enuy But to be hated and to displease is a thing that happeneth for the time to whosoeuer hee be that hath the command of others and he does well that vndergoeth hatred for matters of great consequence For the hatred lasteth not and is recompenced both with a present splendor and an immortall glory hereafter Seing then you foresee both what is honourable for the future and not dishonourable for the present procure both the one and the other by your courage now Send no more Heraulds to the Lacedaemonians nor let them know that the euill present does any way afflict you for they whose mindes least feele and whose actions most oppose a calamity both amongst States and priuate persons are the best In this speech did Pericles endeauour to appease the anger of the Athenians towards himselfe and withall to withdraw their thoughts from the present affliction But they though for the State in generall they were won and sent to the Lacedaemonians no more but rather enclined to the Warre yet they were euery one in particular grieued for their seuerall losses The poore because entring the Warre with little they lost that little and the rich because they had lost faire possessions together with goodly houses and costly furniture in them in the Countrey but the greatest matter of all was that they had Warre in stead of Peace And altogether they deposed not their anger till they had first fined him in a summe of money Neuerthelesse not long after as is the fashion of the multitude they made him Generall againe and committed the whole State to his administration For the sense of their domestique losses was now dulled and for the need of the Common-wealth they prised him more then any other whatsoeuer For as long as he was in authority in the Citie in time of Peace he gouerned the same with moderation and was a faithfull watchman of it and in his time it was at the greatest And after the Warre was on foot it is manifest that he therein also fore-saw what it could doe Hee liued after the Warre began two yeeres and sixe moneths And his foresight in the Warre was best knowne after his death For he told them that if they would be quiet and looke to their Nauy and during this Warre seeke no further dominion nor hazzard the Citie it selfe they should then haue the vpper hand But they did contrary in all and in such other things besides as seemed not to concerne the Warre managed the State according to their priuate ambition and couetousnesse pernitiously both for themselues and their Confederates What succeeded well the honour and profit of it came most to priuate men and what miscarried was to the Cities detriment in the Warre The reason whereof was this that being a man of great power both for his dignity and wisdome for bribes manifestly the most incorrupt he freely controuled the multitude and was not so much led by them as he led them Because hauing gotten his power by no euill Artes he would not humour them in his speeches but out of his authority durst anger them with contradiction Therefore whensoeuer he saw them out of season insolently bold he would with his Orations put them into a feare and againe when they were afraid without reason he would likewise erect their spirits and imbolden them It was in name a State Democraticall but in fact A gouernment of the principall Man But they that came after being more equall amongst themselues and affecting euery one to be the chiefe applyed themselues to the people and let goe the care of the Common-wealth From whence amongst many other errours as was likely in a great and dominant Citie proceeded also the voyage into Sicily which was not so much vpon mistaking those whom they went against as for want of knowledge in the senders of what was necessary for those that went the voyage For through priuate quarrels about who should beare the greatest sway with the people they both abated the vigour of the Armie and then also first troubled the State at home with diuision Being ouerthrowne in Sicily and hauing lost besides other ammunition the greatest part of their Nauy and the Citie being then in sedition yet they held out 3 yeeres both against their first enemies and the Sicilians with them and against most of their reuolted Confederates besides and also afterwards against Cyrus the Kings sonne who tooke part with and sent money to the Peloponnesians to maintaine their Fleet and neuer shrunke till they had ouerthrowne themselues with priuate dissentions So much was in Pericles aboue other men at that time that he could foresee by what meanes the Citie might easily haue out-lasted the Peloponnesians in this Warre The Lacedaemonians and their Confederates made Warre the same Summer with 100 Gallies against Zacynthus an Iland lying ouer against Elis. The Inhabitants whereof were a Colony of the Achaeans of Peloponnesus but Confederates of the people of Athens There went in this Fleet 1000 men of Armes and Cnemus a Spartan for Admirall who landing wasted the greatest part of the Territory But they of the Iland not yeelding they put off againe and went home In the end of the same Summer Aristaeus of Corinth and Anaristus Nicolaus Pratodemus and Timagoras of Tegea Ambassadours of the Lacedaemonians and Polis of Argos a priuate man as they were trauelling into Asia to the King to get mony of him and to draw him into their league tooke Thrace in their way and came vnto Sitalces the sonne of Teres with a desire to get him also if they could to forsake the league with Athens and to send his forces to Potidaea which the Athenian Army now besieged and not to aide the Athenians any longer and withall to get leaue to passe through his Countrey to the other side of Hellespont to goe as they intended to Pharnabazus the sonne of Pharnaces who would conuoy them to the King But the Ambassadours of Athens Learchus the sonne of Callimachus and Ameiniades the sonne of Philemon then resident with Sitalces perswaded Sadocus the sonne of Sitalces who was now a Citizen of Athens to put them into their hands that they might not goe to the King and doe hurt to the Citie whereof hee himselfe was now a member Whereunto condiscending as they iourneyed thorow Thrace to take ship to crosse the Hellespont he apprehended them before they got to the ship by such others as he sent along with Learchus and Ameiniades with command to deliuer them into their hands And they when they had them sent them away to Athens When they came thither the Athenians fearing Aristaeus lest escaping he should doe them further mischiefe for he was manifestly the authour of all the businesse of Potidaea and about Thrace the same day put them all to death vniudged and desirous to haue spoken and threw them into the Pits thinking it but iust to take
waste the Territories of the King And then first came vp amongst the Athenians the Office of Treasurers of Greece who were receiuers of the Tribute for so they called this money contributed And the first Tribute that was taxed came to 460. Talents The Treasurie was at Delos and their meetings were kept there in the Temple Now vsing their authority at first in such maner as that the Confederates liued vnder their own Laws and were admitted to Cōmon Councell by the War and administration of the common affaires of Greece from the Persian War to this what against the Barbarians what against their own innouating Confederates and what against such of the Peloponnesians as chanced alwaies in euery Warre to fall in they effected those great matters following which also I haue therefore written both because this place hath beene pretermitted by all that haue written before me For they haue either compiled the Grecian acts before the invasion of the Persians or that invasion only Of which number is Hellanicus who hath also touched them in his Attique Historie but briefly and without exact mention of the times and also because they carry with them a demonstration of how the Athenian Empire grew vp And first vnder the Conduct of Cimon the sonne of Miltiades they tooke Eion vpon the Riuer Strymon from the Medes by siege and carried away the Inhabitants Captiues Then the I le Scyros in the Aegean Sea inhabited by the Dolopes the Inhabitants whereof they also carried away Captiues and planted therein a Colony of their owne Likewise they made Warre on the Caristians alone without the rest of the Euboeans and those also after a time came in by composition After this they warred on the reuolted Naxians and brought them in by siege And this was the first Confederate Citie which contrary to the Ordinance they depriued of their free estate though afterwards as it came to any of their turnes they did the like by the rest Amongst other causes of reuolts the principall was their failing to bring in their Tribute and Gallies and their refusing when they did so to follow the Warres For the Athenians exacted strictly and were grieuous to them by imposing a necessity of toyle which they were neither accustomed nor willing to vndergoe They were also otherwise not so gentle in their gouernment as they had beene nor followed the Warre vpon equall termes and could easily bring backe to their subiection such as should revolt And of this the Confederates themselues were the causes for through this refusall to accompanie the Armie the most of them to the end they might stay at home were ordered to excuse their Gallies with Money as much as it came to By which meanes the Nauy of the Athenians was increased at the cost of their Confederates and themselues vnprouided and without meanes to make Warre in case they should reuolt After this it came to passe that the Athenians and their Confederates fought against the Medes both by Land and by Water vpon the Riuer of Eurymedon in Pamphylia and in one and the same day the Athenians had Victory in both and tooke or sunke all the Phoenician Fleet to the number of 200. Gallies After this againe happened the revolt of Thasus vpon a difference about the places of Trade and about the Mines they possessed in the opposite parts of Thrace And the Athenians going thither with their Fleet ouerthrew them in a Battell at Sea and landed in the Iland But hauing about the same time sent 10000. of their owne and of their Confederates people into the Riuer of Strymon for a Colonie to be planted in a place called then the Nine-wayes now Amphipolis They wonne the said Nine-wayes which was held by the Eidonians but advancing farther towards the heart of the Countrey of Thrace they were defeated at Drabescus a Citie of the Eidonians by the whole power of the Thracians that were Enemies to this new-built Towne of the Nine-wayes The Thasians in the meane time being ouercome in diuers Battels and besieged sought ayde of the Lacedaemonians and entreated them to divert the Enemie by an invasion of Attica which vnknowne to the Athenians they promised to doe and also had done it but by an Earth-quake that then happened they were hindred In which Earth-quake their Helotes and of neighbouring Townes the Thuriatae and Aetheans reuolted and seazed on Ithome Most of these Helotes were the posterity of the ancient Messenians brought into seruitude in former times whereby also it came to passe that they were called all Messenians Against these had the Lacedaemonians a Warre now at Ithome The Thasians in the third yeere of the Siege rendred themselues to the Athenians vpon condition to raze their Walles to deliuer vp their Gallies to pay both the money behinde and for the future as much as they were wont and to quit both the Mines and the Continent The Lacedaemonians when the Warre against those in Ithome grew long amongst other their Confederates sent for aide to the Athenians who also came with no small Forces vnder the command of Cimon They were sent for principally for their reputation in murall assaults the long continuance of the Siege seeming to require men of ability in that kinde whereby they might perhaps haue gotten the place by force And vpon this Iourney grew the first manifest dissension betweene the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians For the Lacedaemonians when they could not take the place by assault fearing lest the audacious and innovating humour of the Athenians whom withall they esteemed of a contrary Race might at the perswasion of those in Ithome cause some alteration if they staid dismissed them alone of all the Confederates not discouering their iealousie but alledging that they had no further need of their Seruice But the Athenians perceiuing that they were not sent away vpon good cause but onely as men suspected made it a heynous matter and conceiving that they had better deserued at the Lacedaemonians hands as soone as they were gone left the League which they had made with the Lacedaemonians against the Persian and became Confederates with their Enemies the Argiues and then both Argiues and Athenians tooke the same Oath and made the same League with the Thessalians Those in Ithome when they could no longer hold out in the tenth yeere of the Siege rendred the place to the Lacedaemonians vpon condition of security to depart out of Peloponnesus and that they should no more returne and whosoeuer should bee taken returning to bee the Slaue of him that should take him For the Lacedaemonians had before beene warned by a certaine answer of the Pythian Oracle to let goe the Suppliant of Iupiter Ithometes So they came forth they and their Wiues and their Children And the Athenians for hatred they bore to the Lacedaemonians receiued them and put them into
know it could not hold out it would now compound whilst it were able both to pay vs our charges for the present and our tribute for the time to come But the way that Cleon prescribeth what Citie thinke you would not prouide it selfe better then this did and endure the siege to the very last if to compound late and soone be all one And how can it be but detriment to vs to be at charge of long sieges through their obstinacy and when we haue taken a Citie to finde it exhausted and to lose the reuenue of it for the future And this reuenue is the onely strength we haue against our enemies Wee are not then to be exact Iudges in the punition of offenders but to looke rather how by their moderate punishment we may haue our Confederate Cities such as they may be able to pay vs tribute and not thinke to keepe them in awe by the rigour of Lawes but by the prouidence of our owne actions But wee to the contrary when wâ—â—ecouer a Citie which hauing beene free and held vnder our obedience by force hath reuolted iustly thinke now that we ought to inflict some cruell punishment vpon them whereas we ought rather not mightily to punish a free Citie reuolted but mightily to looke to it before it reuolt and to preuent the intention of it but when we haue ouercome them to lay the fault vpon as few as we can Consider also if you follow the aduice of Cleon how much you shall offend likewise in this other point For in all your Cities the Commonalty are now your friends and either reuolt not with the few or if they be compelled to it by force they presently turne enemies to them that caused the reuolt whereby when you goe to Warre you haue the Commons of the aduerse Citie on your side But if you shall destroy the Commonalty of the Mitylenians which did neither partake of the reuolt and as soone as they were armed presently deliuered the Citie into your hands you shall first doe vniustly to kill such as haue done you seruice and you shall effect a worke besides which the great men doe euery where most desire For when they haue made a Citie to reuolt they shall haue the people presently on their side you hauing foreshewne them by the example that both the guilty and not guilty must vndergoe the same punishment Whereas indeed though they were guilty yet wee ought to dissemble it to the end that the onely party now our friend may not become our enemie And for the assuring of our dominion I thinke it farre more profitable voluntarily to put vp an iniurie then iustly to destroy such as wee should not And that same both Iustice and profit of reuenge alledged by Cleon can neuer possibly bee found together in the same thing You therefore vpon knowledge that this is the best course not vpon Compassion or Lenitie for neither would I haue you wonne by that but vpon consideration of what hâ—th beene aduised bee ruled by mee and proceede to iudgement at your owne leasure against those whom Paches hath sent hither as guilty and suffer the rest to enioy their Citie For that will bee both good for the future and also of present terrour to the enemie For hee that consulteth wisely is a sorer enemie then hee that assaulteth with the strength of action vnaduisedly Thus spake Diodotus After these two opinions were deliuered the one most opposite to the other the Athenians were at contention which they should decree and at the holding vp of hands they were both sides almost equall but yet the sentence of Diodotus preuailed Whereupon they presently in haste sent away another Gallie lest not arriuing before the former they should finde the Citie already destroyed The first Gallie set forth before the second a day and a night But the Mitylenian Ambassadours hauing furnished this latter with Wine and Barley Cakes and promised them great rewards if they ouertooke the other Gallie they rowed diligently at one and the same time both plying their Oares and taking their refection of the said Barley Cakes steeped in Wine and Oyle and by turnes part of them slept and the other part rowed It happened also that there blew no Winde against them And the former Gallie making no great haste as going in so sad an errand whereas the former proceeded in the manner before mentioned arriued indeed first but onely so much as Paches had read the Sentence and prepared to execute what they had decreed But presently after came in the other Gallie and saued the Citie from being destroyed So neere were the Mitylenians to the danger But those whom Paches had sent home as most culpable of the Reuolt the Athenians as Cleon had aduised put to death beeing in number somewhat aboue a thousand They also razed the Walles of Mitylene and tooke from them all their Gallies After which they imposed on the Lesbians no more Tribute but hauing diuided their land all but that of the Methymnaeans into 3000 parts 300 of those parts of the choisest Land they consecrated to the Gods And for the rest they sent men by lot out of their owne Citie to possesse it of whom the Lesbians at the rent of two Minae of Siluer yeerely vpon a Lot had the Land againe to bee husbanded by themselues The Athenians tooke in all such Townes also as the Mitylenians were Masters of in the Continent which were afterwards made Subiects to the People of Athens Thus ended the businesse touching Lesbos The same Summer after the recouery of Lesbos the Athenians vnder the conduct of Nicias the sonne of Niceratus made Warre on Minoa an Iland adiacent to Megara For the Megareans had built a Tower in it and serued themselues of the Iland for a place of Garrison But Nicias desired that the Athenians might keepe their Watch vpon Megara in that Iland as beeing neerer and no more at Budorus and Salamis to the end that the Peloponnesians might not goe out thence with their Gallies vndiscryed nor send out Pirates as they had formerly done and to prohibit the importation of all things to the Megareans by Sea Wherefore when he had first taken two Towres that stood out from Nisaea with Engines applyed from the Sea and so made a free entrance for his Gallies betweene the Iland and the firme Land he tooke it in with a Wall also from the Continent in that part where it might receiue ayde by a bridge ouer the Marishes for it was not farre distant from the maine Land And that being in few dayes finished hee built a Fort in the Iland it selfe and leauing there a Garrison carried the rest of his Armie backe It happened also about the same time of this Summer that the Plataeans hauing spent their Victuall and beeing vnable longer to hold out yeelded their Citie in this manner to the Peloponnesians The Peloponnesians assaulted the Walles but they within
Citie rest from their troubles for the present and for the future to leaue a name that in all his time hee had neuer made the Common-wealth miscarry which hee thought might be done by standing out of danger and by putting himselfe as little as hee might into the hands of Fortune And to stand out of danger is the benefit of Peace Pleistoanax had the same desire because of the imputation laid vpon him about his returne from exile by his enemies that suggested vnto the Lacedaemonians vpon euery losse they receiued that the same befell them for hauing contrary to the Law repealed his banishment For they charged him further that hee and his Brother Aristocles had suborned the Prophetesse of Delphi to answer the Deputies of the Lacedaemonians when they came thither most commonly with this That they should bring backe the seed of the Semigod the sonne of Iupiter out of a strange Countrey into his owne and that if they did not they should plow their land with a siluer plough and so at length to haue made the Lacedaemonians 19. yeeres after with such Dances and Sacrifices as they who were the first founders of Lacedaemon had ordained to be vsed at the enthroning of their Kings to fetch him home againe who liued in the meane time in exile in the Mountaine Lycaeum in a House whereof the one halfe was part of the Temple of Iupiter for feare of the Lacedaemonians as being suspected to haue taken a bribe to withdraw his Armie out of Attica Being troubled with these imputations and considering with himselfe there being no occasion of calamity in time of Peace and the Lacedaemonians thereby recouering their men that he also should cease to bee obnoxious to the calumniations of his enemies whereas in Warre such as had charge could not but bee quarrelled vpon their losses hee was therefore forward to haue the Peace concluded And this Winter they fell to treaty and withall the Lacedaemonians braued them with a preparation already making against the Spring sending to the Cities about for that purpose as if they meant to fortifie in Attica to the end that the Athenians might giue them the better eare When after many meetings and many demands on eyther side it was at last agreed that Peace should be concluded each part rendring what they had taken in the Warre saue that the Athenians should hold Nisaea for when they likewise demanded Plataea and the Thebans answered that it was neither taken by force nor by treason but rendred voluntarily the Athenians said that they also had Nisaea in the same manner The Lacedaemonians calling together their Confederates and all but the Boeotians Corinthians Eleans and Megareans for these disliked it giuing their votes for the ending of the Warre they concluded the Peace and confirmed it to the Athenians with sacrifice and swore it and the Athenians againe vnto them vpon these Articles The Athenians and Lacedaemonians and their Confederates haue made Peace and sworne it Citie by Citie as followeth Touching the publique Temples it shall bee lawfull to whomsoeuer will to sacrifice in them and to haue accesse vnto them and to aske counsell of the Oracles in the same and to send their Deputies vnto them according to the custome of his Countrey securely both by Sea and Land The whole place consecrate and Temple of Apollo in Delphi and Delphi it selfe shall be gouerned by their owne Law taxed by their owne State and iudged by their owne Iudges both City and Territory according to the institution of the place The Peace shall endure betweene the Athenians with their Confederates and the Lacedaemonians with their Confederates for fiftie yeeres both by Sea and Land without fraud and without harme-doing It shall not be lawfull to beare Armes with intention of hurt neither for the Lacedaemonians and their Confederates against the Athenians nor for the Athenians and their Confederates against the Lacedaemonians by any Art or Machination whatsoeuer If any Controuersie shall arise betweene them the same shall be decided dy Law and by Oath in such manner as they shall agree on The Lacedaemonians and their Confederates shall render Amphipolis to the Athenians The Inhabitants of whatsoeuer City the Lacedaemonians shall render vnto the Athenians shall be at liberty to goe forth whither they will with bagge and baggage Those Cities which paid the tribute taxed in the time of Aristides continuing to pay it shall be gouerned by their owne Lawes and now that the Peace is concluded it shall be vnlawfull for the Athenians or their Confederates to beare Armes against them or to doe them any hurt as long as they shall pay the said tribute The Cities are these Argilus Stagirus Acanthus Scolus Olynthus Spartolus And they shall be Confederates of neither side neither of the Lacedaemonians nor of the Athenians But if the Athenians can perswade these Cities vnto it then it shall bee lawfull for the Athenians to haue them for Confederates hauing gotten their consent The Mecybernians Sanaeans and Singaeans shall inhabite their owne Cities on the same conditions with the Olynthians and Acanthians The Lacedaemonians and their Confederates shall render Panactum vnto the Athenians And the Athenians shall render to the Lacedaemonians Coryphasium Cythera Methone Pteleum and Atalante They shall likewise deliuer whatsoeuer Lacedaemonians are in the prison of Athens or in any prison of what place soeuer in the Athenian dominion and dismisse all the Peloponnesians besieged in Scione and all that Brasidas did there put in and whatsoeuer Confederates of the Lacedaemonians are in prison either at Athens or in the Athenian State And the Lacedaemonians and their Confederates shall deliuer whomsoeuer they haue in their hands of the Athenians or their Confederates in the same manner Touching the Scioneans Toronaeans and Sermylians and whatsoeuer other Citie belonging to the Athenians the Athenians shall doe with them what they thinke fit The Athenians shall take an Oath to the Lacedaemonians and their Confederates Citie by Citie and that Oath shall be the greatest that in each Citie is in vse The thing that they shall sweare shall be this I stand to these Articles and to this Peace truely and sincerely And the Lacedaemonians and their Confederates shall take the same Oath to the Athenians This oath they shall on both sides euery yeere renew and shall erect Pillars inscribed with this Peace at Olympia Pythia and in the Isthmus at Athens within the Cittadell and at Lacedaemon in the Amycleum And if any thing be on either side forgotten or shall be thought fit vpon good deliberation to be changed it shall be lawfull for them to doe it in such manner as the Lacedaemonians and Athenians shall thinke fit ioyntly This Peace shall take beginning from the 24 of the moneth Artemisium Pleistolas being Ephore at Sparta and the 15 of Elaphebolium after the account of Athens Alcaeus being Archon They that tooke
it as haue to spare though it hurt them yet it destroyes them not But to such as set their rest vpon it for it is a thing by nature prodigall it at once by failing maketh it selfe knowne and knowne leaueth no place for future caution Which let not be your owne case you that are but weake and haue no more but this one stake Nor bee you like vnto many men who though they may presently saue themselues by humane meanes will yet when vpon pressure of the Enemie their most apparent hopes faile them betake themselues to blinde ones as Diuination Oracles and other such things which with hopes destroy men Mel. Wee thinke it you well know a hard matter for vs to combate your power and fortune vnlesse wee might doe it on equall termes Neuerthelesse we beleeue that for fortune wee shall bee nothing inferiour as hauing the Gods on our side because wee stand innocent against men vniust And for power what is wanting in vs will be supplied by our League with the Lacedaemonians who are of necessity obliged if for no other cause yet for consanguinities sake and for their owne honour to defend vs. So that we are confident not altogether so much without reason as you thinke Ath. As for the fauour of the Gods we expect to haue it as well as you for we neither doe nor require any thing contrary to what mankind hath decreed either concerning the worship of the Gods or concerning themselues For of the Gods we thinke according to the common opinion and of men that for certaine by necessity of Nature they will euery where raigne ouer such as they be to strong for Neither did we make this Law nor are we the first that vse it made but as we found it and shall leaue it to posterity for euer so also we vse it Knowing that you likewise and others that should haue the same power which we haue would doe the same So that for as much as toucheth the fauour of the Gods we haue in reason no feare of being inferiour And as for the opinion you haue of the Lacedaemonians in that you beleeue they will helpe you for their owne honour wee blesse your innocent mindes but affect not your folly For the Lacedaemonians though in respect of themselues and the constitutions of their owne Countrey they are wont for the most part to be generous yet in respect of others though much might be alledged yet the shortest way one might say it all thus That most apparantly of all men they hold for honourable that which pleaseth and for iust that which profiteth And such an opinion maketh nothing for your now absurd meanes of safety Mel. Nay for this same opinion of theirs we now the rather beleeue that they will not betray their owne Colony the Melians and thereby become perfidious to such of the Grecians as be their friends and beneficiall to such as be their enemies Ath. You thinke not then that what is profitable must bee also safe and that which is iust and honouorable must be performed vvith danger vvhich commonly the Lacedaemonians are least vvilling of all men to vndergoe for others Mel. But vve suppose that they vvill vndertake danger for vs rather then for any other and that they thinke that vve vvill be more assured vnto them then vnto any other because for action vvee lye neere to Peloponnesus and for affection are more faithfull then others for our neerenesse of kinne Ath. The security of such as are at Warres consisteth not in the good vvill of those that are called to their aide but in the power of those meanes they excell in And this the Lacedaemonians themselues vse to consider more then any and therefore out of diffiâ—dence in their owne forces they take many of their Confederates with them though to an expedition but against their neighbours Wherefore it is not likely we being Masters of the sea that they will euer passe ouer into an Iland Mel. Yea but they may haue others to send and the Cretique sea is wide wherein to take another is harder for him that is Master of it then it is for him that will steale by to saue himselfe And if this course faile they may turne their Armes against your owne Territory or those of your Confederates not inuaded by Brasidas And then you shall haue to trouble your selues no more about a Territory that you haue nothing to do withall but about your own and your Confederates Ath. Let them take which course of these they will that you also may find by experience and not be ignorant that the Athenians neuer yet gaue ouer siege for feare of any diuersion vpon others But we obserue that whereas you said you would consult of your safety you haue not yet in all this discourse said any thing which a man relying on could hope to be preserued by The strongest arguments you vse are but future hopes and your present power is too short to defend you against the forces already aranged against you You shall therefore take very absurd counsaile vnlesse excluding vs you make amongst your selues some more discreet conclusion For when you are by your selues you will no more set your thoughts vpon shame which when dishonour and danger stand before mens eyes for the most part vndoeth them For many when they haue foreseene into what dangers they were entring haue neuerthelesse beene so ouercome by that forcible word dishonour that that which is but called dishonour hath caused them to fall willingly into immedicable calamities so to draw vpon themselues really by their owne madnesse a greater dishonour then could haue befalne them by fortune Which you if you deliberate wisely will take heed of and not thinke shame to submit to a most potent Citie and that vpon so reasonable conditions as of League and of enioying your owne vnder tribute And seeing choice is giuen you of Warre or safety doe not out of peeuishnesse take the worse For such doe take the best course who though they giue no way to their equals yet doe fairely accomodate to their superiours and towards their inferiours vse moderation Consider of it therefore whilest we stand off and haue often in your minde that you deliberate of your Countrey which is to be happy or miserable in by this one consultation So the Athenians went aside from the conference and the Melians after they had decreed the very same things which before they had spoken made answer vnto them in this manner Mel. Men of Athens our resolution is no other then what you haue heard before nor will we in a small portion of time ouerthrow that liberty in which our City hath remained for the space of 700 yeeres since it was first founded But trusting to the fortune by which the Gods haue preserued it hetherto and vnto the helpe of men that is of the Lacedaemonians wee will doe our best to maintaine the same But this we offer To be your
hee wrote vnto them a Letter Conceauing that thus the Athenians should best know his minde whereof no part could now be suppressed by the Messenger and might therefore enter into deliberation vpon true grounds With these Letters and other their instructions the Messengers tooke their Iourney and Nicias in the meane time hauing a care to the well guarding of his Campe was wary of entring into any voluntarie dangers In the end of this Summer Euetion Generall for the Athenians with Perdiccas together with many Toâ—acians warring against Amphipolis tooke not the Citie but bringing his Gallies about into Strymon besieged it from the Riuer lying at Imeraeum And so this Summer ended The next Winter the Messengers from Nicias arriued at Athens and hauing spoken what they had in charge and answered to such questions as they were asked they presented the Letter which the Clerke of the Citie standing foorth read vnto the Athenians containing as followeth THE LETTER OF NICIAS to the People of Athens ATHENIANS You know by many other my Letters what hath passed formerly nor is it lesse needfull for you to bee informed of the state we are in and to take counsell vpon it at this present When we had in many Battels beaten the Syracusians against whom we were sent and had built the Walles within which we now lye came Gylippus a Lacedaemonian with an Armie out of Peloponnesus and also out of some of the Cities of Sicily and in the first Battell was ouercome by vs but in the second forced by his many Horsemen and Darters we retired vvithin our Workes Whereupon giuing ouer our vvalling vp of the Citie for the multitude of our enemies we now sit still Nor can vve indeed haue the vse of our vvhole Army because some part of the men of Armes are employed to defend our Walles And they haue built a single Wall vp to vs so that now vve haue no more meanes to encloze it except one should come with a great Army and vvinne that crosse-wall of theirs by assault And so it is that wee vvho seemed to besiege others are besieged our selues for so much as concerneth the Land For wee cannot goe farre abroad by reason of their Cauallery They haue also sent Ambassadours for another Armie into Peloponnesus and Gylippus is gone amongst the Cities of Sicily both to sollicite such to ioyne with him in the Warre as haue not yet stirred and of others to get if he can both more Land-souldiers and more munition for their Nauie For they intend as I haue beene informed both to assault our Wall by Land with their Armie and to make tryall what they are able to doe with their Nauy by Sea For though our Fleet vvhich they also haue heard were vigorous at first both for soundnesse of the Gallies and entirenesse of the men yet our Gallies are now soaked with lying so long in the water and our men consumed For vve vvant the meanes to hale aland our Gallies and trim them because the Gallies of the Enemie as good as ours and more in number doe keepe vs in a continuall expectation of assault which they manifestly endeuour And seeing it is in their owne choice to attempt or not they haue therefore liberty to dry their Gallies at their pleasure For they lye not as we in attendance vpon others Nay vve could hardly doe it though we had many Gallies spare and vvere not constrained as now to keepe watch vpon them vvith our whole number For should we abate though but a little of our obseruance vve should want prouision vvhich as vve are being to passe so neere their Citie is brought in with difficulty and hence it is that our Mariners both formerly haue beene and are now wasted For our Mariners fetching wood and water and forraging farre off are intercepted by the Horsemen and our Slaues now wee are on equall termes runne ouer to the Enemie As for strangers some of them hauing come aboard by constraint returne presently to their Cities and others hauing beene leuied at first with great wages and thinking they came to enrich themselues rather then to fight now they see the Enemie make so strong resistance both otherwise beyond their expectation and especially with their Nauie partly take pretext to bee gone that they may serue the Enemie and partly Sicily beeing large shift themselues away euery one as hee can Some there are also who hauing bought heere Hyccarian slaues haue gotten the Captaines of Gallies to accept of them in the roome of themselues and thereby destroyed the purity of our Nauall strength To you I write who know how small a time any Fleet continueth in the height of vigour and how few of the Mariners are skilfull both how to hasten the course of a Gallie and how to containe the Oare But of all my greatest trouble is this that being Generall I can neither make them doe better for your natures are hard to be gouerned nor get Mariners in any other place which the Enemy can doe from many places but must of necessity haue them from whence wee brought both these we haue and those we haue lost For our now Confederate Cities Naxus and Catana are not able to supply vs. Had the Enemie but this one thing more that the Townes of Italy that now send vs prouision seeing what estate we are in and you not helpe vs would turne to them the Warre were at an end and wee expugned without another stroke I could haue written to you other things more pleasing then these but not more profitable seeing it is necessary for you to know certainely the affaires heere when you goe to councell vpon them withall because I know your natures to bee such as though you loue to heare the best yet afterwards when things fall not out accordingly you will call in question them that write it I thought best to write the truth for my owne safeties sake And now thinke thus that though we haue carried our selues both Captaines and Souldiers in that for which we came at first hither vnblameably yet since all Sicily is vnited against vs and another Army expected out of Peloponnesus you must resolue for those we haue here are not enow for the Enemies present forces eyther to send for these away or to send hither another Army both of Land and Sea-souldiers no lesse theâ— the former and money not a little and also a Generall to succeed me who am able no longer to stay heere being troubled with the stone in the Kidney I must craue your pardon I haue done you many good seruices in the conducts of your Armies when I had my health What you will doe doe in the very beginning of Spring and delay it not For the Enemie will soone haue furnished himselfe of his Sicilian aydes And though those from Peloponnesus will bee later yet if you looke not to it they will get hither partly vnseene as before and partly by preuenting you with
the Orators that furthered the Voyage as if they themselues had neuer decreed it They were angry also with those that gaue out Prophecies and with the Soothsayers and with whosoeuer else had at first by any diuination put them into hope that Sicily should be subdued Euery thing from euery place grieued them and feare and astonishment the greatest that euer they were in beset them round For they were not onely grieued for the losse which both euery man in particular and the whole City sustained of so many men of Armes Horsemen and seruiceable men the like whereof they saw was not left but seeing they had neither Gallies in their Hauen nor money in their Treasurie nor furniture in their Gallies were euen desperate at that present of their safety and thought the Enemy out of Sicily would come forthwith with their Fleet into Piraeus especially after the vanquishing of so great a Nauy and that the Enemie here would surely now with double preparation in euery kinde presse them to the vtmost both by Sea and Land and be aided therein by their reuolting Confederates Neuerthelesse as farre as their meanes would stretch it was thought best to stand it out and getting materials and money where they could haue it to make ready a Nauie and to make sure of their Confederates especially those of Euboea and to introduce a greater frugality in the Citie and to erect a Magistracie of the elder sort as occasion should be offered to praeconsult of the businesse that passed And they were ready in respect of their present feare as is the Peoples fashion to order euery thing aright And as they resolued this so they did it And the Summer ended The Winter following vpon the great ouerthrow of the Athenians in Sicily all the Grecians were presently vp against them Those who before were Confederates of neither side thought fit no longer though vncalled to abstaine from the Warre but to goe against the Athenians of their owne accord as hauing not onely euery one seuerally this thought that had the Athenians prospered in Sicily they would afterwards haue come vpon them also but imagined withall that the rest of the Warre would be but short whereof it would be an honour to participate And such of them as were Confederates of the Lacedaemonian longed now more then euer to be freed as soone as might be of their great toyle But aboue all the Cities subiect to the Athenians were ready euen beyond their ability to reuolt as they that iudged according to their passion without admitting reason in the matter that the next Summer they were to remaine with victory But the Lacedaemonians themselues tooke heart not onely from all this but also principally from that that their Confederates in Sicily with great power hauing another Nauy now necessarily added to their owne would in all likelihood be with them in the beginning of the Spring And being euery way full of hopes they purposed without delay to fall close to the Warre making account if this were well ended both to be free hereafter from any more such dangers as the Athenians if they had gotten Sicily would haue put them into and also hauing pulled them downe to haue the principality of all Greece now secure vnto themselues Whereupon Agis their King went out with a part of his Armie the same Winter from Decelea and leuied money amongst the Confederates for the building of a Nauy And turning into the Melian Gulfe vpon an old grudge tooke a great Booty from the Oetaeans which hee made money of and forced those of Pthiotis being Achaians and others in those parts Subiects to the Thessalians the Thessalians complaining and vnwilling to giue him Hostages and Money The Hostages he put into Corinth and endeuoured to draw them into the League And the Lacedaemonians imposed vpon the States confederate the charge of building 100 Gallies that is to say on their owne State and on the Boeotians each 25. On the Phoceans and Locrians 15. On the Corinthians 15. On the Arcadians Sicyonians and Pellenians 10. And on the Megareans Troezenians and Hermionians 10. And put all things else in readinesse presently with the Spring to beginne the Warre The Athenians also made their preparations as they had designed hauing gotten Timber and built their Nauie this same Winter and fortified the Promontory of Sunium that their Corne-boats might come about in safety Also they abandoned the Fort in Laconia which they had built as they went by for Sicily And generally where there appeared expence vpon any thing vnusefull they contracted their charge Whilest they were on both sides doing thus there came vnto Agis about their reuolt from the Athenians first the Ambassadours of the Euboeans Accepting the motion he sent for Alcamenes the sonne of Sthenelaidas and for Melanthon from Lacedaemon to goe Commanders into Euboea Whom when he was come to him with about 300 freed-men he was now about to send ouer But in the meane time came the Lesbians they also desiring to reuolt and by the meanes of the Boeotians Agis changed his former resolution and prepared for the reuolt of Lesbos deferring that of Euboea and assigned them Alcamenes the same that should haue gone into Euboea for their Gouernour And the Boeotians promised them tenne Gallies and Agis other tenne Now this was done without acquainting therewith the State of Lacedaemon For Agis as long as he was about Decelea with the power he had had the Law in his owne hands to send what Armie and whither he listed and to leuy men and mony at his pleasure And at this time the Confederates of him as I may call them did better obey him then the Confederates of the Lacedemonians did them at home For hauing the power in his hands he was terrible wheresoeuer he came And he was now for the Lesbians But the Chians and Erythraeans they also desiring to reuolt went not to Agis but to the Lacedaemonians in the City and with them went also an Ambassadour from Tissaphernes Lieutenant to King Darius in the low Countries of Asia For Tissaphernes also instigated the Peloponnesians and promised to pay their Fleet. For he had lately begged of the King the Tribute accruing in his owne Prouince for which he was in arrearage because he could receiue nothing out of any of the Greeke Cities by reason of the Athenians And therefore he thought by weakning the Athenians to receiue his Tribute the better and withall to draw the Lacedaemonians into a League with the King and thereby as the King had commanded to kill or take aliue Amorges Pissuthnes his bastard sonne who was in rebellion against him about Caria The Chians therefore and Tissaphernes followed this businesse ioyntly Caligetus the sonne of Laophon a Magarean and Timagoras the sonne of Athenagoras a Cyzicene both banished their owne Cities and abiding with Pharnabazus the sonne of Pharnaces came also about the same time
to Lacedaemon sent by Pharnabazus to procure a Fleet for the Hellespont that he also if he could might cause the Athenian Cities in his Prouince to reuolt for his Tributes sake and be the first to draw the Lacedaemonians into league with the King 〈◊〉 the same things that were desired before by Tissaphernes Now Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes treating apart there was great canuasing at Lacedaemon betweene the one side that perswaded to send to Ionia and Chius and the other that would haue the Armie and Fleet goe first into the Hellespont But the Lacedaemonians indeed approued best by much of the businesse of the Chians and of Tiâ—saphernes For with these cooperated Alcibiades hereditary Guest and friend of Endius the Ephore of that yeere in the highest degree insomuch as in respect of that guesthood Alcibiades his family receiued a Laconique name For Endius was called Endius Alcibiadis Neuerthelesse the Lacedaemonians sent first one Phrynis a man of those parts to Chius to see if the Gallies they had were so many as they reported and whether the Citie were otherwise so sufficient as it was said to be And when the messenger brought backe word that all that had beene said was true they receiued both the Chians acd the Erythraeans presently into their League and decreed to send them forty Gallies there being at Chius from such places as the Chians named no lesse then 60 already And of these at first they were about to send out tenne with Melancridas for Admirall but afterwards vpon occasion of an Earthquake for Melancridas they sent Chalcideus and in stead of tenne Gallies they went about the making ready of fiue onely in Laconia So the Winter ended and nineteenth yeere of this Warre written by Thucydides In the beginning of the next Summer because the Chians pressed to haue the Gallies sent away and feared lest the Athenians should get notice what they were doing for all their Ambassadours went out by stealth the Lacedaemonians send away to Corinth three Spartans to will them with all speed to transport their Gallies ouer the Isthmus to the other Sea towards Athens and to goe all to Chiâ—s aswell those which Agis had made ready to goe to Lesbos as the rest The number of the Gallies of the League which were then there being forty wanting one But Calligetus and Timagoras who came from Pharnabazus would haue no part in this Fleet that went for Chius nor would deliuer the Money twenty fiue Talents which they had brought with them to pay for their setting forth but made account to goe out with another Fleet afterwards by themselues When Agis saw that the Lacedaemonians meant to send first to Chius he resolued not of any other course himselfe but the Confederates assembling at Corinth went to councell vpon the matter and concluded thus That they should goe first to Chius vnder the command of Chalcideus who was making ready the fiue Gallies in Laconia And then to Lesbos vnder the charge of Alcamenes intended also to be sent thither by Agis and lastly into Hellespont in which voyage they ordained that Clearchus the sonne of Rhamphias should haue the Command and concluded to carry ouer the Isthmus first the one halfe of their Gallies and that those should presently put to Sea that the Athenians might haue their mindes more vpon those then on the other halfe to bee transported afterwards For they determined to passe that Sea openly contemning the weaknesse of the Athenians in respect they had not any Nauy of importance yet appearing As they resolued so presently they carried ouer one and twenty Gallies But when the rest vrged to put to Sea the Corinthians were vnwilling to goe along before they should haue ended the celebration of the Isthmian Holidayes then come Heerevpon Agis was content that they for their parts should obserue the Isthmian Truce and he therefore to take the Fleet vpon himselfe as his owne But the Corinthians not agreeing to that and the time passing away the Athenians got intelligence the easilier of the practice of the Chians and sent thither Aristocrates one of their Generals to accuse them of it The Chians denying the matter hee commanded them for their better credit to send along with him some Gallies for their ayde due by the League and they sent seuen The cause why they sent these Gallies was the Many not acquainted with the practice and the Few and conscious not willing to vndergoe the enmity of the multitude without hauing strength first and their not expecting any longer the comming of the Lacedaemonians because they had so long delayed them In the meane time the Istmian Games were celebrating and the Athenians for they had word sent them of it came and saw and the businesse of the Chians grew more apparent After they went thence they tooke order presently that the Fleet might not passe from Cenchreae vndiscouered And after the Holidayes were ouer the Corinthians put to Sea for Chius vnder the conduct of Alcamenes And the Athenians at first with equall number came vp to them and endeuoured to draw them out into the maine Sea But seeing the Peloponnesians followed not farre but turned another way the Athenians went also from them For the seuen Gallies of Cbius which were part of this number they durst not trust But afterwards hauing manned thirty seuen others they gaue chase to the Enemy by the shore and draue them into Piraeus in the Territorie of Corinth this Piraeus is a desart Hauen and the vtmost vpon the Confines of Epidauria One Gallie that was farre from Land the Peloponnesians lost the rest they brought together into the Hauen But the Athenians charging them by Sea with their Gallies and withall setting their men aland mightily troubled and disordered them brake their Gallies vpon the shore and slew Alcamenes their Commander And some they lost of their owne The fight being ended they assigned a sufficient number of Gallies to lye opposite to those of the Enemy and the rest to lye vnder a little Iland not farre off in which also they encamped and sent to Athens for supply For the Peloponnesians had with them for ayde of their Gallies the Corinthians the next day and not long after diuers others of the Inhabitants thereabouts But when they considered that the guarding of them in a desart place would be painefull they knew not what course to take and once they thought to haue set the Gallies on fire but it was concluded afterwards to draw them to the Land and guard them with their Land-men till some good occasion should bee offered for their escape And Agis also when he heard the newes sent vnto them Thermon a Spartan The Lacedaemonians hauing beene aduertised of the departure of these Gallies from the Isthmus for the Ephores had commanded Alcamenes when he put to Sea to send him word by a Horseman were minded presently to haue sent away the fiue Gallies also that
and the Peloponnesians that lay at Miletus hearing of it commanded that the one halfe of their Gallies remaining for the guard of Cnidus the other halfe should goe about Triopium and help to bring in the Ships which were to come from Aegypt This Triopium is a Promontory of the Territory of Cnidus lying out in the Sea and consecrated to Apollo The Athenians vpon aduertisement hereof setting forth from Samos tooke those Gallies that kept guard at Triopium but the men that were in them escaped to Land After this they went to Cnidus which they assaulted and had almost taken being without Wall and the nexr day they assaulted it againe but being lesse able to hurt it now then before because they had fenced it better this night and the men also were gotten into it that fled from their Gallies vnder Triopium they inuaded and wasted the Cnidian Territory and so went backe to Samos About the same time Astyochus being come to the Nauy at Miletus the Peloponnesians had plenty of all things for the Army For they had not onely sufficient pay but the Souldiers also had store of money yet remaining of the pillage of Iasus And the Milesians vnderwent the Warre with a good will Neuerthelesse the former Articles of the League made by Chalcideâ—s with Tissaphernes seemed defectiue and not so aduantagious to them as to him Whereupon they agreed to new ones in the presence of Tissaphernes which were these The Agreement of the Lacedaemonians and their Confederates with King Darius and his children and with Tissaphernes for league and amity according to the Articles following Whatsoeuer Territories or Cities doe belong vnto King Darius or were his Fathers or his Ancestours Against those shall neither the Lacedaemonians goe to make Warre nor any way to annoy them Neither shall the Lacedaemonians nor their Confederates exact Tribute of any of those Cities Neither shall King Darius nor any vnder his Dominion make Warre vpon or any way annoy the Lacedaemonians or any of the Lacedaemonian Confederates If the Lacedaemonians or their Confederates shall neede any thing of the King or the King of the Lacedaemonians or of their Confederates what they shall perswade each other to doe that if they doe it shall be good They shall both of them make Warre ioyntly against the Athenians and their Confederates And when they shall giue ouer the Warre they shall also doe it ioyntly Whatsoeuer Army shall be in the Kings Countrey sent for by the King the King shall defray If any of the Cities comprehended in the League made vvith the King shall inuade the Kings Territories the rest shall oppose them and defend the King to the vtmost of their power If any Citie of the Kings or vnder his Dominion shall inuade the Lacedaemonians or their Confederates the King shall make opposition and defend them to the vtmost of his power After this accord made Theramenes deliuered his Gallies into the hands of Astyochus and putting to Sea in a Light-horseman is no more seene The Athenians that were now come with their Armie from Lesbos to Chius and were Masters of the Field and of the Sea fortifyed Delphinium a place both strong to the Land-ward and that had also a Harbour for Shipping and was not farre from the Citie it selfe of Chius And the Chians as hauing beene disheartned in diuers former Battels and otherwise not onely not mutually well affected but iealous one of another for Tydeus and his Complices had bin put to death by Paedaritus for Atticisme and the rest of the City was kept in awe but by force and for a time stirred not against them And for the causes mentioned not conceiuing themselues neither with their owne strength nor with the helpe of those that Paedaritus had with him sufficient to giue them battell they sent to Miletus to require aide from Astyochus Which when he denyed them Paedaritus sent Letters to Lacedaemon complaining of the wrong Thus proceeded the affaires of the Athenians at Chius Also their Fleet at Samos went often out against the Fleet of the Enemy at Miletus but when theirs would neuer come out of the Harbour to encounter them they returned to Samos and lay still The same Winter about the Solstice went out from Peloponnesus towards Ionia those 27 Gallies which at the procurement of Calligetus of Megara and Timagoras of Cyzicus were made ready by the Lacedaemonians for Pharnabazus The Commander of them was Antisthenes a Spartan with whom the Lacedaemonians sent eleuen Spartans more to bee of councell with Astyochus whereof Lichas the sonne of Arcesilaus was one These had Commission that when they should bee arriued at Miletus besides their generall care to order euery thing to the best they should send away these Gallies eyther the same or more or fewer into the Hellespont to Pharnabazus if they so thought fit and and to appoint Clearchus the sonne of Rhamphias that went along in them for Commander And that the same eleuen if they thought it meete should put Astyochus from his Charge and ordaine Antisthenes in his place for they had him in suspition for the Letters of Paedaritus These Gallies holding their course from Malea through the maine Sea and arriuing at Melos lighted on tenne Gallies of the Athenians whereof three they tooke but without the men and fired them After this because they feared lest those Athenian Gallies that escaped from Melos should giue notice of their comming to those in Samos as also it fell out they changed their course and went towards Crete and hauing made their Voyage the longer that it might be the safer they put in at Caunus in Asia Now from thence as being in a place of safety they sent a Messenger to the Fleet at Miletus for a Conuoy The Chians and Paedaritus about the same time notwithstanding their former repulse and that Astyochus was still backward sent messengers to him desiring him to come with his whole Fleet to helpe them being besieged and not to suffer the greatest of their Confederate Cities in all Ionia to be thus shut vp by Sea and rauaged by Land as it was For the Chians hauing many slaues more then any one State except that of the Lacedaemonians whom for their offences they the more vngently punished because of their number many of them as soone as the Athenians appeared to be settled in their fortifications ran ouer presently to them and were they that knowing the territory so well did it the greatest spoile Therefore the Chians said he must helpe them whilest there was hope and possibility to do it Delphinium being still in fortifying and vnfurnished and greater fences being in making both about their Campe and Fleet Astyochus though he meant it not before because he would haue made good his threats yet when he saw the Confederates were willing he was bent to haue relieued them But in the meane time came the messenger from the 27 Gallies and
is admonished of a sally towards And leadeth his army backe Brasidas taketh this opportunity for this sally Brasidas is wounded and â—â—lleth Cleon flieth and is slaine Brasidas his army getteth the victory Brasidas liueth onely so long as to know he had the victory The honour done to Brasidas after his death * Killed sacrifices vnto him * Orsâ—migâ—d * Who was their true Founder Supplies going to Brasidas stay by the way at Heraclea The end of the â—enth Summer The supplies going to Brasidas hearing of his death returne to Lacedaemon The Athenians and Lacedaemonians encline to Peace The causes why the Athenians desired Peace The causes why the Lacedaemonians desired peace * Ampeâ—idas and Lichas we 〈◊〉 to Argos 〈…〉 but the Argiues 〈…〉 Lacedaemonians 〈…〉 Athenians refused it Cleon and Brasidas opposers of the Peace for seuerall ends Pleistoanax and Nicias perswaders to Peace Nicias his ends in seeking Peace The reason why Pleistoanax desired the peace * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambassadours to the Oracles 〈◊〉 so called * Hercules from whom Pleistoanax was descended Pleistoanax banished for withdrawing his Army out of Attica The Lacedaemonians desiring the peace make shew of Warre Peace concluded The Boeotians Corinthians Eleans and Megareans refuse to be comprehended THE ARTICLES OF THE PEACE BETWEENE THE ATHENIANS AND THE LACEDAEMONIANS * 〈…〉 about matters of Religion * Which was the first time that the Athenians began to coÌ„mand the rest of Greece â—or 〈◊〉 the end of the Medan Warre the Lacedaemonians left that Command the Athenians vndertooke it and taxed the seuerall Cities wâ—th tribute towards the Warre The War ended the tribute ended not * The promontâ—ry 〈…〉 stood put 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 * By Delphi where the Pythian games were kept * Amyclaeum a Temple of Apollo * This Article displeased the Confederates of Lacedaemon because the Articles might by this be changed without them * February * Jt appeares here that the Moneth Elaphobolion amongst the Athenians was the last Moneth of their Winter quarter The true way of accounting the yeres of this Warre The Lacedaemonians begin to performe the Articles presently deliuer their prisoners The Amphipolitans refuse to render themselues vnder the Athenians Clearidas endeuoureth to dissolue the Peace The Lacedaemonians make league with the Athenians THE ARTICLES OF THE LEAGVE BETWEENE THE LACEDAEMONIANS AND THE ATHENIANS * Bacchanalia Vrbica Which were celebrated yerely not much before this time The Athenians deliuer the prisoners taken at Pylus THE ELEVENTH YEERE The Lacedaemonians slacke in performance of the Articles of the Peace From the beginning to this end of the Warre 27 yeeres The time of this Peace not to be esteemed Peace The number of yeeres which the whole Warre lasted Thucydides for his ill successe at Amphipolis banished Athens for 20 yeeres The Corinthians contriue with the Argiues to make a League in Peloponnesus without the Lacedaemonians Twelue men chosen at Argos to treate about a League The Mantineans enter League with the Argiues The rest of Peloponnesus encline to the same League The Article of adding and altering 〈◊〉 The Lacedaemonians expostulate with the Corinthians about this League with Argos * The Peloponnesian League against Athens The Apologie of the Corinthians for their refusing the Peace Their answer touching their League with Argos The Eleans make a league first with Corinth then with Argos * The decree of the Argiues that any Grecian theâ—2 â—2 Commissioners by them chosen to that purpose * 180 pound ten shillings sterling Quarrell of the Eleans against the Lacedaemonians The Corinthians and the Townes vpon Thrace enter into the league with Argos The Athenians recouer Scione The Delians replanted in Delos Phocis and Locris in Warre The Corinthians seeke to turne the Cities of â—eloponnesus and other Confederates from the Lacedaemonians to the Argiues The Corinthians seeke the ten dayes Truce with Athens as the Boeotians had it The Boeotians take time to answer concerning a League with Argos The Athenians deny the ten dayes Truce to the Corinthians * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lacedaemonians demolish the Fort of Cypsela The Lacedaemonians put a Garrison into Lepreum of men newly enfranchised * Sphacteria ouer against Pylus The Lacedaemonians disable those that were taken in Sphacteria to 〈◊〉 office or to make bargain The Dictideans take Thyssus from the Athenians Iealousie betweene the Athenians and Lacedaemonians Amphipolis not yet rendred nor the Peace accepted in the paâ—t 〈◊〉 Thrace nor by the 〈◊〉 and Corinthians The Athenians refuse to render Pylus The Apologie of the Lacedaemonians for 〈…〉 the Articles The Athenians draw the Messenians and Helotes out of Pylus The end of the eleuenth Summer The Lacedemonian Ephores endeuour to dissolue the peace A proposition of a league betweene the Lacedaemonians Argiues Boeotians and Corinthians The Argiues propound a League to the Boeotians and Corinthians And promise to send Ambassadours into Boeotia to that purpose The Boeotians propound an oath betwene themselues the Corinthians Chalcideans and Megareans of mutuall assistance The Argiue league with the Boeotians falleth off Mecyberne taken from the Athenians by assault The Lacedaemonians enter into a League with the Boeotians knowing it to be against Iustice. THE TVVELFTH YEERE The Argiues seeke Peace with the Lacedaemonians The Territory of Cynuria ground of the quarrels betweene Lacedaemon and Argos An odde condition of a Truce The Lacedaemonian Ambassadors require Pylus in exchange for Panactum The Athenians take in euill part both the razing of Panactum and the League made with the Boeotians The Argiues make League with Athens by meanes of Alcibiades The cause why Alcibiades desireth to breake with the Lacedaemonians Alcibiades sendeth for the Argiues to Athens to make a League The Lacedaemonianâ—â—â—â—bassadours â—â—â—bassadours 〈◊〉 to Athens to 〈…〉 their League with the Argiues Alcibiades perswadeth the Lacedaemonian Ambassadors to deny before the people that they had power to conclude Alcibiades inueigheth against the Lacedaemonians Nicias endeuoreth to haue the Peace goe on with the Lacedaemonians Nicias is sent Ambassador to Lacedaemon to get satisfaction about performance of the Articles Nicias was the Author of the Peace betweene the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians and that Peace was therefore called Nicia THE ARTICLES OF THE LEAGVE BETWEENE THE ATHENIANS AND THE ARGIVES c. * Confederates were of two sorts such as on equall 〈◊〉 entred League with other and such as 〈…〉 by compulsion or as subiects both called in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly but not properly Confederates * Beasts offered in sacrifice The Corinthians 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 and encline againe to the Lacedaemonians The Olympian Games * Pancratium consisted â—f wrastlâ—ng and fighting with Fish The Lacedaemonians forbidden the exercises and why * 6â—5 pound sterling * 6 pound 5 shillings sterling Contention between the Lacedaemonians and Eleans before the Grecians at Olympia about a 〈…〉 vpon the Lacedaemonians by the Eleans oâ— breaking the Olympiâ—â—â— Truce Lichas
but belieue it Themistocles when hee saw this wished them not to bee led by reports but rather to send thither some of their owne such as were honest men and hauing informed themselues would relate the truth Which they also did And Themistocles sendeth priuily to the Athenians about the same men to take order for their stay with as little apparence of it as they could and not to dismisse them till their owne Ambassadours were returned For by this time were arriued those that were ioyned with him namely Abronychus the sonne of Lysicles and Aristides the sonne of Lysimachus and brought him word that the Wall was of a sufficient height For hee feared lest the Lacedaemonians when they knew the truth would refuse to let them goe The Athenians therefore kept there those Ambassadours according as it was written to them to doe Themistocles comming now to his audience before the Lacedaemonians said plainely That the Citie of Athens was already walled and that sufficiently for the defence of those within And that if it shall please the Lacedaemonians vpon any occasion to send Ambassadours vnto them they were to send thenceforward as to men that vnderstood what conduced both to their owne and also to the common good of all Greece For when they thought it best to quit their Citie and put themselues into their Gallies he said they were bold to doe it without asking the aduice of them And in Common Counsell the aduice of the Athenians was as good as the aduice of them And now at this time their opinion is that it will bee best both for themselues in particular and for all the Confederates in common that their Citie should bee walled For that in strength vnequall men cannot alike and equally aduise for the common benefit of Greece Therefore said hee eyther must all the Confederate Cities bee vnwalled or you must not thinke amisse of what is done by vs. The Lacedaemonians when they heard him though they made no shew of being angry with the Athenians for they had not sent their Ambassadours to forbid them but by way of aduice to admonish them not to build the Wall besides they bare them affection then for their courage shewne against the Medes yet they were inwardly offended because they missed of their will And the Ambassadours returned home of either side without complaint Thus the Athenians quickly raised their Walles the structure it selfe making manifest the haste vsed in the building For the Foundation consisteth of stones of all sorts and those in some places vnwrought and as they were brought to the place Many Pillars also taken from Sepulchers and polished Stones were piled together amongst the rest For the circuit of the City was set euery way further out and therefore hastening they tooke alike whatsoeuer came next to hand Themistocles likewise perswaded them to build vp the rest of Peiraeus for it was begun in the yeere that himselfe was Archon of Athens as conceiuing the place both beautifull in that it had three naturall Hauens and that beeing now Sea-men it would very much conduce to the enlargement of their power For hee was indeede the first man that durst tell them that they ought to take vpon them the command of the Sea and withall presently helped them in the obtaining it By his counsell also it was that they built the Wall of that breadth about Piraeus which is now to be seene For two Carts carrying stones met and passed vpon it one by another And yet within it there was neither Rubbish nor Morter to fill it vp but it was made all of great stones cut square and bound together with Iron and Lead But for height it was raised but to the halfe at the most of what he had intended For hee would haue had it able to hold out the Enemie both by the height and breadth and that a few and the lesse seruiceable men might haue sufficed to defend it and the rest haue serued in the Nauie For principally hee was addicted to the Sea because as I thinke he had obserued that the Forces of the King had easier accesse to invade them by Sea then by Land and thought that Piraeus was more profitable then the City aboue And oftentimes hee would exhort the Athenians that in case they were oppressed by Land they should goe downe thither and with their Gallies make resistance against what Enemie soeuer Thus the Athenians built their Walles and fitted themselues in other kinds immediately vpon the departure of the Persians In the meane time was Pausanias the sonne of Cleombrotus sent from Lacedaemon Commander of the Grecians with twenty Gallies out of Peloponnesus With which went also 30. Saile of Athens besides a multitude of other Confederates and making Warre on Cyprus subdued the greatest part of the same and afterwards vnder the same Commander came before Byzantium which they besieged and wonne But Pausanias being now growne insolent both the rest of the Grecians and specially the Iönians who had newly recouered their liberty from the King offended with him came vnto the Athenians and requested them for consanguinities sake to become their Leaders and to protect them from the violence of Pausanias The Athenians accepting the motion applyed themselues both to the defence of these and also to the ordering of the rest of the affaires there in such sort as it should seeme best vnto themselues In the meane time the Lacedaemonians sent for Pausanias home to examine him of such things as they had heard against him For great crimes had beene laid to his charge by the Grecians that came from thence and his gouernment was rather an imitation of Tyranny then a Command in Warre And it was his hap to bee called home at the same time that the Confederates all but the Souldiers of Peloponnesus out of hatred to him had turned to the Athenians When he came to Lacedaemon though he were censured for some wrongs done to priuate men yet of the greatest matters he was acquit especially of Medizing the which seemed to bee the most euident of all Him therefore they sent Generall no more but Dorcis and some others with him with no great Army whose command the Confederates refused and they finding that went their wayes likewise And after that the Lacedaemonians sent no more because they feared lest such as went out would proue the worse for the State as they had seene by Pausanias and also because they desired to be rid of the Persian Warre conceiuing the Athenians to bee sufficient Leaders and at that time their friends When the Athenians had thus gotten the Command by the Confederates owne accord for the hatred they bare to Pausanias they then set downe an order which Cities should contribute money for this Warre against the Barbarians and which Gallies For they pretended to repaire the iniuries they had suffered by laying
two haste and anger whereof the one is euer accompanied with madnesse and the other with want of iudgement And whosoeuer maintaineth that words are not instructers to deeds either hee is not wise or doth it vpon some priuate interest of his owne Not wise if hee thinke that future and not apparent things may bee demonstrated otherwise then by words Interessed if desiring to carry an ill matter and knowing that a bad cause will not beare a good speech hee goe about to deterre his opposers and hearers by a good calumniation But they of all others are most intolerable that when men giue publike aduice will accuse them also of bribery For if they charged a man with no more but ignorance when he had spoken in vaine hee might yet depart with the opinion of a foole But when they impute corruption also if his counsell take place he is still suspected and if it doe not take place he shall be held not onely a foole but also voide of honesty The Common-wealth gets no good by such courses for through feare heereof it will want counsellours and the State would doe their businesse for the most part well if this kinde of Citizens were they that had least ability in speaking for they should then perswade the City to the fewer errours For a good Statesman should not goe about to terrifie those that contradict him but rather to make good his counsell vpon liberty of speech And a wise State ought not either to adde vnto or on the other side to derogate from the honour of him that giueth good aduice nor yet punish nay nor disgrace the man whose counsell they receiue not And then neither would hee that lighteth on good aduice deliuer any thing against his owne conscience out of ambition of further honour and to please the Auditory nor hee that doth not couet thereupon by gratifying the people some way or other that hee also may endeere them But wee doe here the contrary and besides if any man be suspected of corruption though hee giue the best counsell that can be giuen yet through enuy for this vncertaine opinion of his gaine we lose a certaine benefit to the Common-wealth And our custome is to hold good counsell giuen suddenly no lesse suspect then bad By which meanes as he that giues the most dangerous counsell must get the same receiued by fraud so also he that giues the most sound aduice is forced by lying to get himselfe beleeued So that the Common-wealth is it alone which by reason of these suspitious imaginations no man can possibly benefit by the plaine and open way without artifice For if any man shall doe a manifest good vnto the Common-wealth he shall presently be suspected of some secret gaine vnto himselfe in particular We therefore that in the most important affaires and amidst these iealousies doe giue our aduice haue need to foresee farther then you that looke not farre and the rather because we stand accountable for our counsell and you are to render no account of your hearing it For if the perswader and the perswaded had equall harme you would be the more moderate Iudges But now according to the passion that takes you when at any time your affaires miscary you punish the sentence of that one onely that gaue the counsell not the many sentences of your owne that were in fault as well as his For my owne part I stood not forth with any purpose of contradiction in the businesse of the Mitylenians nor to accuse any man For wee contend not now if we be wise about the iniury done by them but about the wisest counsell for our selues For how great soeuer be their fault yet I would neuer aduise to haue them put to death vnlesse it bee for our profit nor yet would I pardon them though they were pardonable vnlesse it be good for the Common-wealth And in my opinion our deliberation now is of the future rather then of the present And whereas Cleon contendeth that it will be profitable for the future to put them to death in that it will keepe the rest from rebelling I contending likewise for the future affirme the contrary And I desire you not to reiect the profit of my aduice for the faire pretexts of his which agreeing more with your present anger against the Mitylenians may quickly perhaps win your consent We pleade not iudicially with the Mitylenians so as to need arguments of equity but we consult of them which way we may serue our selues of them to our most aduantage hereafter I say therefore that death hath been in States ordained for a punishment of many offences and those not so great but farre lesse then this Yet encouraged by hope men hazzard themselues Nor did any man euer yet enter into a practice which he knew he could not goe through with And a Citie when it reuolueth supposeth it selfe to be better furnished either of themselues or by their Confederates then it is or else it would neuer take the enterprise in hand They haue it by nature both men and Cities to commit offences nor is there any Law that can preuent it For men haue gone ouer all degrees of punishment augmenting them still in hope to be lesse annoyed by Malefactors and it is likely that gentler punishments were inflicted of old euen vpon the most haynous crimes but that in tract of time men continuing to transgresse they were extended afterwards to the taking away of life and yet they still transgresse And therefore either some greater terrour then death must be deuised or death will not bee enough for coertion For pouerty will alwayes adde boldnesse to necessity and wealth couetousnesse to pride and contempt And the other middle fortunes they also through humane passion according as they are seuerally subiect to some insuperable one or other impell men to danger But Hope and Desire worke this effect in all estates And this as the Leader that as the companion this contriuing the enterprize that suggesting the successe are the cause of most crimes that are committed And being least discerned are more mischieuous then euils seene Besides these two Fortune also puts men forward as much as any thing else For presenting her selfe sometimes vnlookt for she prouoketh some to aduenture though not prouided as they ought for the purpose and specially Cities because they venture for the greatest matters as liberty and dominion ouer others and amongst a generality euery one though without reason somewhat the more magnifies himselfe in particular In a word it is a thing impossible and of great simplicitie to beleeue when humane nature is earnestly bent to doe a thing that by force of Law or any other danger it can be diuerted We must not therefore relying on the security of capitall punishment decree the worst against them nor make them desperate as if there were no place to repent and as soone as they can to cancell their offence For obserue if a Citie reuolted should