THUCYDIDES
JOWETT
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
THUCYDIDES
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
10 WIIKI1 IS TKLllXtU
AN ESSAY ON INSCRIPTIONS AND A NOTE ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF THUCYDIDES
BENJAMIN JOWETT, M.A.
1 All; MASTER Ot liALLIUL COLLEGE AND HLGtUS) I'KOFESSOR OF CJKLIiK IN THE UNIVERSITY Ol- OXFORD
SECOND EDITION, REVISED
VOL. I ESS A Y ON INSCRIPTIONS A.\D BOOKS I-lII
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1900
[Dedication to First Edition, 1881.]
TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE VISCOUNT SHERBROOKE
ONE OF THE BEST GREEK SCHOLARS IN ENGLAND
WHOSE GENUINE LOVE OF ANCIENT CLASSICAL LITERATURE
(THOUGH SOMETIMES DISSEMBLED) IS AS WELL KNOWN TO HIS FRIENDS
AS THE KINDNESS OF HIS HEART AND THE CHARM OF HIS CONVERSATION
\goo
NOTE
Tin-: Revisers have tried, while comparing the translation carefully with the original and correcting (in accordance with the expressed wish of the late Master of Balliol) the Essay on Inscriptions by the help of recent additions to our knowledge, to make no change or insertion of which they think he would have disapproved, and to retain the general character of the work.
They desire to express their obligations, in the trans- lation, to Mr. E. C. Marchant's edition of Books II, VI, and VII, and the late Prof. H. C. Goodhart's edition of Book VIII, and, in the Essay on Inscriptions, to Meister- hans' Grammatik dcr Attisclicn Inschrijtctt, the Corfnts Inscriptiomiin Atticantin, Suppl. iii., and Kohl's Inscrip- tioncs Graccac Antiquissiinac .
The text followed is that of Bekker, the new Oxford text by Mr. H. Stuart Jones not being available until the translation was in type.
It has been decided not to reprint the Notes, as a satisfactory revision of them would have greatly delayed the appearance of the present edition. It was, however, impossible to cancel the occasional references to the 4 Notes ' at the foot of the pages of the translation.
October, 1899.
W. H. FORBES. EVELYN ABBOTT.
THE GREATNESS OF THUCYDIDES
« What are they all (the Roman Historians) to the great Athenian ? ' I do assure you that there is no prose composition in the world, not 'even the De Corona, which I place so high as the seventh book of ' Thucydides. It is the ne pins ultra of human art. I was delighted ' to find in Gray's letters the other day this query to Wharton : " The ' retreat from Syracuse — Is it or is it not the finest thing you ever read •' in your life?" ' — Life of Lord Macanlay, vol. i. p. 449.
' Most people read all the Greek that they ever read before they are * five and twenty . . . Accordingly, almost all their ideas of Greek ' literature are ideas formed while they were still very young. A young 'man, whatever his genius may be, is no judge of such a writer as ' Thucydides. I had no high opinion of him ten years ago. I have now ' been reading him with a mind accustomed to historical researches, and 'to political affairs; and I am astonished at my own former blindness, 'and at his greatness.' — Vol. i. p. 440.
APPENDIX, p. 475. — 'This day I finished Thucydides, after reading ' him with inexpressible interest and admiration. He is the greatest 'historian that ever lived. Feb. 27, 1835.'
' I am still of the same mind. May 30, 1836.'
' While I was reading the Annals I was reading Thucydides . . . 'What made the Annals appear cold and poor to me was the intense 'interest which Thucydides inspired. Indeed, what colouring is there ' which would not look tame when placed side by side with the mag- ' nificent light, and the terrible shade, of Thucydides ? Tacitus was 'a great man, but he was not up to the Sicilian expedition.'-— Vol. i. P- 458.
CONTENTS
VOLUME 1
ON INSCRIPTIONS OF THE AGE OF THUCYDIDEK . . . ix
ON THE GEOGRAPHY or TurrvninEs cvi
TRANSLATION :
BOOK I i
..II 102
III l84
VOLl'MK II TRANSLATION :
BOOK IV 2
V 102
VI 178
..VII 262
., VIII . . 335
HISTORICAL INDEX TO BOOKS I-VIII . . .421
ON INSCRIPTIONS OF THE AGE OF THUCYDIDES
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
NATURE of the study, ix ; where inscriptions are found, x ; process of restoring, deciphering, fixing the date, xi ; Messenians of Naupactus, Alcibiades, xii ; Mitylene, xiii ; ancient forms of letters and words, xiii, xiv; illustrations of Herodotus, Aristophanes, Plutarch, Pausanias, &c., xv ; mention of Sophocles, xviii ; inscriptions compared with MSS., xviii, xix ; restoration of them assisted by uniformity of writing and con- tents, xix ; danger of conjectural explanations, which are sometimes overthrown by later discoveries, xxi, cp. xlv, Hi ; inscriptions illustrate antiquities more than history, xxiv ; ostracism, accounts of the « Board of Admiralty,' and Erechtheum, xxiv, xxv ; inscriptions chiefly belong to later times, use of them by the ancients, xxv ; interest of them as relics of the past, xxvi ; the oldest are comparatively recent, xxvii ; literary interest, xxix ; forgery, xxx.
Inscriptions illustrating Thucydides : The ra£i$ (f>6pov and quota lists, xxxii ; comparison of Thucydides and the quota lists, xxxvi ; doubling of the tribute in 425 (?), xliv ; arrears recorded in the quota lists (?), Hi ; Melos and Thera, liv, Iv ; famine of 449 (?}, Iv ; geographical division of the tributaries, Ivi ; revolt of Potidaea, &c., Ivi ; how was the tribute fixed ? Ivii.
Inventories of sacred treasure, lix ; repayment of debts to Athene and the other deities, Ixiii ; Kirchhoff's attempt to estimate the ex- penditure of Athens in 431-428 by a comparison of Thuc. ii. 13, Hi. 17, 19, Ixv; ordinary scale of expenditure, Ixix ; interest on expenditure from sacred treasure in 433 423, Ixxiii ; was there also a secular treasure ? Ixxv ; Demosthenes and Nicias, Ixxviii, cp. Ixxxi ; record of expenditure under another form, Ixxviii ; revolt of Samos, expedition to Corcyra and discrepancy with Thucydides, Ixxix ; Macedonia, Demosthenes at Argos (?), Ixxx ; expeditions to Melos and Sicily, Ixxxi ; references to the reserve fund (?) and the 400, Ixxxii ; exhaustion of the treasury in 410, the Propylaea, Delos, mutilation of the Hermae, Alcibiades, Ixxxiv.
Decrees of the senate and people, Ixxxv ; Erythrae, Colophon, Chalcis, Miletus, Hestiaea, Egesta, Rhegium, Leontini, Ambracia, Methone, Perdiccas, Argos (Thuc. v. 47), Hyperbolus, Bottiaea, Samos, Phry- nichus, Daphnus, Halieis, the « Pelasgian ground,' intercalary month, Ixxxv-xcv; votive and sepulchral inscriptions, xcv; tripod dedicated after Plataea, Pisistratus son of Hippias, Dodona, tribe Erechtheis. Potidaea, other battles, xcv-xcix, cp. xvii, xxvii j fragments from the wall of Themistocles, xcix ; dangerous tendency to conjecture in the study of inscriptions, c ; the true value of them, ci ; ostracism of Themistocles, Pythion of Megara (addenda}, ciii.
ON INSCRIPTIONS
OF THE
AGE OF THUCYDIDES
THE study of ancient Greek inscriptions, to which so great an impulse has been given during the last sixty years by scholars, such as Boeckh, Kirchhoff, Kohler and Lolling in Germany, Lebas and Waddington in France, Mr. Charles NYwton in England, as well as by Greek archaeologists such as Rangabe", throws a real but not a considerable light upon the history of Greece. Many thousands of them have been already collected ; and the number mav be indefinitely increased by the zeal and industry of the present generation. None hitherto found are older than the seventh century before Christ, some of the oldest being written /3owrrpo<£/;8oi (i.e. returning at the end of the line like the ox in the furrow) ; in the sixth century and down to the Persian war they are rare ; in the latter half of the fifth century they become more numerous, and there are many which have a direct connexion with the history of Thucydides ; sometimes coinciding with, often supplementing his narrative ; in one instance only (p. Ixxix) contradicting it.
The study of inscriptions is not separable from the general study of the Ancient \Yorld. In so far as it illus-
VOL. i. b
X THUCYDIDES
trates the use of letters or words, or the growth of the dialects, or the history of prose writing, it may be in- cluded under Philology. In so far as it contributes to our knowledge of the religion, commerce, laws, political institutions, or of the private life and manners of the ancients, it may be placed under the head of Antiquities. It may also be classed with History, inasmuch as historical facts are recorded in inscriptions and the accounts of historians are confirmed or modified by them. To elevate such an accidental and multifarious kind of knowledge into a science of ' Epigraphy' is misleading. Its method, if it have any single method, is inductive, that is to say, it proceeds from the examination of facts, a general know- ledge of history and of inscriptions being brought to bear on the analysis of some particular one. It has frequent recourse to hypotheses, of which many remain and will for ever remain unverified. The arrangement of inscrip- tions adopted by Boeckh1 according to the countries in which they are found, or the states to which they belong, is commonly the most convenient ; they may be further divided according to date, or, when the date cannot be ascertained, according to the subjects of them.
The older Attic inscriptions are generally imperfect. Of many only a few words or lines, often not more than a word or two, survive. The slabs of marble on which they are engraven are commonly broken and scattered ; they are found in the beds of rivers, on the sites of temples, in the neighbourhood of the Erechtheum, on the
1 Cp. Boeckh, Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, praef. p. xii ff. To this work (quoted as C. I. G.), a noble monument of learning and critical sagacity ; to the admirable Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum (vol. i and iv) of Kirchhoff, quoted in this essay as C. I. A. and Suppl., and his treatises on the Athenian treasury ; to the Inscriptiones Graecae Antiquissimae of Rohl (I. G. A.) ; to Kohler's separate work on the Tribute Lists, as well as to the interesting essays of Mr. Charles Newton, and to the beautiful and accurate collection of ancient Greek inscrip- tions in the British Museum by Messrs. Newton and Hicks, the author would express his great obligations.
xi
steps of the Parthenon, at tin1 entrance of the Propyl. in the Portico of Hadrian, on the banks of the Ilissus, built into the walls of a ruined church or the staircase of a monastery, here and there inserted in the pavement of a courtyard or the floor of a cottage, or forming the table of a Christian altar. Hardly any remain in their original position. From most of them there is a difficulty in extracting a continuous meaning; the result partakes of the nature of the materials. But considering the chances of destruction to which they have been exposed we may wonder that so much has been preserved, and that so many institutions and historical events receive illustration from them.
The process of deciphering Greek inscriptions may be roughly described as follows. First, the fragments must be copied and fitted into each other, allowance being made for missing portions : either they may belong to a single flat surface, or they may be the sides of a solid block. In some instances mistakes have occurred, and a further investigation or a fresh discovery has shown that pieces which at first appeared to belong to the same inscription were really parts of different ones; or, if belonging to the same, that they had been arranged in a wrong order : e.g. C. I. A. 38 and Suppl. i. 38 a : C. I. A. 241-254 : Suppl. i. page 26. In the attempt to restore words the measure of space is one of our chief guides. \Yhen a surface was written all over, the number of letters in a par- ticular line may be exactly known, though not a vestige of them remains. But whether the part of a marble slab or block which has been defaced or broken off contained writing or not may be uncertain. An indicator of tin; the form of the letters, and this may sometimes vary in the same inscription (as in C. I. A. 40, 443). The Greek alphabet during the Peloponnesian war was in a process of transition, and the apparent variety or inconsistency in the use of some one or more letters may limit the date of an inscription to the period of the transition. Thus in
b2
xii THUCYDIDES
C. I. A. Suppl. i. 22 g, of which only three or four words are preserved,
we are able from the double form of the letter %. ($ 5T) and from the syllable ME££ to infer with tolerable cer- tainty that the text falls in the period of transition from one form of the letter to the other, about 460-447 l, and relates to the establishment of the Messenians at Nau- pactus soon after 455 B.C. (Thuc. i. 103 init.)2. But the period of transition may likewise introduce a new element of uncertainty in determining the date from the forms of the letters ; and the matter of inscriptions may in a few instances be older than the time at which they were engraven, e.g. C. LA. 8, 93, 283 and Suppl. ii. The country in which an inscription is found or the city to which it refers is also a criterion not to be neglected. The text itself may help to supply its own lacunae. A word, a line, several lines may be wanting, but different syllables of the imperfect word, or parts of the line, may be collected from another place in the same inscription. For example, the letters AX I in C. I. A. 10 are the vestiges of ZYMM AXIA, as may be easily inferred from the rest of the inscription; from the syllables KOUO^O and ONION in different parts of C. I. A. 13 the whole word KOAO4>ANIAN may legitimately be extracted ; in C. I. A. Suppl. i. 6 1 a (a treaty between the Selymbrians and Athenians), from Mo ... 21 , aided by a comparison of Xenophon, Hellenica, i. 3. 10, we can elicit without diffi- culty the name AAMBI AAH£. In C. I. A. Suppl. i. 96
1 Roberts, Introduction to Greek Epigraphy, pp. 106, 107. a Or soon after 461 if we accept the conjecture Tfraprw for Soearw in Thuc. i. 103.
/.v.sr/v1;. xi 11
the word MYTIUENAION and the partially effaced KUr- [POY]XOI£ clearly show that the inscription relates to the i vents recorded in Thucydides, iii. 50. Although the lir>t impression excited in the mind by the appearance of the half-effaced lines is one of bewilderment and unfami- liarity, out of the chaos order soon begins to arise. The experienced eye detects in the shape of the letters, in the use of A A for A, of fc for E, of © for O, of P for P, of $ for £, of® for Q>, of + for X, and similar variations, the earlier forms of the Attic characters; and in the of H for the aspirate, of E for El and H, of O for A and OY, of A for [~, of I for A, of X* for Z, of 4>$ for y, the old Attic alphabet, in place of which the Ionic alphabet was regularly adopted in the Archonship of Kuclides, B.C. 403. There are some other parti- culars in which the earlier Attic usage differs from the later. In the older inscriptions, for EAI~I£ is written HEUri£ (and in many other cases the initial aspirate is inserted), for -E£OAN (3 p. imp. pass.) -O£OON (e.g. 27 a Suppl.): tin r«- are assimilations of N, K, and r, as in EMPOUEI, TOUUOriSTON, ESTEUEI, E£- £ANIAI, EX4>YUE£3 MEAXPY£A, EAMME, and also refusals to assimilate, as in X£YNMAXOI, OUYNI- PIO^:, ^TPONB[IXO£], (some appearing later.; re- duplication of £, as in API££TA; datives plural in A£l, H2II, for -Al£, ceasing to occur in inscriptions during the 9oth Olympiad, B.C. 420-417; datives in OIHIN for -OI5I, up to about B.C. 444; other forms, such as OUEIlON, the comparative of OAIFON, which are found in inscriptions though not occurring elsewhere in Attic as known to us :— all these may be used as notes of time. We find however that some of the modern letters appear among the older ones before the archon-
xiv THUCYDIDES
ship of Euclides 1 ; it is probable that the Ionic alphabet was in literary use when it was not yet employed in public documents. There was a gradual change from slanting to upright forms ; and it is interesting to trace the manner in which some refractory straggling letters, such as M and N, were coerced into regularity. In the interval between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars the archaic style disappears, and the hand of the engraver works with more clearness and precision.
Having determined the letters and from them formed a conjecture of the date of the inscription, and assisted by a knowledge of the place in which it is found, the decipherer will now proceed to gather a meaning from the words or syllables which are legible. (The reader must be reminded that in this short outline we are speaking of early imperfect inscriptions, and chiefly of those contemporary with Thucy- dides.) A very few scattered words are sufficient to tell the general subject : it may be a treaty of peace or alliance, the dedication of an offering, a grant of privileges to a state or an individual, an epitaph, an inventory of treasure, a boundary mark, the cost of a public edifice, a catalogue of confiscated goods, a direction for a festival or a sacrifice or the building of a temple, a prohibition, a punishment ; any historical event, any incident of private life, may turn up in an inscription. We are sometimes able to trace a coincidence of names occurring in Thucydides or Xenophon which may serve as a clue. But we can seldom proceed much further. The details which we seek to extract from a fragment are necessarily inco- herent, a food for guesses. A few inscriptions only pre- serve a clear and entire meaning, or may receive it from a comparison of contemporary history. We had better begin by moderating our expectations, if we would avoid
1 The Ionic forms appear, often side by side with the others, with increasing frequency from 446 onwards : or in isolated cases even earlier. See Meistcrhans, Grammatik der Attischen Inschriften, §3; Roberts, Introduction to Greek Epigraphy, pp. 103 107.
!.\SCKIPTIO XV
disappointment. In inquiries of this kind the result is seldom very great, nor always \ < rv a rtain.
The task of reading ancient ('.reek inscriptions maybe compared to the amusement of putting together a dis- sected puzzle, or of making out an acrostic. The ingenuity which is required in both cases is of tin- same kind. When all the pieces lit and all the letters fall into their pK then the solution of the pu/zle h found. And
although many of the pi«res have been l«»st and main- of the words or letters are no longer legible, and fragments of different inscriptions are occasionally mixed up together, .still order and consistency and exhaustiveness, in what- ever degree they can be attained, are the tests of truth. Of course, as in a cipher, the possibility of arriving at a successful result depends on the deliniteness of the problem and the possibility of obtaining an answer to it from a comparison of other parts of the document or of similar documents.
The broken form in which the older (ireek inscriptions have been preserved to u>>, though impairing, is far from destroying their value. Hut before much use can be made of them they must be illustrated by the literary remains of antiquity. Many coincidences, slight as well as impor- tant, soon begin to appear in them which realize ancient history to us. The juxtaposition of two names, the men- tion of an office, of a ceremony, of a reward conferred on an individual or on a tributary state, send us to tin- ] of the historian, and they may often supply a test of the accuracy or knowledge of a great writer or of a scholiast. It may be truly said that the inscriptions of the fifth cen- tury before Christ, though not always agreeing with his narrative (see pp. Iv, Ixxix), tend upon the whole to confirm the authority of Thucydides. Again, a few letters still remain of an inscription which Herodotus records to have been engraved on the memorial (a TtV/,,,--^ yi'-U-eos) erected by the Athenians in honour of the victory which they gained over the Boeotians and Chalcidians soon after
xvi THUCYDIDES
the expulsion of the Pisistratidae (Herod, v. 77; C. I. A. 334 and Suppl. ii) l. There is still to be seen the basis of some of the 'many statues' which Micythus dedicated at Olympia (Herod, vii. 171; I. G. A. 532): and 'pillars' from the ruins of the original temple of Artemis at Ephesus bear traces of the dedication Bao-iAev? Kpota-os dW^Ke(Herod. i. 92 ; Hicks, Manual of Greek Historical Inscriptions, p. 5 : I. G. A. 493). Such testimony is still more needed for the verification of later historians. An inscription (C. I. A. 273, cp. 22 a Suppl. i) corrects a name found in Diodorus, xii. 58, and also in Athenaeus, v. p. 218. By these writers the archon of the year Ol. 88. 3 (B. c. 426) is called Euthydemus, and, by the author of the argument to Aristophanes' Acharnians, Euthymenes. But, as is shown by the inscription referred to (the long inscription which records the expenditure of the sacred treasure of Athens, Ol. 86. 4 — 89. 2), the real name was Euthynus, a name which has been correctly preserved in the anony- mous Life of Thucydides (p. 14, 1. 35, Bekker), and by the Scholiast on Lucian Tim. 30. In Plutarch (Pericles xiii), we find what at first sight appears to be an unfounded and
"EQvta BoiouTtav ical "X.a\Ki8fajv
'A0i]vaui>v tpypacriv \v Tro\ffj.ov
tv ax\vutVT ruv iirirovs 8€Ka,T?;v JlaXXaSt raaS1 tOeaav.
[Two distinct forms of the inscription existed, and fragments of both have been discovered. First were found, and edited in 1869, the letters
E NAIONEPAM/ PP05AEIA
Their appearance showed that they dated from the time of Pericles: they must therefore have been copied, or restored by memory, from the original. Of an earlier inscription, being very likely a piece of this original itself, broken up during the Persian occupation, were found, and edited in 1887, the letters
F> I V ! P A I A
iTON HIPPO
showing that Herodotus quotes the restored inscription, in -which the two hexameters must have been transposed.]
INSCRIPT10 xvn
gossiping anecdote, about a workman employed un the Propylaea, and distinguished lor his skill and /ml, who had fallen from a height so that his life was despaired of. Continues: n^r//oiYTos fit rn\- EhpUcAcOVf // fk<>^ "n-n.[> c Bcpanrtiav y x/""//€""> " II</"*A^ TH\< MU ,Y
I.HTUTO mi' i"n (I />«>—<>}•' cVi Torrw <^>€ Mil 70 yiAMH i <IyuA//u TJ/S A^f/ms f'nV<rr//<r{i u UN/IH— uAu ~Hf><\ TOT p'<"/' 7yi\ ox? A.«yorrnr. All illSCrij^tinn Up<>M «1 prdrstal
of white niarhle still remaining /;/ >•/'/// probably belonged
to this ViTV statue (C. I. A. 335, \\fh)niitn TIJ 'A^i/ruMi T7;
'Vy*em); or at least to the statue which i;, to Plut-
arch's story. Pausanias, i. 29. 7, says that in the battle of Tanagra tl><' Athenians had the assistance of troops not only from Argos (Thuc, i. 107 lin.) but from Cleonae, and that the Cleonaeans who fell were buried in the ( micus. Four pieces of a monumental inscription, suiting the date, and containing several Doric names, be.-: a trace of the word jT<u-!uy/xt, confirm Pausanias' state- ment (('. I. A. 441 and Suppl. ii).
X'otive inscriptions have been discovered at Olympia which were put up by the Lacedaemonians after the revolt of the Helots in 464; by the Lacedaemonians and their allies to commemorate the victor}' oi Tanagra ; and, on the other side, by the ' Mrssenians and Xaupact;
: her with the statue of Victory by the sculptor Paeonius, to commemorate-, according to Pausanias, a vict the Acarnanians, but, according to the account of the Mt ss< nians themselves, their great success at Sphacteria. I. G. A. 75, Pans. v. 24. 3: I. G. A. 26 a, Paus. v. 10. 4: I. G. A. 348, Paus. v. 26. i; and cp. Hicks, Manual, pp. 81, 341.) These as well as several other inscriptions bear witness to the general trustworthi: of Pausanias, but point to several inaccuracies in detail on his part or on that of his informant. Two passages of Aristophanes may here be illustrated from inscriptions. In the Scholia on Knights, 969, S/IIK-V^T;? is asserted to have been a Thracian prince. But the occurrence of the
xviii THUCYDIDES
name 2/UKV0[os], as the ypa^ar^ of the ra/xiai TW Icpwv Xprjp.d™v T^S 'Afli/wuas (C. I. A. 130, Ol. 89. I, B.C. 424-423, the year after that in which the Knights was performed), proves the futility of this statement. The name was in fact borne by more than one Athenian citizen (cp. C. I. A. 60, 432, 433, 447). The same or another scholiast is more fortunate in the illustration of Birds, 1128—
ITHTWV VTTOVTWV fJityC0OS OfTOV O OOV/31OS,
which, he says, is a reference to a bronze figure of the Trojan horse dedicated on the Acropolis, and bearing the inscription —
Xaipt8r)iJ.o<; Erayye'Aov e/c KotAr/s avfOrjKc. And these very words inscribed on a pedestal (C. I. A. 406) have been discovered on the Acropolis. More impor- tant contributions to history are made by the TU£CS <f>6pov (C. I. A. 37), or estimate of the Athenian tribute, framed in 425 B.C., which has been thought by some to confirm the statements of the Orators respecting the doubling of the tribute during the Peloponnesian war (see infra, p. xlv). Still more important is the inscription (C. I. A. 433) over the Athenians of the tribe Erechtheis, who fell all in the same year (about 459 B. c.) in Cyprus, in Egypt, in Phoenicia, at Halieis, in Aegina, and at Megara : or that containing part of the treaty made by Athens with Argos (C. I. A. 46 1), Suppl. i) in the year 420 B. c. Both of these verify the details of Thucydides, and are worth many pages of Diodorus or Plutarch. In the tribute lists of the year 443 B.C., C. LA. 237, we find traces of a name beloved in Greek literature —
]O[>]O1<U[E£] KOlxO[NEOEN HEUUENOTAMIA]£ EN
The mutilated condition of the earlier Greek inscriptions offers a wide field for conjecture. But there are many ways in which the conjectural restoration of inscriptions is both assisted and limited ; and it differs in several respects from the emendation of MSS. In the case of inscriptions
INSCRIPTIONS xix
we have to supply omissions rather than to rror,
The chances of error (cp. for examples C. I. A. 151, p. 72 : 398, 419, 483) except in mere spelling are comparatively small. There are no recensions of the text ; no glosses which have crept in from the margin, or inferences fmm the words of scholiasts that the- reading ma}' have been originally different. Far greater pains and time are neces- sarily taken in engraving than in writing; and, speaking g( -nrrally, inscriptions are at first hand and there is no further risk from copying. The greater danger is from the unskilfulness or ignorance of the modern copyist, but the original is generally in existence, and the error can In- corrected. Whereas MSS. have been written and rewritten many times, at each rewriting contracting some degree of inatvururv, and changing to a certain extent their modes of spelling and forms of grammar in successive generations. Pen and ink arc more pliable implements than the chisel, and the writer takes greater liberties than the engraver in the form and size of the letters. But inscriptions are monumental, and the words and letters in them have a fixed character ; or, at any rate, only change with well- known changes in the alphabet. Almost invariably in inscriptions of the fifth century1 each letter occupies the same space, and in supplying lacunae, however large, we can measure with a compass the number of let required. Wherever the graver has been skilful the symmetry is perfect, and a straight line may be drawn horizontally, vertically, diagonally through the centre of the letters. But in some cases the miscalculation of space has led to the crowding of the latter part of the inscrip- tion : and there are other examples (cp. C. I. A. Suppl. i, 6 1 a, 71 ; Newton and Hicks, p. 61, 85) in which the lines are not written accurately oroix^SoV. Many of the later inscriptions differ from the earlier ones as much as the fairest copperplate from the first rude attempts of an
Sec Mcistcrhans, § 4.
XX THUCYDIDES
illiterate person at writing ; and may be truly called ' calligraphic ' from their beauty and regularity.
But besides the greater uniformity of the writing there is also a greater similarity in the modes of expression than in literary composition. Most public inscriptions have their set beginnings and endings, their formulas of oaths, decrees, sums, dates ; names of the archon, tribe, prytany, epistates. Some of them, as for example the lists of the quota (C. I. A. 226-272) paid out of the tribute of the allies to the Goddess, are arranged in years, and the imperfect members of the series may be filled up from those which exist in a more complete state. The number of such documents is considerable, and from their formal and official character they throw light upon one another. Hence it is not surprising that, while no human ingenuity, even when assisted by metre, can supply more than two or three letters in a corrupted text of the classics, and hardly so much in prose, parts of a line or of several lines in succession may be restored with comparative certainty in an ancient inscription. Even a single letter occurring in a particular place may afford a clue to the contents of a whole line if the line is repeated elsewhere. The parallel in this case is not like the parallels cited in support of emendations of the classics, from which it is often fallaciously argued that an author wrote in one place as he did in another. For inscriptions are really full of the same forms, whereas there is only a faint pre- sumption that the same turn of expression will occur more than once in a literary composition. Similarly, two or three letters of a name which usually accompanies some other name may give the key : e. g. the letters
£TPATEAOI£ NTIAEIKAIX1YNAPXO
indicate the Words (rrparrjyo^ Ni/aa Ni/ojpaTOV KvSai/ri^ «u frvdpxovw, C. I. A. 273. Many restorations which appear improbable at first sight are nevertheless true : e. g. the following, which, though seeming to depend on slender
J.\S( AV/V/o.Y- X.\i
grounds, is in reality certain (C . I. A. ^7 ; a. l>. c, 1. .1
XEPO[TON EPI TA]£ POUE£ AYO [MEN
EPI TA£ EPI OPAIKE^] AYO AE E[PI IONIAN AYO A]E EPI N[E£OY£ AYO AE EPI HEUUE£- P]ONTO[N. Here, out of the hint of HEUUE£PON- TON contained in ONTO, the occurrence of the word POAEI£, the repetition of AYO, combined with our knowledge of tin division of the tributary cities into four or five groups, an important part of an inscription is recovered. So much may hi- made out of so little. In this, as in other cases, the power of divination is relative to the nature of the materials, which create a method for themselves. If tlie matter of early Greek inscriptions were varied like literary compositions, much less progress could be made in the interpretation of them. They would be curious frag- ments from which nothing of importance could be elicited.
It is this fragmentary character of Greek inscriptions which distinguishes the study of them from that of As- syrian or Egyptian. Before we can interpret them we have to restore them ; or rather the interpretation and the restoration of them go hand in hand. It is another peculiarity in the study of them that a large literature can be brought to bear upon them ; and that we do not, as in the case of most other inscriptions, derive our know- ledge of them from themselves only.
Far greater than the temptation to emend is the tempta- tion to elicit a connected meaning from them. The inter- preter is apt to read into an inscription more than is really to be found in it. The record of the contemporary history is necessarily imperfect, and he exercises his ingenuity in making anything which he knows fit in with the fragmentary document which he has to decipher. If, for example, he finds in an inscription (C. I. A. 55, indicated by the occurrence of datives in at?, not -ijm, to be later than 420 u. c.) a mention of sixty ships, he immedi- ately calls to mind the sixty ships which the Athenian
xxii THUCYDIDES
assembly at first voted to the Sicilian expedition, although this vote was never carried into execution ; for a larger fleet was actually sent. But is it likely that such an inoperative decree which was superseded five days after- wards (Thuc. vi. 8 ; cp. 25) would have been recorded in an inscription ? And might not the number sixty equally well refer to the second (vii. 20) or to some other expe- dition ? Another example of the same weakness may be found in the criticism on C. I. A. Suppl. i, 46 a, where the letters KOPINOI and AOENAI occur. It is conjectured by Kirchhoff that the inscription has reference to the visit of the Boeotian and Corinthian envoys to Athens, recorded in Thuc. v. 32. But of what value are such conjectures ? Considering that some and not all the facts are narrated by the historian, and only a few legible inscriptions of the time are extant, it is a priori improbable that the number of coincidences should be very great. A few other instances may be given of a similar haste in drawing conclusions. In an inscription C. I. A. 54, which is again inferred from the occurrence in it of datives in cus to be later than 420 B.C., mention is made of 30 ships each having 40 hoplites on board, which are directed to collect 'the tribute in full.' These ships are identified with the 30 ships conveying 1200 Athenian hoplites which were sent to Melos in 416. But may not these numbers apply with equal probability to some other expedition in some way concerned with the tribute ? The second coincidence of the 40 hoplites is of no value, as the same number of hoplites conveyed in a trireme occurs elsewhere (cp. Thuc. ii. 56 init.) \ Again, in a fragment of an inscrip- tion, C. I. A. 176, Boeckh (Staatsh. ii. 228) thinks that he discovers a reference to the movable plates of gold (ItrjAyra ?) with which the statue of Athene was overlaid
[It should be added that the inscription speaks of 10 archers, ap- parently in each of the 30 ships, corresponding to the total number of 300 archers, Thucydides, v. 84. On the other hand, peltasts are men- tioned in the inscription and not in Thucydides.]
xxiii
(Thuc. ii. 13) ; but Kirchhoff, having a more accurate delineation of the text, reconstructs the inscription in an entirely different manner (tcr[r,/<mi ( while retaining tin- reference to the statue l.
One more warning against such divination may bo added. From the fragment C. I. A. 51, when first dis- covered, it was inferred by Kirchhoff, (<?) that it recorded a remission of the tribute (with the exception of the quota of OIK -sixtieth paid to the Goddess) made to some sul city ; (/;) that it dated from some year during the Peace of Nicias; the latter conclusion being based on the words em <rvvSifTroXcfAr)cravToiJL7r6\ciJ<n, an expression which was thought to imply that the war in question was concluded at the time. Hut six more fragments of the same inscription have since been discovered (C. I. A. Suppl. i. 51 ). It was then found to relate to the city of Neapolis in Thrace, and consists of two parts, the earlier dating from the archonship of Glaucippus, 410 ; and Kirchhoff is compelled to adopt a much more elaborate explanation of the words relating to the 'first- fruits paid to the Virgin/ which he refers not to Athene Polias, but to the local worship of Neapolis, and supposes to have been deducted from the Athenian tribute. But this explanation is only an hypothesis. All that can be said about the recently found fragments is that they do not confirm the old theory which Kirchhoff gave up, and that they contain no resemblance to the words in which the Methonaeans are excused from the payment of their tribute with the exception of the quota (C. I. A. 40). Such conjectural interpretations should be guarded with the formula, 'subject to any future discoveries.'
On the other hand, it may be objected that, if we carry our caution very far, and hesitate in attaching some frag- ment of an inscription to the narrative of an ancient writer, it becomes useless to us, and can be brought into no rela-
1 New fragments of C. I. A. 298 ; 299 a vol. iv. Suppl. iiiA that Kirchhoft" rightly rc-frrrod another inscription, 298. 299, to tlu-
XX iv THUCYDIDES
tion with the history. And how great the temptation is to connect what we know with what we do not know may be seen in the early study of the hieroglyphics, and of the Sinaitic inscriptions. The true reply to the objection just urged is, that in any sound study of ancient Greek inscrip- tions we must be prepared for slender results. And the general confirmation of ancient writers afforded by those slender results is far from unimportant.
The additional facts obtained from inscriptions throw greater light upon Greek antiquities than upon Greek history. We know a good deal more than we did of the institutions and customs of the ancient Hellenes, of their family and religious life, of their games and festivals, of their public hospitalities, of their marriage and funeral ceremonies, of their military and civic divisions, of their public and private economy, of their assessments of tribute and taxation, of their societies for religious and social purposes. The constitution imposed by Athens on Ery- thrae (C. I. A. 9), the oaths interchanged between the Athenians and the Chalcidians of Euboea (C. I. A. Suppl. i. 27 a), and the inventory yearly drawn up of the treasures in the Parthenon are some of these new facts hitherto unknown to the historian. The business of life is stereotyped before our eyes. Among the debris of material on the Acropolis earlier than 480 B.C. have been found two potsherds, fragments of vases, on which two Athenian citizens,— one of them clearly a better writer than the other,— inscribed for ' ostracism/ between 487 and 484 B.C., the names of Megacles son of Hippocrates and Xanthippus son of Ariphron the father of Pericles '. (See Athen. Polit. c. 22 : C. I. A. iv. Suppl. iii. 569, 570.) The annual accounts of the Athenian ' Board of Admiralty ' are still preserved, not in books, but on tablets of Hymettian marble (C. I. A. vol. ii. part ii. p. 158 ff, 513 ff.). A report is extant of the works of the Erechtheum while in course
of erection (e£«pyaoyxeVa /cat ^/xie/uya), B.C. 409 (C. I. A. ' For a similar mention of Themistocles, see Addenda to this Essay.
INSCR1PTIQ .\xv
321, Suppl. ii. and iii, 322 ; Newton and Micks, p. 8.j in a somewhat later inscription (C. I. A. 324) an estim; given of the cost nf tin- building, including the prices of the statues, the daily wages (in one case a drachma) of the men employed, and the quantities of the columns. And all these things, though the records of them are but fragmen- tary, come to us, not strained through books, but fresh from the chisel of tlie workman. \\Y dig among the crumbling remains of antiquity, and out of these is gradually built up a real although very imperfect image of the past.
It must not be forgotten, however, that inscriptions begin to grow numerous and legible as Hellas declines, and that the greater part of the notices preserved in them relate to the time, not of her glory, but of her decay. The historian of Athens becomes aware that a long study such as Boeckh devoted to these ancient documents adds little to our knowledge of Greek history in the fifth century before Christ, but a great deal to that of Alexandrian and I Roman times. He may add the warning that we must not antedate our knowledge, or transfer to the age of Pericles or Demosthenes institutions and forms of life which belong to succeeding centuries.
The use of inscriptions was not unknown to Herodotus (i. 51, 187 ; ii. 106, 136, 141 ; iii. 88; iv. 87, 88, 91 ; v. 59-61, 77; vi. 14; vii. 228; viii. 82), and Thucydides (vi. 54 fin., 59 ; cp. v. 18 fin., 23 fin., 47 fin., 56 mcd.), and became more frequent among later Cireek \vi . llec-
tions were formed of them in the third and second centuries before Christ(see Boeckh, C.I. G. praef.p.viii). Thus Philo- chorus the historian (fl. B.C. 307-261) is recorded by Suidas to have published eViy/m/^uTu 'ATT/K./, Attic inscriptions. Polemo, a contemporary of Aristophanes of Byzantium (about 200 B.C.), and a famous man in his day, is said to have- composed, among many other works, a book upon ' inscrip- tions in various cities ' (Athenaeus, x. p. 436 D, p. 442 E), and two other books, one 'on the votive offerings at Lace- daemon ' (Athenaeus, xiii. p. 574 C), and another 'on the
VOL. i. c
xxvi THUCYDIDES
votive offerings in the Acropolis ' (Strabo, ix. p. 396 ; Athenaeus, xi. p. 472 B, 486 D ; xiii. 587 C). A book of Theban inscriptions is attributed to Aristodemus, a Theban historian (Schol. Apollon. Rhod. i. 906;, and a work on the votive offerings of Delphi to Alcetas (Athenaeus, xiii. 591 C), and on offerings in general to Menetor (594 C) ; and there were other authors (fl. about 300-250 B.C.). The great collector of ancient times was Craterus the Mace- donian, who published a work, Ilepl ^r/<^to-/>taTwj/. From this work Boeckh supposes many of the decrees found in the Orators, especially in the Oration for the Crown, to have been extracted. The diligence of the third and second centuries before Christ, like that of our own nine- teenth, had no parallel in earlier times. That the earlier historians made so little use of inscriptions is surprising to us. Again and again doubtful points of the history might have been verified or corrected, had the narrator once thought of examining the monuments of the temples. The names of the archons in Diodorus Siculus and Dio- nysius of Halicarnassus are probably derived from this source. But in general the examination of authorities was alien to the nature of the later Greek historians, even more than to Herodotus and Thucydides. For not only do the materials of history accumulate slowly, but the method of using them and any interest about the truth of them are even more slowly acquired. And mankind do not begin to search until the objects of their search are quite or nearly lost. The lives of hundreds and hundreds of scholars have been spent to regain, if it were possible, a small fraction of those treasures which lay open to the eyes of all Athenians and were passed by unheeded of them.
One great interest of ancient inscriptions remains to be mentioned. It is a striking thought that we have present to us some of the very words and letters on which the eye not only of the ancient historians, but of Themistocles and Pericles and Alcibiades, must have gazed. Near to the spot on which the monument bearing it was originally erected
INSCRIPTIONS x \ Y i i
has been found the inscription by which Pisistratus the son of Hippias commemorated his archonship. On the bronze >rrpent which supported the tripod dedicated at Delphi, and is now preserved in the hippodrome of Constantinople, may be read to this da}- the names of the allied states which fought at Plutaea. In the Louvre at Paris is still to be seen the tablet (already referred to) on which a record is preserved of Athenians belonging to a single tribe who fell in one year in many distant lands, a living monument of the superhuman energy which at that time inspired the Athenian people. And, although such a reflection adds nothing to our knowledge, it increases the feeling with which we regard these monuments, and quickens and enlivens the study of them. It is not that the ancients themselves thought or could have thought of them with the interest which Greek history has imparted to them, or that Themistocles and Pericles derived their greatness from the works which were the expression of it. Hut we, looking back, like to see with our own eyes what we have been reading and hearing about all our lives, and to be connected by a new, though a fanciful tie, with the past. One of the most important facts to be gathered from Greek inscriptions is the very general one, that none of them are older than the seventh century before Christ. Not only is little or nothing known of the ages which preceded, but the non-existence of records and documents seems to show that there was not much to be known of them. Hellenic civilization and Hellenic art burst sud- denly into life : there was no knowledge ' hoary with age ' (Plato, Tim. 22 B) ; nor any architecture or sculpture which had existed in the same form during thousands of years; nor slow growth or change of style such as was developed in mediaeval times; at any rate there is no evidence of it1. Nor is there any reason to believe that
1 [It is clear from archaeological discoveries at Mycenae and else- where, that what we commonly call Hellenic civilization had been preceded by an earlier form of civilization, in which it is possible tu
C 2
xxviii THUCYDIDES
the use of writing was common in Hellas before the Per- sian war. The Greek was not weighed down by records of his ancestors extending, as in Egypt, over many thou- sand years. The tradition of the Trojan war was the cloud which bounded his horizon ; nothing which came before was known to him; nothing which followed had any real hold on his imagination. There may have been great actions performed in the Dorian settlement of the Peloponnesus or in the Messenian wars, but they made no impression on the mind of Hellas, which seemed to be absorbed and satisfied by the tale of Troy commemorating the common action of the whole people.
That in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. the practice of writing on stone or marble was rare, and still rarer that of writing on papyri and skins, seems to be proved negatively by the silence of Homer, the scarcity of written monuments, the late rise of prose composition. But the interval between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars was prolific in inscriptions. At Athens, and probably in other centres of Greek life and religion, they must have been as numerous as the gravestones in a modern church- yard, and had as little sacredness in the eyes of posterity. And to pursue the homely simile a little further, as it is uncommon to meet with a tombstone of the seventeenth century in any parish churchyard and in any church which is not a cathedral, so in ancient times Greek inscriptions were liable to be constantly removed and were rarely pre- served, except in a great temple such as the Parthenon at Athens, or the temple of Apollo at Delphi. There was not room enough for all ; and the earlier and more valu- able ones were buried under the accumulations of a later generation to which they yielded place. It is probably
trace some kind of growth. But, while we await further evidence tending to bridge over the gap between « Mycenaean ' and Hellenic civilization, the remarks in the text hold good ; and no archaeological discovery is ever likely to account for the higher qualities of ' Hellenic civilization and Hellenic art.']
INSCRIPTIONS xxix
owing to the greater accumulation, and consequently to the greater destruction of inscriptions which took place at Athens, that fewer archaic ones are to be found there than in the islands. Many of the statues and inscriptions earlier than the Persian war which remain to us owe their preser- vation to the use made of them, together with other debris, as the substructure of i:e\v buildings on the artificially raised and levelled summit of the Acropolis (Prof. Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History, pp. 239, 242 ft".).
The literary or poetical value of Greek inscriptions is not great. Few, like the epitaph of Simonides on Arche- dice (Thuc. vi. 59), bear the stamp of a great mind. To revert muv more to our homely simile, they may be said to stand in tin- >ame relation to the works of the great lyric or dramatic poets, as the poetical or other effusions found in churches and cathedrals to the masterpieces of Kn-li>h literature, though preserved by Greek moderation and good taste from the absurdity and eccentricity of their modern counterparts. Two fragments in verse, and one in prose, touch us with the common feeling of humanity :
C. I. A. 463 (written /?ov<rrpo<£r;8oi') : — [Eir* turrdjs TIS uia/p eire £cVos |
eY TToXtfjuu | <t>6ifJL(n>}', rcapui' 7)f3ijr oXeVrur TU. ruiV uTroSi'pu/xei'Oi j'turtfc tV i TrpdyfjC dyaOor.
C. I. A. 469 : —
ir//nu •paarueXf&f' | Kovptj /c€KX?/[o-o]/xai | aiet', uvrt ya/xov | Trapa Ofwv TOVTO | Xa^ovcr' ovop.a.
C. I. A. Suppl. ii. 49irt° :—
'Apt'(ro~ri'AAa /cctrai ' ApurcrraWs re KOI 'PoSi'AAr/s
y a> Ovya,Ttp. — Cp. also p. xciv.
Two other inscriptions have found their way into the Anthology. The first is attributed by the collector without much foundation to Anacreon.
xxx
THUCYDIDES
C. I. A. 381:-
IIpi/A/xev KaAAn-e'Ar;? iSpvcrarfo* rovSc 8' e/cetvou
e]y[y]oVOt €CTT?70-av[0', ot? X"PIJ/ aiT^lSovJ.
(Anthol. Pal. 6. 138.) C.I. A. 4°3:-
Sc/canyv TIaAAaS KvSawcVas (taras or la-n/s ?) Kp^fn Aa? e/oyacrcraro.
These last words are corrupted by the MSS. of the Antho- logy (Anthol. Pal. 13. 13) into —
tas etpyacraro.
The authority of Greek inscriptions is only impaired by the chance of their being more recent than the events to which they relate. When the human mind was seeking too late to recover the past, it was natural that the names of kings or magistrates should be arranged in chrono- logical order and inscribed on monuments. But such lists are justly suspected when they extend beyond the ordinary limits of Greek history. Who will guarantee the cata- logues of Olympian victors or Spartan kings whose names and dates alone are recorded, while of their actions we are ignorant? At any rate we cannot be certain of their genuineness, for they mount up to a time which is un- known to us, and we have no records by which we can test them.
A few ancient inscriptions, like that which recorded the ' treaty of Cimon ' with the Great King and was suspected by Theopompus (Fragm. 167, 168) on account of the Ionic letters, may have been forgeries or perhaps restorations of older inscriptions in accordance with a later tradition. Some, like the Sigean inscription, in the opinion of Boeckh, though maintained by Kirchhoff and others to be genuine, may have been imitations of the archaic. Others again, like the Parian marble, without being forgeries may be regarded as literary works of a later age, having no more pretension
1NSCRIPT1OI xx xi
to a monumental character than a MS. or printed book. Others erected by states or individuals may have been tin- expressions of some ancient tradition. Their character can only be determined by a familiar knowledge of the letters, words, and forms which occur in them and by their agreement with some other record of the events to which thrv refer. But owing to the deficiency of information, or the mutilation of the inscription itself, the diagnosis of the critic ma}f often he at fault. The definition of forgery itself is not quite simple, for it admits of degrees ; fiction may easily mingle with truth ; and the deception may be more or less conscious to the inventor. In modern as well as in ancient times there have been a few instances of fraud. Cyriac of Ancona (1391 -about 1450 \ who traversed Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria in search of MSS., inscrip- tions, and other antiquities, was accused by some among his contemporaries of dishonesty, though his credit has been maintained by later writers1. An archaeologist of the last century (Fourmont) destroyed some of his materials and invented others (Boeckh, C. I. G. p. 61 ff.). At tin- time the inventor escapes with impunity: there is no one to follow him in his travels through a country which can hardly be traversed with safety : the knowledge and perience do not as yet exist which can detect his forgeries. But the time comes when some internal or external evidence rises up against him ; when the use of a letter or a mark, the anachronism of thought or of fact, un- expectedly betrays him. Forgery has been much more difficult in the nineteenth century than in the eighteenth, and in the later half than in the first half of the century. It should be remembered also that literary forgery easily arises out of error ; like many other kinds of dishonesty, it contains an admixture of inaccuracy. The careless enthu- siastic scholar makes an imperfect copy of a short fragment ;
1 Otto Jahn. Aus der Alterthumswissenschaft. Cyriacus von Ancona mul Albivcht Diuvr: Roeckh, C. I. G. prai-f p ix ; cp. Symonds, Rcnais- saiu-c in Italy; Revival of Learning, pp. 156, 157.
xxxii THUCYDIDES
he hastily restores it according to some preconceived idea, and he confuses in his mind or in his tablets his own restoration and the actual copy ; he commits himself to some inference which he deduces from it, and the work of imposture is complete ; he
' Makes such a sinner of his memory,
as
To credit his own lie.'
A lively imagination, the love of creating a sensation, the habit of poring over the same words or letters during many years, may create a state of the intellect in which the distinction between truth and falsehood is lost. Theories crowd upon the discoverer thick and fast, and the facts, of which he never had a firm grasp, are easily, and perhaps unconsciously, bent or altered to suit them. But we need not pursue further the analysis of imposture. Before accepting unhesitatingly the testimony of any archaeologist to an ancient inscription, we must ask the old question, ' Where are the originals ? '
The inscriptions which confirm or illustrate the narrative of Thucydides may be arranged in four classes : —
I. Those relating to finance, in which are included —
i. An estimate of the tribute to be paid by the allies, framed in 425 B.C., called ra&s </>opot'.
ii. The quotas of the whole sum actually received which were deducted year by year from the tribute and paid over to the Goddess Athene, being ^th or a mina for a talent. (There were doubtless accounts of the larger sums received, but none of these have been discovered.)
iii. Inventories of gold and silver plate and of other valuables contained in the Parthenon.
iv. Accounts of sums paid out of the treasury and spent in expeditions, buildings, festivals, etc., and of debts owing or repaid to Athene and other deities.
II. Decrees of the /?oiAr/ or IKKX^O. (not financial) re- lating to persons, events, or institutions commemorated in
INSCRIPTIONS xxx 111
the history. Under this head are included treaties with foreign states, agreements with allies, grants of privileges to states or individuals.
III. Dedicatory inscriptions.
J V. Sepulchral inscriptions.
The lists of quotas realize to us the greatness of the Athenian empire. Though not justifying the poetical boast of Aristophanes in the Wasps, 707, who reckons the number of Athenian tributaries at 1000, they contain the names of 257 states: if we add some other cities indi- cated in the TU£V </x^oi- only, the numbi r will exceed 300. In neither are included numerous Hellenic cities on the Kuxine1 and in the interior of Lycia and Caria, which were allies, but, with a lew exceptions, not tributaries; in the language of Thucydides, <rr/j/jax<u but not {-//KOOI or </><)/>ov iVoTcAet? (vii. 57 init.). That they were present to the mind of Aristophanes when he described the Athenian empire as extending UTTO rop Horror //e'x/>i 2ap£of? is evident. The relation of these cities to Athens would be generally of a friendly nature. Living under her protection, but not paying tribute, they were the outer defences of her empire. The Hellenic cities of Macedonia were similarly situated, and for a similar reason were not included in the tribute lists, with the exception of three (C.I. A. 40 and - Methone, Aeson, and Dicaeopolis, which about 427 had their tribute remitted, all but the quotas paid to the Goddess. They were in constant danger from the sur- rounding barbarians or from the Macedonian kings, and having to defend themselves could not be expected to pay for others. Since they had it in their power at any time to become a part of the Macedonian kingdom, the imposi- tion of a heavy tax would have been too severe a test of their loyalty. (See the inscription relating to Methone, which complained of ill-treatment from Perdiccas, C. I. A.
There are traces of a few of these in the ra£is <f>6pov. see p. xlviii.
xxxiv THUCYDIDES
40, and, for a discussion of all these points, K5hler, Delisch- Attischer Bund, part ii. cap. 3.) There was another class of tributaries, those on the Persian border, of whom we know but little ; they probably hesitated in their allegiance between the Athenians and the Persian king, and paid tribute accordingly (cp. Hdt. vi. 42 ; Thuc. viii. 5). There is nothing to indicate that any of the Greek cities in Cyprus and Crete ever paid tribute to Athens, or that the attempts of Athens to establish her influence in these great islands mentioned by Thucydides (i. 94, 104, 112, ii. 85) met with any success : though about and after the end of the Pelo- ponnesian War we find Athens in friendly relations with King Evagoras of Salamis (Grote, ch. Ixxvi, C. I. A. i. 64). Several states, e.g. Amphipolis, Samos, are not to be found in the quota lists, although Thucydides mentions the income derived by Athens from Amphipolis (iv. 108), and numbers Samos among the tributaries of Athens (vii. 57 init.). (See Boeckh, Staatshaush. vol. ii. p. 657 ff.)1 By 424, when Cythera was reduced (iv. 57 fin.), the lists have become fragmentary. There is no indication that the Athenian Cleruchi paid tribute, with the exception of those in Lemnos and Imbros, colonized before the establish- ment of the Delian league. [Where names occur, in the quota lists, of places in which Athenian /cAr/poi^oi are said to have been settled, e. g. Chalcis in Euboea, the Thracian Chersonese, Naxos, Andros, the tribute was probably paid by the original inhabitants, who remained by the side of the Athenian settlers. In Lesbos, Thucydides specially men- tions the fact that after the establishment of a cleruchy the Lesbians paid no tribute (iii. 50). See on the whole question Kirchhoff, Tributpflichtigkeit der Att. Kler., Ab- handl. der Berl. Acad., 1878 : and Beloch, Rheinisches Museum, xxxix. pp. 45, 46.]
1 P. 411 ff. of the 3rd ed. (Frankel) and notes. Some of the smaller cities mentioned by Boeckh probably paid with others as ffvvrtXt fs : others never actually pay tribute in our extant lists of quotas, thoug tliry may have occurred in
INSCRIPTIONS xxxv
I. i. The ra£i5 $dpov \C. I. A. 37 and Suppl. iii) is a vast inscription broken into about thirty fragments. Not more than a sixth part of the whole is preserved ; and the posi- tion of several of the smaller fragments cannot be certainly ascertained. It is an estimate of the tribute to be paid by the allies, preceded by two decrees, out of which it is diffi- cult to gather a connected meaning, though they evidently relate to the appointment of officers for the regulation of the tribute ('two for the Chalcidinn cities, two for Ionia, two for the islands, and two for the. Hellespont ;' 1. 5 ; p. xxi, supra), and contain penalties to be inflicted on the Prytanes if the}- fail in despatching the business before the assembly. The most interesting passages of these decrees which can be restored with any approach to certainty are the following. Line 22 ff. : —
' Let the Prytany Aegeis be required to bring these matters before the p< ople as soon as it enters upon office, on the third day when the sacrifices are over, before any- thing else; and, if they be not completed on that day, let them be proceeded with on the following day before any- thing else ; and so on until the business is finished within the term of the aforesaid Prytany: and if the Prytanes fail to bring it before the people, or do not finish the matter within their own term of office, let every one of them pay a fine of 10,000 drachmae.'
Another passage fixes the year of the inscription (1. 44 ff.) : 'Thudippus proposed: That the cities for which the senate fixed the tribute, in the year of which Plcistias was
the first Registrar (CTC! rr/s /^OI-AT}? f) tl/\c«m'u9 7rpum>s cypa/x-
/xuTevc'^in the Archonship of Stratocles, shall all bring an ox to the great Panathenaea.' The Archonship of Stratocles falls in Ol. 88. 4, and fixes the date of the inscription, or at any rate of the decree, to this year ; it probably belongs to the first half of it (the last half of B.C. 425). Once more,
1 A fpdfjifjiaTfvs, or registrar to the 0ov\rj, was appointed by lot in every Prytany. The registrar of the first Prytany is often named, as here, to mark the year.
xxxvi THUCYDIDES
1. 47 ft. : ' The senate fixed the tribute of the cities in the year of which Pleistias was the first Registrar, in the Ar- chonship of Stratocles, as follows.' Then comes a long list of tributary cities, divided (as in some of the quota lists, see infra) into 4 classes : (i) the Islanders ; (2) the Ionian and Carian cities; (3) the Thracian ; (4) the Hellespontian cities. The list is very imperfect, and the payments imposed on the allies are still more so. The sums to be paid by the Islanders, n?o-iomKos <f>6po<>, and the names to which they are appended, are the most complete part. The names of one Ionian city and of twelve Carian (four of the Carian cities occurring nowhere else\ with their tribute, are also preserved. A fragment recently discovered, fitting into part of the inscription previously known, gives us the tribute of seventeen Thracian cities, six of which, as well as two occurring on the part previously known, are found in no other list. (See C. I. A. 37. Suppl. iii.) Of the Hellespontian tribute there are a few doubtful memoranda ; of Thracian and Hellespontian names there are several, and many more Ionian and Carian, but unfortunately the amount to be paid is lost ; and there are some sums with no names, or only fragments of names opposite to them.
I. ii. The quota lists, like the T<££IS ^opov, are very im- perfectly preserved. They are made up of many small fragments; the number at present discovered is about 150. The first of them belongs to the year 454 ; the last dated to the year 421 B.C. But from 435 to 421 inclusive we have no list approaching completeness, and only three extensive fragments (428, 427 or 426, and a year between 431 and 426). The portion of them with which the series commences was originally inscribed on a single rectangular block of Pentelic marble; this ends in 440. Another, engraved on a similar block but more incomplete, extends from 439 to 432 B.C. The other extant lists are engraved on tablets. A gradual change in the form of the letters is observable in the successive years. While the more
INSCRIPTIONS xx.xvii
archaic nowhere appear in them, the forms AA&A/F^CD still for a time remain, sometimes varying in the same in- scription, sometimes recurring later than the more modern forms (KChler, Delisch-Attischcr Bund, p. 4 ; Roberts, Epigraphy, p. 102). An inscription which has been dis- covered since the time of Boeckh enables us to correct two erroneous conclusions which he drew: (i) IK- placed the commencement <>f the series in 447 B.C. instead <>f 454 . he estimated the quota paid to the Godde» as , \n instead of ,.,',,. The inscription which gave us the facts (C. I. A. 260) contains the words ?ipxf &* 'Afliyrai'ots 'A/mrn'«.ir : and
eV! TT/S TCTu/m/s KUI T/j[iuKorrn/s <VxT/s °* TptaKOJ-ra aWc/^ rips JarapXVp rrj #€U>, /xmr UTTO Tor TaXm^TOv].
Of these two great monuments we may remark that tin y have scarcely any connexion with each other. One relates to a single year, the other extends with considerable gaps over a period of 33 years. The TU£S 0o/>oi- contains only the tribute to he paid by most of the Islanders, some of the Thracian cities, and a small part of the assessments made on the lonians, Carians, and Hellespontians. The quota lists contain accounts more or less complete in different years of all these ; they are in some years nearly perfect, so that we cannot suppose many cities to be accidentally wanting in them. Of those presumed to be subsequent to the TU£IS <J>6pov (see p. xlv) we have <>nly fragments of which little can be made. Nor are we certain that if both had been completely preserved to us the quota lists would have agreed precisely (pa* ra/Wrror)
with the TU£I« (t><>i><>r. For the one is a record of the- sums actually received, or rather of a portion of them, the other is only an estimate of money which tin- Athenian magis- trates meant or expected to collect. Moreover, the rtt&s <£dpov contains more than fifty names or traces of names not mentioned in the tribute lists, and these of course contain many not found in the TU£S 4>opov.
The passages in Thucydides which relate to the tribute are live in number.
xxxviii THUCYD1DES
(1) i. 96. 'Thus the Athenians by the good-will of the allies, who detested Pausanias, obtained the leadership. They immediately fixed which of the cities should supply money and which of them ships for the war against the Barbarians, the avowed object being to compensate them- selves and the allies for their losses by devastating the King's country. Then was first instituted at Athens the office of Hellenic treasurers (Hellenotamiae), who received the tribute, for so the contributions were termed. The amount was originally fixed at 460 talents. The island of Delos was the treasury, and the meetings of the allies were held in the temple.' This was the <f>6po<> imposed in the time of Aristides to which allusion is made in the treaty of 421 between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians (v. 18, see infra). The time at which the transfer of the treasury from Delos to Athens was effected is not mentioned in Thucy- dides or in any trustworthy writer : the sole authority on which the date rests is that of Justin (iii. 6. 4), who places the event after the return of the Athenians from Ithome, about 461. The year assumed by Kohler, 454, is a con- jecture not improbable in itself, but based solely on the fact that the series of the quota lists begins in that year (p. 99 ff., 107, 108).
(2) v. 18 med. ' The inhabitants of any cities which the Lacedaemonians deliver over to the Athenians may depart whithersoever they please and take their property with them. The said cities shall be independent, but shall pay the tribute which was fixed in the time of Aristides.'
(3) i. 99 init. ' The causes which led to the defection of the allies were of different kinds, the principal being their neglect to pay the tribute or to furnish ships, and, in some cases, failure of military service. For the Athenians were exacting and oppressive, using coercive measures towards men who were neither willing nor accustomed to work hard. And for various reasons they soon began to prove less agreeable leaders than at first. They no longer
INSCRIPTION xx xix
fought upon an equality with the rest of the mm. and they had no difficulty in reducing them when they revolted. Now the allies brought all this upon them- selves; for the majority of them disliked military service and absence from home, and so they agreed to contribute their share of the expense instead of ships. \Yh<rel>v tin Athenian navy was proportionally increased, while they themselves were always untrained and unprepared tor war when they revolted.' Cp. i. 19. 'The Athenians on the other hand after a time deprived the subject cities of their ships, and made all of them pay a fixed tribute, except Chios and Lesbos.'
(4) ii. 13 med. At the commencement of the war Peri- cles tells the Athenians that 'the state of their finai was encouraging ; they had on an average 600 talents of tribute coming in annually from their allies, to say nothing of their other revenue.'
(5) vii. 28 fin. Once more, after the fortification of 1 hcelea we are informed, 'It was at this time that they imposed upon their allies, instead of the tribute, a duty of five per cent, on all things imported and exported by sea, thinking that this would be more productive.' (See note /'// loco.)
In these passages nothing is said Un of the steps by which the tribute was raised from 460 to 600 talents ; or (b) of the increase or diminution at different times in the number of tributaries ; or (c) of the increase from 600 to 1200 talents mentioned in the Orators, a fact which has been doubted by Grote chiefly in consequence of the silence of Thucydides. If light can be thrown upon any of these subjects it must be obtained from inscriptions.
(«) and (/>). Thucydides says that 'the amount of the tribute was originally fixed at 460 talents.' From the quota lists it appears that the amount paid by the allies was altered in the years 450 and 446 B.C., the effect of the new assessments being occasionally to raise, but far more often to lower it, \\hilc in numerous cases it remained
xl THUCYDWES
unchanged '. Thasos, for example, was raised from 3 to 30 talents, while the Thracian Chersonese was lowered from 18 talents to i talent, paid by Agora, one of the eight small cities of the Chersonese which occur on the lists ; Ephesus from 7^ to 6 talents, Lebedus from 3 to i, Miletus from 10 to 5, Andros from 12 to 6, Colophon from 3 to i£, Phocaea from 3 to 2 ; and there is a net reduction, taking the two years 450 and 446 together, of over 30 talents in all on the cities of which the names and pay- ments have been preserved. We may conjecture that the rise in the Thasian tribute is due to the increased pro- ductiveness of the silver mines on the island or the restora- tion of those on the continent, or of territory there, see Thuc. i. 101. Such changes are also attributable to the rearrangement of the o-uireAetcu, or groups of cities which contributed in common. The Sermylians (Se/o/?vAo}s) in 447 pay 3 talents, but the Se/o/xvAi^s K<U <rvvTe\fi<> pay 5 talents in 445. The same cause obviously accounts in part for the extraordinary diminution of the tribute of the Thracian Chersonese, indicated above. Another cause which may have operated in this and similar cases is the occupation of certain districts by Athenian K\r)povx<>i, in compensation for which the tribute paid by the original owners may have been reduced. The reduction of the tribute of Andros after 451 from 12 to 6 talents may be explained in this way. It must be remembered, however, that for the details of the establishment of KXrjpovxiat we are often dependent upon late authors. Again, the average tribute between the years 446 and 440, for which years the lists are fairly complete, taken from 190 cities, amounts
1 [1° 45°> about 83 cities pay the same as before. ••17 ,; are lowered. ., 4 ,, are raised. In 446, about 100 „ pay the same.
M » 31 » are lowered (8 of them may have been lowered
in 450). >» » 4 » are raised.
(Busolt. Pliilologus, 41, pp. 704-713).]
to 423 talents and 3,070 drachmae, the quota to the Cioddess being 7 talents 351 drachmae, although we cannot be sure that so much was paid in any single year. It is alleged that, if we allow for defaulters, and remember that there are traces of a much larger tribute having been paid in earlier periods, this sum makes a near approach to tin 460 talents fixed by Aristides.
But how are these facts to be reconciled with the other statement of Thucydides that the Athenians, 'at the be- ginning of the war, had on an average 600 talents coming- in from their allies'? Then- are indications that the tribute of the cities was raised in or soon alter the \. ar 439, the net increase in the Thracian tribute being 17 talents, 2,100 drachmae '. Now the tribute lists are frag- mentary, and the sums set against the names of the allies are <>nlv extant in a part of them. We must acknowledge therefore that most of the inferences which are drawn from them might have been different or have appeared in a different light if the whole of the great inscription had been preserved. They are all ' subject to future dis- coveries '; and this particular inference is drawn only from the Thracian and from some of the Carian and Ionian cities ; while some cities, especially in Caria, disappear from the lists altogether, so that the increase in the pay- ment of others may have been no more than a compensa- tion for losses. A glance at the table of tributary si printed at the end of Kirchhoff, C. I. A. vol. i, will show how imperfect our information is ; and also that in many cases the payment remained the same, and in a few wa> lowered instead of raised. Hut, while recognizing this general uncertainty, we may admit with Kohler that there appears to be a rise in the amount of the tribute shortly before the commencement of the war ; this rise may explain the difference between 460 and 600 talents, especially if we suppose it to have continued during the years 435-431.
1 Busolt, Philol. 41, p. 657. VOL. I. d
xlii THUCYDIDES
for which our information is certainly imperfect. As however there is reason to think that not all the money paid into the Athenian treasury (see p. xxxiv above) was included in the tribute lists, we may, if the evidence of a rise in the tribute before the beginning of the war be thought too slight to explain the difference between 460 and 600 talents, resort to other hypotheses. [We may suggest with Busolt (Philol. 41, p. 703) that the annual instalments of the indemnity paid by Samos after the suppression of the Samian revolt were included by Pericles in his estimate of the <£opos derived from the allies : or more doubtfully with Beloch (Rhein. Mus. xxxix, p. 34 ff.) that some of the allies paid in whole or part by means of harbour duties or tolls not recorded at all on our quota lists : in fact by indirect taxation such as that which was substituted for the whole <£opos in 413 (Thuc. vii. 28).]
We are much more certain, however, of the general fact that the tribute was not a fixed sum, but liable to be increased or diminished on grounds at which we can only guess. It appears from the De Republica Atheniensium (wrongly ascribed to Xenophon, but dating from the period of the War preceding the Sicilian expedition), 3. 5, that new estimates were made out every fourth year : TO Se
/Aeyiorov €ipr)Tai TrXijv al resets rov fftopov' TOVTO Se yiyvercu W9 TGI TroXXa Si ITOVS Tre/xTTTov. As a rule they remained the same during the interval. They were originally framed in the first of the four Panathenaic years, but were after- wards transferred to the second (or from the third to the fourth year of the corresponding Olympiad), as appears probable from a comparison of the ra£ts <f>6pov (425) with the quota lists (454, 450, 446) (although it must be remem- bered that after the first fifteen years the latter become more fragmentary). The tribute lists show a succession of slightly varying amounts, not corresponding, at any time, exactly to the sum of 460, much less to that of 600 talents. (Compare the qualifying words us «rl TO TTO\V in the financial statement of Pericles, ii. 13 med.) The original amount
xliii
fixed l)y Aristides was ivniemhered at the peace of Ninas as setting a limit to the exactions of the Athenians.
Thucydides further tells us (i. 99) that some of the allies soon began to contribute money instead of ships uY.«. dvrl TMV j'cuii/ T^ iM'or/xfi'oi' (iruAoj/xu <f>((>tii'}, and we might 1 expected the total to be swelled by those additional contri- butions. Hut tlu- extant quotas only begin in the j 454 H.C., and the change from ships to money may have been completed In fore that time. Still a difficulty remains. For the tribute imposed by Aristides, instead of falling from 460 to 423 taK-nts, would have been proportionally increased; in other words, the defaulters in ships would have paid more money. All the allies, with the exception of the Lesbians and Chians, had been reduced to 'servi- tude' in the interval between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, and they had given up supplying ships to tin- common cause. We should expect therefore, unless their lands were transferred to Athenian citizens, as later in the case of Lesbos (iii. 50), that the allies who had once con- tributed ships would have increased the tribute recorded in the quota lists. The amount would have been swelled by large sums paid by the allies, made up both of penalties reimbursing the Athenians for the expenses of the war when they rebelled (cp. i. 101 tin., ^>I//ULUTU oiru «&f UVTIKU Tu£tt/tci'oi KOL TO Xrmruv <f>tfKiv), and of tribute exacted in lieu of the ships over and above the 460 talents. But there is no trace of any such increase. As from the first it was arranged that some were to supply money and others ships, it can hardly be supposed that the latter are included in the contributors to the 460 talents1. Nor is it
1 [This explanation is certainly inconsistent with a precise interpreta- tion of Thucydides' words in i. 96 tra^av as rt «5« -napixtiv TUV iru\twv
rrpui TVV frippapoi' KOI &? vaiis . . . *oi 'EAAqvoTa/x/cu rort s KaTtarrj ap\rj, oi i8t\oirro TUV tpupov OVTOJ ^a/>
<popa. 7jv 8' u irpwros (fxJpos ra\^(^ T(Tpa.K<j<ria rd\avra KCLI i£T]Koi>Ta. Still it is possible that Thucydides mav not intend to confinr the (pvpos Ta\0tis to the xPWara> an^ ^iat tnc expense of furnishing triremes v^/3i)^ara trd^arro di'Ti TWV ituiv TO iKvovptvov ucaAcu/ta tyipfii',
xliv THUCYDIDES
likely that the payments of the other allies were pro rata diminished, for the resources of the confederacy would have been proportionably impaired; i.e. the Athenians would only have had the same amount of money and no ships or compensation for losses in war.
Other questions arise to which we can give no answers. How and when were new states admitted? Why are subject states such as Samos after 439 B.C., and certain places cited as tributaries by Stephanus Byzantinus and the lexicographers from Craterus1 (Nymphaeum,— cp. NY in the ra£is <f>6pov, C. I. A. i. p. 23 — Dorus, Carene, Deira, Marcaei), not included in the quota lists ? Why do others, such as Melos, which we know to have been attacked in 426 by Athens without success, and Thera, which we naturally suppose to have been neutral as at the beginning of the war, occur in the ra&s <f>6pov ? Is it possible that tribute was paid of which no quota was dedicated to the Goddess, as we remark on the other hand that in some states (Methone, Aeson, Dicaeopolis) the quota to the Goddess continued to be paid when the tax had been remitted ? Nothing either in the history or in the inscrip- tions throws light upon these difficulties, which, though not insuperable, can only be matters of speculation.
(c) No mention occurs in Thucydides of the doubling of the tribute, a measure implied in the Orators, Andocides, De Pac. (iii.) 9, Aeschines, De F. L. (ii.) 186, who speak of above 1,200 talents coming in during the peace of Nicias; and attributed to Alcibiades by the Pseudo- Andocides (in Alcib. n).
There is nothing improbable in the fact itself. The measure could have been accomplished without risk either after the Athenian triumph at Sphacteria, when the Lace- demonian power was for a time paralyzed, or during the
i. 99 in the case of the cities, probably not numerous, which furnished triremes at first, may be included in the 460 talents.] 1 Muller, F. H. G.. vol. ii. pp. 617-622.
xlv
peace of Nicias. The increase in the tribute would also account for the abundance of money which Atlun> is recorded by Thucydides to have possessed immediately before the Syracusun expedition. And, although the authority of the Orators is in general not great, it may be argued that Andocides was contemporary with the change, and that then is no reason for questioning his testimony to a fact which must have been notorious at the time. (But are we certain that the oration De 1 is genuine ?)
Many writers have spoken of this question as hitherto doubtful, but now finally determined by tin- evidence of the monuments. In the note on v. 18, in the first edition of this work, it was assumed, on their authority, that the rdfa <J>nf>ov furnished a convincing proof of a great increase of the tribute in the year to which it relates; an independent examination of the TU&S and a comparison of the quota lists show that the additional evidence, has been greatly overstated, and that the fact still remains, as far as the testimony of inscriptions -goes, unproven.
The reader may be once more reminded, (i) that the TU£IS <f>6fMH' is an estimate of the whole tribute to be received in the single year JH; ; and that it contains in anything like a complete form only the r,/<r«.mKos <f>of><><>, or tribut the Islands: it also gives us the tribute of eight Carian, one Ionian, and as many as nineteen Thracian cities ; and one short fragment of uncertain value-, supplemented by another short fragment, relating to the 1 lellespontian tribute ; (2) that the quota lists (though with several lacunae) extend over more than thirty years. Five small fragments (C. I. A. i. 251, 262, 263; C. I. A. Suppl. iii. 272, <-/./.) are assigned to the same date as the ra£s fa'tfmv, or to a date somewhat later, on the ground of the extensive variations which they present when compared with the earlier quota lists. A few other fragments are extant of later date, but they throw no light on the present question. (One of these, 258, is supposed to belong to the
xlvi THUCYDIDES
last years of the war ; another, 260, supplies the date of the whole series of quota lists. See p. xxxvii.)
The facts are as follows.
The Ionian tribute, of which some record is preserved in these later fragments and in the rdgis <j>6pov, exhibits a rise from 9 talents 2,600 drachmae to 18 (or 27) talents ! 2,100 drachmae. But (i) this calculation is made on a very inadequate basis, for only 9 out of 36 or }th of the pay- ments of the Ionic cities can be compared with previous payments ; and (2) the difference is more than accounted for by two cities : Clazomenae raised from i| to 6 or 15 talents, Miletus raised from 5 to 10 talents. On the other hand, Colophon is lowered from i| talents to 500 drachmae. And the one Ionian city, Elaeus in Erythraea, which appears in the ra£is <f>6pov, pays TOO drachmae as before.
A short memorandum of the Hellespontian tribute occurs in the ra£is <}>6pov~. It is a mere fragment, or rather we have two fragments, belonging to different inscriptions or different parts of the ra£is (for they over- lap), of which one has been restored by conjecture from the other. They are as follows : —
1 [Clazomenae appears in two of the fragments of the tribute-lists thought to be later than 425 ; in one it pays 6 talents (C. I. A. iv. Suppl. iii. 272 a), in another 15 talents (C. I. A. i. 251). The tribute of Erythrae seems also to have been raised (it paid 12 talents according to 272 «), but as it is impossible to be certain what it paid since 440 (7 talents) it has not been taken into account above.]
2 [C. I. A. 259, containing a great part of the Thracian and Helles- pontian tribute, is almost certainly earlier than 425 : see Busolt, Philol. 41, p. 695 ff. It contains the names and payments of twenty-two Thracian and twenty-four Hellespontian cities; the Thracian tribute being slightly greater than the previous payments which we can trace ; the Hellespontian tribute showing a rise of about 14 talents in the cities of which a record is preserved, chiefly due to a large and perhaps exceptional increase in the payments of three or four. As none of the Thracian cities which revolted in 432 occur among the twenty-two cities in the list, it probably belongs to one of the years 431-426, not however to 428, for which the list is extant.]
xlvii
(i) C. I. A. 37. z" (the lower portion): EUUE . nONTIO4>OD £4>AUA. ON
~AIAIPOUE£ 'TANTAN PO ITr NE£G
(2) C. I. A. 543, and Suppl. i. : — KE4>
HHF AKTA
II 7i»)/\t(S \
TT "AiTui'[8pos f
(295 talents 5300 drachmae) Cp. Thuc. iv. 52, 75.
The restored inscription, supposing the conjectural restoration of the fragments to be admitted (and the y certainly exhibit a curious coincidence) !, would prove that the Hellespontian tribute amounted to 295 talents 5,300 drachmae. But the whole tribute calculated upon the lists of 446-440 was only about 80 talents ; calculated upon tlu- list (259) referred to on the preceding page, there is no reason to think that it amounted to more than 100 talents. The increase, therefore, would be at the rate of 3 to i, not of 2 to i.
1 [But for C. I. A. 543, we might with Beloch, Rheinisches Museum. xxxix. p. 42, restore 195, not 295, talents in C. I. A. 37.]
THUCYDWES
If the total of the Hellespontian tribute, as assessed in 425 B.C., really amounted to this great sum, we may suppose the cities of the Pontus to have been included in it : of four at least of these we find traces in the ra£ts <£opov, NY[M4>AION], KEP[A£OY£], PAT[>AEY£], Nl- K[ANIA] (C. LA. 37 z"" and z'"", and Kohler, pp. 74, 75). The magnitude of the amount and the conjectural basis on which it rests raise a suspicion : and, even if the sum was assessed, we may doubt whether anything like it was really paid.
The Thracian tribute, as assessed on a new fragment fitting on to the last two lines of C. I. A. 37. z" quoted above (C. I. A. iv. Suppl. iii. 37), presents a striking contrast to the Island tribute. Nine small towns out of the seven- teen contained in it can be compared with earlier lists l. Instead of paying 3 talents as before, they are rated at only 3,130 drachmae, just over half a talent. The tribute of one is doubled ; of one, lowered from 500 to 100 drachmae ; four remain as before. Gale, which had previously paid half a talent, Singus and Mecyberna, which had previously paid a talent each, are assessed at the nominal sum of 10 drachmae'2. Six cities, on the other hand, occur which are not found elsewhere : of these, one is rated at two talents, and two others at a talent each.
The Carian tribute is obtained from the ra£is <f>6pov, which is compared with the quota lists of previous years, and from three fragments of the quota lists, C. I. A. 261-263. The contributions of the towns admitting com-
1 Another, Potidaea, is rated at 1000 drachmae ; but we cannot fairly compare this sum (imposed on the Athenian tiroiKoil) with the 15 talents paid in 436, before the revolt and reduction of the town and the expul- sion of the previous inhabitants.
3 Cp. Keria in the npriamiros <p6oos, rated at 10] drachmae. These cities may only have been expected to pay an wapx*) like Methone (p. xxxiii .
xlix
pari.-.on arc fixed in the earlier quota list* at 15 Ul 5,030 drachmae, in the fragments of quota lists supposed to be later and in the TU£IS <f>6pov at 23 talents 500 drachmae.
This is the whole sum imposed upon seventeen cities, of which nine are found in the quota lists, seven in the Ta£ts <t>6pov, and one in both ; the increase being confined entirely to the quota lists, which show a rise from 13 talents to 20 talents 2,000 drachmae, while in the <j>opov compared with the earlier quota lists there is on the whole a very slight decrease, \r/.. from 2 talents 5,530 drachmae to 2 talents 5,500 drachmae. But tin- cut {re- calculation rests on an insufficient basis, the names and payments legible being only 17 out of 68.
Lastly, we have the Island tribute, which is obtained from the comparison of the -m^? <£o>or alone with the earlier quota lists. From this comparison we find that the tribute is about doubled ; it increases from 51 talent- 4,800 drachmae to 109 talents 5,000 drachmae2, and several small cities or islands, appearing in no previous list, some of which probably contributed before 425 in combination with larger places, are assessed at a sum of a little over 6 talents, besides Melos, assessed at 15 talents. But hen again the comparison rests on insufficient grounds, though considerably fuller than any of those which have preceded. For the names and assessments of 16 places out of 26 still legible. And this is in fact the main argument : 'The IV/O-HOT/MXJ <£dpos, of which not quite two-thirds has 1 preserved tons, is more than doubled ; the accounts of the other tributaries, if they were preserved, would show that they had been raised in a nearly similar proportion4.'
1 lalysus cannot fairly be taken into account, see Busolt, Rhein. Mus. 41, p. 700.
•' Omitting both Chalcis and Eretria, the previous payment of which is not quite certain, but including Siphnos, which Husolt omits.
3 Omitting from Kirchhoff's list Hcstiaea and Acgina ^now clcruchies . and Lemnos ( = Hephaestia and Myrina\ but adding Geraestus.
1 [An interesting fragment of a quota list 'C. I. A. iv. Suppl. iii. 27. containing sums actually paid by eight of the Islands has been assigned
1 THUCYDWES
The figures which form the basis of these calculations are taken from the table of tributary cities and the amount paid by them at the end of Kirchhoff, C. I. A., vol. i, cor- rected from Busolt's article in Philologus 41. It is an element of uncertainty which must not be overlooked, that owing to the incomplete state of the tribute lists we can often only compare the rdfa of 425 or the tribute recorded in the later fragments with the tribute actually paid many years before. And there is no year for which we have both an estimate and the sum actually paid.
Let us now consider the nature of the proof, or rather want of proof, that pervades the whole argument :—
(1) None of the comparisons are made upon an adequate basis, being taken only upon about £th (Ionia), £th (Caria), 5 (Islands) : while for the Hellespont we have a question- able total without items, and for Thrace some 9 or 10 out of 30 or 40 cities, estimated not at double, but at about one-sixth of their previous payment.
(2) None of the totals exhibit an exact ratio of 2 : i.
(3) The whole number of cities which furnish the increase is only 51. Of these 7 are precisely doubled ; and 15 pay the same tribute as before.
(4) The irregularity in the increase of the tribute in the states of which the names and payments are preserved to us makes it impossible to argue with any degree of certainty from them to the states whose names and pay- ments are unknown to us. And the comparison of the earlier quota lists shows that extensive, and to us inexplic- able, changes in the amount paid were not uncommon.
The various fragments of the quota lists which have been referred to above are only dated later than 425 on
to a date later than 425, because Cythnus pays a quota on 6 talents as in the rd£is <p6pov, instead of 3 as before, and Ceos, Paros, and Naxos pay a quota on 6, 18, and 7 talents respectively, instead of 4, i6i, and 6|. If this be the case, and if the fragment belongs to one of the years soon after 425, the ra£»s </>opov was very imperfectly carried out, for in it Ceos is rated at 10, Paros at 30, and Naxos at 15 talents ]
the supposition that the Ionian and Carian, as well as the Island tribute, was greatly raised in that year '. Thu>, apart from the uncertain and startling I lellespontian total, and from the perplexing Thracian list, the argument turns on the probability that the assessments of the other states were raised in the same proportion as those of the Islanders. It may be argued in reply to what is only a presumption that the Island tributaries were more completely under tin- control of the Athenians, and more likely to have had their tribute raised : a glance at a map of the Athenian empire will show that they formed the 'home circle' of it.
Thus we are driven to the conclusion that the uncer- tainty respecting the doubling of the tribute has not been entirely removed. It is very probable that the Athenians as they increa>ed in power increased their demands on the allies. It is more probable than not that Andocidr- (granting the genuineness of the De Pace) was right when he implied that the tribute had increased from 600 to 1,200 talents, for the increase must have taken place in his own time *. Neither he nor any one else B that the tribute was doubled in 425 ; his statement would be satisfied if the Athenians were receiving 1,200 talents from their allies at any time during the peace of Nici Nor is the argument from the silence of Thucydides against this supposition of any weight. His manner of writing is so different from that of a modern historian, that it is difficult to argue beforehand what events or measures he would have inserted in his history, and what he would have omitted. All these probabilities remain as they were before. But not much can be added to the argument from
1 [May not some of them belong to the period 435-431 ? Cp. p. xli. and C. I. A. 251.]
2 The Pseudo-Andocidcs jn Alcib., n) cannot be right in attributing: the measure, if it took place in 425, to Alcibiades, whose political influence cannot as yet have been sufficiently great.
3 Cp. Plut. Aristides. xxiv 'HtpiicMovs 5' airoOavovros iiriTtivovrfs
i Kara p.iKpov ils xjAiW «cu rpiaitoaiojv raXavrtav Kt<f>a\aiov
Hi THUCYDIDES
an examination of the inscriptions ; except as regards the Islands they leave the question nearly as it was.
One other statement remains to be discussed. It is asserted with confidence by Kohler (p. 129) that the quota lists contain mention of arrears. This assertion rests (i) on the fact that the names of certain states occur twice or even oftener in the same lists, being those of the fifth and eighth years ; and further (2), in the sixth and eighth lists some coincidences appear of defects and excesses in the payment. Abdera, for example, in the sixth year pays a quota of 1,400 drachmae to the Goddess, 100 drachmae less than the ordinary payment : in the eighth year there is no entry of a larger payment, but a small sum of 100 drachmae is recorded. It is inferred therefore that, while the regular payment is lost or effaced, the 100 drachmae represent the arrear of the sixth year. In like manner the ordinary payment of Thasos is 300 drachmae, whereas in the sixth year the treasury of the Goddess only acknow- ledges the receipt of 246 drachmae. But there appears in the eighth year a single payment of 54 drachmae credited to Thasos. This again is explained as an arrear, 246 drachmae and 54 drachmae = 300 drachmae. Once more, the whole payment of Dardanus in ordinary years is 100 drachmae. But Dardanus is found paying 46 drachmae in the sixth year and 54 in the eighth year. Upon these three coincidences the theory of arrears seems chiefly to rest.
We may assume that there is some explanation of the same names recurring more than once in the lists. But it does not follow that the explanation can be discovered in the extant lists with any degree of certainty. To the theory of arrears several objections maybe made, (i) The alleged coincidences are only found in three instances. Thirteen other instances are cited by Kohler as of more or less weight ; but in three of these the payment of the sixth year is fragmentary ; in two the payment of the sixth year only, in eight the payment of the eighth year only, is preserved ; so that there is no possibility of comparison.
JNSCRIPT/ONS liii
(2) In four of the entries belonging to the eighth year we find the names recorded not twice but only once ; and we conjecture from the smallness of this payment that the regular tribute must have found a place somewhere else. But of this there is no evidence. (3) In the three principal instances the arrears supposed to be paid up belong not to the previous year, but to the year before that. Are we to suppose that there was first of all a part payment and an arrear, then a full payment in the following year, and in the year after that a full payment with the arrear paid up? May we not suggest that if the quota lists had been perfect this and some other inferences which have been drawn from them would disappear ? (4) There is some presump- tion that the arrears of the quota, if they entered into the accounts at all, would be more numerous ; and (5) that they would be described under a separate heading. In the quota list of 427 or 426 a few cities appear under a heading which, as restored, runs
[ (f><>pov T]OL d
Another almost equally probable explanation of the repetition may be gathered from the quota lists them- selves. The names of several cities occur twice over in the years 440, 439, 437, 436, 428, the first time for a larger sum, the second time for a smaller. Against the second sum is added the word cVu^opu?, or additional tribute. For example, in the Ionian quota (440) there is an entry of a payment from the Notians, 33 drachmae 2 obols, which is immediately followed by a second entry, — ' Norths cVt^opu? 5 drachmae 3^ obols.' There are in all about fourteen cities entered in this way, some of them more than once.
Cp. also in the ra£/s <f>6p<n\ t-V. 1. 5, €[TTI TU>] [e7Ti<£]opm'
[ re/Veii/]. It is perhaps worth observing that these entries all belong to a period later than the supposed arrears. It may also be remarked that amongst these repeated entries
Hv THUCYDIDES
occurs the following, — * AapScu^s 100 drachmae, eTTi^opas 4 drachmae 2 obols ; ' and that the name also occurs among the supposed arrears in the eighth year of the lists. It is evident then that other payments besides the </>opos are included in the quota lists, and it is possible that the sums afterwards called cin<j>opai were inserted in the earlier lists without a distinguishing note. What was the nature of these payments we cannot pre- cisely tell. They may have been arrears; or they may have been payments about which there was a dispute between the allies and the Athenians ; possibly they were dues or fines, or rather percentages of them, paid to the Goddess. One conjecture is as good as another. But, instead of offering conjectures which are gradually as- sumed to be certainties, it is better simply to acknowledge that the repetition of the same names in the same year, sometimes with, sometimes without the mark eTri^opa?, is a curious fact which remains unexplained.
Some lesser points of connexion between the inscriptions relating to the tribute and the narrative of Thucydides are the following : —
(i) The name of Melos occurs among the tributaries in the ra£is <£opov (B. c. 425). But Melos was not taken by the Athenians until the year 416 B. c. There is however no necessary discrepancy between the inscription and the narrative. The ra£is (f>6pov, as has been already remarked, is only an estimate of money to be received, not a record of actual payments, and therefore the sum set down may not have been received. In the preceding year the Athenians had made an attack on Melos (iii. 91), but without success. It may be conjectured that they there- upon inserted the name of the island in the ra£s <f>6Pov as a pledge to themselves of their own intention to enforce their demand : the events of 424-417 fully account for the delay. If the tribute was really paid by Melos, we must suppose Thucydides, who in his first enumeration of the allies (ii. 9 fin.) had described the Melians as not {<TTO-
lv
</>(>/>oi-, to have been ignorant «>f tin1 f.irt, since in that case he would not have spoken of the Athenians as failing in their attempt to force Melos into the alliance (iii. 91 init.).
(2) A sum of three talents (i. e. a quota of 300 drachmae) is said in the list (C. I. A. 257) for the year 427 or 426 to have been paid by the islanders of Thera ; and this is raised in the estimate of the TII£I« </>u/>m . .ji>5 B, C., to live talents. In C. I. A. 38, a decree- relating to the <^op»?, but of uncertain date or meaning, there occur the words
[efco-Jroj 8e /cat Sa/Aiot<» K<U <-)/;/ howing that both
were under some special regulation. Yet at the beginning of the war the Theraeans as well as the Melians are ex- cepted from the list of the Athenian allies (TTUO-CU at aAAut Kr/vAuSes TrAr/y MjjAor KIU H/y/xif, ii. 9 fin.), and were probably, like the Melians (v. 84), neutral. Now it seems impossible that a new tribute could have been imposed before the Pelo- ponnesian War on an island which is expressly excluded by Thucydides from the number of Athenian allies and tributaries. But it is not unlikely that at some time in the course of the war the island ma}' have been conquered by the Athenians, or may have submitted to them, and that Thucydides may either have forgotten the fact or have not thought it worth mentioning. It is possible also that both Melos and Thera may have been original members of the Delian confederacy, and, though not included in her regular tributaries, may have made some payment to Athens.
(3) In the account of the expedition against Cyprus (Thuc. i. 112) the Athenians are said to have left Citium in consequence of the death of Cimon, and also of a famine which occurred. It is observed by KoTiler (p. 130) that the year of this famine (449) coincides with the year of a defalcation in the tribute money, viz. the arrears of the sixth year just discussed. But the defalcation is itself uncertain, and it is very doubtful whether there is any trace here of a real coincidence. For the famine is in Cyprus, but the supposed defalcation is about the shores
Ivi THUCYDWES
of the Aegean extending to the Hellespont. Such an attempt to piece one fragment of knowledge with another seems to arise only out of the slenderness of our materials.
(4) Among the facts which we learn with certainty from the tribute lists is the division of the <f>6po<s into the
EAA^o-TTorrto? <f>6po<s, CTTI ®pa.Kr)<s or ®pa/aos
0o/305, and Nr/o-tomKo? <£6po9. The earlier lists have no regular arrangement, or only a very rough one. E. g. at the beginning of the sixth list the Narisbareans of Caria or the adjoining countries, the Tenedians, the Gentinians of the Troad, the Stagirites, the Cerameans of Caria, the Camireans of Rhodes, the Halicarnassians, the Myrinaeans of Lemnos, and the Mecybernaeans of Chalcidice follow each other.
After the ninth list the geographical division prevails ; and in the twelfth and subsequent lists (from 443 B. c.) the cities of each division are headed by the titles 'Iwnxos <£6po<?, etc. Between 440 and 437 the Ionian and Carian tribute is united (C. LA. 244\ many Carian cities appearing for the last time in our extant lists about the same date. The names of the different states are placed under their re- spective heads, but no geographical or other order is observed, nor do the same names follow each other in successive lists. We seem to find traces of the division in Thucydides, ii. 9 fin. : aXXat Tro'Xeis at uTrortXtis ovo-at iv fOvfo-L Tocroto-Sc, Kapia 17 €7rt 0aXa<r<rr/, Atopies Kapo-t TrpdVoiKOi, luma, EXX^o-TroiTos, TO, CTTI ®pa/c^?, vfjcroi. oVai evros HeXoTTovvrjcrov KCU Kpr/TT/s Trpos ^Xioy rli't'cr^oj/ra, Tracrcu ai aXXat Ki'/cXaSes TrXr/v ^l7/Xov» Kal ©7/pa?.
(5) A fragment containing a very full list of the Thracian cities was referred by Kohler to Ol. 87. i, and was thought by him to prove that Potidaea, Olynthus, Spartolus, and other cities which revolted in that year (432) must have paid tribute just before the revolt took place. The rearrangement of the stone by Kirchhoff, who puts the list back to 436 (Ol. 86. i), puts back also the record of the payment.
AY^CA'// '/Ye Ivii
I low the tribute to be paid by each city was fixed we do not know with certainty. At tin- end of the later after 437 H. t . a few cities occur under tin- headings
ni'-'ii (JHtfxn' Tu£u//er<u and —oAeiv •• c'rai'
<t>tfxn'f and in a fragment which may belong to a quota list or to a ru£is <£o/>oi ( Kohler, p. 82, No. 7 ; ('. I. A. 266) occur the headings —
as T)] fior\i) *<n n't TTC i T« *;o'(no[i]
Ot 7yAtaOTat €T|"
Kohler, pp. 66, 136, comparing these headings with the fragment of tin- T./'^S- </>op»r of 425, and with a report of the ^^ifT/Aa of Tisamenus jiroviding for the revision of the ancient laws after the tall of the Thirty (Andocides, DC Myst. 83), and of a law preserved by Demosthenes (c. Timocr. 20 flf.), concludes that after the vote of the mbly ordering a T<I£I<J to take place the amounts to be imposed upon the cities were iixed in the first instance by a board of nimn (numbering 10, Kohler ; 8, Kirchhoflf, ( . I. A. 37). The tribute as proposed by them was then discussed and passed in the senate, before which any private person (i&om;?) might propose amendments (rp. the iln'i<f>i(Tfjm of Tisamenus, efctVai <5c /cat tikwrg TW /SovAo^Ury
fHTtni-Ti ei'f T>;I' fi<n-\i)i' rrr/y/^orAcrcu' o n i t\'/ -f//
i-«i//oir\ and there was an appeal to a court of 500 die, who might grant claims fora diminution of tribute made by the cities themselves (TrdAei? a»'W : cp. <J>of>ov or ai> 7r«'(i"> ' AOyrtiinrs, p. Ixxxvi, infra).
[Later writers (Locschkc. De Titulis aliquot Atticis, p. 16 ; Busolt, Philol. 41, p. 658 flf., 669 ft'., partly follow- ing Boeckh) point out that the cities which fall under these two heads are all small, mostly lying in the Thracian district, and that some of them recur in more than one list, sometimes at an interval of several years. But it is unlikely that the same cities (and these small cities too)
VOL. i. e
Iviii THUCYD1DES
should successfully contest the Athenian assessment on different occasions. So that this circumstance points to some local reason for the special position of the TrdAas
avral <j>6pov Ta£afjifvaL and TroAcis a<s 01 iStomu tveypauj/av (fiopov
<J>fpeu>. The former may have been, for reasons at which we can only guess, allowed to fix (nominally at least) their own assessment. Similarly, the ISiwrai may have been private citizens of the states themselves ; though this is even more doubtful, for what status in such a matter could private citizens of other states than Athens have had ? See Frankel on Boeckh, Staatshaushaltung, vol. ii. p. 374 (616).]
A considerable fragment of a decree respecting the tribute is contained in C. I. A. 38, but no connected mean- ing can be elicited from it. Certain cities seem to be spoken of as defaulters, to whom commissioners are sent to exact the tribute. The names of those who pay the tribute are to be written up on a tablet by the Hellene- tamiae, and something is granted or done to 'both the Samians and the Theraeans ' (cp. above, p. Iv). There follows a mention of cTri/AtAi/rca, and of a general or generals. Any attempts made by citizens of the tributary states to evade the ' decree respecting the tribute ' may be prose- cuted before the cTri/ieA^/rat' ; the cTri/ucA^rcu are to bring them before the dicastery, the cases being of a class which had to be tried within a month (l/x/xr/i/oi). If the accused are condemned, the dicastery is to impose a penalty. Something not very intelligible is said about the election of collectors of the tribute (tKAoyek). According to another fragment of the same inscription (see C. I. A. 38 a Suppl. i.) defaulters are to be written up. If an unjust accusation is brought, the accuser is to be fined. If no proper sum- mons has been given, the senate is to settle the matter (KAT/cms, M*>FV«i CP- Aristoph. Av. 1422) : these ' sum- moners ' are also mentioned in the decree preceding the ra&s 4>6pov, C. I. A. 37 / g. 1. 28).
It is impossible to say whether the ^wr/m TO TO? <£dpov
INSCRIPTIONS lix
referred to in 38 f. 1. 10 is the r.i^/s </,• ;,,•,!• of 425 or not. For the date of the inscription is uncertain, and then a TU£IS <t>('>i><n- every four years.
I. iii. Another class of inscriptions illustrating Thucy- dides are the accounts of the treasures of Athene. They arc divided into three series : the first containing the treasures of the Pronaos, or eastern portico of the temple ; the second, the treasures of the Hecatompedon, or eastern chamber ; and the third, the treasures of the western chamber or Parthenon properly so called. The accounts, or, more correctly speaking, the inventories of these treasures, which were made up annually, commence in the year 434, and extend over nearly the whole of the Peloponnesian War, the account of the treasure of the Parthenon lasting, with gaps, up to 411 ; that of the Pronaos up to 407; that of the Hecatompedon, with gaps, t<> 413 : there are a few later fragments of it.
Pericles, in estimating the resources of the Athenians, includes among their treasures, besides the 6,000 talents of coined money in the state treasury (ii. 13), ' uncoined gold ' and silver in the form of private and public offerings, ' sacred vessels used in processions and games, the Per- ' sian spoil, and other things of the like nature, worth at ' least five hundred talents more. Then- were also at their ' disposal, besides what they had in the Acropolis, consider- 'able treasures in various temples. If they were reel1 ' to the last extremity, they could even take oft" the plates 'of gold with which the image of the Goddess was over- ' laid : these, as he pointed out, weighed forty talents, and 'were of refined gold, which was all removable. They ' might use the gold taken from the Goddess in self- ' defence, but they were bound to replace all that they had 1 taken.'
These inventories are for the most part repetitions of each other. Each of them, except the last inventory of the treasures of the Pronaos (see below), is headed by a regular form of words, e.g. 'These things the stewards
e 2
Ix THUCYDIDES
' of the sacred treasure of Athene, Eurectes of Atene and ' his colleagues, to whom Apollodorus the son of Critias 'of Aphidnae was registrar, handed over to the stewards 'to whom Diognis the son of Isander of the Piraeus ' was registrar ; having received them from the previous ' stewards to whom Euthias son of Aeschron of Anaphlys- 'tus was registrar.'
'In the Pronaos.' — (C. I. A. 119.) — Then follow the actual inventories.
In the first year however of each Panathenaic period the treasures are said to be handed over to the stewards of the year by ' the officers of the four preceding years, who gave in their accounts from one Panathenaea to the next.'
During the twenty or thirty years over which the lists extend they gradually increase in length (in the language of the inscriptions, excreta eTreye'veTo — ' these are additions of the year ') until the final collapse. They are silent witnesses to the growth, decline, and fall of the first Athenian empire, the last record of the treasures of the Hecatompedon appearing in a fragment which is assigned on palaeographical and other grounds to a year subse- quent to 405 B. c.1 The inventories reappear a few years later, though the form of them is different ; only a few of the articles previously mentioned are found, and many of those catalogued are described as ' out of repair.'
The treasures consisted of gold and silver plate, bowls, cups, crowns, horns, couches, tables, chairs, censers, baskets, of gilded and golden as well as of silver and plated articles, and of arms. We find among them a gilded lyre, four ivory lyres, a flute case, a 'figure of a girl upon a pillar,' a 'horse, a griffin, the face (or fore- part) of a griffin, a griffin, the head of a lion, a necklace (or wreath) of flowers, a dragon ; all overlaid with gold.'
1 See C. I. A. i. p. 72 b, partly corrected by C. I. A. iv. Suppl. i. p. 26. n. on p. 55.
INSCRIPTIONS Ixi
The entire value of them, as far as can be estimated by their weight, is not great, probably not exceeding at the beginning of the war ten to twenty talents, to which must be added a moderate sum for the workmanship \ A sample of the character of these treasures will be given by the last inventory of the articles contained in the ll/i. Ol. 93. 2, 407-406 B.C. If we can trust a very conjectural restoration, which however derives some support from the exceptional character of this last inscription, they arc recorded at the end of it to have been handed over to tin Hellenotaraiae, i.e. devoted to the purposes of the war, in the fnlldwiiiM- year, Ol. 93. 3. The Athenians however do not appear to have availed themselves to any considerable extent, if at all, during the time which the lists severally cover, of the resource hinted at by Pericl This inventory is as follows: —
u i silver bowls . . . weighing 2 tal. 432 drachmae.
3 silver horns ... .. 528 5 silver cups ... ,, 167 i silver lamp ... 38 7 silver bowls ... ,, 700
r golden crown (in a round case] .. 33 .. sohols.
•j silver bowls ... .. 200
4 silver bowls ... .. 329 i silver Clialeicliun cup . .. 40 7 silver bowls ... .. 920 i silver eup ... .. 40
4 silver bowls ... .. 420 7 silver bowls ... .. 643
3 silver bowls . . . .. 251 .,
i silver cup ... . 66
i silver lamp ... .. 22
3 silver vessels ... .. 294
5 silver vessels ... .. 413
i silver vessel ... ,, (la „
i silver cup ... .. 47
1 It would thus appear that the articles enumerated in these records form but a small part of what ma}* be termed the miscellaneous treasures of the Athenians, which arc estimated by Thucydides at 500 talents. These, however, include uncoined gold and silver, as well as many articles of value unweighed.
Ixii
THUCYDIDES
i silver vessel . i silver cup i silver vessel . j silver cup 4 silver vessels . i silver vessel . 4 silver vessels . 3 silver vessels . i silver vessel .
weighing 60 drachmae. 39 153 30 386 194 788 718 weight wanting.
Add for the difference between the value of gold and silver, estimated at 13 to i,1 in the case of the golden crown .
3tal. 2,063 » sobols.
402
3 » 2,465 M 5 »
C. I. A. 194-225 are a very fragmentary series of the accounts of the 'other deities/ in which the names occur of Hephaestus, Poseidon ITTTTIOS, and Poseidon of Sunium, Here, Dionysus, the Mother of the Gods, Zeus, Artemis 'E/ccm; and Artemis 'Ayport'pa, Apollo, and some Attic heroes (cp. C. I. A. 273). As to the amount or character of the treasure little can be made out : a ' tenth from the sale of captives,' [B^fKarrj avSparroSw, is dedicated to Artemis 'Ayporepa. That the series begins before 429 is proved by words which occur in one of the inscriptions (194) :—
[em *Eiraytcf]
vovos apxovros, (B.C. 429)
and —
Trapa roil/ 7r[pOTepa)i/
It may be worth observing (cp. Newton and Hicks, p. 47) that the words in the financial statement of Pericles
TO, €K TUJV oXXwr Uptov 7rpo<rcTt$€i ^pi//xaTa OVK oXt'ya are not
necessarily connected with TWV aAAoov Ocwv in the expression ra/uou TOJV SXXxav Otw. For Thucydides is speaking of temples 'other than those on the Acropolis/ or 'other
1 Hdt. iii. 95. C. I. A. i. p. 160, iv. Suppl. iii. p. 146, show that the ratio (which of course varied as it does now; was higher, viz. about 14 : i, shortly before the beginning of the Peloponnesian war.
Ixiii
than the Parthenon.' (Of temples on the Acropolis besides those of Athene, Thucydides speaks in ii. 15,
T<\ ynfi l(fn\ tr UI'TT) Ttj uK'poTroAei KU< uAAfor PCM? e<rr/.) IMlt the
treasures of the other deities were certainly at a later date, and perhaps at the beginning of the war *C. I. A. 32*. kept on the Acropolis and in the Parthenon.
I. iv. We will now pass to the inscriptions relating to the payment of debts to the temples and the expenditure of public money. Among them one of the most important is C. I. A 32 and Suppl. ii, a decree of the senate and people which, after mentioning the repayment of 3,000 talents to the Goddess, provides for a further repayment to ' the other deities' out of certain funds which had been already set apart for this purpose by a vote of the assembly. Part of these were in the hands of the Hellenotamiae, another part was to be obtained from a tithe of the produce of land, tolls, or spoils (?\ when let out or sold (?), TCI c\ TT}? 8eK-uTT?s cVei&ii' irpaOfj. The thirty AoyurW, or accountants, now in office are to calculate exactly the amount of the debt to the deities : these officers are to be called together at the discretion of the senate. (The T/UU'KOI-TU mentioned in the heading of the first and third quota lists are prob- ably identical with the XoyuiW, see Kohler, p. 106.) The money is to be paid back by the -/>iTuYe«j in the presence of the Senate, and all records of the debt are to be searched for and cancelled. The sum thus repaid is to be adminis- tered by ra/ucu. These are to be elected at the same time as the other magistrates, and in the same manner as the •HI//MU of the treasures of Athene. They are to receive the money of the other deities from other ra/Mtai, cVioraTai, and Iep>7roioi of different temples who administer it at present1, and to deposit it in the Opisthodomus of the Par- thenon. They are to register the amount belonging to each deity and to all collectively, and to keep an annual
1 I. c. after the vpvrartu have first paid it hack to its varion ministratorsf?\
THUCYDIDES
account from one Panathenaic festival to another, like the treasurers of Athene. Any surplus remaining after repay- ment is to be spent upon walls and docks.
The second part of the inscription is a decree passed somewhat later, which presupposes that the order has been given for the payment of the debt to the other deities mentioned above. Certain moneys belonging to Athene may be used in adorning the Acropolis, and repairing (or supplying) articles employed in processions. But not more than 10,000 drachmae are to be spent on this account ; and nothing at all for any other purpose without a previous vote of indemnity. The Hellenotamiae are regularly to deposit the proceeds of the <f>6po<i with the ra/xiat rfj<: 'Aft/rota?. (We cannot be quite sure whether this refers to the whole of the <£6>os, or only to the FVtn paid to the Goddess; cp. pp. Ixxvi, Ixxvii.) When the sum owing to the other deities is repaid, out of the two hundred talents set apart for the purpose, it is to be kept on the left of the oTrio-tfdSo/xog, and the money of Athene On the right : Ta[/ueveV0a> ra /xej/ TT)<S 'A^]vatas xP7/AtaTa [ev r<3] e:ri Se£ia rov O7rier[0o8d/«>v, TO, 8e ra»> aAAtov fljeaiv lv r<3 ITT
up[wrrep]a '. Those portions of the sacred treasure which have not been weighed or counted are now to be counted in the presence of the officers of the four previous years who gave in their account from one Panathenaic festival to the next ; they are to weigh such of them as are gold or silver, or silver plated with gold ... Here the words cease to be legible.
1 [It is a disputed question whether the Opisthodomus, in which the money under the control of the ra/zicu of Athene was kept, was the portico of the Parthenon west of the ' Parthenon ' properly so called, or was part of a temple of Athene of which the foundation still exists between the Parthenon and the Erechtheum, destroyed in the Persian War, and, according to Dr. Dorpfeld's theory, partially rebuilt afterwards and used as a treasury. See, for arguments on both sides, Harrison and Verrall, Athens and Attica, pp. 465, 502 ff. ; P. Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History, pp. 255, 256 ; and an elaborate criticism of Dr. DOrpfeld's theory in F razor's Pausanias, vol. ii. pp. 553-582.]
AY.sY AVP7Y' < Ixv
There is no indication of a date in this inscription, except what can be gathered from the writing: <nV has taken the place of £iV ; the later and shorter form of the dative plural, and also the longer form, both occur in it (ra/Atais as well as ra/xmo-t), the later dative implying a year in or after Ol. 90 (420-417). It is beautifully written on two sides of a stone slab, and was once the table of an altar. Boeckh places it in the year B.C. 418.
This inscription has been made the subject of an elabo- rate discussion by Kirchhoff(Urkunden der Schatzmeister der 'anderen Gutter/ Abhandl. der Bcrl. Acad. 1864, pp. 8-28, Athenischer Staatsschatz, pp. 21 ft*, 43 ft'., Berl. Acad. i8/6\ who refers it to a time before the Peloponnesian \Yar, and draws various inferences from it. The precise year to which he assigns the inscription is the first of the Panathenaic period, Ol. 86. 3-87. 2 (434-431), or the last year of the preceding period, when the accounts of the treasure were made up, and when changes in the regu- lation of it would most naturally take place. He arrives at this conclusion on grounds which will be hereafter examined. To reconcile this date with the character of the writing he has recourse to the supposition that, while the substance of the document belongs to the year 434, it was not written down until after 420. Here are two improba- bilities: (i) that a decree of the senate and people should not have been engraved during fifteen years • and (2) that it should have been engraved at the end of the fifteen years. Such an hypothesis would only be justified on the ground that there was no later date to which the inscrip- tion could be assigned, as in the case of C. I. A. 283; or on such palaeographical grounds as determine the date of C. I. A. 8. 93 ; or where, as in the case of C. I. A. 40, the interval is comparatively short and the arrangements made at the earlier date are still binding when they are recorded on the marble. But in the present case there is no necessity for any such hypothesis. The Athenians would have been quite as well able to repay a large sum to the
Ixvi THUCYDIDES
Goddess between B.C. 421 and 415, after a few years of peace, as before the commencement of the war. Kirch- hoff, having fixed the date of the inscription on other grounds, connects the payment of the 3,000 talents with the possession of 9,700 talents by the Athenians shortly before the war (Thuc. ii. 13 med.), and with the indemnity which they exacted from the Samians after the suppres- sion of the revolt. It is quite true that the Athenians must have been rich when they transferred so large a sum from one account to another. But they had recovered their wealth before the Syracusan expedition.
Kirchhoff argues that some words at the end of the inscription, in which provision is made for numbering and weighing some of the sacred treasures at that particular time (vvv), are a decree then for the first time establishing the inventories of the sacred articles of the temple, which com- mence in 434 and continue in a more or less fragmentary form down to the taking of the city (C. I. A. 117-173). Thus he imagines himself to obtain an accurate determina- tion of the date. But in reply it may be observed : (i) That the words of the inscription (32 ad fin.), TWV xp^arwi/ rw [tepwji/, seem to refer to the treasures of the Goddess and of the other deities mentioned in the words just preceding, which were kept or were henceforth to be kept in the oTrurflo'So/Aos ; why should we suppose a sudden transition to the treasures of the inventories which were kept in other parts of the temple ? (2) That a provision is made in the inscription for a weighing of the treasures. But several of the articles mentioned in the inventories were and continued to be unweighed. This seems to prove that the inscription has to do, not with the inventories, but with some other and more careful register of part of the sacred treasure. (3) The direction that only such of the treasures as are unweighed and uncounted are to be weighed would imply that there had been previous in- ventories. But, if so, the custom of having an inventory was not then established for the first time. (4) That the
J.\SCR/PT/O.\S Ixvii
inscription appears to speak of a single occasion only, and not of the establishment of an annual audit. It relates to the money paid in at that time, and to the plate, which is to be numbered and weighed in the presence of the magis- trates who are in the habit of accounting for it from time
to time — <''-PXaL a* €oY8o[<rtu' <Ut Tor Aoyor CK Ila.vja0rjva.iiin' t<»
IIu[m^,;. |ota (cp. C. I. A. 117. 1. i). Lastly, the fragmentary >tatr nf tin- concluding lines of the text n-ndrrs it perilous to draw inferences from it, such as are drawn by Kirchhoff respecting the relation which the inscription bears to the inventories. The whole argument rests on one of those apparent coincidences which but for the slenderness of our materials would never have been observed, and when examined more closely turns out not to be a coincidence at all.
More weight is due to the argument in favour of the earlier date derived from C. I. A. 194, in which rafuai rCtr aie mentioned as already existing [«r' *A/xei]- , in the year 429, that is if we could be sure that they were first established by the decree contained in C. I. A. 32. But, though there appears to be a special appointment of ra/xmt in this inscription, the wording of it
(rrapa 8c Tail' vi'V rafjudr KILL rtar eTrtrrruToJi' Kal Tair ic/>o7ro/«?ji' Tail'
iv TO?? tcpois 01 vrv &ia\€ipi£or(nt K.T.\.\ and indeed the very fact of nearly 200 talents having been borrowed, indicate that such Tu/ttaiwere already in exigence. And these may be referred to in C. I. A. 194 as rafuai rw uAAcm/ Otdv. However this may be, the argument is hardly sufficient to counterbalance the indications given by the writing. The utmost that can be conceded is that the earlier date (Kirchhoff) is as likely as the later (Boeckh). [Beloch, Rheinisches Museum, xliii. p. 113 ff., argues strongly in favour of the later date : chiefly on the ground that a loan of 3,000 talents from the treasury of the Goddess is far more likely to have been required during the first ten years of the war than during the time between the Thirty V. Peace and 434 B. c. With regard to the argument just
Ixviii THUCYDIDES
referred to, from the existence of ra/xiat TWI/ aXXwv Ocw at the date of C. I. A. 194, he observes that the enumeration of their names there, though incomplete, cannot have con- tained less than seven or more than five names : whereas C. I. A. 32 provides for the appointment of ra/ucu TWV aAAan/ #eun> by lot in the same manner as the ra/xiat rfjs 'A^i/cuas, probably implying that their number was to be ten, one from each tribe. If the later date be right, the minute statement of the sums borrowed from each of some eighteen ' other deities '—80 drachmae at an interest of half an obol from Heracles eV Kvroo-dpyft, 2 drachmae i| obols from Athene «rl HaXXaStu, at an interest which is lost,— repre- sents the carrying out of the instructions given to the Xoyio-rai in C. I. A. 32, and illustrates the difficulty of ' searching for and destroying ' the records of the debt (Beloch, I.e. p. H6)1.]
The sum of 3,000 talents repaid to the Goddess is supposed by Kirchhoff to be part of the great Athenian treasure which at some time before the Peloponnesian War had amounted to 9,700 talents (Thuc. ii. 13 med.). ' From this had to be deducted a sum of 3,700 expended on various buildings, such as the Propylaea of the Acro- polis, and also on the siege of Potidaea.' Of the 6,000 talents which remained at the commencement of the war 1,000 were set apart as a reserve, and not touched until after the failure of the Syracusan expedition in 413. The remaining 5,000 might be used in the service of the state.
Now in Thucydides, iii. 19, three and a half years after the commencement of the war, towards the end of 428 B.C., the Athenians are said to have sent out twelve ships to collect tribute among their allies in Lycia and Caria ; at the same time, or rather sooner, they imposed upon themselves a property tax of 200 talents. The two measures, accord-
Frazer, Pausanias, vol. ii. p. 561, accepts the earlier date, 435, partty because, the Parthenon being practically completed about the time, regula- tions for the storage of the treasure in the onifrdoSo^oi would be necessary.
J. \SCRIPTIO.\S Ixix
ing to Kirchhoff, Athenischer Staatsschatz, p. 26 ft"., show that they were in pecuniary distress. Before they would have submitted to tax themselves they must have ex- hausted their whole treasure. This is the keystone of the argument : ' If there had been anything left they would never have sent out an extraordinary expedition to exact money, or have raised out of their own incomes, for the first time in the war, two hundred talents.' Hence it i>, inferred that during the first three years of the war the whole of their reserve fund must have been expended. If we add to the .... 5,000 talents the annual increment of the sacred treasure, calculated by Kirch- hoff at 200 talents (see however infra, p. Ixxxiv, note ') . . 600 ,,
tribute for three years, at 600
talents a year .... 1,800 ,,
the whole sum spent in three years
i- 7,4°° ••
or annually ..... 2,466:: ,,
Leaving at this point the thread of the argument,to which we will return, we may illustrate the general character of Athenian expenditure by a few easy calculations : —
(1) A fleet of 100 vessels, carrying each the ordinary crew of 200 men, or 20,000 in all, could not have Ix < n maintained in the early part of the war, when the sailors' wages were high, viz. a drachma a day, at a less cost than 100 talents a month, besides the payments to officers and marines, and the cost of the hull supplied, as well as the pay, by the state. (Thuc. iii. 17, vi. 8. 31. Cp. Thuc. viii. 45, showing that the regular rate of pay after the Sicilian expedition was half this, 3 obols per man.)
(2) The heavy-armed soldiers who served in the siege of Potidaea received each man for himself and an atten- dant two drachmae a day (iii. 17). They numbered in the first expedition 3,000 men, in the second 1,600, who re-
Ixx THUCYDIDES
mained for only a part of the two years for which the siege lasted. Therefore under this single head an expenditure must have been incurred, while the whole 4,600 were on the spot, of more than a talent and a half a day, or at the rate of 532 talents in an ordinary year of 355 days. Thucy- dides expressly says that the siege cost 2,000 talents (ii. 70).
(3) The building of the Propylaea is said by Heliodorus to have cost 2,012 talents (Harpocration, s. v. p. 159).
(4) The six thousand jurymen of the court of Heliaea, if sitting at one time, would have received half a talent a day (the pay of each singly being 3 obols), or, if sitting for a month, 15 talents. Or, as Aristophanes (Wasps, 663) calcu- lates—in ' round/ and perhaps exaggerated, numbers— the expense of 6,000 jurymen for the year, sitting 300 days,—
yiyvcrai rj/juv e/curov ST/TTOU KCU TrtvTrJKovra. raXavra .
(5) It is possible that the pay for attendance in the eV/cXr/o-ia was introduced before the end of the war: we only know with certainty that it had been raised from
1 to 2 obols, and again, by its originator Agyrrhius, from
2 to 3 obols before the performance of Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae in 392 (Eccl. 300, [Aristotle] Athen. Polit. 41). Even if we calculate on the basis of 5,000 as a possible maximum attendance upon ordinary occasions (cp. Thuc. viii. 72), and suppose 50 sittings in each year, viz. the four regular meetings in each of the ten prytanies, and (say) ten extraordinary meetings, the yearly cost at i obol a day would not have amounted to 7 talents.
(6) The total pay of 500 senators at a drachma a day, sitting 300 days in the year, would amount to 25 talents.
Such estimates give a general idea of the scale of Athenian expenditure. They may also remind us that both on the creditor and debtor side of the account should be entered many elements of revenue and expenditure which can no longer be estimated.
We may now return to the calculation of Kirchhoff. It
1 Cp. Starkic, Wasps, Excursus vi.
INSCRIPTIONS 1 x x i
turns, as we have already seen, upon Thucydide^ iii. 19, a passage in which the Athenians are described as sending ships to Caria and other places lor the collection of tribute, having already raised a self-imposed tax of 200 tal- among themselves. Now he infers that they would not have taken extraordinary means of raiding money until their ordinary resources wen- exhausted. Yet -urely (i) a people, like an individual, may become alarmed at its financial condition long before its capital entirely comes to an end, and, having great dangers to face, may take extraordinary measures to meet financial difficulties before the exchequer ha-, hei-n emptied. (21 Such expedition-* were sent, not «m«v only, but many times in the course of the war, and even before, this time (Thuc. ii. 69, cp. also lv- 5°» 75 )» to collect money from cities which were in arrears or which did not regularly pay tribute, or to exact an extraordinary tribute from those which did1. But (3") if so, the argument for tin- great expenditure of the first three year.-, of the war falls to the ground. If there is no reason to assume that tin- Athenians were in extreme necessity when they sent out the squadron, neither is there any need to infer that they had spent at the rate of 2,466ft talents a year during the first three \ears of the IVloponnesiaii War. (4) The mere imposition of a property tax is far from proving any extreme necessity. It is a tax very likely to be imposed at all times by the growing power of a democracy on the rich, .
1 It cannot safely be maintained, on the strength «>t the doubtful passage in [Aristotle] Atlien. Polit. ^4 I'^a al roi/s tyupovs ayovaat (sec note in Sandy> . that the apyvpo\uyoi vrja collected the regular tribute: the regular tribute, as distinct from exceptional k \ i< •->. appears to have been brought to Athens by the allies at the Great Dionysia : Aristoph. Ach. 504
avTOt ")ap faptv oviri \Tjvaiqi T' afuiv,
Koviro) £tvot vdptiGtv' ovrt yap tpupoi
iJKOVOtV OVr' (K TUIV 1t(t\f(UV 01 £l>HIM\<Jl.
Schol. «iy bf TO. Aiovvffia trtra/cro 'Adrji'a^e Ko^uftiv raj iroAtis TOVS (popovs d't Ei/iroX/f <prjatv iv I]6\(Oiv,
Ixxii THUCYDIDES
ToAawrcopowrai /xttAio-ra (viii. 48 ink. ; Aristoph. Knights, 923 if.). (5) Kirchhoff is surely mistaken in supposing that the words of Thucydides, iii. 17, K<U ra xpiffM+a TOVTO ^uAio-Ta vTrai/uAwo-c /xera n<m&u'a?, imply that the reserve was exhausted. They might indeed have had this meaning if any statement of such exhaustion had been previously made. But as they stand they mean no more than ' this was the great drain upon the Athenian resources/ Again (6), supposing the Athenians to have used up their capital during the first three years of the war, it is hard to see how they supported the equal if not greater strain of the seven years which followed. Can we suppose that a prudent people would have depended merely upon the limited sum which could be raised by a property tax or upon the chance sums which were brought in from time to time by the exactions of apyvpoXoyoi 1/77*9 ? Whether the tribute was doubled in the year 425 or not, it is evident that the Athenians after a few years of peace enjoyed a plethora of wealth ; cp. Thuc. vi. 26, Andoc. de Pace,
(iii.) 8. 9, Sta ravTrjv rrjv elptjvrjv eTTTaKicr^iXta raAarra. i/o/xicr/jtaTos ets TTJV aKpo7roA.iv avTjvey/ca/Aei/. But would they in five or six years have risen to wealth from absolute bankruptcy, which must have been their state if during five or six years of war their treasury had been empty ?
Neither the notices of Thucydides nor any inscription hitherto found enable us to form a certain estimate of the total revenue or expenditure of Athens in any given year of the Peloponnesian War. We are at a loss to reconcile the words of Aristophanes, who (Wasps, 660) roughly estimates the income of Athens at 2,000 talents,—
rovrtav rAi|papui ro.Xa.vr cyyt-s Stcr^tXia yiyi/eTai rjfuv, — with Xenophon's statement (Anab. vii. i. 27) that at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War the Athenians had not less than 1,000 talents coming in yearly l. We cannot
1 ['With regard to the statement of Aristoph. Wasps, 660, 422 B.C. . . . , if we may venture to suppose that at that date the tribute amounted to
INSCRIPTIO Ixxiii
determine how far civil as well as military expenditure was defrayed from the treasures of the temples, or how far extraordinary expenses were defrayed out of ordinary resources: we do not know what was received from mi public lands, law Ires, harbour-dues, confiscations; how far tin- tribute may have risen above or fallen below 600 talents; or how much was brought in by u/>y lymAoyot nye?. \Ve cannot tell to what extent the Aen-or/jynu relieved the state finances of expenditure which has to be met by modern states. Neither do we know what was spent on temples and other public buildings, on theatrical perform- ances, sacred missions and festivals, on hulls of ships, siege engines, and other munitions of war, on the main- tenance of the orphans of citizens killed in battle, and other public expenses. We cannot therefore attempt to balance the accounts of the Athenian empire.
But Kirchhoffis quite right in supposing that there was a very large expenditure of capital in the first few years of the war, larger, as we gather from C. I. A. 273, than in the years which followed.
This important inscription, bearing on the preceding as well as on the following discussion, may here be con- veniently introduced. It contains an account, apparently drawn up by the Xoyumtt, of money paid out for the public service at different times from the treasuries of Athene Polias, Athene Nike, and of the other deities. The account is divided into two parts, one extending from Ol. 86. 4 to 88. 2 (433 to 427 B.C.) inclusive, the second from 88. 3 to 89. 2 (426 to 423 B.C.) inclusive. The total of the money borrowed during the first seven years from all these treasuries amounts to about 4,729 talents 2,625 drachmae 2 obols ; that borrowed during the last four
i, 200 talents' (which it may have done, in theory at least, but see p. li), ' that Aristophanes exaggerates, and lastly that the ov pfiov in Xcnophon is put by litotes for "fully i.ooo or more,'1 \ve may reconcile the state- ments of the two writers.' Gilbert, Greek Constitutional Antiquities, Knul. Translation I'rooks and Nicklin , p. 358, n, j. ' VOL. I. f
Ixxiv THUCYDIDES
years or irei/rcn/pis from the treasury of Athene Polias— the amount borrowed from the other treasuries, though not great, is uncertain— to about 747 talents 4, 178 drachmae, in all 5,477 talents 803 drachmae 2 obols. Interest is charged on the whole of this sum ; calculated, during the last four years, of which alone the accounts are preserved in detail, according to Boeckh, at the sooth part of a drachma for a mina per day, or at ii per cent, for the year : a merely nominal rate, especially when we remember that 10 or 12 per cent, was considered a low rate of interest (in the third century at least), and that 18 per cent, was an ordinary rate \
It may be observed (i) that this inscription affords an important evidence of the existence of a sacred fund which was also public (see infra).
(2) If the 3,000 talents repaid to Athene and the 200 to be repaid to the other deities, mentioned in the last inscription (C. I. A. 32), were repaid in the year 418, as supposed by Boeckh, it is probable that they were a repay- ment to the temple treasures of a part of the sums here set down as borrowed. Otherwise there is no indication that the interest was ever paid or the principal returned.
(3) The inscription proves that the Athenian war expen- diture was very far from being paid out of the income of the year ; and that the sums borrowed were much larger, probably because there was a larger fund from which to borrow, during the first seven years than during the four subsequent years of the period to which the inscrip- tion refers. The argument of Kirchhoff supposes that the treasury was exhausted in the year 428. But the inscrip- tion tends to show, though the fragmentary state of part of it makes any inference difficult, that the treasury held out at any rate until the middle of 426. And it should be observed that the 4,729 talents form the expenditure, not
1 C. I. A. 283 seems to mention a loan from the treasures of the temple at Delos at 10 per cent. iiriSe[KaTOis TVKOIS],
I XXV
only of the first five years of the war, but also of tht years which preceded it.
A question which has been discussed by Boeckh, Staats- haush. i. pp. 221, 578 ff. (199, 519 ff., ed. Frankcl), natu- rally arises in connexion with this inscription : in what relation did the sacred treasure stand to the secular, or rather what made the distinction between them? The </>o/io? won III naturally at first sight appear to be secular treasure; as the quota to the Goddess and the gold and silver plate contained in the inventories are sacred treasure. The first was under the control of the Hellenotamiae, the second under that of the ra/uui TT/? 'A&fwrfis and the ra/xtat rail/ aXXatv Ocw. But, besides the quota and the articles of gold and silver plate, there were large sums of money kept in the temple which had a less strictly consecrated character. These may be described as held in trust by the corporation : that is to say, they were also under the care of the ra/xiui TT}? Ocor, but they might be lent with the consent of the ecclesia in the service of the state, whereas no such limitation was imposed, as far as we know, on the use of the <£opos or of other moneys as long as they remained in the hands of the Hellenotamiae (see p. Ixxvih. The repayment of 3,000 talents (C. I. A. 32) seems to con- firm this view. For so large a sum cannot be supposed to have been the private property of the temple. Again, for the still larger sums taken from the temple treasuries the state was in the habit, as we have seen, of professing to pay a small interest. But we have no record of interest claimed on any but sacred treasure.
The following extracts from inscriptions taken from Kirchhoff, p. 36 ff., indicate a cli (Terence between the func- tions of the Hellenotamiae and of the ra/xiai TT/S 'A^patu?, and therefore between secular and sacred funds.
C. I. A. 314, 315 (430 B.C.). The payments received by the cVioTttTai or curators of the building of the Propylaea are divided at the end into three separate accounts : of the money received, (l) -rrapa rui/z Trp[or^o)V c]7rioruT[oji/ 015]
fa
Ixxvi THUCYDIDES
jc ®opi/<[ios] : (2) irapa Tap.iw op ra
v €Ta[/xtevov] ots Kparrjs typ[a/A/xa]T€ve Aa/ATrfrpevs] : (3) [7ra]pa 'EAATyi/ora/xfiwi/] oT? npwToyfeVr/s cypa/AJ/Aareve Ki/[0wrie]v« Tov £v/>i[ju.a;(iKoi5 <£op]ou /zra O.TTO TOV [raJXavroi;. The last
words seem to indicate that the quota of the Goddess was on one occasion devoted to the building of the Propylaea. Cp. a similar division in C. I. A. 309, 310, 312.
C. I. A. 140. If the conjectural restoration of the last lines is correct, the treasures of the Trpovaos are handed over to the Hellenotamiae for the service of the state.
C. I. A. 180-183. The Hellenotamiae are repeatedly mentioned in this inscription as having money handed over or lent to them by the ra/u'at TT}S 'Afli/ixuas, which they applied to various military purposes (see below); and C. I. A. 188, 189 (an inscription of the end of the Pelopon- nesian War) contains a record of money paid to the Hellenotamiae by the racial leptov ^p^arwv rJJs 'Alpacas for public purposes, TTTTTOIS crtTos, es TI)V Suo/feAta?. See also C. I. A. 273.
From the evidence of these inscriptions, from the great- ness of the sums taken from or paid back to the Goddess and the other deities, from the practice of reckoning interest in certain cases, it seems to be clearly proved that there was a sacred fund which was likewise capable of being used in the public service. It is probable from the different classes of officers who had the care of the public treasure that there was also a secular fund in which the <£opos, i.e. the |§th (at least that which came in during the year, see below), would be included, but this is not established with equal clearness. Pericles, when he speaks of the 6,000 talents (ii. 13 med.), makes no distinction. And the amount of the sums paid into and out of the sacred fund makes it improbable that there was any other fund as large or larger which was independent of it. Whether the quota to the Goddess was included in the public sacred fund, or remained the more private property of the tempje, is uncertain.
L\SCKimo Ixxvii
[The best explanation of the inscriptions seems to be given by the following suppositions (see Ik-loch, Rlu-in. Mus. xxxix. p. 55; Gilbert, Greek Constitutional Antiqui- ties, Eng. Transl., pp. 332-338; and cp. Headlam, Kl« r- tion by Lot at Athens, pp. 132, 133). — There was no ' secular fund' at all1, unit » \v< give this name to the ordinary current receipts of tlu- year, consisting principally of the ,";;;ths of the tribute in the hands of the I lellenotamiac. The surplus, if any, remaining over at the end of the year must, after a certain time, have been paid into the sacred treasury, for tlu-re was no other source of income from which the immense sums mentioned as sacred in C. I. A. 32, 273, can have come. The difficulty is about the applica- tion of the yearly income to current expenses. It is reason- able to suppose that part of it could be applied by the Ilel- lenotamiae themselves to the service of the state : Beloch points out that the sums expended yearly from the treasury of Athene Polias in 426-423 B.C. (261, 130, 133, 222 talents, C. I. A. 273) are nothing like the amounts of the tribute which must have come in and been spent in these years. If these sums or part of them were deposited with the ra/jiiai -n^ 0«or at all, they could probably be drawn out again by the 1 lellenotamiae on the strength of a simple vote of the people (cp. the payments e\ rw cVcreiW, i/^io-u- TOV 8?//xoi', by the ru/ut'cu itpuv ^nffjuirtav to the I lellenotamiae and others in 410-9 : C. I. A. 188, 189 ; see p. Ixxxiv). After a time, any surplus remaining from these funds must have been incorporated with the sacred treasure, and could only be expended on secular objects under special restric- tions ; the people had to pass a previous vote of indemnity
(i/o^ara/xeVov rov Sry/xou -ri]v u<Wr, C. I. A. 32) after 434 or
418 B.C.; and, between 433 and 423 at least, the sum was regarded as a loan bearing a small interest.]
1 The 20 ra^iai riavf>ai(av (as distinct from Itpwv xprf^iaToav of [Aristotle] Athcn. PoliL 30 may be only a part of the projected constitution of the 400 ; there is no trace of them in the inscriptions.
Ixxviii THUCYDIDES
The inscription C. LA. 273, which records the loan of the sacred treasure, has also an historical interest derived from the mention of names and events which occur in Thucydides.
Under Ol. 88. 4, 425-424 B. c., appears the name of Demosthenes, and probably that of Nicias :—
7re[pt HejAoTrovvr/ow Ar/pxrtfeVei 'AA./a0-0eVovs
£ £ (= 30 talents).
€T[e']pa Socm vTparqyois [Ni/aa, Ni/o/parov KvSa]im'% Irl (= 100 talents).
The first payment is made on the third day of the fourth, the second on the fifteenth day of the ninth pry- tany. Probably the reference is to an employment of Demosthenes in establishing and paying a garrison, in- cluding the Messenian, in Pylos, in the autumn of 425, for the date is too late for the blockade, and to the expedition of Nicias against Cythera early in the summer of 424. (Thuc. iv. 27, 53.)
Regarded from the historical point of view, C. LA. 273 may be placed with another class of inscriptions from which the results obtained are rather historical than finan- cial. To these we will proceed :
The money expended from the sacred treasury appears to have been reckoned in two forms. In one of these forms it was regarded as a debt to the temple, having to pay interest, of which calculation is made. In the other form the account is simply a record of sums paid to the generals or other officers to be used in the public service \
In the second form of the account, as might be expected,
1 [This is only certain for the years 433-423. In C. I. A. 180-183 the treasurers of the Goddess in one special case (183, 1. 6 ; 4:5 B. c.) use the word i$av(ioa\_nev~\, 'we lent' : not, as usual, irapfSopfv or irapidoaav. It must be remembered that 433-423, and the last years of the Peace of Nicias, were the only period during which the Athenians are known to have had a large surplus and a large expenditure : before 433 they had a large surplus and comparatively small expenses : after the Sicilian expedition they had a crushing expenditure and no surplus.]
INSCR1PTIO Ixxix
no interest appears ; and mention of the Ta/ztuf, not of both
ra/xiai and Xoytrrrat, OCCUTS.
The inscriptions of the second class which relate to the narrative of Thucydides, arranged in order of time-, ar follows : —
(1) The words vpn* 2n/tmr[Y] and the number of talents expended, 128, 368, and 908, in all 1,404, are legible on a small fragment (C. I. A. 177^, which ma}' therefore be referred with probability to the revolt of Samos (Thuc. i. 1 16, 117). The words '.W>,/mms and Tafuw[v\ show that the sums mentioned were expended from the treasury of Athene.
(2) Another inscription (C. I. A. 179 and Suppl. i.), clearly referring to events mentioned by Thucydides, partly agrees and partly disagrees with his narrative of them. On a fragment of marble containing 22 lines more or less complete occur the following words : —
1. 7. [TrapeoWcu'J <rr purify ois c's KopKvpuv rots eKjTrAeoucrt AuKeSeu/Aoviu) Aa*aa-
1. 13. [cTTl 'Al/f€v8ovs] ttp^OKTOS KO.I cVl TT/S f$OvXf)<S
1. 1 8. [ vapcj&xray orparT/yois cs Kop-
[Ki'par rots Scrrepjois cKTrXcorfri, TAui'/cwn [CK K.fpa.fJLi«>i\ -MerayJeVct KotAei, [Srj BdTT/^cj', €7rt T^sJ AtaKTtSos
Cp. Thuc. i. 45, 51, where the Athenians send two squadrons to the aid of Corcyra, the first commanded by Lacedae- nionius the son of Cimon, Diotimus the son of Strom- bichus, and Proteas the son of Epicles, the second by Glaucon the son of Leagrus and Andocides the son of Leogoras. The name of the Archon is lost, but the words eVi *A«/ret'8ovs (he was Archon in 433-432) exactly fill up a vacant space. In the inscription we observe that Dracon or Dracontides takes the place of Andocides the son of Leogoras as the second commander of the second expe- dition. There can be no doubt that Thucydides and the
Ixxx THUCYDIDES
inscription refer to the same event, and, this being so, the authority of the marble is to be preferred to that of the book, though there is no reason for suspecting the reading.
(3) In Thucydides, ii. 23, mention is made of Carcinus, Proteas, and Socrates, who were sent with a hundred ships to devastate the coast of the Peloponnesus in the first year of the war. The three names are found in a long but fragmentary inscription (C. I. A. iv. Suppl. i. 179 a-d. p. 32, and Suppl. iii. p. 159 ff.). On other fragments of the same tablet, giving the expenditure of the years 431-426, are traces of money sent to troops serving against Macedonia (according to Kirchhoffthis part of the inscrip- tion clearly belongs to the archonship of Euthydemus, 431- 430, and so cannot refer to the expeditions of Thuc. i. 57, 61), Potidaea, Sicily (Thuc. iii. 86, 90?), and to '[Demoj- s[th]enes of Aphifdnae]/ Thuc. iii. 91.
(4) A long but very imperfect inscription (C. I. A. 180- 183, corrected in vol. iv. Suppl. ii. p. 80) records the sums paid out of the Athenian treasury in the years 418-415 (Ol. 90. 3-91. 2). The dates are fixed by the occurrence of the names of financial officers found elsewhere, and by some coincidences with the narrative of Thucydides.
In the accounts of the first year, 418-417, we find the words —
-ovs (or -05) TOIS /xercii A>;/>iocr$eVoi;s, and again —
-pyovs (or -pyos) rots /XCTO, Ar;/x [ocrd&ov?]. The letters -pyos can hardly be a trace of anything but 'Argos/ and the date (the second prytany) is about that of the battle of Mantinea. Here we have no coincidence with Thucydides, for he only mentions the employment of Demosthenes in the following winter (v. 80). It has been suggested that Demosthenes was the unnamed commander of the 1,000 men who joined the Argive and allied forces after the battle of Mantinea (Thuc. v. 75); but of this we cannot be certain.
Ixxxi
A little further on we probably have a trace of Ni< abortive expedition against Perdiccas (v. 83) :
[<r\Tpa.Tijyoi<; NtKt'a NiK///jur[or K rAui r ]t'8>/.
In the accounts of the second year, 417-416, occur the words —
[Tewriju Tefin/m\oi' Kcc/j.tA/y^tj , KAco/o/oti A.VKI
to whom it is recorded that ten talent iid. Cp.
Thuc. v. 84, where Cleomedes the son of Lycomedes and Tisias the son of Tisimachus command the expedition against Melos.
In the accounts of the third year, 416-415, more famous names occur —
[ XiKt'u. NiJK-^/jaTOU Kv8airi8y nal Traptfyo . . and —
[or/)]arr/yois cs lSllCt[A<ai'
and again -
and again —
^TTTT ....(= 14 talents).
In the accounts of the fourth year, 415-414, occur tin- words, CTTL r^s 'Aynox&oc oy^6rj<
T>/S Tr/n'jTtu'eai? 'KAAT/j'OTa/xiats /cat
I'.MMi i Y<U MI! ;ir.</.^oi(r( HHH (= 300 talents) of-rcn 8' e6o<rai'
[rf; eV SiKcAta <rr]pma (KirchhofT writes H[HH], but ac- cording to Hicks the three ciphers are quite legible); and
again, 'KAA?/roTa/u'uis (*.T.A.) €? raj?] j-af'9 TU? t? 2<[KeAt'ai' TT<I/<C-
8o/xcr] TOI xpri[p}a.ra TTTTXX (4 talents 2,000 drachmae).
In the summary of the accounts at the end of the year the three hundred talents reappear, together with the lesser sums expended : —
KC^ttAaioi' dra[A<i>/xaTOS T]OV eVt
---- (353 talents).
Cp. 1 hue. VI. 94 fin., KOL d<^>iK'o/u,ei'ot cs Kurui'v/r
Ixxxii THUCYDIDES
VOVCTL TOVS T€ ITTTTta? ^KOVTttS €K TWV 'AOrjVUV TTCVT^KOVTa KO.I
SiaKoo-i'ovs, avev TUV ITTTTWV //.era a-Kevfjs, a>s avro0ev ITTTTCOI/ Tropio-- 0?7<To/>ieVa>j', KCU iTrTroro^ora? TpiaKovTa, KO.I raXavra apyvpiov T/oia/coVia. The prytany in which the three hundred talents are given, the eighth, corresponds exactly to the time, shortly after the beginning of spring, when, according to Thucydides, money and other supplies reached Catana for the use of the Athenian army in Sicily.
(5) A long but fragmentary inscription (C. I. A. 184-185 ; Newton and Hicks, xxiv), out of which it is impossible to make continuous sense, is assigned to the date Ol. 92. 1-2 ; 412-411. The writing and the contents are such as we should expect to find about this time ; and inscriptions of the same character are extant for Ol. 90. 3-91. 2 (just quoted) and for Ol. 92. 3 and 92. 4 or 93. 2. It therefore very probably belongs to the intermediate years.
Two interesting but uncertain conjectures, if they could be accepted, would confirm this date.
Boeckh proposes to restore 1. 5 (A) thus—
TU)V €15 TttS T/3l^/DClS WV TTapfXaftofJ^V TTapa TW
' From the money for the triremes which we received from the last treasurers.'
He ingeniously argues that the inscription refers to the reserve fund of 1,000 talents, which was not to be touched until Athens was threatened by an attack from the enemy's fleet. But it is not said either in ii. 24 or in viii. 15 that the 1,000 talents were especially reserved for the building .of triremes. Hence the words cts ras r^o/pas do not identify this occasion with that mentioned in viii. 15, and very probably refer to some other : money must constantly have been spent 'on the triremes.' There was another provision, that 100 triremes were to be set apart annually, and only used, like the money, when the enemy menaced the Piraeus with a fleet. This latter provision it must have been impossible to observe after the Syracusan
J.\.SCRirTIONS Ixxxiii
< xpedition. Nothing is said about it in viii. 15. And it is quite distinct from the provision respecting the 1,000 talents. The conjectural restoration, as will be seen by the letters, is of the most doubtful kind.
Again, the words d?™ npv rawa?] in 1. 1 1 (A) have been thought to show that the accounts of sums paid out at the end of Ol. 92. i are dated 'from a (previous) prytany,' not 'in a prytany,' n-n TT/>I 'mi-cms, not eVi rr^ (say Oiii/tSos) 7r/>iTtti'«as. And here a trace has been found of the government of the 400, B.C. 411; for after the expulsion of the senate of 500 there would be no regular prytanies. But the words are too imperfect to allow any inference to be drawn from them.
[A much more certain trace of the rule of the 400 is to be found in a few words inscribed on a vacant side of the stone containing C. I. A. 179 a-d (Suppl. iii. p. 162, cor- rected by Lolling with the help of a new fragment). The rest of the inscription belongs to 432-1 — 426 (p. Ixxx, above). The words in question record a payment of 77-78 talents at the end of Hecatombaeon, in the archonship of some one whose name ended in -^os : and instead of the usual
j/'T/t^Kra/xeVou Tor 8»/^ov WC have \l/r](f)t](rafJLtinf)<; TT/S /JorAjjs. The
only ordinary archon during the war whose name ended in -xos was Isarchos (424-423). But the character of the writing is later than this date, and the names of the financial officers enable us to date the words in 411-10. Now the regular archon of this year was Theopompus. But in Hecatombaeon the 400 were still in power: and [Aristotle] Athen. Polit. 33 tells us that Mnun^&x0* (so the MS., probably Mrqo-i'Aoxos), one of the 400, was archon for the first two months of the year and Theopompus for the rest. There is thus no doubt about the date of the words, which must have been inscribed on a monument already partly filled up. The /JorA?/ means of course the 400 themselves.]
(6) C. I. A. 188, 189 is an inscription of which the first part is very complete, and contains the accounts of Ol. 92. 3,
Ixxxiv THUCYDIDES
410-409, the year following that in which the history of Thucydides concludes. It illustrates the exhaustion of the Athenian finances after the Sicilian expedition and the troubles of the year 411 (cp. viii. 76, ol ye /^re apyvpiov In
€L\OV 7T€[ATrfW, CtXA' O.VTOL €7rOplt,OVTO ol CTTpaTluYrai). For the
heading of the inscription referring to the payments of the whole year describes them as made e/c TWV eTreretW, none
of them are made c£ &v TrapeXctySo/xev Trapa rail/ TTportpwv ra/uaV.
So that the money belonging to the sacred treasure must have been nearly or quite exhausted by the middle of 410.
The sum expended in the year, of which the record is nearly complete, amounts to about 180 talents. On this fact Kirchhoff bases his estimate of the annual income of the sacred treasure at 200 talents \
There are a few other inscriptions relating to finance which stand in a more accidental relation to the narrative of Thucydides; such as the fragments of the accounts drawn up by the overseers of the Propylaea while in pro- cess of erection (C. I. A. 314, 315 ; cp. Thuc. iii. 17), of the accounts of the officers who had charge of the sacred islands Delos and Rhenea, belonging to the Archonship of Crates and Apseudes, 434, 433 (C. I. A. 283 ; cp. iii. 104), and lastly the lists of confiscated property sold by the Poletae. Some fragments of these last (C. I. A. i. 274- 277 and iv. Suppl. i, ii, iii.) contain names of persons who, according to Andoc. de Myst., were punished by confisca- tion of their goods for the mutilation of the Hermae or the profanation of the mysteries 2.
1 [But the inference is unwarranted, for only 8-9 talents are actually said in the inscription to have come from the treasury of Athene : the rest comes from other unnamed sources, and is only paid out by the 'treasurers of Athene ' in the usual way as part of the public treasure (p. Ixxvii). See Beloch, Rhein. Mus. xxxix. p. 59.]
3 [One of these fragments (C. I. A. Suppl. iii. p. 178) mentions a Xa/ict/pa irapaKoXXos (a pallet-bed with a head-piece) worth 17 drachmae, and a K\iv[i) MiXrj^ffiovpyris [d]/^[t/«>]e'</)a[AXos], a bed or sofa with cushions at both ends : along with boxes, tables, chairs, vases, &c. As
1. \SCRIPTI(>. Ixxxv
II. Decrees of the senate and people not already nu-n- tioncd, and not relating to finance, but to the allies, rela- tions with other states, &c., which illustrate the history of Thucydides, are the following:—
C. I. A. 9 is an inscription no longer existing and incor- rectly copied, but of great importance1. It contains a decree (i) requiring the Krythraeans to contribute to the Panathenaic festival something, probably victims, worth 3 minae, under a penalty: (2) creating a /fovAt/ of the democratic type consisting of 120 members, who are to be at least 30 years of age. Their oath of office and the penalties which attach to the non-enforcement of it by the existing /SouA*/ are inserted in the decree. Mention occurs in the oath of [01 e's] .M 7/^01-5 <f>vyd[vrv;]. In another part of the decree penalties are imposed upon persons guilty of homicide, impiety, or treason.
The two fragments which follow (C. I. A. 10, n) also relate to Krythrae, the former making mention of lawsuits, the latter of an oath to be taken by the Erythraeans. All these three relate to the times between the Persian and the Peloponnesian wars. The form of the letters is said to show that 10 belongs to a time before 450. Both 9 and 10 mention eTriWoTroi : cp. Aristoph. Birds, 1021 ff.
C. I. A. 13. Cp. 36. Both these relate to Colophon. The first is part of a decree regulating the affairs of the Colophon ians, to which is attached a form of oath to be taken by them. The second is a decree conferring pro- tection and other favours and honours on Aretus the Colophonian, for services rendered to the Athenian people and their army ([K]<U TOVS or/xmwTa?), probably at the time
Pollux, Onomasticon, 10, 36, says, tv 5* rofs STJ/WOTT/XITOIS ntnpaTcu 'AA- KtfliaSov \a/x« vvt] irapcueo\\os KOI K\ivrj d/z</u/«'</>aAos (for which d/Mf>iievt<f>a\- Aos had been suggested e conj. before the discovery of the inscription , \ve probably have here a list of the confiscated furniture of Alcibiades.]
1 For this and the following inscriptions relating to Erythrae, Colophon, Chalcis, Hestiaca, and Miletus, see Abbott. History of Greece, vol. ii.. ix.
21, X. 9-II.
Ixxxvi THUCYDIDES
when Paches took Notium and restored it to the Colopho- nians ; Thuc. iii. 34.
C. I. A. Suppl. i. 27 a contains two decrees of the senate and people. The first, proposed by Diognetus, prescribes the terms of an oath to be taken by the Athenian senate and dicasts to the Chalcidians, and by all the Chalcidians of full age to Athens. The Athenians promise not to expel the Chalcidians from their country, and not to disfranchise, banish, arrest, kill, or fine, any individual Chalcidian untried (aK[p]irov) without the consent of the Athenian people. Compare Thuc. viii. 48 fin., on the prospects of the allies under an oligarchy, /cat a/cptrot av Kai piaioTfpov airoOvrjo-Kdv. They on their part promise to be faithful allies, and to pay a tribute of an amount such as the Athenians may agree to impose (ov av -rciOu 'Ali/wuovs).
According to the second decree, moved by Anticles, five commissioners are sent to receive the oath. The Chalci- dians are to be told that the hostages are to remain as they are for the present. Some words which follow are partly intended to guard the interests of residents in Chalcis who have received the privilege of dreAcia from Athens, but are otherwise unintelligible, though quite complete. The decree is to be inscribed on a column at Athens at the expense of the Chalcidians, and in the temple of Zeus at Chalcis. Three members of the senate are to offer sacrifices on behalf of Euboea in consequence of certain oracles. An addition to the second decree, moved by Archestratus, provides that crimes involving a penalty of banishment, death, or disfranchisement, are to be sent for trial to Athens ; and that the generals are to take care of Athenian interests in Euboea.
The decrees, of which the tone is conciliatory, though in fact they reduce Chalcis to a state of dependence, appear to belong to a time shortly after the reduction of Euboea by Pericles in 445, Thuc. i. 114. Anticles is the name of one of the Athenian commanders at Samos (i. 117): Archestratus, of one of the commanders at Potidaea (i. 57).
Ixxxvii
This is one of the most perfect of early Greek inscrip- tions, and has more the character of a regular prose com- position, or of a page out of history, than any other.
Suppl. 22 a is a long but fragmentary inscription, probably earlier than 447, relating to the constitution of Miletus.
28 and 29 are decrees respecting the relations of Athens to the Athenian clcnichs of llestiaea (or Oreusi in Kuboea, who were settled there after the revolt, Ol. 83. 4, B.C. 445 (cp. Thucyd. i. 114 fin., vii. 57 ink.). The inscription is inferred, from the writing as well as from the contents, to be older than the Peloponnesian War. It contains pro- visions (i) for regulating the traffic and the payment of tolls on the route between Hestiaea and Athens by way of Oropus ; (2) respecting the trial of suits, either at Athens or by inhabitants of Hestiaea.
[C.I. A. Suppl. ii. 22 £, iii. 20 (p. 139, 140) \ in which different parts of the archon's name 'Ap[«rr]an/ occur, can be dated 454 B.C., and shows that the Athenians concluded in that year a treaty of some kind with the Egestaeans of Sicily : — an dp^r) -n-oXXuv KO.KW. Diodorus, xi. 86, speaks of a war in this year between Egesta and the 'Lilybaei.' Lilybaeum was not founded until long afterwards. It has been proposed, on the strength of the letters -Kvaiois in C. I. A. ii. 22 k, to read ['AAtJ/cvatots in the inscription and (for AiAv/Jcuois) in Diodorus ; Halycae being a Sicel town.
Thucydides does not mention this treaty, but it throws light upon the application of the Egestaeans to the Athe- nians in vi. 6, and strengthens the probability that a similar 'old treaty* existed between Athens and Leontini (see below).]
33 (cp. Suppl. i.) records a treaty with Rhegium made in Ol. 86. 4, B. c. 433. Nothing is said in Thucydides of the original making of the treaty. But compare the next :
1 Wrongly copied and restored in C. I. A. i. 20: the corrections are due to Lolling.
Ixxxviii THUCYDIDES
Suppl. 33 a is the subscription of a treaty with Leontini also made in 433 B. c., the archonship of Apseudes, two years before the war, and apparently on the same day. Six years afterwards the Leontines and their allies, includ- ing the Rhegines, who were then engaged in a war with the Syracusans, applied for a new alliance with Athens, Kara iraXaiav £v/*/xaxiW (Thuc. iii. 86 med.); being possibly that which is recorded in the inscription, but more prob- ably a much older one.
[An inscription published by Kohler in Hermes xxvi. p. 43, cp. Arnold Behr in Hermes xxx. p. 447, seems to mention a dedication of a statue to Athene Nike, for a victory over the Ambraciots, very likely that of Thuc. iii. 107. The words as restored are
tTTicrKtvrjv Tov dy[aA.J/>ta [TO? 1-775 'A0>7ra]s r^s Ni/oys rjv dv€'[0]eo-av caro] 'A/xySpa^iwroiv' /ecu 1-775 fv
The word Kop/cvpaiW also occurs, but in what connexion it is impossible to say with certainty.]
40 contains three decrees relating to the Methonaeans and Perdiccas. According to the provisions of the first decree, the Methonaeans are only to pay the quota of F\yth to the Goddess ; and, if they are useful to the Athenians 'as they are now, and still better/ they are not to be subject to any general but only to a special regulation respecting arrears of tribute. To Perdiccas three ambas- sadors ' over fifty years of age ' are sent : he is to be told that he must allow the Methonaeans the free use of the sea, and not pass through their country without permission being first obtained from them. If he and the Methonaeans consent, the ambassadors are to arrange matters between them, but if not, their differences are to be brought to Athens: if the troops at Cape Posidium report favourably on Perdiccas (ecu/ . . . eTratvtuo-t) the Athenians will have a good opinion of him, yvto/ias <iya0as Tr€p\ UVTOV c^ovcriv.
INSCRIPTIONS Ixxxix
By the second decree the Methonaeans receive ; mission to export corn up to a certain amount from Byzan- tium, and are not to be hindered in doing so by some officers called Wardens of the Hellespont. As in the former decree, they are only subject to special regula- tions about aid to be given to the Athenian state or any other service required of the allies. The differences with Perdiccas still continue. The third decree is a mere frag- ment.
42 is an alliance made with Perdiccas, but the fragments of the inscription have no connected meaning. The treaty refers to Arrhibaeus (Thuc. iv. 79, 83, 124), and among the names appended to it are those of Alcetas (Plato, Gorg. 471) and Philip (Thuc. i. 57), the brothers of Per- diccas, and of Archelaus the son of Perdiccas.
Suppl. iii. 42 (p. 141), apparently belonging to the last- mentioned, gives the terms of an oath to be taken by Per- diccas, and a promise not to permit the exportation of wood for oars (KWTTCIS) from Macedonia except for Athenian use.
Thucydides only mentions an agreement (6/*oAoyia) made between Perdiccas and the Athenian generals in Thrace (iv. 132, 423 B. c.) : but v. 6, 83, take for granted the existence of an alliance (£iyA/*ax<.u).
In 43, to which no meaning can be given, the names of Perdiccas and perhaps Arrhibaeus also occur.
45. In the archonship of Aristion, H. c. 421, one Asteas of Alea (in Arcadia) is inscribed as proxenus and benefactor of Athens. Cp. 27 and Suppl. i, where three citizens of Thespiae arc similarly described ; Thuc. iv. 133, ©rj/Jcuoi ©eo-TricW ret^os TrepieiAoi', eViKuAcVuiTcs 'ATTIKUT/XW/.
466 (Suppl. i). This is a fragment of a marble tablet containing the ends of twenty-six lines of the treaty be- tween Athens, Argos, Elis and Mantinea, recorded also in Thuc. v. 47. Kirchhoff (* Hermes' xii. p. 368 ff.) notes thirty-one variations between the text of Bekker and the inscription. But of these only six occur in the inscription itself; the rest are but variations from KirchhofTs con-
VOL. i. g
XC THUCYD1DES
jectural restoration of the missing portions. It should be observed however that the inscription appears to have been written trrotx^SoV, i.e. in equal lines, so that each letter fills up the same space ; hence it can in some places be restored with tolerable certainty.
The six variations between the existing part of the inscription and the text of Thucydides are as follows. In p. 346, 1. 16 (Bekker) the inscription inserts 7jy>os dAA^- Aous after 'HAciot. In 11. 25, 27, the inscription has [Ma]vT«/e'as KCU 'HA[etous] and Mavriveas /cat for /cat Mavrtj/eas, showing
that the names of these two contracting powers were trans- posed ; and similarly in p. 346, 1. 36, and 347, 1. i, -n)v
'ApyetW rf for rj TIJV 'ApyetW. In p. 347, 1. 2O, it has -vr) rrj &-,
showing that some other word than rty lyye/xonW followed
/xeraTre/xi/'a/AeVr/ (TTJ oTpaTia xprjaOw fjyefjiovevovara, K.), and in 1. 21
-is rats [TTO'A€O-I], showing that some other word than SO£T/ (dTrdVais, K.) preceded rats. These differences are very slight. On the other hand, it may be remarked that they occur in a fragment which amounts only to about a twelfth of the whole treaty.
Assuming for the moment the correctness of KirchhofTs conjectures, we may compare the text of Thucydides with the whole treaty as restored by him. Of thirty-one varia- tions (see Classen, Intr. to Thuc. Bk. viii. p. xxvff.) thirteen are merely orthographical (edV for r/i/, or OaXarrav for 0aAa<r- <rav). In three cases the order of the names ' Eleans, Mantineans, Argives/ is different1. In four cases the in- scription inserts or repeats, probably for the sake of clear- ness, words which do not occur in our text. On the other hand, our text inserts rats Tro'Aeo-ti/ after 80/07 in P- 347> !• 7- In eight cases the variations occur in places where the restoration has little or no ground on which to rest. If we set these aside, the variations reduce themselves to two more or less probable conjectures, «r! TT)V yyv for e's rrjv yfjv (P- 346> !• 36)> and wv apxovo-t for &v av ^w(ri (p. 347, 1, 9).
1 It varies in different parts of our present text.
xc
The importance of these variations is reduced by the fart that Stv apxovo-iv and eVi r^v yijv are apparently used a.*> equivalents for &v uv ap^avw and e? TT/I* 77/1' in other parts of the treaty.
In three lines out of the twenty-six there is room in the missing portion of the tablet for many more letters than those found in the text of Thucydides. Here tl probably blank spaces between different articles of t he- treaty .
So far from the inscription tending to overthrow the text of Thucydides and (from this point of view Schone, ' 1 lennes ' xii. p. 476, thinks that ' its importance cannot be estimated highly enough '), no conclusion can be drawn either way from such a mere fragment. The verbal differ- ences are very slight, and most of them may have come from Thucydides himself. Nor do slight inaccuracies in the copying of a treaty afford any real ground of argument as to the text of other parts of the history.
49. The words occur 'YTre'p/JoA.os eiTre. If this be the demagogue Hyperbolas, ostracized about 419 B.C., the inscription would be of an earlier date.
50 is a treaty between the Athenians and Argives, not that given in v. 47, and therefore probably that referred to in v. 82 fin.
51 has important additions in Suppl. i. For a full dis- cussion of it see supra, p. xxiii.
52, 53, and Suppl. iii. p. 142, relate to a treaty and alli- ance between the Athenians and Bottiaeans. Spartolus, which as we learn from Thucydides (ii. 79) was a city of the Hottiaeans, was to have been given up by the Lace- daemonians to Athens, when peace was made in 421, on condition that the place should be independent, but might be received, if willing, into the Athenian alliance (v. 18 ined.). [This appears from the inscription to have been
1 [Or from his informant, or from a copy of the treaty as put up at Argos, Elis, or Manti:
xcii THUCYDIDES
done, though Thucydides does not mention the fact. The Bottiaeans with the Chalcidian cities had joined in the revolt of Potidaea, which was one of the original causes of the war, and Spartolus had been the scene of a grievous disaster to an Athenian army in 430 (Thuc. i. 58, ii. 79). These facts strikingly illustrate the words of the oath taken by the two parties according to the inscription, ov /^o-t/ca-
Krj(T(i) TWV Trapoi^o/xcvwv Ive/ca.J
54 is a decree about an expedition of 30 ships of war. For the question whether this is the Melian expedition (Thuc. v. 84), see supra, p. xxii.
55 also relates to an expedition, consisting of 60 ships ; it is indicated by the datives in cus to be not older than Ol. 90. It has been thought to refer to the first decree for the Sicilian expedition ; but see supra, pp. xxi, xxii.
56 contains a tribute of honour decreed to the Samians because they had emancipated (?) themselves, on o-<£as aurous [^Acuflepeoo-aj/], evidently referring to the events of 412 recorded in Thucydides, viii. 21. Mention is made in the decree of deaths, exiles, and confiscations inflicted by the Samian people, and of certain offenders whom they are to send to Athens.
57 contains a decree limiting the power of the senate, probably after the overthrow of the 400. Mention occurs of 500 men, and, shortly afterwards, of 500 drachmae.
59 contains a decree in honour of Thrasybulus, Agoratus, and others, and mentioning Apollfodorus]. It was passed in the archonship of Glaucippus (410-409), soon after the assassination of Phrynichus (Thuc. viii. 92 init.) : and that the inscription has to do with the claim of Thrasybulus of Calydon and Apollodorus of Megara to be the slayers of Phrynichus appears from Lysias c. Agoratum (xiii) 76-78 (71-73), though it may not be the inscription to which he refers. Thucydides names neither the actual assassin nor his accomplice whom he calls an Argive. The inscription does not square with the narrative of Lysias, and cannot be said to weigh against the evidence of
/.vsrvr/rTmvs xciii
Thuc}?dides, who may have disbelieved the assertions of Thrasybulus and Apollodorus.
[An inscription recently discovered records a resolution of the senate and people, passed on the motion of Alcibi- ades, confirming the agreement made by the generals with
'those who Settled in DaphnUS,' eVciS?/ uvSpcs eyeYoiTo uy[a#ot].
Thuc. viii. 23, 31, refers to the settlement at Daphnus of the anti-Athenian party in Clazomenae (which city had re- volted from Athens, ch. 14, and returned to its allegiance) and the refusal of the Clazomenians to retire to Daphnus at the bidding of Astyochus. The interference of the Athenian generals appears to have altered the position in Daphnus at some time between 412 and the return of Alcibiades in 407. (See, for the inscription itself, the Athcim'uin, March 5, 1898.)]
71 (Suppl. i). A defensive alliance made between tin- Athenians and the Halieans, indicated by the form of the letters to be not earlier than B.C. 420, and by the subject to be not later than the renewal of the war. This treaty with Halieis is not mentioned by Thucydides. But in iv. 45 wr are told that the Athenians occupied a position near Methone (Methana), and ravaged the territory of Troezen, Halieis, and Epidaurus. According to iv. 118 med. an agreement was subsequently made with Troezen. And this treaty with 1 lalieis, as well as the treaty with Epidaurus mentioned in v. 80 (unless it be the general peace of 421), may be connected with the same occurrence.
A long and almost complete inscription, C. I. A. iv. Suppl. ii, 27, b, lately discovered at Eleusis illustrates the sacred character of the ' Pelasgian ground ' men- tioned by Thucydides, ii. 17. The senate and people give directions for offering an a.Trapxn of wheat and barley
tO the tWO goddesses of Eleusis, Kara. TO. Trdrpia KO.\ TI/I'
paiTfiav TT/V ey AeX^wr. The allies of Athens are required, and all the cities of Hellas are 'invited but not required'
(e/ceifVois] 8e /AT/ cTriTurrovTas /ceAerovras 8c airdp\€<TOat iav
, to join in the offering. There is appended
XC1V
THUCYDIDES
an amendment or additional proposal moved by Lampon, perhaps the celebrated soothsayer, part of which is as follows : TOV o€ /3ao-[t]Ae'a optVat ra iepa ra tv T[O>]I HeXapyiKu KOL TO XOITTOV w eviopvco-Oai /3a>/xok eV T<3 UtXapyLKw avev -n}? /?ovXiy? Kai TO? ST//AOV, /xr;8e rows \i6ovs rcpvetv fK TOV IIcXapyiKov, /XT/SC y^v €x<™yea/ f"^e Ai0ous. The inscription was edited by M. Foucart in the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique, iv. p. 225. The use of £, not $, fixes the date with probability after 454, the datives in -r/o-t before or not long after 420. As the character of the early part of the inscription seems to assign it to a time of peace, it may belong to the Peace of Nicias, or much more probably, considering the doubtful nature of that peace, to the years preceding the Peloponnesian War.
The words immediately preceding the regulation about the Pelasgicum are remarkable : rato-a ^Iv *«(/>]« TT/S UTT-
apxys TOV /cap[V]oi) [T]OU/ Otoiv aj/aypctyai cs TO) o-rr/A[a]' /x^va Se e/x/^aAAciv 'EKa-rw/itaiaii/a TOV viov ap^ovra. It has been hitherto supposed that in the fifth century B.C., as in later times, the month intercalated was Poseideon (Dec.-Jan.). The inscription would seem to show either that any month might be intercalated, or that it was sometimes necessary to intercalate an additional month. It also raises a doubt whether the Athenians about the time of the Peloponnesian War employed a fixed cycle of years, that of Meton or any other, and did not rather intercalate a month when necessary (Droysen, in 'Hermes' for 1880, x. p. 364). The inscription affords a fresh illustration of the un- certainty of Greek chronology.
[The a priori difficulties urged by Adolf Schmidt (Neue Jahrbucher, 1885, i. p. 681 ff.) against this interpretation, though considerable, are not decisive. He would translate ' the new archon is to interpose the month Hecatombaeon ' ; i. e. grant an extension of time, consisting of that month, for the delivery of the a-jrapxq. (The inscription seems to date from a time shortly before the beginning of harvest.) But it is very doubtful whether e/x/SdXXciv /«}w
INSCRIPTIONS xcv
«
in this sense can be justified by expressions like e/x/?uAAt/r Xpoi'ov. e/i/?ttAA«i> in the sense 'intercalate' is fully justified by the word e>./?oAi/ios, intercalary ; though, as Schmidt points out, it cannot be shown to have been the regular technical term (which was eVe^/3uAA«p, cVuyeu' .- Hdt. ii. 4, and commonly in later writers). ]
M. Foucart interprets the words as relating to the intercalation of a day or a few days in the month Heca- tombaeon. But surely, as Droysen says, they must refer to the whole month.
III. Dedicatory inscriptions.
Thuc. i. 132 mentions a tripod dedicated at Delphi after the victory over the Persians, and the erasure of Pausanias'
inscription ; cp. Hdt. ix. 8l, Sc/carqi/ e'£eAoires r<p «V AcA^cutn 0eu>, UTT' ij<; o T/H7TOU9 6 x/n'creos artriOr], 6 CTTI TO? rpiKapyvov o<£io<»
TOV xaAK€ov CTTCOTCWS ay^KTra TO? J3u>p.or. A bronze column 18 feet high, believed to be identical with that which supported the tripod, still stands in the Hippodrome at Constantinople : it is in the form of three serpents twisted together. Upon it is inscribed a list of Greek states similar to that recorded by Pausanias (v. 23. i) to have been in- scribed upon the pedestal of a votive statue of Zeus at Olympia, after the victory at Plataea.
It should be observed that Thucydides speaks of the inscription as being on the tripod, while Herodotus distin- guishes the tripod from the serpents on which it stood. Nevertheless the evidence (for which see Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. xvii) seems satisfactorily to establish the identity of the monument now at Constantinople with that men- tioned by Herodotus and Thucydides.
See Rohl, I. G. A., 70; Hicks, Manual of Greek Inscrip- tions, n ; Abbott, History of Greece, vol. ii. v. 16 ; Roberts, Greek Epigraphy, § 100.
Thucydides in vi. 54 quotes the inscription of Pisistratus son of Hippias on an altar in the temple of the Pythian Apollo —
XCvi THUCYDIDES
vlb<s
®7)K€V 'ATToAAtOl/OS HvOlOV ev TCfJiCVCL.
He remarks that, though the letters were faint, it was still
to be read — In KCU vw S^Aa eomi/ tt/x,v8pot? ypa/x/xao-t. ' // 15 equally legible to this day, the marble on which it was inscribed having been accidentally discovered in a court- yard near the Ilissus, by M. Kumanudes, in 1877.' Newton, Essays on Art and Archaeology, p. 191. See also C. I. A. vol. iv. Suppl. i. 373 c.
The marble slab is broken into two pieces, the half-word and word -TPATO2 HinniO being lost by the fracture. Beneath the inscription is a leaf moulding. Thucydides tells us that in his time the letters were already ' indistinct,' afjivSpd. Yet there is no indistinctness in their present state, and they bear an old Athenian character, suiting the date. We may conjecture, either that they were plastered over after the fall of the Pisistratidae, and that the plaster gradually wore off : or that, at an early date, but after the age of Thucydides, they were restored without losing their antique form. [Roberts, Greek Epigraphy, § 56, suggests that the letters may originally have been coloured, and that the colour had faded by Thucydides' time.]
A curious coincidence with the words of Thucydides is presented by C. I. A. 340. A pedestal of Pentelic marble preserves the words —
EPOIKON E£POTEIAAIAN
Cp. ThllC. ii. 70, KCU vo-rcpov eTTOtKovs eavrcov Zirtplfav e? rqv IIoTi&uav KCU KartoKicrav.
An inscription found at Dodona (date uncertain) shows that the savage Corcyraeans were not insensible to the need of unity among themselves : they ask ' to whom of Gods or heroes they should sacrifice and pray ' in order to attain it, —
©cov T[v]xai> ayaOav e7r[i]KoivaWa rot K[o]pKv/oa[tot TO) At TO> Naa) KCU Ta A[i]oW TiVi Ka [0ecov rj] ^pcocoi/ ^vovfrje? KCU
INSCRIPTIONS xcvii
communicate with/ or 'make inquiry of; raw = mtw) — M. Carapanos, 'Dodone/ i. p. 72 ; ' Hellenica,' p. 443.
IV. Sepulchral inscriptions.
The famous monument to the fallen of the tribe Erech- the-is, mentioned on pp. xviii, xxvi, and referring probably to Ol. 80. 2, 459-8 B. c., certainly to the events mentioned in Thuc. i. 104, 105, runs as follows (C. I. A. 433)—
'\'.l>f\(>, /ir«>S. m&c eV T<£ 7roA.e'/zu> uTre'fluror tr Ki7rpu> Iv Aiy[iVJT<p tY <l'oM /K/y <Y 'AAlCWny er 'A'yV'/ Meyapo[i] TOU avrov eYmrrof' —
then follow 168 names.
C. I. A. 442 gives us a poem in honour of the 150 men who fell at Potidaea, Thuc. i. 63. The first two lines are given as conjecturally restored in Newton and Hicks ; the rest from C. I. A.
t yap tv 077X015 ?J up€T[i)v u'/xei'ot o-^erepav ?] /cai 7rpoyora)[vJ crBtvos {tcrOXov (vl (rrrjOfa'a'iv
aWijp [JL
rToTeiSat'a? 8' d/x</>i Tri'Aa? €8[a/x«'J
01 fJL€l> l\OV<TL T(i<f>OV
' (sic)
IToTeiSaittS ot Odvov fv
, i/a>^a5 8' ttiTtjppofVa
Kirchhoff observes that the composition forms three small poems of four lines each.
Many fragments are extant containing lists of names, often arranged under tribes, which seem to belong to monuments of those who fell in battle. One of these is mentioned on p. xvii. Two others commemorate cam- paigns recorded in Thucydides, though there are difficulties in fixing them to any precise occasion.
xcviii THUCYDIDES
[C. LA. 432 contains over 100 names under the headings ev ®ao-[u>], eVi 2iSeiu> (no such place is known, ? 2iyau>), and other names of places which are lost. Some of the fallen, probably Athenian allies, are arranged under the name of their city, [MaSJvriot, [Aiyajvrioi, or [Bv£a]i/rioi. The heading ev ®ao-w justifies us in referring part of the monument to the revolt of Thasos, Thuc. i. TOO, 101 : it will be seen that the restorations of the other headings are uncertain. It has been thought that other parts of the inscription may refer to the great disaster at Drabescus or Datum (Thuc. i. 100, Hdt. ix. 75), but neither of these names actually occurs. Kohler ('Hermes' xxiv, 1889) refers part of the monument to an expedition of Cimon against the Chersonese and the Persian garrison remaining there, mentioned only by Plu- tarch, Cimon xiv, between his account of the battle of the Eurymedon and the revolt of Naxos. But the authority of Plutarch as a historian is not strong enough, or the restoration of the inscription certain enough, to justify a positive conclusion.]
C. LA. 446 contains the names of those who fell (a) in a battle or probably two battles which are unknown to us, (b) at Potidaea (three names only), (c) at Amphipolis, (d) eVi ®pa.KY)<s, (c) at Pylos, (f) at Sermylia (one name at each), (g) at Singus (one name extant). Kirchhoff (C. I. A. vol. i. p. 200) assigns the inscription to 425-424, the capture of Sphacteria and the battle of Solygea (Thuc. iv. 42 ff.), chiefly on the ground that the number of Athenians who fell in each tribe from which the loss is recorded (6 to 15 in one column, fewer still in another) represents far too small a loss for Delium or Amphipolis, but suits well with Pylos, where 'few of the Athenians fell' (Thuc. iv. 38), and Solygea. Mr. Hicks (Newton and Hicks, Greek Inscrip- tions in the British Museum, Part I, p. 106), following Boeckh (C. I. G. vol. i. No. 171), refers the inscription to 423, and to the expedition against Mende and Scione recorded in Thuc. iv. 129. It may be conjectured that an Athenian soldier fell in defending the bridge at Amphipolis
INSCRIPTIONS XC1X
(iv. 103 fin.), and that some trifling engagement, which is not mentioned by Thucydides, took place at Potidaea (ch. iv. 135), Sermylia (or Sermylc), and Singus. But such hypo- theses can never be brought to the test; it is therefore better to refrain from them.
The names of certain fyyp[«^ot], TO&*™/, and tVroi arc- recorded in the inscription. Boeckh compares iv. 129 init.
UI 6
and supposes the eyy/>[a^ot] to have been metics enrolled among the citizen hoplites (oTrAmu tun-wr). But, again, such combinations are hazardous, for an Athenian army would probably be composed of the same elements on many different occasions. We know of no one time at which soldiers were falling at Potidaea, at Amphipolis, and at Pylos. We are only sure that the inscription cannot be earlier than the capture of Pylos, or later than the first year of the peace, 421.
For the beautiful epitaph of Simonides on Archedice, the daughter of Hippias, see text, vi. 59.
C. I. A. 475, [A]oi/x<p 6avova~f)<s ci/xi (rrjfjLa Mvpu-j/9, might be attributed to the time of the great plague, were not tin- writing (0^) too archaic.
C. I. A. 479, 483, are fragments of sepulchral monuments found among what are supposed to be the remains of the Themistoclcan walls : —
479. ^rjfjLa <£t[A]ou TrcuSos TO&C .... /carJc'^Kcr,
The inscription is broken into two pieces, and is not written metrically.
483. 'AtriSoTOi'. | KaAAtuvt'Sr;? CTroi'ei | 6 Aeirt'or. Also iv. i. 477 b. 2^/xa Trar^p KAci/fovAos airo^OifJifvu) Eevo<£urra>
0TJKC T(tt) dl'T* tlpfTTJS ^8c traO^pOfTl'n/?.
And iv. i. 477 //. 'ArOpwrre, o[?] OTCI;(«[I]« tfaff o&or (ftpcvlr dAAa
<rri)0i KOL otKTfipov 0-fjfj.a. ©paoxovos t8o'ji.
C THUCYDIDES
Compare Thucydides' description of the structure of the wall (i. 93 init.) : ' To this day the structure shows evidence of haste. The foundations are made up of all sorts of stones, in some places unwrought, and laid just as each worker brought them ; there were many columns too, taken from sepulchres, and many old stones already cut, inserted in the work.*
Such appears to be the amount of light thrown upon Thucydides by Greek inscriptions. The comparison of them would have been more interesting had we been able freely to accept the conjectures of archaeologists. There is always a temptation to convert the uncertain and in- definite into the definite and certain. The greater the ingenuity the greater the fascination, though often the greater the improbability. But we must remember that there are myths or romances of modern criticism as well as of early history, and in the latter half of the nineteenth century we have not so much to fear from the last as from
the first. V10-(os TO /XT) /xu#ai8es avroiv arepTreo-repoi/ <£avemu, but ai^e'Ai/Aa Kpu/eiv aura dp/covVrws <f£«. A few grains of fact
secured to the world once for all are of more value than many brilliant theories which appear and disappear, like intellectual meteors, in successive generations.
The evil tendency of the study is that it encourages the habit of conjecture, which has already been one of the great corruptions of philology. There is a necessity for making too much out of a few letters or words, and thus appearing to obtain a result commensurate with the labour spent upon them. The slenderness of his materials leads the enquirer to snatch at chance coincidences. His honest enthusiasm will sometimes make him forget that the words or letters upon which his conclusion is based are due to conjecture. He is too apt to apply an inscrip- tion to the interpretation of a difficulty in an ancient author. Where the balance of probability is just in favour of a conclusion, it is assumed by him to be a certainty ;
INSCRIPTIONS ci
and the new fact which is supposed to be proved i rolling, and draws after it other inferences still more uncertain. A possible deduction from the inscriptions, such as the doubling of the Athenian tribute in the year 425, or the transfer of the common treasury from Delos to Athens in 454 (resting only on the circumstance that in this year the quota lists begin), is repeated at second or third hand as a great historical discovery. In the absence of contemporary, we are satisfied with later, evidence ; and the older history of Athens is interpreted by inscrip- tions of the second or third century, and inscriptions of the second or third century are explained by the older history of Athens. Where singular forms of grammar occur only once or twice, e.g. O-OKU for o-too-w1, or the omission of the article, we are not quite certain how much is to be attributed to the carelessness of the engraver. On the other hand, from the frequent repetition of it, there can be no doubt that the form of the third person plural imperative, -6<r6uv for -ivOuv, is a real variety of inflexion. The uncertainty in the use of several letters, even in the same inscription, or the inconsistency of the writing and the subject (C. I. A. 8, 93, 283), suggests doubts as to the limits within which this undoubtedly valid argument of date may be employed. The considerable differences which occur in the interpretation and reading of the text, often incomplete, as given by various critics, are another element of uncertainty.
All these are reasons for hesitation. They show that we must not indulge in sanguine or exaggerated langu but must confine ourselves to general results. And general results, when they relate to the history of the past, are by no means to be despised. Though we cannot rewrite tlu history of Greece out of her stones, is it a small thing to know that inscriptions of the fifth century before Christ confirm and illustrate the great literary works of the same
Cp. Mcistcrhans. § 143, i.
cii THUCYD1DES
age? They bring nearer home to us Greek political institutions, the great struggle for freedom, the writings of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon. They realize to us the innumerable details of private life about which history is silent ; they illustrate forcibly some of the characteristics of Athenian public life, such as the imperative nature of duty to the state, the universal responsibility and liability to audit of treasurers and other officers, the great number of citizens annually chosen by lot to take part in the administration of the city (Thuc. ii. 40 init.). They add to our previous knowledge a few facts. They make an important contribution to the history of the Greek alpha- bet. And the investigation of them, especially on the spot, is full of interest independently of the result. To be busy on Greek soil, under the light of the blue heaven, amid the scenes of ancient glory, in reading inscriptions, or putting together fragments of stone or marble, has a charm of another kind than that which is to be found in the language of ancient authors. Yet even to appreciate truly the value of such remains, it is to the higher study of the mind of Hellas and of her great men that we must return, finding some little pleasure by the way (like that of looking at an autograph) in deciphering the handwriting of her children amid the dust of her ruins.
ADDENDA
(To page xx iv)
[THERE is a second sherd bearing the name of Xan- thippus, with his father's name half-written (APPI45!), found not on the Acropolis but on the road leading to the Piraeus (C. I A. iv. Suppl. iii. 571). The writer uses two forms of I'.
On a fragment of the rim of a bowl, found, in Jan. 1897, N.W. of the Areopagus, are the words
0EMU9OKUE*
(DPEAPPIO[J]
The character of the writing does not enable us to decide whether the occasion was 483 B.C., when Aristides and not his opponent Themistocles was ostracized, or the actual ostracism of Themistocles about 471. The spelling 0 for r occurs elsewhere in Attic inscriptions. (Mittheilungen dt •.-, Deutsch. Arch. Inst., Athenischc Abth. 22, 1897.)
A very curious epitaph in bad hexameters (C.I. A. ii. 1675; G. F. Hill, Sources for Greek History, B. C 478- 431, iii. 206) records among other exploits of ' Pythion of Megara ' that he 'saved three tribes of Athenians, bringing them from Pagae through Boeotia to Athens.' A note at the end adds 4H'Aai eu<5' eiViV' Qayjcopis KcKpovit 'AynoWf*
Kohler, ' Hermes ' xxiv. (1889), sees in this an incident of the Megarian revolt of 446 (Thuc. i. 113), and is followed by Busolt, vol. iii. p. 426ft'. Seven tribes under Pericles— so they infer from the words — took part in the invasion of Euboea when it revolted, three remained behind and on the revolt of Megara threw themselves into the Megarid (Diodorus xii. 5 speaks of the Athenians sending an army
Civ THUCYDIDES
against the revolted Megarians, which took much booty and won a victory), under Andocides, the grandfather of the orator, general in the Samian wars a few years later. When the Lacedaemonian army advanced into Megara on its way to Attica, the Athenian army was forced to retreat to Pagae. Pericles' willingness to negotiate with Plei- stoanax is partly accounted for by the absence of nearly one-third of the Athenian army. Meanwhile Pythion, a Megarian friendly to Athens, led the Athenians over the dangerous pass by Aegosthena and Crusis on the shore of the Corinthian gulf, capturing numerous Boeotian country- people or slaves on the way ; and crossing Cithaeron from the N. brought them safely back to Athens. The Athenian army was now in full force. Pleistoanax had an additional motive for retreating. Pythion was presented with the Athenian citizenship for his great services ; he lived to a good old age (the inscription is mostly written in Ionic characters and bears the stamp of the end of the fifth century rather than the beginning of the fourth), and his epitaph combined with the tradition preserved in Diodorus enables us to reconstruct the history of the famous events of 446-445 B.C.
Surely this interesting story, which bids fair to become a recognized piece of Athenian history, rests on too slender a basis to be accepted. The part played in it by Andocides is taken from a line following those quoted in which Pythion is said to have ' glorified Andocides with 2000 slaves * — the number is admitted to be an exaggeration, and we cannot be sure that the line refers to the same occasion. It is fair to state that Andocides the grandfather of the orator belonged to one of the three tribes mentioned in the inscription, the Pandionis. But apart from the possi- bility of the inscription referring to some event of the fourth century (the counter-arguments of Kohler are not conclusive), and from the patriotic colouring of the story in Diodorus, is it likely that so romantic an exploit as this would have left no trace in literary history ?
INSCRIPTIONS CV
The epitaph is quite sufficiently accounted for if Pythion saved, not about a third of the Athenian army, but a few men of the garrison, forming the detachments from these tribes, who at the Megarian revolt escaped to Pegae.
The inscription, whatever its historical worth, may be given, (with its lonicisms and metrical imperfections,) as a curious exception to the usual good taste of Greek epitaphs :
Mr/y/m [TO^' e'<rr' eJTTt o"[ojj/iaTt K€i/xcvo[i/J avSpos apicrro' HvOttov ey Meya/3<u[v] 8at[£]ct9 CTTTO. (I. e.
Tai' uperni' -arepu tVKX*t£*V en Sc/xwi. lT/p 05 IfojMUFC llayar ayayo>i' rt/a
7r?7/xai'as tVi^^on'wi/ db^pCMTMy (!)
Ka.Tf.fia. rracrtv
VOL.
NOTE ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF THUCYDIDES
VARIOUS difficulties have been found in the geography of Thucydides : his accounts of places are at variance sometimes (i) with facts, sometimes (2) with the state- ments of later writers. It may be said of his descriptions generally, as of most early descriptions, that they are graphic rather than accurate. When we try to reproduce them in the mind something is wanting. For example, we do not gather from his narrative where the Euryelus was situated by which the Athenians, and also Gylippus, ascended the heights of Epipolae (vi. 97 ; vii. 2, 43), or how the Syracusan defences lay after the completion of the third counter-wall (vii. 7), or, without some consideration, how the dolphins were placed for the protection of the Athenian ships in the great Syracusan harbour (vii. 38). The topography of battles is often imperfect, and some- times leads to a difficulty in the explanation of them. The narrative of the battle of Amphipolis leads to the inference (see Arnold's Appendix) that the city was not at the top but on the slope of the hill which Cleon ascended with his army, but this can only be inferred with some uncertainty and is not definitely expressed. Perhaps without maps and plans a better delineation was impossible. The narra- tive of the second sea-fight in the Crisaean gulf (ii. 90 ff.) is incoherent : for we are not told what happened to that portion of the Peloponnesian fleet which was originally victorious. The manner of the attack which ended in the
GEOGRAPHY cvii
capture of the first Syracusan counter- wall (vi. 100) is not fully described and can only be inferred; the ' Argive hoplites ' who were killed in the Syracusan out-works after the capture of the stockade must have joined the attacking party from one of the two other divisions of the army. Once more, in the calculation of distances the eye or the information of the writer was frequently at fault. For examples see below.
There has been a good deal of controversy on this subject. Even into geography the spirit of party may find a way. Some commentators have been desirous of maintaining the credit of their author, like Dr. Arnold, who was of opinion that ' when Geographers who are also Scholars visit the places of which Thucydides speaks per- sonally, most of the difficulties in his descriptions will vanish.' That remark of course supposes that Thucydides, rightly understood, is generally or always in the right. We may imagine the writer of it to feel what he does not say: 'The most accurate and trustworthy of historians can hardly be imagined to be ignorant as a schoolboy of geography.' And certainly, in his account of Pylos and Sphacteria, Dr. Arnold is ready, in a figure, to work a miracle in order to save the reputation of Thucydides. Changes in the formation of the coast are the ' Deus ex machina ' to which he has recourse.
Yet it may very likely be true that Thucydides is far behind Strabo or Pausanias or Stephanus Byzantinus in geography, though his conception of history may be quite unattainable by them. Still greater would be the dis- parity of his knowledge when compared with that of a modern traveller, or resident in Greece, who has perhaps surveyed and explored places which the historian himself may not have visited. For the knowledge of geography is always growing with time, while history fades into the distance. The materials of the one are increasing, while those of the other are diminishing. The credibility of an author's geography is not therefore to be judged of
h2
cviii THUCYDIDES
by the credibility of his history, because in the one far more than in the other he is dependent on the conditions of his age.
In this short note it is not intended to enter into the discussion of particular passages, but rather to urge two general principles : (i) that geographical accuracy is not to be expected from a writer of the age of Thucydides : (2) that the number of his inaccuracies show them to be attributable rather to his ignorance, than to the ignorance of later writers, or of ourselves.
To attempt to reconcile the geography of Thucydides with facts may be the same error in kind, though not in degree, as to try and adapt the drive of Telemachus between Pylos and Sparta to the present condition of the country, or to seek on the sea-shore of Ithaca for the cave by which Odysseus was deposited. As the more fami- liar features of a scene are likely to be reproduced in the creations of the poet, so the ancient historian will roughly guess distances. But he may often make mistakes about a region with which he was unacquainted, and he will not always be able to judge what amount of description is required in order to place before his readers a just con- ception of a place or of a battle. There were no surveys of countries or measurements of distances in the age of Herodotus and Thucydides (except along the course of great roads such as the Persian highways), but only the proverbially uncertain measure of a day's journey or of a day's sail (see Thuc. ii. 97, and Arnold's note). There were no correct maps, but only rude delineations such as made Herodotus laugh (iv. 36). The eye was the judge of the distance across a strait or across the entrance of a harbour. Daily experience tells us how seldom the power of judging distances is found in any one who has not been trained by long habit.
Some of the errors or misleading expressions in Thucydides which have suggested the above remarks are the following : —
GEOGRAPHY C1X
ii. 86 med. The distance of Rhiuni in Achaia from Rhium on the opposite coast is said by Thucydides to be less than a mile (7 stadia). According to Col. Leake (Morea, ii. 148) 'the distance is little, if at all, short of a mile and a half,' and would have been considerably greater in ancient times if we assume, as in this particular instance there is reason for thinking, that the sea, owing to the deposits of rivers, has retreated about 250 yards on the south, and somewhat less on the north coast.
iv. 8 med. The southern entrance of the harbour formed by the bay < if Navarino is more than three-quarters of a mile in width, and the northern is 132 yards. But accord- ing to Thucydides the northern entrance admitted the passage of only two ships, the southern of not more than eight or nine, and the Lacedaemonians had intended to block up both passages by ships placed lengthways l.
Thucydides also underrates considerably the length of the island, which he describes (iv. 8) as 15 stadia (about 3000 yards), whereas it is really 2f miles (4800 yards). [Mr. Grundy (see note) points out that the distance from the place where the Athenians must have landed on the bay side of the island to its N. point is about 15 stadia.]
1 [It has been suggested that Thucydides fell into the error by com- bining the accounts of two informants, one of whom meant b}' ' the harbour' the lagoon of Osmyn AIM l>rhind Pyl°s> and the other the bay i'f Navarino : and mistook an intended blocking of the N. entrance to the bay of Navarino at both ends vby which a passage from the bay into the lagoon, which may have r\i>u-d at the tinu-, would also have been closed to the Athenians) for a blocking of the N. and S. entrances. Sec Mr. G. B. Grundy's admirable monograph on Pylos and Sphacteria. If this be so, the criticism, in the Essay, on Thucydides as a geographer would onl}' be confirmed. It is clear from iv. 8 (TTJV 5t vfjaov rairrjv ipo0ov(*(voi p.?) f£ aur^s ruv rr<j\ffj.ov o<f>iai iroiwvTat, oTrArras titfiifSaoav is avTTji', nal irapa Tqv ijirtipov aAAovs tTa(av OVTOJ yap rots 'AOrji'aiots rrjv rt vijaov no\(fj.iai> tataOai rr)i' rt rjimpov, air60aoiv OVK <t\ovaa.v TO. yap avrfjs TTJs T\v\ov t£ca rov t<rir\ov wpos TO v(\ayos dA/JKTfl nrra ov\ fffiv uQtv vpfuafj.fi'oi un(>i\T)<jovffi TOVS avruji' that Thucydides believed the Lacedae- monians to have intended to block both entrances of the bay of Navarino. — And it is after all hard to believe that as a fact they did not intend to keep out the Athenian ships by occupying ^il not blocking the 5. entrance. j
CX THUCYDIDES
iv. 57 init. According to Thucydides, Thyrea was situated about 10 stadia from the sea, or about if of a mile. According to Col. Leake (Morea, ii. 492) 'it is at least three times that distance/ Other writers suggest other sites. But there are no remains which agree with the distance mentioned in Thucydides (Bursian, Geographic von Griechenland, ii. p. 70).
vi. 104 med. Gylippus sailing from Tarentum to Sicily was caught by a storm in the Terinaean gulf. But the Terinaean gulf, called also the Sinus Hipponiates, is on the west coast of Italy (Pliny, iii. 72. 5, 10). Kara rov Ttpivaiov KoX-rrov cannot mean ' opposite the Terinaean gulf.*
viii. 88 init. Alcibiades is described as sailing straight from Samos to Phaselis and Caunus on his way to As- pendus, and as returning to Samos from Caunus and Phaselis (108 init.). The inverse order in both cases is the true one. Dr. Arnold supposes the words to mean 'straight to Phaselis, having first touched at Caunus'; 'from Caunus, and before that from Phaselis/ But this explanation is forced in itself, and is rendered impossible by the repetition of the wrong order in the description of the return voyage.
viii. 101 fin. Similarly, Larissa and Hamaxitus are men- tioned in a wrong order (see Strabo, xiii. i. 47, 48, pp. 604, 605).
vi. 72 init. So Naxos and Catana.
iii. 29 med. So Icarus and Myconus.
vii. 19 init. Decelea is said to be distant about 120 stadia (i. e. about fourteen miles) from Athens, and about the same or a little more from Boeotia. In reality it was much nearer Boeotia. It has been suggested that Thucydides is here thinking of the far-off corner of Boeotia at Oropus, from which an important road ran through Decelea (vii. 28 init.) to Athens. Still this would only show how different his mode of expression is from that of a modern writer.
viii. 26 med. Aepoi/ ri]v npb MiA-T/rou vfjo-ov. But Leros
GEOGRAPHY Cxi
is forty miles from Miletus. All the MSS. except the Vatican read "E\(or, a place which is otherwise unknown. Aepov is probably correct, and is confirmed by the close connexion which we find existing between Leros and Miletus in the tribute lists (C. I. A. 37, 226, 251, 262, 264). The expression is natural enough for a writer who had in his mind not maps of the Aegean, but the actual voyage past Leros to Miletus.
iii. 4 fin. iopp.ovv iv rrj MuAe'a, Trpos fioptav Trjs TroAcws (com- pare c. 6, Trcpiop/mj-u'/icnu TO Trpos voTor). But, according to Strabo, Malm was at the southern extremity of the island. It is possible however to take 7rp6s popeav TT/? TrdAews not with eop/iovy but with uTroo-re'XAovo-i TrpeV/Jas rpi^pet, referring to the Mytilenaeans, above.
i. 6l med. d<f>iKOfj.cvoL es Bepoiav KuKei0ei/ eTrioTpei^aircs. But
Beroea was several days' march out of the road from Pydna to Potidaea ; nor could the Athenians possibly have reached Gigonus by slow marches three days after their departure from Beroea (KO.T oAi'yov Sc TrpoVoVrcs Tpiraloi e's Ttytovov). The generally received correction eVi for eVioTpei/'aKrcs cannot be considered certain, and does not remove the difficulty about Beroea.
We may also notice that where Thucydides evidently wants to express geographical ideas with precision, as in ii. 9 fin., vrjcroi ocrai CITO? IlfXaTroiT^trov KOI KpTyn/9 Trpos ^XioK uvio-^oiTtt, TTuo-ai ai aAAat Kj'K/Vci^t"; 7rA.?/i' M/y/Voi- KCU Qrjpas, Or
in the description of the island of Cythera, iv. 53 fin., -rracra (i. e. either >/ i^rro? or /'/ AAJCHTUC^) yap are'^ct Trpo? TO 2tK€/\i\-»H' Kai KpijTiKw TTt'Aayo?, he has caused a great deal of trouble to his interpreters \ There is a lesser degree of obscurity in the description of the country about Chimerium (i. 46 fin.), especially the words pet 8« *ai 0i'ap:is TroTa/xo?, op^mv T//I ©ccrTrpwTiSa KOL Keorpt'i'r^v, wi/ CKTO? rj a/cpa uvf\fL TO Xet/xepioi',
where a>v refers not to T^ ©eo-Trpajn'Sa «ai KeoTpiV^v, but to
1 [In ii. 9 the variations in the text give good ground for suspecting a gloss.]
cxii THUCYDIDES
Trora/Awj', gathered from the previous sentence (scil. the Acheron and the Thyamis).
It is worth while also to compare the description of the kingdom of the Odrysae in ii. 97, which, though not obscure, is cumbrous and very unlike the manner of a modern geographer.
Considering the number of these errors and vague ex- pressions, and the probability that Thucydides from his imperfect means of knowledge would have fallen into them, is it worth while, for the sake of vindicating his credit, either to alter the text, or to assume changes in the face of nature unless there is actual proof of them in each particular case? All that we can reasonably expect of him is that he should be a little in advance of his pre- decessors, not that he should vie with modern accuracy, or equally with a modern historian be alive to the value of topography, or realize the fulness and minuteness of detail which are required in a describer of places or of military movements.
THUCYDIDES
BOOK I
THUCYDIDES, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war in which the Peloponnesians and the Athenians fought against one another. He began to write when they first took up arms, believing that it would be great and memorable above any previous war. For he argued that both states were then at the full
... . . Grtatness of the
height of their military power, and he saw the rest of the Hellenes either siding or intending to side with one or other of them. No movement ever stirred Hellas more deeply than this; it was shared by many of the Barbarians, and might be said even to affect the world at large. The character of the events which preceded, whether immediately or in more remote an- tiquity, owing to the lapse of time cannot be made out with certainty. a But, judging from the evidence which I am able to trust after most careful enquiry0, I should imagine that former ages were not great either in their wars or in anything else.
The country which is now called Hellas was not 2 regularly settled l)in ancient times1'. The people were
* Or, connecting uiv with paKpurarov : • But after carrying the enquiry to the furthest point at which any trustworthy evidence can b<- obtained.' b Or, taking ov na\at closely together: 'until recent
times.'
VOL. I. B
2 EARLY INHABITANTS OF HELLAS [BK. I
migratory, and readily left their homes whenever they
were overpowered by numbers. There was no commerce,
Weakness of ancient and they could not safely hold inter-
HeUas: readiness of course with one another either by land
the early tribes to ,-,-,, , , .. , . ,
migrate: the richer or sea- The several tribes cultivated districts the more un- their own soil just enough to obtain settled; some of the a maintenance from it. But they had
poorer, like Attica, in , /. , , , .. ,
reality the more pros- no accumulations of wealth, and did perous. not plant the ground ; for, being with-
out walls, they were never sure that an invader might not come and despoil them. Living in this manner and knowing that they could anywhere obtain a bare sub- sistence, they were always ready to migrate ; so that they had neither great cities nor any considerable resources. The richest districts were most constantly changing their inhabitants ; for example, the countries which are now called Thessaly and Boeotia, the greater part of the Peloponnesus with the exception of Arcadia, and all the best parts of Hellas. For the productive- ness of the land a increased the power of individuals ; this in turn was a source of quarrels by which com- munities a were ruined, while at the same time they were more exposed to attacks from without. Certainly Attica, of which the soil was poor and thin, enjoyed a long free- dom from civil strife, and therefore retained its original inhabitants. And a striking confirmation of my argu- ment is afforded by the fact b that Attica through im- migration increased in population more than any other region. For the leading men of Hellas1', when driven
* Or, 'gave to some communities greater power; this was a source of quarrels, by which they ' etc. b Or, taking Is rci aAXo in another
sense : ' that Attica through immigration increased in population quite out of proportion to her increase in other respects ; ' or, supplying TT)P 'EAAa5a and taking fttToiidas in another sense : ' And here is a striking confirmation of my argument that the constant migrations were the cause which prevented the rest of Hellas from increasing equally with Attica. The leading men of Hellas,' etc.
CH. 3] KO COAfMO.V NAMF. 3
out of their own country by war or revolution, sought an asylum at Athens ; and from the very earliest times, being admitted to rights of citizenship, so greatly increased the number of inhabitants that Attica became incapable of containing them, and was at last obliged to send out colonies to Ionia.
The feebleness of antiquity is further proved to me by 3 the circumstance that there appears to No ,,,,,,v aniong the have been no common action in Hellas wiy inhabitants: no
before the Trojan War. And I am c,°"""u" """"' "'' //(/
or Saroan inclined to think that the very name ,„. ronillloll a((loll ,;,
was not as yet given to the whole 1 1 <-lla* before the Tmjan country, and in fact did not exist at all "'"'• before the time of Hellen, the son of Deucalion ; the different tribes, of which the IVlasgian was the most widely spread, gave their own names to different districts. But when Hellen and his sons became powerful in Phthiotis, their aid was invoked by other cities, and those who associated with them gradually began to be called Hellenes, though a long time elapsed before the name prevailed over the whole country. Of this Homer affords the best evidence ; for he, although he lived long after the Trojan War, nowhere uses this name collectively, but confines it to the followers of Achilles from Phthiotis, who were the original Hellenes; when speaking of the entire host he calls them Danaans, or Argives, or Achaeans. Neither is there any mention of Barbarians in his poems, clearly because there were as yet no Hellenes opposed to them by a common distinctive name. Thus a the several Hellenic tribes (and I mean by the term Hellenes those who, while forming separate communities, had a common language, and were afterwards called by a common name)a, owing to their weakness and isolation, were never united
* Or, supplying K\rjOtvT(t with both clauses : ' those who successively acquired the Hellenic name, which first spread among the several tribes speaking the same language, and afterwards became universal.'
B 2
4 PIRACY
in any great enterprise before the Trojan War. And they only made the expedition against Troy after they had gained considerable experience of the sea.
4 Minos is the first to whom tradition ascribes the , . . , . ... possession of a navy. He made him-
Begmmngs of civihs- " J
ation: Minos conquers self master of a great part of what is the islands and clears now termed the Hellenic sea; he con-
the sea of pirates. ^^ the CycladeS) and was the first
coloniser of most of them, expelling the Carians and ap« pointing his own sons to govern in them. Lastly, it was he who, from a natural desire to protect his growing revenues, sought, as far as he was able, to clear the sea of pirates.
5 For in ancient times both the Hellenes, and those Barbarians, whose homes were on the coast of the main- land or in islands, when they began to find their way to one another by sea had recourse to piracy. They were commanded by powerful chiefs, who took this means of increasing their wealth and providing for their poorer followers. They would fall upon the unwalled and straggling towns, or rather villages, which they plundered, and maintained themselves chiefly by the plunder of them ; for, as yet, such an occupation was held to be honourable and not disgraceful. This is proved by the practice of certain tribes on the mainland who, to the present day, glory in piratical exploits, and by the witness of the ancient poets, in whose verses the question is invariably asked of newly-arrived voyagers, whether they are pirates3; which implies that neither those who are questioned dis- claim, nor those who are interested in knowing censure the occupation. On land also neighbouring communities plundered each other; and there are many parts of Hellas in which the old practices still continue, as for example among the Ozolian Locrians, Aetolians, Acarnanians, and the adjacent regions of the continent. The fashion of wearing arms among these continental tribes is a
" Od. iii. 73 fif. ; ix. 252 ; Hymn to Apoll. 452 ff.
4-7] or///: K J.\C//:.\T CUSTOM^ 5
relic of their old predatory habits. For in ancient times all Hellenes carried weapons because Old .-.//iV/i
their homes were undefended and inter- nrc *"'" existitts '"
c i-i .L. r> u • part* of the roitn-
coursewas unsafe; like the Barbarians try: they went armed in their every-day life, an And the continuance of the custom in certain parts of tin- country indicates that it once prevailed everywhere.
The Athenians were the first who laid aside arms and 6 adopted an easier and more luxurious way of life. Quite recently the old-fashioned refinement of dress still lingered among the elder men of their richer class, who wore under-garments of linen, and bound back their hair in a knot with golden clasps in the form of grasshoppers ; and the same customs long survived among the elders of Ionia, having been derived from their Athenian ancestors. On the other hand, the simple dress which is now common was first worn at Sparta ; and there, more than anywhere else, the life of the rich was assimilated to that of the people. The Lacedaemonians too were the first who in their athletic exercises stripped naked and rubbed them- selves over with oil. But this was not the ancient custom; athletes formerly, even when they were contending at Olympia, wore girdles about their loins, a practice which lasted until quite lately, and still prevails among Bar- barians, especially those of Asia, where the combatants in boxing and wrestling matches wear girdles. And many other customs which are now confined to the Barbarians might be shown to have existed formerly in Hellas.
In later times, when navigation had become general and 7 wealth was beginning to accumulate, Fortified t cities were built upon the sea-shore and /„ /„• built -, at first »';/- fortified ; peninsulas too were occupied hind< aftcm-ards on the and walled-offwith a view to commerce and defence against the neighbouring tribes. But the older towns both in the islands and on the continent, in order to protect themselves against the piracy which so long prevailed, were built inland ; and there they remain
6 THE TROJAN EXPEDITION [i
to this day. For the piratical tribes plundered, not only one another, but all those who, without being seamen, lived on the sea-coast.
8 The islanders were even more addicted to piracy than The pirates in the tne inhabitants of the mainland. They
islands of Carian or were mostly Carian or Phoenician Phoenician origin. settlers. This is proved by the fact that when the Athenians purified Delosa during the Peloponnesian War and the tombs of the dead were opened, more than half of them were found to be Carians. They were known by the fashion of their arms which were buried with them, and by their mode of burial, the same which is still practised among them.
After Minos had established his navy, communication by sea became more general. For, he having expelled the marauders b when he colonised the greater part of the islands, the dwellers on the sea-coast began to grow richer and to live in a more settled manner ; and some of them, finding their wealth increase beyond their expectations, surrounded their towns with walls. The love of gain made the weaker willing to serve the stronger, c and the command of wealth enabled the more powerful to subju- gate the lesser cities6. This was the state of society which was beginning to prevail at the time of the Trojan War.
9 I am inclined to think that Agamemnon succeeded in Rtse of the Pdo- collecting the expedition, not because
pidae: the wealth and the suitors of Helen had bound them- power which Agamem- selves by oath to Tyndareus, but
r; w''l{;:,t ***™ ^ ^ *e most powerful king
ambled him to assemble of his time. d Those Peloponnesians
the chiefs who fought at wno possessthe most accurate traditions
say thatd originally Pelops gained his
power by the great wealth which he brought with him
n Cp. iii. 104 init. b Cp. i. 4. c Or, ' and incited the more
powerful, who now had wealth at their command, to subjugate the lesser cities.' d Or, 'Those who possess the most accurate traditions
respecting the history of Peloponnesus say that ' etc.
8 -.o] .K.AMEMNON. 7
from Asia into a poor country, whereby In- was enabled, although a stranger, to give his name to the Peloponm and that still greater fortune attended his descendant-, after tlie death of Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, who slain in Attica by the Heraclidae. For Atreus the son of Pelops was the maternal uncle of Eurystheus, who, when he went on the expedition, naturally committed to his charge the kingdom of My- Now Atreus had been
banished by his father on account of the murder of Chrysippus. But Eurystheus never returned ; and the Mycenaeans, dreading the Heraclidae, were ready to welcome Atreus, who was considered a powerful man and had ingratiated himself with the multitude. So he suc- ceeded to the throne of Mycenae and the other dominions of Eurystheus. Thus the house of Pelops prevailed over that of Perseus.
And it was, as I believe, because Agamemnon inherited this power and also because he was the greatest naval potentate of his time that he was able to assemble the expedition ; and the other princes followed him, not from good-will, but from fear. Of the chiefs who came to Troy, he, if the witness of Homer b< accepted, brought the greatest number of ships himself, besides supplying the Arcadians with them. In the ' I landing down of the Sceptre' he is described as 'The king of many islands, and of all Argos".' But, living on tin- mainland, he could not have ruled over any exrept the adjacent islands (which would not be 'many') unless he had possessed a con- siderable navy. From this expedition we must form our conjectures about the character of still earlier times.
When it is said that Mycenae was but a small pla< or that any other city which existed in those da\ inconsiderable in our own, this argument will hardly prove that the expedition was not as great as the p relate and as is commonly imagined. Suppose the city
a II. ii. 108.
8 NUMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION [l
of Sparta to be deserted, and nothing left but the temples . . and the ground-plan, distant ages would
That the ancient -e '
greatness of Mycenae, be very unwilling to believe that the or of any other city, is power of the Lacedaemonians was at
not to be estimated by ^ , fa . f And fc h
present appearances, J J
proved front a cow- own two-fifths of the Peloponnesus, and pari&on of Athens and are acknowledged leaders of the whole, sPatia- as well as of numerous allies in the rest
of Hellas. But their city is not built continuously, and has no splendid temples or other edifices ; it rather resembles a group of villages like the ancient towns of Hellas, and would therefore make a poor show. Whereas, if the same fate befell the Athenians, the ruins of Athens would strike the eye, and we should infer their power to have been twice as great as it really is. We ought not then to be unduly sceptical. The greatness of cities should be estimated by their real power and not by appearances. And we may Homers account of fairly suppose the Trojan expedition the number of 'the forces. to have been greater than any which
preceded it, although according to Homer, if we may once more appeal to his testimony, not equal to those of our own day. He was a poet, and may therefore be expected to exaggerate ; yet, even upon his showing, the expedition was comparatively small. For it numbered, as he tells us, twelve hundred ships, those of the Boeotians a carrying one hundred and twenty men each, those of Philoctetes b fifty; and by these numbers he may be presumed to indicate the largest and the smallest ships; else why in the catalogue is nothing said about the size of any others ? That the crews were all fighting men as well as rowers he clearly implies when speaking of the ships of Philoctetes ; for he tells us that all the oarsmen were likewise archers. And it is not to be supposed that many who were not sailors would accompany the expedition, except the kings and principal officers ; for the troops had to cross the sea,
* II. ii. 509, 510. i» n n -Ig 720<
U, ta] CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING Tin: /r.//o 9
bringing with them the materials of war, in vessels with out decks, built after the old piratical fashion. Now if we take a mean between the crews, the invading forces will appear not to have been very numerous when we remember that they were drawn from the whole of Hellas.
The cause of the inferiority was not so much the want 1 1 of men as the want of money ; the in- vading army was limited, by the diffi- siting the Trojan culty of obtaining supplies, to such li(l>- a number as might be expected to live on the country in which they were to fight. After their arrival at Troy, when they had won a battle (as they clearly did, for other- wise they could not have fortified their campX even then they appear not to have used the whole of their force, but to have been driven by want of provisions to the cultivation of the Chersonese and to pillage. And in consequence of this dispersion of their forces, the Trojans were enabled to hold out against them during the whole ten years, being always a match for those who remained on the spot. Whereas if the besieging army had brought abundant supplies, and, instead of betaking themselves to agriculture or pillage, had carried on the war persistently with all their forces, they would easily have been masters of the field and have taken the city ; since, even divided as they were, and with only a part of their army available at any one time, they held their ground. Or, again, they might have regularly invested Troy, and the place would have been captured in less time and with less trouble. Poverty was the real reason why the achievements of former ages were insignificant, and why the Trojan War, the most celebrated of them all, when brought to the test of facts, falls short of its fame and of the prevailing traditions to which the poets have given authority.
Even in the age which followed the Trojan War, Hellas 12 was still in process of ferment and settlement, and had no time for peaceful growth. The return of the Hellenes from Troy after their long absence led to many chang
10 RETURN OF THE HERACLIDAE [\
quarrels too arose in nearly every city, and those who
c ,. , were expelled by them went and
Southward move- J
mcnt in Hellas after founded other cities. Thus in the the Trojan War; Boeo- sixtieth year after the fall of Troy, the tians descend out of Boeotian people, having been expelled Tltessaha; Donanoc- f ^ ' *
cupation of the Pdo- from Arne by the Thessahans, settled ponnesus; Ionian and in the country formerly called Cadmeis, Dorian colonies. but now Boeotia i a portion of the
tribe already dwelt there, and some of these had joined in the Trojan expedition. In the eightieth year after the war, the Dorians led by the Heraclidae conquered the Peloponnesus. A considerable time elapsed before Hellas became finally settled; after a while, however, she re- covered tranquillity and began to send out colonies. The Athenians colonised Ionia and most of the islands ; the Peloponnesians the greater part of Italy and Sicily, and various places in Hellas. These colonies were all founded after the Trojan War.
13 As Hellas grew more powerful and the acquisition of
Rise of navies in Hel- wealth became more and more rapid,
las: Corinth, Corcyra, the revenues of her cities increased,
Ionia, Samos,Phocaea. and jn mos(; of them tyrannies were
established ; they had hitherto been ruled by hereditary kings, having fixed prerogatives. The Hellenes likewise began to build navies and to make the sea their element. The Corinthians are said to have first adopted some- thing like the modern style of marine, and the oldest Hellenic triremes to have been constructed at Corinth. A Corinthian ship-builder, Ameinocles, appears to have built four ships for the Samians ; he went to Samos
B.C. 704. about three hundred years before the end of the Pelo- ponnesian War. And the earliest naval engagement on record is that between the Corinthians and Corcyraeans
B.c^664. which occurred about forty years later. Corinth, being seated on an isthmus, was naturally from the first a centre of commerce ; for the Hellenes within and without the Peloponnese in the old days, when they communicated
'3,1-4] roAY.Y77//./.Y ./.Y/> OTHER NAVIES II
chiefly by land, had to pass through her territory in nni< r to reach one another. Her wealth too was a souiv« power, as the ancient poets testify, who speak of ' Corinth tin rich*.' When navigation grew more common, tin- Corinthians, having already acquired a fleet, were able to put down piracy ; they offered a market both by sea and land, and with the increase of riches the power of their city increased yet more. Later, in the time of Cyrus, the 8.0.559 first Persian king, and of Cambyses his son, the lonians 5f,9'__ had a large navy; they fought with Cyrus, and were for 624. 0>
a time masters of the sea around their own coasts. Poly- BC-5a9-
522. crates, too, who was a tyrant of Samos in the reign ofoi. 62, 4-
Cambyses, had a powerful navy and subdued several of64'4' the islands, among them Rhenea, which he dedicated to the Delian Apollo1'. And the Phocaeans, when they were colonising Massalia, defeated the Carthaginian^ «>n B.C. 600. the sea. 01
These were the most powerful navies, and even tln-.xr, i{
which came into existence many gene-
• rations after the I rojan War, appear SmmOmn <f ** Ati*>
to have consisted chiefly of fifty-oared »""' and .icgim-tan vessels and galleys of war, as in the ^"/s days of Troy; as yet triremes were n"t common. Hut a little before the Persian War and the death of Dan who succeeded Cambyses, the Sicilian tyrants and the0 Corcyraeans hail them in considerable numbers. No other maritime powers of any consequence arose in Hellas before the expedition of Xerxes. The Aeginctans, Athe- nians, and a few more had small fleets, and these mostly consisted of fifty-oared vessels. c Even the ships which the Athenians built quite recently at the instigation of Themistocles, when they were at war with the Aeginetans
n II. ii. 570. b Cp. iii. 104 init. c Or. ' It was quite at
a recent period, when the Athenians wore at war with the Ati;ii and in expectation of the Barbarian, that Thrinistm-h-s pcrsua«l«-<l thrm to build the ships with which they fought at Salamis ; and even were not completely decked.'
12 WAR BETWEEN CHALCIS AND ERETRIA [l
and in expectation of the Barbarian, even these ships with which they fought at Salamis were not completely decked0.
15 So inconsiderable were the Hellenic navies in recent as The chief power of well as in more ancient times. And
Hellas maritime. Wars yet those who applied their energies to
by land inconsiderable. the gea obtained a great accession
cf strength by the increase of their revenues and the extension of their dominion. For they attacked and sub- jugated the islands, especially when the pressure of population was felt by them. Whereas by land, no conflict of any kind which brought increase of power ever occurred ; what wars they had were mere border feuds. Foreign and distant expeditions of conquest the Hellenes never under- took ; for they were not as yet ranged under the command of the great states, nor did they form voluntary leagues or make expeditions on an equal footing. Their wars were only the wars of the several neighbouring tribes with one another. The conflict in which the rest of Hellas was most divided, allying itself with one side or the other, was the ancient war between the Chalcidians and Eretrians a.
16 There were different impediments to the progress of the Impediments to pro- different states. The lonians had at-
Sress •' tained great prosperity when Cyrus and
B.C. 546. the Persians, having overthrown Croesus and subdued the
(1) The rising power countries between the river Halys and of the Persians. tne sea> macje war against them and en-
B.C. 493. slaved the cities on the mainland. Some time afterwards, ' 7I> 4* Darius, strong in the possession of the Phoenician fleet, conquered the islands also.
17 Nor again did the tyrants of the Hellenic cities extend
(2) The petty aims tneir thoughts beyond their own in- and cautious natures terest, that is, the security of their per- sons, and the aggrandisement of them- selves and their families. They were extremely cautious in the administration of their government, and nothing
B Herod, v. 99.
i5-i8] OVERTHROW OF THE TYRAXTS 13
considerable was ever effected by them ; except in wars with their neighbours, as in Sicily, where their power attained its greatest height. Thus for a long time ev< thing conspired to prevent Hellas from uniting in any great action and to paralyse enterprise in the individual states.
At length the tyrants both at Athens and in the rest of 18 Hellas (which had been under their They were at length H-C. 510. dominion long before Athens), at least ol>»-""™» h Sparta, Ol- 67- 3-
, r . . . ivhifh for font hundied
the greater number of them, and with yeats has b(fn Wf/l
the exception of the Sicilian the last who governed.
ever ruled, were put down by the Lacedaemonians. For
although Lacedaemon, after the conquest* of the country
by the Dorians who now inhabit it, remained long unsettled,
and indeed longer than any country which we know,
nevertheless she obtained good laws at an earlier period
than any other, and has never been subject to tyrants;
she has preserved the same form of government for rather
more than four hundred years, reckoning to the end of the B.C. 804-
Peloponnesian War. It was the excellence of her con- QJ4'
stitution which gave her power, and thus enabled her to
regulate the affairs of other states. Not long after the
overthrow of the tyrants by the Lacedaemonians, the battle
of Marathon was fought between the Athenians and the B.C. 490.
Persians ; ten years later, the Barbarian returned with the ^<J*j£
vast armament which was to enslave Hellas. In the great- oi. 75.
ness of the impending danger, the Lacedaemonians, who
were the most powerful state in Hellas, assumed the lead
of the confederates, while the Athenians, as the Persian
host advanced, resolved to forsake their The Hellenes, w/io
city, broke up their homes, and, taking h(ld, ^en '""'«* '"/'-
. . . . ry,, sisttng the. Persian,
to their ships, became seamen. The SOOH broke ttp ,-, „„ Barbarian was repelled by a common confederacies. effort; but soon the Hellenes, Kis well those who had
* Reading KT^OIV. not ttriaiv. b Or, 'as well those who had
revolted from the King, as those who had joined with him.'
14 THE PERSIAN WAR [l
revolted from the King as those who formed the original confederacy1', took different sides and became the allies either of the Athenians or of the Lacedaemonians ; for these were now the two leading powers, the one strong by land and the other by sea. The league between them was of short duration ; they speedily quarrelled and, with their respective allies, went to war. Any of the other Hellenes who had differences of their own now resorted to one or other of them. So that from the Persian to the Peloponnesian War, the Lacedaemonians and the Athe- nians were perpetually fighting or making peace, either with one another or with their own revolted allies ; thus they attained military efficiency, and learned experience in the school of danger.
19 The Lacedaemonians did not make tributaries of those Different character of who acknowledged their leadership,
the Athenian and Spar- but took care that they should be tan league. governed by oligarchies in the ex-
clusive interest of Sparta. The Athenians, on the other hand, after a time deprived the subject cities of their ships and made all of them pay a fixed tribute, except Chios and Lesbos ft. And the single power bof Athens b at the beginning of this war was greater than that of Athens and Sparta together at their greatest, while the confederacy remained intact.
20 Such are the results of my enquiries, c though the
early history of Hellas is of a kind
Vulgar errors. -\ • \ r i • i • •> • • , .
which forbids implicit reliance on every particular of the evidence c. Men do not discriminate, and are too ready to receive ancient traditions about their own as well as about other countries. For example, most
• Cp. i. 96, 99; iii. 39 init. ; vi. 85 med. ; vii. 57 init. b Or,
'either of Athens or Sparta.' c Qr (i), « Though they may not
obtain entire credit, even when the proofs of them are all set down in order.' Or (2), « Though they will not readily be believed upon a bare recital of all the proofs of them.' Or (3), 'Though it is difficult to set down all the proofs in order, so as to make the account credible.'
i9-2i] EMrxn.rrrnxs or if /.STORY 15
Athenians think that H ipparchus was actually tyrant win n B.C. 514. he was slain by Harmodius and Aristogeiton ; they are not aware that Hippias was the eldest of the sons of P« stratus, and succeeded him, and that II ipparchus and Thessalus were only his brothers". At the last moment, Harmodius and Aristogeiton suddenly suspected that Ilijv pias had been forewarned by some of their accomplices. They therefore abstained from attacking him, but, wishing to do something before they were seized, and not to risk their lives in vain, they slew H ipparchus, with whom they fell in near the temple called Leocorium as he was marshalling the Panathenaic procession. There are many other matters, not obscured by time, but contemporary, about which the other Hellenes are equally mistaken. For example, they imagine that the kings of Lacedaemon in their council have not one but two votes each l), and that in the army of the Lacedaemonians there is a division called the Pitanate division c ; whereas they never had anything of the sort. So little trouble do men take in the search after truth ; so readily do they accept whatever comes first to hand.
Yet any one who upon the grounds which I have given 21 arrives at some such conclusion as my Cnartninty u/ ,,,,/v own about those ancient times, would * lintatniLy
, c TT , , fait A the Ptlohonnesian
not be far wrong. He must not be Jgrcalf>. th(Jaiiv ^ misled by the exaggerated fancies of ffding the poets, or by the tales of chroniclers who seek please the ear rather than to speak the truth. Their accounts cannot be tested by him ; and most of the facts in the lapse of ages have passed into the region of romance. At such a distance of time he must make up his mind to be satisfied with conclusions resting upon the clearest evidence which can be had. And, though men will always judge any war in which they are actually fighting to be the greatest at the time, but, after it is over, revert to their
Cp. vi. 54 seqq. h Herod vi. 57. • Herod, ix. 53.
16 TRUTHFULNESS OF HIS OWN NARRATIVE [l
admiration of some other which has preceded, still the Peloponnesian, if estimated by the actual facts, will certainly prove to have been the greatest ever known.
22 As to the speeches which were made either before or The speeches could during the war, it was hard for me, and
not be exactly reported. for others who reported them to me, to GalTettc!r\hekel^ recollect the exact words. I have there- about events. fore put into the mouth of each speaker
the sentiments proper to the occasion, expressed as I thought he would be likely to express them, while at the same time I endeavoured, as nearly as I could, to give the general purport of what was actually said. Of the events of the war I have not ventured to speak from any chance information, nor according to any notion of my own ; I have described nothing but what I either saw myself, or learned from others of whom I made the most careful and particular enquiry. The task was a laborious one, because eye-witnesses of the same occurrences gave different accounts of them, as they remembered or were interested in the actions of one side or the other. And very likely the strictly historical character of my narrative may be disappointing to the ear. But if he who desires to have before his eyes a true picture of the events which have happened, and of the like events which may be expected to happen hereafter in the order of human things, shall pronounce what I have written to be useful, then I shall be satisfied. My history is an everlasting posses- sion, not a prize composition which is heard and forgotten.
23 The greatest achievement of former times was the Length of the war, Persian War ; yet even this was
which was attended by speedil decided in tWO battles by Sea all sorts of calamities, , -.
ordinary and extraor- an^ tWO by land. But the Pelopon-
dinary. Among the nesian War was a protracted struggle, latter might be enu- and attended b calamities such as
tnerated earthquakes,
eclipses, droughts, and Hellas had never known within a like lastly, the plague. period of time. Never were so many
cities captured and depopulated— some by Barbarians,
5J2-24] (.IUSES OF THE IVAR 17
others by I lellem -s th< msc 1\ i > lighting against our another; and several of them after their capture were repeopled by strangers. Never were exile and slaughter more frequent, whether in the war or brought about by civil strife. And traditions which had often been current before, but rarely verified by fact, were now no longer doubted. For there were earthquakes unparalleled in their extent and fury, and eclipses of the sun more numerous than are recorded to have happened in any former as^- ; there weiv also in some places great droughts causing famines, and lastly the plague which did immense harm and destroyed numbers of the people. All the-,e calamities fell upon Hellas simultaneously with the war, which began when the Athenians and Peloponnesians violated the thirty years' truce concluded by them after the recapture of Euboea11. Why they broke it and what were the grounds of quarrel I will first set forth, that in time to come no man may IK- at a loss to know what was the origin of this great war. The real though unavowed cause I believe to have been the growth of the Athenian power, which terrified the Lacedaemonians and forced them into war; but the reasons publicly alleged on either side were as follows. The city of Epidamnus is situated on the right hand as 24
you sail up the Ionian Gulf. The- ....
J . . , . . . , . ... /;"' *lv>'y °f A/'<-
neighbouring inhabitants are the 1 an- ,/,,/„„„.<. r/'r-/'/ strife
lantians, a barbarian tribe of the Illyrian <»"/ ••<•<" wM* the bar- race. The place was colonised by the ' Corcyraeans, but under the leadership of a Corinthian, Phalius, son of Eratocleides, who was of the lineage of Heracles; he was invited, according to ancient custom, from the mother city, and Corinthians and other Dorians joined in the colony. In process of time Epidamnus became great and populous, but there followed a long period of civil commotion, and the city is said to have been brought low in a war against the neighbouring
" Cp. i. 115. 146. VOL. i. c
l8 THE EPIDAMNIANS AT CORINTH [l
barbarians, and to have lost her ancient power. At last,
shortly before the Peloponnesian War, the notables were
B.C. 435 or overthrown and driven out by the people ; the exiles went
031486 2 or over to the barbarians> and» uniting with them, plundered
3. ' the remaining inhabitants both by sea and land. These,
finding themselves hard pressed, sent
The prayer of the r. '
Epidamnians for help an embassy to the mother-city Corcyra, is rejected by their begging the Corcyraeans not to leave mother-city Corcyra. them ^ thdr but t() reconcile them
to the exiles and settle the war with the barbarians. The ambassadors came, and sitting as suppliants in the temple of Here preferred their request ; but the Corcyraeans would not listen to them, and they returned without 25 success. The Epidamnians, finding that they had no hope of assistance from Corcyra, knew not what to do; and sending to Delphi enquired of the God whether they should deliver up the city to their original founders, the Corinthians, and endeavour to obtain aid from them. The God replied that they should, and bade them place them- They place them- selves under the leadership of the selves under the pro- Corinthians. So the Epidamnians lection of Corinth. ^^ io Corinth, and informing the Corinthians of the answer which the oracle had given, delivered up the city to them. They reminded them that the original leader of the colony was a citizen of Corinth ; and implored the Corinthians to come and help them, and not leave them to their fate. The Corinthians took up their cause, partly in vindication of their own rights (for they considered that Epidamnus belonged to them quite as much as to the Corcyraeans), partly too because they hated the Corcyraeans, who were their own colony but slighted them. In their common festivals they would not allow them the customary privileges of founders, and at their sacrifices denied to a Corinthian the right of receiving first the lock of hair cut from the head of the victim, an honour usually granted by colonies to a representative of the mother-country. In fact they despised the Corinthians,
25, 26] siE(,i: or /:/>//). i M.VUS 19
for they were more than a match for them in military strength, and as rich as any state then existing in Hellas. They would often boast that on the sea they were very far superior to them, and would appropriate t«> themselves tin- naval renown of the Phaeacians, who were the ancient inhabitants of the island. Such feelings led them more and more to strengthen their navy, which was hy no means despicable; for they had a hundred and twenty triremes when the war broke out.
Irritated by these causes of offence, the Corinthian*- were too happy to assist Kpidamnus ; TI*Cari*thi*»u9md accordingly thev invited any one who tn><>/^ ami <ni,,n^t* /»
was willing to settle there, and for the <«»»"'*- Tl,,-Cn,-
' (inimiui Incir
, . ,
protection oi the colonists despatched ,/,,,,;/;s,s-,f/ ; „// /„-,//.
with them Ambracian and Leiieadian /««•<{ they besiege the troops and a force of their own. All "'*'• these they sent by land as far as Apollonia, which colon\r of theirs, fearing that if they went by sea the Cor- cyraeans might oppose their passage. Great was the rage of the Coivvrarans when they discovered that the settlers and the troops had entered Kpidamnus and that the colony had been given up to the Corinthians. They immediately set sail with live and twenty ships, followed by a second fleet, and in insulting terms hade the Kpidamnians receive the exiled oligarchs, who had gone to Corcyra and implored the Corcyraeans to restore them, appealing to the tie of kindred and pointing to the sepulchres of their common ancestors'1. They also bade them send away the troops and the new settlers. But the Kpidamnians would not listen to their demands. Whereupon the Corcyraeans attacked them with forty ships. They were accompanied by the exiles whom they were to restore, and had the assistance of the native Illyrian troops. They sat down before the city, and made proclamation that any Kpidam- nian who chose, and the foreigners, might depart in
Cp. iii. 58 m< ••!.. 59 ink.
20
EMBASSY FROM CORCYRA TO CORINTH [l
safety, but that all who remained would be treated as enemies. This had no effect, and the Corcyraeans pro- ceeded to invest the city, which is built upon an isthmus.
27 When the news reached the Corinthians that Epidamnus The Corinthians pre- was besieged, they equipped an army
pare for war and pro- an(j proclaimed that a colony was to be
claim a colony to Epi- ^ ^ who . h d . fa
dainnus. Megara and _ ° _*•*
other friendly cities fur- and enjoy equal rights of citizenship ; nish ships. but any one who was unwilling to sail
at once might remain at Corinth, and, if he made a deposit of fifty Corinthian drachmae, might still have a share in the colony a. Many sailed, and many deposited the money. The Corinthians also sent and requested the Megarians to assist them with a convoy in case the Corcyraeans should intercept the colonists on their voyage. The Megarians accordingly provided eight ships, and the Cephallenians of Pale four ; the Epidaurians, of whom they made a similar request, five ; the Hermionians one ; the Troezenians two ; the Leucadians ten ; and the Ambraciots eight. Of the Thebans and Phliasians they begged money, and of the Eleans money, and ships without crews. On their own account they equipped thirty ships and three thousand hoplites.
28 When the Corcyraeans heard of their preparations they TheCorcyraeanspro- came to Corinth, taking with them Lace-
pose arbitration, offering daemonian and Sicyonian envoys, and until a decision be given summoned the Corinthians to withdraw
to ivithdraiv their troops . .
if the Corinthians with. the troops and the colonists, telling draw theirs, or to allow them that they had nothing to do with both to remain at Epi- Epidamnus. If they made any claim
(((iniiitis bv agreement. _,
to it, the Corcyraeans expressed them- selves willing to refer the cause for arbitration to such Peloponnesian states as both parties should agree upon, and their decision was to be final ; or, they were willing
n The sum would amount to £2 155. 4^., or to £i 2s. 6d.t according to the two systems of reckoning discussed in the note on iii. 70, q.v.
27-29] rOAY.Y/7/ .U./A"/:.s- //Vf/i1 21
to leave the matter in the hands of the Delphian oracle. But they deprecated war, and declared that, if war there must be, they would be compelled by the Corinthians in self-defence to discard their present friends and seek others whom they would rather not, for help they must have. The Corinthians replied that if the Corcyraeana would withdraw the ships and the barbarian troops tin -y would consider the matter, but that it would not do for them to be litigating while Kpidamnus and the colonists were in a state of siege. The Corcyraeans rejoined that tiny would consent to this proposal if the Corinthians on their part would withdraw their forces from Kpidamnus : again, they were willing that both parties should remain ' on the spot, and that a truce should be made until the decision was given.
The Corinthians turned a deaf ear to all these overtures, 29 and, when their vessels were manned //« c«,intiu,i,.
and their allies had arrived, they sent S"se; a'"1 "''
. , , , - Sailing towanu A/>/-
a herald before them to declare war, ,/,„„„)„ ,/„ v „,., „„,
and set sail for Epidamnus with seventv- ">"( att«<k<d i>\- ///,- five ships and two thousand hoplites, <«":".""-«»</,•,>„,-
filftfly tlfftatftl. < >n the
intending to give battle to the Corey- „„„;. t/in, /,,,„/,„„„„, raeans. Their fleet was commanded >»»>> by Aristeus the son of Pcllichus, Callicrates tin- son of C'allias, and Timanor the son of Timanthes ; the land forces by Archetimus the son of Kurytimus, and Isarrhidas the son of Isarchus. When they arrived at Actiuni in the territory of Anactorium, at the mouth of the Amhracian gulf, where the temple of Apollo stands, the Corey ra<-an>. sent a herald to meet them in a small boat forbidding them to come on. Meanwhile their crews got on board; they had previously put their fleet in repair, and strengthened the old ships with cross-timbers, so as to make thnn vict -able. The herald brought back no message of pe.
" Or, 'or again. th«-v \voul«l ngn-i- to arbitration mi tin- condition that both parties should remain ' •
22 CORCYRAEAN SUCCESSES [l
from the Corinthians. The Corcyraean ships, numbering eighty (for forty out of the hundred and twenty were engaged in the blockade of Epidamnus\ were now fully manned; these sailed out against the Corinthians and, forming line, fought and won a complete victory over them, and destroyed fifteen of their ships. On the very same day the forces besieging Epidamnus succeeded in compelling the city to capitulate, the terms being that the Corinthians until their fate was determined should be imprisoned and the strangers sold.
30 After the sea-fight the Corcyraeans raised a trophy on
Leucimne, a promontory of Corcyra,
The Corcyraeans, , J . J '
having command of and put to death all their prisoners with the sea, plunder ihe the exception of the Corinthians, whom they kept in chains. The defeated Corinthians and their allies then returned home, and the Corcyraeans (who were now masters of the Ionian sea), sailing to Leucas, a Corinthian colony, devastated the country. They also burnt Cyllene, where the Eleans had their docks, because they had supplied the Corinthians with money and ships. And, during the greater part of the summer after the battle, they retained the command of the sea and sailed about plundering the allies of the Corinthians. But, before the season was over, the Corin- thians, perceiving that their allies were suffering, sent
At length the Conn- out a fleet and took UP a position at
thians form a camp to Actium and near the promontory of protect ///,,„. Cheimerium in Thesprotia, that they
might protect Leucas and other friendly places. The Corcyraeans with their fleet and army stationed them- selves on the opposite coast at Leucimne. Neither party attacked the other, but during the remainder of the summer they maintained their respective stations, and at the ap- proach of winter returned home.
31 For the whole year after the battle and for a year after B.C. 435, that, the Corinthians, exasperated by the war with Corcyra, CM486, 2, 3. were busy in building ships, They took the utmost pains
3o-3a] SPEECH OF THE f OAY TA\ / /.\ / .Y ^ 23
,to create a great navy: rowers were collected from the Peloponnesus and from the rest of The Corinthians prf- Hellas by the attraction of pay. The part to ,rnen- the war, Corcyraeans were alarmed at the re- "''^ ";*"'
. . alarm *t-int an a;.
port of their preparations. They re- to Atllc>l. .,,,„,/„,,. thfv fleeted that they had not enrolled are followed i>\- Conn- themselves in the league either of the ""<"' " Athenians or of the Lacedaemonians, and that allies in I K lias they had none. They determined to go to Athens, join the Athenian alliance, and get what help they could from them. The Corinthians, hearing of their intentions, also sent ambassadors to Athens, fearing lest the combina- tion of the Athenian and Corcyraean navies might prevent them from bringing the war to a satisfactory termination. Accordingly an assembly was held at which both parties B.C. 433. came forward to plead their respective causes ; and first ^ 4' the Corcyraeans spoke as follows : —
'Men of Athens, those who, like ourselves, come 1032 others who are not their allies and to speech of the ( whom they have never rendered any ' considerable service and ask help of them, are bound to show, in the first place, that the granting of their request is expedient, or at any rate not inexpedient, and, secondly, that their gratitude will be lasting. If they fulfil neither requirement they have no right to complain of a refusal. Now the Corcyraeans, when they sent us hither to ask for an alliance, were confident that they could establish to your satisfaction both these points. But, unfortunately, we have had a practice alike inconsistent with the request which we are about to make and contrary to our own interest at the present moment : — Inconsistent; for hitherto we have never, if we could avoid it, been the allies of others, and now we come and ask you to enter into an alliance with us: — Contrary to our interest; for through this practice we find ourselves isolated in our war with the Corinthians. The policy of not making alliances lest they should endanger us at another's bidding, instead of being
24 SPEECH OF THE CORCYRAEANS [I
wisdom, as we once fancied, has now unmistakably proved Our neutrality was a to be weakness and folly. True, in the mistake, and has left iast navaj engagement we repelled the $£%£££% Corinthians single-handed. But now their allies. they are on the point of attacking us
with a much greater force which they have drawn together from the Peloponnesus and from all Hellas. We know that we are too weak to resist them unaided, and may expect the worst if we fall into their hands. We are there- fore compelled to ask assistance of you and of all the world ; and you must not be hard upon us if now, renouncing our indolent neutrality which was an error but not a crime, we dare to be inconsistent.
33 ' To you at this moment the request which we are making
We ask the aid of offers a glorious opportunity. In the
Athens, who will thus first place, you will assist the oppressed
assist the oppressed, anc} not tne oppressors ; secondly, you
and gain our un- .,, , 11.
dying affection. She Wl11 admit US tO y°Ur allianCC at a time
should not reject the when our dearest interests are at stake, offer of the Corcyraean ancj ^n jay up a treasure of gratitude in our memories which will have the most abiding of all records. Lastly, we have a navy greater than any but your own. Reflect ; what good fortune can be more extraordinary, what more annoying to your enemies than the voluntary accession of a power for whose alliance you would have given any amount of money and could never have been too thankful ? This power now places herself at your disposal ; you are to incur no danger and no expense, and she brings you a good name in the world, gratitude from those who seek your aid, and an increase of your own strength. Few have ever had all these advantages offered them at once ; equally few when they come asking an alliance are able to give in the way of security and honour as much as they hope to receive.
'And if any one thinks that the war in which our services may be needed will never arrive, he is mistaken. He does not see that the Lacedaemonians, fearing the growth
33-35]
or THE (ORC TA\ //:./. vs
of your empire, are eager to take up anus, and that the Corinthians, who are your enemies,
,, - , . , , ,~. For :\.'a> is iiiiniiiifiit.
are all-powerful with them. 1 hey begin with us, but they will go on to you, that we may not stand united against them in the bond of a common enmity; they will not miss the chance of weakening us or strengthening themselves. And it is our business to strike first, we offering and you accepting our alliance, and to forestall their designs instead of waiting to cmint«-r- act them.
' If they say that we are their colony and that therefore 34 you have no rijjht to receive us, they 7V»- '»,n-
should be made to understand that ail °{ ihe < '»"'""»'<"'*• b>"
. that is no ;m-<m why
colonies honour their mother-city when .v, ,/,„„,,, bc u,/(, she treats them well, but are estranged by than. from her by injustice. For colonists are not meant to be the servants but the equals of those who remain at home. And the injustice of their conduct to us is manifest : for we proposed an arbitration in the matter of Epidamnus, but they insisted on prosecuting their quarrel by arms and would not hear of a legal trial a. When you see how they treat us who are their own kinsmen, take warning : if they try deception, do not be misled by them ; and if they make a direct request of you, refuse. For he passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach him- self with complaisance to his enemies.
' But again, you will not break the treaty with the Lace- 35 daemonians l) by receiving us : for we Reasons why ti>,
are not allies either of you or of *<*»»'"»* ^'"'
the Lonyruftttu them. What says the treaty?— "Any ,•„,<,„//„,„„, 7y,,v .-,,,//
Hellenic city which is the ally of no not break ////•// m/v. one may join whichever league it pleases." And how mon- strous, that they should man their ships, not only from their own confederacy, but from Hellas in general, nay, even from your subjects, while they would debar us from
* Cp. i. 29 init. i. i 15 init.
26 SPEECH OF THE CORCYRAEANS [l
the alliance which naturally offers and from every other, and will denounce it as a crime if you accede to our request. With far better reason shall we complain of you if you refuse. For you will be thrusting away us who are not your enemies and are in peril ; and, far from restraining the enemy and the aggressor, you will be allowing him to gather fresh forces out of your own dominions. How unjust is this! Surely if you would be impartial you should either prevent the Corinthians from hiring soldiers in your dominions, or send to us also such help as you can be induced to send ; but it would be best of all if you would openly receive and assist us. Many, as we have already intimated, are the advantages which we offer. Above all, our enemies are your enemies, which is the best guarantee of fidelity in an ally; and they are not weak but well able to injure those who secede from them. Again, when the proffered alliance is that of a maritime and not of an inland power, it is a far more serious matter to refuse. You should, if possible, allow no one to have a fleet but yourselves ; or, if this is impossible, whoever is strongest at sea, make him your friend.
36 ' Some one may think that the course which we recom-
They cannot afford mend is expedient, but he may be
to be scrupulous ; Cor- afraid that if he is convinced by our
£^2£~£ ^"-ents he wil1 break the treaty-
the three great maritime To him we reply, that as long as he is powers of Hellas. strong he may make a present of his
fears to the enemy, but that if he reject the alliance he will be weak, and then his confidence, however reassuring to himself, will be anything but terrifying to enemies who are strong. It is Athens about which he is advising, and not Corcyra : will he be providing for her best interests if, when war is imminent and almost at the door, he is so anxious about the chances of the hour that he hesitates to attach to him a state which cannot be made a friend or enemy without momentous consequences? Corcyra, be- sides offering many other advantages, is conveniently
36, 37] SPEECH OF THE COR1 \TIII. I 27
situated for the coast voyage to Italy and Sicily ; it stands in the way of any fleet coming from thence to the Pelopon- nesus, and can also protect a fleet on its way to Sicily. One word more, which is the sum of all and everything we have to say, and should convince you that you must not abandon us. Hellas has only three considerable navies :— there is ours, and there is yours, and then- is tin* Corinthian. Now, if the Corinthians get hold of ours, and you allow the two to become «>ne, you will have to fight against the united navies of Corcyra and the Pelopon- nesus. But, if you make us your allies, you will have our navy in addition to your own ranged at your side in the impending conflict.'
Thus spoke the Corcyraeans : the Corinthians replied as follows: —
'Since these Corcyraeans have chosen to speak, not 37 only of their reception into your alliance, Thf M,ll/m% Itf thf but of our misdoings and of the unjust (,nIVn,,;u« « /....- war which has been forced upon them h' ™}"clt t^y <-<>»<-'•«/ by us, we too must touch on these two //"'" """" points before we proceed to our main argument, that you may be better prepared to appreciate our claim upon you, and may have a good reason for rejecting their petition. They pretend that they have hitherto refused to make alliances from a wise moderation, but they really adopted this policy from a mean and not from a high motive. They did not want to have an ally who might go and tell of their crimes, and who would put them to the blush whenever they called him in. Their insular position makes them judges of their own offences against others, and they can therefore afford to dispense with judges appointed under treaties ; for they hardly ever visit their neighbours, but foreign ships are constantly driven to their shores by stress of weather. And all the time they screen them- selves under the specious name of neutrality, making believe that they are unwilling to be the accomplices of other men's crimes. But the truth is that they wish to
2« SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS [l
keep their own criminal courses to themselves: where they are strong, to oppress ; where they cannot be found out, to defraud ; and whatever they may contrive to appro- priate, never to be ashamed. If they were really upright men, as they profess to be, the greater their immunity from attack the more clearly they might have made their honesty appear by a willingness to submit differences to arbitration.
qg 'But such they have not shown themselves either to- We go to war with wards us or towards others. Although them because they have they are our colony they have always wronged and insulted stood aloof from us, and now they are fighting against us on the plea that they were not sent out to be ill used. To which we rejoin that we did not send them out to be insulted by them, but that we might be recognised as their leaders and receive proper respect. Our other colonies at any rate honour us; no city is more beloved by her colonies than Corinth. That we are popular with the majority proves that the Corcyraeans have no reason to dislike us; aand, if it seems extraordinary that we should go to war with them, our defence is that the injury which they are doing us is unexampled a. Even if we had been misled by passion, it would have been honourable in them to make allow- ance for us, and dishonourable in us to use violence when they showed moderation. But they have wronged us over and over again in their insolence and pride of wealth ; and now there is our colony of Epidamnus which they would not acknowledge in her distress, but, when we came to her rescue, they seized and are now holding by force.
39 ' They pretend that they first offered to have the matter decided by arbitration. The appeal to justice might have some meaning in the mouth of one b who before he had
* Or, 'and there is nothing extraordinary in our going to war with them, for they are doing us an unexampled injury.'
b Or, ( whose actions corresponded to his professions, before lie entered on the struggle.'
38-40] SPEIMl OF THE CORL\THl.l 29
recourse to arms acted honourably, as he now talks fairly '•, but not when it is made from a position -r, ,•
1 nC ( O) c\'f ClCCins f>9~O~
of security and advantage. Whereas f>o*c arbitration and these men began by laying siege to retlttest y°"r helP °"ly Kpidanmus, and not until they feared ' our vengeance did they put forward their specious oft'er of arbitration. And as if the wrong which they h. themselves done at Epidamnus were not enough, they now ("me hither and ask you to be, not their allies, but their accomplices in crime, and would have you receive them when they are at enmity with us. But they ought to have • Mine when they were out of all danger, not at a time when we an smarting under an injury and they have u«>o(l reason to be afraid. You have never derived any hem-fit from their power, but they will now be benefited by yours, and, although innocent of their crimes, you will equally be held responsible by us. If you were to have shared the consequences with them, they ought long ago to have shared the power with you '.
'We have proved that our complaints are justified and 40 that our adversaries are tyrannical Yon w{n brenk f/ig and dishonest; we will now show you //m/vAvmr/,-/;/^ ///<•///, that you have no right to receive and w'n co*»P<1 »« to them. Admitting that the treaty allows '" v<"" """"<*• any unenrolled cities to join either league, this provision does not apply to those who have in view the injury of others, but only to him who is in need of protection, — certainly not to one who forsakes his allegiance and who will bring war instead of peace to those who receive him, or rather, if they arc wise, will not receive him on such terms. And war the Corcyraeans will bring to you if you listen to them and not to us. For if you become the allies
* The last words of the chapter are omitted by Poppo on the authority of several of the best MSS. ; they may perhaps I" a ,ul"^. 1 1' they arc retained they may be translated : ' Hut you ought not to share all the consequences of their crimes, while in the crimes, and in them alone, you have no part.'
30 SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS [l
of the Corcyraeans you will be no longer at peace with us, but will be converted into enemies ; and we must, if you take their part, in defending ourselves against them, defend ourselves against you. But you ought in common justice to stand aloof from both ; or, if you must join either, you should join us and go to war with them ; to Corinth you are at all events bound by treaty, but with Corcyra you never even entered into a temporary negotia- ... ... tion. And do not set the precedent
IVe aid not encourage i
vo,,,- rebellious subjects, of receiving the rebellious subjects of B.C. 440. and you should not re- others. At the revolt of Samos a, when
the other Peloponnesians were divided upon the question of giving aid to the rebels, we voted in your favour and expressly maintained " that every one should be allowed to chastise his own allies." If you mean to receive and assist evil-doers, we shall assuredly gain as many allies of yours as you will of ours ; and you will establish a principle which will tell against yourselves more than against us.
41 'Such are the grounds of right which we urge; and m lent you twenty they are sufficient according to Hel- ships in the Aeginetan lenic law. And may we venture to recall to your minds an obligation of which we claim the repayment in our present need, we and you being not enemies who seek one another's B.C. 491. hurt, nor yet friends who freely give and take ? There was a time before the Persian invasion when you were in want of ships for the Aeginetan war, and we Corinthians lent you twenty : the service which we then rendered to you gave you the victory over the Aeginetans b, as the other, which prevented the Peloponnesians from aiding the Samians, enabled you to punish Samos. Both benefits were conferred on one of those critical occasions when men in the act of attacking their enemies are utterly regardless of everything but victory, and deem him who
i. 115. * Cp. Herod, vi. 89.
41-43] SPEECH or THE CORL\T11LL\3 31
assists tlu-m a friend though he may have previously been a foe, him who opposes them a foe, even though he may happen to be a friend ; nay, they will often neglect their own interests in the excitement of the struggle.
'Think of these things; let the younger be informed 42 of them by their elders, and resolve all of you to render like for like. Do not say to yourselves that this is just, but that in the event of war something else is expedient; for the true path of expediency is the path of right. The war with which the Corcyraeans would frighten you into doing wrong is distant, and may never come ; is it worth while to be so carried away by the prospect of it, that you bring upon yourselves the hatred of the Corinthians which is both near and certain ? Would you not be wiser in seeking to mitigate the ill-feeling which your treatment of the Megarians has already inspired11? The later kind- ness done in season, though small in comparison, may cancel a greater previous offence. And To do ,lo „.„,„
do not be attracted by their offer of a better than a great naval
great naval alliance ; for to do no wrong alhance-
to a neighbour is a surer source of strength than to gain
a perilous advantage under the influence of a momentary
illusion.
'We are now ourselves in the same situation in which 43 you were, when we declared at Sparta that every one so placed should be allowed to chastise his own allies ; and we claim to receive the same measure at your hands. You were profited by our vote, and we ought not to be injured by yours. Pay what you owe, knowing that this is our time of need, in which a man's best friend is he who does him a service, he who opposes him, his worst enemy. Do not receive these Corcyraeans into alliance in despite of us, and do not support them in injustice. In acting thus you will act rightly, and will consult your own true interests.'
» Cp. i. 67 fin.
32 ALLIANCE OF ATHENS WITH CORCYRA [l
Such were the words of the Corinthians.
44 The Athenians heard both sides, and they held two
. assemblies ; in the first of them they
The Athenians after ' j , .1 j r
.so«« hesitation enter were more influenced by the words of into a defensive alliance the Corinthians, but in the second they with Corcyra. changed their minds and inclined to-
wards the Corcyraeans. They would not go so far as to make an alliance both offensive and defensive with them ; B.C. 433. for then, if the Corcyraeans had required them to join O1" 8?' in an expedition against Corinth, the treaty with the Peloponnesians would have been broken. But they con- cluded a defensive league, by which the two states promised to aid each other if an attack were made on the territory or on the allies of either. For they knew that in any case the war with Peloponnesus was inevitable, and they had no mind to let Corcyra and her navy fall into the hands of the Corinthians. Their plan
Motives of the A the- .. , ,
nfatlSt was to embroil them more and more
with one another, and then, when the war came, the Corinthians and the other naval powers would be weaker. They also considered that Corcyra was conveniently situated for the coast voyage to Italy and Sicily.
45 Under the influence of these feelings, they received the They send ten ships Corcyraeans into alliance; the Conn-
to Corcyra, giving them thians departed; and the Athenians orders to act on the de- now despatched to Corcyra ten ships commanded by Lacedaemonius the son of Cimon, Diotimus the son of Strombichus, and Proteas the son of Epicles. The commanders received orders not to engage with the Corinthians unless they sailed against Corcyra or to any place belonging to the Corcyraeans, and attempted to land there, in which case they were to resist them to the utmost. These orders were intended to prevent a breach of the treaty11.
Cp. i. 40 init.
44-48] SEA-FIGHT NEAR CHEIMERIL'M 33
The Corinthians, when their preparations were com- 46 pleted, sailed against Corcyra with a The Corinthian jifft B.C. 433- hundred and fifty ships, — ten Elean, sail* against Con-vnt. ( 86« 4- twelve Megarian, ten Leucadian, twenty-seven Ambraciot, one from Anactorium, and ninety of their own. The contingents of the several cities were commanded by their own generals. The Corinthian commander was Xeno- cleides the son of Euthycles, with four others. The fleet sailed from Leucas, and, arriving at the mainland opposite Corcyra, came to anchor at Cheimerium in the country of Thesprotia. a Cheimerium is only a harbour"; above it, at some distance from the sea, in that part of Thesprotia called Eleatis, lies the city of Ephyre, near which the Acherusian lake finds a way out to the sea; the river Acheron, whence the name is derived, flows through Thesprotia and falls into the lake. Another river, the Thyamis, forms the boundary of Thesprotia and Cestrinr, and the promontory of Cheimerium runs out between these two rivers. Here the Corinthians anchored and formed a camp.
The Corcyraeans, observing their approach, manned 47 a hundred and ten ships. These, which Disposition of the were placed under the command of / Meiciades, Aesimides, and Eurybatus, took up a position off one of the islands called Sybota; the ten Athenian ships accompanied them. The land forces occupied the promontory of Leucimne, whither a thousand Zacynthians had come to the aid of Corcyra. The Corinthians on their part were supported by a large force of barbarians, which collected on the mainland ; for the inhabitants of this region have always been well disposed towards them.
The Corinthians had now made their preparations, and, 48 taking with them three days' provisions, put off by night from Cheimerium, intending to give battle: at break of clay they descried the Corcyraean fleet, which had also
B Or, ' Mere there is a harbour.1 VOL. I. D
34 SEA-FIGHT NEAR CHEIMERIUM [l
put out to sea and was sailing to meet them. As soon as they saw one another, they ranged themselves in order of battle. On the right Corcyraean wing were the Athe- nian ships. The Corcyraeans themselves occupied the centre and the left wing, and were drawn up in three divisions, each under the command of one of the generals. On the right wing of the Corinthians were the Megarian and Ambraciot ships, in the centre the contingents of their other allies; they themselves with their swiftest vessels formed the left wing, which was opposed to the Athenians and to the right division of the Corcyraeans. 49 The standards were now raised on both sides, and the
Character of the en- two fleets met and fought. The decks gagement. of both were crowded with heavy in-
fantry, with archers and with javelin-men ; for their naval arrangements were still of the old clumsy sort. The engagement was obstinate, but more courage than skill was displayed, and it had almost the appearance of a battle by land. When two ships once charged one another it was hardly possible to part company, for the throng of vessels was dense, and the hopes of victory lay chiefly in the heavy-armed, who maintained a steady fight upon the decks, the ships meanwhile remaining motionless. There were no attempts to break the enemy's line. Brute force and rage made up for the want of tactics. Everywhere the battle was a scene of tumult and confusion. At any point where they saw the Corcyraeans distressed, the Athe- nians appeared and kept the enemy in check; but the generals, who were afraid of disobeying their instructions, would not begin the attack themselves. The Corinthians
Partial success of the suffered most on their right wing. For Corcyraeans on the left the Corcyraeans with twenty ships
wing and their com- routed th drQve them jn disorder to
plete defeat on the nght. , .
the shore, and sailed right up to their
encampment; there landing, they plundered and burnt the deserted tents. So in this part of the battle the Corin- thians and their allies were worsted, and the Corcyraeans
49,5°] ATHENIANS ENGAGED 35
prevailed. But the left wing of the Corinthians, wh their own ships were stationed, had greatly tin- advan- tage, because the Corcyracans, whose numbers were originally inferior, had now twenty vessels detached in the pursuit. When the Athenians saw The Athenian* Jmre the distress of the Corcyraeans, they ''" ///(' ''".w"""'- began to assist them more openly. At first they had abstained from actual collision, but when the Corcyraeans fled outright and the Corinthians pressed them hard, then every man fell to work ; all distinctions were forgotten ; — the time had arrived when Corinthian and Athenian were driven to attack one another.
The Corinthians, having put to flight their enemies, 50 never stopped to take in tow the hulls of the vessels which they had disabled, but fell upon the men ; they rowed up and down and slew them, giving no quarter, and unintentionally killing their own friends ; for they were not aware that their right wing had been defeated. There were so many ships on one side and on the other, and they covered so great an extent of water, that, when the engagement had once begun, it was hard among conquerors and conquered to distinguish friend from foe. For 'never before had two Hellenic navies so numerous met in battle.
When the Corinthians had chased the Corcyraeans to the shore, they turned their attention to their own wrecks and the bodies of their dead. Most of these were re- covered by them and conveyed to Sybota, a desert harbour of Thesprotia, whither their barbarian allies had come to support them. They then formed afresh and once more made a movement towards the Corcyraeans, who, taking such vessels as had not been disabled, and any others which they had in their docks, together with the Athenian ships, put out to meet them, dreading a descent upon Corcyra. It was now late in the day and the Paean had been already sounded for the onset, when the Corinthians suddenly began to row astern. They had descried sailing
D 2
36 MORE ATHENIAN VESSELS [l
towards them twenty vessels which the Athenians had Sudden appearance sent to reinforce the former ten, fear- of twenty Athenian ing what had actually happened, that sJ"Ps- the Corcyraeans would be defeated, and
that the original squadron would be insufficient to protect them.
51 The Corinthians, who had the first view of these vessels, The two fleets sepa- suspecting that they were Athenian
wte. and that there were more of them than
they saw, were beginning to retreat. The Corcyraeans, owing to their position, could not see them, and they wondered why the Corinthians rowed astern. At length some of them who spied the advancing fleet exclaimed, ' Yonder are ships coming up ; ' and then the Corcyraeans, as it was getting dark, likewise retired, and the Corin- thians turned about and sailed away. Thus the two fleets separated after a battle which lasted until nightfall. The twenty ships which came from Athens under the command of Glaucon the son of Leagrus, and Andocides the son of Leogoras, made their way through the wrecks and corpses and sailed into the Corcyraean station at Leucimne almost as soon as they were sighted. At first in the dark- ness the Corcyraeans feared that they were enemies, but they soon recognised them and the Athenian vessels came to anchor.
52 On the next day the thirty Athenian and all the The Corinthians want Corcyraean ships which were fit for
to return home. service, wanting to ascertain whether
the Corinthians would fight, sailed to the harbour at Sybota where their fleet lay. The Corinthians, putting out into deep water, drew up their ships in line and so remained, but they did not intend to begin the battle. For they saw that fresh ships, which had received no damage in the action, had arrived from Athens, and their own position was one of great difficulty. They had to guard the prisoners in their vessels, and there were no means of refitting in such a desert place. They were
5i-54] AY; 77 "AW OF COR I. \TIII.l 37
more disposed to consider how they should grl h<»m«- than to fight. For they feared that the Athenians, defin- ing the peace, now that blows had been exchanged, t« already broken, would intercept their return.
They therefore determined to send a few men in a boat 53 without a flag of truce to the Athenians, Tiny hold a parky and so test their intentions. The men «"-//l tllc -•*//'«"'<"«• were to deliver the following message : ' You do wrong, Athenians, to begin war and violate the treaty. We were only chastising our enemies, and you come with a hostile force and place yourselves between us and them. If it is your intention to hinder us from sailing to Corcyra, or whithersoever we choose, and you are going to break the treaty, take us first and deal with us as enemies.' Where- upon all the Corcyraeans who were within hearing cried out 'Take and kill them.' But the Athenians replied: 'Men of Peloponnesus, we are not beginning war, and we are not violating the treaty ; we are only aiding the Corcy- ra< ans here, who are our allies. If you mean to sail against Corcyra or any place belonging to the Corcyraeans, we will do our utmost to prevent you, but, if you want to go anywhere else, you may.'
Reassured by this reply, the Corinthians prepared t«. 54 sail home, first setting up a trophy at The ((>>intlnni: the Sybota which is on the mainland. /,„•„ home, mpt;, The Corcyraeans took up the wrecks --/""< /<"«//// on //,,• .UK! dead bodies which were carried towards them, the current and the wind which had ri during the night having scattered them in all directions. They then set up a rival trophy on the island of Sybota. Both parties claimed the victory, but on different grounds. The Corinthians had retained the advantage in the sea- fight until nightfall, and had thus secured a greater number of wrecks and dead bodies; they had taken not less than a thousand prisoners and had disabled about seventy ships. The Corcyraeans, on the other hand, had destroyed some thirty sail, and when reinforced by the Athenians had
38 THE QUARREL WITH POTIDAEA [l
taken up the wrecks and dead bodies which had drifted in their direction ; whereas the enemy on the evening of the battle had rowed astern at sight of the Athenian ships, and after their arrival had not come out against them from Sybota. Upon these grounds both sides raised trophies
55 and claimed the victory. On their homeward voyage the Corinthians took by stratagem Anactorium, a town situated at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, which they and the Corcyraeans held in common ; there they settled colonists of their own, and returned to Corinth. Of their Corcyraean captives eight hundred who were slaves they sold, but two hundred and fifty they detained in prison, treating them with much consideration, in the hope that, when they returned, they would win over Corcyra to the Corinthian interest a : it so happened that the majority of them were among the most influential men of the state. Thus the war ended to the advantage of Corcyra, and the Athenian fleet returned home. This was the first among the causes of the Peloponnesian War, the Corinthians alleging that the Athenian fleet had taken part with the Corcyraeans and had fought against them in a time of truce.
56 There soon arose another cause of quarrel between the Quarrel with Poti- Athenians and Peloponnesians. Poti-
daea. The Athenians d whjch js situated on the isthmUS
command the Potidae- --/.. ^ .. .. ~ . Al_.
ans to raze their walls °f Pallene, was originally a Corinthian and to give hostages. colony, although at this time the tribu- B.C. 433 or tary and ally of Athens. Now the Corinthians were forming plans of vengeance, and the Athenians, who
'
or 87, i. ' suspected their intentions, commanded the Potidaeans to raze their walls on the side of Pallene and give hostages ; also to send away and not to receive for the future the magistrates whom the Corinthians annually sent to them. For they were afraid lest the Potidaeans might be per- suaded by the Corinthians and Perdiccas to revolt,
55-58] nt:iWTlt>.\ OF I'KRDH CAS 39
and might induce the rest of Chalcidice to follow their example.
These measures of precaution were taken by the 57 Athenians immediately after the sea- Pcrdiecas «•//«» had fight off Corcyra. The hostility of the <i"«rrfiied «»///i the
/~- • ,i • , , , - , AtktttMUU />/<> /<» A'/;/'
Corinthians was no longer doubtful, and I|/k KW. /Wi,,,(V/ /Wo. Perdiccas, king of Macedon, the son of ponmtm* and At, Alexander, hitherto the friend and ally of Athens, had now become an enemy. I Ie had quarrelled with the Athenians because they had made an alliance with his brother Philip and with Derdas, who were leagued against him. Alarmed by their attitude, he sent envoys to Sparta and did all he could to stir up a war between Athens and the Pelopon- nese. He also sought the alliance of Corinth, for he had an eye to the revolt of Potidaea ; and he proposed to the Chalcidians and to the Bottiaeans that they should join in the revolt, thinking, that if he had the assistance of the neighbouring peoples, the difficulties of the war would be diminished. The Athenians became aware of his designs and resolved to forestall the revolt of the cities. They were already intending to send against Perdiccas thirty ships and a thousand hoplites under the command of Archestratus the son of Lycomedes, and aten others, and they told their admirals to take hostages from the Potidaeans and to demolish their wall. They were also to keep a watch over the towns in the neighbourhood and prevent any attempt at rebellion.
Meanwhile the Potidaeans sent envoys to the Athenians 58 in the hope of persuading them to take The Pott(limins ,,„,/ no strong measures; but at the same envoys to Athena ami time other envoys of theirs accompanied sPatia- a Corinthian embassy to Lacedaemon and exerted them- selves to procure assistance in case of need. A long negotiation was carried on at Athens which came to no satisfactory result ; the ships destined for Macedonia were
Or e conj. ' four.'
40 REVOLT OF POTIDAEA [l
also sent against Potidaea. But at Lacedaemon they were
They receive proves promised by the magistrates that if
of assistance front the Athenians attacked Potidaea they
Sparta, and revolt. would invade Attica. So they seized
B.C. 432. the opportunity and revolted : the Chalcidians and Bot-
' 7> x* tiaeans swore alliance with them and joined in the revolt.
Perdiccas persuaded the Chalcidians to abandon and pull
down their towns on the sea-coast, and settling at Olynthus
inland, there to form one strong city. On their removal
he gave them part of his own territory of Mygdonia about
the lake Bolbe to cultivate while the contest lasted. So,
dismantling their cities, they settled up the country and
made preparation for war.
59 The Athenians, when the thirty ships arrived in Chal-
The Athemans under cidic*' f°UIld that Potidaea and the
Archestratus arrive in other cities had already revolted. Chalddice. They first Whereupon the generals, thinking that
attack Macedonia. they were nQt abje without a stronger
force to act against all the rebels as well as against Per- diccas, directed their attention to Macedonia, which was their original destination, and there carried on a regular campaign in concert with Philip and the brothers of Derdas, who had invaded the country from the interior.
60 Now that Potidaea had revolted and the Athenian ships
TheCorinthianssend WerG °n the COaSt °f Macedonia, the troops to the aid of Corinthians grew anxious about the Potidaea under the town ; they felt that the danger came
dofAristeus. ^^ ^ ^^ ^ despatched thither
volunteers of their own and other troops whom they attracted by pay from various parts of the Peloponnese, numbering in all sixteen hundred hoplites and four hundred light-armed. Their commander was Aristeus the son of Adeimantus, who had always been a great friend of the Potidaeans ; it was mainly out of regard for him that most of the Corinthian soldiers volunteered on the expedition. They arrived in Chalcidice forty days after the revolt of Potidaea.
59-62] ARRll'AI. or Tllll ATHENIANS 41
The news of the revolt in Chalcidice quickly reached 61 Athens, and the Athenians, when they Athenian lt,nfonc- heard that Aristeus had come with re- »/<>//> under CaiHas inforcements, sent against the revolted n'ni'< /" *'<«>•<<<""« •
the Athenians nuikc a
towns forty ships and two thousand of l(inftora,:v /,,,„, „.,-//, their own hoplites under the command /v/Y/imi- nn<t HMVCOH of Callias the sun of Calliades, and four '" ''<>"'<'<'«'• others. The expedition, sailing first of all to Macedonia, found that the former thousand had just taken Therme and were blockading Pydna ; they joined in the siege them- selves ; but before long the Athenian army were constrained to come to an understanding and make an alliance with Perdiccas. For Potidaea, now that Aristeus had arrived, urgently demanded their presence ; so they prepared to quit Macedonia. They first marched out of their way to Beroea, which they attempted to take without success. Returning to their route, they moved on by land towards Potidaea with three thousand hoplites of their own and a large force of allies; they had also six hundred Mace- donian horse, who fought under Philip and Pausanias ; meanwhile their ships, in number seventy, sailed along the coast. Proceeding by slow marches, they arrived on the third day at Gigonus and there encamped.
The Potidacans and the Peloponnesian force under 62 Aristeus had now taken up a position Engagement at the at the isthmus on the side towards «>•"'»"« of l\illcni. Olynthus*, where they awaited the coming of the Athenians; they held their market outside the walls of Potidaea. The allies had chosen Aristeus general of all the infantry, and of the cavalry Perdiccas, for he had no sooner joined than lie again deserted the Athenians and was now fighting on the side of the Potidaeans, having appointed lolaus l)to be his lieutenant at homeb. The plan of Aristeus was as follows: — His own army was to remain on the isthmus
* Reading npus 'O\w0ov.
ll Or, 'to take his place with the expedition:' op. infra, TTJV wop*
42 ATHENIAN VICTORY [l
and watch for the approach of the Athenians, while the Chalcidians, their allies from beyond the isthmus, and the two hundred horse furnished by Perdiccas were stationed at Olynthus ; and as soon as the Athenians attacked Aristeus himself and his army, they were to fall upon them in the rear; thus the enemy would be assailed on both sides. But Callias the Athenian general and his colleagues sent the Macedonian horse and a few of the allied troops towards Olynthus that they might check any movement in that quarter, while they themselves, quitting their position, marched against Potidaea. When they had reached the isthmus and saw the enemy preparing for battle, they did the same. The two armies soon closed. The wing led by Aristeus, which was composed of his Corinthian followers and other picked troops, routed their opponents and chased them far away ; but the rest of the army, both Potidaeans and Peloponnesians, were defeated by the Athenians and fled into the city.
63 Aristeus, when he returned from the pursuit and per-
The army of Aristeus ceived that the other wing of his army
is partially defeated; was Defeated, hesitated whether he
he succeeds in making
his way back to Poti- should make for Olynthus or return to daea. Potidaea. Both courses were hazard-
ous ; but at last he determined to contract his troops into the smallest compass and force his way at full speed into Potidaea. Harassed by the missiles of the enemy he pushed forward through the water* along the bank in front of the sea-wall, not without loss ; but he contrived to save the greater part of his men. When the battle began, the allies of the Potidaeans in Olynthus, which is only about seven miles b distant, and is visible from Potidaea, seeing the signals raised, came out a little way to support their friends ; and the Macedonian horse drew up in order of battle to oppose them. But victory quickly declared for
* Cp. Herod, viii. 129.
b Sixty stadia, the stadium being reckoned at two hundred and two yards.
63-65] BLOCKADE OF rOTlDAEA
tin- Athenians; and when the signals wen- torn down the Olynthian auxiliaries retired within the walls, and the Macedonians rejoined the Athenians : thus on neither side did the cavalry take any part in the action. Tin • Ath« -mans raised a trophy and granted the Potidaeans a truce for the burial of their dead. Of the Potidaeans and their al' there fell somewhat less than three hundred ; of the Athenians, a hundred and fifty, and their general Callias.
The Athenians instantly blockaded the town on the side 64 towards the isthmus, raising a wall, Thc Athenian* block- which they guarded; but the side ade rotidtn-a: at fi>st towards Pallene was left open. They only on the side ton-
the isthmus : after-
were conscious that they were too weak lvar({s> hy ihc Mf> of both to guard the isthmus and, crossing n-wforccincnts under over to Pallene, there to build another Monnio, on the side
,. . ~ . . , • r • - I- towards J\t.
wall; they feared that their forces if di- vided would be attacked by the Potidaeans and their allies. Afterwards, when the Athenians at home heard that on tin- side towards Pallene Putidaea was not invested, they sent out sixteen hundred hoplites of their own under the com- mand of Phormio the son ofAsopius. On his arrival in Pallene he made Aphytis his head-quarters, and brought his army by slow marches up to Potidaea, wasting the country as he went along. No one came out to meet him, and so he built a wall towards Pallene. Potidaea was now closely invested on both sides, while the Athenian ships, lying off the city, cut off all communication from the sea.
Aristeus despaired of saving the place unless aid came 65 from Peloponnesus or he was relieved /;. y>o.
in some unforeseen manner. Being tidaai mid am-ics on anxious to husband provisions, he pro- tlic :i<"' ontsitte the posed to the garrison that they should '' avail themselves of the first favourable wind and sail away, leaving behind five hundred men, of whom he offered to be one. But they would not listen to him ; so, wanting to do the best he could, and to further the Peloponnesian interests beyond the walls, he sailed out undiscovered by
44 MEETING OF ALLIES AT SPARTA [l
the Athenian guard-ships. He did not leave the country, but assisted the Chalcidians in carrying on the war. He succeeded in cutting off a large force of Sermylians by an ambuscade which he laid near their city ; he also exerted himself to obtain aid from Peloponnesus. Phormio with his sixteen hundred hoplites, now that Potidaea was invested, ravaged Chalcidice and Bottice, and captured several places.
66 Such were the causes of ill-feeling which at this time existed between the Athenians and Peloponnesians : the Corinthians complaining that the Athenians were block- ading their colony of Potidaea, and a Corinthian and Peloponnesian garrison in it ; the Athenians rejoining that a member of the Peloponnesian confederacy had excited to revolt a state which was an ally and tributary of theirs, and that they had now openly joined the Potidaeans, and were fighting on their side. The Peloponnesian war, however, had not yet broken out ; the peace still con- tinued ; for thus far the Corinthians had acted alone.
67 But now, seeing Potidaea besieged, they bestirred them- Exdtement of the selves in earnest. Corinthian troops
Connthians. Assembly ^^ shut within the wall and
at Sparta, (jnevanccs • ,
of the Aegimtans and they were afraid of losing the town ;
Megarians, so without delay they invited the allies
to meet at Sparta. There they inveighed against the Athenians, whom they affirmed to have broken the treaty and to be wronging the Peloponnese. The Aeginetans did not venture to send envoys openly, but secretly they acted with the Corinthians, and were among the chief instigators of the war, declaring that they had been robbed of the independence which the treaty guaranteed them. The Lacedaemonians themselves then a proceeded to summon any of the allies who had similar charges11
*• Or, adopting the inferior reading ruv (vpnaxoiv Tf teal ft ns : ' pro- ceeded to summon any of their own allies, and any one else, who had similar charges,' etc.
66-68] SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS 45
to bring against the Athenians, and calling their own ordinary assembly told them to speak. Several of them came forward and stated their wrongs. The Megarians alleged, among other grounds of complaint, that they were excluded from all harbours within the Athenian dominion and from the Athenian market, contrary to the treaty. The Corinthians waited until the other allies had stirred up the Lacedaemonians; at length they came forward, and, last of all, spoke as follows : —
'The spirit of trust, Lacedaemonians, which animates 68 your own political and social life, The Corinthians com- " makes you distrust others who, like plain of the delays of ourselves, have something unpleasant /;"' Lam/"' •""'"''"»•-•• to saya, and this temper of mind, though favourable to moderation, too often leaves you in ignorance of what is going on outside your own country. Time after time we have warned you of the mischief which the Athenians would do to us, but instead of taking our words to heart, you chose to suspect that we only spoke from interested motives. And this is the reason why you have brought the allies to Sparta too late, not before but after the injury has been inflicted, and when they are smarting under the sense of it. Which of them all has a better right to speak than ourselves, who have the heaviest accusations to make, outraged as we arc by the Athenians, and neglected by you? If the crimes which they are committing against Hellas were being done in a corner, then you might be ignorant, and we should have to inform you of them : but now, what need of many words ? Some of us, as you see, have been already enslaved ; they are at this moment intriguing against others, notably against allies of ours ; and long ago they had made all their preparations in the prospect of war. Else why did they seduce from her allegiance Corcyra, which they still hold in defiance of
* Or, -makes you distrustful ««f us when we bring a charge apninst others.'
46 SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS [i
us, and why are they blockading Potidaea, the latter a most advantageous post for the command of the Thracian peninsula, the former a great naval power which might have assisted the Peloponnesians ?
69 'And the blame of all this rests on you ; for you who have enslaved originally allowed them to fortify their Hellas by not prevent- city after the Persian Wara, and after-
ing her enslavement. wards to bujld thejr Lorig Walls * ; and
to this hour you have gone on defrauding of liberty their unfortunate subjects, and are now beginning to take it away from your own allies. For the true enslaver of a people is he who can put an end to their slavery but has no care about it ; and all the more, if he be reputed the champion of liberty in Hellas. — And so we have met at last, but with what difficulty ! and even now we have no definite object. By this time we ought to have been considering, not whether we are wronged, but how we are to be revenged. The aggressor is not now threatening, but advancing; he has made up his mind, while we are resolved about nothing. And we know too well how by slow degrees and with stealthy steps the Athenians en- croach upon their neighbours. While they think that you are too dull to observe them, they are more careful, but, when they know that you wilfully overlook their aggres- sions, they will strike and not spare. Of all Hellenes, Lacedaemonians, you are the only people who never do anything : on the approach of an enemy you are content to defend yourselves against him, not by acts, but by intentions, and seek to overthrow him, not in the infancy but in the fulness of his strength. How came you to be considered safe ? That reputation of yours was never justified by facts. We all know that the Persian made his way from the ends of the earth against Peloponnesus before you encountered him in a worthy manner; and now you are blind to the doings of the Athenians, who
" Cp. i. 90-92. b Cp. i. 107.
69,70] SPEECH OF Tin: < ORIM'HL\.\ > 47
arc not at a distance as he was, but close at hand. Instead of attacking your enemy, you wait to be attacked, and take the chances of a struggle which has been deferred until his power is doubled. And you know that the Barbarian miscarried chiefly through his own errors ; and that we have oftener been delivered from these very Athenians by blunders of their own, than by any aid from you. Some have already been ruined by the hopes which you inspired in them ; for so entirely did they trust you that they took no precautions themselves. These things we say in no accusing or hostile spirit — let that be under- stood— but by way of expostulation. For men expostulate with erring friends, they bring accusation against enemies who have done them a wrong.
'And surely we have a right to find fault with our 70 neighbours, if any one ever had. There Contrast ofthe Atlli.. are important interests at stake to man and spartan which, as far as we can see, you are cll(lni' insensible. And you have never considered what manner of men arc these Athenians'1 with whom you will have to fight, and how utterly unlike yourselves. They are revolutionary, equally quick in the conception and in the execution of every new plan ; while you are conservative- careful only to keep what 3-011 have, originating nothing, and not acting even when action is most urgent. They are bold beyond their strength ; they run risks which prudence would condemn ; and in the midst of misfortune they are full of hope. Whereas it is your nature, though strong, to act feebly ; when your plans are most prudent, to distrust them ; and when calamities come upon you, to think that you will never be delivered from them. They are impetuous, and you are dilatory; they are always abroad, and you are always at home. For they hope to gain something by leaving their homes ; but you are afraid
* For descriptions of Athenian character, cp. ii. 37 flC. ; iii. 38; 42, 43 ; vi. 76; 87.
48 SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS [l
that any new enterprise may imperil what you have already. When conquerors, they pursue their victory to the utmost ; when defeated, they fall back the least. Their bodies they devote to their country as though they belonged to other men; their true self is their mind, which is most truly their own when employed in her service. When they do not carry out an intention which they have formed, they seem to themselves to have sustained a personal bereavement ; when an enterprise succeeds, they have gained a mere instalment of what is to come ; but if they fail, they at once conceive new hopes and so fill up the void. With them alone to hope is to have, for they lose not a moment in the execution of an idea. This is the lifelong task, full of danger and toil, which they are always imposing upon themselves. None enjoy their good things less, because they are always seeking for more. To do their duty is their only holiday, and they deem the quiet of inaction to be as disagreeable as the most tiresome business. If a man should say of them, in a word, that they were born neither to have peace themselves nor to allow peace to other men, he would simply speak the truth.
71 'In the face of such an enemy, Lacedaemonians, you
The Lacedaemonians persist in doing nothing. You do not
must lay aside their see that peace is best secured by those
policy of inaction. who use their strength justly, but whose
attitude shows that they have no intention of submitting to wrong. Justice with you seems to consist in giving no annoyance to others and ain defending yourselves only against positive injury". But this policy would hardly be successful, even if your neighbours were like yourselves ; and in the present case, as we pointed out just now, your ways compared with theirs are old-fashioned. And, as in the arts, so also in politics, the new must always prevail over the old. In settled times the traditions of gove-rn-
• Or, ' in running no risk even in self-defence.'
7i, 72] SPEECH OF THE CORL\T1IIANS 49
merit should be observed : but when circumstances arc changing and men are compelled to meet them, much originality is required. The Athenians have had a \vid« r rience, and therefore the administration of their state unlike yours has been greatly reformed. But In re 1« t your procrastination end ; send an army at once into Attica and assist your allies, especially the Potidaeans, to whom your word is pledged n. Do not betray friends and kindred into the hands of their worst enemies; or drive us in despair to seek the alliance of others; in taking such a course we should be doing nothing wrong either before the Gods who are the witnesses of our oaths, or before men whose eyes are upon us. For the true breakers of treaties b are not those who, when forsaken, turn to others, but those who forsake allies whom they have sworn to defend. We will remain your friends if you choose to bestir yourselves ; for we should be guilty of an impiety if we deserted you without cause; and \\< shall not easily find allies equally congenial to us. Take heed then : you have inherited from your fathers the leadership of Peloponnesus; see that her greatness su!: no diminution at your hands.'
Thus spoke the Corinthians. Now there happened to 72 be staving at Lacedaemon an Athenian
a SOtM$ *ltlifnt<l>:
embassy which had come on other voys who happen to be business, and when the envoys heard «i*f<«>t<i« what the Corinthians had said, th< "**
felt bound to go before the Lacedaemonian assembly, not with the view of answering the accusations brought against them by the cities, but they wanted to put the whol.- question before the Lacedaemonians, and make- them understand that they should take time to deliberate and not be rash. They also desired to set forth the great n of their city, reminding the elder men of what they kn and informing the younger of what lav b< y<md t:
' Cp. i. 58 mctl. _j fin.
VOL. I.
50 SPEECH OF THE ATHENIANS [l
experience. They thought that their words would sway the Lacedaemonians in the direction of peace. So they came and said that, if they might be allowed, they too would like to address the people. The Lacedaemonians invited them to come forward, and they spoke as follows :— 73 ' We were not sent here to argue with your allies, but on a special mission ; observing, however, that no small outcry has arisen against us, we have come forward, not to answer the accusations which they bring (for you are not judges before whom either we or they have to plead), but to prevent you from lending too ready an ear to their bad advice and so deciding wrongly about a very serious question. We propose also, in reply to the wider charges which are raised against us, to show that what we have acquired we hold rightfully and that our city is not to be despised.
1 Of the ancient deeds handed down by tradition and
The recall the W^^Cn n° eve °^ anv °ne Wn° nears us
memory of their ser- ever saw, why should we speak ? But vices in the Persian of the Persian War, and other events which you yourselves remember, speak we must, a although we have brought them forward so often that the repetition of them is disagreeable to usa. When we faced those perils we did so for the common benefit : in the solid good you shared, and of the glory, whatever good there may be in that, we would not be wholly deprived. Our words are not designed to deprecate hostility, but to set forth in evidence the character of the city with which, unless you are very careful, you will soon be involved in war. We tell you that we, first and alone, dared to engage with the Barbarian at Marathon, and that when he came again, being too weak to defend ourselves by land, we and our whole people embarked on shipboard and shared with the other Hellenes in the victory of
a Or, 'although it may be disagreeable to you to hear what we are always bringing forward.'
73,71] SPEECH OF THE A THEM. 51
Salamis. Thereby he was prevented from sailing to th<' Peloponnesus and ravaging city after city ; for against so mighty a fleet how could you have helped one another? He himself is the best witness of our words ; for when he- was once defeated at sea, he felt that his j><>w< r was gone and quickly retreated with the greater part of his army. 'The event proved undeniably that the fate of lid! depended on her navy. And the three chief elements of success were contributed by us; namely, the grea number of ships, the ablest general, the most dev patriotism* The ships in all numbered four hundred ll, and of these, our own contingent amounted to nearly two-thirds. To the influence of Themistocles our general it was chiefly due that we fought in the strait, which was confessedly our salvation ; and for this service you your- selves honoured him above any stranger who ever visited you. Thirdly, we displayed the most extraordinary courage and devotion ; there was no one to help us by land ; for up to our frontier those who lay in the enemy's path were already slaves; so we determined to leave our city and sacrifice our homes. Even in that extremity we did not choose to desert the cause of the allies who still resisted, or by dispersing ourselves to become u to them;
but we embarked and fought, taking no offence at your failure to assist us sooner. We maintain then that we rendered you a service at least as great as you rendt : us. The cities from which you came to help us were still inhabited and you might hope to return to them ; your concern was for yourselves and not for us ; at any rate you remained at a distance while we had anything to lose. But we went forth from a city which was no more, and fought for one of which there was small hope ; and yet wo saved ourselves, and bore our part in saving you. If, in order to preserve our land, like other states, we had gone over to the Persians at first, or afterwards had not ventured
* Reading with the great majority of MbS.
1. J
52 SPEECH OF THE ATHENIANS [l
to embark because our ruin was already complete, it would have been useless for you with your weak navy to fight at sea, but everything would have gone quietly just as the Persian desired.
75 ' Considering, Lacedaemonians, the energy and sagacity Why should they be which we then displayed, do we deserve
hated for having saved to be so bitterly hated by the other Hellas? Their empire Hellenes merely because we have an
ivas not a usurpation,
but the growth of tir- empire ? That empire was not acquired cumstances. by force ; but you would not stay and
make an end of the Barbarian, and the allies came of their own accord and asked us to be their leaders. The sub- sequent development of our power was originally forced upon us by circumstances ; fear was our first motive ; after- wards honour, and then interest stepped in. And when we had incurred the hatred of most of our allies ; when some of them had already revolted and been subjugated, and you were no longer the friends to us which you once had been, but suspicious and ill-disposed, how could we without great risk relax our hold ? For the cities as fast as they fell away from us would have gone over to you. And no man is to be reproached who seizes every possible ad- vantage when the danger is so great.
76 ' At all events, Lacedaemonians, we may retort that you, The Lacedaemonians in tne exercise of your supremacy, man-
would have been worse age the cities of Peloponnesus to suit your own views ; and that if you, and not we, had persevered in the command of the allies long enough to be hated, you would have been quite as intoler- able to them as we are, and would have been compelled, for the sake of your own safety, to rule with a strong B.C. 432. hand. An empire was offered to us : can you wonder that, acting as human nature always will, we accepted it and refused to give it up again, constrained by three all- powerful motives, honour, fear, interest ? We are not the first who have aspired to rule; the world has ever held that the weaker must be kept down by the stronger. And
75-77] SPEECH OF THE ATHF.XLIXS 53
we think that we arc worthy of power ; and there was a time when you thought so too ; but now, when you mean expediency you talk about justice. Did justice ever deter any one from taking by force whatever he could ? Men who indulge the natural ambition of empire deserve credit if they are in any degree more careful of justice than tin v need be. How moderate we are would speedily appear if others took our place ; indeed our very moderation, which should be our glory, has been unjustly converted into a reproach.
'For because in our suits with our allies, regulated l>y 77 treaty, we do not even stand upon our
. , . . TJifv u'cre thought to
rights, but have instituted the practice bclil^ „>,, v,,m,,;, //;,v of deciding them at Athens and by nl/onvd t/n-ir snty. Athenian » law, \ve are supposed to be latv other than thc '"-v litigious. None of our opponents ob- serve why others, who exercise dominion elsewhere and are less moderate than we are in their dealings with their subjects, escape this reproach. Why is it ? Because men who practise violence have no longer any need of law. I Jut we are in thc habit of meeting our allies on terms of equality, and, therefore, if through some legal decision of 1'iirs, or exercise of our imperial power, contrary to their own ideas of right, they suffer ever so little, they arc not grateful for our moderation in leaving them so much, but are far more offended at their trifling loss than if we had from the first plundered them in the face of day, laying aside all thought of law. For then they would th< -ms< '. have admitted that the weaker must give way to the stronger. Mankind resent injustice more than violence, because the one seems to be an unfair advantage taken by an equal, the other is the irresistible force of a superior. They were patient under the yoke of the Persian, who inflicted on them far more grievous
. .... T/if ru/ir of (Jif <i<n-
wn.ngs; but now our dominion is ;> „/,,.„,,, „„,„,,,„
odious in their eyes. And no wonder :
the ruler of the day is always detested by his subjects. And
* (?) by impartial law.
54 SPEECH OF THE ATHENIANS [l
should your empire supplant ours, may not you lose the good-will which you owe to the fear of us? Lose it you certainly will, if you mean again to exhibit the temper of which you gave a specimen when, for a short time, you led the confederacy against the Persian. For the institu- tions under which you live are incompatible with those of foreign states ; and further, when any of you goes abroad, he respects neither these nor any other Hellenic customs a.
78 ' Do not then be hasty in deciding a question which is
serious: and do not, by listening to
The Lacedaemonians . J , . , . ,
should not go to war at representations and complaints which the instigation of others, concern others, bring trouble upon but submit to arbitra- yourselves. Realise, while there is
Hon. , , , -
time, the inscrutable nature of war; and how when protracted it generally ends in becoming a mere matter of chance, over which neither of us can have any control, the event being equally unknown and equally hazardous to both. The misfortune is that in their hurry to go to war, men begin with blows, and when a reverse comes upon them, then have recourse to words. But neither you, nor we, have as yet committed this mis- take ; and therefore while both of us can still choose the prudent part, we tell you not to break the peace or violate your oaths. Let our differences be determined by arbitra- tion, according to the treaty. If you refuse we call to witness the Gods, by whom your oaths were sworn, that you are the authors of the war; and we will do our best to strike in return/
79 When the Lacedaemonians had heard the charges brought by the allies against the Athenians, and their rejoinder, they ordered everybody but themselves to with- draw, and deliberated alone. The majority were agreed that there was now a clear case against the Athenians, and that they must fight at once. But Archidamus their
ft For the misconduct of Spartan officers abroad, cp. i. 95; 130; iii. 32 ; 93 fin. ; viii. 84 init. Contrast Brasidas, iv. 81.
78-8 1 J SPEECH OF ARCHIDAMUS 55
king, who was held to be both an able and a prudent man, came forward and spoke as follows :
'At my age, Lacedaemonians, I have had experience of8o many wars, and I see several of you who" are as old as I am, and who will not, as men too often do, desire war because they have never known it. or in the belief that it is either a good or a safe thing. Any one who calmly reflects will find that the war about which you are now deliberating is likely to be a very great one. Wlu-n we encounter our neighbours in the Peloponnese, their mode of fighting is like ours, and they are all within a short march. But when we have to do with men whose county- is a long way off, and who are most skilful seamen and thoroughly provided with the means of war, — having wealth, private and public, ships, horses, infantry, and a population larger than is to be found in any single Hellenic territory, not to speak of the numerous allies who pay them tribute, — is this a people against whom we can lightly take up arms or plunge into a contest unpre- pared? To what do we trust? To our navy? There we are inferior; and to exercise and train ourselves until we are a match for them, will take time. To our moii' Nay, but in that we are weaker still ; we have none in a common treasury, and we are never willing to contribute out of our private- means.
' Perhaps some one may be encouraged by the superior 81 equipment and numbers of our infantry, We have tll(ilt. llofi which will enable us regularly to in- Hits, but their *>///w
vade and ravage their lands. But their fxfftll/s '" *'*"»«
• empire extends to distant countries, ,-s support((l: „,.
and they will be able to introduce ravage tiuir land is nst- supplies by sea. Or, again, we may ''**• try to stir up revolts among their allies. But these an- mostly islanders, and we shall have to employ a fleet in their defence, as well as in our own. I low then shall we carry on the war? For if we can neither defeat them at
56 SPEECH OF ARCHIDAMUS [l
sea, nor deprive them of the revenues by which their navy is maintained, we shall get the worst of it. And having gone so far, we shall no longer be able even to make peace with honour, especially if we are believed to have begun the quarrel. We must not for one moment flatter ourselves that if we do but ravage their country the war will be at an end. Nay, I fear that we shall bequeath it to our children ; for the Athenians with their high spirit will never barter their liberty to save their land, or be terrified like novices at the sight of war. 82 ' Not that I would have you shut your eyes to their designs and abstain from unmasking
Do not take up . , -. Ai
arms yet them, or tamely sutler them to injure
our allies. But do not take up arms yet. Let us first send and remonstrate with them : we need not let them know positively whether we intend to go to war or not. In the meantime our own preparations may be going forward ; we may seek for allies wherever we can find them, whether in Hellas or among the Bar- barians, who will supply our deficiencies in ships and money. Those who, like ourselves, are exposed to Athenian intrigue cannot be blamed if in self-defence they seek the aid not of Hellenes only, but of Barbarians. And we must develope our own resources to the utmost. If they listen to our ambassadors, well and good ; but, if not, in two or three years' time we shall be in a stronger position, should we then determine to attack them. Perhaps too when they begin to see that we are getting ready, aand that our words are to be interpreted by our actions a, they may be more likely to yield ; for their fields will be still untouched and their goods undespoiled, and it will be in their power to save them by their decision. Think of their land simply in the light of a hostage, all the more valuable in pro- portion as it is better cultivated ; you should spare it as long as you can, and not by reducing them to despair
B Or, 'and that our words too sound a note of war.1
82-84] SPEECH OF ARCHIDAMUS 57
make their resistance more obstinate. For if we allow ourselves to be stung into premature action by the re- proaches of our allies, and waste their country before wo are ready, we shall only involve Peloponnesus in more and more difficulty and disgrace. Charges brought by cities or persons against one another can be satisfactorily arranged; but when a great confederacy, in order to sar private grudges, undertakes a war of which no man can foresee the issue, it is not easy to terminate it with honour.
And let no one think that there is any want of courage 83 in cities so numerous hesitating to
l • i -i-i 11- r i Tllii'
attack a single one. The allies ot the ,-, ,,,,,.,„„.„.. Athenians are not less numerous ; they fight>»g »•••' pav them tribute too; and war is not *"'»'*, *•"'''*'»»*' the
rr . r r great Ail»>n«>, ,,
an aftair of arms, but of money which gives to arms their use, and which is needed above all things when a continental is fighting against a maritime power: let us find money first, and then we may safely allow our minds to be excited by the speeches ofoural We, on whom the future responsibility, whether for good or evil, will chiefly fall, should calmly reflect on the con- sequences which may follow.
' Do not be ashamed of the slowness and procrastination 84 with which they are so fond of charging TIH> ,,,m/, ^ foQ you; if you begin the war in ha>te, little */*•"/. o,<>
you will end it at your leisure, because '"'"'" ""'l <{^»«
i t ff •
you took up arms without sufficient . ,„„,
preparation. Remember that we have
always been citi/ens of a free and m.,>t j **«*•*
illustrious state, and that for us the policy which they condemn may well be the truest good sense and discretion. It is a policy which has saved us from growing insolent in prosperity or giving way uiuk r ad . sity, like other men. We are not stimulated by the allure- ments of flattery into dangerous courses of which we disapprove; nor an- we goaded by offensive charges into compliance with any man's wishes. Our habits of discipline
58 SPEECH OF ARCHIDAMUS [i
make us both brave and wise; brave, because the spirit of loyalty quickens the sense of honour, and the sense of honour inspires courage ; wise, because we are not so highly educated that we have learned to despise the laws, and are too severely trained and of too loyal a spirit to disobey them. We have not acquired that useless over-intelligence which makes a man an excellent critic of an enemy's plans, but paralyses him in the moment of action. We think that the wits of our enemies are as good as our own, and that the element of fortune cannot be forecast in words. Let us assume that they have common prudence, and let our preparations be, not words, but deeds a. Our hopes ought not to rest on the probability of their making mistakes, but on our own caution and foresight. We should remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school. 85 'These are principles which our fathers have handed We can afford to wait, down to us, and we maintain to our and should try arbitra- lasting benefit ; we must not lose sight of them, and when many lives and much wealth, many cities and a great name are at stake, we must not be hasty, or make up our minds in a few short hours ; we must take time. We can afford to wait, when others cannot, because we are strong. And now, send to the Athenians and remonstrate with them about Potidaea first, and also about the other wrongs of which your allies complain. They say that they are willing to have the matter tried ; and against one who offers to submit to justice you must not proceed as against a criminal until his cause has been heard. In the meantime prepare for war. This decision will be the best for yourselves and the most formidable to your enemies.*
Thus spoke Archidamus. Last of all, Sthenelaidas, at that time one of the Ephors, came forward and addressed the Lacedaemonians as follows : —
Reading
85-87] THE SIJOR1 SPEECH OT STIIEXELAH*. •
1 1 do not know what the long speeches of the Athenians 86 mean. They have been loud in their ]]',- ,,,,i-( stand by own praise, but they do not pretend to °"r allies- say that they are dealing honestly with our allies and with the Peloponnesus. If they behaved well in the Persian War and are now behaving badly to us they ought to be punished twice over, because they were once good men and have become bad. But we are the same now as we then, and we shall not do our duty if we allow our allies to be ill-used, and put off helping them, for the)' cannot put off their troubles. Others may have money and ships and horses, but we have brave allies and we must not betray them to the Athenians. If they were suffering in word only, by words and legal processes their wrongs might be redressed ; but now there is not a moment to be lost, and we must help them with all our might. Let no one tell us that we should take time to think when we are suffering injustice. Nay, we reply, those who mean to do injustice should take a long time to think. Wherefore, Lacedaemonians, prepare for war as the honour of Sparta demands. Withstand the advancing power of Athens. Do not let us betray our allies, but, with the Gods on our side, let us attack the evil-doer.'
When Sthenelaidas had thus spoken he, being Ephor, 87 himself put the question to the Lace- TllfLacetilJfin<i>: daemonian assembly. Their custom is influenced chiefly by the to signify their decision by cries and not fear °f ihc - by voting. But he professed himself ' unable to tell on which side was the louder cry, and wish- ing to call forth a demonstration which might encourage the warlike spirit, he said, ' Whoever of you, Lacedaemonians, thinks that the treaty has been broken and that the Athen- ians are in the wrong, let him rise and go yonder ' (pointing to a particular spot), 'and those who think otherwise to the other side.' So the assembly rose and divided, and it was determined by a large majority that the treaty had been broken. The Lacedaemonians then recalled the allies and
60 RISE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE [i
told them that in their judgment the Athenians were guilty, but that they wished to hold a general assembly of the allies and take a vote from them all ; then the war, if they approved of it, might be undertaken by common consent. Having accomplished their purpose, the allies returned home ; and the Athenian envoys, when their errand was B.C. 445. done, returned likewise. Thirteen years of the thirty years' peace which was concluded after the recovery of Euboea had elapsed and the fourteenth year had begun when the Lacedaemonian assembly decided that the treaty had been broken.
88 In arriving at this decision and resolving to go to war, the Lacedaemonians were influenced, not so much by the speeches of their allies, as by the fear of the Athenians and of their increasing power a. For they saw the greater part of Hellas already subject to them.
89 How the Athenians attained the position in which they B.C. 479. The Aihenmns after rose to greatness I will now proceed
tltt retreat of the Per- to describe. When the Persians, de-
sians continue the war. {^^ by the Hdlenes Qn sea and land;
had retreated from Europe, and the remnant of the fleet, which had taken refuge at Mycale, had there perished, Leotychides, the Lacedaemonian king, who had com- manded the Hellenes in the battle, returned home with the allies from Peloponnesus. But the Athenians and their allies from Ionia and the Hellespont, who had now revolted from the king, persevered and besieged Sestos, at that time still in the hands of the Persians. Remaining there through the winter they took the place, which the Barbarians deserted. The allies then sailed back from the Hellespont to their respective homes. Meanwhile the Athenian people, now quit of the Barbarians, fetched their wives, their children, and the remains of their property from the places in which they had been deposited, and set to work, re- building the city and the walls. Of the old line of wall but
Cp. i. 23 fin.
88-90] THE .rn H:\LL\S REIJCIED THEIR II'.ILLS 61
a :,mall part was left standing. Most of the hous< - VI in ruins, a fc\v only remaining in which the chief men of tlu- Persians had lodged.
The Lacedaemonians knew what would happen and sent 90 an embassy to Athens. They would
.1.1 11 ~ , TIlC LdlfiidtillitllKllls
rather themselves have seen neither the tinhein^lltiimttfthfir Athenians nor any one else protected by allies try to /•;»•.</// the a wall; but their main motive was the ->"""''""* /»"
their
_ , . ...
importunity of their allies, who dreaded not only the Athenian navy, which had until lately 1» quite small, but also the spirit which had animated them in the Persian War. So the Lacedaemonians requested them not to restore their walls*, but on the contrary to join with them in razing the fortifications of other towns outside the Peloponnesus which had them standing. They did not '.1 their real wishes or the suspicion which they enter- tained of the Athenians, but argued that the Barbarian, if
ain attacked them, would then have no strong place H.C. 479- which he could make his head-quart' hail lately JJ8' 2
made Thebes. Peloponnesus would be a sufficient ret: for all Hellas and a good base of operations. To this the Athenians, by the advice of Themistocks, replied, that they would send an embassy of their own to discuss the matter, and so got rid of the Spartan envoys. He then proposed that he should himself start at once for Sparta, and that they should give him colleagues who were not to go immediately, but were to wait until the wall reached the lowest height which could possibly be defended. The whole people, who wen in the city, men, women, and children, should join in the work, and they must spare no building, private or public, which could be of use, but demolish them all. Having given the.se instruction-. and intimated that he would manage affairs at Sparta, In: de- parted. On his arrival he did not at once present him- self officially to the magistrates, but delayed and made
•' C'|). i. 69 init.
62 THEMISTOCLES AT SPARTA [l
excuses; and when any of them asked him 'why he did not appear before the assembly,' he said 'that he was waiting for his colleagues, who had been detained by some engagement; he was daily expecting them, and wondered that they had not appeared/ 91 The friendship of the Lacedaemonian magistrates for The Lacedaemonians Themistocles induced them to believe areoutwittedby Themis- him ; but when everybody who came tocles- from Athens declared positively that
the wall was building and had already reached a consider- able height, they knew not what to think. He, aware of their suspicions, desired them not to be misled by reports, but to send to Athens men whom they could trust out of their own number who would see for themselves and bring back word. They agreed ; and he at the same time pri- vately instructed the Athenians to detain the envoys as quietly as they could, and not let them go until he and his colleagues had got safely home. For by this time Habronichus the son of Lysicles, and Aristides the son of Lysimachus, who were joined with him in the embassy, had arrived, bringing the news that the wall was of suf- ficient height ; and he was afraid that the Lacedaemonians, when they heard the truth, might not allow them to return. So the Athenians detained the envoys, and Themistocles, coming before the Lacedaemonians, at length declared in so many words that Athens was now provided with walls and could protect her citizens ; henceforward, if the Lace- daemonians or their allies wished at any time to negotiate, they must deal with the Athenians as with men who knew quite well what was for their own and the common good. When they boldly resolved to leave their city and go on board ship, they did not first ask the advice of the Lacedae- monians, and, when the two states met in council, their own judgment had been as good as that of any one. And now they had arrived at an independent opinion that it was better far, and would be more advantageous both for them- selves and for the whole body of the allies, that their city
9i-93] -irLLlloN Or THE HRA1 63
should have a wall ; when any member of a confederacy had not equal military advantages, his counsel could not be of equal weight or worth. Either all the allies should pull down their walls, or they should acknowledge that the Athenians were in the right.
On hearing these words the Lacedaemonians did not 92 openly quarrel with the Athenians ; for But ,l/yywrlllfM „„ they professed that the embassy had maintained, and there been designed, not to interfere with <* '"' <'/"'"7'«""'- them, but to offer a suggestion for the public good ; besides at that time the patriotism which the Athenians had dis- played in the Persian War had created a warm feeling of friendliness between the two cities. They were annoyed at the failure of their purpose, but they did not show it. And the envoys on either side returned home without any formal complaint.
In such hurried fashion did the Athenians build the 93 walls of their city. To this day the structure shows evi- dence of haste. The foundations are made up of all sorts of stones, in some places unwrought, and laid just as each worker brought them ; there were many columns too, taken from sepulchres, and many old stones already cut, inserted in the work. The circuit of the city was extended in B.C. 478. every direction, and the citizens, in their ardour to com- OL 75> 3' plete the design, spared nothing.
Themistocles also persuaded the Athenians to finish the H.c. 483. Piraeus, of which he had made a begin- ' 74> 3
• , • r «- ••?., inn turn of the
mng in his year ol office as Archon. I he / ,,i folint{n-
situation of the place, which had three '«»« </ the maritime natural havens, was excellent ; and now ""/>"r "f Athens- that the Athenians had become seamen, he thought that they had great advantage for the attainment of empin . For he first dared to say that 'they must make the sea their domain,' and he lost no time in laying the foundations of their empire. By his advice, they built the wall of such a width that two waggons carrying the stones could meet and pass on the top ; this width may still be traced at the
64 PAUSANIAS DEPOSED FROM HIS COMMAND [l
Piraeus; inside there was no rubble or mortar, but the whole wall was made up of large stones hewn square, which were clamped on the outer face with iron and lead. The height was not more than half what he had originally intended ; he had hoped by the very dimensions of the wall to paralyse the designs of an enemy, and he thought that a handful of the least efficient citizens would suffice for its defence, while the rest might man the fleet. His mind was turned in this direction, as I conceive, from observing that the King's armament had met with fewer obstacles by sea than by land. The Piraeus appeared to him to be of more real consequence than the upper city, He was fond of telling the Athenians that if ever they were hard pressed on land they should go down to the Piraeus and fight the world at sea.
Thus the Athenians built their walls and restored their city immediately after the retreat of the Persians.
94 Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus was now sent from
Peloponnesus with twenty ships in
Cyprus and Byzan- J r
Hum taken. Tyranny command of the Hellenic forces ; thirty and unpopularity of Athenian ships and a number of the allies sailed with him. They first made an expedition against Cyprus, of which they subdued the greater part; and afterwards against Byzantium, which was in the hands of the Persians, and was taken while he was still in command.
95 He had already begun to be oppressive a, and the allies B.C.477or ^ ^^ ^^ were offended with him, especially the Ol. 75, 4 or themselves to the Athc- lonians and others who had been re- cently emancipated from the King. So
they had recourse to their kinsmen the Athenians and begged them to be their leaders, and to protect them against Pausanias, if he attempted to oppress them. The Athenians took the matter up and prepared to interfere, being fully resolved to manage the confederacy in their
n Cp. c. 130.
94-96] THE ATUF.SIAXS LEAD THE ALLIES 65
own way. In the meantime the Lacedaemonians sum- moned Pausanias to Sparta, intending to investigate certain reports which had reached them ; for he was accused of numerous crimes by Hellenes returning from the Hellespont, and appeared to exerei.se his command mure after the fashion of a tyrant than of a general. 1 1 is recall occurred at the very time when the hatred which In- inspired had induced the allies, with the exception of the IVloponnesians, to transfer themselves to the Athenians. On arriving at Lacedacmon he was punished for the wrongs which he had done to particular persons, but he luul been also accused of conspiring with the Persians, and of this, which was the principal charge and was generally believed to be proven, he was acquitted. The government however did not continue him in his command, but sent in his place Dorcis and certain others with a small force. To these the allies refused allegiance, and Dorcis, seeing the state of affairs, returned home. Henceforth the Lacedae- monians sent out no more commanders, for they were afraid that those whom they appointed would be corrupted, as they had found to be the case with Pausanias; they had had enough of the Persian War; and they thought that the Athenians were fully able to lead, and at that time believed them to be their friends.
Thus the Athenians by the good-will of the allies, who 96 detested Pausanias, obtained the leader- ship. They immediately fixed which of the cities should supply money and which of them ships for the war against the Barbarians, the avowed object being to compensate themselves and the allies for their losses by devastating the King's country. Then was first instituted B.C. 478- at Athens the office of Hellenic treasurers (Hellene- Q\ 75.3,4. tamiae), who received the tribute, for so the contributions were termed. The amount was originally fixed at talents a. The island of Delos was the treasury, and the meetings of the allies were held in the temple.
* Alxnit £92,000. VOL. I F
66 WHO BEGIN TO REVOLT [l
97 At first the allies were independent and deliberated in a common assembly under the leader-
The interval between . *»••«_•
the Persian and Pelo- sniP <« Athens. But in the interval ponnesianWars omitted between the Persian and the Pelopon- iii *«»/ Awfrrfe. nesian Wars> by their military success
and by policy in dealing with the Barbarian, with their own rebellious allies and with the Peloponnesians who came across their path from time to time, the Athenians made immense strides in power. I have gone out of my way to speak of this period because the writers who have preceded me treat either of Hellenic affairs previous to the Persian invasion or of that invasion itself; the inter- vening portion of history has been omitted by all of them, with the exception of Hellanicus ; and he, where he has touched upon it in his Attic history, is very brief, and inaccurate in his chronology. The narrative will also serve to explain how the Athenian empire grew up. 9^ First of all under the leadership of Cimon, the son of B.C. 476- The Athenians sub_ Miltiades, the Athenians besieged and Ol. 76-78, Ject Eion> Scyros, Ca- took Eion upon the Strymon, then in
a. rystus, Naxos. f u
inhabitants into slavery. The same fate befell Scyros, an island in the Aegean inhabited by Dolopes ; this they colonised themselves. They also made war on the Carys- tians of Euboea, who, after a time, capitulated ; the other B.C. 466. Euboeans took no part in the war. Then the Naxians revolted, and the Athenians made war against them and reduced them by blockade. This was the first of the allied cities which was enslaved contrary to Hellenic right ; the turn of the others came later.
99 The causes which led to the defections of the allies Most of the allies con- were of different kinds, the principal
'of^r^Tl bei"g thdr n£g'ect to Pay the tribute weaker the Athenians or to furnish ships, and, in some cases, become more oppressive, failure of military service. For the Athenians were exacting and oppressive, using coercive measures towards men who were neither willing nor
97-ioi] REVOLT OF THASOS 67
accustomed to work hard. And for various reasons they soon began to prove less agreeable leaders than at first. They no longer fought upon an equality with the rest of the confederates, and thev had no difficulty in reducing them when they revolted. Now the allies brought all this upon themselves ; for the majority of them disliked military service and absence from home, and so they agreed to contribute their share of the expense instead of ships. Whereby the Athenian navy was proportionally increased, while they themselves were always untrained and unpre- pared for war when they revolted.
A little later the Athenians and their allies fought two 100 battles, one by land and the other The Athenians con- by sea, against the Persians, at the qucr in a sea and l<iml river Eurymedon in Pamphylia. The *££•£&£ Athenians, under the command of son. Attempted cohmis- Cimon the son of Miltiades, on the <(tion of AtnpMpolis. same day conquered in both, and took and destroyed all the Phoenician triremes numbering two hundred. After a while the Thasians revolted ; a quarrel had arisen B.C. 465. between them and the Athenians about the Thracian O!< 78'4' markets and the mine on the Thracian coast opposite, of which the Thasians received the profits. The Athenians sailed to Thasos and, gaining a victory at sea, landed upon the island. About the same time they sent ten thousand of their own people and of their allies to the Strymon, intending to colonise the place then called the Nine Ways and now Amphipolis. They gained possession of the Nine Ways, which were inhabited by the Edoni, but, advancing into the interior of Thrace, they nwere destroyed at Drabescus in Edonia by the united Thracians:i, whose country was threatened by the new settlement.
The Thasians, now blockaded after several defeats, had 101 recourse to the Lacedaemonians and entreated them to
* Or, reading [i'niravT«s, as Poppo is inclined to do, 'were destr to a man by the ThracianB.'
F 2
68 THE SIEGE OF THASOS AND I THOME [l
B.C. 464. invade Attica. Unknown to the Athenians they agreed, >l 79< Revolt of the Helots, and were on the point of setting out
who seise Ithome. when the great earthquake occurred
and was immediately followed by the revolt of the Helots and with them the Perioeci of Thuria and Aethaea, who seized Ithome. These Helots were mostly the descen- dants of the Messenians who had been enslaved in ancient times, and hence all the insurgents were called Messenians. B.C. 463. While the Lacedaemonians were thus engaged, the OI* 79> 2' Thasians, who had now been block-
Snrrender of Thasos. , . -
aded for more than two years, came to
terms with the Athenians ; they pulled down their walls
and surrendered their ships ; they also agreed to pay what
was required of them whether in the shape of immediate
indemnity or of tribute for the future ; and they gave up
their claim to the mainland and to the mine.
102 The siege of Ithome proved tedious, and the Lacedae-
f<k.'463~ The Athenians come monians called in, among other allies,
01.79,2-4. to the assistance of the the Athenians, who sent to their aid
Lacedaemonians but considerable force under Cimon.
being suspected by them,
they are dismissed and The Athenians were specially invited go away in a rage. because they were reputed to be skilful in siege operations, and the length of the blockade proved to the Lacedaemonians their own deficiency in that sort of warfare ; else why had they not taken the place by assault ? This expedition of the Athenians led to the first open quarrel between them and the Lacedaemonians. For the Lacedaemonians, not succeeding in storming the place, took alarm at the bold and original spirit of the Athenians. They reflected that they were aliens in race, and fearing that, if they were allowed to remain, they might be tempted by the Helots in Ithome to change sides, they dismissed them, while they retained the other allies. But they con- cealed their mistrust, and merely said that they no longer needed their services. Now the Athenians saw that their dismissal was due to some suspicion which had arisen and not to the less offensive reason which was openly avowed ;
103-104] ATiii:M.i.\ i-'.xrr.niTiox TO i'.t;Yrr 69
they felt keenly that such a slight ought not to have been B.C. 463- offdvd them by the Lacedaemonians j and so, on their QI. 79, a_ return home, they forthwith abandoned the alliance which 79> 4- they had made with them against the Persians and went over to their Argive enemies. At the same time both ArjM>s and Athens bound themselves to Thessaly by a common oath of alliance.
In the "tenth year of the siege the defenders of Ithome } Were unable to hold out any longer, /•„//,//,/„„„,. 77«r Ol. i. ' and capitulated to the Lacedaemonians. Athenians settle the 1- B ( »01- The terms were as follows : They were ™™ J'j**'"""* llt ° to leave Peloponnesus under a safe- conduct, and were never again to return ; if any of them were taken on Peloponnesian soil, he was to be the si, of his captor. Now an ancient oracle of Delphi was current among the Lacedaemonians, bidding them let the suppliant of Ithomaean Zeus go free. So the Messenians left Ithome with their wives and children; and the Athenians, who were now the avowed enemies of Sparta, them a home at Naupactus, a place which they had lately taken from the Ozolian Locrians.
The Athenians obtained the alliance of the Megarians, B.C. 461- who revolted from the Lacedaemonians ///|t,w ^.^ //|tf fl/. £5°^ 4_
because the Corinthians were pressing nance of Mcgam, as 80. them hard in a war arising out of a question of frontiers. Thus they gained both Megara and Pegae ; and they built for the Megarians the long walls, extending from the city to the port of Nisaea, which they garrisoned themselves. This was the original and the main cause of the intense hatred which the Corinthians entertained towards the Atheni.
Meanwhile Inaros the son of Psammetichus, king of the 104 Libyans who border on Egypt, had in-
J . * -r* K^vMmnt- OI. 80.
duced the greater part of kgypt to
revolt from King Artaxerxes. He began the rebellion
* Or, accepting rtTaprw Kruger's conj. , 'the fourth year.'
70 VICTORIES OF THE ATHENIANS [l
at Mareia, a city opposite the island of Pharos, and, having made himself ruler of the country, called in the Athenians. They were just then engaged in an expedition against Cyprus with two hundred ships of their own and of their allies ; and, quitting the island, they went to his aid. They sailed from the sea into the Nile, and, making themselves masters of the river and of two-thirds of B.C. 460- Memphis, proceeded to attack the remaining part called 01.80,1-4. tne White Castle, in which some of the Persians and Medes had taken refuge, and with them such Egyptians as had not joined in the revolt.
105 An Athenian fleet made a descent upon Halieis, where
The Athenians de- a battle took place against some Corin-
feat the Aeginetans, thian and Epidaurian troops ; the Athe-
capture seventy ships, ^^ . d h . Soon after.
ana besiege Aegina. J
The Corinthians in- wards the Athenians fought at sea off vade Megara. Cecryphaleia with a Peloponnesian
fleet, which they defeated. A war next broke out between the Aeginetans and the Athenians, and a great battle was fought off the coast of Aegina, in which the allies of both parties joined ; the Athenians were victorious, and captured seventy of the enemy's ships ; they then landed on Aegina and, under the command of Leocrates the son of Stroebus, besieged the town. Thereupon the Peloponnesians sent over to the assistance of the Aeginetans three hundred hoplites who had previously been assisting the Corinthians and Epidaurians. The Corinthians seized a on the heights of Geraneia, and thence made a descent with their allies into the Megarian territory, thinking that the Athenians, who had so large a force absent in Aegina and in Egypt, would be unable to assist the Megarians ; or, if they did, would be obliged to raise the siege of Aegina. But the Athenians, without moving their army from Aegina, sent to Megara under the command of Myronides a force consisting of their oldest and youngest men, who had
Omitting the stop after KaT«\a/3o".
io5 107] LACEDAEMONIANS l.\
remained at home. A battle was fought, which hung equally in the balance ; and when the two armies separated, they both thought that they had gained the victory. The Athenians, who did however get rather the better, on the departure of the Corinthians erected a trophy. And then the Corinthians, irritated by the reproaches of the aged men in the city, after about twelve days' preparation came out again, and, claiming the victory, raised another trophy. Hereupon the Athenians sallied out of Megara, killed those who were erecting the trophy, and charged and de- feated the rest of the army.
The Corinthians now retreated, but a considerable 106 number of them were hard pressed, Tiu-y suffer great loss and missing their way got into an en- in their ntmit. closure belonging to a private person, which was surrounded by a great ditch and had no exit. The Athenians, perceiving their situation, closed the entrance in front with heavy- armed troops, and, placing their light troops in a circle round, stoned all who had entered the enclosure. This was a great blow to the Corinthians. The main body of their army returned home.
About this time the Athenians began to build their 107 Long Walls extending to the sea, one rhc Atht.ni<lll. hltli(i to the harbour of Phalerum, and the ///,,/• hug Mills, rattle other to the Piraeus. The Phocians °/r«" 457-
made an expedition against the Dorians, who inhabit Boeum, Cytinium, and Hrineum, and are the mother people of the Lacedaemonians ; one of these towns they took. Thereupon the Lacedaemonians under the com- mand of Nicomedes the son of Cleombrotus, who v. general in the place of the king Pleistoanax the son of Pausanias (he being at that time a minor), came to the assistance of the Dorians with fifteen hundred hoplites of their own, and, of their allies, ten thousand, and com- pelled the Phocians to make terms and to restore the town. They then thought of returning ; but the: difficulties. Either they might go by sea across the
72 BATTLES OF TAN AGRA AND OENOPHYTA [l
Crisaean Gulf, in which case the Athenian fleet would be sure to sail round and intercept them, or they might march over Mount Geraneia ; but this seemed dangerous when the Athenians were holding Megara and Pegae. The pass was not easy, and was always guarded by the Athenians, who were obviously intending to stop them by that route also. So they determined to remain in Boeotia and con- sider how they could best get home. They had another motive : — Certain Athenians were privately making over- tures to them, in the hope that they would put an end to the democracy and the building of the Long Walls. But the Athenians were aware of their embarrassment, and they also suspected their design against the democracy. So they went out to meet them with their whole force, together with a thousand Argives and contingents from the other allies ; they numbered in all fourteen thousand men. Among them were some Thessalian cavalry, who came to their aid in accordance with the treaty a, but these deserted to the Lacedaemonians during the engagement. 1 08 The battle was fought at Tanagra in Boeotia, and the Battle of Oenophyta. Lacedaemonians and their allies, after Surrender of Aegina. great slaughter on both sides, gained the victory. They then marched into the Megarian terri- tory, and, cutting down the fruit-trees, returned home by B.C. 456, way of Geraneia and the Isthmus. But on the sixty- second day after the battle, the Athenians made another expedition into Boeotia under the command of Myronides, and there was a battle at Oenophyta, in which they defeated the Boeotians and became masters of Boeotia and Phocis. They pulled down the walls of Tanagra and took as hostages from the Opuntian Locrians a hundred of their richest citizens. They then completed their own Long Walls. Soon afterwards the Aeginetans came to terms with the Athenians, dismantling their walls, sur- rendering their ships, and agreeing to pay tribute for the future. The Athenians, under the command of Tolmides
n Cp. i. 102
io8-no] END or Tin: /;r,y/>77./.v Exri:nm».\ 73
the son of Tolmaeus, sailed round Peloponnesus and B.C. 455. burnt the Lacedaemonian dockyard a. They also took the O1' 8l> a' Corinthian town of Chalcis, and, making a descent upon Sicyon, defeated a Sicyonian force.
The Athenians and their allies were still in Egypt, 109 where they carried on the war with Aft,r an illfffflln,,i \.irving fortune. At first they were attempt to obtain ,<•
masters of the country. The King <"'«''
•',_ the PtrtMttt A/-
sent to Lacedaemon Megabazus a /,
IVrsian, who was well supplied with ///- the Atla-nitm-* «.«/ money, in the hope that he might per- °J ' M»»/>i"'s. su.-ule the Peloponnesians to invade Attica, and so draw off the Athenians from Egypt. He had no success; the money was being spent and nothing done ; so, with what remained of it, he found his way back to Asia. The King thru sent into Egypt Megabyzus the son of Zopyrus, a IVrsian, who marched overland with a large army and defeated the Egyptians and their allies. He drove the Hellenes out of Memphis, and finally shut them up in the island of Prosopitis. where he blockaded them for eighteen months. At length he drained the canal and diverted the water, thus leaving their ships high and dry and joining nearly the whole island to the mainland. I Ie then crossed over with a land force, and took the island.
Thus, after six years' lighting, the cause of the Hellenes no in Egypt was lost. A few survivors ^^ ^ Mc of of their great army found their way the expedition to Egypt, through Libya to Cyrene ; by far the including a m/.: larger number perished. Egypt again ?««*» """""' became subject to the Persians, al- though Amyrtaeus, the king in the fens, still held mit. He escaped capture owing to the extent of the fens and the bravery of their inhabitants, who are the most warlike of all the Egyptians. Inaros, the king of Libya, the chief author of the revolt, was betrayed and impaled. Fifty additional triremes, which had been >eiit by the Athenians
Gythium.
74 FIVE YEARS' TRUCE [l
and their allies to relieve their other forces, in ignorance of what had happened, sailed into the Mendesian mouth of the Nile. But they were at once attacked both from the land and from the sea, and the greater part of them destroyed by the Phoenician fleet, a few ships only escaping. Thus ended the great Egyptian expedition of the Athenians and their allies.
in About this time Orestes, the exiled son of the Thes-
Attempted restora- salian king Echecratides, persuaded
tion of Orestes, theThes- the Athenians to restore him. Taking
salian exile. ^fa faem a force of the Boeotians and
Phocians, who were now their allies, they marched against Pharsalus in Thessaly. They made themselves masters of the country in the neighbourhood of their camp, but the Thessalian cavalry stopped any further advance. They could not take the place, and none of their plans prospered ; so they returned unsuccessful and brought back Orestes.
B.C. 454. A short time afterwards a thousand Athenians, under The Athenians under the command of Pericles the son of Pericles defeat the Sicy- Xanthippus, embarking on board the °nians- fleet which they had at Pegae, now in
their possession, coasted along to Sicyon, and there land- ing, defeated the Sicyonians who came out to meet them. With the least possible delay taking on board Achaean troops and sailing to the opposite coast, they attacked and besieged Oeniadae, a town of Acarnania ; but failing to reduce it, they returned home. 112 After an interval of three years a five years' truce was
OlC8253 Truce for five years, concluded between the Peloponnesians Expedition to Cyprus. ancj Athenians. The Athenians now DZ'hhtfSamonEgJ3a''. abstained from war in Hellas itself, but ties at Salami's in Cy- made an expedition to Cyprus with P™8* two hundred ships of their own and of
their allies, under the command of Cimon. Sixty ships were detached from the armament and sailed to Egypt, at the request of Amyrtaeus the king in the fens ; the remainder proceeded to blockade Citium. Here Cimon
.., n»J INCREASING DIFFICULTIES OF ATHENS 75
died, and a famine arose in the country; so the fleet B.C. 449. quitted Citium. Arriving off Salamis in Cyprus they O1- 8a> *• fought at sea and also on land with Phoenician and Cilician forces. Gaining a victory in both engagements, they returned home, accompanied by the ships which had gone out with them and had now come back from Egypt. After this the Lacedaemonians engaged in the so-called Sacred War and gained possession of the temple of Delphi, which they handed over to the Delphians. But no sooner had they retired than the Athenians sent an expedition and recovered the temple, which they handed over to the Phocians.
Some time afterwards the Athenians, under the com- 113 mand of Tolmides the son of Tolmaeus, Dcfcnt of the Athc. gfg'4^
with a thousand hoplitCS of their OWn nians at Coronca. Re-
and contingents of their allies, made w/M/liw< ''" n'"'"''"- an expedition against Orchomenus, Chaeronea, and . tain other places in Boeotia which were in the hands of oligarchical exiles from different Boeotian towns, an<:
hostile to them. They took Chaeronea, and leaving a garrison there-, departed. But while they wen- on their march, the exiles who had occupied Orchomenus, SOUK Locrians, some Euboean exiles and others of the same party, set upon them at Coronea and defeated them, killing many and taking many prisoners. The Athenians then agreed to evacuate the whole of Boeotia upon condition that the prisoners should be restored. And so the 1> tian exiles returned to their homes, and all the Boeotians regained their independence.
Not long afterwards Euboea revolted from Athens. 114 Pericles had just arrived in the island Rcvol( of £„/„„„. OLJ^J with an Athenian army when the news Slaughter of the Athc-
came that Megara had likewise re-
iHvastott of At-
volted, that the Peloponnesians we ,,/„.
on the point of invading Attica, and /' /-.,//;</><-
that the Megarians had slaughtered the <";"'-v '-''K: Athenian garrison, of whom a few only had escaped to
76 THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE. REVOLT OF SAMOS [l
Nisaea. The Megarians had introduced a force of Corin- thians, Sicyonians, and Epidaurians into the city, and by their help had effected the revolt. Pericles in haste with- drew his army from Euboea. The Peloponnesians then invaded Attica under the command of Pleistoanax son of Pausanias, the Lacedaemonian king. They advanced as far as Eleusis and Thria but no further, and after ravaging the country, returned home. Thereupon the Athenians under the command of Pericles again crossed over to Euboea and reduced the whole country ; the Hestiaeans they ejected from their homes and appropri- ated their territory ; the rest of the island they settled by agreement.
115 Soon after their return from Euboea they made a truce
The Athenians agree for thirty years with the Lacedaemo-
to restore the places held nians ancj their allies, restoring Nisaea,
£•»!%*: Pe*ae- Troezen and Achaia- which were
tnians, who are assisted the places held by them in Pelopon- B.c. 440. l>y the By*™*"*™- nesus. Six years later the Samians Ol. 85. ancj Milesians went to war about the possession of Priene, and the Milesians, who were getting worsted, came to Athens and complained loudly of the Samians. Some private citizens of Samos, who wanted to overthrow the government, supported their complaint. Whereupon the Athenians, sailing to Samos with forty ships, established a democracy, and taking as hostages fifty boys and fifty men whom they deposited at Lemnos, they returned leaving a garrison. But certain of the Samians who had quitted the island and fled to the mainland entered into an alli- ance with the principal oligarchs who remained in the city, and with Pissuthnes the son of Hystaspes, then governor of Sardis, and collecting troops to the number of seven hundred they crossed over by night to Samos. First of all they attacked the victorious populace and got most of them into their power ; then they stole away their hostages from Lemnos, and finally revolted from Athens. The garrison of the Athenians and the officials who were
115-117] Sl'BJECTlON OF SAMOS 77
in their power were delivered by them into the hands of Pissuthnes. They at once prepared to make an expedition against Miletus. The Byzantians joined in tlu-ir revolt.
When the Athenians heard of the insurrection they 116 sailed for Samos with sixty ships. Bnt Th? At!i<-ni<\n*d<-f>-«t of this number they sent away sixteen, ihe $«»"""* some towards Caria to keep a look out for the Phoenician fleet, others to summon aid from Chios and Lesbos. With the remaining forty-four ships they fought at sea under the command of Pericles and nine others, near the island of Tragia, against seventy Samian vessels, all sailing from Miletus, of which twenty were transports; the Athenians gained the victory. After receiving a reinforcement of forty ships from Athens and of twenty-five from Chios and Lesbos they disembarked, and their infantry proving superior, invested the city with three walls; they also blockaded it by sea. At the same time Pericles took sixty ships of the blockading force and sailed hastily towards Caunus in Caria, news having arrived that a Phoenician fleet was approaching; Stesagoras and others had already gone with five ships from Samos to fetch it.
Meanwhile the Samians made a sudden sally, and at- 117 tacking the naval station of the Athe- Temporary sn nians which was unprotected, destroyed and final subjection of the guard-ships and engaged and de- the Santians. feated the other vessels which put out to meet them. During some fourteen days they were masters of the sea about their own coasts, and carried in and out whatever they pleased. But when Pericles returned, they were B.C. 439. again closely blockaded ; and there soon arrived from O1- 85» 2- Athens forty additional ships under The Byzantians also Thucydides, Hagnon, and Phormio, submit. twenty more under Tlepolemus and Anticles, and thirty from Chios and Lesbos. The Samians made a feeble attempt at a sea-fight, but soon they were unable to resist, and after nine months were forced to surrender. The terms of capitulation were as follows :— They were to raze
78 CAUSES OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [l
their walls, give hostages, surrender their ships, and pay a full indemnity by regular instalments. The Byzantians too made terms and became subjects as before.
118 Not long afterwards occurred the affairs of Corcyra The history is re- and Potidaea, which have been already
sumed from chap. 88. narrated, and the various other circum-
ZtoSSfftti StanC£S Which led t0 the Peloponnesian
war, obtain the sanction War. Fifty years elapsed between the of the Delphian oracle. retreat of Xerxes and the beginning of the war; during these years took place all those opera- tions of the Hellenes against one another and against the Barbarian which I have been describing. The Athenians acquired a firmer hold over their empire and the city itself became a great power. The Lacedaemonians saw what was going on, but during most of the time they remained inactive and hardly attempted to interfere. They had never been of a temper prompt to take the field unless they were compelled ; and they were in some degree em- barrassed by wars near home. But the Athenians were growing too great to be ignored and were laying hands on their allies. They could now bear it no longer : they made up their minds that they must put out all their strength and overthrow the Athenian power by force of arms. And therefore they commenced the Peloponnesian War. They had already voted in their own assembly that the treaty had been broken and that the Athenians were guilty a ; they now sent to Delphi and asked the God if it would be for their advantage to make war. He is reported to have answered that, if they did their best, they would be conquerors, and that he himself, invited or uninvited, would take their part.
1 19 So they again summoned the allies, intending to put to Activity of the Conn- them the question of war or peace.
thians in pressing on When their representatives arrived, an
assembly was held ; and the allies said
what they liad to say, most of them complaining of the
a But cp. vii. 18 med.
n8-i2oj SPEECH OF THE CORIXTHl.i 79
Athenians and demanding that the war should proceed. B.C. 432. The Corinthians had already gone the round of the OK 87- cities and entreated them privately to vote for war ; they were afraid that they would be too late to save Potidaea. At the assembly they came forward last of all and spoke as follows : —
' Fellow allies, we can no longer find fault with the 120 Lacedaemonians ; they have them- No »'°™ f»"U /<> i>< selves resolved upon war and have '<"<>«< "«>>"^»
nionniHs. Jin- - 1 the •
brought us hither to confirm their de- ,,n,fls atv ,/„„,;,.,„„., /„ cision. And they have done well ; for nil alike. M™ should h,- theleadersofaconfedcracy.whilethey Z£X££££ do not neglect the interests of their m,,/v /„ Cfase frotl, own state, should look to the general J*sllti>'g' weal : as they are first in honour, they should be first in the fulfilment of their duties. Now those among us who have ever had dealings with the Athenians, do not require to be warned against them ; but such as live inland and not on any maritime highway should clearly understand that, if they do not protect the sea-board, they will find it more difficult to carry their produce to the sea, or to receive in return the goods which the sea gives to the land. They should not lend a careless ear to our words, for they nearly concern them ; they should remember that, if they desert the cities on the sea-shore, the danger may some day reach them, and that they are consulting for their own interests quite as much as for ours. And therefore let no one hesitate to accept war in exchange for peace. Wise men refuse to move until they are wronged, but brave men as soon as they are wronged go to war, and when there is a good opportunity make peace again. They are not intoxicated by military success ; but neither will they tolerate injustice from a love of peace and ease. For he whom pleasure makes a coward will quickly lose, if he continues inactive, the delights of ease which he is so un- willing to renounce ; and he whose arrogance is stimulated bv victory does not see how hollow is the confidence which
8o SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS [l
elates him. Many schemes which were ill-advised have succeeded through the still greater folly which possessed the enemy, and yet more, which seemed to be wisely con- trived, have ended in foul disaster. The execution of an enterprise is never equal a to the conception of it in the confident mind of its promoter ; for men are safe while they are forming plans, but, when the time of action comes, then they lose their presence of mind and fail. 121 ' We, however, do not make war upon the Athenians in We are superior to a spirit of vain-glory, but from a sense the Athenians in num- of wrong ; there is ample justification,
bers, in military skill, ^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^ we ^
ttt unanimity, ana our
fleet will soon be on a put up the sword. For every reason level with theirs. We are likely to succeed. First, be-
cause we are superior in numbers and in military skill ; secondly, because we all obey as one man the orders given to us. They are doubtless strong at sea, but we too will provide a navy, for which the means can be supplied partly by contributions from each state, partly out of the funds at Delphi and Olympia. A loan will be granted to us, and by the offer of higher pay we can draw away their foreign sailors. The Athenian power consists of mercenaries, and not of their own citizens ; but our soldiers are not mercenaries, and therefore cannot so be bought, for we are strong in men if poor in money. Let them be beaten in a single naval engagement and they are probably conquered at once; but suppose they hold out, we shall then have more time in which to practise at sea. As soon as we have brought our skill up to the level of theirs our courage will surely give us the victory. For that is a natural gift which they cannot learn, but their superior skill is a thing acquired, b which we must attain by practice b.
' And the money which is required for the war, we will
But we must find provide by a contribution. What !
money- shall their allies never fail in paying
the tribute which is to enslave them, and shall we refuse
Reading o/xom. b Or, ' which we must overcome by practice.'
in, u SPEECH Of Tin: «>RI.\TIIIANS 81
to give freely in order to save ourselves and be avenged on nur enemies, or rather to prevent the money which we refused to give from being taken from us by them and used to our destruction ?
' These are some of the means by which the war may 122 be carried on; but there are others. We By gaining over //,„>• may induce their allies to revolt,— a * y cut off
sure mode of cutting oft" the revenues A in which the strength of Athens consists; or we may plant a fort in their country; and there are many expedients which will hereafter suggest themselves. For war, least of all things, conforms to prescribed rules ; it strikes out a path for itself when the moment comes. And therefore he who has his temper under control in warfare is safer far, but he who gets into a passion is, through his own fault, liable to the greater fall.
'If this were merely a quarrel between one of us and our neighbours about a boundary line If we qtli(lly Sl4bntit it would not matter ; but reflect : the we shall deserve to be truth is that the Athenians are a match for us all, and much more than a match for any single city. And if we allow ourselves to be divided or are not united against them heart and soul — the whole confederacy and every nation and city in it— they will easily overpower us. It may seem a hard saying, but you may be sure that defeat means nothing but downright slavery, and the hare mention of such a possibility is a disgrace to the Pelo- ponnese :— shall so many states suffer at the hands of one? Men will say, some that w< imr fate, others that
we are too cowardly to resist: and we shall seem a degenerate race. For our fathers were the liberators of 1 lellas, but we cannot secure even our own liberty ; and while we make a point of overthrowing the rule of a single man in this or that city, we allow a city which is a tyrant to be set up in the midst of us. Are we not open to one of three most serious charges —folly,
VOL. I. G
82 SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS [l
cowardice, or carelessness? aFor you certainly do not escape such imputations by wrapping yourselves in that contemptuous wisdom which has so often a brought men to ruin, as in the end to be pronounced contemptible folly. 123 ' But why should we dwell reproachfully upon the past, except in the interest of the present ?
J." iTl* ::7Z ^ <*"** ""her, looking to the future, feeling of Hellas on your devote our energies to the task which side, and you will not we have immediately in hand. By labour to win virtue, -that is the lesson which we b have learnt from our fathers, and which you ought not to unlearn, because you chance to have some trifling advantage over them in wealth and power; for men should not lose in the time of their wealth what was gained by them in their time of want. There are many reasons why you may advance with confidence. The God has spoken and has promised to take our part himself. All Hellas will fight at our side, from motives either of fear or of interest. And you will not break the treaty, — the God in bidding you go to war pronounces it to have been already broken, — but you will avenge the violation of it. For those who attack others, not those who defend them- selves, are the real violators of treaties (>.
124 'On every ground you will be right in going to war:
We cannot go on as il is our united advice ; * and if you
wean. War is the way believe community of interests to be
to peace; but peace may tne surest ground of Strength both to
states and individuals, send speedy aid a to the Potidaeans, who are Dorians and now besieged by lonians (for times have changed), and recover the
tt Or, ' For we cannot suppose that, having avoided these errors, you have wrapped yourselves in that contemptuous wisdom, which has so often ' etc.
b Reading jy/«V. c Cp. i. 71 fin.
d Reading ravra : or, with all the MSS. retaining ravra : ' And as it is most certain that the policy which we recommend is for our advantage both as states and individuals, send speedy aid ' etc.
i ->3 i_>6] KM;. W n«> 83
liberties which the rest of the allies have lost. We can- not go on as we are : for some of us are already suffering, and if it is known that we have met, but do not dart- to defend ourselves, others will soon share their fate. Acknowledging then, allies, that there is no alternative, and that we are advising you for the best, vote for war; and be not afraid of the immediate danger, but fix your thoughts on the durabl ,\ hich will follow. For by
war peace is assured, but to remain at peace when y<>u should be going to war may be often very dangerous. The tyrant city which has been set up in Hellas is a standing menace to all alike; she rules over some of us already, and would fain rule over others. Let us attack and subdue her, that we may ourselves live safely for the future and deliver the Hellenes whom she has enslaved.'
Such were the words of the Corinthians.
The Lacedaemonians, having heard the opinions of all 125 the allies, put the question to them all, Dearly a year i^.^cut one after the other, great and small in pnpamtion. alike, and the majority voted for war. But. although they had come to this decision, they were not ready, and could not take up arms at once ; so they determined to make the necessary preparations, each for thern^ . ith the
least possible delay. Still nearly a whole year was passed in preparation before they invaded Attica and commenced open hostilities.
During this interval they sent embassies to Athens and 126 made various complaints that their ///t. s/,,; v ,,/• c\ton grounds for going to war might be all told in explanation of the stronger in case the Athenians *""*"/*<*»* refused to listen. The first ambassatl red the
Athenians to drive out ' the curse of the Goddess.' The B.C. 620? curse to which they referred was as follows : — In the days of old there was an Athenian named Cylon, who had 1>- an Olympic victor ; he was powerful and of noble birth ; and he had married the daughter of Thcagt nes, a M'-^arian who was at that time tyrant of Megara. In answer to an
G 2
84 THE CURSE OF THE GODDESS [l
enquiry which Cylon made at Delphi, the God told him to seize the Acropolis of Athens at the greatest festival of Zeus. Thereupon he obtained forces from Theagenes, and, persuading his friends to join him, when the time of the Olympic festival in Peloponnesus came round, he took pos- session of the Acropolis, intending to make himself tyrant. He thought that this was the greatest festival of Zeus, and, having been an Olympic victor, he seemed to have a special interest in it. But whether the greatest festival spoken of was in Attica or in some other part of Hellas was a question which never entered into his mind, and the oracle said nothing about it. (For the Athenians also have a greatest festival of Zeus— the festival of Zeus the Gracious, or Diasia, as it is called a— this is held outside the city and the whole people sacrifice at it, some, ordinary victims, others, a kind of offering peculiar to the country.) However, Cylon thought that his interpretation was right, and made the attempt at the Olympic festival. The Athenians, when they saw what had happened, came in a body from the fields and invested the Acropolis. After a time they grew tired of the siege and most of them went away, committing the guard to the nine Archons, and giving them full powers to do what they thought best in the whole matter; for in those days public affairs were chiefly administered by the nine Archons b. Cylon and his companions were in great distress from want of food and water. So he and his brother made their escape ; the rest, being hard pressed, and some of them ready to die of hunger, sat as suppliants at the altar which is in the Acropolis. When the Athenians, to whose charge the guard had been committed, saw them dying in the temple, they bade them rise, promising to do them no harm, and then led them away arid put them to death. They even slew some of them in the very presence of the awful God- desses at whose altars, in passing by, they had sought
n Placing the comma before instead of after Atdoia. b Cp. Herod, v. 71.
127,128] nil-: CURSE or TAEffAR 85
refuge. The murderers and their descendants arc held to be accursed, and offenders against the Goddess. Tl: accursed persons were banished by the Athenians ; ami Cleomenes, the Lacedaemonian king, again banished them I'min Athens in a time of civil strife by the help of tin- opposite faction, expelling the living and disinterring and casting forth the bones of the dead:l. N'evertheless they afterwards returned, and to this day their race still surv; in the city.
The Lacedaemonians desired the Athenians to drive i-*7 away this curse, as if the honour of the 77//:< curse attached Gods were their first object, but in '•' r' reality because they knew that the curse attached to Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, by his mother's side, and they thought that if he were banished they would find the Athenians more manageable. They did not really expect that he would be driven into exile, but they hoped to discredit him with the citi/ens and make them believe that his misfortune was to a certain extent the cause of the war. For he was the leader of the state and the most powerful man of his day, and his policy was utterly opposed to the Lacedaemonians. He would not suffer the Athenians to give way, but was always urging upon them the necessity of war.
The Athenians retaliated by demanding that the Lac daemonians should drive away the TlieAtllfnianiiretaK. curse of Taenarus. They referred to atc by desiring th,- 1 the murder of certain Helots who had daenmnian* t» / taken refuge in the temple of Poseidon '^^J^ at Taenarus; these the Laccdae- plained tube the nntnier monians, having first raised by the o/cei-tuin suppliant II,-- i , i j i * , j | . lots; tltccttrstofAthtnt
hand, had then led away and slam. o/ 'f/i>.
The Lacedaemonians themselves be- Wa* c«n*ed by the death
lieve this act of theirs to have been the
cause of the great earthquake which '
visit. (1 Sparta1'. The Athenians also bade them drive out
• Cp. Herod, v. 70, 72. * Cp. i. 101, 102.
86 STORY OF PAUSANIAS [i
B.C. 477. the curse of Athene of the Brazen House. The story is Ol- 75> 4- as follows : — When Pausanias the Lacedaemonian was originally summoned by the Spartans to give an account of his command at the Hellespont a, and had been tried and acquitted, he was no longer sent out in a public capacity, but he hired a trireme of Hermione on his own account and sailed to the Hellespont, pretending that he had gone thither to fight in the cause of the Hellenes. In reality he wanted to prosecute an intrigue with the King, by which he hoped to obtain the empire of Hellas. He had already taken the first steps after the return from B.C. 478 Cyprus, when he captured Byzantium b. The city was at Si^s's that tmie ^e^ by the Persians and by certain relatives and or 4. kinsmen of the King, who were taken prisoners. These
he restored to the King without the knowledge of the allies, to whom he declared that they had made their escape. This act was the beginning of the whole affair, and thereby he originally placed the King under an obliga- tion to him. His accomplice was Gongylus the Eretrian, to whose care he had entrusted Byzantium and the captives. To this same Gongylus he also gave a letter addressed to the King, of which, as was afterwards discovered, the terms were as follows : —
' Pausanias, the Spartan commander, desiring to do you a service, sends you back these captives of his spear. And I propose, if you have no objection, to marry your daughter, and to bring Sparta and the rest of Hellas under your sway. I think that I can accomplish this if you and I take counsel together. Should you approve of my proposal, send a trusty person to the sea and through him we will negotiate/ Thus far the letter. 129 Xerxes was pleased, and sent Artabazus the son of Intrigue of Pausa- Pharnaces to the sea, commanding him nias with Xerxes. to assume the government of the satrapy
of Dascylium in the room of Megabates. An answer was
* Cp. i. 95. fc cp. i. 94.
129-131] STORY OF PAUSANIAS 87
entrusted to him, which he was to send as quickly as possible to Pausanias at Byzantium ; he was to show him at the same time the royal seal. If Pausanias gave him any order about his own affairs, he was to execute it with all diligence and fidelity. Artabazus came down to the sea, as he was desired, and transmitted the letter. The answer of the King was as ft ill. ,
' Thus saith Xerxes, the King, t<> Pausanias. The bent- fit which thou hast done me in saving the captives who were taken at Byzantium beyond the sea is recorded in my house for ever, and thy words please me. Let neither day nor night hinder thee from fulfilling diligently the promise which thou hast made to me; spare not gold or B.C. 477 silver, and take as large an army as thou wilt, wheresoever oi4'- it may be required. I have sent to thee Artabazus, a good or 76 ft", man ; act with him for my honour and welfare, and for thine own, and be of good courage.'
Pausanias received the letter. He had already acquired 130 a high reputation among the Hellenes „ ^ t(ll.n-etf when in command at Plataea, and now au,ay />v /„/,/,., ,„«,,„•. he was so great that he could no longer /«'* /»'* ambitious dc~ contain himself or live like other nun. Whenever he marched out of Byzantium he wore Persian apparel. On his way through Thrace he was always attended by a body-guard of Medes and Egyptians, and he had his table served after the Persian fashion. He could not conceal his ambition, but indicated by little things the greater designs which he was meditating. I Ie made himself difficult of access, and displayed such a violent temper towards everybody that no one could come near him ; and this was one of the chief reasons why tlie confederacy transferred themselves to the Athenians.
The news of his behaviour soon reached the Lacedae- 131 monians; who had recalled him in the first instance <>n this ground". And now, when he had sailed away in the ship
' Cp. i. 93 init
88 PAUSANIAS SUMMONED TO SPARTA [l
of Hermione without leave n, and was evidently carrying
Heisrecalled a second on the same practices; when he had
time by the Lacedae- been forced out of Byzantium and the
monians cind thrown i j -L i i • i
into prison, but soon SateS had been shut 3gainSt him by
comes out and offers the Athenians ; and when, instead of re- himselffor trial, turning to Sparta, he settled at Colonae
in Troas, and was reported to the Ephors to be negotiating with the Barbarians, and to be staying there for no good purpose, then at last they made up their minds to act. They sent a herald to him with a despatch rolled on a scytale, commanding him to follow the officer home, and saying that, if he refused, Sparta would declare war against him. He, being desirous as far as he could to avoid sus- picion and believing that he could dispose of the accusa- tions by bribery, returned for the second time to Sparta. On his return he was at once throwrn into prison by the Ephors, who have the power to imprison the king himself. But after a time he contrived to come out, and challenged any one who asserted his guilt to bring him to trial. 132 As yet however neither his enemies among the citizens „ . . , nor the Spartan government had any
cannot be obtained. At trustworthy evidence such as would last his confidential ser- have justified them in inflicting punish- vant opens aktter which ment member of the royal family
he was to carry to the J J J
Persian satrap, and holding royal office at the time. For finding an order for he was the guardian as well as cousin of
the kinS> Pleistarchus son of Leonidas, who was still a minor. But his dis- regard of propriety and affectation of Barbarian fashions made them strongly suspect that he was dissatisfied with his position in the state. They examined into any viola- tion of established usage which they could find in his previous life ; and they remembered among other things how in past times he had presumed on his own authority to inscribe on the tripod at Delphi, which the Hellenes
n Cp. i. 128
'33, 133] in* ixnu(;rr.s irrrii THE HKI.OTS 89
dedicated as the firstfruits of their victory over tin- Per- sians, this elegiac coupK-t :
' I'ausanias, captain of tlx . having destroyed the Persian
host. Made this offering to Phoebus for a memorial.'
The Lacedaemonians had at once effaced the lines and inscribed on the tripod the names of the cities which took part in the overthrow of the Barbarian and in the dedica- tion of the offering. But still this act of Pausanias gave offence at the time, and, now that he had again fallen under suspicion, seemed t<> receive a new light from his present designs. They were also informed that he was intriguing with the Helots; and this was true, for he had promised them emancipation and citizenship if they would join him in an insurrection and help to carry out his whole design. Still the magistrates would not take decided measures ; they even refused to believe the distinct testimony which certain Helots brought against him ; their habit having always been to be slow in taking an irrevocable decision against a Spartan without incontestable proof. At last a certain man of Argilus, who had been a favourite and was still a confidential servant of Pausanias, turned in- former. He had been commissioned by him to can \ Artabazus the last letters for the King, but the thought struck him that no previous messenger had ever returned; he took alarm, and so, having counterfeited the seal of Pausanias in order to avoid discovery if he were mistaken, or if Pausanias, wanting to make some alteration, should ask him for the letter, he opened it, and among the direc- tions given in it found written, as he had partly suspect an order for his own death.
He showed the letter to the Ephors, who were now 133 more inclined to believe, but still they wanted to hear something from Pausanias' own mouth , and so, according to a plan preconcerted with them, the man went to Taenarus as a suppliant and there put up a hut divided l>v a partition. In the inner part of the hut Iv placed s«»nn
90 DEATH OF PAUSANIAS [l
of the Ephors, and when Pausanias came to him and asked
His servant takes him why he was a Suppliant, the whole
sanctuary at Taenarus, truth was at once revealed to them. where he conceals some There was the man reproaching Pausa-
of the Ephors. Pausa- . . . . .. . , • , , , ,
nias coming to enquire mas ^ the directions which he had the reason reveals the found in the letter, and going into whole- minute details about the whole affair ;
he protested that never on any occasion had he brought him into any trouble when sent on his service in this matter to the King: why then should he share the fate of the other messengers, and be rewarded with death ? And there was Pausanias, admitting the truth of his words, and telling him not to be angry at what had happened, offering to raise him by the hand that he might safely leave the temple, and bidding him start at once and not make difficulties. 134 The Ephors, who had heard every word, went away for The Ephors attempt the present, intending, now that they to arrest Pausanias. had certain knowledge, to take Pausa-
He flies to the temple . ,, ., T, . . , ,, , ,
of Athene and is there nias m the Clty- !t 1S Said that he WaS shut in and starved to on the point of being arrested in the death. street, when the face of one of them
as they approached revealed to him their purpose, and another who was friendly warned him by a hardly per- ceptible nod. Whereupon he ran and fled to the temple of Athene of the Brazen House and arrived before them, for the precinct was not far off. There, entering into a small chamber which belonged to the temple, that he might not suffer from exposure to the weather, he remained. His pursuers, failing to overtake him, afterwards unroofed the building, and watching when he was within, and pre- venting him from getting out, they built up the doors, and, investing the place, starved him to death. He was on the point of expiring in the chamber where he lay, when they, observing his condition, brought him out; he was still breathing, but as soon as he was brought out he died. The Spartans were going to cast his body into the Caeadas, a chasm into which they throw malefactors, but they
134-136] n.IC.HT OF THEMISTOCLES 91
changed their minds and buried him somewhere in the neighbourhood. The God of Delphi afterwards com- manded them to transfer him to the place where he died, and he now lies in the entrance to the precinct, as the in- scription on the column testifies. The oracle also told them that they had brought a curse upon themselves, and must offer two bodies for one to Athene of the Brazen House. Whereupon they made two brazen statues, which they de- dicated, intending them to be an expiation for Pausanias.
To this judgment of the God himself the Athenians 135 referred when they retorted on the Lacedaemonians, telling them to banish the curse.
Now the evidence which proved that Pausanias was in league with Persia implicated Themis- T/lftllis/0f/f!i ,, ,-„, tocles ; and the Lacedaemonians sent plicated in the plut, ami ambassadors to the Athenians charging »//""- "" -<••"/ /<> '<**•• him likewise with treason, and demand- ing that he should receive the same punishment. The Athenians agreed, but having been ostracised he was living at the time in Argos, whence he used to visit oth< T j >arts of the Peloponnese. The Lacedaemonians were very ready to join in the pursuit ; so they and the Athenians sent officers, who were told to arrest him wherever they should find him.
Themistocles received information of their purpose, and 136 fled from the Peloponnesus to the //, s<eks refug* Corcyraeans, who were under an obli- among ti«
i • »-pi ft • i ans ; tln'v a >f afraid
gation to him. The Corcyraeans said - ///;_ ^ J~
that they were afraid to keep him, lest ,/^,,;o,,, „,„/ .^w ///«/
they should incur the enmity of Athens "..".\ /" /•->/;//-. c»nt-
and Lacedaemon; so they conveyed ins '", "", •'""'*,, '/
J J *ltllllttn<. A-ill^ oj tin-
him to the neighbouring continent, Mohs,.
wliither lie was followed by the officers, « suppliant at ///«•
who constantly enquired in which direc- '
tion he had gone and pursued him everywhere. < hving
to an accident he was compelled to st«>p at the house of
Ailnietus, king of the Molussians, \vh«» wa^ not his friend.
92 THEMIS TOCLES AND ADMETUS [l
He chanced to be absent from home, but Themistocles presented himself as a suppliant to his wife, and was instructed by her to take their child and sit at the hearth. Admetus soon returned, and then Themistocles told him who he was, adding that if in past times he had opposed any request which Admetus had made to the Athenians, he ought not to retaliate on an exile. He was now in such extremity that a far weaker adversary than he could do him a mischief; but a noble nature should not be revenged by taking at a disadvantage one as good as him- self. Themistocles further argued that he had opposed Admetus in some matter of business, and not when life was at stake ; but that, if Admetus delivered him up, he would be consigning him to death. At the same time he told him who his pursuers were and what was the charge against him.
137 Admetus, hearing his words, raised him up, together Admetus gives him with his own son, from the place where protection, and when he sat holding the child in his arms, the officers arrive in , . , ,, , f c
pursuit, sends him to whlch WaS the most S°lemn form °f Pydna, whence he sails supplication. Not long afterwards the to Ephesus. Athenians and Lacedaemonians came
and pressed him to give up the fugitive, but he refused ; and as Themistocles wanted to go to the King, sent him on foot across the country to the sea at Pydna (which was in the kingdom of Alexander). There he found a merchant B.C. 466. vessel sailing to Ionia, in which he embarked ; it was • 78) 3- driven, however, by a storm to the station of the Athenian fleet which was blockading Naxos. He was unknown to his fellow passengers, but, fearing what might happen, he told the captain who he was and why he fled, threatening if he did not save his life to say that he had been bribed to take him on board. The only hope was that no one should be allowed to leave the ship while they had to remain off Naxos; if he complied with his request, the obligation should be abundantly repaid. The captain agreed, and after anchoring in a rough sea for a day and
137, 138] THEMISTOCLES AT THE PERSIAN COURT 93
a flight off the Athenian station, he at length arrived at Kphesus. Themistocles rewarded him with a liberal present ; for he received soon afterwards from his friends the property which they had in their keeping at Athens, and which lie had d< -posited at Argos. He then went up tin- country in the company of one of the Persians who dwelt on the coast, and sent a letter to Artaxerxes the son ofB. C. 465. 8, who had just succeeded to the throne. The letter OK 78'4' was in the following words: — 'I.Themis-
T . .. ., //»'i .Icttct to the King.
tocles, have come to you, I who of all Hellenes did your house the greatest injuries so long as I was compelled to defend myself against your father; but still greater benefits when I was in safety and he in danger during his retreat. And there is a debt of gratitude due to me ' (here he noted how he had forewarned Xerxes at Salamis of the resolution of the Hellenes to withdraw", and how through his influence, as he pretended, they had n-fraim-d from breaking down the bridges) b. ' Now I am here, able to do you many other services, and persecuted by the Hellenes for your sake. Let me wait a year, and then I will myself explain why I have come.'
The King is said to have been astonished at the boldness 138 of his character, and told him to wait r.nwg to the C<>n>t
;i- as he proposed. In the interval "/ ''"-'"• '"' he made himself acquainted, as far as he could, with the Persian language our, but J,<,niy after and the manners of the country. When the year was over, he arrived at the court and became a greater man there than any Hellene had ever been !>«•:• This was due partly to his previous The greatness of ir's
reputation, and partly to the hope '/"""</"• llisnatuml .... . . .. , T,. , . , acutencssandfonsight:
which he inspired in the Kings mind ki^omr^
that he would enslave Hellas to him; iris readiness m an
above all, his ability had been tried and r»»w>v-
not found wanting. For Themistocles was a man whose
Cp. Herod, viii. 75. ' Cp. Ilrrml. viii. 108.
94 CHARACTER OF THEMIS TOCLES [l
f
natural force was unmistakeable ; this was the quality for which he was distinguished above all other men ; from his own native acuteness, and without any study either before or at the time, he was the ablest judge of the course to be pursued in a sudden emergency, and could best divine what was likely to happen in the remotest future. Whatever he had in hand he had the power of explaining to others, and even where he had no experience he was quite competent to form a sufficient judgment; no one could foresee with equal clearness the good or evil event which was hidden in the future. In a word, Themistocles, by natural power of mind and with the least preparation, was of all men the best able to extemporise the right thing to be done. A sickness put an end to his life, although some say that he poisoned himself because he felt that he could not accomplish what he had promised to the King. There is a monument of him in the agora of the Asiatic Magnesia, where he was governor— the King assigning to him, for bread, Magnesia, which produced a revenue of fifty talents il in the year ; for wine, Lampsa- cus, which was considered to be the richest in wine of any district then known ; and Myus for meat. His family say that his remains were carried home at his own request and buried in Attica, but secretly ; for he had been accused of treason and had fled from his country, and he could not lawfully be interred there. Such was the end of Pausanias the Lacedaemonian, and Themistocles the Athenian, the two most famous Hellenes of their day.
139 Thus the demand for the banishment of the accursed
Ol 87 32' The Lacedaemonians made by the Lacedaemonians on the
wake a final demand occasion of their first embassy was met
for the restoration of * ,\_ r
independence to the by a counter demand on the part of Hellenes. Speech of Athens. They came again and again, Pericles. and told the Athenians that they must
raise the siege of Potidaea and restore Aegina to indepen-
"• About £10,000
I39, 140] EECH 01' ntRlCLES
. Aix've all, and in the plainest terms, the}' insisted B.C. 433. that if they wanted to avert war, they must rescind the ( ' 7* decree which excluded the Megarians from the market of Athens and the harbours in the Athenian dominions. But the Athenians would not listen to them, nor rescind the decree; alleging in reply that the Megarians had tilled the holy ground and the neutral borderland, and had nreived their runaway slaves. Finally, there came from Sparta an embassy, consisting of Rhamphias, Melesippus, and Hei^esaiider, who said nothing of all this, but only, ' The Lacedaemonians desire to maintain peace ; and peace there may be, if you will restore independence to the I lellenes.' Whereupon the Athenians called an assembly and held a discussion ; it seemed best to them to make up their minds and to give a complete and final answer. Many eaine forward to speak, and much was said on both sides, some affirming that they ought to go to war, and others that this decree about the Megarians should be rescinded and not stand in the way of peace. At last Pericles the son of Xanthippus, who was the first man of his day at Athens, and the greatest orator and statesman, came forward and advised as follows : —
'Athenians, I say, as I always have said, that we must 140 never yield to the Peloponnesians, / s//7/ „,•,., ,„,„ ,nv although I know that men are per- old a-;. not
suaded to go to war in one temper of ™l<{ to tllc rft»p°n- mind, and act when the time comes in another, and that their resolutions change with the changes of fortune. But I see that I must give you the same or nearly the same advice which I gave before, and I call upon those whom my words may convince to maintain our united determination, even if we should not escape disaster; or else, if our sagacity be justified by success, to claim no share of the credit11.
n Cp. ii. 64 ink.
96 SPEECH OF PERICLES [l
B.C. 432. The movement of events is often as wayward and in- Ol. 87. comprehensible as the course of human thought ; and
this is why we ascribe to chance whatever belies our
calculation.
' For some time past the designs of the Lacedaemonians
The demands of the have been dear en°USh> and they are Lacedaemonians may still clearer now. Our agreement says seem trifling, but sub- that when differences arise, the two ^onT^tro^ke fash^ete parties shall refer them to arbitration, mands and implies the and in the mean time both are to retain loss of our indepen- wnat they have. But for arbitration they never ask ; and when it is offered by us, they refuse ita. They want to redress their grievances by arms and not by argument ; and now they come to us, using the language, no longer of expostulation, but of command. They tell us to quit Potidaea, to leave Aegina independent, and to rescind the decree respecting the Megarians. These last ambassadors go further still, and announce that we must give the Hellenes indepen- dence. I would have none of you imagine that he will be fighting for a small matter if we refuse to annul the Megarian decree, of which they make so much, telling us that its revocation would prevent the war. You should have no lingering uneasiness about this; you are not really going to war for a trifle. For in the seeming trifle is involved the trial and confirmation of your whole pur- pose. If you yield to them in a small matter, they will think that you are afraid, and will immediately dictate some more oppressive condition ; but if you are firm, you will prove to them that they must treat you as their equals. 141 Wherefore make up your minds once for all, either to give way while you are still unharmed, or, if we are going to war, as in my judgment is best, then on no plea small or great to give way at all ; we will not condescend to possess our own in fear. Any claim, the smallest as well
* CP. i. 78.
14 1 ] SPEECH OF PERICI 97
as the greatest, imposed on a neighbour and an equal n.C. 432. when there has been no legal award, 6W,M vo/< ,„„„, fc ° can mean nothing but slavery.
'That our resources are equal to '""*' <kt<-"»»"- >• theirs, and that we shall be as strong *
in the war, I will now prove to you in /v_v..« /,<,:•<• mm\
tit-tail. The Peloponnesians cultivate 9***g* *** 1* 1
their own lands, and they have no ££»£
wealth either public or private. Nor /«/„/. they an •
have they any experience of long '»""w
i_ j i <///</ liividt'ii in i
wars in countries beyond the sea; their poverty prevents them from fighting, except in person against each other, and that for a short time only. Such men cannot be often manning fleets or sending out armies. They would be at a distance from their own properties, upon which they must nevertheless draw, and they will be kept off the sea by us. Now wars are sup- ported out of accumulated wealth, and not out of forced contributions. And men who cultivate their own lands are more ready to serve with their persons than with tlu-ir property'1; they do not despair of their lives, but they soon grow anxious lest their money should all be spent, especially if the war in which they are engaged is pro- tracted beyond their calculation, as may well be the case. In a single pitched battle tlu- Peloponnesiana and their allies are a match for all Hellas, but they are not able to maintain a war against a power different in kind from their own b ; they have no regular general assembly, and there- fore cannot execute their plans with speed and decision. The confederacy is made up of many races ; all the repre- sentatives have equal votes, and press their several interests. There follows the usual result, that nothing is ever done properly. For some are all anxiety to be revenged on an enemy, while others only want to get off with as little loss as possible. The members of such
• Cp. i. lai med. k Cp. viii. 96 fin.
VOL. I. H
98 SPEECH OF PERICLES [l
B.C. 432. a confederacy are slow to meet, and when they do meet, they give little time to the consideration of any common interest, and a great deal to schemes which further the interest of their particular state. Every one fancies that his own neglect will do no harm, but that it is somebody else's business to keep a look-out for him, and this idea, cherished alike by each, is the secret ruin of all. 142 ' Their greatest difficulty will be want of money, which They cannot do you they can only provide slowly; delay any real harm by build- will thus occur, and war waits for no ing a rival city or man> Further, no fortified place which
fortified posts in A ttica ; .
nor can they, mere they can raise against US* is to be
landsmen as they are, feared any more than their navy. As
rival you at sea. to the first> even jn time of peace it
would be hard for them to build a city able to compete with Athens ; and how much more so when they are in an enemy's country, and our walls will be a menace to them quite as much as theirs to us ! Or, again, if they simply raise a fort in our territory, they may do mischief to some part of our lands by sallies, and the slaves may desert to them ; but that will not prevent us from sailing to the Peloponnese and there raising forts against them, and defending ourselves there by the help of our navy, which is our strong arm. For we have gained more experience of fighting on land from warfare at sea than they of naval affairs from warfare on land. And they will not easily acquire the art of seamanship T) ; even you yourselves, who have been practising ever since the Persian War, are not yet perfect. How can they, who are not sailors, but tillers of the soil, do much ? They will not even be permitted to practise, because a large fleet will constantly be lying in wait for them. If they were watched by a few ships only, they might run the risk, trusting to their numbers and forgetting their inexperience; but if they are kept off the sea by our superior strength, their
' Cp. i. 122 init. b Cp. i. 121 med.
r42, i43] SFEECtr or PF.RICI i 99
want of practice will make them unskilful, and their want B.C. 432. of skill timid. Maritime skill is like skill of other kinds, O1- 87- not a thing to be cultivated by the way or at chance times ; it is jealous of any other pursuit which distracts the mind for an instant from itself.
'Suppose, again, that they lay hands on the treasures H3 at Olympia and Delphi, and tempt our
., . . ~. - Our foreign HJton
mercenary sailors with the offer of M,|7/ J be *MI/k/<v/ ,,v higher paya, there might be serious offers of high fw\, ami danger, if we and our metics b embark- '/ the-v art> we ca" Hn ing alone were not still a match for "*'"""" "' them. But we are a match for them : and, best of all, our pilots are taken from our own citizens, while no sailors are to be found so good or so numerous as ours in all the rest of Hellas. None of our mercenaries will choose to fight on their side for the sake of a few days' high pay, when he will not only be an exile, but will incur greater danger, and will have less hope of victory.
' Such I conceive to be the prospects of the Pelopon-
nesians. But we ourselves are free
- i i /- Wi must rutum the
from the defects which I have noted dty and the Sf(l and
in them ; and we have great advan- not mind about tages. If they attack our country by hottses and land* ''" t/lf land, we shall attack theirs by sea ; and the devastation, even of part of Peloponnesus, will be a very different thing from that of all Attica. For they, if they want fresh territory, must take it by arms, whereas we have abundance of land both in the islands and on the continent ; such is the power which the empire of the sea gives. Reflect, if we were islanders, who would be more invulnerable ? Let us imagine that we are, and acting in that spirit let us give up land and houses, but keep a watch over the city and the sea. We should not undrr any irritation at the loss of our property give battle to the Peloponnesians, who far outnumber us. If we conquer,
• Cp. i. 121 init. '• C'p. iii. 16 init.
H 2
100
SPEECH OF PERICLES [l
B.C. 432. we shall have to fight over again with as many more ; and 01 ®7' if we fail, besides the defeat, our confederacy, which is our strength, will be lost to us ; for our allies will rise in revolt when we are no longer capable of making war upon them. Mourn not for houses and lands, but for men ; men may gain these, but these will not gain men. If I thought that you would listen to me, I would say to you, " Go yourselves and destroy them, and thereby prove to the Peloponnesians that none of these things will move
you."
144 'I have many other reasons for believing that you will
Let our answer be : conquer, but you must not be extending
We will grant inde- your empire while you are at war, or
pendcnce to our allies, run jnto unnecessary dangers. I am
L*±tH££ ™- afraid of our own raistakes than of
to choose their own our enemies' designs. But of all this I Jorm of government. w[[\ Speak again when the time of action comes ; for the present, let us send the ambassadors away, giving them this answer : " That we will not exclude the Megarians from our markets and harbours, if the Lacedae- monians will cease to expel foreigners, whether ourselves or our allies, from Sparta ; for the treaty no more forbids the one than the other. That we will concede indepen- dence to the cities, if they were independent when we made the treaty, and as soon as the Lacedaemonians allow their allied states a true independence, not for the interest of Lacedaemon, but everywhere for their own. Also that We do not want war, we are willing to offer arbitration ac- but offer arbitration, cording to the treaty. And that we do
Still peace is hopeless ; , u *.. • «. J A
and we must prepare "Ot Want tO beSm E Wai>' but ^^ tO
for war in a spirit defend ourselves if attacked." This worthy of our fathers. answer will be just, and befits the dignity of the city. We must be aware however that war will come ; and the more willing we are to accept the situation, the less ready will our enemies be to lay hands upon us. Remember that where dangers are greatest, there the greatest honours are to be won by men and states. Our.
[44-1 .v/-;.//v' A/'/wn.iff/ or THI-: ir.ut 101
fathers, when they withstood the Persian, had no such B.C. 432.
power as we have; what little they had they forsook : °
not by good fortune but by wisdom, and not by power but
by courage, they drove the Barbarian away and raised us
to our present height of greatness. We must be worthy
of them, and resist our enemies to the utmost, that
may hand down our empire unimpaired to posterity.'
Such were the words of Pericles. The Athenians, '45 approving, voted as he told them, and The Athenian* a<io/>t <>n his motion answered the Lacedae- Pericles' ati; monians in detail as he had suggested, and on the whole question to the effect ' that they would do nothing upon compulsion, but were ready to settle their differences by arbitration upon fair terms according to the treaty/ So the ambassadors went home and came no more.
These were the causes of offence alleged on either side i before the war began. The quarrel Hrar „,„„„,, arose immediately out of the affair of formally />i-o..iaim. Epidamnus and Corcyra. But, al- »»»"'"•"'• though the contest was imminent, the contending parties still kept up intercourse and visited each other, without a herald, but not with entire confidence. For the situation was really an abrogation of the treaty, and might at any time lead to war.
BOOK II
1 AND now the war between the Athenians and Pelo oi if?3i' ponnesians and the allies of both
Ul. 87, 2- Outbreak of the war. r
actually began. Henceforward the struggle was uninterrupted, and they communicated with one another only by heralds. The narrative is arranged according to summers and winters and follows the order of events.
2 For fourteen years the thirty years' peace which was The Thebam enter concluded after the recovery of Euboea
Plataea by night. remained unbroken. But in the
fifteenth year, when Chrysis the high-priestess of Argos was in the forty-eighth year of her priesthood, Aenesias being Ephor at Sparta, and at Athens Pythodorus having two months of his archonship to run a, in the sixth month after the engagement at Potidaea and at the beginning of spring, about the first watch of the night an armed force of somewhat more than three hundred Thebans entered Plataea, a city of Boeotia, which was an ally of Athens, under the command of two Boeotarchs, Pythangelus the son of Phyleides, and Diemporus the son of Onetorides. They were invited by Naucleides, a Plataean, and his partisans, who opened the gates to them. These men wanted to kill certain citizens of the opposite faction and to make over the city to the Thebans, in the hope of getting the power into their own hands. The intrigue had been conducted by Eurymachus the son of Leontiades,
11 For the difficulties attending the chronology see note on the passage.
mi: /V/AV;./.V.S si RTRISL PLATAEA
one of the chief citizens of Thebes. There was an «>U1 r quarrel between the two cities, and the Thcbans, seeing O1- 8?J 2< tliat war was inevitable, were anxious to surprise the place while the peace lasted and before hostilities had actually broken out. No watch had been set ; and so they were enabled to enter the city unperceived. They grounded their arms in the Agora, but instead of goiiu work at once and making their way into the houses of their enemies, as those who invited them suggested, they resolved to issue a conciliatory proclamation and try to make friends with the citizens. The herald announced that if any one wished to become their ally and return to the ancient constitution of Boeotia, he should join their ranks. In this way they thought that the inhabitants would easily be induced to come over to them.
The Plataeans, when they found that the city had been 3 surprised and taken and that the ^ ^ rhebanfl were, within their walls, \\viv nflcd /,v the sudden panic-stricken. In the darkness they attnck. <«///<. t« /, were unable to see them and greatly Bltt .«*?
J covcnng the u'cakncssof
over-estimated their numbers. So they the cnemv. ti,ev Cither came to terms, and accepting the pro- and fall upon the T/u- posals which were made to them, remained quiet, the more readily since the Thebans oft~< : violence to no one. But in the course of the negotiations they somehow discovered that their enemies were not so numerous as they had supposed, and concluded that the)' could easily attack and master them. They determined to make the attempt, for the commons at Plataea were strongly attached to the Athenian alliance. They began to collect inside the houses, breaking through the party-walls that they might not be seen going along the streets ; they likewise raised barricades of waggons ^without the be. which drew them), and took other measures suitable to the emergency. When they had done all which could be done under the circumstances, thev sallied forth from their houses, choosing the time of night just before daybreak,
io4
DEFEAT OF THE THEBANS [ll
B.C. 431. lest, if they put off the attack until dawn, the enemy might
OI' 8?> 2* be more confident and more a match for them. While
darkness lasted they would be timid, and at a disadvantage,
not knowing the streets so well as themselves. So they
fell upon them at once hand to hand.
4 When the Thebans found that they had been deceived
The Thebans, after they closed their ranks and resisted
some resistance, turn their assailants on every side. Two
«"*/***'* ign°- or three times they drove them back.
rant oj the way, many J
are slain in the streets; But when at last the Plataeans charged a few escape ; the re- them, and the women and slaves on the housetops screamed and yelled and pelted them with stones and tiles, the confusion, which was aggravated by the rain which had been falling heavily during the night, became too much for them, and they turned and fled in terror through the city. Hardly any of them knew the way out, and the streets were dark as well as muddy, for the affair happened at the end of the month when there was no moon ; whereas their pursuers knew well enough how to prevent their escape ; and thus many of them perished. The gates by which they entered were the only ones open, and these a Plataean fastened with the spike of a javelin, which he thrust into the bar instead of the pin. So this exit too was closed and they were chased up and down the city. Some of them mounted upon the wall and cast themselves down into the open. Most of these were killed. Others got out by a deserted gate, cutting through the bar unperceived with an axe which a woman gave them ; but only a few, for they were soon found out. Others lost themselves in different parts of the city, and were put to death. But the greater number kept together and took refuge in a large building abutting upon the wall, of which the doors on the near side chanced to be open, they thinking them to be the gates of the city, and expecting to find a way through them into the country. The Plataeans, seeing that they were in a trap, began to consider whether they should not set the building on fire,
"'e
4, s] r.in: OF ////•: 77 //•:/;. /.v PRISON! 105
and burn them where they were. At last they and the H.C. 431. other Thebans who were still alive, and were wandering ° about the city, agreed to surrender themselves and their arms unconditionally. Thus fared the Thebans in Plataea.
The main body of the Theban army, which should have 5 come during the night to the support
. , Reinforcements c>»n<-
of the party entering the city in case of /„„„ Thebes. Tin- a reverse, having on their march heard Plataeans. .>/<>/>,,////- of the disaster, were now hastening to ''"" "'.< T'lc''ans "ltn"i
to seize thnr cit
the rescue. Plataea is about eight outside the ««//*, ,,„,{ miles distant from Thebes, and the « herald, promising heavy rain which had fallen in the ^» oath (according
. , , to the Theban account
night delayed their arrival ; for the river to restore the pnSO)ll) i
AsOpllS had Swollen, and Was not »///'* Thebans retired.
easily fordable. Marching in the rain, and with difficulty crossing the river, they came up too late, some of their friends being already slain and others captives. When the Thebans became aware of the state of affairs, they resolved to lay hands on what was outside the walls; for there were men and property left in the fields, as would naturally happen when a sudden blow was struck in time of peace. They meant to keep any one whom they caught as a hostage and exchange him for one of their own men, if any of them still alive. But before they had executed their plan, the Plataeans, suspecting their intentions, and fearing for their friends outside, sent a herald to the Thebans pro- testing against the crime of which they had been guilty in trying to seize their city during peace, and warning them not to touch anything which was outside the walls. If they persisted they threatened in return to kill the prisoners ; but if they retired, they would give them up. This is the Theban account, and they add that the Plataeans took an oath. The Plataeans do not admit that they ever promised to restore the captives at once, but only if they could agree after negotiations ; and they deny that they took an oath. However this may have been, the
106 PREPARATIONS FOR THE WAR [n
B.C. 43i. Thebans withdrew, leaving the Plataean territory unhurt;
01> 8?> 2> but the Plataeans had no sooner got in their property from the country than they put the prisoners to death. Those who were taken were a hundred and eighty in number, and Eurymachus, with whom the betrayers of the city had negotiated, was one of them.
6 When they had killed their prisoners, they sent a
messenger to Athens and gave back
The Athenians, know- , ,_, , ,,
ing only of the attempt the dead to the Thebans under a flag on the city, bid the of truce ; they then took the necessary Plataeans sP™J^r measures for the security of the city. PthT"ruth, they^gwri- The news had already reached Athens, son Piataea and re- and the Athenians had instantly seized move the women and any Boeotians who were in Attica, and sent a herald to Piataea bidding them do no violence to the Theban prisoners, but wait for instructions from Athens. The news of their death had not arrived. For the first messenger had gone out when the Thebans entered, and the second when they were just defeated and captured ; but of what followed the Athenians knew nothing ; they sent the message in ignorance, and the herald, when he arrived, found the prisoners dead. The Athenians next despatched an army to Piataea, and brought in supplies. Then leaving a small force in the place they conveyed away the least serviceable of the citizens, together with the women and children.
7 The affair of Piataea was a glaring violation of the thirty Both sides now pre- years' truce, and the Athenians now
pare for the struggle. macje preparations for war. The Lace- daemonians and their allies made similar preparations. Both they and the Athenians meditated sending embassies to the Kinga, and to the other Barbarian potentates b from whom either party might hope to obtain aid ; they likewise sought the alliance of independent cities outside their own dominion. The Lacedaemonians ordered their friends in
0 Cp, ii. 67 init. ; iv. 50. b Cp. ii. 29, 67.
6-9] (,I:.\I-:R.\L MM//-. ////>• HV/V/ I..UED.I L.MO.\ 107
Italy and Sicily to build others in number proportioned fcoB the size of their cities, in addition to the ships which they Ol* 8?' ~ had on the spot ; for they intended to raise the Pelopon- nesian navy to a total of five hundred. The cities were also required to furnish a fixed sum of money ; they \N not to receive more than one ship of the Athenians at a time, but were to take no further measures until these preparations had been completed. The Athenians reviewed their confederacy, and sent ambassadors to the pla immediately adjacent to Peloponnesus— Corcyra, Ce- phallenia, Acarnania, and Zacynthus. They perceived that if they could only rely upon the friendship of these states a, they might completely encircle Peloponnesus with war.
On neither side were there any mean thoughts ; they 8 were both full of enthusiasm : and no Excitement and cn- wonder, for all men are energetic when "'"*™«« "< "'"««• they are making a beginning. At that time the youth of Peloponnesus and the youth of Athens were numerous ; they had never seen war, and were therefore very willing to take up arms. All Hellas was excited by the coming conflict between her two chief cities. Many were the prophecies circulated and many the oracles chanted by diviners, not only in the cities about to engage in the struggle, but throughout I It lias. Quite recently the island of Delos had been shaken by an earthquake for the first time within the memory of the Hellenes; this was inter- preted and generally believed to be a sign of coming events. And everything of the sort which occurred was curiously noted.
The feeling of mankind was strongly on the side of 9 the Lacedaemonians ; for they professed / w™ ,>•«,/ hatnd and to be the liberators of Hellas. Cities fear of the Athenians. and individuals were eager to assist them to the utmost, both by word and deed ; and where a man could not hope
• Taking /3c/3a<a>t with t» a<f>i<rt </x'Am ravrn tfrj.
Io8 LIST OF ALLIES ON EITHER SIDE [ll
B.C. 431. to be present, there it seemed to him that all things were ' 7' a' at a stand. For the general indignation against the Athenians was intense ; some were longing to be delivered from them, others fearful of falling under their sway. Such was the temper which animated the Hellenes, and List of the allies on such were the preparations made by either side. tne two powers for the war. Their
respective allies were as follows : — The Lacedaemonian confederacy included all the Peloponnesians with the exception of the Argives and the Achaeans — they were both neutral ; only the Achaeans of Pellene took part with the Lacedaemonians at first ; afterwards all the Achaeans joined thema. Beyond the borders of the Peloponnese, the Megarians, Phocians, Locrians, Boeotians, Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Anactorians were their allies. Of these the Corinthians, Megarians, Sicyonians, Pellenians, Eleans, Ambraciots, and Leucadians provided a navy, the Boeotians, Phocians, and Locrians furnished cavalry, the other states only infantry. The allies of the Athenians were Chios, Lesbos, Plataea, the Messeniansof Naupactus, the greater part of Acarnania, Corcyra, Zacynthus, and cities in many other countries which were their tributaries. There was the maritime region of Caria, the adjacent Dorian peoples, Ionia, the Hellespont, the Thracian coast, the islands that lie to the east within the line of Pelopon- nesus and Crete, including all the Cyclades with the exception of Melos and Thera. Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra furnished a navy ; the rest, land forces and money. Thus much concerning the two confederacies, and the character of their respective forces.
jo Immediately after the affair at Plataea the Lacedae- The Lacedaemonians monians sent round word to their summon their allies to Peloponnesian and other allies, bidding
meet at tlie Isthmus. . i • j • j
them equip troops and provide all things necessary for a foreign expedition, with the object
* Cp. v. 82 init.
io, 1 1] SPEECH Or ARCH I DA MI'S 109
of invading Attica. The various states made their pre- B.C. 431. parations as fast as they could, and at the appointed time, OI- 6l> a- with contingents numbering two-thirds of the forces of each, met at the Isthmus. When the whole army wa> assembled, Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, and the leader of the expedition, called together the generals of the different states and their chief officers and most distinguished men, and Sf*rch of Anhida- spoke as follows : — "'"•-'•
'Men of Peloponnesus, and you, allies, many are the n expeditions which our fathers made //y /«i.-r had gnat both within and without the Pelo- experience in mar, and
ponnese, and the veterans among our- °"r «""* ™s "c:'n
1 Jino: ±fnt ice must
selves are experienced in war; and beware of ha*tct awl yet we never went forth with a greater not hold our enemy too army than this. But then we should chcaf>' remember that, whatever may be our numbers or our valour, we are going against a most powerful city. And we are bound to show ourselves worthy of our fathers, and not wanting to our own reputation. For all Hellas is stirred by our enterprise, and her eyes are fixed upon us : she is friendly and would have us succeed because she hates the Athenians. Now although some among you, surveying this great host, may think that there is very little risk of the enemy meeting us in the fit/Id, we ought not on that account to advance heedlessly ; but tin- general and the soldier of every state should be always expecting that his own division of the army will be the one first in danger. War is carried on in the dark ; attacks are generally sudden and furious, and often the smaller army, animated by a proper fear, has been more than a match for a larger force which, disdaining their opponent, were taken unprepared by him. When invading an enemy's country, men should always be confident in spirit, but they should fear too, and take measures of pre- caution ; and thus they will be at once most valorous in attack and impregnable in defence.
HO SPEECH OF ARCHIDAMUS [ll
B.C. 431. 'And the city which we are attacking is not so utterly
1 87' 2' For they are tho- powerless against an invader, but is in
roughly prepared, and fae ^est possible state of preparation,
the least likely of all , r JT.
men to sit idly by while and for this reason our enemies may ive waste their lands. be quite expected to meet us in the field. Even if they have no such intention beforehand, yet as soon as they see us in Attica, wasting and de- stroying their property, they will certainly change their mind. For all men are angry when they not only suffer but see, and some strange form of calamity strikes full upon the eye ; the less they reflect the more ready they are to fight ; above all men the Athenians, who claim imperial power, and are more disposed to invade and waste their neighbour's land than to look on while their own is being wasted. Remembering how great this city is which you are attacking, and what a fame you will bring on your ancestors and yourselves for good or evil according to the result, follow whithersoever you are led ; maintain discipline and caution above all things, and be on the alert to obey the word of command. It is both the noblest and the safest thing for a great army to be visibly animated by one spirit/
12 Having thus spoken, Archidamus dismissed the assembly.
Archidamus sends His first step was to send Melesippus,
Melesippus to Athens, the son of Diacritus, a Spartan,
but he is refused ad- . . . , , . .
mission to the city, and to Athens in the hope that the immediately sent across Athenians might after all give way, the frontier, when they saw their enemies actually
on the march. But they would not admit him to the assembly, nor even into the city. For Pericles had already carried a motion to the effect that they would have nothing to do with herald or embassy while the Lacedaemonians were in the field. So Melesippus was sent away without a hearing and told that he must cross the frontier before sunset ; if the Lacedaemonians wanted to hold any parley with the Athenians, they must go home first. He was attended by an escort in order to prevent his communi-
ia, T3] THE LAST ENJ'OY FROM S1\\RT.-1 II I
eating with any one. When he arrived at the Athenian B.C. 431. frontier, and was about to leave them, he uttered these O1- 8?' a' words: ' This day will be to the Hellenes the beginning of great sorrows.' On the return of the herald to the camp Archidanuis learned that the Athenians were not as yet at all in the mood to yield ; so at last he moved forward his army and prepared to enter Attica. The Boeotians who had sent their contingent of two-thirds, in- cluding their cavalry, to the Peloponnesian army, marched to Plataea with the remainder of their forces and wasted the country.
While the Pcloponnesians were gathering at the Isthmus, 13 and were still on their wav, but before Pen- ••ting
they entered Attica, Pericles the son of tlmt *>r'»f<»»"<
__ , r sfritr AM HUUU, cither
Xanthippus, who was one of the ten /n)JII /„•,.,„/,/„/. „,. /„ Athenian generals, knowing that the prejudice ////// nV/A tin- invasion was inevitable, and suspecting M™«»*> /'"'""
S[ii'f them to the public
that Archidamus in wasting the country \fthey nre „„„,/„,, might very likely spare his lands, either //<«• runny. out of courtesy and because he happened to be his friend, or by the order of the Lacedaemonian authorities (who hail already attempted to raise a prejudice against hima when they demanded the expulsion of the polluted family, and might take this further means of injuring him in the eyes of the Athenians), openly declared in the assembly that Archidamus was his friend, but was not so to the injury of the state, and that supposing the enemy did not dest: his lands and buildings like the rest, he would make a present of them to the public ; and he desired that the Athenians would have no suspicion of him on that account. As to the general situation, he repeated his previous advice ; they must prepare for war and bring their property from the country into the city ; they must defend their walls but not go out to battle ; they should also equip for service the fleet in which lay their strength. Their allies
< p. i. 126 init. and 127.
112 THE RESOURCES OF ATHENS [ll
B.C. 431. should be kept well in hand, for their power depended on
7> 2* the revenues which they derived from them ; military
successes were generally gained by a wise policy and
He reminds the Athe- command of money. The state of their
mans of their enormous finances was encouraging; they had
wealth and military and Qn an average six hundred talents a of naval resources, telling . .
them that victory is tribute coming in annually from their certain if they act with allies, to say nothing of their other prudence. revenue ; and there were still remaining
in the Acropolis six thousand talents of coined silver. (The whole amount had once been as much as nine thousand seven hundred talents b, but from this had to be deducted a sum of three thousand seven hundred expended on various buildings, such as the Propylaea of the Acropolis, and also on the siege of Potidaea.) Moreover there was uncoined gold and silver in the form of private and public offerings, sacred vessels used in processions and games, the Persian spoil and other things of the like nature, worth at least five hundred talents c more. There were also at their disposal, besides what they had in the Acropolis, considerable treasures in various temples. If they were reduced to the last extremity they could even take off the plates of gold with which the image of the goddess was overlaid ; these, as he pointed out, weighed forty talents, and were of refined gold, which was all removeable. They might use this treasure in self-defence, but they were bound to replace all that they had taken. By this estimate of their wealth he strove to encourage them. He added that they had thirteen thousand hoplites, besides the sixteen thousand who occupied the fortresses or who manned the walls of the city. For this was the number engaged on garrison duty at the beginning of the ward, whenever the enemy invaded Attica ; they were made up of the elder and younger men, and of such metics as bore
About £120,000. b About £1,940,000. ° About £100,000.
d Cp. what is said of the citizens on garrison duty, vii. 28 init.
M, 15] /v//-; .//•///. .Y/./.y^ RK.MOI-I-: INTO TUL air 113
lu avy arms. The Phaleric wall extended four miles from Phalerum to the city walls : the portion of the city wall which was guarded was somewhat less than five mi! that between the Long Wall and the Phaleric requiring no guard. The Long Walls running down to the Piraeus rather more than four and a half miles in length ; the outer only was guarded. The whole circuit of the Piraeus and of Munychia was nut quite seven miles, of which half required a guard. The Athenian cavalry, so Peri pointed out, numbered twelve hundred, including mounted archers ; the foot-archers, sixteen hundred ; of triremes fit for service the city had three hundred. — The forces of various kinds which Athens possessed at the commence- ment of the war, when the first Peloponnesian invasion was impending, cannot be estimated at less. — To these Pericles added other arguments, such as he was fond of using, which were intended to prove to the Athenians that victory was certain.
The citizens were persuaded, and brought into the city 14 their children and wives, their house- hold goods, and even the wood-work of Ms advice, gather mtu their houses, which they took down. tllc ilty ' Their flocks and beasts of burden they conveyed to Euboea and the adjacent islands.
The removal of the inhabitants was painful ; lor the Athenians had always been accustomed to reside in the country. Such a life had been characteristic of them, 15 more than of any other Hellenic
, - . . T , hut irlnctantlv, f<» Hi, v
people, from very early times. In the ^^ ,„.,„,„„... clays, of Cecrops and the first kings, nfc. in old tune* th<y down to the reign of Theseus, Attica /''""< '» */"»'''• «"»-
...... i • tnnnts, until '1 •
was divided into communes, having //;;/w (/icm wlo (he their own town halls and magistrates. vnt. city oj Atlun*. Except in case of alarm the whole people did not assemble in council under the king, but administered their own affairs, and advised together in their several townships. Some of them at times even
VOL. I. I
114 THE EARLY DAYS OF ATHENS [ll
went to war with him, as the Eleusinians under Eumolpus with Erectheus. But when Theseus came to the throne, he, being a powerful as well as a wise ruler, among other improvements in the administration of the country, dissolved the councils and separate governments, and united all the inhabitants of Attica in the present city, establishing one council and town hall. They continued to live on their own lands, but he compelled them to resort to Athens as their metropolis, and henceforward theya were all inscribed in the roll of her citizens3. A great city thus arose which was handed down by Theseus to his descendants, and from his day to this the Athenians have regularly celebrated the national festival of the Synoecia, or ' union of the communes ' in honour of the Goddess Athene.
Before his time, what is now the Acropolis and the Small extent of the ground lying under it to the south was ancient city. the city. Many reasons may be urged
in proof of this statement : — The temples of Athene and of other divinities are situated in the Acropolis itself, and those which are not lie chiefly thereabouts ; the temples of Olympian Zeus, for example, and of the Pythian Apollo, and the temple of Earth and of Dionysus in the Marshes, in honour of whom the more ancient Dionysia are cele- brated on the twelfth day of the month Anthesterion ]), a festival which also continues to be observed by the Ionian descendants of the Athenians. In the same quarter are other ancient temples, and not far off is the fountain now called Enneacrounos, or the Nine Conduits, from the form given to it by the tyrants, but originally, before the springs were covered in, Callirrhoe, or the Fair Stream. The water of this fountain was used by the ancient Athenians on great occasions, it being near the original city; and at marriage rites and other ceremonies the custom is still retained. To this day the Acropolis or
* Or, ' all paid taxes to Athens.' ll February-March.
r6, 17] CROU'DIXC, Or THE CITY 115
Citadel is called by the Athenians Polis, or City, b<_cuu><- that neighbourhood was first inhabited.
Thus for a long time the ancient Athenians enjoyed 16 a country life in self-governing communities ; and although they were now united in a single city, they and their d« - scendants, down to the time of this war, from old habit generally resided with their households in the country where they had been born. For this reason, and n\^» because they had recently restored their country-houses and estates after the Persian War, they had a disinclina- tion to move. They were depressed at the thought of forsaking their homes and the temples which had come down to them from their fathers and were the abiding memorials of their early constitution. They were going to change their manner of life, and in leaving their villages were in fact each of them going into exile.
When they came to Athens, only a few of them had 17 houses or could find homes among
C ' J I • 1 1 TM J/" " '"'l''
friends or kindred. The majority took f,,s ,l(> ,Htlllcs llf ,/,,.,-,. up their abode in the vacant spaces of oavi, occupy the t< >;///, .•, the city, and in the temples and shrines ^ •"" of heroes, with the exception of those on the Acropolis, the Eleusinium, and any other precinct which could be securely closed. The Pelasgian ground, as it was called, which lay at the foot of the citadel, was under a curse forbidding its occupation. There was also a half- line of a Pythian oracle to the same effect: —
• IVtier the I'clasgian ground left waste.'
Yet even this was filled under the sudden pressure of necessity. And to my mind the oracle came true in a sense exactly contrary to the popular expectation ; for the unlaw- ful occupation to which men were driven was not the cause of the calamities which befell the city, but the war was the cause of the occupation ; and the oracle without mentioning the war foresaw that the place would be inhabited some day for no good. Many also established themselves in
i 2
Il6 INVASION OF ATTICA [ll
the turrets of the walls, or in any other place which they could find ; for the city could not contain them when they first came in. But afterwards they divided among them the Long Walls and the greater part of the Piraeus. At the same time the Athenians applied themselves vigorously to the war, summoning their allies, and preparing an expedition of a hundred ships against the Peloponnese.
18 While they were thus engaged, the Peloponnesian army
was advancing: : it arrived first of all at
The Peloponnestans
advance to Ocnoc, which Oenoe, a fortress on the confines of they attempt in vain to Attica and Boeotia, which was garrisoned capture. ^y ^G Athenians whenever war broke
out, and was the point at which the Peloponnesians in- tended to enter the enemy's country. There they encamped and prepared to assault the walls by means of engines and siege works. But these and other measures took up time and detained them in the neighbourhood. Archidamus was severely blamed for the delay ; he was also thought not to have been energetic enough in levying war, and to have done the Athenians good service by discouraging vigorous action. After the muster of the forces he had been accused of delay at the isthmus, and of loitering on the march. But his reputation was most affected by his halt at Oenoe. For the Athenians employed the interval in getting away their property; and the Peloponnesians fancied that, if they had advanced quickly and he had not lingered, they could have seized everything before it was conveyed within the walls. Such were the feelings enter- tained towards Archidamus by his troops during the halt. He is said to have held back in the belief that the Athenians, while their lands were still unravaged a, would yield, and that the thought of allowing them to be devastated would be too much for them.
19 But when they had assaulted Oenoe, and after leaving no means untried were unable to take it, and no herald
* Cp. i. 82 med.
18-20] THE PELOFOXNESIANS AT ACHARNAE ir;
came from the Athenians, at last they marched on, and about the eightieth day after the entry of the Thebans into Plataca, in the middle of the summer", Leaving O,;,o,\ il,fy when the corn was in full ear, invaded enter Attica ami man-it Attica, under the command of Archi- /<>''</»"»<"•• damns the son of Zeuxidamus the Lacedaemonian king. They encamped and ravaged, first of all, Elcusis and the plain of Thria, when: they put to flight some Athenian horse near the streams called Rlu-iti ; they then advanced, keeping Mount Aegaleos on the right hand, through the district of Kropeia until they reached Acharnae, which is the largest of the Athenian townships or demes, as they are called ; and at Acharnae they encamped, and remained there a considerable time ravaging the country.
In this first invasion Archidamus is said to have lingered 20 about Acharnae with his army ready „,/,„., they Hngn\ in ///,- for battle, instead of descending into the- plain >>, in the hope that the Athe- nians, who were now flourishing in youth and numbers and provided for war as they had never been before, would perhaps meet them in the field rather than allow their lands to be ravaged. When therefore they did not appear at Eleusis or in the plain of Thria, he tried once more whether by encamping in the neighbourhood of Acharnae he could induce them to come out. The situation appeared to be convenient, and the Acharnians, being a considerable section of the city and furnishing three thousand hoplites, were likely to be impatient at the destruction ot their property, and would communicate to the whole people a desire to fight. Or if the Athenians did not come out to meet him during this invasion, he could henceforward ravage the plain with more confidence, and march right up to the walls of the city. The Achar- nians, having lost their own possessions, would be ! willing to hazard their lives on behalf of their neighoours,
" i.e. of the Attic summer, including spring, sec note. b i.e. the plain round Athens.
Il8 PERICLES RESTRAINS THE ATHENIANS [ll
and so there would be a division in the Athenian counsels. Such was the motive of Archidamus in remaining at Acharnae.
2i The Athenians, so long as the Lacedaemonians were in
Ragt and excitement the neighbourhood of Eleusis and the
of the Athenians. Un- plain of Thria, entertained a hope that
popularity of Pericles. they WQuld CQme nQ furthen They
remembered how, fourteen years before a, the Lacedae- monian king, Pleistoanax the son of Pausanias, invaded Attica with a Peloponnesian army, and how after advancing as far as Eleusis and Thria he came no further, but re- treated. And indeed this retreat was the cause of his exile ; for he was thought to have been bribed. But when they saw the army in the neighbourhood of Acharnae, and barely seven miles from the city, they felt the presence of the invader to be intolerable. The devastation of their country before their eyes, which the younger men had never seen at all, nor the elder except in the Persian in- vasion, naturally appeared to them a horrible thing, and the whole people, the young men especially, were anxious to go forth and put a stop to it. Knots were formed in the streets, and there were loud disputes, some eager to go out, a minority resisting. Soothsayers were repeating oracles of the most different kinds, which all found in some one or other enthusiastic listeners. The Acharnians, who in their own estimation were no small part of the Athenian state, seeing their land ravaged, strongly in- sisted that they should go out and fight. The excitement in the city was universal ; the people were furious with Pericles, and, forgetting all his previous warnings, they abused him for not leading them to battle, as their general should, and laid all their miseries to his charge. 22 But he, seeing that they were overcome by the irritation of the moment and inclined to evil counsels, and con- fident that he was right in refusing to go out, would not
Cp. i. 114 fin.
21-23] ATHEM.L\ ri.EET SENT or I 119
summon an assoml)ly or meeting of any kind, lest, coming together more in anger than in pru- //,-,-,/,,< ,-, , to comply dence, they might take some false step. ««"' /; !!•• maintained a strict watch over the city, and sought to calm the irritation as far as h«- could. Me;imvhil< out horsemen from time to time to prevent flying parties finding their way into the fields near the city and doing mischief. A skirmish took place at Phrygia between one of the divisions of the Athenian horse SkinniJintPin assisted by their Thessalian allies on in which tin . the one hand, and the Boeotian cavalry me u"" on the other, in which the Athenians and Thessalians were at least a match for their opponents, until, the Boeotian infantry coming up to support the horse, they were com- pelled to fly. The Athenians and Thessalians lost a few men, but ' ! their bodies on the same day without
asking for a truce. On the morrow the Peloponnesians raised a trophy. The forces which the Thessalians brought to the aid of the Athenians, according to the terms of their old alliance n, consisted of Larissaeans, Pharsalians, Cranonians, Pyrasians, Gyrtonians, and Pheraeans. The leaders of the Larissaeans were Polymedes and Aristonous, one from each of the two leading factions of their city ; the Pharsalians were commanded by Meiio. The forces of the other cities had likewise generals of their own.
When the Peloponnesians found that the Athenians did 23
not come out to meet them, they moved , . The Atktmatu
their army from Acharnae, and ravaged Mu hnn(il.f(i -s/ll/
some of the townships which lie be- cmise mund l\-l»pt»i- tween Mount Parnes and Mount '
.,, .. tin M i -it • tire from Atttca.
Hnlessus. While they were still in the country, the Athenians sent the fleet of a hundred ships which they had been equipping on an expedition round the Peloponnese. These ships carried on board a thousand lioplites and four hundred archers; they were under the
• ('p. i. 102 fin., 107 fin.; iv. 78 mcd.
120 BRA SID AS SAVES METHONE [ll
command of Carcinus the son of Xenotimus, Proteas the son of Epicles, and Socrates the son of Antigenes. After the departure of the fleet the Peloponnesians remained in Attica as long as their provisions lasted, and then, taking a new route, retired through Boeotia. In passing by Oropus they wasted the country called Peiraike a, inhabited by the Oropians, who are subjects of the Athenians. On their return to Peloponnesus the troops dispersed to their several cities.
24 When they had retreated, the Athenians posted guards
to keep watch both by land and sea,
The Athenians set . , . , , .
aside a thousand talents a precaution which they maintained
and a hundred triremes throughout the War. They then in case of an attack by passed a decree reserving of the
treasure in the Acropolis a thousand talents1': this sum was set apart and was not to be expended unless the enemy attacked the city with a fleet and they had to defend it. In any other case, he who brought forward or put to the vote a proposal to touch the money was to be punished with death. They also resolved to set apart yearly a hundred triremes, the finest of the year, and to appoint trierarchs for them ; these they were only to use at the same time with the money, and in the same emergency.
25 The Athenian forces, which had lately been dispatched Proceedings of the to Peloponnesus in the hundred vessels,
Athenian fleet. and were assisted by the Corcyraeans
with fifty ships and by some of the allies from the same region, did considerable damage on the Peloponnesian coast. They also disembarked and attacked Methone, a fortress in Laconia, which was weak and had no regular garrison. Now Brasidas the son of Tellis, a Spartan, happened to be in those parts in command of a force, and, seeing the danger, he came to the aid of the inhabitants
* Reading with the MSS. TT)V yrjv TJJV Hfipn't'KriJ\ Cp. iii. 91 med., ts
? TTtpav 777?, i. e. the coast opposite Euboea. About £200.000.
24-27] A'AVVV.SVr^.Y OF THE .1 !•.(. I.\l. ! 121
with a hundred hoplites. lie dashed through the scattered parties of Athenian troops, whose attention was occupied with the fortress, and threw himself into Methone, suffering a slight loss; he thus saved the place. The exploit was publicly acknowledged at Sparta, Brasidas being the first Spartan who obtained this distinction in the war. The Athenians, proceeding on their voyage, ravaged the territory of Pheia in El is for two days, and defeated three hundred chosen men from the vale of Elis, as well as some Elean perioeci from the neighbourhood of Pheia wh<> came to the rescue. But a violent storm arose, and there was no harbour in which the fleet could find shelter; so the greater part of the army re-embarked and sailed round the promontory called Ichthys towards the harbour of Pheia. Meanwhile the Messenians and others who were unable to get on board marched by land and captured Pheia. The fleet soon sailed into the harbour and took them up ; they then evacuated Pheia and put to sea. By this time the main army of the Eleanshad arrived ; where- upon the Athenians proceeded on their way to other places, which they ravaged.
About the same time the Athenians sent thirty ships to 26 cruise off Locris, having an eye also to Thirty *////•* a,f sent the safety of Euboea. Cleopompus the '«> /-"• son of Cleinias was their commander. He made descents mi the Locrian coast and ravaged various places. He also captured Thronium, taking hostages of the inhabitants, and at Alope defeated the Locrians who came to defend the place.
In the same summer the Athenians expelled the 27 Aeginetans and their families from The Athenians r.v/w Aegina, alleging that they had been the ihe JrgiHftnns from main cause of the war. The island lies '
close to Peloponnesus, and they thought ////• it safer to send thither settlers of their own, an intention which they shortly afterwards carried out. The Lacedaemonians gave the Aeginetan exiles the
122 EXPULSION OF THE AEGINETANS [ll
town of Thyrea to occupy and the adjoining country to cultivate, partly in order to annoy the Athenians, partly out of gratitude to the Aeginetans, who had done them good service at the time of the earthquake and the revolt of the Helots. The Thyrean territory is a strip of land coming down to the sea on the borders of Argolis and Laconia. There some of them found a home; others dispersed over Hellas.
28 During the same summer, at the beginning of the lunar
month (apparently the only time when Eclipse of the sun. J. JJ
such an event is possible), and in the afternoon, there was an eclipse of the sun, which took the form of a crescent, and then became full again ; during the eclipse a few stars were visible.
29 In the same summer, Nymphodorus the son of Pythes,
a native of Abdera and a man of great
The A thenians make . „ • i r- • i 111 • i
th*ir influence with Sitalces who had married
proxenus, hoping that his sister, was made by the Athenians he will gain over Si/a/- tneir proxenus at that place and invited
ces, king of Thrace. . , T T , , ~ ,
by them to Athens. He had formerly been considered their enemy, but now they hoped that he would gain over to their alliance Sitalces, who was the son of Teres and king of Thrace.
This Teres, the father of Sitalces, was the first founder
Sitalces was the son of the great Odrysian empire, which he
of Teres, the founder of extended over a large part of Thrace,
'£ .™°"T ""**'"' although many of the Thracian tribes
This Teres has no con- J
nexion with the Tereus are still independent. He has no of mythology. connexion with Tereus who took to
wife from Athens Procne, the daughter of Pandion ; they do not even belong to the same Thrace. For Tereus dwelt in Daulia, a part of the region which is now called Phocis but in those days was inhabited by Thracians, and in that country Itys suffered at the hands of the women Procne and Philomela. Many of the poets when they make mention of the nightingale (Philomela) apply to the bird the epithet Daulian. Further, Pandion would surely
28-3o ] ALLIANCE U'lTII SITALCES AND PERDICCAS 123
have formed a marriage connexion for his daughter among his neighbours with a view to mutual protection, and not at a distance of so many days' journey, among the Odrysian Thracians. And the Teres of whom I am speaking, and who was the first powerful king of the Odrysae, has not < \vn the same namea.
Now Sitalces, whom the Athenians made their ally, was the son of this Teres : they wanted
. SlftMPM becomes an
him to assist them in the conquest olly 0fAihetl^ atlj /„;,
of Chalcidice and of Perdiccas. So son is made an Athe-
\\-niphodorus came to Athens, nego- »«<"'«"'-'•»•• £"*»•
... ... • i /-. . * • M 1*90 reconciled.
bated the alliance with Sitalces, and got his son Sadocus enrolled an Athenian citizen. He also undertook to terminate the war in Chalcidice, promising that he would persuade Sitalces to send the Athenians an army of Thracian horsemen and targeteers. He further reconciled Perdiccas with the Athenians, and persuaded them to restore Therme to him \ Whereupon Perdiccas joined the Athenian army under Phormio c, and with him fought against the Chalcidians. Thus Sitalces the son of Teres king of Thrace, and Perdiccas son of Alexander king of Macedonia, entered into the Athenian alliance.
The Athenians, in the hundred ships which wore still 30 cruising about Peloponnesus, took Thf Athfniatts raft. Sollium, a town belonging to the /,<>,- s<>iiin,n and Asta- Corinthians, which they handed over c"s- ""<* --"'" "• •• to the Palaereans of Acarnania, giving *M to them alone of the Acarnanians the right of occupying the city and country. They also stormed the town of Astacus, and driving out Evarchus who was tyrant there, added it to the Athenian confederacy. They next sailed to the island of Cephallenia, which they gained over with- out fighting. The island lies over against Acarnania and Leucas, and contains four cities inhabited by the Paleans,
* i.e. is called Terr*. n<>t Tercus. '' (p. i. 61 init. c (p. i. 64 med.
124 DEVASTATION OF MEGARA [n
Cranians, Samaeans, and Pronnaeans. Soon afterwards the fleet proceeded on its voyage homewards.
31 About the end of the summer the entire Athenian force, The Athenians under including the metics, invaded the
the command of Pericles territory of Megara, under the com- march into the Megarid mand of Pericles the son of Xanthippus. The Athenian fleet had reached Aegina on its way home, and when the commanders heard that the whole armed force of the city was in Megara, they sailed thither and joined them. This was the largest army which the Athenians ever had in one place ; for the city was still in her full strength, and had not as yet suffered from the plague. The Athenians themselves numbered not less than ten thousand hoplites, exclusive of the remaining three thousand who were engaged at Potidaea. A force of metic hoplites amounting to at least three thousand took part in the invasion, and also a large number of light-armed troops. After ravaging the greater part of the country they retired. They repeated the invasion, sometimes with cavalry, sometimes with the whole Athenian army, every year during the war until Nisaea was taken a.
32 At the end of this summer the island of Atalante, which The Athenians fortify lies off the coast of the Opuntian
the island of Atalante. Locrians and had hitherto been unin- habited, was fortified and made a guard-station by the Athenians. They wanted to prevent pirates sailing from Opus and other places in Locris and plundering Euboea. Such were the events which occurred during the remainder of the summer after the Pelopcnnesians had retired from Attica.
33 The Corinthians re- Duringthe following winter, Evarchus store the tyrant Evar- the Acarnanian, desiring to be restored cin.s to Astacus. On Asta persuaded the Corinthians
their return ihev attack / "
Cephallenia, but are de- to sail with forty ships and fifteen fe(**fd. hundred hoplites and reinstate him, he
ft Cp. iv. 66 init., 69 fin.
31-34] PUBLIC FL'XERAL AT ATHENS 125
himself" hiring some mercenaries. Of this expedition Euphamidas the son of Aristonymus, Timoxenus the son of Timocrates, and Eumachus the son of Chrysis, were the commanders. They sailed to Astacus, and restored Evarchus ; they then tried to gain over certain other towns on the coast of Acarnania ; but, failing in their attempt, they proceeded homewards. Touching at Cephallenia on their voyage, they made a descent on tin- country of the Cranians, but being entrapped by means of a pretended agreement, and then unexpectedly attacked, they lost a part of their forces; at length, not without a severe struggle, they put to sea again and returned home.
During the same winter, in accordance with an old 34 national custom, the funeral of those The Athcnians who first fell in this war was celebrated bmtc the funeral of their by the Athenians at the public charge. «'''-«'*• who had died The cvmm.ny is as follows: Three '"""«""'• i lays before the celebration they erect a tent in which the bones of the dead are laid out, and every one brings to his own dead any offering which he pleases. At the time of the funeral the bones are placed in chests of cypress wood, which are conveyed on hearses ; there is one chest for each tribe. They also carry a single empty litter decked with a pall for all whose bodies are missing, and cannot be recovered after the battle. The procession is accompanied by any one who chooses, whether citizen or stranger, and the female relatives of the deceased are present at the place of interment and make lamentation. The public sepulchre is situated in the most beautiful spot outside the walls ; there they always bury those who fall in war ; only after the battle of Marathon the dead, in recognition of their pre-eminent valour, were interred on the field. When the remains have been laid in the earth, some man of known ability and high reputation, chosen by the city, delivers a suitable oration over them ; after which the people depart. Such is the manner of interment ; and
126 FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES [il
the ceremony was repeated from time to time throughout the war. Over those who were the first buried Pericles was chosen to speak. At the fitting moment he advanced from the sepulchre to a lofty stage, which had been erected in order that he might be heard as far as possible by the multitude, and spoke as follows : —
(FUNERAL SPEECH.)
35 ' Most of those who have spoken here before me
The lazv which enjoins have commended the lawgiver who
this oration has been added this oration to our other funeral
often praised. But I custOms ; it seemed to them a worthy
should prefer to praise . . . 1 , , , . , ,
the brave by deeds only, thing that SUch an honOur shollld be
not to imperil their repu- given at their burial to the dead who tation on the skill of have fallen on the field of battle. But
an orator. Still, our T , . , , - , .
ancestors approved the l should have preferred that, when men s practice, and I must deeds have been brave, they should obgy- be honoured in deed only, and with
such an honour as this public funeral, which you are now witnessing. Then the reputation of many would not have been imperilled on the eloquence or want of eloquence of one, and their virtues believed or not as he spoke well or ill. For it is difficult to say neither too little nor too much ; and even moderation is apt not to give the impression of truthfulness. The friend of the dead who knows the facts is likely to think that the words of the speaker fall short of his knowledge and of his wishes ; another who is not so well informed, when he hears of anything which surpasses his own powers, will be envious and will suspect exaggera- tion. Mankind are tolerant of the praises of others so long as each hearer thinks that he can do as well or nearly as well himself, but, when the speaker rises above him, jealousy is aroused and he begins to be incredulous. However, since our ancestors have set the seal of their approval upon the practice, I must obey, and to the utmost of my power shall endeavour to satisfy the wishes and beliefs of all who hear me.
35-37] FUNERAL SPEECH OF rr.RICLES 127
' I will speak first of our ancestors, for it is right and 3^ seemly that now, when we are lament- Ilvinfilvttttinnt. ing the dead, a tribute should be paid ,-„/,- ,„„• /-,,,/,, rvw/s, to their memory. There has nev- /""<
been a time when tlu-y did not inhabit a"fl '"*''''?• ;/"'/ '"'.
. •» Jnn- Braising the AM,
this land, which by their valour they / «,,-// describe how have handed down from generation to Athens has won her '^ IK ration, and we have received from -;/" them a free state. But if thry were worthy of praise, still iiK.n: weiv our fathers, who added to their inheritance, and after many a struggle transmitted to us their sons thi.- -I rat empire. And we ourselves assembled here to-day, who are still most of us in the vigour of life, have carried the work of improvement further, and have richly endowed our city with all things, so that she is sufficient for herself both in peace and war. Of the military exploits by which our various possessions were acquired, or of the energy with which we or our fathers drove back the tide of war, Hellenic or Barbarian, I will not speak; for the tale would be long and is familiar to you. But before I praise the dead, I should like to point out by what principles of action we rosea to power, and under what institutions and through what manner of life our empire became great. For I conceive that such thoughts are not unsuited to the occasion, and that this numerous assembly of citizens and strangers may profitably listen to them.
' Our form of government does not enter into rivalry 37 with the institutions of others. We Our g<wmncnt /'< do not copy our neighbours, but are " <fr"«'«.in-. i-»t «r
, , T, . • . honour tin n of until,
an example to them. It is true that <v/;f//;<.;. n(h '„ ££
we are called a democracy, for the o,tr ^blic life is free
administration is in the hands of the f™»
many and not of the few. But while
the law secures equal justice to all 'injunctions of law and
alike in their private disputes, tli
claim of excellence is also recognised ; and when a
* Reading
128 FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES [ll
citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. Neither is poverty a bar, but a man may benefit his country whatever be the obscurity of his condition. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private intercourse we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbour if he does what he likes ; we do not put on sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private intercourse, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts ; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and for the laws, having an especial regard to those which are ordained for the protection of the injured as well as to those unwritten laws which bring upon the transgressor of them the reprobation of the general sentiment.
38 ' And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary
spirits many relaxations from toil : we
We find relaxation M
our amusements, and nave regular games and sacrifices in our homes; and the throughout the year; our homes are Whok world contribute, beautiful and elegant; and the delight
to our enjoyment. ° . ' &
which we daily feel in all these things helps to banish melancholy. Because of the greatness of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us ; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as of our own.
39 ' Then, again, our military training is in many respects In war we singly are superior to that of our adversaries.
amatchforthePeiopon- Qur city is thrown open to the world,
nesians united ; though j /
«* have no secrets and and WG never CXPd a feigner Or
undergo no laborious prevent him from seeing or learning training. anything of which the secret if revealed
to an enemy might profit him. We rely not upon manage- ment or trickery, but upon our own hearts and hands. And in the matter of education, whereas they from early youth are. always undergoing laborious exercises which are to make them brave, we live at ease, and yet are equally
38-40] FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES 129
ready to face athe perils which they face8. And here is the proof. The Lacedaemonians come into Attica not by themselves, but with their whole confederacy following; we go alone into a neighbour's country ; and although our opponents are fighting for their homes and we on a foreign soil, we have seldom any difficulty in overcoming them. Our enemies have never yet felt our united strength ; the care of a navy divides our attention, and on land we . obliged to send our own citizens everywhere. But they, if they meet and defeat a part of our army, are as proud as if they had routed us all, and when defeated they pretend to have been vanquished by us all.
' If then we prefer to meet danger with a light heart but without laborious training, and with u\. arf „„,„,,,.£,„/,.,/ a courage which is gained by habit and byatiture,orvni&".- not enforced by law, are we not greatly by u"'"lth: m ar* *!f
J J interested in pitlhc
the gamers ? Since we do not antici- affafrSt Min,ing (/,<,< pate the pain, although, when the hour nothing is lost Ay />•«>• comes, we can be as brave as those *««'*«"• Oar good.
ness to oth
who never allow themselves to rest; not fn>m ,„,,,, s/, 6',,, and thus too our city is equally ad- //»»« the g». mirable in peace and in war. For we •/"/'mr °ffntdont- 40 are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. Wealth we employ, not for talk and ostentation, but when there is a real use for it. To avow poverty with us is no disgrace ; the true disgrace is in doing nothing to avoid it. An Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes care of his own household ; and even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics. We alone regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as a harmless, but as a useless character; and if few of us are originators, we are all sound judges of a policy. The great impediment to action
* Or, 'perils such as our strength can bear;' or -perils which are enough to daunt us.'
VOL. I. K
130 FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES [ll
is, in our opinion, not discussion, but the want of that knowledge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act and of acting too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection. And they are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, having the clearest sense both of the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that account shrink from danger. In doing good, again, we are unlike others; we make our friends by conferring, not by receiving favours. Now he who confers a favour is the firmer friend, because he would fain by kindness keep alive the memory of an obligation ; but the recipient is colder in his feelings, because he knows that in requiting another's generosity he will not be winning gratitude but only paying a debt. We alone do good to our neighbours not upon a calculation of interest, but in the confidence of freedom and in a frank 41 . and fearless spirit. To sum up : I say
In fine. Athens is the /__ ,, J
school of Hellas. She that Athens is the school of Hellas, alone in the hour of and that the individual Athenian in
trial rises above her re- hig Qwn person seems to have the putatton. Her citizens „ r , . ,.
need no poet to sing power of adapting himself to the most their praises : for every varied forms of action with the utmost versatility and grace. This is no passing and idle word, but truth and fact ; and the assertion is verified by the position to which these qualities have raised the state. For in the hour of trial Athens alone among her contemporaries is superior to the report of her. No enemy who comes against her is indignant at the reverses which he sustains at the hands of such a city ; no subject complains that his masters are unworthy of him.' And we shall assuredly not be without witnesses ; there are mighty monuments of our power which will make us the wonder of this and of succeeding ages ; we shall not need the praises of Homer or of any other panegyrist whose poetry may please for the moment a, * Cp. i. 10 med., and 21.
land bears witness to their valou
4r, 42] rr \ERAL SPEECH OF PERK LI- S 131
although his representation of the facts will not bear the light of day. For we have compelled every land and every sea to open a path for our valour, and have everywhere planted eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died ; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf.
' I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because 42 I want to show you that we are con- The praise of the div tending for a higher prize than those »'•* tlie /"" who enjoy none of these privileges, and ""•p"** '""''' h'r
J / . e great. Good and bad,
to establish by manifest proof the merit „•<-/, rtm/ p^r a/,^
of these men Whom I am nOW COm- preferred death to dis-
memorating. Their loftiest praise has honom- been already spoken. For in magnifying the city I have magnified them, and men like them whose virtues made her glorious. And of how few Hellenes can it be said as of them, that their deeds when weighed in the balance have been found equal to their fame ! Methinks that a death such as theirs has been gives the true measure of a man's worth ; it may be the first revelation of his virtues, but is at any rate their final seal. For even those who come short in other ways may justly plead the valour with which they have fought for their country; they have blotted out the evil with the good, and have benefited the state more by their public services than they have injured her by their private actions. None of these men were enervated by wealth or hesitated to resign the pleasures of lite ; none of them put off the evil day in the hope, natural to poverty, that a man, though poor, may one day become rich. But, deeming that the punishment of their enemies was sweeter than any of these things, and that they could fall in no nobler cause, they determined at the hazard of their lives to be honourably avenged, and to leave the rest. They resigned to hope their unknown chance of happiness ; but in the face of death they resolved to rely upon thein-
K2
132 FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES [ll
selves alone. And when the moment came they were minded to resist and suffer, rather than to fly and save their lives ; they ran away from the word of dishonour, but on the battle-field their feet stood fast, and ain an instant, at the height of their fortune, they passed away from the scene, not of their fear, but of their glory a.
43 ' Such was the end of these men ; they were worthy of Athens, and the living need not desire "> h*ve a more heroic spirit, although know how to value them, they may pray for a less fatal issue. They were united in their The value of such a spirit is not to be
deaths but their glory ex e(j in WQrds> A Qne can
is separate and single. J
Their sepulchre is the discourse to you for ever about the ad- remembrance of them vantages of a brave defence, which you
in the hearts of men fe already. BUt instead of listening
Follow their example J
without fear: it is the to him I would have you day by day prosperous, not the un- fix your eyes upon the greatness of
AthenS> Until y°U beCOme filled Wlth the love of her ; and when you are
impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it, who in the hour of conflict had the fear of dishonour always present to them, and who, if ever they failed in an enterprise, would not allow their virtues to be lost to their country, but freely gave their lives to her as the fairest offering which they could present at her feast. The sacrifice which they collectively made was individually repaid to them ; for they received again each one for himself a praise which grows not old, and the noblest of all sepulchres — I speak not of that in which their remains are laid, but of that in which their glory survives, and is proclaimed always and on every
* Or, taking TVXTJS with icaipov : 'while for a moment they were in the hands of fortune, at the height, not of terror but of glory, they passed away.'
42,44] /Y-.V/:A\//. SPEECH or
fitting occasion both in word and dei d. For tlu earth is the sepulchre of famous men ; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not \v<-ii;h too nicely the perils of war. The unfortunate who has no hope of a change for the better has less reason to throw away his life than the prosperous who, if he survive, is always liable to a change for the worse, and to whom any accidental fall makes the most serious difference. To a man of spirit, cowardice and disaster coming together are far more bitter than death striking him unperceived at a time when he is full of courage and animated by the general hope.
' Wherefore I do not now commiserate the parents of the 44 dead who stand here ; I would rather
1 lie parents oj the
comfort them. You know that your ,/,.,„/ are to Lc
life has been passed amid manifold
vicissitudes; and that they may be *""' "/ /£'" "7
. yet have children who
deemed fortunate who have gained „.,-// ngflten //;rf> sor. most honour, whether an honourable row and sen-c the state ; death like theirs, or an honourable "•'»'< °«'«* '/«»'«";
nifinbcr how In riff their
sorrow like yours, and whose days ./,,„, ,,/•/„,/. have been so ordered that the term been, and be (on of their happiness is likewise the term kvtheghryoftkostwho of their life. I know huvv hard it is to make you feel this, when the good fortune of others will too often remind you of the gladness which once lightened your hearts. And sorrow is felt at the want of those blessings, not which a man never knew, but which were a part of his life before they were taken from him. Some of you are of an age at which they may hope to have other children, and they ought to bear their sorrow better ; not only will the children who may hereafter be born make them forget their own lost ones, but the city
134 FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES [ll
will be doubly a gainer. She will not be left desolate, and she will be safer. For a man's counsel cannot have equal weight or worth, when he alone has no children to risk in the general danger. To those of you who have passed their prime, I say : "Congratulate yourselves that you have been happy during the greater part of your days; re- member that your life of sorrow will not last long, and be comforted by the glory of those who are gone. For the love of honour alone is ever young, and not riches, as some say, but honour is the delight of men when they are old and useless."
45 ' To you who are the sons and brothers of the departed,
I see that the struggle to emulate them
Sons and brothers
will find their example will be an arduous one. For all men hard to imitate, for men praise the dead, and, however pre-
s££p5s ™nt rv'T ry be' hardly
dead. Let the widows Wl11 you be thought, I do not say to restrain their natural equal, but even to approach them. The
fcMfatt* and avoid Kvj fa thdr rivajs and detractors both praise and blame.
but when a man is out of the way, the honour and good-will which he receives is unalloyed. And, if I am to speak of womanly virtues to those of you who will henceforth be widows, let me sum them up in one short admonition : To a woman not to show more weak- ness than is natural to her sex is a great glory, and not to be talked about for good or for evil among men.
46 'I have paid the required tribute, in obedience to the So have I paid a due ^aw» making use of such fitting words
tribute of words to the as I had. The tribute of deeds has
££ ftX% been Paid in Part> for the dead.have
this funeral, so too by been honourably interred, and it re- the maintenance of 'their mains only that their children should be maintained at the public charge until they are grown up: this is the solid prize with which, as with a garland, Athens crowns her sons living and dead, after a struggle like theirs. For where the rewards of virtue are greatest, there the noblest citizens
45-48] THE PLAGUE 135
are enlisted in the service of the state. And now, when you have duly lamented, every one his own dead, you may depart.'
Such was the order of the funeral celebrated in this 47 winter, with the end of which ended SfCOH(f ,•„,..,„,>„, „/ the first year of the Peloponnesian Attica. • outbreak of the J*-c- *3°- War. As soon as summer returned, '• the Peloponnesian army, comprising as before two-thirds of the force of each confederate state, under the command of the Lacedaemonian king Archidamus, the son of Zeuxi- damus, invaded Attica, where they established themsel and ravaged the country. They had not been there many days when the plague broke out at Athens for the first time. A similar disorder is said to have previously smitten many places, particularly Lemnos, but there is no record of such a pestilence occurring elsewhere, or of so great a destruction of human life. For a while physicians, in ignorance of the nature of the disease, sought to apply remedies ; but it was in vain, and they themselves were among the first victims, because they oftenest came into contact with it. No human art was of any avail, and as to supplications in temples, enquiries of oracles, and the like, they were utterly useless, and at last men were over- powered by the calamity and gave them all up.
The disease is said to have begun south of Egypt in 48 Aethiopia ; thence it descended into which commenced in Egypt and Libya, and after spreading ^cthiopia. Th< origin
~ . .. . and causes of it arc /<;/•
over the greater part of the Persian knmcii but f M! con_ empire, suddenly fell upon Athens. It fi,tc tny*-if to the • first attacked the inhabitants of the ' Piraeus, and it was supposed that the Peloponnesians had poisoned the cisterns, no conduits having as yet been made there. It afterwards reached the upper city, and then the mortality became far greater. As to its probable origin or the causes which might or could have produced such a disturbance of nature, every man, whether a physician or not, will give his own opinion. But I shall
136 THE PLAGUE [ll
describe its actual course, and the symptoms by which any one who knows them beforehand may recognise the disorder should it ever reappear. For I was myself attacked, and witnessed the sufferings of others. 49 The season was admitted to have been remarkably free The characteristics of from ordinary sickness; and if any- the disease. body was already ill of any other
disease, it was absorbed in this. Many who were in perfect health, all in a moment, and without any apparent reason, were seized with violent heats in the head and with redness and inflammation of the eyes. Internally the throat and the tongue were quickly suffused with blood, and the breath became unnatural and fetid. There followed sneezing and hoarseness ; in a short time the disorder, accompanied by a violent cough, reached the chest ; then fastening lower down, it would move the stomach and bring on all the vomits of bile to which physicians have ever given names; and they were very distressing. An ineffectual retching producing violent convulsions attacked most of the sufferers; asome as soon as the previous symptoms had abated, others not until long afterwards a. The body externally was not so very hot to the touch, nor yet pale ; it was of a livid colour inclining to red, and breaking out in pustules and ulcers. But the internal fever was intense ; the sufferers could not bear to have on them even the finest linen garment ; they insisted on being naked, and there was nothing which they longed for more eagerly than to throw themselves into cold water. And many of those who had no one to look after them actually plunged into the cisterns, for they were tormented by unceasing thirst, which was not in the least assuaged whether they drank little or much. They could not sleep ; a restless- ness which was intolerable never left them. While the disease was at its height the body, instead of wasting away,
a Or, taking \oxpr)ffavra with airacrnov : 'these convulsions in some cases soon abated, in others not until long afterwards.'
49-50 THE PLAGUE 137
held out amid these sufferings in a marvellous manner, and either they died on the seventh or ninth day, not of weakness, for their strength was not exhausted, but of internal fever, which was the end of most ; or, if they survived, then the disease descended into the bowels and there produced violent ulceration ; severe diarrhoea at the same time set in, and at a later stage caused exhaustion, which finally with few exceptions carried them off. For the disorder which had originally settled in the head passed gradually through the whole body, and, if a person got over the worst, would often seize the extremities and leave its mark, attacking the privy parts and the fingers and the toes ; and some escaped with the loss of these, some with the loss of their eyes. Some again had no sooner recovered than they were seized with a forgetful- ness of all things and knew neither themselves nor their friends.
The general character of the malady no words can 5° describe, and the fury with which it Even the animals mid fastened upon each sufferer was too bints <>//»-, v tvfn- much for human nature to endure. '««*"«»'/*«• There was one circumstance in particular which dis- tinguished it from ordinary diseases. The birds and animals which feed on human flesh, although so many bod; lying unburied, either never came near them, or died if they touched them. This was proved by a remarkable disappearance of the birds of prey, which were not to be seen either about the bodies or anywhere else ; while in the case of the dogs the result was even more obvious, because they live with man.
Such was the general nature of the disease: I omit 51 many strange peculiarities which char- Nothing araiM a- acterised individual cases. None of gainst the th- the ordinary sicknesses attacked any one while it lasted, or, if they did, they ended in the plague. Some of the sufferers died from want of care, others equally who were receiving the greatest attention. No single remedy could
138 THE PLAGUE [ll
be deemed a specific ; for that which did good to one did harm to another. No constitution was of itself strong enough to resist or weak enough to escape the attacks ; the disease carried off all alike and defied every mode of treatment Most appalling was the despondency which seized upon any one who felt himself sickening ; for he instantly abandoned his mind to despair and, instead of holding out, absolutely threw away his chance of life. Rapidity with which Appalling too was the rapidity with the infection spread, which men caught the infection ; dying None could visit the sick Hke sh if th attended on one
with impunity except . . . ...
those wh* had already another ; and this was the principal been attacked and had cause of mortality. When they were recovered. afraid to visit one another, the sufferers
died in their solitude, so that many houses were empty because there had been no one left to take care of the sick ; or if they ventured they perished, especially those who aspired to heroism. For they went to see their friends without thought of themselves and were ashamed to leave them, at a time when the very relations of the dying were at last growing weary and ceased even to make lamentations, overwhelmed by the vastness of the calamity. But whatever instances there may have been of such devo- tion, more often the sick and the dying were tended by the pitying care of those who had recovered, because they knew the course of the disease and were themselves free from apprehension. For no one was ever attacked a second time, or not with a fatal result. All men congratulated them, and they themselves, in the excess of their joy at the moment, had an innocent fancy that they could not die of any other sickness.
52 The crowding of the people out of the country into the
The misery aggra- city aggravated the misery; and the
vated by the overcrowd- newly-arrived suffered most. For,
having no houses of their own, but
inhabiting in the height of summer stifling huts, the
mortality among them was dreadful, and they perished
52,53] TIIK rLAGUE 139
in wild disorder. "The dead lay as they had died, upon another, while others hardly alive wallowed11 in the streets and crawled about every fountain craving for water. The temples in which they lodged were full of the corpses of those who died in them ; for the violence of the calamity was such that men, not knowing where to turn, grew reck- less of all law, human and divine. The <v,;/W violation <>/ customs which had hitherto been ob- and,-nt customs of M.-rved at funerals were universally blinal- violated, and they buried their dead each one as best he could. Many, having no proper appliances, because the deaths in their household had been so numerous already, lost all shame in the burial of the dead1'. When one man had raised a funeral pile, others would come, and throwing on their dead first, set fire to it ; or when some other corpse was already burning, before they could be stopped, would throw their own dead upon it and depart.
There were other and worse forms of lawlessness 53 which the plague introduced at Athens. AUiegaiand religious Men who had hitherto concealed what restraint ttisa/t/vm they took pleasure in, now grew bolder. the tcrnjr °fthe ***&"• For, seeing the sudden change, — how the rich died in a moment, and those who had nothing immediately in- herited their property,— they reflected that life and riches were alike transitory, and they resolved to enjoy them- selves while they could, and to think only of pleasure. Who would be willing to sacrifice himself to the law of honour when he knew not whether he would ever live to be held in honour? The pleasure of the moment and any sort of thing which conduced to it took the place both of honour and of expediency. No fear of Gods or law of man deterred a criminal. Those who saw all perishing alike, thought that the worship or neglect of the Gods
* More literally: 'They, dying, lay dead one upon another, or wal- lowed liardly aliv- l> Sec note ml loc.
140 THE PLAGUE [ll
made no difference. For offences against human law no punishment was to be feared ; no one would live long enough to be called to account. Already a far heavier sentence had been passed and was hanging over a man's head ; before that fell, why should he not take a little pleasure ?
54 Such was the grievous calamity which now afflicted the Athenians ; within the walls their people were dying, and without, their country was being ravaged. In their troubles they naturally called to mind a verse which the elder men among them declared to have been current long ago : —
'A Dorian war will come and a plague with it.'
There was a dispute about the precise expression , some
Dispute about an **?™% that limos, a famine, and not
ancient oracle : whether loimos, a plague, was the original word.
limos or loimos was Nevertheless, as might have been ex-
the word. , j r > • n L j
pected, ior men s memories reflected their sufferings, the argument in favour of loimos prevailed at the time. But if ever in future years another Dorian war arises which happens to be accompanied by a famine, they will probably repeat the verse in the other form. The answer of the oracle to the Lacedaemonians when the God was asked 'whether they should go to war or not/ and he replied ' that if they fought with all their might, they would conquer, and that he himself would take their parta/ was not forgotten by those who had heard of it, and they quite imagined that they were witnessing the fulfilment of his words. The disease certainly did set in immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians, and did not spread into Peloponnesus in any degree worth speaking of, while Athens felt its ravages most severely, and next to Athens the places which were most populous. Such was the history of the plague b.
»Cp. i. 118 fin. bCp. iii. 87
54_57] CONTINUANCE OF THE INVASION 141
After the Pcloponnesians had wasted the plain they 55 entered what are called the coast lands The Pcio^nineaians (Paralus) and penetrated as far as «'/-""»«'». Periclts Laurium, where are the silver mines %£^^^f£ belonging to the Athenians. First they semi* « hundred •,-/„/>• ravaged that part of the coast which towaserchpinw. looks towards Peloponnesus, and afterwards that situated towards Euboca and Andros. But Pericles, who was still general, continued to insist, as in the former invasion, that the Athenians should n main within their walls.
Before, however, the Peloponnesians had left the plain 56 and moved forward into the coast lands he had begun to equip an expedition of a hundred ships against Pelopon- nesus. When all was ready he put to sea, having on board four thousand Athenian hoplites and three hundred cavalry conveyed in horse transports which the Athenians then constructed for the first time out of their old ships. The Chians and Lesbians joined them with fifty vessels. The expedition did not actually put to sea until the Peloponnesians had reached the coast lands. Arriving at Epidaurus in Peloponnesus the Athenians devastated most of the country and attacked the city, which at one time they were in hopes of taking, but did not quite succeed. Setting sail again they ravaged the territory of Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione, which are all places on the coast of Peloponnesus. Again putting off they came to Prasiae, a small town on the coast of Laconia, ravaged the country, and took and plundered the place. They then returned home and found that the Peloponnesians had also returned and were no longer in Attica.
All the time during which the Peloponnesians remained 57 in the country and the armament of the The Ptioponnesians Athenians continued at sea the plague kaw Attica after a stay was raging both among the troops and ^ot '•' in the city. The fear which it inspired was said to have induced the enemy to leave Attica sooner than thov intended ; for they heard from deserters that the disease
142 THE PLAGUE AT POTIDAEA [ll
was in the city, and likewise saw the burning of the dead. Still in this invasion the whole country was ravaged by them, and they remained about forty days, which was the longest stay they ever made.
58 In the same summer, Hagnon the son of Nicias, and Expedition against Cleopompus the son of Cleinias, who
Potidaea. The plague were colleagues of Pericles in his breaks out among the milit command, took the fleet which
troops, and the rem- . . »
fonements return to he had employed and sailed forthwith Athens. against the Thracian Chalcidians and
against Potidaea, which still held out. On their arrival they brought engines up to the walls, and tried every means of taking the town. But they did not succeed ; nor did the result by any means correspond to the magnitude of their armament; for thither too the plague came and made dreadful havoc among the Athenian troops. Even the soldiers who were previously there and had been in good health caught the infection from the forces under Hagnon. But the army of Phormio a escaped ; for he and his sixteen hundred troops had left Chalcidice. And so Hagnon returned with his fleet to Athens, having lost by the plague out of four thousand hoplites a thousand and fifty men in about forty days. But the original armament b remained and prosecuted the siege.
59 After the second Peloponnesian invasion, now that
The Athenians sue Attica had been °nce more ravaged,
for peace and are re- and the war and the plague together jected. They turn upon jay heavy upon the Athenians, a change
Pericles. His defence. , . . r^, ,, ,
came over their spirit. They blamed Pericles because he had persuaded them to go to war, declaring that he was the author of their troubles ; and they were anxious to come to terms with the Lacedae- monians. Accordingly envoys were despatched to Sparta, but they met with no success. And now, being completely at their wits' end, they turned upon Pericles. He saw
" Cp. i. 64 med. b Cp. i. 59, 61 init.
58-60] SPEECH or ri-.RICLES 143
that they were exasperated by their misery and were behaving just as he had always anticipated that they would. And so, being still general, he called an assembly, wanting to encourage them and to convert their angry feelings into a gentler and more hopeful mood. At this assembly he came forward and spoke as follows :—
' I was expecting this outburst of indignation ; the 60 causes of it are not unknown to me. yll!: i:ron.
And I have summoned an assembly sidentte and unmanly ; that I may remind you of your resolu- ******* *hefr-
runt--; of the individual
tions and reprove you for your incon- ,/,,,,,„/ OH (hose flf the siderate anger against me, and want state, if you bt; of fortitude in misfortune. In my """ ' '^
. disinterested, is.- 1 ten von
judgment it would be better for in- Ctlll!ietlfft/ to ,/,, dividuals themselves that the citizens why should yon attack should suffer and the state flourish »ie>low? than that the citizens should flourish and the state suffer. A private man, however successful in his own dealings, if his country perish is involved in her destruction ; but if he be an unprosperous citizen of a prosperous city he is much more likely to recover. Seeing then that states can bear the misfortunes of individuals, but individuals cannot bear the misfortunes of the state, let us all stand by our country and not do what you are doing now, who because you are stunned by your private calamities are letting go the hope of saving the state, and condemning not only me who advised, but yourselves who consented to, the war. Yet I with whom you are so angry venture to say of myself, that I am as capable as any one of devising and explaining a sound policy ; and that I am a lover of my country, and incorruptible. Now a man may have a policy which he cannot clearly expound, and then he might as well have none at all ; or he may possess both ability and eloquence, but if he is disloyal to his country he cannot, like a true man, speak in her interest ; or again he may be unable to resist a bribe, and then all his other good qualities will be sold for money. If, when you determined to go to war,
144 SPEECH OF PERICLES [ll
you believed me to have somewhat more of the statesman in me than others, it is not fair that I should now be charged with anything like crime.
61 ' I allow that for men who are in prosperity and free to
/ am not changed, choose it: is Sreat folly tO make war' but you are changed by But when they must either submit and misfortune. Such a at once surrender independence, or £•££.•£££? ^rike and be free, then he who shuns you should forget your and not he who meets the danger is sorrows, and think only deserving of blame. For my own part, I am the same man and stand where I did. But you are changed ; for you have been driven by misfortune to recall the consent which you gave when you were yet unhurt, and to think that my advice was wrong because your own characters are weak. The pain is present and comes home to each of you, but the good is as yet unrealised by any one ; and your minds have not the strength to persevere in your resolution, now that a great reverse has overtaken you unawares. Anything which is sudden and unexpected and utterly beyond calculation, such a disaster for instance as this plague coming upon other misfortunes, enthralls the spirit of a man. Nevertheless, being the citizens of a great city and educated in a temper of greatness, you should not succumb to calamities however overwhelming, or darken the lustre of your fame. For if men hate the presumption of those who claim a reputation to which they have no right, they equally condemn the faint-heartedness of those who fall below the glory which is their own. You should lose the sense of your private sorrows and cling to the deliverance of the state.
62 ' As to your sufferings in the war, if you fear that they may be very great and after all fruitless, I have shown you already over and over again that such a fear is groundless. If you are still unsatisfied I will indicate aone element of
a Or, taking virapxov vfuv absolutely : ' a consideration which, how- ever obvious, appears to have escaped you.' Or, again, taking peffdovs
61,62] SPEECH OF PERICLES 145
your superiority which appears to have escaped y
although it nearly touches your imperial
greatness. I too have never mentioned
it before, nor would I now, because tin- few/ / /«•// yu,< that
claim may seem too arrogant, if I did .v/m/ ,•,//,><>//,/<•„.
. . . <'f tli< xvf. ichich is half
not see that you are unreasonably de- th( wM /r//|i/ JJ
pressed. You think that your empire \;>iu-/><>sst:^t\>iis,,i,,»n- is confined to your allies, but I say that A"'-"' ™th freedom?
.- , ,. . . r , , , AYc/> //;<//, am/ von «•!//
«.i the two divisions of the world acces- 2 ^ £ sible to man, the land and the sea, there M n-nh
is one of which you are absolute masters, <*'*<*<"'"> «•"• having*
, , , .... rational conviction of
and have, or may have, the dominion to yon>. ^cnoHt^ any extent which you please. Neither the great King nor any nation on earth can hinder a navy like yours from penetrating whithersoever you choose to sail. When we reflect on this great power, houses and lands, of which the loss seems so dreadful to you, are as nothing. We ought not to be troubled about them or to think much of them in comparison ; they are only the garden of the house, the superfluous ornament of wealth ; and you may be sure that if we cling to our freedom and preserve that, we shall soon enough recover all the rest. But, if we are the servants of others, we shall br sure to lose not only freedom, but all that freedom gives. And where your ancestors doubly succeeded, you will doubly fail. For their empire not inherited by them from others but won by the labour of their hands, and by them preserved and bequeathed to us. And to be robbed of what you have is a greater disgrace than to attempt a conquest and fail. Meet your enemies therefore not only with spirit but with disdain. A coward or a fortunate fool may brag and vaunt, but he only is capable of disdain whose conviction that he is
TTfft with (I'OvfiijO^vai ir superiority which nearly
touches your empire, but of which you never seem to have considered the importance.'
146 SPEECH OF PERICLES [ll
stronger than his enemy rests, like our own, on grounds of reason. Courage fighting in a fair field is fortified by the intelligence which looks down upon an enemy ; an intelligence relying, not on hope, which is the strength of helplessness, but on that surer foresight which is given by reason and observation of facts.
63 'Once more, you are bound to maintain the imperial . . dignity of your city in which you all
Your empire is at J . J J
stake, and it is too late take pride ; for you should not covet to resign it; for you the glory unless you will endure the
have already incurred t n Arfd do t imagine that you are the hatred of mankind. . . , . f .
fighting about a simple issue, freedom or slavery ; you have an empire to lose, and there is the danger to which the hatred of your imperial rule has exposed you. Neither can you resign your power, if, at this crisis, any timorous or inactive spirit is for thus playing the honest man. For by this time your empire has become a tyranny which in the opinion of mankind may have been unjustly gained, but which cannot be safely surrendered. The men of whom I was speaking, if they could find followers, would soon ruin a city, and if they were to go and found a state of their own, would equally ruin that. For inaction is secure only when arrayed by the side of activity ; nor is it expedient or safe for a sovereign, but only for a subject state, to be a servant. 64 ' You must not be led away by the advice of such
citizens as these, nor be angry with me ;
for the resolution in favour of war was but what ive all antid- your own as much as mine. What if pated when ive agreed the enemy has come and done what
on war. Do not lose , -11 /« j
*k* spirit which has he WaS CCrtam tO d° when y°U ^fused
tnade Athens great to yield ? What too if the plague and, even though she followed? That was an unexpected
fall, will render her 11 , • i . i_ r 11
glorious for all time. blow> but we miSht have foreseen all the rest. I am well aware that your hatred of me is aggravated by it. But how unjustly, unless to me you also ascribe the credit of any extraordinary
63-65] SPEECH OF PERICLES 14?
success which may befall you ;l ! The visitations of IK -a should be borne with resignation, the sufferings inflicted by an enemy with manliness. This has always been the spirit of Athens, and should not die out in you. Know that our city has the greatest name in all the world because she has never yielded to misfortunes, but has sacrificed more lives and endured severer hardships in war than any other; wherefore also she has the greatest power of any state up to this day; and the memory of her glory will always survive. Even if we should be compelled at last to abate somewhat of our greatness (for all things have their times of growth and decay), yet will the recollection live, that, of all Hellenes, we ruled over the greatest number of Hellenic subjects ; that we withstood our enemies, whether single or united, in the most terrible wars, and that we were the inhabitants of a city endowed with every sort of wealth and greatness. The indolent may indeed find fault, but bthe man of action b will seek to rival us, and he who is less fortunate will envy us. To be hateful and offensive has ever been at the time the fate of those who have aspired to empire. But he judges well who accepts unpopularity in a great cause. Hatred does not last long, and, besides the immediate splendour of great actions, the renown of them endures for ever in men's memories. Looking forward to such future glory and present avoidance of dishonour, make an effort m>w and secure both. Let no herald be sent to the Lacedaemonians, and do not let them know that you are depressed by your sufferings. For those are the greatest states and the greatest men, who, when misfortunes come, are the least depressed in spirit and the most resolute in action.'
By these and similar words Pericles endeavoured to 65 appease the anger of the Athenians against himself, and
* Cp. i. 140 init.
11 Or, taking «eu atrrus with ^owAo/itfos : 'lie who is ambition^ like selves.'
I. -2
148 THE POLICY OF PERICLES [ll
to divert their minds from their terrible situation. In the conduct of public affairs they took
The Athenians follo-a ^ d . &nd sent nQ m()re embassies Pericles advice, but are
not appeased until they to Sparta ; they were again eager to have fined him. He prosecute the war. Yet in private
rrsr":/ *«* ™ *<*• *»***>& *~?y;> the
affairs. After his death common people had been deprived even his ivisdom was even of the little which they possessed, while
better appreciated than fa j had j fajr estates JR
during his life. His .
«*/w« «Ao«/ /A* zi-ar the country with all their houses and was sound if the Athe- ricn furniture. Worst of all, instead of
at war-
were continually em- The popular indignation was not barking on rash enter- pacified until they had fined Pericles ;
prises, and the city was ^ SQon afterwards witn the usual distracted by the stntg- '
gles of rival dema- fickleness of a multitude, they elected gogues, whereas Pericles him general and committed all their ^been their natural affairs to his charge. Their private sor- rows were beginning to be less acutely felt, and for a time of public need they thought that there was no man like him. During the peace while he was at the head of affairs he ruled with prudence ; under his guidance Athens was safe, and reached the height of her greatness in his time. When the war began he showed that here too he had formed a true estimate of the Athenian power. He survived the commencement of hostilities two years and six months ; and, after his death, his foresight was even better appreciated than during his life. For he had told the Athenians that if they would be patient and would attend to their navy, and not seek to enlarge their dominion while the war was going on, nor imperil the existence of the city, they would be victorious ; but they did all that he told them not to do, and in matters which seemingly had nothing to do with the war, from motives of private ambition and private interest they adopted a policy which had disastrous effects in respect both of themselves and of their allies; their measures,
65] ERRORS OF THE ATHENIANS 149
nhad they been successful, would only have brought" honour and profit to individuals, and, when unsuccessful, crippled the city in the conduct of the war. The reason of the differ- ence was that he, deriving authority from his capacity and acknowledged worth, being also a man of transparent integrity, was able to control the multitude in a free spirit ; he led them rather than was led by them ; for, not seeking power by dishonest arts, he had no need to say pleasant things, but, on the strength of his own high character, could venture to oppose and even to anger them. When he saw them unseasonably elated and arrogant, his words humbled and awed them ; and, when they were depressed by groundless fears, he sought to reanimate their con- fidence. Thus Athens, though still in name a democracy, was in fact ruled by her greatest citizen. But his suc- cessors were more on an equality with one another, and, each one struggling to be first himself, they were ready to sacrifice the whole conduct of affairs to the whims of tin* people. Such weakness in a great and imperial city led to many errors, of which the greatest was the Sicilian expedition ; not that the Athenians miscalculated their enemy's power, but they themselves, instead of consulting for the interests of the expedition which they had sent out, were occupied in intriguing against one another for the leadership of the democracy5, and not only hampered the operations of the army, but became embroiled, for the first time, at home. And yet after they had lost in the Sicilian expedition the greater part of tli
1 M aftfr the Sict-
fleet and army, and were now distracted //„„ ,/I..,-,I>/,T ///,-v held by revolution, still they held out three ""' again*/ their <>l<l years not only against their former •~^*"**™*'"»
J f c ones, niiii ;cf>r at ln-t
enemies, but against the Sicilians who 0,,/v nn»«l by thfm. had combined with them, and against •*** So that r. • most of their own allies who had risen •»!«*"**»*"••* in revolt. Even when Cyrus the son of the King joined
* Or, • while thry continue. I to siu-ccrcl, only brought.' vi. 28.
150 PELOPONNESIAN ENVOYS SENT TO PERSIA [ll
in the war and supplied the Peloponnesian fleet with money, they continued to resist, and were at last over- thrown, not by their enemies, but by themselves and their own internal dissensions. So that at the time Pericles was more than justified in the conviction at which his foresight had arrived, that the Athenians would win an easy victory over the unaided forces of the Pelopon- nesians.
66 During the same summer the Lacedaemonians and their The Lacedaemonians allies sen* * fleet of a hundred ships
attack Zacynthus with- against the island of Zacynthus, which out result. jjes opposite Elis. The Zacynthians
are colonists of the Peloponnesian Achaeans, and were allies of the Athenians. There were on board the fleet a thousand Lacedaemonian hoplites, under the command of Cnemus the Spartan admiral. They disembarked and ravaged the greater part of the country ; but as the inhabitants would not come to terms, they sailed away home.
67 At the end of the same summer, Aristeus the Corinthian, Envoys sent from the the Lacedaemonian ambassadors Ane-
Peloponnesian cities to ristus, Nicolaus, and Stratodemus, the King are detained Jimagoras of Tegea, and Pollis of
by Sitalces and given up
totheAthmians. They Argos who had no public mission, are carried to Athens were on their way to Asia in the hope and put to death. of persuading the King to give them
money and join in the war. They went first of all to Sitalces son of Teres, in Thrace, wishing if possible to detach him from the Athenians, and induce him to lead an army to the relief of Potidaea, which was still blockaded by Athenian forces ; they also wanted him to convey them across the Hellespont on their intended journey to Phar- naces, the son of Pharnabazus, who was to send them on to the King. At the time of their arrival two Athenian envoys, Learchus the son of Callimachus, and Ameiniades the son of Philemon, chanced to be at the court of Sitalces ; and they entreated his son Sadocus, who had been made
66-68] WAR BETWEEN AMBRACI A A\D AMPHILOCUIA 151
an Athenian citizen a, to deliver the envoys into their hands, that they might not find their way to the King and so injure a city which was in some degree his own. He con- sented, and, sending a body of men with Learchus and Ameiniades, before they embarked, as they were on their way through Thrace to the vessel in which they were going to cross the Hellespont, seized them ; they were then, in accordance with the orders of Sadocus, handed over to the Athenian envoys, who conveyed them to Athens. On the very day of their arrival the Athenians, fearing that Aristeus, whom they considered to be the cause of all their troubles at Potidaea and in Chalcidice, would do them still further mischief if he escaped, put them all to death without trial and without hearing what they wanted to say ; they then threw their bodies down precipices. They considered that they had a right to retaliate on the Lacedaemonians, who had begun by treating in the same way the traders of the Athenians and their allies when they caught their vessels off the coast of Peloponnesus. For at the com- mencement of the war, all whom the Lacedaemonians captured at sea were treated by them as enemies and indiscriminately slaughtered, whether they were allies of the Athenians or neutrals.
About the end of the same summer the Ambraciots, 68 with a large Barbarian force which TheAmbraciotsniake they had called out, made war upon «•<?/ -u<tthont sn cess «/>- the Amphilochian Argos and upon Am- °" the Amphiiochinn philochia. The original cause of their enmity against the Argives was as follows : — The Amphi- lochian territory had been occupied and the city founded by Amphilochus the son of Arnphiaraus, who on returning home after the Trojan War was dissatisfied at the state of Argos. He fixed the site on the shore of the Ambracian Gulf, and called the new city by the name of his native place ; it was the greatest city in that region, and its
ii. 29 fin.
152 PHORMIO AT NAUPACTUS [ll
inhabitants were the most powerful community. Many generations afterwards, these Amphilochians in a time of distress invited their neighbours the Ambraciots to join in the settlement, and from them they first learned the Hellenic language which they now speak ; the other Amphilochians are Barbarians. After a while the Ambraciots drove out the Amphilochian Argives and themselves took possession of the city. The expelled Amphilochians placed them- selves under the protection of the Acarnanians, and both together called in the Athenians, who sent them a fleet of thirty ships under the command of Phormio. When Phormio arrived, they stormed Argos, and sold the Ambraciots into slavery ; and the Amphilochians and Acarnanians dwelt together in the place. The alliance between the Acarnanians and Athenians then first began. The hatred of the Ambraciots towards the Amphilochian Argives commenced with the enslavement of their country- men ; and now when the war offered an opportunity they invaded their territory, accompanied by the Chaonians and some others of the neighbouring Barbarians. They came as far as Argos and made themselves masters of the country; but not being able to take the city by assault they returned, and the several tribes dispersed to their own homes. Such were the events of the summer. 69 In the following winter the Athenians sent twenty ships on an expedition round Peloponnesus.
Phormio at Naupac- „,.
tns. Mdesandersentto rhese were placed under the command collect tribute in Lyda of Phormio, who, stationing himself at NauPactus> guarded the straits and prevented any one from sailing either out of or into Corinth and the Crisaean Gulf. Six other vessels were sent to collect tribute in Lycia and Caria ; they were under the command of Melesander, who was to see that Peloponnesian privateers did not establish them- selves in those parts, and damage merchant vessels coming from Phaselis and Phoenicia and all that region. But he, going up the country into Lycia with an army composed
69-71] xr/tRKxnEK or roriD.u:.! 153
of Athenians taken from the crews and of allied troops, was defeated, and himself and a part of his forces slain.
In the same winter the Potidaeans, who were still 70 blockaded, found themselves unable to The Potidaeans art hold out; for the Peloponnesian in- compelled by /m/;- vasions of Attica did not m*t the £-£„ ±vV Athenians withdraw ; and they had no rais for giving easy more food. When they had been re- fi duced to such straits as actually in some cases to feed on human flesh, tin y entered into communications with the Athenian generals, Xenophon the son of Euripides, Hestio- dorus the son of Aristocleides, and Phanomachus the son of Callimachus, to whom the siege had been entrusted. They, seeing that the army was suffering from the exposed situation, and considering that the city had already spent two thousand talents11 on the siege, accepted the terms proposed. The Potidaeans, with their wives and their children, and likewise the foreign troops b, were to come out of the city, the men with one garment, the women with two, and they were allowed a certain fixed sum of money for their journey. So they came out under a safe-conduct, and went into Chalcidice, or wherever they could find a home. But the Athenians blamed the generals for coming to terms without their authority, thinking that they could have made the city surrender at discretion. Soon afterwards they sent thither colonists of their own. Such were the events of the winter. And so ended the second year in the Peloponnesian War of which Thucydidesu: the history.
In the following summer the Peloponnesians and their 71 allies under the command ofArchida- Expedition <>f the BC> 429' mus the son of Zeuxidamus, the Lace- Pthpu, daemonian king, instead of invading Airhidam,,* ,^«/w Attica, made an expedition against Plataea. There he encamped and was almnt t«» ravage tin-
• ^400,000. i. 60.
154 THE PELOPONNESIANS ATTACK PLATAEA [il
country, when the Plataeans sent envoys to him bearing
the following message : —
' Archidamus, and you Lacedaemonians, in making war Protest of the Pla- uPon Plataea you are acting unjustly,
taeans. and in a manner unworthy of yourselves
You are violating the and of r ancestOrs. Pausanias the
promise of independence !. _,, , T
which Pausanias made son of Cleombrotus, the Lacedae- ns after the battle of monian, when he and such Hellenes as Pl«taea- were willing to share the danger with
him fought a battle in our land and liberated Hellas from the Persian, offered up sacrifice in the Agora of Plataea to Zeus the God of Freedom, and in the presence of all the confederates then and there restored to the Plataeans their country and city to be henceforth independent; no man was to make unjust war upon them at any time or to seek to enslave them ; and if they were attacked, the allies who were present promised that they would defend them to the utmost of their power. These privileges your fathers granted to us as a reward for the courage and devotion which we displayed in that time of danger. But you are acting in an opposite spirit ; for you have joined the Thebans, our worst enemies, and have come hither to enslave us. Wherefore, calling to witness the Gods to whom we all then swore, and also the Gods of your race and the Gods who dwell in our country, we bid you do no harm to the land of Plataea. Do not violate your oaths, but allow the Plataeans to be independent, and to enjoy the rights which Pausanias granted to them.' 72 To this appeal Archidamus rejoined :—
' What you say, Plataeans, is just, but your acts should correspond to your words. Enjoy the
Archidamus offers . J J J
peace if they will either independence which Pausanias granted join the Lacedaemonian to you, but also assist us in freeing the
confederacy or remain other Hellenes who were your sworn neutral. . r ,
confederates in that time or danger and are now in subjection to the Athenians. With a view to the emancipation of them and of the other subject states,
72,73] ARCHID.-l.Ml'S AM) THE PLATAE. 155
this great war has been undertaken and all these pre- parations made. It would be best for you to join with us, and observe the oaths yourselves which you would ha\v us observe. But if you prefer to be neutral, a course which we have already once proposed to you, retain possession of your lands, and receive both sides in peace, but neither for the purposes of war ; and we shall be satisfied/
The Plataean ambassadors then returned to the city and reported these words of Archidamus to
The Platneans rtffy
the people, who made answer that they ,/,„/ ///o, catnwt act could not do what they were asked without the Athenians. without the sanction of the Athenians, '""' «*" ''"'/ "'*' ^
trust the Thcba
in whose power they had left then- wives and children, and that they also feared for the very existence of their state. When the Lacedaemonians \\ gone the Athenians might come and not allow them to carry out the treaty; or the Thebans, who would be included in the clause requiring them 'to receive both sides,' might again attempt to seize their town. To this Archidamus, wanting to reassure them, made the following answer : —
' Then deliver over your city and houses to tlv daemonians; mark the boundaries of AtMmmi,thenatks your land, and number your fruit-trees //„.,„ . , //,,.
and anything else which can be counted. (l'y ll11 tlie ftlli °f ""' Go yourselves whithersoever you ' please, while the war lasts, and on the return of peace we will give back to you all that we have received. Until then we will hold your property in trust, and will culti. your ground, paying you such a rent as will content you.'
Upon hearing these words the en- Thg P1(ltafans ob. 73 voys again returned into the city, /,,,m//c /,,,, and, after holding a consultation with «"'-»// tht At),,,:. the people, told Archidamus that £ they wished first to communicate his proposals to the Athenians, and if they could get their
156 THE PLATAEANS WILL NOT DESERT ATHENS [ll
consent they would do as he advised ; in the meantime they desired him to make a truce with them, and not to ravage their land. So he made a truce which allowed sufficient time for their ambassadors to return from Athens ; and mean- while he spared their land. The Plataean envoys came to Athens, and after advising with the Athenians they brought back the following message to their fellow-citizens :— ' Plataeans, the Athenians say that never at any time since you first became their allies a have they suffered any one to do you wrong, and that they will not forsake you now, but will assist you to the utmost of their power; and they adjure you, by the oaths which your fathers swore, not to forsake the Athenian alliance.*
74 When the answer came, the Plataeans resolved not to They reply that they desert the Athenians, but patiently to cannot accept the Lace- look on, if they must, while the Lace- daemonian proposals, rfaemonians wasted their country, and to endure the worst. No one was henceforward to leave the town, but answer was to be made from the walls that they could not possibly consent to the Lacedaemonian proposal. King Archidamus, as soon as he received the reply, before proceeding to action, fell to calling upon the Gods and heroes of the country in the following words : — ' O ye Gods and heroes who possess the land of Plataea, Archidamus appeals be our witnesses that our invasion of to the Gods. this land in which our fathers prayed
to you when they conquered the Persians, and which you made a propitious battle-field to the Hellenes, has thus far been justified, for the Plataeans first deserted the alliance ; and that if we go further we shall be guilty of no crime, for we have again and again made them fair pro- posals and they have not listened to us. Be gracious to us and grant that the real authors of the iniquity may be punished, and that they may obtain revenge who lawfully seek it.'
ft Herod, vi. 108.
7t-76.1 iVA'r;/-; or PLATAEA 157
After this appeal to the Gods he began military opera- 75 tions. In the first place, the soldiers
TVitf w«yr opcratum*
felled the fruit-trees and surrounded ^-w .. //„ peiopon- the city with a stockade, that henceforth " mound.
no one might -et out They ilu-n 'v/m/' /y"' /v'""
. counteract hv >
began to raise a mound against it, ,/„ hcis,lt of 'a A, thinking that with so large an army at their will ami />v • / work this would be the speediest way '"'"' /nwl
tin- inouna.
of taking the place. So they cut timber from Cithaeron and built on either side of the intended mound a frame of logs placed cross-wise in order that the material might not scatter. Thither they carried wood, stones, earth, and anything which would fill up the vacant space. They continued raising the mound seventy days and seventy nights without intermission ; the army was divided into relays, and one party worked while the other slept and ate. The Lacedaemonian officers who com- manded the contingents of the allies stood over them and kept them at work. The Plataeans, seeing the mound rising, constructed a wooden frame, which they set upon the top of their own wall opposite the mound ; in this they inserted bricks, which they took from the neighbouring houses; the wood served to strengthen and bind the structure together as it increased in height ; they also hung curtains of skins and hides in front; these were designed to protect the wood-work and the workers, and shield them against blazing arrows. The wooden wall rose high, but the mound rose quickly too. Then the Plataeans had a new device ; — they made a hole in that part of the wall against which the mound pressed and drew in the earth.
The Peloponnesians discovered what they were doing, 76 and threw into the gap clay packed in 77,,^- pian being dc- wattles of reed, which could not scatter fcatcd, the Plat,, and like the loose earth be carried away. 'gjSfgX Whereupon the Plataeans, baffled in .Vf,// in ///<•/""» one plan, resorted lo another. Calcu- "
158 SIEGE OF PLATAEA [ll
lating the direction, they dug a mine from the city to the mound and again drew the earth inward. For a long time their assailants did not find them out, and so what the Peloponnesians threw on was of little use, since the mound was always being drawn off below and settling into the vacant space. But in spite of all their efforts, the Plataeans were afraid that their numbers would never hold out against so great an army ; and they devised yet another expedient. They left off working at the great building opposite the mound, and beginning at both ends, where the city wall returned to its original lower height, they built an inner wall projecting inwards in the shape of a crescent, that if the first wall were taken the other might still be defensible. The enemy would be obliged to begin again and carry the mound right up to it, and as they advanced inwards would have their trouble all over again, and be exposed to missiles on both flanks. While the mound was rising the Peloponnesians brought battering engines up to the wall ; one which was moved forward on the mound itself shook a great part of the raised building, to the terror of the Plataeans. They brought up others By ingenious devices too at other points of the wall. But they disable the battering- the Plataeans dropped nooses over the rams of the enemy. endg of these engines and drew tnem
up ; they also let down huge beams suspended at each end by long iron chains from two poles leaning on the wall and projecting over it. These beams they drew up at right angles to the advancing battering-ram, and whenever at any point it was about to attack them they slackened their hold of the chains and let go the beam, which fell with great force and snapped off the head of the ram. 77 At length the Peloponnesians, finding that their engines The Peloponnesians were useless, and that the new wall nearly succeed in setting was rising opposite to the mound, and the city on fire. perceiving that they could not without
more formidable means of attack hope to take the city, made preparations for a blockade. But first of all they
77,78] SIEGE OF PL A T.I I. A 159
resolved to try whether, the wind favouring, the pi, which was but small, could not be set on lire ; tlu y were anxious not to incur the expense of a regular siege, and devised all sorts of plans in order to avoid it. So they brought faggots and threw them down from the mound along the space between it and the wall, which was soon filled up when so many hands were at work ; then they threw more faggots one upon another into the city as far as they could reach from the top of the mound, and casting in lighted brands with brimstone and pitch, set them all on fire. A flame arose of which the like had never before been made by the hand of man ; I am not speaking of fires in the mountains, when the forest has spontaneously blazed up from the action of the wind and mutual attrition. There was a great conflagration, and the Plataeans, who had thus far escaped, were all but destroyed ; a consider- able part of the town was unapproachable, and if a wind had come on and carried the flame that way, as the enemy hoped, they could not have been saved. It is said that there was also a violent storm of thunder and rain, which quenched the flames and put an end to the danger.
The Peloponnesians, having failed in this, as in their 78 former attempts, sent away a part of Failing ,n thf,r a/- their army but retained the rest", and '«•"'/>', thfv «/>•««• « dividing the task among the contingents ™J*£Z£ of the several cities, surrounded Plataea a gnnni »f //,c»,srlves with a wall. Trenches, out of which and the Bwotian*. they took clay for the bricks, were formed both on the inner and the outer side of the wall. About the rising of Arcturusb all was completed. They then drew off their army, leaving a guard on one half of the wall, while the other half was guarded by the Boeotians; the disbanded troops returned to their homes. The Plataeans had already conveyed to Athens t- their wives, children, and old men,
* Retaining in the text TO 8t \oiwi>v d</>«'rT*,.
b i.e. about the middle of September. c ii. 6 fin.
l6o EXPEDITION AGAINST CHALCIDICE [ll
with the rest of their unserviceable population. Those who remained during the siege were four hundred Pla- taeans, eighty Athenians, and a hundred and ten women to make bread. These were their exact numbers when the siege began. There was no one else, slave or freeman, within the walls. In such sort was the blockade of Plataea completed. 79 During the same summer, when the corn was in full
ear, and about the time of the attack on JV±TS An Plataea, the Athenians sent an expedi- engagement fakes place, tion against the Chalcidians of Thrace in which they are at ancj against the Bottiaeans, consisting %L£r°Z,f£. °f ^o thousand heavy-armed troops of ments arriving, the en- their own and two hundred horsemen gagement is renewed under the command of Xenophon the 3J*J are defeated son of Euripides, and two others. They
came close up to the Bottian Spartolus and destroyed the crops. They expected that the place would be induced to yield to them by a party within the walls. But the opposite party sent to Olynthus and obtained from thence a garrison, partly composed of hoplites, which sallied out of Spartolus and engaged with the Athenians under the walls of the town. The Chalcidian hoplites and with them certain auxiliaries were defeated and retreated into Spartolus, but their cavalry and light- armed troops had the advantage over those of the Athenians. They were assisted by a few targeteers, who came from the district called Crusis. The engagement was scarcely over when another body of targeteers from Olynthus came up to their aid. Encouraged by the reinforcement and their previous success, and supported by the Chalcidian horse and the newly-arrived troops, the light-armed again attacked the Athenians, who began to fall back upon the two companies which they had left with their baggage : as often as the Athenians charged, the enemy retired ; but when the Athenians continued their retreat, they pressed upon them and hurled darts at them. The Chalcidian
79, 8o] THE PELOPONNESIANS INVADE ACARNANIA 161
cavalry too rode up, and wherever they pleased charged the Athenians, who now fled utterly disconcerted and were pursued to a considerable distance. At length they escaped to Potidaea, and having recovered their dead under a flag of truce, returned to Athens with the survivors of their army, out of which they had lost four hundred and thirty men and all their generals. The Chalcidians and Botti- aeans, having set up a trophy and carried off their dead, disbanded and dispersed to their several cities.
In the same summer, not long afterwards, the Ambra- 80 ciots and Chaonians, designing to sub- jugate the whole of Acarnania and detach it from the Athenian alliance, ,,,'ans to send a land persuaded the Lacedaemonians toequip anct sctl /<""' «»«/«• a fleet out of the confederate forces, <j™* °*^ and to send into that region a thousand /,/., hoops, he is joined hoplites. They said that if the Lace- i>y " "»»//*•/ ofbarbar- daemonians would join with then, and attack the enemy both by sea and land, the Acarnanians on the sea-coast would be unable to assist the inland tribes, and they might easily conquer Acarnania. Zacynthus and Cephallenia would then fall into their hands, and the Athenian fleet would not so easily sail round Peloponnesus. They might even hope to take Naupactus. The Lacedaemonians agreed, and at once despatched Cnemus, who was still admiral'1, with the thousand hoplites in a few ships ; they ordered the rest of the allied navy to get ready and at once sail to Leucas. The interests of the Ambraciots were zealously supported by Corinth, their mother city. The fleet which was to come from Corinth, Sicyon, and the adjacent places v long in preparation ; but the contingent from Anactorium, and Ambracia was soon equipped, and \v. at Leucas. Undiscovered by Phormio, the commander of the twenty Athenian ships which were keeping guard at
• Cp. ii. 66.
VOL. I. M
1 62 THE PELOPONNESIANS INVADE ACARNANIA [ll
Naupactus, Cnemus and his thousand hoplites crossed the sea and began to make preparations for the land expedi- tion. Of Hellenes he had in his army Ambraciots, Leucadians, Anactorians, and the thousand Peloponnesians whom he brought with him, — of Barbarians a thousand Chaonians, who, having no king, were led by Photyus and Nicanor, both of the governing family and holding the presidency for a year. With the Chaonians came the Thesprotians, who, like them, have no king. A Molossian and Atintanian force was led by Sabylinthus, the guardian of Tharypas the king, who was still a minor ; the Para- vaeans were led by their king Oroedus, and were accom- panied by a thousand Orestians placed at the disposal of Oroedus by their king Antiochus. Perdiccas also, unknown to the Athenians, sent a thousand Macedonians, who arrived too late. With this army Cnemus, not waiting for the ships from Corinth, began his march. They passed through the Argive territory and plundered Limnaea, an unwalled village. At length they approached Stratus, which is the largest city in Acarnania, thinking that, if they could take it, the other places would soon come over to them.
81 The Acarnanians, seeing that a great army had invaded their territory, and that the enemy was
TheAcarnanians.be- . . HI
ing refused aidbyPhor- threatening them by sea as well as by mio, confine themselves land, did not attempt any united action, to the defence of their but guarcjed their several districts, and
cities. Cnemus marches „.. , . , T T ...
on Stratus in three sent to Phormio for aid. He replied divisions. While the that a fleet of the enemy was about to Hellenes encamp, the sail from Corinth, and that he could not
Lhaomans Crushing for- __
ward, attempt to storm leave Naupactus unguarded. Mean- the place, but fall into while the Peloponnesians and their
an ambush and are aUies marched Jn three divisions routed.
towards Stratus, intending to encamp near and try negotiations ; if these failed, they would take stronger measures and assault the wall. The Chaonians and the other Barbarians advanced in the centre ; on the
81,82] BATTLE OF STRAUS 163
right wing were the Leucadians, Anactorians, and their auxiliaries; on the left was Cncnuis with tin- IVln- ponnesians and Ambraciots. The three divisions were a long way apart, and at times not even in sight of one another. The Hellenic troops maintained order on the march and kept a look out, until at length they found a suitable place in which to encamp ; the Chaonians, confident in themselves, and having a great military reputation in that part of the country, would not stop to encamp, but they and the other Barbarians rushed on at full speed, hoping to take the place by storm and appropriate to themselves the glory of the action. The Stratians perceiving their approach in time, and thinking that, if they could overcome them before the others arrived, the Hellenic forces would not be so ready to attack them, set ambuscades near the city. When they were quite close, the troops came out of the city and from the ambuscades and fell upon them hand to hand. Where- upon the Chaonians were seized with a panic and many of them perished; the other Barbarians, seeing them give way, no longer stood their ground, but took to flight. Neither of the Hellenic divisions knew of the battle ; the Chaonian far in advance of them, and were
thought to have hurried on because they wanted to choose a place for their camp. At length the Barbarians in their flight broke in upon their lines; they received them, and the two divisions uniting during that day remained where they were, the men of Stratus not coming to close quarters with them, because the other Acarnanians had not as yet arrived, but slinging at them from a distance and distressing them greatly. For they could not move a step without their armour. Now the Acarnanians , famous for their skill in slinging.
When night came on, Cnemus withdrew his army in 82 haste to the river Anapus, which is rather more than nine miles from Stratus, and on the following day carried off his dead under a flag of truce. The people of Oeniadae
M 2
164 SEA-FIGHT NEAR NAUPACTUS [n
were friendly and had joined him ; to their city therefore ... , he retreated before the Acarnanians
Cnemus withar-aws
his troops to Oeniadae, had collected their forces. From whence they are con- Oeniadae all the Peloponnesian troops veyedhome. returned home. The Stratians erected
a trophy of the battle in which they had defeated the Barbarians.
83 The fleet from Corinth and the other allied cities on the -rt * * f*i 07 Crisaean Gulf; which was intended to
The fleet of the Pelo- '
ponnesians which was support Cnemus and to prevent the intended to support Acarnanians on the sea-coast from
Cnemus is compelled to assisting their friends in the interior of engage by rhonmo.
the country, never arrived, but was compelled, almost on the day of the battle of Stratus, to fight with Phormio and the twenty Athenian ships which were stationed at Naupactus. As they sailed by into the open sea, Phormio was watching them, preferring to make his attack outside the gulf. Now the Corinthians and their allies were not equipped for a naval engagement, but for the conveyance of troops into Acarnania, and they never imagined that the Athenians with twenty ships would venture to engage their own forty-seven. But, as they were coasting along the southern shore, they saw the Athenian fleet following their movements on the northern ; they then attempted to cross the sea from Patrae in Achaea to the opposite continent in the direction of Acarnania, when they again observed the enemy bearing down upon them from Chalcis and the mouth of the river Evenus. They had previously endeavoured to anchor under cover of night il, but had been detected. So at last they were compelled to fight in the middle of the channel. The ships were commanded by generals of the cities which had furnished them; the Corinthian squadron by Machaon, Isocrates, and Agatharchidas. The Peloponnesians
* Or, reading d(j>opmaa.f*(voi, ' they had weighed anchor before it was light, but had been detected.'
83, 84] DEFEAT OF THE PELOPO.\.\ 165
arranged their ships in such a manner as t<> make the largest possible circle without leaving Their ships form a space to break through, turning their cin/l'- prows outwards and their sterns inwards ; within the circle they placed the smaller craft which accompanied tin -m, and five of their swiftest ships that they might be close at hand and row out at whatever point the < n< my charged them.
The Athenians ranged their ships in a single line and 84 sailed round and round the Pelopon- rhf Alheni(WS saii nesian fleet, which they drove into round and round till
a narrower and narrower space, almost the Burning wind rises
. , . . , , ,. tutd throws the enemy 3
touching as they passed, and leading ^^ ^ ronft(Sl^
the crews to suppose that they were on «•/,«•« they make their tlu point of charging. But they had attack and n-in a com- hi (ii warned by Phormio not to begin until he gave the signal, for he was hoping that the enemy's ships, not having the steadiness of an army on land, would soon fall into disorder and run foul of one another ; they would be embarrassed by the small craft, and if the usual morning breeze, for which he continued waiting as he sailed round them, came down from the gulf, they would not be able to keep -till for a moment. II- could attack whenever lie pl« a-« •«!, because his ships \\ • better sailers; and he knew that this would be the right time. When the breeze Ix-gan to blow, the ships, which were by this time crowded into a narrow space and \\ distressed at once by the force of the wind and by tin- small craft which were knocking up against them, fell into confusion; ship dashed against ship, and they kept pushing one another away with long poles; there v, cries of 'keep off' and noisy abuse, so that nothing could be heard either of the word of command or of the cox- swains' giving the time ; and the difficulty which un- practised rowers had in clearing the water in a heavy sea made the vessels disobedient to the helm. At that moment Phormio gave the signal ; the Athenians, falling upon the
1 66 WRATH OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS [ll
enemy, began by sinking one of the admirals' vessels, and then wherever they went made havoc of them ; at last such was the disorder that no one any longer thought of resisting, but the whole fleet fled away to Patrae and Dyme in Achaea. The Athenians pursued them, captured twelve ships, and taking on board most of their crews, sailed away to Molycrium. They set up a trophy on Rhium, and having there dedicated a ship to Poseidon, retired to Naupactus. The Peloponnesians likewise, with the remainder of their fleet, proceeded quickly along the coast from Dyme and Patrae to Cyllene, where the Eleans have their docks. Cnemus with the ships from Leucas, which should have been joined by these, arrived after the battle of Stratus at Cyllene.
85 The Lacedaemonians at home now sent to the fleet three The Lacedaemonians commissioners, Timocrates, Brasidas, send Brasidas and two and Lycophron, to advise Cnemus. otherstoadviseCnemus. contriye to
fight again and be more successful ; he should not allow a few ships to keep him off the sea. The recent sea-fight had been the first attempt of the Lacedaemonians, and they were quite amazed and could not imagine that their own fleet was so inferior to that of the enemy. They suspected that there had been cowardice, not considering that the Athenians were old sailors and that they were only beginners a. So they despatched the commissioners in a rage. On their arrival they and Cnemus sent round to the allied cities for ships, and equipped for action those which were on the spot. Phormio likewise sent home The Athenians send messengers to announce the victory, reinforcements to Phor- and at the same time to inform the *»to, but order them to Athenians of the preparations which
go to Crete first. ., , .
the enemy were making. He told them to send him immediately as large a reinforcement as possible, for he might have to fight any day. They sent
* Cp. i. 142.
85, 86] PREPARA /VGA'S FOR A SECOM > i:.\< - . / 1 67
him twenty ships, but ordered the commander of them to go to Crete first; for Nicias of Gortys in CYete, who was the proxenus of the Athenians, had induced them to send a fleet against Cydonia, a hostile town which he pronii to reduce. But lie really invited them to please the Polichnitae, who are neighbours of the Cydoniatae. So the Athenian commander took the ships, \\vnt to Crete, and joined the Polichnitae in ravaging the lands of the Cydoniatae; there, owing to contrary winds and bad weather, a considerable time was wa-ied.
While the Athenians were detained in Crete the Pelo- 86
ponnesians at Cyllene, equipped for
J Hi, PtfoftmttmaMs
a naval engagement, coasted along to nnd Phomno take ,</> a
Panormus in Achaia, whither the Pelo- /•'•*///"// «/•/*«,-/'/«• /.-
ponnesian army had gone toco-operate ™tl! "ll
with them. Phormio also coasted along to the Molycrian Rhium and anchored outside the gulf with the twenty ships which had fought in the previous engagement. This Rhium was friendly to the Athenians; there is another Rhium on the opposite coast in Peloponnesus; the space between them, which is rather less than a mile, forms the mouth of the Crisaean Gulf. When the Peloponnesians saw that the Athenians had come to anchor, they likewise anchored with seventy- i ships at the Rhium which is in Achaia, not far from Panormus where their land forces were stationed. For six or seven days the two fleets lay opposite one another, and were busy in practising and getting ready for the engagement — the one resolved not to sail into the open sea, fearing a recurrence of their disaster, the other not to sail into the strait, because the confined space was favourable to their enemies. At length Cne- mus, Brasidas, and the other Peloponnesian generals determined to bring on an engagement at once, and not wait until the Athenians too received their reinforce- ments. So they assembled their soldiers and, seeing that they were generally dispirited at their former defeat
1 68 SPEECH OF PEL OPONNESIA N COMMA NDERS [ 1 1
and reluctant to fight, encouraged them in the following words : —
87 'The late sea-fight, Peloponnesians, may have made
You are terrified by some of you anxious about the one
our late mishap. But which is impending, but it really affords
you were then unpre- no • ^ ground for alarm. In that
pared. Your superior , ...
coumge outweighs their battle we were, as you know, ill-pre- superior skill, for with- pared, and our whole expedition had
out courage skill is use- a miHtary and not a naval object. For- less. We for our part J . .
will arrange the attack tune was m many ways unpropitious to better. But you must us, and this being our first sea-fight we all do your duty. may possibly have suffered a little from
inexperience. The defeat which ensued was not the result of cowardice ; nor should the unconquerable quality which is inherent in our minds, and refuses to acknowledge the victory of mere force, be depressed by the accident of the event. For though fortune may sometimes bring disaster, yet the spirit of a brave man is always the same, and while he retains his courage he will never allow inexperience to be an excuse for misbehaviour. And whatever be your own inexperience, it is more than compensated by your superiority in valour. The skill of your enemies which you so greatly dread, if united with courage, may be able in the moment of danger to remember and execute the lesson which it has learned, but without courage no skill can do anything at such a time. For fear makes men forget, and skill which cannot fight is useless. And there- fore against their greater skill set your own greater valour, and against the defeat which so alarms you set the fact that you were unprepared. But now you have a larger fleet ; this turns the balance in your favour ; and you will fight close to a friendly shore under the protection of heavy-armed troops. Victory is generally on the side of those who are more numerous and better equipped. So that we have absolutely no reason for anticipating failure. Even our mistakes will be an additional advantage, because they will be a lesson to us. Be of good courage, then, and
87-89] SPEECH OF PHORMIO 169
let every one of you, pilot or sailor, do his own duty and maintain the post assigned to him. We will order the attack rather better than your old commanders, and so give nobody an excuse for cowardice. But, if any one should be inclined to waver, he shall be punished as he deserves, while the brave shall be honoured with the due rewards of their valour.'
Such were the words of encouragement addressed to 88 the Peloponnesians by their com- manders. Phormio too, fearing that .<„,/„;.> his sailors might be frightened, and sembics and tiM> observing that they were gathering in ih""' knots and were evidently apprehensive of the enemy's numbers, resolved to call them together and inspirit them by a suitable admonition. He had always been in the habit of telling them and training their minds to believe that no superiority of hostile forces could justify them in r< -treating. And it had long been a received opinion among the sailors that, as Athenians, they were bound to face any quantity of Peloponnesian ships. When, howe\ he found them dispirited by the sight which met their eyes, he determined to revive their drooping courage, and, having assembled them together, he spoke as follov
'Soldiers, I have summoned you because I see that you 89 are alarmed at the numbers of the enemy, and I would not have you dismayed when there is nothing to tear. In the first place, the reason why they have provided a I' so disproportionate is because we have defeated them already, and they can see themselves that they are no match for us ; next, ;l as to the courage which they suppose to be native to them and which is the ground of their confidence when they attack usa, that reliance is merely inspired by the success which their experience on land
* Or, taking the antecedent to y as supplied by the clause ov <V dAXo TI Qapaovoiv . . . KaropOovvrts . 'as to the ground of the confidence with which they attack us as if courage wnv native- U> tin in."
170 SPEECH OF PHORM10 [ll usually gives them, and will, as they fancy, equally ensure
/ see that you fear them by *»• But the superiority
the number of the enemy, which we allow to them on land we may
Yet (1} their fleet is only justly claim for ourselves at sea; for in
so large because you de- , , .
featedthem before; (a) courage at least we are their equals, and
they boast of their the superior confidence of either of us
courage, but it is only js really based upon greater experience.
;/,:;7«»X(x(?o The Lacedaemonians ]ead the allies
battle, for (4) they be- for their own honour and glory ; the
lieve that your very dis- majority of them are dragged into
proportion shows your , ,,•, . , ,, . .,, .r ,,
superiority. 1 wit not, battle a§alnSt their Wl11 ' lf they Were
if possible, sail into the not compelled they would never have
gulf, where the confined ventured after so great a defeat to fight
^ To'^tZZ ^ain at sea. So that you need not fear
presence of mind, for their valour ; they are far more afraid
the maritime supremacy of you and with better reason, not
of Athens is at stake.
them, but because they cannot believe that you would oppose them at all if you did not mean to do something worthy of that great victory. aFor most men when, like these Peloponnesians, they are a match for their enemies a rely more upon their strength than upon their courage; but those who go into battle against far superior numbers and under no constraint must be inspired by some extra- ordinary force of resolution. Our enemies are well aware of this, and are more afraid of our surprising boldness than they would be if our forces were less out of proportion to their own. Many an army before now has been over- thrown by smaller numbers owing to want of experience ; some too through cowardice; and from both these faults we are certainly free. If I can help I shall not give battle in the gulf, or even sail into it. For I know that where a few vessels which are skilfully handled and are better sailers engage with a larger number which are badly
a Or, ' For men who, like these Peloponnesians, are numerically superior to the enemy whom they face.'
90] THE , / 77//;.V7. J.Y.s- OUT M. 1 ME I / VOAV' I 7 1
managed the confined space is a disadvantage. Unless the captain of a ship see his enemy a good way off he cannot come on or strike properly ; nor can he n -treat when h pressed hard. The manu-uvres suited to fast-sailing Is, such as breaking of the line or returning to the charge, cannot be practised in a narrow space. The sea- fight must of necessity be reduced to a land-fight « in which numbers tell. For all this I shall do my best to provide. . "ii meanwhile keep order and remain close to your ships. Be prompt in taking your instructions, for the enemy is near at hand and watching us. In the moment of action remember tin- value of silence and order, which are always important in war, especially at sea. Repel the enemy in a spirit worthy of your former exploits. There is much at stake ; for you will either destroy the rising hope of the IVlopomu -Man navy, or bring home to All; the fear of losing the sea. Once more I remind you that you have beaten most of the enemy's fleet already ; and, once defeated, men do not meet the same dangers with their old spirit.' Thus did Phormio encourage his sailors.
The Pcloponnesians, when they found that the Athenians 90 would not enter the straits or tin- gulf,
°. Ill,' l\In'
determined to draw them in against by a feigned atta.k on their will. So thev weighed anchor AVm/v the
early in the morning, and, ranging their **?*!£*?*
and, gtttUtnfy fuming
ships four deep, stood in towards the „/,„„ ,/,,„,. ,.. gulf1* along their own coast1', k-
the order in which thev were anchor, /*•
, , . . ...
1 he right wing, consisting <>t twenty ot
their fastest vessels, took the lead. These were intended to close upon the Athenians and prevent them from eluding their attack and getting beyond the wing in case Phonnio, apprehending an attack upon Naupactus, should sail along
* Cp. vii. 62. b Reading irapn for iirt with the I.aurenti.m aiul
three other MSS. Or, adopting the conjecture tKtii-ojv for iavrui' : • making for the enemy's shore, and '
172 EXPLOIT OF AN ATHENIAN SHIP [ll
shore to its aid. He, when he saw them weighing anchor, was alarmed, as they anticipated, for the safety of the town, which was undefended. Against his will and in great haste he embarked and sailed along the shore ; the land forces of the Messenians followed. The Peloponne- sians, seeing that the enemy were in single file and were already within the gulf and close to land, which was exactly what they wanted, at a given signal suddenly brought their ships round, and the whole line faced the Athenians and bore down upon them, every ship rowing at the utmost speed, for they hoped to cut off all the Athenian fleet. Eleven vessels which were in advance evaded the sudden turn of the Peloponnesians, and rowed past their right wing into the open water ; but they caught the rest, forced them aground, and disabled them. All the sailors who did not swim out of them were slain. Some of the empty ships they fastened to their own and began to tow away ; one they had already taken with the crew, but others were saved by the Messenians, who came to the rescue, dashed armed as they were into the sea, boarded them, and, fighting from their decks when they were being already towed away, finally recovered them.
91 While in this part of the engagement the Lacedae-
The Lacedaemonians monians had the victory and routed the
chase the eleven Athe- Athenian ships, their twenty vessels on
ntan ships, which had ,, . u , .
escaped, to NauPactus. the n§ht wing were pursuing the eleven One of these by a sudden of the Athenians which had escaped tnm sinks her pursuer. frOm their attack into the open water of the gulf. These fled and, with the exception of one, arrived at Naupactus before their pursuers. They stopped off the temple of Apollo, and, turning their beaks outward, prepared to defend themselves in case the enemy followed them to the land. The Peloponnesians soon came up ; they were singing a paean of victory as they rowed, and one Leucadian ship far in advance of the rest was chasing the single Athenian ship which had been left behind. There chanced to be anchored in the deep water a merchant
9r, 92] nrroRY or TUK .ITHF.M.I 173
vessel, rouiul which the Athenian ship rowed just in time, struck the Leucadian amidships, and sank her. At this sudden and unexpected feat the Peloponncsians were dismayed ; they had been carrying on the pursuit in disorder because of their success. And some of them, dropping the blades of their oars, halted, intending to await the rest, which was a foolish thing to do when the enemy were so near and ready to attack them. Others, not knowing the coast, ran aground.
When the Athenians saw what was going on their hopes 92 revived, and at a given signal they
The Athfiimns, fak-
charged their enemies with a shout. ,„„, ,„/;.„„,,,<,, „/ the The Lacedaemonians did not long confusion, tt<»t
resist, for they had mack- mistakes and ""'
. ~ - n i cotnputt victory.
were all in confusion, but fled to
Panonnus, whence they had put to sea. The Athenians pursued them, took six of their ships which were nearest to them, and recovered their own ships which the Pelo- ponnesians had originally disabled and taken in tow near the shore. The crews of the captured vessels were either slain or made prisoners. Timocrates the Lacedaemoni. was on board the Leucadian ship which went down near the merchant vessel ; when he saw the ship sinking he killed himself; the body was carried into the harbour of Naupactus. The Athenians then retired and raised a trophy on the place from which they had just sailed out to their victory. They took up the bodies and wrecks which were floating near their own shore, and gave back to the enemy, under a Hag of truce, those which belonged to them. The Lacedaemonians also set up a trophy of the victory which they had gained over the ships destroyed by them near the shore ; the single ship which they took they dedicated on the Achaean Khium, close to the trophy. Then, fearing the arrival of the Athenian reinforcements, they sailed away at nightfall to the Crisaean Gulf and to
" Cp. ii. 85 init.
1 74 THE PIRAEUS IN DANGER [ll
Corinth, all with the exception of the Leucadians. And not long after their retreat the twenty Athenian ships from Crete, which ought to have come to the assistance of Phormio before the battle, arrived at Naupactus. So the summer ended.
93 Before breaking up the fleet which had returned to
The Peloponmsians Corinthand the Crisaean Gulf, Cnemus,
determine to make an Brasidas, and the other Peloponnesian
attempt on the Piraeus commanders ft being now the begin. but losing heart, only
sail to Salamis and nmg of winter, wished to make an ravage the island. attempt, suggested by some Megarians,
on Piraeus, the harbour of Athens. The entrance was un- closed and unguarded ; as was natural, since the Athenians were complete masters of the sea. Each sailor was to carry his cushion and his oar with its thong, and cross on foot with all haste from Corinth to the Athenian side of the Isthmus ; they were to go to Megara and from Nisaea, the harbour of Megara, to launch forty ships which happened to be lying in the docks ; thence they were to sail straight for the Piraeus. No guard ships were stationed there, for no one ever expected a that the enemy would attempt a surprise of this kind. As to an open and deliberate attack, how was he likely to venture on that ? and if he even entertained such a design, would he not have been found out in time a ? The plan was immediately carried out. Arriving at night, they launched the ships from Nisaea and sailed away, but not to the Piraeus ; the danger seemed too great, and also the wind is said to have been unfavourable. So they gave up their original idea and made for the projecting point of Salamis which looks towards Megara; here there was a fort, and three ships were stationed in order to prevent anything being con- veyed by sea into or out of Megara. This fort they
"• Or, taking (irti differently, and «a0' rjavxtav in the sense of 'without interference : ' 'that the enemy would make a sudden attack of this kind. An attempt so bold and open was not likely to be unopposed, or the very design, if entertained, to escape detection.'
93 95] S1TA LCES M. I A7-fS 11'. IK I 7'aV rF.KDIC( - /> I 75
assailed, towed away the ships without their crews, and ravaged the rest of Salami's which was unprepared for their attack.
By this time fin-signals had carried tin? alarm to Athens. 94
Nothing which happened in the war
, . 't-i • i , • Tm&onuy p<im<- at
caused a greater pan. c. Fhe mhabi- A{hett^ R(lllf ,
tants of the city thought that the enemy mediately sent to Sa/a- had already sailed into the Piraeus; '"«• <""/ "'
- -
. .«.*.. , r*' t* n-tin:
the belief in the Piraeus was that Salamis had been taken and that the enemy were on the point of sailing into the harbour, which, if they had been bolder, they might easily have done, and no wind would have prevented them. But as soon as day dawned, the Athenians, coming down with the whole strength of the city to the Piraeus, launched their ships and, embarking in tumultuous haste, sailed to Salamis, while their land- forces remained and guarded the Piraeus. When the Peloponnesians saw the fleet coming they sailed quickly back to Nisaea, but not until they had ravaged the greater part of Salamis and taken many prisoners and much spoil, as well as the three ships which lay off the fort of Budorum. There was some apprehension about their own ships ; for they had long been lain up and were not sea-worthy. Arriving at Megara they marched back again to Corinth, and the Athenians, having failed to overtake them in Salamis, sailed back likewise. Henceforth they kept more careful watch over the Piraeus, among other pre- cautions closing the entrance to the harbour.
About the same time, at the beginning of winter, Sitalces 95 the Odrysian, the son of Teres, king of
rp, . r» j- u Sitalccsktngofl >,
Thrace, made war upon Perdiccas, the itiaUinttce.MAt,
son of Alexander, king of Macedon, attack*
and upon the Thracian Chalcidians. the Thnuian Chalddi-
There were two promises, of which he
wished to perform one, and exact fulfilment of the other.
The promise of which he claimed fulfilment had been made
to him by Perdiccas, when, being hard pressed at the
176 THE KINGDOM OF SITALCES [ll
beginning of the war, he wanted Sitalces to reconcile him to the Athenians a, and not to restore and place on the throne his brother Philip, who was his enemy; but Per- diccas did not keep his word. The other was a promise which Sitalces had himself made to the Athenians when he entered into alliance with them, that he would put an end to their war with the Chalcidians. For these two reasons he invaded the country, taking with him Amyntas the son of Philip, whom he intended to make king of Macedon, and also certain Athenian envoys who had just come to remind him of his engagement, and an Athenian commander Hagnon. For the Athenians on their part were bound to assist him against the Chalcidians with ships and with as large an army as they could provide. 96 Accordingly Sitalces, beginning with the Odrysae, made a levy of all his Thracian subjects
The forces of Sitalces. ... .,
dwelling between Mount Haemus and Mount Rhodope as far as the shores of the Euxine and of the Hellespont. Beyond the Haemus he made a levy of the Getae and of all the tribes lying more towards the Euxine on this side of the Ister. Now the Getae and their neighbours border on the Scythians, and are equipped like them, for they are all horse-archers. He also sum- moned to his standard many of the highland Thracians, who are independent and carry dirks ; they are called Dii, and most of them inhabit Mount Rhodope; of these some were attracted by pay, while others came as volunteers. He further called out the Agrianians, the Laeaeans, and the other Paeonian nations who were his subjects. These tribes were the last within his empire ; they extended as far as the Graaean Paeonians and the river Strymon, which rises in Mount Scombrus and flows through the country of the Graaeans and Laeaeans ; there his dominion ended and the independent Paeonians began. In the
"• The reconciliation had been effected through the instrumentality of Nymphodorus ; ii. 29.
96,97] THE K IXC DOM OF SIT.II' 177
direction of the Triballi, who an- likewise independent, the Treres and the Tilatacans formed his boundary. These tribes dwell to the north of Mount Scombrus and reach westward as far as the Oscius. This river rises in the same mountains as the Nestus and the Ilebrus, an unin- habited and extensive range which adjoins Rhodope.
The empire of the Odrysac measured by the coast-line 97 reaches from the city <>f Abdera to the Extent nn,l .vm//// <>/ mouth of the Ister in the Kuxine. The /;"' "'i'.™'"" >•»•:'• voyage round can be made by a merchant vessel, if the wind is favourable the whole way, at the quickest in four days and as many nights. Or an expeditious travel In- going by land from Abdera to the mouth of the Ister, if he takes the shortest route, will accomplish the journey in eleven days. Such was the extent of the Odrysian empire towards the ><a: up the country the land journcv from Byzantium to the Laeaeans and to the Strymon, this being the longest line which can be drawn from the sea into tin- interior, may be accomplished by an expeditious traveller in thirteen days. The tribute which was collected from the Hellenic cities and from all the barbarous nations in the reign of Seuthes, the successor of Sitalces, under whom the amount was greatest, was valued at about four hundred talents of coined money", reckoning only gold and silver. Presents of gold and silver equal in value to the tribute, besides stuffs embroidered or plain and other articles, were also brought, not only to the king himself, but to the inferior chiefs and nobles of the Odrysac. For their custom was the opposite of that which prevailed in the Persian king- dom ; they wen- more ready to receive than to give ; and he who asked and was refused was not so much discredited as he who refused when he was asked. The sani- custom prevailed among the other Thracians in a less degree, but among the Odrysae, who were richer, more rxtfnsiv nothing could be done without presents. P>y the>«- means
" £8o.coo.
Vol .1. N
178 S1TALCES MARCHES INTO MACEDONIA [ll
the kingdom became very powerful, and in revenue and general prosperity exceeded all the nations of Europe which lie between the Ionian Sea and the Euxine ; in the • size and strength of their army being second only, though ) far inferior, to the Scythians. For if the Scythians were united, there is no nation which could compare with them, or would be capable of resisting them " ; I do not say in Europe, but even in Asia — not that they are at all on a level with other nations in sense, or in that intelligence which uses to advantage the ordinary means of life.
98 Such was the great country over which Sitalces ruled. Sitakes and his army When he had collected his army and
enter Macedonia. his preparations were complete he
marched into Macedonia, passing first of all through his own territory, and then through Cercine, a desert mountain which lies between the Sinti and the Paeonians. He went by the road which he had himself constructed when he made his expedition against the Paeonians and cut down the forest. As he left the Odrysian territory in going through the mountain he had on the right hand the Paeonians and on the left hand the Sinti and Maedi ; on quitting the mountain he arrived at Doberus in Paeonia. He lost no part of his army on the march, except by sick- ness, but rather increased it ; for many of the independent Thracian tribes followed him of their own accord in hopes of plunder. The whole number of his forces was estimated at a hundred and fifty thousand, of which about two-thirds were infantry and the rest cavalry. The largest part of the cavalry was furnished by the Odrysae themselves, and the next largest by the Getae. Of the infantry, those armed with dirks who came from the independent tribes of Mount Rhodope were the most warlike. The remainder of the army was a mixed multitude, chiefly formidable from its numbers.
99 Having mustered at Doberus, they made ready to
a Cp. Herod, iv. 46.
98-100] RISE OF THE M.K'EDOMANS 179
descend Over tin- heights into the plains <.t" Macedonia, which were tin- territory of Pcrdiccas. Early ln*t»ry of the There is an upper Macedonia, which is M<i<-ftlonian kingdom. inhabited by Lyncestians, Elimiots, and other tribes ; these are the allies and tributaries of the lower Macedonian-, but have kings ..f their own. The maritime country which we now call Macedonia was conquered and formed into a kingdom by Alexander the father of Perdiccas and his ancestors the Trim nidac, who originally came from Argos". They defeated and drove out of Picria the Pierians, who afterwards settled in Phagres and other places at the foot of Mount Pangaeus, beyond the Strymon ; the land which lies under Mount Pangaeus towards the sea is still called the Pierian vale. They also drove out of Bottia, as it is called, the P>ottiaeans, who are now the neighbours of the Chalcidians, and they acquired a narrow strip of Paeon ia by the river Axius, reaching down to Pella and the sea. Beyond the Axius they possess the country called Mygdonia reaching to the Strymon, out of which they have driven the Kdonians. They expelled from the country still called Eordia the Eordians, of whom the greater part perished, but a small remnant of them settled in the neighbourhood of Physca; and from Almopia the Almopians. They and their subjects further subdued and still hold various places belonging to other tribes, Anthemus, Grestonia, Bisaltia, and a great part of the original Macedonia. But the whole of this country is now called Macedonia, and was under the rule of Perdiccas the son of Alexander at the time of the invasion of Sitalces.
The Macedonians were unable to defend themselves 100 against the onset of so vast a host ; they therefore retired into their strongholds and forts, which at that time were lew. For those which now exist were built by Archelaus the son of Perdiccas, who, when he became king, made straight roads and in various ways improved the country.
* Herod, viii. 137-139. X 2
l8o PROGRESS OF THE INVASION [ll
In his force of cavalry and infantry and in his military The Macedonians re- resources generally he surpassed all tire into their strong- the eight kings who preceded him. holds. Their cavalry The Thracian army leaving Doberus,
oppose the invaders, but . JJ '
are compelled by their invaded first of all the country which inferiority of numbers had formerly been the principality of fodesist- Philip, and took Eidomene by storm.
Gortynia, Atalante, and some other towns came to terms out of regard for Amyntas the son of Philip, who accom- panied the expedition. They also besieged but failed to take Europus; they next advanced into that part of Macedonia which lay on the left of Pella and Cyrrhus. Farther south into Bottiaea and Pieria they did not penetrate, but were content to ravage the territory of Mygdonia, Grestonia, and Anthemus. The Macedonians had no idea of facing them with infantry, but sent for additional cavalry from their allies in the upper part of the country, and, although a handful of men, dashed in amongst the great Thracian host wherever they pleased. No one withstood their onset ; for they were excellent horsemen and well protected with coats of mail. But hemmed in as they continually were by a multitude many times their own number, they ran into great danger. At last, feeling that they were not strong enough to encounter such superiority of force, they desisted. ioi Sitalces now held a conference with Perdiccas touch- ing the matters which gave occa-
S it a Ices holds a con- . . ~, n . . . ,
fcrcncc with Perdiccas, S1On to the War- The fleet which the
and after an unsuc- Athenians had promised never arrived ; ccssfnlcampaigninBot- for not believing that Sitalces would
ticc and Chakidice. is , ,~ ,
persuaded by his nephczv come> they only sent gifts and envoys Seuthes (ivho had been to him. After waiting for them in vain gamed over by Pcrdic- he despatched a part of his army
cas) to return home. . .-.. ^. , . .. , ,,
Alarm in Hellas. against the Chalcidians and Bottiaeans,
and, driving them within their walls,
devastated the country. While he was encamped in these
parts, the Thessalians, who lie towards the south, the
IOT, 102] RETVR.V or 5/7v//.r/r.<? 181
Magnesians and other dependants of the Thrssalians, and all the Hellenes as far as Thermopylae were afraid that his army would move on them, and took measures of pre- caution. Those independent Thracian tribes to the north beyond the Strymon who dwelt in the plains, namely the Panaeans, Odomantians, Dn.ans, and Dersaeans, were also in great alarm. A belief arose, which spread far and wide among the enemies of Athens, that the Athenians meant to lead their Odrysian allies against the rest of Hellas. Meanwhile Sitalces overran and ravaged Chalci- cliee, Bottitv, and Macedonia, but could not effect his objects ; and, his army being without food and suffering from the winter, he was persuaded by his nephew, who next to himself had the greatest authority, Seuthes the son of Spurdacus:1, to n turn home at once. Now Perdic- cas had secretly gained over Seuthes, promising to give him his sifter in marriage, with a portion. And so Sitalces and his army, having remained thirty days in all, of which eight were passed among the Chalcidians, returned home in haste. Perdiccas in fulfilment of his promise gave his sister Stratonice in marriage to Seuthes. Thus ended the expedition of Sitalces.
During the same winter the Athenian forces at Nan- 102 pactus, after the Peloponnesian fleet ThfAlheHianx. ,„,.,,. had dispersed, made an expedition n,,,,,,,,<>. m under the command of Phormio into potion win Atmr* the centre of Acarnania with four ' hundred hoplites of their own taken from the fleet1' and f«»ur hundred Messenian hoplites. They first coasted along towards Astacus ° and disembarked. From Stratus, Coronta, and other places they expelled those of the inhabitants whom they distrusted, and restoring Cynes tin- son of Theolytus to Coronta, they returned to their ships. (Vniudae, of which the inhabitants, unlike the rest of
' (.']>. iv. ioi tin.
182 EXPEDITION INTO ACARNANIA [ll
the Acarnanians, were their persistent enemies, was un- approachable in winter. For the town
Oeniadae was inac- ... . . - i /* i i
cessible, owing to the 1S in the midst of a marsh formed bJ
flooding of the Ache- the river Achelous, which, rising in hus. Opposite to the Mount Pindus and passing first through
town lie the Echinades. . . r , „ . A
islands formed by the the territory of the Dolopians, Agrae- deposits of the river, ans, and Amphilochians, and then Here Alcmaeon, after through the Acarnanian plain, at some
the inttrderof his mother, ,. c -in i i
is said to have found a distance from its mouth flows by the home which was indi- city of Stratus and finds an exit into the cated to him by the sea near Oeniadae : an expedition in
oracle of Apollo. . . •• j • -LI L
winter is thus rendered impossible by the water. Most of the islands called Echinades are situated opposite to Oeniadae and close to the mouth of the Ache- lous. The consequence is that the river, which is large, is always silting up : some of the islands have been already joined to the mainland, and very likely, at no distant period, they may all be joined to it. The stream is wide and strong and full of mud ; and the islands are close together and serve to connect the deposits made by the river, not allowing them to dissolve in the water. For, lying irregu- larly and not one behind the other, they prevent the river from finding a straight channel into the sea. These islands are small and uninhabited. The story is that when Alcmaeon the son of Amphiaraus was wandering over the earth after the murder of his mother, he was told by Apollo that here he should find a home, the oracle intimating that he would never obtain deliverance from his terrors until he discovered some country which was not yet in existence and not seen by the sun at the time when he slew his mother ; there he might settle, but the rest of the earth was accursed to him. He knew not what to do, until at last, according to the story, he spied the deposit of earth made by the Achelous, and he thought that a place sufficient to support life must have accumulated in the long time during which he had been wandering since his mother's death. There, near Oeniadae, he settled, and, becoming
io3] RETURN OF PI/OKMIO 183
ruler, left to the country the name of his son Acarnan. Such is the tradition which has come down to us concerning Alcmaeon.
The Athenians under Phormio sailed back fr«>m Acar- 103 nania to Naupactus, and later at the _. . . .
r Hi? A t/ifni<nts return
beginning of spring returned to Athens, /„ .v,,,,/,,,,/,,,-. «nd ,„
bringing with them the ships which #•• */»>»i>r ••><"' kick to they had captured, besides the prisoners Atl""*- of free birth whom they had taken in the naval ments. These were exchanged man for man. And so the winter ended, and with it the third year in the Pclop<>n- nesian War of which Thucydides wrote the history.
BOOK III
1 IN the following summer, when the corn was in full ear, oiC884.28' Third invasion of the Peloponnesians and their allies,
Attica by the Pelopon- under the command of Archidamus, the nesians. son of Zeuxidamus, the Lacedaemo-
nian king, invaded Attica, and encamping wasted the country. The Athenian cavalry as usual attacked them whenever an opportunity offered, and prevented the great body of the light-armed troops from going beyond their lines and injuring the lands near the city. The invaders re- mained until their supplies were exhausted; they were then disbanded, and returned to their several homes.
2 No sooner had the Peloponnesians quitted Attica than
the whole people of Lesbos, with the
The Lesbians, wtth . r i i\/r i
the exception of the exception of the Methymnaeans, re- Methymnaeans, revolt, volted from Athens. They had enter- but sooner than they tained the design before the war began,
had intended, informa- , , . , T , . , ,
turn of their plans hav- but the Lacedaemonians gave them no ing been sent to Athens encouragement. And now they were from Tenedos,Mcthym. not ready, and were compelled to revolt
na, and Mytilene itself. ^^ ^ ^ ^ ;ntended> For
they were waiting until they had completed the work of closing their harbours, raising walls, and building ships, and they had not as yet received from Pontus the force of archers, the corn and the other supplies for which they had sent. But the inhabitants of Tenedos, who were not on good terms with them, and the Methymnaeans, and individual citizens who were of the opposite faction and
REl'OLT OF AE5/.VAS- 185
were proxeni of Athens, turned informers and told tin- Athenians that the Mytilenaeanfl \V«T<- forcibly making Mytilene the centre of government for the whole island; that the preparations which they were pressing forward had been throughout undertaken hv th<-m in concert with the Lacedaemonians and with their Boeotian kinsmen, and meant revolt; and that if something were not immediately done, Lesbos would be lost to Athens.
The Athenians, who were suffering severely from ilie 3 plague and from the war, of which they The Ath ,->„;,„, had begun to feel the full effects, re- ""'»<• /» >»//>;-/.v j/v//'- flected that it was a serious matter to lf"<' «'« ^f< • «»<<
ffinf Ctappifa thither
bring upon themselves a second war :i.,/// ^,,./v s/,,-/,s. The with a naval power like Lesbos, whose inhabitants are fore- resources were unimpaired ; and so, u'<ir'"f(f- mainly because they wished that the charges might not be true, they at first refused to listen to them. But, when they had sent envoys to Mytilene and found that the Mytilenaeans, in spite of remonstrances, continued their preparations and persisted in tin- attempt to concentrate the government in Mytilene, they took alarm and determined to be beforehand with them. Without losing a moment, they sent to Lesbos, under the command of CleTppides the son of Deinias, and two others, forty ships which had been intended to cruise about Peloponnesus. Tlu-v had heard that there- was a festival of Apollo Maloeis held outside the walls in which the whole population took part, and that if they made haste they might hope to surprise them. The attempt would very likely succeed ; but, if not, they mi. bid the Mytilenaeans give up their fleet and dismantle their walls, and in case they refused they might go to war with them. So the ships sailed; and as then- happened to be at Athens ten Mytilcnaean triremes, serving in accord- ance witli the terms of the alliance, the Athenians seized them and threw their crews into prison. But the Myti- lenaeans were warned by a messenger fn»m Athen>, who crossed to Euboea and went on foot to Geraestus ; there
186 ENVOYS GO TO SPARTA [ill
he found a merchant vessel just about to sail ; he took ship, and arriving at Mytilene on the third day after he left Athens, announced the coming of the Athenian fleet. Whereupon the Mytilenaeans abstained from going out to the temple of Apollo Maloeis. They also kept good watch about their walls and harbours, and barricaded the unfinished works.
4 Soon afterwards the Athenians arrived. The com-
The Mytilenaeans, manders of the fleet, seeing that they
after a slight resistance were foiled, delivered the message
at sea negotiate an entrusted to them the dt refused to armistice. Ihey send * . .
envoys openly to Athens, yield and they commenced hostilities. secretly to Sparta. Taken by surprise, and unprepared for
the war which was forced upon them, the Mytilenaeans came out once and made a show of fighting a little in front of the harbour ; but they were soon driven back by the Athenian ships, and then they began to parley with the generals, in the hope of obtaining tolerable terms of some kind, and getting rid of the fleet for the time. The Athe- nian generals accepted their proposals, they too fearing that they were not strong enough to make war against the whole island. Having got the armistice, the Mytilenaeans sent envoys to Athens ; one of them was a person who had given information against his fellow-citizens, but was now repentant. They had a faint hope that the Athenians would be induced to withdraw their ships and believe in their good intentions. But as they did not really expect to succeed in their Athenian mission, they also sent an embassy to Lacedaemon, unperceived by the Athenian fleet, which was stationed at Maleaa to the north of the city a. After a troublesome voyage through the open sea, the envoys arrived at Lacedaemon and solicited aid for their countrymen.
a Or, to avoid the geographical contradiction (see notes), we may take the words with aTroariXXovaiv : ' they also sent an embassy . . . north- ward from the city.'
4 7] BLOCK.Wr. OF MYTH 187
The other envoys \\-ho liacl l>ccn sent to Athens met 5 with no success. When they returned,
the Mytilenaeans and the rest of Lesbos, /,WII ,./,/„.,„ with the exception of Methvmna, com- MMCM* ./ hatt;,
menced hostilities ; the Methymnaeans, V J",ch "';'
J ' Afytilenatans have the
with the Imbnans, Lenin ians, and a few Uvtmtrngt-, but Hi.
<>f tlie allies, had come to the support »»«»*/•• •••Ung
Of the Athenians. The Mytilenaeans •*J**»P*#°«*
with their whole force sallied out against the Athenian ramp, and a battle took place, in which they got the bett but they had no confidence in themselves, and, instead of encamping on the field, retired. They then remained quiet, being unwilling to risk an engagement without the additional help which they were expecting from Pelopon- nesus and elsewhere. For Me -leas a Lacedaemonian, and I It rmaeomlasa Tin-ban, had now arrived at Mytilme ; they had been sent before the revolt, but the Athenian fleet anticipated them, and they sailed in by stealth after the battle in a single- trireme. The envoys recommended the Mytilenaeans to send an embassy of their own in another trireme to accompany them on their return to Sparta ; which they accordingly did.
The Athenians, greatly encouraged by the inactivity of 6 their adversaries, summoned their The Athenian* lAwk- allies, who came all the more readily «'/«• .J/v///,->/,: /. because they saw that the Lesbians displayed no energy. They then anchored the fleet round the south of the city, and having fortified two camps, one on either side of it, thev established a blockade of both the harbours. Thus they excluded the Mytilenaeans from the sea. They like- wist- held the country in the immediate neighbourhood of their two camps; but the Mytilenaeans and the other Lesbians, who had now taken up arms, were masters of the rest of the island. At Malea the Athenians had, not a camp, but a station for their ships and for their mark
Such was the course of the war in Lesbos. In the same 7 summer, and about the same time, the Athenians sent
1 88 SPEECH OF THE MYTILENAEANS [ill
thirty ships to Peloponnesus ; they were placed under
Asopius with thirty the command of Asopius, the son
Athenian ships ravages of Phormio ; for the Acarnanians
tlie Laconian coast, and. , , , . , ., ,
dismissing eighteen, had desired them to send out a son or sails to Oeniadae, which relation of Phormio to be their leader. he is unable to capture. The ships in passing ravaged the coast of Laconia, and then Asopius sent most of them home, but kept twelve, with which he sailed to Naupactus. Next he made a general levy of the Acarnanians and led his forces against Oeniadae, his ships sailing up the river Achelous, while his army ravaged the country by land. As the in- habitants refused to yield, he disbanded his land-forces, but himself sailed to Leucas and made a descent upon He is killed in a de- Nericus, where he and part of his army scent upon Leucas. jn returning to their ships were slain by the inhabitants, assisted by a few Peloponnesian guards. The Athenians then put to sea, and received their dead from the Leucadians under a flag of truce.
8 The envoys whom the Mytilenaeans had sent out in
their first vessel were told by the La-
Ine Mytilenaean en- < J
voys meet the allies in cedaemonians to come to the Olympic council at Olympia. festival, in order that the allies, as well as themselves, might hear them and determine what should be done. So they went to Olympia, The Olympiad was that in which the Rhodian Dorieus won his second victory. When the festival was over, the allies met in council, and the ambassadors spoke as follows : —
9 ' We know, Lacedaemonians and allies, that all Hel-
lenes entertain a fixed sentiment against
ihere is a natural r
feeling against those those who m time °f War revolt and
-vho desert their friends, desert an old alliance. Their new b,,t the friendship must allies are delighted with them in as far
be real and equal. „ , . .
as they profit by their aid ; but they do not respect them, for they deem them traitors to their former friends. And this opinion is reasonable enough ; but only when the rebels, and those from whom they sever
8-io] SPEECH OF Tin: MYTILEXAEANS 189
themselves, are naturally united by the .same interests and tetlings and equally matched in power and resources, and when there is no iva-nnablc excuse for a revolt. But our relation to the Athenians was of another sort, and no « should be ipon us for deserting them in the hour
of danger although we were honoured by them in tim-
' Since an alliance is our object, we will first addn ourselves to the question of justice and ^^ ^.^ faf honour. We know that no friendship v<w/-"«i///<i</<«', .v<- must between man and man, no leagr, -frve
between city and city, can ever be per- J manent unless the friends or allies have a good opinion of each other's honesty, and are similar in general character. For the diversity in men's minds makes the difference in their actions.
' Now our alliance with the Athenians iir.^t began when you ceased to take part in the Persian //v ,„,„,„, ,,/;, War, and they remained to complete ///<• .-it/if mm.
the work. But we were never the :"' <v<"""/ '" ""'f''(c
, . thciiflii'cranicofllclltt*
allies ot the Athenians in their design /;,,m/, /illf
of Subjugating Hellas; We Were re-all V aV/.-ii ar .svia- the ,i
the allies of the Hellenes, whom v
. and ourstlvts,
sought to liberate from tin- Persians. And while in the exercise of their com- iJmt .v<W«-/- ///».•• mand they claimed no supremacy, SVC /w ""M"" ''» «><•">•' were very ready to follow them. But our fear^ began to be- aroused when we saw them relaxing their efforts against the Persians and imposing the yoke of their dominion upon the allies, who could not unite and defend themsel for their interests were too various. And so they were all enslaved, except ourselves and the Chians. We forsooth were independent allies, free men — that wa> the word — who fought at their side. But, judging from previous ex- amples, how could we any longer have confidence in our leaders? For they had subjugated others to whom, equally with ourselves, their faith was pledged ; and how
190 SPEECH OF THE MYTILENAEANS [
ill
could we who survived expect to be spared if ever they had the power to destroy us ?
1 1 ' Had all the allies retained their independence, we should have had better assurance that they
We were an offence J
to them, but they left would leave us as we were ; but when us free because (i*) our the majority had been subjugated by voluntary adherence ^ h . h naturally be expected
was a testimony to > J ^J r
their character, (2) they to take offence at our footing of equality; wanted to use the strong they would contrast us who alone main-
r "»:t) % tained this ^uali'y with the maJ°rity
feared our navy, (4) we who had submitted to them; they paid court to their dem- Would also observe that in proportion as their strength was increasing, our isolation was increasing too. Mutual fear is the only solid basis of alliance ; for he who would break faith is deterred from aggression by the consciousness of inferiority. And why were we left independent? Only because they thought that to gain an empire they must use fair words and win their way by policy and not by violence. On the one hand, our position was a witness to their character. For, having an equal vote with them, we could not be supposed to have fought in their wars against our will, but those whom they attacked must have been in the wrong. On the other hand, they were thus enabled to use the powerful against the weak ; they thought that they would leave us to the last ; when the lesser states were removed, the stronger would fall an easier prey. But if they had begun with us while the power of the allies was still intact, and we might have afforded a rallying-point, they would not so easily have mastered them. Besides, our navy caused them some apprehension ; they were afraid that we might join you, or some other great power, and that the union would be dangerous to them. For a time, too, we saved ourselves by paying court to the people and to the popular leaders of the day. But we were not likely to have survived long, judging by the conduct of the Athe- nians towards others, if this war had not arisen.
n-13] SPEECH OF THE MYTIL/:.\.U IQI
'What trust then could we repose in such a friendship 12 or such a freedom as this? The
// avis not mutual
civility which we showed to one another /f).r /,„/ ,,,,itnnl fear was at variance with our real feelings. .v/»«7i nni/t-tf us. They courted us in time of war 1> •"'"'* -f s/ /"m"
•* .•"/ <nt tut ci] utility
they were afraid of us, and we in time :i,///, //,<•„, :
of peace paid a like attention to them. "In;iv* liable (<> />,• «t~
And the faith which is generally assured fw; ;/".'
furc at thnr in,
by mutual good-will had with us n<>
other bond hut mutual fear ; from fea'\ and not from 1< we wore constrained to maintain the alliance, and which ever of us first thought that he could safely venture would assuredly have been the first to break it. And therefore if any one imagines that we do wrong in striking first, because they delay the blow which we dread, and thinks that we should wait and make quite sure of their intentions, he is mistaken. If we were really on an equality with them and in a position to counteract their designs and imitate their threatening attitude, how was it consistent with this equality that we had still to be at their men The power of attack is always in their hands, and the power of anticipating attack should always be in ours.
'The-< were the reasons, Lacedaemonians and alii- and the grievances which led us to
; ,7, though
revolt. 1 hey were dear enough to /,irlll(,,. ,w(
prove to all hearers the justice of our rush: it had a double cause, and .strong enough to alarm us ""f ' ' ""
- Itlirnitins and .svm/vr-
and drive us to seek some deliverance. ttottlw&HMu. n,,t We have acted from no sudden im- .-ir /<*>* /» v<>n /<» •//<•//-.
pulse ; long ago, before the war began, -v'"v fs v»"
iiv for attacking Atln-n^ we sent envoys to you, and proposed //Vv,,. Th<-l,«tn, ,.
to revolt. But We Could not, because be fought in the «>nn-
you refused our request. Now, how- '"^ °" lvtlich Atllf"s J t/f/>fiif^.
ever, when the Boeotians have invited
us, we have at once obeyed the call. We were -ntending to make a double severance of ourselves, from the
192 SPEECH OF THE MYTILENAEANS [ill
Hellenes and from the Athenians ; from the guilt, that is, of oppressing the Hellenes, in concert with the Athenians, instead of aiding in their liberation, and from the ruin which the Athenians were sooner or later sure to bring upon us, unless we anticipated them. But the step has been taken hastily and without due preparation ; hence you are the more bound to receive us into alliance and to send us speedy help, thereby showing that you are ready to protect those who have claims upon you and to strike a blow at your enemies. Never was there such an opportunity before. The Athenians are exhausted by pestilence and by a costly war ; some of their ships are cruising about your shores ; the remainder are threatening us ; so that they are not likely to have many to spare if you, in the course of this summer, make a second attack upon them by land and by sea. They will not be able to meet you at sea ; or, if they do, they will have to withdraw their forces both from Lesbos and from Peloponnesus. And let no one say to himself that he is going to incur a danger which will be his own on behalf of a country which is not his own. He may think that Lesbos is a long way off; but he will find that the help which we bring will be very near him. For the war will not be fought in Attica, as might be imagined ; but in those countries by which Attica is supported. The revenues of the Athenians are derived from their allies, and, if they subdue us, will be greater than ever ; no one will revolt again, and our resources will be added to theirs; and we shall suffer worse things than those who have been enslaved already. But, if you assist us heartily, you will gain the alliance of a great naval power, and a navy is your chief want ; you will draw away the allies of the Athenians, who will fearlessly come over to you ; thus you will more easily overthrow the power of Athens. And you will no longer incur, as in times past, the reproach of deserting those who revolt a.
Cp. i. .jo fin. ; i. 69.
i4-i6] LESBOS RECEIVED INTO ALLIANCE 193
If you come forward as their liberators your final triumph will be assured.
'Do not then for very shame frustrate the hopes which 14 the Hellenes rest on you, or dishonour Do ttol ,,,,„ ltftray the name of Olympian Zrus in whose us, for onr cause is the temple we are in a manner suppliants, /(IS-
but be our allies and helpers. Do not betray us ; we, the people of Mytilent', risk our lives alone in the common cause of Hellas : universal will be the benefit which we confer if we succeed, and still more universal the ruin if you are inflexible and we fall. Wherefore prove your- selves worthy of your reputation in Hellas, and be such as we in our fear would have you/
These were the words of the Mytilenaeans.
The Lacedaemonians and the allies immediately ac- 15 cepted their proposals and took the TiicMytthnneansare Lesbians into alliance. The con- lakctl {nio aNinnce, ami federals, who were present at Olym- *LSfc£« °,Z pia, were told to make ready quickly isthmus, but Cu,nc in for another expedition into Attica, and -s/":i/v to assemble at the isthmus, bringing the usual contingent of two-thirds. The Lacedaemonians arrived first, and at once set to work making machines for hauling ships ov. i the isthmus, from Corinth to the Saronic Gulf. For they intended to attack the Athenians both by sea and land. But although they were energetic themselves, the other allies assembled slowly ; they were gathering in their fruits and in no mood for war.
The Athenians, perceiving that the activity of the Lace- 16 daemonians was due to a conviction of T/ifLaci-tiiifiiioniani their weakness, determined to show for the first time prepare them their mistake, and to prove that, !%•££ without moving the fleet from Lesbos, a hundred ships, and they were fully able to repel this new the attempt is given ,</>. force which threatened them. They manned a hundred ships, in which they embarked, both metics and citizens %
• Cp. i. 143 init. VOL. I.
194
NAVAL STRENGTH OF ATHENS [ill
all but the highest class and the Knights ; they then set sail, and, after displaying their strength along the shores of the isthmus, made descents upon the Peloponnesian coast wherever they pleased. The Lacedaemonians were astounded, and thought that the Lesbians had told them what was not true. Their allies too had not yet arrived, and they heard that the Athenians in the thirty ships a which had been sent to cruise around Peloponnesus were wasting their country districts ; and so, not knowing what else to do, they returned home. However, they after- wards prepared a fleet to go to Lesbos, and ordered the allies to equip forty ships : these they placed under the command of Alcidas, who was to take them out. When the Athenians saw that the Peloponnesians had gone home, they and their fleet of a hundred ships did the same.
17 At the time when the fleet was at sea, the Athenians had
Perfection of the the largest number of ships which they
Athenian navy at this ever na(j a\\ together, effective and in
time. Great expendi- , , , , ,
ture on the navy and Sood trim> although the mere number the siege of Potidaea in was as large or even larger at the com- the first year of 'the war. mencement of the war. For then there were a hundred which guarded Attica, Euboea, and Sala- mis, and another hundred which were cruising off Pelo- ponnesus b, not including the ships employed in blockading Potidaea and at other places ; so that in one and the same summer their fleet in all numbered two hundred and fifty. This and the money spent in the war against Potidaea was the chief call upon their treasury. Every one of the hoplites engaged in the siege received two drachmae0 a-day, one for himself, and one for his servant ; the original force amounted to three thousand d, and this num- ber was maintained as long as the siege lasted. Sixteen hundred more came with Phormio, but went away before
n Cp. iii. 7 init. b Cp. ii. 17 fin. c About is.
d Cp. i. 57 fin.; 61 init.
17-19] BLOCKADE OF MYTILEN& 195
the end ". The sailors in the fleet all received the same pay as the soldiers. So great was the drain on the resources of the Athenians in the early part of the war, and such was the largest number of ships which they ever manned.
While the Lacedaemonians were at the isthmus, the 18 Mytilenaeans and their auxiliaries
, . . ., . i • i The Mytilenut
marched against Methymna, which mnke an ,;„.„„, A,/M/ they expected to be betrayed to them, attempt uf*m
but, making an assault, and finding "«• TheMdhymna.
, , -11 cc attack Attiissa, lm:
that they were mistaken, they went oil (lt.fattal Kill:/ t«> Antissa, 1'yrrha, and Krcsus ; and, ments from Athens having strengthened the walls of these <""'!'e 'tn</" r>!
i j ' i. ui- t- j *i_ • • „.• '*''"' blockades Mytilene
places and established their interest in />v lan(f them, they hastily returned. As soon as they had retired, the Methymnaeans retaliated by making an expedition against Antissa ; but the people of Antissa and their auxiliaries sallied out and defeated them with heavy loss ; the survivors made a hasty retreat. The Athenians heard that the Mytilenaeans were masters of the country, and that their own troops in Lesbos were not sufficient to confine them within the walls. So about the beginning of autumn they sent to Mytilene, under the command of Paches the son of Epicurus, a thousand Athenian hoplites who handled the oars themselves. ( >n arriving, they surrounded the town with a single line of wall ; and in some strong places forts were erected which formed part of the wall. Thus Mytilene was effectually blockaded both by sea and by land. The winter now began to set in.
The Athenians, being in want of money to carry on the 19 siege, raised among themselves for the
Flic A then\an>
first time a property-tax ol t\v«» him- n pn>ptrty-ta.\- •. ami dred talents1', and sent out twelve / ..-//«>««//«/
ships to collect tribute among the allies, '
under the command of Lysicles and
four others. He sailed to various places and exacted
• Cp. i. 64 med. ; ii. 58 med. b £40,000.
O 2
196 SIEGE OF PLATAEA [in
tribute; but as he was going up from Myus in Caria, through the plain of the Maeander, he was attacked at the hill of Sandius by the Carians and the Samians of Anaea a, and, with a great part of his army, perished.
During the same winter the Plataeans, who were still
20 ThePlataeans resolve besieged by the Peloponnesians and to break out of Piataea, Boeotians, began to suffer from the but only two hundred faiiure of provisions. They had no and twenty persevere. , r . . . '
They estimate the height h°pe of assistance from Athens and no of the enemy's wall by other chance of deliverance. So they the layers of bricks. ancj tne Athenians who were shut up with them contrived a plan of forcing their way over the enemy's walls. The idea was suggested by Theaenetus the son of Tolmides, a diviner, and Eupompidas, the son of Daimachus, one of their generals. At first they were all desirous of joining, but afterwards half of them somehow lost heart, thinking the danger too great, and only two hundred and twenty agreed to persevere. They first made ladders equal in length to the height of the enemy's wall, which they calculated by the help of the layers of bricks on the side facing the town, at a place where the wall had accidentally not been plastered. A great many counted at once, and, although some might make mistakes, the calculation would be oftener right than wrong; for they repeated the process again and again, and, the distance not being great, they could see the wall distinctly enough for their purpose. In this manner they ascertained the proper length of the ladders, taking as a measure the thickness of the bricks.
21 The Peloponnesian wall was double, and consisted of Plan of the Pehpon- an inner circle looking towards Piataea,
nesian wall. ancj an outer intended to guard against
an attack from Athens ; they were at a distance of about six- teen feet from one another. This interval of sixteen feet was partitioned off into lodgings for the soldiers, by which the two walls were joined together, so that they appeared
n Cp. iii. 32 init. ; iv. 75 med.
20-22] THE ESCAPE FROM rLATAEA 197
to form one thick wall with battlements on both sides. At every tenth battlement there were large towers, filling up the space between the walls, and extending both to the inner and outer face ; there was no way at the side of the towers, but only through the middle of them. During the night, whenever there was storm and rain, the soldiers left the battlements and kept guard from the towers, which were not far from each other and were covered overhead. Such was the plan of the wall with which Plataea was invested.
When the Plataeans had completed their preparations 22 they took advantage of a night on The piatafait* M///V
which there was a storm of wind and >•"'• Tl"'v **, '*'*•
. , ... , - , covered by an accident,
rain and no moon, and sallied forth. 77/(.,vy>7- .,„/.„, ,,lftity
They were led by the authors of the mate an attack /mm attempt First of all they crossed the opposite si*. the ditch which surrounded the town; then they came right up to the wall of the enemy. The guard did not discover them, for the night was so dark that they could not be seen, while the clatter of the storm drowned the noise of their approach. They marched a good way apart from each other, that the clashing of their arms might not betray them ; and they were lightly equipped, having the right foot bare that they might be less liable to slip in the mud. They now set about scaling the battle- ments, which they knew to be deserted, choosing a sp. between two of the towers. Those who carried the ladders went first and placed them against the wall ; th< y were followed by twelve others, armed only with swurd and breastplate, under the command of Ammeas the son of Coroebus: he was the first to mount; after him came the twelve, ascending the wall and proceeding to the towers on the right and left, six to each". To these succeeded more men lightly armed with short spears, others following who bore their shields, that they might have less difficulty in mounting the wall ; the shields w
" Sec note on the passage.
198 THE PASSAGE OF THE ENEMY'S WALL [ill
to be handed to them as soon as they were near the enemy. A considerable number had ascended, when they were discovered by the guards in the towers. One of the Plataeans, taking hold of the battlements, threw down a tile which made a noise in falling : immediately a shout was raised and the army rushed out upon the wall ; for in the dark and stormy night they did not know what the \ alarm meant. At the same time, in order to distract their (attention, the Plataeans who were left in the city made la sally against the Peloponnesian wall on the side opposite to the place at which their friends were getting over. The besiegers were in great excitement, but every one remained at his own post, and dared not stir to give assistance, being at a loss to imagine what was happening. The three hundred who were appointed to act in any sudden emergency marched along outside the walls towards the spot from which the cry proceeded ; and fire-signals indicating danger were raised towards Thebes. But the Plataeans in the city had numerous counter signals ready on the wall, which they now lighted and held up, thereby hoping to render the signals of the enemy unintelligible, that so the Thebans, misunder- standing the true state of affairs, might not arrive until the men had escaped and were in safety. 23 Meanwhile the Plataeans were scaling the walls. The first party had mounted, and, killing
The Plataeans, pro- . , , . . ,
tected by parties of men the sentinels, had gamed possession who hold the towers, of the towers on either side. Their first get over the wall ; followers now began to occupy the
they then cross the ditch. , , ,
passages, lest the enemy should come through and fall upon them. Some of them placed ladders upon the wall against the towers, and got up more men. A shower of missiles proceeding both from the upper and lower parts of the towers kept off all assailants. Mean- while the main body of the Plataeans, who were still below, applied to the wall many ladders at once, and, pushing down the battlements, made their way over
23> 2 1] SAFE AKKirAl. AT ATHENS 199
through the space between the towers. As each man got to the other side he halted upon the edge of the ditch, whence they shot darts and arrows at any one who came along under the wall and attempted t<> impede their passage. When they had all passed OV.T, those who had occupied the towers came down, the last of them not without great difficulty, and proceeded towards the ditch. By this time the three hundred were upon them ; they had lights, and the Plataeans, standing on the edge of the ditch, saw them all the better out of the darkness, and shot arrows and threw darts at them where their bodies were exposed ; they themselves were concealed by the darkness, while the enemy were dazed by their own lights. And so the Plataeans, down to the last man of them all, got safely over the ditch, though with great exertion and only after a hard struggle; for the ice in it was not frozen hard enough to bear, but was half water, as is commonly the case when the wind is from the east and not from the north. And the snow which the east wind brought in the night had greatly swollen the water, so that they n could scarcely accomplish the passaged It was the violence of the storm, however, which enabled them to escape at all.
From the ditch the Plataeans, leaving on the right hand 24 the shrine of Androcrates, ran all .^ ^ together along the road to Thebes. Thebes, and then strike They made sure that no one would over the mountains to ever suspect them of having fled in Athens- the direction of their enemies. On their way they saw the Peloponnesians pursuing them with torches on the road which leads to Athens by Cithaeron and Dryosoephalae. For nearly a mile the Plataeans continued on the Theban road ; they then turned off and went by the way up the mountain leading to Erythrac and Ilysiae, and so, getting to the hills, they escaped to Athens. Their number was
* Taking v-n(pi\(iv in the sense of 'supcrare* : or, 'could hardly keep above the surface in crossing.'
200 FOURTH INVASION OF ATTICA [ill
two hundred and twelve a, though they had been originally more, for some of them went back to the city and never got over the wall ; one who was an archer was taken at the outer ditch. The Peloponnesians at length gave up the pursuit and returned to their lines. But the Plataeans in the city, knowing nothing of what had happened, for those who had turned back had informed them that not one was left alive, sent out a herald at daybreak, wanting to make a truce for the burial of the dead ; they then dis- covered the truth and returned. Thus the Plataeans scaled the wall and escaped.
25 At the end of the same winter Salaethus the Lace-
daemonian was despatched in a trireme
Salaethus ts sent from
Lacedaemon to Myti- from Lacedaemon to Mytjlene. He lene, with the news that sailed to Pyrrha, and thence, pro- hdp ts on the way. ceeding on foot, made his way, by the channel of a torrent at a place where the line of the Athenian wall could be crossed, undiscovered into Myti- lene. He told the government that there was to be an invasion of Attica, and that simultaneously the forty ships which were coming to their assistance would arrive at Lesbos ; he himself had been sent in advance to bring the news and take charge of affairs. Whereupon the Myti- lenaeans recovered their spirits, and were less disposed to make terms with the Athenians. So the winter ended, and with it the fourth year in the Peloponnesian War of which Thucydides wrote the history.
26 With the return of summer the Peloponnesians des- oi en2!' patched the two and forty ships which
Ui. 00, 2. Aftct. despatching a * jjr U-*«1 X • U
fleet under Akidas to they intended for Mytilene in charge Lesbos, the Pehpon- of Alcidas, the Lacedaemonian admiral. nesians invade Attica, They and their allies then invaded
causing great distress. . . . , , ^, A ,_,
Attica, in order that the Athenians, embarrassed both by sea and land, might have their attention distracted from the ships sailing to Mytilene. Cleomenes led the invasion. He was acting in the place
" Cp. iii. 20 med.
25-a8] Si'RRENDER Or MYTILEN^ 201
• •I" his nephew, the king Pausanias, son of Pleistoanax, who was still a minor. All the country which they had previously overrun, wherever anything had grown up again, they ravaged afresh, and devastated even those districts which they had hitherto spared. This invasion caused greater distress to the Athenians than any, except the second. For the PcloponnesiatlS, who were daily expecting to hear from Lesbos of some action on the part of the fleet, which they supposed by this time to have crossed the sea, pursued their ravages far and wide. But when none of their expectations were realised, and their food was exhausted, tin y retired and dispersed to their several cities.
Meanwhile the Mytilenaeans, finding as time went on 27 that the ships from Peloponnesus never
. . . Salacthus,de*j>atnnif
raine, and that their provisions had of hd^nnns the people, run short, were obliged to make terms wll° turn «/*>« the with the Athenians. The immediate nobles' cause was as follows : — Salaethus himself began to despair of the arrival of the ships, and therefore he put into Un- hands of the common people (who had hitherto 1>< light-armed) shields and spears, intending to lead them out against the Athenians. But, having once received arms, they would no longer obey their leaders ; they gathered into knots and insisted that the nobles should bring out the corn and let all share alike ; if not, they would themselves negotiate with the Athenians and sur- render the city.
The magistrates, knowing that they were helpless, and 28 that they would be in peril of their _
* 1 he government, fccl-
hves if they were left out of the con- ing thcir hdpic^-.. veiition, concluded a general agreement surrender the city t<> with Paches and his army, stipulating "«'»*; °" comhtw'\
- . ,. . <*•* the Athenians at
that the fate of the Mytilenaeans should }lotnc should decide on be left in the hands of the Athenians the fate of the inhabi- at home. They were to receive him ' and his forces into the city ; but might send an embassy
202 SPEECH OF TEUTIAPLUS [ill
to Athens on their own behalf. Until the envoys returned, Paches was not to bind, enslave, or put to death any Mytilenaean. These were the terms of the capitulation. Nevertheless, when the army entered, those Mytilenaeans who had been principally concerned with the Lacedae- monians were in an agony of fear, and could not be satisfied until they had taken refuge at the altars. Paches raised them up, and promising not to hurt them, deposited them at Tenedos until the Athenians should come to a decision. He also sent triremes to Antissa, of which he gained possession, and took such other military measures as he deemed best.
29 The forty ships of the Peloponnesians, which should
The Pdoponnesian have gone at once to Mytilene, lost
feet intended for Myti- time about the Peloponnese, and pro-
lene wastes time. Al- ceeded very leisurely on their voyage.
adas, hearing of its fall, _. . . r . . T\ * i r
sails to Embatum, and They amved safely at Del°S> before
holds a council. Speech they were heard of at Athens ; but on of Teutiaplus. touching at Icarus and Myconus they
found, too late, that Mytilene was taken. Wanting to obtain certain information, they sailed to Embatum near Erythrae, which they reached, but not until seven days after the fall of Mytilene. Having now made sure of the fact, they consulted as to what measures should next be taken, and Teutiaplus, an Elean, addressed them as follows : —
3° ' My opinion, Alcidas, and you, my fellow-commanders
Let us hurry on to of the Peloponnesian forces, is that we
Mytilene. We shall should attack Mytilene at once, just as
find the Athenians off we before Qur arriyal is known.
their guard. The art ' ,
of the general is to sur- In all probability we shall find that prise others, never to be men who have recently gained posses-
surprised. ^^ Qf & dty wijj be much off thdr
guard, and entirely so at sea, on which element they do not fear the attack of an enemy, and where at this moment we can strike with effect. Probably too their land forces, in the carelessness of victory, will be scattered up and
A'/./YVv'.v or ALCW. 203
down among the houses of the city. If \\t win t<> Kill upon them suddenly by night, with the help of our friends inside, should there be any left, 1 have no doubt that Mytilene would be ours. The danger should not deter us ; for we should consider that the execution of a military surprise is always dangerous, and that tin gnu-raJ who is never taken off his guard himself, and never loses an opportunity of striking at an unguarded foe, will be most likely to succeed in war.'
Hi* words failed to convince Alcidas ; whrreujxm sonic 31 Ionian exiles and the Lesbians who it is ai>» proved t,» were on board the fleet" recommended that, if this enterprise appeared too %£ hazardous, he should occupy one of propositions. He //«/- the Ionian towns or the Aeolian Cynu : "fs /""'"'- having thus established their head-quarters in a city, the Peloponnesians might raise the standard of revolt in Ionia. There was a good chance of success, for every one was glad of his arrival ; they might cut oft" a main source of Athenian revenue ; and although they themsci would incur expense, for the Athenians would blockade them 1(, the attempt was worth making. Pissuthnes might very likely be persuaded to co-operate. Hut Alcidas objected to this proposal equally with the last; his only idea was, now that he had failed in saving Mytilene, to get back as fast as he could to Peloponnesus.
Accordingly he sailed from Kmbatum along the co.i touching at Myonnesus in the terri-
- _ 111 r •** SatHiaii ,.•
tory of Teos; he there slew most of „.„,„„,„„,, .„-,/, ,„•„,
the Captives whom he had taken On his fur Iris impolicy in *l<ty-
voyage. He then put into harbour at '"£ "'/ r"/"''1™ :i'/tul"
., ' . " . hclmiUnkfii.
hphesus, where a deputation from the
Samians of Anaeac came to him. They told him that it
was an ill manner of liberating Hellas, to have put to death
* i.e. the envoys who had been sent to S; iii. 4 fin.. 5 fin.
b Adopting with Bekkcr the conjecture (tpoppovaiv. iii. 19 fin. ;
iv. 75 med.
204
RETURN OF ALCIDAS [ill
men who were not his enemies and were not lifting a hand against him, but were allies of Athens from necessity : if he went on in this way he would convert few of his enemies into friends, and many of his friends into enemies. He was convinced by them, and allowed such of the Chian prisoners as he had not yet put to death and some others to go free. They had been easily taken, because, when people saw the ships, instead of flying, they came close up to them under the idea that they were Athenian ; the thought never entered into their minds that while the Athenians were masters of the sea, Peloponnesian ships would find their way across the Aegean to the coast of Ionia. 33 From Ephesus Alcidas sailed away in haste, or rather
He sails from Ephe- fled j f<>r while he was at anchor near sus direct for Pelo- Clarus he had been sighted by the
ponnesus having been Athenian sacred veSsels, ParalllS and sighted by the Paralus
and Salaminia, and is Salammia, which happened to be on pursued as far as Pat- a voyage from Athens. In fear of mos by Paches. pursuit he hurried through the open
sea, determined to stop nowhere, if he could help it, until he reached Peloponnesus. News of him and his fleet was brought to Paches from the country of Erythrae, and indeed kept coming in from all sides. For Ionia not being fortified, there was great apprehension lest the Pelopon- nesians, as they sailed along the coast, might fall upon the cities and plunder them, even though they had no intention of remaining. And the Paralus and Salaminia reported that they had themselves seen him at Clarus. Paches eagerly gave chase and pursued him as far as the island of Patmos, but, seeing that he was no longer within reach, he returned. Not having come up with the fleet of the Peloponnesians upon the open sea, he congratulated him- self that they had not been overtaken somewhere near land, where they would have been forced to put in and fortify themselves on shore, and the Athenians would have had the trouble of watching and blockading them.
33-35] PACHES AT NOT/I'M 205
As he was sailing along the coast on his return he 34 touched at Notium, the port of Colo- Pae/ifg o>{ ^ „.,„,.„
phon. Here some inhabitants of the ptlts ,n at Notium, tin-
upper town had taken up their abode ; port of Colophon, on u*
for it had been captured by Itamenes ^/iT ±*
and the Barbarians, who had been /„„/ / „/,/.
invited into the city by a certain local ii,-tak,-stiiffita<ici.and
c . .-p, i i L. treacherously kill
faction. The capture took place about colinnatl(in //;//)/v?5
the time of the second invasion of The Athenians, r-rstab- Attica. The refugees who settled in lish the Cufophonians
XT 11 j iL W Notinni.
Notium again quarrelled among them- selves. The one party, having introduced Arcadian and Barbarian auxiliaries whom they had obtained from Pissuthnes, stationed them in a fortified quarter of the town ; the Persian faction from the upper city of Colophon joined them and were living with them. The other party had retired from the city, and being now in exile, called in Paches. He proposed to Hippias, the commander of the Arcadians in the fortress, that they should hold a con- ference, undertaking, if they could not agree, to put him back in the fort, safe and sound. So he came out, and Paches kept him in custody without fetters. In the mean- time he made an attack upon the unsuspecting garrison, took the fortress, and slaughtered all the Arcadians and Barbarians whom he found within. He then conducted Hippias into the fort, according to the agreement, and when he was inside seized him and shot him to death with arrows. He next handed over Notium to the Colo- phonians, excluding the Persian party. The Athenians afterwards gathered together all the Colophonians who could be found in the neighbouring cities and colon; the place, to which they gave laws like their own, under new founders whom they sent out from Athens.
On returning to Lesbos, Paches reduced Pyrrha and 35 Eresus, and finding Salaethus, the Salaethus is captured Lacedaemonian governor, concealed in mtulttttttoAtkmtwitk Mytilene, sent him to Athens. He ** Mytilena<an,eMs.
206 THE DECREE AGAINST MYTILEN& [ill
also sent thither the Mytilenaeans whom he had deposited in Tenedos, and any others who seemed to have been implicated in the revolt. He then dismissed the greater part of his army; and, by the aid of the remainder, settled as seemed best to him the affairs of Mytilene and Lesbos. When the captives arrived at Athens the Athenians instantly put Salaethus to death, al- th™gh he ™de various offers, and order the slaughter of among other things promised to pro- all the grown-up citizens cure the withdrawal of the Pelopon-
of Mytilene. On the • r r>i ^ u* u ^.-11
Lt day they begin to nCSianS fr°m P1*taea, which Was Still
repent, and the Myti- blockaded. Concerning the other cap- lenaean envoys per- tives a discussion was held, and in suadethemagistratesto ^ . indignation the Athenians de-
call another assembly.
termined to put to death not only the men then at Athens, but all the grown-up citizens of Mytilene, and to enslave the women and children ; the act of the Mytilenaeans appeared inexcusable, because they were not subjects like the other states which had revolted, but free. That Peloponnesian ships should have had the audacity to find their way to Ionia and assist the rebels contributed to increase their fury ; and the action showed that the revolt a was a long premeditated affair a. So they sent a trireme to Paches announcing their deter- mination, and bidding him put the Mytilenaeans to death at once. But on the following day a kind of remorse seized them ; they began to reflect that a decree which doomed to destruction not only the guilty, but a whole city, was cruel and monstrous. The Mytilenaean envoys who were at Athens b perceived the change of feeling, and they and the Athenians who were in their interest pre- vailed on the magistrates to bring the question again before the people ; this they were the more willing to do, because they saw themselves that the majority of the citizens were anxious to have an opportunity given them of reconsidering
" Or, < was part of an extensive scheme.' >' Cp. iii. 28 med.
36, 37] SPEECH OF CLEON 207
their decision. An assembly was again summoned, and different opinions were expressed by different speakers. In the former assembly, Cleon the son of Cleaenetus had carried the decree condemning the Mytilenaeans to death. He was the most violent of the citizens, and at that time exercised by far the greatest influence
St*ec h of (
over the people ft. And now he came forward a second time and spoke as follows : —
'I have remarked again and again that a democracy 37 cannot manage an empire, but never Yo********* more than now, when I see you re- /„ ,,,anngf an <•;/. gretting your condemnation of the y°H are f<*>HsMy kind Mytilenacans. Having no fear or »„>%.£?££ suspicion of one another in daily life 1(, v»«r «/m>/- you deal with your allies upon the ali™.v* c/mn&"g y<»"' same principle, and you do not con- sider that whenever you yield to them out of pit}' or an misled by their specious tales, you are guilty of a weak- ness dangerous to yourselves, and receive no thanks from them. You should remember that your empire is a des- potism0 exercised over unwilling subjects, who are alw conspiring against you ; they do not obey in return for any kindness which you do them to your own injury, but in so far as you are their masters; they have no love of you, but they are held down by force. Besides, what can be more detestable than to be perpetually changing our minds? We forget that a state in which the laws, though imperfect, are inviolable, is better off than one in which the laws are good but ineffective J. Dullness and mod are a more useful combination than cleverness and licence; and the more simple sort generally make better citizens than the more astute. For the latter desire to be thought wiser than the laws"; they want to be- always getting their own way in public discussions ; they think that they can
Cp. iv. 21 med. b Cp. i. 68 init. c Cp. ii. 63 med.
u Cp. vi. 18 fin. * Cp. i. 84 rnr.i.
208 SPEECH OF CLEON [in
nowhere have a finer opportunity of displaying their intelligence a, and their folly generally ends in the ruin of their country; whereas the others, mistrusting their own capacity, admit that the laws are wiser than themselves : they do not pretend to criticise the arguments of a great speaker; and being impartial judges, not ambitious rivals, they hit the mark. That is the spirit in which we should act ; not suffering ourselves to be so excited by our own cleverness in a war of wits as to advise the Athenian people contrary to our own better judgment. 38 ' I myself think as I did before, and I wonder at those who have brought forward the case of men^ delayed ?PUHWiil the Mytilenaeans again, thus inter- any one pretend that posing a delay which is in the interest their crimes do us good? ofthe evil-doer. For after a time the
or would any one speak c ,1 <v-
on their behalf if he was anger °* tne sufferer waxes dull, and not iveil paid, and you he pursues the offender with less keen- er* not blind to facts ness . but the vengeance which follows
and at the mercy of , .
every clever talker? closest upon the wrong is most ade- quate to it and exacts the fullest retri- bution. And again I wonder who will answer me, and whether he will attempt to show that the crimes of the Mytilenaeans are a benefit to us, or that when we suffer, our allies suffer with us. Clearly he must be some one who has such confidence in his powers of speech as to con- tend b that you never adopted what was most certainly your resolution b ; or else he must be some one who, under the inspiration of a bribe, elaborates a sophistical speech in the hope of diverting you from the point. In such rhetorical contests the city gives away the prizes to others, while she takes the risk upon herself. And you are to blame, for you order these contests amiss. When speeches are to be heard, you are too fond of using your eyes, but, where actions are concerned, you trust your ears ; you estimate
0 Cp. iii. 40 init. '' Or, ' that what all men believe to be true is
absolutely false.'
38, 39] xrLLf'll OF (LI 209
the possibility of future enterprises from the elo<|ut m an orator, but as to accomplished facts, instead of accepting ocular demonstration! you believe only what ingenious critics tell you a. No men are better dupes, sooner de- 1 by novel notions, or slower to follow approved advice. You despise what is familiar, while you are worshippers of cv< TV new extravagance. Not a man of you but would be an orat«>r if he could ; when lie cannot, he will not yield the palm to a more successful rival : he would fain show that he does nut let his wits come limping after, but that he can praise a sharp remark before it is well out of another's mouth ; lie would like to be as quick in anticipating what is said, as he is slow in foreseeing its consequent-.-. YoU are always hankering after an ideal state, but you do not give your minds even to what is straight before you. In a word, you are at the mercy of your own ears, and sit like spectators attending a per- formance of sophists, but very unlike counsellors of a state.
' I want you to put aside this trilling, and therefore I say 39 to you that no single city has ever No aty /itl injured us so deeplv as Mvtilene. I to »nt,it /,< can excuse those who find our rule- too
I- 1 I , T , '"" "'•'•'• >;tr
heavy to bear, or who have revolted ,w,,/,, ,liatfe
because the enemy has compelled them in.^i.nt. XoMcs them. Hut islanders who had walls, '""' .^fc ' s'lo"lli be
pttms/Mm alike, for they
and were unassailable by our enemn '/j-
pt at sea, and on that element were yen* /-rm/o/i them
sufficiently protected bv a fleet of their ' • be
. . . neon raced to revolt;
own, who were independent and treated , by us with the highest regard, when • fight
they act thus, they have not revolted our °"'" <llllcs- (that word would imply that they were oppressed), but they have rebelled, and entering the ranks of our bitterest enemies have conspired with them to seek our ruin. And
vii. 48 mc«.l. i-
2lo SPEECH OF CLEON [ill
surely this is far more atrocious than if they had been led by motives of ambition to take up arms against us on their own account. They learned nothing from the misfortunes of their neighbours who had already revolted and been subdued by us, nor did the happiness of which they were in the enjoyment make them hesitate to court destruction. They trusted recklessly to the future, and cherishing hopes which, if less than their wishes, were greater than their powers, they went to war, preferring might to right. No sooner did they seem likely to win than they set upon us, although we were doing them no wrong. Too swift and sudden a rise is apt to make cities insolent and, in general, ordinary good-fortune is safer than extraordinary. Man- kind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity. We should from the first have made no difference between the Mytilenaeans and the rest of our allies, and then their insolence would never have risen to such a height ; for men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them. Yet it is not too late to punish them as their crimes deserve. And do not absolve the people while you throw the blame upon the nobles. For they were all of one mind when we were to be attacked. Had the people deserted the nobles and come over to us, they might at this moment have been reinstated in their city ; but they considered that their safety lay in sharing the dangers of the oligarchy, and therefore theyjoined in the revolt. Reflect : if you impose the same penalty upon those of your allies who wilfully rebel and upon those who are constrained by the enemy, which of them will not revolt upon any pretext however trivial, seeing that, if he succeed, he will be free, and, if he fail, no irreparable evil will follow? We in the mean- time shall have to risk our lives and our fortunes against every one in turn. When conquerors we shall recover only a ruined city, and, for the future, the revenues which are our strength will be lost to us u. But if we fail, the
n Cp. iii. 46 med.
4o] SrEEClI OF CLEOX 211
number of our adversaries will be increased. And when we ought to be employed in repelling the enemies with whom we have to do, we shall be wasting time in fighting against our own allies.
' Do not then hold out a hope, which eloquence can 40 ire or money buy, that tlu-y are to
jii- Do not be misled l>\'
be excused and that their error is to ^ fine ^^ o/a be deemed human and venial. Their j ,,,/><•,-. JJ
attack was not unpremeditated ; that von have n» >/-/// to infill have been an excuse for them ; '''<«''*;•"''••'
' no right to rule.
but they knew what they were doing, them as they, fcnnn^ This was my original contention, and your vcn:<t-ana\ Kvnitt I still maintain that you should abide ''<«* ';*''<'''-V''".
J M0 have no double
by your former decision, and not be wt-t/t yottr amcs lc/,eit misled either by pity, or by the charm they know that n-Mlion of words, or by a too forgiving temper. l^e *"nijtcd There are no three things more pre- judicial to your power. Mercy should be reserved for the merciful, and not thrown away upon those who will have no compassion on us, and who must by the force of circumstances always be our enemies. And our charming orators will still have an arena", but one in which the questions at stake will not be so grave, and the city will not pay so dearly for her brief pleasure in listening to them, while they fora good speech get a good fee. Lastly, forgiveness is naturally shown to those who, being conciled, will continue friends, and not to those who will always remain what they were1, and will abate nothing of their enmity. In one word, if you do as I say, you will do what is just to the Mytilenaeans, and also what is expedient for yourselves; but, if you take the op|>< course, they will not be grateful to you, and you will !><• self-condemned. For, if they were right in revolting, you must be wrong in maintaining your empire. But if, right or wrong, you are resolved to rule, then rightly or wrongly they must be chastised for your good. Otherwise you must n CP. iii. 37 fin.
P 2
212 SPEECH OF DIODOTUS [ill
give up your empire, and, when virtue is no longer dangerous, you may be as virtuous as you please. Punish them as they would have punished you ; let not those who have escaped appear to have less feeling than those who conspired against them. Consider : what might not they have been expected to do if they had conquered? — especially since they were the aggressors. For those who wantonly attack others always rush into extremes, and sometimes, like these Mytilenaeans, to their own destruction. They know the fate which is reserved for them by an enemy who is spared : a when a man is injured wantonly he is more dangerous if he escape than the enemy who has only suffered what he has inflicted a. Be true then to your- selves, and recall as vividly as you can what you felt at the time ; think how you would have given the world to crush your enemies, and now take your revenge. Do not be soft-hearted at the sight of their distress, but remember the danger which was once hanging over your heads. Chastise them as they deserve, and prove by an example to your other allies that rebellion will be punished with death. If this is made quite clear to them, your attention will no longer be diverted from your enemies by wars against your own allies.'
41 Such were the words of Cleon ; and after him Diodotus
the son of Eucrates, who in the previous
Speech of Diodotus. ... , , . , . f
assembly had been the chief opponent of the decree which condemned the Mytilenaeans, came forward again and spoke as follows :—
42 ' I am far from blaming those who invite us to reconsider our sentence upon the Mytilenaeans, nor do I approve of the censure which has been cast on the practice of deliberating more than once about matters so critical. In my opinion the two things most adverse to good counsel are haste and passion; the former is generally a mark
• Or, referring the words to the Mytilenaeans : ' He who has gone out of his way to bring a calamity upon himself is more dangerous if he be allowed to escape than the enemy who only retaliates.'
4 1, 42] SPEECH OF D10DOTUS 213
of folly, the latter of vulgarity and narrowness of mind.
When a man insists that words ought
... . . We are rigkl »' "'•
not to be our guides in action «, he _is €0tttUMtlg ,),, „
either wanting in sense or wanting in the M\tHftn\ct\n*. //-• honesty: he is wanting in sense if he is fwiisii. am »/ //« />»•
I , ,1 . ,1 honest, :r//<> u-nulil hti:'t-
does not see that there is no other way w (itlihfniiiim .
in which we can throw light on the :i,.,<,-,s //«•«•/!.. i/i.*««-
unknown futuiv ; and hr is not honest <>'>'* "'"' ln* "/>/*>'"»'
• f i • »• j», 11 is corrupt, in^tt'iul of
if, seeking to carry a discreditable J^JJJ ^ ,v ^ measure, and knowing that he cannot arguments. '///- speak well in a bad cause, he reflects «<v«m/-.-? ;.>..m s»mi/t that he can slancirr well and terrify ^ 5/l0"'5 fliv his opponents and his audience by the audacity of his calumnies. Worst of all are those who, besides other topics of abuse, declare that their opponent is hired to make an eloquent speech. If they accused him of stupidity only, when he failed in producing an impression he might go his way having lost his reputa- tion for sense but not f«>r honesty; whereas he who is accused of dishonesty, even if he succeed, is viewed with suspicion, and, if he fail, is thought to be both fool and rogue. And so the city suffers ; for she is robbed of her counsellors by fear. Happy would she be if such citizens could not speak at all, for then the people would not be misled. The good citizen should prove his superiorit; a speaker, not by trying to intimidate those who are to follow him in debate, hut by fair argument ; and the wise city ought not to give inert -as< -d honour to her best counsellor, any more than she will deprive him of that which he has ; while he whose proposal is rejected not only ought to receive no punishment, but should be free from all reproach. Then lie who succeeds will not say pleasant things contrary to his better judgment in order to gain a still higher place in popular favour, and he who fails will not be striving to attract the multitude to himself by like compliances.
• Cp. ii. 40 tm-il.
214 SPEECH OF DIODOTUS [ill
43 ' But we take an opposite course ; and still worse. Even
Butyouaretoockver: when We know a man to be giving the
you are always suspect- wisest counsel, a suspicion of corruption
ing that a speaker has js get on foot . and from R jealousy some interested motive. .... , .. ..
You punish the giver which 1S perhaps groundless we allow of bad advice, and not the state to lose an undeniable ad- yoursdves for following vantage. It has come to this, that the best advice when offered in plain terms is as much distrusted as the worst; and not only he who wishes to lead the multitude into the most dangerous courses must deceive them, but he who speaks in the cause of right must make himself believed by lying. In this city, and in this city only, to do good openly and without deception is impossible, because you are too clever ; and, when a man confers an unmistakeable benefit on you, he is rewarded by a suspicion that, in some under- hand manner, he gets more than he gives. But, whatever you may suspect a, when great interests are at stake, we who advise ought to look further and weigh our words more carefully than you whose vision is limited. And you should remember that we are accountable for our advice to you, but you who listen are accountable to nobody. If he who gave and he who followed evil counsel suffered equally, you would be more reasonable in your ideas ; but now, whenever you meet with a reverse, led away by the passion of the moment you punish the individual who is your adviser for his error of judgment, and your own error you condone, if the judgments of many concurred in it.
44 ' I do not come forward either as an advocate of the
Mytilenaeans or as their accuser; the
The question is one J
of policy, not of law. question for us rightly considered is your anger ought not not, what are their crimes ? but, what
to make you prefer jus- js for Qur interest ? Jf \ prove them ttce to expediency.
ever so guilty, I will not on that account bid you put them to death, unless it is expedient. Neither,
* Reading afiovm*
43-45] .s/'AV.YY/ OF nianoTUS 215
if perchance there be some degree of excuse f<>r them, would I have you spare them, unless it be clearly for the good of the state. For I conceive that we an- now con- cerned, not with the present, but with the future. When Cleon insists that the infliction of death will be expedient and will secure you against revolt in time to come, I, like him taking the ground of future expediency, stoutly main- tain the contrary position ; and I would not have you be misled by the apparent fairness of his proposal, and reject the solid advantages of mine. You are angry with the Mytilenaeans, and the superior justice of his argument may for the moment attract you ; but we are not at law with them, and do not want to be told what is just ; we are considering a question of policy, and desire to know how we can turn them to account.
' To many offences less than theirs states have affixed 45 the punishment of death ; nevertheless, Ev/*rience «i>nn- excited by hope, men still risk their jantly pnn<<-< that the lives. No one when venturing on a /><'"'1/{-v <>f <*<•«' '* «* »»
., . deterrent. Men. and
perilous enterprise ever yet passed s.//7/ ,;/o;r ^ nrc a sentence of failure on himself. And t<i»n-<i awy by their what city when entering on a revolt /«'**«>»* ami in- tntst ever imagined that the power which '"^'" she had, whether her own or obtained from her allies, did not justify the attempt? All are by nature prone to err both in public and in private life, and no law will prevent them. Men have gone through the whole catalogue of penalties in the hope that, by increasing their severity, they may suffer less at the hands of evil-doers. In early ages the punishments, even of the worst offences, would naturally be milder ; but as time went on and mankind continued to transgress, they seldom stopped short of death. And still there are transgressors. Some greater terror then has yet to be discovered ; certainly death is no deterrent. For poverty inspires necessity with daring; and wealth engenders avarice in pride and insolence; and the various conditions of human life, as they severally fall
2i6 SPEECH OF DIODOTUS [ill
under the sway of some mighty and fatal power, lure men through their passions to destruction. Desire and hope are never wanting, the one leading, the other following the one devising the enterprise, the other suggesting that fortune will be kind ; and they are the most ruinous, for, being unseen, they far outweigh the dangers which are seen. Fortune too assists the illusion, for she often presents herself unexpectedly, and induces states as well as individuals to run into peril, however inadequate their means; and states even more than individuals, because they are throwing for a higher stake, freedom or empire, and because when a man has a whole people acting with him, ahe magnifies himself a out of all reason. In a word then, it is impossible and simply absurd to suppose that human nature when bent upon some favourite project can be restrained either by the strength of law or by any other terror. 46 ' We ought not therefore to act hastily out of a mistaken
_. reliance on the security which the
Ine threat oj severe
punishment will make penalty of death affords. Nor should rebels fight to the last, we drive our rebellious subjects to
and 'if we succeed, we d j th must not think that
shall only gain a ruined J
dty. Our true policy is there is no place for repentance, or prevention, not punish- that they may not at any moment give up their mistaken policy. Consider: at present, although a city may actually have revolted, when she becomes conscious of her weakness she will capitulate while still able to defray the cost of the war and to pay tribute for the future ; but if we are too severe, will not the citizens make better preparations, and, when besieged, resist to the last, knowing that it is all the same whether they come to terms early or late ? Shall not we ourselves suffer ? For we shall waste our money by sitting down before a city which refuses to surrender ; when the place is taken it will be a mere wreck, and we shall in
a Or, reading avrtuv, ' he exaggerates the importance of his aims.'
46, 47] SPEECH OF 1>IODOTUS 217
future lose the revenues derived from it ll ; and in these revenues lies our military strength. Do not then weigh offences with the severity of a judge, when you will only be injuring yourselves, but have an eye to the future ; let the penalties which you impose on rebellious cities be moderate, and then their wealth will be undiminished and at your service. Do not hope to find a safeguard in the ; ity of your laws, but only in the vigilance of your administration. At present we do just the opposite ; a free people under a strong government will always revolt in the hope of independence ; and when we ha\< put them down we think that they cannot be punished too severely. But instead of inflicting extreme penalties on free men who revolt, we should practise extreme vigilance before they revolt, and never allow such a thought to enter their minds. When however they have been once put down we ought to extenuate their crimes as much as possible.
'Think of another great error into which you would fall 47 if you listened to Cleon. At present
, , If yon destroy tlie
the popular party are everywhere our M^£^ ,,,,;, ,„, friends; either they do not join with their aty />//« \-»nr the oligarchs, or, if compelled to do so, /»«"<'-"•. v<>« :»•»'//
, . ini'rntitudi • and alienate
they are always ready to turn against ,£ pofnila, }>ar(v , the authors of the revolt; and so in rt/,(-,,. E:m ij going to war with a rebellious state you «•«•«• #i«7/_v. •'/ ?«>«/</ ^ have the multitude on your side. But, J^** if you destroy the people of Mytilem- who took no part in the revolt, and who voluntarily surrendered the city as soon as they got arms into their hands ; in the first place they were your benefactors, and to slay them would be a crime ; in the second place you will play into the hands of the oligarchic parties, who henceforward, in fomenting a revolt, will at once h. the people on their side ; for you will have proclaimed to
Cp. iii. 39 fin.
2i8 SPEECH OF DIODOTUS [ill
all that the innocent and the guilty will share the same fate. Even if they were guilty you should wink at their conduct, and not allow the only friends whom you have left to be converted into enemies. Far more conducive to the maintenance of our empire would it be to suffer wrong willingly, than for the sake of justice to put to death those whom we had better spare. Cleon may speak of a punish- ment which is just and also expedient, but you will find that, in any proposal like his, the two cannot be combined.
48 < Assured then that what I advise is for the best, and Pass sentence at j'^^S neither to pity nor to lenity,
leisure on the prisoners for I am as unwilling as Cleon can be sent hither by Paches, that you should be influenced by any and spare the rest. ^ch motives, but simply weighing the arguments which I have urged, accede to my proposal: Pass sentence at your leisure on the Mytilenaeans whom Paches, deeming them guilty, has sent hither ; but leave the rest of the inhabitants where they are. This will be good policy for the future, and will strike present terror into your enemies. For wise counsel is really more formidable to an enemy than the severity of unreasoning violence.*
49 Thus spoke Diodotus, and such were the proposals on The motion of Dio- either side which most nearly repre-
dotus is just carried, sented the opposing parties. In spite «££*£££* °f 'he reaction, there was a struggle arrives in time to save between the two opinions ; the show Mytilene. of hands was very near, but the motion
of Diodotus prevailed. The Athenians instantly des- patched another trireme, hoping that, if the second could overtake the first a, which had a start of about twenty-four hours, it might be in time to save the city. The Myti- lenaean envoys provided wine and barley for the crew, and promised them great rewards if they arrived first. And such was their energy that they continued rowing
Reading Sfvrfpas.
48-51] TAKi.\r. OF -'//:,
whilst they ate their barley, kneaded with wine and oil, and slept and rowed by turns. Fortunately no adverse wind sprang up, and, the first of the two ships sailing in no great hurry on her untoward errand, and the second hastening as I have described, the one did indeed arrive sooner than the other, but not much sooner. Paches had read tin- decree and was about to put it into ex« tion, when the second appeared and arrested the fate of the city.
So near was Mytilene to destruction.
The captives whom Paches had sent to Athens as being 50
the most tniiltv numbered about a
The capttvts at Athens
thousand, or rather more a ; these the are />„/ /„ death. The Athenians, upon the motion of Cleon, lands of Lesbos a> put to death. They razed the walls of ^i°'"°"g Af/"""w the Mytilenaeans and took away their fleet. Then, instead of imposing tribute on them, they divided the whole island, exclusive of the territory of Methymna, into three thousand portions, of which they dedicated three hundred to the Gods ; the remainder they let out to cleruchi '' taken from their own citizens, whom they chose by lot and sent to Lesbos. The Lesbians undertook to pay them a yearly rent of two minaec for each portion and cultivated the land themselves. The Athenians also took possession of the towns on the conti- nent which the Mytilenaeans held'1, and these hence- forward were subject to Athens.
Thus ended the revolt of Lesbos.
During the same summer, alter the recovery of Lesbos, 51 the Athenians, under the command of Thf Athenian* u.,<ifr Nicias the son of Niceratus, made an AVr/Vi.s mptmf nndfor- expedition against the island of Minoa, "#""*'<'"<' °f" which lies in front of Megara ; the Megarians had built a fort there and used the island as a military station. But
* See note. The number must be considered doubtful. " Cloruchi,
literally ' portioners,' Athenians who received land in a conquered countrj*, but remained citizens. e £6 13,?. 4</. d Cp. iv. 52 mrd.
220 SURRENDER OF PLATAEA [ill
Nicias wanted the Athenians to keep a watch over Megara, not as hitherto from Budorum in Salamis, but from this spot, which was nearer, the Peloponnesians would then be no longer able to send out triremes, as they had already done on one occasion a, or privateers from the harbour unobserved, and nothing could be brought in by sea to Megara. First of all he took b two projecting towers on the side of the island towards Nisaeab by the help of engines from the sea, and, having thus freed a way into the channel dividing Minoa from the coast of Megara, he fortified the point nearest the mainland, where, by a bridge through a lagoon, aid could be brought by the enemy to the island, lying as it did at that point close to the shore. The work was completed in a few days. Nicias then proceeded to build a fort on the island, and, leaving a garrison, re- turned with the rest of his army. 52 In this summer and about the same time the Plataeans,
who had exhausted their food and The Plataeans sur- render to the Lacedae- could no longer hold out, capitulated ntonians, and a com- to the Peloponnesians. The enemy
mission of five is sent had assaulted their wall and they were from Sparta to decide J
thdr fate. They obtain unable to defend themselves. But the leave to speak in their Lacedaemonian commander knew their own defence. weakness, and was desirous that the
place should be surrendered and not stormed; he had instructions from home to this effect, the intention being that if some day a treaty of peace were concluded, and both parties agreed to give up all the places which they had taken by force of arms0, Plataea might be excepted on the ground that the inhabitants had come to terms of their own accord. So he sent a herald to enquire whether they would surrender the place to the Lacedaemonians and submit to their decision ; the guilty were to be punished, but no one without a just cause. The Plataeans,
n Cp. ii. 93, 94. b Or, ' two towers projecting from Nisaea.'
Cp. v. 17 med.
5a, 53] SPEECH OF Till-: n.ATAl 221
new in the last stage of weakness, surremk n d tin city ; and for a few days, until the five men who wen- appointed judges came from Lacedaemon, the Peloponnesians supplied them with food. On the arrival of the judges no accusation was brought against them ; they were simply asked one by one, Whether they had done any kind of snvice to the Lacedaemonians or to their allies in the nt war. Before making their reply they requested leave to speak at length, and appointed two of their number, Astymachus the son of Asopolaus, and Lacon the son of Aeimnestus, who was the Lacedae- monian proxenus, to be their advocates. They came forward and spoke as follows : —
' Men of Lacedaemon, we surrendered our city because 53 we had confidence in you ; we were We hoped to havt a under the impression that the trial to lfg»i t>'»l1 <»«' to re- which we submitted would be legal, f** -***1 '" 7"
& ' fcwMU, l>nt we are dts-
and of a very different kind from this ; anointed. We now fear and when we accepted you and you "'"' «v<- <»•«•• /» ^ alone to be our judges, which indeed A*** ***•«• you are, we thought that at your hands we had the best hope of obtaining justice. But we fear that we are doubly mistaken, having too much reason to suspect that in this trial our lives are at stake, and that you will turn out to be partial judges. So we must infer, because no accusation has been preferred against us calling for a defence, but we speak at our own request; and because your question is a short one, to which the answer, if true, condemns us, and, if false, is exposed at once. In the extremity of our helplessness, our only and our safest course is to say something, whatever may be our fate ; for men in our condition are sure to reproach themselves with their silence, and to fancy that the unuttered word, if spoken, would have saved them.
1 But by what arguments can we ever convince you ? If we were unacquainted with one another we might with advantage adduce in evidence matters of which you were
222
SPEECH OF THE PLATAEANS [ill
ignorant, but now you know all that we can say ; and we
are afraid, not that we are criminals in your eyes because
you have decided that we fall short of your own standard
of virtue a, but that we are being sacrificed to please others,
and that the cause which we plead is already prejudged.
54 'Still we may urge our claims of justice against our
Treat us either as Theban enemies, and our claims of
friends or as open em- gratitude upon you and the other
sian War, (2) in the deeds may perhaps move you. To revolt of the Helots. your shOrt question, "Whether in this war we have done any service to the Lacedaemonians and their allies," we reply that "if we are enemies you are not wronged, because you have received no good from us ; and if you deem us friends, you who have made war upon us, and not we, are to blame." During the late peace and in the Persian War our conduct was irreproachable ; we were not the first to violate the peace, and we were the only Boeotians who took part in repelling the Persian invader and in the liberation of Hellas. Although we are an inland city, we joined in the sea-fight off Artemisium; we were at your side when you fought in our land under Pausanias, and, whatever dangers the Hellenes underwent in those days, we took a share beyond our strength in all of them. And you, Lacedaemonians, more especially should remember how at the time when Sparta was panic-stricken by the rebellion of the Helots, who seized Ithome after the earthquake1', we sent a third part of our own citizens to your aid ; these are things not to be forgotten.
55 'Such was the spirit which animated us in the great days of old ; not until later did we become your enemies, and that was originally your own fault. For when we sought your help against the violence of the Thebans, you had rejected us and had bade us turn to the Athenians, who were
Cp. iii. 57 init. i> Cp i. 101.
54-56] SPEECH OF THE PLATA1 223
you were at a distance. Y« t even in this ], war you have neither sufil Ted nor were ever likely t<> ° suffer anything very atrocious at our „,. ^ /(// ^ f|/ hands. If we refused to revolt from the bidding of the. -ithc- the Athenians at your bidding, we »«»'* and von » were quite right; for they assisted us "//v %*?" toJ?~
J conic their allies.
against the Thebans when you shrank /„./,,,.,/ „., then, and from the task; and after this it would /"•••»• ™nld ar abandon have been dishonourable to betray them. ' They had been our benefactor i at our
own request admitted to their alliance, and we shared tin- rights of citizenship with them. How could we refuse to respond loyally to their call ? When you or they in the exercise of your supremacy have acted, it maybe, wrongly and led your allies into evil courses, the leaders and not the followers are to be blamed.
'The Thebans have inflicted many injuries upon 115,56 ami their latest crime, as you are well ThcThebansatuuk.d aware, is the cause of our present mis- us in time of / fortunes. They came, not only in time wcre we lvro"S "
.- . . . -tin" them ' I/
of peace, but at a holy season, and A™ V/m/ «/«//.* ., H0t attempted to seize our city; we the war outweighed by righteously and in accordance with our fonncr patriot,
, , , - . . Yet the same principle
univeral law defended ourselves and on which we actcd „,,„ punished the aggressor; and there is no made ^ refuse to : reason why we should now suffer for *»^*«*"» their satisfaction. If you take your own present advan- tage and their present hatred to be the measure of Justin , you will prove yourselves, not upright and impartial judges, but the slaves of expediency. The Thebans may appear serviceable now, but of far greater service to you were we and the other Hellenes when you were in far greater danger. For now you invade and menace others, but in those days the Barbarian was threatening to ensl, us all, and they wcre on his side. May we not fairly set our former patriotism against our present offence, if ind< « <1 we have offended ? You will find that the one more than
224 SPEECH OF THE PLATAEANS [ill
outweighs the other; for our service to you was per- formed at a time when very few Hellenes opposed their courage to the power of Xerxes ; they were then held in honour, nota who, looking to their own advantage, made terms with the invader a and were safe, but who, in the face of danger, dared the better part. Of that number were we, and there was a time when we received the highest honour at your hands, but now we fear that these same principles, which have led us to prefer a just alliance with the Athenians to an interested alliance with you, will be our destruction. Yet when men have been consistent in their conduct, others should show themselves consistent in their judgment of itb. For true expediency is only this — to have an enduring sense of gratitude towards good allies for their services, while wec do not neglect our own immediate interest.
57 'Consider, before you act, that hitherto you have been generally esteemed among Hellenes to
Remember your own . <•«•«• • r 1-1
reputation: do not out- be a Pattern °f nobility; if you decide
rage Hellenic sentiment unjustly (and this judgment cannot be by allowing Piataea, hidden, for you, the judges, are famous,
ivhose name your ••«.•• j e
fathers inscribed on the and We> wh° are Judged bY you> are of
Delphian tripod, to be good repute), mankind will be indignant blotted out in order to at the strange and disgraceful sentence
please the Thebans. . . . .,, ,
which will have been passed against good men by men still better d. They will not endure to see spoils taken from us, the benefactors of Hellas, dedicated by our enemies in the common temples. Will it not be deemed a monstrous thing that the Lacedaemonians should desolate Plataea; that they, whose fathers inscribed the name of the city on the tripod at Delphi in token of her valour e, should for the sake of the Thebans blot out the
* Or, reading aitrois, and referring the word to the Persians : ' who, looking to advantage, forwarded the course of the invader.' b This
may refer to the judgment of the Spartans on the Plataeans, or to the adhesion of the Plataeans to the Athenians ; sec note. c Reading
jiur. 'i Cp. iii. 53 fin. • Cp. i. 132 init.
57,58] SPEECH OF THE PLATAEA.\S 225
whole people from the Hellenic world? For to this we have come at last. When the Persians conquered our land, we were all but ruined ; and now, when we plead before you, who were once our dearest friends, the The- bans have prevailed against us. We have had to meet two terrible trials, the danger first of starvation, if we had not given up the city; and secondly, of condemnation to death. The Plataeans, who were zealous in the cause of Hellas even beyond their strength, are now friendless, spurned and rejected by all. None of our old allies will help us, and we fear that you, O Lacedaemonians, our only hope, are not to be depended upon.
'Yet once more for the sake of those Gods in whose name we made a league of old, and for
' Do nut finng infamy
Olir Services tO the Cause of Hellas, upon yourselves by slay
rrlrnt and change your minds, if th<- '".> *"t>piiant*. ) Thebans have at all influenced you: <'"'«'<''*<»* A"»«' "'
J our land, uiul ;cr /uii-j
Jl in return for the wicked request which iMnolirctt them in they make of you, ask of them the right- /y gifts. Will yon
eons boon that you should not slay us ";"" '* to. tltcit """-
,. , _ , . aerers ana enslave the
to your own dishonour". Do not bring cottntry in „,/„-./, tlie
upon yourselves an evil name merely freedom of Hdia* to gratify others. For, although you lvon? may quickly take our lives, you will not so easily obliterate the infamy of the deed. We are not enemies whom you might justly punish, but friends who were compelled to go to war with you ; and therefore piety demands that you should spare our lives. Before you pass judgment, con- sider that we surrendered ourselves, and stretched out our hands to you ; the custom of Hellas does not allow the suppliant to be put to death. Remember too that we have ever been your benefactors. Cast your eyes upon the sepulchres of your fathers slain by the Persians and buried in our land, whom we have honoured by a yearly public
• Or, 'ask of them the boon that you should ii<>l kill those whc.un you ought not, and receive an honest gratitude from us, instead of a dis- graceful gratitude from them.'
VOL. I. o
226 SPEECH OF THE PLATAEANS [ill
offering of garments, and other customary gifts. We were their friends, and we gave them the firstfruits in their season of that friendly land in which they rest ; we were their allies too, who in times past had fought at their side ; and if you now pass an unjust sentence, will not your con- duct strangely contrast with ours ? Reflect : when Pau- sanias buried them here, he thought that he was laying them among friends and in friendly earth. But if you put us to death, and make Plataea one with Thebes, are you not robbing your fathers and kindreckof the honour which they enjoy, and leaving them in a hostile land inhabited by their murderers ? Nay more, you will enslave the land in which the Hellenes won their liberty; you bring desolation upon the temples in which they prayed when they conquered the Persians ; and you will take away the sacrifices which our fathers instituted from the city which ordained and established them.
59 ' These things, O Lacedaemonians, would not be for
We entreat you by your honour. They would be an of.
the common gods of fence against the common feeling of
Hellas, by your fathers' Hellas and against your ancestors.
oaths, not to betray us. •, T , , , , , , ,
We did not surrender to Y°U sh°uld be ashamed to put US to
theThebans: we would death, who are your benefactors and rather have died of have never done you any wrong, in t^jKlS** order that you may gratify the enmity our city, and let us meet of another. Spare us, and let your ot*rfak- heart be softened towards us ; be wise,
and have mercy upon us, considering not only how terrible will be our fate, but who the sufferers are ; think too of the uncertainty of fortune, which may strike any one how- ever innocent. We implore you, as is becoming and natural in our hour of need, by the Gods whom the Hellenes worship at common altars, to listen to our prayers. We appeal to the oaths which your fathers swore, and entreat you not to forget them. We kneel at your fathers' tombs, and we call upon the dead not to let us be betrayed into the hands of the Thebans, their dearest
59-6i ] SPEECH OF THE PLATAEANS 227
friends to their bitterest enemies. We remind you of the day on which we shared in their glorious deeds — we who on this day are in danger of meeting a fearful doom. And now we say no more ; to men in our case, though we must, there is nothing harder than to make an end ; for with the end comes the decisive hour. Our last word is that we did not surrender Plataea to the Thebans, — far rather would we have perished from hunger, the most miserable of deaths, — but to you, in whom we trusted, and, if you will not listen to us, you ought at least to replace us in the same position, and allow us to choose our destiny, what- ever it may be. We adjure you not to deliver us, the Plataeans, who were so loyal to the cause of Hellas, and who are now suppliants to you, O Lacedaemonians, out of your own hands and your own good faith, into the hands of the Thebans, our worst enemies. Be our saviours. You are liberating the other Hellenes; do not de- stroy us.'
Such were the words of the Plataeans ; whereupon the 60 Thebans, fearing that the Lacedae- The Thebans also monians might give way, came forward obtain leave to *pcak. and said that since, against their judgment, the Plataeans had been allowed, instead of answering the question, to make a long defence, they too wished to speak. Permis- sion was granted, and they spoke as follows : —
'We should never have asked to speak, if the Plataeans 61 had briefly answered the question which m sllottl(i not havc was put to them a, and had not turned spoken if the Plataeans upon us and arraigned us while they *"*<t»ot. But you must
. , j • i j r c hear our case as u'dl as
made a long and irrelevant defence of //|f|>A Thtv^aratcd their own doings, excusing themselves themselves from their
from charges which nobody brought (W" "atloH «»
, , j • . • . , , over to the Athenians.
against them, and praising what nobody
blamed. We must answer their accusations of us, and
look a little closely into their glorification of themselves,
Cp. i. 37 init. 73; vi. Q2
228 REPLY OF THE THE BANS [ill
that neither our baseness nor their superior reputation may benefit them, and that, before you judge, you may hear the truth both about us and them. Our quarrel with them arose thus : — Some time after our first occupation of Boeotia a we settled Plataea and other places, out of which we drove a mixed multitude. But the Plataeans refused to acknowledge our leadership according to the original agree- ment, and, separating themselves from the other Boeotians, deserted the traditions of their ancestors. When force was applied to them they went over to the Athenians, and, assisted by them, did us a great deal of mischief; and we retaliated.
62 ' They say that when the Barbarian invaded Hellas they
They say that we sided were the only Boeotians who did not
with the Persian in the join the Persian ; and this is their great
ivar of liberation. To jor and our great reproach. But ivhtch ive reply that we . L ,c . ,. . . . . . .
wen not our own we say that if they did not side with the
masters, and that after- Persians, it was only because the Athe-
wards we fought at Cu- njans di(j no(. and Qn the same in.
roneafor the liberation , «.
of Hellas from Athens, clPle> they alone of a11 the Boeotians
and are now fighting afterwards sided with the Athenians Sorit* when the liberties of Hellas were at-
tacked by them. But, consider how different were the circumstances in which we and they acted. In those days our state was not governed by an oligarchy which granted equal justice to all, nor yet by a democracy; the power was in the hands of a small cabal, than which nothing is more opposed to law or to true political order, or more nearly resembles a tyranny. The rulers of the state, hoping to strengthen their private interest if the Persian won, kept the people down and brought him in. The city at large, when she acted thus, was not her own mistress ; and she cannot be fairly blamed for an error which she committed when she had no constitution. After the Per- sian departed and she obtained a constitution, you may see how we fought against the Athenians when they became
a Cp. i. 12.
62, 63] REPLY OF THE THEBANS 229
aggressive and endeavoured to subjugate us as well as the rest of Hellas. Owing to our divisions they actually con- quered the greater part of the country ; but we defeated them at Coronea, and liberated Boeotiaft; and at this moment we are zealously co-operating in the liberation of Hellas, providing cavalry and munitions of war more largely than any of the allies. Thus much in answer to the charge respecting our Persian tendencies.
1 And now we will proceed to show that you, and not 63 we, have done the greater wrong to But ijlty oftltfli 1 1 el las, and are deserving of every sort free-will alined the of punishment. You say that you be- Athenian in //,„> • ag.
... ... r * i" • L'rrssuiHx upon Hfllas.
came allies and citizens of Athens in y/f/.v pl(atl 00i{gatiotlt order that you might be protected but no obligation can against us. If so, you ought to have J"stify n rn""'- invited their aid only against us, and not to have assisted them in their attacks upon others ; such a course was cer- tainly open to you : even if you had been in some degree constrained against your will by the Athenians, you had pre- viously made the alliance with the Lacedaemonians against the Persians, to which you are so fond of appealing. That alliance would at any rate have restrained our hands, and above all would have secured to you freedom of deliberation. But you acted willingly, and were no longer under compul- sion when you made common cause with the Athenians. Your allegation is that they were your benefactors and that you could not honourably betray them ; but how far more dishonourable and wicked to betray all the Hellenes with whom you had sworn alliance, than the Athenians only, the one the liberators, the other the enslavers of Hellas ! The return which you made to them is unequal, nay, in- famous; you say that you invited them to assist you because you were wronged, and then you became their accomplices in wronging others. Surely ingratitude is shown in refusing to return an honourable kindness, when it can be done honourably, not in refusing to return
• Cp. iv. 9^ I'm.
230 REPLY OF THE THEBANS [ill
a kindness which, however justly due, cannot be repaid without a crime.
64 ' You have thus made it plain that, when you alone among When they resisted the Boeotians refused to join the Per-
the Persian it was only sian cause, this was not out of any love because the Athenians for Hellasa, but because the Athenians
resisted him. They have .. . , ,
now shown themselves dld nOt * '> and that y°U Wanted to act
in their true light, and with them and not with us ; and now have forfeited all their yOU ciaim tfoe benefit of the virtue which claims upon Hellas. , . ... T» i • •
others inspired in you. But this is not reasonable ; having once chosen the Athenians, fight on their side, and do not at the last moment be saying that the old alliance ought to save you. For you have aban- doned it, and by the violation of it, instead of striving to B.C. 456. prevent, have aided in the enslavement of the Aeginetans O1* 8lt and of other members of the alliance. And you were not, like us, under compulsion, but free, living under your ancient laws. Moreover, you persisted in refusing that last offer of peace and neutrality which we made to you before the siege began b. Who more thoroughly than you deserve the hatred of the Hellenes? than you who have only displayed your virtues to their injury? You have given proof that the merit which you claim for your former actions does not properly belong to you ! Your true nature and constant desire are now revealed in the light of day; for you have followed the Athenians in the path of injustice. Thus much we have to say as to our involun- tary dealings with the Persians, and your voluntary dealings with the Athenians.
65 ' The last offence which you lay to our charge is that They say that ive we unlawfully assailed your city in
broke into their city, time of peace, and at a holy season ;
,^t"JT even in that affair we do not think
fluential and patriotic ourselves more in fault than you. We
of their dtisens. do not deny that we were wrong if of
A Or reading on ov5' 'Mrjvaioi, -typcis 8%, ' but because the Athenians did not and we did.' b Cp. ii. 72, 73.
64-66] REPLY OF THE THEBANS 231
our own mere motion we went to your city, fought with you, and ravaged your land. But when certain of the noblest and richest of your citizens, who wished to withdraw you from a foreign alliance and to bring you back to the national institutions of Boeotia, came and invited us, wherein are we to blame ? As you say yourselves, the leaders rather than the followers are the transgressors ft. But in our opinion, neither we nor they were really guilty. Like yourselves they were citizens, and they had a greater stake in the country than you have ; they opened their own gates and received us into their native city, not as her enemies but as her friends. They desired that the bad among you should not grow worse, and that the good should have their reward. They wanted to reform the principles of your citizens, and not to banish their persons ; they would have brought them back into a natural union with their kindred, that Plataea might be at peace with all and the enemy of none.
'And the proof that we acted in no hostile spirit is that 66 we did no harm to any one, but made At /?/$/ they were a proclamation that whoever wished wty io j°"1 »«, but to live under the national institutions "{" ' a lvhile. '!"* set
upon us, and slew our
of Boeotia should join us. \ ou came <.,•/,>, ,,.s- .<./,„,„ f/lfv had to us gladly, and, entering into an *M**»4 agreement, for a time offered no opposition ; but after- wards, when you discovered that we were frw, \<>u turned upon us. Even allowing that we did act somewhat incon- siderately in entering your town without the consent of your whole people, still how different was your conduct and ours ! For if you had followed our example you would have used no violence, but thought only of getting us out by persuasion, whereas you broke the agreement and attacked us. Now we do not so much complain of the fate of those whom you slew in battle — for they indeed suffered by a kind of law — but there were others who
Cp. iii. 55 fin.
232 REPLY OF THE THE BANS [ill
stretched out their hands to you ; and although you gave them quarter, and then promised to us that you would spare them, in utter defiance of law you took their lives — was not that a cruel act? Here are three crimes which you committed within a few hours ; the breach of the agreement, the slaughter of the prisoners which followed, and the lying promise which you made to us that you would not slay them if we did no injury to your property in the fields ; and yet you insist that we are the criminals, and that you ought to be acquitted. Not so; if the Lacedaemonians give just judgment : but for all these offences you shall suffer. 67 'We have entered into particulars, Lacedaemonians,
You should know the both for your sakes and for our own>
truth about the Plat- that you may know the sentence which aeans. If they had are gOing to pass on them to be
the virtues to which they ~
pretend, they deserve just, and still more righteous the ven- a double punishment, geance which we have taken. Do not
Pity not them , but their jet hearts be softened by tales
victims. For their mis- . ., ,
fortunes they may thank about their ancient virtues, if they ever themselves. Put the had any ; such virtues might plead for question to them again. the injured> but should bring a double
penalty a on the authors of a base deed, because they are false to their own character. Let them gain nothing by their pitiful lamentations, or by appealing to your fathers' tombs and their own desolate condition. We tell you that a far sadder fate was inflicted by them on our murdered youth, of whose fathers some fell at Coronea in the act of bringing Boeotia to join you, while others are left in their old age by their solitary hearths, and entreat you, with far better reason, to punish the Plataeans. Men who suffer an unworthy fate are indeed to be pitied, but there should be joy over those who suffer justly, as these do. For their present desolation they may thank them- selves ; the)' might have chosen the worthier alliance, but
0 Cp. i. 86 init.
67, 68] I\\TF. or rnr. PLATAEANS 233
they wilfully renounced it. They simu-d against us though \\v had never injured them ; the spirit of hatred and not of justice possessed them, and even imw thcv are not punished half enough. For they are going to suffer by a lawful sentence, not, as they pretend, stretching out their suppliant hands on the field of battle, but delivering tl selves up to justice under the terms of a capitulation. Maintain then, Lacedaemonians, the common IKllrnir law which they have outraged, and give to us, who have suffered contrary to law, the just recompense of our zeal in your cause. Do not be moved by their words to spurn and reject us", but show Hellas by example that, when a cause is tried at your tribunal, deeds and not words will prevail. If the deeds be good, a brief statement of them is enough ; if they be evil, speeches full of fine sentiments do but veil them. If all persons in authority were like you, and would sum up a case in a short question, and pass sentence upon all the offenders at once, men would be less tempted to seek out fair words in order to excuse foul deeds.'
Thus spoke the Thebans. The Lacedaemonian judges 68 thought that no objection could be The Piataemis arf made to their question, whether the put t<> dtath, mid their Plataeans had done them any service *>*»***•***+ in the war. ]l For they pretended to have expected neutrality from them in the times before the war, on the strength of the original treaty concluded with Pausanias after the defeat of the Persians. And just before the siege they had made to them a proposal b of neutrality in accordance with the terms of the same treaty; but the Plataeans had refused. Considering that they had been wronged by them, after their own fair proposals
• Cp. iii. 57 fin. b Or, taking ^iaw in a different sense, and repeat- ing it before *eu ort varfpov : ' For they had been constantly requesting thnn, as they said, to remain neutral in the times before the war. . . . and thry had repeated the rrqm-st when just before- th. BCge they had mu<l<- to them a proposal
234 LACEDAEMONIAN EXPEDITION TO CORCYRA [in
had released them from the obligations of the treaty, they again brought up the Plataeans one after another, and asked each of them separately, Whether he had done any service to the Lacedaemonians and their allies in the war ? When he said No, they took him away and slew him ; no one was spared. They put to death not less than two hundred Plataeans, as well as twenty-five Athenians who had shared with them in the siege ; and made slaves of the women. For about a year the Thebans gave possession of the city to certain Megarians, who had been driven out by a revolution a, and to any surviving Plataeans who were of their own party ; but they afterwards razed the whole place to the very foundations, and built near the precinct of Here an inn forming a square of two hundred feet; it had two stories, and chambers all round. They used the roofs and the doors of the Plataeans ; and of the brass and iron articles of furniture found within the walls they made couches, which they dedicated to Here ; they also built in her honour a stone temple a hundred feet long. The Plataean territory they converted into public land, and let it out for terms of ten years ; some of their own citizens occupied it. Throughout the whole affair the severity shown by the Lacedaemonians to the Plataeans was mainly promoted by a desire to gratify the Thebans, who seemed likely to be useful allies to them in the war
a' then Just beginning- Such was the fate of Plataea, which was overthrown in the ninety-third year after the Plataeans entered into alliance with Athens b.
"9 The forty Pelopormesian ships which had been sent
Return of Alddas. tO the aid °f LesboS> as they fled
He and Brasidas make through the open sea pursued by the ready an expedition to Athenians c, were caught in a storm near Crete, and, making their way in a straggling condition from Crete to the Peloponnesus, found at Cyllene thirteen Leucadian and Ambraciot
Cp. iv. 66 init. b Cp. Herod, vi. 108. « Cp. iii. 33.
69, TO] THE CORCYRAEAN SEDITH>.\ 235
triremes, and Brasidas the son of Tellis, who had been sent out as a commissioner to advise Alcidas. The Lace- daemonians at home, after the failure of their attempt on Lesbos, had determined to increase their navy and sail to Corcyra, which was in a state of revolution. Tin- Athenian squadron at Naupactus consisted of twelve ships only, and the Lacedaemonians wanted to reach the island before any more vessels could arrive from Athens. Brasidas and Alcidas made their preparations accordingly.
Now Corcyra had been in an unsettled state ever since 70 the return of the prisoners who were
r I > i*f tiled stale o/
taken at sea in the Epidamnian wara, com™, originating in and afterwards released by the Cor- //»• intrigues of tin- inthians. They were nominally let out P™'"™ wh° h(t(i,n"
, turned from Connt/i.
on bail for a sum of eight hundred talents1' on the security of their proxeni, but in reality they had been induced to try and gain over Corcyra to the Corinthian interest. They went from one citizen to another, and did their best with them to bring about a revolt from Athens. On the arrival of an Athenian and also of a Corinthian vessel conveying ambassadors, there was a discussion in the assembly, and the Corcyraeans voted that they would continue allies of Athens according to their agreement c, but would renew their former friend- ship with the Peloponnesians. A certain Peithias, wh<» voluntarily acted as the proxenus of Trial of rritin.i- the Athenians and was the popular popular l,a,l<->. ///, leader, was summoned by the partisans %*%* ™j££ of the Peloponnesians to take his trial, o/PtitJn'a* and of sixty they affirming that he wanted to bring < Corcyra under the yoke of Athens. He was acquitted, and then he in turn summoned their five richest mm, declaring that they were in the habit of cutting poles for vines in the sacred precinct of Zeus and Alcinous ; n<»w
" Cp. i. 55 !««•»'• '' /i6o.ooo. c Cp. i. 44.
236 THE CORCYRAEAN SEDITION [ill
for each pole the penalty was fixed at a stater n. They were condemned ; but the fine was so excessive that they went and sat as suppliants in the temple of Zeus and Alcinous, begging that they might pay the money by instalments. Peithias, who happened to be a member of the senate as well as the popular leader, persuaded the senators to put the law in execution. The culprits, knowing that the law was against them, and perceiving that Peithias b as long as he remained in the senate would try to induce the people b to make an alliance offensive and defensive with Athens, conspired together, and, rush- ing into the council chamber with daggers in their hands, slew him and others to the number of sixty, as well private persons as senators. A few who were of the same party with him took refuge in the Athenian trireme, which had not yet left.
71 The next step taken by the conspirators was to assemble Temporary triumph the people and tell them that they had
of the oligarchs. acted for the best, and in order to
secure them against the tyranny of Athens. For the future they should receive neither Athenians nor Peloponnesians, unless they came peaceably with one ship ; to bring more should be deemed the act of an enemy ; and this proposal they compelled the people to ratify. They also sent envoys to Athens, who were to put the most favourable colour on the affair, and to dissuade the refugees who had fled thither from taking any inconvenient step which might lead to a counter-revolution.
72 When the envoys arrived, the Athenians arrested them Envoys fromCorcyra as disturbers of the peace, and de-
di-f arrested at Athens, posited them in Aegina, together with
Defeat of the popular any of the refugees whom they had
gained over. In the meantime, the
a If the gold stater, about 165. ; if the silver Athenian stater, about 2s. Set. • if the silver Corinthian stater (didrachmonNi (tetradrachmon), about is. 4</.
b Or, ' before he ceased to be a senator would persuade the people.'
71-75] THE CORCYR.1L.LV SLDITIU.V 237
Corcyraean oligarchs who were now in power, un the arrival of a Corinthian trireme and Lacedaemonian envoys, attacked and defeated the people, who at nightfall took refuge in the Acropolis and the higher parts of the city, and there concentrated their forces. They also held the Hyllaic harbour; the other party seized the Agora, where- most of them lived, and the adjacent harbour which looked towards the continent.
On the following day they skirmished a little, and both 73 parties sent messengers round the country inviting the slaves to join Rftnjon them, and promising them liberty ; the greater number came to the aid of the people, while the other faction reinforced by eight hundred auxiliaries from the mainland.
After resting a day they fought again, and the people, 74 who had the advantage in numbers and In a second conflict the in the strength of their positions, gained /""M <"< victorious, the victory. Their women joined vigorously in the fray, hurling tiles from the housetops, and showing amid the uproar a fortitude beyond their sex. The conflict was decided towards evening; the oligarchy, fearing lest the people should take the arsenal with a sudden rush and so make an end of them, set fire to the private houses which surrounded the Agora, as well as to the larger blocks of buildings, sparing neither their own property nor that of any one else in their determination to stop them. Much merchandise was burnt, and the whole city would have been destroyed if the wind had carried the flame in that direction. Both parties now left off fighting, and kept watch in their own positions during the night. When the popular cause triumphed, the Corinthian vessel stole away and most of the auxiliaries crossed over unobserved to the continent.
On the following day, Nicostratus the son of Diitrephes, 75 an Athenian general, arrived from Naupactus with twelve ships and live hundred Messenian hoplites. He tried to
238 THE CORCYRAEAN SEDITION [in
effect a reconciliation between the two parties, and on his suggestion they agreed to bring to
Arrival of twelve . . 3 _ . ,
Athenian ship* under trial ten of the most guilty persons, who
Nicostratus, ivho vainly immediately fled. The rest were to live tries to reconcile the together, and to make peace with one another, and with Athens an alliance offensive and defensive. Having accomplished his pur- pose he was about to sail away, when the leaders of the people induced him to leave five of his own vessels, that the enemy might be less inclined to stir, promising to man five ships of their own and send them with him. He agreed, and they selected the crews of the ships out of the opposite faction. But the men were afraid of being sent to Athens, and sat as suppliants in the temple of the Dioscuri. Nicostratus sought to raise them up and re- assure them, but they would not trust him ; whereupon the people armed themselves, arguing that their mistrust and unwillingness to sail was a proof of their evil designs. They took their enemies' arms out of their houses, and some of them whom they chanced to meet would have been slain if Nicostratus had not interfered. The rest, to the number of about four hundred, when they saw what was going on, took refuge afresh in the temple of Here. But the people, fearing that they would resort to violence, persuaded them to rise and conveyed them at once to the island that lies in front of the temple of Here, whither provisions were regularly sent to them.
76 At this stage of the revolution, on the fourth or fifth Appearance of the day after the suppliants had been con- Peloponnesian fleet. veyed to the island, the Peloponnesian ships from Cyllene, which since the expedition to Ionia had been in harbour there a, arrived on the scene, fifty-three in number, still under the command of Alcidas. Brasidas his adviser was on board. They anchored for the night at Sybota, a harbour on the mainland, and when the morning broke they sailed upon Corcyra.
ft Cp. iv. 69.
76-79] Tin: (ORCYR.u:.i.\ sr-:nmoN
The whole place was in an uproar; the people dreaded 77 their enemies within the city no less r,m//,w Mtl( of than the Peloponnesian fleet. They the r and
hastened to equip sixty ships, and as Athenians against the fast as they were manned sent them out against the Peloponnesians, although the Athenians en- treated to be allowed to sail out first, leaving them to follow as soon as they had got their fleet together. But when in this straggling fashion their ships approached the enemy, two of them at once deserted ; in others the crews were fighting with one another, and everything was in disorder. The Peloponnesians, seeing the confusion, employed twenty ships only against the Corcyraeans, and opposed the remainder of their fleet to the twelve Athenian ships, of which two were the Salaminia and Paralus.
The Corcyraeans, coming up few at a time and in this 78 disorderly fashion, had trouble enough /),>,,.,-,•„„ rfffftctt hv among themselves. The Athenians, the Athenians, «-//o afraid of being surrounded by superior -S/(W/V /r//r"'- numbers, did not attack the main body nor the centre of those opposed to them, but fell upon the wings and sank a single ship ; then, the enemy forming in a circle, they sailed round them and endeavoured to throw them into confusion. But those who were opposed to the Corcy- raeans, seeing this movement and fearing a repetition of what happened at Naupactus11, came to the res< and the united fleet charged the Athenians. Thereupon they rowed astern, hoping that by retreating very leisurely they might give the Corcyraeans time to escape, especially as the attack of the enemy was now directed against themselves. The naval engagement ended at sunset.
The Corcyraeans, who were afraid that the victorious 79 enemy would sail to the city and have recourse to some decisive measure, such as taking on board the prisoners
" CP. ii 84.
240 THE CORCYRAEAN SEDITION [in
in the island, conveyed them back to the temple of Here
The Pdoponmsian and guarded the city. But the Pelo-
fleet, instead of attack- ponnesians, although they had won the
ing the city, retire; ^^ did nofc venture to attack the dty>
but returned to their station on the mainland with thirteen Corcyraean ships which they had taken. On the next day they still hesitated, although there was great panic and confusion among the inhabitants. It is said that Brasidas advised Alcidas to make the attempt, but he had not an equal vote with him. So they only disembarked at the promontory of Leucimne and ravaged the country.
80 Meanwhile the people of Corcyra, dreading that the fleet and soon afterwards, of the Peloponnesians would attack hearing that sixty Athe- them, held a parley with the other nian vessels are ap- faction, especially with the suppliants,
broaching, return home. • ,i i c • *a_ ' •«: • *.t.
in the hope of saving the city; they even persuaded some of them to go on board the fleet ; for the Corcyraeans still contrived to man thirty ships. But the Peloponnesians, after devastating the land till about midday, retired. And at nightfall the approach of sixty Athenian vessels was signalled to them from Leucas. These had been sent by the Athenians under the command of Eurymedon the son of Thucles, when they heard of the revolution and of the intended expedition of Alcidas to Corcyra.
81 The Peloponnesians set out that very night on their way Massacre of the oli- home, keeping close to the land, and
Sarc/is. transporting the ships over the Leu-
cadian isthmus, that they might not be seen sailing round a. When the Corcyraeans perceived that the Athenian fleet was appoaching, while that of the enemy had disappeared, they took the Messenian troops, who had hitherto been outside the walls, into the city, and ordered the ships which they had manned to sail round into the Hyllaic harbour. These proceeded on their way. Meanwhile
Cp. iv. 8 ink.
80-82] THE CORCYRAEAN SEDITION 241
they killed any of their enemies whom they caught in the city. On the arrival of the ships they disembarked those whom they had induced to go on board, and despatched them:l; they also went to the temple of Here, and per- suading about fifty of the suppliants to stand their trial condemned them all to death. The majority would not come out, and, when they saw what was going on, de- stroyed one another in the enclosure of the temple where they were, except a few who hung themselves on trees, or put an end to their own lives in any other way which they could. And, during the seven days which Eurymedon after his arrival remained with his sixty ships, the Corcyr- aeans continued slaughtering those of their fellow-citizens whom they deemed their enemies; they professed to punish them for their designs against the democracy, but in fact some were killed from motives of personal enmity, and some because money was owing to them, by the hands of their debtors. Every form of death was to be seen ; and everything, and more than everything, that commonly happens in revolutions, happened then. The father slew the son, and the suppliants were torn from the temples and slain near them ; some of them were even walled up in the temple of Dionysus, and there perished. To such extremes of cruelty did revolution go ; and this seemed to be the worst of revolutions, because it was the first.
For not long afterwards nearly the whole Hellenic world 82 was in commotion; in every city the The conflict of dento- chiefsof the democracy and of the olig- nary and oligarchy, archy were struggling, the one to bring »™«™g«* as '' « h
, . . T the hope of Athenian
in the Athenians, the other the Lacedae- or Lacfaaeinonian /„//,, monians. Now in time of peace, men mins states and dis- would have had no excuse for intro- organises soaety. ducing either, and no desire to do so ; but, when they were
• Reading with a few MSS. avf^puvro, (which is quoted from Thucydides by the Lexicographers,) instead of avt\wprjaav, which gives no sense.
VOL. I. R
242 REFLECTIONS ON RESOLUTION [ill
at wara, the introduction of a foreign alliance on one side or the other to the hurt of their enemies and the advantage of themselves was easily effected by the dissatisfied party a. And revolution brought upon the cities of Hellas many terrible calamities, such as have been and always will be while human nature remains the same, but which are more or less aggravated and differ in character with every new combination of circumstances. In peace and prosperity both states and individuals are actuated by higher motives, because they do not fall under the dominion of imperious necessities ; but war, which takes away the comfortable provision of daily life, is a hard master and tends to assimilate men's characters to their conditions.
When troubles had once begun in the cities, those who
Changes in men's followed carried the revolutionary
moral principles and in spirit further and further, and deter-
their use of language. minecj to outdo the report of all who
had preceded them by the ingenuity of their enterprises and the atrocity of their revenges. The meaning of words had no longer the same relation to things, but was changed by them as they thought proper. Reckless daring was held to be loyal courage ; prudent delay was the excuse of a coward ; moderation was the disguise of unmanly weak- ness; to know everything was to do nothing. Frantic energy was the true quality of a man. A conspirator who wanted to be safe was a recreant in disguise. The lover of violence was always trusted, and his opponent sus- pected. He who succeeded in a plot was deemed knowing, but a still greater master in craft was he who detected one. On the other hand, he who plotted from the first to have nothing to do with plots was a breaker up of parties and a poltroon who was afraid of the enemy. In a word, he who could outstrip another in a bad action was
* Omitting the comma inserted in Bekker's text after irpoffiroiTiad, or retaining it ' and both sides could easily obtain allies to the hurt of their enemies and the advantage of themselves, the dissatisfied party were only too ready to invoke foreign aid ' ; see note on the passage.
8a] REFLECTIONS O\ RF.roU'TIo.\ 243
applauded, and so was he who encouraged to evil one who had no idea of it. The tie of party was stronger than the tie of blood, because a partisan was more ready to dare without asking why. (For party associations are not based upon any established law, nor do they seek the public good ; they are formed in defiance of the laws and from self-interest.) The seal of good faith was not divine law, but fellowship in crime. If an enemy when he was in thr ascendant offered fair words, the opposite party received them not in a generous spirit,11 but by a jealous watchful- ness of his actions'1. Revenge was dearer than self-pre- servation. Any agreements sworn to by either party, when they could do nothing else, were binding as long as both were powerless. But he who on a favourable opportunity first took courage, and struck at his enemy when he saw him oft" his guard, had greater pleasure in a perfidious than he would have had in an open act of revenge; he congratulated himself that he had taken the safer course, and also that he had overreached his enemy and gained the prize of superior ability. In general the dishonest more easily gain credit for cleverness than the simple for goodness ; men take a pride in the one, but are ashamed of the other.
The cause of all these evils was the love of power, originating in avarice and ambition, Ca ltses an(t tfftcts 0/ and the party-spirit which is engendered the revolutionary spirit. by them when men are fairly embarked Disreganl of all
_. , . , . , human and aitnnt.
in a contest. For the leaders on either side used specious names, the one party professing to up- hold the constitutional equality of the many, the other the wisdom of an aristocracy, while they made the public interests, to which in name they were devoted, in reality their prize. Striving in every way to overcome each other, they committed the most monstrous crimes ; yet even these were surpassed by the magnitude of their revenges
Or. ' hut by active precautions' R 2
244 REFLECTIONS ON REVOLUTION [ill
which they pursued to the very utmost a, neither party observing any definite limits either of justice or public expediency, but both alike making the caprice of the moment their law. Either by the help of an unrighteous sentence, or grasping power with the strong hand, they were eager to satiate the impatience of party-spirit. Neither faction cared for religion ; but any fair pretence which succeeded in effecting some odious purpose was greatly lauded. And the citizens who were of neither party fell a prey to both; either they were disliked because they held aloof, or men were jealous of their surviving.
83 Thus revolution gave birth to every form of wickedness Universal distrust. ^n Hellas. The simplicity which is so
Force of character, not large an element in a noble nature was laughed to scorn and disappeared. An attitude of perfidious antagonism everywhere prevailed ; for there was no word binding enough, nor oath terrible enough to reconcile enemies. Each man was strong only in the conviction that nothing was secure ; he must look to his own safety, and could not afford to trust others. Inferior intellects generally succeeded best. For, aware of their own deficiencies, and fearing the capacity of their opponents, for whom they were no match in powers of speech, and whose subtle wits were likely to anticipate them in contriving evil, they struck bolcfly and at once. But the cleverer sort, presuming in their arrogance that they would be aware in time, and disdaining to act when they could think, were taken off their guard and easily destroyed.
84 Now in Corcyra most of these deeds were perpetrated, and for the first time. There was every crime which men could commit in revenge who had been governed not wisely, but tyrannically, and now had the oppressor at their mercy. There were the dishonest designs of others
Placing the comma after /mfovy instead of after tirf^tadv rt.
83-85] REFLECTIONS ON REVOLUTION 245
who were longing to be relieved from their habitual poverty, and were naturally animated i> fm-y of the »/>- by a passionate desire for their neigh- / """'
i > j , , . of th,
hours goods; and there were crimes intrf/mnntlg of another class which men commit,
not from covetousness, but from the to r>'inif-
I-, i r natto'i' ii'lieit
rnm.ty which equals foster towards one
another until they are carried away by forjuttK»,co*»cit»c*>or
their blind rage into the extremes of pitiless cruelty. At such a time the life of the city was all in disorder, and human nature, which is always ready to transgress the laws, having now trampled them underfoot, delighted to show that her passions were ungovernable, that she was stronger than justice, and the enemy of everything above her. If malignity had not exercised a fatal power, how could any one have preferred revenge to piety, and gain to innocence? But, when men are retaliating upon others, they are reckless of the future, and do not hesitate to annul those common laws of humanity to which every individual trusts for his own hope of deliverance should he ever be overtaken by calamity ; they forget that in their own hour of need they will look for them in vain.
Such were the passions which the citizens of Corcyra 85 first of all Hellenes displayed towards /•//<• winving olig- one another. After the departure of <"r/'s *fl'~f sotne foris Eurymedon and the Athenian fleet the "£."£* ^ surviving oligarchs, who to the number ,•„/,„„/ nnd occupy of five hundred had escaped, seized Mount i.*tonc. certain forts on the mainland, and thus became masters of the territory on the opposite coast which belonged to Corcyra. Thence issuing forth, they plundered the Corcyraeans in the island, and did much harm, so that there was a great famine in the city. They also sent ambassadors to Lacedaemon and Corinth, begging that they might be restored, but, failing of their object, they procured boats and auxiliaries, and passed over to Corcyra about six
246 THE AFFAIRS OF SICILY [ill
hundred in all ; then, burning their boats, that they might have no hope but in the conquest of the island, they went into Mount Istone, and building a fort there, became masters of the country to the ruin of the inhabitants of the city.
86 At the end of the same summer the Athenians sent
twenty ships to Sicily under the com-
War in Svctly between ._ . _ _. .
the Syracusans and mand of Laches the son of Melanopus, Leontines; the latter and Charoeades the son of Euphiletus. obtain assistance from Syracuse and Leontini were now at war with one another. All the Dorian cities, except Camarina, were in alliance with Syracuse ; they were the same which at the beginning of the war were reckoned in the Lacedaemonian confederacy, but they had taken no active parta. The allies of the Leon- tines were the Chalcidian cities and Camarina. In Italy the Locrians sided with the Syracusans, and the Rhegians with the Leontines, who were their kinsmen b. The Leon- tines and their allies sent to Athens, and on the ground, partly of an old alliance, partly of their Ionian descent, begged the Athenians to send them ships, for they were driven off both sea and land by their Syracusan enemies. The Athenians sent the ships, professedly on the ground of relationship, but in reality because they did not wish the Peloponnesians to obtain corn from Sicily. Moreover they meant to try what prospect they had of getting the affairs of Sicily into their hands. So the com- manders of the fleet came to Rhegium in Italy, where they established themselves, and carried on the war in concert with their allies. Thus the summer ended.
87 In the following winter the plague, which had never Reappearance of the entirely disappeared, although abating
*iTJ aft? ? had for a time> again attacked the
abated. At the same
time numerous earth- Athenians. It continued on this quakes occur. second occasion not less than a year,
having previously lasted for two years. To the power of Athens certainly nothing was more ruinous ; not less than
ft Cp. ii. 7 med. b Cp. vi. 44 fin.
86-89] KKTL'RN OF THE rLAC.UE -'47
four thousand four hundred Athenian hoplitcs \vh«> \'. on the roll died, and also three hundred horsemen ; how many of the common people could never be ascertained. This too was the time when the frequent earthquakes occurred at Athens, in Euboea, and in Boeotia, especially at Orchomenos*.
During the same winter the Athenians in Sicilv and the 88 Rhegians made an expedition with /.-,,, /..„•„„
thirty ships against the islands of against the Aeolian Aeolus, as they are called, which in 'w"'"'-s- summer time cannot be attacked owing to the wan- water. These islands belong to the Liparaeans, who an- colonists of the Cnidians : they inhabit one of them, which is not large, and is called Lipara ; from this they go and cultivate the rest, Didyme, Strongyle, and Hiera. The inhabitants believe that the forge of Hephaestus is in Hiera, because the island sends up a blaze of fire in the night-time and clouds of smoke by day. The Aeolian islands lie off the territory of the Sicels and Messenians ; they were in alliance with Syracuse. The Athenians wasted the country, but finding that the inhabitants would not yield, sailed back to Rhegium. And so ended the winter, and with it the fifth year in the Peloponnesian War of which Thucydides wrote the history.
In the ensuing summer the Peloponnesians and their 89 allies, under the command of Agis the Thf eatiiiqttnke* .con- £jc' son of Archidamus, the Lacedae- ctivtd i>y Thucydides to
monian king, came as far as the >™ i»<» «>< ™"s<°
°' . the great ebb and flow
isthmus. They intended to invade Of the sea at Orobiae in Attica, but were deterred from proceed- Euboea, and at Ata- ing by numerous earthquakes1', and lanh- no invasion took place in this year. About the time when these earthquakes prevailed, the sea at Orobiae in Euboea, retiring from what was then the line of coast and rising in a great wave, overflowed a part of the city ; and although
Cp. ch. 89, and i. 23 mcd. k Cp. ch. 87.
248 STRANGE NATURAL PHENOMENA [ill
it subsided in some places, yet in others the inundation was permanent, and that which was formerly land is now sea. All the people who could not escape to the high ground perished. A similar inundation occurred in the neighbourhood of Atalante, an island on the coast of the Opuntian Locri, which carried away a part of the Athenian fort a, and dashed in pieces one of two ships which were drawn up on the beach. At Peparethus also the sea retired, but no inundation followed ; an earthquake, how- ever, overthrew a part of the wall, the Prytaneum, and a few houses. I conceive that, where the force of the earthquake was greatest, the sea was driven back, and the suddenness of the recoil made the inundation more violent ; and I am of opinion that this was the cause of the phenomenon, which would never have taken place if there had been no earthquake.
90 During the same summer war was going on in various Capture by Laches of parts of Sicily, the Hellenes in Sicily Mylae in Sicily, and fighting against one another, the submission of Messene. Athenians helping their own allies. I will mention the chief actions in which the Athenians took part, whether by the help of their allies attacking, or attacked by their enemies. Charoeades, the Athenian general, had been killed in battle by the Syracusans, and, Laches having taken the entire command of the fleet, he and the allies made an expedition against Mylae, a town belonging to Messene. Two tribes of the Messenians were keeping guard there, and they had set an ambuscade for the force which they were expecting to land ; but the Athenians and their allies put to flight with heavy loss the troops which came out of the ambush. Then, attacking the fortress, they compelled its defenders to come to terms, surrender the citadel, and march with them against Messene. Finally, upon the approach of the Athenians and their allies, the Messenians themselves came to terms,
* CP. ii. 32.
90-92] EXTEDITIONS TO ME LOS .L\D ROEOTI.l 249
giving hostages and the other pledges which were rcquin d of them.
In the same summer the Athenians sent thirty ships 91 round the Peloponnese under the com- Thirty Athennm,h^
mand Of Demosthenes the Son of under Demosthenes tail
Alcisthenes, and Procles the son of ™"H<1 /;" /'•&./.„,,,«*.
ry,, . ^p,. . , . St.vfv more undo A icias
Theodorus. They also sent sixty ships go £ Afeh^ nnii after and two thousand hoplites to Melos, > • -land
under the command of N icias the son S(lil to Omjms. At of Niceratus, wishing to subdue the ^^J^^Q^ Melians, who, although they were inn land-forces, defeat islanders, resisted them and would not the inhabitant,. join their alliance a. So they ravaged their country, but finding that the Melians would not yield, they sailed away to Oropus, opposite Euboea. There they put in at night- fall, and the hoplites disembarking went at once by land to Tanagra in Boeotia. Meanwhile the entire Athenian force, under the command of Hipponicus the son of Callias, and Eurymedon the son of Thucles, upon a signal given marched to meet them at the same spot. There they encamped, and all together devastated the country, remaining at Tanagra during that day and the following night. On the morrow they defeated the Tanagraeans who sallied out upon them, and also some Thebans who had come to their aid ; they then took up the arms of the slain, raised a trophy, and returned, the one part of the forces back again to the city, the other to their ships. Nicias with his sixty ships then sailed to the coast of Locris ; after ravaging the country he returned home.
About the same time the Lacedaemonians founded 92 Heraclea, their colony in Trachinia.
TM- • • Jc ., ^, To help the Trachm-
The intention was as follows :— The ians atld th(ir Trachinians are one of the three Melian mother state Doris, the tribes; the other two being the Paral- Lacedaemonians fo«»d
* the colon? of Heraclea.
ians and the Hiereans. These I ra- chinians, having suffered greatly in war from their neigh- • CP. v. 84.
250 FOUNDATION OF HER AC LEA [ill
hours the Oetaeans, at first thought of attaching themselves to the Athenians, but, fearing that they could not trust them a, sent Tisamenus, whom they appointed their envoy, to Lacedaemon. The Dorians, who were the mother state of Lacedaemon, joined in the embassy and also requested help, for they too were suffering from the Oetaeans. The Lacedaemonians heard their appeal, and, being desirous of assisting both the Trachinians and Dorians, made up their minds to send out a colony. They also thought that the situation of the new city would be convenient for carrying on the war against the Athenians. There a navy could be equipped if they wanted to attack Euboea, which was quite near, and the station would be handy for the conveyance of troops to Chalcidice. For every reason they were eager to colonise the place. First they enquired of the God at Delphi ; he bade them go, and they sent out settlers taken from their own citizens and the Perioeci, announcing that any Hellenes who desired, not being of the Ionian, Achaean, or certain other races, might accom pany them. The leaders of the colony were three Lace- daemonians, Leon, Alcidas, and Damagon. They set to work and built afresh the walls of the city, which received the name of Heraclea, and is situated about four miles and a half from Thermopylae and a little more than two from the sea. They also constructed docks b, beginning the works near Thermopylae, at the pass, that the city might be perfectly defended.
93 While the new colonists were collecting at Heraclea,
The neiv colony is the Athenians grew alarmed; the
gradually worn out by scheme appeared to be aimed at Eu-
the persistent opposition b for c Cenaeum on the oppo-
of the Thessalians, and ., ^
by the brutality of the site coast is within a short sail. But
Lacedaemonian govern- their fears were not realised ; no harm
whatever ensued. The reasons were
these : — In the first place the Thessalians are strong in
* Cp. iii. 113 fin.
b Or, reading tlp£av TO , ' and blockaded the defile at Thermopylae.'
93,94] FAILURE OF THE .YA'/r C()LO.\Y 251
that part of the country, and fearing that Heraclea, which was built to control them, would be a powerful and dangerous neighbour, they carried on uninterrupted war against the young colony until they completely wore the settlers out, although originally they had been very numerous. For every one joined without hesitation, encouraged by the promise of security which a Lacedae- monian colony seemed to offer. But another great cause of the ruin and depopulation of the place was the conduct of the governors sent out from Lacedaemon, who frightened the people away by their severe and often unjust adminis- tration a. Thus the Heracleans fell an easy prey to their neighbours.
During the same summer, and just about the same time 94 when the Athenians were engaged at Attack upon /.</ Melos, the troops which were cruising /*>"»--•'/" •>«*• »>*tcadof in the thirty Athenian ships" abom ^ff^i^ Peloponnesus set an ambuscade at M^enians to invade Ellomenus in Leucadia and killed a AetviM. few of the guards of the country. They next attacked Leucas itself with a larger armament, consisting of the Acarnanians, who followed them with their whole forces, all but the inhabitants of Oeniadae c, and some Zacynthians and Cephallenians, together with fifteen ships from Corcyra. The Leucadians saw their territory both on the mainland and within the isthmus, where the town of Leucas and the temple of Apollo are situated, ravaged by the enemy ; but being powerless against a superior force, they remained inactive. The Acarnanians begged Demosthenes, the Athenian general, to cut Leucas off by a wall, thinking that they could easily take the city and so rid themselves of an old enemy. But just then he was persuaded by the Messen- ians that, having such an army in the field, it would be a great thing to attack the Aetolians : they were the enemies of Naupactus, and if he defeated them he would
• Cp. v. 53 init. l L p. iii. 91 init. ° Cp. ii. 102 init.
252 DEMOSTHENES IN AETOLIA [ill
easily subjugate the adjoining part of the mainland to the Athenians. The Aetolians, they said, though a large and warlike people, dwelt in unwalled villages, which were widely scattered, and as they had only light-armed soldiers, they would be subdued without difficulty before they could combine. They told him that he should first attack the Apodotians, then the Ophioneans, and after them the Eurytanians. The last are the largest tribe of the Aetolians ; they speak a dialect more unintelligible than any of their neighbours, and are believed to eat raw flesh. They said that, if he conquered these, the rest would readily come over to him.
95 He was influenced by his regard for the Messenians,
He determines to and still more by the consideration that
make his way through without reinforcements from Athens,
Aetolia and Phocis into ^ ^ other h j fa fa Qf th Boeotia, zvhtch he hopes
to attack with an allied allies on the mainland, to whom he force. hoped to add the Aetolians, he could
make his way by land to attack Boeotia. He might proceed through the Ozolian Locri to the Dorian Cytinium, keeping Mount Parnassus on the right, until he came down upon the Phocians. They would probably be eager to join in the expedition because they had always been friendly to Athens, or, if unwilling, they might be coerced; and once in Phocis he would be on the borders of Boeotia. So he left Leucas with all his army, much against the will of the Acarnanians, and sailed to Sollium. He there communicated his design to them, but they would not accompany him because he had refused to blockade Leucas ; so with the remainder of his army, which con- sisted of Cephallenians, Messenians, Zacynthians, and three hundred marines belonging to the Athenian fleet H, the fifteen Corcyraean vessels having left, he marched against the Aetolians, starting from Oeneon in Locris. The Ozolian Locrians were allies of the Athenians, and
* Cp. ch. 94 init.
95-97] PROGRESS OF THE INVASION 253
they were to meet him with their whole force in the in- terior of the country. They dwelt on the border of the Aetolians, and as they were armed in a similar manner and knew their country and ways of fighting, their help in the expedition seemed likely to be very valuable.
He encamped the first night at the temple of Nemean 96 Zeus, where the poet Hesiod is said to The A.toiian-i ,olM have been killed by the inhabitants in their fonts. fulfilment of an oracle which foretold that he should die at Nemea. Early the next morning he proceeded on his march into Aetolia. On the first day he took Potidania, on the second Crocyleium, on the third Teichium. There he stayed and sent back the spoils to Eupalium in Locris. For he did not intend to attack the Ophioneans yet ; when he had subjugated the rest of the country he would return to Naupactus and make a second expedition against them if they continued to resist. The Aetolians were aware of his designs from the very first ; and no sooner did he enter their territory than they all collected in great force ; even the most distant of the Ophioneans, the Bomieans and Callieans who reach down towards the Malian Gulf, came to the aid of their countrymen.
The Messenians repeated the advice which they had 97 originally given to Demosthenes. They Deniosthent, /mm>s assured him that there would be no on against the Aetolian difficulty in conquering the Aetolians, ™U«g*s, but mm** » and told him to march as quickly as he could against the villages. He should not wait until they could combine and meet him with an army, but should endeavour to take any place which was nearest. He, trusting to their advice, and confident in his good fortune since everything was going favourably, did not wait for the Locrians, who should have supplied his deficiency in javelin-men, but at once marched towards Aegitium, which he attacked, and forced his way in. The inhabitants had stolen away and taken up a position on the top of the hills overhanging the town, which was itself built upon
254 DISASTER OF AEGITIUM [ill
heights at a distance of about nine miles from the sea. The other Aetolians, who had by this time come to the rescue of Aegitium, attacked the Athenians and their allies. Some ran down from one hill and some from another and hurled darts at them ; when the Athenian army advanced they retired, and when the Athenians re- treated they pressed upon them. The battle, which lasted long, was nothing but a series of pursuits and retreats, and in both the Athenians were at a disadvantage. 98 While their archers had arrows and were able to use _, .... them, the Athenians maintained their
The Aetolians press
upon the Athenians, ground, for the Aetohans, being hght- who at length fly. The armed, were driven back by the arrows.
survivors with difficulty fi j . h {n f h archers
return to Naupactus, r
and thence to Athens, was slain, and the forces under his Demosthenes remains command no longer kept together. The Athenians themselves grew weary of the long and tedious struggle. The Aetolians came closer and closer, and never ceased hurling darts at them. At last they turned and fled, and falling into ravines, out of which there was no way, or losing themselves in a strange country, they perished. Their guide, Chromon the Messenian, had been killed. The Aetolians, who were light-armed and swift of foot, followed at their heels, hurl- ing darts, and caught and slew many of them in the actual rout. The greater number missed their way and got into the woods, out of which no path led ; and their enemies brought fire and burnt the wood about them. So the Athenian army tried every means of escape and perished in all manner of ways. The survivors with difficulty made their way to the sea at Oeneon in Locris, whence they had set out. Many of the allies fell, and of the Athenian heavy- armed about a hundred and twenty, all in the flower of their youth ; they were the very finest men whom the city of Athens lost during the war. Procles, one of the two generals, was also killed. When they had received the bodies of their dead under a flag of truce from the Aetol-
98-ior ] LACEDAEMONIAN A TTACK UPON .\A I T. K'Tl S 255
ians, they retreated to Naupactus, and returned in their ships to Athens. Demosthenes remained behind in Naupactus and the neighbourhood ; for, after what had happened, he feared the anger of the Athenians.
About the same time the Athenian forces engaged in 99 Sicily, sailing to the territory of Locri The Ifalian Loc>: and there disembarking, defeated the de/mtid. Locrians who came out to meet them, and took a small garrison fort, which was situated upon the river Ilalex.
During the same summer the Aetolians, who had some 100 time before despatched Tolophus the
r\ \ • T> • i IT- • The Actolians per*
Ophionean, Bonades the Eurytaman, stM(fe thc Lace'dae. and Tisander the Apodotian on an iwmians to send an embassy to Corinth and Lacedaemon, expedition agatnstNan- induced the Lacedaemonians to aid ^ them by sending an army against Naupactus, in order to punish the inhabitants for inviting the Athenian invasion ". So in the autumn they sent out three thousand hoplites of their allies, including five hundred from Heraclea, the newly-founded city in Trachis. Eurylochus, a Spartan, was general, and with him were associated in the command Macarius and Menedaeus, also Spartans.
When the army was collected at Delphi, Eurylochus 101 sent a herald to the Ozolian Locrians, Eurylochtts „,, L ace. for he had to pass through their country dannoninn c<»inn<nult> on the way to Naupactus ; and he also starts from Delphi
wished to detach them from the Athen- • ian alliance. Of the Locrians, the inhabitants of Amphissa were most willing to co-operate with him, being anxious for protection against their enemies the Phocians; they were the first who gave hostages, and by them the other Locrians, who were alarmed at the impending invasion, were persuaded to do the like :— first their neighbours the Myoneans, who commanded the most difficult pass into Locris; then the Ipneans, Messapians, Tritaeeans,
• Cp. iii. 94 med.
256 DEMOSTHENES STILL AT NAUPACTUS [ill
Chalaeans, Tolophonians, Hessians, and Oeantheans; all these tribes also joined the expedition. The Olpaeans gave hostages but did not join ; the Hyaeans would not give hostages until the Lacedaemonians had taken one of their villages, called Polis.
102 When everything was ready, and Eurylochus had de- Demosthenesviththe P°sited the h°Sta£eS at Cytinium of the
helpoftheAcamanians Dorians, he marched with his army
saves Naupactus. The against Naupactus, through the territory
Lacedaemonians retire Q{ ^ LocrianSf Qn his march he and in concert with the
Ambradots project an took Oeneon a and Eupahum b, two attack on the Amphi- Locrian towns which refused to come hchian Argos. to terms. When they had arrived in
the territory of Naupactus and the Aetolians had at length joined them, they devastated the country, and after taking the unwalled suburbs of the town marched against Moly- crium, a colony of the Corinthians subject to Athens, which they captured. But Demosthenes the Athenian, who after his misfortune in Aetolia was still in the neigh- bourhood of Naupactus, having previous intelligence, and fearing for the town, went and persuaded the Acarnanians, much against their will — for they had not forgotten his with- drawal from Leucas — to assist Naupactus. So they sent with him on board the Athenian ships c a thousand hop- lites ; these got in and saved the place, which was in danger of having to capitulate, owing to the extent of the wall and the paucity of its defenders. Eurylochus and his soldiers, when they saw that the garrison had been reinforced, and that there was no possibility of taking the city by storm, instead of going back to Peloponnesus, retired into the country of Aeolis, which is now called by the names of the towns Calydon and Pleuron, and to other places in the neighbourhood ; also to Proschium in Aetolia. For the Ambraciots sent and persuaded them to take part in an attack on the Amphilochian Argos and the rest of Amphi-
Cp. iii. 95 fin. " Cp. iii. 96 med. ° Cp. iii. 105 fin
L\' SICILY 257
lochia and Acarnania, declaring that, if they gained posses- sion of these places, all the tribes of the mainland would at once come over t<> tin- Lacedaemonian*. Kurylnchu* assented and, dismissing the Aetolians, waited with his army in that region until the time for the Ambraciots to make their expedition and for him to join them in the neighbourhood of Argos. Thus the summer ended.
In the following winter the Athenians in Sicily and their 103 Hellenic allies made an attack upon The Athcni<m> the Sicel fort of Inessa, a Sicel town <i<t«it,,l at ln,^<i. but Of Which the citadel was held by the •"'«**»**«*•* Syracusans. They were joined by many of the Sicels, who had formerly been allies to the Syracusans, and, having been held down by them, had now revolted to the Athenians. The attempt failed, and they retreated. But during their retreat the Syracusans sallied out and fell upon the allies who were in the rear of the Athenians, routed them, and put to flight a part of their forces with great loss. Soon afterwards, Laches and the Athenians in the fleet made several descents upon Locris. At the river Caecinus they defeated about three hundred Locrians who came out to meet them under Proxenus the son of Capaton, took arms from the slain, and returned.
In the same winter the Athenians, by command of an 104 oracle, purified the island of Delos. ThcAtlu,, Pisistratus the tyrant had already the purification of Delos purified it, but imperfectly, for the '""' ">/("t> tllc Dclllin purification only extended to that part £><" which was within sight of the temple. The whole island was now purified in the following manner : — The Athenians took away all the coffins of the dead which were in Dclos", and passed a decree that henceforward no one should die or give birth to a child there, but that the inhabitants when they were near the time of either should be carried acr to Rhcnea. Now Rhenea is near to Dclos, so near
• Cp. i. 8 ink.; v. i. VOL. I. S
258 PURIFICATION OF DELOS [ill
indeed that Polycrates the tyrant of Samos, who for a time had a powerful navy, attached this island, which he con- quered with the rest of the islands and dedicated to the Delian Apollo, by a chain to Delos. After the purification, the Athenians for the first time celebrated the Delian games, which were held every four years. There had been in ancient days a great gathering of the lonians and the neighbouring islanders at Delos ; whither they brought their wives and children to be present at the Delian games, as the lonians now frequent the games at Ephesus. Musical and gymnastic contests were held there, and the The old festival of Delos cities celebrated choral dances. The is celebrated by Homer, character of the festival is attested by Homer in the following verses, which are taken from the hymn to Apollo : —
'At other times, Phoebus, Delos is dearest to thy heart, Where are gathered together the lonians in flowing robes, With their wives and children in thy street : There do they delight thee with boxing and dancing and song, Making mention of thy name when they gather at the assembly.'
And that there were musical contests which attracted competitors is implied in the following words of the same hymn. After commemorating the Delian dance of women, Homer ends their praises with these lines, in which he alludes to himself:—
'And now may Apollo and Artemis be gracious, And to all of you, maidens, I say farewell. Yet remember me when I am gone;
And if some other toiling pilgrim among the sons of men Comes and asks : O maidens,
Who is the sweetest minstrel of all who wander hither, And in whom do you delight most ? Make answer with one voice, in gentle words, The blind old man of Chios' rocky isle.'
Thus far Homer, who clearly indicates that even in days of old there was a great gathering and festival at Delos. In after ages the islanders and the Athenians led choruses in procession, and sacrificed. But the games and the greater part of the ceremonies, naturally fell into disuse,
io5, io6]
THE AMPHILOCHIAN ARGOS
259
owing to the misfortunes of Ionia. The Athenians now restored the games and for the first time introduced horse-races.
During the same winter the Ambraciots, in fulfilment 105 of the promise by which thev had induced Emylochus and his ;,nnv to remain*, made an expedition against ///<•/> /,/•«•«. * the Araphilochian Argos with three thousand boplites. They invad,d the Argive territory and seized Olpae, a and Athenian* nn,t> • t,, strong fort on a hill by the sea-side, protect. TiicAmbradots which in former days the Acarnanians T' ??'"'' '""! ***
J for rcinfuncntcnts.
had fortified and used as a common hall of justice. The place is about three miles from Argos, which is al.M) on the sea-shore. One division of the Acarnanians came t<> the aid of Argos, while another encamped at a spot called the Wells, where they could lie in wait for Eury- Inchus and the Peloponnesians, and prevent them from joining the Ambraciots unobserved. Thev also despatched a messenger to Demosthenes, who had led the Athenian expedition into Aetolia, asking him to be their commander, and sent for twenty Athenian ships which were just then cruising about the Peloponnese under the command of Aristoteles the son of Timocrates, and Ilicrophon the of Antimnestus. The Ambraciots sent a messenger from Olpae to their own citizens, bidding them come and help them with their entire force; for they were afraid that Eurylochus and his followers might not be able to make their way through the Acarnanians, and then they would have either to fight alone, or to attempt a hazardous retreat.
Eurylochus and the Peloponnesians, when they heard 106 that the Ambraciots had arrived at Olpae, left Proschium and went with all speed to help them. Passing over a junction MI/I tlu theriverAchclous they marched through bt™ots "' Ol/>(lc' * Cp. iii. 102 fin. b 2
V(m/; (>/ //;<.
.,//<. effect
260 BATTLE OF OLPAE [ill
Acarnania, leaving the city and garrison of Stratus on the right hand, and the rest of Acarnania on their left. The land was deserted, for the inhabitants had gone to the assistance of Argos. Crossing the territory of Stratus they proceeded through Phytia and by the extreme border of Medeon, and so through Limnaea ; at last they left Acarnania, and reached the friendly territory of the Agraeans. Then taking to Mount Thyamus, which is open country, they marched on and descended into the plain of Argos after dark. Making their way unobserved between the city of Argos and the Acarnanian force stationed at the Wells, they at length reached the Am- braciots at Olpae.
The two armies having effected this junction moved at Athenian reinforce- break of day to a place called Metro- arrive. Demo- polis, and there encamped. Soon after- takes the com- wards the Argives received the expected C7! reinforcement of twenty Athenian ships, paring for action he which arrived in the Ambracian Gulf. places troops in an am- With them came Demosthenes, who brought two hundred Messenian hop- lites and sixty Athenian archers. The ships anchored about the hill of Olpae, while the Acarnanians and a few of the Amphilochians (the greater part of them were prevented from stirring by the Ambraciots a), having mustered at Argos, were now preparing to give battle. They associated Demosthenes with their own generals in the command of the allied forces. He led them to the neighbourhood of Olpae, and there encamped at a place where they were divided from the enemy by a great ravine. During five days they remained inactive ; on the sixth day both armies drew up in battle array. Demosthenes, fearing that he would be surrounded by the Peloponnesians who were more numerous and extended beyond his own line, placed hoplites and light-armed troops,
Cp. iii. 114 fin.
To7, to8] DEFEA T OF LACEDAFMO\'JA .VS A.\D .•/ /. I.fT.S 261
numbering altogether four hundred, in a deep lane over- grown with brushwood, intending them to lie in wait until the moment of conflict, when they were to rush out from the rear on the line of the enemy where it overlap] The preparations of both armies were now complete and they engaged. Demosthenes led his own right wing, on which were the Messenians and a few Athenians, while the other was held by the Acarnanians, who were disposed according to their cities, and by the Amphilochian javelin- men who were in the battle. The Peloponnesians and Ambraciots were intermingled, with the exception of the Mantincans, who were all collected on the left wing; but the extremity of the wing was occupied by Eurylochus and his division, who were opposed to the Messenians under Demosthenes.
When the two armies were at close quarters, the left wing of the Peloponnesians out-flanked The Pflo/tanih the right wing of their opponents and threatened to surround them ; where- stricken i>y the t, upon the Acarnanians, coming upon •£*£$? ™ them from behind out of the ambuscade, ,,v/;/ . charged and turned them. They fled at first> hllt .finally without striking a blow, and their panic ' caused the greater part of the army to run with them. For, when they saw Eurylochus and their best tr« routed, they lost whatever courage they had. The M«- senians, who were in this part of the field under the command of Demosthenes, were foremost in the action. The right wing of the enemy, however, and the Ambraci who are the most warlike nation in those parts, vanquished their opponents and drove them back to Argos. But, returning, they saw the greater part of the army defeated, and were hard pressed by the victorious division of the Acarnanians, whereupon, escaping with difficulty, they made their way to Olpae. Numbers of the defeated were killed, for they dashed into the fort wildly and in confusion, except the Mantineans, who kept together and retreated
262 TREACHERY OF THE PELOPONNESIANS [ill
in better order than any other part of the army. The
battle, which had lasted until evening, now ended.
109 On the next day Menedaeus took the command, for
Difficulties of the Eurylochus and Macarius, the two
Lacedaemonian com- other generals, had been slain a. He
wander who negotiates ^^ not what to do after SQ serjous with Demosthenes a
secret treaty for the & defeat. He could not hope, if he Peloponnesians only. remained, to stand a siege, hemmed in as he was by land, and at sea blockaded by the Athen- ian ships ; neither could he safely retire ; so entering into a parley with Demosthenes and theAcarnanian generals about the burial of the dead, he tried to negotiate with them at the same time for a retreat. The Athenians gave back to the enemy their dead, erected a trophy, and took up their own dead, in number about three hundred. They would not openly agree to the proposal for a general retreat, but Demosthenes and his Acarnanian colleagues made a secret treaty with the Mantineans, and Menedaeus, and the other Peloponnesian generals and chief persons, allowing their army to depart. He wanted partly to isolate the Ambraciots and their foreign mercenary troops, but much more to take away the character of the Lacedae- monians and Peloponnesians among the Hellenes in those parts and convict them of selfishness and treachery. Accordingly the Peloponnesians took up their dead, and burying them quickly as well as they could, consulted secretly how those who had permission could best depart. no Meanwhile news was brought to Demosthenes and the Approach of the main Acarnanians that the whole remaining army of the Ambraciots. force of the Ambraciots, who some Demosthenes prepares tjme previously had been summoned
to cut them off. - ..,..,
from the cityb to join the troops in Olpae, were now on their way through the territory of the Amphilochians and were in entire ignorance of what had occurred. Whereupon he at once sent forward a part of
• Cp. iv. 38 init. b Cp. iii. 105 fin.
TREACHERY OP THE PELOPONNESIANS 263
his army to lie in ambush in the roads and to occupy the strong places, himself at the same time preparing to sup- port them with the rest of his forces.
In the meantime the Mantineans and the others win* 111 were included in the truce went out on The /w<>/w/«,-.--m;is- pretence of gathering herbs and sticks, steal aivay from O//><;,-,
• , . and escabc to A*.
and stole away one by one, picking up The /;;^ , as they went along what they pretended t,-v /„ fuifau the-; to be looking for. But, as they got sl(1"'- farther away from Olpae, they quickened their steps, and then the Ambraciots and others who happened to collect on the instant, when they saw that they were leaving, ran after tin-in at full speed, wanting to get up with them. The Acarnanians at first thought that none of those who were going away were protected by a truce, and pursued the Peloponnesians. Some of the generals tried to keep them back and explained how matters stood; whereupon a soldier, suspecting that there was treachery, hurled a javelin at them. At length the soldiers understood, and let the Mantineans and other Peloponnesians go, but began to kill the Ambraciots. Then- was great dispute and uncertainty as to who was an Ambraciot and who a Pelo- ponnesian. Of the former they killed about two hundred ; the Peloponnesians escaped into the neighbouring country of Agraea, and were received by king Salynthius who their friend.
Meanwhile the reinforcement from the city of Ambracia 112 had reached Idomene, which is the Dnnosthm^, /„, name of two lofty peaks. The higher sent on /mm winch of the two had been already occupied occu^ th* Ml "ft"**
J to that u'hereon //. •
unobserved at nightfall by the troops braciots arc encamped which Demosthenes had sent forward ; at idowcnc, t*rp\ of the lower the Ambraciots first ob- «"(i 'T""< th(m' tained possession and encamped there. As soon as it was dark, after supper, Demosthenes advanced with the rest of his army, himself leading half of them towards the pass between the mountains, while the rest made their way
264 BATTLE OF I DOM EN E [ill
through the Amphilochian hills. At the first dawn of day he fell upon the Ambraciots, who were still half-asleep, and so far from knowing anything of what had happened that they imagined his troops to be their own comrades. For Demosthenes had taken care to place the Messenians in the first rank and desired them to speak to the enemy in their own Doric dialect, thereby putting the sentinels off their guard ; and as it was still dark, their appearance could not be distinguished. So they fell upon the Am- braciots and routed them. Most of them were slain on the spot ; the remainder fled over the mountains. But the paths were beset ; the Amphilochians were lightly-armed, and in their own country which they knew, while their enemies were heavy-armed and the country was strange to them. And so, not knowing which way to turn, they fell into ravines and into ambuscades which had been set for them, and perished. Every means of escape was tried. Some even fled to the sea which was not far distant, and seeing the Athenian ships which were sailing by while the action was taking place, swam out to them, thinking in the terror of the moment that they had better be killed, if die they must, by the Athenians in the ships than by their barbarous and detested enemies the Amphilochians. So the Ambraciots were cut to pieces, and but few out of many returned home to their city. The Acarnanians, having despoiled the dead and raised trophies, returned to Argos.
IT3 On the following day there arrived a herald from the . Ambraciots who had escaped out of
Dtspair of the herald
who came from the fugi- Olpae to the Agraeans. He came to tive Ambraciots when recover the bodies ofthe dead who had he heard of the second ^^ ^^ subsequently to the first
and greater defeat. J
engagement, when, unprotected by the treaty, they tried to get out of Olpae in company with the Mantineans and others protected by it. The herald saw the arms of the Ambraciot troops from the city and wondered at the number of them ; he knew nothing of the
113,114] LOSS OF Tin: .\.MHR.UI> 265
later disaster, and he imagined that they belonged to Jn\ own division of the army. Some one present thought that the herald had come from the arm}' defeated at Idom- and asked why he looked so astonished, and how many of their men had fallen; he replied, ' about two hundred whereupon the other rejoined, ' These which you set- not the arms of two hundred men, but of more than a thousand.' The herald replied, 'Then they cannot be the arms of our men.' The other answered, ' They must be, if you were lighting yesterday at Idomene.' 'But yesterday we did not fight at all ; it was the day before, in the retreat.' 'All I know is that we fought yesterday with these men, who were marching to your aid from Ambracia.' When the herald heard these words, and knew that the army coming from the city had perished, he uttered a cry of anguish, and, overwhelmed by the greatness of the blow, went away at once without doing his errand, no Ion caring to demand the dead. And indeed in the whole war no such calamity happened within so few days to any Hellenic state'1. 1 have not ventured t<> set down the number of those who fell, for the loss would appear incredible when compared with the size of the city. Of this I am certain, that if the Acarnanians had been willing to destroy Ambracia as Demosthenes and the Athenians desired, they might have taken it at the first onset. But they were afraid that the Athenians, if they once g« A sion of the place, would be more troublesome neighbours than the Ambraciots l>.
After assigning a third part of the spoils to the Athen- ' '4
ians, the Acarnanians divided the
IstvisioHoftntspotU.
remainder among their cities. UK
spoils of the Athenians were captured on the voy< But three hundred panoplies which were allotted t<> Demosthenes he brought home with him, and they are still preserved in the Athenian temples. This good 8CTV
* Cp. iii. 111 tin. b Cp. vii. 30 fin. l Cp. iii. 9* init.
266 TERMS OF PEACE [ill
of his enabled him to return to Athens with less appre-
Rctum of Demo- hension after his misfortune in Aetolia.
stiiencs and the Athen- The twenty Athenian ships sailed away
t±L£i!£ to Na"PaCtUS' The Acarnanians and
philochians with the Amphilochians, after the Athenians and Ambraciots. Demosthenes had left them, granted
a truce to the Ambraciots and Peloponnesians who had fled to Salynthius and the Agraeans ; they were thus enabled to return home from Oeniadae, whither they had removed from the country of Salynthius. The Acarnanians and Amphilochians now made a treaty of alliance for one hundred years with the Ambraciots, of which the terms were as follows: — 'The Ambraciots shall not be required to join the Acarnanians in making war on the Pelopon- nesians, nor the Acarnanians to join the Ambraciots in making war on the Athenians. But they shall aid in the defence of one another's territory. The Ambraciots shall give up such places or hostages of the Amphilochians as they possess11, and they shall not assist Anactorium' (which was hostile to the Acarnanians) l). Upon these terms they put an end to the war. Soon afterwards the Corinthians sent a force of their own, consisting of three hundred hoplites under the command of Xenocleidas the son of Euthycles, to guard Ambracia, whither they made their way with some difficulty by land. Such was the end of the Ambracian war.
II5 During the same winter the Athenian fleet in Sicily, sailing: to Himera, made a descent
The Athenians re- . , ,
solve to take a more uPon the country m concert with the active part in the affairs Sicels, who had invaded the extreme °ff^i They Send border of the Himeraeans from the in-
out Pythodorus. . , . . .
tenor ; they also attacked the Aeolian Isles. Returning to Rhegium, they found that Pythodorus son of Isolochus, one of the Athenian generals, had super- seded Laches in the command of the fleet. The allies of
* Cp. iii. 107 init. b Cp. i. 55 init.
n5, 1 16] THE A THEM. 1 A < /.V .s7(//.)' 267
the Athenians in Sicily had sailed to Athens, and per- suaded the Athenians to send a larger fleet to their aid ; for their territory was in the power of the Syracusan>, and they were kept off the sea by a few ships only; s«> they were preparing to resist, and had begun to collect a navy. The Athenians manned forty ships for their relief, partly hoping to finish the war in Sicily the sooner, partly because they wanted to exercise their fleet. They despatched one of the commanders, Pythod«>rus, with a lew ships, in- tending to .send Snphncle.-, the son of Sostratides, and Eurymedon the son of Thucles. with the larger division of the fleet afterwards. Pythodorus, having now succeeded Laches in the command, sailed at the end of the winter against the Locrian fort which Laches had previously taken11, but he was defeated by the Locrians and retired.
In the early spring the burning lava, not for the first time, i ih issued from Mount Aetna, which is the
1. 1 it/'ti'»i c' . ictnn.
highest mountain in Sicily, and devas- tated a portion of the territory of the Catanaeans who dwell on the skirts of Aetna. The last eruption is said to have taken place fifty years before ; and altogether three eruptions are recorded since the Hellenes first settled in Sicily. Such were the events of the winter ; and so ended the sixth year in the Peloponnesian War of which Thucydides wrote the history.
" Cp. iii. 99.
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