67+ G R E' 
pt'wer of fortune to rob you of viftory. Yet let us 
an(v\ er tile Pi loponnefians with moderation, “ that we 
will not forbid the Megareans our ports and markets, 
it the Spartan>, and other ftates of Greece, abolitli their 
exclufive and inhofpitable laws : that we will reftore 
independent governments to fuch cities as were free at 
the lafl tieaty of pe.ice, provided the Spartans engage 
to follow our example : tliat we are ready to fubmit 
all di llerences to the impartial decifion of any equitable 
tribunal : and that, although thefe condefeending over- 
t-ures be rejected, we will not commence holfilities, but 
are prepared to repel them with our ufual vigour.” The 
afTembly murmured applaule; a decree was propofed 
and ratified ; the ambaifadors returned home with the 
reply diftated by Pericles ; which, moderate as it feem- 
ed.ro tile Athenian fiatefnian, founded like an imme- 
di:"e declaration of war to tlie Spartans and their allies. 
I'he fword was now drawn, and both parties feemed 
eager to exert their utmoft tlrengtli. The Spartans 
fummoned tlieir confederates to the ifthnius ; demanded 
money and fliips from their Italian and Sicilian colonies; 
and folicited aifittance from the Perfian monarch Ar- 
taxerxes, jind from Perdiccas king of Macedon ; both 
of whom regarded the Athenians as dangerous and am¬ 
bitious invaders of their coafts. The people of Athens, 
on the other hand, contra6fed an alliance with Sitalces, 
the warlike chief of the Odryfians, v.'ho formed the molt 
powerful tribe in Upper Thrace. They required at 
the fame time an immediate fupply of cavalry from 
their Thelfalian allies, wliile the fleet already cruifed 
along the coaft of Peloponnefus, to confirm the fidelity 
of tlie ftirrounding illands. Such was -the ardour of 
preparation, that only a few weeks after the furprife of 
Plataea, the Lacedaemonian confederates, to the num¬ 
ber of fixty thoufand, aflembled from the north and 
fouth, at the Corinthian iflhmus, and the general con- 
diuff of the war was intrufled to Arcliidamus, the Spar¬ 
tan king. 
In a council of the chiefs, that prince warmly ap¬ 
proved their alacrity in taking the field, and extolled 
the greatnefs and bravery of an army, the mofl: nume¬ 
rous and bed provided that had ever followed the Itand- 
ard of any Grecian general. Yet their preparations, 
however extraordinary, were not greater than their en- 
terprife required. Tliey waged war with a people not 
iefs powerful than adlive and daring ; wlio had difeern- 
ment to perceive, and ability to improve, every oppor¬ 
tunity of advantage ; and whole refentment would be 
as much inflamed, as their pride would be wounded, by 
the approach of invalion and hoftility. It feemed pro¬ 
bable, that the Athenians would not allow their lands 
to be waited, without attempting to defend them. The 
confederates, tlierefore, nuifl be always on their guard ; 
their difeipline muff be flridi:, regular, and uniform; 
to elude the (kill, aiici to oppofe the ffrength, of Athens, 
demanded their utmoft vigilance and activity. 
Archidatmis, after leading his army into Attica, 
feems blameable in allowing their martial ardour to 
evaporate in the friiitlefs liege of Oenoc, the ftiongeft 
Athenian town towards the louthern frontier of Boeotia. 
Ti'.is tedious and unfttccefsful operation enabled the 
Athenians to complete, without interruption the lingti- 
iar plan of de.ence iu ably traced by the bold genius of 
Pet ides. They haltened the defolation of their own 
fields; demolillied their delightful gardens and villas, 
which It htid been ti'.eir pride to adorn ; and tranlport- 
cd, either to cvihens or the ifies, their valuable ehetfs, 
tiicircattle, fui nuuic, andeven the frames of their houfes. 
This induced the confederate army to raife tlie liege of 
Oenod, and to advance along the eafteyi frontier of At¬ 
tica ; and, iiaving laid walte tliat valuable dilfridt with 
fire and I'word,- tltey proceeded to Lleulis, and from 
fhe.uce to i^cuarua:, only eight miles diltant fioin the 
capital. But the Athenian Iquadrou of an luindred and 
Afty fail was now ravaging the defencelefs coaft of Pe- 
E C E. 
loponnefus, intelligence of which, and ftill more the 
fcarc'tyof provifions, o'.liged the confederates to return 
home to defend their refpedtive republics. 
The winter w’as not tliftinguiflied by any important 
expedition on either fide; but the return of fuinmer 
brought back into Attica the Pelopoimcfian invaders ; 
and it likewife introduced a far more dreadful calamity. 
A deftrudtive peftilence, engendered in Ethiopia, in- 
fet'ted Egypt, and fpread over great part of the domi¬ 
nions of the king of Perfia. hiftory does not explain 
by what means this fatal diforder was communicated to 
Greece, The difeafc firft appeared in the Piriens; 
and tlte inhabitants fufpedted that tlie enemy liad poU 
foned tlieir wells. But it foon extended over the ad¬ 
joining diftridts, and raged with peculiar violence in 
the populous ftreets which furrounded the citadel. 
All remedies, human and divine, were employed in 
vain to ftop the progrefs of this fatal contagion. I hc 
mlferable crowds expired in tlie temples, preferring 
unavailing prayers to the gods. A fliocking fpeciacle 
was feen round the facred fountains, wliere multitudes 
lay dead, or periflied in agoaifmg tortures. 
While tlie city fell a prey to this cruel malady, tite 
country was laid wafte by an implacable enemy. On 
the prcfeiit occafion, the confederates advanced beyond 
Athens ; deftroyed the u orks of tlie miners on mount 
Laurium ; and, having ravaged all that fouthern dif- 
trict, as well as the coaft oppofite to Euboea and Naxos, 
they traced a line of devaftation along the Marat honian 
fliore, the glorious feene of the immortal vidtory db- 
taiued by the valour of Athens, in defence of thole very 
ftates by which her own territories were now delblated. 
If confeious wifdom and rectitude were not fuperior 
to every alHiult of fortune, the manly foul of Pericles, 
muft have funk under the weight of fuch multiplied 
calamities. But his fortitude ftill fupporced him ainidft 
the flood of public and domeftic vioe. With decent 
and magnanimous compofure, Ite beheld tlie unhappy 
fate of his numerous and fiourilhing family, fucceflive- 
ly fnatclied away by tlie rapacious peftilence. At the 
funeral of tlte laft of liis Ions, he dropped, indeed, a 
few reludfant tears of paternal teiidernefs; but, aftiamed 
of tliis momentary weaknels, he bent his undejedfed 
mind to the defence of tlie republic. Having collected 
an hundred Athenian, togetlier witlt • fitly Chian or 
Lefbian, vefl'els, he failed tlirough tlie Saronic gtilph, 
and ravaged the coafts of Elis, Argos, and Laconia. 
While this armament weighed anchor in the Piraius, 
there happened an eclipfe of the fun, whicli terrified 
the luperftitious mariners, wliofe minds were already 
clouded by calamity. The pilot of tlie admiral galley 
betrayed the molt unmanly cowardice, when Pericles, 
tlirowing a cloak before Itis eyes, alkcd, “wliether the 
obfeurivy furpril'ed him ?” tlte pilot aniwering him iu 
the negative, “ Neither,” rejoined Pericles, “ouglit an 
eclipfe of the fun, occalioned by tlie intervention of a 
revolving planet, whicli intercepts its liglit.” 
Having arrived on tlie Argolic coaft, tlie Athenians 
laid liege to tlie facred city of Epidaurus, whole inlia- 
Viitaiits gloried in the peculiar favour of .iTfculapius. 
Tlie plague again breaking out in the fleet, was natu¬ 
rally alcnbed to the vengeance of that oftended divi¬ 
nity. "I liey raifed tlie fiege of Epidaurus; nor were 
their operations more fuccefsful againft Troezene, Her- 
mlone, and oilier Pelopoimefian cities. They took only 
the Imail i'ortrel's of Pralias, afea-port of Laconia ; alter 
which they returned to the Pirieus, aiflicted witli the 
peftilence, and without having performed any thing 
that coirefponded to tlie greatnefs of the armament, or 
the public expectation. The Athenian expedition into 
TliraCe was Itill more unfortunate. Into tliat country 
Agnon conducted a body of four tlioufand men, to co¬ 
operate with Phormio in the liege of Pocidssa. But in 
tlie Ipace of forty days, he loft one thoufand and titty 
men in the plague; and the only confequence 61 lus ex¬ 
pedition 
i, 
