G R E 
of it, fent them the required aflidance. The befiegers, 
however, met with fo little fuccefs, that the Spartans 
dilmilied their Athenian auxiliaries, on pretence indeed 
that their help was no longer neced'ary; but, in reality, 
Sroiu a fufpicion that they Favoured the inlerell of the 
rebels; and, as they retained the troops of all the other 
allies, the Athenians were juflly provoked by this in- 
liance of diflrtid. Meanwhile the iniiabitants of Pila 
gave vigorous aflillance to the befieged. The place thus 
held out tor ten years; and both parties mutt have been 
reduced to extrciuity, lince the Helots and Melfeaians, 
though obliged to Airrender, obtained from the weak- 
ueis, a condition which they would have vainly foli- 
cited from the mercy, of Sparta, “ that they thould be 
allowed, with their wives, children, and effetts, to de- 
part, unmoletled, from the Peloponnefus.” The Athe¬ 
nians, deeply relenting the afiVont of fulpected fidelity, 
deterintned to mortify the Spartans by kindly receiving 
the fugitives, wliom, in the year before Chrilf 459, 
tltey finally elfablilhed in Naupadlus, a fea-port on the 
Crillean gulph. The Helots and Meffenians repaid, by 
figual gratitude, the humane protedfion of Ath.ens. 
During tlie long rourfe of the Peloponnefian war, while 
their neigdiboui j on every fide efpoufed the oppofite in- 
terelf, the iniiabitants of Naupadtus alone invariably ex¬ 
erted themielves in defence of the declining power of 
their magnanimous benefaddors. 
While the eartliquake and the fervile w'ar confined 
within a donieliic fphere the adfivity of Sparta, Argos, 
the fecond rejiublic of the Peloponnefus, underwent 
Inch revolutions and misfortunes, as left her neither in¬ 
clination nor power to oppofe the Athenian greatnefs. 
Ever rivals and enemies of Sparta, the Argives had jea- 
loully declined the danger and glory of the Perlian war, 
to the fucccls of which their adverfaries had lb emi¬ 
nently contributed. This ungenerous derelidtion palfed 
not unpunillied. As deferters of the common caufe, 
the Argives incurred the hatred and contempt of their 
public-lpirited neighbours. Mycena;, once the proud 
refidence or the royal Agamemnon, with Epidaunis, 
and Trszene, wliicJi formed refpeddively the greateft 
Ifrength and ornament of the Argive territory, threw 
olf the yoke of Argos, whofe folly or bafenefs render cd 
Iter unworthy to govern them. Sicyon, Nauplia, He- 
liaea, and other towns of lei's note, followed their ex¬ 
ample, and allumed independence. ”1 he rebels, (for as 
fuch they were treated by the magiftrates of Argos,) 
flrengthened themielves by foreign alliance, and conti¬ 
nued thenceforth to difdain the authority of their ancient 
metropolis and Ibvereign. At the commencement of the 
Peloponnefian war, they formed a refpedtable portion of 
the Lacedaemonian confederacy ; while Argos alone, of 
all the cities in the Peloponnefus, fupported the caufe 
of the Athenians, d he ancient city of Mycenae, wliich 
had firft founded the trumpet of (edition, was the only 
vitblm of Argive refentment. The men of Argos feized 
a favourable opportunity, while the allies of Mycenae 
were occupied with their domeftic concerns, to lead tficir 
whole forces againfl the place ; and having taken it by 
ftorm, they decimated the inhabitants, and demolifhed 
not only the walls, but the town itfelt, which was never 
afterwards rebuilt. 
The fame caufes which humbled tlie pride of Argos, 
operated alike fatally on Thebes, the fecond republic 
beyond the ifthmus, and the only one that ever afpired 
to rival the pow'er of Athens. The Thebans, for fimi- 
lar reafons with thofe which had refirained the Argives, 
had alfo withheld theirafiiftance in the Perfian war; and 
by this mean felfilhnefs had jullly provoked the indig¬ 
nation of tiic cities of Bceotia. Not only Thefpias and 
Plataea, which had ever borne with impatience the Tlie- 
ban yoke, but the fea-ports of Aults, Anthemon, La. 
rymiia, and feveral other cities, rejebted the fovereignty 
of Thebes, which, during the invalion of Xerxes, h;id 
io fliamefully betrayed the common interefi; and glory 
VOL.VIII. No.551. 
E C E. B&J 
of the nation. During feveral years, the Thebans pa- 
tiently yielded to a ftorm which they found it imjjoftlble 
to refill. But v^licn the Sp.arlans began to recover from 
their recent diftrefs, the Thebans warmly folicited tliein 
to take part in ilieir quarrels, and enable them to regain 
their afeendant in Bceotia; with affurance that they 
would employ the firft moments of returning vigour to 
oppofe the grow ing power of the Athenians. I'lijs pro- 
polal was accepted, not only by tlie refentment but by 
the policy of tlie Spartan fenate, who perceived it to be 
their intereft that Thebes, tiie neighbour and rival of 
Alliens, ftiould recover her authority in Bceotia. They 
were applying themfelves with vigour and fuccefs (o 
efteff tliis falucary purpofe, when the active vigilance 
of Athens di(patched an army, fifteen tlioufand ftrong, 
to maintain the independence of Bocotia. Tiic valour 
and conduift of Myronides, the Athenian general, ob- 
tained a dccifive victory near the w alls of'I'aiiagra, one 
of the few places in the province'which' had prelcrved 
its fidelity to the capital. This membrable battle, wdiich 
no ancient writer has tliought proper to deferibe, 
thougli it is compared to tlie glorious trophies of Ada- 
rarhcii and Plataea, confirmed the liberty of Bceotia ; 
nor could the Thebans, notwitliftanding their partial 
fuccefs againfl feveral of th-e revolted cities, recover 
their authority in that province until about fourfeore 
years afterwards, when they emerged itito fudden fplen. 
dour under the condiuft of their heroic Epaminondas. 
The ambitious policy of Pericles was always ready to 
profit by every favourable turn cf fortune. He took 
care to place Athenian garrifons in feveral Bceotian for- 
trefles; he made the-neighoonring republics of Corinth 
and Megara feel and acknowledge the fuperjority of 
Athens; and after fending Tolntidas, a commander en¬ 
dued rather with an impetuous than a v, ell-iegulated 
courage, to ravage the coaft of the Peloponnefus, he 
failed thiclier in perfon, and made tlie Lacediemonians 
and their allies deeply regret, that they had too footi 
difeovered their animofity againfl a republic, fo capable 
of taking vengeance on its enemies. The meafures of 
this daring leader were adhially uncontrouled by any 
oppofition, (ince his eloquence liad prevailed over the 
innocence and merit of Cirnon, and procured the bani/h- 
ment of that illultiious commander. But Cimon was 
recalled in tw'o years; and his return v/as fignalifed by 
a fufpenfion of arms in Greece, w hich that real patriot 
had been as zealous to promote, as he was ambitious to 
purfue his Afiatic triumphs. "Ihis treaty, however, 
was foon broke ; but an ill-concerted and unfortunate 
enterprife againft 'I'hebes, in wliich the rafti Tolmidas 
loft his army and his life, made the Atlienians again 
lilten to terms of accommodation. 1 iiey agreed to with¬ 
draw their garrifons fVomB(xotia; to difavow all pre- 
tenfions againft Corinth and Megara, and, on complying 
with thefe conditions, the Athenians recovered their ci¬ 
tizens made prifoners in Bceotia througii the mifeon* 
duel of Tolmidas. 
This was the famous truce of thirty years concluded 
in the fourteenth year preceding the Peloponnefian war. 
The former treaty had been limited to a much (horter 
period; for it is worthy of obfeivation, that even in 
their agreements of peace, tlie Greeks difeovered that 
perp'etual propenlity to war, wliicli vas the unhdppy 
eftedl of their political inflitutions. Tiie terms of tliis 
accommodation, feemingly little favourable to the itite- 
reft of Athens, were neverthelefs ditlated rather by the 
ambition tiian the equity of tliat republic; a conclu. 
fion that evidently relults from examining the feries of 
events which completes the iiiflory of this memorable 
period. Amidft the foreign expeditions of Cimon, and 
the domeftic diiienftons of Greece, the Atlienian arms 
and policy had been gradually, during thirty years, ella- 
blifliing the fovereignty of the republic over her diftant 
colonies and confederates. This bold undertaking was 
finally accomplifhed by Pericles, whol? character con- 
10 M uibuted. 
