G R E 
eleded on this occafion ten coiinfellors to attend their 
kings in tlie held, to retrain rlie’ir too piecipitate re. 
tolvfS, and contiol tlieir too abfolute autliority. Hav¬ 
ing taken this preraution, they lunui'ione.d the adlftance 
of their allies, wJiofe ardour to renew lioltilities was 
equal to their own. They proceeded with a numerous 
army to the town of Maniinasa, expefting either to 
take that place, or to oblige the enemy to defend it by 
withdrawing their troops from the fiege of Tcgea. The 
approach of the Argivcs prevented th.e furprife of Man- 
tinaea ; and Loth armies, whofe ambition or refentnient 
had been lo lately difappointed of an opjiortunity to 
dilplay their valotir or their fury, eagerly prepared for 
an engagement. The Spartans exhorted their followers, 
and each other, “to exert that innate 'Vtilottr which 
had ever animated their breads, and which could ic- 
ceive no additional force from a tedious difplay of ufe- 
lefs words.” Thus i'aying, they marclied' into acfioti 
with a flow and firm dep, regulated by the Ibund of the 
flute,"to meet the impetuous onfet of the Argives and 
Athenians. Above a thoufand of the formei', chofen 
from the flower of the nobled youtli of Airgos, had been 
employed, (ince tlte fil'd diliendons occafioned by the 
peace of Hicias, in the Cendant exercife of arms, in or¬ 
der to maintain tlte honourable pretendons of tlteir 
country. Tliey behaved with dgnal bravery. The 
Athenians were not wanting in the fupport of their an¬ 
cient fame. The Mantiiiaans drenuoiiliy defended 
every thing molt dear to them. But the allied army 
had been confiderably weakened by the defertion of 
the Eleans j and the martial cntiiuliafm of king Agis, 
feconded by the perfevering valour of the Spartans, de¬ 
cided the fortune of the battle. The Athenians and 
their allies were repulfed, broken, thrown into dilor- 
der, and put to flight. The Spartans, unwilling to ir¬ 
ritate their delpair, did not continue the purfuit, but 
fpeedily returned home to celebrate the Carnean fedi- 
yal, rejoicing in having redored the ludre of their arms, 
and recovered their autitority in the Pelopoimefus. 
T he battle of Manti^^ea^was fought in the year belore 
Chriff 41S. 
The Spartans had now a numerous party in Argos, 
who, emboldened by the victory of their friends, im¬ 
mediately took arms, abolilhed the popular govern- ' 
ment, dedroyed the partifans of Atliens, abjured the 
league with that date, and entered into a new confede¬ 
racy with Sparta. This event happened a few weeks af¬ 
ter the engagement, and towards the clofe of the four¬ 
teenth winter of the Peloponnedan war. During the 
two following years, Argos paid dearly for a mpment 
of tranlieiit fplendour, liaving undergone three bloody 
revolutions, which ended, as in Coicyra, in favour of 
the Athenians and democracy. T he Athenians allb re¬ 
duced tile rebellious city of Scionc, in the peninfula of 
Pallene, againd wliicli their refeiument had been pro¬ 
voked to theutmod fury, becaufe tlie Scioneans, though 
inhabiting a country almod furrounded by the fea, had 
deded the naval power of Athens, and, amidd the mis¬ 
fortunes of that date, revolted to lier enemies. The 
citizens of Sejond became the vidtims of a revenge 
equally cruel and imprudent. The males, above the 
age of puberty, were put to the I'word ; the women and 
children dragged into lervitude; the name and honours 
of the city extinguidied for ever; and the territory 
planted with a new colony, confiding chiefly of Pla- 
taean exiles. A I'urtlier and more cruel Inltaiice of the 
Peloponnedan war, was fatally experienced, in the year 
following, by the unfortunate ifland of Melos, one of 
the larged 01 the Cyclades, lying directly oppolite to 
the Cape of Maica, the fouthern promontory of Laco¬ 
nia. T ills beautiful illand, dxty miles in circumfe¬ 
rence, and blelled v/ith the iiiual produttioiis of a due 
climate, had early invited the colonization of the Spar¬ 
tans; and had enjoyed political independence for feven 
lumdred years. The Itrength and importance of the 
E C E. S 79 
capital, which had the fame name with the ifland, may 
be iinderflood by the armament ot thirty Ibips, and near 
three thoufand foldiers, which the Athenians brought 
againd it. Before they commenced hodilities, either by 
attacking the city, or by ravtiging the country, they 
fent ambadadors to the Meliaiis, in order to perltiade 
them to furrender, without inctirring the danger or the 
punidimCnt of an unequal, and probably a truitlcfs, re- 
fldance. The illanders, however, true to tlie Spartan 
iiitered, refufed to furrender; and the Athenians, irri¬ 
tated by oppodtion, inveded, without delay, the capi¬ 
tal of Melos, which v/as blocked up for feveral months 
by fea and land. The befieged, after fud'ering cruelly 
by famine, made feveral defperate fallies, feized the 
Atlienian magazines, and dedroyed part of tlit’^ir works. 
But towards the end of winter, their re'ddance w'as de¬ 
feated by tlie vigorous- edbvts of the enemy, combined 
with doinedic treafon. The males above the age of 
fourteen diared the unhappy fat© of the Scioneans. 
The women and children were lubjeb'ted to perpetual 
fervitude, and five hundred new inhabitants, drawn from 
the neiglibouring colonies of Athens, were fent to oc- 
cupy tlie vacant lands, which had been cultivated and 
adorned for feven centuries by the labour ot the exter¬ 
minated Melians. 
Previous to the capture of Melos, the Grecian co¬ 
lonies in Sicily had experienced the diforders of tliat 
tumultuous liberty, w'liich liad fo long prevailed in tlie 
mother-country. Didracfed by internai difeord, and 
harafl'ed by external hofUlity, they had neither leifure 
nor inclination to attend to the politics of Greece. T he 
republic of Syrncufe, which was alone capable of inter, 
pofing with efi'ecit in the quarrels of that country, imi¬ 
tated, inftead of oppofing, the ambition ot Athens. 
Molt of the Dorian fettlements^liad become tributaries 
to the Syracufans ; and towards the commencement ot 
tile _ Peloponnelian war, that alpiring people, though 
torn by domefiic factions, ftrenuoully exerted their 
valour againft the Ionic fettlements of Leontium, Ca- 
tana, and Naxos. The adlive fermentation ot popular 
aflemblies had given the eloquence of a Gorgias to Le- 
ontiuni, and the abilities of an Herniocrates to Syracute. 
In the fixtli year of the Peloponneliun war, Gorgias 
came to Athens to folicit the protedbion ot that repubw 
lie againfl the unjufl; ulurpation of the Sicilian capital. 
His arguments convintTed the judgment, and the bril¬ 
liant harmony of his tlyle traniported tlie lenfibility, of 
the Athenians. They immediately difpatched twenty 
fliips of W'-ar to the aliittance of tiieir ionic brethren. 
Tw o years afterwards a limilar requelt was made, and 
as readily complied with ; and the Athenians feemed 
difpoted to engage with, vigour in tile war, when the 
forefight of fiermociates, alarmed by the iiitrufioa 
of thele ambitious firangers, promoted a general peace 
among the dates of Sicily. 
But within a few years after this event, war was re¬ 
newed, Leontium was taken and defhoyed, its inhabi¬ 
tants reduced to the condition of exiles, and its confe- 
d^'rates, tiie EgcltaEans, clofely befieged by the arms of 
Syracufe. The unfortunate communities again fent aa 
embalfy to Athens, pleaditig the rights of confanguini- 
ty, and addrelling not only tlie paflionsbut tj^e intereft of 
tlieir powerful allies. Tliis application had the defired 
eli'eCt : the conqueli: of Syracufe became a captivating 
objedl; and no prudential conliderations were able to 
cool the ardour of the Atheni'.m atfcmblyj inflamed by. 
the breath of the ambitious Alcibiades, whole waking 
and fieeping dreams grafped at the wide extent of tlioie 
diflant p.oirefiions, whicli were only to lead the way to 
the empire of the world. Allured by tliefe extrava¬ 
gant profpeits of grandeur, the Athenians, in two fuc- 
cellive allemblics, lielQ at the Ihort interval of five days, 
agreed to tlie refolution of making war againfl Sicily, 
and of railing Inch naval and military force as feemed, 
aecelfary for carrying it on with vigour and fuccefs. 
While 
