A T H 



Nicias, the vSpartaiis withdrew their troops from Affiphi- 

 pohs ; but thty would reftore neither that city nor the 

 neiglibouring places in Maccdon, to the dominion of Athens. 

 The Atlieiiians, agreeably to tlie treaty, alloivcd the cap- 

 tives taken in Spha'leria to meet the longing embraces of 

 their kinfmen and friend? ; but good pqhcy forbade their 

 furrenderinjj Pylns, until the enemy had performed fome of 

 the conditions ftipulatcd in return. Mutual unwillirignefs 

 or inability to comply with the articles of peace, fowcd the 

 feeds of animof.ty, which found a favourable foil in both re- 

 publics. The authority of thofe magiftrates who fupported 

 the pacific meafures of Nicias and Pleilloanax had expired. 

 The Spartan youth wrfhed, by new hoftilities, to cancel 

 the memory of a war, which had been carried on without 

 profit, and terminated with dilTioncur ; but the wifcr part 

 perceived that better fuccefs could not be expcfted while 

 the Athenians pofieiTed Pylus. In their eagernefa to reco- 

 ver that fortrefs, they renewed their alliance with the The- 

 bans, from wliom they received Panaftum, which they hoped 

 to exchange for Py'lus ; forgetting in this tranfaftion an 

 important claufe in their treaty with Athens, " that neither 

 of the contrafting powers (liouid, without mutual commu- 

 nication and confent, conclude any new alliance." The 

 Thebans rejoiced in the profpect of embroihng the affaii-s 

 of Athens and Sparta ; and the Corinthians, guided by 

 the fame hoftile views, readily concurred with the Thebans, 

 and openly re-entered into the Lacedaemonian confederacy. 

 The Peloponneilan war was renewed with various fuccels. 

 The addrefs of Alcibiades prevailed on the Argives to join 

 the Athenians ; and though the Spartans gained a coniider- 

 able vittory at Mantinsea, the Athenians were on the whole 

 pre-eminent. Elated with fuccefs, the Athenians undertook 

 the conquell of the ifland of Meios, a ftate that never had 

 been dependent on Athens, nor ever interfered in the Pclo- 

 ponneiiau war. The Athenians fent ambaffadors to require 

 the iflanders to forrender. The conference between their 

 deputies and the Melian ftatefmen is detailed by Thucydides, 

 and is one of the molt curious and intercfting pieces re- 

 corded in ancient political hiftory. It may indeed well be 

 ilyled the moral creed of conquering adventurers, more 

 openly promulgated than in modern manifcftoes, but con- 

 taining the farrre fentiments which dictated in our own 

 times the partitioning fcheme for the fpoliation of Poland, 

 with this difference, that modern robbers on a great fcale, 

 by fome fpecious plea of right, do hom,age to the juftice 

 which they tranfgrefs ; whereas the Athenian deputy did 

 not fliock common fenfe by fuch an unfounded pretext. 

 He flated the real title to the ftizure of other people's pro- 

 perty, fuperior power ; that the ffrcng may ufe what free- 

 dom they pleafe with the weak. There is not a fingle word 

 faid tending to prove either juil right in the Athenians, or 

 laggreflion in the Melians. The Athenian ilates the power 

 of his country, and the miferies the Mel'ans would fufler if 

 they attempted refiflance. The peroration to this cele- 

 brated difeuffion fully illuftrafes the principles on which the 

 Athenians proceeded, and fums up the diplomatic reafon- 

 ing : " You are determined," faid the Athenian ambaffador, 

 " it feems, to learn by fatal experience, that fear never 

 compelled the Athenian's to defift from their defigns, efpe- 

 cially never to raife the fiege of any place which they had 

 once inverted. For during the whole of this long confer- 

 ence, you have not mentioned a fnigle particular capable of 

 affordiiig any julf ground of confidence. Deceived by the 

 fplendor of words, you talk of honour and independence, 

 rejefting the oflTers of a powerful flate, whofe arms you are 

 unaWe to refiif, and whofe proteftioii you might obtain at 

 the expence of a moderate tribute. Left Ihamc ihould have 

 Vol.. III. 



A T 11 



any fliare in this dangerous behaviour, we fhall leave vou to 

 coiifult privately, only reminding you once more, that your 

 prefent deliberations involve the fate of your country." The 

 Athenian ambafTddors retired, and (hortly afterward* th« 

 Melians recalled them, and declared their ujianimous refo- 

 lution not to betray in one unlucky hour the l.berty which 

 they had maintained for leven hundred years ; depending on 

 the vigorous alTillanct of their Lacedar.monian kinfmen, and 

 trailing efpecially in that divine providence which had Iii- 

 therto preferved them amid ft the general convulfions of 

 Greece. But.tliey entreated ihe Athenians to accept their 

 offers of neutrality, and to abllaia from unprovoked vio- 

 lence. The ambaffadorj prepared for returning to the camp, 

 leaving the commifiioncrs v.ith a farcaflic threat, *' that of 

 all men, in fuch a delicate ftualion, the Melians alone 

 thought the future more certain than the paft, and would 

 grievoutly fuffer for their folly, in preferring to the pro- 

 pofals of certain and immediate fafety, the dtceitfulncfs of 

 hope, the inftability of fortune, and the vain profpeft of 

 Laced;emonian aid." The Athenians, irritated by oppo- 

 fition, invcftcd without delay the capital of Melos, which 

 was blocked up for feveral months by fea and land. The 

 befieged, after faffering cruelly by famine, made feveral 

 dtfpcrate fallies, feized the Atlienian magazines, and de- 

 flroyed part of their works. But towards the cud of win- 

 ter, their reiiftasce was defeated by the vigorous efforts of 

 the enemy, combined with domeiUc trcafon. The males 

 above the age of fourteen were put to the fword ; the 

 women and children were fubjefled to perpetual fervitude ; 

 and five hundred new inhabitants, drawn from the neigh- 

 bouring colonies of Athens, were fent to occupy the vacant 

 lands which had been cultivated and adorned for feven cen- 

 turies by the labour of the exterminated Melians. 



Succcfsful iiijullice encouraged the Athenians to more 

 arduous fehemes of aggreffion and conqueft, and they hoped 

 to fubjugate the whole courfe of the Mediterranean. Under 

 thefe vifionary fancies, they proieclcd an expedition to Si- 

 cily, which proved fo fatal to Athenian grtatncfs. With 

 the ufual policy of conquerors, they maintained a clofe in- 

 lercourfe with the weaker flates of a countiy whicli they 

 projefted to fubdue. Since the death of Pericles, they had 

 concluded a treaty with the Leontints, who being hard 

 preffed by the Syracufans, applied for afliilance to their new 

 confederates ; for this puipofe they fent an embaffy to 

 Athens, at the head of which was Lhe celebratid orator 

 Gorgias, who pleaded the caufe of the Leontines in an ora- 

 tion fo elegant and patlietic, that the requeft of the ambaffa- 

 dors was granted ; and the Athenians fent a fleet to Rhe- 

 gium, to affilt the Leontines. Next year (B.C. 415), they 

 fent thither a more numerous fieet flill, under pretence of 

 aflilling the towns oppreffed by the Syracufans, but in facl 

 to open to themfelves a way to the conquell of Sicily. Al- 

 cibiades, by his harangues, inftigatcd the Athenians flill 

 more and more to this undertaking, and talked of nothing 

 Icfs than extending the conquells of Athens over Africa 

 and Italy. While the m.inds of the Athenians were full of 

 thefe mightv projeils, ambaifadors arrived from the Egiflians, 

 to implore their afTiilancc againil the Selinontirns, who 

 were fupported by the Syracufans ; offering at the fame 

 time to pay the troops that lljould be fent to their affiftance. 

 The Athenians, tempted by thefe promifes, named Alci- 

 biades, Nicias, and Lamachus, to command a fleet deftined 

 to fuccour the Egiflians. Nicias remonllrated againfl this 

 expedition in the flrongefl terms, and painted out in the 

 mofl lively colours what ruinous confequences might thence 

 refult to the republic. He reprcfented to the Athenians, that 

 they had but too many enemies on their hands already, with- 

 Ff out 



