2<> 



A T H E \ S. 



A<hrn. 



A. C. 431. 

 lis com- 

 menee- 



who envied or dreaded the prosperity of Athens. A 

 pint embassy was sent to that city, demanding the 

 liberty of all those Orcein states v* hich she now held 

 in subjection. Other demands were added, which ap- 

 peared to be still more inadmia itble. Pericles advi 

 and procured their rejection. AVar, however, witl: 

 powerful a confederacy, was by no means popular ; 

 and the enemies of Pericles laid hold of this oppor- 

 tunity to attack him. Several of his friends were 

 tried and banished; and an accusation was brought 

 forward against himself, for having embezzled the 

 public money. From this charge, however, he clear- 

 ed himself in such a complete and satisfactory man- 

 ner, as silenced his -accusers, and regained him the 

 popular favour. 



Meanwhile the Peloponnesian war began by an un- 

 successful attempt of the Thebans to surprise Platea. 

 This war possessed characters which distinguished it 

 from almost every other, and which more than dou- 

 bled the usual calamities of arms. It was as much a 

 civil as a foreign war; for in every city there was a 

 party, and commonly a numerous party, entirely de- 

 voted to the enemy. This arose from the difference 

 in form of government between Sparta and Athens ; 

 the one inclining strongly to aristocracy, while the 

 other was entirely popular. Each of the two na- 

 tions, on becoming masters of any city, established in 

 power that party which favoured their own form of 

 government, while the heads of the opposite faction 

 were proscribed or banished. These last again, when 

 a counter revolution took place, had not only their 

 security to provide for, but their vengeance to gra- 

 tify. Thus boundless scope was given to ambition, 

 party rage, the thirst of revenge ; the Grecian cha- 

 racter, according to Thucydides, underwent an entire 

 change ; all the ties of nature were trampled upon ; 

 and Greece exhibited, during thirty years, a perpe- 

 tual scene of conflict and calamity. 



Almost all Greece took part in this quarrel. Most 

 of the continental states sided with Sparta, which 

 was most powerful by land; Argos, however, with 

 its dependencies, stood neuter, while the Acarna- 

 nians, who bordered on Corcyra, and Platea, an 

 ancient ally, espoused the Athenian interest. The 

 Athenians again were assisted, rather through fear 

 than affection, by all the maritime states, comprising 

 the islands and the coast of Asia Minor. Chios, 

 Lesbos, and Corcyra, furnished vessels ; the rest, 

 money and men. 



The Lacedemonians determined, without delay, to 

 avail themselves of their superiority on land, by 

 marching, with their whole forces, into Attica. The 

 Athenians, who had no army which could face them 

 in the field, adopted, by the advice of Pericles, a 

 system of warfare entirely defensive. They withdrew 

 from the country, and leaving it as completely a de- 

 sert as possible, transported their whole population 

 within the walls of Athens. The confederates ar- 

 rived, spread themselves over the fields, burnt houses 

 and villages, and attempted, by every insult, to excite 

 the / thenians to leave the city and give them battle. 

 Pericles, however, though with the utmost difficulty, 

 succeeded in retaining them within their walls. Mean- 

 while he sent a powerful fleet, with troops on board, 

 to ravage the coasts of Peloponnesus. This circum- 



3 



stance, joined to difficulty of subsistence, at length Athem. 

 induced the confederate army to withdraw. ' v~~~ J 



Next summer, Attica was exposed to a similar in- 

 vasion, and the same measures were taken. This 

 year, however, was rendered much more calamitous, A. C. 429. 

 by a dreadful plague which broke out in Athens, and 

 swept away multitudes. Among its victims was 

 Pericles, at a time when his services were most 

 wanted. 



A new disaster was soon added to those with which 

 Athens was already afflicted. Lesbos, one of the 

 most powerful among its subject-allies, revolted. It 

 had been allowed to retain a greater measure of li- 

 berty than the others ; but still the yoke was so 

 heavy, that it availed itself of the first opportunity 

 of shaking it off. Buoyed up by promises of aid 

 from the Peloponnesian confederacy, the Lesbians 

 set the power of Athens at defiance. The Athe- 

 nians, though at first slow to believe this defection, 

 yet when they could no longer doubt its truth, they 

 made every exertion against their new enemy. They 

 fitted out a powerful armament, which they entrust- 

 ed to Paches, an able officer. Being assisted by 

 the neighbouring islands, and meeting with no very 

 powerful resistance, they were soon able to block- 

 ade Mitylene, the capital of that island. The La- 

 cedemonians, meanwhile, were actively employed in 

 equipping a fleet for its relief. Their operations, 

 however, proceeded with characteristic slowness ; and 

 when it was at last fitted out, they entrusted the 

 command to a very ill qualified officer. In conse- 

 quence of his feeble and dilatory measures, the Mi- 

 tyleneans were obliged, before assistance arrived, to 

 surrender, on the hard condition of their lives be- 

 ing spared only till they should have an opportu- 

 nity of imploring the mercy of Athens. Their con- 

 fidence in it, however, was by no means well found- 

 ed ; for on the matter being laid before the people, 

 they immediately passed the inhuman decree, by 

 which all the Mityleneans, fit to bear arms, were to 

 be put to death, and the women and children sold 

 to slavery. Happily, however, this stain on the 

 Athenian name was in some measure obliterated. 

 Next day there was a general relenting, of which the 

 Mitylenean deputies availed themselves to procure 

 the calling of another assembly. This shameful de- 

 cree, though by too small a majority, was then re- 

 pealed, and the punishment of death inflicted only on 

 a certain number, who were peculiarly guilty. 



During this time, the most horrible dissensions 

 were rflging in Corcyra, which terminated in a bloody 

 triumph of the party devoted to Athens. The 

 Athenians then conceived the hope, that, by the aid 

 of the Acarnanians, of a party of revolted Messe- 

 nians, who had taken refuge at Naupactus, and of 

 the neighbouring islands of Cephalenia and Zacyn- 

 t-hus, they might succeed in reducing all iEtolia to 

 subjection. They accordingly overran great part of 

 the country, and even stormed the capital Vligitium ; 

 but the jEtolians, carrying on a desultory warfare, 

 harassed them to such a degree, that they were obli- 

 ged to renounce the enterprise, and return, in a very 

 shattered state, to Naupactus. The enemy, how- 

 ever, having in their return ventured to attack, were 

 repulsed and defeated with great loss ; which saved 



