships were
+manned and their allies had come in, the Corinthians sent a herald
+before them to declare war and, getting under way with seventy-five
+ships and two thousand heavy infantry, sailed for Epidamnus to give
+battle to the Corcyraeans.  The fleet was under the command of
+Aristeus, son of Pellichas, Callicrates, son of Callias, and
+Timanor, son of Timanthes; the troops under that of Archetimus, son of
+Eurytimus, and Isarchidas, son of Isarchus.  When they had reached
+Actium in the territory of Anactorium, at the mouth of the mouth of
+the Gulf of Ambracia, where the temple of Apollo stands, the
+Corcyraeans sent on a herald in a light boat to warn them not to
+sail against them.  Meanwhile they proceeded to man their ships, all of
+which had been equipped for action, the old vessels being
+undergirded to make them seaworthy.  On the return of the herald
+without any peaceful answer from the Corinthians, their ships being
+now manned, they put out to sea to meet the enemy with a fleet of
+eighty sail (forty were engaged in the siege of Epidamnus), formed
+line, and went into action, and gained a decisive victory, and
+destroyed fifteen of the Corinthian vessels.  The same day had seen
+Epidamnus compelled by its besiegers to capitulate; the conditions
+being that the foreigners should be sold, and the Corinthians kept
+as prisoners of war, till their fate should be otherwise decided.
+
+After the engagement the Corcyraeans set up a trophy on Leukimme,
+a headland of Corcyra, and slew all their captives except the
+Corinthians, whom they kept as prisoners of war.  Defeated at sea,
+the Corinthians and their allies repaired home, and left the
+Corcyraeans masters of all the sea about those parts.  Sailing to
+Leucas, a Corinthian colony, they ravaged their territory, and burnt
+Cyllene, the harbour of the Eleans, because they had furnished ships
+and money to Corinth.  For almost the whole of the period that followed
+the battle they remained masters of the sea, and the allies of Corinth
+were harassed by Corcyraean cruisers.  At last Corinth, roused by the
+sufferings of her allies, sent out ships and troops in the fall of the
+summer, who formed an encampment at Actium and about Chimerium, in
+Thesprotis, for the protection of Leucas and the rest of the
+friendly cities.  The Corcyraeans on their part formed a similar
+station on Leukimme.  Neither party made any movement, but they
+remained confronting each other till the end of the summer, and winter
+was at hand before either of them returned home.
+
+Corinth, exasperated by the war with the Corcyraeans, spent the
+whole of the year after the engagement and that succeeding it in
+building ships, and in straining every nerve to form an efficient
+fleet; rowers being drawn from Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas by
+the inducement of large bounties.  The Corcyraeans, alarmed at the news
+of their preparations, being without a single ally in Hellas (for they
+had not enrolled themselves either in the Athenian or in the
+Lacedaemonian confederacy), decided to repair to Athens in order to
+enter into alliance and to endeavour to procure support from her.
+Corinth also, hearing of their intentions, sent an embassy to Athens
+to prevent the Corcyraean navy being joined by the Athenian, and her
+prospect of ordering the war according to her wishes being thus
+impeded.  An assembly was convoked, and the rival advocates appeared:
+the Corcyraeans spoke as follows:
+
+"Athenians! when a people that have not rendered any important
+service or support to their neighbours in times past, for which they
+might claim to be repaid, appear before them as we now appear before
+you to solicit their assistance, they may fairly be required to
+satisfy certain preliminary conditions.  They should show, first,
+that it is expedient or at least safe to grant their request; next,
+that they will retain a lasting sense of the kindness.  But if they
+cannot clearly establish any of these points, they must not be annoyed
+if they meet with a rebuff.  Now the Corcyraeans believe that with
+their petition for assistance they can also give you a satisfactory
+answer on these points, and they have therefore dispatched us
+hither.  It has so happened that our policy as regards you with respect
+to this request, turns out to be inconsistent, and as regards our
+interests, to be at the present crisis inexpedient.  We say
+inconsistent, because a power which has never in the whole of her past
+history been willing to ally herself with any of her neighbours, is
+now found asking them to ally themselves with her.  And we say
+inexpedient, because in our present war with Corinth it has left us in
+a position of entire isolation, and what once seemed the wise
+precaution of refusing to involve ourselves in alliances with other
+powers, lest we should also involve ourselves in risks of their
+choosing, has now proved to be folly and weakness.  It is true that
+in the late naval engagement we drove back the Corinthians from our
+shores single-handed.  But they have now got together a still larger
+armament from Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas; and we, seeing our
+utter inability to cope with them without foreign aid, and the
+magnitude of the danger which subjection to them implies, find it
+necessary to ask help from you and from every other power.  And we hope
+to be excused if we forswear our old principle of complete political
+isolation, a principle which was not adopted with any sinister
+intention, but was rather the consequence of an error in judgment.
+
+"Now there are many reasons why in the event of your compliance
+you will congratulate yourselves on this request having been made to
+you.  First, because your assistance will be rendered to a power which,
+herself inoffensive, is a victim to the injustice of others.  Secondly,
+because all that we most value is at stake in the present contest, and
+your welcome of us under these circumstances will be a proof of
+goodwill which will ever keep alive the gratitude you will lay up in
+our hearts.  Thirdly, yourselves excepted, we are the greatest naval
+power in Hellas.  Moreover, can you conceive a stroke of good fortune
+more rare in itself, or more disheartening to your enemies, than
+that the power whose adhesion you would have valued above much
+material and moral strength should present herself self-invited,
+should deliver herself into your hands without danger and without
+expense, and should lastly put you in the way of gaining a high
+character in the eyes of the world, the gratitude of those whom you
+shall assist, and a great accession of strength for yourselves? You
+may search all history without finding many instances of a people
+gaining all these advantages at once, or many instances of a power
+that comes in quest of assistance being in a position to give to the
+people whose alliance she solicits as much safety and honour as she
+will receive.  But it will be urged that it is only in the case of a
+war that we shall be found useful.  To this we answer that if any of
+you imagine that that war is far off, he is grievously mistaken, and
+is blind to the fact that Lacedaemon regards you with jealousy and
+desires war, and that Corinth is powerful there--the same, remember,
+that is your enemy, and is even now trying to subdue us as a
+preliminary to attacking you.  And this she does to prevent our
+becoming united by a common enmity, and her having us both on her
+hands, and also to ensure getting the start of you in one of two ways,
+either by crippling our power or by making its strength her own.  Now
+it is our policy to be beforehand with her--that is, for Corcyra to
+make an offer of alliance and for you to accept it; in fact, we
+ought to form plans against her instead of waiting to defeat the plans
+she forms against us.
+
+"If she asserts that for you to receive a colony of hers into
+alliance is not right, let her know that every colony that is well
+treated honours its parent state, but becomes estranged from it by
+injustice.  For colonists are not sent forth on the understanding
+that they are to be the slaves of those that remain behind, but that
+they are to be their equals.  And that Corinth was injuring us is
+clear.  Invited to refer the dispute about Epidamnus to arbitration,
+they chose to prosecute their complaints war rather than by a fair
+trial.  And let their conduct towards us who are their kindred be a
+warning to you not to be misled by their deceit, nor to yield to their
+direct requests; concessions to adversaries only end in self-reproach,
+and the more strictly they are avoided the greater will be the
+chance of security.
+
+"If it be urged that your reception of us will be a breach of the
+treaty existing between you and Lacedaemon, the answer is that we
+are a neutral state, and that one of the express provisions of that
+treaty is that it shall be competent for any Hellenic state that is
+neutral to join whichever side it pleases.  And it is intolerable for
+Corinth to be allowed to obtain men for her navy not only from her
+allies, but also from the rest of Hellas, no small number being
+furnished by your own subjects; while we are to be excluded both
+from the alliance left open to us by treaty, and from any assistance
+that we might get from other quarters, and you are to be accused of
+political immorality if you comply with our request.  On the other
+hand, we shall have much greater cause to complain of you, if you do
+not comply with it; if we, who are in peril and are no enemies of
+yours, meet with a repulse at your hands, while Corinth, who is the
+aggressor and your enemy, not only meets with no hindrance from you,
+but is even allowed to draw material for war from your dependencies.
+This ought not to be, but you should either forbid her enlisting men
+in your dominions, or you should lend us too what help you may think
+advisable.
+
+"But your real policy is to afford us avowed countenance and
+support.  The advantages of this course, as we premised in the
+beginning of our speech, are many.  We mention one that is perhaps
+the chief.  Could there be a clearer guarantee of our good faith than
+is offered by the fact that the power which is at enmity with you is
+also at enmity with us, and that that power is fully able to punish
+defection? And there is a wide difference between declining the
+alliance of an inland and of a maritime power.  For your first
+endeavour should be to prevent, if possible, the existence of any
+naval power except your own; failing this, to secure the friendship of
+the strongest that does exist.  And if any of you believe that what
+we urge is expedient, but fear to act upon this belief, lest it should
+lead to a breach of the treaty, you must remember that on the one
+hand, whatever your fears, your strength will be formidable to your
+antagonists; on the other, whatever the confidence you derive from
+refusing to receive us, your weakness will have no terrors for a
+strong enemy.  You must also remember that your decision is for Athens
+no less than Corcyra, and that you are not making the best provision
+for her interests, if at a time when you are anxiously scanning the
+horizon that you may be in readiness for the breaking out of the war
+which is all but upon you, you hesitate to attach to your side a
+place whose adhesion or estrangement is alike pregnant with the most
+vital consequences.  For it lies conveniently for the coast-navigation
+in the direction of Italy and Sicily, being able to bar the passage
+of naval reinforcements from thence to Peloponnese, and from
+Peloponnese thither; and it is in other respects a most desirable
+station.  To sum up as shortly as possible, embracing both general
+and particular considerations, let this show you the folly of
+sacrificing us.  Remember that there are but three considerable
+naval powers in Hellas--Athens, Corcyra, and Corinth--and that if you
+allow two of these three to become one, and Corinth to secure us for
+herself, you will have to hold the sea against the united fleets of
+Corcyra and Peloponnese.  But if you receive us, you will have our
+ships to reinforce you in the struggle."
+
+Such were the words of the Corcyraeans.  After they had finished, the
+Corinthians spoke as follows:
+
+"These Corcyraeans in the speech we have just heard do not confine
+themselves to the question of their reception into your alliance.  They
+also talk of our being guilty of injustice, and their being the
+victims of an unjustifiable war.  It becomes necessary for us to
+touch upon both these points before we proceed to the rest of what
+we have to say, that you may have a more correct idea of the grounds
+of our claim, and have good cause to reject their petition.
+According to them, their old policy of refusing all offers of alliance
+was a policy of moderation.  It was in fact adopted for bad ends, not
+for good; indeed their conduct is such as to make them by no means
+desirous of having allies present to witness it, or of having the
+shame of asking their concurrence.  Besides, their geographical
+situation makes them independent of others, and consequently the
+decision in cases where they injure any lies not with judges appointed
+by mutual agreement, but with themselves, because, while they seldom
+make voyages to their neighbours, they are constantly being visited by
+foreign vessels which are compelled to put in to Corcyra.  In short,
+the object that they propose to themselves, in their specious policy
+of complete isolation, is not to avoid sharing in the crimes of
+others, but to secure monopoly of crime to themselves--the licence of
+outrage wherever they can compel, of fraud wherever they can elude,
+and the enjoyment of their gains without shame.  And yet if they were
+the honest men they pretend to be, the less hold that others had
+upon them, the stronger would be the light in which they might have
+put their honesty by giving and taking what was just.
+
+"But such has not been their conduct either towards others or
+towards us.  The attitude of our colony towards us has always been
+one of estrangement and is now one of hostility; for, say they: 'We
+were not sent out to be ill-treated.' We rejoin that we did not
+found the colony to be insulted by them, but to be their head and to
+be regarded with a proper respect.  At any rate our other colonies
+honour us, and we are much beloved by our colonists; and clearly, if
+the majority are satisfied with us, these can have no good reason
+for a dissatisfaction in which they stand alone, and we are not acting
+improperly in making war against them, nor are we making war against
+them without having received signal provocation.  Besides, if we were
+in the wrong, it would be honourable in them to give way to our
+wishes, and disgraceful for us to trample on their moderation; but
+in the pride and licence of wealth they have sinned again and again
+against us, and never more deeply than when Epidamnus, our dependency,
+which they took no steps to claim in its distress upon our coming to
+relieve it, was by them seized, and is now held by force of arms.
+
+"As to their allegation that they wished the question to be first
+submitted to arbitration, it is obvious that a challenge coming from
+the party who is safe in a commanding position cannot gain the
+credit due only to him who, before appealing to arms, in deeds as well
+as words, places himself on a level with his adversary.  In their case,
+it was not before they laid siege to the place, but after they at
+length understood that we should not tamely suffer it, that they
+thought of the specious word arbitration.  And not satisfied with their
+own misconduct there, they appear here now requiring you to join
+with them not in alliance but in crime, and to receive them in spite
+of their being at enmity with us.  But it was when they stood firmest
+that they should have made overtures to you, and not at a time when we
+have been wronged and they are in peril; nor yet at a time when you
+will be admitting to a share in your protection those who never
+admitted you to a share in their power, and will be incurring an equal
+amount of blame from us with those in whose offences you had no
+hand.  No, they should have shared their power with you before they
+asked you to share your fortunes with them.
+
+"So then the reality of the grievances we come to complain of, and
+the violence and rapacity of our opponents, have both been proved.  But
+that you cannot equitably receive them, this you have still to
+learn.  It may be true that one of the provisions of the treaty is that
+it shall be competent for any state, whose name was not down on the
+list, to join whichever side it pleases.  But this agreement is not
+meant for those whose object in joining is the injury of other powers,
+but for those whose need of support does not arise from the fact of
+defection, and whose adhesion will not bring to the power that is
+mad enough to receive them war instead of peace; which will be the
+case with you, if you refuse to listen to us.  For you cannot become
+their auxiliary and remain our friend; if you join in their attack,
+you must share the punishment which the defenders inflict on them.  And
+yet you have the best possible right to be neutral, or, failing
+this, you should on the contrary join us against them.  Corinth is at
+least in treaty with you; with Corcyra you were never even in truce.
+But do not lay down the principle that defection is to be
+patronized.  Did we on the defection of the Samians record our vote
+against you, when the rest of the Peloponnesian powers were equally
+divided on the question whether they should assist them? No, we told
+them to their face that every power has a right to punish its own
+allies.  Why, if you make it your policy to receive and assist all
+offenders, you will find that just as many of your dependencies will
+come over to us, and the principle that you establish will press
+less heavily on us than on yourselves.
+
+"This then is what Hellenic law entitles us to demand as a right.
+But we have also advice to offer and claims on your gratitude,
+which, since there is no danger of our injuring you, as we are not
+enemies, and since our friendship does not amount to very frequent
+intercourse, we say ought to be liquidated at the present juncture.
+When you were in want of ships of war for the war against the
+Aeginetans, before the Persian invasion, Corinth supplied you with
+twenty vessels.  That good turn, and the line we took on the Samian
+question, when we were the cause of the Peloponnesians refusing to
+assist them, enabled you to conquer Aegina and to punish Samos.  And we
+acted thus at crises when, if ever, men are wont in their efforts
+against their enemies to forget everything for the sake of victory,
+regarding him who assists them then as a friend, even if thus far he
+has been a foe, and him who opposes them then as a foe, even if he has
+thus far been a friend; indeed they allow their real interests to
+suffer from their absorbing preoccupation in the struggle.
+
+"Weigh well these considerations, and let your youth learn what they
+are from their elders, and let them determine to do unto us as we have
+done unto you.  And let them not acknowledge the justice of what we
+say, but dispute its wisdom in the contingency of war.  Not only is the
+straightest path generally speaking the wisest; but the coming of
+the war, which the Corcyraeans have used as a bugbear to persuade
+you to do wrong, is still uncertain, and it is not worth while to be
+carried away by it into gaining the instant and declared enmity of
+Corinth.  It were, rather, wise to try and counteract the
+unfavourable impression which your conduct to Megara has created.
+For kindness opportunely shown has a greater power of removing old
+grievances than the facts of the case may warrant.  And do not be
+seduced by the prospect of a great naval alliance.  Abstinence from all
+injustice to other first-rate powers is a greater tower of strength
+than anything that can be gained by the sacrifice of permanent
+tranquillity for an apparent temporary advantage.  It is now our turn
+to benefit by the principle that we laid down at Lacedaemon, that
+every power has a right to punish her own allies.  We now claim to
+receive the same from you, and protest against your rewarding us for
+benefiting you by our vote by injuring us by yours.  On the contrary,
+return us like for like, remembering that this is that very crisis in
+which he who lends aid is most a friend, and he who opposes is most a
+foe.  And for these Corcyraeans--neither receive them into alliance in
+our despite, nor be their abettors in crime.  So do, and you will act
+as we have a right to expect of you, and at the same time best consult
+your own interests."
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians.
+
+When the Athenians had heard both out, two assemblies were held.
+In the first there was a manifest disposition to listen to the
+representations of Corinth; in the second, public feeling had
+changed and an alliance with Corcyra was decided on, with certain
+reservations.  It was to be a defensive, not an offensive alliance.
+It did not involve a breach of the treaty with Peloponnese: Athens
+could not be required to join Corcyra in any attack upon Corinth.
+But each of the contracting parties had a right to the other's
+assistance against invasion, whether of his own territory or that of
+an ally.  For it began now to be felt that the coming of the
+Peloponnesian war was only a question of time, and no one was
+willing to see a naval power of such magnitude as Corcyra sacrificed
+to Corinth; though if they could let them weaken each other by
+mutual conflict, it would be no bad preparation for the struggle which
+Athens might one day have to wage with Corinth and the other naval
+powers.  At the same time the island seemed to lie conveniently on
+the coasting passage to Italy and Sicily.  With these views, Athens
+received Corcyra into alliance and, on the departure of the
+Corinthians not long afterwards, sent ten ships to their assistance.
+They were commanded by Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, Diotimus,
+the son of Strombichus, and Proteas, the son of Epicles.  Their
+instructions were to avoid collision with the Corinthian fleet
+except under certain circumstances.  If it sailed to Corcyra and
+threatened a landing on her coast, or in any of her possessions,
+they were to do their utmost to prevent it.  These instructions were
+prompted by an anxiety to avoid a breach of the treaty.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthians completed their preparations, and sailed
+for Corcyra with a hundred and fifty ships.  Of these Elis furnished
+ten, Megara twelve, Leucas ten, Ambracia twenty-seven, Anactorium one,
+and Corinth herself ninety.  Each of these contingents had its own
+admiral, the Corinthian being under the command of Xenoclides, son of
+Euthycles, with four colleagues.  Sailing from Leucas, they made land
+at the part of the continent opposite Corcyra.  They anchored in the
+harbour of Chimerium, in the territory of Thesprotis, above which,
+at some distance from the sea, lies the city of Ephyre, in the Elean
+district.  By this city the Acherusian lake pours its waters into the
+sea.  It gets its name from the river Acheron, which flows through
+Thesprotis and falls into the lake.  There also the river Thyamis
+flows, forming the boundary between Thesprotis and Kestrine; and
+between these rivers rises the point of Chimerium.  In this part of the
+continent the Corinthians now came to anchor, and formed an
+encampment.  When the Corcyraeans saw them coming, they manned a
+hundred and ten ships, commanded by Meikiades, Aisimides, and
+Eurybatus, and stationed themselves at one of the Sybota isles; the
+ten Athenian ships being present.  On Point Leukimme they posted
+their land forces, and a thousand heavy infantry who had come from
+Zacynthus to their assistance.  Nor were the Corinthians on the
+mainland without their allies.  The barbarians flocked in large numbers
+to their assistance, the inhabitants of this part of the continent
+being old allies of theirs.
+
+When the Corinthian preparations were completed, they took three
+days' provisions and put out from Chimerium by night, ready for
+action.  Sailing with the dawn, they sighted the Corcyraean fleet out
+at sea and coming towards them.  When they perceived each other, both
+sides formed in order of battle.  On the Corcyraean right wing lay
+the Athenian ships, the rest of the line being occupied by their own
+vessels formed in three squadrons, each of which was commanded by
+one of the three admirals.  Such was the Corcyraean formation.  The
+Corinthian was as follows: on the right wing lay the Megarian and
+Ambraciot ships, in the centre the rest of the allies in order.  But
+the left was composed of the best sailers in the Corinthian navy, to
+encounter the Athenians and the right wing of the Corcyraeans.  As soon
+as the signals were raised on either side, they joined battle.  Both
+sides had a large number of heavy infantry on their decks, and a large
+number of archers and darters, the old imperfect armament still
+prevailing.  The sea-fight was an obstinate one, though not
+remarkable for its science; indeed it was more like a battle by
+land.  Whenever they charged each other, the multitude and crush of the
+vessels made it by no means easy to get loose; besides, their hopes of
+victory lay principally in the heavy infantry on the decks, who
+stood and fought in order, the ships remaining stationary.  The
+manoeuvre of breaking the line was not tried; in short, strength and
+pluck had more share in the fight than science.  Everywhere tumult
+reigned, the battle being one scene of confusion; meanwhile the
+Athenian ships, by coming up to the Corcyraeans whenever they were
+pressed, served to alarm the enemy, though their commanders could
+not join in the battle from fear of their instructions.  The right wing
+of the Corinthians suffered most.  The Corcyraeans routed it, and
+chased them in disorder to the continent with twenty ships, sailed
+up to their camp, and burnt the tents which they found empty, and
+plundered the stuff.  So in this quarter the Corinthians and their
+allies were defeated, and the Corcyraeans were victorious.  But where
+the Corinthians themselves were, on the left, they gained a decided
+success; the scanty forces of the Corcyraeans being further weakened
+by the want of the twenty ships absent on the pursuit.  Seeing the
+Corcyraeans hard pressed, the Athenians began at length to assist them
+more unequivocally.  At first, it is true, they refrained from charging
+any ships; but when the rout was becoming patent, and the
+Corinthians were pressing on, the time at last came when every one set
+to, and all distinction was laid aside, and it came to this point,
+that the Corinthians and Athenians raised their hands against each
+other.
+
+After the rout, the Corinthians, instead of employing themselves
+in lashing fast and hauling after them the hulls of the vessels
+which they had disabled, turned their attention to the men, whom
+they butchered as they sailed through, not caring so much to make
+prisoners.  Some even of their own friends were slain by them, by
+mistake, in their ignorance of the defeat of the right wing For the
+number of the ships on both sides, and the distance to which they
+covered the sea, made it difficult, after they had once joined, to
+distinguish between the conquering and the conquered; this battle
+proving far greater than any before it, any at least between Hellenes,
+for the number of vessels engaged.  After the Corinthians had chased
+the Corcyraeans to the land, they turned to the wrecks and their dead,
+most of whom they succeeded in getting hold of and conveying to
+Sybota, the rendezvous of the land forces furnished by their barbarian
+allies.  Sybota, it must be known, is a desert harbour of Thesprotis.
+This task over, they mustered anew, and sailed against the
+Corcyraeans, who on their part advanced to meet them with all their
+ships that were fit for service and remaining to them, accompanied
+by the Athenian vessels, fearing that they might attempt a landing
+in their territory.  It was by this time getting late, and the paean
+had been sung for the attack, when the Corinthians suddenly began to
+back water.  They had observed twenty Athenian ships sailing up,
+which had been sent out afterwards to reinforce the ten vessels by the
+Athenians, who feared, as it turned out justly, the defeat of the
+Corcyraeans and the inability of their handful of ships to protect
+them.  These ships were thus seen by the Corinthians first.  They
+suspected that they were from Athens, and that those which they saw
+were not all, but that there were more behind; they accordingly
+began to retire.  The Corcyraeans meanwhile had not sighted them, as
+they were advancing from a point which they could not so well see, and
+were wondering why the Corinthians were backing water, when some
+caught sight of them, and cried out that there were ships in sight
+ahead.  Upon this they also retired; for it was now getting dark, and
+the retreat of the Corinthians had suspended hostilities.  Thus they
+parted from each other, and the battle ceased with night.  The
+Corcyraeans were in their camp at Leukimme, when these twenty ships
+from Athens, under the command of Glaucon, the son of Leagrus, and
+Andocides, son of Leogoras, bore on through the corpses and the
+wrecks, and sailed up to the camp, not long after they were sighted.
+It was now night, and the Corcyraeans feared that they might be
+hostile vessels; but they soon knew them, and the ships came to
+anchor.
+
+The next day the thirty Athenian vessels put out to sea, accompanied
+by all the Corcyraean ships that were seaworthy, and sailed to the
+harbour at Sybota, where the Corinthians lay, to see if they would
+engage.  The Corinthians put out from the land and formed a line in the
+open sea, but beyond this made no further movement, having no
+intention of assuming the offensive.  For they saw reinforcements
+arrived fresh from Athens, and themselves confronted by numerous
+difficulties, such as the necessity of guarding the prisoners whom
+they had on board and the want of all means of refitting their ships
+in a desert place.  What they were thinking more about was how their
+voyage home was to be effected; they feared that the Athenians might
+consider that the treaty was dissolved by the collision which had
+occurred, and forbid their departure.
+
+Accordingly they resolved to put some men on board a boat, and
+send them without a herald's wand to the Athenians, as an
+experiment.  Having done so, they spoke as follows: "You do wrong,
+Athenians, to begin war and break the treaty.  Engaged in chastising
+our enemies, we find you placing yourselves in our path in arms
+against us.  Now if your intentions are to prevent us sailing to
+Corcyra, or anywhere else that we may wish, and if you are for
+breaking the treaty, first take us that are here and treat us as
+enemies." Such was what they said, and all the Corcyraean armament
+that were within hearing immediately called out to take them and
+kill them.  But the Athenians answered as follows: "Neither are we
+beginning war, Peloponnesians, nor are we breaking the treaty; but
+these Corcyraeans are our allies, and we are come to help them.  So
+if you want to sail anywhere else, we place no obstacle in your way;
+but if you are going to sail against Corcyra, or any of her
+possessions, we shall do our best to stop you."
+
+Receiving this answer from the Athenians, the Corinthians
+commenced preparations for their voyage home, and set up a trophy in
+Sybota, on the continent; while the Corcyraeans took up the wrecks and
+dead that had been carried out to them by the current, and by a wind
+which rose in the night and scattered them in all directions, and
+set up their trophy in Sybota, on the island, as victors.  The
+reasons each side had for claiming the victory were these.  The
+Corinthians had been victorious in the sea-fight until night; and
+having thus been enabled to carry off most wrecks and dead, they
+were in possession of no fewer than a thousand prisoners of war, and
+had sunk close upon seventy vessels.  The Corcyraeans had destroyed
+about thirty ships, and after the arrival of the Athenians had taken
+up the wrecks and dead on their side; they had besides seen the
+Corinthians retire before them, backing water on sight of the Athenian
+vessels, and upon the arrival of the Athenians refuse to sail out
+against them from Sybota.  Thus both sides claimed the victory.
+
+The Corinthians on the voyage home took Anactorium, which stands
+at the mouth of the Ambracian gulf.  The place was taken by
+treachery, being common ground to the Corcyraeans and Corinthians.
+After establishing Corinthian settlers there, they retired home.  Eight
+hundred of the Corcyraeans were slaves; these they sold; two hundred
+and fifty they retained in captivity, and treated with great
+attention, in the hope that they might bring over their country to
+Corinth on their return; most of them being, as it happened, men of
+very high position in Corcyra.  In this way Corcyra maintained her
+political existence in the war with Corinth, and the Athenian
+vessels left the island.  This was the first cause of the war that
+Corinth had against the Athenians, viz. , that they had fought
+against them with the Corcyraeans in time of treaty.
+
+Almost immediately after this, fresh differences arose between the
+Athenians and Peloponnesians, and contributed their share to the
+war.  Corinth was forming schemes for retaliation, and Athens suspected
+her hostility.  The Potidaeans, who inhabit the isthmus of Pallene,
+being a Corinthian colony, but tributary allies of Athens, were
+ordered to raze the wall looking towards Pallene, to give hostages, to
+dismiss the Corinthian magistrates, and in future not to receive the
+persons sent from Corinth annually to succeed them.  It was feared that
+they might be persuaded by Perdiccas and the Corinthians to revolt,
+and might draw the rest of the allies in the direction of Thrace to
+revolt with them.  These precautions against the Potidaeans were
+taken by the Athenians immediately after the battle at Corcyra.  Not
+only was Corinth at length openly hostile, but Perdiccas, son of
+Alexander, king of the Macedonians, had from an old friend and ally
+been made an enemy.  He had been made an enemy by the Athenians
+entering into alliance with his brother Philip and Derdas, who were in
+league against him.  In his alarm he had sent to Lacedaemon to try
+and involve the Athenians in a war with the Peloponnesians, and was
+endeavouring to win over Corinth in order to bring about the revolt of
+Potidaea.  He also made overtures to the Chalcidians in the direction
+of Thrace, and to the Bottiaeans, to persuade them to join in the
+revolt; for he thought that if these places on the border could be
+made his allies, it would be easier to carry on the war with their
+co-operation.  Alive to all this, and wishing to anticipate the
+revolt of the cities, the Athenians acted as follows.  They were just
+then sending off thirty ships and a thousand heavy infantry for his
+country under the command of Archestratus, son of Lycomedes, with four
+colleagues.  They instructed the captains to take hostages of the
+Potidaeans, to raze the wall, and to be on their guard against the
+revolt of the neighbouring cities.
+
+Meanwhile the Potidaeans sent envoys to Athens on the chance of
+persuading them to take no new steps in their matters; they also
+went to Lacedaemon with the Corinthians to secure support in case of
+need.  Failing after prolonged negotiation to obtain anything
+satisfactory from the Athenians; being unable, for all they could say,
+to prevent the vessels that were destined for Macedonia from also
+sailing against them; and receiving from the Lacedaemonian
+government a promise to invade Attica, if the Athenians should
+attack Potidaea, the Potidaeans, thus favoured by the moment, at
+last entered into league with the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans, and
+revolted.  And Perdiccas induced the Chalcidians to abandon and
+demolish their towns on the seaboard and, settling inland at Olynthus,
+to make that one city a strong place: meanwhile to those who
+followed his advice he gave a part of his territory in Mygdonia
+round Lake Bolbe as a place of abode while the war against the
+Athenians should last.  They accordingly demolished their towns,
+removed inland and prepared for war.  The thirty ships of the
+Athenians, arriving before the Thracian places, found Potidaea and the
+rest in revolt.  Their commanders, considering it to be quite
+impossible with their present force to carry on war with Perdiccas and
+with the confederate towns as well turned to Macedonia, their original
+destination, and, having established themselves there, carried on
+war in co-operation with Philip, and the brothers of Derdas, who had
+invaded the country from the interior.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthians, with Potidaea in revolt and the
+Athenian ships on the coast of Macedonia, alarmed for the safety of
+the place and thinking its danger theirs, sent volunteers from
+Corinth, and mercenaries from the rest of Peloponnese, to the number
+of sixteen hundred heavy infantry in all, and four hundred light
+troops.  Aristeus, son of Adimantus, who was always a steady friend
+to the Potidaeans, took command of the expedition, and it was
+principally for love of him that most of the men from Corinth
+volunteered.  They arrived in Thrace forty days after the revolt of
+Potidaea.
+
+The Athenians also immediately received the news of the revolt of
+the cities.  On being informed that Aristeus and his reinforcements
+were on their way, they sent two thousand heavy infantry of their
+own citizens and forty ships against the places in revolt, under the
+command of Callias, son of Calliades, and four colleagues.  They
+arrived in Macedonia first, and found the force of a thousand men that
+had been first sent out, just become masters of Therme and besieging
+Pydna.  Accordingly they also joined in the investment, and besieged
+Pydna for a while.  Subsequently they came to terms and concluded a
+forced alliance with Perdiccas, hastened by the calls of Potidaea
+and by the arrival of Aristeus at that place.  They withdrew from
+Macedonia, going to Beroea and thence to Strepsa, and, after a
+futile attempt on the latter place, they pursued by land their march
+to Potidaea with three thousand heavy infantry of their own
+citizens, besides a number of their allies, and six hundred Macedonian
+horsemen, the followers of Philip and Pausanias.  With these sailed
+seventy ships along the coast.  Advancing by short marches, on the
+third day they arrived at Gigonus, where they encamped.
+
+Meanwhile the Potidaeans and the Peloponnesians with Aristeus were
+encamped on the side looking towards Olynthus on the isthmus, in
+expectation of the Athenians, and had established their market outside
+the city.  The allies had chosen Aristeus general of all the
+infantry; while the command of the cavalry was given to Perdiccas, who
+had at once left the alliance of the Athenians and gone back to that
+of the Potidaeans, having deputed Iolaus as his general: The plan of
+Aristeus was to keep his own force on the isthmus, and await the
+attack of the Athenians; leaving the Chalcidians and the allies
+outside the isthmus, and the two hundred cavalry from Perdiccas in
+Olynthus to act upon the Athenian rear, on the occasion of their
+advancing against him; and thus to place the enemy between two
+fires.  While Callias the Athenian general and his colleagues
+dispatched the Macedonian horse and a few of the allies to Olynthus,
+to prevent any movement being made from that quarter, the Athenians
+themselves broke up their camp and marched against Potidaea.  After
+they had arrived at the isthmus, and saw the enemy preparing for
+battle, they formed against him, and soon afterwards engaged.  The wing
+of Aristeus, with the Corinthians and other picked troops round him,
+routed the wing opposed to it, and followed for a considerable
+distance in pursuit.  But the rest of the army of the Potidaeans and of
+the Peloponnesians was defeated by the Athenians, and took refuge
+within the fortifications.  Returning from the pursuit, Aristeus
+perceived the defeat of the rest of the army.  Being at a loss which of
+the two risks to choose, whether to go to Olynthus or to Potidaea,
+he at last determined to draw his men into as small a space as
+possible, and force his way with a run into Potidaea.  Not without
+difficulty, through a storm of missiles, he passed along by the
+breakwater through the sea, and brought off most of his men safe,
+though a few were lost.  Meanwhile the auxiliaries of the Potidaeans
+from Olynthus, which is about seven miles off and in sight of
+Potidaea, when the battle began and the signals were raised,
+advanced a little way to render assistance; and the Macedonian horse
+formed against them to prevent it.  But on victory speedily declaring
+for the Athenians and the signals being taken down, they retired
+back within the wall; and the Macedonians returned to the Athenians.
+Thus there were no cavalry present on either side.  After the battle
+the Athenians set up a trophy, and gave back their dead to the
+Potidaeans under truce.  The Potidaeans and their allies had close upon
+three hundred killed; the Athenians a hundred and fifty of their own
+citizens, and Callias their general.
+
+The wall on the side of the isthmus had now works at once raised
+against it, and manned by the Athenians.  That on the side of Pallene
+had no works raised against it.  They did not think themselves strong
+enough at once to keep a garrison in the isthmus and to cross over
+to Pallene and raise works there; they were afraid that the Potidaeans
+and their allies might take advantage of their division to attack
+them.  Meanwhile the Athenians at home learning that there were no
+works at Pallene, some time afterwards sent off sixteen hundred
+heavy infantry of their own citizens under the command of Phormio, son
+of Asopius.  Arrived at Pallene, he fixed his headquarters at
+Aphytis, and led his army against Potidaea by short marches,
+ravaging the country as he advanced.  No one venturing to meet him in
+the field, he raised works against the wall on the side of Pallene.  So
+at length Potidaea was strongly invested on either side, and from
+the sea by the ships co-operating in the blockade.  Aristeus, seeing
+its investment complete, and having no hope of its salvation, except
+in the event of some movement from the Peloponnese, or of some other
+improbable contingency, advised all except five hundred to watch for a
+wind and sail out of the place, in order that their provisions might
+last the longer.  He was willing to be himself one of those who
+remained.  Unable to persuade them, and desirous of acting on the
+next alternative, and of having things outside in the best posture
+possible, he eluded the guardships of the Athenians and sailed out.
+Remaining among the Chalcidians, he continued to carry on the war;
+in particular he laid an ambuscade near the city of the Sermylians,
+and cut off many of them; he also communicated with Peloponnese, and
+tried to contrive some method by which help might be brought.
+Meanwhile, after the completion of the investment of Potidaea, Phormio
+next employed his sixteen hundred men in ravaging Chalcidice and
+Bottica: some of the towns also were taken by him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+_Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at Lacedaemon_
+
+The Athenians and Peloponnesians had these antecedent grounds of
+complaint against each other: the complaint of Corinth was that her
+colony of Potidaea, and Corinthian and Peloponnesian citizens within
+it, were being besieged; that of Athens against the Peloponnesians
+that they had incited a town of hers, a member of her alliance and a
+contributor to her revenue, to revolt, and had come and were openly
+fighting against her on the side of the Potidaeans.  For all this,
+war had not yet broken out: there was still truce for a while; for
+this was a private enterprise on the part of Corinth.
+
+But the siege of Potidaea put an end to her inaction; she had men
+inside it: besides, she feared for the place.  Immediately summoning
+the allies to Lacedaemon, she came and loudly accused Athens of breach
+of the treaty and aggression on the rights of Peloponnese.  With her,
+the Aeginetans, formally unrepresented from fear of Athens, in
+secret proved not the least urgent of the advocates for war, asserting
+that they had not the independence guaranteed to them by the treaty.
+After extending the summons to any of their allies and others who
+might have complaints to make of Athenian aggression, the
+Lacedaemonians held their ordinary assembly, and invited them to
+speak.  There were many who came forward and made their several
+accusations; among them the Megarians, in a long list of grievances,
+called special attention to the fact of their exclusion from the ports
+of the Athenian empire and the market of Athens, in defiance of the
+treaty.  Last of all the Corinthians came forward, and having let those
+who preceded them inflame the Lacedaemonians, now followed with a
+speech to this effect:
+
+"Lacedaemonians! the confidence which you feel in your
+constitution and social order, inclines you to receive any reflections
+of ours on other powers with a certain scepticism.  Hence springs
+your moderation, but hence also the rather limited knowledge which you
+betray in dealing with foreign politics.  Time after time was our voice
+raised to warn you of the blows about to be dealt us by Athens, and
+time after time, instead of taking the trouble to ascertain the
+worth of our communications, you contented yourselves with
+suspecting the speakers of being inspired by private interest.  And so,
+instead of calling these allies together before the blow fell, you
+have delayed to do so till we are smarting under it; allies among whom
+we have not the worst title to speak, as having the greatest
+complaints to make, complaints of Athenian outrage and Lacedaemonian
+neglect.  Now if these assaults on the rights of Hellas had been made
+in the dark, you might be unacquainted with the facts, and it would be
+our duty to enlighten you.  As it is, long speeches are not needed
+where you see servitude accomplished for some of us, meditated for
+others--in particular for our allies--and prolonged preparations in
+the aggressor against the hour of war.  Or what, pray, is the meaning
+of their reception of Corcyra by fraud, and their holding it against
+us by force? what of the siege of Potidaea?--places one of which lies
+most conveniently for any action against the Thracian towns; while the
+other would have contributed a very large navy to the Peloponnesians?
+
+"For all this you are responsible.  You it was who first allowed them
+to fortify their city after the Median war, and afterwards to erect
+the long walls--you who, then and now, are always depriving of
+freedom not only those whom they have enslaved, but also those who
+have as yet been your allies.  For the true author of the subjugation
+of a people is not so much the immediate agent, as the power which
+permits it having the means to prevent it; particularly if that
+power aspires to the glory of being the liberator of Hellas.  We are at
+last assembled.  It has not been easy to assemble, nor even now are our
+objects defined.  We ought not to be still inquiring into the fact of
+our wrongs, but into the means of our defence.  For the aggressors with
+matured plans to oppose to our indecision have cast threats aside
+and betaken themselves to action.  And we know what are the paths by
+which Athenian aggression travels, and how insidious is its
+progress.  A degree of confidence she may feel from the idea that
+your bluntness of perception prevents your noticing her; but it is
+nothing to the impulse which her advance will receive from the
+knowledge that you see, but do not care to interfere.  You,
+Lacedaemonians, of all the Hellenes are alone inactive, and defend
+yourselves not by doing anything but by looking as if you would do
+something; you alone wait till the power of an enemy is becoming twice
+its original size, instead of crushing it in its infancy.  And yet
+the world used to say that you were to be depended upon; but in your
+case, we fear, it said more than the truth.  The Mede, we ourselves
+know, had time to come from the ends of the earth to Peloponnese,
+without any force of yours worthy of the name advancing to meet him.
+But this was a distant enemy.  Well, Athens at all events is a near
+neighbour, and yet Athens you utterly disregard; against Athens you
+prefer to act on the defensive instead of on the offensive, and to
+make it an affair of chances by deferring the struggle till she has
+grown far stronger than at first.  And yet you know that on the whole
+the rock on which the barbarian was wrecked was himself, and that if
+our present enemy Athens has not again and again annihilated us, we
+owe it more to her blunders than to your protection; Indeed,
+expectations from you have before now been the ruin of some, whose
+faith induced them to omit preparation.
+
+"We hope that none of you will consider these words of
+remonstrance to be rather words of hostility; men remonstrate with
+friends who are in error, accusations they reserve for enemies who
+have wronged them.  Besides, we consider that we have as good a right
+as any one to point out a neighbour's faults, particularly when we
+contemplate the great contrast between the two national characters;
+a contrast of which, as far as we can see, you have little perception,
+having never yet considered what sort of antagonists you will
+encounter in the Athenians, how widely, how absolutely different
+from yourselves.  The Athenians are addicted to innovation, and their
+designs are characterized by swiftness alike in conception and
+execution; you have a genius for keeping what you have got,
+accompanied by a total want of invention, and when forced to act you
+never go far enough.  Again, they are adventurous beyond their power,
+and daring beyond their judgment, and in danger they are sanguine;
+your wont is to attempt less than is justified by your power, to
+mistrust even what is sanctioned by your judgment, and to fancy that
+from danger there is no release.  Further, there is promptitude on
+their side against procrastination on yours; they are never at home,
+you are never from it: for they hope by their absence to extend
+their acquisitions, you fear by your advance to endanger what you have
+left behind.  They are swift to follow up a success, and slow to recoil
+from a reverse.  Their bodies they spend ungrudgingly in their
+country's cause; their intellect they jealously husband to be employed
+in her service.  A scheme unexecuted is with them a positive loss, a
+successful enterprise a comparative failure.  The deficiency created by
+the miscarriage of an undertaking is soon filled up by fresh hopes;
+for they alone are enabled to call a thing hoped for a thing got, by
+the speed with which they act upon their resolutions.  Thus they toil
+on in trouble and danger all the days of their life, with little
+opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting: their only
+idea of a holiday is to do what the occasion demands, and to them
+laborious occupation is less of a misfortune than the peace of a quiet
+life.  To describe their character in a word, one might truly say
+that they were born into the world to take no rest themselves and to
+give none to others.
+
+"Such is Athens, your antagonist.  And yet, Lacedaemonians, you still
+delay, and fail to see that peace stays longest with those, who are
+not more careful to use their power justly than to show their
+determination not to submit to injustice.  On the contrary, your
+ideal of fair dealing is based on the principle that, if you do not
+injure others, you need not risk your own fortunes in preventing
+others from injuring you.  Now you could scarcely have succeeded in
+such a policy even with a neighbour like yourselves; but in the
+present instance, as we have just shown, your habits are old-fashioned
+as compared with theirs.  It is the law as in art, so in politics, that
+improvements ever prevail; and though fixed usages may be best for
+undisturbed communities, constant necessities of action must be
+accompanied by the constant improvement of methods.  Thus it happens
+that the vast experience of Athens has carried her further than you on
+the path of innovation.
+
+"Here, at least, let your procrastination end.  For the present,
+assist your allies and Potidaea in particular, as you promised, by a
+speedy invasion of Attica, and do not sacrifice friends and kindred to
+their bitterest enemies, and drive the rest of us in despair to some
+other alliance.  Such a step would not be condemned either by the
+Gods who received our oaths, or by the men who witnessed them.  The
+breach of a treaty cannot be laid to the people whom desertion compels
+to seek new relations, but to the power that fails to assist its
+confederate.  But if you will only act, we will stand by you; it
+would be unnatural for us to change, and never should we meet with
+such a congenial ally.  For these reasons choose the right course,
+and endeavour not to let Peloponnese under your supremacy degenerate
+from the prestige that it enjoyed under that of your ancestors."
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians.  There happened to be
+Athenian envoys present at Lacedaemon on other business.  On hearing
+the speeches they thought themselves called upon to come before the
+Lacedaemonians.  Their intention was not to offer a defence on any of
+the charges which the cities brought against them, but to show on a
+comprehensive view that it was not a matter to be hastily decided
+on, but one that demanded further consideration.  There was also a wish
+to call attention to the great power of Athens, and to refresh the
+memory of the old and enlighten the ignorance of the young, from a
+notion that their words might have the effect of inducing them to
+prefer tranquillity to war.  So they came to the Lacedaemonians and
+said that they too, if there was no objection, wished to speak to
+their assembly.  They replied by inviting them to come forward.  The
+Athenians advanced, and spoke as follows:
+
+"The object of our mission here was not to argue with your allies,
+but to attend to the matters on which our state dispatched us.
+However, the vehemence of the outcry that we hear against us has
+prevailed on us to come forward.  It is not to combat the accusations
+of the cities (indeed you are not the judges before whom either we
+or they can plead), but to prevent your taking the wrong course on
+matters of great importance by yielding too readily to the persuasions
+of your allies.  We also wish to show on a review of the whole
+indictment that we have a fair title to our possessions, and that
+our country has claims to consideration.  We need not refer to remote
+antiquity: there we could appeal to the voice of tradition, but not to
+the experience of our audience.  But to the Median War and contemporary
+history we must refer, although we are rather tired of continually
+bringing this subject forward.  In our action during that war we ran
+great risk to obtain certain advantages: you had your share in the
+solid results, do not try to rob us of all share in the good that
+the glory may do us.  However, the story shall be told not so much to
+deprecate hostility as to testify against it, and to show, if you
+are so ill advised as to enter into a struggle with Athens, what
+sort of an antagonist she is likely to prove.  We assert that at
+Marathon we were at the front, and faced the barbarian
+single-handed.  That when he came the second time, unable to cope
+with him by land we went on board our ships with all our people, and
+joined in the action at Salamis.  This prevented his taking the
+Peloponnesian states in detail, and ravaging them with his fleet; when
+the multitude of his vessels would have made any combination for
+self-defence impossible.  The best proof of this was furnished by the
+invader himself.  Defeated at sea, he considered his power to be no
+longer what it had been, and retired as speedily as possible with
+the greater part of his army.
+
+"Such, then, was the result of the matter, and it was clearly proved
+that it was on the fleet of Hellas that her cause depended.  Well, to
+this result we contributed three very useful elements, viz., the
+largest number of ships, the ablest commander, and the most
+unhesitating patriotism.  Our contingent of ships was little less
+than two-thirds of the whole four hundred; the commander was
+Themistocles, through whom chiefly it was that the battle took place
+in the straits, the acknowledged salvation of our cause.  Indeed,
+this was the reason of your receiving him with honours such as had
+never been accorded to any foreign visitor.  While for daring
+patriotism we had no competitors.  Receiving no reinforcements from
+behind, seeing everything in front of us already subjugated, we had
+the spirit, after abandoning our city, after sacrificing our
+property (instead of deserting the remainder of the league or
+depriving them of our services by dispersing), to throw ourselves into
+our ships and meet the danger, without a thought of resenting your
+neglect to assist us.  We assert, therefore, that we conferred on you
+quite as much as we received.  For you had a stake to fight for; the
+cities which you had left were still filled with your homes, and you
+had the prospect of enjoying them again; and your coming was
+prompted quite as much by fear for yourselves as for us; at all
+events, you never appeared till we had nothing left to lose.  But we
+left behind us a city that was a city no longer, and staked our
+lives for a city that had an existence only in desperate hope, and
+so bore our full share in your deliverance and in ours.  But if we
+had copied others, and allowed fears for our territory to make us give
+in our adhesion to the Mede before you came, or if we had suffered our
+ruin to break our spirit and prevent us embarking in our ships, your
+naval inferiority would have made a sea-fight unnecessary, and his
+objects would have been peaceably attained.
+
+"Surely, Lacedaemonians, neither by the patriotism that we displayed
+at that crisis, nor by the wisdom of our counsels, do we merit our
+extreme unpopularity with the Hellenes, not at least unpopularity
+for our empire.  That empire we acquired by no violent means, but
+because you were unwilling to prosecute to its conclusion the war
+against the barbarian, and because the allies attached themselves to
+us and spontaneously asked us to assume the command.  And the nature of
+the case first compelled us to advance our empire to its present
+height; fear being our principal motive, though honour and interest
+afterwards came in.  And at last, when almost all hated us, when some
+had already revolted and had been subdued, when you had ceased to be
+the friends that you once were, and had become objects of suspicion
+and dislike, it appeared no longer safe to give up our empire;
+especially as all who left us would fall to you.  And no one can
+quarrel with a people for making, in matters of tremendous risk, the
+best provision that it can for its interest.
+
+"You, at all events, Lacedaemonians, have used your supremacy to
+settle the states in Peloponnese as is agreeable to you.  And if at the
+period of which we were speaking you had persevered to the end of
+the matter, and had incurred hatred in your command, we are sure
+that you would have made yourselves just as galling to the allies, and
+would have been forced to choose between a strong government and
+danger to yourselves.  It follows that it was not a very wonderful
+action, or contrary to the common practice of mankind, if we did
+accept an empire that was offered to us, and refused to give it up
+under the pressure of three of the strongest motives, fear, honour,
+and interest.  And it was not we who set the example, for it has always
+been law that the weaker should be subject to the stronger.  Besides,
+we believed ourselves to be worthy of our position, and so you thought
+us till now, when calculations of interest have made you take up the
+cry of justice--a consideration which no one ever yet brought forward
+to hinder his ambition when he had a chance of gaining anything by
+might.  And praise is due to all who, if not so superior to human
+nature as to refuse dominion, yet respect justice more than their
+position compels them to do.
+
+"We imagine that our moderation would be best demonstrated by the
+conduct of others who should be placed in our position; but even our
+equity has very unreasonably subjected us to condemnation instead of
+approval.  Our abatement of our rights in the contract trials with
+our allies, and our causing them to be decided by impartial laws at
+Athens, have gained us the character of being litigious.  And none care
+to inquire why this reproach is not brought against other imperial
+powers, who treat their subjects with less moderation than we do;
+the secret being that where force can be used, law is not needed.
+But our subjects are so habituated to associate with us as equals that
+any defeat whatever that clashes with their notions of justice,
+whether it proceeds from a legal judgment or from the power which
+our empire gives us, makes them forget to be grateful for being
+allowed to retain most of their possessions, and more vexed at a
+part being taken, than if we had from the first cast law aside and
+openly gratified our covetousness.  If we had done so, not even would
+they have disputed that the weaker must give way to the stronger.
+Men's indignation, it seems, is more excited by legal wrong than by
+violent wrong; the first looks like being cheated by an equal, the
+second like being compelled by a superior.  At all events they
+contrived to put up with much worse treatment than this from the Mede,
+yet they think our rule severe, and this is to be expected, for the
+present always weighs heavy on the conquered.  This at least is
+certain.  If you were to succeed in overthrowing us and in taking our
+place, you would speedily lose the popularity with which fear of us
+has invested you, if your policy of to-day is at all to tally with the
+sample that you gave of it during the brief period of your command
+against the Mede.  Not only is your life at home regulated by rules and
+institutions incompatible with those of others, but your citizens
+abroad act neither on these rules nor on those which are recognized by
+the rest of Hellas.
+
+"Take time then in forming your resolution, as the matter is of
+great importance; and do not be persuaded by the opinions and
+complaints of others to bring trouble on yourselves, but consider
+the vast influence of accident in war, before you are engaged in it.
+As it continues, it generally becomes an affair of chances, chances
+from which neither of us is exempt, and whose event we must risk in
+the dark.  It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong
+end, to act first, and wait for disaster to discuss the matter.  But we
+are not yet by any means so misguided, nor, so far as we can see,
+are you; accordingly, while it is still open to us both to choose
+aright, we bid you not to dissolve the treaty, or to break your oaths,
+but to have our differences settled by arbitration according to our
+agreement.  Or else we take the gods who heard the oaths to witness,
+and if you begin hostilities, whatever line of action you choose, we
+will try not to be behindhand in repelling you."
+
+Such were the words of the Athenians.  After the Lacedaemonians had
+heard the complaints of the allies against the Athenians, and the
+observations of the latter, they made all withdraw, and consulted by
+themselves on the question before them.  The opinions of the majority
+all led to the same conclusion; the Athenians were open aggressors,
+and war must be declared at once.  But Archidamus, the Lacedaemonian
+king, came forward, who had the reputation of being at once a wise and
+a moderate man, and made the following speech:
+
+"I have not lived so long, Lacedaemonians, without having had the
+experience of many wars, and I see those among you of the same age
+as myself, who will not fall into the common misfortune of longing for
+war from inexperience or from a belief in its advantage and its
+safety.  This, the war on which you are now debating, would be one of
+the greatest magnitude, on a sober consideration of the matter.  In a
+struggle with Peloponnesians and neighbours our strength is of the
+same character, and it is possible to move swiftly on the different
+points.  But a struggle with a people who live in a distant land, who
+have also an extraordinary familiarity with the sea, and who are in
+the highest state of preparation in every other department; with
+wealth private and public, with ships, and horses, and heavy infantry,
+and a population such as no one other Hellenic place can equal, and
+lastly a number of tributary allies--what can justify us in rashly
+beginning such a struggle? wherein is our trust that we should rush on
+it unprepared? Is it in our ships? There we are inferior; while if
+we are to practise and become a match for them, time must intervene.
+Is it in our money? There we have a far greater deficiency.  We neither
+have it in our treasury, nor are we ready to contribute it from our
+private funds.  Confidence might possibly be felt in our superiority in
+heavy infantry and population, which will enable us to invade and
+devastate their lands.  But the Athenians have plenty of other land
+in their empire, and can import what they want by sea.  Again, if we
+are to attempt an insurrection of their allies, these will have to
+be supported with a fleet, most of them being islanders.  What then
+is to be our war? For unless we can either beat them at sea, or
+deprive them of the revenues which feed their navy, we shall meet with
+little but disaster.  Meanwhile our honour will be pledged to keeping
+on, particularly if it be the opinion that we began the quarrel.  For
+let us never be elated by the fatal hope of the war being quickly
+ended by the devastation of their lands.  I fear rather that we may
+leave it as a legacy to our children; so improbable is it that the
+Athenian spirit will be the slave of their land, or Athenian
+experience be cowed by war.
+
+"Not that I would bid you be so unfeeling as to suffer them to
+injure your allies, and to refrain from unmasking their intrigues; but
+I do bid you not to take up arms at once, but to send and
+remonstrate with them in a tone not too suggestive of war, nor again
+too suggestive of submission, and to employ the interval in perfecting
+our own preparations.  The means will be, first, the acquisition of
+allies, Hellenic or barbarian it matters not, so long as they are an
+accession to our strength naval or pecuniary--I say Hellenic or
+barbarian, because the odium of such an accession to all who like us
+are the objects of the designs of the Athenians is taken away by the
+law of self-preservation--and secondly the development of our home
+resources.  If they listen to our embassy, so much the better; but if
+not, after the lapse of two or three years our position will have
+become materially strengthened, and we can then attack them if we
+think proper.  Perhaps by that time the sight of our preparations,
+backed by language equally significant, will have disposed them to
+submission, while their land is still untouched, and while their
+counsels may be directed to the retention of advantages as yet
+undestroyed.  For the only light in which you can view their land is
+that of a hostage in your hands, a hostage the more valuable the
+better it is cultivated.  This you ought to spare as long as
+possible, and not make them desperate, and so increase the
+difficulty of dealing with them.  For if while still unprepared,
+hurried away by the complaints of our allies, we are induced to lay it
+waste, have a care that we do not bring deep disgrace and deep
+perplexity upon Peloponnese.  Complaints, whether of communities or
+individuals, it is possible to adjust; but war undertaken by a
+coalition for sectional interests, whose progress there is no means of
+foreseeing, does not easily admit of creditable settlement.
+
+"And none need think it cowardice for a number of confederates to
+pause before they attack a single city.  The Athenians have allies as
+numerous as our own, and allies that pay tribute, and war is a
+matter not so much of arms as of money, which makes arms of use.  And
+this is more than ever true in a struggle between a continental and
+a maritime power.  First, then, let us provide money, and not allow
+ourselves to be carried away by the talk of our allies before we
+have done so: as we shall have the largest share of responsibility for
+the consequences be they good or bad, we have also a right to a
+tranquil inquiry respecting them.
+
+"And the slowness and procrastination, the parts of our character
+that are most assailed by their criticism, need not make you blush.  If
+we undertake the war without preparation, we should by hastening its
+commencement only delay its conclusion: further, a free and a famous
+city has through all time been ours.  The quality which they condemn is
+really nothing but a wise moderation; thanks to its possession, we
+alone do not become insolent in success and give way less than
+others in misfortune; we are not carried away by the pleasure of
+hearing ourselves cheered on to risks which our judgment condemns;
+nor, if annoyed, are we any the more convinced by attempts to
+exasperate us by accusation.  We are both warlike and wise, and it is
+our sense of order that makes us so.  We are warlike, because
+self-control contains honour as a chief constituent, and honour
+bravery.  And we are wise, because we are educated with too little
+learning to despise the laws, and with too severe a self-control to
+disobey them, and are brought up not to be too knowing in useless
+matters--such as the knowledge which can give a specious criticism of
+an enemy's plans in theory, but fails to assail them with equal
+success in practice--but are taught to consider that the schemes of
+our enemies are not dissimilar to our own, and that the freaks of
+chance are not determinable by calculation.  In practice we always base
+our preparations against an enemy on the assumption that his plans are
+good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes not on a belief in his
+blunders, but on the soundness of our provisions.  Nor ought we to
+believe that there is much difference between man and man, but to
+think that the superiority lies with him who is reared in the severest
+school.  These practices, then, which our ancestors have delivered to
+us, and by whose maintenance we have always profited, must not be
+given up.  And we must not be hurried into deciding in a day's brief
+space a question which concerns many lives and fortunes and many
+cities, and in which honour is deeply involved--but we must decide
+calmly.  This our strength peculiarly enables us to do.  As for the
+Athenians, send to them on the matter of Potidaea, send on the
+matter of the alleged wrongs of the allies, particularly as they are
+prepared with legal satisfaction; and to proceed against one who
+offers arbitration as against a wrongdoer, law forbids.  Meanwhile do
+not omit preparation for war.  This decision will be the best for
+yourselves, the most terrible to your opponents."
+
+Such were the words of Archidamus.  Last came forward Sthenelaidas,
+one of the ephors for that year, and spoke to the Lacedaemonians as
+follows:
+
+"The long speech of the Athenians I do not pretend to understand.
+They said a good deal in praise of themselves, but nowhere denied that
+they are injuring our allies and Peloponnese.  And yet if they
+behaved well against the Mede then, but ill towards us now, they
+deserve double punishment for having ceased to be good and for
+having become bad.  We meanwhile are the same then and now, and shall
+not, if we are wise, disregard the wrongs of our allies, or put off
+till to-morrow the duty of assisting those who must suffer to-day.
+Others have much money and ships and horses, but we have good allies
+whom we must not give up to the Athenians, nor by lawsuits and words
+decide the matter, as it is anything but in word that we are harmed,
+but render instant and powerful help.  And let us not be told that it
+is fitting for us to deliberate under injustice; long deliberation
+is rather fitting for those who have injustice in contemplation.
+Vote therefore, Lacedaemonians, for war, as the honour of Sparta
+demands, and neither allow the further aggrandizement of Athens, nor
+betray our allies to ruin, but with the gods let us advance against
+the aggressors."
+
+With these words he, as ephor, himself put the question to the
+assembly of the Lacedaemonians.  He said that he could not determine
+which was the loudest acclamation (their mode of decision is by
+acclamation not by voting); the fact being that he wished to make them
+declare their opinion openly and thus to increase their ardour for
+war.  Accordingly he said: "All Lacedaemonians who are of opinion
+that the treaty has been broken, and that Athens is guilty, leave your
+seats and go there," pointing out a certain place; "all who are of the
+opposite opinion, there." They accordingly stood up and divided; and
+those who held that the treaty had been broken were in a decided
+majority.  Summoning the allies, they told them that their opinion
+was that Athens had been guilty of injustice, but that they wished
+to convoke all the allies and put it to the vote; in order that they
+might make war, if they decided to do so, on a common resolution.
+Having thus gained their point, the delegates returned home at once;
+the Athenian envoys a little later, when they had dispatched the
+objects of their mission.  This decision of the assembly, judging
+that the treaty had been broken, was made in the fourteenth year of
+the thirty years' truce, which was entered into after the affair of
+Euboea.
+
+The Lacedaemonians voted that the treaty had been broken, and that
+the war must be declared, not so much because they were persuaded by
+the arguments of the allies, as because they feared the growth of
+the power of the Athenians, seeing most of Hellas already subject to
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+_From the end of the Persian to the beginning of the
+Peloponnesian War - The Progress from Supremacy to Empire_
+
+The way in which Athens came to be placed in the circumstances
+under which her power grew was this.  After the Medes had returned
+from Europe, defeated by sea and land by the Hellenes, and after
+those of them who had fled with their ships to Mycale had been
+destroyed, Leotychides, king of the Lacedaemonians, the commander of
+the Hellenes at Mycale, departed home with the allies from
+Peloponnese.  But the Athenians and the allies from Ionia and
+Hellespont, who had now revolted from the King, remained and laid
+siege to Sestos, which was still held by the Medes.  After wintering
+before it, they became masters of the place on its evacuation by the
+barbarians; and after this they sailed away from Hellespont to their
+respective cities.  Meanwhile the Athenian people, after the departure
+of the barbarian from their country, at once proceeded to carry over
+their children and wives, and such property as they had left, from
+the places where they had deposited them, and prepared to rebuild
+their city and their walls.  For only isolated portions of the
+circumference had been left standing, and most of the houses were in
+ruins; though a few remained, in which the Persian grandees had taken
+up their quarters.
+
+Perceiving what they were going to do, the Lacedaemonians sent an
+embassy to Athens.  They would have themselves preferred to see neither
+her nor any other city in possession of a wall; though here they acted
+principally at the instigation of their allies, who were alarmed at
+the strength of her newly acquired navy and the valour which she had
+displayed in the war with the Medes.  They begged her not only to
+abstain from building walls for herself, but also to join them in
+throwing down the walls that still held together of the
+ultra-Peloponnesian cities.  The real meaning of their advice, the
+suspicion that it contained against the Athenians, was not proclaimed;
+it was urged that so the barbarian, in the event of a third
+invasion, would not have any strong place, such as he now had in
+Thebes, for his base of operations; and that Peloponnese would suffice
+for all as a base both for retreat and offence.  After the
+Lacedaemonians had thus spoken, they were, on the advice of
+Themistocles, immediately dismissed by the Athenians, with the
+answer that ambassadors should be sent to Sparta to discuss the
+question.  Themistocles told the Athenians to send him off with all
+speed to Lacedaemon, but not to dispatch his colleagues as soon as
+they had selected them, but to wait until they had raised their wall
+to the height from which defence was possible.  Meanwhile the whole
+population in the city was to labour at the wall, the Athenians, their
+wives, and their children, sparing no edifice, private or public,
+which might be of any use to the work, but throwing all down.  After
+giving these instructions, and adding that he would be responsible for
+all other matters there, he departed.  Arrived at Lacedaemon he did not
+seek an audience with the authorities, but tried to gain time and made
+excuses.  When any of the government asked him why he did not appear in
+the assembly, he would say that he was waiting for his colleagues, who
+had been detained in Athens by some engagement; however, that he
+expected their speedy arrival, and wondered that they were not yet
+there.  At first the Lacedaemonians trusted the words of
+Themistocles, through their friendship for him; but when others
+arrived, all distinctly declaring that the work was going on and
+already attaining some elevation, they did not know how to
+disbelieve it.  Aware of this, he told them that rumours are deceptive,
+and should not be trusted; they should send some reputable persons
+from Sparta to inspect, whose report might be trusted.  They dispatched
+them accordingly.  Concerning these Themistocles secretly sent word
+to the Athenians to detain them as far as possible without putting
+them under open constraint, and not to let them go until they had
+themselves returned.  For his colleagues had now joined him,
+Abronichus, son of Lysicles, and Aristides, son of Lysimachus, with
+the news that the wall was sufficiently advanced; and he feared that
+when the Lacedaemonians heard the facts, they might refuse to let them
+go.  So the Athenians detained the envoys according to his message, and
+Themistocles had an audience with the Lacedaemonians, and at last
+openly told them that Athens was now fortified sufficiently to protect
+its inhabitants; that any embassy which the Lacedaemonians or their
+allies might wish to send to them should in future proceed on the
+assumption that the people to whom they were going was able to
+distinguish both its own and the general interests.  That when the
+Athenians thought fit to abandon their city and to embark in their
+ships, they ventured on that perilous step without consulting them;
+and that on the other hand, wherever they had deliberated with the
+Lacedaemonians, they had proved themselves to be in judgment second to
+none.  That they now thought it fit that their city should have a wall,
+and that this would be more for the advantage of both the citizens
+of Athens and the Hellenic confederacy; for without equal military
+strength it was impossible to contribute equal or fair counsel to
+the common interest.  It followed, he observed, either that all the
+members of the confederacy should be without walls, or that the
+present step should be considered a right one.
+
+The Lacedaemonians did not betray any open signs of anger against
+the Athenians at what they heard.  The embassy, it seems, was
+prompted not by a desire to obstruct, but to guide the counsels of
+their government: besides, Spartan feeling was at that time very
+friendly towards Athens on account of the patriotism which she had
+displayed in the struggle with the Mede.  Still the defeat of their
+wishes could not but cause them secret annoyance.  The envoys of each
+state departed home without complaint.
+
+In this way the Athenians walled their city in a little while.  To
+this day the building shows signs of the haste of its execution; the
+foundations are laid of stones of all kinds, and in some places not
+wrought or fitted, but placed just in the order in which they were
+brought by the different hands; and many columns, too, from tombs, and
+sculptured stones were put in with the rest.  For the bounds of the
+city were extended at every point of the circumference; and so they
+laid hands on everything without exception in their haste.
+Themistocles also persuaded them to finish the walls of Piraeus, which
+had been begun before, in his year of office as archon; being
+influenced alike by the fineness of a locality that has three
+natural harbours, and by the great start which the Athenians would
+gain in the acquisition of power by becoming a naval people.  For he
+first ventured to tell them to stick to the sea and forthwith began to
+lay the foundations of the empire.  It was by his advice, too, that
+they built the walls of that thickness which can still be discerned
+round Piraeus, the stones being brought up by two wagons meeting
+each other.  Between the walls thus formed there was neither rubble nor
+mortar, but great stones hewn square and fitted together, cramped to
+each other on the outside with iron and lead.  About half the height
+that he intended was finished.  His idea was by their size and
+thickness to keep off the attacks of an enemy; he thought that they
+might be adequately defended by a small garrison of invalids, and
+the rest be freed for service in the fleet.  For the fleet claimed most
+of his attention.  He saw, as I think, that the approach by sea was
+easier for the king's army than that by land: he also thought
+Piraeus more valuable than the upper city; indeed, he was always
+advising the Athenians, if a day should come when they were hard
+pressed by land, to go down into Piraeus, and defy the world with
+their fleet.  Thus, therefore, the Athenians completed their wall,
+and commenced their other buildings immediately after the retreat of
+the Mede.
+
+Meanwhile Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, was sent out from
+Lacedaemon as commander-in-chief of the Hellenes, with twenty ships
+from Peloponnese.  With him sailed the Athenians with thirty ships, and
+a number of the other allies.  They made an expedition against Cyprus
+and subdued most of the island, and afterwards against Byzantium,
+which was in the hands of the Medes, and compelled it to surrender.
+This event took place while the Spartans were still supreme.  But the
+violence of Pausanias had already begun to be disagreeable to the
+Hellenes, particularly to the Ionians and the newly liberated
+populations.  These resorted to the Athenians and requested them as
+their kinsmen to become their leaders, and to stop any attempt at
+violence on the part of Pausanias.  The Athenians accepted their
+overtures, and determined to put down any attempt of the kind and to
+settle everything else as their interests might seem to demand.  In the
+meantime the Lacedaemonians recalled Pausanias for an investigation of
+the reports which had reached them.  Manifold and grave accusations had
+been brought against him by Hellenes arriving in Sparta; and, to all
+appearance, there had been in him more of the mimicry of a despot than
+of the attitude of a general.  As it happened, his recall came just
+at the time when the hatred which he had inspired had induced the
+allies to desert him, the soldiers from Peloponnese excepted, and to
+range themselves by the side of the Athenians.  On his arrival at
+Lacedaemon, he was censured for his private acts of oppression, but
+was acquitted on the heaviest counts and pronounced not guilty; it
+must be known that the charge of Medism formed one of the principal,
+and to all appearance one of the best founded, articles against him.
+The Lacedaemonians did not, however, restore him to his command, but
+sent out Dorkis and certain others with a small force; who found the
+allies no longer inclined to concede to them the supremacy.  Perceiving
+this they departed, and the Lacedaemonians did not send out any to
+succeed them.  They feared for those who went out a deterioration
+similar to that observable in Pausanias; besides, they desired to be
+rid of the Median War, and were satisfied of the competency of the
+Athenians for the position, and of their friendship at the time
+towards themselves.
+
+The Athenians, having thus succeeded to the supremacy by the
+voluntary act of the allies through their hatred of Pausanias, fixed
+which cities were to contribute money against the barbarian, which
+ships; their professed object being to retaliate for their
+sufferings by ravaging the King's country.  Now was the time that the
+office of "Treasurers for Hellas" was first instituted by the
+Athenians.  These officers received the tribute, as the money
+contributed was called.  The tribute was first fixed at four hundred
+and sixty talents.  The common treasury was at Delos, and the
+congresses were held in the temple.  Their supremacy commenced with
+independent allies who acted on the resolutions of a common
+congress.  It was marked by the following undertakings in war and in
+administration during the interval between the Median and the
+present war, against the barbarian, against their own rebel allies,
+and against the Peloponnesian powers which would come in contact
+with them on various occasions.  My excuse for relating these events,
+and for venturing on this digression, is that this passage of
+history has been omitted by all my predecessors, who have confined
+themselves either to Hellenic history before the Median War, or the
+Median War itself.  Hellanicus, it is true, did touch on these events
+in his Athenian history; but he is somewhat concise and not accurate
+in his dates.  Besides, the history of these events contains an
+explanation of the growth of the Athenian empire.
+
+First the Athenians besieged and captured Eion on the Strymon from
+the Medes, and made slaves of the inhabitants, being under the command
+of Cimon, son of Miltiades.  Next they enslaved Scyros, the island in
+the Aegean, containing a Dolopian population, and colonized it
+themselves.  This was followed by a war against Carystus, in which
+the rest of Euboea remained neutral, and which was ended by
+surrender on conditions.  After this Naxos left the confederacy, and
+a war ensued, and she had to return after a siege; this was the
+first instance of the engagement being broken by the subjugation of an
+allied city, a precedent which was followed by that of the rest in the
+order which circumstances prescribed.  Of all the causes of
+defection, that connected with arrears of tribute and vessels, and
+with failure of service, was the chief; for the Athenians were very
+severe and exacting, and made themselves offensive by applying the
+screw of necessity to men who were not used to and in fact not
+disposed for any continuous labour.  In some other respects the
+Athenians were not the old popular rulers they had been at first;
+and if they had more than their fair share of service, it was
+correspondingly easy for them to reduce any that tried to leave the
+confederacy.  For this the allies had themselves to blame; the wish
+to get off service making most of them arrange to pay their share of
+the expense in money instead of in ships, and so to avoid having to
+leave their homes.  Thus while Athens was increasing her navy with
+the funds which they contributed, a revolt always found them without
+resources or experience for war.
+
+Next we come to the actions by land and by sea at the river
+Eurymedon, between the Athenians with their allies, and the Medes,
+when the Athenians won both battles on the same day under the
+conduct of Cimon, son of Miltiades, and captured and destroyed the
+whole Phoenician fleet, consisting of two hundred vessels.  Some time
+afterwards occurred the defection of the Thasians, caused by
+disagreements about the marts on the opposite coast of Thrace, and
+about the mine in their possession.  Sailing with a fleet to Thasos,
+the Athenians defeated them at sea and effected a landing on the
+island.  About the same time they sent ten thousand settlers of their
+own citizens and the allies to settle the place then called Ennea
+Hodoi or Nine Ways, now Amphipolis.  They succeeded in gaining
+possession of Ennea Hodoi from the Edonians, but on advancing into the
+interior of Thrace were cut off in Drabescus, a town of the
+Edonians, by the assembled Thracians, who regarded the settlement of
+the place Ennea Hodoi as an act of hostility.  Meanwhile the Thasians
+being defeated in the field and suffering siege, appealed to
+Lacedaemon, and desired her to assist them by an invasion of Attica.
+Without informing Athens, she promised and intended to do so, but
+was prevented by the occurrence of the earthquake, accompanied by
+the secession of the Helots and the Thuriats and Aethaeans of the
+Perioeci to Ithome.  Most of the Helots were the descendants of the old
+Messenians that were enslaved in the famous war; and so all of them
+came to be called Messenians.  So the Lacedaemonians being engaged in a
+war with the rebels in Ithome, the Thasians in the third year of the
+siege obtained terms from the Athenians by razing their walls,
+delivering up their ships, and arranging to pay the moneys demanded at
+once, and tribute in future; giving up their possessions on the
+continent together with the mine.
+
+The Lacedaemonians, meanwhile, finding the war against the rebels in
+Ithome likely to last, invoked the aid of their allies, and especially
+of the Athenians, who came in some force under the command of Cimon.
+The reason for this pressing summons lay in their reputed skill in
+siege operations; a long siege had taught the Lacedaemonians their own
+deficiency in this art, else they would have taken the place by
+assault.  The first open quarrel between the Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians arose out of this expedition.  The Lacedaemonians, when
+assault failed to take the place, apprehensive of the enterprising and
+revolutionary character of the Athenians, and further looking upon
+them as of alien extraction, began to fear that, if they remained,
+they might be tempted by the besieged in Ithome to attempt some
+political changes.  They accordingly dismissed them alone of the
+allies, without declaring their suspicions, but merely saying that
+they had now no need of them.  But the Athenians, aware that their
+dismissal did not proceed from the more honourable reason of the
+two, but from suspicions which had been conceived, went away deeply
+offended, and conscious of having done nothing to merit such treatment
+from the Lacedaemonians; and the instant that they returned home
+they broke off the alliance which had been made against the Mede,
+and allied themselves with Sparta's enemy Argos; each of the
+contracting parties taking the same oaths and making the same alliance
+with the Thessalians.
+
+Meanwhile the rebels in Ithome, unable to prolong further a ten
+years' resistance, surrendered to Lacedaemon; the conditions being
+that they should depart from Peloponnese under safe conduct, and
+should never set foot in it again: any one who might hereafter be
+found there was to be the slave of his captor.  It must be known that
+the Lacedaemonians had an old oracle from Delphi, to the effect that
+they should let go the suppliant of Zeus at Ithome.  So they went forth
+with their children and their wives, and being received by Athens from
+the hatred that she now felt for the Lacedaemonians, were located at
+Naupactus, which she had lately taken from the Ozolian Locrians.  The
+Athenians received another addition to their confederacy in the
+Megarians; who left the Lacedaemonian alliance, annoyed by a war about
+boundaries forced on them by Corinth.  The Athenians occupied Megara
+and Pegae, and built the Megarians their long walls from the city to
+Nisaea, in which they placed an Athenian garrison.  This was the
+principal cause of the Corinthians conceiving such a deadly hatred
+against Athens.
+
+Meanwhile Inaros, son of Psammetichus, a Libyan king of the
+Libyans on the Egyptian border, having his headquarters at Marea,
+the town above Pharos, caused a revolt of almost the whole of Egypt
+from King Artaxerxes and, placing himself at its head, invited the
+Athenians to his assistance.  Abandoning a Cyprian expedition upon
+which they happened to be engaged with two hundred ships of their
+own and their allies, they arrived in Egypt and sailed from the sea
+into the Nile, and making themselves masters of the river and
+two-thirds of Memphis, addressed themselves to the attack of the
+remaining third, which is called White Castle.  Within it were Persians
+and Medes who had taken refuge there, and Egyptians who had not joined
+the rebellion.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, making a descent from their fleet upon
+Haliae, were engaged by a force of Corinthians and Epidaurians; and
+the Corinthians were victorious.  Afterwards the Athenians engaged
+the Peloponnesian fleet off Cecruphalia; and the Athenians were
+victorious.  Subsequently war broke out between Aegina and Athens,
+and there was a great battle at sea off Aegina between the Athenians
+and Aeginetans, each being aided by their allies; in which victory
+remained with the Athenians, who took seventy of the enemy's ships,
+and landed in the country and commenced a siege under the command of
+Leocrates, son of Stroebus.  Upon this the Peloponnesians, desirous
+of aiding the Aeginetans, threw into Aegina a force of three hundred
+heavy infantry, who had before been serving with the Corinthians and
+Epidaurians.  Meanwhile the Corinthians and their allies occupied the
+heights of Geraneia, and marched down into the Megarid, in the
+belief that, with a large force absent in Aegina and Egypt, Athens
+would be unable to help the Megarians without raising the siege of
+Aegina.  But the Athenians, instead of moving the army of Aegina,
+raised a force of the old and young men that had been left in the
+city, and marched into the Megarid under the command of Myronides.
+After a drawn battle with the Corinthians, the rival hosts parted,
+each with the impression that they had gained the victory.  The
+Athenians, however, if anything, had rather the advantage, and on
+the departure of the Corinthians set up a trophy.  Urged by the
+taunts of the elders in their city, the Corinthians made their
+preparations, and about twelve days afterwards came and set up their
+trophy as victors.  Sallying out from Megara, the Athenians cut off the
+party that was employed in erecting the trophy, and engaged and
+defeated the rest.  In the retreat of the vanquished army, a
+considerable division, pressed by the pursuers and mistaking the road,
+dashed into a field on some private property, with a deep trench all
+round it, and no way out.  Being acquainted with the place, the
+Athenians hemmed their front with heavy infantry and, placing the
+light troops round in a circle, stoned all who had gone in.  Corinth
+here suffered a severe blow.  The bulk of her army continued its
+retreat home.
+
+About this time the Athenians began to build the long walls to the
+sea, that towards Phalerum and that towards Piraeus.  Meanwhile the
+Phocians made an expedition against Doris, the old home of the
+Lacedaemonians, containing the towns of Boeum, Kitinium, and
+Erineum.  They had taken one of these towns, when the Lacedaemonians
+under Nicomedes, son of Cleombrotus, commanding for King
+Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, who was still a minor, came to the
+aid of the Dorians with fifteen hundred heavy infantry of their own,
+and ten thousand of their allies.  After compelling the Phocians to
+restore the town on conditions, they began their retreat.  The route by
+sea, across the Crissaean Gulf, exposed them to the risk of being
+stopped by the Athenian fleet; that across Geraneia seemed scarcely
+safe, the Athenians holding Megara and Pegae.  For the pass was a
+difficult one, and was always guarded by the Athenians; and, in the
+present instance, the Lacedaemonians had information that they meant
+to dispute their passage.  So they resolved to remain in Boeotia, and
+to consider which would be the safest line of march.  They had also
+another reason for this resolve.  Secret encouragement had been given
+them by a party in Athens, who hoped to put an end to the reign of
+democracy and the building of the Long Walls.  Meanwhile the
+Athenians marched against them with their whole levy and a thousand
+Argives and the respective contingents of the rest of their allies.
+Altogether they were fourteen thousand strong.  The march was
+prompted by the notion that the Lacedaemonians were at a loss how to
+effect their passage, and also by suspicions of an attempt to
+overthrow the democracy.  Some cavalry also joined the Athenians from
+their Thessalian allies; but these went over to the Lacedaemonians
+during the battle.
+
+The battle was fought at Tanagra in Boeotia.  After heavy loss on
+both sides, victory declared for the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies.  After entering the Megarid and cutting down the fruit trees,
+the Lacedaemonians returned home across Geraneia and the isthmus.
+Sixty-two days after the battle the Athenians marched into Boeotia
+under the command of Myronides, defeated the Boeotians in battle at
+Oenophyta, and became masters of Boeotia and Phocis.  They dismantled
+the walls of the Tanagraeans, took a hundred of the richest men of the
+Opuntian Locrians as hostages, and finished their own long walls.  This
+was followed by the surrender of the Aeginetans to Athens on
+conditions; they pulled down their walls, gave up their ships, and
+agreed to pay tribute in future.  The Athenians sailed round
+Peloponnese under Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus, burnt the arsenal of
+Lacedaemon, took Chalcis, a town of the Corinthians, and in a
+descent upon Sicyon defeated the Sicyonians in battle.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in Egypt and their allies were still
+there, and encountered all the vicissitudes of war.  First the
+Athenians were masters of Egypt, and the King sent Megabazus a Persian
+to Lacedaemon with money to bribe the Peloponnesians to invade
+Attica and so draw off the Athenians from Egypt.  Finding that the
+matter made no progress, and that the money was only being wasted,
+he recalled Megabazus with the remainder of the money, and sent
+Megabuzus, son of Zopyrus, a Persian, with a large army to Egypt.
+Arriving by land he defeated the Egyptians and their allies in a
+battle, and drove the Hellenes out of Memphis, and at length shut them
+up in the island of Prosopitis, where he besieged them for a year
+and six months.  At last, draining the canal of its waters, which he
+diverted into another channel, he left their ships high and dry and
+joined most of the island to the mainland, and then marched over on
+foot and captured it.  Thus the enterprise of the Hellenes came to ruin
+after six years of war.  Of all that large host a few travelling
+through Libya reached Cyrene in safety, but most of them perished.  And
+thus Egypt returned to its subjection to the King, except Amyrtaeus,
+the king in the marshes, whom they were unable to capture from the
+extent of the marsh; the marshmen being also the most warlike of the
+Egyptians.  Inaros, the Libyan king, the sole author of the Egyptian
+revolt, was betrayed, taken, and crucified.  Meanwhile a relieving
+squadron of fifty vessels had sailed from Athens and the rest of the
+confederacy for Egypt.  They put in to shore at the Mendesian mouth
+of the Nile, in total ignorance of what had occurred.  Attacked on
+the land side by the troops, and from the sea by the Phoenician
+navy, most of the ships were destroyed; the few remaining being
+saved by retreat.  Such was the end of the great expedition of the
+Athenians and their allies to Egypt.
+
+Meanwhile Orestes, son of Echecratidas, the Thessalian king, being
+an exile from Thessaly, persuaded the Athenians to restore him.  Taking
+with them the Boeotians and Phocians their allies, the Athenians
+marched to Pharsalus in Thessaly.  They became masters of the
+country, though only in the immediate vicinity of the camp; beyond
+which they could not go for fear of the Thessalian cavalry.  But they
+failed to take the city or to attain any of the other objects of their
+expedition, and returned home with Orestes without having effected
+anything.  Not long after this a thousand of the Athenians embarked
+in the vessels that were at Pegae (Pegae, it must be remembered, was
+now theirs), and sailed along the coast to Sicyon under the command of
+Pericles, son of Xanthippus.  Landing in Sicyon and defeating the
+Sicyonians who engaged them, they immediately took with them the
+Achaeans and, sailing across, marched against and laid siege to
+Oeniadae in Acarnania.  Failing however to take it, they returned home.
+
+Three years afterwards a truce was made between the Peloponnesians
+and Athenians for five years.  Released from Hellenic war, the
+Athenians made an expedition to Cyprus with two hundred vessels of
+their own and their allies, under the command of Cimon.  Sixty of these
+were detached to Egypt at the instance of Amyrtaeus, the king in the
+marshes; the rest laid siege to Kitium, from which, however, they were
+compelled to retire by the death of Cimon and by scarcity of
+provisions.  Sailing off Salamis in Cyprus, they fought with the
+Phoenicians, Cyprians, and Cilicians by land and sea, and, being
+victorious on both elements departed home, and with them the
+returned squadron from Egypt.  After this the Lacedaemonians marched
+out on a sacred war, and, becoming masters of the temple at Delphi, it
+in the hands of the Delphians.  Immediately after their retreat, the
+Athenians marched out, became masters of the temple, and placed it
+in the hands of the Phocians.
+
+Some time after this, Orchomenus, Chaeronea, and some other places
+in Boeotia being in the hands of the Boeotian exiles, the Athenians
+marched against the above-mentioned hostile places with a thousand
+Athenian heavy infantry and the allied contingents, under the
+command of Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus.  They took Chaeronea, and made
+slaves of the inhabitants, and, leaving a garrison, commenced their
+return.  On their road they were attacked at Coronea by the Boeotian
+exiles from Orchomenus, with some Locrians and Euboean exiles, and
+others who were of the same way of thinking, were defeated in
+battle, and some killed, others taken captive.  The Athenians evacuated
+all Boeotia by a treaty providing for the recovery of the men; and the
+exiled Boeotians returned, and with all the rest regained their
+independence.
+
+This was soon afterwards followed by the revolt of Euboea from
+Athens.  Pericles had already crossed over with an army of Athenians to
+the island, when news was brought to him that Megara had revolted,
+that the Peloponnesians were on the point of invading Attica, and that
+the Athenian garrison had been cut off by the Megarians, with the
+exception of a few who had taken refuge in Nisaea.  The Megarians had
+introduced the Corinthians, Sicyonians, and Epidaurians into the
+town before they revolted.  Meanwhile Pericles brought his army back in
+all haste from Euboea.  After this the Peloponnesians marched into
+Attica as far as Eleusis and Thrius, ravaging the country under the
+conduct of King Pleistoanax, the son of Pausanias, and without
+advancing further returned home.  The Athenians then crossed over again
+to Euboea under the command of Pericles, and subdued the whole of
+the island: all but Histiaea was settled by convention; the Histiaeans
+they expelled from their homes, and occupied their territory
+themselves.
+
+Not long after their return from Euboea, they made a truce with
+the Lacedaemonians and their allies for thirty years, giving up the
+posts which they occupied in Peloponnese--Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and
+Achaia.  In the sixth year of the truce, war broke out between the
+Samians and Milesians about Priene.  Worsted in the war, the
+Milesians came to Athens with loud complaints against the Samians.
+In this they were joined by certain private persons from Samos itself,
+who wished to revolutionize the government.  Accordingly the
+Athenians sailed to Samos with forty ships and set up a democracy;
+took hostages from the Samians, fifty boys and as many men, lodged
+them in Lemnos, and after leaving a garrison in the island returned
+home.  But some of the Samians had not remained in the island, but
+had fled to the continent.  Making an agreement with the most
+powerful of those in the city, and an alliance with Pissuthnes, son of
+Hystaspes, the then satrap of Sardis, they got together a force of
+seven hundred mercenaries, and under cover of night crossed over to
+Samos.  Their first step was to rise on the commons, most of whom
+they secured; their next to steal their hostages from Lemnos; after
+which they revolted, gave up the Athenian garrison left with them
+and its commanders to Pissuthnes, and instantly prepared for an
+expedition against Miletus. The Byzantines also revolted with them. 
+
+As soon as the Athenians heard the news, they sailed with sixty
+ships against Samos.  Sixteen of these went to Caria to look out for
+the Phoenician fleet, and to Chios and Lesbos carrying round orders
+for reinforcements, and so never engaged; but forty-four ships under
+the command of Pericles with nine colleagues gave battle, off the
+island of Tragia, to seventy Samian vessels, of which twenty were
+transports, as they were sailing from Miletus.  Victory remained with
+the Athenians.  Reinforced afterwards by forty ships from Athens, and
+twenty-five Chian and Lesbian vessels, the Athenians landed, and
+having the superiority by land invested the city with three walls;
+it was also invested from the sea.  Meanwhile Pericles took sixty ships
+from the blockading squadron, and departed in haste for Caunus and
+Caria, intelligence having been brought in of the approach of the
+Phoenician fleet to the aid of the Samians; indeed Stesagoras and
+others had left the island with five ships to bring them.  But in the
+meantime the Samians made a sudden sally, and fell on the camp,
+which they found unfortified.  Destroying the look-out vessels, and
+engaging and defeating such as were being launched to meet them,
+they remained masters of their own seas for fourteen days, and carried
+in and carried out what they pleased.  But on the arrival of
+Pericles, they were once more shut up.  Fresh reinforcements afterwards
+arrived--forty ships from Athens with Thucydides, Hagnon, and
+Phormio; twenty with Tlepolemus and Anticles, and thirty vessels
+from Chios and Lesbos.  After a brief attempt at fighting, the Samians,
+unable to hold out, were reduced after a nine months' siege and
+surrendered on conditions; they razed their walls, gave hostages,
+delivered up their ships, and arranged to pay the expenses of the
+war by instalments.  The Byzantines also agreed to be subject as
+before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+_Second Congress at Lacedaemon - Preparations for War and
+Diplomatic Skirmishes - Cylon - Pausanias - Themistocles_
+
+After this, though not many years later, we at length come to what
+has been already related, the affairs of Corcyra and Potidaea, and the
+events that served as a pretext for the present war.  All these actions
+of the Hellenes against each other and the barbarian occurred in the
+fifty years' interval between the retreat of Xerxes and the
+beginning of the present war.  During this interval the Athenians
+succeeded in placing their empire on a firmer basis, and advanced
+their own home power to a very great height.  The Lacedaemonians,
+though fully aware of it, opposed it only for a little while, but
+remained inactive during most of the period, being of old slow to go
+to war except under the pressure of necessity, and in the present
+instance being hampered by wars at home; until the growth of the
+Athenian power could be no longer ignored, and their own confederacy
+became the object of its encroachments.  They then felt that they could
+endure it no longer, but that the time had come for them to throw
+themselves heart and soul upon the hostile power, and break it, if
+they could, by commencing the present war.  And though the
+Lacedaemonians had made up their own minds on the fact of the breach
+of the treaty and the guilt of the Athenians, yet they sent to
+Delphi and inquired of the God whether it would be well with them if
+they went to war; and, as it is reported, received from him the answer
+that if they put their whole strength into the war, victory would be
+theirs, and the promise that he himself would be with them, whether
+invoked or uninvoked.  Still they wished to summon their allies
+again, and to take their vote on the propriety of making war.  After
+the ambassadors from the confederates had arrived and a congress had
+been convened, they all spoke their minds, most of them denouncing the
+Athenians and demanding that the war should begin.  In particular the
+Corinthians.  They had before on their own account canvassed the cities
+in detail to induce them to vote for the war, in the fear that it
+might come too late to save Potidaea; they were present also on this
+occasion, and came forward the last, and made the following speech:
+
+"Fellow allies, we can no longer accuse the Lacedaemonians of having
+failed in their duty: they have not only voted for war themselves, but
+have assembled us here for that purpose.  We say their duty, for
+supremacy has its duties.  Besides equitably administering private
+interests, leaders are required to show a special care for the
+common welfare in return for the special honours accorded to them by
+all in other ways.  For ourselves, all who have already had dealings
+with the Athenians require no warning to be on their guard against
+them.  The states more inland and out of the highway of communication
+should understand that, if they omit to support the coast powers,
+the result will be to injure the transit of their produce for
+exportation and the reception in exchange of their imports from the
+sea; and they must not be careless judges of what is now said, as if
+it had nothing to do with them, but must expect that the sacrifice
+of the powers on the coast will one day be followed by the extension
+of the danger to the interior, and must recognize that their own
+interests are deeply involved in this discussion.  For these reasons
+they should not hesitate to exchange peace for war.  If wise men remain
+quiet, while they are not injured, brave men abandon peace for war
+when they are injured, returning to an understanding on a favourable
+opportunity: in fact, they are neither intoxicated by their success in
+war, nor disposed to take an injury for the sake of the delightful
+tranquillity of peace.  Indeed, to falter for the sake of such delights
+is, if you remain inactive, the quickest way of losing the sweets of
+repose to which you cling; while to conceive extravagant pretensions
+from success in war is to forget how hollow is the confidence by which
+you are elated.  For if many ill-conceived plans have succeeded through
+the still greater fatuity of an opponent, many more, apparently well
+laid, have on the contrary ended in disgrace.  The confidence with
+which we form our schemes is never completely justified in their
+execution; speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes
+to action, fear causes failure.
+
+"To apply these rules to ourselves, if we are now kindling war it is
+under the pressure of injury, with adequate grounds of complaint;
+and after we have chastised the Athenians we will in season desist.  We
+have many reasons to expect success--first, superiority in numbers
+and in military experience, and secondly our general and unvarying
+obedience in the execution of orders.  The naval strength which they
+possess shall be raised by us from our respective antecedent
+resources, and from the moneys at Olympia and Delphi.  A loan from
+these enables us to seduce their foreign sailors by the offer of
+higher pay.  For the power of Athens is more mercenary than national;
+while ours will not be exposed to the same risk, as its strength
+lies more in men than in money.  A single defeat at sea is in all
+likelihood their ruin: should they hold out, in that case there will
+be the more time for us to exercise ourselves in naval matters; and as
+soon as we have arrived at an equality in science, we need scarcely
+ask whether we shall be their superiors in courage.  For the advantages
+that we have by nature they cannot acquire by education; while their
+superiority in science must be removed by our practice.  The money
+required for these objects shall be provided by our contributions:
+nothing indeed could be more monstrous than the suggestion that, while
+their allies never tire of contributing for their own servitude, we
+should refuse to spend for vengeance and self-preservation the
+treasure which by such refusal we shall forfeit to Athenian rapacity
+and see employed for our own ruin.
+
+"We have also other ways of carrying on the war, such as revolt of
+their allies, the surest method of depriving them of their revenues,
+which are the source of their strength, and establishment of fortified
+positions in their country, and various operations which cannot be
+foreseen at present.  For war of all things proceeds least upon
+definite rules, but draws principally upon itself for contrivances
+to meet an emergency; and in such cases the party who faces the
+struggle and keeps his temper best meets with most security, and he
+who loses his temper about it with correspondent disaster.  Let us also
+reflect that if it was merely a number of disputes of territory
+between rival neighbours, it might be borne; but here we have an enemy
+in Athens that is a match for our whole coalition, and more than a
+match for any of its members; so that unless as a body and as
+individual nationalities and individual cities we make an unanimous
+stand against her, she will easily conquer us divided and in detail.
+That conquest, terrible as it may sound, would, it must be known, have
+no other end than slavery pure and simple; a word which Peloponnese
+cannot even hear whispered without disgrace, or without disgrace see
+so many states abused by one.  Meanwhile the opinion would be either
+that we were justly so used, or that we put up with it from cowardice,
+and were proving degenerate sons in not even securing for ourselves
+the freedom which our fathers gave to Hellas; and in allowing the
+establishment in Hellas of a tyrant state, though in individual states
+we think it our duty to put down sole rulers.  And we do not know how
+this conduct can be held free from three of the gravest failings, want
+of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.  For we do not suppose that
+you have taken refuge in that contempt of an enemy which has proved so
+fatal in so many instances--a feeling which from the numbers that it
+has ruined has come to be called not contemptuous but contemptible.
+
+"There is, however, no advantage in reflections on the past
+further than may be of service to the present.  For the future we
+must provide by maintaining what the present gives us and redoubling
+our efforts; it is hereditary to us to win virtue as the fruit of
+labour, and you must not change the habit, even though you should have
+a slight advantage in wealth and resources; for it is not right that
+what was won in want should be lost in plenty; no, we must boldly
+advance to the war for many reasons; the god has commanded it and
+promised to be with us, and the rest of Hellas will all join in the
+struggle, part from fear, part from interest.  You will be the first to
+break a treaty which the god, in advising us to go to war, judges to
+be violated already, but rather to support a treaty that has been
+outraged: indeed, treaties are broken not by resistance but by
+aggression.
+
+"Your position, therefore, from whatever quarter you may view it,
+will amply justify you in going to war; and this step we recommend
+in the interests of all, bearing in mind that identity of interest
+is the surest of bonds, whether between states or individuals.  Delay
+not, therefore, to assist Potidaea, a Dorian city besieged by Ionians,
+which is quite a reversal of the order of things; nor to assert the
+freedom of the rest.  It is impossible for us to wait any longer when
+waiting can only mean immediate disaster for some of us, and, if it
+comes to be known that we have conferred but do not venture to protect
+ourselves, like disaster in the near future for the rest.  Delay not,
+fellow allies, but, convinced of the necessity of the crisis and the
+wisdom of this counsel, vote for the war, undeterred by its
+immediate terrors, but looking beyond to the lasting peace by which it
+will be succeeded.  Out of war peace gains fresh stability, but to
+refuse to abandon repose for war is not so sure a method of avoiding
+danger.  We must believe that the tyrant city that has been established
+in Hellas has been established against all alike, with a programme
+of universal empire, part fulfilled, part in contemplation; let us
+then attack and reduce it, and win future security for ourselves and
+freedom for the Hellenes who are now enslaved."
+
+Such were the words of the Corinthians.  The Lacedaemonians, having
+now heard all, give their opinion, took the vote of all the allied
+states present in order, great and small alike; and the majority voted
+for war.  This decided, it was still impossible for them to commence at
+once, from their want of preparation; but it was resolved that the
+means requisite were to be procured by the different states, and
+that there was to be no delay.  And indeed, in spite of the time
+occupied with the necessary arrangements, less than a year elapsed
+before Attica was invaded, and the war openly begun.
+
+This interval was spent in sending embassies to Athens charged
+with complaints, in order to obtain as good a pretext for war as
+possible, in the event of her paying no attention to them.  The first
+Lacedaemonian embassy was to order the Athenians to drive out the
+curse of the goddess; the history of which is as follows.  In former
+generations there was an Athenian of the name of Cylon, a victor at
+the Olympic games, of good birth and powerful position, who had
+married a daughter of Theagenes, a Megarian, at that time tyrant of
+Megara.  Now this Cylon was inquiring at Delphi; when he was told by
+the god to seize the Acropolis of Athens on the grand festival of
+Zeus.  Accordingly, procuring a force from Theagenes and persuading his
+friends to join him, when the Olympic festival in Peloponnese came, he
+seized the Acropolis, with the intention of making himself tyrant,
+thinking that this was the grand festival of Zeus, and also an
+occasion appropriate for a victor at the Olympic games.  Whether the
+grand festival that was meant was in Attica or elsewhere was a
+question which he never thought of, and which the oracle did not offer
+to solve.  For the Athenians also have a festival which is called the
+grand festival of Zeus Meilichios or Gracious, viz., the Diasia.  It is
+celebrated outside the city, and the whole people sacrifice not real
+victims but a number of bloodless offerings peculiar to the country.
+However, fancying he had chosen the right time, he made the attempt.
+As soon as the Athenians perceived it, they flocked in, one and all,
+from the country, and sat down, and laid siege to the citadel.  But
+as time went on, weary of the labour of blockade, most of them
+departed; the responsibility of keeping guard being left to the nine
+archons, with plenary powers to arrange everything according to
+their good judgment.  It must be known that at that time most political
+functions were discharged by the nine archons.  Meanwhile Cylon and his
+besieged companions were distressed for want of food and water.
+Accordingly Cylon and his brother made their escape; but the rest
+being hard pressed, and some even dying of famine, seated themselves
+as suppliants at the altar in the Acropolis.  The Athenians who were
+charged with the duty of keeping guard, when they saw them at the
+point of death in the temple, raised them up on the understanding that
+no harm should be done to them, led them out, and slew them.  Some
+who as they passed by took refuge at the altars of the awful goddesses
+were dispatched on the spot.  From this deed the men who killed them
+were called accursed and guilty against the goddess, they and their
+descendants.  Accordingly these cursed ones were driven out by the
+Athenians, driven out again by Cleomenes of Lacedaemon and an Athenian
+faction; the living were driven out, and the bones of the dead were
+taken up; thus they were cast out.  For all that, they came back
+afterwards, and their descendants are still in the city.
+
+This, then was the curse that the Lacedaemonians ordered them to
+drive out.  They were actuated primarily, as they pretended, by a
+care for the honour of the gods; but they also know that Pericles, son
+of Xanthippus, was connected with the curse on his mother's side,
+and they thought that his banishment would materially advance their
+designs on Athens.  Not that they really hoped to succeed in
+procuring this; they rather thought to create a prejudice against
+him in the eyes of his countrymen from the feeling that the war
+would be partly caused by his misfortune.  For being the most
+powerful man of his time, and the leading Athenian statesman, he
+opposed the Lacedaemonians in everything, and would have no
+concessions, but ever urged the Athenians on to war.
+
+The Athenians retorted by ordering the Lacedaemonians to drive out
+the curse of Taenarus.  The Lacedaemonians had once raised up some
+Helot suppliants from the temple of Poseidon at Taenarus, led them
+away and slain them; for which they believe the great earthquake at
+Sparta to have been a retribution.  The Athenians also ordered them
+to drive out the curse of the goddess of the Brazen House; the history
+of which is as follows.  After Pausanias the Lacedaemonian had been
+recalled by the Spartans from his command in the Hellespont (this is
+his first recall), and had been tried by them and acquitted, not being
+again sent out in a public capacity, he took a galley of Hermione on
+his own responsibility, without the authority of the Lacedaemonians,
+and arrived as a private person in the Hellespont.  He came
+ostensibly for the Hellenic war, really to carry on his intrigues with
+the King, which he had begun before his recall, being ambitious of
+reigning over Hellas.  The circumstance which first enabled him to
+lay the King under an obligation, and to make a beginning of the whole
+design, was this.  Some connections and kinsmen of the King had been
+taken in Byzantium, on its capture from the Medes, when he was first
+there, after the return from Cyprus.  These captives he sent off to the
+King without the knowledge of the rest of the allies, the account
+being that they had escaped from him.  He managed this with the help of
+Gongylus, an Eretrian, whom he had placed in charge of Byzantium and
+the prisoners.  He also gave Gongylus a letter for the King, the
+contents of which were as follows, as was afterwards discovered:
+"Pausanias, the general of Sparta, anxious to do you a favour, sends
+you these his prisoners of war.  I propose also, with your approval, to
+marry your daughter, and to make Sparta and the rest of Hellas subject
+to you.  I may say that I think I am able to do this, with your
+co-operation.  Accordingly if any of this please you, send a safe man
+to the sea through whom we may in future conduct our correspondence."
+
+This was all that was revealed in the writing, and Xerxes was
+pleased with the letter.  He sent off Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, to
+the sea with orders to supersede Megabates, the previous governor in
+the satrapy of Daskylion, and to send over as quickly as possible to
+Pausanias at Byzantium a letter which he entrusted to him; to show him
+the royal signet, and to execute any commission which he might receive
+from Pausanias on the King's matters with all care and fidelity.
+Artabazus on his arrival carried the King's orders into effect, and
+sent over the letter, which contained the following answer: "Thus
+saith King Xerxes to Pausanias.  For the men whom you have saved for me
+across sea from Byzantium, an obligation is laid up for you in our
+house, recorded for ever; and with your proposals I am well pleased.
+Let neither night nor day stop you from diligently performing any of
+your promises to me; neither for cost of gold nor of silver let them
+be hindered, nor yet for number of troops, wherever it may be that
+their presence is needed; but with Artabazus, an honourable man whom I
+send you, boldly advance my objects and yours, as may be most for
+the honour and interest of us both."
+
+Before held in high honour by the Hellenes as the hero of Plataea,
+Pausanias, after the receipt of this letter, became prouder than ever,
+and could no longer live in the usual style, but went out of Byzantium
+in a Median dress, was attended on his march through Thrace by a
+bodyguard of Medes and Egyptians, kept a Persian table, and was
+quite unable to contain his intentions, but betrayed by his conduct in
+trifles what his ambition looked one day to enact on a grander
+scale.  He also made himself difficult of access, and displayed so
+violent a temper to every one without exception that no one could come
+near him.  Indeed, this was the principal reason why the confederacy
+went over to the Athenians.
+
+The above-mentioned conduct, coming to the ears of the
+Lacedaemonians, occasioned his first recall.  And after his second
+voyage out in the ship of Hermione, without their orders, he gave
+proofs of similar behaviour.  Besieged and expelled from Byzantium by
+the Athenians, he did not return to Sparta; but news came that he
+had settled at Colonae in the Troad, and was intriguing with the
+barbarians, and that his stay there was for no good purpose; and the
+ephors, now no longer hesitating, sent him a herald and a scytale with
+orders to accompany the herald or be declared a public enemy.
+Anxious above everything to avoid suspicion, and confident that he
+could quash the charge by means of money, he returned a second time to
+Sparta.  At first thrown into prison by the ephors (whose powers enable
+them to do this to the King), soon compromised the matter and came out
+again, and offered himself for trial to any who wished to institute an
+inquiry concerning him.
+
+Now the Spartans had no tangible proof against him--neither his
+enemies nor the nation--of that indubitable kind required for the
+punishment of a member of the royal family, and at that moment in high
+office; he being regent for his first cousin King Pleistarchus,
+Leonidas's son, who was still a minor.  But by his contempt of the laws
+and imitation of the barbarians, he gave grounds for much suspicion of
+his being discontented with things established; all the occasions on
+which he had in any way departed from the regular customs were
+passed in review, and it was remembered that he had taken upon himself
+to have inscribed on the tripod at Delphi, which was dedicated by
+the Hellenes as the first-fruits of the spoil of the Medes, the
+following couplet:
+
+   The Mede defeated, great Pausanias raised
+   This monument, that Phoebus might be praised.
+
+At the time the Lacedaemonians had at once erased the couplet, and
+inscribed the names of the cities that had aided in the overthrow of
+the barbarian and dedicated the offering.  Yet it was considered that
+Pausanias had here been guilty of a grave offence, which,
+interpreted by the light of the attitude which he had since assumed,
+gained a new significance, and seemed to be quite in keeping with
+his present schemes.  Besides, they were informed that he was even
+intriguing with the Helots; and such indeed was the fact, for he
+promised them freedom and citizenship if they would join him in
+insurrection and would help him to carry out his plans to the end.
+Even now, mistrusting the evidence even of the Helots themselves,
+the ephors would not consent to take any decided step against him;
+in accordance with their regular custom towards themselves, namely, to
+be slow in taking any irrevocable resolve in the matter of a Spartan
+citizen without indisputable proof.  At last, it is said, the person
+who was going to carry to Artabazus the last letter for the King, a
+man of Argilus, once the favourite and most trusty servant of
+Pausanias, turned informer.  Alarmed by the reflection that none of the
+previous messengers had ever returned, having counterfeited the
+seal, in order that, if he found himself mistaken in his surmises,
+or if Pausanias should ask to make some correction, he might not be
+discovered, he undid the letter, and found the postscript that he
+had suspected, viz. an order to put him to death.
+
+On being shown the letter, the ephors now felt more certain.
+Still, they wished to hear Pausanias commit himself with their own
+ears.  Accordingly the man went by appointment to Taenarus as a
+suppliant, and there built himself a hut divided into two by a
+partition; within which he concealed some of the ephors and let them
+hear the whole matter plainly.  For Pausanias came to him and asked him
+the reason of his suppliant position; and the man reproached him
+with the order that he had written concerning him, and one by one
+declared all the rest of the circumstances, how he who had never yet
+brought him into any danger, while employed as agent between him and
+the King, was yet just like the mass of his servants to be rewarded
+with death.  Admitting all this, and telling him not to be angry
+about the matter, Pausanias gave him the pledge of raising him up from
+the temple, and begged him to set off as quickly as possible, and
+not to hinder the business in hand.
+
+The ephors listened carefully, and then departed, taking no action
+for the moment, but, having at last attained to certainty, were
+preparing to arrest him in the city.  It is reported that, as he was
+about to be arrested in the street, he saw from the face of one of the
+ephors what he was coming for; another, too, made him a secret signal,
+and betrayed it to him from kindness.  Setting off with a run for the
+temple of the goddess of the Brazen House, the enclosure of which
+was near at hand, he succeeded in taking sanctuary before they took
+him, and entering into a small chamber, which formed part of the
+temple, to avoid being exposed to the weather, lay still there.  The
+ephors, for the moment distanced in the pursuit, afterwards took off
+the roof of the chamber, and having made sure that he was inside, shut
+him in, barricaded the doors, and staying before the place, reduced
+him by starvation.  When they found that he was on the point of
+expiring, just as he was, in the chamber, they brought him out of
+the temple, while the breath was still in him, and as soon as he was
+brought out he died.  They were going to throw him into the Kaiadas,
+where they cast criminals, but finally decided to inter him
+somewhere near.  But the god at Delphi afterwards ordered the
+Lacedaemonians to remove the tomb to the place of his death--where he
+now lies in the consecrated ground, as an inscription on a monument
+declares--and, as what had been done was a curse to them, to give
+back two bodies instead of one to the goddess of the Brazen House.
+So they had two brazen statues made, and dedicated them as a
+substitute for Pausanias.  the Athenians retorted by telling the
+Lacedaemonians to drive out what the god himself had pronounced to
+be a curse.
+
+To return to the Medism of Pausanias.  Matter was found in the course
+of the inquiry to implicate Themistocles; and the Lacedaemonians
+accordingly sent envoys to the Athenians and required them to punish
+him as they had punished Pausanias.  The Athenians consented to do
+so.  But he had, as it happened, been ostracized, and, with a residence
+at Argos, was in the habit of visiting other parts of Peloponnese.
+So they sent with the Lacedaemonians, who were ready to join in the
+pursuit, persons with instructions to take him wherever they found
+him.  But Themistocles got scent of their intentions, and fled from
+Peloponnese to Corcyra, which was under obligations towards him.  But
+the Corcyraeans alleged that they could not venture to shelter him
+at the cost of offending Athens and Lacedaemon, and they conveyed
+him over to the continent opposite.  Pursued by the officers who hung
+on the report of his movements, at a loss where to turn, he was
+compelled to stop at the house of Admetus, the Molossian king,
+though they were not on friendly terms.  Admetus happened not to be
+indoors, but his wife, to whom he made himself a suppliant, instructed
+him to take their child in his arms and sit down by the hearth.  Soon
+afterwards Admetus came in, and Themistocles told him who he was,
+and begged him not to revenge on Themistocles in exile any
+opposition which his requests might have experienced from Themistocles
+at Athens.  Indeed, he was now far too low for his revenge; retaliation
+was only honourable between equals.  Besides, his opposition to the
+king had only affected the success of a request, not the safety of his
+person; if the king were to give him up to the pursuers that he
+mentioned, and the fate which they intended for him, he would just
+be consigning him to certain death.
+
+The King listened to him and raised him up with his son, as he was
+sitting with him in his arms after the most effectual method of
+supplication, and on the arrival of the Lacedaemonians not long
+afterwards, refused to give him up for anything they could say, but
+sent him off by land to the other sea to Pydna in Alexander's
+dominions, as he wished to go to the Persian king.  There he met with a
+merchantman on the point of starting for Ionia.  Going on board, he was
+carried by a storm to the Athenian squadron which was blockading
+Naxos.  In his alarm--he was luckily unknown to the people in the
+vessel--he told the master who he was and what he was flying for, and
+said that, if he refused to save him, he would declare that he was
+taking him for a bribe.  Meanwhile their safety consisted in letting no
+one leave the ship until a favourable time for sailing should arise.
+If he complied with his wishes, he promised him a proper recompense.
+The master acted as he desired, and, after lying to for a day and a
+night out of reach of the squadron, at length arrived at Ephesus.
+
+After having rewarded him with a present of money, as soon as he
+received some from his friends at Athens and from his secret hoards at
+Argos, Themistocles started inland with one of the coast Persians, and
+sent a letter to King Artaxerxes, Xerxes's son, who had just come to
+the throne.  Its contents were as follows: "I, Themistocles, am come to
+you, who did your house more harm than any of the Hellenes, when I was
+compelled to defend myself against your father's invasion--harm,
+however, far surpassed by the good that I did him during his
+retreat, which brought no danger for me but much for him.  For the
+past, you are a good turn in my debt"--here he mentioned the warning
+sent to Xerxes from Salamis to retreat, as well as his finding the
+bridges unbroken, which, as he falsely pretended, was due to him--
+"for the present, able to do you great service, I am here, pursued
+by the Hellenes for my friendship for you.  However, I desire a
+year's grace, when I shall be able to declare in person the objects of
+my coming."
+
+It is said that the King approved his intention, and told him to
+do as he said.  He employed the interval in making what progress he
+could in the study of the Persian tongue, and of the customs of the
+country.  Arrived at court at the end of the year, he attained to
+very high consideration there, such as no Hellene has ever possessed
+before or since; partly from his splendid antecedents, partly from the
+hopes which he held out of effecting for him the subjugation of
+Hellas, but principally by the proof which experience daily gave of
+his capacity.  For Themistocles was a man who exhibited the most
+indubitable signs of genius; indeed, in this particular he has a claim
+on our admiration quite extraordinary and unparalleled.  By his own
+native capacity, alike unformed and unsupplemented by study, he was at
+once the best judge in those sudden crises which admit of little or of
+no deliberation, and the best prophet of the future, even to its
+most distant possibilities.  An able theoretical expositor of all
+that came within the sphere of his practice, he was not without the
+power of passing an adequate judgment in matters in which he had no
+experience.  He could also excellently divine the good and evil which
+lay hid in the unseen future.  In fine, whether we consider the
+extent of his natural powers, or the slightness of his application,
+this extraordinary man must be allowed to have surpassed all others in
+the faculty of intuitively meeting an emergency.  Disease was the
+real cause of his death; though there is a story of his having ended
+his life by poison, on finding himself unable to fulfil his promises
+to the king.  However this may be, there is a monument to him in the
+marketplace of Asiatic Magnesia.  He was governor of the district,
+the King having given him Magnesia, which brought in fifty talents a
+year, for bread, Lampsacus, which was considered to be the richest
+wine country, for wine, and Myos for other provisions.  His bones, it
+is said, were conveyed home by his relatives in accordance with his
+wishes, and interred in Attic ground.  This was done without the
+knowledge of the Athenians; as it is against the law to bury in Attica
+an outlaw for treason.  So ends the history of Pausanias and
+Themistocles, the Lacedaemonian and the Athenian, the most famous
+men of their time in Hellas.
+
+To return to the Lacedaemonians.  The history of their first embassy,
+the injunctions which it conveyed, and the rejoinder which it
+provoked, concerning the expulsion of the accursed persons, have
+been related already.  It was followed by a second, which ordered
+Athens to raise the siege of Potidaea, and to respect the independence
+of Aegina.  Above all, it gave her most distinctly to understand that
+war might be prevented by the revocation of the Megara decree,
+excluding the Megarians from the use of Athenian harbours and of the
+market of Athens.  But Athens was not inclined either to revoke the
+decree, or to entertain their other proposals; she accused the
+Megarians of pushing their cultivation into the consecrated ground and
+the unenclosed land on the border, and of harbouring her runaway
+slaves.  At last an embassy arrived with the Lacedaemonian ultimatum.
+The ambassadors were Ramphias, Melesippus, and Agesander.  Not a word
+was said on any of the old subjects; there was simply this:
+"Lacedaemon wishes the peace to continue, and there is no reason why
+it should not, if you would leave the Hellenes independent." Upon this
+the Athenians held an assembly, and laid the matter before their
+consideration.  It was resolved to deliberate once for all on all their
+demands, and to give them an answer.  There were many speakers who came
+forward and gave their support to one side or the other, urging the
+necessity of war, or the revocation of the decree and the folly of
+allowing it to stand in the way of peace.  Among them came forward
+Pericles, son of Xanthippus, the first man of his time at Athens,
+ablest alike in counsel and in action, and gave the following advice:
+
+"There is one principle, Athenians, which I hold to through
+everything, and that is the principle of no concession to the
+Peloponnesians.  I know that the spirit which inspires men while they
+are being persuaded to make war is not always retained in action; that
+as circumstances change, resolutions change.  Yet I see that now as
+before the same, almost literally the same, counsel is demanded of me;
+and I put it to those of you who are allowing yourselves to be
+persuaded, to support the national resolves even in the case of
+reverses, or to forfeit all credit for their wisdom in the event of
+success.  For sometimes the course of things is as arbitrary as the
+plans of man; indeed this is why we usually blame chance for
+whatever does not happen as we expected.  Now it was clear before
+that Lacedaemon entertained designs against us; it is still more clear
+now.  The treaty provides that we shall mutually submit our differences
+to legal settlement, and that we shall meanwhile each keep what we
+have.  Yet the Lacedaemonians never yet made us any such offer, never
+yet would accept from us any such offer; on the contrary, they wish
+complaints to be settled by war instead of by negotiation; and in
+the end we find them here dropping the tone of expostulation and
+adopting that of command.  They order us to raise the siege of
+Potidaea, to let Aegina be independent, to revoke the Megara decree;
+and they conclude with an ultimatum warning us to leave the Hellenes
+independent.  I hope that you will none of you think that we shall be
+going to war for a trifle if we refuse to revoke the Megara decree,
+which appears in front of their complaints, and the revocation of
+which is to save us from war, or let any feeling of self-reproach
+linger in your minds, as if you went to war for slight cause.  Why,
+this trifle contains the whole seal and trial of your resolution.  If
+you give way, you will instantly have to meet some greater demand,
+as having been frightened into obedience in the first instance;
+while a firm refusal will make them clearly understand that they
+must treat you more as equals.  Make your decision therefore at once,
+either to submit before you are harmed, or if we are to go to war,
+as I for one think we ought, to do so without caring whether the
+ostensible cause be great or small, resolved against making
+concessions or consenting to a precarious tenure of our possessions.
+For all claims from an equal, urged upon a neighbour as commands
+before any attempt at legal settlement, be they great or be they
+small, have only one meaning, and that is slavery.
+
+"As to the war and the resources of either party, a detailed
+comparison will not show you the inferiority of Athens.  Personally
+engaged in the cultivation of their land, without funds either private
+or public, the Peloponnesians are also without experience in long wars
+across sea, from the strict limit which poverty imposes on their
+attacks upon each other.  Powers of this description are quite
+incapable of often manning a fleet or often sending out an army:
+they cannot afford the absence from their homes, the expenditure
+from their own funds; and besides, they have not command of the sea.
+Capital, it must be remembered, maintains a war more than forced
+contributions.  Farmers are a class of men that are always more ready
+to serve in person than in purse.  Confident that the former will
+survive the dangers, they are by no means so sure that the latter will
+not be prematurely exhausted, especially if the war last longer than
+they expect, which it very likely will.  In a single battle the
+Peloponnesians and their allies may be able to defy all Hellas, but
+they are incapacitated from carrying on a war against a power
+different in character from their own, by the want of the single
+council-chamber requisite to prompt and vigorous action, and the
+substitution of a diet composed of various races, in which every state
+possesses an equal vote, and each presses its own ends, a condition of
+things which generally results in no action at all.  The great wish
+of some is to avenge themselves on some particular enemy, the great
+wish of others to save their own pocket.  Slow in assembling, they
+devote a very small fraction of the time to the consideration of any
+public object, most of it to the prosecution of their own objects.
+Meanwhile each fancies that no harm will come of his neglect, that
+it is the business of somebody else to look after this or that for
+him; and so, by the same notion being entertained by all separately,
+the common cause imperceptibly decays.
+
+"But the principal point is the hindrance that they will
+experience from want of money.  The slowness with which it comes in
+will cause delay; but the opportunities of war wait for no man.  Again,
+we need not be alarmed either at the possibility of their raising
+fortifications in Attica, or at their navy.  It would be difficult
+for any system of fortifications to establish a rival city, even in
+time of peace, much more, surely, in an enemy's country, with Athens
+just as much fortified against it as it against Athens; while a mere
+post might be able to do some harm to the country by incursions and by
+the facilities which it would afford for desertion, but can never
+prevent our sailing into their country and raising fortifications
+there, and making reprisals with our powerful fleet.  For our naval
+skill is of more use to us for service on land, than their military
+skill for service at sea.  Familiarity with the sea they will not
+find an easy acquisition.  If you who have been practising at it ever
+since the Median invasion have not yet brought it to perfection, is
+there any chance of anything considerable being effected by an
+agricultural, unseafaring population, who will besides be prevented
+from practising by the constant presence of strong squadrons of
+observation from Athens? With a small squadron they might hazard an
+engagement, encouraging their ignorance by numbers; but the
+restraint of a strong force will prevent their moving, and through
+want of practice they will grow more clumsy, and consequently more
+timid.  It must be kept in mind that seamanship, just like anything
+else, is a matter of art, and will not admit of being taken up
+occasionally as an occupation for times of leisure; on the contrary,
+it is so exacting as to leave leisure for nothing else.
+
+"Even if they were to touch the moneys at Olympia or Delphi, and try
+to seduce our foreign sailors by the temptation of higher pay, that
+would only be a serious danger if we could not still be a match for
+them by embarking our own citizens and the aliens resident among us.
+But in fact by this means we are always a match for them; and, best of
+all, we have a larger and higher class of native coxswains and sailors
+among our own citizens than all the rest of Hellas.  And to say nothing
+of the danger of such a step, none of our foreign sailors would
+consent to become an outlaw from his country, and to take service with
+them and their hopes, for the sake of a few days' high pay.
+
+"This, I think, is a tolerably fair account of the position of the
+Peloponnesians; that of Athens is free from the defects that I have
+criticized in them, and has other advantages of its own, which they
+can show nothing to equal.  If they march against our country we will
+sail against theirs, and it will then be found that the desolation
+of the whole of Attica is not the same as that of even a fraction of
+Peloponnese; for they will not be able to supply the deficiency except
+by a battle, while we have plenty of land both on the islands and
+the continent.  The rule of the sea is indeed a great matter.
+Consider for a moment.  Suppose that we were islanders; can you
+conceive a more impregnable position? Well, this in future should,
+as far as possible, be our conception of our position.  Dismissing
+all thought of our land and houses, we must vigilantly guard the sea
+and the city.  No irritation that we may feel for the former must
+provoke us to a battle with the numerical superiority of the
+Peloponnesians.  A victory would only be succeeded by another battle
+against the same superiority: a reverse involves the loss of our
+allies, the source of our strength, who will not remain quiet a day
+after we become unable to march against them.  We must cry not over the
+loss of houses and land but of men's lives; since houses and land do
+not gain men, but men them.  And if I had thought that I could persuade
+you, I would have bid you go out and lay them waste with your own
+hands, and show the Peloponnesians that this at any rate will not make
+you submit.
+
+"I have many other reasons to hope for a favourable issue, if you
+can consent not to combine schemes of fresh conquest with the
+conduct of the war, and will abstain from wilfully involving
+yourselves in other dangers; indeed, I am more afraid of our own
+blunders than of the enemy's devices.  But these matters shall be
+explained in another speech, as events require; for the present
+dismiss these men with the answer that we will allow Megara the use of
+our market and harbours, when the Lacedaemonians suspend their alien
+acts in favour of us and our allies, there being nothing in the treaty
+to prevent either one or the other: that we will leave the cities
+independent, if independent we found them when we made the treaty, and
+when the Lacedaemonians grant to their cities an independence not
+involving subservience to Lacedaemonian interests, but such as each
+severally may desire: that we are willing to give the legal
+satisfaction which our agreements specify, and that we shall not
+commence hostilities, but shall resist those who do commence them.
+This is an answer agreeable at once to the rights and the dignity of
+Athens.  It must be thoroughly understood that war is a necessity;
+but that the more readily we accept it, the less will be the ardour of
+our opponents, and that out of the greatest dangers communities and
+individuals acquire the greatest glory.  Did not our fathers resist the
+Medes not only with resources far different from ours, but even when
+those resources had been abandoned; and more by wisdom than by
+fortune, more by daring than by strength, did not they beat off the
+barbarian and advance their affairs to their present height? We must
+not fall behind them, but must resist our enemies in any way and in
+every way, and attempt to hand down our power to our posterity
+unimpaired."
+
+Such were the words of Pericles.  The Athenians, persuaded of the
+wisdom of his advice, voted as he desired, and answered the
+Lacedaemonians as he recommended, both on the separate points and in
+the general; they would do nothing on dictation, but were ready to
+have the complaints settled in a fair and impartial manner by the
+legal method, which the terms of the truce prescribed.  So the envoys
+departed home and did not return again.
+
+These were the charges and differences existing between the rival
+powers before the war, arising immediately from the affair at
+Epidamnus and Corcyra.  Still intercourse continued in spite of them,
+and mutual communication.  It was carried on without heralds, but not
+without suspicion, as events were occurring which were equivalent to a
+breach of the treaty and matter for war.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+_Beginning of the Peloponnesian War - First Invasion of Attica -
+Funeral Oration of Pericles_
+
+The war between the Athenians and Peloponnesians and the allies on
+either side now really begins.  For now all intercourse except
+through the medium of heralds ceased, and hostilities were commenced
+and prosecuted without intermission.  The history follows the
+chronological order of events by summers and winters.
+
+The thirty years' truce which was entered into after the conquest of
+Euboea lasted fourteen years.  In the fifteenth, in the forty-eighth
+year of the priestess-ship of Chrysis at Argos, in the ephorate of
+Aenesias at Sparta, in the last month but two of the archonship of
+Pythodorus at Athens, and six months after the battle of Potidaea,
+just at the beginning of spring, a Theban force a little over three
+hundred strong, under the command of their Boeotarchs, Pythangelus,
+son of Phyleides, and Diemporus, son of Onetorides, about the first
+watch of the night, made an armed entry into Plataea, a town of
+Boeotia in alliance with Athens.  The gates were opened to them by a
+Plataean called Naucleides, who, with his party, had invited them
+in, meaning to put to death the citizens of the opposite party,
+bring over the city to Thebes, and thus obtain power for themselves.
+This was arranged through Eurymachus, son of Leontiades, a person of
+great influence at Thebes.  For Plataea had always been at variance
+with Thebes; and the latter, foreseeing that war was at hand, wished
+to surprise her old enemy in time of peace, before hostilities had
+actually broken out.  Indeed this was how they got in so easily without
+being observed, as no guard had been posted.  After the soldiers had
+grounded arms in the market-place, those who had invited them in
+wished them to set to work at once and go to their enemies' houses.
+This, however, the Thebans refused to do, but determined to make a
+conciliatory proclamation, and if possible to come to a friendly
+understanding with the citizens.  Their herald accordingly invited
+any who wished to resume their old place in the confederacy of their
+countrymen to ground arms with them, for they thought that in this way
+the city would readily join them.
+
+On becoming aware of the presence of the Thebans within their gates,
+and of the sudden occupation of the town, the Plataeans concluded in
+their alarm that more had entered than was really the case, the
+night preventing their seeing them.  They accordingly came to terms
+and, accepting the proposal, made no movement; especially as the
+Thebans offered none of them any violence.  But somehow or other,
+during the negotiations, they discovered the scanty numbers of the
+Thebans, and decided that they could easily attack and overpower them;
+the mass of the Plataeans being averse to revolting from Athens.  At
+all events they resolved to attempt it.  Digging through the party
+walls of the houses, they thus managed to join each other without
+being seen going through the streets, in which they placed wagons
+without the beasts in them, to serve as a barricade, and arranged
+everything else as seemed convenient for the occasion.  When everything
+had been done that circumstances permitted, they watched their
+opportunity and went out of their houses against the enemy.  It was
+still night, though daybreak was at hand: in daylight it was thought
+that their attack would be met by men full of courage and on equal
+terms with their assailants, while in darkness it would fall upon
+panic-stricken troops, who would also be at a disadvantage from
+their enemy's knowledge of the locality.  So they made their assault at
+once, and came to close quarters as quickly as they could.
+
+The Thebans, finding themselves outwitted, immediately closed up
+to repel all attacks made upon them.  Twice or thrice they beat back
+their assailants.  But the men shouted and charged them, the women
+and slaves screamed and yelled from the houses and pelted them with
+stones and tiles; besides, it had been raining hard all night; and
+so at last their courage gave way, and they turned and fled through
+the town.  Most of the fugitives were quite ignorant of the right
+ways out, and this, with the mud, and the darkness caused by the
+moon being in her last quarter, and the fact that their pursuers
+knew their way about and could easily stop their escape, proved
+fatal to many.  The only gate open was the one by which they had
+entered, and this was shut by one of the Plataeans driving the spike
+of a javelin into the bar instead of the bolt; so that even here there
+was no longer any means of exit.  They were now chased all over the
+town.  Some got on the wall and threw themselves over, in most cases
+with a fatal result.  One party managed to find a deserted gate, and
+obtaining an axe from a woman, cut through the bar; but as they were
+soon observed only a few succeeded in getting out.  Others were cut off
+in detail in different parts of the city.  The most numerous and
+compact body rushed into a large building next to the city wall: the
+doors on the side of the street happened to be open, and the Thebans
+fancied that they were the gates of the town, and that there was a
+passage right through to the outside.  The Plataeans, seeing their
+enemies in a trap, now consulted whether they should set fire to the
+building and burn them just as they were, or whether there was
+anything else that they could do with them; until at length these
+and the rest of the Theban survivors found wandering about the town
+agreed to an unconditional surrender of themselves and their arms to
+the Plataeans.
+
+While such was the fate of the party in Plataea, the rest of the
+Thebans who were to have joined them with all their forces before
+daybreak, in case of anything miscarrying with the body that had
+entered, received the news of the affair on the road, and pressed
+forward to their succour.  Now Plataea is nearly eight miles from
+Thebes, and their march delayed by the rain that had fallen in the
+night, for the river Asopus had risen and was not easy of passage; and
+so, having to march in the rain, and being hindered in crossing the
+river, they arrived too late, and found the whole party either slain
+or captive.  When they learned what had happened, they at once formed a
+design against the Plataeans outside the city.  As the attack had
+been made in time of peace, and was perfectly unexpected, there were
+of course men and stock in the fields; and the Thebans wished if
+possible to have some prisoners to exchange against their countrymen
+in the town, should any chance to have been taken alive.  Such was
+their plan.  But the Plataeans suspected their intention almost
+before it was formed, and becoming alarmed for their fellow citizens
+outside the town, sent a herald to the Thebans, reproaching them for
+their unscrupulous attempt to seize their city in time of peace, and
+warning them against any outrage on those outside.  Should the
+warning be disregarded, they threatened to put to death the men they
+had in their hands, but added that, on the Thebans retiring from their
+territory, they would surrender the prisoners to their friends.  This
+is the Theban account of the matter, and they say that they had an
+oath given them.  The Plataeans, on the other hand, do not admit any
+promise of an immediate surrender, but make it contingent upon
+subsequent negotiation: the oath they deny altogether.  Be this as it
+may, upon the Thebans retiring from their territory without committing
+any injury, the Plataeans hastily got in whatever they had in the
+country and immediately put the men to death.  The prisoners were a
+hundred and eighty in number; Eurymachus, the person with whom the
+traitors had negotiated, being one.
+
+This done, the Plataeans sent a messenger to Athens, gave back the
+dead to the Thebans under a truce, and arranged things in the city
+as seemed best to meet the present emergency.  The Athenians meanwhile,
+having had word of the affair sent them immediately after its
+occurrence, had instantly seized all the Boeotians in Attica, and sent
+a herald to the Plataeans to forbid their proceeding to extremities
+with their Theban prisoners without instructions from Athens.  The news
+of the men's death had of course not arrived; the first messenger
+having left Plataea just when the Thebans entered it, the second
+just after their defeat and capture; so there was no later news.
+Thus the Athenians sent orders in ignorance of the facts; and the
+herald on his arrival found the men slain.  After this the Athenians
+marched to Plataea and brought in provisions, and left a garrison in
+the place, also taking away the women and children and such of the men
+as were least efficient.
+
+After the affair at Plataea, the treaty had been broken by an
+overt act, and Athens at once prepared for war, as did also Lacedaemon
+and her allies.  They resolved to send embassies to the King and to
+such other of the barbarian powers as either party could look to for
+assistance, and tried to ally themselves with the independent states
+at home.  Lacedaemon, in addition to the existing marine, gave orders
+to the states that had declared for her in Italy and Sicily to build
+vessels up to a grand total of five hundred, the quota of each city
+being determined by its size, and also to provide a specified sum of
+money.  Till these were ready they were to remain neutral and to
+admit single Athenian ships into their harbours.  Athens on her part
+reviewed her existing confederacy, and sent embassies to the places
+more immediately round Peloponnese--Corcyra, Cephallenia, Acarnania,
+and Zacynthus--perceiving that if these could be relied on she could
+carry the war all round Peloponnese.
+
+And if both sides nourished the boldest hopes and put forth their
+utmost strength for the war, this was only natural.  Zeal is always
+at its height at the commencement of an undertaking; and on this
+particular occasion Peloponnese and Athens were both full of young men
+whose inexperience made them eager to take up arms, while the rest
+of Hellas stood straining with excitement at the conflict of its
+leading cities.  Everywhere predictions were being recited and
+oracles being chanted by such persons as collect them, and this not
+only in the contending cities.  Further, some while before this,
+there was an earthquake at Delos, for the first time in the memory
+of the Hellenes.  This was said and thought to be ominous of the events
+impending; indeed, nothing of the kind that happened was allowed to
+pass without remark.  The good wishes of men made greatly for the
+Lacedaemonians, especially as they proclaimed themselves the
+liberators of Hellas.  No private or public effort that could help them
+in speech or action was omitted; each thinking that the cause suffered
+wherever he could not himself see to it.  So general was the
+indignation felt against Athens, whether by those who wished to escape
+from her empire, or were apprehensive of being absorbed by it.  Such
+were the preparations and such the feelings with which the contest
+opened.
+
+The allies of the two belligerents were the following.  These were
+the allies of Lacedaemon: all the Peloponnesians within the Isthmus
+except the Argives and Achaeans, who were neutral; Pellene being the
+only Achaean city that first joined in the war, though her example was
+afterwards followed by the rest.  Outside Peloponnese the Megarians,
+Locrians, Boeotians, Phocians, Ambraciots, Leucadians, and
+Anactorians.  Of these, ships were furnished by the Corinthians,
+Megarians, Sicyonians, Pellenians, Eleans, Ambraciots, and Leucadians;
+and cavalry by the Boeotians, Phocians, and Locrians.  The other states
+sent infantry.  This was the Lacedaemonian confederacy.  That of
+Athens comprised the Chians, Lesbians, Plataeans, the Messenians in
+Naupactus, most of the Acarnanians, the Corcyraeans, Zacynthians,
+and some tributary cities in the following countries, viz., Caria upon
+the sea with her Dorian neighbours, Ionia, the Hellespont, the
+Thracian towns, the islands lying between Peloponnese and Crete
+towards the east, and all the Cyclades except Melos and Thera.  Of
+these, ships were furnished by Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra, infantry
+and money by the rest.  Such were the allies of either party and
+their resources for the war.
+
+Immediately after the affair at Plataea, Lacedaemon sent round
+orders to the cities in Peloponnese and the rest of her confederacy to
+prepare troops and the provisions requisite for a foreign campaign, in
+order to invade Attica.  The several states were ready at the time
+appointed and assembled at the Isthmus: the contingent of each city
+being two-thirds of its whole force.  After the whole army had
+mustered, the Lacedaemonian king, Archidamus, the leader of the
+expedition, called together the generals of all the states and the
+principal persons and officers, and exhorted them as follows:
+
+"Peloponnesians and allies, our fathers made many campaigns both
+within and without Peloponnese, and the elder men among us here are
+not without experience in war.  Yet we have never set out with a larger
+force than the present; and if our numbers and efficiency are
+remarkable, so also is the power of the state against which we
+march.  We ought not then to show ourselves inferior to our
+ancestors, or unequal to our own reputation.  For the hopes and
+attention of all Hellas are bent upon the present effort, and its
+sympathy is with the enemy of the hated Athens.  Therefore, numerous as
+the invading army may appear to be, and certain as some may think it
+that our adversary will not meet us in the field, this is no sort of
+justification for the least negligence upon the march; but the
+officers and men of each particular city should always be prepared for
+the advent of danger in their own quarters.  The course of war cannot
+be foreseen, and its attacks are generally dictated by the impulse
+of the moment; and where overweening self-confidence has despised
+preparation, a wise apprehension often been able to make head
+against superior numbers.  Not that confidence is out of place in an
+army of invasion, but in an enemy's country it should also be
+accompanied by the precautions of apprehension: troops will by this
+combination be best inspired for dealing a blow, and best secured
+against receiving one.  In the present instance, the city against which
+we are going, far from being so impotent for defence, is on the
+contrary most excellently equipped at all points; so that we have
+every reason to expect that they will take the field against us, and
+that if they have not set out already before we are there, they will
+certainly do so when they see us in their territory wasting and
+destroying their property.  For men are always exasperated at suffering
+injuries to which they are not accustomed, and on seeing them
+inflicted before their very eyes; and where least inclined for
+reflection, rush with the greatest heat to action.  The Athenians are
+the very people of all others to do this, as they aspire to rule the
+rest of the world, and are more in the habit of invading and
+ravaging their neighbours' territory, than of seeing their own treated
+in the like fashion.  Considering, therefore, the power of the state
+against which we are marching, and the greatness of the reputation
+which, according to the event, we shall win or lose for our
+ancestors and ourselves, remember as you follow where you may be led
+to regard discipline and vigilance as of the first importance, and
+to obey with alacrity the orders transmitted to you; as nothing
+contributes so much to the credit and safety of an army as the union
+of large bodies by a single discipline."
+
+With this brief speech dismissing the assembly, Archidamus first
+sent off Melesippus, son of Diacritus, a Spartan, to Athens, in case
+she should be more inclined to submit on seeing the Peloponnesians
+actually on the march.  But the Athenians did not admit into the city
+or to their assembly, Pericles having already carried a motion against
+admitting either herald or embassy from the Lacedaemonians after
+they had once marched out.
+
+The herald was accordingly sent away without an audience, and
+ordered to be beyond the frontier that same day; in future, if those
+who sent him had a proposition to make, they must retire to their
+own territory before they dispatched embassies to Athens.  An escort
+was sent with Melesippus to prevent his holding communication with any
+one.  When he reached the frontier and was just going to be
+dismissed, he departed with these words: "This day will be the
+beginning of great misfortunes to the Hellenes." As soon as he arrived
+at the camp, and Archidamus learnt that the Athenians had still no
+thoughts of submitting, he at length began his march, and advanced
+with his army into their territory.  Meanwhile the Boeotians, sending
+their contingent and cavalry to join the Peloponnesian expedition,
+went to Plataea with the remainder and laid waste the country.
+
+While the Peloponnesians were still mustering at the Isthmus, or
+on the march before they invaded Attica, Pericles, son of
+Xanthippus, one of the ten generals of the Athenians, finding that the
+invasion was to take place, conceived the idea that Archidamus, who
+happened to be his friend, might possibly pass by his estate without
+ravaging it.  This he might do, either from a personal wish to oblige
+him, or acting under instructions from Lacedaemon for the purpose of
+creating a prejudice against him, as had been before attempted in
+the demand for the expulsion of the accursed family.  He accordingly
+took the precaution of announcing to the Athenians in the assembly
+that, although Archidamus was his friend, yet this friendship should
+not extend to the detriment of the state, and that in case the enemy
+should make his houses and lands an exception to the rest and not
+pillage them, he at once gave them up to be public property, so that
+they should not bring him into suspicion.  He also gave the citizens
+some advice on their present affairs in the same strain as before.
+They were to prepare for the war, and to carry in their property
+from the country.  They were not to go out to battle, but to come
+into the city and guard it, and get ready their fleet, in which
+their real strength lay.  They were also to keep a tight rein on
+their allies--the strength of Athens being derived from the money
+brought in by their payments, and success in war depending principally
+upon conduct and capital.  had no reason to despond.  Apart from other
+sources of income, an average revenue of six hundred talents of silver
+was drawn from the tribute of the allies; and there were still six
+thousand talents of coined silver in the Acropolis, out of nine
+thousand seven hundred that had once been there, from which the
+money had been taken for the porch of the Acropolis, the other
+public buildings, and for Potidaea.  This did not include the
+uncoined gold and silver in public and private offerings, the sacred
+vessels for the processions and games, the Median spoils, and
+similar resources to the amount of five hundred talents.  To this he
+added the treasures of the other temples.  These were by no means
+inconsiderable, and might fairly be used.  Nay, if they were ever
+absolutely driven to it, they might take even the gold ornaments of
+Athene herself; for the statue contained forty talents of pure gold
+and it was all removable.  This might be used for self-preservation,
+and must every penny of it be restored.  Such was their financial
+position--surely a satisfactory one.  Then they had an army of
+thirteen thousand heavy infantry, besides sixteen thousand more in the
+garrisons and on home duty at Athens.  This was at first the number
+of men on guard in the event of an invasion: it was composed of the
+oldest and youngest levies and the resident aliens who had heavy
+armour.  The Phaleric wall ran for four miles, before it joined that
+round the city; and of this last nearly five had a guard, although
+part of it was left without one, viz., that between the Long Wall
+and the Phaleric.  Then there were the Long Walls to Piraeus, a
+distance of some four miles and a half, the outer of which was manned.
+Lastly, the circumference of Piraeus with Munychia was nearly seven
+miles and a half; only half of this, however, was guarded.  Pericles
+also showed them that they had twelve hundred horse including
+mounted archers, with sixteen hundred archers unmounted, and three
+hundred galleys fit for service.  Such were the resources of Athens
+in the different departments when the Peloponnesian invasion was
+impending and hostilities were being commenced.  Pericles also urged
+his usual arguments for expecting a favourable issue to the war.
+
+The Athenians listened to his advice, and began to carry in their
+wives and children from the country, and all their household
+furniture, even to the woodwork of their houses which they took
+down.  Their sheep and cattle they sent over to Euboea and the adjacent
+islands.  But they found it hard to move, as most of them had been
+always used to live in the country.
+
+From very early times this had been more the case with the Athenians
+than with others.  Under Cecrops and the first kings, down to the reign
+of Theseus, Attica had always consisted of a number of independent
+townships, each with its own town hall and magistrates.  Except in
+times of danger the king at Athens was not consulted; in ordinary
+seasons they carried on their government and settled their affairs
+without his interference; sometimes even they waged war against him,
+as in the case of the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus.  In
+Theseus, however, they had a king of equal intelligence and power; and
+one of the chief features in his organization of the country was to
+abolish the council-chambers and magistrates of the petty cities,
+and to merge them in the single council-chamber and town hall of the
+present capital.  Individuals might still enjoy their private
+property just as before, but they were henceforth compelled to have
+only one political centre, viz., Athens; which thus counted all the
+inhabitants of Attica among her citizens, so that when Theseus died he
+left a great state behind him.  Indeed, from him dates the Synoecia, or
+Feast of Union; which is paid for by the state, and which the
+Athenians still keep in honour of the goddess.  Before this the city
+consisted of the present citadel and the district beneath it looking
+rather towards the south.  This is shown by the fact that the temples
+of the other deities, besides that of Athene, are in the citadel;
+and even those that are outside it are mostly situated in this quarter
+of the city, as that of the Olympian Zeus, of the Pythian Apollo, of
+Earth, and of Dionysus in the Marshes, the same in whose honour the
+older Dionysia are to this day celebrated in the month of Anthesterion
+not only by the Athenians but also by their Ionian descendants.
+There are also other ancient temples in this quarter.  The fountain
+too, which, since the alteration made by the tyrants, has been
+called Enneacrounos, or Nine Pipes, but which, when the spring was
+open, went by the name of Callirhoe, or Fairwater, was in those
+days, from being so near, used for the most important offices.  Indeed,
+the old fashion of using the water before marriage and for other
+sacred purposes is still kept up.  Again, from their old residence in
+that quarter, the citadel is still known among Athenians as the city.
+
+The Athenians thus long lived scattered over Attica in independent
+townships.  Even after the centralization of Theseus, old habit still
+prevailed; and from the early times down to the present war most
+Athenians still lived in the country with their families and
+households, and were consequently not at all inclined to move now,
+especially as they had only just restored their establishments after
+the Median invasion.  Deep was their trouble and discontent at
+abandoning their houses and the hereditary temples of the ancient
+constitution, and at having to change their habits of life and to
+bid farewell to what each regarded as his native city.
+
+When they arrived at Athens, though a few had houses of their own to
+go to, or could find an asylum with friends or relatives, by far the
+greater number had to take up their dwelling in the parts of the
+city that were not built over and in the temples and chapels of the
+heroes, except the Acropolis and the temple of the Eleusinian
+Demeter and such other Places as were always kept closed.  The
+occupation of the plot of ground lying below the citadel called the
+Pelasgian had been forbidden by a curse; and there was also an ominous
+fragment of a Pythian oracle which said:
+
+Leave the Pelasgian parcel desolate,
+Woe worth the day that men inhabit it!
+
+Yet this too was now built over in the necessity of the moment.  And in
+my opinion, if the oracle proved true, it was in the opposite sense to
+what was expected.  For the misfortunes of the state did not arise from
+the unlawful occupation, but the necessity of the occupation from
+the war; and though the god did not mention this, he foresaw that it
+would be an evil day for Athens in which the plot came to be
+inhabited.  Many also took up their quarters in the towers of the walls
+or wherever else they could.  For when they were all come in, the
+city proved too small to hold them; though afterwards they divided the
+Long Walls and a great part of Piraeus into lots and settled there.
+All this while great attention was being given to the war; the
+allies were being mustered, and an armament of a hundred ships
+equipped for Peloponnese.  Such was the state of preparation at Athens.
+
+Meanwhile the army of the Peloponnesians was advancing.  The first
+town they came to in Attica was Oenoe, where they to enter the
+country.  Sitting down before it, they prepared to assault the wall
+with engines and otherwise.  Oenoe, standing upon the Athenian and
+Boeotian border, was of course a walled town, and was used as a
+fortress by the Athenians in time of war.  So the Peloponnesians
+prepared for their assault, and wasted some valuable time before the
+place.  This delay brought the gravest censure upon Archidamus.  Even
+during the levying of the war he had credit for weakness and
+Athenian sympathies by the half measures he had advocated; and after
+the army had assembled he had further injured himself in public
+estimation by his loitering at the Isthmus and the slowness with which
+the rest of the march had been conducted.  But all this was as
+nothing to the delay at Oenoe.  During this interval the Athenians were
+carrying in their property; and it was the belief of the
+Peloponnesians that a quick advance would have found everything
+still out, had it not been for his procrastination.  Such was the
+feeling of the army towards Archidamus during the siege.  But he, it is
+said, expected that the Athenians would shrink from letting their land
+be wasted, and would make their submission while it was still
+uninjured; and this was why he waited.
+
+But after he had assaulted Oenoe, and every possible attempt to take
+it had failed, as no herald came from Athens, he at last broke up
+his camp and invaded Attica.  This was about eighty days after the
+Theban attempt upon Plataea, just in the middle of summer, when the
+corn was ripe, and Archidamus, son of Zeuxis, king of Lacedaemon,
+was in command.  Encamping in Eleusis and the Thriasian plain, they
+began their ravages, and putting to flight some Athenian horse at a
+place called Rheiti, or the Brooks, they then advanced, keeping
+Mount Aegaleus on their right, through Cropia, until they reached
+Acharnae, the largest of the Athenian demes or townships.  Sitting down
+before it, they formed a camp there, and continued their ravages for a
+long while.
+
+The reason why Archidamus remained in order of battle at Acharnae
+during this incursion, instead of descending into the plain, is said
+to have been this.  He hoped that the Athenians might possibly be
+tempted by the multitude of their youth and the unprecedented
+efficiency of their service to come out to battle and attempt to
+stop the devastation of their lands.  Accordingly, as they had met
+him at Eleusis or the Thriasian plain, he tried if they could be
+provoked to a sally by the spectacle of a camp at Acharnae.  He thought
+the place itself a good position for encamping; and it seemed likely
+that such an important part of the state as the three thousand heavy
+infantry of the Acharnians would refuse to submit to the ruin of their
+property, and would force a battle on the rest of the citizens.  On the
+other hand, should the Athenians not take the field during this
+incursion, he could then fearlessly ravage the plain in future
+invasions, and extend his advance up to the very walls of Athens.
+After the Acharnians had lost their own property they would be less
+willing to risk themselves for that of their neighbours; and so
+there would be division in the Athenian counsels.  These were the
+motives of Archidamus for remaining at Acharnae.
+
+In the meanwhile, as long as the army was at Eleusis and the
+Thriasian plain, hopes were still entertained of its not advancing any
+nearer.  It was remembered that Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king
+of Lacedaemon, had invaded Attica with a Peloponnesian army fourteen
+years before, but had retreated without advancing farther than Eleusis
+and Thria, which indeed proved the cause of his exile from Sparta,
+as it was thought he had been bribed to retreat.  But when they saw the
+army at Acharnae, barely seven miles from Athens, they lost all
+patience.  The territory of Athens was being ravaged before the very
+eyes of the Athenians, a sight which the young men had never seen
+before and the old only in the Median wars; and it was naturally
+thought a grievous insult, and the determination was universal,
+especially among the young men, to sally forth and stop it.  Knots were
+formed in the streets and engaged in hot discussion; for if the
+proposed sally was warmly recommended, it was also in some cases
+opposed.  Oracles of the most various import were recited by the
+collectors, and found eager listeners in one or other of the
+disputants.  Foremost in pressing for the sally were the Acharnians, as
+constituting no small part of the army of the state, and as it was
+their land that was being ravaged.  In short, the whole city was in a
+most excited state; Pericles was the object of general indignation;
+his previous counsels were totally forgotten; he was abused for not
+leading out the army which he commanded, and was made responsible
+for the whole of the public suffering.
+
+He, meanwhile, seeing anger and infatuation just now in the
+ascendant, and of his wisdom in refusing a sally, would not call
+either assembly or meeting of the people, fearing the fatal results of
+a debate inspired by passion and not by prudence.  Accordingly he
+addressed himself to the defence of the city, and kept it as quiet
+as possible, though he constantly sent out cavalry to prevent raids on
+the lands near the city from flying parties of the enemy.  There was
+a trifling affair at Phrygia between a squadron of the Athenian
+horse with the Thessalians and the Boeotian cavalry; in which the
+former had rather the best of it, until the heavy infantry advanced to
+the support of the Boeotians, when the Thessalians and Athenians
+were routed and lost a few men, whose bodies, however, were
+recovered the same day without a truce.  The next day the
+Peloponnesians set up a trophy.  Ancient alliance brought the
+Thessalians to the aid of Athens; those who came being the Larisaeans,
+Pharsalians, Cranonians, Pyrasians, Gyrtonians, and Pheraeans.  The
+Larisaean commanders were Polymedes and Aristonus, two party leaders
+in Larisa; the Pharsalian general was Menon; each of the other
+cities had also its own commander.
+
+In the meantime the Peloponnesians, as the Athenians did not come
+out to engage them, broke up from Acharnae and ravaged some of the
+demes between Mount Parnes and Brilessus.  While they were in Attica
+the Athenians sent off the hundred ships which they had been preparing
+round Peloponnese, with a thousand heavy infantry and four hundred
+archers on board, under the command of Carcinus, son of Xenotimus,
+Proteas, son of Epicles, and Socrates, son of Antigenes.  This armament
+weighed anchor and started on its cruise, and the Peloponnesians,
+after remaining in Attica as long as their provisions lasted,
+retired through Boeotia by a different road to that by which they
+had entered.  As they passed Oropus they ravaged the territory of
+Graea, which is held by the Oropians from Athens, and reaching
+Peloponnese broke up to their respective cities.
+
+After they had retired the Athenians set guards by land and sea at
+the points at which they intended to have regular stations during
+the war.  They also resolved to set apart a special fund of a
+thousand talents from the moneys in the Acropolis.  This was not to
+be spent, but the current expenses of the war were to be otherwise
+provided for.  If any one should move or put to the vote a
+proposition for using the money for any purpose whatever except that
+of defending the city in the event of the enemy bringing a fleet to
+make an attack by sea, it should be a capital offence.  With this sum
+of money they also set aside a special fleet of one hundred galleys,
+the best ships of each year, with their captains.  None of these were
+to be used except with the money and against the same peril, should
+such peril arise.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred ships round Peloponnese,
+reinforced by a Corcyraean squadron of fifty vessels and some others
+of the allies in those parts, cruised about the coasts and ravaged the
+country.  Among other places they landed in Laconia and made an assault
+upon Methone; there being no garrison in the place, and the wall being
+weak.  But it so happened that Brasidas, son of Tellis, a Spartan,
+was in command of a guard for the defence of the district.  Hearing
+of the attack, he hurried with a hundred heavy infantry to the
+assistance of the besieged, and dashing through the army of the
+Athenians, which was scattered over the country and had its
+attention turned to the wall, threw himself into Methone.  He lost a
+few men in making good his entrance, but saved the place and won the
+thanks of Sparta by his exploit, being thus the first officer who
+obtained this notice during the war.  The Athenians at once weighed
+anchor and continued their cruise.  Touching at Pheia in Elis, they
+ravaged the country for two days and defeated a picked force of
+three hundred men that had come from the vale of Elis and the
+immediate neighbourhood to the rescue.  But a stiff squall came down
+upon them, and, not liking to face it in a place where there was no
+harbour, most of them got on board their ships, and doubling Point
+Ichthys sailed into the port of Pheia.  In the meantime the Messenians,
+and some others who could not get on board, marched over by land and
+took Pheia.  The fleet afterwards sailed round and picked them up and
+then put to sea; Pheia being evacuated, as the main army of the Eleans
+had now come up.  The Athenians continued their cruise, and ravaged
+other places on the coast.
+
+About the same time the Athenians sent thirty ships to cruise
+round Locris and also to guard Euboea; Cleopompus, son of Clinias,
+being in command.  Making descents from the fleet he ravaged certain
+places on the sea-coast, and captured Thronium and took hostages
+from it.  He also defeated at Alope the Locrians that had assembled
+to resist him.
+
+During the summer the Athenians also expelled the Aeginetans with
+their wives and children from Aegina, on the ground of their having
+been the chief agents in bringing the war upon them.  Besides, Aegina
+lies so near Peloponnese that it seemed safer to send colonists of
+their own to hold it, and shortly afterwards the settlers were sent
+out.  The banished Aeginetans found an asylum in Thyrea, which was
+given to them by Lacedaemon, not only on account of her quarrel with
+Athens, but also because the Aeginetans had laid her under obligations
+at the time of the earthquake and the revolt of the Helots.  The
+territory of Thyrea is on the frontier of Argolis and Laconia,
+reaching down to the sea.  Those of the Aeginetans who did not settle
+here were scattered over the rest of Hellas.
+
+The same summer, at the beginning of a new lunar month, the only
+time by the way at which it appears possible, the sun was eclipsed
+after noon.  After it had assumed the form of a crescent and some of
+the stars had come out, it returned to its natural shape.
+
+During the same summer Nymphodorus, son of Pythes, an Abderite,
+whose sister Sitalces had married, was made their proxenus by the
+Athenians and sent for to Athens.  They had hitherto considered him
+their enemy; but he had great influence with Sitalces, and they wished
+this prince to become their ally.  Sitalces was the son of Teres and
+King of the Thracians.  Teres, the father of Sitalces, was the first to
+establish the great kingdom of the Odrysians on a scale quite
+unknown to the rest of Thrace, a large portion of the Thracians
+being independent.  This Teres is in no way related to Tereus who
+married Pandion's daughter Procne from Athens; nor indeed did they
+belong to the same part of Thrace.  Tereus lived in Daulis, part of
+what is now called Phocis, but which at that time was inhabited by
+Thracians.  It was in this land that the women perpetrated the
+outrage upon Itys; and many of the poets when they mention the
+nightingale call it the Daulian bird.  Besides, Pandion in
+contracting an alliance for his daughter would consider the advantages
+of mutual assistance, and would naturally prefer a match at the
+above moderate distance to the journey of many days which separates
+Athens from the Odrysians.  Again the names are different; and this
+Teres was king of the Odrysians, the first by the way who attained
+to any power.  Sitalces, his son, was now sought as an ally by the
+Athenians, who desired his aid in the reduction of the Thracian
+towns and of Perdiccas.  Coming to Athens, Nymphodorus concluded the
+alliance with Sitalces and made his son Sadocus an Athenian citizen,
+and promised to finish the war in Thrace by persuading Sitalces to
+send the Athenians a force of Thracian horse and targeteers.  He also
+reconciled them with Perdiccas, and induced them to restore Therme
+to him; upon which Perdiccas at once joined the Athenians and
+Phormio in an expedition against the Chalcidians.  Thus Sitalces, son
+of Teres, King of the Thracians, and Perdiccas, son of Alexander, King
+of the Macedonians, became allies of Athens.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred vessels were still cruising
+round Peloponnese.  After taking Sollium, a town belonging to
+Corinth, and presenting the city and territory to the Acarnanians of
+Palaira, they stormed Astacus, expelled its tyrant Evarchus, and
+gained the place for their confederacy.  Next they sailed to the island
+of Cephallenia and brought it over without using force.  Cephallenia
+lies off Acarnania and Leucas, and consists of four states, the
+Paleans, Cranians, Samaeans, and Pronaeans.  Not long afterwards the
+fleet returned to Athens.  Towards the autumn of this year the
+Athenians invaded the Megarid with their whole levy, resident aliens
+included, under the command of Pericles, son of Xanthippus.  The
+Athenians in the hundred ships round Peloponnese on their journey home
+had just reached Aegina, and hearing that the citizens at home were in
+full force at Megara, now sailed over and joined them.  This was
+without doubt the largest army of Athenians ever assembled, the
+state being still in the flower of her strength and yet unvisited by
+the plague.  Full ten thousand heavy infantry were in the field, all
+Athenian citizens, besides the three thousand before Potidaea.  Then
+the resident aliens who joined in the incursion were at least three
+thousand strong; besides which there was a multitude of light
+troops.  They ravaged the greater part of the territory, and then
+retired.  Other incursions into the Megarid were afterwards made by the
+Athenians annually during the war, sometimes only with cavalry,
+sometimes with all their forces.  This went on until the capture of
+Nisaea.  Atalanta also, the desert island off the Opuntian coast, was
+towards the end of this summer converted into a fortified post by
+the Athenians, in order to prevent privateers issuing from Opus and
+the rest of Locris and plundering Euboea.  Such were the events of this
+summer after the return of the Peloponnesians from Attica.
+
+In the ensuing winter the Acarnanian Evarchus, wishing to return
+to Astacus, persuaded the Corinthians to sail over with forty ships
+and fifteen hundred heavy infantry and restore him; himself also
+hiring some mercenaries.  In command of the force were Euphamidas,
+son of Aristonymus, Timoxenus, son of Timocrates, and Eumachus, son of
+Chrysis, who sailed over and restored him and, after failing in an
+attempt on some places on the Acarnanian coast which they were
+desirous of gaining, began their voyage home.  Coasting along shore
+they touched at Cephallenia and made a descent on the Cranian
+territory, and losing some men by the treachery of the Cranians, who
+fell suddenly upon them after having agreed to treat, put to sea
+somewhat hurriedly and returned home.
+
+In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost
+to those who had first fallen in this war.  It was a custom of their
+ancestors, and the manner of it is as follows.  Three days before the
+ceremony, the bones of the dead are laid out in a tent which has
+been erected; and their friends bring to their relatives such
+offerings as they please.  In the funeral procession cypress coffins
+are borne in cars, one for each tribe; the bones of the deceased being
+placed in the coffin of their tribe.  Among these is carried one
+empty bier decked for the missing, that is, for those whose bodies
+could not be recovered.  Any citizen or stranger who pleases, joins
+in the procession: and the female relatives are there to wail at the
+burial.  The dead are laid in the public sepulchre in the Beautiful
+suburb of the city, in which those who fall in war are always
+buried; with the exception of those slain at Marathon, who for their
+singular and extraordinary valour were interred on the spot where they
+fell.  After the bodies have been laid in the earth, a man chosen by
+the state, of approved wisdom and eminent reputation, pronounces
+over them an appropriate panegyric; after which all retire.  Such is
+the manner of the burying; and throughout the whole of the war,
+whenever the occasion arose, the established custom was observed.
+Meanwhile these were the first that had fallen, and Pericles, son of
+Xanthippus, was chosen to pronounce their eulogium.  When the proper
+time arrived, he advanced from the sepulchre to an elevated platform
+in order to be heard by as many of the crowd as possible, and spoke as
+follows:
+
+"Most of my predecessors in this place have commended him who made
+this speech part of the law, telling us that it is well that it should
+be delivered at the burial of those who fall in battle.  For myself,
+I should have thought that the worth which had displayed itself in
+deeds would be sufficiently rewarded by honours also shown by deeds;
+such as you now see in this funeral prepared at the people's cost.  And
+I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to
+be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall
+according as he spoke well or ill.  For it is hard to speak properly
+upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers
+that you are speaking the truth.  On the one hand, the friend who is
+familiar with every fact of the story may think that some point has
+not been set forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it
+to deserve; on the other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be
+led by envy to suspect exaggeration if he hears anything above his own
+nature.  For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they
+can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the
+actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with
+it incredulity.  However, since our ancestors have stamped this
+custom with their approval, it becomes my duty to obey the law and
+to try to satisfy your several wishes and opinions as best I may.
+
+"I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that
+they should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like
+the present.  They dwelt in the country without break in the succession
+from generation to generation, and handed it down free to the
+present time by their valour.  And if our more remote ancestors deserve
+praise, much more do our own fathers, who added to their inheritance
+the empire which we now possess, and spared no pains to be able to
+leave their acquisitions to us of the present generation.  Lastly,
+there are few parts of our dominions that have not been augmented by
+those of us here, who are still more or less in the vigour of life;
+while the mother country has been furnished by us with everything that
+can enable her to depend on her own resources whether for war or for
+peace.  That part of our history which tells of the military
+achievements which gave us our several possessions, or of the ready
+valour with which either we or our fathers stemmed the tide of
+Hellenic or foreign aggression, is a theme too familiar to my
+hearers for me to dilate on, and I shall therefore pass it by.  But
+what was the road by which we reached our position, what the form of
+government under which our greatness grew, what the national habits
+out of which it sprang; these are questions which I may try to solve
+before I proceed to my panegyric upon these men; since I think this to
+be a subject upon which on the present occasion a speaker may properly
+dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether citizens or
+foreigners, may listen with advantage.
+
+"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states;
+we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves.  Its
+administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it
+is called a democracy.  If we look to the laws, they afford equal
+justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing,
+advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class
+considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again
+does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is
+not hindered by the obscurity of his condition.  The freedom which we
+enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life.  There,
+far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do
+not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what
+he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot
+fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty.  But
+all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as
+citizens.  Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to
+obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the
+protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute
+book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot
+be broken without acknowledged disgrace.
+
+"Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh
+itself from business.  We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year
+round, and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily
+source of pleasure and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude
+of our city draws the produce of the world into our harbour, so that
+to the Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury
+as those of his own.
+
+"If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our
+antagonists.  We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien
+acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing,
+although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our
+liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native
+spirit of our citizens; while in education, where our rivals from
+their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at
+Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to
+encounter every legitimate danger.  In proof of this it may be
+noticed that the Lacedaemonians do not invade our country alone, but
+bring with them all their confederates; while we Athenians advance
+unsupported into the territory of a neighbour, and fighting upon a
+foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their
+homes.  Our united force was never yet encountered by any enemy,
+because we have at once to attend to our marine and to dispatch our
+citizens by land upon a hundred different services; so that,
+wherever they engage with some such fraction of our strength, a
+success against a detachment is magnified into a victory over the
+nation, and a defeat into a reverse suffered at the hands of our
+entire people.  And yet if with habits not of labour but of ease, and
+courage not of art but of nature, we are still willing to encounter
+danger, we have the double advantage of escaping the experience of
+hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need as
+fearlessly as those who are never free from them.
+
+"Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of
+admiration.  We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge
+without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and
+place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in
+declining the struggle against it.  Our public men have, besides
+politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary
+citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still
+fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding
+him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as
+useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot
+originate, and, instead of looking on discussion as a
+stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable
+preliminary to any wise action at all.  Again, in our enterprises we
+present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each
+carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons;
+although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of
+reflection.  But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most
+justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and
+pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger.  In
+generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by
+conferring, not by receiving, favours.  Yet, of course, the doer of the
+favour is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness
+to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less
+keenly from the very consciousness that the return he makes will be
+a payment, not a free gift.  And it is only the Athenians, who,
+fearless of consequences, confer their benefits not from
+calculations of expediency, but in the confidence of liberality.
+
+"In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I
+doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to
+depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a
+versatility, as the Athenian.  And that this is no mere boast thrown
+out for the occasion, but plain matter of fact, the power of the state
+acquired by these habits proves.  For Athens alone of her
+contemporaries is found when tested to be greater than her reputation,
+and alone gives no occasion to her assailants to blush at the
+antagonist by whom they have been worsted, or to her subjects to
+question her title by merit to rule.  Rather, the admiration of the
+present and succeeding ages will be ours, since we have not left our
+power without witness, but have shown it by mighty proofs; and far
+from needing a Homer for our panegyrist, or other of his craft whose
+verses might charm for the moment only for the impression which they
+gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced every sea and land
+to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil or
+for good, have left imperishable monuments behind us.  Such is the
+Athens for which these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to
+lose her, nobly fought and died; and well may every one of their
+survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.
+
+"Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our
+country, it has been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the
+same as theirs who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the
+panegyric of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by
+definite proofs established.  That panegyric is now in a great
+measure complete; for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what
+the heroism of these and their like have made her, men whose fame,
+unlike that of most Hellenes, will be found to be only commensurate
+with their deserts.  And if a test of worth be wanted, it is to be
+found in their closing scene, and this not only in cases in which it
+set the final seal upon their merit, but also in those in which it
+gave the first intimation of their having any.  For there is justice in
+the claim that steadfastness in his country's battles should be as a
+cloak to cover a man's other imperfections; since the good action
+has blotted out the bad, and his merit as a citizen more than
+outweighed his demerits as an individual.  But none of these allowed
+either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his
+spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to
+tempt him to shrink from danger.  No, holding that vengeance upon their
+enemies was more to be desired than any personal blessings, and
+reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they joyfully
+determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their vengeance, and to
+let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope the uncertainty of
+final success, in the business before them they thought fit to act
+boldly and trust in themselves.  Thus choosing to die resisting, rather
+than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour, but met danger
+face to face, and after one brief moment, while at the summit of their
+fortune, escaped, not from their fear, but from their glory.
+
+"So died these men as became Athenians.  You, their survivors, must
+determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you
+may pray that it may have a happier issue.  And not contented with
+ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up
+with the defence of your country, though these would furnish a
+valuable text to a speaker even before an audience so alive to them as
+the present, you must yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed
+your eyes upon her from day to day, till love of her fills your
+hearts; and then, when all her greatness shall break upon you, you
+must reflect that it was by courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling
+of honour in action that men were enabled to win all this, and that no
+personal failure in an enterprise could make them consent to deprive
+their country of their valour, but they laid it at her feet as the
+most glorious contribution that they could offer.  For this offering of
+their lives made in common by them all they each of them
+individually received that renown which never grows old, and for a
+sepulchre, not so much that in which their bones have been
+deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid
+up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on which deed or
+story shall call for its commemoration.  For heroes have the whole
+earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the
+column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every
+breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that
+of the heart.  These take as your model and, judging happiness to be
+the fruit of freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the
+dangers of war.  For it is not the miserable that would most justly
+be unsparing of their lives; these have nothing to hope for: it is
+rather they to whom continued life may bring reverses as yet
+unknown, and to whom a fall, if it came, would be most tremendous in
+its consequences.  And surely, to a man of spirit, the degradation of
+cowardice must be immeasurably more grievous than the unfelt death
+which strikes him in the midst of his strength and patriotism!
+
+"Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to
+the parents of the dead who may be here.  Numberless are the chances to
+which, as they know, the life of man is subject; but fortunate
+indeed are they who draw for their lot a death so glorious as that
+which has caused your mourning, and to whom life has been so exactly
+measured as to terminate in the happiness in which it has been passed.
+Still I know that this is a hard saying, especially when those are
+in question of whom you will constantly be reminded by seeing in the
+homes of others blessings of which once you also boasted: for grief is
+felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for
+the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed.  Yet you who
+are still of an age to beget children must bear up in the hope of
+having others in their stead; not only will they help you to forget
+those whom you have lost, but will be to the state at once a
+reinforcement and a security; for never can a fair or just policy be
+expected of the citizen who does not, like his fellows, bring to the
+decision the interests and apprehensions of a father.  While those of
+you who have passed your prime must congratulate yourselves with the
+thought that the best part of your life was fortunate, and that the
+brief span that remains will be cheered by the fame of the departed.
+For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour
+it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age
+and helplessness.
+
+"Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous
+struggle before you.  When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him,
+and should your merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find
+it difficult not merely to overtake, but even to approach their
+renown.  The living have envy to contend with, while those who are no
+longer in our path are honoured with a goodwill into which rivalry
+does not enter.  On the other hand, if I must say anything on the
+subject of female excellence to those of you who will now be in
+widowhood, it will be all comprised in this brief exhortation.  Great
+will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and
+greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men, whether
+for good or for bad.
+
+"My task is now finished.  I have performed it to the best of my
+ability, and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now
+satisfied.  If deeds be in question, those who are here interred have
+received part of their honours already, and for the rest, their
+children will be brought up till manhood at the public expense: the
+state thus offers a valuable prize, as the garland of victory in
+this race of valour, for the reward both of those who have fallen
+and their survivors.  And where the rewards for merit are greatest,
+there are found the best citizens.
+
+"And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your
+relatives, you may depart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+_Second Year of the War - The Plague of Athens - Position and
+Policy of Pericles - Fall of Potidaea_
+
+Such was the funeral that took place during this winter, with
+which the first year of the war came to an end.  In the first days of
+summer the Lacedaemonians and their allies, with two-thirds of their
+forces as before, invaded Attica, under the command of Archidamus, son
+of Zeuxidamus, King of Lacedaemon, and sat down and laid waste the
+country.  Not many days after their arrival in Attica the plague
+first began to show itself among the Athenians.  It was said that it
+had broken out in many places previously in the neighbourhood of
+Lemnos and elsewhere; but a pestilence of such extent and mortality
+was nowhere remembered.  Neither were the physicians at first of any
+service, ignorant as they were of the proper way to treat it, but they
+died themselves the most thickly, as they visited the sick most often;
+nor did any human art succeed any better.  Supplications in the
+temples, divinations, and so forth were found equally futile, till the
+overwhelming nature of the disaster at last put a stop to them
+altogether.
+
+It first began, it is said, in the parts of Ethiopia above Egypt,
+and thence descended into Egypt and Libya and into most of the
+King's country.  Suddenly falling upon Athens, it first attacked the
+population in Piraeus--which was the occasion of their saying that
+the Peloponnesians had poisoned the reservoirs, there being as yet
+no wells there--and afterwards appeared in the upper city, when the
+deaths became much more frequent.  All speculation as to its origin and
+its causes, if causes can be found adequate to produce so great a
+disturbance, I leave to other writers, whether lay or professional;
+for myself, I shall simply set down its nature, and explain the
+symptoms by which perhaps it may be recognized by the student, if it
+should ever break out again.  This I can the better do, as I had the
+disease myself, and watched its operation in the case of others.
+
+That year then is admitted to have been otherwise unprecedentedly
+free from sickness; and such few cases as occurred all determined in
+this.  As a rule, however, there was no ostensible cause; but people in
+good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the
+head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such
+as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and
+fetid breath.  These symptoms were followed by sneezing and hoarseness,
+after which the pain soon reached the chest, and produced a hard
+cough.  When it fixed in the stomach, it upset it; and discharges of
+bile of every kind named by physicians ensued, accompanied by very
+great distress.  In most cases also an ineffectual retching followed,
+producing violent spasms, which in some cases ceased soon after, in
+others much later.  Externally the body was not very hot to the
+touch, nor pale in its appearance, but reddish, livid, and breaking
+out into small pustules and ulcers.  But internally it burned so that
+the patient could not bear to have on him clothing or linen even of
+the very lightest description; or indeed to be otherwise than stark
+naked.  What they would have liked best would have been to throw
+themselves into cold water; as indeed was done by some of the
+neglected sick, who plunged into the rain-tanks in their agonies of
+unquenchable thirst; though it made no difference whether they drank
+little or much.  Besides this, the miserable feeling of not being
+able to rest or sleep never ceased to torment them.  The body meanwhile
+did not waste away so long as the distemper was at its height, but
+held out to a marvel against its ravages; so that when they succumbed,
+as in most cases, on the seventh or eighth day to the internal
+inflammation, they had still some strength in them.  But if they passed
+this stage, and the disease descended further into the bowels,
+inducing a violent ulceration there accompanied by severe diarrhoea,
+this brought on a weakness which was generally fatal.  For the disorder
+first settled in the head, ran its course from thence through the
+whole of the body, and, even where it did not prove mortal, it still
+left its mark on the extremities; for it settled in the privy parts,
+the fingers and the toes, and many escaped with the loss of these,
+some too with that of their eyes.  Others again were seized with an
+entire loss of memory on their first recovery, and did not know either
+themselves or their friends.
+
+But while the nature of the distemper was such as to baffle all
+description, and its attacks almost too grievous for human nature to
+endure, it was still in the following circumstance that its difference
+from all ordinary disorders was most clearly shown.  All the birds
+and beasts that prey upon human bodies, either abstained from touching
+them (though there were many lying unburied), or died after tasting
+them.  In proof of this, it was noticed that birds of this kind
+actually disappeared; they were not about the bodies, or indeed to
+be seen at all.  But of course the effects which I have mentioned could
+best be studied in a domestic animal like the dog.
+
+Such then, if we pass over the varieties of particular cases which
+were many and peculiar, were the general features of the distemper.
+Meanwhile the town enjoyed an immunity from all the ordinary
+disorders; or if any case occurred, it ended in this.  Some died in
+neglect, others in the midst of every attention.  No remedy was found
+that could be used as a specific; for what did good in one case, did
+harm in another.  Strong and weak constitutions proved equally
+incapable of resistance, all alike being swept away, although dieted
+with the utmost precaution.  By far the most terrible feature in the
+malady was the dejection which ensued when any one felt himself
+sickening, for the despair into which they instantly fell took away
+their power of resistance, and left them a much easier prey to the
+disorder; besides which, there was the awful spectacle of men dying
+like sheep, through having caught the infection in nursing each other.
+This caused the greatest mortality.  On the one hand, if they were
+afraid to visit each other, they perished from neglect; indeed many
+houses were emptied of their inmates for want of a nurse: on the
+other, if they ventured to do so, death was the consequence.  This
+was especially the case with such as made any pretensions to goodness:
+honour made them unsparing of themselves in their attendance in
+their friends' houses, where even the members of the family were at
+last worn out by the moans of the dying, and succumbed to the force of
+the disaster.  Yet it was with those who had recovered from the disease
+that the sick and the dying found most compassion.  These knew what
+it was from experience, and had now no fear for themselves; for the
+same man was never attacked twice--never at least fatally.  And such
+persons not only received the congratulations of others, but
+themselves also, in the elation of the moment, half entertained the
+vain hope that they were for the future safe from any disease
+whatsoever.
+
+An aggravation of the existing calamity was the influx from the
+country into the city, and this was especially felt by the new
+arrivals.  As there were no houses to receive them, they had to be
+lodged at the hot season of the year in stifling cabins, where the
+mortality raged without restraint.  The bodies of dying men lay one
+upon another, and half-dead creatures reeled about the streets and
+gathered round all the fountains in their longing for water.  The
+sacred places also in which they had quartered themselves were full of
+corpses of persons that had died there, just as they were; for as
+the disaster passed all bounds, men, not knowing what was to become of
+them, became utterly careless of everything, whether sacred or
+profane.  All the burial rites before in use were entirely upset, and
+they buried the bodies as best they could.  Many from want of the
+proper appliances, through so many of their friends having died
+already, had recourse to the most shameless sepultures: sometimes
+getting the start of those who had raised a pile, they threw their own
+dead body upon the stranger's pyre and ignited it; sometimes they
+tossed the corpse which they were carrying on the top of another
+that was burning, and so went off.
+
+Nor was this the only form of lawless extravagance which owed its
+origin to the plague.  Men now coolly ventured on what they had
+formerly done in a corner, and not just as they pleased, seeing the
+rapid transitions produced by persons in prosperity suddenly dying and
+those who before had nothing succeeding to their property.  So they
+resolved to spend quickly and enjoy themselves, regarding their
+lives and riches as alike things of a day.  Perseverance in what men
+called honour was popular with none, it was so uncertain whether
+they would be spared to attain the object; but it was settled that
+present enjoyment, and all that contributed to it, was both honourable
+and useful.  Fear of gods or law of man there was none to restrain
+them.  As for the first, they judged it to be just the same whether
+they worshipped them or not, as they saw all alike perishing; and
+for the last, no one expected to live to be brought to trial for his
+offences, but each felt that a far severer sentence had been already
+passed upon them all and hung ever over their heads, and before this
+fell it was only reasonable to enjoy life a little.
+
+Such was the nature of the calamity, and heavily did it weigh on the
+Athenians; death raging within the city and devastation without.  Among
+other things which they remembered in their distress was, very
+naturally, the following verse which the old men said had long ago
+been uttered:
+
+   A Dorian war shall come and with it death.
+
+So a dispute arose as to whether dearth and not death had not been the
+word in the verse; but at the present juncture, it was of course
+decided in favour of the latter; for the people made their
+recollection fit in with their sufferings.  I fancy, however, that if
+another Dorian war should ever afterwards come upon us, and a dearth
+should happen to accompany it, the verse will probably be read
+accordingly.  The oracle also which had been given to the
+Lacedaemonians was now remembered by those who knew of it.  When the
+god was asked whether they should go to war, he answered that if
+they put their might into it, victory would be theirs, and that he
+would himself be with them.  With this oracle events were supposed to
+tally.  For the plague broke out as soon as the Peloponnesians
+invaded Attica, and never entering Peloponnese (not at least to an
+extent worth noticing), committed its worst ravages at Athens, and
+next to Athens, at the most populous of the other towns.  Such was
+the history of the plague.
+
+After ravaging the plain, the Peloponnesians advanced into the
+Paralian region as far as Laurium, where the Athenian silver mines
+are, and first laid waste the side looking towards Peloponnese, next
+that which faces Euboea and Andros.  But Pericles, who was still
+general, held the same opinion as in the former invasion, and would
+not let the Athenians march out against them.
+
+However, while they were still in the plain, and had not yet entered
+the Paralian land, he had prepared an armament of a hundred ships
+for Peloponnese, and when all was ready put out to sea.  On board the
+ships he took four thousand Athenian heavy infantry, and three hundred
+cavalry in horse transports, and then for the first time made out of
+old galleys; fifty Chian and Lesbian vessels also joining in the
+expedition.  When this Athenian armament put out to sea, they left
+the Peloponnesians in Attica in the Paralian region.  Arriving at
+Epidaurus in Peloponnese they ravaged most of the territory, and
+even had hopes of taking the town by an assault: in this however
+they were not successful.  Putting out from Epidaurus, they laid
+waste the territory of Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione, all towns on
+the coast of Peloponnese, and thence sailing to Prasiai, a maritime
+town in Laconia, ravaged part of its territory, and took and sacked
+the place itself; after which they returned home, but found the
+Peloponnesians gone and no longer in Attica.
+
+During the whole time that the Peloponnesians were in Attica and the
+Athenians on the expedition in their ships, men kept dying of the
+plague both in the armament and in Athens.  Indeed it was actually
+asserted that the departure of the Peloponnesians was hastened by fear
+of the disorder; as they heard from deserters that it was in the city,
+and also could see the burials going on.  Yet in this invasion they
+remained longer than in any other, and ravaged the whole country,
+for they were about forty days in Attica.
+
+The same summer Hagnon, son of Nicias, and Cleopompus, son of
+Clinias, the colleagues of Pericles, took the armament of which he had
+lately made use, and went off upon an expedition against the
+Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace and Potidaea, which was still
+under siege.  As soon as they arrived, they brought up their engines
+against Potidaea and tried every means of taking it, but did not
+succeed either in capturing the city or in doing anything else
+worthy of their preparations.  For the plague attacked them here
+also, and committed such havoc as to cripple them completely, even the
+previously healthy soldiers of the former expedition catching the
+infection from Hagnon's troops; while Phormio and the sixteen
+hundred men whom he commanded only escaped by being no longer in the
+neighbourhood of the Chalcidians.  The end of it was that Hagnon
+returned with his ships to Athens, having lost one thousand and
+fifty out of four thousand heavy infantry in about forty days;
+though the soldiers stationed there before remained in the country and
+carried on the siege of Potidaea.
+
+After the second invasion of the Peloponnesians a change came over
+the spirit of the Athenians.  Their land had now been twice laid waste;
+and war and pestilence at once pressed heavy upon them.  They began
+to find fault with Pericles, as the author of the war and the cause of
+all their misfortunes, and became eager to come to terms with
+Lacedaemon, and actually sent ambassadors thither, who did not however
+succeed in their mission.  Their despair was now complete and all
+vented itself upon Pericles.  When he saw them exasperated at the
+present turn of affairs and acting exactly as he had anticipated, he
+called an assembly, being (it must be remembered) still general,
+with the double object of restoring confidence and of leading them
+from these angry feelings to a calmer and more hopeful state of
+mind.  He accordingly came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+"I was not unprepared for the indignation of which I have been the
+object, as I know its causes; and I have called an assembly for the
+purpose of reminding you upon certain points, and of protesting
+against your being unreasonably irritated with me, or cowed by your
+sufferings.  I am of opinion that national greatness is more for the
+advantage of private citizens, than any individual well-being
+coupled with public humiliation.  A man may be personally ever so
+well off, and yet if his country be ruined he must be ruined with
+it; whereas a flourishing commonwealth always affords chances of
+salvation to unfortunate individuals.  Since then a state can support
+the misfortunes of private citizens, while they cannot support hers,
+it is surely the duty of every one to be forward in her defence, and
+not like you to be so confounded with your domestic afflictions as
+to give up all thoughts of the common safety, and to blame me for
+having counselled war and yourselves for having voted it.  And yet if
+you are angry with me, it is with one who, as I believe, is second
+to no man either in knowledge of the proper policy, or in the
+ability to expound it, and who is moreover not only a patriot but an
+honest one.  A man possessing that knowledge without that faculty of
+exposition might as well have no idea at all on the matter: if he
+had both these gifts, but no love for his country, he would be but a
+cold advocate for her interests; while were his patriotism not proof
+against bribery, everything would go for a price.  So that if you
+thought that I was even moderately distinguished for these qualities
+when you took my advice and went to war, there is certainly no
+reason now why I should be charged with having done wrong.
+
+"For those of course who have a free choice in the matter and
+whose fortunes are not at stake, war is the greatest of follies.  But
+if the only choice was between submission with loss of independence,
+and danger with the hope of preserving that independence, in such a
+case it is he who will not accept the risk that deserves blame, not he
+who will.  I am the same man and do not alter, it is you who change,
+since in fact you took my advice while unhurt, and waited for
+misfortune to repent of it; and the apparent error of my policy lies
+in the infirmity of your resolution, since the suffering that it
+entails is being felt by every one among you, while its advantage is
+still remote and obscure to all, and a great and sudden reverse having
+befallen you, your mind is too much depressed to persevere in your
+resolves.  For before what is sudden, unexpected, and least within
+calculation, the spirit quails; and putting all else aside, the plague
+has certainly been an emergency of this kind.  Born, however, as you
+are, citizens of a great state, and brought up, as you have been, with
+habits equal to your birth, you should be ready to face the greatest
+disasters and still to keep unimpaired the lustre of your name.  For
+the judgment of mankind is as relentless to the weakness that falls
+short of a recognized renown, as it is jealous of the arrogance that
+aspires higher than its due.  Cease then to grieve for your private
+afflictions, and address yourselves instead to the safety of the
+commonwealth.
+
+"If you shrink before the exertions which the war makes necessary,
+and fear that after all they may not have a happy result, you know the
+reasons by which I have often demonstrated to you the groundlessness
+of your apprehensions.  If those are not enough, I will now reveal an
+advantage arising from the greatness of your dominion, which I think
+has never yet suggested itself to you, which I never mentioned in my
+previous speeches, and which has so bold a sound that I should
+scarce adventure it now, were it not for the unnatural depression
+which I see around me.  You perhaps think that your empire extends only
+over your allies; I will declare to you the truth.  The visible field
+of action has two parts, land and sea.  In the whole of one of these
+you are completely supreme, not merely as far as you use it at
+present, but also to what further extent you may think fit: in fine,
+your naval resources are such that your vessels may go where they
+please, without the King or any other nation on earth being able to
+stop them.  So that although you may think it a great privation to lose
+the use of your land and houses, still you must see that this power is
+something widely different; and instead of fretting on their
+account, you should really regard them in the light of the gardens and
+other accessories that embellish a great fortune, and as, in
+comparison, of little moment.  You should know too that liberty
+preserved by your efforts will easily recover for us what we have
+lost, while, the knee once bowed, even what you have will pass from
+you.  Your fathers receiving these possessions not from others, but
+from themselves, did not let slip what their labour had acquired,
+but delivered them safe to you; and in this respect at least you
+must prove yourselves their equals, remembering that to lose what
+one has got is more disgraceful than to be balked in getting, and
+you must confront your enemies not merely with spirit but with
+disdain.  Confidence indeed a blissful ignorance can impart, ay, even
+to a coward's breast, but disdain is the privilege of those who,
+like us, have been assured by reflection of their superiority to their
+adversary.  And where the chances are the same, knowledge fortifies
+courage by the contempt which is its consequence, its trust being
+placed, not in hope, which is the prop of the desperate, but in a
+judgment grounded upon existing resources, whose anticipations are
+more to be depended upon.
+
+"Again, your country has a right to your services in sustaining
+the glories of her position.  These are a common source of pride to you
+all, and you cannot decline the burdens of empire and still expect
+to share its honours.  You should remember also that what you are
+fighting against is not merely slavery as an exchange for
+independence, but also loss of empire and danger from the
+animosities incurred in its exercise.  Besides, to recede is no
+longer possible, if indeed any of you in the alarm of the moment has
+become enamoured of the honesty of such an unambitious part.  For
+what you hold is, to speak somewhat plainly, a tyranny; to take it
+perhaps was wrong, but to let it go is unsafe.  And men of these
+retiring views, making converts of others, would quickly ruin a state;
+indeed the result would be the same if they could live independent
+by themselves; for the retiring and unambitious are never secure
+without vigorous protectors at their side; in fine, such qualities are
+useless to an imperial city, though they may help a dependency to an
+unmolested servitude.
+
+"But you must not be seduced by citizens like these or angry with
+me--who, if I voted for war, only did as you did yourselves--in spite
+of the enemy having invaded your country and done what you could be
+certain that he would do, if you refused to comply with his demands;
+and although besides what we counted for, the plague has come upon
+us--the only point indeed at which our calculation has been at fault.
+It is this, I know, that has had a large share in making me more
+unpopular than I should otherwise have been--quite undeservedly,
+unless you are also prepared to give me the credit of any success with
+which chance may present you.  Besides, the hand of heaven must be
+borne with resignation, that of the enemy with fortitude; this was the
+old way at Athens, and do not you prevent it being so still.  Remember,
+too, that if your country has the greatest name in all the world, it
+is because she never bent before disaster; because she has expended
+more life and effort in war than any other city, and has won for
+herself a power greater than any hitherto known, the memory of which
+will descend to the latest posterity; even if now, in obedience to the
+general law of decay, we should ever be forced to yield, still it will
+be remembered that we held rule over more Hellenes than any other
+Hellenic state, that we sustained the greatest wars against their
+united or separate powers, and inhabited a city unrivalled by any
+other in resources or magnitude.  These glories may incur the censure
+of the slow and unambitious; but in the breast of energy they will
+awake emulation, and in those who must remain without them an
+envious regret.  Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have fallen to
+the lot of all who have aspired to rule others; but where odium must
+be incurred, true wisdom incurs it for the highest objects.  Hatred
+also is short-lived; but that which makes the splendour of the present
+and the glory of the future remains for ever unforgotten.  Make your
+decision, therefore, for glory then and honour now, and attain both
+objects by instant and zealous effort: do not send heralds to
+Lacedaemon, and do not betray any sign of being oppressed by your
+present sufferings, since they whose minds are least sensitive to
+calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the
+greatest men and the greatest communities."
+
+Such were the arguments by which Pericles tried to cure the
+Athenians of their anger against him and to divert their thoughts from
+their immediate afflictions.  As a community he succeeded in convincing
+them; they not only gave up all idea of sending to Lacedaemon, but
+applied themselves with increased energy to the war; still as
+private individuals they could not help smarting under their
+sufferings, the common people having been deprived of the little
+that they were possessed, while the higher orders had lost fine
+properties with costly establishments and buildings in the country,
+and, worst of all, had war instead of peace.  In fact, the public
+feeling against him did not subside until he had been fined.  Not
+long afterwards, however, according to the way of the multitude,
+they again elected him general and committed all their affairs to
+his hands, having now become less sensitive to their private and
+domestic afflictions, and understanding that he was the best man of
+all for the public necessities.  For as long as he was at the head of
+the state during the peace, he pursued a moderate and conservative
+policy; and in his time its greatness was at its height.  When the
+war broke out, here also he seems to have rightly gauged the power
+of his country.  He outlived its commencement two years and six months,
+and the correctness of his previsions respecting it became better
+known by his death.  He told them to wait quietly, to pay attention
+to their marine, to attempt no new conquests, and to expose the city
+to no hazards during the war, and doing this, promised them a
+favourable result.  What they did was the very contrary, allowing
+private ambitions and private interests, in matters apparently quite
+foreign to the war, to lead them into projects unjust both to
+themselves and to their allies--projects whose success would only
+conduce to the honour and advantage of private persons, and whose
+failure entailed certain disaster on the country in the war.  The
+causes of this are not far to seek.  Pericles indeed, by his rank,
+ability, and known integrity, was enabled to exercise an independent
+control over the multitude--in short, to lead them instead of being
+led by them; for as he never sought power by improper means, he was
+never compelled to flatter them, but, on the contrary, enjoyed so high
+an estimation that he could afford to anger them by contradiction.
+Whenever he saw them unseasonably and insolently elated, he would with
+a word reduce them to alarm; on the other hand, if they fell victims
+to a panic, he could at once restore them to confidence.  In short,
+what was nominally a democracy became in his hands government by the
+first citizen.  With his successors it was different.  More on a level
+with one another, and each grasping at supremacy, they ended by
+committing even the conduct of state affairs to the whims of the
+multitude.  This, as might have been expected in a great and
+sovereign state, produced a host of blunders, and amongst them the
+Sicilian expedition; though this failed not so much through a
+miscalculation of the power of those against whom it was sent, as
+through a fault in the senders in not taking the best measures
+afterwards to assist those who had gone out, but choosing rather to
+occupy themselves with private cabals for the leadership of the
+commons, by which they not only paralysed operations in the field, but
+also first introduced civil discord at home.  Yet after losing most
+of their fleet besides other forces in Sicily, and with faction
+already dominant in the city, they could still for three years make
+head against their original adversaries, joined not only by the
+Sicilians, but also by their own allies nearly all in revolt, and at
+last by the King's son, Cyrus, who furnished the funds for the
+Peloponnesian navy.  Nor did they finally succumb till they fell the
+victims of their own intestine disorders.  So superfluously abundant
+were the resources from which the genius of Pericles foresaw an easy
+triumph in the war over the unaided forces of the Peloponnesians.
+
+During the same summer the Lacedaemonians and their allies made an
+expedition with a hundred ships against Zacynthus, an island lying off
+the coast of Elis, peopled by a colony of Achaeans from Peloponnese,
+and in alliance with Athens.  There were a thousand Lacedaemonian heavy
+infantry on board, and Cnemus, a Spartan, as admiral.  They made a
+descent from their ships, and ravaged most of the country; but as
+the inhabitants would not submit, they sailed back home.
+
+At the end of the same summer the Corinthian Aristeus, Aneristus,
+Nicolaus, and Stratodemus, envoys from Lacedaemon, Timagoras, a
+Tegean, and a private individual named Pollis from Argos, on their way
+to Asia to persuade the King to supply funds and join in the war, came
+to Sitalces, son of Teres in Thrace, with the idea of inducing him, if
+possible, to forsake the alliance of Athens and to march on Potidaea
+then besieged by an Athenian force, and also of getting conveyed by
+his means to their destination across the Hellespont to Pharnabazus,
+who was to send them up the country to the King.  But there chanced
+to be with Sitalces some Athenian ambassadors--Learchus, son of
+Callimachus, and Ameiniades, son of Philemon--who persuaded Sitalces'
+son, Sadocus, the new Athenian citizen, to put the men into their
+hands and thus prevent their crossing over to the King and doing their
+part to injure the country of his choice.  He accordingly had them
+seized, as they were travelling through Thrace to the vessel in
+which they were to cross the Hellespont, by a party whom he had sent
+on with Learchus and Ameiniades, and gave orders for their delivery to
+the Athenian ambassadors, by whom they were brought to Athens.  On
+their arrival, the Athenians, afraid that Aristeus, who had been
+notably the prime mover in the previous affairs of Potidaea and
+their Thracian possessions, might live to do them still more
+mischief if he escaped, slew them all the same day, without giving
+them a trial or hearing the defence which they wished to offer, and
+cast their bodies into a pit; thinking themselves justified in using
+in retaliation the same mode of warfare which the Lacedaemonians had
+begun, when they slew and cast into pits all the Athenian and allied
+traders whom they caught on board the merchantmen round Peloponnese.
+Indeed, at the outset of the war, the Lacedaemonians butchered as
+enemies all whom they took on the sea, whether allies of Athens or
+neutrals.
+
+About the same time towards the close of the summer, the Ambraciot
+forces, with a number of barbarians that they had raised, marched
+against the Amphilochian Argos and the rest of that country.  The
+origin of their enmity against the Argives was this.  This Argos and
+the rest of Amphilochia were colonized by Amphilochus, son of
+Amphiaraus.  Dissatisfied with the state of affairs at home on his
+return thither after the Trojan War, he built this city in the
+Ambracian Gulf, and named it Argos after his own country.  This was the
+largest town in Amphilochia, and its inhabitants the most powerful.
+Under the pressure of misfortune many generations afterwards, they
+called in the Ambraciots, their neighbours on the Amphilochian border,
+to join their colony; and it was by this union with the Ambraciots
+that they learnt their present Hellenic speech, the rest of the
+Amphilochians being barbarians.  After a time the Ambraciots expelled
+the Argives and held the city themselves.  Upon this the
+Amphilochians gave themselves over to the Acarnanians; and the two
+together called the Athenians, who sent them Phormio as general and
+thirty ships; upon whose arrival they took Argos by storm, and made
+slaves of the Ambraciots; and the Amphilochians and Acarnanians
+inhabited the town in common.  After this began the alliance between
+the Athenians and Acarnanians.  The enmity of the Ambraciots against
+the Argives thus commenced with the enslavement of their citizens; and
+afterwards during the war they collected this armament among
+themselves and the Chaonians, and other of the neighbouring
+barbarians.  Arrived before Argos, they became masters of the
+country; but not being successful in their attacks upon the town,
+returned home and dispersed among their different peoples.
+
+Such were the events of the summer.  The ensuing winter the Athenians
+sent twenty ships round Peloponnese, under the command of Phormio, who
+stationed himself at Naupactus and kept watch against any one
+sailing in or out of Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf.  Six others went
+to Caria and Lycia under Melesander, to collect tribute in those
+parts, and also to prevent the Peloponnesian privateers from taking up
+their station in those waters and molesting the passage of the
+merchantmen from Phaselis and Phoenicia and the adjoining continent.
+However, Melesander, going up the country into Lycia with a force of
+Athenians from the ships and the allies, was defeated and killed in
+battle, with the loss of a number of his troops.
+
+The same winter the Potidaeans at length found themselves no
+longer able to hold out against their besiegers.  The inroads of the
+Peloponnesians into Attica had not had the desired effect of making
+the Athenians raise the siege.  Provisions there were none left; and so
+far had distress for food gone in Potidaea that, besides a number of
+other horrors, instances had even occurred of the people having
+eaten one another.  In this extremity they at last made proposals for
+capitulating to the Athenian generals in command against
+them--Xenophon, son of Euripides, Hestiodorus, son of Aristocleides,
+and Phanomachus, son of Callimachus.  The generals accepted their
+proposals, seeing the sufferings of the army in so exposed a position;
+besides which the state had already spent two thousand talents upon
+the siege.  The terms of the capitulation were as follows: a free
+passage out for themselves, their children, wives and auxiliaries,
+with one garment apiece, the women with two, and a fixed sum of
+money for their journey.  Under this treaty they went out to Chalcidice
+and other places, according as was their power.  The Athenians,
+however, blamed the generals for granting terms without instructions
+from home, being of opinion that the place would have had to surrender
+at discretion.  They afterwards sent settlers of their own to Potidaea,
+and colonized it.  Such were the events of the winter, and so ended the
+second year of this war of which Thucydides was the historian.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+_Third Year of the War - Investment of Plataea - Naval Victories
+of Phormio - Thracian Irruption into Macedonia under Sitalces_
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies, instead of
+invading Attica, marched against Plataea, under the command of
+Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians.  He had
+encamped his army and was about to lay waste the country, when the
+Plataeans hastened to send envoys to him, and spoke as follows:
+"Archidamus and Lacedaemonians, in invading the Plataean territory,
+you do what is wrong in itself, and worthy neither of yourselves nor
+of the fathers who begot you.  Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, your
+countryman, after freeing Hellas from the Medes with the help of
+those Hellenes who were willing to undertake the risk of the battle
+fought near our city, offered sacrifice to Zeus the Liberator in the
+marketplace of Plataea, and calling all the allies together restored
+to the Plataeans their city and territory, and declared it
+independent and inviolate against aggression or conquest.  Should any
+such be attempted, the allies present were to help according to their
+power.  Your fathers rewarded us thus for the courage and patriotism
+that we displayed at that perilous epoch; but you do just the
+contrary, coming with our bitterest enemies, the Thebans, to enslave
+us.  We appeal, therefore, to the gods to whom the oaths were then
+made, to the gods of your ancestors, and lastly to those of our
+country, and call upon you to refrain from violating our territory
+or transgressing the oaths, and to let us live independent, as
+Pausanias decreed."
+
+The Plataeans had got thus far when they were cut short by
+Archidamus saying: "There is justice, Plataeans, in what you say, if
+you act up to your words.  According, to the grant of Pausanias,
+continue to be independent yourselves, and join in freeing those of
+your fellow countrymen who, after sharing in the perils of that
+period, joined in the oaths to you, and are now subject to the
+Athenians; for it is to free them and the rest that all this provision
+and war has been made.  I could wish that you would share our labours
+and abide by the oaths yourselves; if this is impossible, do what we
+have already required of you--remain neutral, enjoying your own; join
+neither side, but receive both as friends, neither as allies for the
+war.  With this we shall be satisfied." Such were the words of
+Archidamus.  The Plataeans, after hearing what he had to say, went into
+the city and acquainted the people with what had passed, and presently
+returned for answer that it was impossible for them to do what he
+proposed without consulting the Athenians, with whom their children
+and wives now were; besides which they had their fears for the town.
+After his departure, what was to prevent the Athenians from coming and
+taking it out of their hands, or the Thebans, who would be included in
+the oaths, from taking advantage of the proposed neutrality to make
+a second attempt to seize the city? Upon these points he tried to
+reassure them by saying: "You have only to deliver over the city and
+houses to us Lacedaemonians, to point out the boundaries of your land,
+the number of your fruit-trees, and whatever else can be numerically
+stated, and yourselves to withdraw wherever you like as long as the
+war shall last.  When it is over we will restore to you whatever we
+received, and in the interim hold it in trust and keep it in
+cultivation, paying you a sufficient allowance."
+
+When they had heard what he had to say, they re-entered the city,
+and after consulting with the people said that they wished first to
+acquaint the Athenians with this proposal, and in the event of their
+approving to accede to it; in the meantime they asked him to grant
+them a truce and not to lay waste their territory.  He accordingly
+granted a truce for the number of days requisite for the journey,
+and meanwhile abstained from ravaging their territory.  The Plataean
+envoys went to Athens, and consulted with the Athenians, and
+returned with the following message to those in the city: "The
+Athenians say, Plataeans, that they never hitherto, since we became
+their allies, on any occasion abandoned us to an enemy, nor will
+they now neglect us, but will help us according to their ability;
+and they adjure you by the oaths which your fathers swore, to keep the
+alliance unaltered."
+
+On the delivery of this message by the envoys, the Plataeans
+resolved not to be unfaithful to the Athenians but to endure, if it
+must be, seeing their lands laid waste and any other trials that might
+come to them, and not to send out again, but to answer from the wall
+that it was impossible for them to do as the Lacedaemonians
+proposed.  As soon as he had received this answer, King Archidamus
+proceeded first to make a solemn appeal to the gods and heroes of
+the country in words following: "Ye gods and heroes of the Plataean
+territory, be my witnesses that not as aggressors originally, nor
+until these had first departed from the common oath, did we invade
+this land, in which our fathers offered you their prayers before
+defeating the Medes, and which you made auspicious to the Hellenic
+arms; nor shall we be aggressors in the measures to which we may now
+resort, since we have made many fair proposals but have not been
+successful.  Graciously accord that those who were the first to
+offend may be punished for it, and that vengeance may be attained by
+those who would righteously inflict it."
+
+After this appeal to the gods Archidamus put his army in motion.
+First he enclosed the town with a palisade formed of the fruit-trees
+which they cut down, to prevent further egress from Plataea; next they
+threw up a mound against the city, hoping that the largeness of the
+force employed would ensure the speedy reduction of the place.  They
+accordingly cut down timber from Cithaeron, and built it up on
+either side, laying it like lattice-work to serve as a wall to keep
+the mound from spreading abroad, and carried to it wood and stones and
+earth and whatever other material might help to complete it.  They
+continued to work at the mound for seventy days and nights without
+intermission, being divided into relief parties to allow of some being
+employed in carrying while others took sleep and refreshment; the
+Lacedaemonian officer attached to each contingent keeping the men to
+the work.  But the Plataeans, observing the progress of the mound,
+constructed a wall of wood and fixed it upon that part of the city
+wall against which the mound was being erected, and built up bricks
+inside it which they took from the neighbouring houses.  The timbers
+served to bind the building together, and to prevent its becoming weak
+as it advanced in height; it had also a covering of skins and hides,
+which protected the woodwork against the attacks of burning missiles
+and allowed the men to work in safety.  Thus the wall was raised to a
+great height, and the mound opposite made no less rapid progress.
+The Plataeans also thought of another expedient; they pulled out
+part of the wall upon which the mound abutted, and carried the earth
+into the city.
+
+Discovering this the Peloponnesians twisted up clay in wattles of
+reed and threw it into the breach formed in the mound, in order to
+give it consistency and prevent its being carried away like the
+soil.  Stopped in this way the Plataeans changed their mode of
+operation, and digging a mine from the town calculated their way under
+the mound, and began to carry off its material as before.  This went on
+for a long while without the enemy outside finding it out, so that for
+all they threw on the top their mound made no progress in
+proportion, being carried away from beneath and constantly settling
+down in the vacuum.  But the Plataeans, fearing that even thus they
+might not be able to hold out against the superior numbers of the
+enemy, had yet another invention.  They stopped working at the large
+building in front of the mound, and starting at either end of it
+inside from the old low wall, built a new one in the form of a
+crescent running in towards the town; in order that in the event of
+the great wall being taken this might remain, and the enemy have to
+throw up a fresh mound against it, and as they advanced within might
+not only have their trouble over again, but also be exposed to
+missiles on their flanks.  While raising the mound the Peloponnesians
+also brought up engines against the city, one of which was brought
+up upon the mound against the great building and shook down a good
+piece of it, to the no small alarm of the Plataeans.  Others were
+advanced against different parts of the wall but were lassoed and
+broken by the Plataeans; who also hung up great beams by long iron
+chains from either extremity of two poles laid on the wall and
+projecting over it, and drew them up at an angle whenever any point
+was threatened by the engine, and loosing their hold let the beam go
+with its chains slack, so that it fell with a run and snapped off
+the nose of the battering ram.
+
+After this the Peloponnesians, finding that their engines effected
+nothing, and that their mound was met by the counterwork, concluded
+that their present means of offence were unequal to the taking of
+the city, and prepared for its circumvallation.  First, however, they
+determined to try the effects of fire and see whether they could
+not, with the help of a wind, burn the town, as it was not a large
+one; indeed they thought of every possible expedient by which the
+place might be reduced without the expense of a blockade.  They
+accordingly brought faggots of brushwood and threw them from the
+mound, first into the space between it and the wall; and this soon
+becoming full from the number of hands at work, they next heaped the
+faggots up as far into the town as they could reach from the top,
+and then lighted the wood by setting fire to it with sulphur and
+pitch.  The consequence was a fire greater than any one had ever yet
+seen produced by human agency, though it could not of course be
+compared to the spontaneous conflagrations sometimes known to occur
+through the wind rubbing the branches of a mountain forest together.
+And this fire was not only remarkable for its magnitude, but was also,
+at the end of so many perils, within an ace of proving fatal to the
+Plataeans; a great part of the town became entirely inaccessible,
+and had a wind blown upon it, in accordance with the hopes of the
+enemy, nothing could have saved them.  As it was, there is also a story
+of heavy rain and thunder having come on by which the fire was put out
+and the danger averted.
+
+Failing in this last attempt the Peloponnesians left a portion of
+their forces on the spot, dismissing the rest, and built a wall of
+circumvallation round the town, dividing the ground among the
+various cities present; a ditch being made within and without the
+lines, from which they got their bricks.  All being finished by about
+the rising of Arcturus, they left men enough to man half the wall, the
+rest being manned by the Boeotians, and drawing off their army
+dispersed to their several cities.  The Plataeans had before sent off
+their wives and children and oldest men and the mass of the
+non-combatants to Athens; so that the number of the besieged left in
+the place comprised four hundred of their own citizens, eighty
+Athenians, and a hundred and ten women to bake their bread.  This was
+the sum total at the commencement of the siege, and there was no one
+else within the walls, bond or free.  Such were the arrangements made
+for the blockade of Plataea.
+
+The same summer and simultaneously with the expedition against
+Plataea, the Athenians marched with two thousand heavy infantry and
+two hundred horse against the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace
+and the Bottiaeans, just as the corn was getting ripe, under the
+command of Xenophon, son of Euripides, with two colleagues.  Arriving
+before Spartolus in Bottiaea, they destroyed the corn and had some
+hopes of the city coming over through the intrigues of a faction
+within.  But those of a different way of thinking had sent to Olynthus;
+and a garrison of heavy infantry and other troops arrived accordingly.
+These issuing from Spartolus were engaged by the Athenians in front of
+the town: the Chalcidian heavy infantry, and some auxiliaries with
+them, were beaten and retreated into Spartolus; but the Chalcidian
+horse and light troops defeated the horse and light troops of the
+Athenians.  The Chalcidians had already a few targeteers from Crusis,
+and presently after the battle were joined by some others from
+Olynthus; upon seeing whom the light troops from Spartolus, emboldened
+by this accession and by their previous success, with the help of
+the Chalcidian horse and the reinforcement just arrived again attacked
+the Athenians, who retired upon the two divisions which they had
+left with their baggage.  Whenever the Athenians advanced, their
+adversary gave way, pressing them with missiles the instant they began
+to retire.  The Chalcidian horse also, riding up and charging them just
+as they pleased, at last caused a panic amongst them and routed and
+pursued them to a great distance.  The Athenians took refuge in
+Potidaea, and afterwards recovered their dead under truce, and
+returned to Athens with the remnant of their army; four hundred and
+thirty men and all the generals having fallen.  The Chalcidians and
+Bottiaeans set up a trophy, took up their dead, and dispersed to their
+several cities.
+
+The same summer, not long after this, the Ambraciots and
+Chaonians, being desirous of reducing the whole of Acarnania and
+detaching it from Athens, persuaded the Lacedaemonians to equip a
+fleet from their confederacy and send a thousand heavy infantry to
+Acarnania, representing that, if a combined movement were made by land
+and sea, the coast Acarnanians would be unable to march, and the
+conquest of Zacynthus and Cephallenia easily following on the
+possession of Acarnania, the cruise round Peloponnese would be no
+longer so convenient for the Athenians.  Besides which there was a hope
+of taking Naupactus.  The Lacedaemonians accordingly at once sent off a
+few vessels with Cnemus, who was still high admiral, and the heavy
+infantry on board; and sent round orders for the fleet to equip as
+quickly as possible and sail to Leucas.  The Corinthians were the
+most forward in the business; the Ambraciots being a colony of theirs.
+While the ships from Corinth, Sicyon, and the neighbourhood were
+getting ready, and those from Leucas, Anactorium, and Ambracia,
+which had arrived before, were waiting for them at Leucas, Cnemus
+and his thousand heavy infantry had run into the gulf, giving the slip
+to Phormio, the commander of the Athenian squadron stationed off
+Naupactus, and began at once to prepare for the land expedition.  The
+Hellenic troops with him consisted of the Ambraciots, Leucadians,
+and Anactorians, and the thousand Peloponnesians with whom he came;
+the barbarian of a thousand Chaonians, who, belonging to a nation that
+has no king, were led by Photys and Nicanor, the two members of the
+royal family to whom the chieftainship for that year had been
+confided.  With the Chaonians came also some Thesprotians, like them
+without a king, some Molossians and Atintanians led by Sabylinthus,
+the guardian of King Tharyps who was still a minor, and some
+Paravaeans, under their king Oroedus, accompanied by a thousand
+Orestians, subjects of King Antichus and placed by him under the
+command of Oroedus.  There were also a thousand Macedonians sent by
+Perdiccas without the knowledge of the Athenians, but they arrived too
+late.  With this force Cnemus set out, without waiting for the fleet
+from Corinth.  Passing through the territory of Amphilochian Argos, and
+sacking the open village of Limnaea, they advanced to Stratus the
+Acarnanian capital; this once taken, the rest of the country, they
+felt convinced, would speedily follow.
+
+The Acarnanians, finding themselves invaded by a large army by land,
+and from the sea threatened by a hostile fleet, made no combined
+attempt at resistance, but remained to defend their homes, and sent
+for help to Phormio, who replied that, when a fleet was on the point
+of sailing from Corinth, it was impossible for him to leave
+Naupactus unprotected.  The Peloponnesians meanwhile and their allies
+advanced upon Stratus in three divisions, with the intention of
+encamping near it and attempting the wall by force if they failed to
+succeed by negotiation.  The order of march was as follows: the
+centre was occupied by the Chaonians and the rest of the barbarians,
+with the Leucadians and Anactorians and their followers on the
+right, and Cnemus with the Peloponnesians and Ambraciots on the
+left; each division being a long way off from, and sometimes even
+out of sight of, the others.  The Hellenes advanced in good order,
+keeping a look-out till they encamped in a good position; but the
+Chaonians, filled with self-confidence, and having the highest
+character for courage among the tribes of that part of the
+continent, without waiting to occupy their camp, rushed on with the
+rest of the barbarians, in the idea that they should take the town
+by assault and obtain the sole glory of the enterprise.  While they
+were coming on, the Stratians, becoming aware how things stood, and
+thinking that the defeat of this division would considerably
+dishearten the Hellenes behind it, occupied the environs of the town
+with ambuscades, and as soon as they approached engaged them at
+close quarters from the city and the ambuscades.  A panic seizing the
+Chaonians, great numbers of them were slain; and as soon as they
+were seen to give way the rest of the barbarians turned and fled.
+Owing to the distance by which their allies had preceded them, neither
+of the Hellenic divisions knew anything of the battle, but fancied
+they were hastening on to encamp.  However, when the flying
+barbarians broke in upon them, they opened their ranks to receive
+them, brought their divisions together, and stopped quiet where they
+were for the day; the Stratians not offering to engage them, as the
+rest of the Acarnanians had not yet arrived, but contenting themselves
+with slinging at them from a distance, which distressed them
+greatly, as there was no stirring without their armour.  The
+Acarnanians would seem to excel in this mode of warfare.
+
+As soon as night fell, Cnemus hastily drew off his army to the river
+Anapus, about nine miles from Stratus, recovering his dead next day
+under truce, and being there joined by the friendly Oeniadae, fell
+back upon their city before the enemy's reinforcements came up.  From
+hence each returned home; and the Stratians set up a trophy for the
+battle with the barbarians.
+
+Meanwhile the fleet from Corinth and the rest of the confederates in
+the Crissaean Gulf, which was to have co-operated with Cnemus and
+prevented the coast Acarnanians from joining their countrymen in the
+interior, was disabled from doing so by being compelled about the same
+time as the battle at Stratus to fight with Phormio and the twenty
+Athenian vessels stationed at Naupactus.  For they were watched, as
+they coasted along out of the gulf, by Phormio, who wished to attack
+in the open sea.  But the Corinthians and allies had started for
+Acarnania without any idea of fighting at sea, and with vessels more
+like transports for carrying soldiers; besides which, they never
+dreamed of the twenty Athenian ships venturing to engage their
+forty-seven.  However, while they were coasting along their own
+shore, there were the Athenians sailing along in line with them; and
+when they tried to cross over from Patrae in Achaea to the mainland on
+the other side, on their way to Acarnania, they saw them again
+coming out from Chalcis and the river Evenus to meet them.  They
+slipped from their moorings in the night, but were observed, and
+were at length compelled to fight in mid passage.  Each state that
+contributed to the armament had its own general; the Corinthian
+commanders were Machaon, Isocrates, and Agatharchidas.  The
+Peloponnesians ranged their vessels in as large a circle as possible
+without leaving an opening, with the prows outside and the sterns
+in; and placed within all the small craft in company, and their five
+best sailers to issue out at a moment's notice and strengthen any
+point threatened by the enemy.
+
+The Athenians, formed in line, sailed round and round them, and
+forced them to contract their circle, by continually brushing past and
+making as though they would attack at once, having been previously
+cautioned by Phormio not to do so till he gave the signal.  His hope
+was that the Peloponnesians would not retain their order like a
+force on shore, but that the ships would fall foul of one another
+and the small craft cause confusion; and if the wind should blow
+from the gulf (in expectation of which he kept sailing round them, and
+which usually rose towards morning), they would not, he felt sure,
+remain steady an instant.  He also thought that it rested with him to
+attack when he pleased, as his ships were better sailers, and that
+an attack timed by the coming of the wind would tell best.  When the
+wind came down, the enemy's ships were now in a narrow space, and what
+with the wind and the small craft dashing against them, at once fell
+into confusion: ship fell foul of ship, while the crews were pushing
+them off with poles, and by their shouting, swearing, and struggling
+with one another, made captains' orders and boatswains' cries alike
+inaudible, and through being unable for want of practice to clear
+their oars in the rough water, prevented the vessels from obeying
+their helmsmen properly.  At this moment Phormio gave the signal, and
+the Athenians attacked.  Sinking first one of the admirals, they then
+disabled all they came across, so that no one thought of resistance
+for the confusion, but fled for Patrae and Dyme in Achaea.  The
+Athenians gave chase and captured twelve ships, and taking most of the
+men out of them sailed to Molycrium, and after setting up a trophy
+on the promontory of Rhium and dedicating a ship to Poseidon, returned
+to Naupactus.  As for the Peloponnesians, they at once sailed with
+their remaining ships along the coast from Dyme and Patrae to Cyllene,
+the Eleian arsenal; where Cnemus, and the ships from Leucas that
+were to have joined them, also arrived after the battle at Stratus.
+
+The Lacedaemonians now sent to the fleet to Cnemus three
+commissioners--Timocrates, Bradidas, and Lycophron--with orders to
+prepare to engage again with better fortune, and not to be driven from
+the sea by a few vessels; for they could not at all account for
+their discomfiture, the less so as it was their first attempt at
+sea; and they fancied that it was not that their marine was so
+inferior, but that there had been misconduct somewhere, not
+considering the long experience of the Athenians as compared with
+the little practice which they had had themselves.  The commissioners
+were accordingly sent in anger.  As soon as they arrived they set to
+work with Cnemus to order ships from the different states, and to
+put those which they already had in fighting order.  Meanwhile
+Phormio sent word to Athens of their preparations and his own victory,
+and desired as many ships as possible to be speedily sent to him, as
+he stood in daily expectation of a battle.  Twenty were accordingly
+sent, but instructions were given to their commander to go first to
+Crete.  For Nicias, a Cretan of Gortys, who was proxenus of the
+Athenians, had persuaded them to sail against Cydonia, promising to
+procure the reduction of that hostile town; his real wish being to
+oblige the Polichnitans, neighbours of the Cydonians.  He accordingly
+went with the ships to Crete, and, accompanied by the Polichnitans,
+laid waste the lands of the Cydonians; and, what with adverse winds
+and stress of weather wasted no little time there.
+
+While the Athenians were thus detained in Crete, the
+Peloponnesians in Cyllene got ready for battle, and coasted along to
+Panormus in Achaea, where their land army had come to support them.
+Phormio also coasted along to Molycrian Rhium, and anchored outside it
+with twenty ships, the same as he had fought with before.  This Rhium
+was friendly to the Athenians.  The other, in Peloponnese, lies
+opposite to it; the sea between them is about three-quarters of a mile
+broad, and forms the mouth of the Crissaean gulf.  At this, the Achaean
+Rhium, not far off Panormus, where their army lay, the
+Peloponnesians now cast anchor with seventy-seven ships, when they saw
+the Athenians do so.  For six or seven days they remained opposite each
+other, practising and preparing for the battle; the one resolved not
+to sail out of the Rhia into the open sea, for fear of the disaster
+which had already happened to them, the other not to sail into the
+straits, thinking it advantageous to the enemy, to fight in the
+narrows.  At last Cnemus and Brasidas and the rest of the Peloponnesian
+commanders, being desirous of bringing on a battle as soon as
+possible, before reinforcements should arrive from Athens, and
+noticing that the men were most of them cowed by the previous defeat
+and out of heart for the business, first called them together and
+encouraged them as follows:
+
+"Peloponnesians, the late engagement, which may have made some of
+you afraid of the one now in prospect, really gives no just ground for
+apprehension.  Preparation for it, as you know, there was little
+enough; and the object of our voyage was not so much to fight at sea
+as an expedition by land.  Besides this, the chances of war were
+largely against us; and perhaps also inexperience had something to
+do with our failure in our first naval action.  It was not,
+therefore, cowardice that produced our defeat, nor ought the
+determination which force has not quelled, but which still has a
+word to say with its adversary, to lose its edge from the result of an
+accident; but admitting the possibility of a chance miscarriage, we
+should know that brave hearts must be always brave, and while they
+remain so can never put forward inexperience as an excuse for
+misconduct.  Nor are you so behind the enemy in experience as you are
+ahead of him in courage; and although the science of your opponents
+would, if valour accompanied it, have also the presence of mind to
+carry out at in emergency the lesson it has learnt, yet a faint
+heart will make all art powerless in the face of danger.  For fear
+takes away presence of mind, and without valour art is useless.
+Against their superior experience set your superior daring, and
+against the fear induced by defeat the fact of your having been then
+unprepared; remember, too, that you have always the advantage of
+superior numbers, and of engaging off your own coast, supported by
+your heavy infantry; and as a rule, numbers and equipment give
+victory.  At no point, therefore, is defeat likely; and as for our
+previous mistakes, the very fact of their occurrence will teach us
+better for the future.  Steersmen and sailors may, therefore,
+confidently attend to their several duties, none quitting the
+station assigned to them: as for ourselves, we promise to prepare
+for the engagement at least as well as your previous commanders, and
+to give no excuse for any one misconducting himself.  Should any insist
+on doing so, he shall meet with the punishment he deserves, while
+the brave shall be honoured with the appropriate rewards of valour."
+
+The Peloponnesian commanders encouraged their men after this
+fashion.  Phormio, meanwhile, being himself not without fears for the
+courage of his men, and noticing that they were forming in groups
+among themselves and were alarmed at the odds against them, desired to
+call them together and give them confidence and counsel in the present
+emergency.  He had before continually told them, and had accustomed
+their minds to the idea, that there was no numerical superiority
+that they could not face; and the men themselves had long been
+persuaded that Athenians need never retire before any quantity of
+Peloponnesian vessels.  At the moment, however, he saw that they were
+dispirited by the sight before them, and wishing to refresh their
+confidence, called them together and spoke as follows:
+
+"I see, my men, that you are frightened by the number of the
+enemy, and I have accordingly called you together, not liking you to
+be afraid of what is not really terrible.  In the first place, the
+Peloponnesians, already defeated, and not even themselves thinking
+that they are a match for us, have not ventured to meet us on equal
+terms, but have equipped this multitude of ships against us.  Next,
+as to that upon which they most rely, the courage which they suppose
+constitutional to them, their confidence here only arises from the
+success which their experience in land service usually gives them, and
+which they fancy will do the same for them at sea.  But this
+advantage will in all justice belong to us on this element, if to them
+on that; as they are not superior to us in courage, but we are each of
+us more confident, according to our experience in our particular
+department.  Besides, as the Lacedaemonians use their supremacy over
+their allies to promote their own glory, they are most of them being
+brought into danger against their will, or they would never, after
+such a decided defeat, have ventured upon a fresh engagement.  You need
+not, therefore, be afraid of their dash.  You, on the contrary, inspire
+a much greater and better founded alarm, both because of your late
+victory and also of their belief that we should not face them unless
+about to do something worthy of a success so signal.  An adversary
+numerically superior, like the one before us, comes into action
+trusting more to strength than to resolution; while he who voluntarily
+confronts tremendous odds must have very great internal resources to
+draw upon.  For these reasons the Peloponnesians fear our irrational
+audacity more than they would ever have done a more commensurate
+preparation.  Besides, many armaments have before now succumbed to an
+inferior through want of skill or sometimes of courage; neither of
+which defects certainly are ours.  As to the battle, it shall not be,
+if I can help it, in the strait, nor will I sail in there at all;
+seeing that in a contest between a number of clumsily managed
+vessels and a small, fast, well-handled squadron, want of sea room
+is an undoubted disadvantage.  One cannot run down an enemy properly
+without having a sight of him a good way off, nor can one retire at
+need when pressed; one can neither break the line nor return upon
+his rear, the proper tactics for a fast sailer; but the naval action
+necessarily becomes a land one, in which numbers must decide the
+matter.  For all this I will provide as far as can be.  Do you stay at
+your posts by your ships, and be sharp at catching the word of
+command, the more so as we are observing one another from so short a
+distance; and in action think order and silence
+all-important--qualities useful in war generally, and in naval
+engagements in particular; and behave before the enemy in a manner
+worthy of your past exploits.  The issues you will fight for are
+great--to destroy the naval hopes of the Peloponnesians or to bring
+nearer to the Athenians their fears for the sea.  And I may once more
+remind you that you have defeated most of them already; and beaten men
+do not face a danger twice with the same determination."
+
+Such was the exhortation of Phormio.  The Peloponnesians finding that
+the Athenians did not sail into the gulf and the narrows, in order
+to lead them in whether they wished it or not, put out at dawn, and
+forming four abreast, sailed inside the gulf in the direction of their
+own country, the right wing leading as they had lain at anchor.  In
+this wing were placed twenty of their best sailers; so that in the
+event of Phormio thinking that their object was Naupactus, and
+coasting along thither to save the place, the Athenians might not be
+able to escape their onset by getting outside their wing, but might be
+cut off by the vessels in question.  As they expected, Phormio, in
+alarm for the place at that moment emptied of its garrison, as soon as
+he saw them put out, reluctantly and hurriedly embarked and sailed
+along shore; the Messenian land forces moving along also to support
+him.  The Peloponnesians seeing him coasting along with his ships in
+single file, and by this inside the gulf and close inshore as they
+so much wished, at one signal tacked suddenly and bore down in line at
+their best speed on the Athenians, hoping to cut off the whole
+squadron.  The eleven leading vessels, however, escaped the
+Peloponnesian wing and its sudden movement, and reached the more
+open water; but the rest were overtaken as they tried to run
+through, driven ashore and disabled; such of the crews being slain
+as had not swum out of them.  Some of the ships the Peloponnesians
+lashed to their own, and towed off empty; one they took with the men
+in it; others were just being towed off, when they were saved by the
+Messenians dashing into the sea with their armour and fighting from
+the decks that they had boarded.
+
+Thus far victory was with the Peloponnesians, and the Athenian fleet
+destroyed; the twenty ships in the right wing being meanwhile in chase
+of the eleven Athenian vessels that had escaped their sudden
+movement and reached the more open water.  These, with the exception of
+one ship, all outsailed them and got safe into Naupactus, and
+forming close inshore opposite the temple of Apollo, with their
+prows facing the enemy, prepared to defend themselves in case the
+Peloponnesians should sail inshore against them.  After a while the
+Peloponnesians came up, chanting the paean for their victory as they
+sailed on; the single Athenian ship remaining being chased by a
+Leucadian far ahead of the rest.  But there happened to be a
+merchantman lying at anchor in the roadstead, which the Athenian
+ship found time to sail round, and struck the Leucadian in chase
+amidships and sank her.  An exploit so sudden and unexpected produced a
+panic among the Peloponnesians; and having fallen out of order in
+the excitement of victory, some of them dropped their oars and stopped
+their way in order to let the main body come up--an unsafe thing to
+do considering how near they were to the enemy's prows; while others
+ran aground in the shallows, in their ignorance of the localities.
+
+Elated at this incident, the Athenians at one word gave a cheer, and
+dashed at the enemy, who, embarrassed by his mistakes and the disorder
+in which he found himself, only stood for an instant, and then fled
+for Panormus, whence he had put out.  The Athenians following on his
+heels took the six vessels nearest them, and recovered those of
+their own which had been disabled close inshore and taken in tow at
+the beginning of the action; they killed some of the crews and took
+some prisoners.  On board the Leucadian which went down off the
+merchantman, was the Lacedaemonian Timocrates, who killed himself when
+the ship was sunk, and was cast up in the harbour of Naupactus.  The
+Athenians on their return set up a trophy on the spot from which
+they had put out and turned the day, and picking up the wrecks and
+dead that were on their shore, gave back to the enemy their dead under
+truce.  The Peloponnesians also set up a trophy as victors for the
+defeat inflicted upon the ships they had disabled in shore, and
+dedicated the vessel which they had taken at Achaean Rhium, side by
+side with the trophy.  After this, apprehensive of the reinforcement
+expected from Athens, all except the Leucadians sailed into the
+Crissaean Gulf for Corinth.  Not long after their retreat, the twenty
+Athenian ships, which were to have joined Phormio before the battle,
+arrived at Naupactus.
+
+Thus the summer ended.  Winter was now at hand; but dispersing the
+fleet, which had retired to Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf, Cnemus,
+Brasidas, and the other Peloponnesian captains allowed themselves to
+be persuaded by the Megarians to make an attempt upon Piraeus, the
+port of Athens, which from her decided superiority at sea had been
+naturally left unguarded and open.  Their plan was as follows: The
+men were each to take their oar, cushion, and rowlock thong, and,
+going overland from Corinth to the sea on the Athenian side, to get to
+Megara as quickly as they could, and launching forty vessels, which
+happened to be in the docks at Nisaea, to sail at once to Piraeus.
+There was no fleet on the look-out in the harbour, and no one had
+the least idea of the enemy attempting a surprise; while an open
+attack would, it was thought, never be deliberately ventured on, or,
+if in contemplation, would be speedily known at Athens.  Their plan
+formed, the next step was to put it in execution.  Arriving by night
+and launching the vessels from Nisaea, they sailed, not to Piraeus
+as they had originally intended, being afraid of the risk, besides
+which there was some talk of a wind having stopped them, but to the
+point of Salamis that looks towards Megara; where there was a fort and
+a squadron of three ships to prevent anything sailing in or out of
+Megara.  This fort they assaulted, and towed off the galleys empty, and
+surprising the inhabitants began to lay waste the rest of the island.
+
+Meanwhile fire signals were raised to alarm Athens, and a panic
+ensued there as serious as any that occurred during the war.  The
+idea in the city was that the enemy had already sailed into Piraeus:
+in Piraeus it was thought that they had taken Salamis and might at any
+moment arrive in the port; as indeed might easily have been done if
+their hearts had been a little firmer: certainly no wind would have
+prevented them.  As soon as day broke, the Athenians assembled in
+full force, launched their ships, and embarking in haste and uproar
+went with the fleet to Salamis, while their soldiery mounted guard
+in Piraeus.  The Peloponnesians, on becoming aware of the coming
+relief, after they had overrun most of Salamis, hastily sailed off
+with their plunder and captives and the three ships from Fort
+Budorum to Nisaea; the state of their ships also causing them some
+anxiety, as it was a long while since they had been launched, and they
+were not water-tight.  Arrived at Megara, they returned back on foot to
+Corinth.  The Athenians finding them no longer at Salamis, sailed
+back themselves; and after this made arrangements for guarding Piraeus
+more diligently in future, by closing the harbours, and by other
+suitable precautions.
+
+About the same time, at the beginning of this winter, Sitalces,
+son of Teres, the Odrysian king of Thrace, made an expedition
+against Perdiccas, son of Alexander, king of Macedonia, and the
+Chalcidians in the neighbourhood of Thrace; his object being to
+enforce one promise and fulfil another.  On the one hand Perdiccas
+had made him a promise, when hard pressed at the commencement of the
+war, upon condition that Sitalces should reconcile the Athenians to
+him and not attempt to restore his brother and enemy, the pretender
+Philip, but had not offered to fulfil his engagement; on the other he,
+Sitalces, on entering into alliance with the Athenians, had agreed
+to put an end to the Chalcidian war in Thrace.  These were the two
+objects of his invasion.  With him he brought Amyntas, the son of
+Philip, whom he destined for the throne of Macedonia, and some
+Athenian envoys then at his court on this business, and Hagnon as
+general; for the Athenians were to join him against the Chalcidians
+with a fleet and as many soldiers as they could get together.
+
+Beginning with the Odrysians, he first called out the Thracian
+tribes subject to him between Mounts Haemus and Rhodope and the Euxine
+and Hellespont; next the Getae beyond Haemus, and the other hordes
+settled south of the Danube in the neighbourhood of the Euxine, who,
+like the Getae, border on the Scythians and are armed in the same
+manner, being all mounted archers.  Besides these he summoned many of
+the hill Thracian independent swordsmen, called Dii and mostly
+inhabiting Mount Rhodope, some of whom came as mercenaries, others
+as volunteers; also the Agrianes and Laeaeans, and the rest of the
+Paeonian tribes in his empire, at the confines of which these lay,
+extending up to the Laeaean Paeonians and the river Strymon, which
+flows from Mount Scombrus through the country of the Agrianes and
+Laeaeans; there the empire of Sitalces ends and the territory of the
+independent Paeonians begins.  Bordering on the Triballi, also
+independent, were the Treres and Tilataeans, who dwell to the north of
+Mount Scombrus and extend towards the setting sun as far as the
+river Oskius.  This river rises in the same mountains as the Nestus and
+Hebrus, a wild and extensive range connected with Rhodope.
+
+The empire of the Odrysians extended along the seaboard from
+Abdera to the mouth of the Danube in the Euxine.  The navigation of
+this coast by the shortest route takes a merchantman four days and
+four nights with a wind astern the whole way: by land an active man,
+travelling by the shortest road, can get from Abdera to the Danube
+in eleven days.  Such was the length of its coast line.  Inland from
+Byzantium to the Laeaeans and the Strymon, the farthest limit of its
+extension into the interior, it is a journey of thirteen days for an
+active man.  The tribute from all the barbarian districts and the
+Hellenic cities, taking what they brought in under Seuthes, the
+successor of Sitalces, who raised it to its greatest height,
+amounted to about four hundred talents in gold and silver.  There
+were also presents in gold and silver to a no less amount, besides
+stuff, plain and embroidered, and other articles, made not only for
+the king, but also for the Odrysian lords and nobles.  For there was
+here established a custom opposite to that prevailing in the Persian
+kingdom, namely, of taking rather than giving; more disgrace being
+attached to not giving when asked than to asking and being refused;
+and although this prevailed elsewhere in Thrace, it was practised most
+extensively among the powerful Odrysians, it being impossible to get
+anything done without a present.  It was thus a very powerful
+kingdom; in revenue and general prosperity surpassing all in Europe
+between the Ionian Gulf and the Euxine, and in numbers and military
+resources coming decidedly next to the Scythians, with whom indeed
+no people in Europe can bear comparison, there not being even in
+Asia any nation singly a match for them if unanimous, though of course
+they are not on a level with other races in general intelligence and
+the arts of civilized life.
+
+It was the master of this empire that now prepared to take the
+field.  When everything was ready, he set out on his march for
+Macedonia, first through his own dominions, next over the desolate
+range of Cercine that divides the Sintians and Paeonians, crossing
+by a road which he had made by felling the timber on a former campaign
+against the latter people.  Passing over these mountains, with the
+Paeonians on his right and the Sintians and Maedians on the left, he
+finally arrived at Doberus, in Paeonia, losing none of his army on the
+march, except perhaps by sickness, but receiving some augmentations,
+many of the independent Thracians volunteering to join him in the hope
+of plunder; so that the whole is said to have formed a grand total
+of a hundred and fifty thousand.  Most of this was infantry, though
+there was about a third cavalry, furnished principally by the
+Odrysians themselves and next to them by the Getae.  The most warlike
+of the infantry were the independent swordsmen who came down from
+Rhodope; the rest of the mixed multitude that followed him being
+chiefly formidable by their numbers.
+
+Assembling in Doberus, they prepared for descending from the heights
+upon Lower Macedonia, where the dominions of Perdiccas lay; for the
+Lyncestae, Elimiots, and other tribes more inland, though
+Macedonians by blood, and allies and dependants of their kindred,
+still have their own separate governments.  The country on the sea
+coast, now called Macedonia, was first acquired by Alexander, the
+father of Perdiccas, and his ancestors, originally Temenids from
+Argos.  This was effected by the expulsion from Pieria of the Pierians,
+who afterwards inhabited Phagres and other places under Mount
+Pangaeus, beyond the Strymon (indeed the country between Pangaeus
+and the sea is still called the Pierian Gulf); of the Bottiaeans, at
+present neighbours of the Chalcidians, from Bottia, and by the
+acquisition in Paeonia of a narrow strip along the river Axius
+extending to Pella and the sea; the district of Mygdonia, between
+the Axius and the Strymon, being also added by the expulsion of the
+Edonians.  From Eordia also were driven the Eordians, most of whom
+perished, though a few of them still live round Physca, and the
+Almopians from Almopia.  These Macedonians also conquered places
+belonging to the other tribes, which are still theirs--Anthemus,
+Crestonia, Bisaltia, and much of Macedonia proper.  The whole is now
+called Macedonia, and at the time of the invasion of Sitalces,
+Perdiccas, Alexander's son, was the reigning king.
+
+These Macedonians, unable to take the field against so numerous an
+invader, shut themselves up in such strong places and fortresses as
+the country possessed.  Of these there was no great number, most of
+those now found in the country having been erected subsequently by
+Archelaus, the son of Perdiccas, on his accession, who also cut
+straight roads, and otherwise put the kingdom on a better footing as
+regards horses, heavy infantry, and other war material than had been
+done by all the eight kings that preceded him.  Advancing from Doberus,
+the Thracian host first invaded what had been once Philip's
+government, and took Idomene by assault, Gortynia, Atalanta, and
+some other places by negotiation, these last coming over for love of
+Philip's son, Amyntas, then with Sitalces.  Laying siege to Europus,
+and failing to take it, he next advanced into the rest of Macedonia to
+the left of Pella and Cyrrhus, not proceeding beyond this into
+Bottiaea and Pieria, but staying to lay waste Mygdonia, Crestonia, and
+Anthemus.
+
+The Macedonians never even thought of meeting him with infantry; but
+the Thracian host was, as opportunity offered, attacked by handfuls of
+their horse, which had been reinforced from their allies in the
+interior.  Armed with cuirasses, and excellent horsemen, wherever these
+charged they overthrew all before them, but ran considerable risk in
+entangling themselves in the masses of the enemy, and so finally
+desisted from these efforts, deciding that they were not strong enough
+to venture against numbers so superior.
+
+Meanwhile Sitalces opened negotiations with Perdiccas on the objects
+of his expedition; and finding that the Athenians, not believing
+that he would come, did not appear with their fleet, though they
+sent presents and envoys, dispatched a large part of his army
+against the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans, and shutting them up inside
+their walls laid waste their country.  While he remained in these
+parts, the people farther south, such as the Thessalians, Magnetes,
+and the other tribes subject to the Thessalians, and the Hellenes as
+far as Thermopylae, all feared that the army might advance against
+them, and prepared accordingly.  These fears were shared by the
+Thracians beyond the Strymon to the north, who inhabited the plains,
+such as the Panaeans, the Odomanti, the Droi, and the Dersaeans, all
+of whom are independent.  It was even matter of conversation among
+the Hellenes who were enemies of Athens whether he might not be
+invited by his ally to advance also against them.  Meanwhile he held
+Chalcidice and Bottice and Macedonia, and was ravaging them all; but
+finding that he was not succeeding in any of the objects of his
+invasion, and that his army was without provisions and was suffering
+from the severity of the season, he listened to the advice of Seuthes,
+son of Spardacus, his nephew and highest officer, and decided to
+retreat without delay.  This Seuthes had been secretly gained by
+Perdiccas by the promise of his sister in marriage with a rich
+dowry.  In accordance with this advice, and after a stay of thirty days
+in all, eight of which were spent in Chalcidice, he retired home as
+quickly as he could; and Perdiccas afterwards gave his sister
+Stratonice to Seuthes as he had promised.  Such was the history of
+the expedition of Sitalces.
+
+In the course of this winter, after the dispersion of the
+Peloponnesian fleet, the Athenians in Naupactus, under Phormio,
+coasted along to Astacus and disembarked, and marched into the
+interior of Acarnania with four hundred Athenian heavy infantry and
+four hundred Messenians.  After expelling some suspected persons from
+Stratus, Coronta, and other places, and restoring Cynes, son of
+Theolytus, to Coronta, they returned to their ships, deciding that
+it was impossible in the winter season to march against Oeniadae, a
+place which, unlike the rest of Acarnania, had been always hostile
+to them; for the river Achelous flowing from Mount Pindus through
+Dolopia and the country of the Agraeans and Amphilochians and the
+plain of Acarnania, past the town of Stratus in the upper part of
+its course, forms lakes where it falls into the sea round Oeniadae,
+and thus makes it impracticable for an army in winter by reason of the
+water.  Opposite to Oeniadae lie most of the islands called
+Echinades, so close to the mouths of the Achelous that that powerful
+stream is constantly forming deposits against them, and has already
+joined some of the islands to the continent, and seems likely in no
+long while to do the same with the rest.  For the current is strong,
+deep, and turbid, and the islands are so thick together that they
+serve to imprison the alluvial deposit and prevent its dispersing,
+lying, as they do, not in one line, but irregularly, so as to leave no
+direct passage for the water into the open sea.  The islands in
+question are uninhabited and of no great size.  There is also a story
+that Alcmaeon, son of Amphiraus, during his wanderings after the
+murder of his mother was bidden by Apollo to inhabit this spot,
+through an oracle which intimated that he would have no release from
+his terrors until he should find a country to dwell in which had not
+been seen by the sun, or existed as land at the time he slew his
+mother; all else being to him polluted ground.  Perplexed at this,
+the story goes on to say, he at last observed this deposit of the
+Achelous, and considered that a place sufficient to support life upon,
+might have been thrown up during the long interval that had elapsed
+since the death of his mother and the beginning of his wanderings.
+Settling, therefore, in the district round Oeniadae, he founded a
+dominion, and left the country its name from his son Acarnan.  Such
+is the story we have received concerning Alcmaeon.
+
+The Athenians and Phormio putting back from Acarnania and arriving
+at Naupactus, sailed home to Athens in the spring, taking with them
+the ships that they had captured, and such of the prisoners made in
+the late actions as were freemen; who were exchanged, man for man.  And
+so ended this winter, and the third year of this war, of which
+Thucydides was the historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+_Fourth and Fifth Years of the War - Revolt of Mitylene_
+
+The next summer, just as the corn was getting ripe, the
+Peloponnesians and their allies invaded Attica under the command of
+Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat
+down and ravaged the land; the Athenian horse as usual attacking them,
+wherever it was practicable, and preventing the mass of the light
+troops from advancing from their camp and wasting the parts near the
+city.  After staying the time for which they had taken provisions,
+the invaders retired and dispersed to their several cities.
+
+Immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians all Lesbos,
+except Methymna, revolted from the Athenians.  The Lesbians had
+wished to revolt even before the war, but the Lacedaemonians would not
+receive them; and yet now when they did revolt, they were compelled to
+do so sooner than they had intended.  While they were waiting until the
+moles for their harbours and the ships and walls that they had in
+building should be finished, and for the arrival of archers and corn
+and other things that they were engaged in fetching from the Pontus,
+the Tenedians, with whom they were at enmity, and the Methymnians, and
+some factious persons in Mitylene itself, who were proxeni of
+Athens, informed the Athenians that the Mitylenians were forcibly
+uniting the island under their sovereignty, and that the
+preparations about which they were so active, were all concerted
+with the Boeotians their kindred and the Lacedaemonians with a view to
+a revolt, and that, unless they were immediately prevented, Athens
+would lose Lesbos.
+
+However, the Athenians, distressed by the plague, and by the war
+that had recently broken out and was now raging, thought it a
+serious matter to add Lesbos with its fleet and untouched resources to
+the list of their enemies; and at first would not believe the
+charge, giving too much weight to their wish that it might not be
+true.  But when an embassy which they sent had failed to persuade the
+Mitylenians to give up the union and preparations complained of,
+they became alarmed, and resolved to strike the first blow.  They
+accordingly suddenly sent off forty ships that had been got ready to
+sail round Peloponnese, under the command of Cleippides, son of
+Deinias, and two others; word having been brought them of a festival
+in honour of the Malean Apollo outside the town, which is kept by
+the whole people of Mitylene, and at which, if haste were made, they
+might hope to take them by surprise.  If this plan succeeded, well
+and good; if not, they were to order the Mitylenians to deliver up
+their ships and to pull down their walls, and if they did not obey, to
+declare war.  The ships accordingly set out; the ten galleys, forming
+the contingent of the Mitylenians present with the fleet according
+to the terms of the alliance, being detained by the Athenians, and
+their crews placed in custody.  However, the Mitylenians were
+informed of the expedition by a man who crossed from Athens to Euboea,
+and going overland to Geraestus, sailed from thence by a merchantman
+which he found on the point of putting to sea, and so arrived at
+Mitylene the third day after leaving Athens.  The Mitylenians
+accordingly refrained from going out to the temple at Malea, and
+moreover barricaded and kept guard round the half-finished parts of
+their walls and harbours.
+
+When the Athenians sailed in not long after and saw how things
+stood, the generals delivered their orders, and upon the Mitylenians
+refusing to obey, commenced hostilities.  The Mitylenians, thus
+compelled to go to war without notice and unprepared, at first
+sailed out with their fleet and made some show of fighting, a little
+in front of the harbour; but being driven back by the Athenian
+ships, immediately offered to treat with the commanders, wishing, if
+possible, to get the ships away for the present upon any tolerable
+terms.  The Athenian commanders accepted their offers, being themselves
+fearful that they might not be able to cope with the whole of
+Lesbos; and an armistice having been concluded, the Mitylenians sent
+to Athens one of the informers, already repentant of his conduct,
+and others with him, to try to persuade the Athenians of the innocence
+of their intentions and to get the fleet recalled.  In the meantime,
+having no great hope of a favourable answer from Athens, they also
+sent off a galley with envoys to Lacedaemon, unobserved by the
+Athenian fleet which was anchored at Malea to the north of the town.
+
+While these envoys, reaching Lacedaemon after a difficult journey
+across the open sea, were negotiating for succours being sent them,
+the ambassadors from Athens returned without having effected anything;
+and hostilities were at once begun by the Mitylenians and the rest
+of Lesbos, with the exception of the Methymnians, who came to the
+aid of the Athenians with the Imbrians and Lemnians and some few of
+the other allies.  The Mitylenians made a sortie with all their
+forces against the Athenian camp; and a battle ensued, in which they
+gained some slight advantage, but retired notwithstanding, not feeling
+sufficient confidence in themselves to spend the night upon the field.
+After this they kept quiet, wishing to wait for the chance of
+reinforcements arriving from Peloponnese before making a second
+venture, being encouraged by the arrival of Meleas, a Laconian, and
+Hermaeondas, a Theban, who had been sent off before the insurrection
+but had been unable to reach Lesbos before the Athenian expedition,
+and who now stole in in a galley after the battle, and advised them to
+send another galley and envoys back with them, which the Mitylenians
+accordingly did.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, greatly encouraged by the inaction of the
+Mitylenians, summoned allies to their aid, who came in all the quicker
+from seeing so little vigour displayed by the Lesbians, and bringing
+round their ships to a new station to the south of the town, fortified
+two camps, one on each side of the city, and instituted a blockade
+of both the harbours.  The sea was thus closed against the Mitylenians,
+who, however, commanded the whole country, with the rest of the
+Lesbians who had now joined them; the Athenians only holding a limited
+area round their camps, and using Malea more as the station for
+their ships and their market.
+
+While the war went on in this way at Mitylene, the Athenians,
+about the same time in this summer, also sent thirty ships to
+Peloponnese under Asopius, son of Phormio; the Acarnanians insisting
+that the commander sent should be some son or relative of Phormio.
+As the ships coasted along shore they ravaged the seaboard of Laconia;
+after which Asopius sent most of the fleet home, and himself went on
+with twelve vessels to Naupactus, and afterwards raising the whole
+Acarnanian population made an expedition against Oeniadae, the fleet
+sailing along the Achelous, while the army laid waste the country.  The
+inhabitants, however, showing no signs of submitting, he dismissed the
+land forces and himself sailed to Leucas, and making a descent upon
+Nericus was cut off during his retreat, and most of his troops with
+him, by the people in those parts aided by some coastguards; after
+which the Athenians sailed away, recovering their dead from the
+Leucadians under truce.
+
+Meanwhile the envoys of the Mitylenians sent out in the first ship
+were told by the Lacedaemonians to come to Olympia, in order that
+the rest of the allies might hear them and decide upon their matter,
+and so they journeyed thither.  It was the Olympiad in which the
+Rhodian Dorieus gained his second victory, and the envoys having
+been introduced to make their speech after the festival, spoke as
+follows:
+
+"Lacedaemonians and allies, the rule established among the
+Hellenes is not unknown to us.  Those who revolt in war and forsake
+their former confederacy are favourably regarded by those who
+receive them, in so far as they are of use to them, but otherwise
+are thought less well of, through being considered traitors to their
+former friends.  Nor is this an unfair way of judging, where the rebels
+and the power from whom they secede are at one in policy and sympathy,
+and a match for each other in resources and power, and where no
+reasonable ground exists for the rebellion.  But with us and the
+Athenians this was not the case; and no one need think the worse of us
+for revolting from them in danger, after having been honoured by
+them in time of peace.
+
+"Justice and honesty will be the first topics of our speech,
+especially as we are asking for alliance; because we know that there
+can never be any solid friendship between individuals, or union
+between communities that is worth the name, unless the parties be
+persuaded of each other's honesty, and be generally congenial the
+one to the other; since from difference in feeling springs also
+difference in conduct.  Between ourselves and the Athenians alliance
+began, when you withdrew from the Median War and they remained to
+finish the business.  But we did not become allies of the Athenians for
+the subjugation of the Hellenes, but allies of the Hellenes for
+their liberation from the Mede; and as long as the Athenians led us
+fairly we followed them loyally; but when we saw them relax their
+hostility to the Mede, to try to compass the subjection of the allies,
+then our apprehensions began.  Unable, however, to unite and defend
+themselves, on account of the number of confederates that had votes,
+all the allies were enslaved, except ourselves and the Chians, who
+continued to send our contingents as independent and nominally free.
+Trust in Athens as a leader, however, we could no longer feel, judging
+by the examples already given; it being unlikely that she would reduce
+our fellow confederates, and not do the same by us who were left, if
+ever she had the power.
+
+"Had we all been still independent, we could have had more faith
+in their not attempting any change; but the greater number being their
+subjects, while they were treating us as equals, they would
+naturally chafe under this solitary instance of independence as
+contrasted with the submission of the majority; particularly as they
+daily grew more powerful, and we more destitute.  Now the only sure
+basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the
+other; he who would like to encroach is then deterred by the
+reflection that he will not have odds in his favour.  Again, if we were
+left independent, it was only because they thought they saw their
+way to empire more clearly by specious language and by the paths of
+policy than by those of force.  Not only were we useful as evidence
+that powers who had votes, like themselves, would not, surely, join
+them in their expeditions, against their will, without the party
+attacked being in the wrong; but the same system also enabled them
+to lead the stronger states against the weaker first, and so to
+leave the former to the last, stripped of their natural allies, and
+less capable of resistance.  But if they had begun with us, while all
+the states still had their resources under their own control, and
+there was a centre to rally round, the work of subjugation would
+have been found less easy.  Besides this, our navy gave them some
+apprehension: it was always possible that it might unite with you or
+with some other power, and become dangerous to Athens.  The court which
+we paid to their commons and its leaders for the time being also
+helped us to maintain our independence.  However, we did not expect
+to be able to do so much longer, if this war had not broken out,
+from the examples that we had had of their conduct to the rest.
+
+"How then could we put our trust in such friendship or freedom as we
+had here? We accepted each other against our inclination; fear made
+them court us in war, and us them in peace; sympathy, the ordinary
+basis of confidence, had its place supplied by terror, fear having
+more share than friendship in detaining us in the alliance; and the
+first party that should be encouraged by the hope of impunity was
+certain to break faith with the other.  So that to condemn us for being
+the first to break off, because they delay the blow that we dread,
+instead of ourselves delaying to know for certain whether it will be
+dealt or not, is to take a false view of the case.  For if we were
+equally able with them to meet their plots and imitate their delay, we
+should be their equals and should be under no necessity of being their
+subjects; but the liberty of offence being always theirs, that of
+defence ought clearly to be ours.
+
+"Such, Lacedaemonians and allies, are the grounds and the reasons of
+our revolt; clear enough to convince our hearers of the fairness of
+our conduct, and sufficient to alarm ourselves, and to make us turn to
+some means of safety.  This we wished to do long ago, when we sent to
+you on the subject while the peace yet lasted, but were balked by your
+refusing to receive us; and now, upon the Boeotians inviting us, we at
+once responded to the call, and decided upon a twofold revolt, from
+the Hellenes and from the Athenians, not to aid the latter in
+harming the former, but to join in their liberation, and not to
+allow the Athenians in the end to destroy us, but to act in time
+against them.  Our revolt, however, has taken place prematurely and
+without preparation--a fact which makes it all the more incumbent on
+you to receive us into alliance and to send us speedy relief, in order
+to show that you support your friends, and at the same time do harm to
+your enemies.  You have an opportunity such as you never had before.
+Disease and expenditure have wasted the Athenians: their ships are
+either cruising round your coasts, or engaged in blockading us; and it
+is not probable that they will have any to spare, if you invade them a
+second time this summer by sea and land; but they will either offer no
+resistance to your vessels, or withdraw from both our shores.  Nor must
+it be thought that this is a case of putting yourselves into danger
+for a country which is not yours.  Lesbos may appear far off, but
+when help is wanted she will be found near enough.  It is not in Attica
+that the war will be decided, as some imagine, but in the countries by
+which Attica is supported; and the Athenian revenue is drawn from
+the allies, and will become still larger if they reduce us; as not
+only will no other state revolt, but our resources will be added to
+theirs, and we shall be treated worse than those that were enslaved
+before.  But if you will frankly support us, you will add to your
+side a state that has a large navy, which is your great want; you will
+smooth the way to the overthrow of the Athenians by depriving them
+of their allies, who will be greatly encouraged to come over; and
+you will free yourselves from the imputation made against you, of
+not supporting insurrection.  In short, only show yourselves as
+liberators, and you may count upon having the advantage in the war.
+
+"Respect, therefore, the hopes placed in you by the Hellenes, and
+that Olympian Zeus, in whose temple we stand as very suppliants;
+become the allies and defenders of the Mitylenians, and do not
+sacrifice us, who put our lives upon the hazard, in a cause in which
+general good will result to all from our success, and still more
+general harm if we fail through your refusing to help us; but be the
+men that the Hellenes think you, and our fears desire."
+
+Such were the words of the Mitylenians.  After hearing them out,
+the Lacedaemonians and confederates granted what they urged, and
+took the Lesbians into alliance, and deciding in favour of the
+invasion of Attica, told the allies present to march as quickly as
+possible to the Isthmus with two-thirds of their forces; and
+arriving there first themselves, got ready hauling machines to carry
+their ships across from Corinth to the sea on the side of Athens, in
+order to make their attack by sea and land at once.  However, the
+zeal which they displayed was not imitated by the rest of the
+confederates, who came in but slowly, being engaged in harvesting
+their corn and sick of making expeditions.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, aware that the preparations of the enemy
+were due to his conviction of their weakness, and wishing to show
+him that he was mistaken, and that they were able, without moving
+the Lesbian fleet, to repel with ease that with which they were
+menaced from Peloponnese, manned a hundred ships by embarking the
+citizens of Athens, except the knights and Pentacosiomedimni, and
+the resident aliens; and putting out to the Isthmus, displayed their
+power, and made descents upon Peloponnese wherever they pleased.  A
+disappointment so signal made the Lacedaemonians think that the
+Lesbians had not spoken the truth; and embarrassed by the
+non-appearance of the confederates, coupled with the news that the
+thirty ships round Peloponnese were ravaging the lands near Sparta,
+they went back home.  Afterwards, however, they got ready a fleet to
+send to Lesbos, and ordering a total of forty ships from the different
+cities in the league, appointed Alcidas to command the expedition in
+his capacity of high admiral.  Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred
+ships, upon seeing the Lacedaemonians go home, went home likewise.
+
+If, at the time that this fleet was at sea, Athens had almost the
+largest number of first-rate ships in commission that she ever
+possessed at any one moment, she had as many or even more when the war
+began.  At that time one hundred guarded Attica, Euboea, and Salamis; a
+hundred more were cruising round Peloponnese, besides those employed
+at Potidaea and in other places; making a grand total of two hundred
+and fifty vessels employed on active service in a single summer.  It
+was this, with Potidaea, that most exhausted her revenues--Potidaea
+being blockaded by a force of heavy infantry (each drawing two
+drachmae a day, one for himself and another for his servant), which
+amounted to three thousand at first, and was kept at this number
+down to the end of the siege; besides sixteen hundred with Phormio who
+went away before it was over; and the ships being all paid at the same
+rate.  In this way her money was wasted at first; and this was the
+largest number of ships ever manned by her.
+
+About the same time that the Lacedaemonians were at the Isthmus, the
+Mitylenians marched by land with their mercenaries against Methymna,
+which they thought to gain by treachery.  After assaulting the town,
+and not meeting with the success that they anticipated, they
+withdrew to Antissa, Pyrrha, and Eresus; and taking measures for the
+better security of these towns and strengthening their walls,
+hastily returned home.  After their departure the Methymnians marched
+against Antissa, but were defeated in a sortie by the Antissians and
+their mercenaries, and retreated in haste after losing many of their
+number.  Word of this reaching Athens, and the Athenians learning
+that the Mitylenians were masters of the country and their own
+soldiers unable to hold them in check, they sent out about the
+beginning of autumn Paches, son of Epicurus, to take the command,
+and a thousand Athenian heavy infantry; who worked their own passage
+and, arriving at Mitylene, built a single wall all round it, forts
+being erected at some of the strongest points.  Mitylene was thus
+blockaded strictly on both sides, by land and by sea; and winter now
+drew near.
+
+The Athenians needing money for the siege, although they had for the
+first time raised a contribution of two hundred talents from their own
+citizens, now sent out twelve ships to levy subsidies from their
+allies, with Lysicles and four others in command.  After cruising to
+different places and laying them under contribution, Lysicles went
+up the country from Myus, in Caria, across the plain of the Meander,
+as far as the hill of Sandius; and being attacked by the Carians and
+the people of Anaia, was slain with many of his soldiers.
+
+The same winter the Plataeans, who were still being besieged by
+the Peloponnesians and Boeotians, distressed by the failure of their
+provisions, and seeing no hope of relief from Athens, nor any other
+means of safety, formed a scheme with the Athenians besieged with them
+for escaping, if possible, by forcing their way over the enemy's
+walls; the attempt having been suggested by Theaenetus, son of
+Tolmides, a soothsayer, and Eupompides, son of Daimachus, one of their
+generals.  At first all were to join: afterwards, half hung back,
+thinking the risk great; about two hundred and twenty, however,
+voluntarily persevered in the attempt, which was carried out in the
+following way.  Ladders were made to match the height of the enemy's
+wall, which they measured by the layers of bricks, the side turned
+towards them not being thoroughly whitewashed.  These were counted by
+many persons at once; and though some might miss the right
+calculation, most would hit upon it, particularly as they counted over
+and over again, and were no great way from the wall, but could see
+it easily enough for their purpose.  The length required for the
+ladders was thus obtained, being calculated from the breadth of the
+brick.
+
+Now the wall of the Peloponnesians was constructed as follows.  It
+consisted of two lines drawn round the place, one against the
+Plataeans, the other against any attack on the outside from Athens,
+about sixteen feet apart.  The intermediate space of sixteen feet was
+occupied by huts portioned out among the soldiers on guard, and
+built in one block, so as to give the appearance of a single thick
+wall with battlements on either side.  At intervals of every ten
+battlements were towers of considerable size, and the same breadth
+as the wall, reaching right across from its inner to its outer face,
+with no means of passing except through the middle.  Accordingly on
+stormy and wet nights the battlements were deserted, and guard kept
+from the towers, which were not far apart and roofed in above.
+
+Such being the structure of the wall by which the Plataeans were
+blockaded, when their preparations were completed, they waited for a
+stormy night of wind and rain and without any moon, and then set
+out, guided by the authors of the enterprise.  Crossing first the ditch
+that ran round the town, they next gained the wall of the enemy
+unperceived by the sentinels, who did not see them in the darkness, or
+hear them, as the wind drowned with its roar the noise of their
+approach; besides which they kept a good way off from each other, that
+they might not be betrayed by the clash of their weapons.  They were
+also lightly equipped, and had only the left foot shod to preserve
+them from slipping in the mire.  They came up to the battlements at one
+of the intermediate spaces where they knew them to be unguarded: those
+who carried the ladders went first and planted them; next twelve
+light-armed soldiers with only a dagger and a breastplate mounted, led
+by Ammias, son of Coroebus, who was the first on the wall; his
+followers getting up after him and going six to each of the towers.
+After these came another party of light troops armed with spears,
+whose shields, that they might advance the easier, were carried by men
+behind, who were to hand them to them when they found themselves in
+presence of the enemy.  After a good many had mounted they were
+discovered by the sentinels in the towers, by the noise made by a tile
+which was knocked down by one of the Plataeans as he was laying hold
+of the battlements.  The alarm was instantly given, and the troops
+rushed to the wall, not knowing the nature of the danger, owing to the
+dark night and stormy weather; the Plataeans in the town having also
+chosen that moment to make a sortie against the wall of the
+Peloponnesians upon the side opposite to that on which their men
+were getting over, in order to divert the attention of the
+besiegers.  Accordingly they remained distracted at their several
+posts, without any venturing to stir to give help from his own
+station, and at a loss to guess what was going on.  Meanwhile the three
+hundred set aside for service on emergencies went outside the wall
+in the direction of the alarm.  Fire-signals of an attack were also
+raised towards Thebes; but the Plataeans in the town at once displayed
+a number of others, prepared beforehand for this very purpose, in
+order to render the enemy's signals unintelligible, and to prevent his
+friends getting a true idea of what was passing and coming to his
+aid before their comrades who had gone out should have made good their
+escape and be in safety.
+
+Meanwhile the first of the scaling party that had got up, after
+carrying both the towers and putting the sentinels to the sword,
+posted themselves inside to prevent any one coming through against
+them; and rearing ladders from the wall, sent several men up on the
+towers, and from their summit and base kept in check all of the
+enemy that came up, with their missiles, while their main body planted
+a number of ladders against the wall, and knocking down the
+battlements, passed over between the towers; each as soon as he had
+got over taking up his station at the edge of the ditch, and plying
+from thence with arrows and darts any who came along the wall to
+stop the passage of his comrades.  When all were over, the party on the
+towers came down, the last of them not without difficulty, and
+proceeded to the ditch, just as the three hundred came up carrying
+torches.  The Plataeans, standing on the edge of the ditch in the dark,
+had a good view of their opponents, and discharged their arrows and
+darts upon the unarmed parts of their bodies, while they themselves
+could not be so well seen in the obscurity for the torches; and thus
+even the last of them got over the ditch, though not without effort
+and difficulty; as ice had formed in it, not strong enough to walk
+upon, but of that watery kind which generally comes with a wind more
+east than north, and the snow which this wind had caused to fall
+during the night had made the water in the ditch rise, so that they
+could scarcely breast it as they crossed.  However, it was mainly the
+violence of the storm that enabled them to effect their escape at all.
+
+Starting from the ditch, the Plataeans went all together along the
+road leading to Thebes, keeping the chapel of the hero Androcrates
+upon their right; considering that the last road which the
+Peloponnesians would suspect them of having taken would be that
+towards their enemies' country.  Indeed they could see them pursuing
+with torches upon the Athens road towards Cithaeron and
+Druoskephalai or Oakheads.  After going for rather more than half a
+mile upon the road to Thebes, the Plataeans turned off and took that
+leading to the mountain, to Erythrae and Hysiae, and reaching the
+hills, made good their escape to Athens, two hundred and twelve men in
+all; some of their number having turned back into the town before
+getting over the wall, and one archer having been taken prisoner at
+the outer ditch.  Meanwhile the Peloponnesians gave up the pursuit
+and returned to their posts; and the Plataeans in the town, knowing
+nothing of what had passed, and informed by those who had turned
+back that not a man had escaped, sent out a herald as soon as it was
+day to make a truce for the recovery of the dead bodies, and then,
+learning the truth, desisted.  In this way the Plataean party got
+over and were saved.
+
+Towards the close of the same winter, Salaethus, a Lacedaemonian,
+was sent out in a galley from Lacedaemon to Mitylene.  Going by sea
+to Pyrrha, and from thence overland, he passed along the bed of a
+torrent, where the line of circumvallation was passable, and thus
+entering unperceived into Mitylene told the magistrates that Attica
+would certainly be invaded, and the forty ships destined to relieve
+them arrive, and that he had been sent on to announce this and to
+superintend matters generally.  The Mitylenians upon this took courage,
+and laid aside the idea of treating with the Athenians; and now this
+winter ended, and with it ended the fourth year of the war of which
+Thucydides was the historian.
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians sent off the forty-two ships
+for Mitylene, under Alcidas, their high admiral, and themselves and
+their allies invaded Attica, their object being to distract the
+Athenians by a double movement, and thus to make it less easy for them
+to act against the fleet sailing to Mitylene.  The commander in this
+invasion was Cleomenes, in the place of King Pausanias, son of
+Pleistoanax, his nephew, who was still a minor.  Not content with
+laying waste whatever had shot up in the parts which they had before
+devastated, the invaders now extended their ravages to lands passed
+over in their previous incursions; so that this invasion was more
+severely felt by the Athenians than any except the second; the enemy
+staying on and on until they had overrun most of the country, in the
+expectation of hearing from Lesbos of something having been achieved
+by their fleet, which they thought must now have got over.  However, as
+they did not obtain any of the results expected, and their
+provisions began to run short, they retreated and dispersed to their
+different cities.
+
+In the meantime the Mitylenians, finding their provisions failing,
+while the fleet from Peloponnese was loitering on the way instead of
+appearing at Mitylene, were compelled to come to terms with the
+Athenians in the following manner.  Salaethus having himself ceased
+to expect the fleet to arrive, now armed the commons with heavy
+armour, which they had not before possessed, with the intention of
+making a sortie against the Athenians.  The commons, however, no sooner
+found themselves possessed of arms than they refused any longer to
+obey their officers; and forming in knots together, told the
+authorities to bring out in public the provisions and divide them
+amongst them all, or they would themselves come to terms with the
+Athenians and deliver up the city.
+
+The government, aware of their inability to prevent this, and of the
+danger they would be in, if left out of the capitulation, publicly
+agreed with Paches and the army to surrender Mitylene at discretion
+and to admit the troops into the town; upon the understanding that the
+Mitylenians should be allowed to send an embassy to Athens to plead
+their cause, and that Paches should not imprison, make slaves of, or
+put to death any of the citizens until its return.  Such were the terms
+of the capitulation; in spite of which the chief authors of the
+negotiation with Lacedaemon were so completely overcome by terror when
+the army entered that they went and seated themselves by the altars,
+from which they were raised up by Paches under promise that he would
+do them no wrong, and lodged by him in Tenedos, until he should
+learn the pleasure of the Athenians concerning them.  Paches also
+sent some galleys and seized Antissa, and took such other military
+measures as he thought advisable.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians in the forty ships, who ought to have
+made all haste to relieve Mitylene, lost time in coming round
+Peloponnese itself, and proceeding leisurely on the remainder of the
+voyage, made Delos without having been seen by the Athenians at
+Athens, and from thence arriving at Icarus and Myconus, there first
+heard of the fall of Mitylene.  Wishing to know the truth, they put
+into Embatum, in the Erythraeid, about seven days after the capture of
+the town.  Here they learned the truth, and began to consider what they
+were to do; and Teutiaplus, an Elean, addressed them as follows:
+
+"Alcidas and Peloponnesians who share with me the command of this
+armament, my advice is to sail just as we are to Mitylene, before we
+have been heard of.  We may expect to find the Athenians as much off
+their guard as men generally are who have just taken a city: this will
+certainly be so by sea, where they have no idea of any enemy attacking
+them, and where our strength, as it happens, mainly lies; while even
+their land forces are probably scattered about the houses in the
+carelessness of victory.  If therefore we were to fall upon them
+suddenly and in the night, I have hopes, with the help of the
+well-wishers that we may have left inside the town, that we shall
+become masters of the place.  Let us not shrink from the risk, but
+let us remember that this is just the occasion for one of the baseless
+panics common in war: and that to be able to guard against these in
+one's own case, and to detect the moment when an attack will find an
+enemy at this disadvantage, is what makes a successful general."
+
+These words of Teutiaplus failing to move Alcidas, some of the
+Ionian exiles and the Lesbians with the expedition began to urge
+him, since this seemed too dangerous, to seize one of the Ionian
+cities or the Aeolic town of Cyme, to use as a base for effecting
+the revolt of Ionia.  This was by no means a hopeless enterprise, as
+their coming was welcome everywhere; their object would be by this
+move to deprive Athens of her chief source of revenue, and at the same
+time to saddle her with expense, if she chose to blockade them; and
+they would probably induce Pissuthnes to join them in the war.
+However, Alcidas gave this proposal as bad a reception as the other,
+being eager, since he had come too late for Mitylene, to find
+himself back in Peloponnese as soon as possible.
+
+Accordingly he put out from Embatum and proceeded along shore; and
+touching at the Teian town, Myonnesus, there butchered most of the
+prisoners that he had taken on his passage.  Upon his coming to
+anchor at Ephesus, envoys came to him from the Samians at Anaia, and
+told him that he was not going the right way to free Hellas in
+massacring men who had never raised a hand against him, and who were
+not enemies of his, but allies of Athens against their will, and
+that if he did not stop he would turn many more friends into enemies
+than enemies into friends.  Alcidas agreed to this, and let go all
+the Chians still in his hands and some of the others that he had
+taken; the inhabitants, instead of flying at the sight of his vessels,
+rather coming up to them, taking them for Athenian, having no sort
+of expectation that while the Athenians commanded the sea
+Peloponnesian ships would venture over to Ionia.
+
+From Ephesus Alcidas set sail in haste and fled.  He had been seen by
+the Salaminian and Paralian galleys, which happened to be sailing from
+Athens, while still at anchor off Clarus; and fearing pursuit he now
+made across the open sea, fully determined to touch nowhere, if he
+could help it, until he got to Peloponnese.  Meanwhile news of him
+had come in to Paches from the Erythraeid, and indeed from all
+quarters.  As Ionia was unfortified, great fears were felt that the
+Peloponnesians coasting along shore, even if they did not intend to
+stay, might make descents in passing and plunder the towns; and now
+the Paralian and Salaminian, having seen him at Clarus, themselves
+brought intelligence of the fact.  Paches accordingly gave hot chase,
+and continued the pursuit as far as the isle of Patmos, and then
+finding that Alcidas had got on too far to be overtaken, came back
+again.  Meanwhile he thought it fortunate that, as he had not fallen in
+with them out at sea, he had not overtaken them anywhere where they
+would have been forced to encamp, and so give him the trouble of
+blockading them.
+
+On his return along shore he touched, among other places, at Notium,
+the port of Colophon, where the Colophonians had settled after the
+capture of the upper town by Itamenes and the barbarians, who had been
+called in by certain individuals in a party quarrel.  The capture of
+the town took place about the time of the second Peloponnesian
+invasion of Attica.  However, the refugees, after settling at Notium,
+again split up into factions, one of which called in Arcadian and
+barbarian mercenaries from Pissuthnes and, entrenching these in a
+quarter apart, formed a new community with the Median party of the
+Colophonians who joined them from the upper town.  Their opponents
+had retired into exile, and now called in Paches, who invited Hippias,
+the commander of the Arcadians in the fortified quarter, to a
+parley, upon condition that, if they could not agree, he was to be put
+back safe and sound in the fortification.  However, upon his coming out
+to him, he put him into custody, though not in chains, and attacked
+suddenly and took by surprise the fortification, and putting the
+Arcadians and the barbarians found in it to the sword, afterwards took
+Hippias into it as he had promised, and, as soon as he was inside,
+seized him and shot him down.  Paches then gave up Notium to the
+Colophonians not of the Median party; and settlers were afterwards
+sent out from Athens, and the place colonized according to Athenian
+laws, after collecting all the Colophonians found in any of the
+cities.
+
+Arrived at Mitylene, Paches reduced Pyrrha and Eresus; and finding
+the Lacedaemonian, Salaethus, in hiding in the town, sent him off to
+Athens, together with the Mitylenians that he had placed in Tenedos,
+and any other persons that he thought concerned in the revolt.  He also
+sent back the greater part of his forces, remaining with the rest to
+settle Mitylene and the rest of Lesbos as he thought best.
+
+Upon the arrival of the prisoners with Salaethus, the Athenians at
+once put the latter to death, although he offered, among other things,
+to procure the withdrawal of the Peloponnesians from Plataea, which
+was still under siege; and after deliberating as to what they should
+do with the former, in the fury of the moment determined to put to
+death not only the prisoners at Athens, but the whole adult male
+population of Mitylene, and to make slaves of the women and
+children.  It was remarked that Mitylene had revolted without being,
+like the rest, subjected to the empire; and what above all swelled the
+wrath of the Athenians was the fact of the Peloponnesian fleet
+having ventured over to Ionia to her support, a fact which was held to
+argue a long meditated rebellion.  They accordingly sent a galley to
+communicate the decree to Paches, commanding him to lose no time in
+dispatching the Mitylenians.  The morrow brought repentance with it and
+reflection on the horrid cruelty of a decree, which condemned a
+whole city to the fate merited only by the guilty.  This was no
+sooner perceived by the Mitylenian ambassadors at Athens and their
+Athenian supporters, than they moved the authorities to put the
+question again to the vote; which they the more easily consented to
+do, as they themselves plainly saw that most of the citizens wished
+some one to give them an opportunity for reconsidering the matter.
+An assembly was therefore at once called, and after much expression of
+opinion upon both sides, Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, the same who had
+carried the former motion of putting the Mitylenians to death, the
+most violent man at Athens, and at that time by far the most
+powerful with the commons, came forward again and spoke as follows:
+
+"I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is
+incapable of empire, and never more so than by your present change
+of mind in the matter of Mitylene.  Fears or plots being unknown to you
+in your daily relations with each other, you feel just the same with
+regard to your allies, and never reflect that the mistakes into
+which you may be led by listening to their appeals, or by giving way
+to your own compassion, are full of danger to yourselves, and bring
+you no thanks for your weakness from your allies; entirely
+forgetting that your empire is a despotism and your subjects
+disaffected conspirators, whose obedience is ensured not by your
+suicidal concessions, but by the superiority given you by your own
+strength and not their loyalty.  The most alarming feature in the
+case is the constant change of measures with which we appear to be
+threatened, and our seeming ignorance of the fact that bad laws
+which are never changed are better for a city than good ones that have
+no authority; that unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than
+quick-witted insubordination; and that ordinary men usually manage
+public affairs better than their more gifted fellows.  The latter are
+always wanting to appear wiser than the laws, and to overrule every
+proposition brought forward, thinking that they cannot show their
+wit in more important matters, and by such behaviour too often ruin
+their country; while those who mistrust their own cleverness are
+content to be less learned than the laws, and less able to pick
+holes in the speech of a good speaker; and being fair judges rather
+than rival athletes, generally conduct affairs successfully.  These
+we ought to imitate, instead of being led on by cleverness and
+intellectual rivalry to advise your people against our real opinions.
+
+"For myself, I adhere to my former opinion, and wonder at those
+who have proposed to reopen the case of the Mitylenians, and who are
+thus causing a delay which is all in favour of the guilty, by making
+the sufferer proceed against the offender with the edge of his anger
+blunted; although where vengeance follows most closely upon the wrong,
+it best equals it and most amply requites it.  I wonder also who will
+be the man who will maintain the contrary, and will pretend to show
+that the crimes of the Mitylenians are of service to us, and our
+misfortunes injurious to the allies.  Such a man must plainly either
+have such confidence in his rhetoric as to adventure to prove that
+what has been once for all decided is still undetermined, or be bribed
+to try to delude us by elaborate sophisms.  In such contests the
+state gives the rewards to others, and takes the dangers for
+herself.  The persons to blame are you who are so foolish as to
+institute these contests; who go to see an oration as you would to see
+a sight, take your facts on hearsay, judge of the practicability of
+a project by the wit of its advocates, and trust for the truth as to
+past events not to the fact which you saw more than to the clever
+strictures which you heard; the easy victims of new-fangled arguments,
+unwilling to follow received conclusions; slaves to every new paradox,
+despisers of the commonplace; the first wish of every man being that
+he could speak himself, the next to rival those who can speak by
+seeming to be quite up with their ideas by applauding every hit almost
+before it is made, and by being as quick in catching an argument as
+you are slow in foreseeing its consequences; asking, if I may so
+say, for something different from the conditions under which we
+live, and yet comprehending inadequately those very conditions; very
+slaves to the pleasure of the ear, and more like the audience of a
+rhetorician than the council of a city.
+
+"In order to keep you from this, I proceed to show that no one state
+has ever injured you as much as Mitylene.  I can make allowance for
+those who revolt because they cannot bear our empire, or who have been
+forced to do so by the enemy.  But for those who possessed an island
+with fortifications; who could fear our enemies only by sea, and there
+had their own force of galleys to protect them; who were independent
+and held in the highest honour by you--to act as these have done,
+this is not revolt--revolt implies oppression; it is deliberate and
+wanton aggression; an attempt to ruin us by siding with our
+bitterest enemies; a worse offence than a war undertaken on their
+own account in the acquisition of power.  The fate of those of their
+neighbours who had already rebelled and had been subdued was no lesson
+to them; their own prosperity could not dissuade them from
+affronting danger; but blindly confident in the future, and full of
+hopes beyond their power though not beyond their ambition, they
+declared war and made their decision to prefer might to right, their
+attack being determined not by provocation but by the moment which
+seemed propitious.  The truth is that great good fortune coming
+suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people insolent; in most
+cases it is safer for mankind to have success in reason than out of
+reason; and it is easier for them, one may say, to stave off adversity
+than to preserve prosperity.  Our mistake has been to distinguish the
+Mitylenians as we have done: had they been long ago treated like the
+rest, they never would have so far forgotten themselves, human
+nature being as surely made arrogant by consideration as it is awed by
+firmness.  Let them now therefore be punished as their crime
+requires, and do not, while you condemn the aristocracy, absolve the
+people.  This is certain, that all attacked you without distinction,
+although they might have come over to us and been now again in
+possession of their city.  But no, they thought it safer to throw in
+their lot with the aristocracy and so joined their rebellion! Consider
+therefore: if you subject to the same punishment the ally who is
+forced to rebel by the enemy, and him who does so by his own free
+choice, which of them, think you, is there that will not rebel upon
+the slightest pretext; when the reward of success is freedom, and
+the penalty of failure nothing so very terrible? We meanwhile shall
+have to risk our money and our lives against one state after
+another; and if successful, shall receive a ruined town from which
+we can no longer draw the revenue upon which our strength depends;
+while if unsuccessful, we shall have an enemy the more upon our hands,
+and shall spend the time that might be employed in combating our
+existing foes in warring with our own allies.
+
+"No hope, therefore, that rhetoric may instil or money purchase,
+of the mercy due to human infirmity must be held out to the
+Mitylenians.  Their offence was not involuntary, but of malice and
+deliberate; and mercy is only for unwilling offenders.  I therefore,
+now as before, persist against your reversing your first decision,
+or giving way to the three failings most fatal to empire--pity,
+sentiment, and indulgence.  Compassion is due to those who can
+reciprocate the feeling, not to those who will never pity us in
+return, but are our natural and necessary foes: the orators who
+charm us with sentiment may find other less important arenas for their
+talents, in the place of one where the city pays a heavy penalty for a
+momentary pleasure, themselves receiving fine acknowledgments for
+their fine phrases; while indulgence should be shown towards those who
+will be our friends in future, instead of towards men who will
+remain just what they were, and as much our enemies as before.  To
+sum up shortly, I say that if you follow my advice you will do what is
+just towards the Mitylenians, and at the same time expedient; while by
+a different decision you will not oblige them so much as pass sentence
+upon yourselves.  For if they were right in rebelling, you must be
+wrong in ruling.  However, if, right or wrong, you determine to rule,
+you must carry out your principle and punish the Mitylenians as your
+interest requires; or else you must give up your empire and
+cultivate honesty without danger.  Make up your minds, therefore, to
+give them like for like; and do not let the victims who escaped the
+plot be more insensible than the conspirators who hatched it; but
+reflect what they would have done if victorious over you, especially
+they were the aggressors.  It is they who wrong their neighbour without
+a cause, that pursue their victim to the death, on account of the
+danger which they foresee in letting their enemy survive; since the
+object of a wanton wrong is more dangerous, if he escape, than an
+enemy who has not this to complain of.  Do not, therefore, be
+traitors to yourselves, but recall as nearly as possible the moment of
+suffering and the supreme importance which you then attached to
+their reduction; and now pay them back in their turn, without yielding
+to present weakness or forgetting the peril that once hung over you.
+Punish them as they deserve, and teach your other allies by a striking
+example that the penalty of rebellion is death.  Let them once
+understand this and you will not have so often to neglect your enemies
+while you are fighting with your own confederates."
+
+Such were the words of Cleon.  After him Diodotus, son of Eucrates,
+who had also in the previous assembly spoken most strongly against
+putting the Mitylenians to death, came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+"I do not blame the persons who have reopened the case of the
+Mitylenians, nor do I approve the protests which we have heard against
+important questions being frequently debated.  I think the two things
+most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usually goes
+hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of
+mind.  As for the argument that speech ought not to be the exponent
+of action, the man who uses it must be either senseless or interested:
+senseless if he believes it possible to treat of the uncertain
+future through any other medium; interested if, wishing to carry a
+disgraceful measure and doubting his ability to speak well in a bad
+cause, he thinks to frighten opponents and hearers by well-aimed
+calumny.  What is still more intolerable is to accuse a speaker of
+making a display in order to be paid for it.  If ignorance only were
+imputed, an unsuccessful speaker might retire with a reputation for
+honesty, if not for wisdom; while the charge of dishonesty makes him
+suspected, if successful, and thought, if defeated, not only a fool
+but a rogue.  The city is no gainer by such a system, since fear
+deprives it of its advisers; although in truth, if our speakers are to
+make such assertions, it would be better for the country if they could
+not speak at all, as we should then make fewer blunders.  The good
+citizen ought to triumph not by frightening his opponents but by
+beating them fairly in argument; and a wise city, without
+over-distinguishing its best advisers, will nevertheless not deprive
+them of their due, and, far from punishing an unlucky counsellor, will
+not even regard him as disgraced.  In this way successful orators would
+be least tempted to sacrifice their convictions to popularity, in
+the hope of still higher honours, and unsuccessful speakers to
+resort to the same popular arts in order to win over the multitude.
+
+"This is not our way; and, besides, the moment that a man is
+suspected of giving advice, however good, from corrupt motives, we
+feel such a grudge against him for the gain which after all we are not
+certain he will receive, that we deprive the city of its certain
+benefit.  Plain good advice has thus come to be no less suspected
+than bad; and the advocate of the most monstrous measures is not
+more obliged to use deceit to gain the people, than the best
+counsellor is to lie in order to be believed.  The city and the city
+only, owing to these refinements, can never be served openly and
+without disguise; he who does serve it openly being always suspected
+of serving himself in some secret way in return.  Still, considering
+the magnitude of the interests involved, and the position of
+affairs, we orators must make it our business to look a little farther
+than you who judge offhand; especially as we, your advisers, are
+responsible, while you, our audience, are not so.  For if those who
+gave the advice, and those who took it, suffered equally, you would
+judge more calmly; as it is, you visit the disasters into which the
+whim of the moment may have led you upon the single person of your
+adviser, not upon yourselves, his numerous companions in error.
+
+"However, I have not come forward either to oppose or to accuse in
+the matter of Mitylene; indeed, the question before us as sensible men
+is not their guilt, but our interests.  Though I prove them ever so
+guilty, I shall not, therefore, advise their death, unless it be
+expedient; nor though they should have claims to indulgence, shall I
+recommend it, unless it be dearly for the good of the country.  I
+consider that we are deliberating for the future more than for the
+present; and where Cleon is so positive as to the useful deterrent
+effects that will follow from making rebellion capital, I, who
+consider the interests of the future quite as much as he, as
+positively maintain the contrary.  And I require you not to reject my
+useful considerations for his specious ones: his speech may have the
+attraction of seeming the more just in your present temper against
+Mitylene; but we are not in a court of justice, but in a political
+assembly; and the question is not justice, but how to make the
+Mitylenians useful to Athens.
+
+"Now of course communities have enacted the penalty of death for
+many offences far lighter than this: still hope leads men to
+venture, and no one ever yet put himself in peril without the inward
+conviction that he would succeed in his design.  Again, was there
+ever city rebelling that did not believe that it possessed either in
+itself or in its alliances resources adequate to the enterprise?
+All, states and individuals, are alike prone to err, and there is no
+law that will prevent them; or why should men have exhausted the
+list of punishments in search of enactments to protect them from
+evildoers? It is probable that in early times the penalties for the
+greatest offences were less severe, and that, as these were
+disregarded, the penalty of death has been by degrees in most cases
+arrived at, which is itself disregarded in like manner.  Either then
+some means of terror more terrible than this must be discovered, or it
+must be owned that this restraint is useless; and that as long as
+poverty gives men the courage of necessity, or plenty fills them
+with the ambition which belongs to insolence and pride, and the
+other conditions of life remain each under the thraldom of some
+fatal and master passion, so long will the impulse never be wanting to
+drive men into danger.  Hope also and cupidity, the one leading and the
+other following, the one conceiving the attempt, the other
+suggesting the facility of succeeding, cause the widest ruin, and,
+although invisible agents, are far stronger than the dangers that
+are seen.  Fortune, too, powerfully helps the delusion and, by the
+unexpected aid that she sometimes lends, tempts men to venture with
+inferior means; and this is especially the case with communities,
+because the stakes played for are the highest, freedom or empire, and,
+when all are acting together, each man irrationally magnifies his
+own capacity.  In fine, it is impossible to prevent, and only great
+simplicity can hope to prevent, human nature doing what it has once
+set its mind upon, by force of law or by any other deterrent force
+whatsoever.
+
+"We must not, therefore, commit ourselves to a false policy
+through a belief in the efficacy of the punishment of death, or
+exclude rebels from the hope of repentance and an early atonement of
+their error.  Consider a moment.  At present, if a city that has already
+revolted perceive that it cannot succeed, it will come to terms
+while it is still able to refund expenses, and pay tribute afterwards.
+In the other case, what city, think you, would not prepare better than
+is now done, and hold out to the last against its besiegers, if it
+is all one whether it surrender late or soon? And how can it be
+otherwise than hurtful to us to be put to the expense of a siege,
+because surrender is out of the question; and if we take the city,
+to receive a ruined town from which we can no longer draw the
+revenue which forms our real strength against the enemy? We must
+not, therefore, sit as strict judges of the offenders to our own
+prejudice, but rather see how by moderate chastisements we may be
+enabled to benefit in future by the revenue-producing powers of our
+dependencies; and we must make up our minds to look for our protection
+not to legal terrors but to careful administration.  At present we do
+exactly the opposite.  When a free community, held in subjection by
+force, rises, as is only natural, and asserts its independence, it
+is no sooner reduced than we fancy ourselves obliged to punish it
+severely; although the right course with freemen is not to chastise
+them rigorously when they do rise, but rigorously to watch them before
+they rise, and to prevent their ever entertaining the idea, and, the
+insurrection suppressed, to make as few responsible for it as
+possible.
+
+"Only consider what a blunder you would commit in doing as Cleon
+recommends.  As things are at present, in all the cities the people
+is your friend, and either does not revolt with the oligarchy, or,
+if forced to do so, becomes at once the enemy of the insurgents; so
+that in the war with the hostile city you have the masses on your
+side.  But if you butcher the people of Mitylene, who had nothing to do
+with the revolt, and who, as soon as they got arms, of their own
+motion surrendered the town, first you will commit the crime of
+killing your benefactors; and next you will play directly into the
+hands of the higher classes, who when they induce their cities to
+rise, will immediately have the people on their side, through your
+having announced in advance the same punishment for those who are
+guilty and for those who are not.  On the contrary, even if they were
+guilty, you ought to seem not to notice it, in order to avoid
+alienating the only class still friendly to us.  In short, I consider
+it far more useful for the preservation of our empire voluntarily to
+put up with injustice, than to put to death, however justly, those
+whom it is our interest to keep alive.  As for Cleon's idea that in
+punishment the claims of justice and expediency can both be satisfied,
+facts do not confirm the possibility of such a combination.
+
+"Confess, therefore, that this is the wisest course, and without
+conceding too much either to pity or to indulgence, by neither of
+which motives do I any more than Cleon wish you to be influenced, upon
+the plain merits of the case before you, be persuaded by me to try
+calmly those of the Mitylenians whom Paches sent off as guilty, and to
+leave the rest undisturbed.  This is at once best for the future, and
+most terrible to your enemies at the present moment; inasmuch as
+good policy against an adversary is superior to the blind attacks of
+brute force."
+
+Such were the words of Diodotus.  The two opinions thus expressed
+were the ones that most directly contradicted each other; and the
+Athenians, notwithstanding their change of feeling, now proceeded to a
+division, in which the show of hands was almost equal, although the
+motion of Diodotus carried the day.  Another galley was at once sent
+off in haste, for fear that the first might reach Lesbos in the
+interval, and the city be found destroyed; the first ship having about
+a day and a night's start.  Wine and barley-cakes were provided for the
+vessel by the Mitylenian ambassadors, and great promises made if
+they arrived in time; which caused the men to use such diligence
+upon the voyage that they took their meals of barley-cakes kneaded
+with oil and wine as they rowed, and only slept by turns while the
+others were at the oar.  Luckily they met with no contrary wind, and
+the first ship making no haste upon so horrid an errand, while the
+second pressed on in the manner described, the first arrived so little
+before them, that Paches had only just had time to read the decree,
+and to prepare to execute the sentence, when the second put into
+port and prevented the massacre.  The danger of Mitylene had indeed
+been great.
+
+The other party whom Paches had sent off as the prime movers in
+the rebellion, were upon Cleon's motion put to death by the Athenians,
+the number being rather more than a thousand.  The Athenians also
+demolished the walls of the Mitylenians, and took possession of
+their ships.  Afterwards tribute was not imposed upon the Lesbians; but
+all their land, except that of the Methymnians, was divided into three
+thousand allotments, three hundred of which were reserved as sacred
+for the gods, and the rest assigned by lot to Athenian shareholders,
+who were sent out to the island.  With these the Lesbians agreed to pay
+a rent of two minae a year for each allotment, and cultivated the land
+themselves.  The Athenians also took possession of the towns on the
+continent belonging to the Mitylenians, which thus became for the
+future subject to Athens.  Such were the events that took place at
+Lesbos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+_Fifth Year of the War - Trial and Execution of the Plataeans -
+Corcyraean Revolution_
+
+During the same summer, after the reduction of Lesbos, the Athenians
+under Nicias, son of Niceratus, made an expedition against the
+island of Minoa, which lies off Megara and was used as a fortified
+post by the Megarians, who had built a tower upon it.  Nicias wished to
+enable the Athenians to maintain their blockade from this nearer
+station instead of from Budorum and Salamis; to stop the Peloponnesian
+galleys and privateers sailing out unobserved from the island, as they
+had been in the habit of doing; and at the same time prevent
+anything from coming into Megara.  Accordingly, after taking two towers
+projecting on the side of Nisaea, by engines from the sea, and
+clearing the entrance into the channel between the island and the
+shore, he next proceeded to cut off all communication by building a
+wall on the mainland at the point where a bridge across a morass
+enabled succours to be thrown into the island, which was not far off
+from the continent.  A few days sufficing to accomplish this, he
+afterwards raised some works in the island also, and leaving a
+garrison there, departed with his forces.
+
+About the same time in this summer, the Plataeans, being now without
+provisions and unable to support the siege, surrendered to the
+Peloponnesians in the following manner.  An assault had been made
+upon the wall, which the Plataeans were unable to repel.  The
+Lacedaemonian commander, perceiving their weakness, wished to avoid
+taking the place by storm; his instructions from Lacedaemon having
+been so conceived, in order that if at any future time peace should be
+made with Athens, and they should agree each to restore the places
+that they had taken in the war, Plataea might be held to have come
+over voluntarily, and not be included in the list.  He accordingly sent
+a herald to them to ask if they were willing voluntarily to
+surrender the town to the Lacedaemonians, and accept them as their
+judges, upon the understanding that the guilty should be punished, but
+no one without form of law.  The Plataeans were now in the last state
+of weakness, and the herald had no sooner delivered his message than
+they surrendered the town.  The Peloponnesians fed them for some days
+until the judges from Lacedaemon, who were five in number, arrived.
+Upon their arrival no charge was preferred; they simply called up
+the Plataeans, and asked them whether they had done the Lacedaemonians
+and allies any service in the war then raging.  The Plataeans asked
+leave to speak at greater length, and deputed two of their number to
+represent them: Astymachus, son of Asopolaus, and Lacon, son of
+Aeimnestus, proxenus of the Lacedaemonians, who came forward and spoke
+as follows:
+
+"Lacedaemonians, when we surrendered our city we trusted in you, and
+looked forward to a trial more agreeable to the forms of law than
+the present, to which we had no idea of being subjected; the judges
+also in whose hands we consented to place ourselves were you, and
+you only (from whom we thought we were most likely to obtain justice),
+and not other persons, as is now the case.  As matters stand, we are
+afraid that we have been doubly deceived.  We have good reason to
+suspect, not only that the issue to be tried is the most terrible of
+all, but that you will not prove impartial; if we may argue from the
+fact that no accusation was first brought forward for us to answer,
+but we had ourselves to ask leave to speak, and from the question
+being put so shortly, that a true answer to it tells against us, while
+a false one can be contradicted.  In this dilemma, our safest, and
+indeed our only course, seems to be to say something at all risks:
+placed as we are, we could scarcely be silent without being
+tormented by the damning thought that speaking might have saved us.
+Another difficulty that we have to encounter is the difficulty of
+convincing you.  Were we unknown to each other we might profit by
+bringing forward new matter with which you were unacquainted: as it
+is, we can tell you nothing that you do not know already, and we fear,
+not that you have condemned us in your own minds of having failed in
+our duty towards you, and make this our crime, but that to please a
+third party we have to submit to a trial the result of which is
+already decided.  Nevertheless, we will place before you what we can
+justly urge, not only on the question of the quarrel which the Thebans
+have against us, but also as addressing you and the rest of the
+Hellenes; and we will remind you of our good services, and endeavour
+to prevail with you.
+
+"To your short question, whether we have done the Lacedaemonians and
+allies any service in this war, we say, if you ask us as enemies, that
+to refrain from serving you was not to do you injury; if as friends,
+that you are more in fault for having marched against us.  During the
+peace, and against the Mede, we acted well: we have not now been the
+first to break the peace, and we were the only Boeotians who then
+joined in defending against the Mede the liberty of Hellas.  Although
+an inland people, we were present at the action at Artemisium; in
+the battle that took place in our territory we fought by the side of
+yourselves and Pausanias; and in all the other Hellenic exploits of
+the time we took a part quite out of proportion to our strength.
+Besides, you, as Lacedaemonians, ought not to forget that at the
+time of the great panic at Sparta, after the earthquake, caused by the
+secession of the Helots to Ithome, we sent the third part of our
+citizens to assist you.
+
+"On these great and historical occasions such was the part that we
+chose, although afterwards we became your enemies.  For this you were
+to blame.  When we asked for your alliance against our Theban
+oppressors, you rejected our petition, and told us to go to the
+Athenians who were our neighbours, as you lived too far off.  In the
+war we never have done to you, and never should have done to you,
+anything unreasonable.  If we refused to desert the Athenians when
+you asked us, we did no wrong; they had helped us against the
+Thebans when you drew back, and we could no longer give them up with
+honour; especially as we had obtained their alliance and had been
+admitted to their citizenship at our own request, and after
+receiving benefits at their hands; but it was plainly our duty loyally
+to obey their orders.  Besides, the faults that either of you may
+commit in your supremacy must be laid, not upon the followers, but
+on the chiefs that lead them astray.
+
+"With regard to the Thebans, they have wronged us repeatedly, and
+their last aggression, which has been the means of bringing us into
+our present position, is within your own knowledge.  In seizing our
+city in time of peace, and what is more at a holy time in the month,
+they justly encountered our vengeance, in accordance with the
+universal law which sanctions resistance to an invader; and it
+cannot now be right that we should suffer on their account.  By
+taking your own immediate interest and their animosity as the test
+of justice, you will prove yourselves to be rather waiters on
+expediency than judges of right; although if they seem useful to you
+now, we and the rest of the Hellenes gave you much more valuable
+help at a time of greater need.  Now you are the assailants, and others
+fear you; but at the crisis to which we allude, when the barbarian
+threatened all with slavery, the Thebans were on his side.  It is just,
+therefore, to put our patriotism then against our error now, if
+error there has been; and you will find the merit outweighing the
+fault, and displayed at a juncture when there were few Hellenes who
+would set their valour against the strength of Xerxes, and when
+greater praise was theirs who preferred the dangerous path of honour
+to the safe course of consulting their own interest with respect to
+the invasion.  To these few we belonged, and highly were we honoured
+for it; and yet we now fear to perish by having again acted on the
+same principles, and chosen to act well with Athens sooner than wisely
+with Sparta.  Yet in justice the same cases should be decided in the
+same way, and policy should not mean anything else than lasting
+gratitude for the service of good ally combined with a proper
+attention to one's own immediate interest.
+
+"Consider also that at present the Hellenes generally regard you
+as a pattern of worth and honour; and if you pass an unjust sentence
+upon us in this which is no obscure cause, but one in which you, the
+judges, are as illustrious as we, the prisoners, are blameless, take
+care that displeasure be not felt at an unworthy decision in the
+matter of honourable men made by men yet more honourable than they,
+and at the consecration in the national temples of spoils taken from
+the Plataeans, the benefactors of Hellas.  Shocking indeed will it seem
+for Lacedaemonians to destroy Plataea, and for the city whose name
+your fathers inscribed upon the tripod at Delphi for its good service,
+to be by you blotted out from the map of Hellas, to please the
+Thebans.  To such a depth of misfortune have we fallen that, while
+the Medes' success had been our ruin, Thebans now supplant us in
+your once fond regards; and we have been subjected to two dangers, the
+greatest of any--that of dying of starvation then, if we had not
+surrendered our town, and now of being tried for our lives.  So that we
+Plataeans, after exertions beyond our power in the cause of the
+Hellenes, are rejected by all, forsaken and unassisted; helped by none
+of our allies, and reduced to doubt the stability of our only hope,
+yourselves.
+
+"Still, in the name of the gods who once presided over our
+confederacy, and of our own good service in the Hellenic cause, we
+adjure you to relent; to recall the decision which we fear that the
+Thebans may have obtained from you; to ask back the gift that you have
+given them, that they disgrace not you by slaying us; to gain a pure
+instead of a guilty gratitude, and not to gratify others to be
+yourselves rewarded with shame.  Our lives may be quickly taken, but it
+will be a heavy task to wipe away the infamy of the deed; as we are no
+enemies whom you might justly punish, but friends forced into taking
+arms against you.  To grant us our lives would be, therefore, a
+righteous judgment; if you consider also that we are prisoners who
+surrendered of their own accord, stretching out our hands for quarter,
+whose slaughter Hellenic law forbids, and who besides were always your
+benefactors.  Look at the sepulchres of your fathers, slain by the
+Medes and buried in our country, whom year by year we honoured with
+garments and all other dues, and the first-fruits of all that our land
+produced in their season, as friends from a friendly country and
+allies to our old companions in arms.  Should you not decide aright,
+your conduct would be the very opposite to ours.  Consider only:
+Pausanias buried them thinking that he was laying them in friendly
+ground and among men as friendly; but you, if you kill us and make the
+Plataean territory Theban, will leave your fathers and kinsmen in a
+hostile soil and among their murderers, deprived of the honours
+which they now enjoy.  What is more, you will enslave the land in which
+the freedom of the Hellenes was won, make desolate the temples of
+the gods to whom they prayed before they overcame the Medes, and
+take away your ancestral sacrifices from those who founded and
+instituted them.
+
+"It were not to your glory, Lacedaemonians, either to offend in this
+way against the common law of the Hellenes and against your own
+ancestors, or to kill us your benefactors to gratify another's
+hatred without having been wronged yourselves: it were more so to
+spare us and to yield to the impressions of a reasonable compassion;
+reflecting not merely on the awful fate in store for us, but also on
+the character of the sufferers, and on the impossibility of predicting
+how soon misfortune may fall even upon those who deserve it not.  We,
+as we have a right to do and as our need impels us, entreat you,
+calling aloud upon the gods at whose common altar all the Hellenes
+worship, to hear our request, to be not unmindful of the oaths which
+your fathers swore, and which we now plead--we supplicate you by the
+tombs of your fathers, and appeal to those that are gone to save us
+from falling into the hands of the Thebans and their dearest friends
+from being given up to their most detested foes.  We also remind you of
+that day on which we did the most glorious deeds, by your fathers'
+sides, we who now on this are like to suffer the most dreadful fate.
+Finally, to do what is necessary and yet most difficult for men in our
+situation--that is, to make an end of speaking, since with that
+ending the peril of our lives draws near--in conclusion we say that
+we did not surrender our city to the Thebans (to that we would have
+preferred inglorious starvation), but trusted in and capitulated to
+you; and it would be just, if we fail to persuade you, to put us
+back in the same position and let us take the chance that falls to us.
+And at the same time we adjure you not to give us up--your
+suppliants, Lacedaemonians, out of your hands and faith, Plataeans
+foremost of the Hellenic patriots, to Thebans, our most hated
+enemies--but to be our saviours, and not, while you free the rest of
+the Hellenes, to bring us to destruction."
+
+Such were the words of the Plataeans.  The Thebans, afraid that the
+Lacedaemonians might be moved by what they had heard, came forward and
+said that they too desired to address them, since the Plataeans had,
+against their wish, been allowed to speak at length instead of being
+confined to a simple answer to the question.  Leave being granted,
+the Thebans spoke as follows:
+
+"We should never have asked to make this speech if the Plataeans
+on their side had contented themselves with shortly answering the
+question, and had not turned round and made charges against us,
+coupled with a long defence of themselves upon matters outside the
+present inquiry and not even the subject of accusation, and with
+praise of what no one finds fault with.  However, since they have
+done so, we must answer their charges and refute their self-praise, in
+order that neither our bad name nor their good may help them, but that
+you may hear the real truth on both points, and so decide.
+
+"The origin of our quarrel was this.  We settled Plataea some time
+after the rest of Boeotia, together with other places out of which
+we had driven the mixed population.  The Plataeans not choosing to
+recognize our supremacy, as had been first arranged, but separating
+themselves from the rest of the Boeotians, and proving traitors to
+their nationality, we used compulsion; upon which they went over to
+the Athenians, and with them did as much harm, for which we
+retaliated.
+
+"Next, when the barbarian invaded Hellas, they say that they were
+the only Boeotians who did not Medize; and this is where they most
+glorify themselves and abuse us.  We say that if they did not Medize,
+it was because the Athenians did not do so either; just as
+afterwards when the Athenians attacked the Hellenes they, the
+Plataeans, were again the only Boeotians who Atticized.  And yet
+consider the forms of our respective governments when we so acted.  Our
+city at that juncture had neither an oligarchical constitution in
+which all the nobles enjoyed equal rights, nor a democracy, but that
+which is most opposed to law and good government and nearest a
+tyranny--the rule of a close cabal.  These, hoping to strengthen their
+individual power by the success of the Mede, kept down by force the
+people, and brought him into the town.  The city as a whole was not its
+own mistress when it so acted, and ought not to be reproached for
+the errors that it committed while deprived of its constitution.
+Examine only how we acted after the departure of the Mede and the
+recovery of the constitution; when the Athenians attacked the rest
+of Hellas and endeavoured to subjugate our country, of the greater
+part of which faction had already made them masters.  Did not we
+fight and conquer at Coronea and liberate Boeotia, and do we not now
+actively contribute to the liberation of the rest, providing horses to
+the cause and a force unequalled by that of any other state in the
+confederacy?
+
+"Let this suffice to excuse us for our Medism.  We will now endeavour
+to show that you have injured the Hellenes more than we, and are
+more deserving of condign punishment.  It was in defence against us,
+say you, that you became allies and citizens of Athens.  If so, you
+ought only to have called in the Athenians against us, instead of
+joining them in attacking others: it was open to you to do this if you
+ever felt that they were leading you where you did not wish to follow,
+as Lacedaemon was already your ally against the Mede, as you so much
+insist; and this was surely sufficient to keep us off, and above all
+to allow you to deliberate in security.  Nevertheless, of your own
+choice and without compulsion you chose to throw your lot in with
+Athens.  And you say that it had been base for you to betray your
+benefactors; but it was surely far baser and more iniquitous to
+sacrifice the whole body of the Hellenes, your fellow confederates,
+who were liberating Hellas, than the Athenians only, who were
+enslaving it.  The return that you made them was therefore neither
+equal nor honourable, since you called them in, as you say, because
+you were being oppressed yourselves, and then became their accomplices
+in oppressing others; although baseness rather consists in not
+returning like for like than in not returning what is justly due but
+must be unjustly paid.
+
+"Meanwhile, after thus plainly showing that it was not for the
+sake of the Hellenes that you alone then did not Medize, but because
+the Athenians did not do so either, and you wished to side with them
+and to be against the rest; you now claim the benefit of good deeds
+done to please your neighbours.  This cannot be admitted: you chose the
+Athenians, and with them you must stand or fall.  Nor can you plead the
+league then made and claim that it should now protect you.  You
+abandoned that league, and offended against it by helping instead of
+hindering the subjugation of the Aeginetans and others of its members,
+and that not under compulsion, but while in enjoyment of the same
+institutions that you enjoy to the present hour, and no one forcing
+you as in our case.  Lastly, an invitation was addressed to you
+before you were blockaded to be neutral and join neither party: this
+you did not accept.  Who then merit the detestation of the Hellenes
+more justly than you, you who sought their ruin under the mask of
+honour? The former virtues that you allege you now show not to be
+proper to your character; the real bent of your nature has been at
+length damningly proved: when the Athenians took the path of injustice
+you followed them.
+
+"Of our unwilling Medism and your wilful Atticizing this then is our
+explanation.  The last wrong wrong of which you complain consists in
+our having, as you say, lawlessly invaded your town in time of peace
+and festival.  Here again we cannot think that we were more in fault
+than yourselves.  If of our own proper motion we made an armed attack
+upon your city and ravaged your territory, we are guilty; but if the
+first men among you in estate and family, wishing to put an end to the
+foreign connection and to restore you to the common Boeotian
+country, of their own free will invited us, wherein is our crime?
+Where wrong is done, those who lead, as you say, are more to blame
+than those who follow.  Not that, in our judgment, wrong was done
+either by them or by us.  Citizens like yourselves, and with more at
+stake than you, they opened their own walls and introduced us into
+their own city, not as foes but as friends, to prevent the bad among
+you from becoming worse; to give honest men their due; to reform
+principles without attacking persons, since you were not to be
+banished from your city, but brought home to your kindred, nor to be
+made enemies to any, but friends alike to all.
+
+"That our intention was not hostile is proved by our behaviour.  We
+did no harm to any one, but publicly invited those who wished to
+live under a national, Boeotian government to come over to us; which
+as first you gladly did, and made an agreement with us and remained
+tranquil, until you became aware of the smallness of our numbers.
+Now it is possible that there may have been something not quite fair
+in our entering without the consent of your commons.  At any rate you
+did not repay us in kind.  Instead of refraining, as we had done,
+from violence, and inducing us to retire by negotiation, you fell upon
+us in violation of your agreement, and slew some of us in fight, of
+which we do not so much complain, for in that there was a certain
+justice; but others who held out their hands and received quarter, and
+whose lives you subsequently promised us, you lawlessly butchered.
+If this was not abominable, what is? And after these three crimes
+committed one after the other--the violation of your agreement, the
+murder of the men afterwards, and the lying breach of your promise not
+to kill them, if we refrained from injuring your property in the
+country--you still affirm that we are the criminals and yourselves
+pretend to escape justice.  Not so, if these your judges decide aright,
+but you will be punished for all together.
+
+"Such, Lacedaemonians, are the facts.  We have gone into them at some
+length both on your account and on our own, that you may fed that
+you will justly condemn the prisoners, and we, that we have given an
+additional sanction to our vengeance.  We would also prevent you from
+being melted by hearing of their past virtues, if any such they had:
+these may be fairly appealed to by the victims of injustice, but
+only aggravate the guilt of criminals, since they offend against their
+better nature.  Nor let them gain anything by crying and wailing, by
+calling upon your fathers' tombs and their own desolate condition.
+Against this we point to the far more dreadful fate of our youth,
+butchered at their hands; the fathers of whom either fell at
+Coronea, bringing Boeotia over to you, or seated, forlorn old men by
+desolate hearths, with far more reason implore your justice upon the
+prisoners.  The pity which they appeal to is rather due to men who
+suffer unworthily; those who suffer justly as they do are on the
+contrary subjects for triumph.  For their present desolate condition
+they have themselves to blame, since they wilfully rejected the better
+alliance.  Their lawless act was not provoked by any action of ours:
+hate, not justice, inspired their decision; and even now the
+satisfaction which they afford us is not adequate; they will suffer by
+a legal sentence, not as they pretend as suppliants asking for quarter
+in battle, but as prisoners who have surrendered upon agreement to
+take their trial.  Vindicate, therefore, Lacedaemonians, the Hellenic
+law which they have broken; and to us, the victims of its violation,
+grant the reward merited by our zeal.  Nor let us be supplanted in your
+favour by their harangues, but offer an example to the Hellenes,
+that the contests to which you invite them are of deeds, not words:
+good deeds can be shortly stated, but where wrong is done a wealth
+of language is needed to veil its deformity.  However, if leading
+powers were to do what you are now doing, and putting one short
+question to all alike were to decide accordingly, men would be less
+tempted to seek fine phrases to cover bad actions."
+
+Such were the words of the Thebans.  The Lacedaemonian judges decided
+that the question whether they had received any service from the
+Plataeans in the war, was a fair one for them to put; as they had
+always invited them to be neutral, agreeably to the original
+covenant of Pausanias after the defeat of the Mede, and had again
+definitely offered them the same conditions before the blockade.
+This offer having been refused, they were now, they conceived, by
+the loyalty of their intention released from their covenant; and
+having, as they considered, suffered evil at the hands of the
+Plataeans, they brought them in again one by one and asked each of
+them the same question, that is to say, whether they had done the
+Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the war; and upon their
+saying that they had not, took them out and slew them, all without
+exception.  The number of Plataeans thus massacred was not less than
+two hundred, with twenty-five Athenians who had shared in the siege.
+The women were taken as slaves.  The city the Thebans gave for about
+a year to some political emigrants from Megara and to the surviving
+Plataeans of their own party to inhabit, and afterwards razed it to
+the ground from the very foundations, and built on to the precinct
+of Hera an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all round above and
+below, making use for this purpose of the roofs and doors of the
+Plataeans: of the rest of the materials in the wall, the brass and the
+iron, they made couches which they dedicated to Hera, for whom they
+also built a stone chapel of a hundred feet square.  The land they
+confiscated and let out on a ten years' lease to Theban occupiers.  The
+adverse attitude of the Lacedaemonians in the whole Plataean affair
+was mainly adopted to please the Thebans, who were thought to be
+useful in the war at that moment raging.  Such was the end of
+Plataea, in the ninety-third year after she became the ally of Athens.
+
+Meanwhile, the forty ships of the Peloponnesians that had gone to
+the relief of the Lesbians, and which we left flying across the open
+sea, pursued by the Athenians, were caught in a storm off Crete, and
+scattering from thence made their way to Peloponnese, where they found
+at Cyllene thirteen Leucadian and Ambraciot galleys, with Brasidas,
+son of Tellis, lately arrived as counsellor to Alcidas; the
+Lacedaemonians, upon the failure of the Lesbian expedition, having
+resolved to strengthen their fleet and sail to Corcyra, where a
+revolution had broken out, so as to arrive there before the twelve
+Athenian ships at Naupactus could be reinforced from Athens.
+Brasidas and Alcidas began to prepare accordingly.
+
+The Corcyraean revolution began with the return of the prisoners
+taken in the sea-fights off Epidamnus.  These the Corinthians had
+released, nominally upon the security of eight hundred talents given
+by their proxeni, but in reality upon their engagement to bring over
+Corcyra to Corinth.  These men proceeded to canvass each of the
+citizens, and to intrigue with the view of detaching the city from
+Athens.  Upon the arrival of an Athenian and a Corinthian vessel,
+with envoys on board, a conference was held in which the Corcyraeans
+voted to remain allies of the Athenians according to their
+agreement, but to be friends of the Peloponnesians as they had been
+formerly.  Meanwhile, the returned prisoners brought Peithias, a
+volunteer proxenus of the Athenians and leader of the commons, to
+trial, upon the charge of enslaving Corcyra to Athens.  He, being
+acquitted, retorted by accusing five of the richest of their number of
+cutting stakes in the ground sacred to Zeus and Alcinous; the legal
+penalty being a stater for each stake.  Upon their conviction, the
+amount of the penalty being very large, they seated themselves as
+suppliants in the temples to be allowed to pay it by instalments;
+but Peithias, who was one of the senate, prevailed upon that body to
+enforce the law; upon which the accused, rendered desperate by the
+law, and also learning that Peithias had the intention, while still
+a member of the senate, to persuade the people to conclude a defensive
+and offensive alliance with Athens, banded together armed with
+daggers, and suddenly bursting into the senate killed Peithias and
+sixty others, senators and private persons; some few only of the party
+of Peithias taking refuge in the Athenian galley, which had not yet
+departed.
+
+After this outrage, the conspirators summoned the Corcyraeans to
+an assembly, and said that this would turn out for the best, and would
+save them from being enslaved by Athens: for the future, they moved to
+receive neither party unless they came peacefully in a single ship,
+treating any larger number as enemies.  This motion made, they
+compelled it to be adopted, and instantly sent off envoys to Athens to
+justify what had been done and to dissuade the refugees there from any
+hostile proceedings which might lead to a reaction.
+
+Upon the arrival of the embassy, the Athenians arrested the envoys
+and all who listened to them, as revolutionists, and lodged them in
+Aegina.  Meanwhile a Corinthian galley arriving in the island with
+Lacedaemonian envoys, the dominant Corcyraean party attacked the
+commons and defeated them in battle.  Night coming on, the commons took
+refuge in the Acropolis and the higher parts of the city, and
+concentrated themselves there, having also possession of the Hyllaic
+harbour; their adversaries occupying the market-place, where most of
+them lived, and the harbour adjoining, looking towards the mainland.
+
+The next day passed in skirmishes of little importance, each party
+sending into the country to offer freedom to the slaves and to
+invite them to join them.  The mass of the slaves answered the appeal
+of the commons; their antagonists being reinforced by eight hundred
+mercenaries from the continent.
+
+After a day's interval hostilities recommenced, victory remaining
+with the commons, who had the advantage in numbers and position, the
+women also valiantly assisting them, pelting with tiles from the
+houses, and supporting the melee with a fortitude beyond their sex.
+Towards dusk, the oligarchs in full rout, fearing that the
+victorious commons might assault and carry the arsenal and put them to
+the sword, fired the houses round the marketplace and the
+lodging-houses, in order to bar their advance; sparing neither their
+own, nor those of their neighbours; by which much stuff of the
+merchants was consumed and the city risked total destruction, if a
+wind had come to help the flame by blowing on it.  Hostilities now
+ceasing, both sides kept quiet, passing the night on guard, while
+the Corinthian ship stole out to sea upon the victory of the
+commons, and most of the mercenaries passed over secretly to the
+continent.
+
+The next day the Athenian general, Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes,
+came up from Naupactus with twelve ships and five hundred Messenian
+heavy infantry.  He at once endeavoured to bring about a settlement,
+and persuaded the two parties to agree together to bring to trial
+ten of the ringleaders, who presently fled, while the rest were to
+live in peace, making terms with each other, and entering into a
+defensive and offensive alliance with the Athenians.  This arranged, he
+was about to sail away, when the leaders of the commons induced him to
+leave them five of his ships to make their adversaries less disposed
+to move, while they manned and sent with him an equal number of
+their own.  He had no sooner consented, than they began to enroll their
+enemies for the ships; and these, fearing that they might be sent
+off to Athens, seated themselves as suppliants in the temple of the
+Dioscuri.  An attempt on the part of Nicostratus to reassure them and
+to persuade them to rise proving unsuccessful, the commons armed
+upon this pretext, alleging the refusal of their adversaries to sail
+with them as a proof of the hollowness of their intentions, and took
+their arms out of their houses, and would have dispatched some whom
+they fell in with, if Nicostratus had not prevented it.  The rest of
+the party, seeing what was going on, seated themselves as suppliants
+in the temple of Hera, being not less than four hundred in number;
+until the commons, fearing that they might adopt some desperate
+resolution, induced them to rise, and conveyed them over to the island
+in front of the temple, where provisions were sent across to them.
+
+At this stage in the revolution, on the fourth or fifth day after
+the removal of the men to the island, the Peloponnesian ships
+arrived from Cyllene where they had been stationed since their
+return from Ionia, fifty-three in number, still under the command of
+Alcidas, but with Brasidas also on board as his adviser; and
+dropping anchor at Sybota, a harbour on the mainland, at daybreak made
+sail for Corcyra.
+
+The Corcyraeans in great confusion and alarm at the state of
+things in the city and at the approach of the invader, at once
+proceeded to equip sixty vessels, which they sent out, as fast as they
+were manned, against the enemy, in spite of the Athenians recommending
+them to let them sail out first, and to follow themselves afterwards
+with all their ships together.  Upon their vessels coming up to the
+enemy in this straggling fashion, two immediately deserted: in
+others the crews were fighting among themselves, and there was no
+order in anything that was done; so that the Peloponnesians, seeing
+their confusion, placed twenty ships to oppose the Corcyraeans, and
+ranged the rest against the twelve Athenian ships, amongst which
+were the two vessels Salaminia and Paralus.
+
+While the Corcyraeans, attacking without judgment and in small
+detachments, were already crippled by their own misconduct, the
+Athenians, afraid of the numbers of the enemy and of being surrounded,
+did not venture to attack the main body or even the centre of the
+division opposed to them, but fell upon its wing and sank one
+vessel; after which the Peloponnesians formed in a circle, and the
+Athenians rowed round them and tried to throw them into disorder.
+Perceiving this, the division opposed to the Corcyraeans, fearing a
+repetition of the disaster of Naupactus, came to support their
+friends, and the whole fleet now bore down, united, upon the
+Athenians, who retired before it, backing water, retiring as leisurely
+as possible in order to give the Corcyraeans time to escape, while the
+enemy was thus kept occupied.  Such was the character of this
+sea-fight, which lasted until sunset.
+
+The Corcyraeans now feared that the enemy would follow up their
+victory and sail against the town and rescue the men in the island, or
+strike some other blow equally decisive, and accordingly carried the
+men over again to the temple of Hera, and kept guard over the city.
+The Peloponnesians, however, although victorious in the sea-fight, did
+not venture to attack the town, but took the thirteen Corcyraean
+vessels which they had captured, and with them sailed back to the
+continent from whence they had put out.  The next day equally they
+refrained from attacking the city, although the disorder and panic
+were at their height, and though Brasidas, it is said, urged
+Alcidas, his superior officer, to do so, but they landed upon the
+promontory of Leukimme and laid waste the country.
+
+Meanwhile the commons in Corcyra, being still in great fear of the
+fleet attacking them, came to a parley with the suppliants and their
+friends, in order to save the town; and prevailed upon some of them to
+go on board the ships, of which they still manned thirty, against
+the expected attack.  But the Peloponnesians after ravaging the country
+until midday sailed away, and towards nightfall were informed by
+beacon signals of the approach of sixty Athenian vessels from
+Leucas, under the command of Eurymedon, son of Thucles; which had been
+sent off by the Athenians upon the news of the revolution and of the
+fleet with Alcidas being about to sail for Corcyra.
+
+The Peloponnesians accordingly at once set off in haste by night for
+home, coasting along shore; and hauling their ships across the Isthmus
+of Leucas, in order not to be seen doubling it, so departed.  The
+Corcyraeans, made aware of the approach of the Athenian fleet and of
+the departure of the enemy, brought the Messenians from outside the
+walls into the town, and ordered the fleet which they had manned to
+sail round into the Hyllaic harbour; and while it was so doing, slew
+such of their enemies as they laid hands on, dispatching afterwards,
+as they landed them, those whom they had persuaded to go on board
+the ships.  Next they went to the sanctuary of Hera and persuaded about
+fifty men to take their trial, and condemned them all to death.  The
+mass of the suppliants who had refused to do so, on seeing what was
+taking place, slew each other there in the consecrated ground; while
+some hanged themselves upon the trees, and others destroyed themselves
+as they were severally able.  During seven days that Eurymedon stayed
+with his sixty ships, the Corcyraeans were engaged in butchering those
+of their fellow citizens whom they regarded as their enemies: and
+although the crime imputed was that of attempting to put down the
+democracy, some were slain also for private hatred, others by their
+debtors because of the moneys owed to them.  Death thus raged in
+every shape; and, as usually happens at such times, there was no
+length to which violence did not go; sons were killed by their
+fathers, and suppliants dragged from the altar or slain upon it; while
+some were even walled up in the temple of Dionysus and died there.
+
+So bloody was the march of the revolution, and the impression
+which it made was the greater as it was one of the first to occur.
+Later on, one may say, the whole Hellenic world was convulsed;
+struggles being every, where made by the popular chiefs to bring in
+the Athenians, and by the oligarchs to introduce the Lacedaemonians.
+In peace there would have been neither the pretext nor the wish to
+make such an invitation; but in war, with an alliance always at the
+command of either faction for the hurt of their adversaries and
+their own corresponding advantage, opportunities for bringing in the
+foreigner were never wanting to the revolutionary parties.  The
+sufferings which revolution entailed upon the cities were many and
+terrible, such as have occurred and always will occur, as long as
+the nature of mankind remains the same; though in a severer or
+milder form, and varying in their symptoms, according to the variety
+of the particular cases.  In peace and prosperity, states and
+individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find
+themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities; but war
+takes away the easy supply of daily wants, and so proves a rough
+master, that brings most men's characters to a level with their
+fortunes.  Revolution thus ran its course from city to city, and the
+places which it arrived at last, from having heard what had been
+done before, carried to a still greater excess the refinement of their
+inventions, as manifested in the cunning of their enterprises and
+the atrocity of their reprisals.  Words had to change their ordinary
+meaning and to take that which was now given them.  Reckless audacity
+came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation,
+specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness;
+ability to see all sides of a question, inaptness to act on any.
+Frantic violence became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting,
+a justifiable means of self-defence.  The advocate of extreme
+measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected.
+To succeed in a plot was to have a shrewd head, to divine a plot a
+still shrewder; but to try to provide against having to do either
+was to break up your party and to be afraid of your adversaries.  In
+fine, to forestall an intending criminal, or to suggest the idea of
+a crime where it was wanting, was equally commended until even blood
+became a weaker tie than party, from the superior readiness of those
+united by the latter to dare everything without reserve; for such
+associations had not in view the blessings derivable from
+established institutions but were formed by ambition for their
+overthrow; and the confidence of their members in each other rested
+less on any religious sanction than upon complicity in crime.  The fair
+proposals of an adversary were met with jealous precautions by the
+stronger of the two, and not with a generous confidence.  Revenge
+also was held of more account than self-preservation.  Oaths of
+reconciliation, being only proffered on either side to meet an
+immediate difficulty, only held good so long as no other weapon was at
+hand; but when opportunity offered, he who first ventured to seize
+it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious
+vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of safety
+apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence.
+Indeed it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues
+clever than simpletons honest, and are as ashamed of being the
+second as they are proud of being the first.  The cause of all these
+evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from
+these passions proceeded the violence of parties once engaged in
+contention.  The leaders in the cities, each provided with the
+fairest professions, on the one side with the cry of political
+equality of the people, on the other of a moderate aristocracy, sought
+prizes for themselves in those public interests which they pretended
+to cherish, and, recoiling from no means in their struggles for
+ascendancy engaged in the direst excesses; in their acts of
+vengeance they went to even greater lengths, not stopping at what
+justice or the good of the state demanded, but making the party
+caprice of the moment their only standard, and invoking with equal
+readiness the condemnation of an unjust verdict or the authority of
+the strong arm to glut the animosities of the hour.  Thus religion
+was in honour with neither party; but the use of fair phrases to
+arrive at guilty ends was in high reputation.  Meanwhile the moderate
+part of the citizens perished between the two, either for not
+joining in the quarrel, or because envy would not suffer them to
+escape.
+
+Thus every form of iniquity took root in the Hellenic countries by
+reason of the troubles.  The ancient simplicity into which honour so
+largely entered was laughed down and disappeared; and society became
+divided into camps in which no man trusted his fellow.  To put an end
+to this, there was neither promise to be depended upon, nor oath
+that could command respect; but all parties dwelling rather in their
+calculation upon the hopelessness of a permanent state of things, were
+more intent upon self-defence than capable of confidence.  In this
+contest the blunter wits were most successful.  Apprehensive of their
+own deficiencies and of the cleverness of their antagonists, they
+feared to be worsted in debate and to be surprised by the combinations
+of their more versatile opponents, and so at once boldly had
+recourse to action: while their adversaries, arrogantly thinking
+that they should know in time, and that it was unnecessary to secure
+by action what policy afforded, often fell victims to their want of
+precaution.
+
+Meanwhile Corcyra gave the first example of most of the crimes
+alluded to; of the reprisals exacted by the governed who had never
+experienced equitable treatment or indeed aught but insolence from
+their rulers--when their hour came; of the iniquitous resolves of
+those who desired to get rid of their accustomed poverty, and ardently
+coveted their neighbours' goods; and lastly, of the savage and
+pitiless excesses into which men who had begun the struggle, not in
+a class but in a party spirit, were hurried by their ungovernable
+passions.  In the confusion into which life was now thrown in the
+cities, human nature, always rebelling against the law and now its
+master, gladly showed itself ungoverned in passion, above respect
+for justice, and the enemy of all superiority; since revenge would not
+have been set above religion, and gain above justice, had it not
+been for the fatal power of envy.  Indeed men too often take upon
+themselves in the prosecution of their revenge to set the example of
+doing away with those general laws to which all alike can look for
+salvation in adversity, instead of allowing them to subsist against
+the day of danger when their aid may be required.
+
+While the revolutionary passions thus for the first time displayed
+themselves in the factions of Corcyra, Eurymedon and the Athenian
+fleet sailed away; after which some five hundred Corcyraean exiles who
+had succeeded in escaping, took some forts on the mainland, and
+becoming masters of the Corcyraean territory over the water, made this
+their base to Plunder their countrymen in the island, and did so
+much damage as to cause a severe famine in the town.  They also sent
+envoys to Lacedaemon and Corinth to negotiate their restoration; but
+meeting with no success, afterwards got together boats and mercenaries
+and crossed over to the island, being about six hundred in all; and
+burning their boats so as to have no hope except in becoming masters
+of the country, went up to Mount Istone, and fortifying themselves
+there, began to annoy those in the city and obtained command of the
+country.
+
+At the close of the same summer the Athenians sent twenty ships
+under the command of Laches, son of Melanopus, and Charoeades, son
+of Euphiletus, to Sicily, where the Syracusans and Leontines were at
+war.  The Syracusans had for allies all the Dorian cities except
+Camarina--these had been included in the Lacedaemonian confederacy
+from the commencement of the war, though they had not taken any active
+part in it--the Leontines had Camarina and the Chalcidian cities.  In
+Italy the Locrians were for the Syracusans, the Rhegians for their
+Leontine kinsmen.  The allies of the Leontines now sent to Athens and
+appealed to their ancient alliance and to their Ionian origin, to
+persuade the Athenians to send them a fleet, as the Syracusans were
+blockading them by land and sea.  The Athenians sent it upon the plea
+of their common descent, but in reality to prevent the exportation
+of Sicilian corn to Peloponnese and to test the possibility of
+bringing Sicily into subjection.  Accordingly they established
+themselves at Rhegium in Italy, and from thence carried on the war
+in concert with their allies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+_Year of the War - Campaigns of Demosthenes in Western Greece -
+Ruin of Ambracia_
+
+Summer was now over.  The winter following, the plague a second
+time attacked the Athenians; for although it had never entirely left
+them, still there had been a notable abatement in its ravages.  The
+second visit lasted no less than a year, the first having lasted
+two; and nothing distressed the Athenians and reduced their power more
+than this.  No less than four thousand four hundred heavy infantry in
+the ranks died of it and three hundred cavalry, besides a number of
+the multitude that was never ascertained.  At the same time took
+place the numerous earthquakes in Athens, Euboea, and Boeotia,
+particularly at Orchomenus in the last-named country.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily and the Rhegians, with
+thirty ships, made an expedition against the islands of Aeolus; it
+being impossible to invade them in summer, owing to the want of water.
+These islands are occupied by the Liparaeans, a Cnidian colony, who
+live in one of them of no great size called Lipara; and from this as
+their headquarters cultivate the rest, Didyme, Strongyle, and Hiera.
+In Hiera the people in those parts believe that Hephaestus has his
+forge, from the quantity of flame which they see it send out by night,
+and of smoke by day.  These islands lie off the coast of the Sicels and
+Messinese, and were allies of the Syracusans.  The Athenians laid waste
+their land, and as the inhabitants did not submit, sailed back to
+Rhegium.  Thus the winter ended, and with it ended the fifth year of
+this war, of which Thucydides was the historian.
+
+The next summer the Peloponnesians and their allies set out to
+invade Attica under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, and went
+as far as the Isthmus, but numerous earthquakes occurring, turned back
+again without the invasion taking place.  About the same time that
+these earthquakes were so common, the sea at Orobiae, in Euboea,
+retiring from the then line of coast, returned in a huge wave and
+invaded a great part of the town, and retreated leaving some of it
+still under water; so that what was once land is now sea; such of
+the inhabitants perishing as could not run up to the higher ground
+in time.  A similar inundation also occurred at Atalanta, the island
+off the Opuntian Locrian coast, carrying away part of the Athenian
+fort and wrecking one of two ships which were drawn up on the beach.
+At Peparethus also the sea retreated a little, without however any
+inundation following; and an earthquake threw down part of the wall,
+the town hall, and a few other buildings.  The cause, in my opinion, of
+this phenomenon must be sought in the earthquake.  At the point where
+its shock has been the most violent, the sea is driven back and,
+suddenly recoiling with redoubled force, causes the inundation.
+Without an earthquake I do not see how such an accident could happen.
+
+During the same summer different operations were carried on by the
+different belligerents in Sicily; by the Siceliots themselves against
+each other, and by the Athenians and their allies: I shall however
+confine myself to the actions in which the Athenians took part,
+choosing the most important.  The death of the Athenian general
+Charoeades, killed by the Syracusans in battle, left Laches in the
+sole command of the fleet, which he now directed in concert with the
+allies against Mylae, a place belonging to the Messinese.  Two
+Messinese battalions in garrison at Mylae laid an ambush for the party
+landing from the ships, but were routed with great slaughter by the
+Athenians and their allies, who thereupon assaulted the
+fortification and compelled them to surrender the Acropolis and to
+march with them upon Messina.  This town afterwards also submitted upon
+the approach of the Athenians and their allies, and gave hostages
+and all other securities required.
+
+The same summer the Athenians sent thirty ships round Peloponnese
+under Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, and Procles, son of
+Theodorus, and sixty others, with two thousand heavy infantry, against
+Melos, under Nicias, son of Niceratus; wishing to reduce the
+Melians, who, although islanders, refused to be subjects of Athens
+or even to join her confederacy.  The devastation of their land not
+procuring their submission, the fleet, weighing from Melos, sailed
+to Oropus in the territory of Graea, and landing at nightfall, the
+heavy infantry started at once from the ships by land for Tanagra in
+Boeotia, where they were met by the whole levy from Athens,
+agreeably to a concerted signal, under the command of Hipponicus,
+son of Callias, and Eurymedon, son of Thucles.  They encamped, and
+passing that day in ravaging the Tanagraean territory, remained
+there for the night; and next day, after defeating those of the
+Tanagraeans who sailed out against them and some Thebans who had
+come up to help the Tanagraeans, took some arms, set up a trophy,
+and retired, the troops to the city and the others to the ships.
+Nicias with his sixty ships coasted alongshore and ravaged the Locrian
+seaboard, and so returned home.
+
+About this time the Lacedaemonians founded their colony of
+Heraclea in Trachis, their object being the following: the Malians
+form in all three tribes, the Paralians, the Hiereans, and the
+Trachinians.  The last of these having suffered severely in a war
+with their neighbours the Oetaeans, at first intended to give
+themselves up to Athens; but afterwards fearing not to find in her the
+security that they sought, sent to Lacedaemon, having chosen Tisamenus
+for their ambassador.  In this embassy joined also the Dorians from the
+mother country of the Lacedaemonians, with the same request, as they
+themselves also suffered from the same enemy.  After hearing them,
+the Lacedaemonians determined to send out the colony, wishing to
+assist the Trachinians and Dorians, and also because they thought that
+the proposed town would lie conveniently for the purposes of the war
+against the Athenians.  A fleet might be got ready there against
+Euboea, with the advantage of a short passage to the island; and the
+town would also be useful as a station on the road to Thrace.  In
+short, everything made the Lacedaemonians eager to found the place.
+After first consulting the god at Delphi and receiving a favourable
+answer, they sent off the colonists, Spartans, and Perioeci,
+inviting also any of the rest of the Hellenes who might wish to
+accompany them, except Ionians, Achaeans, and certain other
+nationalities; three Lacedaemonians leading as founders of the colony,
+Leon, Alcidas, and Damagon.  The settlement effected, they fortified
+anew the city, now called Heraclea, distant about four miles and a
+half from Thermopylae and two miles and a quarter from the sea, and
+commenced building docks, closing the side towards Thermopylae just by
+the pass itself, in order that they might be easily defended.
+
+The foundation of this town, evidently meant to annoy Euboea (the
+passage across to Cenaeum in that island being a short one), at
+first caused some alarm at Athens, which the event however did nothing
+to justify, the town never giving them any trouble.  The reason of this
+was as follows.  The Thessalians, who were sovereign in those parts,
+and whose territory was menaced by its foundation, were afraid that it
+might prove a very powerful neighbour, and accordingly continually
+harassed and made war upon the new settlers, until they at last wore
+them out in spite of their originally considerable numbers, people
+flocking from all quarters to a place founded by the Lacedaemonians,
+and thus thought secure of prosperity.  On the other hand the
+Lacedaemonians themselves, in the persons of their governors, did
+their full share towards ruining its prosperity and reducing its
+population, as they frightened away the greater part of the
+inhabitants by governing harshly and in some cases not fairly, and
+thus made it easier for their neighbours to prevail against them.
+
+The same summer, about the same time that the Athenians were
+detained at Melos, their fellow citizens in the thirty ships
+cruising round Peloponnese, after cutting off some guards in an ambush
+at Ellomenus in Leucadia, subsequently went against Leucas itself with
+a large armament, having been reinforced by the whole levy of the
+Acarnanians except Oeniadae, and by the Zacynthians and
+Cephallenians and fifteen ships from Corcyra.  While the Leucadians
+witnessed the devastation of their land, without and within the
+isthmus upon which the town of Leucas and the temple of Apollo
+stand, without making any movement on account of the overwhelming
+numbers of the enemy, the Acarnanians urged Demosthenes, the
+Athenian general, to build a wall so as to cut off the town from the
+continent, a measure which they were convinced would secure its
+capture and rid them once and for all of a most troublesome enemy.
+
+Demosthenes however had in the meanwhile been persuaded by the
+Messenians that it was a fine opportunity for him, having so large
+an army assembled, to attack the Aetolians, who were not only the
+enemies of Naupactus, but whose reduction would further make it easy
+to gain the rest of that part of the continent for the Athenians.
+The Aetolian nation, although numerous and warlike, yet dwelt in
+unwalled villages scattered far apart, and had nothing but light
+armour, and might, according to the Messenians, be subdued without
+much difficulty before succours could arrive.  The plan which they
+recommended was to attack first the Apodotians, next the Ophionians,
+and after these the Eurytanians, who are the largest tribe in Aetolia,
+and speak, as is said, a language exceedingly difficult to understand,
+and eat their flesh raw.  These once subdued, the rest would easily
+come in.
+
+To this plan Demosthenes consented, not only to please the
+Messenians, but also in the belief that by adding the Aetolians to his
+other continental allies he would be able, without aid from home, to
+march against the Boeotians by way of Ozolian Locris to Kytinium in
+Doris, keeping Parnassus on his right until he descended to the
+Phocians, whom he could force to join him if their ancient
+friendship for Athens did not, as he anticipated, at once decide
+them to do so.  Arrived in Phocis he was already upon the frontier of
+Boeotia.  He accordingly weighed from Leucas, against the wish of the
+Acarnanians, and with his whole armament sailed along the coast to
+Sollium, where he communicated to them his intention; and upon their
+refusing to agree to it on account of the non-investment of Leucas,
+himself with the rest of the forces, the Cephallenians, the
+Messenians, and Zacynthians, and three hundred Athenian marines from
+his own ships (the fifteen Corcyraean vessels having departed),
+started on his expedition against the Aetolians.  His base he
+established at Oeneon in Locris, as the Ozolian Locrians were allies
+of Athens and were to meet him with all their forces in the
+interior.  Being neighbours of the Aetolians and armed in the same way,
+it was thought that they would be of great service upon the
+expedition, from their acquaintance with the localities and the
+warfare of the inhabitants.
+
+After bivouacking with the army in the precinct of Nemean Zeus, in
+which the poet Hesiod is said to have been killed by the people of the
+country, according to an oracle which had foretold that he should
+die in Nemea, Demosthenes set out at daybreak to invade Aetolia.  The
+first day he took Potidania, the next Krokyle, and the third
+Tichium, where he halted and sent back the booty to Eupalium in
+Locris, having determined to pursue his conquests as far as the
+Ophionians, and, in the event of their refusing to submit, to return
+to Naupactus and make them the objects of a second expedition.
+Meanwhile the Aetolians had been aware of his design from the moment
+of its formation, and as soon as the army invaded their country came
+up in great force with all their tribes; even the most remote
+Ophionians, the Bomiensians, and Calliensians, who extend towards
+the Malian Gulf, being among the number.
+
+The Messenians, however, adhered to their original advice.
+Assuring Demosthenes that the Aetolians were an easy conquest, they
+urged him to push on as rapidly as possible, and to try to take the
+villages as fast as he came up to them, without waiting until the
+whole nation should be in arms against him.  Led on by his advisers and
+trusting in his fortune, as he had met with no opposition, without
+waiting for his Locrian reinforcements, who were to have supplied
+him with the light-armed darters in which he was most deficient, he
+advanced and stormed Aegitium, the inhabitants flying before him and
+posting themselves upon the hills above the town, which stood on
+high ground about nine miles from the sea.  Meanwhile the Aetolians had
+gathered to the rescue, and now attacked the Athenians and their
+allies, running down from the hills on every side and darting their
+javelins, falling back when the Athenian army advanced, and coming
+on as it retired; and for a long while the battle was of this
+character, alternate advance and retreat, in both which operations the
+Athenians had the worst.
+
+Still as long as their archers had arrows left and were able to
+use them, they held out, the light-armed Aetolians retiring before the
+arrows; but after the captain of the archers had been killed and his
+men scattered, the soldiers, wearied out with the constant
+repetition of the same exertions and hard pressed by the Aetolians
+with their javelins, at last turned and fled, and falling into
+pathless gullies and places that they were unacquainted with, thus
+perished, the Messenian Chromon, their guide, having also
+unfortunately been killed.  A great many were overtaken in the
+pursuit by the swift-footed and light-armed Aetolians, and fell
+beneath their javelins; the greater number however missed their road
+and rushed into the wood, which had no ways out, and which was soon
+fired and burnt round them by the enemy.  Indeed the Athenian army fell
+victims to death in every form, and suffered all the vicissitudes of
+flight; the survivors escaped with difficulty to the sea and Oeneon in
+Locris, whence they had set out.  Many of the allies were killed, and
+about one hundred and twenty Athenian heavy infantry, not a man
+less, and all in the prime of life.  These were by far the best men
+in the city of Athens that fell during this war.  Among the slain was
+also Procles, the colleague of Demosthenes.  Meanwhile the Athenians
+took up their dead under truce from the Aetolians, and retired to
+Naupactus, and from thence went in their ships to Athens;
+Demosthenes staying behind in Naupactus and in the neighbourhood,
+being afraid to face the Athenians after the disaster.
+
+About the same time the Athenians on the coast of Sicily sailed to
+Locris, and in a descent which they made from the ships defeated the
+Locrians who came against them, and took a fort upon the river Halex.
+
+The same summer the Aetolians, who before the Athenian expedition
+had sent an embassy to Corinth and Lacedaemon, composed of Tolophus,
+an Ophionian, Boriades, an Eurytanian, and Tisander, an Apodotian,
+obtained that an army should be sent them against Naupactus, which had
+invited the Athenian invasion.  The Lacedaemonians accordingly sent off
+towards autumn three thousand heavy infantry of the allies, five
+hundred of whom were from Heraclea, the newly founded city in Trachis,
+under the command of Eurylochus, a Spartan, accompanied by Macarius
+and Menedaius, also Spartans.
+
+The army having assembled at Delphi, Eurylochus sent a herald to the
+Ozolian Locrians; the road to Naupactus lying through their territory,
+and he having besides conceived the idea of detaching them from
+Athens.  His chief abettors in Locris were the Amphissians, who were
+alarmed at the hostility of the Phocians.  These first gave hostages
+themselves, and induced the rest to do the same for fear of the
+invading army; first, their neighbours the Myonians, who held the most
+difficult of the passes, and after them the Ipnians, Messapians,
+Tritaeans, Chalaeans, Tolophonians, Hessians, and Oeanthians, all of
+whom joined in the expedition; the Olpaeans contenting themselves with
+giving hostages, without accompanying the invasion; and the Hyaeans
+refusing to do either, until the capture of Polis, one of their
+villages.
+
+His preparations completed, Eurylochus lodged the hostages in
+Kytinium, in Doris, and advanced upon Naupactus through the country of
+the Locrians, taking upon his way Oeneon and Eupalium, two of their
+towns that refused to join him.  Arrived in the Naupactian territory,
+and having been now joined by the Aetolians, the army laid waste the
+land and took the suburb of the town, which was unfortified; and after
+this Molycrium also, a Corinthian colony subject to Athens.
+Meanwhile the Athenian Demosthenes, who since the affair in Aetolia
+had remained near Naupactus, having had notice of the army and fearing
+for the town, went and persuaded the Acarnanians, although not without
+difficulty because of his departure from Leucas, to go to the relief
+of Naupactus.  They accordingly sent with him on board his ships a
+thousand heavy infantry, who threw themselves into the place and saved
+it; the extent of its wall and the small number of its defenders
+otherwise placing it in the greatest danger.  Meanwhile Eurylochus
+and his companions, finding that this force had entered and that it
+was impossible to storm the town, withdrew, not to Peloponnese, but to
+the country once called Aeolis, and now Calydon and Pleuron, and to
+the places in that neighbourhood, and Proschium in Aetolia; the
+Ambraciots having come and urged them to combine with them in
+attacking Amphilochian Argos and the rest of Amphilochia and
+Acarnania; affirming that the conquest of these countries would
+bring all the continent into alliance with Lacedaemon.  To this
+Eurylochus consented, and dismissing the Aetolians, now remained quiet
+with his army in those parts, until the time should come for the
+Ambraciots to take the field, and for him to join them before Argos.
+
+Summer was now over.  The winter ensuing, the Athenians in Sicily
+with their Hellenic allies, and such of the Sicel subjects or allies
+of Syracuse as had revolted from her and joined their army, marched
+against the Sicel town Inessa, the acropolis of which was held by
+the Syracusans, and after attacking it without being able to take
+it, retired.  In the retreat, the allies retreating after the Athenians
+were attacked by the Syracusans from the fort, and a large part of
+their army routed with great slaughter.  After this, Laches and the
+Athenians from the ships made some descents in Locris, and defeating
+the Locrians, who came against them with Proxenus, son of Capaton,
+upon the river Caicinus, took some arms and departed.
+
+The same winter the Athenians purified Delos, in compliance, it
+appears, with a certain oracle.  It had been purified before by
+Pisistratus the tyrant; not indeed the whole island, but as much of it
+as could be seen from the temple.  All of it was, however, now purified
+in the following way.  All the sepulchres of those that had died in
+Delos were taken up, and for the future it was commanded that no one
+should be allowed either to die or to give birth to a child in the
+island; but that they should be carried over to Rhenea, which is so
+near to Delos that Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, having added Rhenea to
+his other island conquests during his period of naval ascendancy,
+dedicated it to the Delian Apollo by binding it to Delos with a chain.
+
+The Athenians, after the purification, celebrated, for the first
+time, the quinquennial festival of the Delian games.  Once upon a time,
+indeed, there was a great assemblage of the Ionians and the
+neighbouring islanders at Delos, who used to come to the festival,
+as the Ionians now do to that of Ephesus, and athletic and poetical
+contests took place there, and the cities brought choirs of dancers.
+Nothing can be clearer on this point than the following verses of
+Homer, taken from a hymn to Apollo:
+
+   Phoebus, wherever thou strayest, far or near,
+   Delos was still of all thy haunts most dear.
+   Thither the robed Ionians take their way
+   With wife and child to keep thy holiday,
+   Invoke thy favour on each manly game,
+   And dance and sing in honour of thy name.
+
+That there was also a poetical contest in which the Ionians went
+to contend, again is shown by the following, taken from the same hymn.
+After celebrating the Delian dance of the women, he ends his song of
+praise with these verses, in which he also alludes to himself:
+
+   Well, may Apollo keep you all! and so,
+   Sweethearts, good-bye--yet tell me not I go
+   Out from your hearts; and if in after hours
+   Some other wanderer in this world of ours
+   Touch at your shores, and ask your maidens here
+   Who sings the songs the sweetest to your ear,
+   Think of me then, and answer with a smile,
+   'A blind old man of Scio's rocky isle.'
+
+Homer thus attests that there was anciently a great assembly and
+festival at Delos.  In later times, although the islanders and the
+Athenians continued to send the choirs of dancers with sacrifices, the
+contests and most of the ceremonies were abolished, probably through
+adversity, until the Athenians celebrated the games upon this occasion
+with the novelty of horse-races.
+
+The same winter the Ambraciots, as they had promised Eurylochus when
+they retained his army, marched out against Amphilochian Argos with
+three thousand heavy infantry, and invading the Argive territory
+occupied Olpae, a stronghold on a hill near the sea, which had been
+formerly fortified by the Acarnanians and used as the place of assizes
+for their nation, and which is about two miles and three-quarters from
+the city of Argos upon the sea-coast.  Meanwhile the Acarnanians went
+with a part of their forces to the relief of Argos, and with the
+rest encamped in Amphilochia at the place called Crenae, or the Wells,
+to watch for Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, and to prevent their
+passing through and effecting their junction with the Ambraciots;
+while they also sent for Demosthenes, the commander of the Aetolian
+expedition, to be their leader, and for the twenty Athenian ships that
+were cruising off Peloponnese under the command of Aristotle, son of
+Timocrates, and Hierophon, son of Antimnestus.  On their part, the
+Ambraciots at Olpae sent a messenger to their own city, to beg them to
+come with their whole levy to their assistance, fearing that the
+army of Eurylochus might not be able to pass through the
+Acarnanians, and that they might themselves be obliged to fight
+single-handed, or be unable to retreat, if they wished it, without
+danger.
+
+Meanwhile Eurylochus and his Peloponnesians, learning that the
+Ambraciots at Olpae had arrived, set out from Proschium with all haste
+to join them, and crossing the Achelous advanced through Acarnania,
+which they found deserted by its population, who had gone to the
+relief of Argos; keeping on their right the city of the Stratians
+and its garrison, and on their left the rest of Acarnania.
+Traversing the territory of the Stratians, they advanced through
+Phytia, next, skirting Medeon, through Limnaea; after which they
+left Acarnania behind them and entered a friendly country, that of the
+Agraeans.  From thence they reached and crossed Mount Thymaus, which
+belongs to the Agraeans, and descended into the Argive territory after
+nightfall, and passing between the city of Argos and the Acarnanian
+posts at Crenae, joined the Ambraciots at Olpae.
+
+Uniting here at daybreak, they sat down at the place called
+Metropolis, and encamped.  Not long afterwards the Athenians in the
+twenty ships came into the Ambracian Gulf to support the Argives, with
+Demosthenes and two hundred Messenian heavy infantry, and sixty
+Athenian archers.  While the fleet off Olpae blockaded the hill from
+the sea, the Acarnanians and a few of the Amphilochians, most of
+whom were kept back by force by the Ambraciots, had already arrived at
+Argos, and were preparing to give battle to the enemy, having chosen
+Demosthenes to command the whole of the allied army in concert with
+their own generals.  Demosthenes led them near to Olpae and encamped, a
+great ravine separating the two armies.  During five days they remained
+inactive; on the sixth both sides formed in order of battle.  The
+army of the Peloponnesians was the largest and outflanked their
+opponents; and Demosthenes fearing that his right might be surrounded,
+placed in ambush in a hollow way overgrown with bushes some four
+hundred heavy infantry and light troops, who were to rise up at the
+moment of the onset behind the projecting left wing of the enemy,
+and to take them in the rear.  When both sides were ready they joined
+battle; Demosthenes being on the right wing with the Messenians and
+a few Athenians, while the rest of the line was made up of the
+different divisions of the Acarnanians, and of the Amphilochian
+carters.  The Peloponnesians and Ambraciots were drawn up pell-mell
+together, with the exception of the Mantineans, who were massed on the
+left, without however reaching to the extremity of the wing, where
+Eurylochus and his men confronted the Messenians and Demosthenes.
+
+The Peloponnesians were now well engaged and with their
+outflanking wing were upon the point of turning their enemy's right;
+when the Acarnanians from the ambuscade set upon them from behind, and
+broke them at the first attack, without their staying to resist; while
+the panic into which they fell caused the flight of most of their
+army, terrified beyond measure at seeing the division of Eurylochus
+and their best troops cut to pieces.  Most of the work was done by
+Demosthenes and his Messenians, who were posted in this part of the
+field.  Meanwhile the Ambraciots (who are the best soldiers in those
+countries) and the troops upon the right wing, defeated the division
+opposed to them and pursued it to Argos.  Returning from the pursuit,
+they found their main body defeated; and hard pressed by the
+Acarnanians, with difficulty made good their passage to Olpae,
+suffering heavy loss on the way, as they dashed on without
+discipline or order, the Mantineans excepted, who kept their ranks
+best of any in the army during the retreat.
+
+The battle did not end until the evening.  The next day Menedaius,
+who on the death of Eurylochus and Macarius had succeeded to the
+sole command, being at a loss after so signal a defeat how to stay and
+sustain a siege, cut off as he was by land and by the Athenian fleet
+by sea, and equally so how to retreat in safety, opened a parley
+with Demosthenes and the Acarnanian generals for a truce and
+permission to retreat, and at the same time for the recovery of the
+dead.  The dead they gave back to him, and setting up a trophy took
+up their own also to the number of about three hundred.  The retreat
+demanded they refused publicly to the army; but permission to depart
+without delay was secretly granted to the Mantineans and to
+Menedaius and the other commanders and principal men of the
+Peloponnesians by Demosthenes and his Acarnanian colleagues; who
+desired to strip the Ambraciots and the mercenary host of foreigners
+of their supporters; and, above all, to discredit the Lacedaemonians
+and Peloponnesians with the Hellenes in those parts, as traitors and
+self-seekers.
+
+While the enemy was taking up his dead and hastily burying them as
+he could, and those who obtained permission were secretly planning
+their retreat, word was brought to Demosthenes and the Acarnanians
+that the Ambraciots from the city, in compliance with the first
+message from Olpae, were on the march with their whole levy through
+Amphilochia to join their countrymen at Olpae, knowing nothing of what
+had occurred.  Demosthenes prepared to march with his army against
+them, and meanwhile sent on at once a strong division to beset the
+roads and occupy the strong positions.  In the meantime the
+Mantineans and others included in the agreement went out under the
+pretence of gathering herbs and firewood, and stole off by twos and
+threes, picking on the way the things which they professed to have
+come out for, until they had gone some distance from Olpae, when
+they quickened their pace.  The Ambraciots and such of the rest as
+had accompanied them in larger parties, seeing them going on, pushed
+on in their turn, and began running in order to catch them up.  The
+Acarnanians at first thought that all alike were departing without
+permission, and began to pursue the Peloponnesians; and believing that
+they were being betrayed, even threw a dart or two at some of their
+generals who tried to stop them and told them that leave had been
+given.  Eventually, however, they let pass the Mantineans and
+Peloponnesians, and slew only the Ambraciots, there being much dispute
+and difficulty in distinguishing whether a man was an Ambraciot or a
+Peloponnesian.  The number thus slain was about two hundred; the rest
+escaped into the bordering territory of Agraea, and found refuge
+with Salynthius, the friendly king of the Agraeans.
+
+Meanwhile the Ambraciots from the city arrived at Idomene.  Idomene
+consists of two lofty hills, the higher of which the troops sent on by
+Demosthenes succeeded in occupying after nightfall, unobserved by
+the Ambraciots, who had meanwhile ascended the smaller and
+bivouacked under it.  After supper Demosthenes set out with the rest of
+the army, as soon as it was evening; himself with half his force
+making for the pass, and the remainder going by the Amphilochian
+hills.  At dawn he fell upon the Ambraciots while they were still abed,
+ignorant of what had passed, and fully thinking that it was their
+own countrymen--Demosthenes having purposely put the Messenians in
+front with orders to address them in the Doric dialect, and thus to
+inspire confidence in the sentinels, who would not be able to see them
+as it was still night.  In this way he routed their army as soon as
+he attacked it, slaying most of them where they were, the rest
+breaking away in flight over the hills.  The roads, however, were
+already occupied, and while the Amphilochians knew their own
+country, the Ambraciots were ignorant of it and could not tell which
+way to turn, and had also heavy armour as against a light-armed enemy,
+and so fell into ravines and into the ambushes which had been set
+for them, and perished there.  In their manifold efforts to escape some
+even turned to the sea, which was not far off, and seeing the Athenian
+ships coasting alongshore just while the action was going on, swam off
+to them, thinking it better in the panic they were in, to perish, if
+perish they must, by the hands of the Athenians, than by those of
+the barbarous and detested Amphilochians.  Of the large Ambraciot force
+destroyed in this manner, a few only reached the city in safety; while
+the Acarnanians, after stripping the dead and setting up a trophy,
+returned to Argos.
+
+The next day arrived a herald from the Ambraciots who had fled
+from Olpae to the Agraeans, to ask leave to take up the dead that
+had fallen after the first engagement, when they left the camp with
+the Mantineans and their companions, without, like them, having had
+permission to do so.  At the sight of the arms of the Ambraciots from
+the city, the herald was astonished at their number, knowing nothing
+of the disaster and fancying that they were those of their own
+party.  Some one asked him what he was so astonished at, and how many
+of them had been killed, fancying in his turn that this was the herald
+from the troops at Idomene.  He replied: "About two hundred"; upon
+which his interrogator took him up, saying: "Why, the arms you see
+here are of more than a thousand." The herald replied: "Then they
+are not the arms of those who fought with us?" The other answered:
+"Yes, they are, if at least you fought at Idomene yesterday." "But
+we fought with no one yesterday; but the day before in the retreat."
+"However that may be, we fought yesterday with those who came to
+reinforce you from the city of the Ambraciots." When the herald
+heard this and knew that the reinforcement from the city had been
+destroyed, he broke into wailing and, stunned at the magnitude of
+the present evils, went away at once without having performed his
+errand, or again asking for the dead bodies.  Indeed, this was by far
+the greatest disaster that befell any one Hellenic city in an equal
+number of days during this war; and I have not set down the number
+of the dead, because the amount stated seems so out of proportion to
+the size of the city as to be incredible.  In any case I know that if
+the Acarnanians and Amphilochians had wished to take Ambracia as the
+Athenians and Demosthenes advised, they would have done so without a
+blow; as it was, they feared that if the Athenians had it they would
+be worse neighbours to them than the present.
+
+After this the Acarnanians allotted a third of the spoils to the
+Athenians, and divided the rest among their own different towns.  The
+share of the Athenians was captured on the voyage home; the arms now
+deposited in the Attic temples are three hundred panoplies, which
+the Acarnanians set apart for Demosthenes, and which he brought to
+Athens in person, his return to his country after the Aetolian
+disaster being rendered less hazardous by this exploit.  The
+Athenians in the twenty ships also went off to Naupactus.  The
+Acarnanians and Amphilochians, after the departure of Demosthenes
+and the Athenians, granted the Ambraciots and Peloponnesians who had
+taken refuge with Salynthius and the Agraeans a free retreat from
+Oeniadae, to which place they had removed from the country of
+Salynthius, and for the future concluded with the Ambraciots a
+treaty and alliance for one hundred years, upon the terms following.
+It was to be a defensive, not an offensive alliance; the Ambraciots
+could not be required to march with the Acarnanians against the
+Peloponnesians, nor the Acarnanians with the Ambraciots against the
+Athenians; for the rest the Ambraciots were to give up the places
+and hostages that they held of the Amphilochians, and not to give help
+to Anactorium, which was at enmity with the Acarnanians.  With this
+arrangement they put an end to the war.  After this the Corinthians
+sent a garrison of their own citizens to Ambracia, composed of three
+hundred heavy infantry, under the command of Xenocleides, son of
+Euthycles, who reached their destination after a difficult journey
+across the continent.  Such was the history of the affair of Ambracia.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Sicily made a descent from their
+ships upon the territory of Himera, in concert with the Sicels, who
+had invaded its borders from the interior, and also sailed to the
+islands of Aeolus.  Upon their return to Rhegium they found the
+Athenian general, Pythodorus, son of Isolochus, come to supersede
+Laches in the command of the fleet.  The allies in Sicily had sailed to
+Athens and induced the Athenians to send out more vessels to their
+assistance, pointing out that the Syracusans who already commanded
+their land were making efforts to get together a navy, to avoid
+being any longer excluded from the sea by a few vessels.  The Athenians
+proceeded to man forty ships to send to them, thinking that the war in
+Sicily would thus be the sooner ended, and also wishing to exercise
+their navy.  One of the generals, Pythodorus, was accordingly sent
+out with a few ships; Sophocles, son of Sostratides, and Eurymedon,
+son of Thucles, being destined to follow with the main body.  Meanwhile
+Pythodorus had taken the command of Laches' ships, and towards the end
+of winter sailed against the Locrian fort, which Laches had formerly
+taken, and returned after being defeated in battle by the Locrians.
+
+In the first days of this spring, the stream of fire issued from
+Etna, as on former occasions, and destroyed some land of the
+Catanians, who live upon Mount Etna, which is the largest mountain
+in Sicily.  Fifty years, it is said, had elapsed since the last
+eruption, there having been three in all since the Hellenes have
+inhabited Sicily.  Such were the events of this winter; and with it
+ended the sixth year of this war, of which Thucydides was the
+historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+_Seventh Year of the War - Occupation of Pylos - Surrender of
+the Spartan Army in Sphacteria_
+
+Next summer, about the time of the corn's coming into ear, ten
+Syracusan and as many Locrian vessels sailed to Messina, in Sicily,
+and occupied the town upon the invitation of the inhabitants; and
+Messina revolted from the Athenians.  The Syracusans contrived this
+chiefly because they saw that the place afforded an approach to
+Sicily, and feared that the Athenians might hereafter use it as a base
+for attacking them with a larger force; the Locrians because they
+wished to carry on hostilities from both sides of the strait and to
+reduce their enemies, the people of Rhegium.  Meanwhile, the Locrians
+had invaded the Rhegian territory with all their forces, to prevent
+their succouring Messina, and also at the instance of some exiles from
+Rhegium who were with them; the long factions by which that town had
+been torn rendering it for the moment incapable of resistance, and
+thus furnishing an additional temptation to the invaders.  After
+devastating the country the Locrian land forces retired, their ships
+remaining to guard Messina, while others were being manned for the
+same destination to carry on the war from thence.
+
+About the same time in the spring, before the corn was ripe, the
+Peloponnesians and their allies invaded Attica under Agis, the son
+of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat down and laid waste
+the country.  Meanwhile the Athenians sent off the forty ships which
+they had been preparing to Sicily, with the remaining generals
+Eurymedon and Sophocles; their colleague Pythodorus having already
+preceded them thither.  These had also instructions as they sailed by
+to look to the Corcyraeans in the town, who were being plundered by
+the exiles in the mountain.  To support these exiles sixty
+Peloponnesian vessels had lately sailed, it being thought that the
+famine raging in the city would make it easy for them to reduce it.
+Demosthenes also, who had remained without employment since his return
+from Acarnania, applied and obtained permission to use the fleet, if
+he wished it, upon the coast of Peloponnese.
+
+Off Laconia they heard that the Peloponnesian ships were already
+at Corcyra, upon which Eurymedon and Sophocles wished to hasten to the
+island, but Demosthenes required them first to touch at Pylos and do
+what was wanted there, before continuing their voyage.  While they were
+making objections, a squall chanced to come on and carried the fleet
+into Pylos.  Demosthenes at once urged them to fortify the place, it
+being for this that he had come on the voyage, and made them observe
+there was plenty of stone and timber on the spot, and that the place
+was strong by nature, and together with much of the country round
+unoccupied; Pylos, or Coryphasium, as the Lacedaemonians call it,
+being about forty-five miles distant from Sparta, and situated in
+the old country of the Messenians.  The commanders told him that
+there was no lack of desert headlands in Peloponnese if he wished to
+put the city to expense by occupying them.  He, however, thought that
+this place was distinguished from others of the kind by having a
+harbour close by; while the Messenians, the old natives of the
+country, speaking the same dialect as the Lacedaemonians, could do
+them the greatest mischief by their incursions from it, and would at
+the same time be a trusty garrison.
+
+After speaking to the captains of companies on the subject, and
+failing to persuade either the generals or the soldiers, he remained
+inactive with the rest from stress of weather; until the soldiers
+themselves wanting occupation were seized with a sudden impulse to
+go round and fortify the place.  Accordingly they set to work in
+earnest, and having no iron tools, picked up stones, and put them
+together as they happened to fit, and where mortar was needed, carried
+it on their backs for want of hods, stooping down to make it stay
+on, and clasping their hands together behind to prevent it falling
+off; sparing no effort to be able to complete the most vulnerable
+points before the arrival of the Lacedaemonians, most of the place
+being sufficiently strong by nature without further fortifications.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians were celebrating a festival, and also
+at first made light of the news, in the idea that whenever they
+chose to take the field the place would be immediately evacuated by
+the enemy or easily taken by force; the absence of their army before
+Athens having also something to do with their delay.  The Athenians
+fortified the place on the land side, and where it most required it,
+in six days, and leaving Demosthenes with five ships to garrison it,
+with the main body of the fleet hastened on their voyage to Corcyra
+and Sicily.
+
+As soon as the Peloponnesians in Attica heard of the occupation of
+Pylos, they hurried back home; the Lacedaemonians and their king
+Agis thinking that the matter touched them nearly.  Besides having made
+their invasion early in the season, and while the corn was still
+green, most of their troops were short of provisions: the weather also
+was unusually bad for the time of year, and greatly distressed their
+army.  Many reasons thus combined to hasten their departure and to make
+this invasion a very short one; indeed they only stayed fifteen days
+in Attica.
+
+About the same time the Athenian general Simonides getting
+together a few Athenians from the garrisons, and a number of the
+allies in those parts, took Eion in Thrace, a Mendaean colony and
+hostile to Athens, by treachery, but had no sooner done so than the
+Chalcidians and Bottiaeans came up and beat him out of it, with the
+loss of many of his soldiers.
+
+On the return of the Peloponnesians from Attica, the Spartans
+themselves and the nearest of the Perioeci at once set out for
+Pylos, the other Lacedaemonians following more slowly, as they had
+just come in from another campaign.  Word was also sent round
+Peloponnese to come up as quickly as possible to Pylos; while the
+sixty Peloponnesian ships were sent for from Corcyra, and being
+dragged by their crews across the isthmus of Leucas, passed
+unperceived by the Athenian squadron at Zacynthus, and reached
+Pylos, where the land forces had arrived before them.  Before the
+Peloponnesian fleet sailed in, Demosthenes found time to send out
+unobserved two ships to inform Eurymedon and the Athenians on board
+the fleet at Zacynthus of the danger of Pylos and to summon them to
+his assistance.  While the ships hastened on their voyage in
+obedience to the orders of Demosthenes, the Lacedaemonians prepared to
+assault the fort by land and sea, hoping to capture with ease a work
+constructed in haste, and held by a feeble garrison.  Meanwhile, as
+they expected the Athenian ships to arrive from Zacynthus, they
+intended, if they failed to take the place before, to block up the
+entrances of the harbour to prevent their being able to anchor
+inside it.  For the island of Sphacteria, stretching along in a line
+close in front of the harbour, at once makes it safe and narrows its
+entrances, leaving a passage for two ships on the side nearest Pylos
+and the Athenian fortifications, and for eight or nine on that next
+the rest of the mainland: for the rest, the island was entirely
+covered with wood, and without paths through not being inhabited,
+and about one mile and five furlongs in length.  The inlets the
+Lacedaemonians meant to close with a line of ships placed close
+together, with their prows turned towards the sea, and, meanwhile,
+fearing that the enemy might make use of the island to operate against
+them, carried over some heavy infantry thither, stationing others
+along the coast.  By this means the island and the continent would be
+alike hostile to the Athenians, as they would be unable to land on
+either; and the shore of Pylos itself outside the inlet towards the
+open sea having no harbour, and, therefore, presenting no point
+which they could use as a base to relieve their countrymen, they,
+the Lacedaemonians, without sea-fight or risk would in all probability
+become masters of the place, occupied as it had been on the spur of
+the moment, and unfurnished with provisions.  This being determined,
+they carried over to the island the heavy infantry, drafted by lot
+from all the companies.  Some others had crossed over before in
+relief parties, but these last who were left there were four hundred
+and twenty in number, with their Helot attendants, commanded by
+Epitadas, son of Molobrus.
+
+Meanwhile Demosthenes, seeing the Lacedaemonians about to attack him
+by sea and land at once, himself was not idle.  He drew up under the
+fortification and enclosed in a stockade the galleys remaining to
+him of those which had been left him, arming the sailors taken out
+of them with poor shields made most of them of osier, it being
+impossible to procure arms in such a desert place, and even these
+having been obtained from a thirty-oared Messenian privateer and a
+boat belonging to some Messenians who happened to have come to them.
+Among these Messenians were forty heavy infantry, whom he made use
+of with the rest.  Posting most of his men, unarmed and armed, upon the
+best fortified and strong points of the place towards the interior,
+with orders to repel any attack of the land forces, he picked sixty
+heavy infantry and a few archers from his whole force, and with
+these went outside the wall down to the sea, where he thought that the
+enemy would most likely attempt to land.  Although the ground was
+difficult and rocky, looking towards the open sea, the fact that
+this was the weakest part of the wall would, he thought, encourage
+their ardour, as the Athenians, confident in their naval
+superiority, had here paid little attention to their defences, and the
+enemy if he could force a landing might feel secure of taking the
+place.  At this point, accordingly, going down to the water's edge,
+he posted his heavy infantry to prevent, if possible, a landing, and
+encouraged them in the following terms:
+
+"Soldiers and comrades in this adventure, I hope that none of you in
+our present strait will think to show his wit by exactly calculating
+all the perils that encompass us, but that you will rather hasten to
+close with the enemy, without staying to count the odds, seeing in
+this your best chance of safety.  In emergencies like ours
+calculation is out of place; the sooner the danger is faced the
+better.  To my mind also most of the chances are for us, if we will
+only stand fast and not throw away our advantages, overawed by the
+numbers of the enemy.  One of the points in our favour is the
+awkwardness of the landing.  This, however, only helps us if we stand
+our ground.  If we give way it will be practicable enough, in spite
+of its natural difficulty, without a defender; and the enemy will
+instantly become more formidable from the difficulty he will have in
+retreating, supposing that we succeed in repulsing him, which we shall
+find it easier to do, while he is on board his ships, than after he
+has landed and meets us on equal terms.  As to his numbers, these
+need not too much alarm you.  Large as they may be he can only engage
+in small detachments, from the impossibility of bringing to.
+Besides, the numerical superiority that we have to meet is not that of
+an army on land with everything else equal, but of troops on board
+ship, upon an element where many favourable accidents are required
+to act with effect.  I therefore consider that his difficulties may
+be fairly set against our numerical deficiencies, and at the same time
+I charge you, as Athenians who know by experience what landing from
+ships on a hostile territory means, and how impossible it is to
+drive back an enemy determined enough to stand his ground and not to
+be frightened away by the surf and the terrors of the ships sailing
+in, to stand fast in the present emergency, beat back the enemy at the
+water's edge, and save yourselves and the place."
+
+Thus encouraged by Demosthenes, the Athenians felt more confident,
+and went down to meet the enemy, posting themselves along the edge
+of the sea.  The Lacedaemonians now put themselves in movement and
+simultaneously assaulted the fortification with their land forces
+and with their ships, forty-three in number, under their admiral,
+Thrasymelidas, son of Cratesicles, a Spartan, who made his attack just
+where Demosthenes expected.  The Athenians had thus to defend
+themselves on both sides, from the land and from the sea; the enemy
+rowing up in small detachments, the one relieving the other--it being
+impossible for many to bring to at once--and showing great ardour and
+cheering each other on, in the endeavour to force a passage and to
+take the fortification.  He who most distinguished himself was
+Brasidas.  Captain of a galley, and seeing that the captains and
+steersmen, impressed by the difficulty of the position, hung back even
+where a landing might have seemed possible, for fear of wrecking their
+vessels, he shouted out to them, that they must never allow the
+enemy to fortify himself in their country for the sake of saving
+timber, but must shiver their vessels and force a landing; and bade
+the allies, instead of hesitating in such a moment to sacrifice
+their ships for Lacedaemon in return for her many benefits, to run
+them boldly aground, land in one way or another, and make themselves
+masters of the place and its garrison.
+
+Not content with this exhortation, he forced his own steersman to
+run his ship ashore, and stepping on to the gangway, was
+endeavouring to land, when he was cut down by the Athenians, and after
+receiving many wounds fainted away.  Falling into the bows, his
+shield slipped off his arm into the sea, and being thrown ashore was
+picked up by the Athenians, and afterwards used for the trophy which
+they set up for this attack.  The rest also did their best, but were
+not able to land, owing to the difficulty of the ground and the
+unflinching tenacity of the Athenians.  It was a strange reversal of
+the order of things for Athenians to be fighting from the land, and
+from Laconian land too, against Lacedaemonians coming from the sea;
+while Lacedaemonians were trying to land from shipboard in their own
+country, now become hostile, to attack Athenians, although the
+former were chiefly famous at the time as an inland people and
+superior by land, the latter as a maritime people with a navy that had
+no equal.
+
+After continuing their attacks during that day and most of the next,
+the Peloponnesians desisted, and the day after sent some of their
+ships to Asine for timber to make engines, hoping to take by their
+aid, in spite of its height, the wall opposite the harbour, where
+the landing was easiest.  At this moment the Athenian fleet from
+Zacynthus arrived, now numbering fifty sail, having been reinforced by
+some of the ships on guard at Naupactus and by four Chian vessels.
+Seeing the coast and the island both crowded with heavy infantry,
+and the hostile ships in harbour showing no signs of sailing out, at a
+loss where to anchor, they sailed for the moment to the desert
+island of Prote, not far off, where they passed the night.  The next
+day they got under way in readiness to engage in the open sea if the
+enemy chose to put out to meet them, being determined in the event
+of his not doing so to sail in and attack him.  The Lacedaemonians
+did not put out to sea, and having omitted to close the inlets as they
+had intended, remained quiet on shore, engaged in manning their
+ships and getting ready, in the case of any one sailing in, to fight
+in the harbour, which is a fairly large one.
+
+Perceiving this, the Athenians advanced against them by each
+inlet, and falling on the enemy's fleet, most of which was by this
+time afloat and in line, at once put it to flight, and giving chase as
+far as the short distance allowed, disabled a good many vessels and
+took five, one with its crew on board; dashing in at the rest that had
+taken refuge on shore, and battering some that were still being
+manned, before they could put out, and lashing on to their own ships
+and towing off empty others whose crews had fled.  At this sight the
+Lacedaemonians, maddened by a disaster which cut off their men on
+the island, rushed to the rescue, and going into the sea with their
+heavy armour, laid hold of the ships and tried to drag them back, each
+man thinking that success depended on his individual exertions.
+Great was the melee, and quite in contradiction to the naval tactics
+usual to the two combatants; the Lacedaemonians in their excitement
+and dismay being actually engaged in a sea-fight on land, while the
+victorious Athenians, in their eagerness to push their success as
+far as possible, were carrying on a land-fight from their ships.  After
+great exertions and numerous wounds on both sides they separated,
+the Lacedaemonians saving their empty ships, except those first taken;
+and both parties returning to their camp, the Athenians set up a
+trophy, gave back the dead, secured the wrecks, and at once began to
+cruise round and jealously watch the island, with its intercepted
+garrison, while the Peloponnesians on the mainland, whose
+contingents had now all come up, stayed where they were before Pylos.
+
+When the news of what had happened at Pylos reached Sparta, the
+disaster was thought so serious that the Lacedaemonians resolved
+that the authorities should go down to the camp, and decide on the
+spot what was best to be done.  There, seeing that it was impossible to
+help their men, and not wishing to risk their being reduced by
+hunger or overpowered by numbers, they determined, with the consent of
+the Athenian generals, to conclude an armistice at Pylos and send
+envoys to Athens to obtain a convention, and to endeavour to get
+back their men as quickly as possible.
+
+The generals accepting their offers, an armistice was concluded upon
+the terms following:
+
+That the Lacedaemonians should bring to Pylos and deliver up to
+the Athenians the ships that had fought in the late engagement, and
+all in Laconia that were vessels of war, and should make no attack
+on the fortification either by land or by sea.
+
+That the Athenians should allow the Lacedaemonians on the mainland
+to send to the men in the island a certain fixed quantity of corn
+ready kneaded, that is to say, two quarts of barley meal, one pint
+of wine, and a piece of meat for each man, and half the same
+quantity for a servant.
+
+That this allowance should be sent in under the eyes of the
+Athenians, and that no boat should sail to the island except openly.
+
+That the Athenians should continue to the island same as before,
+without however landing upon it, and should refrain from attacking the
+Peloponnesian troops either by land or by sea.
+
+That if either party should infringe any of these terms in the
+slightest particular, the armistice should be at once void.
+
+That the armistice should hold good until the return of the
+Lacedaemonian envoys from Athens--the Athenians sending them thither
+in a galley and bringing them back again--and upon the arrival of the
+envoys should be at an end, and the ships be restored by the Athenians
+in the same state as they received them.
+
+Such were the terms of the armistice, and the ships were delivered
+over to the number of sixty, and the envoys sent off accordingly.
+Arrived at Athens they spoke as follows:
+
+"Athenians, the Lacedaemonians sent us to try to find some way of
+settling the affair of our men on the island, that shall be at once
+satisfactory to our interests, and as consistent with our dignity in
+our misfortune as circumstances permit.  We can venture to speak at
+some length without any departure from the habit of our country.  Men
+of few words where many are not wanted, we can be less brief when
+there is a matter of importance to be illustrated and an end to be
+served by its illustration.  Meanwhile we beg you to take what we may
+say, not in a hostile spirit, nor as if we thought you ignorant and
+wished to lecture you, but rather as a suggestion on the best course
+to be taken, addressed to intelligent judges.  You can now, if you
+choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what
+you have got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid
+the mistake of those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good
+fortune, and are led on by hope to grasp continually at something
+further, through having already succeeded without expecting it.
+While those who have known most vicissitudes of good and bad, have
+also justly least faith in their prosperity; and to teach your city
+and ours this lesson experience has not been wanting.
+
+"To be convinced of this you have only to look at our present
+misfortune.  What power in Hellas stood higher than we did? and yet
+we are come to you, although we formerly thought ourselves more able
+to grant what we are now here to ask.  Nevertheless, we have not been
+brought to this by any decay in our power, or through having our heads
+turned by aggrandizement; no, our resources are what they have
+always been, and our error has been an error of judgment, to which all
+are equally liable.  Accordingly, the prosperity which your city now
+enjoys, and the accession that it has lately received, must not make
+you fancy that fortune will be always with you.  Indeed sensible men
+are prudent enough to treat their gains as precarious, just as they
+would also keep a clear head in adversity, and think that war, so
+far from staying within the limit to which a combatant may wish to
+confine it, will run the course that its chances prescribe; and
+thus, not being puffed up by confidence in military success, they
+are less likely to come to grief, and most ready to make peace, if
+they can, while their fortune lasts.  This, Athenians, you have a
+good opportunity to do now with us, and thus to escape the possible
+disasters which may follow upon your refusal, and the consequent
+imputation of having owed to accident even your present advantages,
+when you might have left behind you a reputation for power and
+wisdom which nothing could endanger.
+
+"The Lacedaemonians accordingly invite you to make a treaty and to
+end the war, and offer peace and alliance and the most friendly and
+intimate relations in every way and on every occasion between us;
+and in return ask for the men on the island, thinking it better for
+both parties not to stand out to the end, on the chance of some
+favourable accident enabling the men to force their way out, or of
+their being compelled to succumb under the pressure of blockade.
+Indeed if great enmities are ever to be really settled, we think it
+will be, not by the system of revenge and military success, and by
+forcing an opponent to swear to a treaty to his disadvantage, but when
+the more fortunate combatant waives these his privileges, to be guided
+by gentler feelings conquers his rival in generosity, and accords
+peace on more moderate conditions than he expected.  From that
+moment, instead of the debt of revenge which violence must entail, his
+adversary owes a debt of generosity to be paid in kind, and is
+inclined by honour to stand to his agreement.  And men oftener act in
+this manner towards their greatest enemies than where the quarrel is
+of less importance; they are also by nature as glad to give way to
+those who first yield to them, as they are apt to be provoked by
+arrogance to risks condemned by their own judgment.
+
+"To apply this to ourselves: if peace was ever desirable for both
+parties, it is surely so at the present moment, before anything
+irremediable befall us and force us to hate you eternally,
+personally as well as politically, and you to miss the advantages that
+we now offer you.  While the issue is still in doubt, and you have
+reputation and our friendship in prospect, and we the compromise of
+our misfortune before anything fatal occur, let us be reconciled,
+and for ourselves choose peace instead of war, and grant to the rest
+of the Hellenes a remission from their sufferings, for which be sure
+they will think they have chiefly you to thank.  The war that they
+labour under they know not which began, but the peace that concludes
+it, as it depends on your decision, will by their gratitude be laid to
+your door.  By such a decision you can become firm friends with the
+Lacedaemonians at their own invitation, which you do not force from
+them, but oblige them by accepting.  And from this friendship
+consider the advantages that are likely to follow: when Attica and
+Sparta are at one, the rest of Hellas, be sure, will remain in
+respectful inferiority before its heads."
+
+Such were the words of the Lacedaemonians, their idea being that the
+Athenians, already desirous of a truce and only kept back by their
+opposition, would joyfully accept a peace freely offered, and give
+back the men.  The Athenians, however, having the men on the island,
+thought that the treaty would be ready for them whenever they chose to
+make it, and grasped at something further.  Foremost to encourage
+them in this policy was Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, a popular leader
+of the time and very powerful with the multitude, who persuaded them
+to answer as follows: First, the men in the island must surrender
+themselves and their arms and be brought to Athens.  Next, the
+Lacedaemonians must restore Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaia, all
+places acquired not by arms, but by the previous convention, under
+which they had been ceded by Athens herself at a moment of disaster,
+when a truce was more necessary to her than at present.  This done they
+might take back their men, and make a truce for as long as both
+parties might agree.
+
+To this answer the envoys made no reply, but asked that
+commissioners might be chosen with whom they might confer on each
+point, and quietly talk the matter over and try to come to some
+agreement.  Hereupon Cleon violently assailed them, saying that he knew
+from the first that they had no right intentions, and that it was
+clear enough now by their refusing to speak before the people, and
+wanting to confer in secret with a committee of two or three.  No, if
+they meant anything honest let them say it out before all.  The
+Lacedaemonians, however, seeing that whatever concessions they might
+be prepared to make in their misfortune, it was impossible for them to
+speak before the multitude and lose credit with their allies for a
+negotiation which might after all miscarry, and on the other hand,
+that the Athenians would never grant what they asked upon moderate
+terms, returned from Athens without having effected anything.
+
+Their arrival at once put an end to the armistice at Pylos, and
+the Lacedaemonians asked back their ships according to the convention.
+The Athenians, however, alleged an attack on the fort in contravention
+of the truce, and other grievances seemingly not worth mentioning, and
+refused to give them back, insisting upon the clause by which the
+slightest infringement made the armistice void.  The Lacedaemonians,
+after denying the contravention and protesting against their bad faith
+in the matter of the ships, went away and earnestly addressed
+themselves to the war.  Hostilities were now carried on at Pylos upon
+both sides with vigour.  The Athenians cruised round the island all day
+with two ships going different ways; and by night, except on the
+seaward side in windy weather, anchored round it with their whole
+fleet, which, having been reinforced by twenty ships from Athens
+come to aid in the blockade, now numbered seventy sail; while the
+Peloponnesians remained encamped on the continent, making attacks on
+the fort, and on the look-out for any opportunity which might offer
+itself for the deliverance of their men.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans and their allies in Sicily had brought up
+to the squadron guarding Messina the reinforcement which we left
+them preparing, and carried on the war from thence, incited chiefly by
+the Locrians from hatred of the Rhegians, whose territory they had
+invaded with all their forces.  The Syracusans also wished to try their
+fortune at sea, seeing that the Athenians had only a few ships
+actually at Rhegium, and hearing that the main fleet destined to
+join them was engaged in blockading the island.  A naval victory,
+they thought, would enable them to blockade Rhegium by sea and land,
+and easily to reduce it; a success which would at once place their
+affairs upon a solid basis, the promontory of Rhegium in Italy and
+Messina in Sicily being so near each other that it would be impossible
+for the Athenians to cruise against them and command the strait.  The
+strait in question consists of the sea between Rhegium and Messina, at
+the point where Sicily approaches nearest to the continent, and is the
+Charybdis through which the story makes Ulysses sail; and the
+narrowness of the passage and the strength of the current that pours
+in from the vast Tyrrhenian and Sicilian mains, have rightly given
+it a bad reputation.
+
+In this strait the Syracusans and their allies were compelled to
+fight, late in the day, about the passage of a boat, putting out
+with rather more than thirty ships against sixteen Athenian and
+eight Rhegian vessels.  Defeated by the Athenians they hastily set off,
+each for himself, to their own stations at Messina and Rhegium, with
+the loss of one ship; night coming on before the battle was
+finished.  After this the Locrians retired from the Rhegian
+territory, and the ships of the Syracusans and their allies united and
+came to anchor at Cape Pelorus, in the territory of Messina, where
+their land forces joined them.  Here the Athenians and Rhegians
+sailed up, and seeing the ships unmanned, made an attack, in which
+they in their turn lost one vessel, which was caught by a grappling
+iron, the crew saving themselves by swimming.  After this the
+Syracusans got on board their ships, and while they were being towed
+alongshore to Messina, were again attacked by the Athenians, but
+suddenly got out to sea and became the assailants, and caused them
+to lose another vessel.  After thus holding their own in the voyage
+alongshore and in the engagement as above described, the Syracusans
+sailed on into the harbour of Messina.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, having received warning that Camarina was
+about to be betrayed to the Syracusans by Archias and his party,
+sailed thither; and the Messinese took this opportunity to attack by
+sea and land with all their forces their Chalcidian neighbour,
+Naxos.  The first day they forced the Naxians to keep their walls,
+and laid waste their country; the next they sailed round with their
+ships, and laid waste their land on the river Akesines, while their
+land forces menaced the city.  Meanwhile the Sicels came down from
+the high country in great numbers, to aid against the Messinese; and
+the Naxians, elated at the sight, and animated by a belief that the
+Leontines and their other Hellenic allies were coming to their
+support, suddenly sallied out from the town, and attacked and routed
+the Messinese, killing more than a thousand of them; while the
+remainder suffered severely in their retreat home, being attacked by
+the barbarians on the road, and most of them cut off.  The ships put in
+to Messina, and afterwards dispersed for their different homes.  The
+Leontines and their allies, with the Athenians, upon this at once
+turned their arms against the now weakened Messina, and attacked,
+the Athenians with their ships on the side of the harbour, and the
+land forces on that of the town.  The Messinese, however, sallying
+out with Demoteles and some Locrians who had been left to garrison the
+city after the disaster, suddenly attacked and routed most of the
+Leontine army, killing a great number; upon seeing which the Athenians
+landed from their ships, and falling on the Messinese in disorder
+chased them back into the town, and setting up a trophy retired to
+Rhegium.  After this the Hellenes in Sicily continued to make war on
+each other by land, without the Athenians.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos were still besieging the
+Lacedaemonians in the island, the Peloponnesian forces on the
+continent remaining where they were.  The blockade was very laborious
+for the Athenians from want of food and water; there was no spring
+except one in the citadel of Pylos itself, and that not a large one,
+and most of them were obliged to grub up the shingle on the sea
+beach and drink such water as they could find.  They also suffered from
+want of room, being encamped in a narrow space; and as there was no
+anchorage for the ships, some took their meals on shore in their turn,
+while the others were anchored out at sea.  But their greatest
+discouragement arose from the unexpectedly long time which it took
+to reduce a body of men shut up in a desert island, with only brackish
+water to drink, a matter which they had imagined would take them
+only a few days.  The fact was that the Lacedaemonians had made
+advertisement for volunteers to carry into the island ground corn,
+wine, cheese, and any other food useful in a siege; high prices
+being offered, and freedom promised to any of the Helots who should
+succeed in doing so.  The Helots accordingly were most forward to
+engage in this risky traffic, putting off from this or that part of
+Peloponnese, and running in by night on the seaward side of the
+island.  They were best pleased, however, when they could catch a
+wind to carry them in.  It was more easy to elude the look-out of the
+galleys, when it blew from the seaward, as it became impossible for
+them to anchor round the island; while the Helots had their boats
+rated at their value in money, and ran them ashore, without caring how
+they landed, being sure to find the soldiers waiting for them at the
+landing-places.  But all who risked it in fair weather were taken.
+Divers also swam in under water from the harbour, dragging by a cord
+in skins poppyseed mixed with honey, and bruised linseed; these at
+first escaped notice, but afterwards a look-out was kept for them.
+In short, both sides tried every possible contrivance, the one to
+throw in provisions, and the other to prevent their introduction.
+
+At Athens, meanwhile, the news that the army was in great
+distress, and that corn found its way in to the men in the island,
+caused no small perplexity; and the Athenians began to fear that
+winter might come on and find them still engaged in the blockade.  They
+saw that the convoying of provisions round Peloponnese would be then
+impossible.  The country offered no resources in itself, and even in
+summer they could not send round enough.  The blockade of a place
+without harbours could no longer be kept up; and the men would
+either escape by the siege being abandoned, or would watch for bad
+weather and sail out in the boats that brought in their corn.  What
+caused still more alarm was the attitude of the Lacedaemonians, who
+must, it was thought by the Athenians, feel themselves on strong
+ground not to send them any more envoys; and they began to repent
+having rejected the treaty.  Cleon, perceiving the disfavour with which
+he was regarded for having stood in the way of the convention, now
+said that their informants did not speak the truth; and upon the
+messengers recommending them, if they did not believe them, to send
+some commissioners to see, Cleon himself and Theagenes were chosen
+by the Athenians as commissioners.  Aware that he would now be
+obliged either to say what had been already said by the men whom he
+was slandering, or be proved a liar if he said the contrary, he told
+the Athenians, whom he saw to be not altogether disinclined for a
+fresh expedition, that instead of sending and wasting their time and
+opportunities, if they believed what was told them, they ought to sail
+against the men.  And pointing at Nicias, son of Niceratus, then
+general, whom he hated, he tauntingly said that it would be easy, if
+they had men for generals, to sail with a force and take those in
+the island, and that if he had himself been in command, he would
+have done it.
+
+Nicias, seeing the Athenians murmuring against Cleon for not sailing
+now if it seemed to him so easy, and further seeing himself the object
+of attack, told him that for all that the generals cared, he might
+take what force he chose and make the attempt.  At first Cleon
+fancied that this resignation was merely a figure of speech, and was
+ready to go, but finding that it was seriously meant, he drew back,
+and said that Nicias, not he, was general, being now frightened, and
+having never supposed that Nicias would go so far as to retire in
+his favour.  Nicias, however, repeated his offer, and resigned the
+command against Pylos, and called the Athenians to witness that he did
+so.  And as the multitude is wont to do, the more Cleon shrank from the
+expedition and tried to back out of what he had said, the more they
+encouraged Nicias to hand over his command, and clamoured at Cleon
+to go.  At last, not knowing how to get out of his words, he
+undertook the expedition, and came forward and said that he was not
+afraid of the Lacedaemonians, but would sail without taking any one
+from the city with him, except the Lemnians and Imbrians that were
+at Athens, with some targeteers that had come up from Aenus, and
+four hundred archers from other quarters.  With these and the
+soldiers at Pylos, he would within twenty days either bring the
+Lacedaemonians alive, or kill them on the spot.  The Athenians could
+not help laughing at his fatuity, while sensible men comforted
+themselves with the reflection that they must gain in either
+circumstance; either they would be rid of Cleon, which they rather
+hoped, or if disappointed in this expectation, would reduce the
+Lacedaemonians.
+
+After he had settled everything in the assembly, and the Athenians
+had voted him the command of the expedition, he chose as his colleague
+Demosthenes, one of the generals at Pylos, and pushed forward the
+preparations for his voyage.  His choice fell upon Demosthenes
+because he heard that he was contemplating a descent on the island;
+the soldiers distressed by the difficulties of the position, and
+rather besieged than besiegers, being eager to fight it out, while the
+firing of the island had increased the confidence of the general.  He
+had been at first afraid, because the island having never been
+inhabited was almost entirely covered with wood and without paths,
+thinking this to be in the enemy's favour, as he might land with a
+large force, and yet might suffer loss by an attack from an unseen
+position.  The mistakes and forces of the enemy the wood would in a
+great measure conceal from him, while every blunder of his own
+troops would be at once detected, and they would be thus able to
+fall upon him unexpectedly just where they pleased, the attack being
+always in their power.  If, on the other hand, he should force them
+to engage in the thicket, the smaller number who knew the country
+would, he thought, have the advantage over the larger who were
+ignorant of it, while his own army might be cut off imperceptibly,
+in spite of its numbers, as the men would not be able to see where
+to succour each other.
+
+The Aetolian disaster, which had been mainly caused by the wood, had
+not a little to do with these reflections.  Meanwhile, one of the
+soldiers who were compelled by want of room to land on the extremities
+of the island and take their dinners, with outposts fixed to prevent a
+surprise, set fire to a little of the wood without meaning to do so;
+and as it came on to blow soon afterwards, almost the whole was
+consumed before they were aware of it.  Demosthenes was now able for
+the first time to see how numerous the Lacedaemonians really were,
+having up to this moment been under the impression that they took in
+provisions for a smaller number; he also saw that the Athenians
+thought success important and were anxious about it, and that it was
+now easier to land on the island, and accordingly got ready for the
+attempt, sent for troops from the allies in the neighbourhood, and
+pushed forward his other preparations.  At this moment Cleon arrived at
+Pylos with the troops which he had asked for, having sent on word to
+say that he was coming.  The first step taken by the two generals after
+their meeting was to send a herald to the camp on the mainland, to ask
+if they were disposed to avoid all risk and to order the men on the
+island to surrender themselves and their arms, to be kept in gentle
+custody until some general convention should be concluded.
+
+On the rejection of this proposition the generals let one day
+pass, and the next, embarking all their heavy infantry on board a
+few ships, put out by night, and a little before dawn landed on both
+sides of the island from the open sea and from the harbour, being
+about eight hundred strong, and advanced with a run against the
+first post in the island.
+
+The enemy had distributed his force as follows: In this first post
+there were about thirty heavy infantry; the centre and most level
+part, where the water was, was held by the main body, and by
+Epitadas their commander; while a small party guarded the very end
+of the island, towards Pylos, which was precipitous on the sea-side
+and very difficult to attack from the land, and where there was also a
+sort of old fort of stones rudely put together, which they thought
+might be useful to them, in case they should be forced to retreat.
+Such was their disposition.
+
+The advanced post thus attacked by the Athenians was at once put
+to the sword, the men being scarcely out of bed and still arming,
+the landing having taken them by surprise, as they fancied the ships
+were only sailing as usual to their stations for the night.  As soon as
+day broke, the rest of the army landed, that is to say, all the
+crews of rather more than seventy ships, except the lowest rank of
+oars, with the arms they carried, eight hundred archers, and as many
+targeteers, the Messenian reinforcements, and all the other troops
+on duty round Pylos, except the garrison on the fort.  The tactics of
+Demosthenes had divided them into companies of two hundred, more or
+less, and made them occupy the highest points in order to paralyse the
+enemy by surrounding him on every side and thus leaving him without
+any tangible adversary, exposed to the cross-fire of their host; plied
+by those in his rear if he attacked in front, and by those on one
+flank if he moved against those on the other.  In short, wherever he
+went he would have the assailants behind him, and these light-armed
+assailants, the most awkward of all; arrows, darts, stones, and slings
+making them formidable at a distance, and there being no means of
+getting at them at close quarters, as they could conquer flying, and
+the moment their pursuer turned they were upon him.  Such was the
+idea that inspired Demosthenes in his conception of the descent, and
+presided over its execution.
+
+Meanwhile the main body of the troops in the island (that under
+Epitadas), seeing their outpost cut off and an army advancing
+against them, serried their ranks and pressed forward to close with
+the Athenian heavy infantry in front of them, the light troops being
+upon their flanks and rear.  However, they were not able to engage or
+to profit by their superior skill, the light troops keeping them in
+check on either side with their missiles, and the heavy infantry
+remaining stationary instead of advancing to meet them; and although
+they routed the light troops wherever they ran up and approached too
+closely, yet they retreated fighting, being lightly equipped, and
+easily getting the start in their flight, from the difficult and
+rugged nature of the ground, in an island hitherto desert, over
+which the Lacedaemonians could not pursue them with their heavy
+armour.
+
+After this skirmishing had lasted some little while, the
+Lacedaemonians became unable to dash out with the same rapidity as
+before upon the points attacked, and the light troops finding that
+they now fought with less vigour, became more confident.  They could
+see with their own eyes that they were many times more numerous than
+the enemy; they were now more familiar with his aspect and found him
+less terrible, the result not having justified the apprehensions which
+they had suffered, when they first landed in slavish dismay at the
+idea of attacking Lacedaemonians; and accordingly their fear
+changing to disdain, they now rushed all together with loud shouts
+upon them, and pelted them with stones, darts, and arrows, whichever
+came first to hand.  The shouting accompanying their onset confounded
+the Lacedaemonians, unaccustomed to this mode of fighting; dust rose
+from the newly burnt wood, and it was impossible to see in front of
+one with the arrows and stones flying through clouds of dust from
+the hands of numerous assailants.  The Lacedaemonians had now to
+sustain a rude conflict; their caps would not keep out the arrows,
+darts had broken off in the armour of the wounded, while they
+themselves were helpless for offence, being prevented from using their
+eyes to see what was before them, and unable to hear the words of
+command for the hubbub raised by the enemy; danger encompassed them on
+every side, and there was no hope of any means of defence or safety.
+
+At last, after many had been already wounded in the confined space
+in which they were fighting, they formed in close order and retired on
+the fort at the end of the island, which was not far off, and to their
+friends who held it.  The moment they gave way, the light troops became
+bolder and pressed upon them, shouting louder than ever, and killed as
+many as they came up with in their retreat, but most of the
+Lacedaemonians made good their escape to the fort, and with the
+garrison in it ranged themselves all along its whole extent to repulse
+the enemy wherever it was assailable.  The Athenians pursuing, unable
+to surround and hem them in, owing to the strength of the ground,
+attacked them in front and tried to storm the position.  For a long
+time, indeed for most of the day, both sides held out against all
+the torments of the battle, thirst, and sun, the one endeavouring to
+drive the enemy from the high ground, the other to maintain himself
+upon it, it being now more easy for the Lacedaemonians to defend
+themselves than before, as they could not be surrounded on the flanks.
+
+The struggle began to seem endless, when the commander of the
+Messenians came to Cleon and Demosthenes, and told them that they were
+losing their labour: but if they would give him some archers and light
+troops to go round on the enemy's rear by a way he would undertake
+to find, he thought he could force the approach.  Upon receiving what
+he asked for, he started from a point out of sight in order not to
+be seen by the enemy, and creeping on wherever the precipices of the
+island permitted, and where the Lacedaemonians, trusting to the
+strength of the ground, kept no guard, succeeded after the greatest
+difficulty in getting round without their seeing him, and suddenly
+appeared on the high ground in their rear, to the dismay of the
+surprised enemy and the still greater joy of his expectant friends.
+The Lacedaemonians thus placed between two fires, and in the same
+dilemma, to compare small things with great, as at Thermopylae,
+where the defenders were cut off through the Persians getting round by
+the path, being now attacked in front and behind, began to give way,
+and overcome by the odds against them and exhausted from want of food,
+retreated.
+
+The Athenians were already masters of the approaches when Cleon
+and Demosthenes perceiving that, if the enemy gave way a single step
+further, they would be destroyed by their soldiery, put a stop to
+the battle and held their men back; wishing to take the Lacedaemonians
+alive to Athens, and hoping that their stubbornness might relax on
+hearing the offer of terms, and that they might surrender and yield to
+the present overwhelming danger.  Proclamation was accordingly made, to
+know if they would surrender themselves and their arms to the
+Athenians to be dealt at their discretion.
+
+The Lacedaemonians hearing this offer, most of them lowered their
+shields and waved their hands to show that they accepted it.
+Hostilities now ceased, and a parley was held between Cleon and
+Demosthenes and Styphon, son of Pharax, on the other side; since
+Epitadas, the first of the previous commanders, had been killed, and
+Hippagretas, the next in command, left for dead among the slain,
+though still alive, and thus the command had devolved upon Styphon
+according to the law, in case of anything happening to his
+superiors.  Styphon and his companions said they wished to send a
+herald to the Lacedaemonians on the mainland, to know what they were
+to do.  The Athenians would not let any of them go, but themselves
+called for heralds from the mainland, and after questions had been
+carried backwards and forwards two or three times, the last man that
+passed over from the Lacedaemonians on the continent brought this
+message: "The Lacedaemonians bid you to decide for yourselves so
+long as you do nothing dishonourable"; upon which after consulting
+together they surrendered themselves and their arms.  The Athenians,
+after guarding them that day and night, the next morning set up a
+trophy in the island, and got ready to sail, giving their prisoners in
+batches to be guarded by the captains of the galleys; and the
+Lacedaemonians sent a herald and took up their dead.  The number of the
+killed and prisoners taken in the island was as follows: four
+hundred and twenty heavy infantry had passed over; three hundred all
+but eight were taken alive to Athens; the rest were killed.  About a
+hundred and twenty of the prisoners were Spartans.  The Athenian loss
+was small, the battle not having been fought at close quarters.
+
+The blockade in all, counting from the fight at sea to the battle in
+the island, had lasted seventy-two days.  For twenty of these, during
+the absence of the envoys sent to treat for peace, the men had
+provisions given them, for the rest they were fed by the smugglers.
+Corn and other victual was found in the island; the commander Epitadas
+having kept the men upon half rations.  The Athenians and
+Peloponnesians now each withdrew their forces from Pylos, and went
+home, and crazy as Cleon's promise was, he fulfilled it, by bringing
+the men to Athens within the twenty days as he had pledged himself
+to do.
+
+Nothing that happened in the war surprised the Hellenes so much as
+this.  It was the opinion that no force or famine could make the
+Lacedaemonians give up their arms, but that they would fight on as
+they could, and die with them in their hands: indeed people could
+scarcely believe that those who had surrendered were of the same stuff
+as the fallen; and an Athenian ally, who some time after insultingly
+asked one of the prisoners from the island if those that had fallen
+were men of honour, received for answer that the atraktos--that is,
+the arrow--would be worth a great deal if it could tell men of honour
+from the rest; in allusion to the fact that the killed were those whom
+the stones and the arrows happened to hit.
+
+Upon the arrival of the men the Athenians determined to keep them in
+prison until the peace, and if the Peloponnesians invaded their
+country in the interval, to bring them out and put them to death.
+Meanwhile the defence of Pylos was not forgotten; the Messenians
+from Naupactus sent to their old country, to which Pylos formerly
+belonged, some of the likeliest of their number, and began a series of
+incursions into Laconia, which their common dialect rendered most
+destructive.  The Lacedaemonians, hitherto without experience of
+incursions or a warfare of the kind, finding the Helots deserting, and
+fearing the march of revolution in their country, began to be
+seriously uneasy, and in spite of their unwillingness to betray this
+to the Athenians began to send envoys to Athens, and tried to
+recover Pylos and the prisoners.  The Athenians, however, kept grasping
+at more, and dismissed envoy after envoy without their having effected
+anything.  Such was the history of the affair of Pylos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+_Seventh and Eighth Years of the War - End of Corcyraean Revolution -
+Peace of Gela - Capture of Nisaea_
+
+The same summer, directly after these events, the Athenians made
+an expedition against the territory of Corinth with eighty ships and
+two thousand Athenian heavy infantry, and two hundred cavalry on board
+horse transports, accompanied by the Milesians, Andrians, and
+Carystians from the allies, under the command of Nicias, son of
+Niceratus, with two colleagues.  Putting out to sea they made land at
+daybreak between Chersonese and Rheitus, at the beach of the country
+underneath the Solygian hill, upon which the Dorians in old times
+established themselves and carried on war against the Aeolian
+inhabitants of Corinth, and where a village now stands called Solygia.
+The beach where the fleet came to is about a mile and a half from
+the village, seven miles from Corinth, and two and a quarter from
+the Isthmus.  The Corinthians had heard from Argos of the coming of the
+Athenian armament, and had all come up to the Isthmus long before,
+with the exception of those who lived beyond it, and also of five
+hundred who were away in garrison in Ambracia and Leucadia; and they
+were there in full force watching for the Athenians to land.  These
+last, however, gave them the slip by coming in the dark; and being
+informed by signals of the fact the Corinthians left half their number
+at Cenchreae, in case the Athenians should go against Crommyon, and
+marched in all haste to the rescue.
+
+Battus, one of the two generals present at the action, went with a
+company to defend the village of Solygia, which was unfortified;
+Lycophron remaining to give battle with the rest.  The Corinthians
+first attacked the right wing of the Athenians, which had just
+landed in front of Chersonese, and afterwards the rest of the army.
+The battle was an obstinate one, and fought throughout hand to hand.
+The right wing of the Athenians and Carystians, who had been placed at
+the end of the line, received and with some difficulty repulsed the
+Corinthians, who thereupon retreated to a wall upon the rising
+ground behind, and throwing down the stones upon them, came on again
+singing the paean, and being received by the Athenians, were again
+engaged at close quarters.  At this moment a Corinthian company
+having come to the relief of the left wing, routed and pursued the
+Athenian right to the sea, whence they were in their turn driven
+back by the Athenians and Carystians from the ships.  Meanwhile the
+rest of the army on either side fought on tenaciously, especially
+the right wing of the Corinthians, where Lycophron sustained the
+attack of the Athenian left, which it was feared might attempt the
+village of Solygia.
+
+After holding on for a long while without either giving way, the
+Athenians aided by their horse, of which the enemy had none, at
+length routed the Corinthians, who retired to the hill and, halting,
+remained quiet there, without coming down again.  It was in this rout
+of the right wing that they had the most killed, Lycophron their
+general being among the number.  The rest of the army, broken and put
+to flight in this way without being seriously pursued or hurried,
+retired to the high ground and there took up its position.  The
+Athenians, finding that the enemy no longer offered to engage them,
+stripped his dead and took up their own and immediately set up a
+trophy.  Meanwhile, the half of the Corinthians left at Cenchreae to
+guard against the Athenians sailing on Crommyon, although unable to
+see the battle for Mount Oneion, found out what was going on by the
+dust, and hurried up to the rescue; as did also the older Corinthians
+from the town, upon discovering what had occurred.  The Athenians
+seeing them all coming against them, and thinking that they were
+reinforcements arriving from the neighbouring Peloponnesians,
+withdrew in haste to their ships with their spoils and their own
+dead, except two that they left behind, not being able to find them,
+and going on board crossed over to the islands opposite, and from
+thence sent a herald, and took up under truce the bodies which they
+had left behind.  Two hundred and twelve Corinthians fell in the
+battle, and rather less than fifty Athenians.
+
+Weighing from the islands, the Athenians sailed the same day to
+Crommyon in the Corinthian territory, about thirteen miles from the
+city, and coming to anchor laid waste the country, and passed the
+night there.  The next day, after first coasting along to the territory
+of Epidaurus and making a descent there, they came to Methana
+between Epidaurus and Troezen, and drew a wall across and fortified
+the isthmus of the peninsula, and left a post there from which
+incursions were henceforth made upon the country of Troezen, Haliae,
+and Epidaurus.  After walling off this spot, the fleet sailed off home.
+
+While these events were going on, Eurymedon and Sophocles had put to
+sea with the Athenian fleet from Pylos on their way to Sicily and,
+arriving at Corcyra, joined the townsmen in an expedition against
+the party established on Mount Istone, who had crossed over, as I have
+mentioned, after the revolution and become masters of the country,
+to the great hurt of the inhabitants.  Their stronghold having been
+taken by an attack, the garrison took refuge in a body upon some
+high ground and there capitulated, agreeing to give up their mercenary
+auxiliaries, lay down their arms, and commit themselves to the
+discretion of the Athenian people.  The generals carried them across
+under truce to the island of Ptychia, to be kept in custody until they
+could be sent to Athens, upon the understanding that, if any were
+caught running away, all would lose the benefit of the treaty.
+Meanwhile the leaders of the Corcyraean commons, afraid that the
+Athenians might spare the lives of the prisoners, had recourse to
+the following stratagem.  They gained over some few men on the island
+by secretly sending friends with instructions to provide them with a
+boat, and to tell them, as if for their own sakes, that they had
+best escape as quickly as possible, as the Athenian generals were
+going to give them up to the Corcyraean people.
+
+These representations succeeding, it was so arranged that the men
+were caught sailing out in the boat that was provided, and the
+treaty became void accordingly, and the whole body were given up to
+the Corcyraeans.  For this result the Athenian generals were in a great
+measure responsible; their evident disinclination to sail for
+Sicily, and thus to leave to others the honour of conducting the men
+to Athens, encouraged the intriguers in their design and seemed to
+affirm the truth of their representations.  The prisoners thus handed
+over were shut up by the Corcyraeans in a large building, and
+afterwards taken out by twenties and led past two lines of heavy
+infantry, one on each side, being bound together, and beaten and
+stabbed by the men in the lines whenever any saw pass a personal
+enemy; while men carrying whips went by their side and hastened on the
+road those that walked too slowly.
+
+As many as sixty men were taken out and killed in this way without
+the knowledge of their friends in the building, who fancied they
+were merely being moved from one prison to another.  At last,
+however, someone opened their eyes to the truth, upon which they
+called upon the Athenians to kill them themselves, if such was their
+pleasure, and refused any longer to go out of the building, and said
+they would do all they could to prevent any one coming in.  The
+Corcyraeans, not liking themselves to force a passage by the doors,
+got up on the top of the building, and breaking through the roof,
+threw down the tiles and let fly arrows at them, from which the
+prisoners sheltered themselves as well as they could.  Most of their
+number, meanwhile, were engaged in dispatching themselves by thrusting
+into their throats the arrows shot by the enemy, and hanging
+themselves with the cords taken from some beds that happened to be
+there, and with strips made from their clothing; adopting, in short,
+every possible means of self-destruction, and also falling victims
+to the missiles of their enemies on the roof.  Night came on while
+these horrors were enacting, and most of it had passed before they
+were concluded.  When it was day the Corcyraeans threw them in layers
+upon wagons and carried them out of the city.  All the women taken in
+the stronghold were sold as slaves.  In this way the Corcyraeans of the
+mountain were destroyed by the commons; and so after terrible excesses
+the party strife came to an end, at least as far as the period of this
+war is concerned, for of one party there was practically nothing left.
+Meanwhile the Athenians sailed off to Sicily, their primary
+destination, and carried on the war with their allies there.
+
+At the close of the summer, the Athenians at Naupactus and the
+Acarnanians made an expedition against Anactorium, the Corinthian town
+lying at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, and took it by treachery;
+and the Acarnanians themselves, sending settlers from all parts of
+Acarnania, occupied the place.
+
+Summer was now over.  During the winter ensuing, Aristides, son of
+Archippus, one of the commanders of the Athenian ships sent to collect
+money from the allies, arrested at Eion, on the Strymon,
+Artaphernes, a Persian, on his way from the King to Lacedaemon.  He was
+conducted to Athens, where the Athenians got his dispatches translated
+from the Assyrian character and read them.  With numerous references to
+other subjects, they in substance told the Lacedaemonians that the
+King did not know what they wanted, as of the many ambassadors they
+had sent him no two ever told the same story; if however they were
+prepared to speak plainly they might send him some envoys with this
+Persian.  The Athenians afterwards sent back Artaphernes in a galley to
+Ephesus, and ambassadors with him, who heard there of the death of
+King Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes, which took place about that time,
+and so returned home.
+
+The same winter the Chians pulled down their new wall at the command
+of the Athenians, who suspected them of meditating an insurrection,
+after first however obtaining pledges from the Athenians, and security
+as far as this was possible for their continuing to treat them as
+before.  Thus the winter ended, and with it ended the seventh year of
+this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+In first days of the next summer there was an eclipse of the sun
+at the time of new moon, and in the early part of the same month an
+earthquake.  Meanwhile, the Mitylenian and other Lesbian exiles set
+out, for the most part from the continent, with mercenaries hired in
+Peloponnese, and others levied on the spot, and took Rhoeteum, but
+restored it without injury on the receipt of two thousand Phocaean
+staters.  After this they marched against Antandrus and took the town
+by treachery, their plan being to free Antandrus and the rest of the
+Actaean towns, formerly owned by Mitylene but now held by the
+Athenians.  Once fortified there, they would have every facility for
+ship-building from the vicinity of Ida and the consequent abundance of
+timber, and plenty of other supplies, and might from this base
+easily ravage Lesbos, which was not far off, and make themselves
+masters of the Aeolian towns on the continent.
+
+While these were the schemes of the exiles, the Athenians in the
+same summer made an expedition with sixty ships, two thousand heavy
+infantry, a few cavalry, and some allied troops from Miletus and other
+parts, against Cythera, under the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus,
+Nicostratus, son of Diotrephes, and Autocles, son of Tolmaeus.  Cythera
+is an island lying off Laconia, opposite Malea; the inhabitants are
+Lacedaemonians of the class of the Perioeci; and an officer called the
+judge of Cythera went over to the place annually from Sparta.  A
+garrison of heavy infantry was also regularly sent there, and great
+attention paid to the island, as it was the landing-place for the
+merchantmen from Egypt and Libya, and at the same time secured Laconia
+from the attacks of privateers from the sea, at the only point where
+it is assailable, as the whole coast rises abruptly towards the
+Sicilian and Cretan seas.
+
+Coming to land here with their armament, the Athenians with ten
+ships and two thousand Milesian heavy infantry took the town of
+Scandea, on the sea; and with the rest of their forces landing on
+the side of the island looking towards Malea, went against the lower
+town of Cythera, where they found all the inhabitants encamped.  A
+battle ensuing, the Cytherians held their ground for some little
+while, and then turned and fled into the upper town, where they soon
+afterwards capitulated to Nicias and his colleagues, agreeing to leave
+their fate to the decision of the Athenians, their lives only being
+safe.  A correspondence had previously been going on between Nicias and
+certain of the inhabitants, which caused the surrender to be
+effected more speedily, and upon terms more advantageous, present
+and future, for the Cytherians; who would otherwise have been expelled
+by the Athenians on account of their being Lacedaemonians and their
+island being so near to Laconia.  After the capitulation, the Athenians
+occupied the town of Scandea near the harbour, and appointing a
+garrison for Cythera, sailed to Asine, Helus, and most of the places
+on the sea, and making descents and passing the night on shore at such
+spots as were convenient, continued ravaging the country for about
+seven days.
+
+The Lacedaemonians seeing the Athenians masters of Cythera, and
+expecting descents of the kind upon their coasts, nowhere opposed them
+in force, but sent garrisons here and there through the country,
+consisting of as many heavy infantry as the points menaced seemed to
+require, and generally stood very much upon the defensive.  After the
+severe and unexpected blow that had befallen them in the island, the
+occupation of Pylos and Cythera, and the apparition on every side of a
+war whose rapidity defied precaution, they lived in constant fear of
+internal revolution, and now took the unusual step of raising four
+hundred horse and a force of archers, and became more timid than
+ever in military matters, finding themselves involved in a maritime
+struggle, which their organization had never contemplated, and that
+against Athenians, with whom an enterprise unattempted was always
+looked upon as a success sacrificed.  Besides this, their late numerous
+reverses of fortune, coming close one upon another without any reason,
+had thoroughly unnerved them, and they were always afraid of a
+second disaster like that on the island, and thus scarcely dared to
+take the field, but fancied that they could not stir without a
+blunder, for being new to the experience of adversity they had lost
+all confidence in themselves.
+
+Accordingly they now allowed the Athenians to ravage their seaboard,
+without making any movement, the garrisons in whose neighbourhood
+the descents were made always thinking their numbers insufficient, and
+sharing the general feeling.  A single garrison which ventured to
+resist, near Cotyrta and Aphrodisia, struck terror by its charge
+into the scattered mob of light troops, but retreated, upon being
+received by the heavy infantry, with the loss of a few men and some
+arms, for which the Athenians set up a trophy, and then sailed off
+to Cythera.  From thence they sailed round to Epidaurus Limera, ravaged
+part of the country, and so came to Thyrea in the Cynurian
+territory, upon the Argive and Laconian border.  This district had been
+given by its Lacedaemonian owners to the expelled Aeginetans to
+inhabit, in return for their good offices at the time of the
+earthquake and the rising of the Helots; and also because, although
+subjects of Athens, they had always sided with Lacedaemon.
+
+While the Athenians were still at sea, the Aeginetans evacuated a
+fort which they were building upon the coast, and retreated into the
+upper town where they lived, rather more than a mile from the sea.  One
+of the Lacedaemonian district garrisons which was helping them in
+the work, refused to enter here with them at their entreaty,
+thinking it dangerous to shut themselves up within the wall, and
+retiring to the high ground remained quiet, not considering themselves
+a match for the enemy.  Meanwhile the Athenians landed, and instantly
+advanced with all their forces and took Thyrea.  The town they burnt,
+pillaging what was in it; the Aeginetans who were not slain in
+action they took with them to Athens, with Tantalus, son of Patrocles,
+their Lacedaemonian commander, who had been wounded and taken
+prisoner.  They also took with them a few men from Cythera whom they
+thought it safest to remove.  These the Athenians determined to lodge
+in the islands: the rest of the Cytherians were to retain their
+lands and pay four talents tribute; the Aeginetans captured to be
+all put to death, on account of the old inveterate feud; and
+Tantalus to share the imprisonment of the Lacedaemonians taken on
+the island.
+
+The same summer, the inhabitants of Camarina and Gela in Sicily
+first made an armistice with each other, after which embassies from
+all the other Sicilian cities assembled at Gela to try to bring
+about a pacification.  After many expressions of opinion on one side
+and the other, according to the griefs and pretensions of the
+different parties complaining, Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a
+Syracusan, the most influential man among them, addressed the
+following words to the assembly:
+
+"If I now address you, Sicilians, it is not because my city is the
+least in Sicily or the greatest sufferer by the war, but in order to
+state publicly what appears to me to be the best policy for the
+whole island.  That war is an evil is a proposition so familiar to
+every one that it would be tedious to develop it.  No one is forced
+to engage in it by ignorance, or kept out of it by fear, if he fancies
+there is anything to be gained by it.  To the former the gain appears
+greater than the danger, while the latter would rather stand the
+risk than put up with any immediate sacrifice.  But if both should
+happen to have chosen the wrong moment for acting in this way,
+advice to make peace would not be unserviceable; and this, if we did
+but see it, is just what we stand most in need of at the present
+juncture.
+
+"I suppose that no one will dispute that we went to war at first
+in order to serve our own several interests, that we are now, in
+view of the same interests, debating how we can make peace; and that
+if we separate without having as we think our rights, we shall go to
+war again.  And yet, as men of sense, we ought to see that our separate
+interests are not alone at stake in the present congress: there is
+also the question whether we have still time to save Sicily, the whole
+of which in my opinion is menaced by Athenian ambition; and we ought
+to find in the name of that people more imperious arguments for
+peace than any which I can advance, when we see the first power in
+Hellas watching our mistakes with the few ships that she has at
+present in our waters, and under the fair name of alliance
+speciously seeking to turn to account the natural hostility that
+exists between us.  If we go to war, and call in to help us a people
+that are ready enough to carry their arms even where they are not
+invited; and if we injure ourselves at our own expense, and at the
+same time serve as the pioneers of their dominion, we may expect, when
+they see us worn out, that they will one day come with a larger
+armament, and seek to bring all of us into subjection.
+
+"And yet as sensible men, if we call in allies and court danger,
+it should be in order to enrich our different countries with new
+acquisitions, and not to ruin what they possess already; and we should
+understand that the intestine discords which are so fatal to
+communities generally, will be equally so to Sicily, if we, its
+inhabitants, absorbed in our local quarrels, neglect the common enemy.
+These considerations should reconcile individual with individual,
+and city with city, and unite us in a common effort to save the
+whole of Sicily.  Nor should any one imagine that the Dorians only
+are enemies of Athens, while the Chalcidian race is secured by its
+Ionian blood; the attack in question is not inspired by hatred of
+one of two nationalities, but by a desire for the good things in
+Sicily, the common property of us all.  This is proved by the
+Athenian reception of the Chalcidian invitation: an ally who has never
+given them any assistance whatever, at once receives from them
+almost more than the treaty entitles him to.  That the Athenians should
+cherish this ambition and practise this policy is very excusable;
+and I do not blame those who wish to rule, but those who are
+over-ready to serve.  It is just as much in men's nature to rule
+those who submit to them, as it is to resist those who molest them;
+one is not less invariable than the other.  Meanwhile all who see these
+dangers and refuse to provide for them properly, or who have come here
+without having made up their minds that our first duty is to unite
+to get rid of the common peril, are mistaken.  The quickest way to be
+rid of it is to make peace with each other; since the Athenians menace
+us not from their own country, but from that of those who invited them
+here.  In this way instead of war issuing in war, peace quietly ends
+our quarrels; and the guests who come hither under fair pretences
+for bad ends, will have good reason for going away without having
+attained them.
+
+"So far as regards the Athenians, such are the great advantages
+proved inherent in a wise policy.  Independently of this, in the face
+of the universal consent, that peace is the first of blessings, how
+can we refuse to make it amongst ourselves; or do you not think that
+the good which you have, and the ills that you complain of, would be
+better preserved and cured by quiet than by war; that peace has its
+honours and splendours of a less perilous kind, not to mention the
+numerous other blessings that one might dilate on, with the not less
+numerous miseries of war? These considerations should teach you not to
+disregard my words, but rather to look in them every one for his own
+safety.  If there be any here who feels certain either by right or
+might to effect his object, let not this surprise be to him too severe
+a disappointment.  Let him remember that many before now have tried
+to chastise a wrongdoer, and failing to punish their enemy have not
+even saved themselves; while many who have trusted in force to gain an
+advantage, instead of gaining anything more, have been doomed to
+lose what they had.  Vengeance is not necessarily successful because
+wrong has been done, or strength sure because it is confident; but the
+incalculable element in the future exercises the widest influence, and
+is the most treacherous, and yet in fact the most useful of all
+things, as it frightens us all equally, and thus makes us consider
+before attacking each other.
+
+"Let us therefore now allow the undefined fear of this unknown
+future, and the immediate terror of the Athenians' presence, to
+produce their natural impression, and let us consider any failure to
+carry out the programmes that we may each have sketched out for
+ourselves as sufficiently accounted for by these obstacles, and send
+away the intruder from the country; and if everlasting peace be
+impossible between us, let us at all events make a treaty for as
+long a term as possible, and put off our private differences to
+another day.  In fine, let us recognize that the adoption of my
+advice will leave us each citizens of a free state, and as such
+arbiters of our own destiny, able to return good or bad offices with
+equal effect; while its rejection will make us dependent on others,
+and thus not only impotent to repel an insult, but on the most
+favourable supposition, friends to our direst enemies, and at feud
+with our natural friends.
+
+"For myself, though, as I said at first, the representative of a
+great city, and able to think less of defending myself than of
+attacking others, I am prepared to concede something in prevision of
+these dangers.  I am not inclined to ruin myself for the sake of
+hurting my enemies, or so blinded by animosity as to think myself
+equally master of my own plans and of fortune which I cannot
+command; but I am ready to give up anything in reason.  I call upon the
+rest of you to imitate my conduct of your own free will, without being
+forced to do so by the enemy.  There is no disgrace in connections
+giving way to one another, a Dorian to a Dorian, or a Chalcidian to
+his brethren; above and beyond this we are neighbours, live in the
+same country, are girt by the same sea, and go by the same name of
+Sicilians.  We shall go to war again, I suppose, when the time comes,
+and again make peace among ourselves by means of future congresses;
+but the foreign invader, if we are wise, will always find us united
+against him, since the hurt of one is the danger of all; and we
+shall never, in future, invite into the island either allies or
+mediators.  By so acting we shall at the present moment do for Sicily a
+double service, ridding her at once of the Athenians, and of civil
+war, and in future shall live in freedom at home, and be less
+menaced from abroad."
+
+Such were the words of Hermocrates.  The Sicilians took his advice,
+and came to an understanding among themselves to end the war, each
+keeping what they had--the Camarinaeans taking Morgantina at a price
+fixed to be paid to the Syracusans--and the allies of the Athenians
+called the officers in command, and told them that they were going
+to make peace and that they would be included in the treaty.  The
+generals assenting, the peace was concluded, and the Athenian fleet
+afterwards sailed away from Sicily.  Upon their arrival at Athens,
+the Athenians banished Pythodorus and Sophocles, and fined Eurymedon
+for having taken bribes to depart when they might have subdued Sicily.
+So thoroughly had the present prosperity persuaded the citizens that
+nothing could withstand them, and that they could achieve what was
+possible and impracticable alike, with means ample or inadequate it
+mattered not.  The secret of this was their general extraordinary
+success, which made them confuse their strength with their hopes.
+
+The same summer the Megarians in the city, pressed by the
+hostilities of the Athenians, who invaded their country twice every
+year with all their forces, and harassed by the incursions of their
+own exiles at Pegae, who had been expelled in a revolution by the
+popular party, began to ask each other whether it would not be
+better to receive back their exiles, and free the town from one of its
+two scourges.  The friends of the emigrants, perceiving the
+agitation, now more openly than before demanded the adoption of this
+proposition; and the leaders of the commons, seeing that the
+sufferings of the times had tired out the constancy of their
+supporters, entered in their alarm into correspondence with the
+Athenian generals, Hippocrates, son of Ariphron, and Demosthenes,
+son of Alcisthenes, and resolved to betray the town, thinking this
+less dangerous to themselves than the return of the party which they
+had banished.  It was accordingly arranged that the Athenians should
+first take the long walls extending for nearly a mile from the city to
+the port of Nisaea, to prevent the Peloponnesians coming to the rescue
+from that place, where they formed the sole garrison to secure the
+fidelity of Megara; and that after this the attempt should be made
+to put into their hands the upper town, which it was thought would
+then come over with less difficulty.
+
+The Athenians, after plans had been arranged between themselves
+and their correspondents both as to words and actions, sailed by night
+to Minoa, the island off Megara, with six hundred heavy infantry under
+the command of Hippocrates, and took post in a quarry not far off, out
+of which bricks used to be taken for the walls; while Demosthenes, the
+other commander, with a detachment of Plataean light troops and
+another of Peripoli, placed himself in ambush in the precinct of
+Enyalius, which was still nearer.  No one knew of it, except those
+whose business it was to know that night.  A little before daybreak,
+the traitors in Megara began to act.  Every night for a long time back,
+under pretence of marauding, in order to have a means of opening the
+gates, they had been used, with the consent of the officer in command,
+to carry by night a sculling boat upon a cart along the ditch to the
+sea, and so to sail out, bringing it back again before day upon the
+cart, and taking it within the wall through the gates, in order, as
+they pretended, to baffle the Athenian blockade at Minoa, there
+being no boat to be seen in the harbour.  On the present occasion the
+cart was already at the gates, which had been opened in the usual
+way for the boat, when the Athenians, with whom this had been
+concerted, saw it, and ran at the top of their speed from the ambush
+in order to reach the gates before they were shut again, and while the
+cart was still there to prevent their being closed; their Megarian
+accomplices at the same moment killing the guard at the gates.  The
+first to run in was Demosthenes with his Plataeans and Peripoli,
+just where the trophy now stands; and he was no sooner within the
+gates than the Plataeans engaged and defeated the nearest party of
+Peloponnesians who had taken the alarm and come to the rescue, and
+secured the gates for the approaching Athenian heavy infantry.
+
+After this, each of the Athenians as fast as they entered went
+against the wall.  A few of the Peloponnesian garrison stood their
+ground at first, and tried to repel the assault, and some of them were
+killed; but the main body took fright and fled; the night attack and
+the sight of the Megarian traitors in arms against them making them
+think that all Megara had gone over to the enemy.  It so happened
+also that the Athenian herald of his own idea called out and invited
+any of the Megarians that wished, to join the Athenian ranks; and this
+was no sooner heard by the garrison than they gave way, and, convinced
+that they were the victims of a concerted attack, took refuge in
+Nisaea.  By daybreak, the walls being now taken and the Megarians in
+the city in great agitation, the persons who had negotiated with the
+Athenians, supported by the rest of the popular party which was
+privy to the plot, said that they ought to open the gates and march
+out to battle.  It had been concerted between them that the Athenians
+should rush in, the moment that the gates were opened, while the
+conspirators were to be distinguished from the rest by being
+anointed with oil, and so to avoid being hurt.  They could open the
+gates with more security, as four thousand Athenian heavy infantry
+from Eleusis, and six hundred horse, had marched all night, according
+to agreement, and were now close at hand.  The conspirators were all
+ready anointed and at their posts by the gates, when one of their
+accomplices denounced the plot to the opposite party, who gathered
+together and came in a body, and roundly said that they must not march
+out--a thing they had never yet ventured on even when in greater force
+than at present--or wantonly compromise the safety of the town, and
+that if what they said was not attended to, the battle would have to
+be fought in Megara.  For the rest, they gave no signs of their
+knowledge of the intrigue, but stoutly maintained that their advice
+was the best, and meanwhile kept close by and watched the gates,
+making it impossible for the conspirators to effect their purpose.
+
+The Athenian generals seeing that some obstacle had arisen, and that
+the capture of the town by force was no longer practicable, at once
+proceeded to invest Nisaea, thinking that, if they could take it
+before relief arrived, the surrender of Megara would soon follow.
+Iron, stone-masons, and everything else required quickly coming up
+from Athens, the Athenians started from the wall which they
+occupied, and from this point built a cross wall looking towards
+Megara down to the sea on either side of Nisaea; the ditch and the
+walls being divided among the army, stones and bricks taken from the
+suburb, and the fruit-trees and timber cut down to make a palisade
+wherever this seemed necessary; the houses also in the suburb with the
+addition of battlements sometimes entering into the fortification.  The
+whole of this day the work continued, and by the afternoon of the next
+the wall was all but completed, when the garrison in Nisaea, alarmed
+by the absolute want of provisions, which they used to take in for the
+day from the upper town, not anticipating any speedy relief from the
+Peloponnesians, and supposing Megara to be hostile, capitulated to the
+Athenians on condition that they should give up their arms, and should
+each be ransomed for a stipulated sum; their Lacedaemonian
+commander, and any others of his countrymen in the place, being left
+to the discretion of the Athenians.  On these conditions they
+surrendered and came out, and the Athenians broke down the long
+walls at their point of junction with Megara, took possession of
+Nisaea, and went on with their other preparations.
+
+Just at this time the Lacedaemonian Brasidas, son of Tellis,
+happened to be in the neighbourhood of Sicyon and Corinth, getting
+ready an army for Thrace.  As soon as he heard of the capture of the
+walls, fearing for the Peloponnesians in Nisaea and the safety of
+Megara, he sent to the Boeotians to meet him as quickly as possible at
+Tripodiscus, a village so called of the Megarid, under Mount Geraneia,
+and went himself, with two thousand seven hundred Corinthian heavy
+infantry, four hundred Phliasians, six hundred Sicyonians, and such
+troops of his own as he had already levied, expecting to find Nisaea
+not yet taken.  Hearing of its fall (he had marched out by night to
+Tripodiscus), he took three hundred picked men from the army,
+without waiting till his coming should be known, and came up to Megara
+unobserved by the Athenians, who were down by the sea, ostensibly, and
+really if possible, to attempt Nisaea, but above all to get into
+Megara and secure the town.  He accordingly invited the townspeople
+to admit his party, saying that he had hopes of recovering Nisaea.
+
+However, one of the Megarian factions feared that he might expel
+them and restore the exiles; the other that the commons,
+apprehensive of this very danger, might set upon them, and the city be
+thus destroyed by a battle within its gates under the eyes of the
+ambushed Athenians.  He was accordingly refused admittance, both
+parties electing to remain quiet and await the event; each expecting a
+battle between the Athenians and the relieving army, and thinking it
+safer to see their friends victorious before declaring in their
+favour.
+
+Unable to carry his point, Brasidas went back to the rest of the
+army.  At daybreak the Boeotians joined him.  Having determined to
+relieve Megara, whose danger they considered their own, even before
+hearing from Brasidas, they were already in full force at Plataea,
+when his messenger arrived to add spurs to their resolution; and
+they at once sent on to him two thousand two hundred heavy infantry,
+and six hundred horse, returning home with the main body.  The whole
+army thus assembled numbered six thousand heavy infantry.  The Athenian
+heavy infantry were drawn up by Nisaea and the sea; but the light
+troops being scattered over the plain were attacked by the Boeotian
+horse and driven to the sea, being taken entirely by surprise, as on
+previous occasions no relief had ever come to the Megarians from any
+quarter.  Here the Boeotians were in their turn charged and engaged
+by the Athenian horse, and a cavalry action ensued which lasted a long
+time, and in which both parties claimed the victory.  The Athenians
+killed and stripped the leader of the Boeotian horse and some few of
+his comrades who had charged right up to Nisaea, and remaining masters
+of the bodies gave them back under truce, and set up a trophy; but
+regarding the action as a whole the forces separated without either
+side having gained a decisive advantage, the Boeotians returning to
+their army and the Athenians to Nisaea.
+
+After this Brasidas and the army came nearer to the sea and to
+Megara, and taking up a convenient position, remained quiet in order
+of battle, expecting to be attacked by the Athenians and knowing
+that the Megarians were waiting to see which would be the victor.  This
+attitude seemed to present two advantages.  Without taking the
+offensive or willingly provoking the hazards of a battle, they
+openly showed their readiness to fight, and thus without bearing the
+burden of the day would fairly reap its honours; while at the same
+time they effectually served their interests at Megara.  For if they
+had failed to show themselves they would not have had a chance, but
+would have certainly been considered vanquished, and have lost the
+town.  As it was, the Athenians might possibly not be inclined to
+accept their challenge, and their object would be attained without
+fighting.  And so it turned out.  The Athenians formed outside the
+long walls and, the enemy not attacking, there remained motionless;
+their generals having decided that the risk was too unequal.  In fact
+most of their objects had been already attained; and they would have
+to begin a battle against superior numbers, and if victorious could
+only gain Megara, while a defeat would destroy the flower of their
+heavy soldiery.  For the enemy it was different; as even the states
+actually represented in his army risked each only a part of its entire
+force, he might well be more audacious.  Accordingly, after waiting for
+some time without either side attacking, the Athenians withdrew to
+Nisaea, and the Peloponnesians after them to the point from which they
+had set out.  The friends of the Megarian exiles now threw aside
+their hesitation, and opened the gates to Brasidas and the
+commanders from the different states--looking upon him as the victor
+and upon the Athenians as having declined the battle--and receiving
+them into the town proceeded to discuss matters with them; the party
+in correspondence with the Athenians being paralysed by the turn
+things had taken.
+
+Afterwards Brasidas let the allies go home, and himself went back to
+Corinth, to prepare for his expedition to Thrace, his original
+destination.  The Athenians also returning home, the Megarians in the
+city most implicated in the Athenian negotiation, knowing that they
+had been detected, presently disappeared; while the rest conferred
+with the friends of the exiles, and restored the party at Pegae, after
+binding them under solemn oaths to take no vengeance for the past, and
+only to consult the real interests of the town.  However, as soon as
+they were in office, they held a review of the heavy infantry, and
+separating the battalions, picked out about a hundred of their
+enemies, and of those who were thought to be most involved in the
+correspondence with the Athenians, brought them before the people, and
+compelling the vote to be given openly, had them condemned and
+executed, and established a close oligarchy in the town--a revolution
+which lasted a very long while, although effected by a very few
+partisans.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+_Eighth and Ninth Years of the War - Invasion of Boeotia -
+Fall of Amphipolis - Brilliant Successes of Brasidas_
+
+The same summer the Mitylenians were about to fortify Antandrus,
+as they had intended, when Demodocus and Aristides, the commanders
+of the Athenian squadron engaged in levying subsidies, heard on the
+Hellespont of what was being done to the place (Lamachus their
+colleague having sailed with ten ships into the Pontus) and
+conceived fears of its becoming a second Anaia-the place in which
+the Samian exiles had established themselves to annoy Samos, helping
+the Peloponnesians by sending pilots to their navy, and keeping the
+city in agitation and receiving all its outlaws.  They accordingly
+got together a force from the allies and set sail, defeated in
+battle the troops that met them from Antandrus, and retook the
+place.  Not long after, Lamachus, who had sailed into the Pontus,
+lost his ships at anchor in the river Calex, in the territory of
+Heraclea, rain having fallen in the interior and the flood coming
+suddenly down upon them; and himself and his troops passed by land
+through the Bithynian Thracians on the Asiatic side, and arrived at
+Chalcedon, the Megarian colony at the mouth of the Pontus.
+
+The same summer the Athenian general, Demosthenes, arrived at
+Naupactus with forty ships immediately after the return from the
+Megarid.  Hippocrates and himself had had overtures made to them by
+certain men in the cities in Boeotia, who wished to change the
+constitution and introduce a democracy as at Athens; Ptoeodorus, a
+Theban exile, being the chief mover in this intrigue.  The seaport
+town of Siphae, in the bay of Crisae, in the Thespian territory, was
+to be betrayed to them by one party; Chaeronea (a dependency of what
+was formerly called the Minyan, now the Boeotian, Orchomenus) to be
+put into their hands by another from that town, whose exiles were
+very active in the business, hiring men in Peloponnese.  Some Phocians
+also were in the plot, Chaeronea being the frontier town of Boeotia
+and close to Phanotis in Phocia.  Meanwhile the Athenians were to
+seize Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo, in the territory of Tanagra
+looking towards Euboea; and all these events were to take place
+simultaneously upon a day appointed, in order that the Boeotians
+might be unable to unite to oppose them at Delium, being everywhere
+detained by disturbances at home.  Should the enterprise succeed, and
+Delium be fortified, its authors confidently expected that even if no
+revolution should immediately follow in Boeotia, yet with these
+places in their hands, and the country being harassed by incursions,
+and a refuge in each instance near for the partisans engaged in them,
+things would not remain as they were, but that the rebels being
+supported by the Athenians and the forces of the oligarchs divided,
+it would be possible after a while to settle matters according to
+their wishes.
+
+Such was the plot in contemplation.  Hippocrates with a force
+raised at home awaited the proper moment to take the field against the
+Boeotians; while he sent on Demosthenes with the forty ships above
+mentioned to Naupactus, to raise in those parts an army of Acarnanians
+and of the other allies, and sail and receive Siphae from the
+conspirators; a day having been agreed on for the simultaneous
+execution of both these operations.  Demosthenes on his arrival found
+Oeniadae already compelled by the united Acarnanians to join the
+Athenian confederacy, and himself raising all the allies in those
+countries marched against and subdued Salynthius and the Agraeans;
+after which he devoted himself to the preparations necessary to enable
+him to be at Siphae by the time appointed.
+
+About the same time in the summer, Brasidas set out on his march for
+the Thracian places with seventeen hundred heavy infantry, and
+arriving at Heraclea in Trachis, from thence sent on a messenger to
+his friends at Pharsalus, to ask them to conduct himself and his
+army through the country.  Accordingly there came to Melitia in
+Achaia Panaerus, Dorus, Hippolochidas, Torylaus, and Strophacus, the
+Chalcidian proxenus, under whose escort he resumed his march, being
+accompanied also by other Thessalians, among whom was Niconidas from
+Larissa, a friend of Perdiccas.  It was never very easy to traverse
+Thessaly without an escort; and throughout all Hellas for an armed
+force to pass without leave through a neighbour's country was a
+delicate step to take.  Besides this the Thessalian people had always
+sympathized with the Athenians.  Indeed if instead of the customary
+close oligarchy there had been a constitutional government in
+Thessaly, he would never have been able to proceed; since even as it
+was, he was met on his march at the river Enipeus by certain of the
+opposite party who forbade his further progress, and complained of his
+making the attempt without the consent of the nation.  To this his
+escort answered that they had no intention of taking him through
+against their will; they were only friends in attendance on an
+unexpected visitor.  Brasidas himself added that he came as a friend to
+Thessaly and its inhabitants, his arms not being directed against them
+but against the Athenians, with whom he was at war, and that although
+he knew of no quarrel between the Thessalians and Lacedaemonians to
+prevent the two nations having access to each other's territory, he
+neither would nor could proceed against their wishes; he could only
+beg them not to stop him.  With this answer they went away, and he took
+the advice of his escort, and pushed on without halting, before a
+greater force might gather to prevent him.  Thus in the day that he set
+out from Melitia he performed the whole distance to Pharsalus, and
+encamped on the river Apidanus; and so to Phacium and from thence to
+Perrhaebia.  Here his Thessalian escort went back, and the
+Perrhaebians, who are subjects of Thessaly, set him down at Dium in
+the dominions of Perdiccas, a Macedonian town under Mount Olympus,
+looking towards Thessaly.
+
+In this way Brasidas hurried through Thessaly before any one could
+be got ready to stop him, and reached Perdiccas and Chalcidice.  The
+departure of the army from Peloponnese had been procured by the
+Thracian towns in revolt against Athens and by Perdiccas, alarmed at
+the successes of the Athenians.  The Chalcidians thought that they
+would be the first objects of an Athenian expedition, not that the
+neighbouring towns which had not yet revolted did not also secretly
+join in the invitation; and Perdiccas also had his apprehensions on
+account of his old quarrels with the Athenians, although not openly at
+war with them, and above all wished to reduce Arrhabaeus, king of
+the Lyncestians.  It had been less difficult for them to get an army to
+leave Peloponnese, because of the ill fortune of the Lacedaemonians at
+the present moment.  The attacks of the Athenians upon Peloponnese, and
+in particular upon Laconia, might, it was hoped, be diverted most
+effectually by annoying them in return, and by sending an army to
+their allies, especially as they were willing to maintain it and asked
+for it to aid them in revolting.  The Lacedaemonians were also glad
+to have an excuse for sending some of the Helots out of the country,
+for fear that the present aspect of affairs and the occupation of
+Pylos might encourage them to move.  Indeed fear of their numbers and
+obstinacy even persuaded the Lacedaemonians to the action which I
+shall now relate, their policy at all times having been governed by
+the necessity of taking precautions against them.  The Helots were
+invited by a proclamation to pick out those of their number who
+claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in
+order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to
+test them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom
+would be the most high-spirited and the most apt to rebel.  As many
+as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves
+and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom.  The
+Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one ever
+knew how each of them perished.  The Spartans now therefore gladly sent
+seven hundred as heavy infantry with Brasidas, who recruited the
+rest of his force by means of money in Peloponnese.
+
+Brasidas himself was sent out by the Lacedaemonians mainly at his
+own desire, although the Chalcidians also were eager to have a man
+so thorough as he had shown himself whenever there was anything to
+be done at Sparta, and whose after-service abroad proved of the utmost
+use to his country.  At the present moment his just and moderate
+conduct towards the towns generally succeeded in procuring their
+revolt, besides the places which he managed to take by treachery;
+and thus when the Lacedaemonians desired to treat, as they
+ultimately did, they had places to offer in exchange, and the burden
+of war meanwhile shifted from Peloponnese.  Later on in the war,
+after the events in Sicily, the present valour and conduct of
+Brasidas, known by experience to some, by hearsay to others, was
+what mainly created in the allies of Athens a feeling for the
+Lacedaemonians.  He was the first who went out and showed himself so
+good a man at all points as to leave behind him the conviction that
+the rest were like him.
+
+Meanwhile his arrival in the Thracian country no sooner became known
+to the Athenians than they declared war against Perdiccas, whom they
+regarded as the author of the expedition, and kept a closer watch on
+their allies in that quarter.
+
+Upon the arrival of Brasidas and his army, Perdiccas immediately
+started with them and with his own forces against Arrhabaeus, son of
+Bromerus, king of the Lyncestian Macedonians, his neighbour, with whom
+he had a quarrel and whom he wished to subdue.  However, when he
+arrived with his army and Brasidas at the pass leading into Lyncus,
+Brasidas told him that before commencing hostilities he wished to go
+and try to persuade Arrhabaeus to become the ally of Lacedaemon,
+this latter having already made overtures intimating his willingness
+to make Brasidas arbitrator between them, and the Chalcidian envoys
+accompanying him having warned him not to remove the apprehensions
+of Perdiccas, in order to ensure his greater zeal in their cause.
+Besides, the envoys of Perdiccas had talked at Lacedaemon about his
+bringing many of the places round him into alliance with them; and
+thus Brasidas thought he might take a larger view of the question of
+Arrhabaeus.  Perdiccas however retorted that he had not brought him
+with him to arbitrate in their quarrel, but to put down the enemies
+whom he might point out to him; and that while he, Perdiccas,
+maintained half his army it was a breach of faith for Brasidas to
+parley with Arrhabaeus.  Nevertheless Brasidas disregarded the wishes
+of Perdiccas and held the parley in spite of him, and suffered himself
+to be persuaded to lead off the army without invading the country of
+Arrhabaeus; after which Perdiccas, holding that faith had not been
+kept with him, contributed only a third instead of half of the support
+of the army.
+
+The same summer, without loss of time, Brasidas marched with the
+Chalcidians against Acanthus, a colony of the Andrians, a little
+before vintage.  The inhabitants were divided into two parties on the
+question of receiving him; those who had joined the Chalcidians in
+inviting him, and the popular party.  However, fear for their fruit,
+which was still out, enabled Brasidas to persuade the multitude to
+admit him alone, and to hear what he had to say before making a
+decision; and he was admitted accordingly and appeared before the
+people, and not being a bad speaker for a Lacedaemonian, addressed
+them as follows:
+
+"Acanthians, the Lacedaemonians have sent out me and my army to make
+good the reason that we gave for the war when we began it, viz.,
+that we were going to war with the Athenians in order to free
+Hellas.  Our delay in coming has been caused by mistaken expectations
+as to the war at home, which led us to hope, by our own unassisted
+efforts and without your risking anything, to effect the speedy
+downfall of the Athenians; and you must not blame us for this, as we
+are now come the moment that we were able, prepared with your aid to
+do our best to subdue them.  Meanwhile I am astonished at finding
+your gates shut against me, and at not meeting with a better
+welcome.  We Lacedaemonians thought of you as allies eager to have
+us, to whom we should come in spirit even before we were with you in
+body; and in this expectation undertook all the risks of a march of
+many days through a strange country, so far did our zeal carry us.
+It will be a terrible thing if after this you have other intentions,
+and mean to stand in the way of your own and Hellenic freedom.  It is
+not merely that you oppose me yourselves; but wherever I may go people
+will be less inclined to join me, on the score that you, to whom I
+first came--an important town like Acanthus, and prudent men like the
+Acanthians--refused to admit me.  I shall have nothing to prove that
+the reason which I advance is the true one; it will be said either
+that there is something unfair in the freedom which I offer, or that
+I am in insufficient force and unable to protect you against an
+attack from Athens.  Yet when I went with the army which I now have to
+the relief of Nisaea, the Athenians did not venture to engage me
+although in greater force than I; and it is not likely they will
+ever send across sea against you an army as numerous as they had at
+Nisaea.  And for myself, I have come here not to hurt but to free the
+Hellenes, witness the solemn oaths by which I have bound my government
+that the allies that I may bring over shall be independent; and
+besides my object in coming is not by force or fraud to obtain your
+alliance, but to offer you mine to help you against your Athenian
+masters.  I protest, therefore, against any suspicions of my intentions
+after the guarantees which I offer, and equally so against doubts of
+my ability to protect you, and I invite you to join me without
+hesitation.
+
+"Some of you may hang back because they have private enemies, and
+fear that I may put the city into the hands of a party: none need be
+more tranquil than they.  I am not come here to help this party or
+that; and I do not consider that I should be bringing you freedom in
+any real sense, if I should disregard your constitution, and enslave
+the many to the few or the few to the many.  This would be heavier than
+a foreign yoke; and we Lacedaemonians, instead of being thanked for
+our pains, should get neither honour nor glory, but, contrariwise,
+reproaches.  The charges which strengthen our hands in the war
+against the Athenians would on our own showing be merited by
+ourselves, and more hateful in us than in those who make no
+pretensions to honesty; as it is more disgraceful for persons of
+character to take what they covet by fair-seeming fraud than by open
+force; the one aggression having for its justification the might which
+fortune gives, the other being simply a piece of clever roguery.  A
+matter which concerns us thus nearly we naturally look to most
+jealously; and over and above the oaths that I have mentioned, what
+stronger assurance can you have, when you see that our words, compared
+with the actual facts, produce the necessary conviction that it is our
+interest to act as we say?
+
+"If to these considerations of mine you put in the plea of
+inability, and claim that your friendly feeling should save you from
+being hurt by your refusal; if you say that freedom, in your
+opinion, is not without its dangers, and that it is right to offer
+it to those who can accept it, but not to force it on any against
+their will, then I shall take the gods and heroes of your country to
+witness that I came for your good and was rejected, and shall do my
+best to compel you by laying waste your land.  I shall do so without
+scruple, being justified by the necessity which constrains me,
+first, to prevent the Lacedaemonians from being damaged by you,
+their friends, in the event of your nonadhesion, through the moneys
+that you pay to the Athenians; and secondly, to prevent the Hellenes
+from being hindered by you in shaking off their servitude.  Otherwise
+indeed we should have no right to act as we propose; except in the
+name of some public interest, what call should we Lacedaemonians
+have to free those who do not wish it? Empire we do not aspire to:
+it is what we are labouring to put down; and we should wrong the
+greater number if we allowed you to stand in the way of the
+independence that we offer to all.  Endeavour, therefore, to decide
+wisely, and strive to begin the work of liberation for the Hellenes,
+and lay up for yourselves endless renown, while you escape private
+loss, and cover your commonwealth with glory."
+
+Such were the words of Brasidas.  The Acanthians, after much had been
+said on both sides of the question, gave their votes in secret, and
+the majority, influenced by the seductive arguments of Brasidas and by
+fear for their fruit, decided to revolt from Athens; not however
+admitting the army until they had taken his personal security for
+the oaths sworn by his government before they sent him out, assuring
+the independence of the allies whom he might bring over.  Not long
+after, Stagirus, a colony of the Andrians, followed their example
+and revolted.
+
+Such were the events of this summer.  It was in the first days of the
+winter following that the places in Boeotia were to be put into the
+hands of the Athenian generals, Hippocrates and Demosthenes, the
+latter of whom was to go with his ships to Siphae, the former to
+Delium.  A mistake, however, was made in the days on which they were
+each to start; and Demosthenes, sailing first to Siphae, with the
+Acarnanians and many of the allies from those parts on board, failed
+to effect anything, through the plot having been betrayed by
+Nicomachus, a Phocian from Phanotis, who told the Lacedaemonians,
+and they the Boeotians.  Succours accordingly flocked in from all parts
+of Boeotia, Hippocrates not being yet there to make his diversion, and
+Siphae and Chaeronea were promptly secured, and the conspirators,
+informed of the mistake, did not venture on any movement in the towns.
+
+Meanwhile Hippocrates made a levy in mass of the citizens,
+resident aliens, and foreigners in Athens, and arrived at his
+destination after the Boeotians had already come back from Siphae, and
+encamping his army began to fortify Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo,
+in the following manner.  A trench was dug all round the temple and the
+consecrated ground, and the earth thrown up from the excavation was
+made to do duty as a wall, in which stakes were also planted, the
+vines round the sanctuary being cut down and thrown in, together
+with stones and bricks pulled down from the houses near; every
+means, in short, being used to run up the rampart.  Wooden towers
+were also erected where they were wanted, and where there was no
+part of the temple buildings left standing, as on the side where the
+gallery once existing had fallen in.  The work was begun on the third
+day after leaving home, and continued during the fourth, and till
+dinnertime on the fifth, when most of it being now finished the army
+removed from Delium about a mile and a quarter on its way home.  From
+this point most of the light troops went straight on, while the
+heavy infantry halted and remained where they were; Hippocrates having
+stayed behind at Delium to arrange the posts, and to give directions
+for the completion of such part of the outworks as had been left
+unfinished.
+
+During the days thus employed the Boeotians were mustering at
+Tanagra, and by the time that they had come in from all the towns,
+found the Athenians already on their way home.  The rest of the
+eleven Boeotarchs were against giving battle, as the enemy was no
+longer in Boeotia, the Athenians being just over the Oropian border,
+when they halted; but Pagondas, son of Aeolidas, one of the Boeotarchs
+of Thebes (Arianthides, son of Lysimachidas, being the other), and
+then commander-in-chief, thought it best to hazard a battle.  He
+accordingly called the men to him, company after company, to prevent
+their all leaving their arms at once, and urged them to attack the
+Athenians, and stand the issue of a battle, speaking as follows:
+
+"Boeotians, the idea that we ought not to give battle to the
+Athenians, unless we came up with them in Boeotia, is one which should
+never have entered into the head of any of us, your generals.  It was
+to annoy Boeotia that they crossed the frontier and built a fort in
+our country; and they are therefore, I imagine, our enemies wherever
+we may come up with them, and from wheresoever they may have come to
+act as enemies do.  And if any one has taken up with the idea in
+question for reasons of safety, it is high time for him to change
+his mind.  The party attacked, whose own country is in danger, can
+scarcely discuss what is prudent with the calmness of men who are in
+full enjoyment of what they have got, and are thinking of attacking
+a neighbour in order to get more.  It is your national habit, in your
+country or out of it, to oppose the same resistance to a foreign
+invader; and when that invader is Athenian, and lives upon your
+frontier besides, it is doubly imperative to do so.  As between
+neighbours generally, freedom means simply a determination to hold
+one's own; and with neighbours like these, who are trying to enslave
+near and far alike, there is nothing for it but to fight it out to the
+last.  Look at the condition of the Euboeans and of most of the rest of
+Hellas, and be convinced that others have to fight with their
+neighbours for this frontier or that, but that for us conquest means
+one frontier for the whole country, about which no dispute can be
+made, for they will simply come and take by force what we have.  So
+much more have we to fear from this neighbour than from another.
+Besides, people who, like the Athenians in the present instance, are
+tempted by pride of strength to attack their neighbours, usually march
+most confidently against those who keep still, and only defend
+themselves in their own country, but think twice before they grapple
+with those who meet them outside their frontier and strike the first
+blow if opportunity offers.  The Athenians have shown us this
+themselves; the defeat which we inflicted upon them at Coronea, at the
+time when our quarrels had allowed them to occupy the country, has
+given great security to Boeotia until the present day.  Remembering
+this, the old must equal their ancient exploits, and the young, the
+sons of the heroes of that time, must endeavour not to disgrace
+their native valour; and trusting in the help of the god whose
+temple has been sacrilegiously fortified, and in the victims which
+in our sacrifices have proved propitious, we must march against the
+enemy, and teach him that he must go and get what he wants by
+attacking someone who will not resist him, but that men whose glory it
+is to be always ready to give battle for the liberty of their own
+country, and never unjustly to enslave that of others, will not let
+him go without a struggle."
+
+By these arguments Pagondas persuaded the Boeotians to attack the
+Athenians, and quickly breaking up his camp led his army forward, it
+being now late in the day.  On nearing the enemy, he halted in a
+position where a hill intervening prevented the two armies from seeing
+each other, and then formed and prepared for action.  Meanwhile
+Hippocrates at Delium, informed of the approach of the Boeotians, sent
+orders to his troops to throw themselves into line, and himself joined
+them not long afterwards, leaving about three hundred horse behind him
+at Delium, at once to guard the place in case of attack, and to
+watch their opportunity and fall upon the Boeotians during the battle.
+The Boeotians placed a detachment to deal with these, and when
+everything was arranged to their satisfaction appeared over the
+hill, and halted in the order which they had determined on, to the
+number of seven thousand heavy infantry, more than ten thousand
+light troops, one thousand horse, and five hundred targeteers.  On
+their right were the Thebans and those of their province, in the
+centre the Haliartians, Coronaeans, Copaeans, and the other people
+around the lake, and on the left the Thespians, Tanagraeans, and
+Orchomenians, the cavalry and the light troops being at the
+extremity of each wing.  The Thebans formed twenty-five shields deep,
+the rest as they pleased.  Such was the strength and disposition of the
+Boeotian army.
+
+On the side of the Athenians, the heavy infantry throughout the
+whole army formed eight deep, being in numbers equal to the enemy,
+with the cavalry upon the two wings.  Light troops regularly armed
+there were none in the army, nor had there ever been any at Athens.
+Those who had joined in the invasion, though many times more
+numerous than those of the enemy, had mostly followed unarmed, as part
+of the levy in mass of the citizens and foreigners at Athens, and
+having started first on their way home were not present in any number.
+The armies being now in line and upon the point of engaging,
+Hippocrates, the general, passed along the Athenian ranks, and
+encouraged them as follows:
+
+"Athenians, I shall only say a few words to you, but brave men
+require no more, and they are addressed more to your understanding
+than to your courage.  None of you must fancy that we are going out
+of our way to run this risk in the country of another.  Fought in their
+territory the battle will be for ours: if we conquer, the
+Peloponnesians will never invade your country without the Boeotian
+horse, and in one battle you will win Boeotia and in a manner free
+Attica.  Advance to meet them then like citizens of a country in
+which you all glory as the first in Hellas, and like sons of the
+fathers who beat them at Oenophyta with Myronides and thus gained
+possession of Boeotia."
+
+Hippocrates had got half through the army with his exhortation, when
+the Boeotians, after a few more hasty words from Pagondas, struck up
+the paean, and came against them from the hill; the Athenians
+advancing to meet them, and closing at a run.  The extreme wing of
+neither army came into action, one like the other being stopped by the
+water-courses in the way; the rest engaged with the utmost
+obstinacy, shield against shield.  The Boeotian left, as far as the
+centre, was worsted by the Athenians.  The Thespians in that part of
+the field suffered most severely.  The troops alongside them having
+given way, they were surrounded in a narrow space and cut down
+fighting hand to hand; some of the Athenians also fell into
+confusion in surrounding the enemy and mistook and so killed each
+other.  In this part of the field the Boeotians were beaten, and
+retreated upon the troops still fighting; but the right, where the
+Thebans were, got the better of the Athenians and shoved them
+further and further back, though gradually at first.  It so happened
+also that Pagondas, seeing the distress of his left, had sent two
+squadrons of horse, where they could not be seen, round the hill,
+and their sudden appearance struck a panic into the victorious wing of
+the Athenians, who thought that it was another army coming against
+them.  At length in both parts of the field, disturbed by this panic,
+and with their line broken by the advancing Thebans, the whole
+Athenian army took to flight.  Some made for Delium and the sea, some
+for Oropus, others for Mount Parnes, or wherever they had hopes of
+safety, pursued and cut down by the Boeotians, and in particular by
+the cavalry, composed partly of Boeotians and partly of Locrians,
+who had come up just as the rout began.  Night however coming on to
+interrupt the pursuit, the mass of the fugitives escaped more easily
+than they would otherwise have done.  The next day the troops at Oropus
+and Delium returned home by sea, after leaving a garrison in the
+latter place, which they continued to hold notwithstanding the defeat.
+
+The Boeotians set up a trophy, took up their own dead, and
+stripped those of the enemy, and leaving a guard over them retired
+to Tanagra, there to take measures for attacking Delium.  Meanwhile a
+herald came from the Athenians to ask for the dead, but was met and
+turned back by a Boeotian herald, who told him that he would effect
+nothing until the return of himself the Boeotian herald, and who
+then went on to the Athenians, and told them on the part of the
+Boeotians that they had done wrong in transgressing the law of the
+Hellenes.  Of what use was the universal custom protecting the
+temples in an invaded country, if the Athenians were to fortify Delium
+and live there, acting exactly as if they were on unconsecrated
+ground, and drawing and using for their purposes the water which they,
+the Boeotians, never touched except for sacred uses? Accordingly for
+the god as well as for themselves, in the name of the deities
+concerned, and of Apollo, the Boeotians invited them first to evacuate
+the temple, if they wished to take up the dead that belonged to them.
+
+After these words from the herald, the Athenians sent their own
+herald to the Boeotians to say that they had not done any wrong to the
+temple, and for the future would do it no more harm than they could
+help; not having occupied it originally in any such design, but to
+defend themselves from it against those who were really wronging them.
+The law of the Hellenes was that conquest of a country, whether more
+or less extensive, carried with it possession of the temples in that
+country, with the obligation to keep up the usual ceremonies, at least
+as far as possible.  The Boeotians and most other people who had turned
+out the owners of a country, and put themselves in their places by
+force, now held as of right the temples which they originally
+entered as usurpers.  If the Athenians could have conquered more of
+Boeotia this would have been the case with them: as things stood,
+the piece of it which they had got they should treat as their own, and
+not quit unless obliged.  The water they had disturbed under the
+impulsion of a necessity which they had not wantonly incurred,
+having been forced to use it in defending themselves against the
+Boeotians who first invaded Attica.  Besides, anything done under the
+pressure of war and danger might reasonably claim indulgence even in
+the eye of the god; or why, pray, were the altars the asylum for
+involuntary offences? Transgression also was a term applied to
+presumptuous offenders, not to the victims of adverse circumstances.
+In short, which were most impious--the Boeotians who wished to barter
+dead bodies for holy places, or the Athenians who refused to give up
+holy places to obtain what was theirs by right? The condition of
+evacuating Boeotia must therefore be withdrawn.  They were no longer in
+Boeotia.  They stood where they stood by the right of the sword.  All
+that the Boeotians had to do was to tell them to take up their dead
+under a truce according to the national custom.
+
+The Boeotians replied that if they were in Boeotia, they must
+evacuate that country before taking up their dead; if they were in
+their own territory, they could do as they pleased: for they knew
+that, although the Oropid where the bodies as it chanced were lying
+(the battle having been fought on the borders) was subject to
+Athens, yet the Athenians could not get them without their leave.
+Besides, why should they grant a truce for Athenian ground? And what
+could be fairer than to tell them to evacuate Boeotia if they wished
+to get what they asked? The Athenian herald accordingly returned
+with this answer, without having accomplished his object.
+
+Meanwhile the Boeotians at once sent for darters and slingers from
+the Malian Gulf, and with two thousand Corinthian heavy infantry who
+had joined them after the battle, the Peloponnesian garrison which had
+evacuated Nisaea, and some Megarians with them, marched against
+Delium, and attacked the fort, and after divers efforts finally
+succeeded in taking it by an engine of the following description.  They
+sawed in two and scooped out a great beam from end to end, and fitting
+it nicely together again like a pipe, hung by chains a cauldron at one
+extremity, with which communicated an iron tube projecting from the
+beam, which was itself in great part plated with iron.  This they
+brought up from a distance upon carts to the part of the wall
+principally composed of vines and timber, and when it was near,
+inserted huge bellows into their end of the beam and blew with them.
+The blast passing closely confined into the cauldron, which was filled
+with lighted coals, sulphur and pitch, made a great blaze, and set
+fire to the wall, which soon became untenable for its defenders, who
+left it and fled; and in this way the fort was taken.  Of the
+garrison some were killed and two hundred made prisoners; most of
+the rest got on board their ships and returned home.
+
+Soon after the fall of Delium, which took place seventeen days after
+the battle, the Athenian herald, without knowing what had happened,
+came again for the dead, which were now restored by the Boeotians, who
+no longer answered as at first.  Not quite five hundred Boeotians
+fell in the battle, and nearly one thousand Athenians, including
+Hippocrates the general, besides a great number of light troops and
+camp followers.
+
+Soon after this battle Demosthenes, after the failure of his
+voyage to Siphae and of the plot on the town, availed himself of the
+Acarnanian and Agraean troops and of the four hundred Athenian heavy
+infantry which he had on board, to make a descent on the Sicyonian
+coast.  Before however all his ships had come to shore, the
+Sicyonians came up and routed and chased to their ships those that had
+landed, killing some and taking others prisoners; after which they set
+up a trophy, and gave back the dead under truce.
+
+About the same time with the affair of Delium took place the death
+of Sitalces, king of the Odrysians, who was defeated in battle, in a
+campaign against the Triballi; Seuthes, son of Sparadocus, his nephew,
+succeeding to the kingdom of the Odrysians, and of the rest of
+Thrace ruled by Sitalces.
+
+The same winter Brasidas, with his allies in the Thracian places,
+marched against Amphipolis, the Athenian colony on the river
+Strymon.  A settlement upon the spot on which the city now stands was
+before attempted by Aristagoras, the Milesian (when he fled from
+King Darius), who was however dislodged by the Edonians; and
+thirty-two years later by the Athenians, who sent thither ten thousand
+settlers of their own citizens, and whoever else chose to go.  These
+were cut off at Drabescus by the Thracians.  Twenty-nine years after,
+the Athenians returned (Hagnon, son of Nicias, being sent out as
+leader of the colony) and drove out the Edonians, and founded a town
+on the spot, formerly called Ennea Hodoi or Nine Ways.  The base from
+which they started was Eion, their commercial seaport at the mouth
+of the river, not more than three miles from the present town, which
+Hagnon named Amphipolis, because the Strymon flows round it on two
+sides, and he built it so as to be conspicuous from the sea and land
+alike, running a long wall across from river to river, to complete the
+circumference.
+
+Brasidas now marched against this town, starting from Arne in
+Chalcidice.  Arriving about dusk at Aulon and Bromiscus, where the lake
+of Bolbe runs into the sea, he supped there, and went on during the
+night.  The weather was stormy and it was snowing a little, which
+encouraged him to hurry on, in order, if possible, to take every one
+at Amphipolis by surprise, except the party who were to betray it.  The
+plot was carried on by some natives of Argilus, an Andrian colony,
+residing in Amphipolis, where they had also other accomplices gained
+over by Perdiccas or the Chalcidians.  But the most active in the
+matter were the inhabitants of Argilus itself, which is close by,
+who had always been suspected by the Athenians, and had had designs on
+the place.  These men now saw their opportunity arrive with Brasidas,
+and having for some time been in correspondence with their
+countrymen in Amphipolis for the betrayal of the town, at once
+received him into Argilus, and revolted from the Athenians, and that
+same night took him on to the bridge over the river; where he found
+only a small guard to oppose him, the town being at some distance from
+the passage, and the walls not reaching down to it as at present.  This
+guard he easily drove in, partly through there being treason in
+their ranks, partly from the stormy state of the weather and the
+suddenness of his attack, and so got across the bridge, and
+immediately became master of all the property outside; the
+Amphipolitans having houses all over the quarter.
+
+The passage of Brasidas was a complete surprise to the people in the
+town; and the capture of many of those outside, and the flight of
+the rest within the wall, combined to produce great confusion among
+the citizens; especially as they did not trust one another.  It is even
+said that if Brasidas, instead of stopping to pillage, had advanced
+straight against the town, he would probably have taken it.  In fact,
+however, he established himself where he was and overran the country
+outside, and for the present remained inactive, vainly awaiting a
+demonstration on the part of his friends within.  Meanwhile the party
+opposed to the traitors proved numerous enough to prevent the gates
+being immediately thrown open, and in concert with Eucles, the
+general, who had come from Athens to defend the place, sent to the
+other commander in Thrace, Thucydides, son of Olorus, the author of
+this history, who was at the isle of Thasos, a Parian colony, half a
+day's sail from Amphipolis, to tell him to come to their relief.  On
+receipt of this message he at once set sail with seven ships which
+he had with him, in order, if possible, to reach Amphipolis in time to
+prevent its capitulation, or in any case to save Eion.
+
+Meanwhile Brasidas, afraid of succours arriving by sea from
+Thasos, and learning that Thucydides possessed the right of working
+the gold mines in that part of Thrace, and had thus great influence
+with the inhabitants of the continent, hastened to gain the town, if
+possible, before the people of Amphipolis should be encouraged by
+his arrival to hope that he could save them by getting together a
+force of allies from the sea and from Thrace, and so refuse to
+surrender.  He accordingly offered moderate terms, proclaiming that any
+of the Amphipolitans and Athenians who chose, might continue to
+enjoy their property with full rights of citizenship; while those
+who did not wish to stay had five days to depart, taking their
+property with them.
+
+The bulk of the inhabitants, upon hearing this, began to change
+their minds, especially as only a small number of the citizens were
+Athenians, the majority having come from different quarters, and
+many of the prisoners outside had relations within the walls.  They
+found the proclamation a fair one in comparison of what their fear had
+suggested; the Athenians being glad to go out, as they thought they
+ran more risk than the rest, and further, did not expect any speedy
+relief, and the multitude generally being content at being left in
+possession of their civic rights, and at such an unexpected reprieve
+from danger.  The partisans of Brasidas now openly advocated this
+course, seeing that the feeling of the people had changed, and that
+they no longer gave ear to the Athenian general present; and thus
+the surrender was made and Brasidas was admitted by them on the
+terms of his proclamation.  In this way they gave up the city, and late
+in the same day Thucydides and his ships entered the harbour of
+Eion, Brasidas having just got hold of Amphipolis, and having been
+within a night of taking Eion: had the ships been less prompt in
+relieving it, in the morning it would have been his.
+
+After this Thucydides put all in order at Eion to secure it
+against any present or future attack of Brasidas, and received such as
+had elected to come there from the interior according to the terms
+agreed on.  Meanwhile Brasidas suddenly sailed with a number of boats
+down the river to Eion to see if he could not seize the point
+running out from the wall, and so command the entrance; at the same
+time he attempted it by land, but was beaten off on both sides and had
+to content himself with arranging matters at Amphipolis and in the
+neighbourhood.  Myrcinus, an Edonian town, also came over to him; the
+Edonian king Pittacus having been killed by the sons of Goaxis and his
+own wife Brauro; and Galepsus and Oesime, which are Thasian
+colonies, not long after followed its example.  Perdiccas too came up
+immediately after the capture and joined in these arrangements.
+
+The news that Amphipolis was in the hands of the enemy caused
+great alarm at Athens.  Not only was the town valuable for the timber
+it afforded for shipbuilding, and the money that it brought in; but
+also, although the escort of the Thessalians gave the Lacedaemonians a
+means of reaching the allies of Athens as far as the Strymon, yet as
+long as they were not masters of the bridge but were watched on the
+side of Eion by the Athenian galleys, and on the land side impeded
+by a large and extensive lake formed by the waters of the river, it
+was impossible for them to go any further.  Now, on the contrary, the
+path seemed open.  There was also the fear of the allies revolting,
+owing to the moderation displayed by Brasidas in all his conduct,
+and to the declarations which he was everywhere making that he sent
+out to free Hellas.  The towns subject to the Athenians, hearing of the
+capture of Amphipolis and of the terms accorded to it, and of the
+gentleness of Brasidas, felt most strongly encouraged to change
+their condition, and sent secret messages to him, begging him to
+come on to them; each wishing to be the first to revolt.  Indeed
+there seemed to be no danger in so doing; their mistake in their
+estimate of the Athenian power was as great as that power afterwards
+turned out to be, and their judgment was based more upon blind wishing
+than upon any sound prevision; for it is a habit of mankind to entrust
+to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to
+thrust aside what they do not fancy.  Besides the late severe blow
+which the Athenians had met with in Boeotia, joined to the
+seductive, though untrue, statements of Brasidas, about the
+Athenians not having ventured to engage his single army at Nisaea,
+made the allies confident, and caused them to believe that no Athenian
+force would be sent against them.  Above all the wish to do what was
+agreeable at the moment, and the likelihood that they should find
+the Lacedaemonians full of zeal at starting, made them eager to
+venture.  Observing this, the Athenians sent garrisons to the different
+towns, as far as was possible at such short notice and in winter;
+while Brasidas sent dispatches to Lacedaemon asking for
+reinforcements, and himself made preparations for building galleys
+in the Strymon.  The Lacedaemonians however did not send him any,
+partly through envy on the part of their chief men, partly because
+they were more bent on recovering the prisoners of the island and
+ending the war.
+
+The same winter the Megarians took and razed to the foundations
+the long walls which had been occupied by the Athenians; and
+Brasidas after the capture of Amphipolis marched with his allies
+against Acte, a promontory running out from the King's dike with an
+inward curve, and ending in Athos, a lofty mountain looking towards
+the Aegean Sea.  In it are various towns, Sane, an Andrian colony,
+close to the canal, and facing the sea in the direction of Euboea; the
+others being Thyssus, Cleone, Acrothoi, Olophyxus, and Dium, inhabited
+by mixed barbarian races speaking the two languages.  There is also a
+small Chalcidian element; but the greater number are
+Tyrrheno-Pelasgians once settled in Lemnos and Athens, and Bisaltians,
+Crestonians, and Edonians; the towns being all small ones.  Most of
+these came over to Brasidas; but Sane and Dium held out and saw
+their land ravaged by him and his army.
+
+Upon their not submitting, he at once marched against Torone in
+Chalcidice, which was held by an Athenian garrison, having been
+invited by a few persons who were prepared to hand over the town.
+Arriving in the dark a little before daybreak, he sat down with his
+army near the temple of the Dioscuri, rather more than a quarter of
+a mile from the city.  The rest of the town of Torone and the Athenians
+in garrison did not perceive his approach; but his partisans knowing
+that he was coming (a few of them had secretly gone out to meet him)
+were on the watch for his arrival, and were no sooner aware of it than
+they took it to them seven light-armed men with daggers, who alone
+of twenty men ordered on this service dared to enter, commanded by
+Lysistratus an Olynthian.  These passed through the sea wall, and
+without being seen went up and put to the sword the garrison of the
+highest post in the town, which stands on a hill, and broke open the
+postern on the side of Canastraeum.
+
+Brasidas meanwhile came a little nearer and then halted with his
+main body, sending on one hundred targeteers to be ready to rush in
+first, the moment that a gate should be thrown open and the beacon
+lighted as agreed.  After some time passed in waiting and wondering
+at the delay, the targeteers by degrees got up close to the town.
+The Toronaeans inside at work with the party that had entered had by
+this time broken down the postern and opened the gates leading to
+the market-place by cutting through the bar, and first brought some
+men round and let them in by the postern, in order to strike a panic
+into the surprised townsmen by suddenly attacking them from behind and
+on both sides at once; after which they raised the fire-signal as
+had been agreed, and took in by the market gates the rest of the
+targeteers.
+
+Brasidas seeing the signal told the troops to rise, and dashed
+forward amid the loud hurrahs of his men, which carried dismay among
+the astonished townspeople.  Some burst in straight by the gate, others
+over some square pieces of timber placed against the wall (which has
+fallen down and was being rebuilt) to draw up stones; Brasidas and the
+greater number making straight uphill for the higher part of the town,
+in order to take it from top to bottom, and once for all, while the
+rest of the multitude spread in all directions.
+
+The capture of the town was effected before the great body of the
+Toronaeans had recovered from their surprise and confusion; but the
+conspirators and the citizens of their party at once joined the
+invaders.  About fifty of the Athenian heavy infantry happened to be
+sleeping in the market-place when the alarm reached them.  A few of
+these were killed fighting; the rest escaped, some by land, others
+to the two ships on the station, and took refuge in Lecythus, a fort
+garrisoned by their own men in the corner of the town running out into
+the sea and cut off by a narrow isthmus; where they were joined by the
+Toronaeans of their party.
+
+Day now arrived, and the town being secured, Brasidas made a
+proclamation to the Toronaeans who had taken refuge with the
+Athenians, to come out, as many as chose, to their homes without
+fearing for their rights or persons, and sent a herald to invite the
+Athenians to accept a truce, and to evacuate Lecythus with their
+property, as being Chalcidian ground.  The Athenians refused this
+offer, but asked for a truce for a day to take up their dead.  Brasidas
+granted it for two days, which he employed in fortifying the houses
+near, and the Athenians in doing the same to their positions.
+Meanwhile he called a meeting of the Toronaeans, and said very much
+what he had said at Acanthus, namely, that they must not look upon
+those who had negotiated with him for the capture of the town as bad
+men or as traitors, as they had not acted as they had done from
+corrupt motives or in order to enslave the city, but for the good
+and freedom of Torone; nor again must those who had not shared in
+the enterprise fancy that they would not equally reap its fruits, as
+he had not come to destroy either city or individual.  This was the
+reason of his proclamation to those that had fled for refuge to the
+Athenians: he thought none the worse of them for their friendship
+for the Athenians; he believed that they had only to make trial of the
+Lacedaemonians to like them as well, or even much better, as acting
+much more justly: it was for want of such a trial that they were now
+afraid of them.  Meanwhile he warned all of them to prepare to be
+staunch allies, and for being held responsible for all faults in
+future: for the past, they had not wronged the Lacedaemonians but
+had been wronged by others who were too strong for them, and any
+opposition that they might have offered him could be excused.
+
+Having encouraged them with this address, as soon as the truce
+expired he made his attack upon Lecythus; the Athenians defending
+themselves from a poor wall and from some houses with parapets.  One
+day they beat him off; the next the enemy were preparing to bring up
+an engine against them from which they meant to throw fire upon the
+wooden defences, and the troops were already coming up to the point
+where they fancied they could best bring up the engine, and where
+place was most assailable; meanwhile the Athenians put a wooden
+tower upon a house opposite, and carried up a quantity of jars and
+casks of water and big stones, and a large number of men also
+climbed up.  The house thus laden too heavily suddenly broke down
+with a loud crash; at which the men who were near and saw it were more
+vexed than frightened; but those not so near, and still more those
+furthest off, thought that the place was already taken at that
+point, and fled in haste to the sea and the ships.
+
+Brasidas, perceiving that they were deserting the parapet, and
+seeing what was going on, dashed forward with his troops, and
+immediately took the fort, and put to the sword all whom he found in
+it.  In this way the place was evacuated by the Athenians, who went
+across in their boats and ships to Pallene.  Now there is a temple of
+Athene in Lecythus, and Brasidas had proclaimed in the moment of
+making the assault that he would give thirty silver minae to the man
+first on the wall.  Being now of opinion that the capture was
+scarcely due to human means, he gave the thirty minae to the goddess
+for her temple, and razed and cleared Lecythus, and made the whole
+of it consecrated ground.  The rest of the winter he spent in
+settling the places in his hands, and in making designs upon the rest;
+and with the expiration of the winter the eighth year of this war
+ended.
+
+In the spring of the summer following, the Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians made an armistice for a year; the Athenians thinking that
+they would thus have full leisure to take their precautions before
+Brasidas could procure the revolt of any more of their towns, and
+might also, if it suited them, conclude a general peace; the
+Lacedaemonians divining the actual fears of the Athenians, and
+thinking that after once tasting a respite from trouble and misery
+they would be more disposed to consent to a reconciliation, and to
+give back the prisoners, and make a treaty for the longer period.
+The great idea of the Lacedaemonians was to get back their men while
+Brasidas's good fortune lasted: further successes might make the
+struggle a less unequal one in Chalcidice, but would leave them
+still deprived of their men, and even in Chalcidice not more than a
+match for the Athenians and by no means certain of victory.  An
+armistice was accordingly concluded by Lacedaemon and her allies
+upon the terms following:
+
+1.  As to the temple and oracle of the Pythian Apollo, we are
+agreed that whosoever will shall have access to it, without fraud or
+fear, according to the usages of his forefathers.  The Lacedaemonians
+and the allies present agree to this, and promise to send heralds to
+the Boeotians and Phocians, and to do their best to persuade them to
+agree likewise.
+
+2.  As to the treasure of the god, we agree to exert ourselves to
+detect all malversators, truly and honestly following the customs of
+our forefathers, we and you and all others willing to do so, all
+following the customs of our forefathers.  As to these points the
+Lacedaemonians and the other allies are agreed as has been said.
+
+3.  As to what follows, the Lacedaemonians and the other allies
+agree, if the Athenians conclude a treaty, to remain, each of us in
+our own territory, retaining our respective acquisitions: the garrison
+in Coryphasium keeping within Buphras and Tomeus: that in Cythera
+attempting no communication with the Peloponnesian confederacy,
+neither we with them, nor they with us: that in Nisaea and Minoa not
+crossing the road leading from the gates of the temple of Nisus to
+that of Poseidon and from thence straight to the bridge at Minoa:
+the Megarians and the allies being equally bound not to cross this
+road, and the Athenians retaining the island they have taken,
+without any communication on either side: as to Troezen, each side
+retaining what it has, and as was arranged with the Athenians.
+
+4.  As to the use of the sea, so far as refers to their own coast
+and to that of their confederacy, that the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies may voyage upon it in any vessel rowed by oars and of not
+more than five hundred talents tonnage, not a vessel of war.
+
+5.  That all heralds and embassies, with as many attendants as they
+please, for concluding the war and adjusting claims, shall have free
+passage, going and coming, to Peloponnese or Athens by land and by
+sea.
+
+6.  That during the truce, deserters whether bond or free shall
+be received neither by you, nor by us.
+
+7.  Further, that satisfaction shall be given by you to us and by
+us to you according to the public law of our several countries, all
+disputes being settled by law without recourse to hostilities.
+
+The Lacedaemonians and allies agree to these articles; but if
+you have anything fairer or juster to suggest, come to Lacedaemon
+and let us know: whatever shall be just will meet with no objection
+either from the Lacedaemonians or from the allies.  Only let those
+who come come with full powers, as you desire us.  The truce shall be
+for one year.
+
+Approved by the people.
+
+The tribe of Acamantis had the prytany, Phoenippus was
+secretary, Niciades chairman.  Laches moved, in the name of the good
+luck of the Athenians, that they should conclude the armistice upon
+the terms agreed upon by the Lacedaemonians and the allies.  It was
+agreed accordingly in the popular assembly that the armistice should
+be for one year, beginning that very day, the fourteenth of the
+month of Elaphebolion; during which time ambassadors and heralds
+should go and come between the two countries to discuss the bases of a
+pacification.  That the generals and prytanes should call an assembly
+of the people, in which the Athenians should first consult on the
+peace, and on the mode in which the embassy for putting an end to
+the war should be admitted.  That the embassy now present should at
+once take the engagement before the people to keep well and truly this
+truce for one year.
+
+On these terms the Lacedaemonians concluded with the Athenians and
+their allies on the twelfth day of the Spartan month Gerastius; the
+allies also taking the oaths.  Those who concluded and poured the
+libation were Taurus, son of Echetimides, Athenaeus, son of
+Pericleidas, and Philocharidas, son of Eryxidaidas, Lacedaemonians;
+Aeneas, son of Ocytus, and Euphamidas, son of Aristonymus,
+Corinthians; Damotimus, son of Naucrates, and Onasimus, son of
+Megacles, Sicyonians; Nicasus, son of Cecalus, and Menecrates, son
+of Amphidorus, Megarians; and Amphias, son of Eupaidas, an Epidaurian;
+and the Athenian generals Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes, Nicias,
+son of Niceratus, and Autocles, son of Tolmaeus.  Such was the
+armistice, and during the whole of it conferences went on on the
+subject of a pacification.
+
+In the days in which they were going backwards and forwards to these
+conferences, Scione, a town in Pallene, revolted from Athens, and went
+over to Brasidas.  The Scionaeans say that they are Pallenians from
+Peloponnese, and that their first founders on their voyage from Troy
+were carried in to this spot by the storm which the Achaeans were
+caught in, and there settled.  The Scionaeans had no sooner revolted
+than Brasidas crossed over by night to Scione, with a friendly
+galley ahead and himself in a small boat some way behind; his idea
+being that if he fell in with a vessel larger than the boat he would
+have the galley to defend him, while a ship that was a match for the
+galley would probably neglect the small vessel to attack the large
+one, and thus leave him time to escape.  His passage effected, he
+called a meeting of the Scionaeans and spoke to the same effect as
+at Acanthus and Torone, adding that they merited the utmost
+commendation, in that, in spite of Pallene within the isthmus being
+cut off by the Athenian occupation of Potidaea and of their own
+practically insular position, they had of their own free will gone
+forward to meet their liberty instead of timorously waiting until they
+had been by force compelled to their own manifest good.  This was a
+sign that they would valiantly undergo any trial, however great; and
+if he should order affairs as he intended, he should count them
+among the truest and sincerest friends of the Lacedaemonians, and
+would in every other way honour them.
+
+The Scionaeans were elated by his language, and even those who had
+at first disapproved of what was being done catching the general
+confidence, they determined on a vigorous conduct of the war, and
+welcomed Brasidas with all possible honours, publicly crowning him
+with a crown of gold as the liberator of Hellas; while private persons
+crowded round him and decked him with garlands as though he had been
+an athlete.  Meanwhile Brasidas left them a small garrison for the
+present and crossed back again, and not long afterwards sent over a
+larger force, intending with the help of the Scionaeans to attempt
+Mende and Potidaea before the Athenians should arrive; Scione, he
+felt, being too like an island for them not to relieve it.  He had
+besides intelligence in the above towns about their betrayal.
+
+In the midst of his designs upon the towns in question, a galley
+arrived with the commissioners carrying round the news of the
+armistice, Aristonymus for the Athenians and Athenaeus for the
+Lacedaemonians.  The troops now crossed back to Torone, and the
+commissioners gave Brasidas notice of the convention.  All the
+Lacedaemonian allies in Thrace accepted what had been done; and
+Aristonymus made no difficulty about the rest, but finding, on
+counting the days, that the Scionaeans had revolted after the date
+of the convention, refused to include them in it.  To this Brasidas
+earnestly objected, asserting that the revolt took place before, and
+would not give up the town.  Upon Aristonymus reporting the case to
+Athens, the people at once prepared to send an expedition to Scione.
+Upon this, envoys arrived from Lacedaemon, alleging that this would be
+a breach of the truce, and laying claim to the town upon the faith
+of the assertion of Brasidas, and meanwhile offering to submit the
+question to arbitration.  Arbitration, however, was what the
+Athenians did not choose to risk; being determined to send troops at
+once to the place, and furious at the idea of even the islanders now
+daring to revolt, in a vain reliance upon the power of the
+Lacedaemonians by land.  Besides the facts of the revolt were rather as
+the Athenians contended, the Scionaeans having revolted two days after
+the convention.  Cleon accordingly succeeded in carrying a decree to
+reduce and put to death the Scionaeans; and the Athenians employed the
+leisure which they now enjoyed in preparing for the expedition.
+
+Meanwhile Mende revolted, a town in Pallene and a colony of the
+Eretrians, and was received without scruple by Brasidas, in spite of
+its having evidently come over during the armistice, on account of
+certain infringements of the truce alleged by him against the
+Athenians.  This audacity of Mende was partly caused by seeing Brasidas
+forward in the matter and by the conclusions drawn from his refusal to
+betray Scione; and besides, the conspirators in Mende were few, and,
+as I have already intimated, had carried on their practices too long
+not to fear detection for themselves, and not to wish to force the
+inclination of the multitude.  This news made the Athenians more
+furious than ever, and they at once prepared against both towns.
+Brasidas, expecting their arrival, conveyed away to Olynthus in
+Chalcidice the women and children of the Scionaeans and Mendaeans, and
+sent over to them five hundred Peloponnesian heavy infantry and
+three hundred Chalcidian targeteers, all under the command of
+Polydamidas.
+
+Leaving these two towns to prepare together against the speedy
+arrival of the Athenians, Brasidas and Perdiccas started on a second
+joint expedition into Lyncus against Arrhabaeus; the latter with the
+forces of his Macedonian subjects, and a corps of heavy infantry
+composed of Hellenes domiciled in the country; the former with the
+Peloponnesians whom he still had with him and the Chalcidians,
+Acanthians, and the rest in such force as they were able.  In all there
+were about three thousand Hellenic heavy infantry, accompanied by
+all the Macedonian cavalry with the Chalcidians, near one thousand
+strong, besides an immense crowd of barbarians.  On entering the
+country of Arrhabaeus, they found the Lyncestians encamped awaiting
+them, and themselves took up a position opposite.  The infantry on
+either side were upon a hill, with a plain between them, into which
+the horse of both armies first galloped down and engaged a cavalry
+action.  After this the Lyncestian heavy infantry advanced from their
+hill to join their cavalry and offered battle; upon which Brasidas and
+Perdiccas also came down to meet them, and engaged and routed them
+with heavy loss; the survivors taking refuge upon the heights and
+there remaining inactive.  The victors now set up a trophy and waited
+two or three days for the Illyrian mercenaries who were to join
+Perdiccas.  Perdiccas then wished to go on and attack the villages of
+Arrhabaeus, and to sit still no longer; but Brasidas, afraid that
+the Athenians might sail up during his absence, and of something
+happening to Mende, and seeing besides that the Illyrians did not
+appear, far from seconding this wish was anxious to return.
+
+While they were thus disputing, the news arrived that the
+Illyrians had actually betrayed Perdiccas and had joined Arrhabaeus;
+and the fear inspired by their warlike character made both parties now
+think it best to retreat.  However, owing to the dispute, nothing had
+been settled as to when they should start; and night coming on, the
+Macedonians and the barbarian crowd took fright in a moment in one
+of those mysterious panics to which great armies are liable; and
+persuaded that an army many times more numerous than that which had
+really arrived was advancing and all but upon them, suddenly broke and
+fled in the direction of home, and thus compelled Perdiccas, who at
+first did not perceive what had occurred, to depart without seeing
+Brasidas, the two armies being encamped at a considerable distance
+from each other.  At daybreak Brasidas, perceiving that the Macedonians
+had gone on, and that the Illyrians and Arrhabaeus were on the point
+of attacking him, formed his heavy infantry into a square, with the
+light troops in the centre, and himself also prepared to retreat.
+Posting his youngest soldiers to dash out wherever the enemy should
+attack them, he himself with three hundred picked men in the rear
+intended to face about during the retreat and beat off the most
+forward of their assailants, Meanwhile, before the enemy approached,
+he sought to sustain the courage of his soldiers with the following
+hasty exhortation:
+
+"Peloponnesians, if I did not suspect you of being dismayed at being
+left alone to sustain the attack of a numerous and barbarian enemy,
+I should just have said a few words to you as usual without further
+explanation.  As it is, in the face of the desertion of our friends and
+the numbers of the enemy, I have some advice and information to offer,
+which, brief as they must be, will, I hope, suffice for the more
+important points.  The bravery that you habitually display in war
+does not depend on your having allies at your side in this or that
+encounter, but on your native courage; nor have numbers any terrors
+for citizens of states like yours, in which the many do not rule the
+few, but rather the few the many, owing their position to nothing else
+than to superiority in the field.  Inexperience now makes you afraid of
+barbarians; and yet the trial of strength which you had with the
+Macedonians among them, and my own judgment, confirmed by what I
+hear from others, should be enough to satisfy you that they will not
+prove formidable.  Where an enemy seems strong but is really weak, a
+true knowledge of the facts makes his adversary the bolder, just as
+a serious antagonist is encountered most confidently by those who do
+not know him.  Thus the present enemy might terrify an inexperienced
+imagination; they are formidable in outward bulk, their loud yelling
+is unbearable, and the brandishing of their weapons in the air has a
+threatening appearance.  But when it comes to real fighting with an
+opponent who stands his ground, they are not what they seemed; they
+have no regular order that they should be ashamed of deserting their
+positions when hard pressed; flight and attack are with them equally
+honourable, and afford no test of courage; their independent mode of
+fighting never leaving any one who wants to run away without a fair
+excuse for so doing.  In short, they think frightening you at a
+secure distance a surer game than meeting you hand to hand;
+otherwise they would have done the one and not the other.  You can thus
+plainly see that the terrors with which they were at first invested
+are in fact trifling enough, though to the eye and ear very prominent.
+Stand your ground therefore when they advance, and again wait your
+opportunity to retire in good order, and you will reach a place of
+safety all the sooner, and will know for ever afterwards that rabble
+such as these, to those who sustain their first attack, do but show
+off their courage by threats of the terrible things that they are
+going to do, at a distance, but with those who give way to them are
+quick enough to display their heroism in pursuit when they can do so
+without danger."
+
+With this brief address Brasidas began to lead off his army.
+Seeing this, the barbarians came on with much shouting and hubbub,
+thinking that he was flying and that they would overtake him and cut
+him off.  But wherever they charged they found the young men ready to
+dash out against them, while Brasidas with his picked company
+sustained their onset.  Thus the Peloponnesians withstood the first
+attack, to the surprise of the enemy, and afterwards received and
+repulsed them as fast as they came on, retiring as soon as their
+opponents became quiet.  The main body of the barbarians ceased
+therefore to molest the Hellenes with Brasidas in the open country,
+and leaving behind a certain number to harass their march, the rest
+went on after the flying Macedonians, slaying those with whom they
+came up, and so arrived in time to occupy the narrow pass between
+two hills that leads into the country of Arrhabaeus.  They knew that
+this was the only way by which Brasidas could retreat, and now
+proceeded to surround him just as he entered the most impracticable
+part of the road, in order to cut him off.
+
+Brasidas, perceiving their intention, told his three hundred to
+run on without order, each as quickly as he could, to the hill which
+seemed easiest to take, and to try to dislodge the barbarians
+already there, before they should be joined by the main body closing
+round him.  These attacked and overpowered the party upon the hill, and
+the main army of the Hellenes now advanced with less difficulty
+towards it--the barbarians being terrified at seeing their men on
+that side driven from the height and no longer following the main
+body, who, they considered, had gained the frontier and made good
+their escape.  The heights once gained, Brasidas now proceeded more
+securely, and the same day arrived at Arnisa, the first town in the
+dominions of Perdiccas.  The soldiers, enraged at the desertion of
+the Macedonians, vented their rage on all their yokes of oxen which
+they found on the road, and on any baggage which had tumbled off (as
+might easily happen in the panic of a night retreat), by unyoking
+and cutting down the cattle and taking the baggage for themselves.
+From this moment Perdiccas began to regard Brasidas as an enemy and to
+feel against the Peloponnesians a hatred which could not be
+congenial to the adversary of the Athenians.  However, he departed from
+his natural interests and made it his endeavour to come to terms
+with the latter and to get rid of the former.
+
+On his return from Macedonia to Torone, Brasidas found the Athenians
+already masters of Mende, and remained quiet where he was, thinking it
+now out of his power to cross over into Pallene and assist the
+Mendaeans, but he kept good watch over Torone.  For about the same time
+as the campaign in Lyncus, the Athenians sailed upon the expedition
+which we left them preparing against Mende and Scione, with fifty
+ships, ten of which were Chians, one thousand Athenian heavy
+infantry and six hundred archers, one hundred Thracian mercenaries and
+some targeteers drawn from their allies in the neighbourhood, under
+the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Nicostratus, son of
+Diitrephes.  Weighing from Potidaea, the fleet came to land opposite
+the temple of Poseidon, and proceeded against Mende; the men of
+which town, reinforced by three hundred Scionaeans, with their
+Peloponnesian auxiliaries, seven hundred heavy infantry in all,
+under Polydamidas, they found encamped upon a strong hill outside
+the city.  These Nicias, with one hundred and twenty light-armed
+Methonaeans, sixty picked men from the Athenian heavy infantry, and
+all the archers, tried to reach by a path running up the hill, but
+received a wound and found himself unable to force the position; while
+Nicostratus, with all the rest of the army, advancing upon the hill,
+which was naturally difficult, by a different approach further off,
+was thrown into utter disorder; and the whole Athenian army narrowly
+escaped being defeated.  For that day, as the Mendaeans and their
+allies showed no signs of yielding, the Athenians retreated and
+encamped, and the Mendaeans at nightfall returned into the town.
+
+The next day the Athenians sailed round to the Scione side, and took
+the suburb, and all day plundered the country, without any one
+coming out against them, partly because of intestine disturbances in
+the town; and the following night the three hundred Scionaeans
+returned home.  On the morrow Nicias advanced with half the army to the
+frontier of Scione and laid waste the country; while Nicostratus
+with the remainder sat down before the town near the upper gate on the
+road to Potidaea.  The arms of the Mendaeans and of their Peloponnesian
+auxiliaries within the wall happened to be piled in that quarter,
+where Polydamidas accordingly began to draw them up for battle,
+encouraging the Mendaeans to make a sortie.  At this moment one of
+the popular party answered him factiously that they would not go out
+and did not want a war, and for thus answering was dragged by the
+arm and knocked about by Polydamidas.  Hereupon the infuriated
+commons at once seized their arms and rushed at the Peloponnesians and
+at their allies of the opposite faction.  The troops thus assaulted
+were at once routed, partly from the suddenness of the conflict and
+partly through fear of the gates being opened to the Athenians, with
+whom they imagined that the attack had been concerted.  As many as were
+not killed on the spot took refuge in the citadel, which they had held
+from the first; and the whole, Athenian army, Nicias having by this
+time returned and being close to the city, now burst into Mende, which
+had opened its gates without any convention, and sacked it just as
+if they had taken it by storm, the generals even finding some
+difficulty in restraining them from also massacring the inhabitants.
+After this the Athenians told the Mendaeans that they might retain
+their civil rights, and themselves judge the supposed authors of the
+revolt; and cut off the party in the citadel by a wall built down to
+the sea on either side, appointing troops to maintain the blockade.
+Having thus secured Mende, they proceeded against Scione.
+
+The Scionaeans and Peloponnesians marched out against them,
+occupying a strong hill in front of the town, which had to be captured
+by the enemy before they could invest the place.  The Athenians stormed
+the hill, defeated and dislodged its occupants, and, having encamped
+and set up a trophy, prepared for the work of circumvallation.  Not
+long after they had begun their operations, the auxiliaries besieged
+in the citadel of Mende forced the guard by the sea-side and arrived
+by night at Scione, into which most of them succeeded in entering,
+passing through the besieging army.
+
+While the investment of Scione was in progress, Perdiccas sent a
+herald to the Athenian generals and made peace with the Athenians,
+through spite against Brasidas for the retreat from Lyncus, from which
+moment indeed he had begun to negotiate.  The Lacedaemonian
+Ischagoras was just then upon the point of starting with an army
+overland to join Brasidas; and Perdiccas, being now required by Nicias
+to give some proof of the sincerity of his reconciliation to the
+Athenians, and being himself no longer disposed to let the
+Peloponnesians into his country, put in motion his friends in
+Thessaly, with whose chief men he always took care to have
+relations, and so effectually stopped the army and its preparation
+that they did not even try the Thessalians.  Ischagoras himself,
+however, with Ameinias and Aristeus, succeeded in reaching Brasidas;
+they had been commissioned by the Lacedaemonians to inspect the
+state of affairs, and brought out from Sparta (in violation of all
+precedent) some of their young men to put in command of the towns,
+to guard against their being entrusted to the persons upon the spot.
+Brasidas accordingly placed Clearidas, son of Cleonymus, in
+Amphipolis, and Pasitelidas, son of Hegesander, in Torone.
+
+The same summer the Thebans dismantled the wall of the Thespians
+on the charge of Atticism, having always wished to do so, and now
+finding it an easy matter, as the flower of the Thespian youth had
+perished in the battle with the Athenians.  The same summer also the
+temple of Hera at Argos was burnt down, through Chrysis, the
+priestess, placing a lighted torch near the garlands and then
+falling asleep, so that they all caught fire and were in a blaze
+before she observed it.  Chrysis that very night fled to Phlius for
+fear of the Argives, who, agreeably to the law in such a case,
+appointed another priestess named Phaeinis.  Chrysis at the time of her
+flight had been priestess for eight years of the present war and
+half the ninth.  At the close of the summer the investment of Scione
+was completed, and the Athenians, leaving a detachment to maintain the
+blockade, returned with the rest of their army.
+
+During the winter following, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were
+kept quiet by the armistice; but the Mantineans and Tegeans, and their
+respective allies, fought a battle at Laodicium, in the Oresthid.
+The victory remained doubtful, as each side routed one of the wings
+opposed to them, and both set up trophies and sent spoils to Delphi.
+After heavy loss on both sides the battle was undecided, and night
+interrupted the action; yet the Tegeans passed the night on the
+field and set up a trophy at once, while the Mantineans withdrew to
+Bucolion and set up theirs afterwards.
+
+At the close of the same winter, in fact almost in spring,
+Brasidas made an attempt upon Potidaea.  He arrived by night, and
+succeeded in planting a ladder against the wall without being
+discovered, the ladder being planted just in the interval between
+the passing round of the bell and the return of the man who brought it
+back.  Upon the garrison, however, taking the alarm immediately
+afterwards, before his men came up, he quickly led off his troops,
+without waiting until it was day.  So ended the winter and the ninth
+year of this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+_Tenth Year of the War - Death of Cleon and Brasidas -
+Peace of Nicias_
+
+The next summer the truce for a year ended, after lasting until
+the Pythian games.  During the armistice the Athenians expelled the
+Delians from Delos, concluding that they must have been polluted by
+some old offence at the time of their consecration, and that this
+had been the omission in the previous purification of the island,
+which, as I have related, had been thought to have been duly
+accomplished by the removal of the graves of the dead.  The Delians had
+Atramyttium in Asia given them by Pharnaces, and settled there as they
+removed from Delos.
+
+Meanwhile Cleon prevailed on the Athenians to let him set sail at
+the expiration of the armistice for the towns in the direction of
+Thrace with twelve hundred heavy infantry and three hundred horse from
+Athens, a large force of the allies, and thirty ships.  First
+touching at the still besieged Scione, and taking some heavy
+infantry from the army there, he next sailed into Cophos, a harbour in
+the territory of Torone, which is not far from the town.  From
+thence, having learnt from deserters that Brasidas was not in
+Torone, and that its garrison was not strong enough to give him
+battle, he advanced with his army against the town, sending ten
+ships to sail round into the harbour.  He first came to the
+fortification lately thrown up in front of the town by Brasidas in
+order to take in the suburb, to do which he had pulled down part of
+the original wall and made it all one city.  To this point Pasitelidas,
+the Lacedaemonian commander, with such garrison as there was in the
+place, hurried to repel the Athenian assault; but finding himself hard
+pressed, and seeing the ships that had been sent round sailing into
+the harbour, Pasitelidas began to be afraid that they might get up
+to the city before its defenders were there and, the fortification
+being also carried, he might be taken prisoner, and so abandoned the
+outwork and ran into the town.  But the Athenians from the ships had
+already taken Torone, and their land forces following at his heels
+burst in with him with a rush over the part of the old wall that had
+been pulled down, killing some of the Peloponnesians and Toronaeans in
+the melee, and making prisoners of the rest, and Pasitelidas their
+commander amongst them.  Brasidas meanwhile had advanced to relieve
+Torone, and had only about four miles more to go when he heard of
+its fall on the road, and turned back again.  Cleon and the Athenians
+set up two trophies, one by the harbour, the other by the
+fortification and, making slaves of the wives and children of the
+Toronaeans, sent the men with the Peloponnesians and any Chalcidians
+that were there, to the number of seven hundred, to Athens; whence,
+however, they all came home afterwards, the Peloponnesians on the
+conclusion of peace, and the rest by being exchanged against other
+prisoners with the Olynthians.  About the same time Panactum, a
+fortress on the Athenian border, was taken by treachery by the
+Boeotians.  Meanwhile Cleon, after placing a garrison in Torone,
+weighed anchor and sailed around Athos on his way to Amphipolis.
+
+About the same time Phaeax, son of Erasistratus, set sail with two
+colleagues as ambassador from Athens to Italy and Sicily.  The
+Leontines, upon the departure of the Athenians from Sicily after the
+pacification, had placed a number of new citizens upon the roll, and
+the commons had a design for redividing the land; but the upper
+classes, aware of their intention, called in the Syracusans and
+expelled the commons.  These last were scattered in various directions;
+but the upper classes came to an agreement with the Syracusans,
+abandoned and laid waste their city, and went and lived at Syracuse,
+where they were made citizens.  Afterwards some of them were
+dissatisfied, and leaving Syracuse occupied Phocaeae, a quarter of the
+town of Leontini, and Bricinniae, a strong place in the Leontine
+country, and being there joined by most of the exiled commons
+carried on war from the fortifications.  The Athenians hearing this,
+sent Phaeax to see if they could not by some means so convince their
+allies there and the rest of the Sicilians of the ambitious designs of
+Syracuse as to induce them to form a general coalition against her,
+and thus save the commons of Leontini.  Arrived in Sicily, Phaeax
+succeeded at Camarina and Agrigentum, but meeting with a repulse at
+Gela did not go on to the rest, as he saw that he should not succeed
+with them, but returned through the country of the Sicels to Catana,
+and after visiting Bricinniae as he passed, and encouraging its
+inhabitants, sailed back to Athens.
+
+During his voyage along the coast to and from Sicily, he treated
+with some cities in Italy on the subject of friendship with Athens,
+and also fell in with some Locrian settlers exiled from Messina, who
+had been sent thither when the Locrians were called in by one of the
+factions that divided Messina after the pacification of Sicily, and
+Messina came for a time into the hands of the Locrians.  These being
+met by Phaeax on their return home received no injury at his hands, as
+the Locrians had agreed with him for a treaty with Athens.  They were
+the only people of the allies who, when the reconciliation between the
+Sicilians took place, had not made peace with her; nor indeed would
+they have done so now, if they had not been pressed by a war with
+the Hipponians and Medmaeans who lived on their border, and were
+colonists of theirs.  Phaeax meanwhile proceeded on his voyage, and
+at length arrived at Athens.
+
+Cleon, whom we left on his voyage from Torone to Amphipolis, made
+Eion his base, and after an unsuccessful assault upon the Andrian
+colony of Stagirus, took Galepsus, a colony of Thasos, by storm.  He
+now sent envoys to Perdiccas to command his attendance with an army,
+as provided by the alliance; and others to Thrace, to Polles, king
+of the Odomantians, who was to bring as many Thracian mercenaries as
+possible; and himself remained inactive in Eion, awaiting their
+arrival.  Informed of this, Brasidas on his part took up a position
+of observation upon Cerdylium, a place situated in the Argilian
+country on high ground across the river, not far from Amphipolis,
+and commanding a view on all sides, and thus made it impossible for
+Cleon's army to move without his seeing it; for he fully expected that
+Cleon, despising the scanty numbers of his opponent, would march
+against Amphipolis with the force that he had got with him.  At the
+same time Brasidas made his preparations, calling to his standard
+fifteen hundred Thracian mercenaries and all the Edonians, horse and
+targeteers; he also had a thousand Myrcinian and Chalcidian
+targeteers, besides those in Amphipolis, and a force of heavy infantry
+numbering altogether about two thousand, and three hundred Hellenic
+horse.  Fifteen hundred of these he had with him upon Cerdylium; the
+rest were stationed with Clearidas in Amphipolis.
+
+After remaining quiet for some time, Cleon was at length obliged
+to do as Brasidas expected.  His soldiers, tired of their inactivity,
+began also seriously to reflect on the weakness and incompetence of
+their commander, and the skill and valour that would be opposed to
+him, and on their own original unwillingness to accompany him.  These
+murmurs coming to the ears of Cleon, he resolved not to disgust the
+army by keeping it in the same place, and broke up his camp and
+advanced.  The temper of the general was what it had been at Pylos, his
+success on that occasion having given him confidence in his
+capacity.  He never dreamed of any one coming out to fight him, but
+said that he was rather going up to view the place; and if he waited
+for his reinforcements, it was not in order to make victory secure
+in case he should be compelled to engage, but to be enabled to
+surround and storm the city.  He accordingly came and posted his army
+upon a strong hill in front of Amphipolis, and proceeded to examine
+the lake formed by the Strymon, and how the town lay on the side of
+Thrace.  He thought to retire at pleasure without fighting, as there
+was no one to be seen upon the wall or coming out of the gates, all of
+which were shut.  Indeed, it seemed a mistake not to have brought
+down engines with him; he could then have taken the town, there
+being no one to defend it.
+
+As soon as Brasidas saw the Athenians in motion he descended himself
+from Cerdylium and entered Amphipolis.  He did not venture to go out in
+regular order against the Athenians: he mistrusted his strength, and
+thought it inadequate to the attempt; not in numbers--these were not
+so unequal--but in quality, the flower of the Athenian army being in
+the field, with the best of the Lemnians and Imbrians.  He therefore
+prepared to assail them by stratagem.  By showing the enemy the
+number of his troops, and the shifts which he had been put to to to
+arm them, he thought that he should have less chance of beating him
+than by not letting him have a sight of them, and thus learn how
+good a right he had to despise them.  He accordingly picked out a
+hundred and fifty heavy infantry and, putting the rest under
+Clearidas, determined to attack suddenly before the Athenians retired;
+thinking that he should not have again such a chance of catching
+them alone, if their reinforcements were once allowed to come up;
+and so calling all his soldiers together in order to encourage them
+and explain his intention, spoke as follows:
+
+"Peloponnesians, the character of the country from which we have
+come, one which has always owed its freedom to valour, and the fact
+that you are Dorians and the enemy you are about to fight Ionians,
+whom you are accustomed to beat, are things that do not need further
+comment.  But the plan of attack that I propose to pursue, this it is
+as well to explain, in order that the fact of our adventuring with a
+part instead of with the whole of our forces may not damp your courage
+by the apparent disadvantage at which it places you.  I imagine it is
+the poor opinion that he has of us, and the fact that he has no idea
+of any one coming out to engage him, that has made the enemy march
+up to the place and carelessly look about him as he is doing,
+without noticing us.  But the most successful soldier will always be
+the man who most happily detects a blunder like this, and who
+carefully consulting his own means makes his attack not so much by
+open and regular approaches, as by seizing the opportunity of the
+moment; and these stratagems, which do the greatest service to our
+friends by most completely deceiving our enemies, have the most
+brilliant name in war.  Therefore, while their careless confidence
+continues, and they are still thinking, as in my judgment they are now
+doing, more of retreat than of maintaining their position, while their
+spirit is slack and not high-strung with expectation, I with the men
+under my command will, if possible, take them by surprise and fall
+with a run upon their centre; and do you, Clearidas, afterwards,
+when you see me already upon them, and, as is likely, dealing terror
+among them, take with you the Amphipolitans, and the rest of the
+allies, and suddenly open the gates and dash at them, and hasten to
+engage as quickly as you can.  That is our best chance of
+establishing a panic among them, as a fresh assailant has always
+more terrors for an enemy than the one he is immediately engaged with.
+Show yourself a brave man, as a Spartan should; and do you, allies,
+follow him like men, and remember that zeal, honour, and obedience
+mark the good soldier, and that this day will make you either free men
+and allies of Lacedaemon, or slaves of Athens; even if you escape
+without personal loss of liberty or life, your bondage will be on
+harsher terms than before, and you will also hinder the liberation
+of the rest of the Hellenes.  No cowardice then on your part, seeing
+the greatness of the issues at stake, and I will show that what I
+preach to others I can practise myself."
+
+After this brief speech Brasidas himself prepared for the sally, and
+placed the rest with Clearidas at the Thracian gates to support him as
+had been agreed.  Meanwhile he had been seen coming down from Cerdylium
+and then in the city, which is overlooked from the outside,
+sacrificing near the temple of Athene; in short, all his movements had
+been observed, and word was brought to Cleon, who had at the moment
+gone on to look about him, that the whole of the enemy's force could
+be seen in the town, and that the feet of horses and men in great
+numbers were visible under the gates, as if a sally were intended.
+Upon hearing this he went up to look, and having done so, being
+unwilling to venture upon the decisive step of a battle before his
+reinforcements came up, and fancying that he would have time to
+retire, bid the retreat be sounded and sent orders to the men to
+effect it by moving on the left wing in the direction of Eion, which
+was indeed the only way practicable.  This however not being quick
+enough for him, he joined the retreat in person and made the right
+wing wheel round, thus turning its unarmed side to the enemy.  It was
+then that Brasidas, seeing the Athenian force in motion and his
+opportunity come, said to the men with him and the rest: "Those
+fellows will never stand before us, one can see that by the way
+their spears and heads are going.  Troops which do as they do seldom
+stand a charge.  Quick, someone, and open the gates I spoke of, and let
+us be out and at them with no fears for the result." Accordingly
+issuing out by the palisade gate and by the first in the long wall
+then existing, he ran at the top of his speed along the straight road,
+where the trophy now stands as you go by the steepest part of the
+hill, and fell upon and routed the centre of the Athenians,
+panic-stricken by their own disorder and astounded at his audacity.  At
+the same moment Clearidas in execution of his orders issued out from
+the Thracian gates to support him, and also attacked the enemy.  The
+result was that the Athenians, suddenly and unexpectedly attacked on
+both sides, fell into confusion; and their left towards Eion, which
+had already got on some distance, at once broke and fled.  Just as it
+was in full retreat and Brasidas was passing on to attack the right,
+he received a wound; but his fall was not perceived by the
+Athenians, as he was taken up by those near him and carried off the
+field.  The Athenian right made a better stand, and though Cleon, who
+from the first had no thought of fighting, at once fled and was
+overtaken and slain by a Myrcinian targeteer, his infantry forming
+in close order upon the hill twice or thrice repulsed the attacks of
+Clearidas, and did not finally give way until they were surrounded and
+routed by the missiles of the Myrcinian and Chalcidian horse and the
+targeteers.  Thus the Athenian army was all now in flight; and such
+as escaped being killed in the battle, or by the Chalcidian horse
+and the targeteers, dispersed among the hills, and with difficulty
+made their way to Eion.  The men who had taken up and rescued Brasidas,
+brought him into the town with the breath still in him: he lived to
+hear of the victory of his troops, and not long after expired.  The
+rest of the army returning with Clearidas from the pursuit stripped
+the dead and set up a trophy.
+
+After this all the allies attended in arms and buried Brasidas at the
+public expense in the city, in front of what is now the marketplace,
+and the Amphipolitans, having enclosed his tomb, ever afterwards
+sacrifice to him as a hero and have given to him the honour of games
+and annual offerings.  They constituted him the founder of their
+colony, and pulled down the Hagnonic erections, and obliterated
+everything that could be interpreted as a memorial of his having
+founded the place; for they considered that Brasidas had been their
+preserver, and courting as they did the alliance of Lacedaemon for
+fear of Athens, in their present hostile relations with the latter
+they could no longer with the same advantage or satisfaction pay
+Hagnon his honours.  They also gave the Athenians back their dead.
+About six hundred of the latter had fallen and only seven of the
+enemy, owing to there having been no regular engagement, but the
+affair of accident and panic that I have described.  After taking up
+their dead the Athenians sailed off home, while Clearidas and his
+troops remained to arrange matters at Amphipolis.
+
+About the same time three Lacedaemonians--Ramphias, Autocharidas,
+and Epicydidas--led a reinforcement of nine hundred heavy infantry to
+the towns in the direction of Thrace, and arriving at Heraclea in
+Trachis reformed matters there as seemed good to them.  While they
+delayed there, this battle took place and so the summer ended.
+
+With the beginning of the winter following, Ramphias and his
+companions penetrated as far as Pierium in Thessaly; but as the
+Thessalians opposed their further advance, and Brasidas whom they came
+to reinforce was dead, they turned back home, thinking that the moment
+had gone by, the Athenians being defeated and gone, and themselves not
+equal to the execution of Brasidas's designs.  The main cause however
+of their return was because they knew that when they set out
+Lacedaemonian opinion was really in favour of peace.
+
+Indeed it so happened that directly after the battle of Amphipolis
+and the retreat of Ramphias from Thessaly, both sides ceased to
+prosecute the war and turned their attention to peace.  Athens had
+suffered severely at Delium, and again shortly afterwards at
+Amphipolis, and had no longer that confidence in her strength which
+had made her before refuse to treat, in the belief of ultimate victory
+which her success at the moment had inspired; besides, she was
+afraid of her allies being tempted by her reverses to rebel more
+generally, and repented having let go the splendid opportunity for
+peace which the affair of Pylos had offered.  Lacedaemon, on the
+other hand, found the event of the war to falsify her notion that a
+few years would suffice for the overthrow of the power of the
+Athenians by the devastation of their land.  She had suffered on the
+island a disaster hitherto unknown at Sparta; she saw her country
+plundered from Pylos and Cythera; the Helots were deserting, and she
+was in constant apprehension that those who remained in Peloponnese
+would rely upon those outside and take advantage of the situation to
+renew their old attempts at revolution.  Besides this, as chance
+would have it, her thirty years' truce with the Argives was upon the
+point of expiring; and they refused to renew it unless Cynuria were
+restored to them; so that it seemed impossible to fight Argos and
+Athens at once.  She also suspected some of the cities in Peloponnese
+of intending to go over to the enemy and that was indeed the case.
+
+These considerations made both sides disposed for an
+accommodation; the Lacedaemonians being probably the most eager, as
+they ardently desired to recover the men taken upon the island, the
+Spartans among whom belonged to the first families and were
+accordingly related to the governing body in Lacedaemon.
+Negotiations had been begun directly after their capture, but the
+Athenians in their hour of triumph would not consent to any reasonable
+terms; though after their defeat at Delium, Lacedaemon, knowing that
+they would be now more inclined to listen, at once concluded the
+armistice for a year, during which they were to confer together and
+see if a longer period could not be agreed upon.
+
+Now, however, after the Athenian defeat at Amphipolis, and the death
+of Cleon and Brasidas, who had been the two principal opponents of
+peace on either side--the latter from the success and honour which
+war gave him, the former because he thought that, if tranquillity were
+restored, his crimes would be more open to detection and his
+slanders less credited--the foremost candidates for power in either
+city, Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of Lacedaemon, and Nicias,
+son of Niceratus, the most fortunate general of his time, each desired
+peace more ardently than ever.  Nicias, while still happy and honoured,
+wished to secure his good fortune, to obtain a present release from
+trouble for himself and his countrymen, and hand down to posterity a
+name as an ever-successful statesman, and thought the way to do this
+was to keep out of danger and commit himself as little as possible
+to fortune, and that peace alone made this keeping out of danger
+possible.  Pleistoanax, again, was assailed by his enemies for his
+restoration, and regularly held up by them to the prejudice of his
+countrymen, upon every reverse that befell them, as though his
+unjust restoration were the cause; the accusation being that he and
+his brother Aristocles had bribed the prophetess of Delphi to tell the
+Lacedaemonian deputations which successively arrived at the temple
+to bring home the seed of the demigod son of Zeus from abroad, else
+they would have to plough with a silver share.  In this way, it was
+insisted, in time he had induced the Lacedaemonians in the
+nineteenth year of his exile to Lycaeum (whither he had gone when
+banished on suspicion of having been bribed to retreat from Attica,
+and had built half his house within the consecrated precinct of Zeus
+for fear of the Lacedaemonians), to restore him with the same dances
+and sacrifices with which they had instituted their kings upon the
+first settlement of Lacedaemon.  The smart of this accusation, and
+the reflection that in peace no disaster could occur, and that when
+Lacedaemon had recovered her men there would be nothing for his
+enemies to take hold of (whereas, while war lasted, the highest
+station must always bear the scandal of everything that went wrong),
+made him ardently desire a settlement.  Accordingly this winter was
+employed in conferences; and as spring rapidly approached, the
+Lacedaemonians sent round orders to the cities to prepare for a
+fortified occupation of Attica, and held this as a sword over the
+heads of the Athenians to induce them to listen to their overtures;
+and at last, after many claims had been urged on either side at the
+conferences a peace was agreed on upon the following basis.  Each party
+was to restore its conquests, but Athens was to keep Nisaea; her
+demand for Plataea being met by the Thebans asserting that they had
+acquired the place not by force or treachery, but by the voluntary
+adhesion upon agreement of its citizens; and the same, according to
+the Athenian account, being the history of her acquisition of
+Nisaea.  This arranged, the Lacedaemonians summoned their allies, and
+all voting for peace except the Boeotians, Corinthians, Eleans, and
+Megarians, who did not approve of these proceedings, they concluded
+the treaty and made peace, each of the contracting parties swearing to
+the following articles:
+
+The Athenians and Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty,
+and swore to it, city by city, as follows;
+
+1.  Touching the national temples, there shall be a free passage by
+land and by sea to all who wish it, to sacrifice, travel, consult, and
+attend the oracle or games, according to the customs of their
+countries.
+
+2.  The temple and shrine of Apollo at Delphi and the Delphians
+shall be governed by their own laws, taxed by their own state, and
+judged by their own judges, the land and the people, according to
+the custom of their country.
+
+3.  The treaty shall be binding for fifty years upon the
+Athenians and the allies of the Athenians, and upon the Lacedaemonians
+and the allies of the Lacedaemonians, without fraud or hurt by land or
+by sea.
+
+4.  It shall not be lawful to take up arms, with intent to do hurt,
+either for the Lacedaemonians and their allies against the Athenians
+and their allies, or for the Athenians and their allies against the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, in any way or means whatsoever.  But
+should any difference arise between them they are to have recourse
+to law and oaths, according as may be agreed between the parties.
+
+5.  The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall give back
+Amphipolis to the Athenians.  Nevertheless, in the case of cities given
+up by the Lacedaemonians to the Athenians, the inhabitants shall be
+allowed to go where they please and to take their property with
+them: and the cities shall be independent, paying only the tribute
+of Aristides.  And it shall not be lawful for the Athenians or their
+allies to carry on war against them after the treaty has been
+concluded, so long as the tribute is paid.  The cities referred to
+are Argilus, Stagirus, Acanthus, Scolus, Olynthus, and Spartolus.
+These cities shall be neutral, allies neither of the Lacedaemonians
+nor of the Athenians: but if the cities consent, it shall be lawful
+for the Athenians to make them their allies, provided always that
+the cities wish it.  The Mecybernaeans, Sanaeans, and Singaeans shall
+inhabit their own cities, as also the Olynthians and Acanthians: but
+the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall give back Panactum to the
+Athenians.
+
+6.  The Athenians shall give back Coryphasium, Cythera, Methana,
+Lacedaemonians that are in the prison at Athens or elsewhere in the
+Athenian dominions, and shall let go the Peloponnesians besieged in
+Scione, and all others in Scione that are allies of the
+Lacedaemonians, and all whom Brasidas sent in there, and any others of
+the allies of the Lacedaemonians that may be in the prison at Athens
+or elsewhere in the Athenian dominions.
+
+7.  The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall in like manner give
+back any of the Athenians or their allies that they may have in
+their hands.
+
+8.  In the case of Scione, Torone, and Sermylium, and any other
+cities that the Athenians may have, the Athenians may adopt such
+measures as they please.
+
+9.  The Athenians shall take an oath to the Lacedaemonians and
+their allies, city by city.  Every man shall swear by the most
+binding oath of his country, seventeen from each city.  The oath
+shall be as follows; "I will abide by this agreement and treaty
+honestly and without deceit." In the same way an oath shall be taken
+by the Lacedaemonians and their allies to the Athenians: and the
+oath shall be renewed annually by both parties.  Pillars shall be
+erected at Olympia, Pythia, the Isthmus, at Athens in the Acropolis,
+and at Lacedaemon in the temple at Amyclae.
+
+10.  If anything be forgotten, whatever it be, and on whatever
+point, it shall be consistent with their oath for both parties, the
+Athenians and Lacedaemonians, to alter it, according to their
+discretion.
+
+The treaty begins from the ephoralty of Pleistolas in
+Lacedaemon, on the 27th day of the month of Artemisium, and from the
+archonship, of Alcaeus at Athens, on the 25th day of the month of
+Elaphebolion.  Those who took the oath and poured the libations for the
+Lacedaemonians were Pleistoanax, Agis, Pleistolas, Damagetis, Chionis,
+Metagenes, Acanthus, Daithus, Ischagoras, Philocharidas, Zeuxidas,
+Antippus, Tellis, Alcinadas, Empedias, Menas, and Laphilus: for the
+Athenians, Lampon, Isthmonicus, Nicias, Laches, Euthydemus, Procles,
+Pythodorus, Hagnon, Myrtilus, Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates,
+Iolcius, Timocrates, Leon, Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+
+This treaty was made in the spring, just at the end of winter,
+directly after the city festival of Dionysus, just ten years, with the
+difference of a few days, from the first invasion of Attica and the
+commencement of this war.  This must be calculated by the seasons
+rather than by trusting to the enumeration of the names of the several
+magistrates or offices of honour that are used to mark past events.
+Accuracy is impossible where an event may have occurred in the
+beginning, or middle, or at any period in their tenure of office.
+But by computing by summers and winters, the method adopted in this
+history, it will be found that, each of these amounting to half a
+year, there were ten summers and as many winters contained in this
+first war.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, to whose lot it fell to begin the work
+of restitution, immediately set free all the prisoners of war in their
+possession, and sent Ischagoras, Menas, and Philocharidas as envoys to
+the towns in the direction of Thrace, to order Clearidas to hand
+over Amphipolis to the Athenians, and the rest of their allies each to
+accept the treaty as it affected them.  They, however, did not like its
+terms, and refused to accept it; Clearidas also, willing to oblige the
+Chalcidians, would not hand over the town, averring his inability to
+do so against their will.  Meanwhile he hastened in person to
+Lacedaemon with envoys from the place, to defend his disobedience
+against the possible accusations of Ischagoras and his companions, and
+also to see whether it was too late for the agreement to be altered;
+and on finding the Lacedaemonians were bound, quickly set out back
+again with instructions from them to hand over the place, if possible,
+or at all events to bring out the Peloponnesians that were in it.
+
+The allies happened to be present in person at Lacedaemon, and those
+who had not accepted the treaty were now asked by the Lacedaemonians
+to adopt it.  This, however, they refused to do, for the same reasons
+as before, unless a fairer one than the present were agreed upon;
+and remaining firm in their determination were dismissed by the
+Lacedaemonians, who now decided on forming an alliance with the
+Athenians, thinking that Argos, who had refused the application of
+Ampelidas and Lichas for a renewal of the treaty, would without Athens
+be no longer formidable, and that the rest of the Peloponnese would be
+most likely to keep quiet, if the coveted alliance of Athens were shut
+against them.  Accordingly, after conference with the Athenian
+ambassadors, an alliance was agreed upon and oaths were exchanged,
+upon the terms following:
+
+1.  The Lacedaemonians shall be allies of the Athenians for fifty
+years.
+
+2.  Should any enemy invade the territory of Lacedaemon and
+injure the Lacedaemonians, the Athenians shall help in such way as
+they most effectively can, according to their power.  But if the
+invader be gone after plundering the country, that city shall be the
+enemy of Lacedaemon and Athens, and shall be chastised by both, and
+one shall not make peace without the other.  This to be honestly,
+loyally, and without fraud.
+
+3.  Should any enemy invade the territory of Athens and injure
+the Athenians, the Lacedaemonians shall help them in such way as
+they most effectively can, according to their power.  But if the
+invader be gone after plundering the country, that city shall be the
+enemy of Lacedaemon and Athens, and shall be chastised by both, and
+one shall not make peace without the other.  This to be honestly,
+loyally, and without fraud.
+
+4.  Should the slave population rise, the Athenians shall help
+the Lacedaemonians with all their might, according to their power.
+
+5.  This treaty shall be sworn to by the same persons on either
+side that swore to the other.  It shall be renewed annually by the
+Lacedaemonians going to Athens for the Dionysia, and the Athenians
+to Lacedaemon for the Hyacinthia, and a pillar shall be set up by
+either party: at Lacedaemon near the statue of Apollo at Amyclae,
+and at Athens on the Acropolis near the statue of Athene.  Should the
+Lacedaemonians and Athenians see to add to or take away from the
+alliance in any particular, it shall be consistent with their oaths
+for both parties to do so, according to their discretion.
+
+Those who took the oath for the Lacedaemonians were Pleistoanax,
+Agis, Pleistolas, Damagetus, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus, Daithus,
+Ischagoras, Philocharidas, Zeuxidas, Antippus, Alcinadas, Tellis,
+Empedias, Menas, and Laphilus; for the Athenians, Lampon,
+Isthmionicus, Laches, Nicias, Euthydemus, Procles, Pythodorus, Hagnon,
+Myrtilus, Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates, Iolcius, Timocrates,
+Leon, Lamachus, and Demosthenes.
+
+This alliance was made not long after the treaty; and the
+Athenians gave back the men from the island to the Lacedaemonians, and
+the summer of the eleventh year began.  This completes the history of
+the first war, which occupied the whole of the ten years previously.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+_Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese - League of the Mantineans,
+Eleans, Argives, and Athenians - Battle of Mantinea and
+breaking up of the League_
+
+After the treaty and the alliance between the Lacedaemonians and
+Athenians, concluded after the ten years' war, in the ephorate of
+Pleistolas at Lacedaemon, and the archonship of Alcaeus at Athens, the
+states which had accepted them were at peace; but the Corinthians
+and some of the cities in Peloponnese trying to disturb the
+settlement, a fresh agitation was instantly commenced by the allies
+against Lacedaemon.  Further, the Lacedaemonians, as time went on,
+became suspected by the Athenians through their not performing some of
+the provisions in the treaty; and though for six years and ten
+months they abstained from invasion of each other's territory, yet
+abroad an unstable armistice did not prevent either party doing the
+other the most effectual injury, until they were finally obliged to
+break the treaty made after the ten years' war and to have recourse to
+open hostilities.
+
+The history of this period has been also written by the same
+Thucydides, an Athenian, in the chronological order of events by
+summers and winters, to the time when the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies put an end to the Athenian empire, and took the Long Walls
+and Piraeus.  The war had then lasted for twenty-seven years in all.
+Only a mistaken judgment can object to including the interval of
+treaty in the war.  Looked at by the light of facts it cannot, it
+will be found, be rationally considered a state of peace, where
+neither party either gave or got back all that they had agreed,
+apart from the violations of it which occurred on both sides in the
+Mantinean and Epidaurian wars and other instances, and the fact that
+the allies in the direction of Thrace were in as open hostility as
+ever, while the Boeotians had only a truce renewed every ten days.
+So that the first ten years' war, the treacherous armistice that
+followed it, and the subsequent war will, calculating by the
+seasons, be found to make up the number of years which I have
+mentioned, with the difference of a few days, and to afford an
+instance of faith in oracles being for once justified by the event.
+I certainly all along remember from the beginning to the end of the
+war its being commonly declared that it would last thrice nine
+years.  I lived through the whole of it, being of an age to
+comprehend events, and giving my attention to them in order to know
+the exact truth about them.  It was also my fate to be an exile from my
+country for twenty years after my command at Amphipolis; and being
+present with both parties, and more especially with the Peloponnesians
+by reason of my exile, I had leisure to observe affairs somewhat
+particularly.  I will accordingly now relate the differences that arose
+after the ten years' war, the breach of the treaty, and the
+hostilities that followed.
+
+After the conclusion of the fifty years' truce and of the
+subsequent alliance, the embassies from Peloponnese which had been
+summoned for this business returned from Lacedaemon.  The rest went
+straight home, but the Corinthians first turned aside to Argos and
+opened negotiations with some of the men in office there, pointing
+out that Lacedaemon could have no good end in view, but only the
+subjugation of Peloponnese, or she would never have entered into
+treaty and alliance with the once detested Athenians, and that the
+duty of consulting for the safety of Peloponnese had now fallen upon
+Argos, who should immediately pass a decree inviting any Hellenic
+state that chose, such state being independent and accustomed to meet
+fellow powers upon the fair and equal ground of law and justice, to
+make a defensive alliance with the Argives; appointing a few
+individuals with plenipotentiary powers, instead of making the people
+the medium of negotiation, in order that, in the case of an applicant
+being rejected, the fact of his overtures might not be made public.
+They said that many would come over from hatred of the Lacedaemonians.
+After this explanation of their views, the Corinthians returned home.
+
+The persons with whom they had communicated reported the proposal to
+their government and people, and the Argives passed the decree and
+chose twelve men to negotiate an alliance for any Hellenic state
+that wished it, except Athens and Lacedaemon, neither of which
+should be able to join without reference to the Argive people.  Argos
+came into the plan the more readily because she saw that war with
+Lacedaemon was inevitable, the truce being on the point of expiring;
+and also because she hoped to gain the supremacy of Peloponnese.  For
+at this time Lacedaemon had sunk very low in public estimation
+because of her disasters, while the Argives were in a most
+flourishing condition, having taken no part in the Attic war, but
+having on the contrary profited largely by their neutrality.  The
+Argives accordingly prepared to receive into alliance any of the
+Hellenes that desired it.
+
+The Mantineans and their allies were the first to come over through
+fear of the Lacedaemonians.  Having taken advantage of the war against
+Athens to reduce a large part of Arcadia into subjection, they
+thought that Lacedaemon would not leave them undisturbed in their
+conquests, now that she had leisure to interfere, and consequently
+gladly turned to a powerful city like Argos, the historical enemy of
+the Lacedaemonians, and a sister democracy.  Upon the defection of
+Mantinea, the rest of Peloponnese at once began to agitate the
+propriety of following her example, conceiving that the Mantineans
+not have changed sides without good reason; besides which they were
+angry with Lacedaemon among other reasons for having inserted in the
+treaty with Athens that it should be consistent with their oaths for
+both parties, Lacedaemonians and Athenians, to add to or take away
+from it according to their discretion.  It was this clause that was
+the real origin of the panic in Peloponnese, by exciting suspicions
+of a Lacedaemonian and Athenian combination against their liberties:
+any alteration should properly have been made conditional upon the
+consent of the whole body of the allies.  With these apprehensions
+there was a very general desire in each state to place itself in
+alliance with Argos.
+
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians perceiving the agitation going on
+in Peloponnese, and that Corinth was the author of it and was
+herself about to enter into alliance with the Argives, sent
+ambassadors thither in the hope of preventing what was in
+contemplation.  They accused her of having brought it all about, and
+told her that she could not desert Lacedaemon and become the ally of
+Argos, without adding violation of her oaths to the crime which she
+had already committed in not accepting the treaty with Athens, when it
+had been expressly agreed that the decision of the majority of the
+allies should be binding, unless the gods or heroes stood in the
+way.  Corinth in her answer, delivered before those of her allies who
+had like her refused to accept the treaty, and whom she had previously
+invited to attend, refrained from openly stating the injuries she
+complained of, such as the non-recovery of Sollium or Anactorium
+from the Athenians, or any other point in which she thought she had
+been prejudiced, but took shelter under the pretext that she could not
+give up her Thracian allies, to whom her separate individual
+security had been given, when they first rebelled with Potidaea, as
+well as upon subsequent occasions.  She denied, therefore, that she
+committed any violation of her oaths to the allies in not entering
+into the treaty with Athens; having sworn upon the faith of the gods
+to her Thracian friends, she could not honestly give them up.  Besides,
+the expression was, "unless the gods or heroes stand in the way."
+Now here, as it appeared to her, the gods stood in the way.  This was
+what she said on the subject of her former oaths.  As to the Argive
+alliance, she would confer with her friends and do whatever was right.
+The Lacedaemonian envoys returning home, some Argive ambassadors who
+happened to be in Corinth pressed her to conclude the alliance without
+further delay, but were told to attend at the next congress to be held
+at Corinth.
+
+Immediately afterwards an Elean embassy arrived, and first making an
+alliance with Corinth went on from thence to Argos, according to their
+instructions, and became allies of the Argives, their country being
+just then at enmity with Lacedaemon and Lepreum.  Some time back
+there had been a war between the Lepreans and some of the Arcadians;
+and the Eleans being called in by the former with the offer of half
+their lands, had put an end to the war, and leaving the land in the
+hands of its Leprean occupiers had imposed upon them the tribute of
+a talent to the Olympian Zeus.  Till the Attic war this tribute was
+paid by the Lepreans, who then took the war as an excuse for no longer
+doing so, and upon the Eleans using force appealed to Lacedaemon.
+The case was thus submitted to her arbitrament; but the Eleans,
+suspecting the fairness of the tribunal, renounced the reference and
+laid waste the Leprean territory.  The Lacedaemonians nevertheless
+decided that the Lepreans were independent and the Eleans
+aggressors, and as the latter did not abide by the arbitration, sent a
+garrison of heavy infantry into Lepreum.  Upon this the Eleans, holding
+that Lacedaemon had received one of their rebel subjects, put
+forward the convention providing that each confederate should come out
+of the Attic war in possession of what he had when he went into it,
+and considering that justice had not been done them went over to the
+Argives, and now made the alliance through their ambassadors, who
+had been instructed for that purpose.  Immediately after them the
+Corinthians and the Thracian Chalcidians became allies of Argos.
+Meanwhile the Boeotians and Megarians, who acted together, remained
+quiet, being left to do as they pleased by Lacedaemon, and thinking
+that the Argive democracy would not suit so well with their
+aristocratic government as the Lacedaemonian constitution.
+
+About the same time in this summer Athens succeeded in reducing
+Scione, put the adult males to death, and, making slaves of the
+women and children, gave the land for the Plataeans to live in.  She
+also brought back the Delians to Delos, moved by her misfortunes in
+the field and by the commands of the god at Delphi.  Meanwhile the
+Phocians and Locrians commenced hostilities.  The Corinthians and
+Argives, being now in alliance, went to Tegea to bring about its
+defection from Lacedaemon, seeing that, if so considerable a state
+could be persuaded to join, all Peloponnese would be with them.  But
+when the Tegeans said that they would do nothing against Lacedaemon,
+the hitherto zealous Corinthians relaxed their activity, and began
+to fear that none of the rest would now come over.  Still they went
+to the Boeotians and tried to persuade them to alliance and a common
+action generally with Argos and themselves, and also begged them to go
+with them to Athens and obtain for them a ten days' truce similar to
+that made between the Athenians and Boeotians not long after the fifty
+years' treaty, and, in the event of the Athenians refusing, to throw
+up the armistice, and not make any truce in future without Corinth.
+These were the requests of the Corinthians.  The Boeotians stopped them
+on the subject of the Argive alliance, but went with them to Athens,
+where however they failed to obtain the ten days' truce; the
+Athenian answer being that the Corinthians had truce already, as being
+allies of Lacedaemon.  Nevertheless the Boeotians did not throw up
+their ten days' truce, in spite of the prayers and reproaches of the
+Corinthians for their breach of faith; and these last had to content
+themselves with a de facto armistice with Athens.
+
+The same summer the Lacedaemonians marched  into Arcadia with
+their whole levy under Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias, king of
+Lacedaemon, against the Parrhasians, who were subjects of Mantinea,
+and a faction of whom had invited their aid.  They also meant to
+demolish, if possible, the fort of Cypsela which the Mantineans had
+built and garrisoned in the Parrhasian territory, to annoy the
+district of Sciritis in Laconia.  The Lacedaemonians accordingly laid
+waste the Parrhasian country, and the Mantineans, placing their town
+in the hands of an Argive garrison, addressed themselves to the
+defence of their confederacy, but being unable to save Cypsela or
+the Parrhasian towns went back to Mantinea.  Meanwhile the
+Lacedaemonians made the Parrhasians independent, razed the fortress,
+and returned home.
+
+The same summer the soldiers from Thrace who had gone out with
+Brasidas came back, having been brought from thence after the treaty
+by Clearidas; and the Lacedaemonians decreed that the Helots who had
+fought with Brasidas should be free and allowed to live where they
+liked, and not long afterwards settled them with the Neodamodes at
+Lepreum, which is situated on the Laconian and Elean border;
+Lacedaemon being at this time at enmity with Elis.  Those however of
+the Spartans who had been taken prisoners on the island and had
+surrendered their arms might, it was feared, suppose that they were to
+be subjected to some degradation in consequence of their misfortune,
+and so make some attempt at revolution, if left in possession of their
+franchise.  These were therefore at once disfranchised, although some
+of them were in office at the time, and thus placed under a disability
+to take office, or buy and sell anything.  After some time, however,
+the franchise was restored to them.
+
+The same summer the Dians took Thyssus, a town on Acte by Athos in
+alliance with Athens.  During the whole of this summer intercourse
+between the Athenians and Peloponnesians continued, although each
+party began to suspect the other directly after the treaty, because of
+the places specified in it not being restored.  Lacedaemon, to whose
+lot it had fallen to begin by restoring Amphipolis and the other
+towns, had not done so.  She had equally failed to get the treaty
+accepted by her Thracian allies, or by the Boeotians or the
+Corinthians; although she was continually promising to unite with
+Athens in compelling their compliance, if it were longer refused.
+She also kept fixing a time at which those who still refused to come
+in were to be declared enemies to both parties, but took care not to
+bind herself by any written agreement.  Meanwhile the Athenians, seeing
+none of these professions performed in fact, began to suspect the
+honesty of her intentions, and consequently not only refused to comply
+with her demands for Pylos, but also repented having given up the
+prisoners from the island, and kept tight hold of the other places,
+until Lacedaemon's part of the treaty should be fulfilled.  Lacedaemon,
+on the other hand, said she had done what she could, having given up
+the Athenian prisoners of war in her possession, evacuated Thrace, and
+performed everything else in her power.  Amphipolis it was out of her
+ability to restore; but she would endeavour to bring the Boeotians and
+Corinthians into the treaty, to recover Panactum, and send home all
+the Athenian prisoners of war in Boeotia.  Meanwhile she required
+that Pylos should be restored, or at all events that the Messenians
+and Helots should be withdrawn, as her troops had been from Thrace,
+and the place garrisoned, if necessary, by the Athenians themselves.
+After a number of different conferences held during the summer, she
+succeeded in persuading Athens to withdraw from Pylos the Messenians
+and the rest of the Helots and deserters from Laconia, who were
+accordingly settled by her at Cranii in Cephallenia.  Thus during
+this summer there was peace and intercourse between the two peoples.
+
+Next winter, however, the ephors under whom the treaty had been made
+were no longer in office, and some of their successors were directly
+opposed to it.  Embassies now arrived from the Lacedaemonian
+confederacy, and the Athenians, Boeotians, and Corinthians also
+presented themselves at Lacedaemon, and after much discussion and no
+agreement between them, separated for their several homes; when
+Cleobulus and Xenares, the two ephors who were the most anxious to
+break off the treaty, took advantage of this opportunity to
+communicate privately with the Boeotians and Corinthians, and,
+advising them to act as much as possible together, instructed the
+former first to enter into alliance with Argos, and then try and bring
+themselves and the Argives into alliance with Lacedaemon.  The
+Boeotians would so be least likely to be compelled to come into the
+Attic treaty; and the Lacedaemonians would prefer gaining the
+friendship and alliance of Argos even at the price of the hostility of
+Athens and the rupture of the treaty.  The Boeotians knew that an
+honourable friendship with Argos had been long the desire of
+Lacedaemon; for the Lacedaemonians believed that this would
+considerably facilitate the conduct of the war outside Peloponnese.
+Meanwhile they begged the Boeotians to place Panactum in her hands
+in order that she might, if possible, obtain Pylos in exchange for it,
+and so be more in a position to resume hostilities with Athens.
+
+After receiving these instructions for their governments from
+Xenares and Cleobulus and their friends at Lacedaemon, the Boeotians
+and Corinthians departed.  On their way home they were joined by two
+persons high in office at Argos, who had waited for them on the
+road, and who now sounded them upon the possibility of the Boeotians
+joining the Corinthians, Eleans, and Mantineans in becoming the allies
+of Argos, in the idea that if this could be effected they would be
+able, thus united, to make peace or war as they pleased either against
+Lacedaemon or any other power.  The Boeotian envoys were were pleased
+at thus hearing themselves accidentally asked to do what their friends
+at Lacedaemon had told them; and the two Argives perceiving that their
+proposal was agreeable, departed with a promise to send ambassadors to
+the Boeotians.  On their arrival the Boeotians reported to the
+Boeotarchs what had been said to them at Lacedaemon and also by the
+Argives who had met them, and the Boeotarchs, pleased with the idea,
+embraced it with the more eagerness from the lucky coincidence of
+Argos soliciting the very thing wanted by their friends at Lacedaemon.
+Shortly afterwards ambassadors appeared from Argos with the
+proposals indicated; and the Boeotarchs approved of the terms and
+dismissed the ambassadors with a promise to send envoys to Argos to
+negotiate the alliance.
+
+In the meantime it was decided by the Boeotarchs, the Corinthians,
+the Megarians, and the envoys from Thrace first to interchange oaths
+together to give help to each other whenever it was required and not
+to make war or peace except in common; after which the Boeotians and
+Megarians, who acted together, should make the alliance with Argos.
+But before the oaths were taken the Boeotarchs communicated these
+proposals to the four councils of the Boeotians, in whom the supreme
+power resides, and advised them to interchange oaths with all such
+cities as should be willing to enter into a defensive league with
+the Boeotians.  But the members of the Boeotian councils refused
+their assent to the proposal, being afraid of offending Lacedaemon
+by entering into a league with the deserter Corinth; the Boeotarchs
+not having acquainted them with what had passed at Lacedaemon and with
+the advice given by Cleobulus and Xenares and the Boeotian partisans
+there, namely, that they should become allies of Corinth and Argos
+as a preliminary to a junction with Lacedaemon; fancying that, even if
+they should say nothing about this, the councils would not vote
+against what had been decided and advised by the Boeotarchs.  This
+difficulty arising, the Corinthians and the envoys from Thrace
+departed without anything having been concluded; and the Boeotarchs,
+who had previously intended after carrying this to try and effect
+the alliance with Argos, now omitted to bring the Argive question
+before the councils, or to send to Argos the envoys whom they had
+promised; and a general coldness and delay ensued in the matter.
+
+In this same winter Mecyberna was assaulted and taken by the
+Olynthians, having an Athenian garrison inside it.
+
+All this while negotiations had been going on between the
+Athenians and Lacedaemonians about the conquests still retained by
+each, and Lacedaemon, hoping that if Athens were to get back
+Panactum from the Boeotians she might herself recover Pylos, now
+sent an embassy to the Boeotians, and begged them to place Panactum
+and their Athenian prisoners in her hands, in order that she might
+exchange them for Pylos.  This the Boeotians refused to do, unless
+Lacedaemon made a separate alliance with them as she had done with
+Athens.  Lacedaemon knew that this would be a breach of faith to
+Athens, as it had been agreed that neither of them should make peace
+or war without the other; yet wishing to obtain Panactum which she
+hoped to exchange for Pylos, and the party who pressed for the
+dissolution of the treaty strongly affecting the Boeotian
+connection, she at length concluded the alliance just as winter gave
+way to spring; and Panactum was instantly razed.  And so the eleventh
+year of the war ended.
+
+In the first days of the summer following, the Argives, seeing
+that the promised ambassadors from Boeotia did not arrive, and that
+Panactum was being demolished, and that a separate alliance had been
+concluded between the Boeotians and Lacedaemonians, began to be afraid
+that Argos might be left alone, and all the confederacy go over to
+Lacedaemon.  They fancied that the Boeotians had been persuaded by
+the Lacedaemonians to raze Panactum and to enter into the treaty
+with the Athenians, and that Athens was privy to this arrangement, and
+even her alliance, therefore, no longer open to them--a resource
+which they had always counted upon, by reason of the dissensions
+existing, in the event of the noncontinuance of their treaty with
+Lacedaemon.  In this strait the Argives, afraid that, as the result
+of refusing to renew the treaty with Lacedaemon and of aspiring to the
+supremacy in Peloponnese, they would have the Lacedaemonians, Tegeans,
+Boeotians, and Athenians on their hands all at once, now hastily
+sent off Eustrophus and Aeson, who seemed the persons most likely to
+be acceptable, as envoys to Lacedaemon, with the view of making as
+good a treaty as they could with the Lacedaemonians, upon such terms
+as could be got, and being left in peace.
+
+Having reached Lacedaemon, their ambassadors proceeded to
+negotiate the terms of the proposed treaty.  What the Argives first
+demanded was that they might be allowed to refer to the arbitration of
+some state or private person the question of the Cynurian land, a
+piece of frontier territory about which they have always been
+disputing, and which contains the towns of Thyrea and Anthene, and
+is occupied by the Lacedaemonians.  The Lacedaemonians at first said
+that they could not allow this point to be discussed, but were ready
+to conclude upon the old terms.  Eventually, however, the Argive
+ambassadors succeeded in obtaining from them this concession: For
+the present there was to be a truce for fifty years, but it should
+be competent for either party, there being neither plague nor war in
+Lacedaemon or Argos, to give a formal challenge and decide the
+question of this territory by battle, as on a former occasion, when
+both sides claimed the victory; pursuit not being allowed beyond the
+frontier of Argos or Lacedaemon.  The Lacedaemonians at first thought
+this mere folly; but at last, anxious at any cost to have the
+friendship of Argos they agreed to the terms demanded, and reduced
+them to writing.  However, before any of this should become binding,
+the ambassadors were to return to Argos and communicate with their
+people and, in the event of their approval, to come at the feast of
+the Hyacinthia and take the oaths.
+
+The envoys returned accordingly.  In the meantime, while the Argives
+were engaged in these negotiations, the Lacedaemonian ambassadors--
+Andromedes, Phaedimus, and Antimenidas--who were to receive
+the prisoners from the Boeotians and restore them and Panactum to
+the Athenians, found that the Boeotians had themselves razed Panactum,
+upon the plea that oaths had been anciently exchanged between their
+people and the Athenians, after a dispute on the subject to the effect
+that neither should inhabit the place, but that they should graze it
+in common.  As for the Athenian prisoners of war in the hands of the
+Boeotians, these were delivered over to Andromedes and his colleagues,
+and by them conveyed to Athens and given back.  The envoys at the
+same time announced the razing of Panactum, which to them seemed as
+good as its restitution, as it would no longer lodge an enemy of
+Athens.  This announcement was received with great indignation by the
+Athenians, who thought that the Lacedaemonians had played them
+false, both in the matter of the demolition of Panactum, which ought
+to have been restored to them standing, and in having, as they now
+heard, made a separate alliance with the Boeotians, in spite of
+their previous promise to join Athens in compelling the adhesion of
+those who refused to accede to the treaty.  The Athenians also
+considered the other points in which Lacedaemon had failed in her
+compact, and thinking that they had been overreached, gave an angry
+answer to the ambassadors and sent them away.
+
+The breach between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians having gone thus
+far, the party at Athens, also, who wished to cancel the treaty,
+immediately put themselves in motion.  Foremost amongst these was
+Alcibiades, son of Clinias, a man yet young in years for any other
+Hellenic city, but distinguished by the splendour of his ancestry.
+Alcibiades thought the Argive alliance really preferable, not that
+personal pique had not also a great deal to do with his opposition; he
+being offended with the Lacedaemonians for having negotiated the
+treaty through Nicias and Laches, and having overlooked him on account
+of his youth, and also for not having shown him the respect due to the
+ancient connection of his family with them as their proxeni, which,
+renounced by his grandfather, he had lately himself thought to renew
+by his attentions to their prisoners taken in the island.  Being
+thus, as he thought, slighted on all hands, he had in the first
+instance spoken against the treaty, saying that the Lacedaemonians
+were not to be trusted, but that they only treated, in order to be
+enabled by this means to crush Argos, and afterwards to attack
+Athens alone; and now, immediately upon the above occurring, he sent
+privately to the Argives, telling them to come as quickly as
+possible to Athens, accompanied by the Mantineans and Eleans, with
+proposals of alliance; as the moment was propitious and he himself
+would do all he could to help them.
+
+Upon receiving this message and discovering that the Athenians,
+far from being privy to the Boeotian alliance, were involved in a
+serious quarrel with the Lacedaemonians, the Argives paid no further
+attention to the embassy which they had just sent to Lacedaemon on the
+subject of the treaty, and began to incline rather towards the
+Athenians, reflecting that, in the event of war, they would thus
+have on their side a city that was not only an ancient ally of
+Argos, but a sister democracy and very powerful at sea.  They
+accordingly at once sent ambassadors to Athens to treat for an
+alliance, accompanied by others from Elis and Mantinea.
+
+At the same time arrived in haste from Lacedaemon an embassy
+consisting of persons reputed well disposed towards the
+Athenians--Philocharidas, Leon, and Endius--for fear that the
+Athenians in their irritation might conclude alliance with the
+Argives, and also to ask back Pylos in exchange for Panactum, and in
+defence of the alliance with the Boeotians to plead that it had not
+been made to hurt the Athenians.  Upon the envoys speaking in the
+senate upon these points, and stating that they had come with full
+powers to settle all others at issue between them, Alcibiades became
+afraid that, if they were to repeat these statements to the popular
+assembly, they might gain the multitude, and the Argive alliance might
+be rejected, and accordingly had recourse to the following
+stratagem.  He persuaded the Lacedaemonians by a solemn assurance
+that if they would say nothing of their full powers in the assembly,
+he would give back Pylos to them (himself, the present opponent of its
+restitution, engaging to obtain this from the Athenians), and would
+settle the other points at issue.  His plan was to detach them from
+Nicias and to disgrace them before the people, as being without
+sincerity in their intentions, or even common consistency in their
+language, and so to get the Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans taken into
+alliance.  This plan proved successful.  When the envoys appeared before
+the people, and upon the question being put to them, did not say as
+they had said in the senate, that they had come with full powers,
+the Athenians lost all patience, and carried away by Alcibiades, who
+thundered more loudly than ever against the Lacedaemonians, were ready
+instantly to introduce the Argives and their companions and to take
+them into alliance.  An earthquake, however, occurring, before anything
+definite had been done, this assembly was adjourned.
+
+In the assembly held the next day, Nicias, in spite of the
+Lacedaemonians having been deceived themselves, and having allowed him
+to be deceived also in not admitting that they had come with full
+powers, still maintained that it was best to be friends with the
+Lacedaemonians, and, letting the Argive proposals stand over, to
+send once more to Lacedaemon and learn her intentions.  The adjournment
+of the war could only increase their own prestige and injure that of
+their rivals; the excellent state of their affairs making it their
+interest to preserve this prosperity as long as possible, while
+those of Lacedaemon were so desperate that the sooner she could try
+her fortune again the better.  He succeeded accordingly in persuading
+them to send ambassadors, himself being among the number, to invite
+the Lacedaemonians, if they were really sincere, to restore Panactum
+intact with Amphipolis, and to abandon their alliance with the
+Boeotians (unless they consented to accede to the treaty), agreeably
+to the stipulation which forbade either to treat without the other.
+The ambassadors were also directed to say that the Athenians, had they
+wished to play false, might already have made alliance with the
+Argives, who were indeed come to Athens for that very purpose, and
+went off furnished with instructions as to any other complaints that
+the Athenians had to make.  Having reached Lacedaemon, they
+communicated their instructions, and concluded by telling the
+Lacedaemonians that unless they gave up their alliance with the
+Boeotians, in the event of their not acceding to the treaty, the
+Athenians for their part would ally themselves with the Argives and
+their friends.  The Lacedaemonians, however, refused to give up the
+Boeotian alliance--the party of Xenares the ephor, and such as shared
+their view, carrying the day upon this point--but renewed the oaths
+at the request of Nicias, who feared to return without having
+accomplished anything and to be disgraced; as was indeed his fate,
+he being held the author of the treaty with Lacedaemon.  When he
+returned, and the Athenians heard that nothing had been done at
+Lacedaemon, they flew into a passion, and deciding that faith had
+not been kept with them, took advantage of the presence of the Argives
+and their allies, who had been introduced by Alcibiades, and made a
+treaty and alliance with them upon the terms following:
+
+The Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, acting for
+themselves and the allies in their respective empires, made a treaty
+for a hundred years, to be without fraud or hurt by land and by sea.
+
+1.  It shall not be lawful to carry on war, either for the Argives,
+Eleans, Mantineans, and their allies, against the Athenians, or the
+allies in the Athenian empire: or for the Athenians and their allies
+against the Argives, Eleans, Mantineans, or their allies, in any way
+or means whatsoever.
+
+The Athenians, Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans shall be allies for a
+hundred years upon the terms following:
+
+2.  If an enemy invade the country of the Athenians, the Argives,
+Eleans, and Mantineans shall go to the relief of Athens, according
+as the Athenians may require by message, in such way as they most
+effectually can, to the best of their power.  But if the invader be
+gone after plundering the territory, the offending state shall be
+the enemy of the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and Athenians, and war
+shall be made against it by all these cities: and no one of the cities
+shall be able to make peace with that state, except all the above
+cities agree to do so.
+
+3.  Likewise the Athenians shall go to the relief of Argos,
+Mantinea, and Elis, if an enemy invade the country of Elis,
+Mantinea, or Argos, according as the above cities may require by
+message, in such way as they most effectually can, to the best of
+their power.  But if the invader be gone after plundering the
+territory, the state offending shall be the enemy of the Athenians,
+Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, and war shall be made against it by
+all these cities, and peace may not be made with that state except all
+the above cities agree to it.
+
+4.  No armed force shall be allowed to pass for hostile purposes
+through the country of the powers contracting, or of the allies in
+their respective empires, or to go by sea, except all the
+cities--that is to say, Athens, Argos, Mantinea, and Elis--vote for
+such passage.
+
+5.  The relieving troops shall be maintained by the city sending
+them for thirty days from their arrival in the city that has
+required them, and upon their return in the same way: if their
+services be desired for a longer period, the city that sent for them
+shall maintain them, at the rate of three Aeginetan obols per day
+for a heavy-armed soldier, archer, or light soldier, and an
+Aeginetan drachma for a trooper.
+
+6.  The city sending for the troops shall have the command when the
+war is in its own country: but in case of the cities resolving upon
+a joint expedition the command shall be equally divided among all
+the cities.
+
+7.  The treaty shall be sworn to by the Athenians for themselves
+and their allies, by the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and their
+allies, by each state individually.  Each shall swear the oath most
+binding in his country over full-grown victims: the oath being as
+follows:
+
+"I STAND BY THE ALLIANCE AND ITS ARTICLES, JUSTLY, INNOCENTLY, AND
+SINCERELY, AND I WILL NOT TRANSGRESS THE SAME IN ANY WAY OR MEANS
+WHATSOEVER."
+
+The oath shall be taken at Athens by the Senate and the magistrates,
+the Prytanes administering it: at Argos by the Senate, the Eighty, and the
+Artynae, the Eighty administering it: at Mantinea by the Demiurgi, the
+Senate, and the other magistrates, the Theori and Polemarchs
+administering it: at Elis by the Demiurgi, the magistrates, and the
+Six Hundred, the Demiurgi and the Thesmophylaces administering it.  The
+oaths shall be renewed by the Athenians going to Elis, Mantinea, and
+Argos thirty days before the Olympic games: by the Argives,
+Mantineans, and Eleans going to Athens ten days before the great feast
+of the Panathenaea.  The articles of the treaty, the oaths, and the
+alliance shall be inscribed on a stone pillar by the Athenians in
+the citadel, by the Argives in the market-place, in the temple of
+Apollo: by the Mantineans in the temple of Zeus, in the
+market-place: and a brazen pillar shall be erected jointly by them
+at the Olympic games now at hand.  Should the above cities see good
+to make any addition in these articles, whatever all the above
+cities shall agree upon, after consulting together, shall be binding.
+
+Although the treaty and alliances were thus concluded, still the
+treaty between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians was not renounced by
+either party.  Meanwhile Corinth, although the ally of the Argives, did
+not accede to the new treaty, any more than she had done to the
+alliance, defensive and offensive, formed before this between the
+Eleans, Argives, and Mantineans, when she declared herself content
+with the first alliance, which was defensive only, and which bound
+them to help each other, but not to join in attacking any.  The
+Corinthians thus stood aloof from their allies, and again turned their
+thoughts towards Lacedaemon.
+
+At the Olympic games which were held this summer, and in which the
+Arcadian Androsthenes was victor the first time in the wrestling and
+boxing, the Lacedaemonians were excluded from the temple by the
+Eleans, and thus prevented from sacrificing or contending, for
+having refused to pay the fine specified in the Olympic law imposed
+upon them by the Eleans, who alleged that they had attacked Fort
+Phyrcus, and sent heavy infantry of theirs into Lepreum during the
+Olympic truce.  The amount of the fine was two thousand minae, two
+for each heavy-armed soldier, as the law prescribes.  The
+Lacedaemonians sent envoys, and pleaded that the imposition was
+unjust; saying that the truce had not yet been proclaimed at
+Lacedaemon when the heavy infantry were sent off.  But the Eleans
+affirmed that the armistice with them had already begun (they proclaim
+it first among themselves), and that the aggression of the
+Lacedaemonians had taken them by surprise while they were living
+quietly as in time of peace, and not expecting anything.  Upon this the
+Lacedaemonians submitted, that if the Eleans really believed that they
+had committed an aggression, it was useless after that to proclaim the
+truce at Lacedaemon; but they had proclaimed it notwithstanding, as
+believing nothing of the kind, and from that moment the Lacedaemonians
+had made no attack upon their country.  Nevertheless the Eleans adhered
+to what they had said, that nothing would persuade them that an
+aggression had not been committed; if, however, the Lacedaemonians
+would restore Lepreum, they would give up their own share of the money
+and pay that of the god for them.
+
+As this proposal was not accepted, the Eleans tried a second.
+Instead of restoring Lepreum, if this was objected to, the
+Lacedaemonians should ascend the altar of the Olympian Zeus, as they
+were so anxious to have access to the temple, and swear before the
+Hellenes that they would surely pay the fine at a later day.  This
+being also refused, the Lacedaemonians were excluded from the
+temple, the sacrifice, and the games, and sacrificed at home; the
+Lepreans being the only other Hellenes who did not attend.  Still the
+Eleans were afraid of the Lacedaemonians sacrificing by force, and
+kept guard with a heavy-armed company of their young men; being also
+joined by a thousand Argives, the same number of Mantineans, and by
+some Athenian cavalry who stayed at Harpina during the feast.  Great
+fears were felt in the assembly of the Lacedaemonians coming in
+arms, especially after Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, a Lacedaemonian, had
+been scourged on the course by the umpires; because, upon his horses
+being the winners, and the Boeotian people being proclaimed the victor
+on account of his having no right to enter, he came forward on the
+course and crowned the charioteer, in order to show that the chariot
+was his.  After this incident all were more afraid than ever, and
+firmly looked for a disturbance: the Lacedaemonians, however, kept
+quiet, and let the feast pass by, as we have seen.  After the Olympic
+games, the Argives and the allies repaired to Corinth to invite her to
+come over to them.  There they found some Lacedaemonian envoys; and a
+long discussion ensued, which after all ended in nothing, as an
+earthquake occurred, and they dispersed to their different homes.
+
+Summer was now over.  The winter following a battle took place
+between the Heracleots in Trachinia and the Aenianians, Dolopians,
+Malians, and certain of the Thessalians, all tribes bordering on and
+hostile to the town, which directly menaced their country.
+Accordingly, after having opposed and harassed it from its very
+foundation by every means in their power, they now in this battle
+defeated the Heracleots, Xenares, son of Cnidis, their Lacedaemonian
+commander, being among the slain.  Thus the winter ended and the
+twelfth year of this war ended also.  After the battle, Heraclea was so
+terribly reduced that in the first days of the summer following the
+Boeotians occupied the place and sent away the Lacedaemonian
+Agesippidas for misgovernment, fearing that the town might be taken by
+the Athenians while the Lacedaemonians were distracted with the
+affairs of Peloponnese.  The Lacedaemonians, nevertheless, were
+offended with them for what they had done.
+
+The same summer Alcibiades, son of Clinias, now one of the
+generals at Athens, in concert with the Argives and the allies, went
+into Peloponnese with a few Athenian heavy infantry and archers and
+some of the allies in those parts whom he took up as he passed, and
+with this army marched here and there through Peloponnese, and settled
+various matters connected with the alliance, and among other things
+induced the Patrians to carry their walls down to the sea, intending
+himself also to build a fort near the Achaean Rhium.  However, the
+Corinthians and Sicyonians, and all others who would have suffered
+by its being built, came up and hindered him.
+
+The same summer war broke out between the Epidaurians and Argives.
+The pretext was that the Epidaurians did not send an offering for
+their pasture-land to Apollo Pythaeus, as they were bound to do, the
+Argives having the chief management of the temple; but, apart from
+this pretext, Alcibiades and the Argives were determined, if possible,
+to gain possession of Epidaurus, and thus to ensure the neutrality
+of Corinth and give the Athenians a shorter passage for their
+reinforcements from Aegina than if they had to sail round Scyllaeum.
+The Argives accordingly prepared to invade Epidaurus by themselves, to
+exact the offering.
+
+About the same time the Lacedaemonians marched out with all their
+people to Leuctra upon their frontier, opposite to Mount Lycaeum,
+under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, without any one
+knowing their destination, not even the cities that sent the
+contingents.  The sacrifices, however, for crossing the frontier not
+proving propitious, the Lacedaemonians returned home themselves, and
+sent word to the allies to be ready to march after the month
+ensuing, which happened to be the month of Carneus, a holy time for
+the Dorians.  Upon the retreat of the Lacedaemonians the Argives
+marched out on the last day but three of the month before Carneus, and
+keeping this as the day during the whole time that they were out,
+invaded and plundered Epidaurus.  The Epidaurians summoned their allies
+to their aid, some of whom pleaded the month as an excuse; others came
+as far as the frontier of Epidaurus and there remained inactive.
+
+While the Argives were in Epidaurus embassies from the cities
+assembled at Mantinea, upon the invitation of the Athenians.  The
+conference having begun, the Corinthian Euphamidas said that their
+actions did not agree with their words; while they were sitting
+deliberating about peace, the Epidaurians and their allies and the
+Argives were arrayed against each other in arms; deputies from each
+party should first go and separate the armies, and then the talk about
+peace might be resumed.  In compliance with this suggestion, they
+went and brought back the Argives from Epidaurus, and afterwards
+reassembled, but without succeeding any better in coming to a
+conclusion; and the Argives a second time invaded Epidaurus and
+plundered the country.  The Lacedaemonians also marched out to
+Caryae; but the frontier sacrifices again proving unfavourable, they
+went back again, and the Argives, after ravaging about a third of
+the Epidaurian territory, returned home.  Meanwhile a thousand Athenian
+heavy infantry had come to their aid under the command of
+Alcibiades, but finding that the Lacedaemonian expedition was at an
+end, and that they were no longer wanted, went back again.
+
+So passed the summer.  The next winter the Lacedaemonians managed
+to elude the vigilance of the Athenians, and sent in a garrison of
+three hundred men to Epidaurus, under the command of Agesippidas.  Upon
+this the Argives went to the Athenians and complained of their
+having allowed an enemy to pass by sea, in spite of the clause in
+the treaty by which the allies were not to allow an enemy to pass
+through their country.  Unless, therefore, they now put the
+Messenians and Helots in Pylos to annoy the Lacedaemonians, they,
+the Argives, should consider that faith had not been kept with them.
+The Athenians were persuaded by Alcibiades to inscribe at the bottom
+of the Laconian pillar that the Lacedaemonians had not kept their
+oaths, and to convey the Helots at Cranii to Pylos to plunder the
+country; but for the rest they remained quiet as before.  During this
+winter hostilities went on between the Argives and Epidaurians,
+without any pitched battle taking place, but only forays and
+ambuscades, in which the losses were small and fell now on one side
+and now on the other.  At the close of the winter, towards the
+beginning of spring, the Argives went with scaling ladders to
+Epidaurus, expecting to find it left unguarded on account of the war
+and to be able to take it by assault, but returned unsuccessful.  And
+the winter ended, and with it the thirteenth year of the war ended
+also.
+
+In the middle of the next summer the Lacedaemonians, seeing the
+Epidaurians, their allies, in distress, and the rest of Peloponnese
+either in revolt or disaffected, concluded that it was high time for
+them to interfere if they wished to stop the progress of the evil, and
+accordingly with their full force, the Helots included, took the field
+against Argos, under the command of Agis, son of Archidamus, king of
+the Lacedaemonians.  The Tegeans and the other Arcadian allies of
+Lacedaemon joined in the expedition.  The allies from the rest of
+Peloponnese and from outside mustered at Phlius; the Boeotians with
+five thousand heavy infantry and as many light troops, and five
+hundred horse and the same number of dismounted troopers; the
+Corinthians with two thousand heavy infantry; the rest more or less as
+might happen; and the Phliasians with all their forces, the army being
+in their country.
+
+The preparations of the Lacedaemonians from the first had been known
+to the Argives, who did not, however, take the field until the enemy
+was on his road to join the rest at Phlius.  Reinforced by the
+Mantineans with their allies, and by three thousand Elean heavy
+infantry, they advanced and fell in with the Lacedaemonians at
+Methydrium in Arcadia.  Each party took up its position upon a hill,
+and the Argives prepared to engage the Lacedaemonians while they
+were alone; but Agis eluded them by breaking up his camp in the night,
+and proceeded to join the rest of the allies at Phlius.  The Argives
+discovering this at daybreak, marched first to Argos and then to the
+Nemean road, by which they expected the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies would come down.  However, Agis, instead of taking this road
+as they expected, gave the Lacedaemonians, Arcadians, and
+Epidaurians their orders, and went along another difficult road, and
+descended into the plain of Argos.  The Corinthians, Pellenians, and
+Phliasians marched by another steep road; while the Boeotians,
+Megarians, and Sicyonians had instructions to come down by the
+Nemean road where the Argives were posted, in order that, if the enemy
+advanced into the plain against the troops of Agis, they might fall
+upon his rear with their cavalry.  These dispositions concluded, Agis
+invaded the plain and began to ravage Saminthus and other places.
+
+Discovering this, the Argives came up from Nemea, day having now
+dawned.  On their way they fell in with the troops of the Phliasians
+and Corinthians, and killed a few of the Phliasians and had perhaps
+a few more of their own men killed by the Corinthians.  Meanwhile the
+Boeotians, Megarians, and Sicyonians, advancing upon Nemea according
+to their instructions, found the Argives no longer there, as they
+had gone down on seeing their property ravaged, and were now forming
+for battle, the Lacedaemonians imitating their example.  The Argives
+were now completely surrounded; from the plain the Lacedaemonians
+and their allies shut them off from their city; above them were the
+Corinthians, Phliasians, and Pellenians; and on the side of Nemea
+the Boeotians, Sicyonians, and Megarians.  Meanwhile their army was
+without cavalry, the Athenians alone among the allies not having yet
+arrived.  Now the bulk of the Argives and their allies did not see
+the danger of their position, but thought that they could not have a
+fairer field, having intercepted the Lacedaemonians in their own
+country and close to the city.  Two men, however, in the Argive army,
+Thrasylus, one of the five generals, and Alciphron, the
+Lacedaemonian proxenus, just as the armies were upon the point of
+engaging, went and held a parley with Agis and urged him not to
+bring on a battle, as the Argives were ready to refer to fair and
+equal arbitration whatever complaints the Lacedaemonians might have
+against them, and to make a treaty and live in peace in future.
+
+The Argives who made these statements did so upon their own
+authority, not by order of the people, and Agis on his accepted
+their proposals, and without himself either consulting the majority,
+simply communicated the matter to a single individual, one of the high
+officers accompanying the expedition, and granted the Argives a
+truce for four months, in which to fulfil their promises; after
+which he immediately led off the army without giving any explanation
+to any of the other allies.  The Lacedaemonians and allies followed
+their general out of respect for the law, but amongst themselves
+loudly blamed Agis for going away from so fair a field (the enemy
+being hemmed in on every side by infantry and cavalry) without
+having done anything worthy of their strength.  Indeed this was by
+far the finest Hellenic army ever yet brought together; and it
+should have been seen while it was still united at Nemea, with the
+Lacedaemonians in full force, the Arcadians, Boeotians, Corinthians,
+Sicyonians, Pellenians, Phliasians and Megarians, and all these the
+flower of their respective populations, thinking themselves a match
+not merely for the Argive confederacy, but for another such added to
+it.  The army thus retired blaming Agis, and returned every man to
+his home.  The Argives however blamed still more loudly the persons who
+had concluded the truce without consulting the people, themselves
+thinking that they had let escape with the Lacedaemonians an
+opportunity such as they should never see again; as the struggle would
+have been under the walls of their city, and by the side of many and
+brave allies.  On their return accordingly they began to stone
+Thrasylus in the bed of the Charadrus, where they try all military
+causes before entering the city.  Thrasylus fled to the altar, and so
+saved his life; his property however they confiscated.
+
+After this arrived a thousand Athenian heavy infantry and three
+hundred horse, under the command of Laches and Nicostratus; whom the
+Argives, being nevertheless loath to break the truce with the
+Lacedaemonians, begged to depart, and refused to bring before the
+people, to whom they had a communication to make, until compelled to
+do so by the entreaties of the Mantineans and Eleans, who were still
+at Argos.  The Athenians, by the mouth of Alcibiades their ambassador
+there present, told the Argives and the allies that they had no
+right to make a truce at all without the consent of their fellow
+confederates, and now that the Athenians had arrived so opportunely
+the war ought to be resumed.  These arguments proving successful with
+the allies, they immediately marched upon Orchomenos, all except the
+Argives, who, although they had consented like the rest, stayed behind
+at first, but eventually joined the others.  They now all sat down
+and besieged Orchomenos, and made assaults upon it; one of their
+reasons for desiring to gain this place being that hostages from
+Arcadia had been lodged there by the Lacedaemonians.  The Orchomenians,
+alarmed at the weakness of their wall and the numbers of the enemy,
+and at the risk they ran of perishing before relief arrived,
+capitulated upon condition of joining the league, of giving hostages
+of their own to the Mantineans, and giving up those lodged with them
+by the Lacedaemonians.  Orchomenos thus secured, the allies now
+consulted as to which of the remaining places they should attack next.
+The Eleans were urgent for Lepreum; the Mantineans for Tegea; and
+the Argives and Athenians giving their support to the Mantineans,
+the Eleans went home in a rage at their not having voted for
+Lepreum; while the rest of the allies made ready at Mantinea for going
+against Tegea, which a party inside had arranged to put into their
+hands.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, upon their return from Argos after
+concluding the four months' truce, vehemently blamed Agis for not
+having subdued Argos, after an opportunity such as they thought they
+had never had before; for it was no easy matter to bring so many and
+so good allies together.  But when the news arrived of the capture of
+Orchomenos, they became more angry than ever, and, departing from
+all precedent, in the heat of the moment had almost decided to raze
+his house, and to fine him ten thousand drachmae.  Agis however
+entreated them to do none of these things, promising to atone for
+his fault by good service in the field, failing which they might
+then do to him whatever they pleased; and they accordingly abstained
+from razing his house or fining him as they had threatened to do,
+and now made a law, hitherto unknown at Lacedaemon, attaching to him
+ten Spartans as counsellors, without whose consent he should have no
+power to lead an army out of the city.
+
+At this juncture arrived word from their friends in Tegea that,
+unless they speedily appeared, Tegea would go over from them to the
+Argives and their allies, if it had not gone over already.  Upon this
+news a force marched out from Lacedaemon, of the Spartans and Helots
+and all their people, and that instantly and upon a scale never before
+witnessed.  Advancing to Orestheum in Maenalia, they directed the
+Arcadians in their league to follow close after them to Tegea, and,
+going on themselves as far as Orestheum, from thence sent back the
+sixth part of the Spartans, consisting of the oldest and youngest men,
+to guard their homes, and with the rest of their army arrived at
+Tegea; where their Arcadian allies soon after joined them.  Meanwhile
+they sent to Corinth, to the Boeotians, the Phocians, and Locrians,
+with orders to come up as quickly as possible to Mantinea.  These had
+but short notice; and it was not easy except all together, and after
+waiting for each other, to pass through the enemy's country, which lay
+right across and blocked up the line of communication.  Nevertheless
+they made what haste they could.  Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians with the
+Arcadian allies that had joined them, entered the territory of
+Mantinea, and encamping near the temple of Heracles began to plunder
+the country.
+
+Here they were seen by the Argives and their allies, who immediately
+took up a strong and difficult position, and formed in order of
+battle.  The Lacedaemonians at once advanced against them, and came
+on within a stone's throw or javelin's cast, when one of the older
+men, seeing the enemy's position to be a strong one, hallooed to
+Agis that he was minded to cure one evil with another; meaning that he
+wished to make amends for his retreat, which had been so much
+blamed, from Argos, by his present untimely precipitation.  Meanwhile
+Agis, whether in consequence of this halloo or of some sudden new idea
+of his own, quickly led back his army without engaging, and entering
+the Tegean territory, began to turn off into that of Mantinea the
+water about which the Mantineans and Tegeans are always fighting, on
+account of the extensive damage it does to whichever of the two
+countries it falls into.  His object in this was to make the Argives
+and their allies come down from the hill, to resist the diversion of
+the water, as they would be sure to do when they knew of it, and
+thus to fight the battle in the plain.  He accordingly stayed that
+day where he was, engaged in turning off the water.  The Argives and
+their allies were at first amazed at the sudden retreat of the enemy
+after advancing so near, and did not know what to make of it; but when
+he had gone away and disappeared, without their having stirred to
+pursue him, they began anew to find fault with their generals, who had
+not only let the Lacedaemonians get off before, when they were so
+happily intercepted before Argos, but who now again allowed them to
+run away, without any one pursuing them, and to escape at their
+leisure while the Argive army was leisurely betrayed.
+  The generals, half-stunned for the moment, afterwards led them
+down from the hill, and went forward and encamped in the plain, with
+the intention of attacking the enemy.
+
+The next day the Argives and their allies formed in the order in
+which they meant to fight, if they chanced to encounter the enemy; and
+the Lacedaemonians returning from the water to their old encampment by
+the temple of Heracles, suddenly saw their adversaries close in
+front of them, all in complete order, and advanced from the hill.  A
+shock like that of the present moment the Lacedaemonians do not ever
+remember to have experienced: there was scant time for preparation, as
+they instantly and hastily fell into their ranks, Agis, their king,
+directing everything, agreeably to the law.  For when a king is in
+the field all commands proceed from him: he gives the word to the
+Polemarchs; they to the Lochages; these to the Pentecostyes; these
+again to the Enomotarchs, and these last to the Enomoties.  In short
+all orders required pass in the same way and quickly reach the troops;
+as almost the whole Lacedaemonian army, save for a small part,
+consists of officers under officers, and the care of what is to be
+done falls upon many.
+
+In this battle the left wing was composed of the Sciritae, who in
+a Lacedaemonian army have always that post to themselves alone; next
+to these were the soldiers of Brasidas from Thrace, and the Neodamodes
+with them; then came the Lacedaemonians themselves, company after
+company, with the Arcadians of Heraea at their side.  After these
+were the Maenalians, and on the right wing the Tegeans with a few of
+the Lacedaemonians at the extremity; their cavalry being posted upon
+the two wings.  Such was the Lacedaemonian formation.  That of their
+opponents was as follows: On the right were the Mantineans, the action
+taking place in their country; next to them the allies from Arcadia;
+after whom came the thousand picked men of the Argives, to whom the
+state had given a long course of military training at the public
+expense; next to them the rest of the Argives, and after them their
+allies, the Cleonaeans and Orneans, and lastly the Athenians on the
+extreme left, and lastly the Athenians on the extreme left, and
+their own cavalry with them.
+
+Such were the order and the forces of the two combatants.  The
+Lacedaemonian army looked the largest; though as to putting down the
+numbers of either host, or of the contingents composing it, I could
+not do so with any accuracy.  Owing to the secrecy of their
+government the number of the Lacedaemonians was not known, and men are
+so apt to brag about the forces of their country that the estimate
+of their opponents was not trusted.  The following calculation,
+however, makes it possible to estimate the numbers of the
+Lacedaemonians present upon this occasion.  There were seven
+companies in the field without counting the Sciritae, who numbered six
+hundred men: in each company there were four Pentecostyes, and in
+the Pentecosty four Enomoties.  The first rank of the Enomoty was
+composed of four soldiers: as to the depth, although they had not been
+all drawn up alike, but as each captain chose, they were generally
+ranged eight deep; the first rank along the whole line, exclusive of
+the Sciritae, consisted of four hundred and forty-eight men.
+
+The armies being now on the eve of engaging, each contingent
+received some words of encouragement from its own commander.  The
+Mantineans were, reminded that they were going to fight for their
+country and to avoid returning to the experience of servitude after
+having tasted that of empire; the Argives, that they would contend for
+their ancient supremacy, to regain their once equal share of
+Peloponnese of which they had been so long deprived, and to punish
+an enemy and a neighbour for a thousand wrongs; the Athenians, of
+the glory of gaining the honours of the day with so many and brave
+allies in arms, and that a victory over the Lacedaemonians in
+Peloponnese would cement and extend their empire, and would besides
+preserve Attica from all invasions in future.  These were the
+incitements addressed to the Argives and their allies.  The
+Lacedaemonians meanwhile, man to man, and with their war-songs in
+the ranks, exhorted each brave comrade to remember what he had
+learnt before; well aware that the long training of action was of more
+saving virtue than any brief verbal exhortation, though never so
+well delivered.
+
+After this they joined battle, the Argives and their allies
+advancing with haste and fury, the Lacedaemonians slowly and to the
+music of many flute-players--a standing institution in their army,
+that has nothing to do with religion, but is meant to make them
+advance evenly, stepping in time, without break their order, as
+large armies are apt to do in the moment of engaging.
+
+Just before the battle joined, King Agis resolved upon the following
+manoeuvre.  All armies are alike in this: on going into action they get
+forced out rather on their right wing, and one and the other overlap
+with this adversary's left; because fear makes each man do his best to
+shelter his unarmed side with the shield of the man next him on the
+right, thinking that the closer the shields are locked together the
+better will he be protected.  The man primarily responsible for this is
+the first upon the right wing, who is always striving to withdraw from
+the enemy his unarmed side; and the same apprehension makes the rest
+follow him.  On the present occasion the Mantineans reached with
+their wing far beyond the Sciritae, and the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans
+still farther beyond the Athenians, as their army was the largest.
+Agis, afraid of his left being surrounded, and thinking that the
+Mantineans outflanked it too far, ordered the Sciritae and
+Brasideans to move out from their place in the ranks and make the line
+even with the Mantineans, and told the Polemarchs Hipponoidas and
+Aristocles to fill up the gap thus formed, by throwing themselves into
+it with two companies taken from the right wing; thinking that his
+right would still be strong enough and to spare, and that the line
+fronting the Mantineans would gain in solidity.
+
+However, as he gave these orders in the moment of the onset, and
+at short notice, it so happened that Aristocles and Hipponoidas
+would not move over, for which offence they were afterwards banished
+from Sparta, as having been guilty of cowardice; and the enemy
+meanwhile closed before the Sciritae (whom Agis on seeing that the two
+companies did not move over ordered to return to their place) had time
+to fill up the breach in question.  Now it was, however, that the
+Lacedaemonians, utterly worsted in respect of skill, showed themselves
+as superior in point of courage.  As soon as they came to close
+quarters with the enemy, the Mantinean right broke their Sciritae
+and Brasideans, and, bursting in with their allies and the thousand
+picked Argives into the unclosed breach in their line, cut up and
+surrounded the Lacedaemonians, and drove them in full rout to the
+wagons, slaying some of the older men on guard there.  But the
+Lacedaemonians, worsted in this part of the field, with the rest of
+their army, and especially the centre, where the three hundred
+knights, as they are called, fought round King Agis, fell on the older
+men of the Argives and the five companies so named, and on the
+Cleonaeans, the Orneans, and the Athenians next them, and instantly
+routed them; the greater number not even waiting to strike a blow, but
+giving way the moment that they came on, some even being trodden under
+foot, in their fear of being overtaken by their assailants.
+
+The army of the Argives and their allies, having given way in this
+quarter, was now completely cut in two, and the Lacedaemonian and
+Tegean right simultaneously closing round the Athenians with the
+troops that outflanked them, these last found themselves placed
+between two fires, being surrounded on one side and already defeated
+on the other.  Indeed they would have suffered more severely than any
+other part of the army, but for the services of the cavalry which they
+had with them.  Agis also on perceiving the distress of his left
+opposed to the Mantineans and the thousand Argives, ordered all the
+army to advance to the support of the defeated wing; and while this
+took place, as the enemy moved past and slanted away from them, the
+Athenians escaped at their leisure, and with them the beaten Argive
+division.  Meanwhile the Mantineans and their allies and the picked
+body of the Argives ceased to press the enemy, and seeing their
+friends defeated and the Lacedaemonians in full advance upon them,
+took to flight.  Many of the Mantineans perished; but the bulk of the
+picked body of the Argives made good their escape.  The flight and
+retreat, however, were neither hurried nor long; the Lacedaemonians
+fighting long and stubbornly until the rout of their enemy, but that
+once effected, pursuing for a short time and not far.
+
+Such was the battle, as nearly as possible as I have described it;
+the greatest that had occurred for a very long while among the
+Hellenes, and joined by the most considerable states.  The
+Lacedaemonians took up a position in front of the enemy's dead, and
+immediately set up a trophy and stripped the slain; they took up their
+own dead and carried them back to Tegea, where they buried them, and
+restored those of the enemy under truce.  The Argives, Orneans, and
+Cleonaeans had seven hundred killed; the Mantineans two hundred, and
+the Athenians and Aeginetans also two hundred, with both their
+generals.  On the side of the Lacedaemonians, the allies did not suffer
+any loss worth speaking of: as to the Lacedaemonians themselves it was
+difficult to learn the truth; it is said, however, that there were
+slain about three hundred of them.
+
+While the battle was impending, Pleistoanax, the other king, set out
+with a reinforcement composed of the oldest and youngest men, and
+got as far as Tegea, where he heard of the victory and went back
+again.  The Lacedaemonians also sent and turned back the allies from
+Corinth and from beyond the Isthmus, and returning themselves
+dismissed their allies, and kept the Carnean holidays, which
+happened to be at that time.  The imputations cast upon them by the
+Hellenes at the time, whether of cowardice on account of the
+disaster in the island, or of mismanagement and slowness generally,
+were all wiped out by this single action: fortune, it was thought,
+might have humbled them, but the men themselves were the same as ever.
+
+The day before this battle, the Epidaurians with all their forces
+invaded the deserted Argive territory, and cut off many of the
+guards left there in the absence of the Argive army.  After the
+battle three thousand Elean heavy infantry arriving to aid the
+Mantineans, and a reinforcement of one thousand Athenians, all these
+allies marched at once against Epidaurus, while the Lacedaemonians
+were keeping the Carnea, and dividing the work among them began to
+build a wall round the city.  The rest left off; but the Athenians
+finished at once the part assigned to them round Cape Heraeum; and
+having all joined in leaving a garrison in the fortification in
+question, they returned to their respective cities.
+
+Summer now came to an end.  In the first days of the next winter,
+when the Carnean holidays were over, the Lacedaemonians took the
+field, and arriving at Tegea sent on to Argos proposals of
+accommodation.  They had before had a party in the town desirous of
+overthrowing the democracy; and after the battle that had been fought,
+these were now far more in a position to persuade the people to listen
+to terms.  Their plan was first to make a treaty with the
+Lacedaemonians, to be followed by an alliance, and after this to
+fall upon the commons.  Lichas, son of Arcesilaus, the Argive proxenus,
+accordingly arrived at Argos with two proposals from Lacedaemon, to
+regulate the conditions of war or peace, according as they preferred
+the one or the other.  After much discussion, Alcibiades happening to
+be in the town, the Lacedaemonian party, who now ventured to act
+openly, persuaded the Argives to accept the proposal for
+accommodation; which ran as follows:
+
+The assembly of the Lacedaemonians agrees to treat with the
+Argives upon the terms following:
+
+1.  The Argives shall restore to the Orchomenians their children,
+and to the Maenalians their men, and shall restore the men they have
+in Mantinea to the Lacedaemonians.
+
+2.  They shall evacuate Epidaurus, and raze the fortification
+there.  If the Athenians refuse to withdraw from Epidaurus, they
+shall be declared enemies of the Argives and of the Lacedaemonians,
+and of the allies of the Lacedaemonians and the allies of the Argives.
+
+3.  If the Lacedaemonians have any children in their custody,
+they shall restore them every one to his city.
+
+4.  As to the offering to the god, the Argives, if they wish, shall
+impose an oath upon the Epidaurians, but, if not, they shall swear
+it themselves.
+
+5.  All the cities in Peloponnese, both small and great, shall be
+independent according to the customs of their country.
+
+6.  If any of the powers outside Peloponnese invade Peloponnesian
+territory, the parties contracting shall unite to repel them, on
+such terms as they may agree upon, as being most fair for the
+Peloponnesians.
+
+7.  All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be
+on the same footing as the Lacedaemonians, and the allies of the
+Argives shall be on the same footing as the Argives, being left in
+enjoyment of their own possessions.
+
+8.  This treaty shall be shown to the allies, and shall be concluded,
+if they approve; if the allies think fit, they may send the treaty
+to be considered at home.
+
+The Argives began by accepting this proposal, and the
+Lacedaemonian army returned home from Tegea.  After this intercourse
+was renewed between them, and not long afterwards the same party
+contrived that the Argives should give up the league with the
+Mantineans, Eleans, and Athenians, and should make a treaty and
+alliance with the Lacedaemonians; which was consequently done upon the
+terms following:
+
+The Lacedaemonians and Argives agree to a treaty and alliance
+for fifty years upon the terms following:
+
+1.  All disputes shall be decided by fair and impartial
+arbitration, agreeably to the customs of the two countries.
+
+2.  The rest of the cities in Peloponnese may be included in this
+treaty and alliance, as independent and sovereign, in full enjoyment
+of what they possess, all disputes being decided by fair and impartial
+arbitration, agreeably to the customs of the said cities.
+
+3.  All allies of the Lacedaemonians outside Peloponnese shall be
+upon the same footing as the Lacedaemonians themselves, and the allies
+of the Argives shall be upon the same footing as the Argives
+themselves, continuing to enjoy what they possess.
+
+4.  If it shall be anywhere necessary to make an expedition in
+common, the Lacedaemonians and Argives shall consult upon it and
+decide, as may be most fair for the allies.
+
+5.  If any of the cities, whether inside or outside Peloponnese,
+have a question whether of frontiers or otherwise, it must be settled,
+but if one allied city should have a quarrel with another allied city,
+it must be referred to some third city thought impartial by both
+parties.  Private citizens shall have their disputes decided
+according to the laws of their several countries.
+
+The treaty and above alliance concluded, each party at once released
+everything whether acquired by war or otherwise, and thenceforth
+acting in common voted to receive neither herald nor embassy from
+the Athenians unless they evacuated their forts and withdrew from
+Peloponnese, and also to make neither peace nor war with any, except
+jointly.  Zeal was not wanting: both parties sent envoys to the
+Thracian places and to Perdiccas, and persuaded the latter to join
+their league.  Still he did not at once break off from Athens, although
+minded to do so upon seeing the way shown him by Argos, the original
+home of his family.  They also renewed their old oaths with the
+Chalcidians and took new ones: the Argives, besides, sent
+ambassadors to the Athenians, bidding them evacuate the fort at
+Epidaurus.  The Athenians, seeing their own men outnumbered by the rest
+of the garrison, sent Demosthenes to bring them out.  This general,
+under colour of a gymnastic contest which he arranged on his
+arrival, got the rest of the garrison out of the place, and shut the
+gates behind them.  Afterwards the Athenians renewed their treaty
+with the Epidaurians, and by themselves gave up the fortress.
+
+After the defection of Argos from the league, the Mantineans, though
+they held out at first, in the end finding themselves powerless
+without the Argives, themselves too came to terms with Lacedaemon, and
+gave up their sovereignty over the towns.  The Lacedaemonians and
+Argives, each a thousand strong, now took the field together, and
+the former first went by themselves to Sicyon and made the
+government there more oligarchical than before, and then both,
+uniting, put down the democracy at Argos and set up an oligarchy
+favourable to Lacedaemon.  These events occurred at the close of the
+winter, just before spring; and the fourteenth year of the war
+ended.  The next summer the people of Dium, in Athos, revolted from the
+Athenians to the Chalcidians, and the Lacedaemonians settled affairs
+in Achaea in a way more agreeable to the interests of their country.
+Meanwhile the popular party at Argos little by little gathered new
+consistency and courage, and waited for the moment of the
+Gymnopaedic festival at Lacedaemon, and then fell upon the
+oligarchs.  After a fight in the city, victory declared for the
+commons, who slew some of their opponents and banished others.  The
+Lacedaemonians for a long while let the messages of their friends at
+Argos remain without effect.  At last they put off the Gymnopaediae and
+marched to their succour, but learning at Tegea the defeat of the
+oligarchs, refused to go any further in spite of the entreaties of
+those who had escaped, and returned home and kept the festival.
+Later on, envoys arrived with messages from the Argives in the town
+and from the exiles, when the allies were also at Sparta; and after
+much had been said on both sides, the Lacedaemonians decided that
+the party in the town had done wrong, and resolved to march against
+Argos, but kept delaying and putting off the matter.  Meanwhile the
+commons at Argos, in fear of the Lacedaemonians, began again to
+court the Athenian alliance, which they were convinced would be of the
+greatest service to them; and accordingly proceeded to build long
+walls to the sea, in order that in case of a blockade by land; with
+the help of the Athenians they might have the advantage of importing
+what they wanted by sea.  Some of the cities in Peloponnese were also
+privy to the building of these walls; and the Argives with all their
+people, women and slaves not excepted, addressed themselves to the
+work, while carpenters and masons came to them from Athens.
+
+Summer was now over.  The winter following the Lacedaemonians,
+hearing of the walls that were building, marched against Argos with
+their allies, the Corinthians excepted, being also not without
+intelligence in the city itself; Agis, son of Archidamus, their
+king, was in command.  The intelligence which they counted upon
+within the town came to nothing; they however took and razed the walls
+which were being built, and after capturing the Argive town Hysiae and
+killing all the freemen that fell into their hands, went back and
+dispersed every man to his city.  After this the Argives marched into
+Phlius and plundered it for harbouring their exiles, most of whom
+had settled there, and so returned home.  The same winter the Athenians
+blockaded Macedonia, on the score of the league entered into by
+Perdiccas with the Argives and Lacedaemonians, and also of his
+breach of his engagements on the occasion of the expedition prepared
+by Athens against the Chalcidians in the direction of Thrace and
+against Amphipolis, under the command of Nicias, son of Niceratus,
+which had to be broken up mainly because of his desertion.  He was
+therefore proclaimed an enemy.  And thus the winter ended, and the
+fifteenth year of the war ended with it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+_Sixteenth Year of the War - The Melian Conference - Fate of Melos_
+
+The next summer Alcibiades sailed with twenty ships to Argos and
+seized the suspected persons still left of the Lacedaemonian faction
+to the number of three hundred, whom the Athenians forthwith lodged in
+the neighbouring islands of their empire.  The Athenians also made an
+expedition against the isle of Melos with thirty ships of their own,
+six Chian, and two Lesbian vessels, sixteen hundred heavy infantry,
+three hundred archers, and twenty mounted archers from Athens, and
+about fifteen hundred heavy infantry from the allies and the
+islanders.  The Melians are a colony of Lacedaemon that would not
+submit to the Athenians like the other islanders, and at first
+remained neutral and took no part in the struggle, but afterwards upon
+the Athenians using violence and plundering their territory, assumed
+an attitude of open hostility.  Cleomedes, son of Lycomedes, and
+Tisias, son of Tisimachus, the generals, encamping in their
+territory with the above armament, before doing any harm to their
+land, sent envoys to negotiate.  These the Melians did not bring before
+the people, but bade them state the object of their mission to the
+magistrates and the few; upon which the Athenian envoys spoke as
+follows:
+
+Athenians.  Since the negotiations are not to go on before the
+people, in order that we may not be able to speak straight on
+without interruption, and deceive the ears of the multitude by
+seductive arguments which would pass without refutation (for we know
+that this is the meaning of our being brought before the few), what if
+you who sit there were to pursue a method more cautious still? Make no
+set speech yourselves, but take us up at whatever you do not like, and
+settle that before going any farther.  And first tell us if this
+proposition of ours suits you.
+
+The Melian commissioners answered:
+
+Melians.  To the fairness of quietly instructing each other as you
+propose there is nothing to object; but your military preparations are
+too far advanced to agree with what you say, as we see you are come to
+be judges in your own cause, and that all we can reasonably expect
+from this negotiation is war, if we prove to have right on our side
+and refuse to submit, and in the contrary case, slavery.
+
+Athenians.  If you have met to reason about presentiments of the
+future, or for anything else than to consult for the safety of your
+state upon the facts that you see before you, we will give over;
+otherwise we will go on.
+
+Melians.  It is natural and excusable for men in our position to turn
+more ways than one both in thought and utterance.  However, the
+question in this conference is, as you say, the safety of our country;
+and the discussion, if you please, can proceed in the way which you
+propose.
+
+Athenians.  For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious
+pretences--either of how we have a right to our empire because we
+overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you
+have done us--and make a long speech which would not be believed; and
+in return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by
+saying that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their
+colonists, or that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is
+feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of us both; since you
+know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in
+question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can
+and the weak suffer what they must.
+
+Melians.  As we think, at any rate, it is expedient--we speak as we
+are obliged, since you enjoin us to let right alone and talk only of
+interest--that you should not destroy what is our common protection,
+the privilege of being allowed in danger to invoke what is fair and
+right, and even to profit by arguments not strictly valid if they
+can be got to pass current.  And you are as much interested in this
+as any, as your fall would be a signal for the heaviest vengeance
+and an example for the world to meditate upon.
+
+Athenians.  The end of our empire, if end it should, does not
+frighten us: a rival empire like Lacedaemon, even if Lacedaemon was
+our real antagonist, is not so terrible to the vanquished as
+subjects who by themselves attack and overpower their rulers.  This,
+however, is a risk that we are content to take.  We will now proceed to
+show you that we are come here in the interest of our empire, and that
+we shall say what we are now going to say, for the preservation of
+your country; as we would fain exercise that empire over you without
+trouble, and see you preserved for the good of us both.
+
+Melians.  And how, pray, could it turn out as good for us to serve as
+for you to rule?
+
+Athenians.  Because you would have the advantage of submitting before
+suffering the worst, and we should gain by not destroying you.
+
+Melians.  So that you would not consent to our being neutral, friends
+instead of enemies, but allies of neither side.
+
+Athenians.  No; for your hostility cannot so much hurt us as your
+friendship will be an argument to our subjects of our weakness, and
+your enmity of our power.
+
+Melians.  Is that your subjects' idea of equity, to put those who
+have nothing to do with you in the same category with peoples that are
+most of them your own colonists, and some conquered rebels?
+
+Athenians.  As far as right goes they think one has as much of it
+as the other, and that if any maintain their independence it is
+because they are strong, and that if we do not molest them it is
+because we are afraid; so that besides extending our empire we
+should gain in security by your subjection; the fact that you are
+islanders and weaker than others rendering it all the more important
+that you should not succeed in baffling the masters of the sea.
+
+Melians.  But do you consider that there is no security in the policy
+which we indicate? For here again if you debar us from talking about
+justice and invite us to obey your interest, we also must explain
+ours, and try to persuade you, if the two happen to coincide.  How
+can you avoid making enemies of all existing neutrals who shall look
+at case from it that one day or another you will attack them? And what
+is this but to make greater the enemies that you have already, and
+to force others to become so who would otherwise have never thought of
+it?
+
+Athenians.  Why, the fact is that continentals generally give us
+but little alarm; the liberty which they enjoy will long prevent their
+taking precautions against us; it is rather islanders like yourselves,
+outside our empire, and subjects smarting under the yoke, who would be
+the most likely to take a rash step and lead themselves and us into
+obvious danger.
+
+Melians.  Well then, if you risk so much to retain your empire, and
+your subjects to get rid of it, it were surely great baseness and
+cowardice in us who are still free not to try everything that can be
+tried, before submitting to your yoke.
+
+Athenians.  Not if you are well advised, the contest not being an
+equal one, with honour as the prize and shame as the penalty, but a
+question of self-preservation and of not resisting those who are far
+stronger than you are.
+
+Melians.  But we know that the fortune of war is sometimes more
+impartial than the disproportion of numbers might lead one to suppose;
+to submit is to give ourselves over to despair, while action still
+preserves for us a hope that we may stand erect.
+
+Athenians.  Hope, danger's comforter, may be indulged in by those who
+have abundant resources, if not without loss at all events without
+ruin; but its nature is to be extravagant, and those who go so far
+as to put their all upon the venture see it in its true colours only
+when they are ruined; but so long as the discovery would enable them
+to guard against it, it is never found wanting.  Let not this be the
+case with you, who are weak and hang on a single turn of the scale;
+nor be like the vulgar, who, abandoning such security as human means
+may still afford, when visible hopes fail them in extremity, turn to
+invisible, to prophecies and oracles, and other such inventions that
+delude men with hopes to their destruction.
+
+Melians.  You may be sure that we are as well aware as you of the
+difficulty of contending against your power and fortune, unless the
+terms be equal.  But we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as
+good as yours, since we are just men fighting against unjust, and that
+what we want in power will be made up by the alliance of the
+Lacedaemonians, who are bound, if only for very shame, to come to
+the aid of their kindred.  Our confidence, therefore, after all is
+not so utterly irrational.
+
+Athenians.  When you speak of the favour of the gods, we may as
+fairly hope for that as yourselves; neither our pretensions nor our
+conduct being in any way contrary to what men believe of the gods,
+or practise among themselves.  Of the gods we believe, and of men we
+know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever
+they can.  And it is not as if we were the first to make this law, or
+to act upon it when made: we found it existing before us, and shall
+leave it to exist for ever after us; all we do is to make use of it,
+knowing that you and everybody else, having the same power as we have,
+would do the same as we do.  Thus, as far as the gods are concerned, we
+have no fear and no reason to fear that we shall be at a disadvantage.
+But when we come to your notion about the Lacedaemonians, which
+leads you to believe that shame will make them help you, here we bless
+your simplicity but do not envy your folly.  The Lacedaemonians, when
+their own interests or their country's laws are in question, are the
+worthiest men alive; of their conduct towards others much might be
+said, but no clearer idea of it could be given than by shortly
+saying that of all the men we know they are most conspicuous in
+considering what is agreeable honourable, and what is expedient
+just.  Such a way of thinking does not promise much for the safety
+which you now unreasonably count upon.
+
+Melians.  But it is for this very reason that we now trust to their
+respect for expediency to prevent them from betraying the Melians,
+their colonists, and thereby losing the confidence of their friends in
+Hellas and helping their enemies.
+
+Athenians.  Then you do not adopt the view that expediency goes
+with security, while justice and honour cannot be followed without
+danger; and danger the Lacedaemonians generally court as little as
+possible.
+
+Melians.  But we believe that they would be more likely to face
+even danger for our sake, and with more confidence than for others, as
+our nearness to Peloponnese makes it easier for them to act, and our
+common blood ensures our fidelity.
+
+Athenians.  Yes, but what an intending ally trusts to is not the
+goodwill of those who ask his aid, but a decided superiority of
+power for action; and the Lacedaemonians look to this even more than
+others.  At least, such is their distrust of their home resources
+that it is only with numerous allies that they attack a neighbour; now
+is it likely that while we are masters of the sea they will cross over
+to an island?
+
+Melians.  But they would have others to send.  The Cretan Sea is a
+wide one, and it is more difficult for those who command it to
+intercept others, than for those who wish to elude them to do so
+safely.  And should the Lacedaemonians miscarry in this, they would
+fall upon your land, and upon those left of your allies whom
+Brasidas did not reach; and instead of places which are not yours, you
+will have to fight for your own country and your own confederacy.
+
+Athenians.  Some diversion of the kind you speak of you may one day
+experience, only to learn, as others have done, that the Athenians
+never once yet withdrew from a siege for fear of any.  But we are
+struck by the fact that, after saying you would consult for the safety
+of your country, in all this discussion you have mentioned nothing
+which men might trust in and think to be saved by.  Your strongest
+arguments depend upon hope and the future, and your actual resources
+are too scanty, as compared with those arrayed against you, for you to
+come out victorious.  You will therefore show great blindness of
+judgment, unless, after allowing us to retire, you can find some
+counsel more prudent than this.  You will surely not be caught by
+that idea of disgrace, which in dangers that are disgraceful, and at
+the same time too plain to be mistaken, proves so fatal to mankind;
+since in too many cases the very men that have their eyes perfectly
+open to what they are rushing into, let the thing called disgrace,
+by the mere influence of a seductive name, lead them on to a point
+at which they become so enslaved by the phrase as in fact to fall
+wilfully into hopeless disaster, and incur disgrace more disgraceful
+as the companion of error, than when it comes as the result of
+misfortune.  This, if you are well advised, you will guard against; and
+you will not think it dishonourable to submit to the greatest city
+in Hellas, when it makes you the moderate offer of becoming its
+tributary ally, without ceasing to enjoy the country that belongs to
+you; nor when you have the choice given you between war and
+security, will you be so blinded as to choose the worse.  And it is
+certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms
+with their superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on the
+whole succeed best.  Think over the matter, therefore, after our
+withdrawal, and reflect once and again that it is for your country
+that you are consulting, that you have not more than one, and that
+upon this one deliberation depends its prosperity or ruin.
+
+The Athenians now withdrew from the conference; and the Melians,
+left to themselves, came to a decision corresponding with what they
+had maintained in the discussion, and answered: "Our resolution,
+Athenians, is the same as it was at first.  We will not in a moment
+deprive of freedom a city that has been inhabited these seven
+hundred years; but we put our trust in the fortune by which the gods
+have preserved it until now, and in the help of men, that is, of the
+Lacedaemonians; and so we will try and save ourselves.  Meanwhile we
+invite you to allow us to be friends to you and foes to neither party,
+and to retire from our country after making such a treaty as shall
+seem fit to us both."
+
+Such was the answer of the Melians.  The Athenians now departing from
+the conference said: "Well, you alone, as it seems to us, judging from
+these resolutions, regard what is future as more certain than what
+is before your eyes, and what is out of sight, in your eagerness, as
+already coming to pass; and as you have staked most on, and trusted
+most in, the Lacedaemonians, your fortune, and your hopes, so will you
+be most completely deceived."
+
+The Athenian envoys now returned to the army; and the Melians
+showing no signs of yielding, the generals at once betook themselves
+to hostilities, and drew a line of circumvallation round the
+Melians, dividing the work among the different states.  Subsequently
+the Athenians returned with most of their army, leaving behind them
+a certain number of their own citizens and of the allies to keep guard
+by land and sea.  The force thus left stayed on and besieged the place.
+
+About the same time the Argives invaded the territory of Phlius
+and lost eighty men cut off in an ambush by the Phliasians and
+Argive exiles.  Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos took so much plunder
+from the Lacedaemonians that the latter, although they still refrained
+from breaking off the treaty and going to war with Athens, yet
+proclaimed that any of their people that chose might plunder the
+Athenians.  The Corinthians also commenced hostilities with the
+Athenians for private quarrels of their own; but the rest of the
+Peloponnesians stayed quiet.  Meanwhile the Melians attacked by night
+and took the part of the Athenian lines over against the market, and
+killed some of the men, and brought in corn and all else that they
+could find useful to them, and so returned and kept quiet, while the
+Athenians took measures to keep better guard in future.
+
+Summer was now over.  The next winter the Lacedaemonians intended
+to invade the Argive territory, but arriving at the frontier found the
+sacrifices for crossing unfavourable, and went back again.  This
+intention of theirs gave the Argives suspicions of certain of their
+fellow citizens, some of whom they arrested; others, however,
+escaped them.  About the same time the Melians again took another
+part of the Athenian lines which were but feebly garrisoned.
+Reinforcements afterwards arriving from Athens in consequence, under
+the command of Philocrates, son of Demeas, the siege was now pressed
+vigorously; and some treachery taking place inside, the Melians
+surrendered at discretion to the Athenians, who put to death all the
+grown men whom they took, and sold the women and children for
+slaves, and subsequently sent out five hundred colonists and inhabited
+the place themselves.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+_Seventeenth Year of the War - The Sicilian Campaign -
+Affair of the Hermae - Departure of the Expedition_
+
+The same winter the Athenians resolved to sail again to Sicily, with
+a greater armament than that under Laches and Eurymedon, and, if
+possible, to conquer the island; most of them being ignorant of its
+size and of the number of its inhabitants, Hellenic and barbarian, and
+of the fact that they were undertaking a war not much inferior to that
+against the Peloponnesians.  For the voyage round Sicily in a
+merchantman is not far short of eight days; and yet, large as the
+island is, there are only two miles of sea to prevent its being
+mainland.
+
+It was settled originally as follows, and the peoples that
+occupied it are these.  The earliest inhabitants spoken of in any
+part of the country are the Cyclopes and Laestrygones; but I cannot
+tell of what race they were, or whence they came or whither they went,
+and must leave my readers to what the poets have said of them and to
+what may be generally known concerning them.  The Sicanians appear to
+have been the next settlers, although they pretend to have been the
+first of all and aborigines; but the facts show that they were
+Iberians, driven by the Ligurians from the river Sicanus in Iberia.  It
+was from them that the island, before called Trinacria, took its
+name of Sicania, and to the present day they inhabit the west of
+Sicily.  On the fall of Ilium, some of the Trojans escaped from the
+Achaeans, came in ships to Sicily, and settled next to the Sicanians
+under the general name of Elymi; their towns being called Eryx and
+Egesta.  With them settled some of the Phocians carried on their way
+from Troy by a storm, first to Libya, and afterwards from thence to
+Sicily.  The Sicels crossed over to Sicily from their first home Italy,
+flying from the Opicans, as tradition says and as seems not
+unlikely, upon rafts, having watched till the wind set down the strait
+to effect the passage; although perhaps they may have sailed over in
+some other way.  Even at the present day there are still Sicels in
+Italy; and the country got its name of Italy from Italus, a king of
+the Sicels, so called.  These went with a great host to Sicily,
+defeated the Sicanians in battle and forced them to remove to the
+south and west of the island, which thus came to be called Sicily
+instead of Sicania, and after they crossed over continued to enjoy the
+richest parts of the country for near three hundred years before any
+Hellenes came to Sicily; indeed they still hold the centre and north
+of the island.  There were also Phoenicians living all round Sicily,
+who had occupied promontories upon the sea coasts and the islets
+adjacent for the purpose of trading with the Sicels.  But when the
+Hellenes began to arrive in considerable numbers by sea, the
+Phoenicians abandoned most of their stations, and drawing together
+took up their abode in Motye, Soloeis, and Panormus, near the Elymi,
+partly because they confided in their alliance, and also because these
+are the nearest points for the voyage between Carthage and Sicily.
+
+These were the barbarians in Sicily, settled as I have said.  Of
+the Hellenes, the first to arrive were Chalcidians from Euboea with
+Thucles, their founder.  They founded Naxos and built the altar to
+Apollo Archegetes, which now stands outside the town, and upon which
+the deputies for the games sacrifice before sailing from Sicily.
+Syracuse was founded the year afterwards by Archias, one of the
+Heraclids from Corinth, who began by driving out the Sicels from the
+island upon which the inner city now stands, though it is no longer
+surrounded by water: in process of time the outer town also was
+taken within the walls and became populous.  Meanwhile Thucles and
+the Chalcidians set out from Naxos in the fifth year after the
+foundation of Syracuse, and drove out the Sicels by arms and founded
+Leontini and afterwards Catana; the Catanians themselves choosing
+Evarchus as their founder.
+
+About the same time Lamis arrived in Sicily with a colony from
+Megara, and after founding a place called Trotilus beyond the river
+Pantacyas, and afterwards leaving it and for a short while joining the
+Chalcidians at Leontini, was driven out by them and founded Thapsus.
+After his death his companions were driven out of Thapsus, and founded
+a place called the Hyblaean Megara; Hyblon, a Sicel king, having given
+up the place and inviting them thither.  Here they lived two hundred
+and forty-five years; after which they were expelled from the city and
+the country by the Syracusan tyrant Gelo.  Before their expulsion,
+however, a hundred years after they had settled there, they sent out
+Pamillus and founded Selinus; he having come from their mother country
+Megara to join them in its foundation.  Gela was founded by
+Antiphemus from Rhodes and Entimus from Crete, who joined in leading a
+colony thither, in the forty-fifth year after the foundation of
+Syracuse.  The town took its name from the river Gelas, the place where
+the citadel now stands, and which was first fortified, being called
+Lindii.  The institutions which they adopted were Dorian.  Near one
+hundred and eight years after the foundation of Gela, the Geloans
+founded Acragas (Agrigentum), so called from the river of that name,
+and made Aristonous and Pystilus their founders; giving their own
+institutions to the colony.  Zancle was originally founded by pirates
+from Cuma, the Chalcidian town in the country of the Opicans:
+afterwards, however, large numbers came from Chalcis and the rest of
+Euboea, and helped to people the place; the founders being Perieres
+and Crataemenes from Cuma and Chalcis respectively.  It first had the
+name of Zancle given it by the Sicels, because the place is shaped
+like a sickle, which the Sicels call zanclon; but upon the original
+settlers being afterwards expelled by some Samians and other Ionians
+who landed in Sicily flying from the Medes, and the Samians in their
+turn not long afterwards by Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, the town
+was by him colonized with a mixed population, and its name changed
+to Messina, after his old country.
+
+Himera was founded from Zancle by Euclides, Simus, and Sacon, most
+of those who went to the colony being Chalcidians; though they were
+joined by some exiles from Syracuse, defeated in a civil war, called
+the Myletidae.  The language was a mixture of Chalcidian and Doric, but
+the institutions which prevailed were the Chalcidian.  Acrae and
+Casmenae were founded by the Syracusans; Acrae seventy years after
+Syracuse, Casmenae nearly twenty after Acrae.  Camarina was first
+founded by the Syracusans, close upon a hundred and thirty-five
+years after the building of Syracuse; its founders being Daxon and
+Menecolus.  But the Camarinaeans being expelled by arms by the
+Syracusans for having revolted, Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, some time
+later receiving their land in ransom for some Syracusan prisoners,
+resettled Camarina, himself acting as its founder.  Lastly, it was
+again depopulated by Gelo, and settled once more for the third time by
+the Geloans.
+
+Such is the list of the peoples, Hellenic and barbarian,
+inhabiting Sicily, and such the magnitude of the island which the
+Athenians were now bent upon invading; being ambitious in real truth
+of conquering the whole, although they had also the specious design of
+succouring their kindred and other allies in the island.  But they were
+especially incited by envoys from Egesta, who had come to Athens and
+invoked their aid more urgently than ever.  The Egestaeans had gone
+to war with their neighbours the Selinuntines upon questions of
+marriage and disputed territory, and the Selinuntines had procured the
+alliance of the Syracusans, and pressed Egesta hard by land and sea.
+The Egestaeans now reminded the Athenians of the alliance made in
+the time of Laches, during the former Leontine war, and begged them to
+send a fleet to their aid, and among a number of other
+considerations urged as a capital argument that if the Syracusans were
+allowed to go unpunished for their depopulation of Leontini, to ruin
+the allies still left to Athens in Sicily, and to get the whole
+power of the island into their hands, there would be a danger of their
+one day coming with a large force, as Dorians, to the aid of their
+Dorian brethren, and as colonists, to the aid of the Peloponnesians
+who had sent them out, and joining these in pulling down the
+Athenian empire.  The Athenians would, therefore, do well to unite with
+the allies still left to them, and to make a stand against the
+Syracusans; especially as they, the Egestaeans, were prepared to
+furnish money sufficient for the war.  The Athenians, hearing these
+arguments constantly repeated in their assemblies by the Egestaeans
+and their supporters, voted first to send envoys to Egesta, to see
+if there was really the money that they talked of in the treasury
+and temples, and at the same time to ascertain in what posture was the
+war with the Selinuntines.
+
+The envoys of the Athenians were accordingly dispatched to Sicily.
+The same winter the Lacedaemonians and their allies, the Corinthians
+excepted, marched into the Argive territory, and ravaged a small
+part of the land, and took some yokes of oxen and carried off some
+corn.  They also settled the Argive exiles at Orneae, and left them a
+few soldiers taken from the rest of the army; and after making a truce
+for a certain while, according to which neither Orneatae nor Argives
+were to injure each other's territory, returned home with the army.
+Not long afterwards the Athenians came with thirty ships and six
+hundred heavy infantry, and the Argives joining them with all their
+forces, marched out and besieged the men in Orneae for one day; but
+the garrison escaped by night, the besiegers having bivouacked some
+way off.  The next day the Argives, discovering it, razed Orneae to the
+ground, and went back again; after which the Athenians went home in
+their ships.  Meanwhile the Athenians took by sea to Methone on the
+Macedonian border some cavalry of their own and the Macedonian
+exiles that were at Athens, and plundered the country of Perdiccas.
+Upon this the Lacedaemonians sent to the Thracian Chalcidians, who had
+a truce with Athens from one ten days to another, urging them to
+join Perdiccas in the war, which they refused to do.  And the winter
+ended, and with it ended the sixteenth year of this war of which
+Thucydides is the historian.
+
+Early in the spring of the following summer the Athenian envoys
+arrived from Sicily, and the Egestaeans with them, bringing sixty
+talents of uncoined silver, as a month's pay for sixty ships, which
+they were to ask to have sent them.  The Athenians held an assembly
+and, after hearing from the Egestaeans and their own envoys a
+report, as attractive as it was untrue, upon the state of affairs
+generally, and in particular as to the money, of which, it was said,
+there was abundance in the temples and the treasury, voted to send
+sixty ships to Sicily, under the command of Alcibiades, son of
+Clinias, Nicias, son of Niceratus, and Lamachus, son of Xenophanes,
+who were appointed with full powers; they were to help the
+Egestaeans against the Selinuntines, to restore Leontini upon
+gaining any advantage in the war, and to order all other matters in
+Sicily as they should deem best for the interests of Athens.  Five days
+after this a second assembly was held, to consider the speediest means
+of equipping the ships, and to vote whatever else might be required by
+the generals for the expedition; and Nicias, who had been chosen to
+the command against his will, and who thought that the state was not
+well advised, but upon a slight aid specious pretext was aspiring to
+the conquest of the whole of Sicily, a great matter to achieve, came
+forward in the hope of diverting the Athenians from the enterprise,
+and gave them the following counsel:
+
+"Although this assembly was convened to consider the preparations to
+be made for sailing to Sicily, I think, notwithstanding, that we
+have still this question to examine, whether it be better to send out
+the ships at all, and that we ought not to give so little consideration
+to a matter of such moment, or let ourselves be persuaded by
+foreigners into undertaking a war with which we have nothing to do.
+And yet, individually, I gain in honour by such a course, and fear as
+little as other men for my person--not that I think a man need be
+any the worse citizen for taking some thought for his person and
+estate; on the contrary, such a man would for his own sake desire
+the prosperity of his country more than others--nevertheless,
+as I have never spoken against my convictions to gain honour, I
+shall not begin to do so now, but shall say what I think best.
+Against your character any words of mine would be weak enough, if
+I were to advise your keeping what you have got and not risking
+what is actually yours for advantages which are dubious in themselves,
+and which you may or may not attain.  I will, therefore, content
+myself with showing that your ardour is out of season, and your
+ambition not easy of accomplishment.
+
+"I affirm, then, that you leave many enemies behind you here to go
+yonder and bring more back with you.  You imagine, perhaps, that the
+treaty which you have made can be trusted; a treaty that will continue
+to exist nominally, as long as you keep quiet--for nominal it has
+become, owing to the practices of certain men here and at Sparta--but
+which in the event of a serious reverse in any quarter would not delay
+our enemies a moment in attacking us; first, because the convention
+was forced upon them by disaster and was less honourable to them
+than to us; and secondly, because in this very convention there are
+many points that are still disputed.  Again, some of the most
+powerful states have never yet accepted the arrangement at all.  Some
+of these are at open war with us; others (as the Lacedaemonians do not
+yet move) are restrained by truces renewed every ten days, and it is
+only too probable that if they found our power divided, as we are
+hurrying to divide it, they would attack us vigorously with the
+Siceliots, whose alliance they would have in the past valued as they
+would that of few others.  A man ought, therefore, to consider these
+points, and not to think of running risks with a country placed so
+critically, or of grasping at another empire before we have secured
+the one we have already; for in fact the Thracian Chalcidians have
+been all these years in revolt from us without being yet subdued,
+and others on the continents yield us but a doubtful obedience.
+Meanwhile the Egestaeans, our allies, have been wronged, and we run to
+help them, while the rebels who have so long wronged us still wait for
+punishment.
+
+"And yet the latter, if brought under, might be kept under; while
+the Sicilians, even if conquered, are too far off and too numerous
+to be ruled without difficulty.  Now it is folly to go against men
+who could not be kept under even if conquered, while failure would
+leave us in a very different position from that which we occupied
+before the enterprise.  The Siceliots, again, to take them as they
+are at present, in the event of a Syracusan conquest (the favourite
+bugbear of the Egestaeans), would to my thinking be even less
+dangerous to us than before.  At present they might possibly come
+here as separate states for love of Lacedaemon; in the other case
+one empire would scarcely attack another; for after joining the
+Peloponnesians to overthrow ours, they could only expect to see the
+same hands overthrow their own in the same way.  The Hellenes in Sicily
+would fear us most if we never went there at all, and next to this, if
+after displaying our power we went away again as soon as possible.
+We all know that that which is farthest off, and the reputation of
+which can least be tested, is the object of admiration; at the least
+reverse they would at once begin to look down upon us, and would
+join our enemies here against us.  You have yourselves experienced this
+with regard to the Lacedaemonians and their allies, whom your
+unexpected success, as compared with what you feared at first, has
+made you suddenly despise, tempting you further to aspire to the
+conquest of Sicily.  Instead, however, of being puffed up by the
+misfortunes of your adversaries, you ought to think of breaking
+their spirit before giving yourselves up to confidence, and to
+understand that the one thought awakened in the Lacedaemonians by
+their disgrace is how they may even now, if possible, overthrow us and
+repair their dishonour; inasmuch as military reputation is their
+oldest and chiefest study.  Our struggle, therefore, if we are wise,
+will not be for the barbarian Egestaeans in Sicily, but how to
+defend ourselves most effectually against the oligarchical
+machinations of Lacedaemon.
+
+"We should also remember that we are but now enjoying some respite
+from a great pestilence and from war, to the no small benefit of our
+estates and persons, and that it is right to employ these at home on
+our own behalf, instead of using them on behalf of these exiles
+whose interest it is to lie as fairly as they can, who do nothing
+but talk themselves and leave the danger to others, and who if they
+succeed will show no proper gratitude, and if they fail will drag down
+their friends with them.  And if there be any man here, overjoyed at
+being chosen to command, who urges you to make the expedition,
+merely for ends of his own--specially if he be still too young to
+command--who seeks to be admired for his stud of horses, but on
+account of its heavy expenses hopes for some profit from his
+appointment, do not allow such a one to maintain his private splendour
+at his country's risk, but remember that such persons injure the
+public fortune while they squander their own, and that this is a
+matter of importance, and not for a young man to decide or hastily to
+take in hand.
+
+"When I see such persons now sitting here at the side of that same
+individual and summoned by him, alarm seizes me; and I, in my turn,
+summon any of the older men that may have such a person sitting next
+him not to let himself be shamed down, for fear of being thought a
+coward if he do not vote for war, but, remembering how rarely
+success is got by wishing and how often by forecast, to leave to
+them the mad dream of conquest, and as a true lover of his country,
+now threatened by the greatest danger in its history, to hold up his
+hand on the other side; to vote that the Siceliots be left in the
+limits now existing between us, limits of which no one can complain
+(the Ionian sea for the coasting voyage, and the Sicilian across the
+open main), to enjoy their own possessions and to settle their own
+quarrels; that the Egestaeans, for their part, be told to end by
+themselves with the Selinuntines the war which they began without
+consulting the Athenians; and that for the future we do not enter into
+alliance, as we have been used to do, with people whom we must help in
+their need, and who can never help us in ours.
+
+"And you, Prytanis, if you think it your duty to care for the
+commonwealth, and if you wish to show yourself a good citizen, put the
+question to the vote, and take a second time the opinions of the
+Athenians.  If you are afraid to move the question again, consider that
+a violation of the law cannot carry any prejudice with so many
+abettors, that you will be the physician of your misguided city, and
+that the virtue of men in office is briefly this, to do their
+country as much good as they can, or in any case no harm that they can
+avoid."
+
+Such were the words of Nicias.  Most of the Athenians that came
+forward spoke in favour of the expedition, and of not annulling what
+had been voted, although some spoke on the other side.  By far the
+warmest advocate of the expedition was, however, Alcibiades, son of
+Clinias, who wished to thwart Nicias both as his political opponent
+and also because of the attack he had made upon him in his speech, and
+who was, besides, exceedingly ambitious of a command by which he hoped
+to reduce Sicily and Carthage, and personally to gain in wealth and
+reputation by means of his successes.  For the position he held among
+the citizens led him to indulge his tastes beyond what his real
+means would bear, both in keeping horses and in the rest of his
+expenditure; and this later on had not a little to do with the ruin of
+the Athenian state.  Alarmed at the greatness of his licence in his own
+life and habits, and of the ambition which he showed in all things
+soever that he undertook, the mass of the people set him down as a
+pretender to the tyranny, and became his enemies; and although
+publicly his conduct of the war was as good as could be desired,
+individually, his habits gave offence to every one, and caused them to
+commit affairs to other hands, and thus before long to ruin the
+city.  Meanwhile he now came forward and gave the following advice to
+the Athenians:
+
+"Athenians, I have a better right to command than others--I must
+begin with this as Nicias has attacked me--and at the same time I
+believe myself to be worthy of it.  The things for which I am abused,
+bring fame to my ancestors and to myself, and to the country profit
+besides.  The Hellenes, after expecting to see our city ruined by the
+war, concluded it to be even greater than it really is, by reason of
+the magnificence with which I represented it at the Olympic games,
+when I sent into the lists seven chariots, a number never before
+entered by any private person, and won the first prize, and was second
+and fourth, and took care to have everything else in a style worthy of
+my victory.  Custom regards such displays as honourable, and they
+cannot be made without leaving behind them an impression of power.
+Again, any splendour that I may have exhibited at home in providing
+choruses or otherwise, is naturally envied by my fellow citizens,
+but in the eyes of foreigners has an air of strength as in the other
+instance.  And this is no useless folly, when a man at his own
+private cost benefits not himself only, but his city: nor is it unfair
+that he who prides himself on his position should refuse to be upon an
+equality with the rest.  He who is badly off has his misfortunes all to
+himself, and as we do not see men courted in adversity, on the like
+principle a man ought to accept the insolence of prosperity; or
+else, let him first mete out equal measure to all, and then demand
+to have it meted out to him.  What I know is that persons of this
+kind and all others that have attained to any distinction, although
+they may be unpopular in their lifetime in their relations with
+their fellow-men and especially with their equals, leave to
+posterity the desire of claiming connection with them even without any
+ground, and are vaunted by the country to which they belonged, not
+as strangers or ill-doers, but as fellow-countrymen and heroes.  Such
+are my aspirations, and however I am abused for them in private, the
+question is whether any one manages public affairs better than I do.
+Having united the most powerful states of Peloponnese, without great
+danger or expense to you, I compelled the Lacedaemonians to stake
+their all upon the issue of a single day at Mantinea; and although
+victorious in the battle, they have never since fully recovered
+confidence.
+
+"Thus did my youth and so-called monstrous folly find fitting
+arguments to deal with the power of the Peloponnesians, and by its
+ardour win their confidence and prevail.  And do not be afraid of my
+youth now, but while I am still in its flower, and Nicias appears
+fortunate, avail yourselves to the utmost of the services of us
+both.  Neither rescind your resolution to sail to Sicily, on the ground
+that you would be going to attack a great power.  The cities in
+Sicily are peopled by motley rabbles, and easily change their
+institutions and adopt new ones in their stead; and consequently the
+inhabitants, being without any feeling of patriotism, are not provided
+with arms for their persons, and have not regularly established
+themselves on the land; every man thinks that either by fair words
+or by party strife he can obtain something at the public expense,
+and then in the event of a catastrophe settle in some other country,
+and makes his preparations accordingly.  From a mob like this you
+need not look for either unanimity in counsel or concert in action;
+but they will probably one by one come in as they get a fair offer,
+especially if they are torn by civil strife as we are told.
+Moreover, the Siceliots have not so many heavy infantry as they boast;
+just as the Hellenes generally did not prove so numerous as each state
+reckoned itself, but Hellas greatly over-estimated their numbers,
+and has hardly had an adequate force of heavy infantry throughout this
+war.  The states in Sicily, therefore, from all that I can hear, will
+be found as I say, and I have not pointed out all our advantages,
+for we shall have the help of many barbarians, who from their hatred
+of the Syracusans will join us in attacking them; nor will the
+powers at home prove any hindrance, if you judge rightly.  Our
+fathers with these very adversaries, which it is said we shall now
+leave behind us when we sail, and the Mede as their enemy as well,
+were able to win the empire, depending solely on their superiority
+at sea.  The Peloponnesians had never so little hope against us as at
+present; and let them be ever so sanguine, although strong enough to
+invade our country even if we stay at home, they can never hurt us
+with their navy, as we leave one of our own behind us that is a
+match for them.
+
+"In this state of things what reason can we give to ourselves for
+holding back, or what excuse can we offer to our allies in Sicily
+for not helping them? They are our confederates, and we are bound to
+assist them, without objecting that they have not assisted us.  We
+did not take them into alliance to have them to help us in Hellas, but
+that they might so annoy our enemies in Sicily as to prevent them from
+coming over here and attacking us.  It is thus that empire has been
+won, both by us and by all others that have held it, by a constant
+readiness to support all, whether barbarians or Hellenes, that
+invite assistance; since if all were to keep quiet or to pick and
+choose whom they ought to assist, we should make but few new
+conquests, and should imperil those we have already won.  Men do not
+rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike
+the first blow to prevent the attack being made.  And we cannot fix the
+exact point at which our empire shall stop; we have reached a position
+in which we must not be content with retaining but must scheme to
+extend it, for, if we cease to rule others, we are in danger of
+being ruled ourselves.  Nor can you look at inaction from the same
+point of view as others, unless you are prepared to change your habits
+and make them like theirs.
+
+"Be convinced, then, that we shall augment our power at home by this
+adventure abroad, and let us make the expedition, and so humble the
+pride of the Peloponnesians by sailing off to Sicily, and letting them
+see how little we care for the peace that we are now enjoying; and
+at the same time we shall either become masters, as we very easily
+may, of the whole of Hellas through the accession of the Sicilian
+Hellenes, or in any case ruin the Syracusans, to the no small
+advantage of ourselves and our allies.  The faculty of staying if
+successful, or of returning, will be secured to us by our navy, as
+we shall be superior at sea to all the Siceliots put together.  And
+do not let the do-nothing policy which Nicias advocates, or his
+setting of the young against the old, turn you from your purpose,
+but in the good old fashion by which our fathers, old and young
+together, by their united counsels brought our affairs to their
+present height, do you endeavour still to advance them;
+understanding that neither youth nor old age can do anything the one
+without the other, but that levity, sobriety, and deliberate
+judgment are strongest when united, and that, by sinking into
+inaction, the city, like everything else, will wear itself out, and
+its skill in everything decay; while each fresh struggle will give
+it fresh experience, and make it more used to defend itself not in
+word but in deed.  In short, my conviction is that a city not
+inactive by nature could not choose a quicker way to ruin itself
+than by suddenly adopting such a policy, and that the safest rule of
+life is to take one's character and institutions for better and for
+worse, and to live up to them as closely as one can."
+
+Such were the words of Alcibiades.  After hearing him and the
+Egestaeans and some Leontine exiles, who came forward reminding them
+of their oaths and imploring their assistance, the Athenians became
+more eager for the expedition than before.  Nicias, perceiving that
+it would be now useless to try to deter them by the old line of
+argument, but thinking that he might perhaps alter their resolution by
+the extravagance of his estimates, came forward a second time and
+spoke as follows:
+
+"I see, Athenians, that you are thoroughly bent upon the expedition,
+and therefore hope that all will turn out as we wish, and proceed to
+give you my opinion at the present juncture.  From all that I hear we
+are going against cities that are great and not subject to one
+another, or in need of change, so as to be glad to pass from
+enforced servitude to an easier condition, or in the least likely to
+accept our rule in exchange for freedom; and, to take only the
+Hellenic towns, they are very numerous for one island.  Besides Naxos
+and Catana, which I expect to join us from their connection with
+Leontini, there are seven others armed at all points just like our own
+power, particularly Selinus and Syracuse, the chief objects of our
+expedition.  These are full of heavy infantry, archers, and darters,
+have galleys in abundance and crowds to man them; they have also
+money, partly in the hands of private persons, partly in the temples
+at Selinus, and at Syracuse first-fruits from some of the barbarians
+as well.  But their chief advantage over us lies in the number of their
+horses, and in the fact that they grow their corn at home instead of
+importing it.
+
+"Against a power of this kind it will not do to have merely a weak
+naval armament, but we shall want also a large land army to sail
+with us, if we are to do anything worthy of our ambition, and are
+not to be shut out from the country by a numerous cavalry;
+especially if the cities should take alarm and combine, and we
+should be left without friends (except the Egestaeans) to furnish us
+with horse to defend ourselves with.  It would be disgraceful to have
+to retire under compulsion, or to send back for reinforcements,
+owing to want of reflection at first: we must therefore start from
+home with a competent force, seeing that we are going to sail far from
+our country, and upon an expedition not like any which you may
+undertaken undertaken the quality of allies, among your subject states
+here in Hellas, where any additional supplies needed were easily drawn
+from the friendly territory; but we are cutting ourselves off, and
+going to a land entirely strange, from which during four months in
+winter it is not even easy for a messenger get to Athens.
+
+"I think, therefore, that we ought to take great numbers of heavy
+infantry, both from Athens and from our allies, and not merely from
+our subjects, but also any we may be able to get for love or for money
+in Peloponnese, and great numbers also of archers and slingers, to
+make head against the Sicilian horse.  Meanwhile we must have an
+overwhelming superiority at sea, to enable us the more easily to carry
+in what we want; and we must take our own corn in merchant vessels,
+that is to say, wheat and parched barley, and bakers from the mills
+compelled to serve for pay in the proper proportion; in order that
+in case of our being weather-bound the armament may not want
+provisions, as it is not every city that will be able to entertain
+numbers like ours.  We must also provide ourselves with everything else
+as far as we can, so as not to be dependent upon others; and above all
+we must take with us from home as much money as possible, as the
+sums talked of as ready at Egesta are readier, you may be sure, in
+talk than in any other way.
+
+"Indeed, even if we leave Athens with a force not only equal to that
+of the enemy except in the number of heavy infantry in the field,
+but even at all points superior to him, we shall still find it
+difficult to conquer Sicily or save ourselves.  We must not disguise
+from ourselves that we go to found a city among strangers and enemies,
+and that he who undertakes such an enterprise should be prepared to
+become master of the country the first day he lands, or failing in
+this to find everything hostile to him.  Fearing this, and knowing that
+we shall have need of much good counsel and more good fortune--a hard
+matter for mortal man to aspire to--I wish as far as may be to make
+myself independent of fortune before sailing, and when I do sail, to
+be as safe as a strong force can make me.  This I believe to be
+surest for the country at large, and safest for us who are to go on
+the expedition.  If any one thinks differently I resign to him my
+command."
+
+With this Nicias concluded, thinking that he should either disgust
+the Athenians by the magnitude of the undertaking, or, if obliged to
+sail on the expedition, would thus do so in the safest way possible.
+The Athenians, however, far from having their taste for the voyage
+taken away by the burdensomeness of the preparations, became more
+eager for it than ever; and just the contrary took place of what
+Nicias had thought, as it was held that he had given good advice,
+and that the expedition would be the safest in the world.  All alike
+fell in love with the enterprise.  The older men thought that they
+would either subdue the places against which they were to sail, or
+at all events, with so large a force, meet with no disaster; those
+in the prime of life felt a longing for foreign sights and spectacles,
+and had no doubt that they should come safe home again; while the idea
+of the common people and the soldiery was to earn wages at the moment,
+and make conquests that would supply a never-ending fund of pay for
+the future.  With this enthusiasm of the majority, the few that liked
+it not, feared to appear unpatriotic by holding up their hands against
+it, and so kept quiet.
+
+At last one of the Athenians came forward and called upon Nicias and
+told him that he ought not to make excuses or put them off, but say at
+once before them all what forces the Athenians should vote him.  Upon
+this he said, not without reluctance, that he would advise upon that
+matter more at leisure with his colleagues; as far however as he could
+see at present, they must sail with at least one hundred galleys--the
+Athenians providing as many transports as they might determine, and
+sending for others from the allies--not less than five thousand heavy
+infantry in all, Athenian and allied, and if possible more; and the
+rest of the armament in proportion; archers from home and from
+Crete, and slingers, and whatever else might seem desirable, being got
+ready by the generals and taken with them.
+
+Upon hearing this the Athenians at once voted that the generals
+should have full powers in the matter of the numbers of the army and
+of the expedition generally, to do as they judged best for the
+interests of Athens.  After this the preparations began; messages being
+sent to the allies and the rolls drawn up at home.  And as the city had
+just recovered from the plague and the long war, and a number of young
+men had grown up and capital had accumulated by reason of the truce,
+everything was the more easily provided.
+
+In the midst of these preparations all the stone Hermae in the
+city of Athens, that is to say the customary square figures, so common
+in the doorways of private houses and temples, had in one night most
+of them their fares mutilated.  No one knew who had done it, but
+large public rewards were offered to find the authors; and it was
+further voted that any one who knew of any other act of impiety having
+been committed should come and give information without fear of
+consequences, whether he were citizen, alien, or slave.  The matter was
+taken up the more seriously, as it was thought to be ominous for the
+expedition, and part of a conspiracy to bring about a revolution and
+to upset the democracy.
+
+Information was given accordingly by some resident aliens and body
+servants, not about the Hermae but about some previous mutilations
+of other images perpetrated by young men in a drunken frolic, and of
+mock celebrations of the mysteries, averred to take place in private
+houses.  Alcibiades being implicated in this charge, it was taken
+hold of by those who could least endure him, because he stood in the
+way of their obtaining the undisturbed direction of the people, and
+who thought that if he were once removed the first place would be
+theirs.  These accordingly magnified the matter and loudly proclaimed
+that the affair of the mysteries and the mutilation of the Hermae were
+part and parcel of a scheme to overthrow the democracy, and that
+nothing of all this had been done without Alcibiades; the proofs
+alleged being the general and undemocratic licence of his life and
+habits.
+
+Alcibiades repelled on the spot the charges in question, and also
+before going on the expedition, the preparations for which were now
+complete, offered to stand his trial, that it might be seen whether he
+was guilty of the acts imputed to him; desiring to be punished if
+found guilty, but, if acquitted, to take the command.  Meanwhile he
+protested against their receiving slanders against him in his absence,
+and begged them rather to put him to death at once if he were
+guilty, and pointed out the imprudence of sending him out at the
+head of so large an army, with so serious a charge still undecided.
+But his enemies feared that he would have the army for him if he
+were tried immediately, and that the people might relent in favour
+of the man whom they already caressed as the cause of the Argives
+and some of the Mantineans joining in the expedition, and did their
+utmost to get this proposition rejected, putting forward other orators
+who said that he ought at present to sail and not delay the
+departure of the army, and be tried on his return within a fixed
+number of days; their plan being to have him sent for and brought home
+for trial upon some graver charge, which they would the more easily
+get up in his absence.  Accordingly it was decreed that he should sail.
+
+After this the departure for Sicily took place, it being now about
+midsummer.  Most of the allies, with the corn transports and the
+smaller craft and the rest of the expedition, had already received
+orders to muster at Corcyra, to cross the Ionian Sea from thence in
+a body to the Iapygian promontory.  But the Athenians themselves, and
+such of their allies as happened to be with them, went down to Piraeus
+upon a day appointed at daybreak, and began to man the ships for
+putting out to sea.  With them also went down the whole population, one
+may say, of the city, both citizens and foreigners; the inhabitants of
+the country each escorting those that belonged to them, their friends,
+their relatives, or their sons, with hope and lamentation upon their
+way, as they thought of the conquests which they hoped to make, or
+of the friends whom they might never see again, considering the long
+voyage which they were going to make from their country.  Indeed, at
+this moment, when they were now upon the point of parting from one
+another, the danger came more home to them than when they voted for
+the expedition; although the strength of the armament, and the profuse
+provision which they remarked in every department, was a sight that
+could not but comfort them.  As for the foreigners and the rest of
+the crowd, they simply went to see a sight worth looking at and
+passing all belief.
+
+Indeed this armament that first sailed out was by far the most
+costly and splendid Hellenic force that had ever been sent out by a
+single city up to that time.  In mere number of ships and heavy
+infantry that against Epidaurus under Pericles, and the same when
+going against Potidaea under Hagnon, was not inferior; containing as
+it did four thousand Athenian heavy infantry, three hundred horse, and
+one hundred galleys accompanied by fifty Lesbian and Chian vessels and
+many allies besides.  But these were sent upon a short voyage and
+with a scanty equipment.  The present expedition was formed in
+contemplation of a long term of service by land and sea alike, and was
+furnished with ships and troops so as to be ready for either as
+required.  The fleet had been elaborately equipped at great cost to the
+captains and the state; the treasury giving a drachma a day to each
+seaman, and providing empty ships, sixty men-of-war and forty
+transports, and manning these with the best crews obtainable; while
+the captains gave a bounty in addition to the pay from the treasury to
+the thranitae and crews generally, besides spending lavishly upon
+figure-heads and equipments, and one and all making the utmost
+exertions to enable their own ships to excel in beauty and fast
+sailing.  Meanwhile the land forces had been picked from the best
+muster-rolls, and vied with each other in paying great attention to
+their arms and personal accoutrements.  From this resulted not only a
+rivalry among themselves in their different departments, but an idea
+among the rest of the Hellenes that it was more a display of power and
+resources than an armament against an enemy.  For if any one had
+counted up the public expenditure of the state, and the private outlay
+of individuals--that is to say, the sums which the state had already
+spent upon the expedition and was sending out in the hands of the
+generals, and those which individuals had expended upon their personal
+outfit, or as captains of galleys had laid out and were still to lay
+out upon their vessels; and if he had added to this the journey
+money which each was likely to have provided himself with,
+independently of the pay from the treasury, for a voyage of such
+length, and what the soldiers or traders took with them for the
+purpose of exchange--it would have been found that many talents in
+all were being taken out of the city.  Indeed the expedition became not
+less famous for its wonderful boldness and for the splendour of its
+appearance, than for its overwhelming strength as compared with the
+peoples against whom it was directed, and for the fact that this was
+the longest passage from home hitherto attempted, and the most
+ambitious in its objects considering the resources of those who
+undertook it.
+
+The ships being now manned, and everything put on board with which
+they meant to sail, the trumpet commanded silence, and the prayers
+customary before putting out to sea were offered, not in each ship
+by itself, but by all together to the voice of a herald; and bowls
+of wine were mixed through all the armament, and libations made by the
+soldiers and their officers in gold and silver goblets.  In their
+prayers joined also the crowds on shore, the citizens and all others
+that wished them well.  The hymn sung and the libations finished,
+they put out to sea, and first out in column then raced each other
+as far as Aegina, and so hastened to reach Corcyra, where the rest
+of the allied forces were also assembling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+_Seventeenth Year of the War - Parties at Syracuse - Story of
+Harmodius and Aristogiton - Disgrace of Alcibiades_
+
+Meanwhile at Syracuse news came in from many quarters of the
+expedition, but for a long while met with no credence whatever.
+Indeed, an assembly was held in which speeches, as will be seen,
+were delivered by different orators, believing or contradicting the
+report of the Athenian expedition; among whom Hermocrates, son of
+Hermon, came forward, being persuaded that he knew the truth of the
+matter, and gave the following counsel:
+
+"Although I shall perhaps be no better believed than others have
+been when I speak upon the reality of the expedition, and although I
+know that those who either make or repeat statements thought not
+worthy of belief not only gain no converts but are thought fools for
+their pains, I shall certainly not be frightened into holding my
+tongue when the state is in danger, and when I am persuaded that I can
+speak with more authority on the matter than other persons.  Much as
+you wonder at it, the Athenians nevertheless have set out against us
+with a large force, naval and military, professedly to help the
+Egestaeans and to restore Leontini, but really to conquer Sicily,
+and above all our city, which once gained, the rest, they think,
+will easily follow.  Make up your minds, therefore, to see them
+speedily here, and see how you can best repel them with the means
+under your hand, and do be taken off your guard through despising
+the news, or neglect the common weal through disbelieving it.
+Meanwhile those who believe me need not be dismayed at the force or
+daring of the enemy.  They will not be able to do us more hurt than
+we shall do them; nor is the greatness of their armament altogether
+without advantage to us.  Indeed, the greater it is the better, with
+regard to the rest of the Siceliots, whom dismay will make more
+ready to join us; and if we defeat or drive them away, disappointed of
+the objects of their ambition (for I do not fear for a moment that
+they will get what they want), it will be a most glorious exploit
+for us, and in my judgment by no means an unlikely one.  Few indeed
+have been the large armaments, either Hellenic or barbarian, that have
+gone far from home and been successful.  They cannot be more numerous
+than the people of the country and their neighbours, all of whom
+fear leagues together; and if they miscarry for want of supplies in
+a foreign land, to those against whom their plans were laid none the
+less they leave renown, although they may themselves have been the
+main cause of their own discomfort.  Thus these very Athenians rose
+by the defeat of the Mede, in a great measure due to accidental
+causes, from the mere fact that Athens had been the object of his
+attack; and this may very well be the case with us also.
+
+"Let us, therefore, confidently begin preparations here; let us send
+and confirm some of the Sicels, and obtain the friendship and alliance
+of others, and dispatch envoys to the rest of Sicily to show that
+the danger is common to all, and to Italy to get them to become our
+allies, or at all events to refuse to receive the Athenians.  I also
+think that it would be best to send to Carthage as well; they are by
+no means there without apprehension, but it is their constant fear
+that the Athenians may one day attack their city, and they may perhaps
+think that they might themselves suffer by letting Sicily be
+sacrificed, and be willing to help us secretly if not openly, in one
+way if not in another.  They are the best able to do so, if they
+will, of any of the present day, as they possess most gold and silver,
+by which war, like everything else, flourishes.  Let us also send to
+Lacedaemon and Corinth, and ask them to come here and help us as
+soon as possible, and to keep alive the war in Hellas.  But the true
+thing of all others, in my opinion, to do at the present moment, is
+what you, with your constitutional love of quiet, will be slow to see,
+and what I must nevertheless mention.  If we Siceliots, all together,
+or at least as many as possible besides ourselves, would only launch
+the whole of our actual navy with two months' provisions, and meet the
+Athenians at Tarentum and the Iapygian promontory, and show them
+that before fighting for Sicily they must first fight for their
+passage across the Ionian Sea, we should strike dismay into their
+army, and set them on thinking that we have a base for our
+defensive--for Tarentum is ready to receive us--while they have a wide
+sea to cross with all their armament, which could with difficulty keep
+its order through so long a voyage, and would be easy for us to attack
+as it came on slowly and in small detachments.  On the other hand, if
+they were to lighten their vessels, and draw together their fast
+sailers and with these attack us, we could either fall upon them
+when they were wearied with rowing, or if we did not choose to do
+so, we could retire to Tarentum; while they, having crossed with few
+provisions just to give battle, would be hard put to it in desolate
+places, and would either have to remain and be blockaded, or to try to
+sail along the coast, abandoning the rest of their armament, and being
+further discouraged by not knowing for certain whether the cities
+would receive them.  In my opinion this consideration alone would be
+sufficient to deter them from putting out from Corcyra; and what
+with deliberating and reconnoitring our numbers and whereabouts,
+they would let the season go on until winter was upon them, or,
+confounded by so unexpected a circumstance, would break up the
+expedition, especially as their most experienced general has, as I
+hear, taken the command against his will, and would grasp at the first
+excuse offered by any serious demonstration of ours.  We should also be
+reported, I am certain, as more numerous than we really are, and men's
+minds are affected by what they hear, and besides the first to attack,
+or to show that they mean to defend themselves against an attack,
+inspire greater fear because men see that they are ready for the
+emergency.  This would just be the case with the Athenians at
+present.  They are now attacking us in the belief that we shall not
+resist, having a right to judge us severely because we did not help
+the Lacedaemonians in crushing them; but if they were to see us
+showing a courage for which they are not prepared, they would be
+more dismayed by the surprise than they could ever be by our actual
+power.  I could wish to persuade you to show this courage; but if
+this cannot be, at all events lose not a moment in preparing generally
+for the war; and remember all of you that contempt for an assailant is
+best shown by bravery in action, but that for the present the best
+course is to accept the preparations which fear inspires as giving the
+surest promise of safety, and to act as if the danger was real.  That
+the Athenians are coming to attack us, and are already upon the
+voyage, and all but here--this is what I am sure of."
+
+Thus far spoke Hermocrates.  Meanwhile the people of Syracuse were at
+great strife among themselves; some contending that the Athenians
+had no idea of coming and that there was no truth in what he said;
+some asking if they did come what harm they could do that would not be
+repaid them tenfold in return; while others made light of the whole
+affair and turned it into ridicule.  In short, there were few that
+believed Hermocrates and feared for the future.  Meanwhile Athenagoras,
+the leader of the people and very powerful at that time with the
+masses, came forward and spoke as follows:
+
+"For the Athenians, he who does not wish that they may be as
+misguided as they are supposed to be, and that they may come here to
+become our subjects, is either a coward or a traitor to his country;
+while as for those who carry such tidings and fill you with so much
+alarm, I wonder less at their audacity than at their folly if they
+flatter themselves that we do not see through them.  The fact is that
+they have their private reasons to be afraid, and wish to throw the
+city into consternation to have their own terrors cast into the
+shade by the public alarm.  In short, this is what these reports are
+worth; they do not arise of themselves, but are concocted by men who
+are always causing agitation here in Sicily.  However, if you are
+well advised, you will not be guided in your calculation of
+probabilities by what these persons tell you, but by what shrewd men
+and of large experience, as I esteem the Athenians to be, would be
+likely to do.  Now it is not likely that they would leave the
+Peloponnesians behind them, and before they have well ended the war in
+Hellas wantonly come in quest of a new war quite as arduous in Sicily;
+indeed, in my judgment, they are only too glad that we do not go and
+attack them, being so many and so great cities as we are.
+
+"However, if they should come as is reported, I consider Sicily
+better able to go through with the war than Peloponnese, as being at
+all points better prepared, and our city by itself far more than a
+match for this pretended army of invasion, even were it twice as large
+again.  I know that they will not have horses with them, or get any
+here, except a few perhaps from the Egestaeans; or be able to bring
+a force of heavy infantry equal in number to our own, in ships which
+will already have enough to do to come all this distance, however
+lightly laden, not to speak of the transport of the other stores
+required against a city of this magnitude, which will be no slight
+quantity.  In fact, so strong is my opinion upon the subject, that I do
+not well see how they could avoid annihilation if they brought with
+them another city as large as Syracuse, and settled down and carried
+on war from our frontier; much less can they hope to succeed with
+all Sicily hostile to them, as all Sicily will be, and with only a
+camp pitched from the ships, and composed of tents and bare
+necessaries, from which they would not be able to stir far for fear of
+our cavalry.
+
+"But the Athenians see this as I tell you, and as I have reason to
+know are looking after their possessions at home, while persons here
+invent stories that neither are true nor ever will be.  Nor is this the
+first time that I see these persons, when they cannot resort to deeds,
+trying by such stories and by others even more abominable to
+frighten your people and get into their hands the government: it is
+what I see always.  And I cannot help fearing that trying so often they
+may one day succeed, and that we, as long as we do not feel the smart,
+may prove too weak for the task of prevention, or, when the
+offenders are known, of pursuit.  The result is that our city is rarely
+at rest, but is subject to constant troubles and to contests as
+frequent against herself as against the enemy, not to speak of
+occasional tyrannies and infamous cabals.  However, I will try, if
+you will support me, to let nothing of this happen in our time, by
+gaining you, the many, and by chastising the authors of such
+machinations, not merely when they are caught in the act--a difficult
+feat to accomplish--but also for what they have the wish though not
+the power to do; as it is necessary to punish an enemy not only for
+what he does, but also beforehand for what he intends to do, if the
+first to relax precaution would not be also the first to suffer.  I
+shall also reprove, watch, and on occasion warn the few--the most
+effectual way, in my opinion, of turning them from their evil courses.
+And after all, as I have often asked, what would you have, young men?
+Would you hold office at once? The law forbids it, a law enacted
+rather because you are not competent than to disgrace you when
+competent.  Meanwhile you would not be on a legal equality with the
+many! But how can it be right that citizens of the same state should
+be held unworthy of the same privileges?
+
+"It will be said, perhaps, that democracy is neither wise nor
+equitable, but that the holders of property are also the best fitted
+to rule.  I say, on the contrary, first, that the word demos, or
+people, includes the whole state, oligarchy only a part; next, that if
+the best guardians of property are the rich, and the best
+counsellors the wise, none can hear and decide so well as the many;
+and that all these talents, severally and collectively, have their
+just place in a democracy.  But an oligarchy gives the many their share
+of the danger, and not content with the largest part takes and keeps
+the whole of the profit; and this is what the powerful and young among
+you aspire to, but in a great city cannot possibly obtain.
+
+"But even now, foolish men, most senseless of all the Hellenes
+that I know, if you have no sense of the wickedness of your designs,
+or most criminal if you have that sense and still dare to pursue
+them--even now, if it is not a case for repentance, you may still
+learn wisdom, and thus advance the interest of the country, the common
+interest of us all.  Reflect that in the country's prosperity the men
+of merit in your ranks will have a share and a larger share than the
+great mass of your fellow countrymen, but that if you have other
+designs you run a risk of being deprived of all; and desist from
+reports like these, as the people know your object and will not put up
+with it.  If the Athenians arrive, this city will repulse them in a
+manner worthy of itself; we have moreover, generals who will see to
+this matter.  And if nothing of this be true, as I incline to
+believe, the city will not be thrown into a panic by your
+intelligence, or impose upon itself a self-chosen servitude by
+choosing you for its rulers; the city itself will look into the
+matter, and will judge your words as if they were acts, and, instead
+of allowing itself to be deprived of its liberty by listening to
+you, will strive to preserve that liberty, by taking care to have
+always at hand the means of making itself respected."
+
+Such were the words of Athenagoras.  One of the generals now stood up
+and stopped any other speakers coming forward, adding these words of
+his own with reference to the matter in hand: "It is not well for
+speakers to utter calumnies against one another, or for their
+hearers to entertain them; we ought rather to look to the intelligence
+that we have received, and see how each man by himself and the city as
+a whole may best prepare to repel the invaders.  Even if there be no
+need, there is no harm in the state being furnished with horses and
+arms and all other insignia of war; and we will undertake to see to
+and order this, and to send round to the cities to reconnoitre and
+do all else that may appear desirable.  Part of this we have seen to
+already, and whatever we discover shall be laid before you." After
+these words from the general, the Syracusans departed from the
+assembly.
+
+In the meantime the Athenians with all their allies had now
+arrived at Corcyra.  Here the generals began by again reviewing the
+armament, and made arrangements as to the order in which they were
+to anchor and encamp, and dividing the whole fleet into three
+divisions, allotted one to each of their number, to avoid sailing
+all together and being thus embarrassed for water, harbourage, or
+provisions at the stations which they might touch at, and at the
+same time to be generally better ordered and easier to handle, by each
+squadron having its own commander.  Next they sent on three ships to
+Italy and Sicily to find out which of the cities would receive them,
+with instructions to meet them on the way and let them know before
+they put in to land.
+
+After this the Athenians weighed from Corcyra, and proceeded to
+cross to Sicily with an armament now consisting of one hundred and
+thirty-four galleys in all (besides two Rhodian fifty-oars), of
+which one hundred were Athenian vessels--sixty men-of-war, and forty
+troopships--and the remainder from Chios and the other allies; five
+thousand and one hundred heavy infantry in all, that is to say,
+fifteen hundred Athenian citizens from the rolls at Athens and seven
+hundred Thetes shipped as marines, and the rest allied troops, some of
+them Athenian subjects, and besides these five hundred Argives, and
+two hundred and fifty Mantineans serving for hire; four hundred and
+eighty archers in all, eighty of whom were Cretans, seven hundred
+slingers from Rhodes, one hundred and twenty light-armed exiles from
+Megara, and one horse-transport carrying thirty horses.
+
+Such was the strength of the first armament that sailed over for the
+war.  The supplies for this force were carried by thirty ships of
+burden laden with corn, which conveyed the bakers, stone-masons, and
+carpenters, and the tools for raising fortifications, accompanied by
+one hundred boats, like the former pressed into the service, besides
+many other boats and ships of burden which followed the armament
+voluntarily for purposes of trade; all of which now left Corcyra and
+struck across the Ionian Sea together.  The whole force making land
+at the Iapygian promontory and Tarentum, with more or less good
+fortune, coasted along the shores of Italy, the cities shutting
+their markets and gates against them, and according them nothing but
+water and liberty to anchor, and Tarentum and Locri not even that,
+until they arrived at Rhegium, the extreme point of Italy.  Here at
+length they reunited, and not gaining admission within the walls
+pitched a camp outside the city in the precinct of Artemis, where a
+market was also provided for them, and drew their ships on shore and
+kept quiet.  Meanwhile they opened negotiations with the Rhegians,
+and called upon them as Chalcidians to assist their Leontine
+kinsmen; to which the Rhegians replied that they would not side with
+either party, but should await the decision of the rest of the
+Italiots, and do as they did.  Upon this the Athenians now began to
+consider what would be the best action to take in the affairs of
+Sicily, and meanwhile waited for the ships sent on to come back from
+Egesta, in order to know whether there was really there the money
+mentioned by the messengers at Athens.
+
+In the meantime came in from all quarters to the Syracusans, as well
+as from their own officers sent to reconnoitre, the positive tidings
+that the fleet was at Rhegium; upon which they laid aside their
+incredulity and threw themselves heart and soul into the work of
+preparation.  Guards or envoys, as the case might be, were sent round
+to the Sicels, garrisons put into the posts of the Peripoli in the
+country, horses and arms reviewed in the city to see that nothing
+was wanting, and all other steps taken to prepare for a war which
+might be upon them at any moment.
+
+Meanwhile the three ships that had been sent on came from Egesta
+to the Athenians at Rhegium, with the news that so far from there
+being the sums promised, all that could be produced was thirty
+talents.  The generals were not a little disheartened at being thus
+disappointed at the outset, and by the refusal to join in the
+expedition of the Rhegians, the people they had first tried to gain
+and had had had most reason to count upon, from their relationship
+to the Leontines and constant friendship for Athens.  If Nicias was
+prepared for the news from Egesta, his two colleagues were taken
+completely by surprise.  The Egestaeans had had recourse to the
+following stratagem, when the first envoys from Athens came to inspect
+their resources.  They took the envoys in question to the temple of
+Aphrodite at Eryx and showed them the treasures deposited there:
+bowls, wine-ladles, censers, and a large number of other pieces of
+plate, which from being in silver gave an impression of wealth quite
+out of proportion to their really small value.  They also privately
+entertained the ships' crews, and collected all the cups of gold and
+silver that they could find in Egesta itself or could borrow in the
+neighbouring Phoenician and Hellenic towns, and each brought them to
+the banquets as their own; and as all used pretty nearly the same, and
+everywhere a great quantity of plate was shown, the effect was most
+dazzling upon the Athenian sailors, and made them talk loudly of the
+riches they had seen when they got back to Athens.  The dupes in
+question--who had in their turn persuaded the rest--when the news got
+abroad that there was not the money supposed at Egesta, were much
+blamed by the soldiers.
+
+Meanwhile the generals consulted upon what was to be done.  The
+opinion of Nicias was to sail with all the armament to Selinus, the
+main object of the expedition, and if the Egestaeans could provide
+money for the whole force, to advise accordingly; but if they could
+not, to require them to supply provisions for the sixty ships that
+they had asked for, to stay and settle matters between them and the
+Selinuntines either by force or by agreement, and then to coast past
+the other cities, and after displaying the power of Athens and proving
+their zeal for their friends and allies, to sail home again (unless
+they should have some sudden and unexpected opportunity of serving the
+Leontines, or of bringing over some of the other cities), and not to
+endanger the state by wasting its home resources.
+
+Alcibiades said that a great expedition like the present must not
+disgrace itself by going away without having done anything; heralds
+must be sent to all the cities except Selinus and Syracuse, and
+efforts be made to make some of the Sicels revolt from the Syracusans,
+and to obtain the friendship of others, in order to have corn and
+troops; and first of all to gain the Messinese, who lay right in the
+passage and entrance to Sicily, and would afford an excellent
+harbour and base for the army.  Thus, after bringing over the towns and
+knowing who would be their allies in the war, they might at length
+attack Syracuse and Selinus; unless the latter came to terms with
+Egesta and the former ceased to oppose the restoration of Leontini.
+
+Lamachus, on the other hand, said that they ought to sail straight
+to Syracuse, and fight their battle at once under the walls of the
+town while the people were still unprepared, and the panic at its
+height.  Every armament was most terrible at first; if it allowed
+time to run on without showing itself, men's courage revived, and they
+saw it appear at last almost with indifference.  By attacking suddenly,
+while Syracuse still trembled at their coming, they would have the
+best chance of gaining a victory for themselves and of striking a
+complete panic into the enemy by the aspect of their numbers--which
+would never appear so considerable as at present--by the anticipation
+of coming disaster, and above all by the immediate danger of the
+engagement.  They might also count upon surprising many in the fields
+outside, incredulous of their coming; and at the moment that the enemy
+was carrying in his property the army would not want for booty if it
+sat down in force before the city.  The rest of the Siceliots would
+thus be immediately less disposed to enter into alliance with the
+Syracusans, and would join the Athenians, without waiting to see which
+were the strongest.  They must make Megara their naval station as a
+place to retreat to and a base from which to attack: it was an
+uninhabited place at no great distance from Syracuse either by land or
+by sea.
+
+After speaking to this effect, Lamachus nevertheless gave his
+support to the opinion of Alcibiades.  After this Alcibiades sailed
+in his own vessel across to Messina with proposals of alliance, but
+met with no success, the inhabitants answering that they could not
+receive him within their walls, though they would provide him with a
+market outside.  Upon this he sailed back to Rhegium.  Immediately
+upon his return the generals manned and victualled sixty ships out
+of the whole fleet and coasted along to Naxos, leaving the rest of the
+armament behind them at Rhegium with one of their number.  Received
+by the Naxians, they then coasted on to Catana, and being refused
+admittance by the inhabitants, there being a Syracusan party in the
+town, went on to the river Terias.  Here they bivouacked, and the
+next day sailed in single file to Syracuse with all their ships except
+ten which they sent on in front to sail into the great harbour and see
+if there was any fleet launched, and to proclaim by herald from
+shipboard that the Athenians were come to restore the Leontines to
+their country, as being their allies and kinsmen, and that such of
+them, therefore, as were in Syracuse should leave it without fear
+and join their friends and benefactors the Athenians.  After making
+this proclamation and reconnoitring the city and the harbours, and the
+features of the country which they would have to make their base of
+operations in the war, they sailed back to Catana.
+
+An assembly being held here, the inhabitants refused to receive
+the armament, but invited the generals to come in and say what they
+desired; and while Alcibiades was speaking and the citizens were
+intent on the assembly, the soldiers broke down an ill-walled-up
+postern gate without being observed, and getting inside the town,
+flocked into the marketplace.  The Syracusan party in the town no
+sooner saw the army inside than they became frightened and withdrew,
+not being at all numerous; while the rest voted for an alliance with
+the Athenians and invited them to fetch the rest of their forces
+from Rhegium.  After this the Athenians sailed to Rhegium, and put off,
+this time with all the armament, for Catana, and fell to work at their
+camp immediately upon their arrival.
+
+Meanwhile word was brought them from Camarina that if they went
+there the town would go over to them, and also that the Syracusans
+were manning a fleet.  The Athenians accordingly sailed alongshore with
+all their armament, first to Syracuse, where they found no fleet
+manning, and so always along the coast to Camarina, where they brought
+to at the beach, and sent a herald to the people, who, however,
+refused to receive them, saying that their oaths bound them to receive
+the Athenians only with a single vessel, unless they themselves sent
+for more.  Disappointed here, the Athenians now sailed back again,
+and after landing and plundering on Syracusan territory and losing
+some stragglers from their light infantry through the coming up of the
+Syracusan horse, so got back to Catana.
+
+There they found the Salaminia come from Athens for Alcibiades, with
+orders for him to sail home to answer the charges which the state
+brought against him, and for certain others of the soldiers who with
+him were accused of sacrilege in the matter of the mysteries and of
+the Hermae.  For the Athenians, after the departure of the
+expedition, had continued as active as ever in investigating the facts
+of the mysteries and of the Hermae, and, instead of testing the
+informers, in their suspicious temper welcomed all indifferently,
+arresting and imprisoning the best citizens upon the evidence of
+rascals, and preferring to sift the matter to the bottom sooner than
+to let an accused person of good character pass unquestioned, owing to
+the rascality of the informer.  The commons had heard how oppressive
+the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons had become before it ended,
+and further that that had been put down at last, not by themselves and
+Harmodius, but by the Lacedaemonians, and so were always in fear and
+took everything suspiciously.
+
+Indeed, the daring action of Aristogiton and Harmodius was
+undertaken in consequence of a love affair, which I shall relate at
+some length, to show that the Athenians are not more accurate than the
+rest of the world in their accounts of their own tyrants and of the
+facts of their own history.  Pisistratus dying at an advanced age in
+possession of the tyranny, was succeeded by his eldest son, Hippias,
+and not Hipparchus, as is vulgarly believed.  Harmodius was then in the
+flower of youthful beauty, and Aristogiton, a citizen in the middle
+rank of life, was his lover and possessed him.  Solicited without
+success by Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus, Harmodius told Aristogiton,
+and the enraged lover, afraid that the powerful Hipparchus might
+take Harmodius by force, immediately formed a design, such as his
+condition in life permitted, for overthrowing the tyranny.  In the
+meantime Hipparchus, after a second solicitation of Harmodius,
+attended with no better success, unwilling to use violence, arranged
+to insult him in some covert way.  Indeed, generally their government
+was not grievous to the multitude, or in any way odious in practice;
+and these tyrants cultivated wisdom and virtue as much as any, and
+without exacting from the Athenians more than a twentieth of their
+income, splendidly adorned their city, and carried on their wars,
+and provided sacrifices for the temples.  For the rest, the city was
+left in full enjoyment of its existing laws, except that care was
+always taken to have the offices in the hands of some one of the
+family.  Among those of them that held the yearly archonship at
+Athens was Pisistratus, son of the tyrant Hippias, and named after his
+grandfather, who dedicated during his term of office the altar to
+the twelve gods in the market-place, and that of Apollo in the Pythian
+precinct.  The Athenian people afterwards built on to and lengthened
+the altar in the market-place, and obliterated the inscription; but
+that in the Pythian precinct can still be seen, though in faded
+letters, and is to the following effect:
+
+Pisistratus, the son of Hippias,
+Sent up this record of his archonship
+In precinct of Apollo Pythias.
+
+That Hippias was the eldest son and succeeded to the government,
+is what I positively assert as a fact upon which I have had more exact
+accounts than others, and may be also ascertained by the following
+circumstance.  He is the only one of the legitimate brothers that
+appears to have had children; as the altar shows, and the pillar
+placed in the Athenian Acropolis, commemorating the crime of the
+tyrants, which mentions no child of Thessalus or of Hipparchus, but
+five of Hippias, which he had by Myrrhine, daughter of Callias, son of
+Hyperechides; and naturally the eldest would have married first.
+Again, his name comes first on the pillar after that of his father;
+and this too is quite natural, as he was the eldest after him, and the
+reigning tyrant.  Nor can I ever believe that Hippias would have
+obtained the tyranny so easily, if Hipparchus had been in power when
+he was killed, and he, Hippias, had had to establish himself upon
+the same day; but he had no doubt been long accustomed to overawe
+the citizens, and to be obeyed by his mercenaries, and thus not only
+conquered, but conquered with ease, without experiencing any of the
+embarrassment of a younger brother unused to the exercise of
+authority.  It was the sad fate which made Hipparchus famous that got
+him also the credit with posterity of having been tyrant.
+
+To return to Harmodius; Hipparchus having been repulsed in his
+solicitations insulted him as he had resolved, by first inviting a
+sister of his, a young girl, to come and bear a basket in a certain
+procession, and then rejecting her, on the plea that she had never
+been invited at all owing to her unworthiness.  If Harmodius was
+indignant at this, Aristogiton for his sake now became more
+exasperated than ever; and having arranged everything with those who
+were to join them in the enterprise, they only waited for the great
+feast of the Panathenaea, the sole day upon which the citizens forming
+part of the procession could meet together in arms without
+suspicion.  Aristogiton and Harmodius were to begin, but were to be
+supported immediately by their accomplices against the bodyguard.
+The conspirators were not many, for better security, besides which
+they hoped that those not in the plot would be carried away by the
+example of a few daring spirits, and use the arms in their hands to
+recover their liberty.
+
+At last the festival arrived; and Hippias with his bodyguard was
+outside the city in the Ceramicus, arranging how the different parts
+of the procession were to proceed.  Harmodius and Aristogiton had
+already their daggers and were getting ready to act, when seeing one
+of their accomplices talking familiarly with Hippias, who was easy
+of access to every one, they took fright, and concluded that they were
+discovered and on the point of being taken; and eager if possible to
+be revenged first upon the man who had wronged them and for whom
+they had undertaken all this risk, they rushed, as they were, within
+the gates, and meeting with Hipparchus by the Leocorium recklessly
+fell upon him at once, infuriated, Aristogiton by love, and
+Harmodius by insult, and smote him and slew him.  Aristogiton escaped
+the guards at the moment, through the crowd running up, but was
+afterwards taken and dispatched in no merciful way: Harmodius was
+killed on the spot.
+
+When the news was brought to Hippias in the Ceramicus, he at once
+proceeded not to the scene of action, but to the armed men in the
+procession, before they, being some distance away, knew anything of
+the matter, and composing his features for the occasion, so as not
+to betray himself, pointed to a certain spot, and bade them repair
+thither without their arms.  They withdrew accordingly, fancying he had
+something to say; upon which he told the mercenaries to remove the
+arms, and there and then picked out the men he thought guilty and
+all found with daggers, the shield and spear being the usual weapons
+for a procession.
+
+In this way offended love first led Harmodius and Aristogiton to
+conspire, and the alarm of the moment to commit the rash action
+recounted.  After this the tyranny pressed harder on the Athenians, and
+Hippias, now grown more fearful, put to death many of the citizens,
+and at the same time began to turn his eyes abroad for a refuge in
+case of revolution.  Thus, although an Athenian, he gave his
+daughter, Archedice, to a Lampsacene, Aeantides, son of the tyrant
+of Lampsacus, seeing that they had great influence with Darius.  And
+there is her tomb in Lampsacus with this inscription:
+
+Archedice lies buried in this earth,
+Hippias her sire, and Athens gave her birth;
+Unto her bosom pride was never known,
+Though daughter, wife, and sister to the throne.
+
+Hippias, after reigning three years longer over the Athenians, was
+deposed in the fourth by the Lacedaemonians and the banished
+Alcmaeonidae, and went with a safe conduct to Sigeum, and to Aeantides
+at Lampsacus, and from thence to King Darius; from whose court he
+set out twenty years after, in his old age, and came with the Medes to
+Marathon.
+
+With these events in their minds, and recalling everything they knew
+by hearsay on the subject, the Athenian people grow difficult of
+humour and suspicious of the persons charged in the affair of the
+mysteries, and persuaded that all that had taken place was part of
+an oligarchical and monarchical conspiracy.  In the state of irritation
+thus produced, many persons of consideration had been already thrown
+into prison, and far from showing any signs of abating, public feeling
+grew daily more savage, and more arrests were made; until at last
+one of those in custody, thought to be the most guilty of all, was
+induced by a fellow prisoner to make a revelation, whether true or not
+is a matter on which there are two opinions, no one having been
+able, either then or since, to say for certain who did the deed.
+However this may be, the other found arguments to persuade him, that
+even if he had not done it, he ought to save himself by gaining a
+promise of impunity, and free the state of its present suspicions;
+as he would be surer of safety if he confessed after promise of
+impunity than if he denied and were brought to trial.  He accordingly
+made a revelation, affecting himself and others in the affair of the
+Hermae; and the Athenian people, glad at last, as they supposed, to
+get at the truth, and furious until then at not being able to discover
+those who had conspired against the commons, at once let go the
+informer and all the rest whom he had not denounced, and bringing
+the accused to trial executed as many as were apprehended, and
+condemned to death such as had fled and set a price upon their
+heads.  In this it was, after all, not clear whether the sufferers
+had been punished unjustly, while in any case the rest of the city
+received immediate and manifest relief.
+
+To return to Alcibiades: public feeling was very hostile to him,
+being worked on by the same enemies who had attacked him before he
+went out; and now that the Athenians fancied that they had got at
+the truth of the matter of the Hermae, they believed more firmly
+than ever that the affair of the mysteries also, in which he was
+implicated, had been contrived by him in the same intention and was
+connected with the plot against the democracy.  Meanwhile it so
+happened that, just at the time of this agitation, a small force of
+Lacedaemonians had advanced as far as the Isthmus, in pursuance of
+some scheme with the Boeotians.  It was now thought that this had
+come by appointment, at his instigation, and not on account of the
+Boeotians, and that, if the citizens had not acted on the
+information received, and forestalled them by arresting the prisoners,
+the city would have been betrayed.  The citizens went so far as to
+sleep one night armed in the temple of Theseus within the walls.  The
+friends also of Alcibiades at Argos were just at this time suspected
+of a design to attack the commons; and the Argive hostages deposited
+in the islands were given up by the Athenians to the Argive people
+to be put to death upon that account: in short, everywhere something
+was found to create suspicion against Alcibiades.  It was therefore
+decided to bring him to trial and execute him, and the Salaminia was
+sent to Sicily for him and the others named in the information, with
+instructions to order him to come and answer the charges against
+him, but not to arrest him, because they wished to avoid causing any
+agitation in the army or among the enemy in Sicily, and above all to
+retain the services of the Mantineans and Argives, who, it was
+thought, had been induced to join by his influence.  Alcibiades, with
+his own ship and his fellow accused, accordingly sailed off with the
+Salaminia from Sicily, as though to return to Athens, and went with
+her as far as Thurii, and there they left the ship and disappeared,
+being afraid to go home for trial with such a prejudice existing
+against them.  The crew of the Salaminia stayed some time looking for
+Alcibiades and his companions, and at length, as they were nowhere
+to be found, set sail and departed.  Alcibiades, now an outlaw, crossed
+in a boat not long after from Thurii to Peloponnese; and the Athenians
+passed sentence of death by default upon him and those in his company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+_Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War - Inaction of
+the Athenian Army - Alcibiades at Sparta - Investment of Syracuse_
+
+The Athenian generals left in Sicily now divided the armament into
+two parts, and, each taking one by lot, sailed with the whole for
+Selinus and Egesta, wishing to know whether the Egestaeans would
+give the money, and to look into the question of Selinus and ascertain
+the state of the quarrel between her and Egesta.  Coasting along
+Sicily, with the shore on their left, on the side towards the Tyrrhene
+Gulf they touched at Himera, the only Hellenic city in that part of
+the island, and being refused admission resumed their voyage.  On their
+way they took Hyccara, a petty Sicanian seaport, nevertheless at war
+with Egesta, and making slaves of the inhabitants gave up the town
+to the Egestaeans, some of whose horse had joined them; after which
+the army proceeded through the territory of the Sicels until it
+reached Catana, while the fleet sailed along the coast with the slaves
+on board.  Meanwhile Nicias sailed straight from Hyccara along the
+coast and went to Egesta and, after transacting his other business and
+receiving thirty talents, rejoined the forces.  They now sold their
+slaves for the sum of one hundred and twenty talents, and sailed round
+to their Sicel allies to urge them to send troops; and meanwhile
+went with half their own force to the hostile town of Hybla in the
+territory of Gela, but did not succeed in taking it.
+
+Summer was now over.  The winter following, the Athenians at once
+began to prepare for moving on Syracuse, and the Syracusans on their
+side for marching against them.  From the moment when the Athenians
+failed to attack them instantly as they at first feared and
+expected, every day that passed did something to revive their courage;
+and when they saw them sailing far away from them on the other side of
+Sicily, and going to Hybla only to fail in their attempts to storm it,
+they thought less of them than ever, and called upon their generals,
+as the multitude is apt to do in its moments of confidence, to lead
+them to Catana, since the enemy would not come to them.  Parties also
+of the Syracusan horse employed in reconnoitring constantly rode up to
+the Athenian armament, and among other insults asked them whether they
+had not really come to settle with the Syracusans in a foreign country
+rather than to resettle the Leontines in their own.
+
+Aware of this, the Athenian generals determined to draw them out
+in mass as far as possible from the city, and themselves in the
+meantime to sail by night alongshore, and take up at their leisure a
+convenient position.  This they knew they could not so well do, if they
+had to disembark from their ships in front of a force prepared for
+them, or to go by land openly.  The numerous cavalry of the
+Syracusans (a force which they were themselves without) would then
+be able to do the greatest mischief to their light troops and the
+crowd that followed them; but this plan would enable them to take up a
+position in which the horse could do them no hurt worth speaking of,
+some Syracusan exiles with the army having told them of the spot
+near the Olympieum, which they afterwards occupied.  In pursuance of
+their idea, the generals imagined the following stratagem.  They sent
+to Syracuse a man devoted to them, and by the Syracusan generals
+thought to be no less in their interest; he was a native of Catana,
+and said he came from persons in that place, whose names the Syracusan
+generals were acquainted with, and whom they knew to be among the
+members of their party still left in the city.  He told them that the
+Athenians passed the night in the town, at some distance from their
+arms, and that if the Syracusans would name a day and come with all
+their people at daybreak to attack the armament, they, their
+friends, would close the gates upon the troops in the city, and set
+fire to the vessels, while the Syracusans would easily take the camp
+by an attack upon the stockade.  In this they would be aided by many of
+the Catanians, who were already prepared to act, and from whom he
+himself came.
+
+The generals of the Syracusans, who did not want confidence, and who
+had intended even without this to march on Catana, believed the man
+without any sufficient inquiry, fixed at once a day upon which they
+would be there, and dismissed him, and the Selinuntines and others
+of their allies having now arrived, gave orders for all the Syracusans
+to march out in mass.  Their preparations completed, and the time fixed
+for their arrival being at hand, they set out for Catana, and passed
+the night upon the river Symaethus, in the Leontine territory.
+Meanwhile the Athenians no sooner knew of their approach than they
+took all their forces and such of the Sicels or others as had joined
+them, put them on board their ships and boats, and sailed by night
+to Syracuse.  Thus, when morning broke the Athenians were landing
+opposite the Olympieum ready to seize their camping ground, and the
+Syracusan horse having ridden up first to Catana and found that all
+the armament had put to sea, turned back and told the infantry, and
+then all turned back together, and went to the relief of the city.
+
+In the meantime, as the march before the Syracusans was a long
+one, the Athenians quietly sat down their army in a convenient
+position, where they could begin an engagement when they pleased,
+and where the Syracusan cavalry would have least opportunity of
+annoying them, either before or during the action, being fenced off on
+one side by walls, houses, trees, and by a marsh, and on the other
+by cliffs.  They also felled the neighbouring trees and carried them
+down to the sea, and formed a palisade alongside of their ships, and
+with stones which they picked up and wood hastily raised a fort at
+Daskon, the most vulnerable point of their position, and broke down
+the bridge over the Anapus.  These preparations were allowed to go on
+without any interruption from the city, the first hostile force to
+appear being the Syracusan cavalry, followed afterwards by all the
+foot together.  At first they came close up to the Athenian army, and
+then, finding that they did not offer to engage, crossed the
+Helorine road and encamped for the night.
+
+The next day the Athenians and their allies prepared for battle,
+their dispositions being as follows: Their right wing was occupied
+by the Argives and Mantineans, the centre by the Athenians, and the
+rest of the field by the other allies.  Half their army was drawn up
+eight deep in advance, half close to their tents in a hollow square,
+formed also eight deep, which had orders to look out and be ready to
+go to the support of the troops hardest pressed.  The camp followers
+were placed inside this reserve.  The Syracusans, meanwhile, formed
+their heavy infantry sixteen deep, consisting of the mass levy of
+their own people, and such allies as had joined them, the strongest
+contingent being that of the Selinuntines; next to them the cavalry of
+the Geloans, numbering two hundred in all, with about twenty horse and
+fifty archers from Camarina.  The cavalry was posted on their right,
+full twelve hundred strong, and next to it the darters.  As the
+Athenians were about to begin the attack, Nicias went along the lines,
+and addressed these words of encouragement to the army and the nations
+composing it:
+
+"Soldiers, a long exhortation is little needed by men like
+ourselves, who are here to fight in the same battle, the force
+itself being, to my thinking, more fit to inspire confidence than a
+fine speech with a weak army.  Where we have Argives, Mantineans,
+Athenians, and the first of the islanders in the ranks together, it
+were strange indeed, with so many and so brave companions in arms,
+if we did not feel confident of victory; especially when we have
+mass levies opposed to our picked troops, and what is more, Siceliots,
+who may disdain us but will not stand against us, their skill not
+being at all commensurate to their rashness.  You may also remember
+that we are far from home and have no friendly land near, except
+what your own swords shall win you; and here I put before you a motive
+just the reverse of that which the enemy are appealing to; their cry
+being that they shall fight for their country, mine that we shall
+fight for a country that is not ours, where we must conquer or
+hardly get away, as we shall have their horse upon us in great
+numbers.  Remember, therefore, your renown, and go boldly against the
+enemy, thinking the present strait and necessity more terrible than
+they."
+
+After this address Nicias at once led on the army.  The Syracusans
+were not at that moment expecting an immediate engagement, and some
+had even gone away to the town, which was close by; these now ran up
+as hard as they could and, though behind time, took their places
+here or there in the main body as fast as they joined it.  Want of zeal
+or daring was certainly not the fault of the Syracusans, either in
+this or the other battles, but although not inferior in courage, so
+far as their military science might carry them, when this failed
+them they were compelled to give up their resolution also.  On the
+present occasion, although they had not supposed that the Athenians
+would begin the attack, and although constrained to stand upon their
+defence at short notice, they at once took up their arms and
+advanced to meet them.  First, the stone-throwers, slingers, and
+archers of either army began skirmishing, and routed or were routed by
+one another, as might be expected between light troops; next,
+soothsayers brought forward the usual victims, and trumpeters urged on
+the heavy infantry to the charge; and thus they advanced, the
+Syracusans to fight for their country, and each individual for his
+safety that day and liberty hereafter; in the enemy's army, the
+Athenians to make another's country theirs and to save their own
+from suffering by their defeat; the Argives and independent allies
+to help them in getting what they came for, and to earn by victory
+another sight of the country they had left behind; while the subject
+allies owed most of their ardour to the desire of self-preservation,
+which they could only hope for if victorious; next to which, as a
+secondary motive, came the chance of serving on easier terms, after
+helping the Athenians to a fresh conquest.
+
+The armies now came to close quarters, and for a long while fought
+without either giving ground.  Meanwhile there occurred some claps of
+thunder with lightning and heavy rain, which did not fail to add to
+the fears of the party fighting for the first time, and very little
+acquainted with war; while to their more experienced adversaries these
+phenomena appeared to be produced by the time of year, and much more
+alarm was felt at the continued resistance of the enemy.  At last the
+Argives drove in the Syracusan left, and after them the Athenians
+routed the troops opposed to them, and the Syracusan army was thus cut
+in two and betook itself to flight.  The Athenians did not pursue
+far, being held in check by the numerous and undefeated Syracusan
+horse, who attacked and drove back any of their heavy infantry whom
+they saw pursuing in advance of the rest; in spite of which the
+victors followed so far as was safe in a body, and then went back
+and set up a trophy.  Meanwhile the Syracusans rallied at the
+Helorine road, where they re-formed as well as they could under the
+circumstances, and even sent a garrison of their own citizens to the
+Olympieum, fearing that the Athenians might lay hands on some of the
+treasures there.  The rest returned to the town.
+
+The Athenians, however, did not go to the temple, but collected
+their dead and laid them upon a pyre, and passed the night upon the
+field.  The next day they gave the enemy back their dead under truce,
+to the number of about two hundred and sixty, Syracusans and allies,
+and gathered together the bones of their own, some fifty, Athenians
+and allies, and taking the spoils of the enemy, sailed back to Catana.
+It was now winter; and it did not seem possible for the moment to
+carry on the war before Syracuse, until horse should have been sent
+for from Athens and levied among the allies in Sicily--to do away
+with their utter inferiority in cavalry--and money should have been
+collected in the country and received from Athens, and until some of
+the cities, which they hoped would be now more disposed to listen to
+them after the battle, should have been brought over, and corn and all
+other necessaries provided, for a campaign in the spring against
+Syracuse.
+
+With this intention they sailed off to Naxos and Catana for the
+winter.  Meanwhile the Syracusans burned their dead and then held an
+assembly, in which Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a man who with a
+general ability of the first order had given proofs of military
+capacity and brilliant courage in the war, came forward and encouraged
+them, and told them not to let what had occurred make them give way,
+since their spirit had not been conquered, but their want of
+discipline had done the mischief.  Still they had not been beaten by so
+much as might have been expected, especially as they were, one might
+say, novices in the art of war, an army of artisans opposed to the
+most practised soldiers in Hellas.  What had also done great mischief
+was the number of the generals (there were fifteen of them) and the
+quantity of orders given, combined with the disorder and
+insubordination of the troops.  But if they were to have a few
+skilful generals, and used this winter in preparing their heavy
+infantry, finding arms for such as had not got any, so as to make them
+as numerous as possible, and forcing them to attend to their
+training generally, they would have every chance of beating their
+adversaries, courage being already theirs and discipline in the
+field having thus been added to it.  Indeed, both these qualities would
+improve, since danger would exercise them in discipline, while their
+courage would be led to surpass itself by the confidence which skill
+inspires.  The generals should be few and elected with full powers, and
+an oath should be taken to leave them entire discretion in their
+command: if they adopted this plan, their secrets would be better
+kept, all preparations would be properly made, and there would be no
+room for excuses.
+
+The Syracusans heard him, and voted everything as he advised, and
+elected three generals, Hermocrates himself, Heraclides, son of
+Lysimachus, and Sicanus, son of Execestes.  They also sent envoys to
+Corinth and Lacedaemon to procure a force of allies to join them,
+and to induce the Lacedaemonians for their sakes openly to address
+themselves in real earnest to the war against the Athenians, that they
+might either have to leave Sicily or be less able to send
+reinforcements to their army there.
+
+The Athenian forces at Catana now at once sailed against Messina, in
+the expectation of its being betrayed to them.  The intrigue,
+however, after all came to nothing: Alcibiades, who was in the secret,
+when he left his command upon the summons from home, foreseeing that
+he would be outlawed, gave information of the plot to the friends of
+the Syracusans in Messina, who had at once put to death its authors,
+and now rose in arms against the opposite faction with those of
+their way of thinking, and succeeded in preventing the admission of
+the Athenians.  The latter waited for thirteen days, and then, as
+they were exposed to the weather and without provisions, and met
+with no success, went back to Naxos, where they made places for
+their ships to lie in, erected a palisade round their camp, and
+retired into winter quarters; meanwhile they sent a galley to Athens
+for money and cavalry to join them in the spring.  During the winter
+the Syracusans built a wall on to the city, so as to take in the
+statue of Apollo Temenites, all along the side looking towards
+Epipolae, to make the task of circumvallation longer and more
+difficult, in case of their being defeated, and also erected a fort at
+Megara and another in the Olympieum, and stuck palisades along the sea
+wherever there was a landing Place.  Meanwhile, as they knew that the
+Athenians were wintering at Naxos, they marched with all their
+people to Catana, and ravaged the land and set fire to the tents and
+encampment of the Athenians, and so returned home.  Learning also
+that the Athenians were sending an embassy to Camarina, on the
+strength of the alliance concluded in the time of Laches, to gain,
+if possible, that city, they sent another from Syracuse to oppose
+them.  They had a shrewd suspicion that the Camarinaeans had not sent
+what they did send for the first battle very willingly; and they now
+feared that they would refuse to assist them at all in future, after
+seeing the success of the Athenians in the action, and would join
+the latter on the strength of their old friendship.  Hermocrates,
+with some others, accordingly arrived at Camarina from Syracuse, and
+Euphemus and others from the Athenians; and an assembly of the
+Camarinaeans having been convened, Hermocrates spoke as follows, in
+the hope of prejudicing them against the Athenians:
+
+"Camarinaeans, we did not come on this embassy because we were
+afraid of your being frightened by the actual forces of the Athenians,
+but rather of your being gained by what they would say to you before
+you heard anything from us.  They are come to Sicily with the pretext
+that you know, and the intention which we all suspect, in my opinion
+less to restore the Leontines to their homes than to oust us from
+ours; as it is out of all reason that they should restore in Sicily
+the cities that they lay waste in Hellas, or should cherish the
+Leontine Chalcidians because of their Ionian blood and keep in
+servitude the Euboean Chalcidians, of whom the Leontines are a colony.
+No; but the same policy which has proved so successful in Hellas is
+now being tried in Sicily.  After being chosen as the leaders of the
+Ionians and of the other allies of Athenian origin, to punish the
+Mede, the Athenians accused some of failure in military service,
+some of fighting against each other, and others, as the case might be,
+upon any colourable pretext that could be found, until they thus
+subdued them all.  In fine, in the struggle against the Medes, the
+Athenians did not fight for the liberty of the Hellenes, or the
+Hellenes for their own liberty, but the former to make their
+countrymen serve them instead of him, the latter to change one
+master for another, wiser indeed than the first, but wiser for evil.
+
+"But we are not now come to declare to an audience familiar with
+them the misdeeds of a state so open to accusation as is the Athenian,
+but much rather to blame ourselves, who, with the warnings we
+possess in the Hellenes in those parts that have been enslaved through
+not supporting each other, and seeing the same sophisms being now
+tried upon ourselves--such as restorations of Leontine kinsfolk and
+support of Egestaean allies--do not stand together and resolutely
+show them that here are no Ionians, or Hellespontines, or islanders,
+who change continually, but always serve a master, sometimes the
+Mede and sometimes some other, but free Dorians from independent
+Peloponnese, dwelling in Sicily.  Or, are we waiting until we be
+taken in detail, one city after another; knowing as we do that in no
+other way can we be conquered, and seeing that they turn to this plan,
+so as to divide some of us by words, to draw some by the bait of an
+alliance into open war with each other, and to ruin others by such
+flattery as different circumstances may render acceptable? And do we
+fancy when destruction first overtakes a distant fellow countryman
+that the danger will not come to each of us also, or that he who
+suffers before us will suffer in himself alone?
+
+"As for the Camarinaean who says that it is the Syracusan, not he,
+that is the enemy of the Athenian, and who thinks it hard to have to
+encounter risk in behalf of my country, I would have him bear in
+mind that he will fight in my country, not more for mine than for
+his own, and by so much the more safely in that he will enter on the
+struggle not alone, after the way has been cleared by my ruin, but
+with me as his ally, and that the object of the Athenian is not so
+much to punish the enmity of the Syracusan as to use me as a blind
+to secure the friendship of the Camarinaean.  As for him who envies
+or even fears us (and envied and feared great powers must always
+be), and who on this account wishes Syracuse to be humbled to teach us
+a lesson, but would still have her survive, in the interest of his own
+security the wish that he indulges is not humanly possible.  A man
+can control his own desires, but he cannot likewise control
+circumstances; and in the event of his calculations proving
+mistaken, he may live to bewail his own misfortune, and wish to be
+again envying my prosperity.  An idle wish, if he now sacrifice us
+and refuse to take his share of perils which are the same, in
+reality though not in name, for him as for us; what is nominally the
+preservation of our power being really his own salvation.  It was to be
+expected that you, of all people in the world, Camarinaeans, being our
+immediate neighbours and the next in danger, would have foreseen this,
+and instead of supporting us in the lukewarm way that you are now
+doing, would rather come to us of your own accord, and be now offering
+at Syracuse the aid which you would have asked for at Camarina, if
+to Camarina the Athenians had first come, to encourage us to resist
+the invader.  Neither you, however, nor the rest have as yet
+bestirred yourselves in this direction.
+
+"Fear perhaps will make you study to do right both by us and by
+the invaders, and plead that you have an alliance with the
+Athenians.  But you made that alliance, not against your friends, but
+against the enemies that might attack you, and to help the Athenians
+when they were wronged by others, not when as now they are wronging
+their neighbours.  Even the Rhegians, Chalcidians though they be,
+refuse to help to restore the Chalcidian Leontines; and it would be
+strange if, while they suspect the gist of this fine pretence and
+are wise without reason, you, with every reason on your side, should
+yet choose to assist your natural enemies, and should join with
+their direst foes in undoing those whom nature has made your own
+kinsfolk.  This is not to do right; but you should help us without fear
+of their armament, which has no terrors if we hold together, but
+only if we let them succeed in their endeavours to separate us;
+since even after attacking us by ourselves and being victorious in
+battle, they had to go off without effecting their purpose.
+
+"United, therefore, we have no cause to despair, but rather new
+encouragement to league together; especially as succour will come to
+us from the Peloponnesians, in military matters the undoubted
+superiors of the Athenians.  And you need not think that your prudent
+policy of taking sides with neither, because allies of both, is either
+safe for you or fair to us.  Practically it is not as fair as it
+pretends to be.  If the vanquished be defeated, and the victor conquer,
+through your refusing to join, what is the effect of your abstention
+but to leave the former to perish unaided, and to allow the latter
+to offend unhindered? And yet it were more honourable to join those
+who are not only the injured party, but your own kindred, and by so
+doing to defend the common interests of Sicily and save your friends
+the Athenians from doing wrong.
+
+"In conclusion, we Syracusans say that it is useless for us to
+demonstrate either to you or to the rest what you know already as well
+as we do; but we entreat, and if our entreaty fail, we protest that we
+are menaced by our eternal enemies the Ionians, and are betrayed by
+you our fellow Dorians.  If the Athenians reduce us, they will owe
+their victory to your decision, but in their own name will reap the
+honour, and will receive as the prize of their triumph the very men
+who enabled them to gain it.  On the other hand, if we are the
+conquerors, you will have to pay for having been the cause of our
+danger.  Consider, therefore; and now make your choice between the
+security which present servitude offers and the prospect of conquering
+with us and so escaping disgraceful submission to an Athenian master
+and avoiding the lasting enmity of Syracuse."
+
+Such were the words of Hermocrates; after whom Euphemus, the
+Athenian ambassador, spoke as follows:
+
+"Although we came here only to renew the former alliance, the attack
+of the Syracusans compels us to speak of our empire and of the good
+right we have to it.  The best proof of this the speaker himself
+furnished, when he called the Ionians eternal enemies of the
+Dorians.  It is the fact; and the Peloponnesian Dorians being our
+superiors in numbers and next neighbours, we Ionians looked out for
+the best means of escaping their domination.  After the Median War we
+had a fleet, and so got rid of the empire and supremacy of the
+Lacedaemonians, who had no right to give orders to us more than we
+to them, except that of being the strongest at that moment; and
+being appointed leaders of the King's former subjects, we continue
+to be so, thinking that we are least likely to fall under the dominion
+of the Peloponnesians, if we have a force to defend ourselves with,
+and in strict truth having done nothing unfair in reducing to
+subjection the Ionians and islanders, the kinsfolk whom the Syracusans
+say we have enslaved.  They, our kinsfolk, came against their mother
+country, that is to say against us, together with the Mede, and,
+instead of having the courage to revolt and sacrifice their property
+as we did when we abandoned our city, chose to be slaves themselves,
+and to try to make us so.
+
+"We, therefore, deserve to rule because we placed the largest
+fleet and an unflinching patriotism at the service of the Hellenes,
+and because these, our subjects, did us mischief by their ready
+subservience to the Medes; and, desert apart, we seek to strengthen
+ourselves against the Peloponnesians.  We make no fine profession of
+having a right to rule because we overthrew the barbarian
+single-handed, or because we risked what we did risk for the freedom
+of the subjects in question any more than for that of all, and for our
+own: no one can be quarrelled with for providing for his proper
+safety.  If we are now here in Sicily, it is equally in the interest of
+our security, with which we perceive that your interest also
+coincides.  We prove this from the conduct which the Syracusans cast
+against us and which you somewhat too timorously suspect; knowing that
+those whom fear has made suspicious may be carried away by the charm
+of eloquence for the moment, but when they come to act follow their
+interests.
+
+"Now, as we have said, fear makes us hold our empire in Hellas,
+and fear makes us now come, with the help of our friends, to order
+safely matters in Sicily, and not to enslave any but rather to prevent
+any from being enslaved.  Meanwhile, let no one imagine that we are
+interesting ourselves in you without your having anything to do with
+us, seeing that, if you are preserved and able to make head against
+the Syracusans, they will be less likely to harm us by sending
+troops to the Peloponnesians.  In this way you have everything to do
+with us, and on this account it is perfectly reasonable for us to
+restore the Leontines, and to make them, not subjects like their
+kinsmen in Euboea, but as powerful as possible, to help us by annoying
+the Syracusans from their frontier.  In Hellas we are alone a match for
+our enemies; and as for the assertion that it is out of all reason
+that we should free the Sicilian, while we enslave the Chalcidian, the
+fact is that the latter is useful to us by being without arms and
+contributing money only; while the former, the Leontines and our other
+friends, cannot be too independent.
+
+"Besides, for tyrants and imperial cities nothing is unreasonable if
+expedient, no one a kinsman unless sure; but friendship or enmity is
+everywhere an affair of time and circumstance.  Here, in Sicily, our
+interest is not to weaken our friends, but by means of their
+strength to cripple our enemies.  Why doubt this? In Hellas we treat
+our allies as we find them useful.  The Chians and Methymnians govern
+themselves and furnish ships; most of the rest have harder terms and
+pay tribute in money; while others, although islanders and easy for us
+to take, are free altogether, because they occupy convenient positions
+round Peloponnese.  In our settlement of the states here in Sicily,
+we should therefore; naturally be guided by our interest, and by fear,
+as we say, of the Syracusans.  Their ambition is to rule you, their
+object to use the suspicions that we excite to unite you, and then,
+when we have gone away without effecting anything, by force or through
+your isolation, to become the masters of Sicily.  And masters they must
+become, if you unite with them; as a force of that magnitude would
+be no longer easy for us to deal with united, and they would be more
+than a match for you as soon as we were away.
+
+"Any other view of the case is condemned by the facts.  When you
+first asked us over, the fear which you held out was that of danger to
+Athens if we let you come under the dominion of Syracuse; and it is
+not right now to mistrust the very same argument by which you
+claimed to convince us, or to give way to suspicion because we are
+come with a larger force against the power of that city.  Those whom
+you should really distrust are the Syracusans.  We are not able to stay
+here without you, and if we proved perfidious enough to bring you into
+subjection, we should be unable to keep you in bondage, owing to the
+length of the voyage and the difficulty of guarding large, and in a
+military sense continental, towns: they, the Syracusans, live close to
+you, not in a camp, but in a city greater than the force we have
+with us, plot always against you, never let slip an opportunity once
+offered, as they have shown in the case of the Leontines and others,
+and now have the face, just as if you were fools, to invite you to aid
+them against the power that hinders this, and that has thus far
+maintained Sicily independent.  We, as against them, invite you to a
+much more real safety, when we beg you not to betray that common
+safety which we each have in the other, and to reflect that they, even
+without allies, will, by their numbers, have always the way open to
+you, while you will not often have the opportunity of defending
+yourselves with such numerous auxiliaries; if, through your
+suspicions, you once let these go away unsuccessful or defeated, you
+will wish to see if only a handful of them back again, when the day is
+past in which their presence could do anything for you.
+
+"But we hope, Camarinaeans, that the calumnies of the Syracusans
+will not be allowed to succeed either with you or with the rest: we
+have told you the whole truth upon the things we are suspected of, and
+will now briefly recapitulate, in the hope of convincing you.  We
+assert that we are rulers in Hellas in order not to be subjects;
+liberators in Sicily that we may not be harmed by the Sicilians;
+that we are compelled to interfere in many things, because we have
+many things to guard against; and that now, as before, we are come
+as allies to those of you who suffer wrong in this island, not without
+invitation but upon invitation.  Accordingly, instead of making
+yourselves judges or censors of our conduct, and trying to turn us,
+which it were now difficult to do, so far as there is anything in
+our interfering policy or in our character that chimes in with your
+interest, this take and make use of; and be sure that, far from
+being injurious to all alike, to most of the Hellenes that policy is
+even beneficial.  Thanks to it, all men in all places, even where we
+are not, who either apprehend or meditate aggression, from the near
+prospect before them, in the one case, of obtaining our intervention
+in their favour, in the other, of our arrival making the venture
+dangerous, find themselves constrained, respectively, to be moderate
+against their will, and to be preserved without trouble of their
+own.  Do not you reject this security that is open to all who desire
+it, and is now offered to you; but do like others, and instead of
+being always on the defensive against the Syracusans, unite with us,
+and in your turn at last threaten them."
+
+Such were the words of Euphemus.  What the Camarinaeans felt was
+this.  Sympathizing with the Athenians, except in so far as they
+might be afraid of their subjugating Sicily, they had always been at
+enmity with their neighbour Syracuse.  From the very fact, however,
+that they were their neighbours, they feared the Syracusans most of
+the two, and being apprehensive of their conquering even without them,
+both sent them in the first instance the few horsemen mentioned, and
+for the future determined to support them most in fact, although as
+sparingly as possible; but for the moment in order not to seem to
+slight the Athenians, especially as they had been successful in the
+engagement, to answer both alike.  Agreeably to this resolution they
+answered that as both the contending parties happened to be allies
+of theirs, they thought it most consistent with their oaths at present
+to side with neither; with which answer the ambassadors of either
+party departed.
+
+In the meantime, while Syracuse pursued her preparations for war,
+the Athenians were encamped at Naxos, and tried by negotiation to gain
+as many of the Sicels as possible.  Those more in the low lands, and
+subjects of Syracuse, mostly held aloof; but the peoples of the
+interior who had never been otherwise than independent, with few
+exceptions, at once joined the Athenians, and brought down corn to the
+army, and in some cases even money.  The Athenians marched against
+those who refused to join, and forced some of them to do so; in the
+case of others they were stopped by the Syracusans sending garrisons
+and reinforcements.  Meanwhile the Athenians moved their winter
+quarters from Naxos to Catana, and reconstructed the camp burnt by the
+Syracusans, and stayed there the rest of the winter.  They also sent
+a galley to Carthage, with proffers of friendship, on the chance of
+obtaining assistance, and another to Tyrrhenia; some of the cities
+there having spontaneously offered to join them in the war.  They
+also sent round to the Sicels and to Egesta, desiring them to send
+them as many horses as possible, and meanwhile prepared bricks,
+iron, and all other things necessary for the work of
+circumvallation, intending by the spring to begin hostilities.
+
+In the meantime the Syracusan envoys dispatched to Corinth and
+Lacedaemon tried as they passed along the coast to persuade the
+Italiots to interfere with the proceedings of the Athenians, which
+threatened Italy quite as much as Syracuse, and having arrived at
+Corinth made a speech calling on the Corinthians to assist them on the
+ground of their common origin.  The Corinthians voted at once to aid
+them heart and soul themselves, and then sent on envoys with them to
+Lacedaemon, to help them to persuade her also to prosecute the war
+with the Athenians more openly at home and to send succours to Sicily.
+The envoys from Corinth having reached Lacedaemon found there
+Alcibiades with his fellow refugees, who had at once crossed over in a
+trading vessel from Thurii, first to Cyllene in Elis, and afterwards
+from thence to Lacedaemon; upon the Lacedaemonians' own invitation,
+after first obtaining a safe conduct, as he feared them for the part
+he had taken in the affair of Mantinea.  The result was that the
+Corinthians, Syracusans, and Alcibiades, pressing all the same request
+in the assembly of the Lacedaemonians, succeeded in persuading them;
+but as the ephors and the authorities, although resolved to send
+envoys to Syracuse to prevent their surrendering to the Athenians,
+showed no disposition to send them any assistance, Alcibiades now came
+forward and inflamed and stirred the Lacedaemonians by speaking as
+follows:
+
+"I am forced first to speak to you of the prejudice with which I
+am regarded, in order that suspicion may not make you disinclined to
+listen to me upon public matters.  The connection, with you as your
+proxeni, which the ancestors of our family by reason of some
+discontent renounced, I personally tried to renew by my good offices
+towards you, in particular upon the occasion of the disaster at Pylos.
+But although I maintained this friendly attitude, you yet chose to
+negotiate the peace with the Athenians through my enemies, and thus to
+strengthen them and to discredit me.  You had therefore no right to
+complain if I turned to the Mantineans and Argives, and seized other
+occasions of thwarting and injuring you; and the time has now come
+when those among you, who in the bitterness of the moment may have
+been then unfairly angry with me, should look at the matter in its
+true light, and take a different view.  Those again who judged me
+unfavourably, because I leaned rather to the side of the commons, must
+not think that their dislike is any better founded.  We have always
+been hostile to tyrants, and all who oppose arbitrary power are called
+commons; hence we continued to act as leaders of the multitude;
+besides which, as democracy was the government of the city, it was
+necessary in most things to conform to established conditions.
+However, we endeavoured to be more moderate than the licentious temper
+of the times; and while there were others, formerly as now, who
+tried to lead the multitude astray--the same who banished me--our
+party was that of the whole people, our creed being to do our part
+in preserving the form of government under which the city enjoyed
+the utmost greatness and freedom, and which we had found existing.
+As for democracy, the men of sense among us knew what it was, and I
+perhaps as well as any, as I have the more cause to complain of it;
+but there is nothing new to be said of a patent absurdity; meanwhile
+we did not think it safe to alter it under the pressure of your
+hostility.
+
+"So much then for the prejudices with which I am regarded: I now can
+call your attention to the questions you must consider, and upon which
+superior knowledge perhaps permits me to speak.  We sailed to Sicily
+first to conquer, if possible, the Siceliots, and after them the
+Italiots also, and finally to assail the empire and city of
+Carthage.  In the event of all or most of these schemes succeeding,
+we were then to attack Peloponnese, bringing with us the entire
+force of the Hellenes lately acquired in those parts, and taking a
+number of barbarians into our pay, such as the Iberians and others
+in those countries, confessedly the most warlike known, and building
+numerous galleys in addition to those which we had already, timber
+being plentiful in Italy; and with this fleet blockading Peloponnese
+from the sea and assailing it with our armies by land, taking some
+of the cities by storm, drawing works of circumvallation round others,
+we hoped without difficulty to effect its reduction, and after this to
+rule the whole of the Hellenic name.  Money and corn meanwhile for
+the better execution of these plans were to be supplied in
+sufficient quantities by the newly acquired places in those countries,
+independently of our revenues here at home.
+
+"You have thus heard the history of the present expedition from
+the man who most exactly knows what our objects were; and the
+remaining generals will, if they can, carry these out just the same.
+But that the states in Sicily must succumb if you do not help them,
+I will now show.  Although the Siceliots, with all their
+inexperience, might even now be saved if their forces were united, the
+Syracusans alone, beaten already in one battle with all their people
+and blockaded from the sea, will be unable to withstand the Athenian
+armament that is now there.  But if Syracuse falls, all Sicily falls
+also, and Italy immediately afterwards; and the danger which I just
+now spoke of from that quarter will before long be upon you.  None need
+therefore fancy that Sicily only is in question; Peloponnese will be
+so also, unless you speedily do as I tell you, and send on board
+ship to Syracuse troops that shall able to row their ships themselves,
+and serve as heavy infantry the moment that they land; and what I
+consider even more important than the troops, a Spartan as
+commanding officer to discipline the forces already on foot and to
+compel recusants to serve.  The friends that you have already will thus
+become more confident, and the waverers will be encouraged to join
+you.  Meanwhile you must carry on the war here more openly, that the
+Syracusans, seeing that you do not forget them, may put heart into
+their resistance, and that the Athenians may be less able to reinforce
+their armament.  You must fortify Decelea in Attica, the blow of
+which the Athenians are always most afraid and the only one that
+they think they have not experienced in the present war; the surest
+method of harming an enemy being to find out what he most fears, and
+to choose this means of attacking him, since every one naturally knows
+best his own weak points and fears accordingly.  The fortification in
+question, while it benefits you, will create difficulties for your
+adversaries, of which I shall pass over many, and shall only mention
+the chief.  Whatever property there is in the country will most of it
+become yours, either by capture or surrender; and the Athenians will
+at once be deprived of their revenues from the silver mines at
+Laurium, of their present gains from their land and from the law
+courts, and above all of the revenue from their allies, which will
+be paid less regularly, as they lose their awe of Athens and see you
+addressing yourselves with vigour to the war.  The zeal and speed
+with which all this shall be done depends, Lacedaemonians, upon
+yourselves; as to its possibility, I am quite confident, and I have
+little fear of being mistaken.
+
+"Meanwhile I hope that none of you will think any the worse of me
+if, after having hitherto passed as a lover of my country, I now
+actively join its worst enemies in attacking it, or will suspect
+what I say as the fruit of an outlaw's enthusiasm.  I am an outlaw from
+the iniquity of those who drove me forth, not, if you will be guided
+by me, from your service; my worst enemies are not you who only harmed
+your foes, but they who forced their friends to become enemies; and
+love of country is what I do not feel when I am wronged, but what I
+felt when secure in my rights as a citizen.  Indeed I do not consider
+that I am now attacking a country that is still mine; I am rather
+trying to recover one that is mine no longer; and the true lover of
+his country is not he who consents to lose it unjustly rather than
+attack it, but he who longs for it so much that he will go all lengths
+to recover it.  For myself, therefore, Lacedaemonians, I beg you to use
+me without scruple for danger and trouble of every kind, and to
+remember the argument in every one's mouth, that if I did you great
+harm as an enemy, I could likewise do you good service as a friend,
+inasmuch as I know the plans of the Athenians, while I only guessed
+yours.  For yourselves I entreat you to believe that your most
+capital interests are now under deliberation; and I urge you to send
+without hesitation the expeditions to Sicily and Attica; by the
+presence of a small part of your forces you will save important cities
+in that island, and you will destroy the power of Athens both
+present and prospective; after this you will dwell in security and
+enjoy the supremacy over all Hellas, resting not on force but upon
+consent and affection."
+
+Such were the words of Alcibiades.  The Lacedaemonians, who had
+themselves before intended to march against Athens, but were still
+waiting and looking about them, at once became much more in earnest
+when they received this particular information from Alcibiades, and
+considered that they had heard it from the man who best knew the truth
+of the matter.  Accordingly they now turned their attention to the
+fortifying of Decelea and sending immediate aid to the Sicilians;
+and naming Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, to the command of the
+Syracusans, bade him consult with that people and with the Corinthians
+and arrange for succours reaching the island, in the best and
+speediest way possible under the circumstances.  Gylippus desired the
+Corinthians to send him at once two ships to Asine, and to prepare the
+rest that they intended to send, and to have them ready to sail at the
+proper time.  Having settled this, the envoys departed from Lacedaemon.
+
+In the meantime arrived the Athenian galley from Sicily sent by
+the generals for money and cavalry; and the Athenians, after hearing
+what they wanted, voted to send the supplies for the armament and
+the cavalry.  And the winter ended, and with it ended the seventeenth
+year of the present war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+The next summer, at the very beginning of the season, the
+Athenians in Sicily put out from Catana, and sailed along shore to
+Megara in Sicily, from which, as I have mentioned above, the
+Syracusans expelled the inhabitants in the time of their tyrant
+Gelo, themselves occupying the territory.  Here the Athenians landed
+and laid waste the country, and after an unsuccessful attack upon a
+fort of the Syracusans, went on with the fleet and army to the river
+Terias, and advancing inland laid waste the plain and set fire to
+the corn; and after killing some of a small Syracusan party which they
+encountered, and setting up a trophy, went back again to their
+ships.  They now sailed to Catana and took in provisions there, and
+going with their whole force against Centoripa, a town of the
+Sicels, acquired it by capitulation, and departed, after also
+burning the corn of the Inessaeans and Hybleans.  Upon their return
+to Catana they found the horsemen arrived from Athens, to the number
+of two hundred and fifty (with their equipments, but without their
+horses which were to be procured upon the spot), and thirty mounted
+archers and three hundred talents of silver.
+
+The same spring the Lacedaemonians marched against Argos, and went
+as far as Cleonae, when an earthquake occurred and caused them to
+return.  After this the Argives invaded the Thyreatid, which is on
+their border, and took much booty from the Lacedaemonians, which was
+sold for no less than twenty-five talents.  The same summer, not long
+after, the Thespian commons made an attack upon the party in office,
+which was not successful, but succours arrived from Thebes, and some
+were caught, while others took refuge at Athens.
+
+The same summer the Syracusans learned that the Athenians had been
+joined by their cavalry, and were on the point of marching against
+them; and seeing that without becoming masters of Epipolae, a
+precipitous spot situated exactly over the town, the Athenians could
+not, even if victorious in battle, easily invest them, they determined
+to guard its approaches, in order that the enemy might not ascend
+unobserved by this, the sole way by which ascent was possible, as
+the remainder is lofty ground, and falls right down to the city, and
+can all be seen from inside; and as it lies above the rest the place
+is called by the Syracusans Epipolae or Overtown.  They accordingly
+went out in mass at daybreak into the meadow along the river Anapus,
+their new generals, Hermocrates and his colleagues, having just come
+into office, and held a review of their heavy infantry, from whom they
+first selected a picked body of six hundred, under the command of
+Diomilus, an exile from Andros, to guard Epipolae, and to be ready
+to muster at a moment's notice to help wherever help should be
+required.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, the very same morning, were holding a
+review, having already made land unobserved with all the armament from
+Catana, opposite a place called Leon, not much more than half a mile
+from Epipolae, where they disembarked their army, bringing the fleet
+to anchor at Thapsus, a peninsula running out into the sea, with a
+narrow isthmus, and not far from the city of Syracuse either by land
+or water.  While the naval force of the Athenians threw a stockade
+across the isthmus and remained quiet at Thapsus, the land army
+immediately went on at a run to Epipolae, and succeeded in getting
+up by Euryelus before the Syracusans perceived them, or could come
+up from the meadow and the review.  Diomilus with his six hundred and
+the rest advanced as quickly as they could, but they had nearly
+three miles to go from the meadow before reaching them.  Attacking in
+this way in considerable disorder, the Syracusans were defeated in
+battle at Epipolae and retired to the town, with a loss of about three
+hundred killed, and Diomilus among the number.  After this the
+Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the Syracusans their dead
+under truce, and next day descended to Syracuse itself; and no one
+coming out to meet them, reascended and built a fort at Labdalum, upon
+the edge of the cliffs of Epipolae, looking towards Megara, to serve
+as a magazine for their baggage and money, whenever they advanced to
+battle or to work at the lines.
+
+Not long afterwards three hundred cavalry came to them from
+Egesta, and about a hundred from the Sicels, Naxians, and others;
+and thus, with the two hundred and fifty from Athens, for whom they
+had got horses from the Egestaeans and Catanians, besides others
+that they bought, they now mustered six hundred and fifty cavalry in
+all.  After posting a garrison in Labdalum, they advanced to Syca,
+where they sat down and quickly built the Circle or centre of their
+wall of circumvallation.  The Syracusans, appalled at the rapidity with
+which the work advanced, determined to go out against them and give
+battle and interrupt it; and the two armies were already in battle
+array, when the Syracusan generals observed that their troops found
+such difficulty in getting into line, and were in such disorder,
+that they led them back into the town, except part of the cavalry.
+These remained and hindered the Athenians from carrying stones or
+dispersing to any great distance, until a tribe of the Athenian
+heavy infantry, with all the cavalry, charged and routed the Syracusan
+horse with some loss; after which they set up a trophy for the cavalry
+action.
+
+The next day the Athenians began building the wall to the north of
+the Circle, at the same time collecting stone and timber, which they
+kept laying down towards Trogilus along the shortest line for their
+works from the great harbour to the sea; while the Syracusans,
+guided by their generals, and above all by Hermocrates, instead of
+risking any more general engagements, determined to build a
+counterwork in the direction in which the Athenians were going to
+carry their wall.  If this could be completed in time, the enemy's
+lines would be cut; and meanwhile, if he were to attempt to
+interrupt them by an attack, they would send a part of their forces
+against him, and would secure the approaches beforehand with their
+stockade, while the Athenians would have to leave off working with
+their whole force in order to attend to them.  They accordingly sallied
+forth and began to build, starting from their city, running a cross
+wall below the Athenian Circle, cutting down the olives and erecting
+wooden towers.  As the Athenian fleet had not yet sailed round into the
+great harbour, the Syracusans still commanded the seacoast, and the
+Athenians brought their provisions by land from Thapsus.
+
+The Syracusans now thought the stockades and stonework of their
+counterwall sufficiently far advanced; and as the Athenians, afraid of
+being divided and so fighting at a disadvantage, and intent upon their
+own wall, did not come out to interrupt them, they left one tribe to
+guard the new work and went back into the city.  Meanwhile the
+Athenians destroyed their pipes of drinking-water carried
+underground into the city; and watching until the rest of the
+Syracusans were in their tents at midday, and some even gone away into
+the city, and those in the stockade keeping but indifferent guard,
+appointed three hundred picked men of their own, and some men picked
+from the light troops and armed for the purpose, to run suddenly as
+fast as they could to the counterwork, while the rest of the army
+advanced in two divisions, the one with one of the generals to the
+city in case of a sortie, the other with the other general to the
+stockade by the postern gate.  The three hundred attacked and took
+the stockade, abandoned by its garrison, who took refuge in the
+outworks round the statue of Apollo Temenites.  Here the pursuers burst
+in with them, and after getting in were beaten out by the
+Syracusans, and some few of the Argives and Athenians slain; after
+which the whole army retired, and having demolished the counterwork
+and pulled up the stockade, carried away the stakes to their own
+lines, and set up a trophy.
+
+The next day the Athenians from the Circle proceeded to fortify
+the cliff above the marsh which on this side of Epipolae looks towards
+the great harbour; this being also the shortest line for their work to
+go down across the plain and the marsh to the harbour.  Meanwhile the
+Syracusans marched out and began a second stockade, starting from
+the city, across the middle of the marsh, digging a trench alongside
+to make it impossible for the Athenians to carry their wall down to
+the sea.  As soon as the Athenians had finished their work at the cliff
+they again attacked the stockade and ditch of the Syracusans.  Ordering
+the fleet to sail round from Thapsus into the great harbour of
+Syracuse, they descended at about dawn from Epipolae into the plain,
+and laying doors and planks over the marsh, where it was muddy and
+firmest, crossed over on these, and by daybreak took the ditch and the
+stockade, except a small portion which they captured afterwards.  A
+battle now ensued, in which the Athenians were victorious, the right
+wing of the Syracusans flying to the town and the left to the river.
+The three hundred picked Athenians, wishing to cut off their
+passage, pressed on at a run to the bridge, when the alarmed
+Syracusans, who had with them most of their cavalry, closed and routed
+them, hurling them back upon the Athenian right wing, the first
+tribe of which was thrown into a panic by the shock.  Seeing this,
+Lamachus came to their aid from the Athenian left with a few archers
+and with the Argives, and crossing a ditch, was left alone with a
+few that had crossed with him, and was killed with five or six of
+his men.  These the Syracusans managed immediately to snatch up in
+haste and get across the river into a place of security, themselves
+retreating as the rest of the Athenian army now came up.
+
+Meanwhile those who had at first fled for refuge to the city, seeing
+the turn affairs were taking, now rallied from the town and formed
+against the Athenians in front of them, sending also a part of their
+number to the Circle on Epipolae, which they hoped to take while
+denuded of its defenders.  These took and destroyed the Athenian
+outwork of a thousand feet, the Circle itself being saved by Nicias,
+who happened to have been left in it through illness, and who now
+ordered the servants to set fire to the engines and timber thrown down
+before the wall; want of men, as he was aware, rendering all other
+means of escape impossible.  This step was justified by the result, the
+Syracusans not coming any further on account of the fire, but
+retreating.  Meanwhile succours were coming up from the Athenians
+below, who had put to flight the troops opposed to them; and the fleet
+also, according to orders, was sailing from Thapsus into the great
+harbour.  Seeing this, the troops on the heights retired in haste,
+and the whole army of the Syracusans re-entered the city, thinking
+that with their present force they would no longer be able to hinder
+the wall reaching the sea.
+
+After this the Athenians set up a trophy and restored to the
+Syracusans their dead under truce, receiving in return Lamachus and
+those who had fallen with him.  The whole of their forces, naval and
+military, being now with them, they began from Epipolae and the cliffs
+and enclosed the Syracusans with a double wall down to the sea.
+Provisions were now brought in for the armament from all parts of
+Italy; and many of the Sicels, who had hitherto been looking to see
+how things went, came as allies to the Athenians: there also arrived
+three ships of fifty oars from Tyrrhenia.  Meanwhile everything else
+progressed favourably for their hopes.  The Syracusans began to despair
+of finding safety in arms, no relief having reached them from
+Peloponnese, and were now proposing terms of capitulation among
+themselves and to Nicias, who after the death of Lamachus was left
+sole commander.  No decision was come to, but, as was natural with
+men in difficulties and besieged more straitly than before, there
+was much discussion with Nicias and still more in the town.  Their
+present misfortunes had also made them suspicious of one another;
+and the blame of their disasters was thrown upon the ill-fortune or
+treachery of the generals under whose command they had happened; and
+these were deposed and others, Heraclides, Eucles, and Tellias,
+elected in their stead.
+
+Meanwhile the Lacedaemonian, Gylippus, and the ships from Corinth
+were now off Leucas, intent upon going with all haste to the relief of
+Sicily.  The reports that reached them being of an alarming kind, and
+all agreeing in the falsehood that Syracuse was already completely
+invested, Gylippus abandoned all hope of Sicily, and wishing to save
+Italy, rapidly crossed the Ionian Sea to Tarentum with the Corinthian,
+Pythen, two Laconian, and two Corinthian vessels, leaving the
+Corinthians to follow him after manning, in addition to their own ten,
+two Leucadian and two Ambraciot ships.  From Tarentum Gylippus first
+went on an embassy to Thurii, and claimed anew the rights of
+citizenship which his father had enjoyed; failing to bring over the
+townspeople, he weighed anchor and coasted along Italy.  Opposite the
+Terinaean Gulf he was caught by the wind which blows violently and
+steadily from the north in that quarter, and was carried out to sea;
+and after experiencing very rough weather, remade Tarentum, where he
+hauled ashore and refitted such of his ships as had suffered most from
+the tempest.  Nicias heard of his approach, but, like the Thurians,
+despised the scanty number of his ships, and set down piracy as the
+only probable object of the voyage, and so took no precautions for the
+present.
+
+About the same time in this summer, the Lacedaemonians invaded Argos
+with their allies, and laid waste most of the country.  The Athenians
+went with thirty ships to the relief of the Argives, thus breaking
+their treaty with the Lacedaemonians in the most overt manner.  Up to
+this time incursions from Pylos, descents on the coast of the rest
+of Peloponnese, instead of on the Laconian, had been the extent of
+their co-operation with the Argives and Mantineans; and although the
+Argives had often begged them to land, if only for a moment, with
+their heavy infantry in Laconia, lay waste ever so little of it with
+them, and depart, they had always refused to do so.  Now, however,
+under the command of Phytodorus, Laespodius, and Demaratus, they
+landed at Epidaurus Limera, Prasiae, and other places, and plundered
+the country; and thus furnished the Lacedaemonians with a better
+pretext for hostilities against Athens.  After the Athenians had
+retired from Argos with their fleet, and the Lacedaemonians also,
+the Argives made an incursion into the Phlisaid, and returned home
+after ravaging their land and killing some of the inhabitants.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+_Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War - Arrival of
+Gylippus at Syracuse - Fortification of Decelea -
+Successes of the Syracusans_
+
+After refitting their ships, Gylippus and Pythen coasted along
+from Tarentum to Epizephyrian Locris.  They now received the more
+correct information that Syracuse was not yet completely invested, but
+that it was still possible for an army arriving at Epipolae to
+effect an entrance; and they consulted, accordingly, whether they
+should keep Sicily on their right and risk sailing in by sea, or,
+leaving it on their left, should first sail to Himera and, taking with
+them the Himeraeans and any others that might agree to join them, go
+to Syracuse by land.  Finally they determined to sail for Himera,
+especially as the four Athenian ships which Nicias had at length
+sent off, on hearing that they were at Locris, had not yet arrived
+at Rhegium.  Accordingly, before these reached their post, the
+Peloponnesians crossed the strait and, after touching at Rhegium and
+Messina, came to Himera.  Arrived there, they persuaded the
+Himeraeans to join in the war, and not only to go with them themselves
+but to provide arms for the seamen from their vessels which they had
+drawn ashore at Himera; and they sent and appointed a place for the
+Selinuntines to meet them with all their forces.  A few troops were
+also promised by the Geloans and some of the Sicels, who were now
+ready to join them with much greater alacrity, owing to the recent
+death of Archonidas, a powerful Sicel king in that neighbourhood and
+friendly to Athens, and owing also to the vigour shown by Gylippus
+in coming from Lacedaemon.  Gylippus now took with him about seven
+hundred of his sailors and marines, that number only having arms, a
+thousand heavy infantry and light troops from Himera with a body of
+a hundred horse, some light troops and cavalry from Selinus, a few
+Geloans, and Sicels numbering a thousand in all, and set out on his
+march for Syracuse.
+
+Meanwhile the Corinthian fleet from Leucas made all haste to arrive;
+and one of their commanders, Gongylus, starting last with a single
+ship, was the first to reach Syracuse, a little before Gylippus.
+Gongylus found the Syracusans on the point of holding an assembly to
+consider whether they should put an end to the war.  This he prevented,
+and reassured them by telling them that more vessels were still to
+arrive, and that Gylippus, son of Cleandridas, had been dispatched
+by the Lacedaemonians to take the command.  Upon this the Syracusans
+took courage, and immediately marched out with all their forces to
+meet Gylippus, who they found was now close at hand.  Meanwhile
+Gylippus, after taking Ietae, a fort of the Sicels, on his way, formed
+his army in order of battle, and so arrived at Epipolae, and ascending
+by Euryelus, as the Athenians had done at first, now advanced with the
+Syracusans against the Athenian lines.  His arrival chanced at a
+critical moment.  The Athenians had already finished a double wall of
+six or seven furlongs to the great harbour, with the exception of a
+small portion next the sea, which they were still engaged upon; and in
+the remainder of the circle towards Trogilus on the other sea,
+stones had been laid ready for building for the greater part of the
+distance, and some points had been left half finished, while others
+were entirely completed.  The danger of Syracuse had indeed been great.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians, recovering from the confusion into which
+they had been first thrown by the sudden approach of Gylippus and
+the Syracusans, formed in order of battle.  Gylippus halted at a
+short distance off and sent on a herald to tell them that, if they
+would evacuate Sicily with bag and baggage within five days' time,
+he was willing to make a truce accordingly.  The Athenians treated this
+proposition with contempt, and dismissed the herald without an answer.
+After this both sides began to prepare for action.  Gylippus, observing
+that the Syracusans were in disorder and did not easily fall into
+line, drew off his troops more into the open ground, while Nicias
+did not lead on the Athenians but lay still by his own wall.  When
+Gylippus saw that they did not come on, he led off his army to the
+citadel of the quarter of Apollo Temenites, and passed the night
+there.  On the following day he led out the main body of his army, and,
+drawing them up in order of battle before the walls of the Athenians
+to prevent their going to the relief of any other quarter,
+dispatched a strong force against Fort Labdalum, and took it, and
+put all whom he found in it to the sword, the place not being within
+sight of the Athenians.  On the same day an Athenian galley that lay
+moored off the harbour was captured by the Syracusans.
+
+After this the Syracusans and their allies began to carry a single
+wall, starting from the city, in a slanting direction up Epipolae,
+in order that the Athenians, unless they could hinder the work,
+might be no longer able to invest them.  Meanwhile the Athenians,
+having now finished their wall down to the sea, had come up to the
+heights; and part of their wall being weak, Gylippus drew out his army
+by night and attacked it.  However, the Athenians who happened to be
+bivouacking outside took the alarm and came out to meet him, upon
+seeing which he quickly led his men back again.  The Athenians now
+built their wall higher, and in future kept guard at this point
+themselves, disposing their confederates along the remainder of the
+works, at the stations assigned to them.  Nicias also determined to
+fortify Plemmyrium, a promontory over against the city, which juts out
+and narrows the mouth of the Great Harbour.  He thought that the
+fortification of this place would make it easier to bring in supplies,
+as they would be able to carry on their blockade from a less distance,
+near to the port occupied by the Syracusans; instead of being obliged,
+upon every movement of the enemy's navy, to put out against them
+from the bottom of the great harbour.  Besides this, he now began to
+pay more attention to the war by sea, seeing that the coming of
+Gylippus had diminished their hopes by land.  Accordingly, he
+conveyed over his ships and some troops, and built three forts in
+which he placed most of his baggage, and moored there for the future
+the larger craft and men-of-war.  This was the first and chief occasion
+of the losses which the crews experienced.  The water which they used
+was scarce and had to be fetched from far, and the sailors could not
+go out for firewood without being cut off by the Syracusan horse,
+who were masters of the country; a third of the enemy's cavalry
+being stationed at the little town of Olympieum, to prevent plundering
+incursions on the part of the Athenians at Plemmyrium.  Meanwhile
+Nicias learned that the rest of the Corinthian fleet was
+approaching, and sent twenty ships to watch for them, with orders to
+be on the look-out for them about Locris and Rhegium and the
+approach to Sicily.
+
+Gylippus, meanwhile, went on with the wall across Epipolae, using
+the stones which the Athenians had laid down for their own wall, and
+at the same time constantly led out the Syracusans and their allies,
+and formed them in order of battle in front of the lines, the
+Athenians forming against him.  At last he thought that the moment
+was come, and began the attack; and a hand-to-hand fight ensued
+between the lines, where the Syracusan cavalry could be of no use; and
+the Syracusans and their allies were defeated and took up their dead
+under truce, while the Athenians erected a trophy.  After this Gylippus
+called the soldiers together, and said that the fault was not theirs
+but his; he had kept their lines too much within the works, and had
+thus deprived them of the services of their cavalry and darters.  He
+would now, therefore, lead them on a second time.  He begged them to
+remember that in material force they would be fully a match for
+their opponents, while, with respect to moral advantages, it were
+intolerable if Peloponnesians and Dorians should not feel confident of
+overcoming Ionians and islanders with the motley rabble that
+accompanied them, and of driving them out of the country.
+
+After this he embraced the first opportunity that offered of again
+leading them against the enemy.  Now Nicias and the Athenians held
+the opinion that even if the Syracusans should not wish to offer
+battle, it was necessary for them to prevent the building of the cross
+wall, as it already almost overlapped the extreme point of their
+own, and if it went any further it would from that moment make no
+difference whether they fought ever so many successful actions, or
+never fought at all.  They accordingly came out to meet the Syracusans.
+Gylippus led out his heavy infantry further from the fortifications
+than on the former occasion, and so joined battle; posting his horse
+and darters upon the flank of the Athenians in the open space, where
+the works of the two walls terminated.  During the engagement the
+cavalry attacked and routed the left wing of the Athenians, which
+was opposed to them; and the rest of the Athenian army was in
+consequence defeated by the Syracusans and driven headlong within
+their lines.  The night following the Syracusans carried their wall
+up to the Athenian works and passed them, thus putting it out of their
+power any longer to stop them, and depriving them, even if
+victorious in the field, of all chance of investing the city for the
+future.
+
+After this the remaining twelve vessels of the Corinthians,
+Ambraciots, and Leucadians sailed into the harbour under the command
+of Erasinides, a Corinthian, having eluded the Athenian ships on
+guard, and helped the Syracusans in completing the remainder of the
+cross wall.  Meanwhile Gylippus went into the rest of Sicily to raise
+land and naval forces, and also to bring over any of the cities that
+either were lukewarm in the cause or had hitherto kept out of the
+war altogether.  Syracusan and Corinthian envoys were also dispatched
+to Lacedaemon and Corinth to get a fresh force sent over, in any way
+that might offer, either in merchant vessels or transports, or in
+any other manner likely to prove successful, as the Athenians too were
+sending for reinforcements; while the Syracusans proceeded to man a
+fleet and to exercise, meaning to try their fortune in this way
+also, and generally became exceedingly confident.
+
+Nicias perceiving this, and seeing the strength of the enemy and his
+own difficulties daily increasing, himself also sent to Athens.  He had
+before sent frequent reports of events as they occurred, and felt it
+especially incumbent upon him to do so now, as he thought that they
+were in a critical position, and that, unless speedily recalled or
+strongly reinforced from home, they had no hope of safety.  He
+feared, however, that the messengers, either through inability to
+speak, or through failure of memory, or from a wish to please the
+multitude, might not report the truth, and so thought it best to write
+a letter, to ensure that the Athenians should know his own opinion
+without its being lost in transmission, and be able to decide upon the
+real facts of the case.
+
+His emissaries, accordingly, departed with the letter and the
+requisite verbal instructions; and he attended to the affairs of the
+army, making it his aim now to keep on the defensive and to avoid
+any unnecessary danger.
+
+At the close of the same summer the Athenian general Euetion marched
+in concert with Perdiccas with a large body of Thracians against
+Amphipolis, and failing to take it brought some galleys round into the
+Strymon, and blockaded the town from the river, having his base at
+Himeraeum.
+
+Summer was now over.  The winter ensuing, the persons sent by Nicias,
+reaching Athens, gave the verbal messages which had been entrusted
+to them, and answered any questions that were asked them, and
+delivered the letter.  The clerk of the city now came forward and
+read out to the Athenians the letter, which was as follows:
+
+"Our past operations, Athenians, have been made known to you by many
+other letters; it is now time for you to become equally familiar
+with our present condition, and to take your measures accordingly.
+We had defeated in most of our engagements with them the Syracusans,
+against whom we were sent, and we had built the works which we now
+occupy, when Gylippus arrived from Lacedaemon with an army obtained
+from Peloponnese and from some of the cities in Sicily.  In our first
+battle with him we were victorious; in the battle on the following day
+we were overpowered by a multitude of cavalry and darters, and
+compelled to retire within our lines.  We have now, therefore, been
+forced by the numbers of those opposed to us to discontinue the work
+of circumvallation, and to remain inactive; being unable to make use
+even of all the force we have, since a large portion of our heavy
+infantry is absorbed in the defence of our lines.  Meanwhile the
+enemy have carried a single wall past our lines, thus making it
+impossible for us to invest them in future, until this cross wall be
+attacked by a strong force and captured.  So that the besieger in
+name has become, at least from the land side, the besieged in reality;
+as we are prevented by their cavalry from even going for any
+distance into the country.
+
+"Besides this, an embassy has been dispatched to Peloponnese to
+procure reinforcements, and Gylippus has gone to the cities in Sicily,
+partly in the hope of inducing those that are at present neutral to
+join him in the war, partly of bringing from his allies additional
+contingents for the land forces and material for the navy.  For I
+understand that they contemplate a combined attack, upon our lines
+with their land forces and with their fleet by sea.  You must none of
+you be surprised that I say by sea also.  They have discovered that the
+length of the time we have now been in commission has rotted our ships
+and wasted our crews, and that with the entireness of our crews and
+the soundness of our ships the pristine efficiency of our navy has
+departed.  For it is impossible for us to haul our ships ashore and
+careen them, because, the enemy's vessels being as many or more than
+our own, we are constantly anticipating an attack.  Indeed, they may be
+seen exercising, and it lies with them to take the initiative; and not
+having to maintain a blockade, they have greater facilities for drying
+their ships.
+
+"This we should scarcely be able to do, even if we had plenty of
+ships to spare, and were freed from our present necessity of
+exhausting all our strength upon the blockade.  For it is already
+difficult to carry in supplies past Syracuse; and were we to relax our
+vigilance in the slightest degree it would become impossible.  The
+losses which our crews have suffered and still continue to suffer
+arise from the following causes.  Expeditions for fuel and for
+forage, and the distance from which water has to be fetched, cause our
+sailors to be cut off by the Syracusan cavalry; the loss of our
+previous superiority emboldens our slaves to desert; our foreign
+seamen are impressed by the unexpected appearance of a navy against
+us, and the strength of the enemy's resistance; such of them as were
+pressed into the service take the first opportunity of departing to
+their respective cities; such as were originally seduced by the
+temptation of high pay, and expected little fighting and large
+gains, leave us either by desertion to the enemy or by availing
+themselves of one or other of the various facilities of escape which
+the magnitude of Sicily affords them.  Some even engage in trade
+themselves and prevail upon the captains to take Hyccaric slaves on
+board in their place; thus they have ruined the efficiency of our
+navy.
+
+"Now I need not remind you that the time during which a crew is in
+its prime is short, and that the number of sailors who can start a
+ship on her way and keep the rowing in time is small.  But by far my
+greatest trouble is, that holding the post which I do, I am
+prevented by the natural indocility of the Athenian seaman from
+putting a stop to these evils; and that meanwhile we have no source
+from which to recruit our crews, which the enemy can do from many
+quarters, but are compelled to depend both for supplying the crews
+in service and for making good our losses upon the men whom we brought
+with us.  For our present confederates, Naxos and Catana, are incapable
+of supplying us.  There is only one thing more wanting to our
+opponents, I mean the defection of our Italian markets.  If they were
+to see you neglect to relieve us from our present condition, and
+were to go over to the enemy, famine would compel us to evacuate,
+and Syracuse would finish the war without a blow.
+
+"I might, it is true, have written to you something different and
+more agreeable than this, but nothing certainly more useful, if it
+is desirable for you to know the real state of things here before
+taking your measures.  Besides I know that it is your nature to love to
+be told the best side of things, and then to blame the teller if the
+expectations which he has raised in your minds are not answered by the
+result; and I therefore thought it safest to declare to you the truth.
+
+"Now you are not to think that either your generals or your soldiers
+have ceased to be a match for the forces originally opposed to them.
+But you are to reflect that a general Sicilian coalition is being
+formed against us; that a fresh army is expected from Peloponnese,
+while the force we have here is unable to cope even with our present
+antagonists; and you must promptly decide either to recall us or to
+send out to us another fleet and army as numerous again, with a
+large sum of money, and someone to succeed me, as a disease in the
+kidneys unfits me for retaining my post.  I have, I think, some claim
+on your indulgence, as while I was in my prime I did you much good
+service in my commands.  But whatever you mean to do, do it at the
+commencement of spring and without delay, as the enemy will obtain his
+Sicilian reinforcements shortly, those from Peloponnese after a longer
+interval; and unless you attend to the matter the former will be
+here before you, while the latter will elude you as they have done
+before."
+
+Such were the contents of Nicias's letter.  When the Athenians had
+heard it they refused to accept his resignation, but chose him two
+colleagues, naming Menander and Euthydemus, two of the officers at the
+seat of war, to fill their places until their arrival, that Nicias
+might not be left alone in his sickness to bear the whole weight of
+affairs.  They also voted to send out another army and navy, drawn
+partly from the Athenians on the muster-roll, partly from the
+allies.  The colleagues chosen for Nicias were Demosthenes, son of
+Alcisthenes, and Eurymedon, son of Thucles.  Eurymedon was sent off
+at once, about the time of the winter solstice, with ten ships, a
+hundred and twenty talents of silver, and instructions to tell the
+army that reinforcements would arrive, and that care would be taken of
+them; but Demosthenes stayed behind to organize the expedition,
+meaning to start as soon as it was spring, and sent for troops to
+the allies, and meanwhile got together money, ships, and heavy
+infantry at home.
+
+The Athenians also sent twenty vessels round Peloponnese to
+prevent any one crossing over to Sicily from Corinth or Peloponnese.
+For the Corinthians, filled with confidence by the favourable
+alteration in Sicilian affairs which had been reported by the envoys
+upon their arrival, and convinced that the fleet which they had before
+sent out had not been without its use, were now preparing to
+dispatch a force of heavy infantry in merchant vessels to Sicily,
+while the Lacedaemonians did the like for the rest of Peloponnese.  The
+Corinthians also manned a fleet of twenty-five vessels, intending to
+try the result of a battle with the squadron on guard at Naupactus,
+and meanwhile to make it less easy for the Athenians there to hinder
+the departure of their merchantmen, by obliging them to keep an eye
+upon the galleys thus arrayed against them.
+
+In the meantime the Lacedaemonians prepared for their invasion of
+Attica, in accordance with their own previous resolve, and at the
+instigation of the Syracusans and Corinthians, who wished for an
+invasion to arrest the reinforcements which they heard that Athens was
+about to send to Sicily.  Alcibiades also urgently advised the
+fortification of Decelea, and a vigorous prosecution of the war.  But
+the Lacedaemonians derived most encouragement from the belief that
+Athens, with two wars on her hands, against themselves and against the
+Siceliots, would be more easy to subdue, and from the conviction
+that she had been the first to infringe the truce.  In the former
+war, they considered, the offence had been more on their own side,
+both on account of the entrance of the Thebans into Plataea in time of
+peace, and also of their own refusal to listen to the Athenian offer
+of arbitration, in spite of the clause in the former treaty that where
+arbitration should be offered there should be no appeal to arms.  For
+this reason they thought that they deserved their misfortunes, and
+took to heart seriously the disaster at Pylos and whatever else had
+befallen them.  But when, besides the ravages from Pylos, which went on
+without any intermission, the thirty Athenian ships came out from
+Argos and wasted part of Epidaurus, Prasiae, and other places; when
+upon every dispute that arose as to the interpretation of any doubtful
+point in the treaty, their own offers of arbitration were always
+rejected by the Athenians, the Lacedaemonians at length decided that
+Athens had now committed the very same offence as they had before
+done, and had become the guilty party; and they began to be full of
+ardour for the war.  They spent this winter in sending round to their
+allies for iron, and in getting ready the other implements for
+building their fort; and meanwhile began raising at home, and also
+by forced requisitions in the rest of Peloponnese, a force to be
+sent out in the merchantmen to their allies in Sicily.  Winter thus
+ended, and with it the eighteenth year of this war of which Thucydides
+is the historian.
+
+In the first days of the spring following, at an earlier period than
+usual, the Lacedaemonians and their allies invaded Attica, under the
+command of Agis, son of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians.  They
+began by devastating the parts bordering upon the plain, and next
+proceeded to fortify Decelea, dividing the work among the different
+cities.  Decelea is about thirteen or fourteen miles from the city of
+Athens, and the same distance or not much further from Boeotia; and
+the fort was meant to annoy the plain and the richest parts of the
+country, being in sight of Athens.  While the Peloponnesians and
+their allies in Attica were engaged in the work of fortification,
+their countrymen at home sent off, at about the same time, the heavy
+infantry in the merchant vessels to Sicily; the Lacedaemonians
+furnishing a picked force of Helots and Neodamodes (or freedmen),
+six hundred heavy infantry in all, under the command of Eccritus, a
+Spartan; and the Boeotians three hundred heavy infantry, commanded
+by two Thebans, Xenon and Nicon, and by Hegesander, a Thespian.
+These were among the first to put out into the open sea, starting from
+Taenarus in Laconia.  Not long after their departure the Corinthians
+sent off a force of five hundred heavy infantry, consisting partly
+of men from Corinth itself, and partly of Arcadian mercenaries, placed
+under the command of Alexarchus, a Corinthian.  The Sicyonians also
+sent off two hundred heavy infantry at same time as the Corinthians,
+under the command of Sargeus, a Sicyonian.  Meantime the
+five-and-twenty vessels manned by Corinth during the winter lay
+confronting the twenty Athenian ships at Naupactus until the heavy
+infantry in the merchantmen were fairly on their way from Peloponnese;
+thus fulfilling the object for which they had been manned
+originally, which was to divert the attention of the Athenians from
+the merchantmen to the galleys.
+
+During this time the Athenians were not idle.  Simultaneously with
+the fortification of Decelea, at the very beginning of spring, they
+sent thirty ships round Peloponnese, under Charicles, son of
+Apollodorus, with instructions to call at Argos and demand a force
+of their heavy infantry for the fleet, agreeably to the alliance.  At
+the same time they dispatched Demosthenes to Sicily, as they had
+intended, with sixty Athenian and five Chian vessels, twelve hundred
+Athenian heavy infantry from the muster-roll, and as many of the
+islanders as could be raised in the different quarters, drawing upon
+the other subject allies for whatever they could supply that would
+be of use for the war.  Demosthenes was instructed first to sail
+round with Charicles and to operate with him upon the coasts of
+Laconia, and accordingly sailed to Aegina and there waited for the
+remainder of his armament, and for Charicles to fetch the Argive
+troops.
+
+In Sicily, about the same time in this spring, Gylippus came to
+Syracuse with as many troops as he could bring from the cities which
+he had persuaded to join.  Calling the Syracusans together, he told
+them that they must man as many ships as possible, and try their
+hand at a sea-fight, by which he hoped to achieve an advantage in
+the war not unworthy of the risk.  With him Hermocrates actively joined
+in trying to encourage his countrymen to attack the Athenians at
+sea, saying that the latter had not inherited their naval prowess
+nor would they retain it for ever; they had been landsmen even to a
+greater degree than the Syracusans, and had only become a maritime
+power when obliged by the Mede.  Besides, to daring spirits like the
+Athenians, a daring adversary would seem the most formidable; and
+the Athenian plan of paralysing by the boldness of their attack a
+neighbour often not their inferior in strength could now be used
+against them with as good effect by the Syracusans.  He was convinced
+also that the unlooked-for spectacle of Syracusans daring to face
+the Athenian navy would cause a terror to the enemy, the advantages of
+which would far outweigh any loss that Athenian science might
+inflict upon their inexperience.  He accordingly urged them to throw
+aside their fears and to try their fortune at sea; and the Syracusans,
+under the influence of Gylippus and Hermocrates, and perhaps some
+others, made up their minds for the sea-fight and began to man their
+vessels.
+
+When the fleet was ready, Gylippus led out the whole army by
+night; his plan being to assault in person the forts on Plemmyrium
+by land, while thirty-five Syracusan galleys sailed according to
+appointment against the enemy from the great harbour, and the
+forty-five remaining came round from the lesser harbour, where they
+had their arsenal, in order to effect a junction with those inside and
+simultaneously to attack Plemmyrium, and thus to distract the
+Athenians by assaulting them on two sides at once.  The Athenians
+quickly manned sixty ships, and with twenty-five of these engaged
+the thirty-five of the Syracusans in the great harbour, sending the
+rest to meet those sailing round from the arsenal; and an action now
+ensued directly in front of the mouth of the great harbour, maintained
+with equal tenacity on both sides; the one wishing to force the
+passage, the other to prevent them.
+
+In the meantime, while the Athenians in Plemmyrium were down at
+the sea, attending to the engagement, Gylippus made a sudden attack on
+the forts in the early morning and took the largest first, and
+afterwards the two smaller, whose garrisons did not wait for him,
+seeing the largest so easily taken.  At the fall of the first fort, the
+men from it who succeeded in taking refuge in their boats and
+merchantmen, found great difficulty in reaching the camp, as the
+Syracusans were having the best of it in the engagement in the great
+harbour, and sent a fast-sailing galley to pursue them.  But when the
+two others fell, the Syracusans were now being defeated; and the
+fugitives from these sailed alongshore with more ease.  The Syracusan
+ships fighting off the mouth of the harbour forced their way through
+the Athenian vessels and sailing in without any order fell foul of one
+another, and transferred the victory to the Athenians; who not only
+routed the squadron in question, but also that by which they were at
+first being defeated in the harbour, sinking eleven of the Syracusan
+vessels and killing most of the men, except the crews of three ships
+whom they made prisoners.  Their own loss was confined to three
+vessels; and after hauling ashore the Syracusan wrecks and setting
+up a trophy upon the islet in front of Plemmyrium, they retired to
+their own camp.
+
+Unsuccessful at sea, the Syracusans had nevertheless the forts in
+Plemmyrium, for which they set up three trophies.  One of the two
+last taken they razed, but put in order and garrisoned the two others.
+In the capture of the forts a great many men were killed and made
+prisoners, and a great quantity of property was taken in all.  As the
+Athenians had used them as a magazine, there was a large stock of
+goods and corn of the merchants inside, and also a large stock
+belonging to the captains; the masts and other furniture of forty
+galleys being taken, besides three galleys which had been drawn up
+on shore.  Indeed the first and chiefest cause of the ruin of the
+Athenian army was the capture of Plemmyrium; even the entrance of
+the harbour being now no longer safe for carrying in provisions, as
+the Syracusan vessels were stationed there to prevent it, and
+nothing could be brought in without fighting; besides the general
+impression of dismay and discouragement produced upon the army.
+
+After this the Syracusans sent out twelve ships under the command of
+Agatharchus, a Syracusan.  One of these went to Peloponnese with
+ambassadors to describe the hopeful state of their affairs, and to
+incite the Peloponnesians to prosecute the war there even more
+actively than they were now doing, while the eleven others sailed to
+Italy, hearing that vessels laden with stores were on their way to the
+Athenians.  After falling in with and destroying most of the vessels in
+question, and burning in the Caulonian territory a quantity of
+timber for shipbuilding, which had been got ready for the Athenians,
+the Syracusan squadron went to Locri, and one of the merchantmen
+from Peloponnese coming in, while they were at anchor there,
+carrying Thespian heavy infantry, took these on board and sailed
+alongshore towards home.  The Athenians were on the look-out for them
+with twenty ships at Megara, but were only able to take one vessel
+with its crew; the rest getting clear off to Syracuse.  There was
+also some skirmishing in the harbour about the piles which the
+Syracusans had driven in the sea in front of the old docks, to allow
+their ships to lie at anchor inside, without being hurt by the
+Athenians sailing up and running them down.  The Athenians brought up
+to them a ship of ten thousand talents burden furnished with wooden
+turrets and screens, and fastened ropes round the piles from their
+boats, wrenched them up and broke them, or dived down and sawed them
+in two.  Meanwhile the Syracusans plied them with missiles from the
+docks, to which they replied from their large vessel; until at last
+most of the piles were removed by the Athenians.  But the most
+awkward part of the stockade was the part out of sight: some of the
+piles which had been driven in did not appear above water, so that
+it was dangerous to sail up, for fear of running the ships upon
+them, just as upon a reef, through not seeing them.  However divers
+went down and sawed off even these for reward; although the Syracusans
+drove in others.  Indeed there was no end to the contrivances to
+which they resorted against each other, as might be expected between
+two hostile armies confronting each other at such a short distance:
+and skirmishes and all kinds of other attempts were of constant
+occurrence.  Meanwhile the Syracusans sent embassies to the cities,
+composed of Corinthians, Ambraciots, and Lacedaemonians, to tell
+them of the capture of Plemmyrium, and that their defeat in the
+sea-fight was due less to the strength of the enemy than to their
+own disorder; and generally, to let them know that they were full of
+hope, and to desire them to come to their help with ships and
+troops, as the Athenians were expected with a fresh army, and if the
+one already there could be destroyed before the other arrived, the war
+would be at an end.
+
+While the contending parties in Sicily were thus engaged,
+Demosthenes, having now got together the armament with which he was to
+go to the island, put out from Aegina, and making sail for
+Peloponnese, joined Charicles and the thirty ships of the Athenians.
+Taking on board the heavy infantry from Argos they sailed to
+Laconia, and, after first plundering part of Epidaurus Limera,
+landed on the coast of Laconia, opposite Cythera, where the temple
+of Apollo stands, and, laying waste part of the country, fortified a
+sort of isthmus, to which the Helots of the Lacedaemonians might
+desert, and from whence plundering incursions might be made as from
+Pylos.  Demosthenes helped to occupy this place, and then immediately
+sailed on to Corcyra to take up some of the allies in that island, and
+so to proceed without delay to Sicily; while Charicles waited until he
+had completed the fortification of the place and, leaving a garrison
+there, returned home subsequently with his thirty ships and the
+Argives also.
+
+This same summer arrived at Athens thirteen hundred targeteers,
+Thracian swordsmen of the tribe of the Dii, who were to have sailed to
+Sicily with Demosthenes.  Since they had come too late, the Athenians
+determined to send them back to Thrace, whence they had come; to
+keep them for the Decelean war appearing too expensive, as the pay
+of each man was a drachma a day.  Indeed since Decelea had been first
+fortified by the whole Peloponnesian army during this summer, and then
+occupied for the annoyance of the country by the garrisons from the
+cities relieving each other at stated intervals, it had been doing
+great mischief to the Athenians; in fact this occupation, by the
+destruction of property and loss of men which resulted from it, was
+one of the principal causes of their ruin.  Previously the invasions
+were short, and did not prevent their enjoying their land during the
+rest of the time: the enemy was now permanently fixed in Attica; at
+one time it was an attack in force, at another it was the regular
+garrison overrunning the country and making forays for its
+subsistence, and the Lacedaemonian king, Agis, was in the field and
+diligently prosecuting the war; great mischief was therefore done to
+the Athenians.  They were deprived of their whole country: more than
+twenty thousand slaves had deserted, a great part of them artisans,
+and all their sheep and beasts of burden were lost; and as the cavalry
+rode out daily upon excursions to Decelea and to guard the country,
+their horses were either lamed by being constantly worked upon rocky
+ground, or wounded by the enemy.
+
+Besides, the transport of provisions from Euboea, which had before
+been carried on so much more quickly overland by Decelea from
+Oropus, was now effected at great cost by sea round Sunium; everything
+the city required had to be imported from abroad, and instead of a
+city it became a fortress.  Summer and winter the Athenians were worn
+out by having to keep guard on the fortifications, during the day by
+turns, by night all together, the cavalry excepted, at the different
+military posts or upon the wall.  But what most oppressed them was that
+they had two wars at once, and had thus reached a pitch of frenzy
+which no one would have believed possible if he had heard of it before
+it had come to pass.  For could any one have imagined that even when
+besieged by the Peloponnesians entrenched in Attica, they would still,
+instead of withdrawing from Sicily, stay on there besieging in like
+manner Syracuse, a town (taken as a town) in no way inferior to
+Athens, or would so thoroughly upset the Hellenic estimate of their
+strength and audacity, as to give the spectacle of a people which,
+at the beginning of the war, some thought might hold out one year,
+some two, none more than three, if the Peloponnesians invaded their
+country, now seventeen years after the first invasion, after having
+already suffered from all the evils of war, going to Sicily and
+undertaking a new war nothing inferior to that which they already
+had with the Peloponnesians? These causes, the great losses from
+Decelea, and the other heavy charges that fell upon them, produced
+their financial embarrassment; and it was at this time that they
+imposed upon their subjects, instead of the tribute, the tax of a
+twentieth upon all imports and exports by sea, which they thought
+would bring them in more money; their expenditure being now not the
+same as at first, but having grown with the war while their revenues
+decayed.
+
+Accordingly, not wishing to incur expense in their present want of
+money, they sent back at once the Thracians who came too late for
+Demosthenes, under the conduct of Diitrephes, who was instructed, as
+they were to pass through the Euripus, to make use of them if possible
+in the voyage alongshore to injure the enemy.  Diitrephes first
+landed them at Tanagra and hastily snatched some booty; he then sailed
+across the Euripus in the evening from Chalcis in Euboea and
+disembarking in Boeotia led them against Mycalessus.  The night he
+passed unobserved near the temple of Hermes, not quite two miles
+from Mycalessus, and at daybreak assaulted and took the town, which is
+not a large one; the inhabitants being off their guard and not
+expecting that any one would ever come up so far from the sea to
+molest them, the wall too being weak, and in some places having
+tumbled down, while in others it had not been built to any height, and
+the gates also being left open through their feeling of security.
+The Thracians bursting into Mycalessus sacked the houses and
+temples, and butchered the inhabitants, sparing neither youth nor age,
+but killing all they fell in with, one after the other, children and
+women, and even beasts of burden, and whatever other living
+creatures they saw; the Thracian race, like the bloodiest of the
+barbarians, being even more so when it has nothing to fear.  Everywhere
+confusion reigned and death in all its shapes; and in particular
+they attacked a boys' school, the largest that there was in the place,
+into which the children had just gone, and massacred them all.  In
+short, the disaster falling upon the whole town was unsurpassed in
+magnitude, and unapproached by any in suddenness and in horror.
+
+Meanwhile the Thebans heard of it and marched to the rescue, and
+overtaking the Thracians before they had gone far, recovered the
+plunder and drove them in panic to the Euripus and the sea, where
+the vessels which brought them were lying.  The greatest slaughter took
+place while they were embarking, as they did not know how to swim, and
+those in the vessels on seeing what was going on on on shore moored
+them out of bowshot: in the rest of the retreat the Thracians made a
+very respectable defence against the Theban horse, by which they
+were first attacked, dashing out and closing their ranks according
+to the tactics of their country, and lost only a few men in that
+part of the affair.  A good number who were after plunder were actually
+caught in the town and put to death.  Altogether the Thracians had
+two hundred and fifty killed out of thirteen hundred, the Thebans
+and the rest who came to the rescue about twenty, troopers and heavy
+infantry, with Scirphondas, one of the Boeotarchs.  The Mycalessians
+lost a large proportion of their population.
+
+While Mycalessus thus experienced a calamity for its extent as
+lamentable as any that happened in the war, Demosthenes, whom we
+left sailing to Corcyra, after the building of the fort in Laconia,
+found a merchantman lying at Phea in Elis, in which the Corinthian
+heavy infantry were to cross to Sicily.  The ship he destroyed, but the
+men escaped, and subsequently got another in which they pursued
+their voyage.  After this, arriving at Zacynthus and Cephallenia, he
+took a body of heavy infantry on board, and sending for some of the
+Messenians from Naupactus, crossed over to the opposite coast of
+Acarnania, to Alyzia, and to Anactorium which was held by the
+Athenians.  While he was in these parts he was met by Eurymedon
+returning from Sicily, where he had been sent, as has been
+mentioned, during the winter, with the money for the army, who told
+him the news, and also that he had heard, while at sea, that the
+Syracusans had taken Plemmyrium.  Here, also, Conon came to them, the
+commander at Naupactus, with news that the twenty-five Corinthian
+ships stationed opposite to him, far from giving over the war, were
+meditating an engagement; and he therefore begged them to send him
+some ships, as his own eighteen were not a match for the enemy's
+twenty-five.  Demosthenes and Eurymedon, accordingly, sent ten of their
+best sailers with Conon to reinforce the squadron at Naupactus, and
+meanwhile prepared for the muster of their forces; Eurymedon, who
+was now the colleague of Demosthenes, and had turned back in
+consequence of his appointment, sailing to Corcyra to tell them to man
+fifteen ships and to enlist heavy infantry; while Demosthenes raised
+slingers and darters from the parts about Acarnania.
+
+Meanwhile the envoys, already mentioned, who had gone from
+Syracuse to the cities after the capture of Plemmyrium, had
+succeeded in their mission, and were about to bring the army that they
+had collected, when Nicias got scent of it, and sent to the Centoripae
+and Alicyaeans and other of the friendly Sicels, who held the
+passes, not to let the enemy through, but to combine to prevent
+their passing, there being no other way by which they could even
+attempt it, as the Agrigentines would not give them a passage
+through their country.  Agreeably to this request the Sicels laid a
+triple ambuscade for the Siceliots upon their march, and attacking
+them suddenly, while off their guard, killed about eight hundred of
+them and all the envoys, the Corinthian only excepted, by whom fifteen
+hundred who escaped were conducted to Syracuse.
+
+About the same time the Camarinaeans also came to the assistance
+of Syracuse with five hundred heavy infantry, three hundred darters,
+and as many archers, while the Geloans sent crews for five ships, four
+hundred darters, and two hundred horse.  Indeed almost the whole of
+Sicily, except the Agrigentines, who were neutral, now ceased merely
+to watch events as it had hitherto done, and actively joined
+Syracuse against the Athenians.
+
+While the Syracusans after the Sicel disaster put off any
+immediate attack upon the Athenians, Demosthenes and Eurymedon,
+whose forces from Corcyra and the continent were now ready, crossed
+the Ionian Gulf with all their armament to the Iapygian promontory,
+and starting from thence touched at the Choerades Isles lying off
+Iapygia, where they took on board a hundred and fifty Iapygian darters
+of the Messapian tribe, and after renewing an old friendship with
+Artas the chief, who had furnished them with the darters, arrived at
+Metapontium in Italy.  Here they persuaded their allies the
+Metapontines to send with them three hundred darters and two
+galleys, and with this reinforcement coasted on to Thurii, where
+they found the party hostile to Athens recently expelled by a
+revolution, and accordingly remained there to muster and review the
+whole army, to see if any had been left behind, and to prevail upon
+the Thurians resolutely to join them in their expedition, and in the
+circumstances in which they found themselves to conclude a defensive
+and offensive alliance with the Athenians.
+
+About the same time the Peloponnesians in the twenty-five ships
+stationed opposite to the squadron at Naupactus to protect the passage
+of the transports to Sicily had got ready for engaging, and manning
+some additional vessels, so as to be numerically little inferior to
+the Athenians, anchored off Erineus in Achaia in the Rhypic country.
+The place off which they lay being in the form of a crescent, the land
+forces furnished by the Corinthians and their allies on the spot
+came up and ranged themselves upon the projecting headlands on
+either side, while the fleet, under the command of Polyanthes, a
+Corinthian, held the intervening space and blocked up the entrance.
+The Athenians under Diphilus now sailed out against them with
+thirty-three ships from Naupactus, and the Corinthians, at first not
+moving, at length thought they saw their opportunity, raised the
+signal, and advanced and engaged the Athenians.  After an obstinate
+struggle, the Corinthians lost three ships, and without sinking any
+altogether, disabled seven of the enemy, which were struck prow to
+prow and had their foreships stove in by the Corinthian vessels, whose
+cheeks had been strengthened for this very purpose.  After an action of
+this even character, in which either party could claim the victory
+(although the Athenians became masters of the wrecks through the
+wind driving them out to sea, the Corinthians not putting out again to
+meet them), the two combatants parted.  No pursuit took place, and no
+prisoners were made on either side; the Corinthians and Peloponnesians
+who were fighting near the shore escaping with ease, and none of the
+Athenian vessels having been sunk.  The Athenians now sailed back to
+Naupactus, and the Corinthians immediately set up a trophy as victors,
+because they had disabled a greater number of the enemy's ships.
+Moreover they held that they had not been worsted, for the very same
+reason that their opponent held that he had not been victorious; the
+Corinthians considering that they were conquerors, if not decidedly
+conquered, and the Athenians thinking themselves vanquished, because
+not decidedly victorious.  However, when the Peloponnesians sailed
+off and their land forces had dispersed, the Athenians also set up a
+trophy as victors in Achaia, about two miles and a quarter from
+Erineus, the Corinthian station.
+
+This was the termination of the action at Naupactus.  To return to
+Demosthenes and Eurymedon: the Thurians having now got ready to join
+in the expedition with seven hundred heavy infantry and three
+hundred darters, the two generals ordered the ships to sail along
+the coast to the Crotonian territory, and meanwhile held a review of
+all the land forces upon the river Sybaris, and then led them
+through the Thurian country.  Arrived at the river Hylias, they here
+received a message from the Crotonians, saying that they would not
+allow the army to pass through their country; upon which the Athenians
+descended towards the shore, and bivouacked near the sea and the mouth
+of the Hylias, where the fleet also met them, and the next day
+embarked and sailed along the coast touching at all the cities
+except Locri, until they came to Petra in the Rhegian territory.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans hearing of their approach resolved to
+make a second attempt with their fleet and their other forces on
+shore, which they had been collecting for this very purpose in order
+to do something before their arrival.  In addition to other
+improvements suggested by the former sea-fight which they now
+adopted in the equipment of their navy, they cut down their prows to a
+smaller compass to make them more solid and made their cheeks stouter,
+and from these let stays into the vessels' sides for a length of six
+cubits within and without, in the same way as the Corinthians had
+altered their prows before engaging the squadron at Naupactus.  The
+Syracusans thought that they would thus have an advantage over the
+Athenian vessels, which were not constructed with equal strength,
+but were slight in the bows, from their being more used to sail
+round and charge the enemy's side than to meet him prow to prow, and
+that the battle being in the great harbour, with a great many ships in
+not much room, was also a fact in their favour.  Charging prow to prow,
+they would stave in the enemy's bows, by striking with solid and stout
+beaks against hollow and weak ones; and secondly, the Athenians for
+want of room would be unable to use their favourite manoeuvre of
+breaking the line or of sailing round, as the Syracusans would do
+their best not to let them do the one, and want of room would
+prevent their doing the other.  This charging prow to prow, which had
+hitherto been thought want of skill in a helmsman, would be the
+Syracusans' chief manoeuvre, as being that which they should find most
+useful, since the Athenians, if repulsed, would not be able to back
+water in any direction except towards the shore, and that only for a
+little way, and in the little space in front of their own camp.  The
+rest of the harbour would be commanded by the Syracusans; and the
+Athenians, if hard pressed, by crowding together in a small space
+and all to the same point, would run foul of one another and fall into
+disorder, which was, in fact, the thing that did the Athenians most
+harm in all the sea-fights, they not having, like the Syracusans,
+the whole harbour to retreat over.  As to their sailing round into
+the open sea, this would be impossible, with the Syracusans in
+possession of the way out and in, especially as Plemmyrium would be
+hostile to them, and the mouth of the harbour was not large.
+
+With these contrivances to suit their skill and ability, and now
+more confident after the previous sea-fight, the Syracusans attacked
+by land and sea at once.  The town force Gylippus led out a little
+the first and brought them up to the wall of the Athenians, where it
+looked towards the city, while the force from the Olympieum, that is
+to say, the heavy infantry that were there with the horse and the
+light troops of the Syracusans, advanced against the wall from the
+opposite side; the ships of the Syracusans and allies sailing out
+immediately afterwards.  The Athenians at first fancied that they
+were to be attacked by land only, and it was not without alarm that
+they saw the fleet suddenly approaching as well; and while some were
+forming upon the walls and in front of them against the advancing
+enemy, and some marching out in haste against the numbers of horse and
+darters coming from the Olympieum and from outside, others manned
+the ships or rushed down to the beach to oppose the enemy, and when
+the ships were manned put out with seventy-five sail against about
+eighty of the Syracusans.
+
+After spending a great part of the day in advancing and retreating
+and skirmishing with each other, without either being able to gain any
+advantage worth speaking of, except that the Syracusans sank one or
+two of the Athenian vessels, they parted, the land force at the same
+time retiring from the lines.  The next day the Syracusans remained
+quiet, and gave no signs of what they were going to do; but Nicias,
+seeing that the battle had been a drawn one, and expecting that they
+would attack again, compelled the captains to refit any of the ships
+that had suffered, and moored merchant vessels before the stockade
+which they had driven into the sea in front of their ships, to serve
+instead of an enclosed harbour, at about two hundred feet from each
+other, in order that any ship that was hard pressed might be able to
+retreat in safety and sail out again at leisure.  These preparations
+occupied the Athenians all day until nightfall.
+
+The next day the Syracusans began operations at an earlier hour, but
+with the same plan of attack by land and sea.  A great part of the
+day the rivals spent as before, confronting and skirmishing with
+each other; until at last Ariston, son of Pyrrhicus, a Corinthian, the
+ablest helmsman in the Syracusan service, persuaded their naval
+commanders to send to the officials in the city, and tell them to move
+the sale market as quickly as they could down to the sea, and oblige
+every one to bring whatever eatables he had and sell them there,
+thus enabling the commanders to land the crews and dine at once
+close to the ships, and shortly afterwards, the selfsame day, to
+attack the Athenians again when they were not expecting it.
+
+In compliance with this advice a messenger was sent and the market
+got ready, upon which the Syracusans suddenly backed water and
+withdrew to the town, and at once landed and took their dinner upon
+the spot; while the Athenians, supposing that they had returned to the
+town because they felt they were beaten, disembarked at their
+leisure and set about getting their dinners and about their other
+occupations, under the idea that they done with fighting for that day.
+Suddenly the Syracusans had manned their ships and again sailed
+against them; and the Athenians, in great confusion and most of them
+fasting, got on board, and with great difficulty put out to meet them.
+For some time both parties remained on the defensive without engaging,
+until the Athenians at last resolved not to let themselves be worn out
+by waiting where they were, but to attack without delay, and giving
+a cheer, went into action.  The Syracusans received them, and
+charging prow to prow as they had intended, stove in a great part of
+the Athenian foreships by the strength of their beaks; the darters
+on the decks also did great damage to the Athenians, but still greater
+damage was done by the Syracusans who went about in small boats, ran
+in upon the oars of the Athenian galleys, and sailed against their
+sides, and discharged from thence their darts upon the sailors.
+
+At last, fighting hard in this fashion, the Syracusans gained the
+victory, and the Athenians turned and fled between the merchantmen
+to their own station.  The Syracusan ships pursued them as far as the
+merchantmen, where they were stopped by the beams armed with
+dolphins suspended from those vessels over the passage.  Two of the
+Syracusan vessels went too near in the excitement of victory and
+were destroyed, one of them being taken with its crew.  After sinking
+seven of the Athenian vessels and disabling many, and taking most of
+the men prisoners and killing others, the Syracusans retired and set
+up trophies for both the engagements, being now confident of having
+a decided superiority by sea, and by no means despairing of equal
+success by land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+_Nineteenth Year of the War - Arrival of Demosthenes - Defeat of
+the Athenians at Epipolae - Folly and Obstinancy of Nicias_
+
+In the meantime, while the Syracusans were preparing for a second
+attack upon both elements, Demosthenes and Eurymedon arrived with
+the succours from Athens, consisting of about seventy-three ships,
+including the foreigners; nearly five thousand heavy infantry,
+Athenian and allied; a large number of darters, Hellenic and
+barbarian, and slingers and archers and everything else upon a
+corresponding scale.  The Syracusans and their allies were for the
+moment not a little dismayed at the idea that there was to be no
+term or ending to their dangers, seeing, in spite of the fortification
+of Decelea, a new army arrive nearly equal to the former, and the
+power of Athens proving so great in every quarter.  On the other
+hand, the first Athenian armament regained a certain confidence in the
+midst of its misfortunes.  Demosthenes, seeing how matters stood,
+felt that he could not drag on and fare as Nicias had done, who by
+wintering in Catana instead of at once attacking Syracuse had
+allowed the terror of his first arrival to evaporate in contempt,
+and had given time to Gylippus to arrive with a force from
+Peloponnese, which the Syracusans would never have sent for if he
+had attacked immediately; for they fancied that they were a match
+for him by themselves, and would not have discovered their inferiority
+until they were already invested, and even if they then sent for
+succours, they would no longer have been equally able to profit by
+their arrival.  Recollecting this, and well aware that it was now on
+the first day after his arrival that he like Nicias was most
+formidable to the enemy, Demosthenes determined to lose no time in
+drawing the utmost profit from the consternation at the moment
+inspired by his army; and seeing that the counterwall of the
+Syracusans, which hindered the Athenians from investing them, was a
+single one, and that he who should become master of the way up to
+Epipolae, and afterwards of the camp there, would find no difficulty
+in taking it, as no one would even wait for his attack, made all haste
+to attempt the enterprise.  This he took to be the shortest way of
+ending the war, as he would either succeed and take Syracuse, or would
+lead back the armament instead of frittering away the lives of the
+Athenians engaged in the expedition and the resources of the country
+at large.
+
+First therefore the Athenians went out and laid waste the lands of
+the Syracusans about the Anapus and carried all before them as at
+first by land and by sea, the Syracusans not offering to oppose them
+upon either element, unless it were with their cavalry and darters
+from the Olympieum.  Next Demosthenes resolved to attempt the
+counterwall first by means of engines.  As however the engines that
+he brought up were burnt by the enemy fighting from the wall, and
+the rest of the forces repulsed after attacking at many different
+points, he determined to delay no longer, and having obtained the
+consent of Nicias and his fellow commanders, proceeded to put in
+execution his plan of attacking Epipolae.  As by day it seemed
+impossible to approach and get up without being observed, he ordered
+provisions for five days, took all the masons and carpenters, and
+other things, such as arrows, and everything else that they could want
+for the work of fortification if successful, and, after the first
+watch, set out with Eurymedon and Menander and the whole army for
+Epipolae, Nicias being left behind in the lines.  Having come up by the
+hill of Euryelus (where the former army had ascended at first)
+unobserved by the enemy's guards, they went up to the fort which the
+Syracusans had there, and took it, and put to the sword part of the
+garrison.  The greater number, however, escaped at once and gave the
+alarm to the camps, of which there were three upon Epipolae,
+defended by outworks, one of the Syracusans, one of the other
+Siceliots, and one of the allies; and also to the six hundred
+Syracusans forming the original garrison for this part of Epipolae.
+These at once advanced against the assailants and, falling in with
+Demosthenes and the Athenians, were routed by them after a sharp
+resistance, the victors immediately pushing on, eager to achieve the
+objects of the attack without giving time for their ardour to cool;
+meanwhile others from the very beginning were taking the counterwall
+of the Syracusans, which was abandoned by its garrison, and pulling
+down the battlements.  The Syracusans and the allies, and Gylippus with
+the troops under his command, advanced to the rescue from the
+outworks, but engaged in some consternation (a night attack being a
+piece of audacity which they had never expected), and were at first
+compelled to retreat.  But while the Athenians, flushed with their
+victory, now advanced with less order, wishing to make their way as
+quickly as possible through the whole force of the enemy not yet
+engaged, without relaxing their attack or giving them time to rally,
+the Boeotians made the first stand against them, attacked them, routed
+them, and put them to flight.
+
+The Athenians now fell into great disorder and perplexity, so that
+it was not easy to get from one side or the other any detailed account
+of the affair.  By day certainly the combatants have a clearer
+notion, though even then by no means of all that takes place, no one
+knowing much of anything that does not go on in his own immediate
+neighbourhood; but in a night engagement (and this was the only one
+that occurred between great armies during the war) how could any one
+know anything for certain? Although there was a bright moon they saw
+each other only as men do by moonlight, that is to say, they could
+distinguish the form of the body, but could not tell for certain
+whether it was a friend or an enemy.  Both had great numbers of heavy
+infantry moving about in a small space.  Some of the Athenians were
+already defeated, while others were coming up yet unconquered for
+their first attack.  A large part also of the rest of their forces
+either had only just got up, or were still ascending, so that they did
+not know which way to march.  Owing to the rout that had taken place
+all in front was now in confusion, and the noise made it difficult
+to distinguish anything.  The victorious Syracusans and allies were
+cheering each other on with loud cries, by night the only possible
+means of communication, and meanwhile receiving all who came against
+them; while the Athenians were seeking for one another, taking all
+in front of them for enemies, even although they might be some of
+their now flying friends; and by constantly asking for the
+watchword, which was their only means of recognition, not only
+caused great confusion among themselves by asking all at once, but
+also made it known to the enemy, whose own they did not so readily
+discover, as the Syracusans were victorious and not scattered, and
+thus less easily mistaken.  The result was that if the Athenians fell
+in with a party of the enemy that was weaker than they, it escaped
+them through knowing their watchword; while if they themselves
+failed to answer they were put to the sword.  But what hurt them as
+much, or indeed more than anything else, was the singing of the paean,
+from the perplexity which it caused by being nearly the same on either
+side; the Argives and Corcyraeans and any other Dorian peoples in
+the army, struck terror into the Athenians whenever they raised
+their paean, no less than did the enemy.  Thus, after being once thrown
+into disorder, they ended by coming into collision with each other
+in many parts of the field, friends with friends, and citizens with
+citizens, and not only terrified one another, but even came to blows
+and could only be parted with difficulty.  In the pursuit many perished
+by throwing themselves down the cliffs, the way down from Epipolae
+being narrow; and of those who got down safely into the plain,
+although many, especially those who belonged to the first armament,
+escaped through their better acquaintance with the locality, some of
+the newcomers lost their way and wandered over the country, and were
+cut off in the morning by the Syracusan cavalry and killed.
+
+The next day the Syracusans set up two trophies, one upon Epipolae
+where the ascent had been made, and the other on the spot where the
+first check was given by the Boeotians; and the Athenians took back
+their dead under truce.  A great many of the Athenians and allies
+were killed, although still more arms were taken than could be
+accounted for by the number of the dead, as some of those who were
+obliged to leap down from the cliffs without their shields escaped
+with their lives and did not perish like the rest.
+
+After this the Syracusans, recovering their old confidence at such
+an unexpected stroke of good fortune, dispatched Sicanus with
+fifteen ships to Agrigentum where there was a revolution, to induce if
+possible the city to join them; while Gylippus again went by land into
+the rest of Sicily to bring up reinforcements, being now in hope of
+taking the Athenian lines by storm, after the result of the affair
+on Epipolae.
+
+In the meantime the Athenian generals consulted upon the disaster
+which had happened, and upon the general weakness of the army.  They
+saw themselves unsuccessful in their enterprises, and the soldiers
+disgusted with their stay; disease being rife among them owing to
+its being the sickly season of the year, and to the marshy and
+unhealthy nature of the spot in which they were encamped; and the
+state of their affairs generally being thought desperate.  Accordingly,
+Demosthenes was of opinion that they ought not to stay any longer; but
+agreeably to his original idea in risking the attempt upon Epipolae,
+now that this had failed, he gave his vote for going away without
+further loss of time, while the sea might yet be crossed, and their
+late reinforcement might give them the superiority at all events on
+that element.  He also said that it would be more profitable for the
+state to carry on the war against those who were building
+fortifications in Attica, than against the Syracusans whom it was no
+longer easy to subdue; besides which it was not right to squander
+large sums of money to no purpose by going on with the siege.
+
+This was the opinion of Demosthenes.  Nicias, without denying the bad
+state of their affairs, was unwilling to avow their weakness, or to
+have it reported to the enemy that the Athenians in full council
+were openly voting for retreat; for in that case they would be much
+less likely to effect it when they wanted without discovery.  Moreover,
+his own particular information still gave him reason to hope that
+the affairs of the enemy would soon be in a worse state than their
+own, if the Athenians persevered in the siege; as they would wear
+out the Syracusans by want of money, especially with the more
+extensive command of the sea now given them by their present navy.
+Besides this, there was a party in Syracuse who wished to betray the
+city to the Athenians, and kept sending him messages and telling him
+not to raise the siege.  Accordingly, knowing this and really waiting
+because he hesitated between the two courses and wished to see his way
+more clearly, in his public speech on this occasion he refused to lead
+off the army, saying he was sure the Athenians would never approve
+of their returning without a vote of theirs.  Those who would vote upon
+their conduct, instead of judging the facts as eye-witnesses like
+themselves and not from what they might hear from hostile critics,
+would simply be guided by the calumnies of the first clever speaker;
+while many, indeed most, of the soldiers on the spot, who now so
+loudly proclaimed the danger of their position, when they reached
+Athens would proclaim just as loudly the opposite, and would say
+that their generals had been bribed to betray them and return.  For
+himself, therefore, who knew the Athenian temper, sooner than perish
+under a dishonourable charge and by an unjust sentence at the hands of
+the Athenians, he would rather take his chance and die, if die he
+must, a soldier's death at the hand of the enemy.  Besides, after
+all, the Syracusans were in a worse case than themselves.  What with
+paying mercenaries, spending upon fortified posts, and now for a
+full year maintaining a large navy, they were already at a loss and
+would soon be at a standstill: they had already spent two thousand
+talents and incurred heavy debts besides, and could not lose even ever
+so small a fraction of their present force through not paying it,
+without ruin to their cause; depending as they did more upon
+mercenaries than upon soldiers obliged to serve, like their own.  He
+therefore said that they ought to stay and carry on the siege, and not
+depart defeated in point of money, in which they were much superior.
+
+Nicias spoke positively because he had exact information of the
+financial distress at Syracuse, and also because of the strength of
+the Athenian party there which kept sending him messages not to
+raise the siege; besides which he had more confidence than before in
+his fleet, and felt sure at least of its success.  Demosthenes,
+however, would not hear for a moment of continuing the siege, but said
+that if they could not lead off the army without a decree from Athens,
+and if they were obliged to stay on, they ought to remove to Thapsus
+or Catana; where their land forces would have a wide extent of country
+to overrun, and could live by plundering the enemy, and would thus
+do them damage; while the fleet would have the open sea to fight in,
+that is to say, instead of a narrow space which was all in the enemy's
+favour, a wide sea-room where their science would be of use, and where
+they could retreat or advance without being confined or
+circumscribed either when they put out or put in.  In any case he was
+altogether opposed to their staying on where they were, and insisted
+on removing at once, as quickly and with as little delay as
+possible; and in this judgment Eurymedon agreed.  Nicias however
+still objecting, a certain diffidence and hesitation came over them,
+with a suspicion that Nicias might have some further information to
+make him so positive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+_Nineteenth Year of the War - Battles in the Great Harbour -
+Retreat and Annihilation of the Athenian Army_
+
+While the Athenians lingered on in this way without moving from
+where they were, Gylippus and Sicanus now arrived at Syracuse.  Sicanus
+had failed to gain Agrigentum, the party friendly to the Syracusans
+having been driven out while he was still at Gela; but Gylippus was
+accompanied not only by a large number of troops raised in Sicily, but
+by the heavy infantry sent off in the spring from Peloponnese in the
+merchantmen, who had arrived at Selinus from Libya.  They had been
+carried to Libya by a storm, and having obtained two galleys and
+pilots from the Cyrenians, on their voyage alongshore had taken
+sides with the Euesperitae and had defeated the Libyans who were
+besieging them, and from thence coasting on to Neapolis, a
+Carthaginian mart, and the nearest point to Sicily, from which it is
+only two days' and a night's voyage, there crossed over and came to
+Selinus.  Immediately upon their arrival the Syracusans prepared to
+attack the Athenians again by land and sea at once.  The Athenian
+generals seeing a fresh army come to the aid of the enemy, and that
+their own circumstances, far from improving, were becoming daily
+worse, and above all distressed by the sickness of the soldiers, now
+began to repent of not having removed before; and Nicias no longer
+offering the same opposition, except by urging that there should be no
+open voting, they gave orders as secretly as possible for all to be
+prepared to sail out from the camp at a given signal.  All was at
+last ready, and they were on the point of sailing away, when an
+eclipse of the moon, which was then at the full, took place.  Most of
+the Athenians, deeply impressed by this occurrence, now urged the
+generals to wait; and Nicias, who was somewhat over-addicted to
+divination and practices of that kind, refused from that moment even
+to take the question of departure into consideration, until they had
+waited the thrice nine days prescribed by the soothsayers.
+
+The besiegers were thus condemned to stay in the country; and the
+Syracusans, getting wind of what had happened, became more eager
+than ever to press the Athenians, who had now themselves
+acknowledged that they were no longer their superiors either by sea or
+by land, as otherwise they would never have planned to sail away.
+Besides which the Syracusans did not wish them to settle in any
+other part of Sicily, where they would be more difficult to deal with,
+but desired to force them to fight at sea as quickly as possible, in a
+position favourable to themselves.  Accordingly they manned their ships
+and practised for as many days as they thought sufficient.  When the
+moment arrived they assaulted on the first day the Athenian lines, and
+upon a small force of heavy infantry and horse sallying out against
+them by certain gates, cut off some of the former and routed and
+pursued them to the lines, where, as the entrance was narrow, the
+Athenians lost seventy horses and some few of the heavy infantry.
+
+Drawing off their troops for this day, on the next the Syracusans
+went out with a fleet of seventy-six sail, and at the same time
+advanced with their land forces against the lines.  The Athenians put
+out to meet them with eighty-six ships, came to close quarters, and
+engaged.  The Syracusans and their allies first defeated the Athenian
+centre, and then caught Eurymedon, the commander of the right wing,
+who was sailing out from the line more towards the land in order to
+surround the enemy, in the hollow and recess of the harbour, and
+killed him and destroyed the ships accompanying him; after which
+they now chased the whole Athenian fleet before them and drove them
+ashore.
+
+Gylippus seeing the enemy's fleet defeated and carried ashore beyond
+their stockades and camp, ran down to the breakwater with some of
+his troops, in order to cut off the men as they landed and make it
+easier for the Syracusans to tow off the vessels by the shore being
+friendly ground.  The Tyrrhenians who guarded this point for the
+Athenians, seeing them come on in disorder, advanced out against
+them and attacked and routed their van, hurling it into the marsh of
+Lysimeleia.  Afterwards the Syracusan and allied troops arrived in
+greater numbers, and the Athenians fearing for their ships came up
+also to the rescue and engaged them, and defeated and pursued them
+to some distance and killed a few of their heavy infantry.  They
+succeeded in rescuing most of their ships and brought them down by
+their camp; eighteen however were taken by the Syracusans and their
+allies, and all the men killed.  The rest the enemy tried to burn by
+means of an old merchantman which they filled with faggots and
+pine-wood, set on fire, and let drift down the wind which blew full on
+the Athenians.  The Athenians, however, alarmed for their ships,
+contrived means for stopping it and putting it out, and checking the
+flames and the nearer approach of the merchantman, thus escaped the
+danger.
+
+After this the Syracusans set up a trophy for the sea-fight and
+for the heavy infantry whom they had cut off up at the lines, where
+they took the horses; and the Athenians for the rout of the foot
+driven by the Tyrrhenians into the marsh, and for their own victory
+with the rest of the army.
+
+The Syracusans had now gained a decisive victory at sea, where until
+now they had feared the reinforcement brought by Demosthenes, and
+deep, in consequence, was the despondency of the Athenians, and
+great their disappointment, and greater still their regret for
+having come on the expedition.  These were the only cities that they
+had yet encountered, similar to their own in character, under
+democracies like themselves, which had ships and horses, and were of
+considerable magnitude.  They had been unable to divide and bring
+them over by holding out the prospect of changes in their governments,
+or to crush them by their great superiority in force, but had failed
+in most of their attempts, and being already in perplexity, had now
+been defeated at sea, where defeat could never have been expected, and
+were thus plunged deeper in embarrassment than ever.
+
+Meanwhile the Syracusans immediately began to sail freely along
+the harbour, and determined to close up its mouth, so that the
+Athenians might not be able to steal out in future, even if they
+wished.  Indeed, the Syracusans no longer thought only of saving
+themselves, but also how to hinder the escape of the enemy;
+thinking, and thinking rightly, that they were now much the
+stronger, and that to conquer the Athenians and their allies by land
+and sea would win them great glory in Hellas.  The rest of the Hellenes
+would thus immediately be either freed or released from
+apprehension, as the remaining forces of Athens would be henceforth
+unable to sustain the war that would be waged against her; while they,
+the Syracusans, would be regarded as the authors of this
+deliverance, and would be held in high admiration, not only with all
+men now living but also with posterity.  Nor were these the only
+considerations that gave dignity to the struggle.  They would thus
+conquer not only the Athenians but also their numerous allies, and
+conquer not alone, but with their companions in arms, commanding
+side by side with the Corinthians and Lacedaemonians, having offered
+their city to stand in the van of danger, and having been in a great
+measure the pioneers of naval success.
+
+Indeed, there were never so many peoples assembled before a single
+city, if we except the grand total gathered together in this war under
+Athens and Lacedaemon.  The following were the states on either side
+who came to Syracuse to fight for or against Sicily, to help to
+conquer or defend the island.  Right or community of blood was not
+the bond of union between them, so much as interest or compulsion as
+the case might be.  The Athenians themselves being Ionians went against
+the Dorians of Syracuse of their own free will; and the peoples
+still speaking Attic and using the Athenian laws, the Lemnians,
+Imbrians, and Aeginetans, that is to say the then occupants of Aegina,
+being their colonists, went with them.  To these must be also added the
+Hestiaeans dwelling at Hestiaea in Euboea.  Of the rest some joined
+in the expedition as subjects of the Athenians, others as
+independent allies, others as mercenaries.  To the number of the
+subjects paying tribute belonged the Eretrians, Chalcidians, Styrians,
+and Carystians from Euboea; the Ceans, Andrians, and Tenians from
+the islands; and the Milesians, Samians, and Chians from Ionia.  The
+Chians, however, joined as independent allies, paying no tribute,
+but furnishing ships.  Most of these were Ionians and descended from
+the Athenians, except the Carystians, who are Dryopes, and although
+subjects and obliged to serve, were still Ionians fighting against
+Dorians.  Besides these there were men of Aeolic race, the Methymnians,
+subjects who provided ships, not tribute, and the Tenedians and
+Aenians who paid tribute.  These Aeolians fought against their
+Aeolian founders, the Boeotians in the Syracusan army, because they
+were obliged, while the Plataeans, the only native Boeotians opposed
+to Boeotians, did so upon a just quarrel.  Of the Rhodians and
+Cytherians, both Dorians, the latter, Lacedaemonian colonists,
+fought in the Athenian ranks against their Lacedaemonian countrymen
+with Gylippus; while the Rhodians, Argives by race, were compelled
+to bear arms against the Dorian Syracusans and their own colonists,
+the Geloans, serving with the Syracusans.  Of the islanders round
+Peloponnese, the Cephallenians and Zacynthians accompanied the
+Athenians as independent allies, although their insular position
+really left them little choice in the matter, owing to the maritime
+supremacy of Athens, while the Corcyraeans, who were not only
+Dorians but Corinthians, were openly serving against Corinthians and
+Syracusans, although colonists of the former and of the same race as
+the latter, under colour of compulsion, but really out of free will
+through hatred of Corinth.  The Messenians, as they are now called in
+Naupactus and from Pylos, then held by the Athenians, were taken
+with them to the war.  There were also a few Megarian exiles, whose
+fate it was to be now fighting against the Megarian Selinuntines.
+
+The engagement of the rest was more of a voluntary nature.  It was
+less the league than hatred of the Lacedaemonians and the immediate
+private advantage of each individual that persuaded the Dorian Argives
+to join the Ionian Athenians in a war against Dorians; while the
+Mantineans and other Arcadian mercenaries, accustomed to go against
+the enemy pointed out to them at the moment, were led by interest to
+regard the Arcadians serving with the Corinthians as just as much
+their enemies as any others.  The Cretans and Aetolians also served for
+hire, and the Cretans who had joined the Rhodians in founding Gela,
+thus came to consent to fight for pay against, instead of for, their
+colonists.  There were also some Acarnanians paid to serve, although
+they came chiefly for love of Demosthenes and out of goodwill to the
+Athenians whose allies they were.  These all lived on the Hellenic side
+of the Ionian Gulf.  Of the Italiots, there were the Thurians and
+Metapontines, dragged into the quarrel by the stern necessities of a
+time of revolution; of the Siceliots, the Naxians and the Catanians;
+and of the barbarians, the Egestaeans, who called in the Athenians,
+most of the Sicels, and outside Sicily some Tyrrhenian enemies of
+Syracuse and Iapygian mercenaries.
+
+Such were the peoples serving with the Athenians.  Against these
+the Syracusans had the Camarinaeans their neighbours, the Geloans
+who live next to them; then passing over the neutral Agrigentines, the
+Selinuntines settled on the farther side of the island.  These
+inhabit the part of Sicily looking towards Libya; the Himeraeans
+came from the side towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, being the only Hellenic
+inhabitants in that quarter, and the only people that came from thence
+to the aid of the Syracusans.  Of the Hellenes in Sicily the above
+peoples joined in the war, all Dorians and independent, and of the
+barbarians the Sicels only, that is to say, such as did not go over to
+the Athenians.  Of the Hellenes outside Sicily there were the
+Lacedaemonians, who provided a Spartan to take the command, and a
+force of Neodamodes or Freedmen, and of Helots; the Corinthians, who
+alone joined with naval and land forces, with their Leucadian and
+Ambraciot kinsmen; some mercenaries sent by Corinth from Arcadia; some
+Sicyonians forced to serve, and from outside Peloponnese the
+Boeotians.  In comparison, however, with these foreign auxiliaries, the
+great Siceliot cities furnished more in every department--numbers of
+heavy infantry, ships, and horses, and an immense multitude besides
+having been brought together; while in comparison, again, one may say,
+with all the rest put together, more was provided by the Syracusans
+themselves, both from the greatness of the city and from the fact that
+they were in the greatest danger.
+
+Such were the auxiliaries brought together on either side, all of
+which had by this time joined, neither party experiencing any
+subsequent accession.  It was no wonder, therefore, if the Syracusans
+and their allies thought that it would win them great glory if they
+could follow up their recent victory in the sea-fight by the capture
+of the whole Athenian armada, without letting it escape either by
+sea or by land.  They began at once to close up the Great Harbour by
+means of boats, merchant vessels, and galleys moored broadside
+across its mouth, which is nearly a mile wide, and made all their
+other arrangements for the event of the Athenians again venturing to
+fight at sea.  There was, in fact, nothing little either in their plans
+or their ideas.
+
+The Athenians, seeing them closing up the harbour and informed of
+their further designs, called a council of war.  The generals and
+colonels assembled and discussed the difficulties of the situation;
+the point which pressed most being that they no longer had
+provisions for immediate use (having sent on to Catana to tell them
+not to send any, in the belief that they were going away), and that
+they would not have any in future unless they could command the sea.
+They therefore determined to evacuate their upper lines, to enclose
+with a cross wall and garrison a small space close to the ships,
+only just sufficient to hold their stores and sick, and manning all
+the ships, seaworthy or not, with every man that could be spared
+from the rest of their land forces, to fight it out at sea, and, if
+victorious, to go to Catana, if not, to burn their vessels, form in
+close order, and retreat by land for the nearest friendly place they
+could reach, Hellenic or barbarian.  This was no sooner settled than
+carried into effect; they descended gradually from the upper lines and
+manned all their vessels, compelling all to go on board who were of
+age to be in any way of use.  They thus succeeded in manning about
+one hundred and ten ships in all, on board of which they embarked a
+number of archers and darters taken from the Acarnanians and from
+the other foreigners, making all other provisions allowed by the
+nature of their plan and by the necessities which imposed it.  All
+was now nearly ready, and Nicias, seeing the soldiery disheartened
+by their unprecedented and decided defeat at sea, and by reason of the
+scarcity of provisions eager to fight it out as soon as possible,
+called them all together, and first addressed them, speaking as
+follows:
+
+"Soldiers of the Athenians and of the allies, we have all an equal
+interest in the coming struggle, in which life and country are at
+stake for us quite as much as they can be for the enemy; since if
+our fleet wins the day, each can see his native city again, wherever
+that city may be.  You must not lose heart, or be like men without
+any experience, who fail in a first essay and ever afterwards
+fearfully forebode a future as disastrous.  But let the Athenians among
+you who have already had experience of many wars, and the allies who
+have joined us in so many expeditions, remember the surprises of
+war, and with the hope that fortune will not be always against us,
+prepare to fight again in a manner worthy of the number which you
+see yourselves to be.
+
+"Now, whatever we thought would be of service against the crush of
+vessels in such a narrow harbour, and against the force upon the decks
+of the enemy, from which we suffered before, has all been considered
+with the helmsmen, and, as far as our means allowed, provided.  A
+number of archers and darters will go on board, and a multitude that
+we should not have employed in an action in the open sea, where our
+science would be crippled by the weight of the vessels; but in the
+present land-fight that we are forced to make from shipboard all
+this will be useful.  We have also discovered the changes in
+construction that we must make to meet theirs; and against the
+thickness of their cheeks, which did us the greatest mischief, we have
+provided grappling-irons, which will prevent an assailant backing
+water after charging, if the soldiers on deck here do their duty;
+since we are absolutely compelled to fight a land battle from the
+fleet, and it seems to be our interest neither to back water
+ourselves, nor to let the enemy do so, especially as the shore, except
+so much of it as may be held by our troops, is hostile ground.
+
+"You must remember this and fight on as long as you can, and must
+not let yourselves be driven ashore, but once alongside must make up
+your minds not to part company until you have swept the heavy infantry
+from the enemy's deck.  I say this more for the heavy infantry than for
+the seamen, as it is more the business of the men on deck; and our
+land forces are even now on the whole the strongest.  The sailors I
+advise, and at the same time implore, not to be too much daunted by
+their misfortunes, now that we have our decks better armed and greater
+number of vessels.  Bear in mind how well worth preserving is the
+pleasure felt by those of you who through your knowledge of our
+language and imitation of our manners were always considered
+Athenians, even though not so in reality, and as such were honoured
+throughout Hellas, and had your full share of the advantages of our
+empire, and more than your share in the respect of our subjects and in
+protection from ill treatment.  You, therefore, with whom alone we
+freely share our empire, we now justly require not to betray that
+empire in its extremity, and in scorn of Corinthians, whom you have
+often conquered, and of Siceliots, none of whom so much as presumed to
+stand against us when our navy was in its prime, we ask you to repel
+them, and to show that even in sickness and disaster your skill is
+more than a match for the fortune and vigour of any other.
+
+"For the Athenians among you I add once more this reflection: You
+left behind you no more such ships in your docks as these, no more
+heavy infantry in their flower; if you do aught but conquer, our
+enemies here will immediately sail thither, and those that are left of
+us at Athens will become unable to repel their home assailants,
+reinforced by these new allies.  Here you will fall at once into the
+hands of the Syracusans--I need not remind you of the intentions with
+which you attacked them--and your countrymen at home will fall into
+those of the Lacedaemonians.  Since the fate of both thus hangs upon
+this single battle, now, if ever, stand firm, and remember, each and
+all, that you who are now going on board are the army and navy of
+the Athenians, and all that is left of the state and the great name of
+Athens, in whose defence if any man has any advantage in skill or
+courage, now is the time for him to show it, and thus serve himself
+and save all."
+
+After this address Nicias at once gave orders to man the ships.
+Meanwhile Gylippus and the Syracusans could perceive by the
+preparations which they saw going on that the Athenians meant to fight
+at sea.  They had also notice of the grappling-irons, against which
+they specially provided by stretching hides over the prows and much of
+the upper part of their vessels, in order that the irons when thrown
+might slip off without taking hold.  All being now ready, the
+generals and Gylippus addressed them in the following terms:
+
+"Syracusans and allies, the glorious character of our past
+achievements and the no less glorious results at issue in the coming
+battle are, we think, understood by most of you, or you would never
+have thrown yourselves with such ardour into the struggle; and if
+there be any one not as fully aware of the facts as he ought to be, we
+will declare them to him.  The Athenians came to this country first
+to effect the conquest of Sicily, and after that, if successful, of
+Peloponnese and the rest of Hellas, possessing already the greatest
+empire yet known, of present or former times, among the Hellenes.  Here
+for the first time they found in you men who faced their navy which
+made them masters everywhere; you have already defeated them in the
+previous sea-fights, and will in all likelihood defeat them again now.
+When men are once checked in what they consider their special
+excellence, their whole opinion of themselves suffers more than if
+they had not at first believed in their superiority, the unexpected
+shock to their pride causing them to give way more than their real
+strength warrants; and this is probably now the case with the
+Athenians.
+
+"With us it is different.  The original estimate of ourselves which
+gave us courage in the days of our unskilfulness has been
+strengthened, while the conviction superadded to it that we must be
+the best seamen of the time, if we have conquered the best, has
+given a double measure of hope to every man among us; and, for the
+most part, where there is the greatest hope, there is also the
+greatest ardour for action.  The means to combat us which they have
+tried to find in copying our armament are familiar to our warfare, and
+will be met by proper provisions; while they will never be able to
+have a number of heavy infantry on their decks, contrary to their
+custom, and a number of darters (born landsmen, one may say,
+Acarnanians and others, embarked afloat, who will not know how to
+discharge their weapons when they have to keep still), without
+hampering their vessels and falling all into confusion among
+themselves through fighting not according to their own tactics.  For
+they will gain nothing by the number of their ships--I say this to
+those of you who may be alarmed by having to fight against odds--as a
+quantity of ships in a confined space will only be slower in executing
+the movements required, and most exposed to injury from our means of
+offence.  Indeed, if you would know the plain truth, as we are credibly
+informed, the excess of their sufferings and the necessities of
+their present distress have made them desperate; they have no
+confidence in their force, but wish to try their fortune in the only
+way they can, and either to force their passage and sail out, or after
+this to retreat by land, it being impossible for them to be worse
+off than they are.
+
+"The fortune of our greatest enemies having thus betrayed itself,
+and their disorder being what I have described, let us engage in
+anger, convinced that, as between adversaries, nothing is more
+legitimate than to claim to sate the whole wrath of one's soul in
+punishing the aggressor, and nothing more sweet, as the proverb has
+it, than the vengeance upon an enemy, which it will now be ours to
+take.  That enemies they are and mortal enemies you all know, since
+they came here to enslave our country, and if successful had in
+reserve for our men all that is most dreadful, and for our children
+and wives all that is most dishonourable, and for the whole city the
+name which conveys the greatest reproach.  None should therefore relent
+or think it gain if they go away without further danger to us.  This
+they will do just the same, even if they get the victory; while if
+we succeed, as we may expect, in chastising them, and in handing
+down to all Sicily her ancient freedom strengthened and confirmed,
+we shall have achieved no mean triumph.  And the rarest dangers are
+those in which failure brings little loss and success the greatest
+advantage."
+
+After the above address to the soldiers on their side, the Syracusan
+generals and Gylippus now perceived that the Athenians were manning
+their ships, and immediately proceeded to man their own also.
+Meanwhile Nicias, appalled by the position of affairs, realizing the
+greatness and the nearness of the danger now that they were on the
+point of putting out from shore, and thinking, as men are apt to think
+in great crises, that when all has been done they have still something
+left to do, and when all has been said that they have not yet said
+enough, again called on the captains one by one, addressing each by
+his father's name and by his own, and by that of his tribe, and
+adjured them not to belie their own personal renown, or to obscure the
+hereditary virtues for which their ancestors were illustrious: he
+reminded them of their country, the freest of the free, and of the
+unfettered discretion allowed in it to all to live as they pleased;
+and added other arguments such as men would use at such a crisis,
+and which, with little alteration, are made to serve on all
+occasions alike--appeals to wives, children, and national
+gods--without caring whether they are thought commonplace, but loudly
+invoking them in the belief that they will be of use in the
+consternation of the moment.  Having thus admonished them, not, he
+felt, as he would, but as he could, Nicias withdrew and led the troops
+to the sea, and ranged them in as long a line as he was able, in order
+to aid as far as possible in sustaining the courage of the men afloat;
+while Demosthenes, Menander, and Euthydemus, who took the command on
+board, put out from their own camp and sailed straight to the
+barrier across the mouth of the harbour and to the passage left
+open, to try to force their way out.
+
+The Syracusans and their allies had already put out with about the
+same number of ships as before, a part of which kept guard at the
+outlet, and the remainder all round the rest of the harbour, in
+order to attack the Athenians on all sides at once; while the land
+forces held themselves in readiness at the points at which the vessels
+might put into the shore.  The Syracusan fleet was commanded by Sicanus
+and Agatharchus, who had each a wing of the whole force, with Pythen
+and the Corinthians in the centre.  When the rest of the Athenians came
+up to the barrier, with the first shock of their charge they
+overpowered the ships stationed there, and tried to undo the
+fastenings; after this, as the Syracusans and allies bore down upon
+them from all quarters, the action spread from the barrier over the
+whole harbour, and was more obstinately disputed than any of the
+preceding ones.  On either side the rowers showed great zeal in
+bringing up their vessels at the boatswains' orders, and the
+helmsmen great skill in manoeuvring, and great emulation one with
+another; while the ships once alongside, the soldiers on board did
+their best not to let the service on deck be outdone by the others; in
+short, every man strove to prove himself the first in his particular
+department.  And as many ships were engaged in a small compass (for
+these were the largest fleets fighting in the narrowest space ever
+known, being together little short of two hundred), the regular
+attacks with the beak were few, there being no opportunity of
+backing water or of breaking the line; while the collisions caused
+by one ship chancing to run foul of another, either in flying from
+or attacking a third, were more frequent.  So long as a vessel was
+coming up to the charge the men on the decks rained darts and arrows
+and stones upon her; but once alongside, the heavy infantry tried to
+board each other's vessel, fighting hand to hand.  In many quarters
+it happened, by reason of the narrow room, that a vessel was
+charging an enemy on one side and being charged herself on another,
+and that two or sometimes more ships had perforce got entangled
+round one, obliging the helmsmen to attend to defence here, offence
+there, not to one thing at once, but to many on all sides; while the
+huge din caused by the number of ships crashing together not only
+spread terror, but made the orders of the boatswains inaudible.  The
+boatswains on either side in the discharge of their duty and in the
+heat of the conflict shouted incessantly orders and appeals to their
+men; the Athenians they urged to force the passage out, and now if
+ever to show their mettle and lay hold of a safe return to their
+country; to the Syracusans and their allies they cried that it would
+be glorious to prevent the escape of the enemy, and, conquering, to
+exalt the countries that were theirs.  The generals, moreover, on
+either side, if they saw any in any part of the battle backing
+ashore without being forced to do so, called out to the captain by
+name and asked him--the Athenians, whether they were retreating
+because they thought the thrice hostile shore more their own than
+that sea which had cost them so much labour to win; the Syracusans,
+whether they were flying from the flying Athenians, whom they well
+knew to be eager to escape in whatever way they could.
+
+Meanwhile the two armies on shore, while victory hung in the
+balance, were a prey to the most agonizing and conflicting emotions;
+the natives thirsting for more glory than they had already won,
+while the invaders feared to find themselves in even worse plight than
+before.  The all of the Athenians being set upon their fleet, their
+fear for the event was like nothing they had ever felt; while their
+view of the struggle was necessarily as chequered as the battle
+itself.  Close to the scene of action and not all looking at the same
+point at once, some saw their friends victorious and took courage
+and fell to calling upon heaven not to deprive them of salvation,
+while others who had their eyes turned upon the losers, wailed and
+cried aloud, and, although spectators, were more overcome than the
+actual combatants.  Others, again, were gazing at some spot where the
+battle was evenly disputed; as the strife was protracted without
+decision, their swaying bodies reflected the agitation of their minds,
+and they suffered the worst agony of all, ever just within reach of
+safety or just on the point of destruction.  In short, in that one
+Athenian army as long as the sea-fight remained doubtful there was
+every sound to be heard at once, shrieks, cheers, "We win," "We lose,"
+and all the other manifold exclamations that a great host would
+necessarily utter in great peril; and with the men in the fleet it was
+nearly the same; until at last the Syracusans and their allies,
+after the battle had lasted a long while, put the Athenians to flight,
+and with much shouting and cheering chased them in open rout to the
+shore.  The naval force, one one way, one another, as many as were
+not taken afloat now ran ashore and rushed from on board their ships
+to their camp; while the army, no more divided, but carried away by
+one impulse, all with shrieks and groans deplored the event, and ran
+down, some to help the ships, others to guard what was left of their
+wall, while the remaining and most numerous part already began to
+consider how they should save themselves.  Indeed, the panic of the
+present moment had never been surpassed.  They now suffered very nearly
+what they had inflicted at Pylos; as then the Lacedaemonians with
+the loss of their fleet lost also the men who had crossed over to
+the island, so now the Athenians had no hope of escaping by land,
+without the help of some extraordinary accident.
+
+The sea-fight having been a severe one, and many ships and lives
+having been lost on both sides, the victorious Syracusans and their
+allies now picked up their wrecks and dead, and sailed off to the city
+and set up a trophy.  The Athenians, overwhelmed by their misfortune,
+never even thought of asking leave to take up their dead or wrecks,
+but wished to retreat that very night.  Demosthenes, however, went to
+Nicias and gave it as his opinion that they should man the ships
+they had left and make another effort to force their passage out
+next morning; saying that they had still left more ships fit for
+service than the enemy, the Athenians having about sixty remaining
+as against less than fifty of their opponents.  Nicias was quite of his
+mind; but when they wished to man the vessels, the sailors refused
+to go on board, being so utterly overcome by their defeat as no longer
+to believe in the possibility of success.
+
+Accordingly they all now made up their minds to retreat by land.
+Meanwhile the Syracusan Hermocrates--suspecting their intention, and
+impressed by the danger of allowing a force of that magnitude to
+retire by land, establish itself in some other part of Sicily, and
+from thence renew the war--went and stated his views to the
+authorities, and pointed out to them that they ought not to let the
+enemy get away by night, but that all the Syracusans and their
+allies should at once march out and block up the roads and seize and
+guard the passes.  The authorities were entirely of his opinion, and
+thought that it ought to be done, but on the other hand felt sure that
+the people, who had given themselves over to rejoicing, and were
+taking their ease after a great battle at sea, would not be easily
+brought to obey; besides, they were celebrating a festival, having
+on that day a sacrifice to Heracles, and most of them in their rapture
+at the victory had fallen to drinking at the festival, and would
+probably consent to anything sooner than to take up their arms and
+march out at that moment.  For these reasons the thing appeared
+impracticable to the magistrates; and Hermocrates, finding himself
+unable to do anything further with them, had now recourse to the
+following stratagem of his own.  What he feared was that the
+Athenians might quietly get the start of them by passing the most
+difficult places during the night; and he therefore sent, as soon as
+it was dusk, some friends of his own to the camp with some horsemen
+who rode up within earshot and called out to some of the men, as
+though they were well-wishers of the Athenians, and told them to
+tell Nicias (who had in fact some correspondents who informed him of
+what went on inside the town) not to lead off the army by night as the
+Syracusans were guarding the roads, but to make his preparations at
+his leisure and to retreat by day.  After saying this they departed;
+and their hearers informed the Athenian generals, who put off going
+for that night on the strength of this message, not doubting its
+sincerity.
+
+Since after all they had not set out at once, they now determined to
+stay also the following day to give time to the soldiers to pack up as
+well as they could the most useful articles, and, leaving everything
+else behind, to start only with what was strictly necessary for
+their personal subsistence.  Meanwhile the Syracusans and Gylippus
+marched out and blocked up the roads through the country by which
+the Athenians were likely to pass, and kept guard at the fords of
+the streams and rivers, posting themselves so as to receive them and
+stop the army where they thought best; while their fleet sailed up
+to the beach and towed off the ships of the Athenians.  Some few were
+burned by the Athenians themselves as they had intended; the rest
+the Syracusans lashed on to their own at their leisure as they had
+been thrown up on shore, without any one trying to stop them, and
+conveyed to the town.
+
+After this, Nicias and Demosthenes now thinking that enough had been
+done in the way of preparation, the removal of the army took place
+upon the second day after the sea-fight.  It was a lamentable scene,
+not merely from the single circumstance that they were retreating
+after having lost all their ships, their great hopes gone, and
+themselves and the state in peril; but also in leaving the camp
+there were things most grievous for every eye and heart to
+contemplate.  The dead lay unburied, and each man as he recognized a
+friend among them shuddered with grief and horror; while the living
+whom they were leaving behind, wounded or sick, were to the living far
+more shocking than the dead, and more to be pitied than those who
+had perished.  These fell to entreating and bewailing until their
+friends knew not what to do, begging them to take them and loudly
+calling to each individual comrade or relative whom they could see,
+hanging upon the necks of their tent-fellows in the act of
+departure, and following as far as they could, and, when their
+bodily strength failed them, calling again and again upon heaven and
+shrieking aloud as they were left behind.  So that the whole army being
+filled with tears and distracted after this fashion found it not
+easy to go, even from an enemy's land, where they had already suffered
+evils too great for tears and in the unknown future before them feared
+to suffer more.  Dejection and self-condemnation were also rife among
+them.  Indeed they could only be compared to a starved-out town, and
+that no small one, escaping; the whole multitude upon the march
+being not less than forty thousand men.  All carried anything they
+could which might be of use, and the heavy infantry and troopers,
+contrary to their wont, while under arms carried their own victuals,
+in some cases for want of servants, in others through not trusting
+them; as they had long been deserting and now did so in greater
+numbers than ever.  Yet even thus they did not carry enough, as there
+was no longer food in the camp.  Moreover their disgrace generally, and
+the universality of their sufferings, however to a certain extent
+alleviated by being borne in company, were still felt at the moment
+a heavy burden, especially when they contrasted the splendour and
+glory of their setting out with the humiliation in which it had ended.
+For this was by far the greatest reverse that ever befell an
+Hellenic army.  They had come to enslave others, and were departing
+in fear of being enslaved themselves: they had sailed out with
+prayer and paeans, and now started to go back with omens directly
+contrary; travelling by land instead of by sea, and trusting not in
+their fleet but in their heavy infantry.  Nevertheless the greatness of
+the danger still impending made all this appear tolerable.
+
+Nicias seeing the army dejected and greatly altered, passed along
+the ranks and encouraged and comforted them as far as was possible
+under the circumstances, raising his voice still higher and higher
+as he went from one company to another in his earnestness, and in
+his anxiety that the benefit of his words might reach as many as
+possible:
+
+"Athenians and allies, even in our present position we must still
+hope on, since men have ere now been saved from worse straits than
+this; and you must not condemn yourselves too severely either
+because of your disasters or because of your present unmerited
+sufferings.  I myself who am not superior to any of you in
+strength--indeed you see how I am in my sickness--and who in the gifts
+of fortune am, I think, whether in private life or otherwise, the
+equal of any, am now exposed to the same danger as the meanest among
+you; and yet my life has been one of much devotion toward the gods,
+and of much justice and without offence toward men.  I have, therefore,
+still a strong hope for the future, and our misfortunes do not terrify
+me as much as they might.  Indeed we may hope that they will be
+lightened: our enemies have had good fortune enough; and if any of the
+gods was offended at our expedition, we have been already amply
+punished.  Others before us have attacked their neighbours and have
+done what men will do without suffering more than they could bear; and
+we may now justly expect to find the gods more kind, for we have
+become fitter objects for their pity than their jealousy.  And then
+look at yourselves, mark the numbers and efficiency of the heavy
+infantry marching in your ranks, and do not give way too much to
+despondency, but reflect that you are yourselves at once a city
+wherever you sit down, and that there is no other in Sicily that could
+easily resist your attack, or expel you when once established.  The
+safety and order of the march is for yourselves to look to; the one
+thought of each man being that the spot on which he may be forced to
+fight must be conquered and held as his country and stronghold.
+Meanwhile we shall hasten on our way night and day alike, as our
+provisions are scanty; and if we can reach some friendly place of
+the Sicels, whom fear of the Syracusans still keeps true to us, you
+may forthwith consider yourselves safe.  A message has been sent on
+to them with directions to meet us with supplies of food.  To sum up,
+be convinced, soldiers, that you must be brave, as there is no place
+near for your cowardice to take refuge in, and that if you now
+escape from the enemy, you may all see again what your hearts
+desire, while those of you who are Athenians will raise up again the
+great power of the state, fallen though it be.  Men make the city and
+not walls or ships without men in them."
+
+As he made this address, Nicias went along the ranks, and brought
+back to their place any of the troops that he saw straggling out of
+the line; while Demosthenes did as much for his part of the army,
+addressing them in words very similar.  The army marched in a hollow
+square, the division under Nicias leading, and that of Demosthenes
+following, the heavy infantry being outside and the baggage-carriers
+and the bulk of the army in the middle.  When they arrived at the
+ford of the river Anapus there they found drawn up a body of the
+Syracusans and allies, and routing these, made good their passage
+and pushed on, harassed by the charges of the Syracusan horse and by
+the missiles of their light troops.  On that day they advanced about
+four miles and a half, halting for the night upon a certain hill.  On
+the next they started early and got on about two miles further, and
+descended into a place in the plain and there encamped, in order to
+procure some eatables from the houses, as the place was inhabited, and
+to carry on with them water from thence, as for many furlongs in
+front, in the direction in which they were going, it was not
+plentiful.  The Syracusans meanwhile went on and fortified the pass
+in front, where there was a steep hill with a rocky ravine on each
+side of it, called the Acraean cliff.  The next day the Athenians
+advancing found themselves impeded by the missiles and charges of
+the horse and darters, both very numerous, of the Syracusans and
+allies; and after fighting for a long while, at length retired to
+the same camp, where they had no longer provisions as before, it being
+impossible to leave their position by reason of the cavalry.
+
+Early next morning they started afresh and forced their way to the
+hill, which had been fortified, where they found before them the
+enemy's infantry drawn up many shields deep to defend the
+fortification, the pass being narrow.  The Athenians assaulted the
+work, but were greeted by a storm of missiles from the hill, which
+told with the greater effect through its being a steep one, and unable
+to force the passage, retreated again and rested.  Meanwhile occurred
+some claps of thunder and rain, as often happens towards autumn, which
+still further disheartened the Athenians, who thought all these things
+to be omens of their approaching ruin.  While they were resting,
+Gylippus and the Syracusans sent a part of their army to throw up
+works in their rear on the way by which they had advanced; however,
+the Athenians immediately sent some of their men and prevented them;
+after which they retreated more towards the plain and halted for the
+night.  When they advanced the next day the Syracusans surrounded and
+attacked them on every side, and disabled many of them, falling back
+if the Athenians advanced and coming on if they retired, and in
+particular assaulting their rear, in the hope of routing them in
+detail, and thus striking a panic into the whole army.  For a long
+while the Athenians persevered in this fashion, but after advancing
+for four or five furlongs halted to rest in the plain, the
+Syracusans also withdrawing to their own camp.
+
+During the night Nicias and Demosthenes, seeing the wretched
+condition of their troops, now in want of every kind of necessary, and
+numbers of them disabled in the numerous attacks of the enemy,
+determined to light as many fires as possible, and to lead off the
+army, no longer by the same route as they had intended, but towards
+the sea in the opposite direction to that guarded by the Syracusans.
+The whole of this route was leading the army not to Catana but to
+the other side of Sicily, towards Camarina, Gela, and the other
+Hellenic and barbarian towns in that quarter.  They accordingly lit a
+number of fires and set out by night.  Now all armies, and the greatest
+most of all, are liable to fears and alarms, especially when they
+are marching by night through an enemy's country and with the enemy
+near; and the Athenians falling into one of these panics, the
+leading division, that of Nicias, kept together and got on a good
+way in front, while that of Demosthenes, comprising rather more than
+half the army, got separated and marched on in some disorder.  By
+morning, however, they reached the sea, and getting into the
+Helorine road, pushed on in order to reach the river Cacyparis, and to
+follow the stream up through the interior, where they hoped to be
+met by the Sicels whom they had sent for.  Arrived at the river, they
+found there also a Syracusan party engaged in barring the passage of
+the ford with a wall and a palisade, and forcing this guard, crossed
+the river and went on to another called the Erineus, according to
+the advice of their guides.
+
+Meanwhile, when day came and the Syracusans and allies found that
+the Athenians were gone, most of them accused Gylippus of having let
+them escape on purpose, and hastily pursuing by the road which they
+had no difficulty in finding that they had taken, overtook them
+about dinner-time.  They first came up with the troops under
+Demosthenes, who were behind and marching somewhat slowly and in
+disorder, owing to the night panic above referred to, and at once
+attacked and engaged them, the Syracusan horse surrounding them with
+more ease now that they were separated from the rest and hemming
+them in on one spot.  The division of Nicias was five or six miles on
+in front, as he led them more rapidly, thinking that under the
+circumstances their safety lay not in staying and fighting, unless
+obliged, but in retreating as fast as possible, and only fighting when
+forced to do so.  On the other hand, Demosthenes was, generally
+speaking, harassed more incessantly, as his post in the rear left
+him the first exposed to the attacks of the enemy; and now, finding
+that the Syracusans were in pursuit, he omitted to push on, in order
+to form his men for battle, and so lingered until he was surrounded by
+his pursuers and himself and the Athenians with him placed in the most
+distressing position, being huddled into an enclosure with a wall
+all round it, a road on this side and on that, and olive-trees in
+great number, where missiles were showered in upon them from every
+quarter.  This mode of attack the Syracusans had with good reason
+adopted in preference to fighting at close quarters, as to risk a
+struggle with desperate men was now more for the advantage of the
+Athenians than for their own; besides, their success had now become so
+certain that they began to spare themselves a little in order not to
+be cut off in the moment of victory, thinking too that, as it was,
+they would be able in this way to subdue and capture the enemy.
+
+In fact, after plying the Athenians and allies all day long from
+every side with missiles, they at length saw that they were worn out
+with their wounds and other sufferings; and Gylippus and the
+Syracusans and their allies made a proclamation, offering their
+liberty to any of the islanders who chose to come over to them; and
+some few cities went over.  Afterwards a capitulation was agreed upon
+for all the rest with Demosthenes, to lay down their arms on condition
+that no one was to be put to death either by violence or
+imprisonment or want of the necessaries of life.  Upon this they
+surrendered to the number of six thousand in all, laying down all
+the money in their possession, which filled the hollows of four
+shields, and were immediately conveyed by the Syracusans to the town.
+
+Meanwhile Nicias with his division arrived that day at the river
+Erineus, crossed over, and posted his army upon some high ground
+upon the other side.  The next day the Syracusans overtook him and told
+him that the troops under Demosthenes had surrendered, and invited him
+to follow their example.  Incredulous of the fact, Nicias asked for a
+truce to send a horseman to see, and upon the return of the
+messenger with the tidings that they had surrendered, sent a herald to
+Gylippus and the Syracusans, saying that he was ready to agree with
+them on behalf of the Athenians to repay whatever money the Syracusans
+had spent upon the war if they would let his army go; and offered
+until the money was paid to give Athenians as hostages, one for
+every talent.  The Syracusans and Gylippus rejected this proposition,
+and attacked this division as they had the other, standing all round
+and plying them with missiles until the evening.  Food and
+necessaries were as miserably wanting to the troops of Nicias as
+they had been to their comrades; nevertheless they watched for the
+quiet of the night to resume their march.  But as they were taking up
+their arms the Syracusans perceived it and raised their paean, upon
+which the Athenians, finding that they were discovered, laid them down
+again, except about three hundred men who forced their way through the
+guards and went on during the night as they were able.
+
+As soon as it was day Nicias put his army in motion, pressed, as
+before, by the Syracusans and their allies, pelted from every side
+by their missiles, and struck down by their javelins.  The Athenians
+pushed on for the Assinarus, impelled by the attacks made upon them
+from every side by a numerous cavalry and the swarm of other arms,
+fancying that they should breathe more freely if once across the
+river, and driven on also by their exhaustion and craving for water.
+Once there they rushed in, and all order was at an end, each man
+wanting to cross first, and the attacks of the enemy making it
+difficult to cross at all; forced to huddle together, they fell
+against and trod down one another, some dying immediately upon the
+javelins, others getting entangled together and stumbling over the
+articles of baggage, without being able to rise again.  Meanwhile the
+opposite bank, which was steep, was lined by the Syracusans, who
+showered missiles down upon the Athenians, most of them drinking
+greedily and heaped together in disorder in the hollow bed of the
+river.  The Peloponnesians also came down and butchered them,
+especially those in the water, which was thus immediately spoiled, but
+which they went on drinking just the same, mud and all, bloody as it
+was, most even fighting to have it.
+
+At last, when many dead now lay piled one upon another in the
+stream, and part of the army had been destroyed at the river, and
+the few that escaped from thence cut off by the cavalry, Nicias
+surrendered himself to Gylippus, whom he trusted more than he did
+the Syracusans, and told him and the Lacedaemonians to do what they
+liked with him, but to stop the slaughter of the soldiers.  Gylippus,
+after this, immediately gave orders to make prisoners; upon which
+the rest were brought together alive, except a large number secreted
+by the soldiery, and a party was sent in pursuit of the three
+hundred who had got through the guard during the night, and who were
+now taken with the rest.  The number of the enemy collected as public
+property was not considerable; but that secreted was very large, and
+all Sicily was filled with them, no convention having been made in
+their case as for those taken with Demosthenes.  Besides this, a
+large portion were killed outright, the carnage being very great,
+and not exceeded by any in this Sicilian war.  In the numerous other
+encounters upon the march, not a few also had fallen.  Nevertheless
+many escaped, some at the moment, others served as slaves, and then
+ran away subsequently.  These found refuge at Catana.
+
+The Syracusans and their allies now mustered and took up the
+spoils and as many prisoners as they could, and went back to the city.
+The rest of their Athenian and allied captives were deposited in the
+quarries, this seeming the safest way of keeping them; but Nicias
+and Demosthenes were butchered, against the will of Gylippus, who
+thought that it would be the crown of his triumph if he could take the
+enemy's generals to Lacedaemon.  One of them, as it happened,
+Demosthenes, was one of her greatest enemies, on account of the affair
+of the island and of Pylos; while the other, Nicias, was for the
+same reasons one of her greatest friends, owing to his exertions to
+procure the release of the prisoners by persuading the Athenians to
+make peace.  For these reasons the Lacedaemonians felt kindly towards
+him; and it was in this that Nicias himself mainly confided when he
+surrendered to Gylippus.  But some of the Syracusans who had been in
+correspondence with him were afraid, it was said, of his being put
+to the torture and troubling their success by his revelations; others,
+especially the Corinthians, of his escaping, as he was wealthy, by
+means of bribes, and living to do them further mischief; and these
+persuaded the allies and put him to death.  This or the like was the
+cause of the death of a man who, of all the Hellenes in my time, least
+deserved such a fate, seeing that the whole course of his life had
+been regulated with strict attention to virtue.
+
+The prisoners in the quarries were at first hardly treated by the
+Syracusans.  Crowded in a narrow hole, without any roof to cover
+them, the heat of the sun and the stifling closeness of the air
+tormented them during the day, and then the nights, which came on
+autumnal and chilly, made them ill by the violence of the change;
+besides, as they had to do everything in the same place for want of
+room, and the bodies of those who died of their wounds or from the
+variation in the temperature, or from similar causes, were left heaped
+together one upon another, intolerable stenches arose; while hunger
+and thirst never ceased to afflict them, each man during eight
+months having only half a pint of water and a pint of corn given him
+daily.  In short, no single suffering to be apprehended by men thrust
+into such a place was spared them.  For some seventy days they thus
+lived all together, after which all, except the Athenians and any
+Siceliots or Italiots who had joined in the expedition, were sold.  The
+total number of prisoners taken it would be difficult to state
+exactly, but it could not have been less than seven thousand.
+
+This was the greatest Hellenic achievement of any in thig war, or,
+in my opinion, in Hellenic history; at once most glorious to the
+victors, and most calamitous to the conquered.  They were beaten at all
+points and altogether; all that they suffered was great; they were
+destroyed, as the saying is, with a total destruction, their fleet,
+their army, everything was destroyed, and few out of many returned
+home.  Such were the events in Sicily.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+_Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War - Revolt of Ionia -
+Intervention of Persia - The War in Ionia_
+
+When the news was brought to Athens, for a long while they
+disbelieved even the most respectable of the soldiers who had
+themselves escaped from the scene of action and clearly reported the
+matter, a destruction so complete not being thought credible.  When the
+conviction was forced upon them, they were angry with the orators
+who had joined in promoting the expedition, just as if they had not
+themselves voted it, and were enraged also with the reciters of
+oracles and soothsayers, and all other omen-mongers of the time who
+had encouraged them to hope that they should conquer Sicily.  Already
+distressed at all points and in all quarters, after what had now
+happened, they were seized by a fear and consternation quite without
+example.  It was grievous enough for the state and for every man in his
+proper person to lose so many heavy infantry, cavalry, and able-bodied
+troops, and to see none left to replace them; but when they saw, also,
+that they had not sufficient ships in their docks, or money in the
+treasury, or crews for the ships, they began to despair of
+salvation.  They thought that their enemies in Sicily would immediately
+sail with their fleet against Piraeus, inflamed by so signal a
+victory; while their adversaries at home, redoubling all their
+preparations, would vigorously attack them by sea and land at once,
+aided by their own revolted confederates.  Nevertheless, with such
+means as they had, it was determined to resist to the last, and to
+provide timber and money, and to equip a fleet as they best could,
+to take steps to secure their confederates and above all Euboea, to
+reform things in the city upon a more economical footing, and to elect
+a board of elders to advise upon the state of affairs as occasion
+should arise.  In short, as is the way of a democracy, in the panic
+of the moment they were ready to be as prudent as possible.
+
+These resolves were at once carried into effect.  Summer was now
+over.  The winter ensuing saw all Hellas stirring under the
+impression of the great Athenian disaster in Sicily.  Neutrals now felt
+that even if uninvited they ought no longer to stand aloof from the
+war, but should volunteer to march against the Athenians, who, as they
+severally reflected, would probably have come against them if the
+Sicilian campaign had succeeded.  Besides, they considered that the war
+would now be short, and that it would be creditable for them to take
+part in it.  Meanwhile the allies of the Lacedaemonians felt all more
+anxious than ever to see a speedy end to their heavy labours.  But
+above all, the subjects of the Athenians showed a readiness to
+revolt even beyond their ability, judging the circumstances with
+passion, and refusing even to hear of the Athenians being able to last
+out the coming summer.  Beyond all this, Lacedaemon was encouraged by
+the near prospect of being joined in great force in the spring by
+her allies in Sicily, lately forced by events to acquire their navy.
+With these reasons for confidence in every quarter, the Lacedaemonians
+now resolved to throw themselves without reserve into the war,
+considering that, once it was happily terminated, they would be
+finally delivered from such dangers as that which would have
+threatened them from Athens, if she had become mistress of Sicily, and
+that the overthrow of the Athenians would leave them in quiet
+enjoyment of the supremacy over all Hellas.
+
+Their king, Agis, accordingly set out at once during this winter
+with some troops from Decelea, and levied from the allies
+contributions for the fleet, and turning towards the Malian Gulf
+exacted a sum of money from the Oetaeans by carrying off most of their
+cattle in reprisal for their old hostility, and, in spite of the
+protests and opposition of the Thessalians, forced the Achaeans of
+Phthiotis and the other subjects of the Thessalians in those parts
+to give him money and hostages, and deposited the hostages at Corinth,
+and tried to bring their countrymen into the confederacy.  The
+Lacedaemonians now issued a requisition to the cities for building a
+hundred ships, fixing their own quota and that of the Boeotians at
+twenty-five each; that of the Phocians and Locrians together at
+fifteen; that of the Corinthians at fifteen; that of the Arcadians,
+Pellenians, and Sicyonians together at ten; and that of the Megarians,
+Troezenians, Epidaurians, and Hermionians together at ten also; and
+meanwhile made every other preparation for commencing hostilities by
+the spring.
+
+In the meantime the Athenians were not idle.  During this same
+winter, as they had determined, they contributed timber and pushed
+on their ship-building, and fortified Sunium to enable their
+corn-ships to round it in safety, and evacuated the fort in Laconia
+which they had built on their way to Sicily; while they also, for
+economy, cut down any other expenses that seemed unnecessary, and
+above all kept a careful look-out against the revolt of their
+confederates.
+
+While both parties were thus engaged, and were as intent upon
+preparing for the war as they had been at the outset, the Euboeans
+first of all sent envoys during this winter to Agis to treat of
+their revolting from Athens.  Agis accepted their proposals, and sent
+for Alcamenes, son of Sthenelaidas, and Melanthus from Lacedaemon,
+to take the command in Euboea.  These accordingly arrived with some
+three hundred Neodamodes, and Agis began to arrange for their crossing
+over.  But in the meanwhile arrived some Lesbians, who also wished to
+revolt; and these being supported by the Boeotians, Agis was persuaded
+to defer acting in the matter of Euboea, and made arrangements for the
+revolt of the Lesbians, giving them Alcamenes, who was to have
+sailed to Euboea, as governor, and himself promising them ten ships,
+and the Boeotians the same number.  All this was done without
+instructions from home, as Agis while at Decelea with the army that he
+commanded had power to send troops to whatever quarter he pleased, and
+to levy men and money.  During this period, one might say, the allies
+obeyed him much more than they did the Lacedaemonians in the city,
+as the force he had with him made him feared at once wherever he went.
+While Agis was engaged with the Lesbians, the Chians and
+Erythraeans, who were also ready to revolt, applied, not to him but at
+Lacedaemon; where they arrived accompanied by an ambassador from
+Tissaphernes, the commander of King Darius, son of Artaxerxes, in
+the maritime districts, who invited the Peloponnesians to come over,
+and promised to maintain their army.  The King had lately called upon
+him for the tribute from his government, for which he was in
+arrears, being unable to raise it from the Hellenic towns by reason of
+the Athenians; and he therefore calculated that by weakening the
+Athenians he should get the tribute better paid, and should also
+draw the Lacedaemonians into alliance with the King; and by this
+means, as the King had commanded him, take alive or dead Amorges,
+the bastard son of Pissuthnes, who was in rebellion on the coast of
+Caria.
+
+While the Chians and Tissaphernes thus joined to effect the same
+object, about the same time Calligeitus, son of Laophon, a Megarian,
+and Timagoras, son of Athenagoras, a Cyzicene, both of them exiles
+from their country and living at the court of Pharnabazus, son of
+Pharnaces, arrived at Lacedaemon upon a mission from Pharnabazus, to
+procure a fleet for the Hellespont; by means of which, if possible, he
+might himself effect the object of Tissaphernes' ambition and cause
+the cities in his government to revolt from the Athenians, and so
+get the tribute, and by his own agency obtain for the King the
+alliance of the Lacedaemonians.
+
+The emissaries of Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes treating apart, a
+keen competition now ensued at Lacedaemon as to whether a fleet and
+army should be sent first to Ionia and Chios, or to the Hellespont.
+The Lacedaemonians, however, decidedly favoured the Chians and
+Tissaphernes, who were seconded by Alcibiades, the family friend of
+Endius, one of the ephors for that year.  Indeed, this is how their
+house got its Laconic name, Alcibiades being the family name of
+Endius.  Nevertheless the Lacedaemonians first sent to Chios Phrynis,
+one of the Perioeci, to see whether they had as many ships as they
+said, and whether their city generally was as great as was reported;
+and upon his bringing word that they had been told the truth,
+immediately entered into alliance with the Chians and Erythraeans, and
+voted to send them forty ships, there being already, according to
+the statement of the Chians, not less than sixty in the island.  At
+first the Lacedaemonians meant to send ten of these forty
+themselves, with Melanchridas their admiral; but afterwards, an
+earthquake having occurred, they sent Chalcideus instead of
+Melanchridas, and instead of the ten ships equipped only five in
+Laconia.  And the winter ended, and with it ended also the nineteenth
+year of this war of which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+At the beginning of the next summer the Chians were urging that
+the fleet should be sent off, being afraid that the Athenians, from
+whom all these embassies were kept a secret, might find out what was
+going on, and the Lacedaemonians at once sent three Spartans to
+Corinth to haul the ships as quickly as possible across the Isthmus
+from the other sea to that on the side of Athens, and to order them
+all to sail to Chios, those which Agis was equipping for Lesbos not
+excepted.  The number of ships from the allied states was thirty-nine
+in all.
+
+Meanwhile Calligeitus and Timagoras did not join on behalf of Pharnabazus
+in the expedition to Chios or give the money--twenty-five talents--which
+they had brought with them to help in dispatching a force, but
+determined to sail afterwards with another force by themselves.
+Agis, on the other hand, seeing the Lacedaemonians bent upon
+going to Chios first, himself came in to their views; and
+the allies assembled at Corinth and held a council, in which
+they decided to sail first to Chios under the command of Chalcideus,
+who was equipping the five vessels in Laconia, then to Lesbos,
+under the command of Alcamenes, the same whom Agis had fixed
+upon, and lastly to go to the Hellespont, where the command was
+given to Clearchus, son of Ramphias.  Meanwhile they would take only
+half the ships across the Isthmus first, and let those sail off at
+once, in order that the Athenians might attend less to the departing
+squadron than to those to be taken across afterwards, as no care had
+been taken to keep this voyage secret through contempt of the
+impotence of the Athenians, who had as yet no fleet of any account
+upon the sea.  Agreeably to this determination, twenty-one vessels were
+at once conveyed across the Isthmus.
+
+They were now impatient to set sail, but the Corinthians were not
+willing to accompany them until they had celebrated the Isthmian
+festival, which fell at that time.  Upon this Agis proposed to them
+to save their scruples about breaking the Isthmian truce by taking the
+expedition upon himself.  The Corinthians not consenting to this, a
+delay ensued, during which the Athenians conceived suspicions of
+what was preparing at Chios, and sent Aristocrates, one of their
+generals, and charged them with the fact, and, upon the denial of
+the Chians, ordered them to send with them a contingent of ships, as
+faithful confederates.  Seven were sent accordingly.  The reason of
+the dispatch of the ships lay in the fact that the mass of the
+Chians were not privy to the negotiations, while the few who were in
+the secret did not wish to break with the multitude until they had
+something positive to lean upon, and no longer expected the
+Peloponnesians to arrive by reason of their delay.
+
+In the meantime the Isthmian games took place, and the Athenians,
+who had been also invited, went to attend them, and now seeing more
+clearly into the designs of the Chians, as soon as they returned to
+Athens took measures to prevent the fleet putting out from Cenchreae
+without their knowledge.  After the festival the Peloponnesians set
+sail with twenty-one ships for Chios, under the command of
+Alcamenes.  The Athenians first sailed against them with an equal
+number, drawing off towards the open sea.  The enemy, however,
+turning back before he had followed them far, the Athenians returned
+also, not trusting the seven Chian ships which formed part of their
+number, and afterwards manned thirty-seven vessels in all and chased
+him on his passage alongshore into Spiraeum, a desert Corinthian
+port on the edge of the Epidaurian frontier.  After losing one ship out
+at sea, the Peloponnesians got the rest together and brought them to
+anchor.  The Athenians now attacked not only from the sea with their
+fleet, but also disembarked upon the coast; and a melee ensued of
+the most confused and violent kind, in which the Athenians disabled
+most of the enemy's vessels and killed Alcamenes their commander,
+losing also a few of their own men.
+
+After this they separated, and the Athenians, detaching a sufficient
+number of ships to blockade those of the enemy, anchored with the rest
+at the islet adjacent, upon which they proceeded to encamp, and sent to
+Athens for reinforcements; the Peloponnesians having been joined on
+the day after the battle by the Corinthians, who came to help the
+ships, and by the other inhabitants in the vicinity not long
+afterwards.  These saw the difficulty of keeping guard in a desert
+place, and in their perplexity at first thought of burning the
+ships, but finally resolved to haul them up on shore and sit down
+and guard them with their land forces until a convenient opportunity
+for escaping should present itself.  Agis also, on being informed of
+the disaster, sent them a Spartan of the name of Thermon.  The
+Lacedaemonians first received the news of the fleet having put out
+from the Isthmus, Alcamenes having been ordered by the ephors to
+send off a horseman when this took place, and immediately resolved
+to dispatch their own five vessels under Chalcideus, and Alcibiades
+with him.  But while they were full of this resolution came the
+second news of the fleet having taken refuge in Spiraeum; and
+disheartened at their first step in the Ionian war proving a
+failure, they laid aside the idea of sending the ships from their
+own country, and even wished to recall some that had already sailed.
+
+Perceiving this, Alcibiades again persuaded Endius and the other
+ephors to persevere in the expedition, saying that the voyage would be
+made before the Chians heard of the fleet's misfortune, and that as
+soon as he set foot in Ionia, he should, by assuring them of the
+weakness of the Athenians and the zeal of Lacedaemon, have no
+difficulty in persuading the cities to revolt, as they would readily
+believe his testimony.  He also represented to Endius himself in
+private that it would be glorious for him to be the means of making
+Ionia revolt and the King become the ally of Lacedaemon, instead of
+that honour being left to Agis (Agis, it must be remembered, was the
+enemy of Alcibiades); and Endius and his colleagues thus persuaded, he
+put to sea with the five ships and the Lacedaemonian Chalcideus, and
+made all haste upon the voyage.
+
+About this time the sixteen Peloponnesian ships from Sicily, which
+had served through the war with Gylippus, were caught on their
+return off Leucadia and roughly handled by the twenty-seven Athenian
+vessels under Hippocles, son of Menippus, on the lookout for the ships
+from Sicily.  After losing one of their number, the rest escaped from
+the Athenians and sailed into Corinth.
+
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades seized all they met with on
+their voyage, to prevent news of their coming, and let them go at
+Corycus, the first point which they touched at in the continent.
+Here they were visited by some of their Chian correspondents and,
+being urged by them to sail up to the town without announcing their
+coming, arrived suddenly before Chios.  The many were amazed and
+confounded, while the few had so arranged that the council should be
+sitting at the time; and after speeches from Chalcideus and Alcibiades
+stating that many more ships were sailing up, but saying nothing of
+the fleet being blockaded in Spiraeum, the Chians revolted from the
+Athenians, and the Erythraeans immediately afterwards.  After this
+three vessels sailed over to Clazomenae, and made that city revolt
+also; and the Clazomenians immediately crossed over to the mainland
+and began to fortify Polichna, in order to retreat there, in case of
+necessity, from the island where they dwelt.
+
+While the revolted places were all engaged in fortifying and
+preparing for the war, news of Chios speedily reached Athens.  The
+Athenians thought the danger by which they were now menaced great
+and unmistakable, and that the rest of their allies would not
+consent to keep quiet after the secession of the greatest of their
+number.  In the consternation of the moment they at once took off the
+penalty attaching to whoever proposed or put to the vote a proposal
+for using the thousand talents which they had jealously avoided
+touching throughout the whole war, and voted to employ them to man a
+large number of ships, and to send off at once under Strombichides,
+son of Diotimus, the eight vessels, forming part of the blockading
+fleet at Spiraeum, which had left the blockade and had returned
+after pursuing and failing to overtake the vessels with Chalcideus.
+These were to be followed shortly afterwards by twelve more under
+Thrasycles, also taken from the blockade.  They also recalled the seven
+Chian vessels, forming part of their squadron blockading the fleet
+in Spiraeum, and giving the slaves on board their liberty, put the
+freemen in confinement, and speedily manned and sent out ten fresh
+ships to blockade the Peloponnesians in the place of all those that
+had departed, and decided to man thirty more.  Zeal was not wanting,
+and no effort was spared to send relief to Chios.
+
+In the meantime Strombichides with his eight ships arrived at Samos,
+and, taking one Samian vessel, sailed to Teos and required them to
+remain quiet.  Chalcideus also set sail with twenty-three ships for
+Teos from Chios, the land forces of the Clazomenians and Erythraeans
+moving alongshore to support him.  Informed of this in time,
+Strombichides put out from Teos before their arrival, and while out at
+sea, seeing the number of the ships from Chios, fled towards Samos,
+chased by the enemy.  The Teians at first would not receive the land
+forces, but upon the flight of the Athenians took them into the
+town.  There they waited for some time for Chalcideus to return from
+the pursuit, and as time went on without his appearing, began
+themselves to demolish the wall which the Athenians had built on the
+land side of the city of the Teians, being assisted by a few of the
+barbarians who had come up under the command of Stages, the lieutenant
+of Tissaphernes.
+
+Meanwhile Chalcideus and Alcibiades, after chasing Strombichides
+into Samos, armed the crews of the ships from Peloponnese and left
+them at Chios, and filling their places with substitutes from Chios
+and manning twenty others, sailed off to effect the revolt of Miletus.
+The wish of Alcibiades, who had friends among the leading men of the
+Milesians, was to bring over the town before the arrival of the
+ships from Peloponnese, and thus, by causing the revolt of as many
+cities as possible with the help of the Chian power and of Chalcideus,
+to secure the honour for the Chians and himself and Chalcideus, and,
+as he had promised, for Endius who had sent them out.  Not discovered
+until their voyage was nearly completed, they arrived a little
+before Strombichides and Thrasycles (who had just come with twelve
+ships from Athens, and had joined Strombichides in pursuing them), and
+occasioned the revolt of Miletus.  The Athenians sailing up close on
+their heels with nineteen ships found Miletus closed against them, and
+took up their station at the adjacent island of Lade.  The first
+alliance between the King and the Lacedaemonians was now concluded
+immediately upon the revolt of the Milesians, by Tissaphernes and
+Chalcideus, and was as follows:
+
+The Lacedaemonians and their allies made a treaty with the King
+and Tissaphernes upon the terms following:
+
+1.  Whatever country or cities the King has, or the King's
+ancestors had, shall be the king's: and whatever came in to the
+Athenians from these cities, either money or any other thing, the King
+and the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall jointly hinder the
+Athenians from receiving either money or any other thing.
+
+2.  The war with the Athenians shall be carried on jointly by the
+King and by the Lacedaemonians and their allies: and it shall not be
+lawful to make peace with the Athenians except both agree, the King on
+his side and the Lacedaemonians and their allies on theirs.
+
+3.  If any revolt from the King, they shall be the enemies of the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies.  And if any revolt from the
+Lacedaemonians and their allies, they shall be the enemies of the King
+in like manner.
+
+This was the alliance.  After this the Chians immediately manned
+ten more vessels and sailed for Anaia, in order to gain intelligence
+of those in Miletus, and also to make the cities revolt.  A message,
+however, reaching them from Chalcideus to tell them to go back
+again, and that Amorges was at hand with an army by land, they
+sailed to the temple of Zeus, and there sighting ten more ships
+sailing up with which Diomedon had started from Athens after
+Thrasycles, fled, one ship to Ephesus, the rest to Teos.  The Athenians
+took four of their ships empty, the men finding time to escape ashore;
+the rest took refuge in the city of the Teians; after which the
+Athenians sailed off to Samos, while the Chians put to sea with
+their remaining vessels, accompanied by the land forces, and caused
+Lebedos to revolt, and after it Erae.  After this they both returned
+home, the fleet and the army.
+
+About the same time the twenty ships of the Peloponnesians in
+Spiraeum, which we left chased to land and blockaded by an equal
+number of Athenians, suddenly sallied out and defeated the
+blockading squadron, took four of their ships, and, sailing back to
+Cenchreae, prepared again for the voyage to Chios and Ionia.  Here they
+were joined by Astyochus as high admiral from Lacedaemon, henceforth
+invested with the supreme command at sea.  The land forces now
+withdrawing from Teos, Tissaphernes repaired thither in person with an
+army and completed the demolition of anything that was left of the
+wall, and so departed.  Not long after his departure Diomedon arrived
+with ten Athenian ships, and, having made a convention by which the
+Teians admitted him as they had the enemy, coasted along to Erae, and,
+failing in an attempt upon the town, sailed back again.
+
+About this time took place the rising of the commons at Samos
+against the upper classes, in concert with some Athenians, who were
+there in three vessels.  The Samian commons put to death some two
+hundred in all of the upper classes, and banished four hundred more,
+and themselves took their land and houses; after which the Athenians
+decreed their independence, being now sure of their fidelity, and
+the commons henceforth governed the city, excluding the landholders
+from all share in affairs, and forbidding any of the commons to give
+his daughter in marriage to them or to take a wife from them in
+future.
+
+After this, during the same summer, the Chians, whose zeal continued
+as active as ever, and who even without the Peloponnesians found
+themselves in sufficient force to effect the revolt of the cities
+and also wished to have as many companions in peril as possible,
+made an expedition with thirteen ships of their own to Lesbos; the
+instructions from Lacedaemon being to go to that island next, and from
+thence to the Hellespont.  Meanwhile the land forces of the
+Peloponnesians who were with the Chians and of the allies on the spot,
+moved alongshore for Clazomenae and Cuma, under the command of Eualas,
+a Spartan; while the fleet under Diniadas, one of the Perioeci,
+first sailed up to Methymna and caused it to revolt, and, leaving four
+ships there, with the rest procured the revolt of Mitylene.
+
+In the meantime Astyochus, the Lacedaemonian admiral, set sail
+from Cenchreae with four ships, as he had intended, and arrived at
+Chios.  On the third day after his arrival, the Athenian ships,
+twenty-five in number, sailed to Lesbos under Diomedon and Leon, who
+had lately arrived with a reinforcement of ten ships from Athens.  Late
+in the same day Astyochus put to sea, and taking one Chian vessel with
+him sailed to Lesbos to render what assistance he could.  Arrived at
+Pyrrha, and from thence the next day at Eresus, he there learned
+that Mitylene had been taken, almost without a blow, by the Athenians,
+who had sailed up and unexpectedly put into the harbour, had beaten
+the Chian ships, and landing and defeating the troops opposed to
+them had become masters of the city.  Informed of this by the
+Eresians and the Chian ships, which had been left with Eubulus at
+Methymna, and had fled upon the capture of Mitylene, and three of
+which he now fell in with, one having been taken by the Athenians,
+Astyochus did not go on to Mitylene, but raised and armed Eresus, and,
+sending the heavy infantry from his own ships by land under
+Eteonicus to Antissa and Methymna, himself proceeded alongshore
+thither with the ships which he had with him and with the three
+Chians, in the hope that the Methymnians upon seeing them would be
+encouraged to persevere in their revolt.  As, however, everything
+went against him in Lesbos, he took up his own force and sailed back
+to Chios; the land forces on board, which were to have gone to the
+Hellespont, being also conveyed back to their different cities.
+After this six of the allied Peloponnesian ships at Cenchreae joined
+the forces at Chios.  The Athenians, after restoring matters to their
+old state in Lesbos, set sail from thence and took Polichna, the place
+that the Clazomenians were fortifying on the continent, and carried
+the inhabitants back to their town upon the island, except the authors
+of the revolt, who withdrew to Daphnus; and thus Clazomenae became
+once more Athenian.
+
+The same summer the Athenians in the twenty ships at Lade,
+blockading Miletus, made a descent at Panormus in the Milesian
+territory, and killed Chalcideus the Lacedaemonian commander, who
+had come with a few men against them, and the third day after sailed
+over and set up a trophy, which, as they were not masters of the
+country, was however pulled down by the Milesians.  Meanwhile Leon
+and Diomedon with the Athenian fleet from Lesbos issuing from the
+Oenussae, the isles off Chios, and from their forts of Sidussa and
+Pteleum in the Erythraeid, and from Lesbos, carried on the war against
+the Chians from the ships, having on board heavy infantry from the
+rolls pressed to serve as marines.  Landing in Cardamyle and in
+Bolissus they defeated with heavy loss the Chians that took the
+field against them and, laying desolate the places in that
+neighbourhood, defeated the Chians again in another battle at
+Phanae, and in a third at Leuconium.  After this the Chians ceased to
+meet them in the field, while the Athenians devastated the country,
+which was beautifully stocked and had remained uninjured ever since
+the Median wars.  Indeed, after the Lacedaemonians, the Chians are
+the only people that I have known who knew how to be wise in
+prosperity, and who ordered their city the more securely the greater
+it grew.  Nor was this revolt, in which they might seem to have erred
+on the side of rashness, ventured upon until they had numerous and
+gallant allies to share the danger with them, and until they perceived
+the Athenians after the Sicilian disaster themselves no longer denying
+the thoroughly desperate state of their affairs.  And if they were
+thrown out by one of the surprises which upset human calculations,
+they found out their mistake in company with many others who believed,
+like them, in the speedy collapse of the Athenian power.  While they
+were thus blockaded from the sea and plundered by land, some of the
+citizens undertook to bring the city over to the Athenians.  Apprised
+of this the authorities took no action themselves, but brought
+Astyochus, the admiral, from Erythrae, with four ships that he had
+with him, and considered how they could most quietly, either by taking
+hostages or by some other means, put an end to the conspiracy.
+
+While the Chians were thus engaged, a thousand Athenian heavy
+infantry and fifteen hundred Argives (five hundred of whom were
+light troops furnished with armour by the Athenians), and one thousand
+of the allies, towards the close of the same summer sailed from Athens
+in forty-eight ships, some of which were transports, under the command
+of Phrynichus, Onomacles, and Scironides, and putting into Samos
+crossed over and encamped at Miletus.  Upon this the Milesians came out
+to the number of eight hundred heavy infantry, with the Peloponnesians
+who had come with Chalcideus, and some foreign mercenaries of
+Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes himself and his cavalry, and engaged the
+Athenians and their allies.  While the Argives rushed forward on
+their own wing with the careless disdain of men advancing against
+Ionians who would never stand their charge, and were defeated by the
+Milesians with a loss little short of three hundred men, the Athenians
+first defeated the Peloponnesians, and driving before them the
+barbarians and the ruck of the army, without engaging the Milesians,
+who after the rout of the Argives retreated into the town upon
+seeing their comrades worsted, crowned their victory by grounding
+their arms under the very walls of Miletus.  Thus, in this battle,
+the Ionians on both sides overcame the Dorians, the Athenians
+defeating the Peloponnesians opposed to them, and the Milesians the
+Argives.  After setting up a trophy, the Athenians prepared to draw a
+wall round the place, which stood upon an isthmus; thinking that, if
+they could gain Miletus, the other towns also would easily come over
+to them.
+
+Meanwhile about dusk tidings reached them that the fifty-five
+ships from Peloponnese and Sicily might be instantly expected.  Of
+these the Siceliots, urged principally by the Syracusan Hermocrates to
+join in giving the finishing blow to the power of Athens, furnished
+twenty-two--twenty from Syracuse, and two from Silenus; and the
+ships that we left preparing in Peloponnese being now ready, both
+squadrons had been entrusted to Therimenes, a Lacedaemonian, to take
+to Astyochus, the admiral.  They now put in first at Leros the island
+off Miletus, and from thence, discovering that the Athenians were
+before the town, sailed into the Iasic Gulf, in order to learn how
+matters stood at Miletus.  Meanwhile Alcibiades came on horseback to
+Teichiussa in the Milesian territory, the point of the gulf at which
+they had put in for the night, and told them of the battle in which he
+had fought in person by the side of the Milesians and Tissaphernes,
+and advised them, if they did not wish to sacrifice Ionia and their
+cause, to fly to the relief of Miletus and hinder its investment.
+
+Accordingly they resolved to relieve it the next morning.
+Meanwhile Phrynichus, the Athenian commander, had received precise
+intelligence of the fleet from Leros, and when his colleagues
+expressed a wish to keep the sea and fight it out, flatly refused
+either to stay himself or to let them or any one else do so if he
+could help it.  Where they could hereafter contend, after full and
+undisturbed preparation, with an exact knowledge of the number of
+the enemy's fleet and of the force which they could oppose to him,
+he would never allow the reproach of disgrace to drive him into a risk
+that was unreasonable.  It was no disgrace for an Athenian fleet to
+retreat when it suited them: put it as they would, it would be more
+disgraceful to be beaten, and to expose the city not only to disgrace,
+but to the most serious danger.  After its late misfortunes it could
+hardly be justified in voluntarily taking the offensive even with
+the strongest force, except in a case of absolute necessity: much less
+then without compulsion could it rush upon peril of its own seeking.
+He told them to take up their wounded as quickly as they could and the
+troops and stores which they had brought with them, and leaving behind
+what they had taken from the enemy's country, in order to lighten
+the ships, to sail off to Samos, and there concentrating all their
+ships to attack as opportunity served.  As he spoke so he acted; and
+thus not now more than afterwards, nor in this alone but in all that
+he had to do with, did Phrynichus show himself a man of sense.  In this
+way that very evening the Athenians broke up from before Miletus,
+leaving their victory unfinished, and the Argives, mortified at
+their disaster, promptly sailed off home from Samos.
+
+As soon as it was morning the Peloponnesians weighed from Teichiussa
+and put into Miletus after the departure of the Athenians; they stayed
+one day, and on the next took with them the Chian vessels originally
+chased into port with Chalcideus, and resolved to sail back for the
+tackle which they had put on shore at Teichiussa.  Upon their arrival
+Tissaphernes came to them with his land forces and induced them to
+sail to Iasus, which was held by his enemy Amorges.  Accordingly they
+suddenly attacked and took Iasus, whose inhabitants never imagined
+that the ships could be other than Athenian.  The Syracusans
+distinguished themselves most in the action.  Amorges, a bastard of
+Pissuthnes and a rebel from the King, was taken alive and handed
+over to Tissaphernes, to carry to the King, if he chose, according
+to his orders: Iasus was sacked by the army, who found a very great
+booty there, the place being wealthy from ancient date.  The
+mercenaries serving with Amorges the Peloponnesians received and
+enrolled in their army without doing them any harm, since most of them
+came from Peloponnese, and handed over the town to Tissaphernes with
+all the captives, bond or free, at the stipulated price of one Doric
+stater a head; after which they returned to Miletus.  Pedaritus, son of
+Leon, who had been sent by the Lacedaemonians to take the command at
+Chios, they dispatched by land as far as Erythrae with the mercenaries
+taken from Amorges; appointing Philip to remain as governor of
+Miletus.
+
+Summer was now over.  The winter following, Tissaphernes put Iasus in
+a state of defence, and passing on to Miletus distributed a month's
+pay to all the ships as he had promised at Lacedaemon, at the rate
+of an Attic drachma a day for each man.  In future, however, he was
+resolved not to give more than three obols, until he had consulted the
+King; when if the King should so order he would give, he said, the
+full drachma.  However, upon the protest of the Syracusan general
+Hermocrates (for as Therimenes was not admiral, but only accompanied
+them in order to hand over the ships to Astyochus, he made little
+difficulty about the pay), it was agreed that the amount of five
+ships' pay should be given over and above the three obols a day for
+each man; Tissaphernes paying thirty talents a month for fifty-five
+ships, and to the rest, for as many ships as they had beyond that
+number, at the same rate.
+
+The same winter the Athenians in Samos, having been joined by
+thirty-five more vessels from home under Charminus, Strombichides, and
+Euctemon, called in their squadron at Chios and all the rest,
+intending to blockade Miletus with their navy, and to send a fleet and
+an army against Chios; drawing lots for the respective services.
+This intention they carried into effect; Strombichides, Onamacles, and
+Euctemon sailing against Chios, which fell to their lot, with thirty
+ships and a part of the thousand heavy infantry, who had been to
+Miletus, in transports; while the rest remained masters of the sea
+with seventy-four ships at Samos, and advanced upon Miletus.
+
+Meanwhile Astyochus, whom we left at Chios collecting the hostages
+required in consequence of the conspiracy, stopped upon learning
+that the fleet with Therimenes had arrived, and that the affairs of
+the league were in a more flourishing condition, and putting out to
+sea with ten Peloponnesian and as many Chian vessels, after a futile
+attack upon Pteleum, coasted on to Clazomenae, and ordered the
+Athenian party to remove inland to Daphnus, and to join the
+Peloponnesians, an order in which also joined Tamos the king's
+lieutenant in Ionia.  This order being disregarded, Astyochus made an
+attack upon the town, which was unwalled, and having failed to take it
+was himself carried off by a strong gale to Phocaea and Cuma, while
+the rest of the ships put in at the islands adjacent to
+Clazomenae--Marathussa, Pele, and Drymussa.  Here they were detained
+eight days by the winds, and, plundering and consuming all the
+property of the Clazomenians there deposited, put the rest on
+shipboard and sailed off to Phocaea and Cuma to join Astyochus.
+
+While he was there, envoys arrived from the Lesbians who wished to
+revolt again.  With Astyochus they were successful; but the Corinthians
+and the other allies being averse to it by reason of their former
+failure, he weighed anchor and set sail for Chios, where they
+eventually arrived from different quarters, the fleet having been
+scattered by a storm.  After this Pedaritus, whom we left marching
+along the coast from Miletus, arrived at Erythrae, and thence
+crossed over with his army to Chios, where he found also about five
+hundred soldiers who had been left there by Chalcideus from the five
+ships with their arms.  Meanwhile some Lesbians making offers to
+revolt, Astyochus urged upon Pedaritus and the Chians that they
+ought to go with their ships and effect the revolt of Lesbos, and so
+increase the number of their allies, or, if not successful, at all
+events harm the Athenians.  The Chians, however, turned a deaf ear to
+this, and Pedaritus flatly refused to give up to him the Chian
+vessels.
+
+Upon this Astyochus took five Corinthian and one Megarian vessel,
+with another from Hermione, and the ships which had come with him from
+Laconia, and set sail for Miletus to assume his command as admiral;
+after telling the Chians with many threats that he would certainly not
+come and help them if they should be in need.  At Corycus in the
+Erythraeid he brought to for the night; the Athenian armament
+sailing from Samos against Chios being only separated from him by a
+hill, upon the other side of which it brought to; so that neither
+perceived the other.  But a letter arriving in the night from Pedaritus
+to say that some liberated Erythraean prisoners had come from Samos to
+betray Erythrae, Astyochus at once put back to Erythrae, and so just
+escaped falling in with the Athenians.  Here Pedaritus sailed over to
+join him; and after inquiry into the pretended treachery, finding that
+the whole story had been made up to procure the escape of the men from
+Samos, they acquitted them of the charge, and sailed away, Pedaritus
+to Chios and Astyochus to Miletus as he had intended.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenian armament sailing round Corycus fell in with
+three Chian men-of-war off Arginus, and gave immediate chase.  A
+great storm coming on, the Chians with difficulty took refuge in the
+harbour; the three Athenian vessels most forward in the pursuit
+being wrecked and thrown up near the city of Chios, and the crews
+slain or taken prisoners.  The rest of the Athenian fleet took refuge
+in the harbour called Phoenicus, under Mount Mimas, and from thence
+afterwards put into Lesbos and prepared for the work of fortification.
+
+The same winter the Lacedaemonian Hippocrates sailed out from
+Peloponnese with ten Thurian ships under the command of Dorieus, son
+of Diagoras, and two colleagues, one Laconian and one Syracusan
+vessel, and arrived at Cnidus, which had already revolted at the
+instigation of Tissaphernes.  When their arrival was known at
+Miletus, orders came to them to leave half their squadron to guard
+Cnidus, and with the rest to cruise round Triopium and seize all the
+merchantmen arriving from Egypt.  Triopium is a promontory of Cnidus
+and sacred to Apollo.  This coming to the knowledge of the Athenians,
+they sailed from Samos and captured the six ships on the watch at
+Triopium, the crews escaping out of them.  After this the Athenians
+sailed into Cnidus and made an assault upon the town, which was
+unfortified, and all but took it; and the next day assaulted it again,
+but with less effect, as the inhabitants had improved their defences
+during the night, and had been reinforced by the crews escaped from
+the ships at Triopium.  The Athenians now withdrew, and after
+plundering the Cnidian territory sailed back to Samos.
+
+About the same time Astyochus came to the fleet at Miletus.  The
+Peloponnesian camp was still plentifully supplied, being in receipt of
+sufficient pay, and the soldiers having still in hand the large
+booty taken at Iasus.  The Milesians also showed great ardour for the
+war.  Nevertheless the Peloponnesians thought the first convention with
+Tissaphernes, made with Chalcideus, defective, and more advantageous
+to him than to them, and consequently while Therimenes was still there
+concluded another, which was as follows:
+
+The convention of the Lacedaemonians and the allies with King
+Darius and the sons of the King, and with Tissaphernes for a treaty
+and friendship, as follows:
+
+1.  Neither the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians
+shall make war against or otherwise injure any country or cities
+that belong to King Darius or did belong to his father or to his
+ancestors; neither shall the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the
+Lacedaemonians exact tribute from such cities.  Neither shall King
+Darius nor any of the subjects of the King make war against or
+otherwise injure the Lacedaemonians or their allies.
+
+2.  If the Lacedaemonians or their allies should require any
+assistance from the King, or the King from the Lacedaemonians or their
+allies, whatever they both agree upon they shall be right in doing.
+
+3.  Both shall carry on jointly the war against the Athenians and
+their allies: and if they make peace, both shall do so jointly.
+
+4.  The expense of all troops in the King's country, sent for by
+the King, shall be borne by the King.
+
+5.  If any of the states comprised in this convention with the King
+attack the King's country, the rest shall stop them and aid the King
+to the best of their power.  And if any in the King's country or in the
+countries under the King's rule attack the country of the
+Lacedaemonians or their allies, the King shall stop it and help them
+to the best of his power.
+
+After this convention Therimenes handed over the fleet to Astyochus,
+sailed off in a small boat, and was lost.  The Athenian armament had
+now crossed over from Lesbos to Chios, and being master by sea and
+land began to fortify Delphinium, a place naturally strong on the land
+side, provided with more than one harbour, and also not far from the
+city of Chios.  Meanwhile the Chians remained inactive.  Already
+defeated in so many battles, they were now also at discord among
+themselves; the execution of the party of Tydeus, son of Ion, by
+Pedaritus upon the charge of Atticism, followed by the forcible
+imposition of an oligarchy upon the rest of the city, having made them
+suspicious of one another; and they therefore thought neither
+themselves not the mercenaries under Pedaritus a match for the
+enemy.  They sent, however, to Miletus to beg Astyochus to assist them,
+which he refused to do, and was accordingly denounced at Lacedaemon by
+Pedaritus as a traitor.  Such was the state of the Athenian affairs
+at Chios; while their fleet at Samos kept sailing out against the
+enemy in Miletus, until they found that he would not accept their
+challenge, and then retired again to Samos and remained quiet.
+
+In the same winter the twenty-seven ships equipped by the
+Lacedaemonians for Pharnabazus through the agency of the Megarian
+Calligeitus, and the Cyzicene Timagoras, put out from Peloponnese
+and sailed for Ionia about the time of the solstice, under the command
+of Antisthenes, a Spartan.  With them the Lacedaemonians also sent
+eleven Spartans as advisers to Astyochus; Lichas, son of Arcesilaus,
+being among the number.  Arrived at Miletus, their orders were to aid
+in generally superintending the good conduct of the war; to send off
+the above ships or a greater or less number to the Hellespont to
+Pharnabazus, if they thought proper, appointing Clearchus, son of
+Ramphias, who sailed with them, to the command; and further, if they
+thought proper, to make Antisthenes admiral, dismissing Astyochus,
+whom the letters of Pedaritus had caused to be regarded with
+suspicion.  Sailing accordingly from Malea across the open sea, the
+squadron touched at Melos and there fell in with ten Athenian ships,
+three of which they took empty and burned.  After this, being afraid
+that the Athenian vessels escaped from Melos might, as they in fact
+did, give information of their approach to the Athenians at Samos,
+they sailed to Crete, and having lengthened their voyage by way of
+precaution made land at Caunus in Asia, from whence considering
+themselves in safety they sent a message to the fleet at Miletus for a
+convoy along the coast.
+
+Meanwhile the Chians and Pedaritus, undeterred by the backwardness
+of Astyochus, went on sending messengers pressing him to come with all
+the fleet to assist them against their besiegers, and not to leave the
+greatest of the allied states in Ionia to be shut up by sea and
+overrun and pillaged by land.  There were more slaves at Chios than
+in any one other city except Lacedaemon, and being also by reason of
+their numbers punished more rigorously when they offended, most of
+them, when they saw the Athenian armament firmly established in the
+island with a fortified position, immediately deserted to the enemy,
+and through their knowledge of the country did the greatest
+mischief.  The Chians therefore urged upon Astyochus that it was his
+duty to assist them, while there was still a hope and a possibility of
+stopping the enemy's progress, while Delphinium was still in process
+of fortification and unfinished, and before the completion of a higher
+rampart which was being added to protect the camp and fleet of their
+besiegers.  Astyochus now saw that the allies also wished it and
+prepared to go, in spite of his intention to the contrary owing to the
+threat already referred to.
+
+In the meantime news came from Caunus of the arrival of the
+twenty-seven ships with the Lacedaemonian commissioners; and
+Astyochus, postponing everything to the duty of convoying a fleet of
+that importance, in order to be more able to command the sea, and to
+the safe conduct of the Lacedaemonians sent as spies over his
+behaviour, at once gave up going to Chios and set sail for Caunus.
+As he coasted along he landed at the Meropid Cos and sacked the
+city, which was unfortified and had been lately laid in ruins by an
+earthquake, by far the greatest in living memory, and, as the
+inhabitants had fled to the mountains, overran the country and made
+booty of all it contained, letting go, however, the free men.  From Cos
+arriving in the night at Cnidus he was constrained by the
+representations of the Cnidians not to disembark the sailors, but to
+sail as he was straight against the twenty Athenian vessels, which
+with Charminus, one of the commanders at Samos, were on the watch
+for the very twenty-seven ships from Peloponnese which Astyochus was
+himself sailing to join; the Athenians in Samos having heard from
+Melos of their approach, and Charminus being on the look-out off Syme,
+Chalce, Rhodes, and Lycia, as he now heard that they were at Caunus.
+
+Astyochus accordingly sailed as he was to Syme, before he was
+heard of, in the hope of catching the enemy somewhere out at sea.
+Rain, however, and foggy weather encountered him, and caused his ships
+to straggle and get into disorder in the dark.  In the morning his
+fleet had parted company and was most of it still straggling round the
+island, and the left wing only in sight of Charminus and the
+Athenians, who took it for the squadron which they were watching for
+from Caunus, and hastily put out against it with part only of their
+twenty vessels, and attacking immediately sank three ships and
+disabled others, and had the advantage in the action until the main
+body of the fleet unexpectedly hove in sight, when they were
+surrounded on every side.  Upon this they took to flight, and after
+losing six ships with the rest escaped to Teutlussa or Beet Island,
+and from thence to Halicarnassus.  After this the Peloponnesians put
+into Cnidus and, being joined by the twenty-seven ships from Caunus,
+sailed all together and set up a trophy in Syme, and then returned
+to anchor at Cnidus.
+
+As soon as the Athenians knew of the sea-fight, they sailed with all
+the ships at Samos to Syme, and, without attacking or being attacked
+by the fleet at Cnidus, took the ships' tackle left at Syme, and
+touching at Lorymi on the mainland sailed back to Samos.  Meanwhile the
+Peloponnesian ships, being now all at Cnidus, underwent such repairs
+as were needed; while the eleven Lacedaemonian commissioners conferred
+with Tissaphernes, who had come to meet them, upon the points which
+did not satisfy them in the past transactions, and upon the best and
+mutually most advantageous manner of conducting the war in future.  The
+severest critic of the present proceedings was Lichas, who said that
+neither of the treaties could stand, neither that of Chalcideus, nor
+that of Therimenes; it being monstrous that the King should at this
+date pretend to the possession of all the country formerly ruled by
+himself or by his ancestors--a pretension which implicitly put back
+under the yoke all the islands--Thessaly, Locris, and everything as
+far as Boeotia--and made the Lacedaemonians give to the Hellenes
+instead of liberty a Median master.  He therefore invited Tissaphernes
+to conclude another and a better treaty, as they certainly would not
+recognize those existing and did not want any of his pay upon such
+conditions.  This offended Tissaphernes so much that he went away in
+a rage without settling anything.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+_Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the War - Intrigues of
+Alcibiades - Withdrawal of the Persian Subsidies - Oligarchical
+Coup d'Etat at Athens - Patriotism of the Army at Samos_
+
+The Peloponnesians now determined to sail to Rhodes, upon the
+invitation of some of the principal men there, hoping to gain an
+island powerful by the number of its seamen and by its land forces,
+and also thinking that they would be able to maintain their fleet from
+their own confederacy, without having to ask for money from
+Tissaphernes.  They accordingly at once set sail that same winter
+from Cnidus, and first put in with ninety-four ships at Camirus in the
+Rhodian country, to the great alarm of the mass of the inhabitants,
+who were not privy to the intrigue, and who consequently fled,
+especially as the town was unfortified.  They were afterwards, however,
+assembled by the Lacedaemonians together with the inhabitants of the
+two other towns of Lindus and Ialysus; and the Rhodians were persuaded
+to revolt from the Athenians and the island went over to the
+Peloponnesians.  Meanwhile the Athenians had received the alarm and set
+sail with the fleet from Samos to forestall them, and came within
+sight of the island, but being a little too late sailed off for the
+moment to Chalce, and from thence to Samos, and subsequently waged war
+against Rhodes, issuing from Chalce, Cos, and Samos.
+
+The Peloponnesians now levied a contribution of thirty-two talents
+from the Rhodians, after which they hauled their ships ashore and
+for eighty days remained inactive.  During this time, and even earlier,
+before they removed to Rhodes, the following intrigues took place.
+After the death of Chalcideus and the battle at Miletus, Alcibiades
+began to be suspected by the Peloponnesians; and Astyochus received
+from Lacedaemon an order from them to put him to death, he being the
+personal enemy of Agis, and in other respects thought unworthy of
+confidence.  Alcibiades in his alarm first withdrew to Tissaphernes,
+and immediately began to do all he could with him to injure the
+Peloponnesian cause.  Henceforth becoming his adviser in everything, he
+cut down the pay from an Attic drachma to three obols a day, and
+even this not paid too regularly; and told Tissaphernes to say to
+the Peloponnesians that the Athenians, whose maritime experience was
+of an older date than their own, only gave their men three obols,
+not so much from poverty as to prevent their seamen being corrupted by
+being too well off, and injuring their condition by spending money
+upon enervating indulgences, and also paid their crews irregularly
+in order to have a security against their deserting in the arrears
+which they would leave behind them.  He also told Tissaphernes to bribe
+the captains and generals of the cities, and so to obtain their
+connivance--an expedient which succeeded with all except the
+Syracusans, Hermocrates alone opposing him on behalf of the whole
+confederacy.  Meanwhile the cities asking for money Alcibiades sent
+off, by roundly telling them in the name of Tissaphernes that it was
+great impudence in the Chians, the richest people in Hellas, not
+content with being defended by a foreign force, to expect others to
+risk not only their lives but their money as well in behalf of their
+freedom; while the other cities, he said, had had to pay largely to
+Athens before their rebellion, and could not justly refuse to
+contribute as much or even more now for their own selves.  He also
+pointed out that Tissaphernes was at present carrying on the war at
+his own charges, and had good cause for economy, but that as soon as
+he received remittances from the king he would give them their pay
+in full and do what was reasonable for the cities.
+
+Alcibiades further advised Tissaphernes not to be in too great a
+hurry to end the war, or to let himself be persuaded to bring up the
+Phoenician fleet which he was equipping, or to provide pay for more
+Hellenes, and thus put the power by land and sea into the same
+hands; but to leave each of the contending parties in possession of
+one element, thus enabling the king when he found one troublesome to
+call in the other.  For if the command of the sea and land were
+united in one hand, he would not know where to turn for help to
+overthrow the dominant power; unless he at last chose to stand up
+himself, and go through with the struggle at great expense and hazard.
+The cheapest plan was to let the Hellenes wear each other out, at a
+small share of the expense and without risk to himself.  Besides, he
+would find the Athenians the most convenient partners in empire as
+they did not aim at conquests on shore, and carried on the war upon
+principles and with a practice most advantageous to the King; being
+prepared to combine to conquer the sea for Athens, and for the King
+all the Hellenes inhabiting his country, whom the Peloponnesians, on
+the contrary, had come to liberate.  Now it was not likely that the
+Lacedaemonians would free the Hellenes from the Hellenic Athenians,
+without freeing them also from the barbarian Mede, unless overthrown
+by him in the meanwhile.  Alcibiades therefore urged him to wear them
+both out at first, and, after docking the Athenian power as much as he
+could, forthwith to rid the country of the Peloponnesians.  In the main
+Tissaphernes approved of this policy, so far at least as could be
+conjectured from his behaviour; since he now gave his confidence to
+Alcibiades in recognition of his good advice, and kept the
+Peloponnesians short of money, and would not let them fight at sea,
+but ruined their cause by pretending that the Phoenician fleet would
+arrive, and that they would thus be enabled to contend with the odds
+in their favour, and so made their navy lose its efficiency, which had
+been very remarkable, and generally betrayed a coolness in the war
+that was too plain to be mistaken.
+
+Alcibiades gave this advice to Tissaphernes and the King, with
+whom he then was, not merely because he thought it really the best,
+but because he was studying means to effect his restoration to his
+country, well knowing that if he did not destroy it he might one day
+hope to persuade the Athenians to recall him, and thinking that his
+best chance of persuading them lay in letting them see that he
+possessed the favour of Tissaphernes.  The event proved him to be
+right.  When the Athenians at Samos found that he had influence with
+Tissaphernes, principally of their own motion (though partly also
+through Alcibiades himself sending word to their chief men to tell the
+best men in the army that, if there were only an oligarchy in the
+place of the rascally democracy that had banished him, he would be
+glad to return to his country and to make Tissaphernes their
+friend), the captains and chief men in the armament at once embraced
+the idea of subverting the democracy.
+
+The design was first mooted in the camp, and afterwards from
+thence reached the city.  Some persons crossed over from Samos and
+had an interview with Alcibiades, who immediately offered to make
+first Tissaphernes, and afterwards the King, their friend, if they
+would give up the democracy and make it possible for the King to trust
+them.  The higher class, who also suffered most severely from the
+war, now conceived great hopes of getting the government into their
+own hands, and of triumphing over the enemy.  Upon their return to
+Samos the emissaries formed their partisans into a club, and openly
+told the mass of the armament that the King would be their friend, and
+would provide them with money, if Alcibiades were restored and the
+democracy abolished.  The multitude, if at first irritated by these
+intrigues, were nevertheless kept quiet by the advantageous prospect
+of the pay from the King; and the oligarchical conspirators, after
+making this communication to the people, now re-examined the proposals
+of Alcibiades among themselves, with most of their associates.
+Unlike the rest, who thought them advantageous and trustworthy,
+Phrynichus, who was still general, by no means approved of the
+proposals.  Alcibiades, he rightly thought, cared no more for an
+oligarchy than for a democracy, and only sought to change the
+institutions of his country in order to get himself recalled by his
+associates; while for themselves their one object should be to avoid
+civil discord.  It was not the King's interest, when the Peloponnesians
+were now their equals at sea, and in possession of some of the chief
+cities in his empire, to go out of his way to side with the
+Athenians whom he did not trust, when he might make friends of the
+Peloponnesians who had never injured him.  And as for the allied states
+to whom oligarchy was now offered, because the democracy was to be put
+down at Athens, he well knew that this would not make the rebels
+come in any the sooner, or confirm the loyal in their allegiance; as
+the allies would never prefer servitude with an oligarchy or democracy
+to freedom with the constitution which they actually enjoyed, to
+whichever type it belonged.  Besides, the cities thought that the
+so-called better classes would prove just as oppressive as the
+commons, as being those who originated, proposed, and for the most
+part benefited from the acts of the commons injurious to the
+confederates.  Indeed, if it depended on the better classes, the
+confederates would be put to death without trial and with violence;
+while the commons were their refuge and the chastiser of these men.
+This he positively knew that the cities had learned by experience, and
+that such was their opinion.  The propositions of Alcibiades, and the
+intrigues now in progress, could therefore never meet with his
+approval.
+
+However, the members of the club assembled, agreeably to their
+original determination, accepted what was proposed, and prepared to
+send Pisander and others on an embassy to Athens to treat for the
+restoration of Alcibiades and the abolition of the democracy in the
+city, and thus to make Tissaphernes the friend of the Athenians.
+
+Phrynichus now saw that there would be a proposal to restore
+Alcibiades, and that the Athenians would consent to it; and fearing
+after what he had said against it that Alcibiades, if restored,
+would revenge himself upon him for his opposition, had recourse to the
+following expedient.  He sent a secret letter to the Lacedaemonian
+admiral Astyochus, who was still in the neighbourhood of Miletus, to
+tell him that Alcibiades was ruining their cause by making
+Tissaphernes the friend of the Athenians, and containing an express
+revelation of the rest of the intrigue, desiring to be excused if he
+sought to harm his enemy even at the expense of the interests of his
+country.  However, Astyochus, instead of thinking of punishing
+Alcibiades, who, besides, no longer ventured within his reach as
+formerly, went up to him and Tissaphernes at Magnesia, communicated to
+them the letter from Samos, and turned informer, and, if report may be
+trusted, became the paid creature of Tissaphernes, undertaking to
+inform him as to this and all other matters; which was also the reason
+why he did not remonstrate more strongly against the pay not being
+given in full.  Upon this Alcibiades instantly sent to the
+authorities at Samos a letter against Phrynichus, stating what he
+had done, and requiring that he should be put to death.  Phrynichus
+distracted, and placed in the utmost peril by the denunciation, sent
+again to Astyochus, reproaching him with having so ill kept the secret
+of his previous letter, and saying that he was now prepared to give
+them an opportunity of destroying the whole Athenian armament at
+Samos; giving a detailed account of the means which he should
+employ, Samos being unfortified, and pleading that, being in danger of
+his life on their account, he could not now be blamed for doing this
+or anything else to escape being destroyed by his mortal enemies.  This
+also Astyochus revealed to Alcibiades.
+
+Meanwhile Phrynichus having had timely notice that he was playing
+him false, and that a letter on the subject was on the point of
+arriving from Alcibiades, himself anticipated the news, and told the
+army that the enemy, seeing that Samos was unfortified and the fleet
+not all stationed within the harbour, meant to attack the camp, that
+he could be certain of this intelligence, and that they must fortify
+Samos as quickly as possible, and generally look to their defences.  It
+will be remembered that he was general, and had himself authority to
+carry out these measures.  Accordingly they addressed themselves to the
+work of fortification, and Samos was thus fortified sooner than it
+would otherwise have been.  Not long afterwards came the letter from
+Alcibiades, saying that the army was betrayed by Phrynichus, and the
+enemy about to attack it.  Alcibiades, however, gained no credit, it
+being thought that he was in the secret of the enemy's designs, and
+had tried to fasten them upon Phrynichus, and to make out that he
+was their accomplice, out of hatred; and consequently far from hurting
+him he rather bore witness to what he had said by this intelligence.
+
+After this Alcibiades set to work to persuade Tissaphernes to become
+the friend of the Athenians.  Tissaphernes, although afraid of the
+Peloponnesians because they had more ships in Asia than the Athenians,
+was yet disposed to be persuaded if he could, especially after his
+quarrel with the Peloponnesians at Cnidus about the treaty of
+Therimenes.  The quarrel had already taken place, as the Peloponnesians
+were by this time actually at Rhodes; and in it the original
+argument of Alcibiades touching the liberation of all the towns by the
+Lacedaemonians had been verified by the declaration of Lichas that
+it was impossible to submit to a convention which made the King master
+of all the states at any former time ruled by himself or by his
+fathers.
+
+While Alcibiades was besieging the favour of Tissaphernes with an
+earnestness proportioned to the greatness of the issue, the Athenian
+envoys who had been dispatched from Samos with Pisander arrived at
+Athens, and made a speech before the people, giving a brief summary of
+their views, and particularly insisting that, if Alcibiades were
+recalled and the democratic constitution changed, they could have
+the King as their ally, and would be able to overcome the
+Peloponnesians.  A number of speakers opposed them on the question of
+the democracy, the enemies of Alcibiades cried out against the scandal
+of a restoration to be effected by a violation of the constitution,
+and the Eumolpidae and Ceryces protested in behalf of the mysteries,
+the cause of his banishment, and called upon the gods to avert his
+recall; when Pisander, in the midst of much opposition and abuse, came
+forward, and taking each of his opponents aside asked him the
+following question: In the face of the fact that the Peloponnesians
+had as many ships as their own confronting them at sea, more cities in
+alliance with them, and the King and Tissaphernes to supply them
+with money, of which the Athenians had none left, had he any hope of
+saving the state, unless someone could induce the King to come over to
+their side? Upon their replying that they had not, he then plainly
+said to them: "This we cannot have unless we have a more moderate form
+of government, and put the offices into fewer hands, and so gain the
+King's confidence, and forthwith restore Alcibiades, who is the only
+man living that can bring this about.  The safety of the state, not the
+form of its government, is for the moment the most pressing
+question, as we can always change afterwards whatever we do not like."
+
+The people were at first highly irritated at the mention of an
+oligarchy, but upon understanding clearly from Pisander that this
+was the only resource left, they took counsel of their fears, and
+promised themselves some day to change the government again, and
+gave way.  They accordingly voted that Pisander should sail with ten
+others and make the best arrangement that they could with Tissaphernes
+and Alcibiades.  At the same time the people, upon a false accusation
+of Pisander, dismissed Phrynichus from his post together with his
+colleague Scironides, sending Diomedon and Leon to replace them in the
+command of the fleet.  The accusation was that Phrynichus had
+betrayed Iasus and Amorges; and Pisander brought it because he thought
+him a man unfit for the business now in hand with Alcibiades.  Pisander
+also went the round of all the clubs already existing in the city
+for help in lawsuits and elections, and urged them to draw together
+and to unite their efforts for the overthrow of the democracy; and
+after taking all other measures required by the circumstances, so that
+no time might be lost, set off with his ten companions on his voyage
+to Tissaphernes.
+
+In the same winter Leon and Diomedon, who had by this time joined
+the fleet, made an attack upon Rhodes.  The ships of the Peloponnesians
+they found hauled up on shore, and, after making a descent upon the
+coast and defeating the Rhodians who appeared in the field against
+them, withdrew to Chalce and made that place their base of
+operations instead of Cos, as they could better observe from thence if
+the Peloponnesian fleet put out to sea.  Meanwhile Xenophantes, a
+Laconian, came to Rhodes from Pedaritus at Chios, with the news that
+the fortification of the Athenians was now finished, and that,
+unless the whole Peloponnesian fleet came to the rescue, the cause
+in Chios must be lost.  Upon this they resolved to go to his relief.  In
+the meantime Pedaritus, with the mercenaries that he had with him
+and the whole force of the Chians, made an assault upon the work round
+the Athenian ships and took a portion of it, and got possession of
+some vessels that were hauled up on shore, when the Athenians
+sallied out to the rescue, and first routing the Chians, next defeated
+the remainder of the force round Pedaritus, who was himself killed,
+with many of the Chians, a great number of arms being also taken.
+
+After this the Chians were besieged even more straitly than before
+by land and sea, and the famine in the place was great.  Meanwhile
+the Athenian envoys with Pisander arrived at the court of
+Tissaphernes, and conferred with him about the proposed agreement.
+However, Alcibiades, not being altogether sure of Tissaphernes (who
+feared the Peloponnesians more than the Athenians, and besides
+wished to wear out both parties, as Alcibiades himself had
+recommended), had recourse to the following stratagem to make the
+treaty between the Athenians and Tissaphernes miscarry by reason of
+the magnitude of his demands.  In my opinion Tissaphernes desired
+this result, fear being his motive; while Alcibiades, who now saw that
+Tissaphernes was determined not to treat on any terms, wished the
+Athenians to think, not that he was unable to persuade Tissaphernes,
+but that after the latter had been persuaded and was willing to join
+them, they had not conceded enough to him.  For the demands of
+Alcibiades, speaking for Tissaphernes, who was present, were so
+extravagant that the Athenians, although for a long while they
+agreed to whatever he asked, yet had to bear the blame of failure:
+he required the cession of the whole of Ionia, next of the islands
+adjacent, besides other concessions, and these passed without
+opposition; at last, in the third interview, Alcibiades, who now
+feared a complete discovery of his inability, required them to allow
+the King to build ships and sail along his own coast wherever and with
+as many as he pleased.  Upon this the Athenians would yield no further,
+and concluding that there was nothing to be done, but that they had
+been deceived by Alcibiades, went away in a passion and proceeded to
+Samos.
+
+Tissaphernes immediately after this, in the same winter, proceeded
+along shore to Caunus, desiring to bring the Peloponnesian fleet
+back to Miletus, and to supply them with pay, making a fresh
+convention upon such terms as he could get, in order not to bring
+matters to an absolute breach between them.  He was afraid that if many
+of their ships were left without pay they would be compelled to engage
+and be defeated, or that their vessels being left without hands the
+Athenians would attain their objects without his assistance.  Still
+more he feared that the Peloponnesians might ravage the continent in
+search of supplies.  Having calculated and considered all this,
+agreeably to his plan of keeping the two sides equal, he now sent
+for the Peloponnesians and gave them pay, and concluded with them a
+third treaty in words following:
+
+In the thirteenth year of the reign of Darius, while Alexippidas
+was ephor at Lacedaemon, a convention was concluded in the plain of
+the Maeander by the Lacedaemonians and their allies with Tissaphernes,
+Hieramenes, and the sons of Pharnaces, concerning the affairs of the
+King and of the Lacedaemonians and their allies.
+
+1.  The country of the King in Asia shall be the King's, and the
+King shall treat his own country as he pleases.
+
+2.  The Lacedaemonians and their allies shall not invade or
+injure the King's country: neither shall the King invade or injure
+that of the Lacedaemonians or of their allies.  If any of the
+Lacedaemonians or of their allies invade or injure the King's country,
+the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall prevent it: and if any
+from the King's country invade or injure the country of the
+Lacedaemonians or of their allies, the King shall prevent it.
+
+3.  Tissaphernes shall provide pay for the ships now present,
+according to the agreement, until the arrival of the King's vessels:
+but after the arrival of the King's vessels the Lacedaemonians and
+their allies may pay their own ships if they wish it.  If, however,
+they choose to receive the pay from Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes shall
+furnish it: and the Lacedaemonians and their allies shall repay him at
+the end of the war such moneys as they shall have received.
+
+4.  After the vessels have arrived, the ships of the Lacedaemonians
+and of their allies and those of the King shall carry on the war
+jointly, according as Tissaphernes and the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies shall think best.  If they wish to make peace with the
+Athenians, they shall make peace also jointly.
+
+This was the treaty.  After this Tissaphernes prepared to bring up
+the Phoenician fleet according to agreement, and to make good his
+other promises, or at all events wished to make it appear that he
+was so preparing.
+
+Winter was now drawing towards its close, when the Boeotians took
+Oropus by treachery, though held by an Athenian garrison.  Their
+accomplices in this were some of the Eretrians and of the Oropians
+themselves, who were plotting the revolt of Euboea, as the place was
+exactly opposite Eretria, and while in Athenian hands was
+necessarily a source of great annoyance to Eretria and the rest of
+Euboea.  Oropus being in their hands, the Eretrians now came to
+Rhodes to invite the Peloponnesians into Euboea.  The latter,
+however, were rather bent on the relief of the distressed Chians,
+and accordingly put out to sea and sailed with all their ships from
+Rhodes.  Off Triopium they sighted the Athenian fleet out at sea
+sailing from Chalce, and, neither attacking the other, arrived, the
+latter at Samos, the Peloponnesians at Miletus, seeing that it was
+no longer possible to relieve Chios without a battle.  And this
+winter ended, and with it ended the twentieth year of this war of
+which Thucydides is the historian.
+
+Early in the spring of the summer following, Dercyllidas, a Spartan,
+was sent with a small force by land to the Hellespont to effect the
+revolt of Abydos, which is a Milesian colony; and the Chians, while
+Astyochus was at a loss how to help them, were compelled to fight at
+sea by the pressure of the siege.  While Astyochus was still at
+Rhodes they had received from Miletus, as their commander after the
+death of Pedaritus, a Spartan named Leon, who had come out with
+Antisthenes, and twelve vessels which had been on guard at Miletus,
+five of which were Thurian, four Syracusans, one from Anaia, one
+Milesian, and one Leon's own.  Accordingly the Chians marched out in
+mass and took up a strong position, while thirty-six of their ships
+put out and engaged thirty-two of the Athenians; and after a tough
+fight, in which the Chians and their allies had rather the best of it,
+as it was now late, retired to their city.
+
+Immediately after this Dercyllidas arrived by land from Miletus; and
+Abydos in the Hellespont revolted to him and Pharnabazus, and
+Lampsacus two days later.  Upon receipt of this news Strombichides
+hastily sailed from Chios with twenty-four Athenian ships, some
+transports carrying heavy infantry being of the number, and
+defeating the Lampsacenes who came out against him, took Lampsacus,
+which was unfortified, at the first assault, and making prize of the
+slaves and goods restored the freemen to their homes, and went on to
+Abydos.  The inhabitants, however, refusing to capitulate, and his
+assaults failing to take the place, he sailed over to the coast
+opposite, and appointed Sestos, the town in the Chersonese held by the
+Medes at a former period in this history, as the centre for the
+defence of the whole Hellespont.
+
+In the meantime the Chians commanded the sea more than before; and
+the Peloponnesians at Miletus and Astyochus, hearing of the
+sea-fight and of the departure of the squadron with Strombichides,
+took fresh courage.  Coasting along with two vessels to Chios,
+Astyochus took the ships from that place, and now moved with the whole
+fleet upon Samos, from whence, however, he sailed back to Miletus,
+as the Athenians did not put out against him, owing to their
+suspicions of one another.  For it was about this time, or even before,
+that the democracy was put down at Athens.  When Pisander and the
+envoys returned from Tissaphernes to Samos they at once strengthened
+still further their interest in the army itself, and instigated the
+upper class in Samos to join them in establishing an oligarchy, the
+very form of government which a party of them had lately risen to
+avoid.  At the same time the Athenians at Samos, after a consultation
+among themselves, determined to let Alcibiades alone, since he refused
+to join them, and besides was not the man for an oligarchy; and now
+that they were once embarked, to see for themselves how they could
+best prevent the ruin of their cause, and meanwhile to sustain the
+war, and to contribute without stint money and all else that might
+be required from their own private estates, as they would henceforth
+labour for themselves alone.
+
+After encouraging each other in these resolutions, they now at
+once sent off half the envoys and Pisander to do what was necessary at
+Athens (with instructions to establish oligarchies on their way in all
+the subject cities which they might touch at), and dispatched the
+other half in different directions to the other dependencies.
+Diitrephes also, who was in the neighbourhood of Chios, and had been
+elected to the command of the Thracian towns, was sent off to his
+government, and arriving at Thasos abolished the democracy there.
+Two months, however, had not elapsed after his departure before the
+Thasians began to fortify their town, being already tired of an
+aristocracy with Athens, and in daily expectation of freedom from
+Lacedaemon.  Indeed there was a party of them (whom the Athenians had
+banished), with the Peloponnesians, who with their friends in the town
+were already making every exertion to bring a squadron, and to
+effect the revolt of Thasos; and this party thus saw exactly what they
+most wanted done, that is to say, the reformation of the government
+without risk, and the abolition of the democracy which would have
+opposed them.  Things at Thasos thus turned out just the contrary to
+what the oligarchical conspirators at Athens expected; and the same in
+my opinion was the case in many of the other dependencies; as the
+cities no sooner got a moderate government and liberty of action, than
+they went on to absolute freedom without being at all seduced by the
+show of reform offered by the Athenians.
+
+Pisander and his colleagues on their voyage alongshore abolished, as
+had been determined, the democracies in the cities, and also took some
+heavy infantry from certain places as their allies, and so came to
+Athens.  Here they found most of the work already done by their
+associates.  Some of the younger men had banded together, and
+secretly assassinated one Androcles, the chief leader of the
+commons, and mainly responsible for the banishment of Alcibiades;
+Androcles being singled out both because he was a popular leader and
+because they sought by his death to recommend themselves to
+Alcibiades, who was, as they supposed, to be recalled, and to make
+Tissaphernes their friend.  There were also some other obnoxious
+persons whom they secretly did away with in the same manner.  Meanwhile
+their cry in public was that no pay should be given except to
+persons serving in the war, and that not more than five thousand
+should share in the government, and those such as were most able to
+serve the state in person and in purse.
+
+But this was a mere catchword for the multitude, as the authors of
+the revolution were really to govern.  However, the Assembly and the
+Council of the Bean still met notwithstanding, although they discussed
+nothing that was not approved of by the conspirators, who both
+supplied the speakers and reviewed in advance what they were to say.
+Fear, and the sight of the numbers of the conspirators, closed the
+mouths of the rest; or if any ventured to rise in opposition, he was
+presently put to death in some convenient way, and there was neither
+search for the murderers nor justice to be had against them if
+suspected; but the people remained motionless, being so thoroughly
+cowed that men thought themselves lucky to escape violence, even
+when they held their tongues.  An exaggerated belief in the numbers
+of the conspirators also demoralized the people, rendered helpless
+by the magnitude of the city, and by their want of intelligence with
+each other, and being without means of finding out what those
+numbers really were.  For the same reason it was impossible for any one
+to open his grief to a neighbour and to concert measures to defend
+himself, as he would have had to speak either to one whom he did not
+know, or whom he knew but did not trust.  Indeed all the popular
+party approached each other with suspicion, each thinking his
+neighbour concerned in what was going on, the conspirators having in
+their ranks persons whom no one could ever have believed capable of
+joining an oligarchy; and these it was who made the many so
+suspicious, and so helped to procure impunity for the few, by
+confirming the commons in their mistrust of one another.
+
+At this juncture arrived Pisander and his colleagues, who lost no
+time in doing the rest.  First they assembled the people, and moved
+to elect ten commissioners with full powers to frame a constitution,
+and that when this was done they should on an appointed day lay before
+the people their opinion as to the best mode of governing the city.
+Afterwards, when the day arrived, the conspirators enclosed the
+assembly in Colonus, a temple of Poseidon, a little more than a mile
+outside the city; when the commissioners simply brought forward this
+single motion, that any Athenian might propose with impunity
+whatever measure he pleased, heavy penalties being imposed upon any
+who should indict for illegality, or otherwise molest him for so
+doing.  The way thus cleared, it was now plainly declared that all
+tenure of office and receipt of pay under the existing institutions
+were at an end, and that five men must be elected as presidents, who
+should in their turn elect one hundred, and each of the hundred
+three apiece; and that this body thus made up to four hundred should
+enter the council chamber with full powers and govern as they judged
+best, and should convene the five thousand whenever they pleased.
+
+The man who moved this resolution was Pisander, who was throughout
+the chief ostensible agent in putting down the democracy.  But he who
+concerted the whole affair, and prepared the way for the
+catastrophe, and who had given the greatest thought to the matter, was
+Antiphon, one of the best men of his day in Athens; who, with a head
+to contrive measures and a tongue to recommend them, did not willingly
+come forward in the assembly or upon any public scene, being ill
+looked upon by the multitude owing to his reputation for talent; and
+who yet was the one man best able to aid in the courts, or before
+the assembly, the suitors who required his opinion.  Indeed, when he
+was afterwards himself tried for his life on the charge of having been
+concerned in setting up this very government, when the Four Hundred
+were overthrown and hardly dealt with by the commons, he made what
+would seem to be the best defence of any known up to my time.
+Phrynichus also went beyond all others in his zeal for the
+oligarchy.  Afraid of Alcibiades, and assured that he was no stranger
+to his intrigues with Astyochus at Samos, he held that no oligarchy
+was ever likely to restore him, and once embarked in the enterprise,
+proved, where danger was to be faced, by far the staunchest of them
+all.  Theramenes, son of Hagnon, was also one of the foremost of the
+subverters of the democracy--a man as able in council as in debate.
+Conducted by so many and by such sagacious heads, the enterprise,
+great as it was, not unnaturally went forward; although it was no
+light matter to deprive the Athenian people of its freedom, almost a
+hundred years after the deposition of the tyrants, when it had been
+not only not subject to any during the whole of that period, but
+accustomed during more than half of it to rule over subjects of its
+own.
+
+The assembly ratified the proposed constitution, without a single
+opposing voice, and was then dissolved; after which the Four Hundred
+were brought into the council chamber in the following way.  On account
+of the enemy at Decelea, all the Athenians were constantly on the wall
+or in the ranks at the various military posts.  On that day the persons
+not in the secret were allowed to go home as usual, while orders
+were given to the accomplices of the conspirators to hang about,
+without making any demonstration, at some little distance from the
+posts, and in case of any opposition to what was being done, to
+seize the arms and put it down.  There were also some Andrians and
+Tenians, three hundred Carystians, and some of the settlers in
+Aegina come with their own arms for this very purpose, who had
+received similar instructions.  These dispositions completed, the
+Four Hundred went, each with a dagger concealed about his person,
+accompanied by one hundred and twenty Hellenic youths, whom they
+employed wherever violence was needed, and appeared before the
+Councillors of the Bean in the council chamber, and told them to
+take their pay and be gone; themselves bringing it for the whole of
+the residue of their term of office, and giving it to them as they
+went out.
+
+Upon the Council withdrawing in this way without venturing any
+objection, and the rest of the citizens making no movement, the Four
+Hundred entered the council chamber, and for the present contented
+themselves with drawing lots for their Prytanes, and making their
+prayers and sacrifices to the gods upon entering office, but
+afterwards departed widely from the democratic system of government,
+and except that on account of Alcibiades they did not recall the
+exiles, ruled the city by force; putting to death some men, though not
+many, whom they thought it convenient to remove, and imprisoning and
+banishing others.  They also sent to Agis, the Lacedaemonian king, at
+Decelea, to say that they desired to make peace, and that he might
+reasonably be more disposed to treat now that he had them to deal with
+instead of the inconstant commons.
+
+Agis, however, did not believe in the tranquillity of the city, or
+that the commons would thus in a moment give up their ancient liberty,
+but thought that the sight of a large Lacedaemonian force would be
+sufficient to excite them if they were not already in commotion, of
+which he was by no means certain.  He accordingly gave to the envoys of
+the Four Hundred an answer which held out no hopes of an
+accommodation, and sending for large reinforcements from
+Peloponnese, not long afterwards, with these and his garrison from
+Decelea, descended to the very walls of Athens; hoping either that
+civil disturbances might help to subdue them to his terms, or that, in
+the confusion to be expected within and without the city, they might
+even surrender without a blow being struck; at all events he thought
+he would succeed in seizing the Long Walls, bared of their
+defenders.  However, the Athenians saw him come close up, without
+making the least disturbance within the city; and sending out their
+cavalry, and a number of their heavy infantry, light troops, and
+archers, shot down some of his soldiers who approached too near, and
+got possession of some arms and dead.  Upon this Agis, at last
+convinced, led his army back again and, remaining with his own
+troops in the old position at Decelea, sent the reinforcement back
+home, after a few days' stay in Attica.  After this the Four Hundred
+persevering sent another embassy to Agis, and now meeting with a
+better reception, at his suggestion dispatched envoys to Lacedaemon to
+negotiate a treaty, being desirous of making peace.
+
+They also sent ten men to Samos to reassure the army, and to explain
+that the oligarchy was not established for the hurt of the city or the
+citizens, but for the salvation of the country at large; and that
+there were five thousand, not four hundred only, concerned;
+although, what with their expeditions and employments abroad, the
+Athenians had never yet assembled to discuss a question important
+enough to bring five thousand of them together.  The emissaries were
+also told what to say upon all other points, and were so sent off
+immediately after the establishment of the new government, which
+feared, as it turned out justly, that the mass of seamen would not
+be willing to remain under the oligarchical constitution, and, the
+evil beginning there, might be the means of their overthrow.
+
+Indeed at Samos the question of the oligarchy had already entered
+upon a new phase, the following events having taken place just at
+the time that the Four Hundred were conspiring.  That part of the
+Samian population which has been mentioned as rising against the upper
+class, and as being the democratic party, had now turned round, and
+yielding to the solicitations of Pisander during his visit, and of the
+Athenians in the conspiracy at Samos, had bound themselves by oaths to
+the number of three hundred, and were about to fall upon the rest of
+their fellow citizens, whom they now in their turn regarded as the
+democratic party.  Meanwhile they put to death one Hyperbolus, an
+Athenian, a pestilent fellow that had been ostracized, not from fear
+of his influence or position, but because he was a rascal and a
+disgrace to the city; being aided in this by Charminus, one of the
+generals, and by some of the Athenians with them, to whom they had
+sworn friendship, and with whom they perpetrated other acts of the
+kind, and now determined to attack the people.  The latter got wind
+of what was coming, and told two of the generals, Leon and Diomedon,
+who, on account of the credit which they enjoyed with the commons,
+were unwilling supporters of the oligarchy; and also Thrasybulus and
+Thrasyllus, the former a captain of a galley, the latter serving
+with the heavy infantry, besides certain others who had ever been
+thought most opposed to the conspirators, entreating them not to
+look on and see them destroyed, and Samos, the sole remaining stay
+of their empire, lost to the Athenians.  Upon hearing this, the persons
+whom they addressed now went round the soldiers one by one, and
+urged them to resist, especially the crew of the Paralus, which was
+made up entirely of Athenians and freemen, and had from time out of
+mind been enemies of oligarchy, even when there was no such thing
+existing; and Leon and Diomedon left behind some ships for their
+protection in case of their sailing away anywhere themselves.
+Accordingly, when the Three Hundred attacked the people, all these
+came to the rescue, and foremost of all the crew of the Paralus; and
+the Samian commons gained the victory, and putting to death some
+thirty of the Three Hundred, and banishing three others of the
+ringleaders, accorded an amnesty to the rest, and lived together under
+a democratic government for the future.
+
+The ship Paralus, with Chaereas, son of Archestratus, on board, an
+Athenian who had taken an active part in the revolution, was now
+without loss of time sent off by the Samians and the army to Athens to
+report what had occurred; the fact that the Four Hundred were in power
+not being yet known.  When they sailed into harbour the Four Hundred
+immediately arrested two or three of the Parali and, taking the vessel
+from the rest, shifted them into a troopship and set them to keep
+guard round Euboea.  Chaereas, however, managed to secrete himself as
+soon as he saw how things stood, and returning to Samos, drew a
+picture to the soldiers of the horrors enacting at Athens, in which
+everything was exaggerated; saying that all were punished with
+stripes, that no one could say a word against the holders of power,
+that the soldiers' wives and children were outraged, and that it was
+intended to seize and shut up the relatives of all in the army at
+Samos who were not of the government's way of thinking, to be put to
+death in case of their disobedience; besides a host of other injurious
+inventions.
+
+On hearing this the first thought of the army was to fall upon the
+chief authors of the oligarchy and upon all the rest concerned.
+Eventually, however, they desisted from this idea upon the men of
+moderate views opposing it and warning them against ruining their
+cause, with the enemy close at hand and ready for battle.  After
+this, Thrasybulus, son of Lycus, and Thrasyllus, the chief leaders
+in the revolution, now wishing in the most public manner to change the
+government at Samos to a democracy, bound all the soldiers by the most
+tremendous oaths, and those of the oligarchical party more than any,
+to accept a democratic government, to be united, to prosecute actively
+the war with the Peloponnesians, and to be enemies of the Four
+Hundred, and to hold no communication with them.  The same oath was
+also taken by all the Samians of full age; and the soldiers associated
+the Samians in all their affairs and in the fruits of their dangers,
+having the conviction that there was no way of escape for themselves
+or for them, but that the success of the Four Hundred or of the
+enemy at Miletus must be their ruin.
+
+The struggle now was between the army trying to force a democracy
+upon the city, and the Four Hundred an oligarchy upon the camp.
+Meanwhile the soldiers forthwith held an assembly, in which they
+deposed the former generals and any of the captains whom they
+suspected, and chose new captains and generals to replace them,
+besides Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, whom they had already.  They also
+stood up and encouraged one another, and among other things urged that
+they ought not to lose heart because the city had revolted from
+them, as the party seceding was smaller and in every way poorer in
+resources than themselves.  They had the whole fleet with which to
+compel the other cities in their empire to give them money just as
+if they had their base in the capital, having a city in Samos which,
+so far from wanting strength, had when at war been within an ace of
+depriving the Athenians of the command of the sea, while as far as the
+enemy was concerned they had the same base of operations as before.
+Indeed, with the fleet in their hands, they were better able to
+provide themselves with supplies than the government at home.  It was
+their advanced position at Samos which had throughout enabled the home
+authorities to command the entrance into Piraeus; and if they
+refused to give them back the constitution, they would now find that
+the army was more in a position to exclude them from the sea than they
+were to exclude the army.  Besides, the city was of little or no use
+towards enabling them to overcome the enemy; and they had lost nothing
+in losing those who had no longer either money to send them (the
+soldiers having to find this for themselves), or good counsel, which
+entitles cities to direct armies.  On the contrary, even in this the
+home government had done wrong in abolishing the institutions of their
+ancestors, while the army maintained the said institutions, and
+would try to force the home government to do so likewise.  So that even
+in point of good counsel the camp had as good counsellors as the city.
+Moreover, they had but to grant him security for his person and his
+recall, and Alcibiades would be only too glad to procure them the
+alliance of the King.  And above all if they failed altogether, with
+the navy which they possessed, they had numbers of places to retire to
+in which they would find cities and lands.
+
+Debating together and comforting themselves after this manner,
+they pushed on their war measures as actively as ever; and the ten
+envoys sent to Samos by the Four Hundred, learning how matters stood
+while they were still at Delos, stayed quiet there.
+  About this time a cry arose among the soldiers in the
+Peloponnesian fleet at Miletus that Astyochus and Tissaphernes were
+ruining their cause.  Astyochus had not been willing to fight at
+sea--either before, while they were still in full vigour and the
+fleet of the Athenians small, or now, when the enemy was, as they were
+informed, in a state of sedition and his ships not yet united--but
+kept them waiting for the Phoenician fleet from Tissaphernes, which
+had only a nominal existence, at the risk of wasting away in
+inactivity.  While Tissaphernes not only did not bring up the fleet in
+question, but was ruining their navy by payments made irregularly, and
+even then not made in full.  They must therefore, they insisted, delay
+no longer, but fight a decisive naval engagement.  The Syracusans were
+the most urgent of any.
+
+The confederates and Astyochus, aware of these murmurs, had
+already decided in council to fight a decisive battle; and when the
+news reached them of the disturbance at Samos, they put to sea with
+all their ships, one hundred and ten in number, and, ordering the
+Milesians to move by land upon Mycale, set sail thither.  The Athenians
+with the eighty-two ships from Samos were at the moment lying at
+Glauce in Mycale, a point where Samos approaches near to the
+continent; and, seeing the Peloponnesian fleet sailing against them,
+retired into Samos, not thinking themselves numerically strong
+enough to stake their all upon a battle.  Besides, they had notice from
+Miletus of the wish of the enemy to engage, and were expecting to be
+joined from the Hellespont by Strombichides, to whom a messenger had
+been already dispatched, with the ships that had gone from Chios to
+Abydos.  The Athenians accordingly withdrew to Samos, and the
+Peloponnesians put in at Mycale, and encamped with the land forces
+of the Milesians and the people of the neighbourhood.  The next day
+they were about to sail against Samos, when tidings reached them of
+the arrival of Strombichides with the squadron from the Hellespont,
+upon which they immediately sailed back to Miletus.  The Athenians,
+thus reinforced, now in their turn sailed against Miletus with a
+hundred and eight ships, wishing to fight a decisive battle, but, as
+no one put out to meet them, sailed back to Samos.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+_Twenty-first Year of the War - Recall of Alcibiades to Samos -
+Revolt of Euboea and Downfall of the Four Hundred -
+Battle of Cynossema_
+
+In the same summer, immediately after this, the Peloponnesians
+having refused to fight with their fleet united, through not
+thinking themselves a match for the enemy, and being at a loss where
+to look for money for such a number of ships, especially as
+Tissaphernes proved so bad a paymaster, sent off Clearchus, son of
+Ramphias, with forty ships to Pharnabazus, agreeably to the original
+instructions from Peloponnese; Pharnabazus inviting them and being
+prepared to furnish pay, and Byzantium besides sending offers to
+revolt to them.  These Peloponnesian ships accordingly put out into the
+open sea, in order to escape the observation of the Athenians, and
+being overtaken by a storm, the majority with Clearchus got into
+Delos, and afterwards returned to Miletus, whence Clearchus
+proceeded by land to the Hellespont to take the command: ten, however,
+of their number, under the Megarian Helixus, made good their passage
+to the Hellespont, and effected the revolt of Byzantium.  After this,
+the commanders at Samos were informed of it, and sent a squadron
+against them to guard the Hellespont; and an encounter took place
+before Byzantium between eight vessels on either side.
+
+Meanwhile the chiefs at Samos, and especially Thrasybulus, who
+from the moment that he had changed the government had remained firmly
+resolved to recall Alcibiades, at last in an assembly brought over the
+mass of the soldiery, and upon their voting for his recall and
+amnesty, sailed over to Tissaphernes and brought Alcibiades to
+Samos, being convinced that their only chance of salvation lay in
+his bringing over Tissaphernes from the Peloponnesians to
+themselves.  An assembly was then held in which Alcibiades complained
+of and deplored his private misfortune in having been banished, and
+speaking at great length upon public affairs, highly incited their
+hopes for the future, and extravagantly magnified his own influence
+with Tissaphernes.  His object in this was to make the oligarchical
+government at Athens afraid of him, to hasten the dissolution of the
+clubs, to increase his credit with the army at Samos and heighten
+their own confidence, and lastly to prejudice the enemy as strongly as
+possible against Tissaphernes, and blast the hopes which they
+entertained.  Alcibiades accordingly held out to the army such
+extravagant promises as the following: that Tissaphernes had
+solemnly assured him that if he could only trust the Athenians they
+should never want for supplies while he had anything left, no, not
+even if he should have to coin his own silver couch, and that he would
+bring the Phoenician fleet now at Aspendus to the Athenians instead of
+to the Peloponnesians; but that he could only trust the Athenians if
+Alcibiades were recalled to be his security for them.
+
+Upon hearing this and much more besides, the Athenians at once
+elected him general together with the former ones, and put all their
+affairs into his hands.  There was now not a man in the army who
+would have exchanged his present hopes of safety and vengeance upon
+the Four Hundred for any consideration whatever; and after what they
+had been told they were now inclined to disdain the enemy before them,
+and to sail at once for Piraeus.  To the plan of sailing for Piraeus,
+leaving their more immediate enemies behind them, Alcibiades opposed
+the most positive refusal, in spite of the numbers that insisted
+upon it, saying that now that he had been elected general he would
+first sail to Tissaphernes and concert with him measures for
+carrying on the war.  Accordingly, upon leaving this assembly, he
+immediately took his departure in order to have it thought that
+there was an entire confidence between them, and also wishing to
+increase his consideration with Tissaphernes, and to show that he
+had now been elected general and was in a position to do him good or
+evil as he chose; thus managing to frighten the Athenians with
+Tissaphernes and Tissaphernes with the Athenians.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesians at Miletus heard of the recall of
+Alcibiades and, already distrustful of Tissaphernes, now became far
+more disgusted with him than ever.  Indeed after their refusal to go
+out and give battle to the Athenians when they appeared before
+Miletus, Tissaphernes had grown slacker than ever in his payments; and
+even before this, on account of Alcibiades, his unpopularity had
+been on the increase.  Gathering together, just as before, the soldiers
+and some persons of consideration besides the soldiery began to reckon
+up how they had never yet received their pay in full; that what they
+did receive was small in quantity, and even that paid irregularly, and
+that unless they fought a decisive battle or removed to some station
+where they could get supplies, the ships' crews would desert; and that
+it was all the fault of Astyochus, who humoured Tissaphernes for his
+own private advantage.
+
+The army was engaged in these reflections, when the following
+disturbance took place about the person of Astyochus.  Most of the
+Syracusan and Thurian sailors were freemen, and these the freest crews
+in the armament were likewise the boldest in setting upon Astyochus
+and demanding their pay.  The latter answered somewhat stiffly and
+threatened them, and when Dorieus spoke up for his own sailors even
+went so far as to lift his baton against him; upon seeing which the
+mass of men, in sailor fashion, rushed in a fury to strike
+Astyochus.  He, however, saw them in time and fled for refuge to an
+altar; and they were thus parted without his being struck.  Meanwhile
+the fort built by Tissaphernes in Miletus was surprised and taken by
+the Milesians, and the garrison in it turned out--an act which met
+with the approval of the rest of the allies, and in particular of the
+Syracusans, but which found no favour with Lichas, who said moreover
+that the Milesians and the rest in the King's country ought to show
+a reasonable submission to Tissaphernes and to pay him court, until
+the war should be happily settled.  The Milesians were angry with him
+for this and for other things of the kind, and upon his afterwards
+dying of sickness, would not allow him to be buried where the
+Lacedaemonians with the army desired.
+
+The discontent of the army with Astyochus and Tissaphernes had
+reached this pitch, when Mindarus arrived from Lacedaemon to succeed
+Astyochus as admiral, and assumed the command.  Astyochus now set
+sail for home; and Tissaphernes sent with him one of his confidants,
+Gaulites, a Carian, who spoke the two languages, to complain of the
+Milesians for the affair of the fort, and at the same time to defend
+himself against the Milesians, who were, as he was aware, on their way
+to Sparta chiefly to denounce his conduct, and had with them
+Hermocrates, who was to accuse Tissaphernes of joining with Alcibiades
+to ruin the Peloponnesian cause and of playing a double game.  Indeed
+Hermocrates had always been at enmity with him about the pay not being
+restored in full; and eventually when he was banished from Syracuse,
+and new commanders--Potamis, Myscon, and Demarchus--had come out to
+Miletus to the ships of the Syracusans, Tissaphernes, pressed harder
+than ever upon him in his exile, and among other charges against him
+accused him of having once asked him for money, and then given himself
+out as his enemy because he failed to obtain it.
+
+While Astyochus and the Milesians and Hermocrates made sail for
+Lacedaemon, Alcibiades had now crossed back from Tissaphernes to
+Samos.  After his return the envoys of the Four Hundred sent, as has
+been mentioned above, to pacify and explain matters to the forces at
+Samos, arrived from Delos; and an assembly was held in which they
+attempted to speak.  The soldiers at first would not hear them, and
+cried out to put to death the subverters of the democracy, but at
+last, after some difficulty, calmed down and gave them a hearing.  Upon
+this the envoys proceeded to inform them that the recent change had
+been made to save the city, and not to ruin it or to deliver it over
+to the enemy, for they had already had an opportunity of doing this
+when he invaded the country during their government; that all the Five
+Thousand would have their proper share in the government; and that
+their hearers' relatives had neither outrage, as Chaereas had
+slanderously reported, nor other ill treatment to complain of, but
+were all in undisturbed enjoyment of their property just as they had
+left them.  Besides these they made a number of other statements
+which had no better success with their angry auditors; and amid a host
+of different opinions the one which found most favour was that of
+sailing to Piraeus.  Now it was that Alcibiades for the first time
+did the state a service, and one of the most signal kind.  For when the
+Athenians at Samos were bent upon sailing against their countrymen, in
+which case Ionia and the Hellespont would most certainly at once
+have passed into possession of the enemy, Alcibiades it was who
+prevented them.  At that moment, when no other man would have been able
+to hold back the multitude, he put a stop to the intended
+expedition, and rebuked and turned aside the resentment felt, on
+personal grounds, against the envoys; he dismissed them with an answer
+from himself, to the effect that he did not object to the government
+of the Five Thousand, but insisted that the Four Hundred should be
+deposed and the Council of Five Hundred reinstated in power: meanwhile
+any retrenchments for economy, by which pay might be better found
+for the armament, met with his entire approval.  Generally, he bade
+them hold out and show a bold face to the enemy, since if the city
+were saved there was good hope that the two parties might some day
+be reconciled, whereas if either were once destroyed, that at Samos,
+or that at Athens, there would no longer be any one to be reconciled
+to.  Meanwhile arrived envoys from the Argives, with offers of
+support to the Athenian commons at Samos: these were thanked by
+Alcibiades, and dismissed with a request to come when called upon.  The
+Argives were accompanied by the crew of the Paralus, whom we left
+placed in a troopship by the Four Hundred with orders to cruise
+round Euboea, and who being employed to carry to Lacedaemon some
+Athenian envoys sent by the Four Hundred--Laespodias, Aristophon, and
+Melesias--as they sailed by Argos laid hands upon the envoys, and
+delivering them over to the Argives as the chief subverters of the
+democracy, themselves, instead of returning to Athens, took the Argive
+envoys on board, and came to Samos in the galley which had been
+confided to them.
+
+The same summer at the time that the return of Alcibiades coupled
+with the general conduct of Tissaphernes had carried to its height the
+discontent of the Peloponnesians, who no longer entertained any
+doubt of his having joined the Athenians, Tissaphernes wishing, it
+would seem, to clear himself to them of these charges, prepared to
+go after the Phoenician fleet to Aspendus, and invited Lichas to go
+with him; saying that he would appoint Tamos as his lieutenant to
+provide pay for the armament during his own absence.  Accounts
+differ, and it is not easy to ascertain with what intention he went to
+Aspendus, and did not bring the fleet after all.  That one hundred
+and forty-seven Phoenician ships came as far as Aspendus is certain;
+but why they did not come on has been variously accounted for.  Some
+think that he went away in pursuance of his plan of wasting the
+Peloponnesian resources, since at any rate Tamos, his lieutenant,
+far from being any better, proved a worse paymaster than himself:
+others that he brought the Phoenicians to Aspendus to exact money from
+them for their discharge, having never intended to employ them: others
+again that it was in view of the outcry against him at Lacedaemon,
+in order that it might be said that he was not in fault, but that
+the ships were really manned and that he had certainly gone to fetch
+them.  To myself it seems only too evident that he did not bring up the
+fleet because he wished to wear out and paralyse the Hellenic
+forces, that is, to waste their strength by the time lost during his
+journey to Aspendus, and to keep them evenly balanced by not
+throwing his weight into either scale.  Had he wished to finish the
+war, he could have done so, assuming of course that he made his
+appearance in a way which left no room for doubt; as by bringing up
+the fleet he would in all probability have given the victory to the
+Lacedaemonians, whose navy, even as it was, faced the Athenian more as
+an equal than as an inferior.  But what convicts him most clearly, is
+the excuse which he put forward for not bringing the ships.  He said
+that the number assembled was less than the King had ordered; but
+surely it would only have enhanced his credit if he spent little of
+the King's money and effected the same end at less cost.  In any
+case, whatever was his intention, Tissaphernes went to Aspendus and
+saw the Phoenicians; and the Peloponnesians at his desire sent a
+Lacedaemonian called Philip with two galleys to fetch the fleet.
+
+Alcibiades finding that Tissaphernes had gone to Aspendus, himself
+sailed thither with thirteen ships, promising to do a great and
+certain service to the Athenians at Samos, as he would either bring
+the Phoenician fleet to the Athenians, or at all events prevent its
+joining the Peloponnesians.  In all probability he had long known
+that Tissaphernes never meant to bring the fleet at all, and wished to
+compromise him as much as possible in the eyes of the Peloponnesians
+through his apparent friendship for himself and the Athenians, and
+thus in a manner to oblige him to join their side.
+
+While Alcibiades weighed anchor and sailed eastward straight for
+Phaselis and Caunus, the envoys sent by the Four Hundred to Samos
+arrived at Athens.  Upon their delivering the message from
+Alcibiades, telling them to hold out and to show a firm front to the
+enemy, and saying that he had great hopes of reconciling them with the
+army and of overcoming the Peloponnesians, the majority of the members
+of the oligarchy, who were already discontented and only too much
+inclined to be quit of the business in any safe way that they could,
+were at once greatly strengthened in their resolve.  These now banded
+together and strongly criticized the administration, their leaders
+being some of the principal generals and men in office under the
+oligarchy, such as Theramenes, son of Hagnon, Aristocrates, son of
+Scellias, and others; who, although among the most prominent members
+of the government (being afraid, as they said, of the army at Samos,
+and most especially of Alcibiades, and also lest the envoys whom
+they had sent to Lacedaemon might do the state some harm without the
+authority of the people), without insisting on objections to the
+excessive concentration of power in a few hands, yet urged that the
+Five Thousand must be shown to exist not merely in name but in
+reality, and the constitution placed upon a fairer basis.  But this was
+merely their political cry; most of them being driven by private
+ambition into the line of conduct so surely fatal to oligarchies
+that arise out of democracies.  For all at once pretend to be not
+only equals but each the chief and master of his fellows; while
+under a democracy a disappointed candidate accepts his defeat more
+easily, because he has not the humiliation of being beaten by his
+equals.  But what most clearly encouraged the malcontents was the power
+of Alcibiades at Samos, and their own disbelief in the stability of
+the oligarchy; and it was now a race between them as to which should
+first become the leader of the commons.
+
+Meanwhile the leaders and members of the Four Hundred most opposed
+to a democratic form of government--Phrynichus who had had the
+quarrel with Alcibiades during his command at Samos, Aristarchus the
+bitter and inveterate enemy of the commons, and Pisander and
+Antiphon and others of the chiefs who already as soon as they
+entered upon power, and again when the army at Samos seceded from them
+and declared for a democracy, had sent envoys from their own body to
+Lacedaemon and made every effort for peace, and had built the wall
+in Eetionia--now redoubled their exertions when their envoys returned
+from Samos, and they saw not only the people but their own most
+trusted associates turning against them.  Alarmed at the state of
+things at Athens as at Samos, they now sent off in haste Antiphon
+and Phrynichus and ten others with injunctions to make peace with
+Lacedaemon upon any terms, no matter what, that should be at all
+tolerable.  Meanwhile they pushed on more actively than ever with the
+wall in Eetionia.  Now the meaning of this wall, according to
+Theramenes and his supporters, was not so much to keep out the army of
+Samos, in case of its trying to force its way into Piraeus, as to be
+able to let in, at pleasure, the fleet and army of the enemy.  For
+Eetionia is a mole of Piraeus, close alongside of the entrance of
+the harbour, and was now fortified in connection with the wall already
+existing on the land side, so that a few men placed in it might be
+able to command the entrance; the old wall on the land side and the
+new one now being built within on the side of the sea, both ending
+in one of the two towers standing at the narrow mouth of the
+harbour.  They also walled off the largest porch in Piraeus which was
+in immediate connection with this wall, and kept it in their own
+hands, compelling all to unload there the corn that came into the
+harbour, and what they had in stock, and to take it out from thence
+when they sold it.
+
+These measures had long provoked the murmurs of Theramenes, and when
+the envoys returned from Lacedaemon without having effected any
+general pacification, he affirmed that this wall was like to prove the
+ruin of the state.  At this moment forty-two ships from Peloponnese,
+including some Siceliot and Italiot vessels from Locri and Tarentum,
+had been invited over by the Euboeans and were already riding off
+Las in Laconia preparing for the voyage to Euboea, under the command
+of Agesandridas, son of Agesander, a Spartan.  Theramenes now
+affirmed that this squadron was destined not so much to aid Euboea
+as the party fortifying Eetionia, and that unless precautions were
+speedily taken the city would be surprised and lost.  This was no
+mere calumny, there being really some such plan entertained by the
+accused.  Their first wish was to have the oligarchy without giving
+up the empire; failing this to keep their ships and walls and be
+independent; while, if this also were denied them, sooner than be
+the first victims of the restored democracy, they were resolved to
+call in the enemy and make peace, give up their walls and ships, and
+at all costs retain possession of the government, if their lives
+were only assured to them.
+
+For this reason they pushed forward the construction of their work
+with posterns and entrances and means of introducing the enemy,
+being eager to have it finished in time.  Meanwhile the murmurs against
+them were at first confined to a few persons and went on in secret,
+until Phrynichus, after his return from the embassy to Lacedaemon, was
+laid wait for and stabbed in full market by one of the Peripoli,
+falling down dead before he had gone far from the council chamber.  The
+assassin escaped; but his accomplice, an Argive, was taken and put
+to the torture by the Four Hundred, without their being able to
+extract from him the name of his employer, or anything further than
+that he knew of many men who used to assemble at the house of the
+commander of the Peripoli and at other houses.  Here the matter was
+allowed to drop.  This so emboldened Theramenes and Aristocrates and
+the rest of their partisans in the Four Hundred and out of doors, that
+they now resolved to act.  For by this time the ships had sailed
+round from Las, and anchoring at Epidaurus had overrun Aegina; and
+Theramenes asserted that, being bound for Euboea, they would never
+have sailed in to Aegina and come back to anchor at Epidaurus,
+unless they had been invited to come to aid in the designs of which he
+had always accused the government.  Further inaction had therefore
+now become impossible.  In the end, after a great many seditious
+harangues and suspicions, they set to work in real earnest.  The
+heavy infantry in Piraeus building the wall in Eetionia, among whom
+was Aristocrates, a colonel, with his own tribe, laid hands upon
+Alexicles, a general under the oligarchy and the devoted adherent of
+the cabal, and took him into a house and confined him there.  In this
+they were assisted by one Hermon, commander of the Peripoli in
+Munychia, and others, and above all had with them the great bulk of
+the heavy infantry.  As soon as the news reached the Four Hundred,
+who happened to be sitting in the council chamber, all except the
+disaffected wished at once to go to the posts where the arms were, and
+menaced Theramenes and his party.  Theramenes defended himself, and
+said that he was ready immediately to go and help to rescue Alexicles;
+and taking with him one of the generals belonging to his party, went
+down to Piraeus, followed by Aristarchus and some young men of the
+cavalry.  All was now panic and confusion.  Those in the city imagined
+that Piraeus was already taken and the prisoner put to death, while
+those in Piraeus expected every moment to be attacked by the party
+in the city.  The older men, however, stopped the persons running up
+and down the town and making for the stands of arms; and Thucydides
+the Pharsalian, proxenus of the city, came forward and threw himself
+in the way of the rival factions, and appealed to them not to ruin the
+state, while the enemy was still at hand waiting for his
+opportunity, and so at length succeeded in quieting them and in
+keeping their hands off each other.  Meanwhile Theramenes came down
+to Piraeus, being himself one of the generals, and raged and stormed
+against the heavy infantry, while Aristarchus and the adversaries of
+the people were angry in right earnest.  Most of the heavy infantry,
+however, went on with the business without faltering, and asked
+Theramenes if he thought the wall had been constructed for any good
+purpose, and whether it would not be better that it should be pulled
+down.  To this he answered that if they thought it best to pull it
+down, he for his part agreed with them.  Upon this the heavy infantry
+and a number of the people in Piraeus immediately got up on the
+fortification and began to demolish it.  Now their cry to the multitude
+was that all should join in the work who wished the Five Thousand to
+govern instead of the Four Hundred.  For instead of saying in so many
+words "all who wished the commons to govern," they still disguised
+themselves under the name of the Five Thousand; being afraid that
+these might really exist, and that they might be speaking to one of
+their number and get into trouble through ignorance.  Indeed this was
+why the Four Hundred neither wished the Five Thousand to exist, nor to
+have it known that they did not exist; being of opinion that to give
+themselves so many partners in empire would be downright democracy,
+while the mystery in question would make the people afraid of one
+another.
+
+The next day the Four Hundred, although alarmed, nevertheless
+assembled in the council chamber, while the heavy infantry in Piraeus,
+after having released their prisoner Alexicles and pulled down the
+fortification, went with their arms to the theatre of Dionysus,
+close to Munychia, and there held an assembly in which they decided to
+march into the city, and setting forth accordingly halted in the
+Anaceum.  Here they were joined by some delegates from the Four
+Hundred, who reasoned with them one by one, and persuaded those whom
+they saw to be the most moderate to remain quiet themselves, and to
+keep in the rest; saying that they would make known the Five Thousand,
+and have the Four Hundred chosen from them in rotation, as should be
+decided by the Five Thousand, and meanwhile entreated them not to ruin
+the state or drive it into the arms of the enemy.  After a great many
+had spoken and had been spoken to, the whole body of heavy infantry
+became calmer than before, absorbed by their fears for the country
+at large, and now agreed to hold upon an appointed day an assembly
+in the theatre of Dionysus for the restoration of concord.
+
+When the day came for the assembly in the theatre, and they were
+upon the point of assembling, news arrived that the forty-two ships
+under Agesandridas were sailing from Megara along the coast of
+Salamis.  The people to a man now thought that it was just what
+Theramenes and his party had so often said, that the ships were
+sailing to the fortification, and concluded that they had done well to
+demolish it.  But though it may possibly have been by appointment
+that Agesandridas hovered about Epidaurus and the neighbourhood, he
+would also naturally be kept there by the hope of an opportunity
+arising out of the troubles in the town.  In any case the Athenians, on
+receipt of the news immediately ran down in mass to Piraeus, seeing
+themselves threatened by the enemy with a worse war than their war
+among themselves, not at a distance, but close to the harbour of
+Athens.  Some went on board the ships already afloat, while others
+launched fresh vessels, or ran to defend the walls and the mouth of
+the harbour.
+
+Meanwhile the Peloponnesian vessels sailed by, and rounding Sunium
+anchored between Thoricus and Prasiae, and afterwards arrived at
+Oropus.  The Athenians, with revolution in the city, and unwilling to
+lose a moment in going to the relief of their most important
+possession (for Euboea was everything to them now that they were
+shut out from Attica), were compelled to put to sea in haste and
+with untrained crews, and sent Thymochares with some vessels to
+Eretria.  These upon their arrival, with the ships already in Euboea,
+made up a total of thirty-six vessels, and were immediately forced
+to engage.  For Agesandridas, after his crews had dined, put out from
+Oropus, which is about seven miles from Eretria by sea; and the
+Athenians, seeing him sailing up, immediately began to man their
+vessels.  The sailors, however, instead of being by their ships, as
+they supposed, were gone away to purchase provisions for their
+dinner in the houses in the outskirts of the town; the Eretrians
+having so arranged that there should be nothing on sale in the
+marketplace, in order that the Athenians might be a long time in
+manning their ships, and, the enemy's attack taking them by
+surprise, might be compelled to put to sea just as they were.  A signal
+also was raised in Eretria to give them notice in Oropus when to put
+to sea.  The Athenians, forced to put out so poorly prepared, engaged
+off the harbour of Eretria, and after holding their own for some
+little while notwithstanding, were at length put to flight and
+chased to the shore.  Such of their number as took refuge in Eretria,
+which they presumed to be friendly to them, found their fate in that
+city, being butchered by the inhabitants; while those who fled to
+the Athenian fort in the Eretrian territory, and the vessels which got
+to Chalcis, were saved.  The Peloponnesians, after taking twenty-two
+Athenian ships, and killing or making prisoners of the crews, set up a
+trophy, and not long afterwards effected the revolt of the whole of
+Euboea (except Oreus, which was held by the Athenians themselves), and
+made a general settlement of the affairs of the island.
+
+When the news of what had happened in Euboea reached Athens, a panic
+ensued such as they had never before known.  Neither the disaster in
+Sicily, great as it seemed at the time, nor any other had ever so much
+alarmed them.  The camp at Samos was in revolt; they had no more
+ships or men to man them; they were at discord among themselves and
+might at any moment come to blows; and a disaster of this magnitude
+coming on the top of all, by which they lost their fleet, and worst of
+all Euboea, which was of more value to them than Attica, could not
+occur without throwing them into the deepest despondency.  Meanwhile
+their greatest and most immediate trouble was the possibility that the
+enemy, emboldened by his victory, might make straight for them and
+sail against Piraeus, which they had no longer ships to defend; and
+every moment they expected him to arrive.  This, with a little more
+courage, he might easily have done, in which case he would either have
+increased the dissensions of the city by his presence, or, if he had
+stayed to besiege it, have compelled the fleet from Ionia, although
+the enemy of the oligarchy, to come to the rescue of their country and
+of their relatives, and in the meantime would have become master of
+the Hellespont, Ionia, the islands, and of everything as far as
+Euboea, or, to speak roundly, of the whole Athenian empire.  But
+here, as on so many other occasions, the Lacedaemonians proved the
+most convenient people in the world for the Athenians to be at war
+with.  The wide difference between the two characters, the slowness and
+want of energy of the Lacedaemonians as contrasted with the dash and
+enterprise of their opponents, proved of the greatest service,
+especially to a maritime empire like Athens.  Indeed this was shown
+by the Syracusans, who were most like the Athenians in character,
+and also most successful in combating them.
+
+Nevertheless, upon receipt of the news, the Athenians manned
+twenty ships and called immediately a first assembly in the Pnyx,
+where they had been used to meet formerly, and deposed the Four
+Hundred and voted to hand over the government to the Five Thousand, of
+which body all who furnished a suit of armour were to be members,
+decreeing also that no one should receive pay for the discharge of any
+office, or if he did should be held accursed.  Many other assemblies
+were held afterwards, in which law-makers were elected and all other
+measures taken to form a constitution.  It was during the first
+period of this constitution that the Athenians appear to have
+enjoyed the best government that they ever did, at least in my time.
+For the fusion of the high and the low was effected with judgment, and
+this was what first enabled the state to raise up her head after her
+manifold disasters.  They also voted for the recall of Alcibiades and
+of other exiles, and sent to him and to the camp at Samos, and urged
+them to devote themselves vigorously to the war.
+
+Upon this revolution taking place, the party of Pisander and
+Alexicles and the chiefs of the oligarchs immediately withdrew to
+Decelea, with the single exception of Aristarchus, one of the
+generals, who hastily took some of the most barbarian of the archers
+and marched to Oenoe.  This was a fort of the Athenians upon the
+Boeotian border, at that moment besieged by the Corinthians, irritated
+by the loss of a party returning from Decelea, who had been cut off by
+the garrison.  The Corinthians had volunteered for this service, and
+had called upon the Boeotians to assist them.  After communicating with
+them, Aristarchus deceived the garrison in Oenoe by telling them
+that their countrymen in the city had compounded with the
+Lacedaemonians, and that one of the terms of the capitulation was that
+they must surrender the place to the Boeotians.  The garrison
+believed him as he was general, and besides knew nothing of what had
+occurred owing to the siege, and so evacuated the fort under truce.  In
+this way the Boeotians gained possession of Oenoe, and the oligarchy
+and the troubles at Athens ended.
+
+To return to the Peloponnesians in Miletus.  No pay was forthcoming
+from any of the agents deputed by Tissaphernes for that purpose upon
+his departure for Aspendus; neither the Phoenician fleet nor
+Tissaphernes showed any signs of appearing, and Philip, who had been
+sent with him, and another Spartan, Hippocrates, who was at
+Phaselis, wrote word to Mindarus, the admiral, that the ships were not
+coming at all, and that they were being grossly abused by
+Tissaphernes.  Meanwhile Pharnabazus was inviting them to come, and
+making every effort to get the fleet and, like Tissaphernes, to
+cause the revolt of the cities in his government still subject to
+Athens, founding great hopes on his success; until at length, at about
+the period of the summer which we have now reached, Mindarus yielded
+to his importunities, and, with great order and at a moment's
+notice, in order to elude the enemy at Samos, weighed anchor with
+seventy-three ships from Miletus and set sail for the Hellespont.
+Thither sixteen vessels had already preceded him in the same summer,
+and had overrun part of the Chersonese.  Being caught in a storm,
+Mindarus was compelled to run in to Icarus and, after being detained
+five or six days there by stress of weather, arrived at Chios.
+
+Meanwhile Thrasyllus had heard of his having put out from Miletus,
+and immediately set sail with fifty-five ships from Samos, in haste to
+arrive before him in the Hellespont.  But learning that he was at
+Chios, and expecting that he would stay there, he posted scouts in
+Lesbos and on the continent opposite to prevent the fleet moving
+without his knowing it, and himself coasted along to Methymna, and
+gave orders to prepare meal and other necessaries, in order to
+attack them from Lesbos in the event of their remaining for any length
+of time at Chios.  Meanwhile he resolved to sail against Eresus, a town
+in Lesbos which had revolted, and, if he could, to take it.  For some
+of the principal Methymnian exiles had carried over about fifty
+heavy infantry, their sworn associates, from Cuma, and hiring others
+from the continent, so as to make up three hundred in all, chose
+Anaxander, a Theban, to command them, on account of the community of
+blood existing between the Thebans and the Lesbians, and first
+attacked Methymna.  Balked in this attempt by the advance of the
+Athenian guards from Mitylene, and repulsed a second time in a
+battle outside the city, they then crossed the mountain and effected
+the revolt of Eresus.  Thrasyllus accordingly determined to go there
+with all his ships and to attack the place.  Meanwhile Thrasybulus
+had preceded him thither with five ships from Samos, as soon as he
+heard that the exiles had crossed over, and coming too late to save
+Eresus, went on and anchored before the town.  Here they were joined
+also by two vessels on their way home from the Hellespont, and by
+the ships of the Methymnians, making a grand total of sixty-seven
+vessels; and the forces on board now made ready with engines and every
+other means available to do their utmost to storm Eresus.
+
+In the meantime Mindarus and the Peloponnesian fleet at Chios, after
+taking provisions for two days and receiving three Chian pieces of
+money for each man from the Chians, on the third day put out in
+haste from the island; in order to avoid falling in with the ships
+at Eresus, they did not make for the open sea, but keeping Lesbos on
+their left, sailed for the continent.  After touching at the port of
+Carteria, in the Phocaeid, and dining, they went on along the
+Cumaean coast and supped at Arginusae, on the continent over against
+Mitylene.  From thence they continued their voyage along the coast,
+although it was late in the night, and arriving at Harmatus on the
+continent opposite Methymna, dined there; and swiftly passing
+Lectum, Larisa, Hamaxitus, and the neighbouring towns, arrived a
+little before midnight at Rhoeteum.  Here they were now in the
+Hellespont.  Some of the ships also put in at Sigeum and at other
+places in the neighbourhood.
+
+Meanwhile the warnings of the fire signals and the sudden increase
+in the number of fires on the enemy's shore informed the eighteen
+Athenian ships at Sestos of the approach of the Peloponnesian fleet.
+That very night they set sail in haste just as they were, and, hugging
+the shore of the Chersonese, coasted along to Elaeus, in order to sail
+out into the open sea away from the fleet of the enemy.
+
+After passing unobserved the sixteen ships at Abydos, which had
+nevertheless been warned by their approaching friends to be on the
+alert to prevent their sailing out, at dawn they sighted the fleet
+of Mindarus, which immediately gave chase.  All had not time to get
+away; the greater number however escaped to Imbros and Lemnos, while
+four of the hindmost were overtaken off Elaeus.  One of these was
+stranded opposite to the temple of Protesilaus and taken with its
+crew, two others without their crews; the fourth was abandoned on
+the shore of Imbros and burned by the enemy.
+
+After this the Peloponnesians were joined by the squadron from
+Abydos, which made up their fleet to a grand total of eighty-six
+vessels; they spent the day in unsuccessfully besieging Elaeus, and
+then sailed back to Abydos.  Meanwhile the Athenians, deceived by their
+scouts, and never dreaming of the enemy's fleet getting by undetected,
+were tranquilly besieging Eresus.  As soon as they heard the news
+they instantly abandoned Eresus, and made with all speed for the
+Hellespont, and after taking two of the Peloponnesian ships which
+had been carried out too far into the open sea in the ardour of the
+pursuit and now fell in their way, the next day dropped anchor at
+Elaeus, and, bringing back the ships that had taken refuge at
+Imbros, during five days prepared for the coming engagement.
+
+After this they engaged in the following way.  The Athenians formed in
+column and sailed close alongshore to Sestos; upon perceiving which
+the Peloponnesians put out from Abydos to meet them.  Realizing that
+a battle was now imminent, both combatants extended their flank; the
+Athenians along the Chersonese from Idacus to Arrhiani with
+seventy-six ships; the Peloponnesians from Abydos to Dardanus with
+eighty-six.  The Peloponnesian right wing was occupied by the
+Syracusans, their left by Mindarus in person with the best sailers
+in the navy; the Athenian left by Thrasyllus, their right by
+Thrasybulus, the other commanders being in different parts of the
+fleet.  The Peloponnesians hastened to engage first, and outflanking
+with their left the Athenian right sought to cut them off, if
+possible, from sailing out of the straits, and to drive their centre
+upon the shore, which was not far off.  The Athenians perceiving
+their intention extended their own wing and outsailed them, while
+their left had by this time passed the point of Cynossema.  This,
+however, obliged them to thin and weaken their centre, especially as
+they had fewer ships than the enemy, and as the coast round Point
+Cynossema formed a sharp angle which prevented their seeing what was
+going on on the other side of it.
+
+The Peloponnesians now attacked their centre and drove ashore the
+ships of the Athenians, and disembarked to follow up their victory.  No
+help could be given to the centre either by the squadron of
+Thrasybulus on the right, on account of the number of ships
+attacking him, or by that of Thrasyllus on the left, from whom the
+point of Cynossema hid what was going on, and who was also hindered by
+his Syracusan and other opponents, whose numbers were fully equal to
+his own.  At length, however, the Peloponnesians in the confidence of
+victory began to scatter in pursuit of the ships of the enemy, and
+allowed a considerable part of their fleet to get into disorder.  On
+seeing this the squadron of Thrasybulus discontinued their lateral
+movement and, facing about, attacked and routed the ships opposed to
+them, and next fell roughly upon the scattered vessels of the
+victorious Peloponnesian division, and put most of them to flight
+without a blow.  The Syracusans also had by this time given way
+before the squadron of Thrasyllus, and now openly took to flight
+upon seeing the flight of their comrades.
+
+The rout was now complete.  Most of the Peloponnesians fled for
+refuge first to the river Midius, and afterwards to Abydos.  Only a few
+ships were taken by the Athenians; as owing to the narrowness of the
+Hellespont the enemy had not far to go to be in safety.  Nevertheless
+nothing could have been more opportune for them than this victory.
+Up to this time they had feared the Peloponnesian fleet, owing to a
+number of petty losses and to the disaster in Sicily; but they now
+ceased to mistrust themselves or any longer to think their enemies
+good for anything at sea.  Meanwhile they took from the enemy eight
+Chian vessels, five Corinthian, two Ambraciot, two Boeotian, one
+Leucadian, Lacedaemonian, Syracusan, and Pellenian, losing fifteen
+of their own.  After setting up a trophy upon Point Cynossema, securing
+the wrecks, and restoring to the enemy his dead under truce, they sent
+off a galley to Athens with the news of their victory.  The arrival
+of this vessel with its unhoped-for good news, after the recent
+disasters of Euboea, and in the revolution at Athens, gave fresh
+courage to the Athenians, and caused them to believe that if they
+put their shoulders to the wheel their cause might yet prevail.
+
+On the fourth day after the sea-fight the Athenians in Sestos having
+hastily refitted their ships sailed against Cyzicus, which had
+revolted.  Off Harpagium and Priapus they sighted at anchor the eight
+vessels from Byzantium, and, sailing up and routing the troops on
+shore, took the ships, and then went on and recovered the town of
+Cyzicus, which was unfortified, and levied money from the citizens.  In
+the meantime the Peloponnesians sailed from Abydos to Elaeus, and
+recovered such of their captured galleys as were still uninjured,
+the rest having been burned by the Elaeusians, and sent Hippocrates
+and Epicles to Euboea to fetch the squadron from that island.
+
+About the same time Alcibiades returned with his thirteen ships from
+Caunus and Phaselis to Samos, bringing word that he had prevented
+the Phoenician fleet from joining the Peloponnesians, and had made
+Tissaphernes more friendly to the Athenians than before.  Alcibiades
+now manned nine more ships, and levied large sums of money from the
+Halicarnassians, and fortified Cos.  After doing this and placing a
+governor in Cos, he sailed back to Samos, autumn being now at hand.
+Meanwhile Tissaphernes, upon hearing that the Peloponnesian fleet
+had sailed from Miletus to the Hellespont, set off again back from
+Aspendus, and made all sail for Ionia.  While the Peloponnesians were
+in the Hellespont, the Antandrians, a people of Aeolic extraction,
+conveyed by land across Mount Ida some heavy infantry from Abydos, and
+introduced them into the town; having been ill-treated by Arsaces, the
+Persian lieutenant of Tissaphernes.  This same Arsaces had, upon
+pretence of a secret quarrel, invited the chief men of the Delians
+to undertake military service (these were Delians who had settled at
+Atramyttium after having been driven from their homes by the Athenians
+for the sake of purifying Delos); and after drawing them out from
+their town as his friends and allies, had laid wait for them at
+dinner, and surrounded them and caused them to be shot down by his
+soldiers.  This deed made the Antandrians fear that he might some day
+do them some mischief; and as he also laid upon them burdens too heavy
+for them to bear, they expelled his garrison from their citadel.
+
+Tissaphernes, upon hearing of this act of the Peloponnesians in
+addition to what had occurred at Miletus and Cnidus, where his
+garrisons had been also expelled, now saw that the breach between them
+was serious; and fearing further injury from them, and being also
+vexed to think that Pharnabazus should receive them, and in less
+time and at less cost perhaps succeed better against Athens than he
+had done, determined to rejoin them in the Hellespont, in order to
+complain of the events at Antandros and excuse himself as best he
+could in the matter of the Phoenician fleet and of the other charges
+against him.  Accordingly he went first to Ephesus and offered
+sacrifice to Artemis. . . .
+
+[When the winter after this summer is over the twenty-first year
+of this war will be completed. ]
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR ***
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