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Stories from Thucydides

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Title: Stories from Thucydides

Author: Thucydides

Adapter: H. L. Havell


        
Release date: October 1, 2005 [eBook #9074]
                Most recently updated: April 25, 2014

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES FROM THUCYDIDES ***




Produced by Charles Franks, Delphine Lettau and Project
Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. HTML version by Al
Haines.











STORIES FROM THUCYDIDES

RETOLD BY H. L. HAVELL B. A.

FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OXFORD




  _O my poor Kingdom, sick with civil blows!_
                          SHAKESPEARE, _Henry IV_.



  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE
  CORINTH AND CORCYRA
  THE SURPRISE OF PLATAEA
  THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS
  INVESTMENT OF PLATAEA
  NAVAL VICTORIES OF PHORMIO
  THE REVOLT OF LESBOS
  ESCAPE OF TWO HUNDRED PLATAEANS. FALL OF PLATAEA
  CAPTURE OF A HUNDRED AND TWENTY SPARTANS AT SPHACTERIA
  CAMPAIGNS OF BRASIDAS IN THRACE
  THE HOLLOW PEACE
  THE ATHENIANS IN SICILY
  EPILOGUE




PROLOGUE

In a former volume we have traced the course of events which ended in
the complete overthrow of Xerxes and his great army. Our present task
is to describe the chief incidents in the cruel and devastating war,
commonly known as the Peloponnesian War, which lasted for twenty-seven
years, and finally broke up the Athenian Empire. The cause of that war
was the envy and hatred excited in the other states of Greece by the
power and greatness of Athens; and in order to make our story
intelligible we must indicate briefly the steps by which she rose to
that dangerous eminence, and drew upon herself the armed hostility of
half the Greek world.

We take up our narrative at the point of time when the Athenians
returned to their ruined homes after the defeat of the Persians at
Plataea. Of their ancient city nothing remained but a few houses which
had served as lodgings for the Persian grandees, and some scattered
fragments of the surrounding wall. Their first task was to restore the
outer line of defence, and by the advice of Themistocles the new wall
took in a much wider circuit than the old rampart which had been
destroyed by the Persians. The whole population toiled night and day to
raise the bulwark which was to guard their temples and their homes,
using as materials the walls of the houses which had been sacked and
burnt by the Persians, with whatever remained of public buildings,
sacred or profane, and sparing not even the monumental pillars of
graves in the urgency of their need.

But jealous eyes were watching them, and busy tongues were wagging
against that gallant race of Attica which had been foremost in the
common cause against the barbarian invader. "These Athenians are
dangerous neighbours," was the cry. "Let us stop them from building
their wall, or Athens will become a standing menace to ourselves."
Before long these murmurs reached the ears of the Spartans, and they
sent envoys to dissuade the Athenians from fortifying their city. Their
real purpose was disguised under the mask of anxiety for the general
safety of Greece. "It is not expedient," they urged, "that the
Persians, when next they come against us, should find fencéd cities
which they may make their strongholds, as they have lately done in
Athens and in Thebes. Cease, therefore, from building this wall, and
help us to destroy all such defences, outside of Peloponnesus. If we
are attacked again, we will unite our forces within the isthmus, and
meet the invader from there."

But Themistocles was not the man to be hoodwinked by the simple cunning
of the Spartans. By his advice the Athenians dismissed the envoys,
promising to send an embassy to discuss the matter at Sparta. As soon
as they were gone, Themistocles caused himself to be appointed as head
of the embassy, and set out at once for Sparta, instructing the
Athenians to keep his colleagues back until the wall had been raised to
a sufficient height for purposes of defence. Arrived at Sparta, he kept
himself close in his lodging, and declined all conference with the
authorities, alleging that he could do nothing without his colleagues.

Meanwhile the Athenians were making incredible efforts to carry on the
work which was essential to their liberty and prosperity. Men, women,
and children toiled without intermission, and the wall was rapidly
approaching a defensible height. The clamour of their enemies grew
louder and louder, and angry messages reached the Spartans everyday,
reproaching them with their supineness and procrastination. Being asked
the meaning of these reports, Themistocles professed total ignorance,
and bade the Spartans send men to Athens to see for themselves. The
Spartans did so, and when the men arrived at Athens the Athenians, who
had been privately warned by Themistocles, kept them in custody, as
hostages for their own representatives at Sparta. Themistocles had
meanwhile been joined by his partners in the embassy, and learning from
them that the wall was now of sufficient height, he spoke out plainly,
and let the Spartans understand what his true purpose was. "Athens," he
said, "is once more a fortified city, and we are able to discuss
questions of public or private interest on a footing of equality. When
we forsook all, and took to our ships to fight for the common weal, it
was done without prompting of yours; and that peril being past, we
shall take such measures as concern our safety, without leave asked of
you. And in serving ourselves, we are serving you also; for if Athens
is not free, how can she give an unbiased vote in questions which
concern the general welfare of Greece?"

It was impossible for the Spartans to express open resentment at a plea
so moderate and so reasonable. But they were secretly annoyed to find
that their malice had been detected and exposed; and by this incident
was sown the first seed of ill-will which was afterwards to bear such
bitter fruit for Athens and for Greece. For the present, however, the
affair was ended, and the first step secured for the Athenians in their
career of glory and power.

Themistocles was the first who clearly saw that the future of Athens
lay on the sea. But if Athens was to hold and extend her position as
the first naval power in Greece, it was above all things necessary that
she should have a strong and fortified station for her fleets, her
arsenals, and her dockyards. Nature had provided her with what she
needed, in the peninsula of Peiraeus, which juts out into the Saronic
Gulf, about five miles south-west of the inland town. As soon as the
city-wall was completed, fortifications of immense strength were
carried round the whole of Peiraeus; and within this vast rampart rose
a second city, equal in size to the old one, with streets laid out in
straight lines, and filled with the stir and bustle of a maritime
population. Three land-locked harbours gave ample room for the fleets
of Athens to lie in shelter and safety; and this great sea-port town
was afterwards united to the original city by two long walls, which met
the sea, one at the north-western corner of Peiraeus, and the other at
the south-eastern point of the Bay of Phalerum. Between these, at a
later period, a third wall was built, running parallel to the northern
wall at a distance of about two hundred feet, and known as the Southern
or Middle Wall.

Many years elapsed before these important works were completed; and in
the meantime great events had been happening in other parts of the
Greek world, tending more and more to realise the dream of
Themistocles, and make his beloved city the undisputed mistress of the
sea. After the defeat of the Persian armies and fleets at Salamis,
Plataea, and Mycale, much hard work remained to be done, in reducing
the outlying cities on the coasts of Thrace and in the eastern corners
of the Aegaean, which held out for the Great King. The Spartans were
still nominal leaders of the allied Greek navy; but after a year of
service they resigned this position, which they owed to their
acknowledged supremacy in land warfare, to the Athenians. They were
induced to take this step, partly by their own aversion to foreign
enterprises, and partly by the misconduct of their general Pausanias,
who had disgusted the allies serving under him in the fleet by his
intolerable arrogance and tyranny. The field was thus left open to the
Athenians, who willingly assumed the command offered them by the
maritime cities of Greece, with the object of prosecuting the war
vigorously against Persia. Each city was assessed to furnish a fixed
contribution of ships or money, and the sacred island of Delos was
appointed as the common treasury and meeting-place of the league. Thus
was formed the famous Delian Confederacy, with the avowed purpose of
making reprisals on the Great King's territory for the havoc which he
had wrought in Greece. For a time all went smoothly, and the various
members of the league fought under Athens as her independent allies.
But by degrees the Greeks from the islands and coast-lands of Asia
began to weary of their arduous duties, and murmured against the
Athenians, who proved hard task-masters, and compelled them by force to
perform their part in the bargain. One by one the cities revolted from
the leadership of Athens, were attacked by her navies, and reduced to
the position of subjects and tributaries. Others voluntarily withdrew
from all active co-operation in the war, agreeing to pay a fixed annual
sum as a substitute for service in the fleet. And before the outbreak
of the Peloponnesian War the two powerful islands of Lesbos and Chios
were the only members of the original league who still retained their
independence.

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

The visible sign of this momentous change, by which the Delian
Confederacy became merged in the Athenian Empire, was the removal of
the treasury from Delos to Athens. The Athenians now undertook the
whole administration of the common fund, using the surplus for the
adornment of Athens by magnificent public buildings. This appropriation
seems reasonable enough, when we consider that the whole burden of
defending the eastern Greeks against Persia, and keeping the barbarian
out of Greek waters, now lay upon Athens. This great public duty, which
had been thrown upon her by the indifference of Sparta, and the unmanly
sloth of her own allies, was faithfully performed; and she might well
ask why she should be called upon to lavish the blood of her own
citizens for nothing. That Athens should be great, splendid, and
powerful, was not only a reward due to her public spirit and devotion
to the common cause, but also a guarantee for the general dignity and
liberty of Greeks. And we, who have still before us the remnants of her
temples and statues, and learn from them what man can accomplish under
the inspiration of great ideals, need not scan too closely her claim to
appropriate the funds which she employed for so noble a purpose. For
this was the great age of Grecian art, the age of Phidias, Polycletus,
Myron, and Polygnotus. The greatest of these was Phidias; and in the
Parthenon, or Temple of the Virgin Goddess, [Footnote: Athene, the
patron goddess of Athens.] built under his direction on the Acropolis
at Athens, he has left the most enduring monument of his fame. He also
designed the Propylaea, a magnificent columned vestibule, fronting the
broad flight of steps which led up to the western entrance of the
Acropolis. But the most renowned of his works was the gigantic statue
of the Olympian Zeus, wrought in gold and ivory, which was the chief
glory of the temple at Olympia. Of this sublime creation, the highest
expression of divinity achieved by the ancients, only the fame
survives. These triumphs of art were not brought to completion until
nearly the close of the period of forty-eight years which separates the
Persian from the Peloponnesian War; and it is now necessary to glance
backward, and touch briefly on the principal events which occurred
after the formation of the Delian Confederacy. The war was carried on
with energy against Persia, and hostilities continued at intervals for
thirty years after the battle of Plataea. [Footnote: B.C. 479-449.]

The chief leader in these enterprises was the heroic Cimon, leader of
the conservative party at Athens, and the great rival of Pericles; and
his most brilliant exploit was a crushing defeat inflicted on the
Persian army and fleet at the mouth of the river Eurymedon in
Pamphylia. But the victorious career of the Athenians received a severe
check twelve years later in Egypt, where a large force of ships and men
was totally destroyed by the Persian general Megabyzus. The war dragged
on for five years longer, and peace was then concluded on terms highly
advantageous to the Greeks. Shortly before this, Cimon, who had been
the chief promoter of the war, died at Cyprus.

The same years which brought to a successful issue the long struggle
with Persia witnessed a renewal of those internal conflicts by which
the energies of Greece were finally exhausted, leaving her an easy prey
to the arms of Macedon. The guilt of renewing these suicidal quarrels
lies with the Spartans, who had long been nursing their grudge against
Athens, and were waiting for the opportunity to inflict on her a fatal
blow. Fifteen years [Footnote: B.C. 464. ] after the battle of Plataea
they seized the occasion when the Athenians were engaged with a large
part of their forces in carrying on operations against the revolted
island of Thasos to prepare an invasion of Attica. But at the very
moment when they were meditating this act of perfidy a double disaster
fell upon them at home, demanding all their exertions to save them from
ruin. Sparta was levelled to the ground by a terrible earthquake, in
which twenty thousand of her citizens perished; and in the midst of the
panic caused by this awful calamity the Helots rose in arms against
their oppressors, and forming an alliance with the Messenian subjects
of Sparta, entrenched themselves in a strong position on Mount Ithome.
Here they maintained themselves for two years, defying all the efforts
of the Spartans to drive them from their stronghold. In spite of their
recent treachery, the Spartans were not ashamed to apply to Athens for
help: and chiefly through the influence of Cimon, whose laurels from
the Eurymedon were still fresh, four thousand Athenian hoplites
[Footnote: Heavy-armed foot-soldiers.] were sent under his command to
aid in dislodging the Helots. The Athenians were famous for their skill
in attacking fortified places; but on this occasion they were
unsuccessful, and the Spartans, whose evil conscience made them prone
to suspicion, at once began to doubt the honesty of their intentions,
and dismissed them with scant ceremony. This unfriendly act helped to
embitter the relations between the two leading cities of Greece; and
two years later, when the Messenians were expelled from Ithome, and
driven into exile, the Athenians settled them with their families at
Naupactus, an important strategic position on the north of the
Corinthian Gulf, which has recently fallen into the hands of Athens.

Deeply offended by the affront received at Ithome, the Athenians now
formed an alliance with Argos, the ancient rival and bitter enemy of
Sparta. Thessaly, connected with Athens by old ties of friendship,
joined the league; and Megara, now suffering from the oppressions of
Corinth, made a fourth.

Within sight of the shores of Attica lies the island of Aegina, famous
in legend as the home of Aeacus, grandfather of Achilles, and
distinguished for its school of sculpture, and for its mighty breed of
athletes, whose feats are celebrated in the laureate strains of Pindar.
The Aeginetans had obtained the first prize for valour displayed in the
battle of Salamis, and for many years they had pressed the Athenians
hard in the race for maritime supremacy. They were now attacked by an
overwhelming Athenian force, and after a stubborn resistance were
totally defeated, and compelled to enroll themselves among the subjects
of Athens. A still harder fate was reserved for the hapless Dorian
islanders in the next generation.

In the following nine years [Footnote: B.C. 456-447.] the power of
Athens reached its greatest height, and for a moment it seemed as if
she were destined to extend her empire over the whole mainland of
Greece. By the victory of Oenophyta, gained over the Boeotians just
before the reduction of Aegina, Athens became mistress of all the
central provinces of the Greek peninsula, from the pass of Thermopylae
to the gulf of Corinth. The alliance of Megara, lately united by long
walls to its harbour of Nisaea, secured her from invasion on the side
of Peloponnesus. The great island of Euboea, with its rich pastures and
fruitful corn lands, had, since the Persian War, become an Athenian
estate, and was jealously guarded as one of her most valuable
possessions; and on the sea, from the eastern corner of the Euxine to
the strait of Gibraltar, there was none to dispute her sway.

But this rapid ascent was followed by no less speedy a fall, and one
act of indiscretion stripped the Athenians of all the advantages which
they had acquired on the mainland of Greece. In every city of Greece
there were always two parties, the wealthy and noble, called oligarchs,
and the demos, or commons; and according as Spartan or Athenian
influence was in the ascendant the balance of power in each city
wavered between the nobles and the people, the Athenians favouring the
Many, the Spartans the Few. Accordingly there was always a party living
in exile, and waiting for a turn of affairs which might enable them to
return to their city, and wrest the power from that faction which had
been the last to triumph. In the cities of Boeotia the leaders of the
oligarchs had been driven into banishment after the battle of
Oenophyta, and democracies were established under the control of
Athens. After nine years of banishment these exiles returned, and the
result was an oligarchical reaction in the chief cities of Boeotia. A
hastily equipped and ill-organised force was sent out from Athens to
put down the authors of the revolution, and in the battle which
followed, at Coronea, [Footnote: B.C. 447.] the Athenians sustained a
severe defeat, and a large number of their citizens were taken
prisoners by the Boeotians. To recover these prisoners the Athenians
consented to evacuate Boeotia, and by this surrender they lost their
hold on central Greece, as far as Thermopylae.

This heavy blow was followed two years later by the revolt of Megara
and Euboea; and in the midst of the alarm thus occasioned, the
Athenians heard that a powerful Spartan army was threatening their
borders. It was a terrible moment for Athens; but she was saved by the
prudence and energy of Pericles, whose influence in her councils was
now supreme. By some means or other--as the Spartans asserted, by a
heavy bribe--he induced the Spartan king Pleistoanax to draw off his
forces; and then crossing over into Euboea, he quickly reduced the
whole island to submission, and took severe measures to prevent any
outbreak in the future.

The exertions of the Athenians during the last thirty years had been
prodigious, and their efforts to found an empire in continental Greece
had ended in total failure. Discouraged by their reverses, they
concluded a thirty years' truce with the Spartans and their allies,
resigning the last remnant of their recent conquests, and leaving
Megara in her old position as a member of the Peloponnesian league
under Sparta. The loss of Megara was severely felt, and her conduct in
the late troubles was neither forgotten nor forgiven. The Megarians had
by their own free choice been admitted into the Athenian alliance, and
in an hour of great peril to Athens, without shadow of pretext they had
risen in arms against her. It was not long before they had to pay a
heavy penalty for their treachery and inconstancy.

The last event which we have to record, before entering into the main
current of our narrative, is the secession of Samos, the most important
member of the maritime allies of Athens. This wealthy and powerful
island had hitherto, with Chios and Lesbos, enjoyed the distinction of
serving under Athens as an independent ally. The Athenians, with a view
to their own interests, had recently set up a democracy in Samos, which
had hitherto been governed by an oligarchy. Incensed by this
interference, the Samian nobles, who had been driven into exile, hired
a mercenary force, and making a sudden attack from the mainland,
overthrew the democracy and raised the standard of revolt. The crisis
called for prompt and vigorous action on the part of Athens; for if
Samos had been successful in defying her authority, the other members
of the league would speedily have followed the example, and the whole
fabric of her empire might have been shattered to pieces. Pericles was
again equal to the emergency, and by employing the whole naval power of
Athens he was able, after a siege of nine months, to reduce the
refractory islanders to submission. The Samians were compelled to
surrender their fleet, to pull down their walls, to pay a heavy war
indemnity, and to give hostages as a security for their good conduct in
the future. And henceforward they became subjects and tributaries of
Athens.

We have now completed our review of the chief events which occurred
between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. It was a period of rapid
development for Athens, of ceaseless activity at home and abroad, of
immense progress in all the arts of war and peace. The imperial city
had now risen to her full stature, and stood forth, supreme in
intellect and in action, the wonder and envy of mankind. Her mighty
walls bade defiance to her enemies at home, and she held in her hand
the islands and coast-districts of the Aegaean, where the last murmur
of resistance had been quelled. Her recent reverses on the mainland of
Greece had left the real sources of her power untouched; and taught
her, if she would but take the lesson to heart, the proper limits of
her empire. And she had risen to this height, not by the prevailing
force of any single mind, but by the united efforts of all her
citizens, working together for a whole generation, shunning no
sacrifice, and shrinking from no exertion, in their devotion to the
common mother of them all. Every Athenian, from the wealthiest noble to
the poorest rower in the fleet, felt that he had a stake in the
country, which to a Greek meant the city, where he was born. He gave
his vote in the Parliament [Footnote: Called the Ecclesia.] of Athens,
and served on the juries chosen by lot from the whole body of the
citizens, before whose judgment-seat, unassailable by bribery or
intimidation, the mightiest offenders trembled. He was a statesman, a
judge, a lawgiver, and a warrior, and he might even hope to climb to
the highest place in the State, and rule, like Pericles, as a prince of
democracy. Around him rose the temples and statues of the gods, fresh
from the chisel of the artist, the visible symbols of Athenian
greatness, and of the grand ideals which he served. The masterpieces of
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides opened to him the boundless realms
of the imagination, taught him grave lessons of moral wisdom, and
connected the strenuous present with the heroic past; and the Old
Comedy, the most complete embodiment of the very genius of democracy,
afforded a feast of wit and fancy for his lighter hours. If he had a
taste for higher speculation, he might hear Anaxagoras discoursing on
the mysteries of the spiritual world, or Zeno applying his sharp tests
for the conviction of human error. And when the assembly was summoned
to discuss matters of high imperial policy, he felt all the greatness
and majesty of the Athenian state, as he hung entranced on the lips of
Pericles.

Such was Athens in her prime, and such were the men who raised her to
the lofty eminence which she held among the cities of Greece. But the
years which had lifted her to that unparalleled height had raised up a
host of enemies against her, and it behoved her to temper ambition with
prudence if she would maintain the proud position which the held. The
scattered units which composed the Athenian empire were held together
by no tie of loyalty or affection to their common mistress, but solely
by the dread of her overwhelming naval power. Even in the noblest
spirits of ancient Greece, the feeling of patriotism, as we understand
it, was feeble and uncertain; when we speak of our _country_, the Greek
spoke of his _city_, and his love, his hopes, his highest aspirations,
were bounded by the narrow circuit of the walls which contained the
tombs of his ancestors and the temples of his gods. This feeling, the
most deeply-rooted instinct of Greek political life, had been
grievously offended by Athens, when she compelled the islanders of the
Aegaean, and the Greek cities of Asia, to serve in her navies, and pay
tribute to her exchequer.

Turning now to the mainland of Greece we find, in most of the leading
states, a sentiment of mingled fear and hatred against Athens, which
had been steadily increasing in volume in the course of the last thirty
years. The haughty Thebans had not forgotten their defeat at Oenophyta,
and their nine years of servitude to Athens. Aegina was groaning under
her yoke, and threatened with total political extinction. Megara
complained that her commerce was ruined by a decree which excluded her
merchants from the ports in the Athenian Empire. In the heart of
Peloponnesus the Spartans were hatching mischief against their hated
rival, who had robbed them of half their dignity as the acknowledged
leaders of the Greeks. Corinth, whose commerce was chiefly in the
western sea, outside the sphere of Athenian influence, was disposed to
be friendly, and had done the Athenians good service during the revolt
of Samos.[Footnote: See below, p. 31.] But five years later [Footnote:
B.C. 435.] an event occurred which changed this feeling into bitter
hatred against Athens, and drove the Corinthians into the ranks of her
most inveterate foes. And it is at this point that we take up the main
thread of our story.




STORIES FROM THUCYDIDES

CORINTH AND CORCYRA

I

It was in a remote corner of the Greek world that the trouble began
which was destined to breed such mischief and havoc for the whole of
Greece. At the beginning of the seventh century before our era the
island of Corcyra had been colonised by the Corinthians. The colony
grew and flourished, and in its turn founded other settlements on the
opposite coasts of Epirus and Illyria. Among these was Epidamnus,
called by the Romans Dyrrachium, and in Roman times the ordinary
landing-place for travellers from Italy to Greece. After many years of
prosperity the resources of Epidamnus were much crippled by internal
faction, and by wars with the neighbouring barbarians. Four years
before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, the nobles of Epidamnus,
who had been expelled in the last revolution, made an alliance with the
native tribes of Illyria, and by constant plundering raids reduced the
Epidamnians to such straits that they were compelled to apply to
Corcyra for help. But the Corcyraeans, whose sympathies were on the
side of the banished nobles, refused to interfere.

Epidamnus, as we have seen, was a colony founded by a colony, and
according to Greek custom the original settlers had been led by a
citizen of Corinth, the mother-city of Corcyra. Seeing, therefore, that
they had nothing to hope from the Corcyraeans, the distressed people of
Epidamnus began to turn their thoughts towards their ancient
metropolis, and considered whether they should appeal to her to save
them from ruin. But as this was a step of doubtful propriety, they
first consulted the oracle of Delphi, the great authority on questions
of international law. Receiving a favourable answer, they sent envoys
to Corinth, and offered to surrender their city to the Corinthians, in
return for their countenance and protection.

The Corcyraeans had long been in evil odour at Corinth, for they had
grown insolent in prosperity, and neglected all the observances which
were due from a colony to the mother-city. They were, in fact, superior
to the Corinthians in wealth and power, and their fleet, numbering a
hundred and twenty triremes, was second only to that of Athens. Corcyra
was famous in legend as the seat of the Phaeacians, a heroic sailor
race, whose deeds are sung by Homer in the _Odyssey_; and the
Corcyraeans regarded themselves as the lawful inheritors of their fame.
For all these reasons they despised the Corinthians, and made no secret
of their contempt. Remembering the many occasions on which they had
been publicly insulted by Corcyra, the Corinthians lent a favourable
ear to the petition of Epidamnus, and determined to appropriate the
colony to themselves. Accordingly they invited all who chose to go and
settle at Epidamnus, and sent the new colonists under a military
escort, with instructions to proceed by land to Apollonia, for fear
lest they should be obstructed by the Corcyraean fleet, if they went by
sea.

Great was the indignation at Corcyra when the news arrived that her
colony had been surrendered to Corinth, and a force of forty ships was
sent off in haste, bearing a peremptory demand to the Epidamnians that
they should receive back their exiles and send away the new colonists.
As the citizens refused to obey their mandate, they prepared to lay
siege to the town, which is situated on an isthmus.

When the Corinthians heard of the danger of Epidamnus, they began to
make preparations on a much larger scale, collecting a host of new
colonists, and a fleet of seventy-five ships to convoy them on their
passage to Epidamnus. Apprised of these proceedings, the Corcyraeans
sent envoys to Corinth, with a civil remonstrance against the arbitrary
interference with their own colony. They were willing, they said, to
submit the matter to arbitration, and in the meantime to suspend all
hostilities against the revolted city. But the Corinthians paid no
attention to their overtures, and all being now ready, the great
multitude, drawn from all parts of Greece, set sail for Epidamnus. When
they reached Actium, at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, they were met
by a herald, sent out from Corcyra in a skiff, to forbid their
approach. This was a mere manoeuvre, to throw the guilt of commencing
hostilities on the Corinthians; and meanwhile the Corcyraeans manned
their ships, to the number of eighty, and put out to meet the enemy's
fleet. In the sea-fight which followed the Corcyraeans gained a
complete victory, and on the same day Epidamnus was compelled to
capitulate to the besieging force.

By this victory the Corcyraeans gained complete command of the western
or Ionian sea, and for the rest of the summer they sailed from place to
place, plundering the allies of Corinth. The Corinthians, however, were
not at all disposed to acquiesce in their defeat, and during the whole
of the following year they were busy organising a fresh expedition on a
vast scale, being resolved at all costs to put down the insolence of
Corcyra. These preparations caused no small anxiety to the Corcyraeans.
Hitherto they had stood apart, and refused to take any share in the
complicated game of Greek politics. The course of affairs during the
last forty years had tended more and more to divide the Greek world
into two opposite camps, arrayed under the banners of Athens and
Sparta. As Dorians, the Corcyraeans would naturally have enrolled
themselves among the allies of Sparta,--as islanders and seamen, they
might have leaned to the side of Athens: but confident in their remote
situation, and in the power of their fleet, they had chosen to remain
neutral. But finding themselves threatened with destruction, they now
resolved to abandon their policy of selfish isolation, and sue for
admission into the Athenian alliance. Ambassadors were sent to Athens
to urge their plea; and the Corinthians, hearing of their intention,
sent representatives of their own to oppose the application.

The Athenians were fully alive to the gravity of the question which
they were called upon to decide, and after listening to the arguments
of the Corcyraean and Corinthian orators, they adjourned the debate
until the next day. To Corinth they were bound by old ties of
obligation; for on three distinct occasions the Corinthians had done
them signal service. More than seventy years before the date which we
have reached, the Spartans summoned their allies to consider whether it
was expedient to compel the Athenians to receive back the banished
tyrant Hippias; and it was chiefly by the eloquence of the Corinthian
speaker Sosicles, who drew a vivid picture of the miseries of
despotical government, that they were shamed out of their purpose. A
few years later, when the Athenians were at war with Aegina, they were
aided by twenty Corinthian ships. And quite recently, in the great
peril which menaced Athens at the revolt of Samos, Corinth had once
more shown herself a friend. At a congress of the Peloponnesian allies,
summoned to consider an appeal from the Samians for help, the
Corinthians had spoken strongly against interference with the revolted
allies of another city. Corinth was a place of old renown, the queen of
the Isthmus, a centre of civilisation; whereas Corcyra was a remote
island, and her people, though Greeks by descent, were in manners and
character more than half barbarians.

But there were two arguments put forward by the Corcyraean orator,
which outweighed all other considerations of policy or friendship. The
first was addressed to the fears of the Athenians, the second to their
ambition. War, he argued, was inevitable, and it was of the utmost
importance for Athens to secure the alliance of the Corcyraean fleet,
and prevent it from being added to the naval forces of her enemies. And
his concluding words struck a note which found a response among the
more daring spirits among his hearers, whose thoughts, as it would
seem, were already turning to the western colonies of Greece, as a new
field of enterprise and conquest. "It will not do," he said, "to be too
nice. While you are hesitating, and weighing nice points of
international right, you will be outdistanced in the race for power, if
you tamely give up a great naval station which holds the key to Italy
and Sicily."

Such reasoning, hollow and false as it was, turned the scale in favour
of Corcyra, and a defensive alliance was concluded, pledging the
Athenians and Corcyraeans to aid each other against any attack on the
territory or allies of either state. For the Athenians wished to avoid
breaking the Thirty Years' Truce, and therefore refrained from entering
into any agreement which might oblige them to acts of open aggression
against Corinth.

There can be little doubt that Pericles, who was mainly responsible for
this decision, committed a fatal error in advising the Athenians to
take up the cause of Corcyra. By this act Athens incurred the
implacable hostility of Corinth, and revived the old grudge which that
city had conceived against her when Megara joined the Athenian
alliance. In the constantly shifting currents of Greek politics, Athens
might well, under wise guidance, have steered her way safely through
the perils which surrounded her. The Corinthians had half forgotten
their grievance, as is proved by their conduct at the revolt of Samos;
and the tone of their representative at the Corcyraean debate is
decidedly friendly. The Spartans were sluggish and procrastinating by
nature, and required some powerful impulse to induce them to act with
vigour; and this impulse was now supplied by Corinth. By accepting,
therefore, the alliance of Corcyra, Athens barred the way to all
compromise, and gathered into one head all the scattered causes of
jealousy and hatred which had been accumulating against her in the last
fifty years.

Early in the following year the Corinthian fleet, numbering a hundred
and fifty sail, put to sea from Corinth, to renew the war with Corcyra,
and a battle was fought off the coast of Epirus. The engagement was
long and fierce, and the event was finally decided by a small squadron
of Athenian ships, which had been sent with instructions to hinder any
attempt of the enemy to land on the island Seeing that the Corcyraeans
were being forced back upon their own coast, the Athenian captains, who
had hitherto looked on, and taken no part in the battle, now assumed
the offensive, and lent such effectual aid that the Corinthians were
held in check until the sudden appearance of twenty additional ships
from Athens, which had been sent off immediately after the others, put
an end to the action. This timely interference saved Corcyra from ruin;
for next day the Corinthians, after a formal remonstrance, set sail for
home, taking with them two hundred and fifty prisoners, belonging to
the noblest families in Corcyra, whom they kept in safe custody, but
treated with great consideration, hoping by means of them at some
future time to recover their influence in the island.


II

It was not long before the effects of this impolitic breach with
Corinth were sensibly felt by Athens. In the course of the following
summer, Potidaea, a Corinthian colony, situated on the borders of
Macedon, and included in the Athenian alliance, openly raised the
standard of revolt, encouraged by promises from Sparta, and by the
presence of a strong body of hoplites, sent for its support from
Corinth. Potidaea was presently closely invested by an Athenian army
and fleet, and the Corinthians pretended to make this a fresh ground of
complaint, though they had themselves incited the city to throw off its
allegiance to Athens.

Feeling that matters were now approaching a crisis, the Spartans
summoned a congress of their allies, and invited all who had any
grievance against Athens to state their case. Then some spoke of the
wrongs of Aegina, formerly not the least among Greek cities, but now so
crushed under the yoke of Athens that she had not dared to raise her
voice openly against the tyrant-city. The Megarians complained of the
restrictions on their commerce, which threatened them with an empty
exchequer and a starving population; and others followed in the same
strain. When all the rest had spoken, the Corinthian orator, who had
reserved his eloquence till the end, came forward and delivered a
vehement harangue, containing hardly any specific charge against
Athens, but well calculated to inflame the passions and provoke the
pride of the Spartans. Though the acknowledged leader of Greece, and
champion of her liberties, Sparta, he said, had always been the last to
see the dangers which menaced the common country, and the last to take
measures for her defence. Spartan apathy and indolence had brought the
Greeks to the brink of ruin in the Persian War; and when that danger
was passed, the same fatal indifference had enabled Athens to advance
step by step on the path of aggrandisement; until now she had grown so
strong that the united force of the whole Peloponnesian league would be
required to put her down. Why had not the Spartans listened to the
warnings which they had heard, when the Athenians were rebuilding their
walls? Then they might have stopped the evil at its source, and saved a
multitude of cities from slavery and oppression. "Consider," cried the
orator, warming to his subject, "what manner of men these Athenians
are, and how vast is the difference between them and you. While you are
shut up in this inland valley, treading the dull round of mechanical
routine, they are continually pushing forward the boundaries of their
empire, toiling night and day to make their city great, never satisfied
with what they have, always thirsting for more. Cautious, timid, and
conservative as you are, hardly to be roused from your sloth by the
most imminent perils, how can you hope to curb the flight of Athenian
ambition, which knows no limit, and is checked by no reverse?

"Men of Sparta, I speak as a friend, and you will not take my candour
amiss. New times require new manners, and if you would maintain your
great position you must move with the march of events, and abandon your
old-fashioned ways. Do not mistake stagnation for stability, but learn
a lesson even from these hated Athenians, who have risen to their
present pitch of greatness by adapting themselves to every new need as
it arose.

"You know what you have to do, if you would wipe out the reproach which
rests upon you, and keep the respect of your faithful allies. Send an
army into Attica, and compel the Athenians to withdraw their forces
from Potidaea. And let it be done speedily, for while we are talking
our kinsmen are perishing."

It happened that an Athenian embassy was present in Sparta, having been
sent there on some other business, and not for the purpose of
representing Athens at the debate. But when they heard of the outcry
which had been raised against their city, the envoys asked permission
for one of their number to address the Spartan assembly, wishing to
explain the true character and origin of the Athenian Empire, and to
warn the Spartans against plunging the whole country into the horrors
of civil war. Leave being granted, the Athenian orator entered on his
subject by sketching the course of events for the last sixty years.
Athens, he said, had twice saved Greece, first at Marathon, and
afterwards at Salamis. On the first of these occasions she had stood
almost alone against an overwhelming force of Persians; and ten years
later, though betrayed by her allies, she had borne the brunt against
the navy of Xerxes. Who, then, was worthier than she to hold empire
over Greeks? That empire had been forced upon her by the inertness of
Sparta, and by the cowardice and sloth of her own allies in the Delian
league. The power thus gained had been used with moderation, in marked
contrast to the previous tyranny of Persia exercised over the same
cities, and the arrogance of Spartan officers when engaged on foreign
service. But a light yoke, it would seem, was harder to bear than a
heavy one; if Athens had openly oppressed her subjects, she would never
have heard a murmur.

Having thus tried to combat the prejudice against Athens, the orator
addressed himself directly to the Spartans, and said: "Consider the
awful responsibility which you will incur, if you suffer yourselves to
be carried away by the invectives of your allies, and drive us against
our will to tempt with you the dark uncertainties and perilous issues
of war. There is still time for an amicable settlement of our
differences: Athens is prepared to make all reasonable concessions, and
to submit to arbitration, as the terms of the treaty direct. And if you
decline to accept this offer, the guilt of the aggressor will lie with
you."

It is remarkable that the speaker, in tracing the later course of
Athenian policy, lays no claim to those high motives of patriotism
which had inspired his people with sublime self-devotion two
generations back. He boldly asserts the principle that it is lawful for
the stronger to rule the weaker, and claims merit for Athens in
abstaining from excessive abuse of her power. The Athenians, we may
believe, had been tainted by the baseness of their confederates. In the
early days of the Delian league they had not attempted to educate the
Greeks whom they led up to the standard of their own splendid
zeal,--or, if the attempt had been made, it was unsuccessful. They had
taken upon themselves the whole burden of a great public duty, and
standing alone, without moral support from their countrymen, they had
gradually fallen away from the pure and lofty virtues of their
ancestors. This decay of public morality proceeds with rapid strides in
the years which follow, and we shall presently hear the doctrine that
might is right proclaimed with cynical frankness by the lips of an
Athenian.

Having heard the complaints of their allies against Athens, and the
reply of the Athenian orator, the Spartans ordered all but those of
their own race to withdraw, and continued the debate with closed doors.
A great majority of the speakers were in favour of declaring immediate
war on Athens. But there was one important exception: the aged
Archidamus, who for the last fourteen years had been reigning as sole
king at Sparta, spoke strongly against the imprudence of assuming the
aggressive, before they had made adequate preparations to cope with the
offending city. It was an opinion generally held by the war-party that
the Athenians would be ready to make any concessions, in order to save
the land of Attica from ravage. This, said Archidamus, was a great
error; and the event proved that he was right. The Athenians, with
their great colonial empire, and complete command of the sea, were
quite independent of the products of their own estates in Attica. And
many years must elapse before the states of Peloponnesus could train a
fleet, and attack them on the sea, where alone they were assailable. It
was folly to suppose that such a contest could be decided by a single
summer campaign, as was commonly believed by the enemies of Athens. "I
fear rather," said the king, with prophetic foresight, "that we shall
leave this war as an inheritance to our children; such is the power,
and such the pride, of the state with which we have to contend." On the
other hand, the Spartans, as champions of the liberties of Greece, must
not allow the common oppressors of their countrymen to continue their
career of tyranny unchecked. Let them first, however, try what could be
effected by negotiation, and in the meantime prepare for war, by
building ships, and above all by collecting money, without which all
their valour would be useless. Then, if Athens still refused to listen
to reason, they might declare war with better hope of success.

The speech of Archidamus shows a true insight into the nature of the
crisis which the Spartans were called upon to face, and his views were
amply justified by subsequent events. His wise words were no doubt
applauded by the older and more sober-minded among his hearers. But
there was another and a much more numerous party at that time in
Sparta, filled with bitter envy and hatred against Athens. Their
passions had been inflamed by the invectives of the Corinthian orator,
and without counting the cost they were resolved to try the issues of
immediate battle. Their blind rancour found expression in the curt and
pithy harangue of Sthenelaidas, one of the five Ephors, a college of
magistrates which in recent years had greatly encroached on the
authority of the kings. Sthenelaidas spoke with true laconic brevity.
"I don't understand," he said, "all the fine talk of these Athenians.
They have told us a great deal about their own merits, but have not
said a word in answer to the charges brought against them. Even if we
accept their own account of themselves, their good conduct in the past
only lends a darker colour to their present crimes. We have one plain
duty to perform, and that is to save our faithful allies from
ill-treatment. The time for words is past--leave them to the
transgressor. Our part is to act, at once, and with all our might, and
put down the overwhelming insolence of Athens."

Then, in his capacity as Ephor, Sthenelaidas, without staying for
further argument, forthwith put the question to the Spartan assembly.
According to their ordinary procedure, the Spartans gave their votes by
cries of "Ay" and "No." But on this occasion Sthenelaidas pretended to
be unable to distinguish whether the "Ays" or "Nos" had it, and wishing
to encourage the war-party by showing how much they were in the
majority, he ordered the house to divide on the question whether the
treaty was broken, and whether the Athenians were in the wrong or not.
The division was made, and a great majority were in favour of the
motion, recording their votes against Athens. The allies were then
called in, and informed to the result of the private debate, and a day
was named for a general synod of the whole Peloponnesian league, to
reconsider the situation and decide whether war was to be declared.

In the interval, before the final assembly of the allies, the Spartans
sent to ask the oracle at Delphi whether it was expedient for them to
make war; and the answer, according to common report, was that if they
fought with all their might they would conquer, and that the god
[Footnote: Apollo.] would be on their side. The Corinthians were at the
same time carrying on an active canvass against Athens, sending their
agents from city to city to blow up the flames of war.

In the autumn of the same year the allies met in full synod at Sparta,
and once more the Corinthian speaker led the cry against Athens, and
called for a unanimous war-vote, flattering his hearers with hopes of a
speedy victory. The Spartans, he said, had at last set a good example
to their allies, and shown themselves convinced that imperial cities
had imperial obligations, by pronouncing in favour of war. Every member
of the league must join heartily in the struggle, whether he belonged
to an inland or to a maritime city; for if the seaports were closed by
the Athenian fleets, the inland towns would be prevented from exporting
their products, and importing what they wanted from abroad. War, then,
was in the interest of the whole body of allies. And on the moral side
their position was equally sound, for they were only acting on
desperate provocation, and the common god of Greece had promised
success to their arms. But to deserve that success, all must co-operate
heartily, contributing freely from their private purses to raise a
fleet which would make them a match for Athens on her own element. And
they must watch the course of events with a vigilant eye, and be ready
to seize any opportunity which might arise to aim a decisive blow at
their common enemy. Let them be warned by the experience of the
Ionians, and put out all their strength to save themselves from being
swallowed up by the devouring ambition of Athens. Justice, heaven's
favour, the good-will of all Greece, were on their side.

Others spoke to the same effect, and then the representatives of each
city were called up in turn to give their vote; and by far the greater
number voted for war. But many months elapsed before any overt act of
hostility occurred, and the time was occupied in preparations for an
invasion of Attica, and in a series of demands sent by Sparta to try
the temper of the Athenians, and put them in the wrong, if they refused
to comply. The first of these messages was conveyed in mysterious
terms, bidding the Athenians "to drive out the curse of the goddess."
The meaning of this was as follows: nearly two hundred years before a
certain Cylon tried to make himself tyrant of Athens: the attempt was
frustrated, and some of his adherents, who had taken refuge in the
sacred precinct of Athene, were put to death by the magistrates, after
they had surrendered under a solemn promise that their lives should be
spared. The illustrious family of the Alcmaeonidae was especially
concerned in this act of murder and sacrilege, and the Spartans, in
reviving the memory of an ancient crime, were aiming a blow at
Pericles, who was descended on his mother's side from the Alcmaeonidae.
For the Athenians were highly sensitive in all matters of religion, and
it was possible that they might even banish Pericles, if their
consciences were suddenly alarmed. And though this was not likely, the
Spartans hoped at any rate to lessen his influence, which was adverse
to themselves, and fasten on him the odium of being, in some sense, the
cause of the war. But their manoeuvre was unsuccessful, and the
Athenians retorted by bidding the Spartans drive out the curse of
Taenarus, in allusion to the murder of certain Helots who had taken
sanctuary in the temple of Poseidon at Taenarus. And they further
charged the Spartans to rid themselves of the curse of Athene of the
Brazen House. This was a holy place in Sparta, where Pausanias, when
convicted of treasonable correspondence with Persia, had sought refuge
from the vengeance of the Spartans. He was kept a close prisoner in the
temple by the Ephors, who set a watch on him, to prevent him from being
supplied with food, and when he was reduced to the last extremity,
brought him out to die. But though his death occurred outside the
temple, this did not save them from the sin of sacrilege, and a public
reprimand by the Delphic God.

The game of diplomatic fencing went on for some time, and envoys were
continually passing to and fro between Athens and Sparta. The Athenians
were required to raise the siege of Potidaea--to allow the Aeginetans
to govern themselves--to rescind the decree against Megara; and when
all these demands were met by a firm refusal, the Spartans sent two
ambassadors, bearing their ultimatum, which was worded as follows: "The
Lacedaemonians wish that there should be peace, and war may be averted
if ye will let the Greeks go free." Knowing that the decisive moment
had now arrived, the Athenians met together in full assembly, to decide
on their final answer. There were many speakers on either side, some
arguing for peace, others for war: and then was heard that majestic
voice, which, for more than thirty years, had guided the counsels of
Athens--the voice of the Olympian Pericles. He had chosen his line of
policy a year before, in the fatal affair of Corcyra, and it was now
too late to draw back: peace with honour was no longer possible for
Athens. The furious zeal of Corinth had united her enemies against her,
and they were bent on her ruin. The demands put forward by Sparta were
a mere pretext, and if the Athenians had yielded the smallest point,
new concessions would have been required of them, until they were
stripped of all that had been won by the strenuous toil and devotion of
two generations. "We must listen," said Pericles, in the course of a
long speech, "to no proposal from Sparta which is not made as from an
equal to an equal. Dictation is not arbitration. If we are to fight at
all, the occasion matters little, be it small or great. What right has
Sparta to require of us that we should rescind the decree against
Megara, when her own laws jealously exclude all strangers from entering
her streets? Or why should we relax our hold upon our allies, or break
off the relations with them which were sanctioned by the Thirty Years'
Truce? No, all this is a mere pretence, and if we are deceived by it,
we shall be led on step by step to deeper and still deeper humiliation.
It may seem a hard thing to give up the fair land of Attica to pillage
and devastation. But think how far greater was the sacrifice made by
our grandsires, who refused the fairest offers from Persia, and gave up
all they had, rather than betray the common cause. Athens and Attica
were then all the country they had, and these lost they had nothing
left but their ships, their strong arms, and their stout hearts. In our
case, on the other hand, all the essential elements of our power--our
city, our fleet, our colonial empire--remain untouched. Shall we, then,
sell our honour to save a few vineyards and olive-grounds from
temporary damage? That would be a short-sighted policy indeed, and in
the end would involve not only dishonour, but the loss of our whole
empire. Let us act, then, in the spirit of our fathers, and send away
the Spartan ambassadors with the only answer which is consistent with
our dignity and our interest."

The reply to the Spartan ultimatum was framed as Pericles had directed,
and from this moment all negotiations ceased. And here we close our
account of the events which led to the Peloponnesian War.




THE SURPRISE OF PLATAEA

I

On the northern slope of Cithaeron, the mountain range which divides
Attica from Boeotia, lies the little town of Plataea. By race and by
geographical position the Plataeans were naturally included in the
Boeotian confederacy, under the leadership of Thebes. But nearly a
century before the time of which we are now speaking they had deserted
the Thebans, whose rule was harsh and overbearing, and enrolled
themselves among the allies of Athens. On the eve of the battle of
Marathon, they had joined the Athenians with their whole force, a
thousand strong, and shared the peril and the honour of that glorious
day. Ten years later their city was laid in ruins by the army of
Xerxes, at the instigation of the Thebans; and in the following year
the great battle which ended the long struggle between Greece and
Persia was fought within sight of their shattered walls. In gratitude
for this great victory, the confederate Greeks under Pausanias declared
that the Plataean territory should be hallowed ground, and swore a
solemn oath to maintain the independence of the city. But the Thebans
had never forgotten or forgiven the secession of Plataea from the
confederacy of which they were the leaders; and seizing the opportunity
while the Athenians were occupied with measures for their own safety,
they made a treacherous attempt to gain possession of the town.

On a dark and moonless night in the early spring three hundred armed
Thebans appeared before the gates of Plataea, which were opened to them
by a party of the citizens who favoured their design. Marching in a
body to the market-place, they made proclamation by a herald, inviting
all who chose to return to their allegiance, and take sides with their
lawful leaders, the Thebans. For they wished, if possible, to gain over
the place without bloodshed, and before the war had actually broken
out; otherwise, they might have to give it up again on the conclusion
of peace.

The Plataeans, being wakened out of their first sleep, and thinking
that the Thebans were in much greater force than was really the case,
at first attempted no resistance, but were disposed to accept the terms
offered them. But perceiving by degrees that their enemies were far
weaker in numbers than themselves, they changed their minds, and
resolved to attack them. For the party which had betrayed the town was
but small, and the general body of the citizens detested the thought of
falling once more under the supremacy of Thebes. Their measures were
taken with great secrecy and despatch: to avoid exciting the suspicions
of the Thebans, they broke down the dividing walls of their houses, and
passed to and fro unobserved, until they had completed their
preparations. To embarrass the movements of the Thebans, they
barricaded the streets with waggons, and then, just before daybreak,
they poured out of their houses, and fell upon the enemy, who were
still stationed in the market-place. Though taken by surprise, the
Thebans defended themselves stoutly, and standing shoulder to shoulder
repulsed the assault of the Plataeans two or three times. But they were
greatly inferior in numbers, wearied by their long vigil, and soaked
with the heavy rain which had fallen in the night; the Plataeans
returned again and again to the attack, assailing them with furious
cries; and the women and slaves who crowded the roofs added to their
discomfiture, pelting them with tiles and stones, and stunning their
ears with a frightful uproar of yells and shrieks; so that at last
their hearts failed them, and breaking their ranks they fled wildly
through the streets. Some succeeded in reaching the gate by which they
had entered, but only to find that their escape was cut off in this
direction; for one of the Plataeans had closed the gate, using the
spike of his javelin to secure the bolt. Others lost their way in the
narrow and muddy streets, and wandered up and down until they were
slain by the Plataeans. A few contrived to escape by an unguarded
postern-gate, having cut through the bolt with an axe given them by a
woman. Others, in despair, flung themselves from the walls, and for the
most part perished. But a good number, who had kept together, were
caught in a trap; for coming to a large building which abutted on the
wall, and finding the doors open, they thought that they had reached
the town-gate, and rushed headlong in. The pursuers, who were close at
their heels, made fast the doors, and then the question arose what they
should do with their captives. Some proposed to set fire to the
building, and to burn it down, with the Thebans in it; but at last
those who were thus taken, and the few who were still straggling in the
town, were allowed to surrender at discretion.

Meanwhile a strong reinforcement of Thebans, who had started after the
three hundred, were on the way to Plataea; but being delayed by the
state of the roads, and the swollen condition of the Asopus, which they
had to cross, they arrived too late. Being informed of what had
happened, they prepared to plunder the property of the Plataeans
outside the walls, and seize any of the citizens who crossed their
path, to serve as hostages for their own men in the town. The
Plataeans, perceiving their intention, sent a herald to remonstrate,
threatening that unless they desisted, all the Theban prisoners should
at once be put to death. And they promised further, under an oath, that
if the Thebans would withdraw their forces, the captives should be
restored--at least this was the account which was afterwards current at
Thebes, though the Plataeans denied that they had made any such promise
unconditionally, and declared that they had sworn no oath. It seems
probable that the Thebans had received some such explicit assurance as
they asserted; for, on receiving the answer from Plataea, they marched
away without doing any harm. No sooner were they gone than the
Plataeans made all haste to get their property within the walls, and
then put all their prisoners to death. The day was not far distant when
they were bitterly to rue this act of passion, which was not only
cruel, but grossly impolitic; for the Thebans thus slain in cold blood,
a hundred and eighty in number, would have been invaluable as hostages,
whereas the Plataeans had now cut themselves off from all hope of
reconciliation with Thebes, and virtually sealed their own fate.

Two messengers had been despatched from Plataea to Athens, one after
the first entrance of the Thebans, and the second after their defeat
and capture; and the Athenians, on receiving the second message, sent
off a herald bidding the Plataeans to wait for further instructions,
before taking any steps against the prisoners. When the herald arrived,
he found the men already slain, and the Athenians then proceeded to
place the town in a state of defence, removing the women and children
and all those who were unfit for military service, to Athens, and
leaving a small body of their own citizens to direct operations.


II

The surprise of Plataea was the first open violation of the Thirty
Years' Truce, and from this time forward all Greece was involved for
many years in civil war. Public opinion was strongly on the side of the
Spartans, who stood forward as champions of the liberties of Greece;
but there was great enthusiasm on both sides, and the popular
imagination was much excited by the approaching struggle between the
two imperial cities. Both in Sparta and in Athens there was a younger
generation, who had grown up during a long period of peace, and now
entered gaily into the contest with all the light-hearted ignorance of
youth. Old prophecies current among the people, foretelling a great war
of Greeks against Greeks, passed from mouth to mouth, and the
professional soothsayers, whose business it was to collect and expound
such sayings, found eager hearers. The gods themselves could not be
indifferent on the eve of such mighty events, so deeply affecting the
destiny of the nation which worshipped them in a thousand temples; and
an earthquake, which had recently occurred at Delos, the sacred island
of Apollo, where such a visitation had never been known before, was
interpreted as a portent of great things to come.

While the Peloponnesians were mustering their forces at the Isthmus,
the rural population of Attica were breaking up their homes, and
flocking by thousands into the city. A constant stream of waggons
passed along the roads, loaded with furniture, household utensils, and
even the woodwork of the farm-buildings; and many a little group of
women, children, and servants set out on that sorrowful journey,
leaving their fields, their gardens, and their vineyards, to be
trampled down and laid waste by the ruthless invader. Athens, indeed,
was the common mother of them all, their glory, their strength, and
their pride; for since the days of Theseus the scattered rural
communities of Attica had been united under the Aegis of Athene, and
acknowledged Athens as the head and centre of their civic life. But a
large proportion of the Athenian citizens still continued to reside in
the country, and all their dearest associations were connected with the
little spot of earth where they and their fathers were born. Here were
the graves of their ancestors, and the temples of the heroes who were
the guardian spirits of each little aggregate of families. It was
therefore with bitter and resentful feelings that they left these happy
scenes behind them, and turned their steps towards the gates of the
city, through which many of them were never to pass again. For all of
them it was a grievous change from the free and careless life of the
country-side to the confined space, polluted air, and jostling
multitudes of the town, now crowded to overflowing. Some few found
shelter in the houses of friends or relations; but by far the greater
number were obliged to encamp in the open spaces of the city, in the
precincts of temples, or in the narrow room between the Long Walls.
Even a place beneath the Acropolis, called the Pelasgic Field, was now
covered with the huts of the immigrants, though an ancient oracle had
forbidden its occupation under a curse. From day to day new crowds kept
flocking in, and the later comers were obliged to take up their
dwelling in Peiraeus, which was soon almost as much overcrowded as the
upper city.

And now the younger generation of Athenians, who had entered so
cheerfully into the conflict, were to have their first taste of the
grim realities of war. The Peloponnesian army advanced leisurely, and
proceeded at first to Oenoe, an outlying fort near the borders of
Boeotia; for Archidamus, who held the chief command, still hoped that
the Athenians, when they saw the enemy on the confines of Attica, would
make some concessions, to save their farms from destruction. For this
reason he had long delayed his march from the Isthmus, and now wasted
more time in fruitless operations at Oenoe, until the allies began to
murmur against him, and suspected him of receiving bribes from the
Athenians to spare their lands. At last, being unable to put off the
fatal moment any longer, he turned southwards, and after ravaging the
plain of Eleusis, advanced to Acharnae, one of the most fertile and
prosperous districts of Attica, about seven miles north of Athens. Here
the Peloponnesians encamped, and applied themselves systematically to
the work of pillage and havoc.

Great was the rage of the Acharnians, a hardy race of farmers and
charcoal-burners, when they saw the smoke rising from their ruined
homesteads; and their feelings were shared by the general body of the
citizens, who had watched the advance of Archidamus from Eleusis, and
had now no hope of saving their estates. Little knots of angry
disputants were seen in the streets and public places, for the most
part clamouring against Pericles, and demanding to be led against the
invader, while some few argued for the more prudent course. But
Pericles, who knew the fickle temper of the multitude, turned a deaf
ear to all this uproar, and steadily refused to summon an assembly,
lest some hasty resolution should be passed, which would lead to
useless loss of life. In order, however, to relieve the public
excitement, he sent out a body of horsemen to skirmish with the enemy,
and despatched a fleet of a hundred triremes to ravage the coasts of
Peloponnesus.

When the first invasion of Attica was over, two cities, which had been
foremost in stirring up war against Athens, were made to feel the full
weight of her resentment. The unhappy Aeginetans were expelled from
their island, and the land of Aegina was distributed among Athenian
citizens. And later in the same summer the Athenians marched in full
force into the territory of Megara, which was laid waste from end to
end. This proceeding, which afforded a pleasant summer excursion to the
Athenians, was repeated annually for the next seven years. The banished
Aeginetans found an asylum at Thyrea, a coast district of eastern
Peloponnesus, which was assigned to them by Sparta. And so the first
year of the war came to an end; for, except on extraordinary occasions,
no military operations were undertaken during the winter.




THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS

I


At the beginning of the next summer the Peloponnesians again entered
Attica, and resumed their work of devastation, destroying the young
crops, and wrecking whatever had been spared in the previous year.
Before they had been many days in Attica, a new and far more terrible
visitation came upon the Athenians, threatening them with total
extinction as a people. We have seen how the whole upper city, with the
space between the Long Walls, and the harbour-town of Peiraeus, was
packed with a vast multitude of human beings, penned together, like
sheep in a fold. Into these huddled masses now crept a subtle and
unseen foe, striking down his victims by hundreds and by thousands.
That foe was the Plague, which beginning in Southern Africa, and
descending thence to Egypt, reached the southern shores of the
Mediterranean, and passed on to Peiraeus, having been carried thither
by seamen who trafficked between northern Africa and Greece. From
Peiraeus it spread upwards with rapid strides, and before long the
whole space within the walls presented the appearance of a vast
lazar-house.

From the description of the symptoms we may conclude that this epidemic
was similar to that dreadful scourge of mankind which has been almost
conquered by modern science, the small-pox. The patient who had taken
the infection was first attacked in the head, with inflammation of the
eyes, and violent headache. By degrees the poison worked its way into
the whole system, affecting every organ in the body, and appearing on
the surface in the shape of small ulcers and boils. One of the most
distressing features of the disease was a raging thirst, which could
not be appeased by the most copious draughts of water; and the internal
heat, which produced this effect, caused also a frightful irritability
of the skin, so that the sufferer could not bear the touch of the
lightest and most airy fabrics, but lay naked on his bed, in all the
deformity of his dire affliction. Of those who recovered, many bore the
marks of the sickness to their graves, by the loss of a hand, a foot,
or an eye; while others were affected in their minds, remaining in
blank oblivion, without power to recognise themselves or their friends.
The healing art had made great progress in Greece in the course of the
last generation; and in this, as in all else, the Greeks remained the
sole teachers of Europe for ages after. But against such a malady as
this, the most skilful physicians could do nothing, and those who
attempted to exercise their skill caught the plague themselves, and for
the most part perished. Still less, as we may well suppose, was the
benefit derived from amulets, incantations, inquiries of oracles, or
supplications at temples; and at last, finding no help in god or man,
the Athenians gave up the struggle, and resigned themselves to despair.

It is recorded as a curious fact, showing the strange and outlandish
character of the pestilence, that the birds and animals which feed on
human flesh generally shunned the bodies of those who died of the
plague, though they might have eaten their fill, for hundreds were left
unburied. The very vultures fled from the infected city, and hardly one
was seen as long as the pestilence continued.

The fearful rapidity with which the infection spread caused a panic
throughout the city, and even the boldest were not proof against the
general terror. If any man felt himself sickening of the plague, he at
once gave up all hope, and made no effort to fight against the disease.
Few were found brave enough to undertake the duty of nursing the sick,
and those who did generally paid for their devotion with their lives.
In most cases the patient was left to languish alone, and perished by
neglect, while his nearest and dearest avoided his presence, and had
grown so callous that they had not a sigh or a tear left for the death
of husband, or child, or friend. The few who recovered, now free from
risk of mortal infection, did what they could to help their suffering
fellow-citizens.

The mischief was aggravated by the overcrowded state of the city,
especially among those who had come in from the country, and were
living in stifling huts through the intense heat of a southern summer.
Here the harvest of death fell thickest, and the corpses lay heaped
together, while dying wretches crawled about the public streets, and
encumbered the fountain-sides, to which they had dragged themselves in
their longing for drink. All sense of public decency, all regard for
laws, human or divine, was lost. The temples in which they had made
their dwellings were choked with dead, and the sacred duty of burial,
to which the conscience of antiquity attached so high an importance,
was performed in wild haste and disorder. Sometimes those who were
carrying out a corpse found a vacant pile prepared by the relatives of
another victim, flung their dead upon it, set fire to the pile, and
departed; and sometimes, when a body was already burning, others who
were seeking to dispose of a corpse forced their way to the fire, and
threw their burden upon it.

In the general relaxation of public morality all the dark passions of
human nature, which at ordinary times lurk in secret places, came forth
to the light of day, and raged without restraint. Some, who had grown
rich in a day by the death of wealthy relatives, resolved to enjoy
their possessions, and indulge every appetite, before they were
overtaken by the same fate. Others, who had hitherto led good lives,
seeing the base and the noble swept away indifferently by the same
ruthless power, began to doubt the justice of heaven itself, and rushed
into debauch, convinced that conscience and honour were but empty
names. For human laws they cared still less, for in the universal panic
there was none to enforce them, and before the voice of public
authority could be heard again, both judge and transgressor, as they
believed, would be involved in a common doom. All shame and fear were
accordingly thrown aside, and those whom the plague had not yet touched
seemed possessed by one sole desire--to drown thought and care in an
orgy of fierce excess, and then to die.


II

The second invasion of the Peloponnesians was prolonged for forty days,
and the whole Attic territory was laid waste. Pericles again refused to
venture a pitched battle against them, knowing well that the Athenian
army was no match for them in the open field. But a powerful fleet was
sent to cruise round Peloponnesus, which inflicted much damage on the
coast districts. It was a welcome relief to the Athenians selected for
this service to escape for a time from the plague-stricken city; but
unhappily they carried the infection with them, and the crews were
decimated by the same disease. Nor did the evil stop here: for the same
armament being afterwards despatched to Potidaea, to reinforce the
blockading army and fleet, caused a virulent outbreak of the plague
among the forces stationed there, which up till then had been healthy.
After some fruitless operations against the town this second armament
was withdrawn, and returned to Athens with the loss of more than a
thousand men.

After all these disasters the reaction against Pericles, which had
begun with the first invasion of Attica, reached a climax, and on all
sides he was loudly decried by the Athenians, as the author of all
their miseries. Envoys were sent with overtures of peace to Sparta, and
when these returned with no favourable answer, the storm of popular
fury grew more violent than ever. Pericles, who knew the temper of his
people, and had foreseen that some such outbreak would occur, remained
calm and unmoved. But wishing to allay the general excitement, and
bring back the citizens to a more reasonable view of their prospects,
he summoned an assembly, and addressed the multitude in terms of grave
and dignified rebuke. He reminded them that they themselves had voted
for war, and remonstrated against the unfairness of making him
responsible for their own decision. If war could have been avoided
without imperilling the very existence of their city, then that
decision was wrong; but if, as was the fact, peace could only have been
preserved by ruinous concessions, then his advice had been good, and
they had been right in following it. The welfare of the individual
citizen depended on the welfare of the community to which he belonged;
as long as that was secured, private losses could always be made good,
but public disaster meant private ruin. On this principle they had
acted two years before, when they determined to reject the demands of
Sparta. Why, then, were they now indulging in weak regrets, and turning
against him whom they had appointed as their chosen guide and adviser?
Was there anything in his character, any fact in his whole life, which
justified them in suspecting him of unworthy motives? Was he the man to
lead them astray, in order to save some selfish end--he, the great
Pericles, whose loyalty, eloquence, clear-sightedness, and
incorruptibility, had been proved in a public career of more than
thirty years? If any other course had been open to them, he would have
been to blame in counselling war; but the alternative was between that
and degradation. The immediate pressure of private calamity was
blinding them to the magnitude of the interests at stake--Athens, with
all her fond traditions, and all the lustre of her name. That they were
sure of victory he had already declared to them on many infallible
grounds. But seeing them so sunk in despair, he would speak in a tone
of loud assurance, and boldly assert a fact which they seemed to have
overlooked. They were lords of the sea, absolute masters, that was to
say, of half the world! Let them keep a firm grasp on this empire, and
they would soon recover those pretty ornaments of empire--their gardens
and their vineyards--which they held so dear: but, that once
relinquished, they would lose all. Surely this knowledge should inspire
them with a lofty contempt of their foes, a contempt grounded, not on
ignorance or shallow enthusiasm, but on rational calculation. They
could not now descend from the eminence on which they stood. Athens,
who had blazed so long in unrivalled splendour before the eyes of the
world, dared not suffer her lustre to be abated: for her, obscurity
meant extinction. Let them keep this in mind, and not listen to
counsels of seeming prudence and moderation, which were suicidal in a
ruling state. All their calamities, except the plague, were the
foreseen results of their own decision. Now was the time to display
their known courage and patience. Let them think of the glory of
Athens, and her imperial fame.

This memorable speech, the last recorded utterance of Pericles, had the
desired effect. It was resolved to continue the war, and no further
embassies were sent to Sparta. But resentment still smouldered in the
hearts of the Athenians against their great statesman. How fearful was
the contrast between the high hopes with which they had embarked in
this struggle, and the scenes of horror and desolation which lay around
them! From the walls they could see their trampled fields, their
ravaged plantations, and the blackened ruins of their homes. Within,
the pestilence still raged undiminished, and the city was filled with
sounds and sights of woe. Under the pressure of these calamities the
ascendency of Pericles went through a brief period of eclipse, and he
was condemned to pay a fine. Soon, however, he recovered all his
influence, and remained at the head of affairs until his death, which
occurred in the autumn of the following year.

Pericles is the representative figure in the golden age of Athenian
greatness, the most perfect example of that equable and harmonious
development in every faculty of body and mind which was the aim of
Greek civic life at its best. As an orator, he was probably never
equalled, and the effect of his eloquence has found immortal expression
in the lines of his contemporary Eupolis. Persuasion, we are told, sat
enthroned on his lips; like a strong athlete, he overtook and outran
all other orators; his words struck home like the lightning, while he
held his audience enchained, as by a powerful spell; and among all the
masters of eloquence, he was the only one who left his sting behind
him. As a statesman, it was his object to admit every freeborn Athenian
to a share of public duties and privileges; and for this purpose he
introduced the system of payment, which enabled the poorer citizens to
perform their part in the service of the state. His military talents,
though never employed for conquest or aggression, were of no mean
order; and on two occasions of supreme peril to Athens, the revolt of
Euboea, and the revolt of Samos, it was his energy and promptitude
which saved his city from ruin.

But it is as the head of the great intellectual movement which
culminated in this epoch, as the friend of poets, philosophers, and
artists, that Pericles has won his most enduring fame. By his liberal
and enlightened policy the surplus of the Athenian revenues was devoted
to the creation of those wonders of architecture and sculpture, whose
fragments still serve as unapproachable models to the mind of modern
Europe. And under his rule Athens became the school of Greece, the
great centre for every form of intellectual activity, a position which
she maintained until the later period of the Roman Empire.

If, however, we would understand the character of Pericles, and the
spirit of the age which he represents, we must never forget that this
aspect of Athenian greatness, to us by far the most important, was not
the aspect which awoke the highest enthusiasm in him and his
contemporaries. Those things which have made the name of Athens
immortal, her art and her literature, were matters of but secondary
importance to the Athenian of that age. He worshipped his city as a
beloved mistress, and, like a lover, he delighted to adorn her with
outward dignity and splendour. But to lavish all his thought and care
on these external embellishments would have been, in his estimation, a
senseless waste of his highest faculties, as if a lover should make the
robes and jewels of his mistress the objects of his highest adoration.
To make Athens the mightiest state in Greece, to build up the fabric of
her material greatness--these were the objects for which he was ready
to devote the best energies of heart and brain, and if need were, to
lay down his life. He might be skilled in every elegant accomplishment,
an acute reasoner, an orator, a musician, a poet; and to some extent he
was all of these. But before all else he was in the highest sense a
practical man, finding in strenuous action his chief glory and pride.
And such a man was the last to melt into ecstasies over the high notes
of a singer, or dream away his life in the fairyland of poetry.

We have dwelt at some length on the work and character of Pericles, as
his death marks a turning point in Athenian history. From that day
onward the policy of Athens takes a downward direction, denoting a
corresponding decline in Athenian character and aspiration. Pericles
had been able, by his commanding talents and proved integrity, to
exercise a salutary check on the restless energies and soaring ambition
of his countrymen. He had been a true father and ruler of his people,
in evil times and in good, curbing them in the insolence of prosperity,
comforting and exalting them in the dark hour of disaster. But the
government now passed into the hands of weaker men, who, since they
were incapable of leading the people, were compelled to follow it, and
to maintain their position by pandering to the worst vices of the
Athenian character. Rash where they should have been cautious, yielding
where they should have been resolute, they squandered the immense
resources of Athens, and led her on, step by step, to humiliation and
defeat. The course of our narrative will show how easily the Athenians
might have emerged triumphant from the struggle with their enemies, if
they had followed the line of conduct marked out by Pericles. They
might, indeed, have avoided the occasion of offence which led
immediately to the war, and thus have escaped the necessity of fighting
altogether; and this, as we have seen, was the one fatal mistake made
by Pericles. But, once launched in the conflict, they were sure of an
easy victory, if they had only shown a very moderate degree of prudence
and self-restraint. And we need not blame the great statesmen too
harshly for not foreseeing the wild excesses of folly and extravagance
which we shall have to record in the following pages.




INVESTMENT OF PLATAEA

In the third year of the war the usual invasion of Attica was omitted,
and the Peloponnesian army under Archidamus marched against Plataea.
Having pitched their camp before the walls they prepared to lay waste
the territory; but before the work of havoc began, the Plataeans sent
envoys to remonstrate. "Unrighteous are your deeds," said the spokesman
of the embassy, "ye men of Sparta, and unworthy of the men whose sons
ye are. After the victory of Plataea, which ended the struggle against
Persia, Pausanias, the chief captain of the confederate Greeks, offered
sacrifice and thanksgiving at Plataea to Zeus the Liberator, and swore
a solemn oath, both he, and all the Greeks whom he led, to maintain the
independence of our city against all who should assail it. This they
did as a recompense for our valour and devotion in our country's
service. But ye, in direct violation of that oath, have made common
cause with our worst enemies, the Thebans, and have come hither to
enslave us. In the name of the gods who witnessed that covenant, in the
name of every power worshipped alike at Plataea and at Sparta, we
adjure you not to commit this sacrilege, but to leave us in peaceful
possession of the privileges vouchsafed to us on that memorable day."

Such were the words of the Plataeans, to which Archidamus replied as
follows: "Ye say well, men of Plataea, if ye act in the spirit of the
compact to which ye have appealed. The oath which Pausanias swore was
taken in defence of the common liberties of Greece. Against those
liberties a new enemy has arisen, Athens, who holds half our nation in
bondage, and threatens to lay her yoke upon us all. To put down that
tyranny has this great coalition been called together, and if ye are
true men, ye will enlist in the same cause, and take up arms for the
relief of your distressed countrymen. Or at least, if ye cannot do
this, then stand apart from this conflict, helping neither one side nor
the other; and with this we shall be satisfied."

Having heard the answer of Archidamus, the Plataean envoys went back,
and reported his words to their fellow-townsmen. But the Plataeans
replied that, without the consent of the Athenians, they dare not
accept his proposal, as their wives and children had been removed to
Athens. Moreover, they feared that if they remained neutral the Thebans
would seize the opportunity to make another attempt on their town.
"Well, then," answered Archidamus, "we make you this second offer: Hand
over your town and your dwellings to us, the Spartans; keep a strict
account of all your trees, [Footnote: Vines and olive-trees] and of all
else that can be numbered, and retire yourselves to some safe retreat,
as long as the war continues. When it is over, we will restore all your
property, and meanwhile keep the land in cultivation, and pay you a
fixed rent, such as may suffice you."

The offer was fair, and even generous; but the Plataeans were powerless
to act, without the consent of the Athenians, who held their families
as hostages. Accordingly they asked for a truce, to enable them to lay
the proposal before the authorities at Athens, and this being granted,
they sent envoys to Athens, who speedily returned with this answer: "We
have never left you at the mercy of your enemies in the past, since ye
became our allies, nor will we do so now, but will help you to the best
of our power; and we charge you by the oath which your fathers swore
not to depart from your allegiance to Athens."

It was a cruel alternative which was offered to the hapless Plataeans:
either they must leave their wives and children to the vengeance of
Athens, or face the whole power of the confederates, led by Sparta.
True to their character, they chose the nobler part, and determined to
stand by the Athenian alliance. Henceforth no one was allowed to leave
the town, and their final answer was delivered from the walls. They
were unable, they said, to accept the terms offered by Archidamus.

On hearing their decision, the Spartan king made a last solemn appeal
to the powers who presided over the territory of Plataea, a hallowed
precinct, now about to be given up to plunder and ravage: "Ye gods and
heroes, who keep the land of Plataea, bear witness that we had just
cause from the first for marching hither, since the Plataeans had
forsaken the alliance, and that if we do aught against them, we shall
still be justified. For we have made them the fairest offers, but they
would not be persuaded. Therefore let those with whom the guilt lies be
punished, and prosper ye the cause of righteous vengeance."

The siege of Plataea now began in earnest. First the town was
surrounded with a palisade, to prevent anyone from escaping, the
materials being taken from the plantations in the neighbourhood of the
town. Then they raised a mound against the wall, expecting that with so
large a force as theirs they would easily carry the place by storm.
Timber was brought from Cithaeron, and with this they set up two stout
buttresses of cross-beams, at right angles to the town-wall, to serve
as a support on either side of the mound. Within this framework they
piled up fascines, stones, earth, and whatever else was at hand. The
whole army was employed in this task, which was continued for seventy
days and nights without intermission, the men working in regular spells.

Meanwhile the Plataeans had not been idle. First they built a wall of
bricks and timber opposite to the point where the mound was rising, and
resting on the ramparts, in order to raise the height of their
defences. The new wall was covered with hides, raw and dressed, to
protect the timber and the workmen from being injured by burning
arrows. And while this structure was in progress, they made a breach in
the old wall, and carted away the earth from the bottom of the mound.
To prevent this, the Peloponnesians filled up the space thus caused
with heavy masses of clay, rammed tightly into baskets of osier, which
made a solid structure, much harder to remove than the loose earth.
Then the Plataeans had recourse to another device: marking carefully
the position of the mound, they ran a mine from the city under it, and
as fast as the earth fell in, they carried it away. This continued for
a long time, for the Peloponnesians, who saw their mound rising no
higher, for all their labour, but rather growing less, did not guess
the cause, but went on heaping up materials, which were swallowed up as
fast as they were brought.

Still the Plataeans feared that in spite of these counterworks they
would at length be overpowered by numbers, unless they contrived some
better means of defence. So they left off building the wall of bricks
and timber, and beginning at either end of it, they built a
crescent-shaped wall, curving inwards towards the city. Thus the
Peloponnesians, if they succeeded in carrying the first wall, would
find themselves confronted by a second line of defence, and would have
all their work to do over again, besides being exposed to a cross-fire.

While the Plataeans were thus vigorously defending themselves, and
before the mound was completed, the Peloponnesians brought
siege-engines to bear on the wall, one of which greatly alarmed the
besieged garrison, by severely shaking their wall of timber and bricks.
But this new mode of attack was frustrated, like the rest, by the
ingenuity of the Plataeans, who dropped nooses over the ends of the
battering-rams, and drew them up just before the moment of impact.
Moreover they suspended heavy beams of wood at intervals along the
wall, each beam hanging by long chains from two cranes which rested on
the wall and projected outwards from it; and whenever a ram was being
brought up, they drew up the beam at right angles to it, and then,
letting go the chains, dropped the ponderous timber, which came
crashing down on the ram, and broke off its head.

Thus baffled at every point, the Peloponnesians began to despair of
taking the town by assault, and thought that they would be compelled to
form a blockade. But before being driven to this costly and tedious
operation, they determined to try and set fire to the place, which
seemed possible, as it was but small in extent. So they waited till the
wind was in the right direction, and then brought vast quantities of
faggots, and threw them into the space between the mound and the wall;
and this being soon filled up, they piled up more faggots as far as
they could reach within the city itself, and then throwing in lighted
torches, with brimstone and pitch, they set fire to the whole mass.
Then arose a great sheet of flame, such as had never been raised by
human hands, though not, of course, to be compared to the vast
forest-fires, produced by natural means; yet it was sufficient to cause
a panic among the Plataeans, and bring their town to the verge of
destruction. The heat was so intense that a whole quarter of the place
was cleared of its defenders, and if a wind had arisen to drive the
flame inwards, nothing could have saved the whole town from
destruction. [Footnote: Thucydides seems to imply that there was a
wind, though a slight one.] But fortunately the breeze was but slight,
and it is said also that a heavy fall of rain came on, and quenched the
conflagration.

Having failed in their last attempt, the Peloponnesians sent away part
of their army, and employed those who remained in building a blockading
wall round Plataea. The work was completed towards the end of
September, and they then disbanded their army, leaving a force
sufficient to guard half the wall; for the Thebans, relentless in their
zeal against Plataea, took charge of the other half. The number of the
besieged was four hundred and eighty, of whom eighty were Athenians,
and a hundred and ten women to make bread for the garrison.




NAVAL VICTORIES OF PHORMIO

I


During the last half-century the art of naval warfare had made great
progress in Greece. The Greek war-galley, or trireme, a vessel
propelled by three banks of oars, had always been furnished with a
sharp-pointed prow, for the purpose of ramming an opponent's ship; but
many years elapsed before the Greeks attained genuine skill in the use
of this formidable weapon. According to the ordinary method of
fighting, after the first shock of collision the affair was decided by
the hoplites, or heavy-armed infantry, stationed on the decks of the
two contending ships; and in this manner was fought the engagement
between the Corcyraean and Corinthian fleets which occurred in the
year before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. There the ship was
simply a vehicle, which served to bring the antagonists together, and
the rest was left to the prowess of the hoplites.

The Athenians were the first to abandon this crude and clumsy style of
fighting, and in the course of two generations their seamen had become
renowned throughout Greece for the unrivalled skill which they showed
in working and manoeuvring the trireme. A few hoplites were still
carried, to serve in cases of emergency; but by far the most important
part in the encounter was played by the trireme itself, with its long,
tapering, sharp-pointed prow. To use this deadly but delicate
instrument with effect required great coolness, dexterity, and
judgment, on the part of the steersman, and a crew under perfect
command. The tactics usually employed were as follows: watching his
opportunity, the captain gave the order "full speed ahead!" and darting
rapidly through the enemy's line, wheeled suddenly round, and drove the
beak of his galley with terrible force against the stern or side of the
vessel selected for attack. One blow from the long lance-like point,
propelled by the whole weight and impetus of the trireme, was
sufficient to sink or disable an enemy's ship, and the attacking galley
was then backed away from the wreck, and directed against another
victim.

The incessant practice of nearly half a century had enabled the
Athenians to attain consummate mastery in this new method of naval
warfare; and they were now to give signal proof of their immense
superiority over the other maritime powers of Greece.

In the same summer which witnessed the investment of Plataea, the
Spartans planned an expedition against Acarnania, the westernmost
province of Greece, which they wished to detach from the Athenian
alliance. A Spartan officer, named Cnemus, was sent off in advance,
with a thousand hoplites, to raise the wild mountain tribes, and led an
attack against Stratus, the capital of Acarnania; and in the meantime
orders were sent round to equip a numerous fleet, which was to support
the operations of Stratus by harassing the coast districts.

The attack on Stratus failed altogether, chiefly in consequence of the
impetuosity of the rude mountaineers serving under Cnemus, who advanced
unsupported against the town, and meeting with a severe repulse
embarrassed the movements of their Greek allies. About the same time
the Peloponnesian fleet, consisting of forty-seven ships, was sailing
down the Corinthian Gulf to co-operate with Cnemus. It was known that
Phormio, the Athenian admiral, was stationed at Naupactus with a
squadron of twenty vessels; but the Peloponnesian captains never
dreamed that he would venture to attack them with so small a force, and
they pursued their voyage along the southern shore of the gulf, without
making any preparations for a battle. Phormio, however, had other
intentions: keeping close to the opposite shore, he followed their
movements, and allowed them to pass through the narrow strait which
divides the inner from the outer gulf, wishing to avoid an engagement
until they reached the open water. The Peloponnesians dropped anchor
for the night at Patrae in Achaia, and Phormio took up his station at
Chalcis, a harbour-town of Aetolia, at the mouth of the Evenus. Being
now convinced that Phormio meditated an encounter, for which they had
little inclination, the Peloponnesian admirals made an attempt
[Footnote: I have adopted the reading of Bloomfield, approved by
Classen (4th Edition).] to steal across under cover of darkness. But
this manoeuvre was detected, and they found their way barred by the
Athenian squadron in the middle of the channel. Being thus driven to
bay the Peloponnesians drew up their ships in a circle, with their
prows turned outwards, like a flock of sheep assailed by a dog. Within
the circle were placed the smaller vessels accompanying the fleet, and
five of the swiftest galleys, which were intended to lend assistance
against any attack of the enemy.

To keep a large flotilla in such a position, even in a calm sea, where
no hostile movement was made against them, would have been a task to
try the skill of the most accomplished mariners. But the Peloponnesian
crews were untrained, the decks of their ships were crowded with
soldiers, and they were hampered by the crowd of smaller craft. Worst
of all, they were threatened in every direction by the agile Athenian
galleys, which, moving in single file, swept round and round them,
approaching closer and closer at every circuit, so that they were
penned together in an ever-narrowing space, and in danger of fouling
one another. To complete their confusion, the morning breeze began to
blow from the gulf; and Phormio, who had been waiting for this, now
gave the signal for attack. The Peloponnesians hardly attempted any
defence; for the unskilful crews of the galleys could not manage their
oars in the rising sea, and the steersmen had consequently no control
of their vessels. All their efforts were employed in keeping clear of
one another, warding off a collision with long poles, amid a hubbub of
curses and abuse. Into this huddled, swaying mass of war-galleys and
merchant-craft mingled together now dashed the Athenian triremes,
wrecking every vessel which they met. A wild panic ensued among the
Peloponnesian crews, and as fast as they could extricate themselves
they rowed off and sought shelter in the harbour of Patrae. From here
they afterwards sailed to Cyllene, the dockyard of Elis, where they
were joined by Cnemus with the troops from Acarnania. Twelve ships fell
into the hands of the Athenians, and taking these with them they sailed
first to Rhium, a level headland on the Locrian Coast, on which stood a
temple of Poseidon. Having left one of the captured ships as a
thank-offering to the god of the sea, they made their way back to the
original station at Naupactus.


II

The authorities at Sparta were highly indignant at the failure of their
expedition in Acarnania, and the defeat of the Peloponnesian fleet by
so inferior a force. For this was their first experience of a sea-fight
since the outbreak of the war, and they made no allowance for the want
of skill in their own crews, attributing the disaster to mere
cowardice. They did not reflect how vast was the difference between raw
sailors, lately transferred from the plough to the oar, and the veteran
seamen of Athens, trained under a system which had been slowly
perfected in the course of half a century. So they sent three
commissioners to Cnemus, with peremptory orders to prepare for another
sea-fight, and not allow himself to be shut up in harbour by the feeble
squadron of Phormio. One of these commissioners was Brasidas, a
brilliant young officer, who had gained distinction two years before by
saving the harbour-town of Methone, on the coast of Messenia, from
being captured by the Athenians. We shall hear much more of him in the
sequel.

On the arrival of Brasidas and his colleagues, the ships lying at
Cyllene were made ready for immediate service, and orders were sent
round to the allied cities for other ships. Phormio also sent an urgent
despatch to Athens announcing his victory, and asking for
reinforcements; and the Athenians sent twenty triremes to his aid.
These vessels, however, arrived too late, for the admiral, acting on
instructions from Athens, sailed first to Crete, where he was delayed a
long time by contrary winds. Phormio, with his twenty triremes, was
therefore compelled to engage the whole Peloponnesian fleet, numbering
seventy-seven ships, which had now sailed round from Cyllene, and taken
up its station just within the strait, close to the Achaean town of
Panormus. A strong force of Peloponnesian soldiers was encamped on the
shore, to co-operate with the fleet. Phormio anchored his ships just
outside the strait, being resolved, if it were in any way possible, not
to fight the Peloponnesians in the narrow waters. As the
Peloponnesians, on their side, were equally determined not to be lured
out into the open sea, the two fleets remained confronting each other
for a whole week, without attempting any aggressive movement. At last
the Peloponnesian leaders decided to give battle with Phormio at once,
fearing that if they delayed any longer he would be reinforced from
Athens.

It was the universal custom of Greek commanders to wind up the courage
of their men on the eve of a battle by a short and pithy address,
calculated to inspire them with confidence, by giving them a reasonable
hope of victory. Such a practice, strange as it may seem to us, was
natural among a people whose armies and fleets were recruited from the
general body of the citizens, accustomed to free speech in their public
assemblies. They were not men of war by profession, trained in habits
of blind obedience, but sensitive Greeks, who carried into the camp the
noble freedom of civic life, and were not prepared to shed their blood
without sufficient cause, and a fair prospect of success.

Seldom was there greater need of this sort of military eloquence than
on the present occasion. On both sides there was much discouragement,
and a general reluctance to begin the fight. The Peloponnesians were
cowed by their recent defeat, and dreaded the naval skill of the
Athenians, which seemed to them almost supernatural; and Phormio's men
shrank from an encounter with such enormous odds. Accordingly the
Peloponnesian captains on one side, and Phormio on the other, did what
they could to argue their crews into a more hopeful frame of mind. The
Peloponnesian seamen who had taken part in the first battle were
reminded that they had been caught unprepared, and assured that this
time every precaution would be taken to prevent a second reverse. They
were flattered by the confident assertion that the superior skill of
the Athenians was far outweighed by their own superior courage. "Look,"
said one of the admirals, speaking to his own division, "at this
powerful armament, outnumbering the enemy by four to one--look at the
army drawn up on the shore, ready to lend aid to any who are hard
pressed--and you will see that with such advantages defeat is
impossible. Do your duty like men, and expect to be rewarded or
punished according to your deserts." Similar addresses, combining
encouragement with threats, were heard in the other parts of the fleet.

Among the Athenian sailors there had been much jesting about the
land-lubbers of Peloponnesus, and in the first flush of their victory
they had been ready to face any odds on the sea. But now, seeing
themselves confronted by such overwhelming numbers, they had lost heart
for the moment, and were seen standing about in little groups, shaking
their heads and whispering fearfully together. It was an anxious moment
for Phormio; he knew the immense importance of maintaining, at any
cost, the naval reputation of Athens, and if his men went into battle
in their present temper, they were certain to suffer a crushing defeat.
Determining, therefore, if possible, to allay the panic which was fast
spreading throughout the fleet, he summoned the crews into his
presence, and harangued them as follows:--

"Comrades, I have called you hither to assure you that you have no
cause for alarm. The numbers of the enemy, which seem to you so
formidable, should, if properly considered, be a ground of confidence;
for this unwieldy armament is a sign that they are thoroughly
terrified, and seek safety in a huge crowd of ships. The firmness and
discipline which they have acquired by long experience of land warfare
will avail them little on the sea For courage is largely a matter of
habit, and the bravest landsman is a mere coward when he is taken away
from his own element, and set down on the heaving deck of a war-galley
where he can hardly keep his feet. The disorganized multitude with
which we shall have to deal is a mere mob, held together by the
authority of Sparta, demoralized by their late defeat, and forced to
fight against their will. Face them boldly, and our very audacity in
assailing such numbers will sink them still deeper into helpless
terror, for they will think that we must be invincible, or we should
never run such risks. It shall be my business to bring on the
engagement in blue water, where we shall have them at our mercy. Now
every man to his station; be prompt, and be silent, and attend to the
word of command. Remember your old spirit, and reflect that the honour
of Athens is in your hands to-day."

The great object of the Peloponnesian leaders was to compel Phormio to
give battle in the confined space of the strait. With this intention
they determined to make a sudden movement towards the northern coast of
the gulf, threatening an attack on Naupactus. At daybreak they drew up
their ships in four lines, with the coast of Peloponnesus behind them,
and with twenty fast-sailing triremes stationed on the right wing, to
cut off Phormio's fleet, if, as they anticipated, he advanced to the
defence of Naupactus. Wheeling then to the right, the ships sailed some
distance, four abreast, towards the inner gulf; and when they came
opposite to Naupactus, they changed their course, and moved in column,
with the right wing leading towards the northern shore.

The manoeuvre, so far as concerned its immediate purpose, was
completely successful. Phormio, much against his will, was obliged to
leave his station outside the strait, and go to the aid of Naupactus,
which had been left undefended. Great was the delight of the
Peloponnesian captains when they saw the little Athenian squadron
creeping close, in single file, along the northern side of the gulf,
for they thought that not one of the twenty would escape them. At a
given signal, the whole fleet formed into line, resuming its original
order, four deep, and bore down upon the Athenians. Eleven of Phormio's
triremes succeeded in clearing the strait, and getting into the open
waters in the direction of Naupactus; but the remaining nine were
overtaken and driven aground, and their crews, except those who escaped
by swimming, were put to the sword. Some of these vessels were towed
off as prizes by the Peloponnesians, and one they captured with all her
crew. The rest were saved by the valour of the Messenian soldiers, who
had followed the movements of Phormio's vessels along the shore, and
now did good service by boarding the stranded triremes, and hauling
them to land, after a sharp tussle with the enemy.

Meanwhile the eleven ships which had eluded the attack were hotly
pursued by the twenty fast-sailing vessels on the Peloponnesian right
wing. All but one got through in safety, and took refuge in the harbour
of Naupactus, and drawing up in line, with their prows outwards,
prepared to defend themselves if the enemy advanced further against
them. But the rearmost vessel was hard pressed by a Leucadian ship, and
the rest of the pursuers followed at a considerable distance, singing
the paean [Footnote: A song of victory.] as they rowed, and expecting
an easy victory. Now, however, occurred one of those sudden turns of
fortune so frequent in the course of a sea-fight. The Athenian trireme
which had been left far behind in the chase, made a sudden sweep round
a merchant-vessel anchored at the mouth of the harbour, struck her
pursuer amidships, and sank her.

This splendid feat of seamanship filled the Peloponnesians, who were
advancing in disorder, with amazement and terror. On every trireme the
cry of "Hold her!" [Footnote: This was done by thrusting the oars, with
the blades held flat, deep into the water] was heard, and some of the
vessels, losing way suddenly, ran aground on the shallows. The others
hung back, waiting until the main body of the fleet should come to
their support. Seeing them drifting thus, stupefied and helpless, the
Athenians took heart again, and raising a shout rowed swiftly from
their station within the harbour, and charged down upon them. The
Peloponnesians, after a feeble attempt at resistance, took to flight,
heading for their original station on the opposite coast. Six of their
vessels were captured, and the Athenians, not content with this, fell
upon the main body of the fleet, and recovered their own ships which
had been taken in the strait. The victorious crews of Phormio then
returned to Naupactus, and set up a trophy at the place where they had
been moored when this splendid rally was made, opposite to the temple
of Apollo. The Peloponnesians also raised a trophy, to commemorate
their first success, and then, fearing the arrival of the fresh ships
from Athens, they sailed off to Lechaeum, the northern harbour of
Corinth.


III

In strange contrast with the disgraceful exhibition of cowardice and
incompetence which we have just witnessed, we have now to record a
daring attempt, undertaken shortly afterwards, to strike at the very
heart of the Athenian power. While the beaten crews of the
Peloponnesian fleet were waiting to be paid off at Lechaeum, they
suddenly received orders to take their oars and rowing-cushions, and
proceed to Nisaea, the port of Megara. The plan was to embark them on
forty vessels, which were lying in the dockyards, and make a
night-attack on Peiraeus. The suggestion came from the Megarians, but
in carrying it out the Peloponnesians were probably influenced by the
bold and enterprising spirit of Brasidas. And in fact, the meditated
descent on Peiraeus was neither so wild nor so rash as it may at first
sight appear. For the Athenians, never dreaming that they might be
taken by surprise, had not taken the precaution to close the entrance
of their harbour, or to station guard-ships for its defence.

Without delay, the officers in charge of the expedition mustered their
crews at Nisaea, and embarking by night, got their ships under way. But
at the last moment their hearts failed them, and instead of sailing to
Peiraeus, they landed on the island of Salamis, and after attacking a
sea-side fort, and capturing three triremes which were riding at anchor
near it, they spread themselves out, and began ravaging and plundering
the country.

Meanwhile fire-signals had been raised, conveying the alarm to Peiraeus
and Athens. A wild panic ensued, and a rumour ran through the upper
city that the enemy had sailed into Peiraeus, while in the harbour-town
it was generally supposed that Salamis was lost, and Peiraeus on the
point of being invaded. The Peloponnesians employed in this adventure
afterwards pretended that they had been hindered by contrary winds from
carrying out their original design. But this was a mere excuse, and if
they had chosen they might have sailed unopposed to Peiraeus, and
inflicted terrible injury on Athens. But it was now too late, for the
Athenians, as soon as the news was brought, had marched down with their
whole military force to Peiraeus, and occupied every assailable point
in the harbour, while at the same time every ship in the docks was
launched and manned, and sent off in headlong haste to Salamis.

By this time it was broad daylight, and the Peloponnesians, being
warned that a rescue was on the way from Peiraeus, made off with their
booty, and getting, on board their ships, sailed back to Nisaea. They
had the more reason for hastening their departure, as the Megarian
ships which had carried them to Salamis, having lain a long while in
dry-dock, were leaky and unseaworthy; for the harbour of Megara had for
some time past been kept in close blockade by the Athenians.

This memorable incident, following close on the brilliant victories of
Phormio, taught the Athenians to take better precautions for the
future. Hitherto they would have scoffed at the suggestion that their
own arsenals and dockyards were exposed to attack. But now they
provided for the safety of Peiraeus by closing the harbours and keeping
a vigilant watch. And that terrible night left an impression on their
minds which was not soon forgotten.




THE REVOLT OF LESBOS

I


We have already traced the steps by which the various cities composing
the Confederacy of Delos gradually became subjects and tributaries of
Athens. After this great change was effected, the only members of the
original league who retained their independence were the wealthy and
powerful communities of Chios and Lesbos. These two islands were
allowed to retain undisturbed control of their own affairs, with the
sole obligation of sending a fixed quota of ships to serve in the
Athenian Navy. It does not appear that the performance of this duty was
felt as a grievance, and no act of oppression had been committed by
Athens, such as might have provoked her allies in Lesbos or Chios to
turn against her. In both islands the general body of the citizens were
on the whole friendly to the Athenians, who afforded them an effectual
means of protection against the tyranny of the nobles, by summoning
high-born offenders to be tried before the Athenian tribunals.
[Footnote: The evidence for this statement will be found in Thucydides,
viii. 48.] It was therefore not among the people at large, but among
the privileged few, that any movement of revolt against Athens was to
be expected.

Some years before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War the Lesbian
malcontents had solicited the Spartans to help them in throwing off the
yoke of Athens. This application, which was probably made at the time
of the revolt of Samos, found no favour with Sparta, and nothing
further was attempted on that occasion. But in the fourth year of the
war alarming rumours were brought to Athens from Tenedos, a small
island included in the Athenian alliance, whose inhabitants were
jealous of the threatened ascendancy of Lesbos in the eastern districts
of the Aegaean. There was a design, it was said, among the leading
citizens of Mytilene, the principal city of Lesbos, to unite the
inhabitants of the island by force under their rule, and renounce their
allegiance to Athens. Help was expected from Sparta, and the Boeotians,
who were of the same race as the Lesbians, were also in the plot. This
statement was confirmed by envoys from Methymna, the second city of
Lesbos, which stood apart from the conspiracy, and by certain citizens
of Mytilene, who had turned informers from motives of private revenge.

Among the Athenians at this time there was a general feeling of
despondency and exhaustion. The full hardship of the war pressed
heavily upon them, and their population was thinned by the ravages of
the plague. In such a mood the thought of undertaking a campaign
against a great island like Lesbos, then at the height of her power,
filled them with dismay. Was it possible that a favoured and privileged
ally had taken up arms against them in the hour of their distress? It
was a slander, they could not, they would not believe it. At any rate,
before proceeding to extremities, they would try the effect of a
friendly remonstrance. So they sent envoys with a pacific message to
the Mytilenaeans, hoping by fair words to deter them from their
purpose. In this, however, they were disappointed, and being at last
convinced that the Lesbians were on the brink of revolt, they sent off
forty triremes without delay, in order, if possible, to catch them
unawares. For they had been informed that the Mytilenaeans were about
to celebrate the festival of Apollo, in which the whole population took
part, outside the city walls; and if the triremes arrived in time,
there would be a fine opportunity for a surprise. At the same time they
took possession of ten Mytilenaean triremes, which had been sent to
serve in the Athenian fleet, and imprisoned the crews.

But now was seen one of the weaknesses inherent in the nature of the
Athenian constitution. These measures could not be taken without public
debate in the popular assembly, and such a method of procedure rendered
secrecy impossible. The Mytilenaeans received timely warning of their
danger, and keeping close within their walls, repaired the weak places
in their defences, and set a careful watch. Shortly afterwards the
Athenian fleet hove in sight. As the Mytilenaeans refused to obey the
summons delivered to them in the name of the imperial people,--that
they should raze their walls, and surrender their ships,--hostilities
commenced. But on neither side was much vigour displayed, for the
Athenian officers thought themselves too weak to undertake any decisive
operations with their present force, and the Mytilenaeans desired to
obtain a respite, to enable them to obtain aid from Sparta. Accordingly
they asked for an armistice, pretending that they wished to plead their
cause by their own representatives before the Athenian assembly; and
their request being granted, they sent envoys to Athens, who made a
show of carrying on negotiations. And in the meantime a trireme was
despatched in all haste to carry their petition to Sparta.

On the return of the Mytilenaean envoys from Athens, where of course
they had accomplished nothing, the siege of Mytilene began in earnest.
The city was situated on a promontory facing the Asiatic coast on the
south-eastern side of the island, and had two harbours, on its northern
and southern side. Both of these harbours were now held in close
blockade by the Athenians, who established two camps, one on either
side of the town, and patrolled the harbour-mouths with their ships.
But on the land side the investment was not yet completed, so that
supplies could still be brought into the town from the island.
Reinforcements, however, came pouring into the Athenian quarters in
answer to a summons sent to the cities of the Athenian alliance, who
were the more willing to lend help, as the Lesbians made no vigorous
effort in their own defence.

While the prospects of Athens were thus brightening, the Mytilenaean
envoys, after a stormy voyage, arrived at Sparta, and laid their
petition before the authorities. It happened that the Olympic festival
was close at hand, where representatives would be present from all the
cities of the Peloponnesian league; so the envoys received orders to go
to Olympia, and state their case in the presence of the Spartan allies.
They went, therefore, to Olympia, and when the festival was over, the
Mytilenaean orator addressed the confederates as follows:--

"Before we urge our claim for assistance we wish to combat a prejudice
which we know to be general in Greece against those who desert their
allies in time of war. For we wish not only to obtain your countenance
and support, but also to preserve your respect. To abandon an ally
without just cause in a time of peril is justly regarded as an act of
treason. But then the alliance must be a fair and equal relation
voluntarily assumed on both sides, based on mutual esteem and parity of
power. Can anyone assert that our connexion with Athens answers to this
description? Have we not seen how the confederacy of maritime cities
formed against Persia was gradually converted into an Athenian empire?
And though we and the Chians enjoyed nominal independence, we had good
reason to fear that this was only a temporary concession, which would
be withdrawn as soon as the Athenians felt themselves strong enough to
attack us. We were allowed to retain our liberty, partly because they
feared our navy, and partly because they wished to make us accomplices
in their own aggressions, and lend an appearance of equity to the acts
of violence in which we were compelled to take part. Having swallowed
up the smaller states, they were ready to pounce upon us, and were only
prevented by the outbreak of the present war. Who, then, can blame us,
if we seized the opportunity when they were weakened to repudiate this
false alliance, and anticipate the blow which they were preparing for
us? Athens, we repeat, has no just title to our allegiance; the bond
which held us together was fear on our side and interest on theirs. We
are natural enemies; and when your foe is disabled, then is the time to
strike.

"Having thus cleared ourselves from the imputation of disloyalty, we
will now make plain to you the advantages which you will gain by
espousing our cause. If you wish to inflict irreparable injury on
Athens, you must promote every hostile movement against her in those
regions which contain the sources of her power, that is to say, the
islands and coast-lands of the Aegaean. For if our revolt is
successful, others will follow our example, and the Athenians will be
stripped of their revenues, the mainstay of their empire. You can lend
us aid most effectually by summoning your allies for a second
[Footnote: Attica had already been invaded earlier in the summer.]
invasion of Attica, and thus preventing the Athenians from sending
reinforcements to Lesbos. You have a rare opportunity, for their city
is wasted by the plague, and their navies are dispersed on foreign
service. Remember, then, your proud position as champions of Greek
liberty, and put away the reproach which you have sometimes incurred by
leaving the revolted subjects of Athens to fight their battles alone.
[Footnote: As in the case of Samos.] For the cause of Lesbos is the
cause of all Greece."

It will be observed that the greater part of this remarkable speech
consists of an elaborate endeavour on the part of the Mytilenaeans to
justify themselves. The arguments employed were entirely sophistical,
for the Lesbians had no real grievance--and the statement that they
were in danger of losing their independence was a pure invention. But
they spoke to a partial audience, and the Spartans had already
prejudged the case in their favour. It was therefore decided to receive
them into the Peloponnesian alliance, and orders were issued to the
allies to assemble at the Isthmus with two-thirds of their forces for
an immediate invasion of Attica. The Spartans, acting with unusual
vigour, were the first to appear at the Isthmus, where they made
preparations for hauling ships overland from the northern harbour of
Corinth, intending to attack Athens by sea and land. But the rest of
the confederates came in but slowly, as they were engaged in getting in
their harvest, and had little inclination for a second campaign.

The Spartans soon found out that they were mistaken in supposing the
energies of Athens to be exhausted. Without moving their fleet from
Lesbos, the Athenians manned a hundred triremes, raising the crews from
the whole body of the citizens, with the exception of the knights and
the wealthiest class of the Solonian census, and pressing even resident
foreigners into the service; and with this imposing force they made an
armed demonstration before the eyes of their enemies at the Isthmus,
and then, coasting along Peloponnesus, made descents wherever they
pleased. This spirited conduct produced the desired effect. For the
Spartans, who were still waiting for their allies at the Isthmus, saw
themselves baffled in all their calculations, and concluded that they
had been misinformed by the Lesbians as to the state of affairs at
Athens; and hearing that their own coast-lands were being ravaged by
the Athenian fleet, they hastily decamped, and the plan of a second
invasion came to nothing.

The summer was now drawing to a close, and as yet no progress had been
made with the siege of Mytilene. The town was still blockaded by sea,
but the Mytilenaeans had free egress on the land-side, and marched up
and down the island, confirming the other towns which had joined in the
revolt, and threatening Methymna, which still remained loyal to the
Athenian alliance. When the Athenians were informed of this state of
things, they sent a thousand hoplites under Paches to reinforce the
besieging army; and on their arrival the investment of Mytilene was
completed by a wall drawn from sea to sea, and cutting off the town
from the rest of the island. The Mytilenaeans now began to despair, for
their supplies were failing, and there seemed no hope of relief. But
during the winter a ray of hope reached them from outside, and
encouraged them to persevere in their resistance. There was a weak
point in the Athenian wall, where it closed a ravine; and through this
interval a Spartan named Salaethus, who had sailed to Lesbos in a
trireme, and crossed the island on foot, succeeded in making his way
into the town. Salaethus announced himself as an agent sent from
Sparta, to inform the distressed garrison that, as soon as the season
permitted, forty triremes would be sent to their assistance, and that
Attica would be invaded at the same time, to keep the enemy occupied at
home. At this welcome news the hopes of the Mytilenaeans revived, and
all thoughts of surrender were laid aside.


II

As soon as spring arrived, the Spartans, true to their promise, sent
off forty triremes, commanded by Alcidas, to raise the siege of
Mytilene, and marched in full force into Attica, thinking thus to
divert the attention of the Athenians, and prevent them from
interfering with the voyage of Alcidas. They remained a long time in
Attica, waiting for news from their fleet, and employing the time in a
systematic ravage of the whole territory. But time passed, and no
message arrived from Alcidas, who seemed to have disappeared with all
his ships; so that at last, as their expectations were disappointed,
and their supplies exhausted, they broke up their army and returned
home.

The position of Mytilene was now growing desperate. Nothing more was
heard of the relieving squadron, and the scanty store of provisions was
rapidly failing; for, owing to the betrayal of their design, the
Mytilenaeans had been hurried into revolt before their preparations
were completed, and had had no time to lay up a sufficient stock of
food. Salaethus, therefore, determined to make a sudden sally, and
break out of the town; and the better to effect this purpose, he
furnished the common people, who had hitherto served as light-armed
soldiers, with the full equipment of heavy infantry. But this
proceeding brought on a catastrophe, for the commons no sooner found
themselves in possession of better weapons than they turned upon their
masters, and accused them of secreting supplies of corn for their own
use. "Bring out your corn," they cried, "and divide it equally, or we
will go out and make terms with the Athenians for ourselves." Alarmed
at this threat, which if carried out would leave them exposed as the
sole objects of Athenian vengeance, the nobles sent a message to
Paches, on behalf of the whole city, offering to surrender, on
condition that their case should be tried by the tribunals at Athens,
and stipulating that, while the decision was pending, no violence
should be offered to any of the inhabitants. The proposal was accepted,
and Paches marched his forces into the town. In spite of the
convention, the leaders of the revolt took sanctuary in the temples,
being in dread of summary execution. Paches reassured them, and sent
them in safe custody to Tenedos.

We must now turn back a little, and follow the movements of Alcidas.
The Spartan admiral, it would seem, had small stomach for the bold
adventure on which he was bound--no less than to rob the Athenians of
one of their most important possessions, and defy the redoubtable
captains of Athens on their own element. After loitering for some time
off the coast of Peloponnesus, he sailed on slowly as far as Delos, and
then, touching at Icarus, he heard that Mytilene was already taken.
Wishing, however, to inform himself with certainty, he pushed on as far
as Erythrae, on the mainland of Asia, which he reached seven days after
the fall of Mytilene. Being now assured that the report was true, he
called a council of war to decide what was to be done. Then a certain
Greek of Elis, named Teutiaplus, made a bold suggestion: "Let us," he
said, "sail straight to Mytilene, and make an attempt to recapture the
town by surprise. Most likely the Athenians, flushed with success, will
be taken unawares, and we shall find the harbour open, and the land
forces dispersed, and if we make a sudden onfall, under cover of
darkness, we shall probably succeed."

The prudent Alcidas found this proposal little to his taste; nor was he
better pleased by another plan, put forward by the Lesbian envoys who
were returning on board the Peloponnesian fleet, and seconded by a
party of exiles from the cities of Ionia. These men tried to persuade
Alcidas to establish himself in some city of Asia Minor, and raise a
revolt among the allies of Athens in these parts. He had, they said,
every prospect of success, for his arrival was welcomed on all sides.
Let him seize the opportunity of attacking the Athenians in their most
mortal part, first by withdrawing the tribute of Ionia, and secondly by
putting them to the expense of a blockade.

This daring scheme might have led to something important, if the fleet
had been commanded by Brasidas. But Alcidas was a man of very different
temper, and having arrived too late to save Mytilene, he had now but
one thought,--to return to Peloponnesus as fast as he could, and get
out of the reach of the terrible Athenian triremes. So he set his fleet
in motion, and sailing along the coast in a southerly direction put in
at Ephesus. On the voyage he showed himself to be as cruel as he was
cowardly, by capturing and putting to death the crews of the vessels
which came in his way. These were not a few, for the ships which
crossed his path approached fearlessly, under the impression that his
fleet was from Athens; for no one dreamed that a Peloponnesian squadron
would dare to enter these waters. For this senseless barbarity he was
severely rebuked by a deputation of Samian exiles, now living on the
mainland, who met him at Ephesus. His was a strange method, they
remarked with bitter irony, of helping the Ionians to recover their
liberty--to butcher defenceless men, who had done him no harm, but
looked to him for rescue from their bondage to Athens! If he continued
to behave thus, he would make the name of Sparta detested throughout
Ionia. Dull as he was, Alcidas could not but feel the justice of this
reprimand, and he let the rest of his prisoners go.

The presence of a Peloponnesian fleet had caused great alarm among the
inhabitants of Ionia, and urgent messages came in daily to Paches at
Mytilene, summoning him to their aid. For even though Alcidas had
declined to take up a permanent station on the coast, as the exiles had
suggested, it was apprehended that he would pillage the sea-side towns,
which were unfortified, on his homeward voyage. At last two state
triremes, the _Paralus_ and _Salaminia,_ which had been sent on public
business from Athens, came into Mytilene with the news that they had
sighted the fleet of Alcidas lying at anchor off Clarus. [Footnote: A
little town, north-west of Ephesus.] Thereupon Paches put to sea at
once, and gave chase. But Alcidas had got wind of his danger, and was
already on the high seas, making all speed for Peloponnesus. Paches
pursued him as far as Patmos, and then turned back. He would gladly
have caught the Peloponnesians in blue water, where he could have sent
all their ships to the bottom; but as it was he thought himself
fortunate to have escaped the necessity of forming a blockade, as he
must have done if he had come up with them near land, and driven them
ashore. As for Alcidas, he fled in wild haste, keeping the open sea,
being resolved not to touch land, if he could help it, until he reached
the shelter of a Peloponnesian harbour.


III

On his return to Lesbos, Paches despatched to Athens the prisoners who
had been sent to Tenedos, among whom was the Spartan Salaethus. When
they arrived the Athenians immediately put Salaethus to death, and then
met in full assembly to decide on the fate of the rest. They had just
been delivered from a fearful danger, and in the natural reaction of
vindictive rage which had now set in they came to the horrible
resolution of putting all the adult male population of Mytilene to the
sword, and selling the women and children as slaves. The Mytilenaeans,
they argued, were without excuse: they were not subjects of Athens, who
might wish to escape from their burdens, but free and privileged
allies. They had treacherously plotted against Athens, when she was
sunk deep in calamity, and brought a Peloponnesian fleet within the
sacred circle of her empire. For a long time past they had evidently
been hatching a vile conspiracy against the very existence of Athens.
Having once come to this decision, the Athenians lost no time, but sent
off a trireme on the same day, with orders to Paches to carry the
decree into effect.

But after a night of cool reflection they began to repent of their
haste. It was a cruel and monstrous thing, they now thought, to butcher
the population of a whole city, innocent and guilty alike. The
Mytilenaean envoys, who had been sent to Athens on the surrender of the
city, perceived that there was a change in the public temper, and
acting in concert with influential Athenians who were in their
interest, they induced the magistrates to summon a second assembly, and
re-open the debate.

It is on this occasion that we first catch sight [Footnote: That is, in
the narrative of Thucydides.] of the notorious demagogue Cleon, who for
the next six years will be the most prominent figure in Athenian public
life. This man belongs to a class of politicians who had begun to
exercise great influence on the affairs of Athens after the death of
Pericles. That great statesman had really led the people, checking
their excesses, setting bounds to their ambition, and guiding all the
moods of the stormy democracy. But the demagogues were lowborn
upstarts, who, while seeming to lead the people, really followed it,
and kept their position by pandering to the worst passions of the
multitude. It must, however, be mentioned that the two contemporary
writers from whom we draw our materials for the portrait of Cleon, the
historian Thucydides and the comic poet Aristophanes, were both
violently prejudiced against him. Aristophanes hated him as the
representative of the new democracy, which was an object of abhorrence
to the great comic genius; and Thucydides, a born aristocrat, of strong
oligarchical sympathies, looked with cold scorn and aversion on the
coarse mechanic, [Footnote: Cleon was a tanner by trade.] who presumed
to usurp the place, and ape the style, of a true leader like Pericles.

In the previous debate Cleon had been the chief promoter of the
murderous sentence passed against Mytilene; and when the question was
brought forward again, he made a vehement harangue, the substance of
which has been preserved by Thucydides. In this speech he appears as a
practised rhetorical bravo, whose one object is to vilify his
opponents, and throw contempt on their arguments, by an unscrupulous
use of the weapons of ridicule, calumny, and invective. He reproaches
the magistrates for convening a second assembly, in a matter which had
already been decided; and this was, in fact, strictly speaking, a
breach of the constitution. He laughs at the Athenians as weak
sentimentalists, always inclined to mercy, even when mercy was
suicidal. Of the subject communities he speaks as if they were mere
slaves and chattels, outside the pale of humanity, to be kept down with
the scourge and the sword. "Let the law prevail," cries this second
Draco. "The law is sacred, and must not be moved. You are so clever
that you will not live, by fixed rule and order, and you deride the
approved principles of political wisdom. Every one of you wants to be a
lawgiver, a statesman, and a reformer, and to manage the public affairs
in his own way. We, who understand your true interests, are bound to
resist this mood of lawless extravagance, and keep you in the right
path, whether you will or no."

Then preserving the same tone, as of one who is exposing an outrageous
paradox, Cleon proceeds to deal with the actual subject of debate. To
massacre a whole population, was, in his view, a commonplace and
ordinary proceeding; and, in the present instance, the only course
consistent with prudence and common sense. Those who maintained the
contrary were either flighty enthusiasts, whose opinion was not worth
considering, or venal orators, who had sold their country for a bribe.
"Will you suffer yourselves," asked the indignant moralist, "to be
blinded by these corrupt advocates, who amuse you with their eloquence,
and then pocket the price? But it is your own fault: you have no sense
of public responsibility--you are like clever children, playing at a
game of politics. While you sit here, listening to your favourite
speakers, and sharpening your wits against theirs, your empire is going
to ruin. Plain fact is too simple a diet for your pampered appetites;
you must have it hashed and served up with a fine flavouring of fancy
and wit. In short, you have lost all hold upon reality, you live in an
intellectual Utopia, and treat grave matters of public interest as
though they were mere themes in a school of declamation."

In drawing this remarkable picture of Athenian character, which, though
strangely out of place, really contained a large element of truth,
Cleon overreached himself, and was caught in his own snare. It was he,
and not his opponents, who was diverting attention from facts, and
involving a plain issue in a cloud of wordy rhetoric. He has no
arguments, worthy of the name, but tries to carry his case by playing
on the passions of the people, and blowing up the flames of their
anger, which was beginning to cool. But though the more discerning
among his audience must have seen through his sophistries, to a large
proportion of his hearers his speech no doubt seemed a masterpiece of
eloquence. The Athenians, who, like all people of lively talent, were
fond of laughing at themselves, would be especially amused by his
humorous description of their own besetting weakness, their restless
vanity, and inordinate love of change.

The chief advocate for mitigating the sentence against Mytilene was a
certain Diodotus, who had taken a leading part in the previous debate,
and now stood up again to oppose the blood-thirsty counsels of Cleon.
The speech of Diodotus is calm, sober, and business-like. After a
dignified remonstrance against the vile insinuations of Cleon, by whom
all who differed from him were decried as fools or knaves, Diodotus
proceeded to argue the question from the point of view of expediency.
He was not there, he said, to plead the cause of the Mytilenaeans, or
to discuss abstract questions of law and justice. What they had to
consider was what course would be most conducive to the interests of
Athens. According to Cleon, those interests would be best served by a
wholesale massacre of the inhabitants of Mytilene, which would strike
terror into the other subjects of Athens, and prevent them from
yielding to the same temptation. But, reasoned Diodotus, experience had
shown that intending criminals were not deterred from wrongdoing by the
increased severity of penal statutes. For a long time lawgivers had
framed their codes in this belief, thinking to drive mankind into the
path of rectitude by appealing to their terrors. Yet crime had not
diminished, but rather increased. And what was true of individuals, was
still more true of cities, where each man hoped to be concealed among
the crowd of transgressors. Criminals, whether they acted singly, or in
large numbers, were only rendered desperate, if all degrees of crime
were confounded in one common penalty of death.

Such were the enlightened principles of jurisprudence set forth by an
Athenian of the fifth century before Christ--principles which were
first recognised in modern Europe within the memory of men still
living. Then, bringing his theories to a practical test, he pointed out
the gross impolicy of driving a revolted city to desperation, by
excluding all rebels from the hope of pardon. This, he said, would be
the effect on the subjects of Athens, if they passed the same sentence
on the Mytilenaeans, without distinction between the innocent and the
guilty. At present the commons in every city were loyal to Athens; and
though they might be beguiled or coerced into rebellion, they would, if
assured of fair treatment, take the first opportunity of returning to
their allegiance, as the commoners of Mytilene had done. "Do not,
therefore," concluded Diodotus, "destroy this, the strongest guarantee
of your security, but punish the ringleaders of the revolt, after due
deliberation, and leave the rest in peace."

The arguments of Diodotus were unanswerable, and it might have been
supposed that the Athenians, in their relenting mood, would have
carried the amendment by a large majority. But this was not the case.
The debate was keenly contested, and when the president called for a
show of hands, the more merciful decree was only passed by a few votes.
There was no time to be lost, for the first trireme was already a day
and a night on her voyage, and the fate of Mytilene hung by a hair. A
second trireme was launched with all speed, and the Mytilenaeans
present in Athens promised large rewards to the crew if they arrived in
time. With such inducements the rowers toiled day and night, taking
their meals, which consisted of barley-meal kneaded with wine and oil,
at the oar, and sleeping and rowing by turns. Happily there was no
contrary wind to retard their progress, and the crew of the first
vessel, bearing that savage mandate, made no efforts to shorten their
passage. As it was, they were not an hour too soon: for when they
arrived, Paches had already received the decree, and was preparing to
carry it out. Thus Mytilene escaped destruction by a hair's-breadth,
and Athens was saved from committing a great crime. But even the
modified sentence, which was passed directly afterwards on the motion
of Cleon, condemning more than a thousand Mytilenaean citizens to
death, was sufficiently ferocious, and was remembered against the
tyrant city in the days of her humiliation.




ESCAPE OF TWO HUNDRED PLATAEANS FALL OF PLATAEA

I


The siege of Plataea had now lasted for more than a year, and the brave
garrison began to be in sore straits, for their supplies were giving
out, and they had no hope of rescue from outside. In this desperate
situation they resolved to make an attempt to break through the
besieging lines, and make their escape to Athens. All were to take part
in the adventure, leaving the Peloponnesians in possession of an empty
town. But when the time came for carrying out this bold design, half of
the garrison drew back, thinking the risk too great. The other half,
numbering about two hundred and twenty, persisted in their purpose, and
forthwith fell to work on their preparations. They began by making
ladders for scaling the enemy's wall; and in order to ascertain the
proper length of the ladders, they counted the courses of bricks in a
part of the wall facing the town, which happened to have been left
unplastered. Many counted the courses together, and by repeating the
process over and over again, and comparing the result, they at last hit
upon the right number. When once this was known, they could easily
calculate the length of their ladders, for the bricks were all of the
same dimensions, and they knew the thickness of a single brick.

The Peloponnesians had built a double line of wall round Plataea, the
two lines being separated by a distance of sixteen feet. The whole of
the space within this double wall was covered by a flat roof, so as to
present the appearance of a single thick wall, with battlements on
either side; and this covered space, which was divided into rooms by
partition-walls, served as barracks for the besiegers. Along the top
were high towers, with intervals of ten battlements between them, and
built flush with the wall on both sides, so as to leave no passage,
except through the middle of the tower. These served as guard-rooms,
where the soldiers on duty took shelter on wet and stormy nights. For
the distance between the towers was very small, and they could rush out
and man the walls at a moment's notice.

The Plataeans omitted no precaution which might secure success for
their hazardous enterprise. Every man understood exactly the part which
he had to play, and knew that his own life, and the lives of his
comrades, depended on his courage and coolness. They had chosen their
time well, for it was now mid-winter. So they waited for a night of
storm and rain, when there was no moon, and sallying forth from the
town crossed the inner ditch, and came up to the inner wall,
unperceived by the enemy; for the noise of their footsteps was drowned
by the roaring of the wind, and they were careful to advance in open
order, so as not to be discovered by the clashing of their arms. The
whole troop was lightly equipped, and they walked with their right foot
unsandalled, to give them a firmer hold on the muddy ground. Choosing
one of the spaces between two towers, they adjusted their ladders, and
began to ascend the wall. The first to mount were twelve picked men,
armed with breastplates and daggers, who as soon as they reached the
top, rushed to the towers, six men to each, and having overpowered the
guard, stood ready to defend the passage. These were followed by
others, armed with javelins, whose shields were handed up to them from
below as they ascended, to enable them to climb the more easily.
Several of this party had got up in safety, when one of those who were
following dislodged a tile as he grasped the battlements. The sound of
the falling tile alarmed the guards in the towers, and soon the whole
besieging force was in a commotion. But being bewildered by the
darkness, and deafened by the tempest which was blowing, they knew not
which way to turn, and remained at their quarters, waiting for orders.
And at the same time the Plataeans left in the town made a feigned
attack on the Peloponnesian wall at the opposite side to divert the
attention of the enemy. In the general confusion thus created the
besiegers were at a loss what to do, and three hundred of their men,
who were kept together for prompt service on any pressing occasion,
took up their station before the outer wall, thinking that the
Athenians had come to relieve the town. Fire-signals were now kindled
by the Peloponnesians, to summon help from Thebes; but the Plataeans
were prepared for this also, and they kindled other beacons which had
been raised for the purpose on their wall, so as to obscure the meaning
of the enemy's signals, and delay the march of the Thebans, until their
own comrades had had time to escape.

The way was thus left clear for the gallant two hundred. Those who led
the party had secured possession of the passages through the towers,
and stood ready to bar the way against all assailants. Others who
followed brought ladders, and planting them at the foot of the towers,
mounted to the top, and kept off the Peloponnesians, when they
attempted to force an entrance, with a shower of javelins. Over the
intervening space now swarmed the main body of the Plataeans; and each
man, as he got over, halted at the edge of the outer ditch, and kept up
a hot fire of javelins and arrows, to cover the retreat of his
comrades, and repel any attack from below. When all the rest had
crossed the wall, those who held the towers began to descend; and this
was the most perilous part of the adventure, especially for those who
came last. All, however, succeeded in joining their comrades by the
ditch, and just at this moment the picked troop of three hundred, who
carried torches, came upon them. But fortune still favoured the
Plataeans; crouching in the deep shadow thrown by the high banks of the
ditch, they plied the enemy, who with their blazing torches afforded an
easy mark, with darts and arrows. And thus, fighting and retreating at
the same time, they made their way gradually across the ditch, but not
without a severe struggle, for the water was swollen by the snow which
had fallen in the night, and covered with rotten ice. Their best friend
was the tempest, which raged with extraordinary violence throughout the
night.

When their last man had crossed, the Plataeans went off at a run in the
direction of Thebes, being assured that no one would expect them to
take the road which led to their worst enemy. And the prudence of this
course soon appeared, for looking back they saw the Peloponnesians
hurrying with lighted torches along the road to Athens. Then after
marching towards Thebes for about a mile, they doubled back, and taking
to the mountains soon reached the friendly territory of Attica. They
received a kind welcome at Athens, where it was found that out of the
original two hundred and twenty, only eight were missing. Seven of
these had lost heart at the last moment, and returned to Plataea, where
they announced that all the rest of the party had been slain. One only,
an archer, was taken prisoner at the outer ditch.

On hearing the report of those who had turned back, the Plataeans
applied for a truce to bury their dead; and when their herald came back
from his useless errand, they learned to their delight that this
gallant enterprise, so ably planned, and so boldly executed, had been
crowned with complete success.


II

Well would it have been for the Plataeans who remained in the town if
they had stood by their first purpose, and shared the fortunes of their
brave comrades. Better far to have died, sword in hand, than to meet
the ignoble fate which was now reserved for them. It was in the
following summer, two years after the beginning of the siege, that the
crisis arrived. The Plataeans had come to the end of their provisions,
and were suffering severely from want of food. In this state of
weakness they were suddenly attacked by the besiegers, who might easily
have carried the town by storm. But the Spartan general wished, if
possible, to avoid this, as all places taken by assault would have to
be given back to their original owners on the conclusion of peace,
whereas those which had voluntarily surrendered might be retained.
Accordingly he sent a herald, and summoned the Plataeans to surrender,
promising that they should have a fair trial by Spartan judges; and
they, being actually on the point of starvation, accepted the terms
offered, and laid down their arms. They were kept in custody and
supplied with food until the judges, five in number, arrived from
Sparta. On the arrival of the judges no express charge was made against
them, but they were called up one by one, and asked this simple
question: "Have you done any service to the Spartans or their allies in
the course of the present war?"

The Plataeans saw the snare which was set for them, and seeking to
evade it they asked permission to plead their cause at length. Leave
being given, the Plataean advocate rose to address the court, and made
a most moving and eloquent appeal, which well deserves to be reproduced
in its main outlines.

"Men of Sparta," began the orator, "we surrendered our city on the
faith of your promise that the innocent should be spared, and only the
guilty condemned. But we fear that our confidence has been misplaced.
That our doom is already pronounced we have but too plain evidence, in
your sinister question, in your cold, condemning looks, in the gloomy
faces of our enemies, who have poisoned your ears against us. We have
but little hope of turning you from your purpose by anything that we
can say. Nevertheless we have resolved to speak, lest in the hour of
death we should be tormented by the thought that a word might have
saved us, and that word remained unspoken.

"In the history of the last fifty years no city in Greece has a fairer
record than ours. Though not trained to the sea, we served in the fleet
at Artemisium; we fought under Pausanias in the great battle which
decided the fate of Greece, and took part beyond our strength in all
the trials and perils of our common country. On the gratitude of Sparta
we have a special claim, for in the day of her direst extremity, after
the earthquake, when the Helots were in arms against her, we sent a
third part of our citizens to her aid. Since then we have been found in
the ranks of your enemies; but this was your fault, not ours. Who drove
us into the arms of Athens, when we were hard pressed by the tyranny of
Thebes? We joined the Athenian alliance at your bidding; they defended
us against our enemies, and admitted us to the rights of Athenian
citizenship. We were bound, therefore, by every tie of honour and duty
to stand by them, whether their cause was just or unjust.

"What, then, is the meaning of your question, whether we have done you
or your allies any service during this war? If you ask as foes, how can
you claim any service? And if you ask as friends, you have done us
bitter wrong, by attacking us unprovoked.

"The Thebans seized our city in time of peace, and at a holy season,
and we were justified by the laws of nature and of nations in wreaking
vengeance upon them. It may seem to your interest to pay court to them
now; but think how different was our conduct from theirs when the
Persian was at our doors, threatening slavery to us all. We were among
the few who obeyed the call of honour, while Thebes and all the other
towns of Boeotia took sides with the Barbarian.

"Hitherto Sparta has been called the glass of honour in Greece. What,
then, will men say, if Spartan judges are guilty of blotting Plataea
out of the map of Greece, and of the judicial murder of her citizens?
Strange, indeed, and terrible has been the fate of our city, both now
and in the past. Our fathers were brought to the brink of ruin by their
valour and devotion; we, their sons, have just passed through all the
horrors of a siege, and now we are forced to plead for our lives.
Outcasts from our fatherland, spurned and rejected of all, we are
thrown upon your mercy; and much we fear that your hearts are hardened
against us.

"We adjure you, then, by the memory of those times, and of the part
which we took in the salvation of Greece, not to betray us to our worst
enemies, the Thebans. Do not win their gratitude by murder, but ours by
mercy. Forget the cold calculations of policy; think of the everlasting
infamy of such a deed. Your fathers are buried in our land, and we have
been constant in paying all honour and service to their tombs. Will ye
give up the land in which they rest to the men [Footnote: The Thebans,
who fought on the side of the Persians at Plataea.] who are guilty of
their blood? Will ye enslave those fields which saw the triumph of
Greek liberty, and dishonour the gods by whose favour the victory was
won? By your own renown, by the conscience of Greece, by the memory of
your sires, we adjure you, men of Lacedaemon, not to do this deed.

"But it is time to make an end. If we have spoken in vain, and you are
resolved on our death, we have still one request. Send us back into our
city, and keep us there immured until we have perished of hunger. Any
fate is better than falling into the hands of the Thebans, the enemies
of Plataea, and of all Greece."

The orator had indeed spoken in vain, or if his words had made any
impression on the minds of the judges, it was speedily obliterated by a
fierce and bitter tirade which was delivered by a Theban speaker in
reply. As soon as he had finished his harangue, the prisoners were
called up again in turn, and questioned as before. When each of them
had answered, in the only manner possible, he was led away and put to
death; and not one of them was spared. The number of those slain was
two hundred and twenty-five, and of these twenty-five were Athenians.
The city was then levelled to the ground, and the territory left at the
disposal of the Thebans. Thus was this brave little community
sacrificed to the rancour of Thebes, and the selfish policy of Sparta.




CAPTURE OF A HUNDRED AND TWENTY SPARTANS AT SPHACTERIA

I


The result of six years of desultory fighting had fully justified the
forebodings of Archidamus, and the sanguine anticipations of Pericles.
In spite of the terrible ravages of the plague, Athens had easily held
her own against the whole power of the Peloponnesian league. As yet,
however, no decisive advantage had been gained on either side. But in
the seventh year of the war an event occurred which would have enabled
the Athenians, but for their own folly, to conclude an honourable peace.

The ablest of the Athenian generals at this time was Demosthenes,
[Footnote: To be carefully distinguished from the great orator, born
about forty years after the date reached in this chapter (425 B.C.).]
who in the previous year had greatly distinguished himself by a
brilliant campaign in Aetolia. In the following summer he obtained
permission to take passage on board a fleet which was bound on a voyage
to Corcyra and Sicily. He sailed in a private capacity, but he was
authorized to use the ships against the coasts of Peloponnesus, if he
saw any opening which might be utilized in the interests of Athens.

On a rocky promontory, at the northern end of the spacious bay of
Navarino, lies the little town of Pylos, generally believed to have
been the home of the Homeric Nestor. Since the conquest of Messenia by
the Spartans, the town had remained in ruins, and the country for some
distance round was a desert. The natural advantages of the adjacent
coast had already caught the keen eye of Demosthenes, and he had formed
the plan of raising a fortified outpost on the spot, to be held by a
picked troop of the banished Messenians, and thus planting a thorn in
the side of Sparta.

Fortune favoured his design. For on rounding the western headland of
Peloponnesus, the fleet encountered a storm, and was compelled to seek
shelter at Pylos. Demosthenes now urged the admirals to employ their
enforced leisure in fortifying the place. But they repulsed him rudely,
and treated his suggestion with contempt. He next tried to interest the
inferior officers in his project, but meeting with no better success,
he began to fear that this grand opportunity would be thrown away. The
discussion, however, had reached the ears of the soldiers, and having
nothing else to do, they agreed among themselves to pass the time by
building a fort. Choosing a place of great natural strength, where the
rocky coast descends abruptly to the open sea, they went to work with a
will. As they had no tools for stone-cutting, they picked out the
stones, and fitted them together according to their shape; and for want
of hods they carried the mortar, wherever it was required, on their
backs, stooping forward and clasping their hands together behind them,
to prevent it from slipping off. They carried out their self-imposed
task with great energy, and after six days of vigorous labour the fort
was completed, for the natural defences of the site were so strong that
in most places there was no need of a wall. As the weather was now
favourable, the fleet proceeded on its voyage, leaving Demosthenes with
five ships to garrison the fort.

The news of the occupation of Pylos soon reached the Spartans, but at
first they paid little heed, thinking that they could expel the
audacious intruders whenever they chose to exert themselves. Moreover,
they were just then engaged in keeping one of those religious festivals
of which the Spartan calendar was so full, and a good part of their
army was absent in Attica. Agis, however, the Spartan king, and those
under him who were commanding in Attica, took a wiser view of the
situation, and cutting short their operations they led their forces
with all speed back to Sparta. They were the more inclined to do this
as the season was yet early, the weather inclement, and, the corn being
still green, they wanted means to nourish their troops. Thus the
inventive genius of Demosthenes had already proved of signal service to
his country; for this was the shortest of all the Peloponnesian
invasions, lasting only fifteen days.

On the return of their troops from Attica the Spartans sent a small
force to commence the attack on Pylos, and ordered the main body of
their army to follow. There was some discontent among those who had
already been serving abroad at this second levy, and the full muster of
the troops was consequently delayed. In the meantime a message was
despatched to a Peloponnesian fleet then sailing to Corcyra, which at
this time was in a state of revolution, with orders to return at once,
and assist in the campaign against Pylos. Demosthenes was now in
imminent danger, being threatened with an immediate assault by sea and
land, which he had no adequate means of repelling. Having sent off two
of his ships to recall the Athenian squadron from its voyage to
Corcyra, he prepared to defend himself, until the arrival of succour,
as best he could.

The Peloponnesian fleet was the first to arrive, and the Spartans, who
were now present in full force with their allies, determined to make
the most of their time. They hoped, by a simultaneous onslaught of
their army and fleet, to carry the fort before the Athenian ships had
time to return. But in case they should fail in this, they intended to
cripple the movements of the relieving squadron, by blocking the
entrances to the bay. For the long, narrow island of Sphacteria forms a
natural break water, converting the harbour of Navarino into a
land-locked basin, with two narrow passages at the northern and
southern end. [Footnote: The description of Thucydides does not
correspond to the picture of the harbour given in our modern maps. But
in the course of twenty centuries great changes may well have
occurred.] These inlets the Spartans proposed to close, by anchoring
triremes close together, with their prows turned seawards, which they
could easily have done, for at the southern entrance there was only
room for eight or nine vessels to sail abreast, and at the northern
entrance only room for two. This precaution, however, was never carried
out; and the Spartans, as if blinded by fate, adopted another measure,
which led to fatal consequences for themselves. Wishing to keep command
of every spot of land in the neighbourhood of Pylos, they landed a body
of their own men, numbering four hundred and twenty, with the usual
proportion of Helots, on the island, and the same time posted troops at
every assailable point on the opposite coast.

Thinking now that the little garrison at Pylos, surrounded on all sides
by enemies, would fall an easy prey, they sent orders to the fleet to
get under way, and prepared to attack the fort on the land side.
Meanwhile Demosthenes had not been idle: having drawn his three
remaining ships under the shelter of the fort, and protected them in
front by a stockade, he armed the crews with such weapons as he had,
including a number of wicker-shields, taken from a thirty-oared
Messenian galley which had recently come to his assistance with a force
of forty hoplites. Then, having posted the greater part of his troops
for the defence of his position against the Peloponnesian army, he
himself descended with a picked body of sixty hoplites, and took up his
station on the rocky shore. For on this side the defences were weakest,
as the Athenians, in building the fort, had never anticipated an attack
from the sea.

Demosthenes had just time to address a few words of caution and
encouragement to his men, assuring them of victory, if they would only
stand fast, when the Peloponnesian fleet was seen bearing down upon
them; and at the same moment a loud shout from the fort announced that
the garrison was already engaged behind them. The assault was fiercest
at the point where Demosthenes and his men were stationed, and the
Peloponnesians made desperate efforts to effect a landing. But they
were embarrassed by the difficult and rocky coast, which only allowed a
few ships to approach at a time. As fast as one division was beaten
back, another came on, with the white foam spouting round the prows,
and the waters roaring and eddying to the strokes of the gigantic oars,
while the cliffs resounded with the shouts of their comrades in the
ships behind, cheering them on to the attack.

Conspicuous among those who fought on the ships was seen the gallant
figure of Brasidas, who exerted himself, by voice and by example, to
infuse his own heroic spirit into the rest of the crews and their
officers. His ringing tones were heard above the tumult, urging on the
captains and steersmen, when they hung back in fear lest their ships
should be shattered on the rocks. "Spare not these timbers," he cried,
"but let every hull among them go to wreck, rather than suffer the
enemy to violate the soil of Lacedaemon. Where is your loyalty to
Sparta? Have you forgotten the debt which you owe to her? Have at them,
I say, and hurl this fort with its defenders into the sea." Saying this
he ordered the master of his own trireme to beach the vessel, and stood
ready on the gangway, that he might be the first to leap on shore. But
as he attempted to land he was hurled back by the Athenians, and fell
fainting, covered with wounds, on the deck. His shield slipped off his
arm, and dropped into the sea, and having been washed ashore, was
picked up by the Athenians, who used it to adorn the trophy which they
afterwards erected.

After the fall of Brasidas the Peloponnesians still continued their
efforts to effect a landing, but they were baffled by the obstinate
defence of the Athenians, and the rugged and inhospitable coast. It was
a strange reversal of affairs which had been brought about by the
fortune of war. On one side were the Spartans, trained to military
service on land, but now compelled to serve on board a fleet, in order
to obtain a footing on their own territory, and on the other side the
Athenians, whose natural element was the sea, drawn up on land to repel
a naval attack.

Next day the assault was repeated, but again without success. The
Spartans sent for a supply of timber, to construct siege engines,
intending to try and batter down the Athenian wall where it overlooked
the harbour, as at this point there was a better landing-place for the
ships. In this task, however, they were interrupted by the sudden
appearance of the Athenian fleet, now numbering fifty vessels, having
been reinforced by four Chian ships, and six from Naupactus. Finding
the harbour occupied by the Peloponnesians, and the whole coast lined
with troops, they retired for the night to the little island of Prote.
Next day they weighed anchor early, and dividing their fleet, sailed
into the harbour of Navarino by both entrances at once. Though taken by
surprise, the Peloponnesians manned their ships, and as fast as they
were ready put out to meet them; but before their array was complete
they were attacked by the Athenians, who disabled many of their
vessels, captured five, and drove the rest ashore. So complete was the
rout that the Athenians pursued the flying ships into the very interior
of the harbour, and rammed some of them after they had been brought to
land. Others they charged while the crews were still getting on board,
and began to tow off the disabled hulls. But in the heat of victory the
Athenians had pushed their advantage somewhat too far, and they paid
for their audacity by the loss of a considerable number of their men.
For the Lacedaemonians, in wild dismay at the defeat of their ships, by
which their comrades on the island would be cut off from all help, made
desperate exertions to save their fleet, wading into the water in their
heavy armour, and hauling back the vessels as they were being towed
off. In the confined space manoeuvring was impossible, and the
sea-fight had now become a furious hand to hand encounter, as between
two armies on land. After a prolonged struggle, in which both sides
suffered severely, the Spartans succeeded in saving their ships, except
those which had been taken at first, and the Athenians then retired to
their station.

The result of this battle was to give the Athenians complete command of
the sea, for the Peloponnesian fleet was in no condition to renew the
engagement. From their camp on the mainland the Spartans could see the
Athenian triremes rowing round and round the island, and keeping
vigilant watch, to prevent those who were confined there from escaping.
News of the disaster was sent without delay to Sparta, and the
magistrates, recognising the gravity of the crisis, proceeded at once
to Pylos, wishing to inform themselves on the spot, and then decide
what was best to be done. Finding on their arrival that there was no
prospect of rescuing their men on the island, they applied to the
Athenian commanders for a truce, to enable them to send envoys to
Athens, and arrange some terms for the recovery of the imprisoned
Spartans. The Athenians consented, and a truce was made on the
following conditions: The Spartans were to surrender all their fleet,
including any ships of war on the coast of Laconia, to the Athenians,
and to refrain from any attack on the fort, until the return of the
envoys. The Athenians, on their part, agreed to allow provisions to be
sent to the Spartans on the island, all such provision being conveyed
thither under their own inspection, and none by stealth. They further
agreed to carry the envoys to Athens in one of their own triremes, and
to suspend all hostilities until the expiration of the truce. When the
envoys returned, the Peloponnesian ships were to be given back.

It was a proud moment for Athens when the Spartan envoys appeared
before the assembly, bearing the humble petition from her great enemy.
The terms offered by the spokesman of the embassy in the name of Sparta
were simple and concise, peace and friendship with Sparta, in return
for the men shut up on the island. The rest of his speech was made up
of grave moral reflections, such as are generally paraded by those on
the losing side. Let the Athenians beware of abusing their advantage;
though they had the upper hand to-day, they might be brought to their
knees to-morrow. War was a game of hazard, in which the luck was always
changing. Now they had an opportunity of concluding an honourable
peace, and establishing a lasting claim to the gratitude of Sparta. And
if the two leading states of Greece were once united, they could
dictate what terms they pleased to the rest.

The notorious selfishness of Spartan policy is glaringly manifested in
this speech. In their anxiety to recover their own citizens, the
Spartans completely ignored the interests of their allies, and held out
the right hand of fellowship to the people whom they had lately branded
as the oppressors and spoilers of Greece. The Athenians might well
distrust the professions of these perfidious statesmen, who repudiated
their sworn obligations with such cynical levity. The Spartans in
Sphacteria were already, they thought, prisoners of Athens, to be dealt
with as they pleased; and were they to resign this costly prize, in
return for a vague promise of friendship from Sparta? Their answer was
framed on the advice of Cleon: they could not, they said, enter into
any discussion, until the men on the island had surrendered themselves,
and been brought to Athens. Then, if the Spartans agreed to restore to
the Athenians Nisaea and Pegae, [Footnote: The harbour-towns of
Megara.] and some other places which they had held before the Thirty
Years' Truce, peace might be made, and the prisoners restored. The
Spartan envoys were somewhat startled by these demands, which involved
a gross breach of faith to their own allies; so they affected to ignore
the proposal, and suggested a private conference between themselves and
select Athenian commissioners. It is not impossible that the terms
offered, infamous as they were to Sparta, might have been accepted; but
the whole negotiation was frustrated by the violence of Cleon, who, on
hearing the suggestion of the envoys, overwhelmed them with abuse,
accusing them of double-dealing and bad faith. The envoys were
confounded by this specimen of Athenian manners, and seeing that they
were wasting their time to no purpose, they turned their backs on the
city of free speech.

On their return to Pylos the truce expired, and the Spartans demanded
back their ships, but the Athenians refused to restore them, on the
ground of some alleged violation of the conditions laid down. Thereupon
hostilities were resumed with vigour on both sides. The Spartans made
repeated attacks on the fort, and watched for an opportunity of
bringing off their men from the island: and the Athenians kept a
vigilant guard to prevent their escape. During the day two triremes
sailed continually round Sphacteria in opposite directions, and at
night their whole fleet, now raised to the number of seventy by the
arrival of twenty fresh ships, was moored about the island, except on
the exposed side in windy weather.

Before long the Athenians began to feel the difficulties of their
position. They were but scantily supplied with food, and had much
trouble in obtaining water. The only spring to which they had access,
and even that by no means abundant, was in the citadel of Pylos, and
most of them were reduced to scraping the shingle, and thus obtaining a
meagre supply of brackish water. On land their quarters were straitened
and uncomfortable, and they had no proper anchorage for their ships, so
that the crews had to go ashore in turns to get their meals. They were
greatly disappointed to find their task thus prolonged, for they had
supposed that a few days' siege would suffice to starve the imprisoned
Spartans into a surrender, as the island was barren and ill-furnished
with water. But day followed day, and still they waited in vain for any
sign of yielding. For the Spartan magistrates had offered large rewards
to anyone who succeeded in conveying wine, meal, or other portable
provisions, to the island, and many were tempted to run the risk,
especially among the Helots, who were offered their liberty in return
for this service. They put out from various points of the mainland, and
landed under cover of night on the seaward side of the island, choosing
their time when the wind was blowing strong from the sea, which made it
impossible for the Athenian triremes to keep their exposed anchorage.
The Spartan hoplites stood ready on the rocks to help them; and so long
as they could get ashore with their freight, they cared nothing what
happened to their boats, for if they were wrecked, the Spartans had
pledged themselves for the full value. Others, still bolder, swam,
across the harbour, dragging after them leather bags filled with a
mixture of poppy-seed or linseed and honey, [Footnote: Poppy-seed was
valued in ancient medicine as an antidote against hunger, and linseed
against thirst.] and attached to a cord. These were soon detected; but
the other source of supply remained open, and it seemed likely that the
siege would be protracted till winter, when it would have to be given
up.

The Athenians at home were much concerned when they were informed of
this state of affairs, and they began to regret that they had not
accepted the terms offered by Sparta. They were suspicious and uneasy,
and Cleon, on whose advice they had acted, saw himself in danger of
falling a victim to their resentment. But his boundless self-confidence
served him well in this crisis. At first he affected to disbelieve the
report sent from Pylos, and proposed to send commissioners to inquire
into the true state of the case. His motion was carried, and he himself
was nominated as one of the commissioners. Cleon was now placed in an
awkward position: either he would have to confirm the statement of the
messengers from Pylos, and thus make himself ridiculous, or, if he
contradicted them, he would be convicted of falsehood. So he turned
round again, and advised the Athenians, if they believed the report, to
waste no more time, but to order an immediate attack on the island. "If
I were general," [Footnote: The chief civil and military magistrate at
Athens, corresponding to the Roman consul.] he said, with a meaning
glance at Nicias, who was then holding that office, "it would not be
long before these Spartans were brought in chains to Athens. The
Athenians want a _man_ to lead them."

This Nicias, on whom the demagogue had so scornfully reflected, was a
great noble, and the chief political opponent of Cleon. When he heard
the boastful words of his rival, it struck Nicias that there was a fine
opportunity of bringing him to ruin, by thrusting upon him a command
for which he was totally unqualified. Encouraged by the shouts of the
multitude, who were crying to Cleon, "Why don't you go and do it?" he
rose from his place, and proposed that the tanner should be sent in
charge of an expedition to take the men at Sphacteria. At first Cleon
agreed to go, thinking that Nicias was jesting; but when he saw that
the proposal was made seriously, he began to draw back. "It is your
business, not mine," he said to Nicias. "I am not general--you are; why
should I do your work for you?" "Never mind the title," answered
Nicias; "I resign my office on this occasion to you." The dispute grew
hotter and hotter, much to the amusement of the Athenians, who fell
readily into the humour of the situation, and loudly applauded the
proposal of Nicias. The more Cleon objected, the more they shouted that
he should go. Finding that he must make good his words, Cleon at last
plucked up a spirit, and accepted the honour thus contemptuously forced
upon him. "I am not afraid of the Spartans," he declared valiantly.
"Give me the contingent of soldiers from Lemnos and Imbros, the
Thracian peltasts, [Footnote: Light-armed soldiers.] and four hundred
archers, and without taking a single Athenian from the city, within
three weeks I will either bring those Spartans as prisoners to Athens,
or kill them where they are."

There was some laughter among the Athenians at Cleon's vain-glorious
promise; but the more sober-minded were not displeased at his
appointment, expecting that, if he failed, they would be rid of a
nuisance; while, if he succeeded, they would gain an immense advantage
over their enemies. Such, at least, is the comment of the historian;
but he makes no remark on the incredible levity of the Athenians, to
whom the gravest interests of state were matter for mirth and pastime;
and he has not a word of censure for Nicias and his "sober-minded"
partisans, who, in their eagerness to ruin a political opponent, showed
a criminal disregard for the welfare of Athens.


II

When Cleon arrived at Pylos with his forces, he found Demosthenes
engaged in active preparations for an attack on the island. For his
troops were growing impatient, and clamouring to be led into action,
and a happy accident had recently occurred, which greatly increased the
prospect of success. Till quite lately Sphacteria had been covered with
a dense growth of underwood, and Demosthenes knew by his experience in
Aetolia that an attacking force would be at a great disadvantage in
marching against an enemy who fought under cover, and knew every inch
of the ground. But a party of Athenian soldiers, who had landed on the
island to cook their breakfast, accidentally set fire to the brushwood,
and a wind springing up, the flames were carried over the greater part
of the island, leaving it a blackened waste. Demosthenes now discovered
that the besieged Spartans were more numerous than he had supposed,
having hitherto believed that their number had been purposely
exaggerated, to give an excuse for sending more food; and the main
obstacle being now removed, he issued the welcome order to make ready
for an immediate assault.

When he received his commission, Cleon had prudently stipulated that
Demosthenes should be associated with him in the command. The two
ill-assorted colleagues--the turbulent demagogue, and the veteran
general--now took counsel together, and after a last fruitless attempt
at negotiation, they set sail at night with a force of eight hundred
hoplites, and disembarking just before dawn on both sides of the island
at once, led their men at a run against the first guard-station of the
Spartans. They found the enemy posted in three divisions: the first,
consisting of thirty hoplites, formed an advanced guard; some distance
behind these, where the ground forms a shallow basin, containing the
only spring in the island, was stationed the main body, commanded by
Epitadas; and at the extreme north, opposite Pylos, there was a small
reserve force, left to guard a sort of natural citadel, which would
serve as a last retreat, if Epitadas and his men were overpowered.

The thirty Spartans in the outpost were taken by surprise, and cut down
to a man; for though they had seen the Athenian ships putting out, they
had no suspicion of what was intended, supposing that they were merely
proceeding to their anchorage for the night. At daybreak the rest of
the fleet put in at the island, bringing the whole of the forces which
Demosthenes had at his disposal, except a few, who were left to
garrison the fort at Pylos. They were a motley host, armed for the most
part with slings, javelins, and bows, but admirably suited for the work
which was to be done. Swarming over the island by hundreds and by
thousands they took up their stations on every piece of rising ground,
threatening the enemy in front, in the rear, on the right flank, and on
the left. The Spartans, in their heavy armour, were helpless against
these agile foes, who eluded every attempt to come to close quarters,
and kept up a continual shower of arrows, javelins, and stones. Such
had been the orders of Demosthenes, which were now carried into effect.

When the Spartans under Epitadas saw their advanced guard cut up, and
the Athenians marching against them, they drew up in order, and tried
to come within spear-thrust of the enemy; but they were unable to
effect their purpose, for the Athenian hoplites kept their ground, and
at the same moment they themselves were assailed on both flanks and in
the rear by a cloud of light infantry. It was a kind of warfare to
which the Spartans were totally unaccustomed: if they attempted to
advance, their nimble assailants drew back, and pursuit was impossible
on the rocky and broken ground. For a time the light-armed troops
approached them with caution, being somewhat cowed in spirit when
brought face to face with the renowned warriors of Sparta, hitherto
supposed to be invincible. But seeing how the Spartans were
embarrassed, they took courage, and came on in a roaring multitude,
surrounding them on all sides, and leaving them not a moment to take
breath. The air was darkened by a tempest of missiles; and a fine dust,
caused by the ashes of the late fire, rose in choking clouds from the
trampling of many feet. Exhausted by their violent exertions, stunned
by the uproar, and blinded by the dust, the Spartans began to give
ground, and closing their ranks fell back on the stronghold where their
reserve was stationed. They were hotly pursued, and some few were cut
off in the retreat, but the greater part succeeded in reaching the
fort, where they turned at bay, and prepared to defend themselves to
the last. Until a late hour in the day the Athenians made vain attempts
to dislodge them from their position, which was only assailable in
front. At last, when both sides were sorely distressed by the long
conflict under a burning sun, an officer who was in command of the
Messenian troops came to the generals, and offered, if they would place
a few light-armed soldiers at his disposal, to lead them up the
precipitous cliffs at the northern end of Sphacteria, and take the
Spartans in the rear. Permission being readily granted, he chose his
men, and taking care that his movements were not perceived by the
enemy, made his way with them along the perilous and slippery face of
the cliffs to the rear of the beleaguered garrison, scaled the steep
ascent, and suddenly appearing on the heights, struck terror into the
Spartans, and gave fresh courage to their assailants.

The situation of the Spartans was now similar to that of their
ancestors when they made their last stand at Thermopylae. They were
attacked in front and rear, and hemmed in on both sides by the natural
difficulties of the place. In their weak and exhausted condition it
would have been an easy task to make an end of them. But the great
object of Cleon and Demosthenes was to take them alive. They therefore
suspended the attack, and sent a herald, and summoned them to lay down
their arms. When they heard the proclamation, most of them lowered
their shields, and waved their hands in the air, to show that they had
dropped their weapons. The Athenian generals then entered into a parley
with Styphon the third in command of the Spartans; for Epitadas, the
chief officer, was slain, and Hippagretus, the second, had been left
for dead on the field. Styphon requested permission to communicate with
the Spartan authorities on the mainland, and ask what he and his
comrades were to do; and the Athenian commanders sent one of their own
men to carry the message. Having heard his report, the Spartan
magistrates sent a herald to see how matters stood; and after more than
one messenger had passed to and fro between their camp and the island,
they sent their final instructions, conveyed in these words "The
Spartans bid you to decide for yourselves, but to do nothing
dishonourable."

Fifty years before, these wounded and weary men would have needed no
instructions to tell them their duty. According to the ancient
tradition of Sparta they had but one course open to them--to die at
their posts. But the lapse of time had softened the stern fibre of the
Spartan character; and the broken remnant now brought to bay in
Sphacteria interpreted the ambiguous mandate in their own favour, and
surrendered themselves and their arms.

The number of the prisoners was two hundred and ninety-two, of whom
about a hundred and twenty were Spartans of pure descent, several of
them belonging to the highest families in Sparta. They were distributed
among the captains of the fleet for transportation to Athens. Dating
from the first sea-fight, the siege had lasted altogether seventy-two
days; and during seven weeks of this period they had subsisted on the
casual supplies smuggled over by the blockade-runners from the
mainland. Great was the joy at Athens when that costly freight was
brought safely into the harbour of Peiraeus; and Cleon, whose bustling
energy had really helped to precipitate a crisis, was the hero of the
hour. He had promised to settle the business, one way or the other,
within twenty days, and this promise, which had been laughed at as a
piece of crazy vanity, was fulfilled to the letter. The whole merit of
the performance, however, belonged to Demosthenes, who had planned the
attack on Sphacteria with admirable sagacity, and led the operations
from first to last.

The surrender of a picked troop of Spartan warriors caused a revolution
of feeling throughout Greece. Hitherto it had been assumed as a matter
of course that no Spartan soldier, in any circumstances, would yield to
an enemy; but now more than a hundred Spartans had preferred life to
honour. It was generally believed that the survivors were inferior in
valour to those who had fallen; and some time afterwards one of the
captives was asked this insulting question by one of the Athenian
allies: "Your _brave_ comrades were buried on the field, I suppose?"
The Spartan's answer was couched in a riddle: "It would be a mighty
clever spindle, [Footnote: Arrow.] which singled out the brave." His
meaning was that the stones and arrows had dealt out death among his
comrades without distinction.




CAMPAIGNS OF BRASIDAS IN THRACE

I


One advantage which accrued to the Athenians from the possession of the
Spartan captives was the immunity from invasion. For if the Spartans
prepared to make any movement against Attica, they could bring out
their prisoners, and threaten to put them to death. And in other
directions the future looked brighter than it had done for many years.
They held Pylos, which was garrisoned by Messenian troops, and served
as an open door, through which they could carry havoc over the whole
western district of Laconia; and the occupation of Cythera, which was
effected in the following year, gave them increased facility for
harassing the commerce of Sparta, and making descents on her eastern
coast.

Elated by these successes, the Athenians determined on a bolder flight,
and forgetting the lessons of Pericles, thought of recovering the
possessions which they had held on the mainland thirty years before.
With this intention they planned an attack, which was to be carried out
from three different points at once, on Boeotia. But the whole scheme
proved a failure, and led to a severe defeat at Delium; and about the
same time news arrived from Thrace which showed that the tide was
turning, and should have warned them, if they were wise, to set bounds
to their restless ambition.

Brasidas had long since recovered from the wounds received at Pylos.
The deep humiliation of Sparta, now reduced to become a suppliant for
peace, filled him with shame and sorrow, and in the eighth year of the
war he formed the bold design of organizing a campaign against the
coast-towns of Thrace, which were among the most important of the
Athenian tributaries. Having obtained the necessary commission from
Sparta, he collected a force of seventeen hundred heavy-armed infantry,
and in the summer following the disaster at Sphacteria, turned his
steps northward, and arrived without mishap at the borders of Thessaly.
The Thessalians generally were then on friendly terms with Athens, and,
apart from this, the passage of so large a force through their
territory caused suspicion and alarm among the inhabitants. But
Brasidas was a man of rare gifts: endowed with more than a full share
of the typical Spartan virtues, he combined with these a graciousness
of manner, and a winning eloquence, which made him an equal of the most
accomplished Athenian. He had, moreover, friends among the powerful
nobles of Thessaly, who undertook to guide him in safety to the
Macedonian frontier. On reaching the river Enipeus, he found his
passage barred by a Thessalian force, who seemed resolved to dispute
his progress. His courteous demeanour, and fair words, disarmed their
hostility, and he was allowed to pass. Fearing, however, a general
rising of the natives against him, and urged to despatch by his guides,
he pushed on by forced marches, and entering the passes of Olympus,
descended into the southern plain of Macedonia, whose king Perdiccas, a
shifty and treacherous barbarian, though nominally in alliance with
Athens, favoured the enterprise of Brasidas.

Perdiccas had undertaken to provide pay for half the Spartan force, in
return for help to be rendered against a rebel chieftain with whom he
was at war. But Brasidas, whose main object was to raise a revolt among
the Athenian allies, insisted on entering into negotiations with the
rebel, and having patched up a truce, conducted his troops to the
neighbourhood of Acanthus, a town on the eastern side of the Chalcidian
peninsula, where there was a party discontented with the Athenian rule.
In all the cities subject to Athens the general mass of the people were
found loyal towards her, or, at the worst, disinclined for any change;
and Acanthus was no exception. When Brasidas with his little army
appeared before the walls the people at first refused him admission.
But it was just before the vintage, and their grapes were hanging in
ripe clusters, exposed to the hand of the spoiler; and so, to save
their vineyards from ravage, they were at last induced to give him a
hearing.

It was very important for Brasidas to secure the voluntary adherence of
the Acanthians, whose action would have a powerful effect in
determining the attitude of the other Chalcidians towards them.
Accordingly he exerted all his skill as an orator, which was
considerable, to allay their suspicions, and rouse their enthusiasm for
the cause which he represented. That cause, he said, was the liberation
of Greece from the tyranny of Athens. Let none of them suppose that he
had come in the interests of a faction, to enslave the many to the few,
or the few to the many. He had bound the authorities of Sparta by the
most solemn oaths to respect the constitution of any state which
enlisted under their banner. Freedom for Greeks!--that was the
watchword which should find a response in every patriotic heart. After
this fine burst of sentiment, Brasidas descended to a much lower level,
and plainly intimated that if the Acanthians would not join him from
these high motives, he would employ coercion, and proceed to ravage
their estates, This last argument was decisive, and in order to save
their valuable harvest from destruction, they agreed to admit Brasidas
and his army into the town. Shortly afterwards their example was
followed by Stagirus, one day to become famous as the birthplace of
Aristotle.

It is melancholy to find a man of really pure and generous character
like Brasidas lending himself to be the mouthpiece of Spartan
hypocrisy. To him the sounding phrases and lofty professions which he
uttered may have meant something: but in their essence they were mere
hollow cant, intended to divert attention from the true issue, and drag
a peaceful and prosperous community into the private quarrels of
Sparta. So degraded was now the tone of politics in Greece, even among
her best and ablest men.


II

On the banks of the Strymon, just where the river sweeps round in a
sharp curve, west and east, the Athenians had founded, six years before
the outbreak of the war, the colony of Amphipolis. It was a site which
had long been coveted by the leaders of Greek colonial enterprise,
being the key to the richest dis

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