d the chief command of the: nesian forces, 
nounting to 60,000 men, advanced slowly to the in- 
-_wasion of Attica ; but, before actually commencing hos- 
ttilities, he once more proposed the terms of accommo- 
dation, which the Athenians had formerly rejected. 
The celebrated Pericles, who had | directed the 
councils of Athens, and who is sup to have plun- 
ged his country into war, for the purpose of prolonging 
nhac influence in the state, easily induced his 
fellow citizens to refuse all farther negociation ; but all 
his extraordinary ‘talents were necessary to persuade 
the Athenian people to adopt the measures of defence, to 
_ which they were reduced by the power of their ene- 
on of mies. Abandoning their country to the ravages of the 
. hostile army, they were compelled to secure themselves 
and their effects within the walls of the metropolis, 
filling the temples, the turrets of the ramparts, the 
‘tombs. even, and the lowest hovels, with their wives 
and children. Pericles, reproached and threatened as 
the principal author of their calamities, and vehement- 
ly urged to meet'the invaders in the field, directed all 
his attention to the defence of the city, and the preser- 
vation of good order. The Lacedemonians and their 
allies, having exhausted the means of subsistence, and 
loaded themselves with plunder, returned to Pelopon- 
-nesus, and dispersed to their respective cities. The 
Athenian fleet, in the mean time, ravaged the:coasts 
of Peloponnesus, taking, in its return, the island of 
ina; and, towards the end of autumn, Pericles, 
-with the whole of the land forces, laid waste the neigh- 
bouring territory of Me At the commencement 
_of the second summer, the confederates under Archi- 
_ damus again entered and ravaged the country of At- 
at tica; while a more dreadful scourge, a pestilential fever 
‘ resembling the modern disease of the plague, raged in 
_ the crowded streets of the city. The war, however, 
was not arrested by this awful calamity ; and, for se- 
-veral years was regularly conducted in the same man- 
ner, The Peloponnesian states were so superior in 
and forces, that they annually invaded the territories 
of the Athenians, who could not risk a general action, 
without exposing themselves to certain ruin; yet the 
_ confederates were, on the other hand, so ignorant of 
the art of attacking fortified places, that they could 
make no impression upon a city like Athens, defended 
‘by 30,000 men, and supplied by a powerful fleet. 
sand The war thus continued to rage, for many years, with 
nearly the same success, and equal losses on both sides, 
Tt consisted in a succession of partial engagements, 
hasty excursions, and distant sieges, which never af- 
fected the main object in view, or brought the contest 
‘one step nearer to a conclusion. Partaking:also in a 
‘great degree of the nature of a civil war, it was carried 
__ on with.a spirit of ferocity rarely exemplified among ci- 
- vilized nations ; and, though the time of its continu- 
ance, the very age of Socrates himself, was an era, at 
least inthe history of Athens, characterised by the 
high perfection to which arts and sciences, philosophy 
and refinement, had been brought ; yet, in no period of 
Grecian history, were more atrocious barbarities com~ 
mitted. Every transaction has been minutely recorded 
by the Athenian historians, Thucydides, and Xenophon, 
who were contemporary with most of the events, which 
they describe ; and our account must be greatly eom- 
‘pressed, not from the scarcity, but from the abundance 
of materials. The league, headed by the Athenians, 
was almost entirely under their:command; while that 
of Peloponnesus, being composed of independent states, 
was continually changing in its component parts, and 
a 
* 
’ 
4 
f 
GREECE. 
469 
liable every instant to be utterly dissolved. Had the 
Athenian people therefore steadily adhered to the plan 
of Pericles, and, renouncing every idea of conquest, 
confined themselves to a defensive war by land, and 
offensive operations by sea, they might ultimately have 
triumphed over their numerous opponents; and, at 
least, have inflicted more serious injuries than they could 
have received. From the excessive diversity and dis- 
proportion of the forces engaged in the contest, the one 
over-running the land, and the other scouring the seas 
and coasts, the war was inevitably spun out to an 
indefinite length ; and often were both parties, wearied 
of their accumulated sufferings, desirous of peace; but 
proposals for negociation were as often prevented by 
the vain ambition of Cleon, who had succeeded, at the 
death of Pericles; to the direction of the Athenian coun- 
sels, and by the warlike spirit of Brasidas, the bravest 
Grecee. 
—— 
of the Spartan leaders, After their death, a truce was ‘Truce con« 
concluded for the space of fifty years; and every thing cluded 
was restored to the same situation in which it -had 
stood at the commencement of hostilities; but mutual 
hatred, and boundless ambition, had.aequired such hold 
of the minds of the principal men on all sides, that the 
appearance of concord was of short duration. New 
leagues and dissensions arose, which led to reciprocal 
recriminations and partial hostilities; but it was not 
till the expiration of nearly seven years, that they again 
came to anopen rupture. Athens was the aggressor, 
andthe ambition of Alcibiades was the sole cause of 
the renewal of hostilities. 
with all his accomplishments and talents, was guided 
by principles so inveterately vicious, that he alone may 
be charged with having accelerated the ruin of the 
Athenian state, and completed the corruption of its 
citizens. He persuaded the people, without any other 
reason, except that the city Egesta in Sicily had soli- 
cited the assistance of the Athenians, to undertake the 
conquest of that island ; but, scarcely had the expedi- 
tion, in which he was appointed a commander, com- 
menced its. operations, when he was recalled to stand 
his trial, upon.a charge of impiety. Aware of the ca- 
prices of his countrymen, he took refuge in Pelopon- 
nesus; and, enraged by the senténces pronounced 
against him in his»absence, he instigated the Lacede- 
monians to assist the Syracusans, and to attack the 
Athenians, while their army was engaged in the remote 
and romantic enterprize which himself had planned. 
The Sicilian expedition terminated in the most disas- 
trous manner; and almost the whole of the Athenian 
army was destroyed or taken captive. The Lacedemo- 
nians, supported by a powerful confederacy, and assist- 
ed even by the Persian viceroys, invaded Attica, block- 
aded the city of Athens, and would speedily have ter- 
minated the war by its reduction. But Alcibiades, 
This celebrated character, . 
B.C. 422. 
Wart renew- 
ed, 
having been expelled from Sparta on account of" his li- 
centious practices, exerted himself to detach their Per- 
sian allies, and ‘to: retrieve the falling hopes of his 
country. Recalled by the army, and raised to the chief 
command by the unanimous acclamations of the people, 
he recovered many of the lost colonies, defeated the 
fleet of the confederates, and so alarmed the Lace- 
demonians, that they were ready to have treated for 
peace. But the Athenians, intoxicated with success, 
prolonged the war; and, insensible to their interest, 
ain threw away the instrument of their victories. 
Theirfleet having sustained a trifling loss while Alci- 
biades was absent, and employed in levying contribu- 
tions in Tonia, for the support of the forces, he was in- 
stantly disgraced by the fickle voice of the populace ; © 
4 
