ATHENS. 



27 



Athens, the reputation of Demosthenes, who commanded the 

 v armament. 



Their attempts to penetrate into the country ha- 

 ving thus proved abortive, the Athenians, with their 

 allies, next undertook an expedition to the western 

 coast of Peloponnesus. Passing near Pylus, the 

 Messenians were seized with an ardent desire of again 

 establishing themselves in their native seats. De- 

 mosthenes could not, at first, persuade his colleagues 

 to enter into this plan ; till, a storm happening to 

 Successful drive them to the very spot, it was in a manner forced 

 expedition U pon them. They accordingly began to fortify the 

 tu Pylus. pi ace w ; t h great activity. The Lacedemonians has- 

 tened to assemble their forces, in order to crush, at 

 once, a scheme so alarming. The attack, however, 

 was unsuccessful : their fleet was defeated, and their 

 army repulsed. These disasters were accompanied 

 v bv another still more serious, which gave a decisive 

 turn to the state of affairs : To forward their opera- 

 tions against Pylus, they had thrown 400 Spartans 

 into Sphacteria, a small island opposite the harbour. 

 After the overthrow of the fleet, this body of men 

 were entirely cut off from the continent. Incon- 

 ceivable is the dismay which this event excited in 

 Sparta. The Spartans were so few in number, and 

 yet so completely the vital part of the community, 

 that the loss of this small party became a public ca- 

 lamity of the first magnitude. Their pride was hum- 

 bled ; they sent ambassadors to Athens to sue for 

 peace, and even delivered up sixty ships as a pledge 

 of their sincerity. Athens had now an opportunity 

 of terminating the war with equal glory and advan- 

 tage : but she had no longer a Pericles to guide her 

 councils ; they were chiefly governed by Cleon, a 

 worthless haranguer, who raised himself into favour 

 by flittering the worst passions of his countrymen. 

 At his instigation, they made' demands so enormous, 

 as convinced the Lacedemonians that they had no- 

 thing to hope from negociation. The Athenians 

 even refused, on the most frivolous pretences, to re- 

 store the sixty ships, which had been only yielded as 

 a deposit during the negociation, 



Meanwhile the reduction of the island did not pro- 

 ceed so rapidly as was expected. It was strong by 

 nature, and the Spartans defended themselves with 

 obitinacy ; so that Demosthenes placed his chief con- 

 fidence, in a blockade, which could not be render- 

 ed very strict, from the proximity of the opposite 

 shore. Cleon, humouring the natural impatience of 

 a popular assembly, indulged in daily declamation 

 against the generals employed. He concluded by 

 declaring, that, with a little valour, nothing could be 

 more easy than to take it without delay. Upon 

 this Nicias proposed to confer the command upon 

 him. Cleon at first pretended to accept it ; but, 

 on finding that the people were really disposed to 

 place him in a situation for which he was conscious 

 of being totally unqualified, he endeavoured to draw 

 back. The people, however, amused at the dilemma 

 into which th <i him to have fallen, would 



listen to no apology. Cleon was forced to set out. 

 It so happened, that, by the time of his arrival, De- 

 mosthenes had reduced the Spartans on the island to 

 the last extremity, so that in a few days they were 



Athens 



cian allies. 



obliged to surrender ; and Cleon, to the surprise of 

 every one, returned in triumph to Athens. 



The Athenians now, elated with their good for- A. C. ^s*. 

 tune, lost all moderation, and thought only of extend- 

 ing their power in every direction. Nicias took the 

 important island of Cythera, lying at the south-east 

 point of Laconia. Soon after they took Nistea, the 

 sea-port of Megara, and ravaged the whole coast 

 of Peloponnesus. Fortune, however, soon began to 

 change. A scheme had been formed to invade Bceo- 

 tia, in concert with the smaller towns of that district, 

 which wished to throw off the dominion of Thebes. 

 The plan, however, was discovered and frustrated; 

 and an Athenian army, advancing to Tanagra, was 

 shamefully defeated. The Boeotians then made them- 

 selves masters of Delium. 



Meanwhile a still severer storm burst forth on the Revolt of 

 coast of Macedonia and Thrace. The principal *^ e ln 'J a " 

 towns in the peninsula of Chalcidice, dreading the 

 resentment of Athens, entered into a league with the 

 Lacedemonians, and with Perdiccas, king of Mace- 

 don. The former sent, under Brasidas, a force, 

 small indeed, but rendered formidable by the con- 

 summate wisdom of its commander. Brasidas passed 

 the straits of Thermopylae, which the supine security 

 of the Athenians prevented them from making any 

 attempt to guard. He then advanced into Chalci>- 

 dice, and, though feebly supported by Maeedon, con- 

 trived, by the united power of valour and eloquence* 

 to possess himself of Acanthus, Stagira, and most of 

 the cities on that peninsula, not reducing them to 

 subjection, but establishing in power the party fa- 

 vourable to Lacedemon. He even gained Amphi- 

 polis, a most important town, commanding the navi- 

 gation of the river Strymon, and the access into the 

 interior of Thrace. The Athenians, who were ex- 

 ulting in all the pride of success, were struck with 

 the deepest dismay by the intelligence, of these mul- 

 tiplied disasters. Thucydides, the historian, who 

 had commanded on this station, but with a force 

 wholly inadequate, was recalled and banished ; and 

 reinforcements were prepared. The Lacedemonians, 

 however, having prudently taken advantage of this 

 success to solicit an armistice, it was granted, and a 

 negociation entered into. It was soon broken, how- 

 ever, by the clamours of Cleon, who called upon his 

 countrymen to employ his own experienced talents 

 in retrieving the disasters of the republic. He was 

 dispatched accordingly with a respectable force, 

 which enabled him, in the first instance, to take ' 

 Menda and Torone. Flushed with success, he ven- 

 tured on a rash attack upon Amphipolis ; but here 

 his army was totally defeated, and himself slain. 

 This calamity was only compensated by the death of 

 Brasidas, who fell in the same engagement. 



The Athenians, having suffered this loss, and ha- A. C. 421. 

 ving no longer Cleon to urge them into violent mea- Treaty ' 

 sures, listened to the voice of reason, and, under the Wltfl Lac e- 

 ausi)ice3 of Nicias, concluded a treaty of peace with dem011, 

 tne Lacedemonians. In this treaty it was stipulated, 

 that all the places taken on both sides, in the course 

 of the war, should be mutually restored. 



This condition has certainly the appearance of 

 being moderate and reasonable ; yet it involved, in 



