Athens.

of a naval war, Aristides, in whom entire confidence, was placed, was chosen both to fix the quotas of the different states, and to perform the office of treasurer. The allies did not ultimately find much reason to congratulate themselves on this new arrangement.

The period, of nearly fifty years, which elapsed from the end of the Persian to the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, is the most splendid in the history of Athens. During this period, she held an undisputed pre-eminence among the states of Greece; yet there occur not, in the events by which it was distinguished, any which were peculiarly remarkable by their magnitude or importance. To prevent the confusion of relating a number of detached incidents, we shall divide them into three parts: Her internal affairs; her maritime operations; and her operations by land.

war.

The rivalship of Themistocles and Aristides continued; but though the latter held now a prominent character in the eyes of Greece, Themistocles was still the most powerful at home. The power of the people, which had long been preponderant in Athens, was greatly strengthened by the issue of the Persian All offices were now laid open to them. It was only by gaining their favour, that any chief could rise to the head of the republic. All therefore vied with each other in flattering them, and in removing every remaining obstacle to their uncontrouled sway. Themistocles continued to administer public affairs with vigour, attending particularly to the improvement of the navy. In time, however, envy and jealousy, with the rising influence of competitors, particularly of Cimon, sapped the foundations of his auThemisto- thority. This soon appeared, when the Lacedemocles banish- nians, always his enemies, preferred an accusation against him, as privy to the treason of Pausanias. It appeared indeed that he had known of it, but he strenuously denied having given his concurrence. A. C. 473. He was banished, however, by the ostracism; was driven, by the combined power of both states, from city to city; and at length forced to take refuge in Persia, where he died.

ed.

A.C. 471.

Cimon.

Aristides died about the same time, universally lamented, (See ARISTIDES.) The whole power then came into the hands of Cimon the son of Miltiades, one of the most illustrious and accomplished characters whom Greece ever produced. He seems to have combined the justice of Aristides with the enterprize of Themistocles. He rather inclined to favour the aristocratical party, which always connected itself with Lacedemon, insomuch that he acquired the surname of Philolacones. Necessity, however, as well as generosity, prompted him to the most profuse distribution of the wealth which he obtained by his conquests in Thrace and Asia Minor. He kept an open table; he allowed indiscriminate admission to his farms and gardens. In process of time, however, he shared the usual lot of the chiefs of Athens. His aristocratical propensities were not welcome to the people, who were now all powerful; and his regard to national justice, often clashed with that. eagerness to grasp at every mode of acquisition, which too much distinguished the foreign policy of Athens. He was accordingly accused for not having, without the least ground, made

war on Macedonia, and he was condemned by the Athens. ostracism.

The

His successor was Pericles. He had supplanted Pericles. his rival by the sedulous practices of all those arts, by which popular favour may be attained. measures, however, which he proposed for this purpose, were far from being either laudable or beneficial to Athens. They consisted in removing every remaining check on the power of the people, already too exorbitant. He contracted greatly the jurisdiction of the Areopagus, which had probably given umbrage to the popular assembly. Still, however, they missed the splendid liberality of Cimon, which Pericles was unable to rival. Out of this dilemma, he extricated himself in a manner equally unjustifiable and pernicious. He persuaded the people to employ, in their private accommodation and amusement, not only the public money, but the common treasury of Greece. It must be owned, however, to have been spent, under his direction, with equal taste and magnificence. He adorned the city with splendid works of art; he encouraged learned men; and the drama, under his auspices, rose to a perfection before unattained. His management of the foreign affairs of the republic, was moderate, wise, and vigorous. Cimon, after five years of banishment, was recalled, but died soon after, leaving the field entirely open to his suc

cessor.

While these changes were going on at home, War with Athens carried on a continued and successful war Persia. against Persia, and all those who adhered to her

cause.

The fine island of Cyprus was first rescued from them; after which Cimon was sent to expel them completely from Thrace, an undertaking which was facilitated by the capture of Byzantium. Eion and Amphipolis, the only towns now remaining to them, were reduced, though the latter made a dreadful resistance; and when all hopes were over, the inhabitants threw themselves, with their wives and children, into the flames, rather than submit.

Cimon, having thus cleared Europe of the com- A. C. 471. mon enemy, sailed into Asia Minor, where, with the aid of the Grecian inhabitants, he drove them completely out of Caria aud Lycia. He was then proceeding to attack Pamphylia, but Artaxerxes, solicitous to preserve his provinces, had fitted out a formidable army and fleet. The former encamped on the banks of the Eurymedon; the latter, of 400 sail, was at the mouth of the river. Cimon immediately Cimon desailed with 250 gallies, attacked the Persian fleet, feats the sunk a great part of it, and captured the rest, which Persians. had vainly sought shelter in the island of Cyprus. About 20,000 troops were found on board, which suggested to Cimon the following stratagem. He dressed his men in the clothes of these Persians, and hastening to the Eurymedon before the news of his victory had reached the Persian camp, procured admittance into it, attacked the army unexpectedly, totally defeated it, and made the greater part prisoners. These two victories, which were gained on the same day, raised Cimon to the utmost height of glory. An immense booty fell into the hands of the

Athens. pletely rivetted the maritime supremacy of Athens. All these enterprises had been carried on by the confederate fleet of Greece, under Athenian commanders. But the allies grew weary of furnishing ships and men; and Athens gladly consented to take this upon herself, on condition of their paying a composition in money. The sum was at first moderate; but Athens, now enjoying the whole maritime power of Greece, raised it at her will.

A. C. 460.

The Egyptians having revolted against the king of Expedition Persia, the Athenians, always ready for any adveninto Egypt. ture, undertook to aid them. The army which they sent was at first successful, defeated the Persian forces, and laid siege to Memphis. When they were worn down, however, by the fatigue of this siege, a new army, commanded by Megabazus, advanced upon them, compelled them to raise it, and to evacuate Egypt. The greater part perished in their retreat through the Lybian desert. Part of their fleet also was surrounded, and cut off by the Phoenicians.

Death of Cimon.

Persia.

These disasters deterred the Athenians, for seven years, from any farther enterprises. On the recal of Cirnon, however, he was sent with a fleet to Cyprus, which had been recovered by the Persians. He was proceeding to execute this commission with his usual, success, when he received, at the siege of Citium, a wound, of which he died.

Artaxerxes, at length, foreseeing nothing but disPeace with aster from the prosecution of an Athenian war, made proposals of peace. Athens obtained the most honourable conditions: the independence of the Grecian colonies in Asia Minor, and the exclusion of all Persian ships from the Grecian seas. Such was the A. C. 449. glorious termination of a war, which had lasted, with little interval, for upwards of fifty years.

ta.

While Greece was thus triumphing over the comDissensions mon enemy, the flame of discord began to rage in her with Spar- own bosom. Sparta beheld, with a jealous eye, a power formerly so inferior, carrying off all the prizes of glory and ambition. She had been thwarted besides in two measures supported by her after the retreat of Xerxes; one, that all those states which had assisted the Persians, should be excluded from the common council of Greece; and the other, that the Ionians should be stransported into Europe, where they would be secure from Persian resentment. Justice seemed to sanction the one measure, and generosity the other. Both, however, were successfully opposed by Themistocles; who conceived that the first would give Sparta too great a preponderance, and that the last would raise up a powerful commercial rival to Athens. These discontents, silently fermenting, would probably have broken out sooner, had not Sparta been occupied at home by a dreadful insurrection of her slaves. The Athenians generously sent troops to her aid, and were highly offended when they found that these had been dismissed, while the troops of the other allies were retained. They took a most extraordinary method of revenging this slight. The Lacedemonians having undertaken an expedition into Phocis, Athens sent a body of troops to the isthmus to cut off their retreat. The Lacedemonians then marched into Boeotia, and threatened Attica. A. C. 446. An army being brought to oppose them, a battle was fought at Tanagra, in which the Athenians were

VOL. III. PART I.

defeated. In consequence of this success, the Thebans were encouraged to apply to Sparta for aid against the smaller towns of Boeotia,which had thrown off their authority, and were protected by Athens. The Spartans accordingly sent a powerful army to their support; but the Athenians, under the conduct of Myronides, an active and able officer, attacked the confederates, though greatly superior in number, and gained a complete victory, which placed all Boeotia at their disposal.

The Athenians, some time after, had another difference with the Lacedemonians,' on the subject of Megara. Plistonax, king of Sparta, marched with an army into Attica; but Pericles, by a bribe of ten talents, persuaded him to return. Pericles, in account. ing for this sum to the people, is said to have stated it as "laid out in a fit manner on a proper occasion:" the first notice we find in history of secret-service money.

About this time the Athenians being applied to for assistance by the Sybarites against the Crotoniats, sent an expedition, which restored the former to their city.

Athens.

Megara was not the only city which threw off the A. C. 440. yoke of Athens; a number of the maritime states, who groaned under her exactions, endeavoured to retrieve the fatal error they had committed, of commuting naval service for money. Pericles, however, with a fleet and army, sailing to each successively, reduced them, and rendered their bondage still heavier than before. He particularly distinguished himself in the expeditions to Euboea and Samos.

the Peloponnesian

war.

The train of dissension, however, was now laid on A. C. 436. the Grecian continent, and required only a spark to Origin of produce a mighty conflagration. That spark was not wanting. A quarrel arising between the Corinthians and Corcyreans, both sides sent ambassadors to request assistance from Athens. An assembly of the people being called, and having heard the arguments of both parties, decided at first in favour of the Corinthians, but afterwards, with characteristic levity, changed to the side of the Corcyreans, whose alliance, as a naval power, appeared likely to be more useful. A squadron was accordingly sent to the aid of the latter people, and assisted them in an obstinate engagement which they maintained against their adversaries. The Corinthians, anxious to find out other employment for the Athenian arms, contrived to excite a rebellion in Chalcidice, one of their finest dependencies, bordering on Thrace and Macedonia. The Potideans, who took the lead in this affair, being attacked by an Athenian fleet and army, received from Corinth an aid of 2000 men, who threw themselves into their city; notwithstanding which, after an obstinate defence, they were reduced to extremity.

The Corinthians, finding themselves thus deeply involved with so formidable an adversary, saw no resource but in the great rival of Athens. They sent ambassadors to Sparta, representing the imminent danger to which that state exposed itself and all Greece, by suffering the Athenians to make such rapid advances in dominion. After an obstinate debate, the Spartans determined to espouse their cause, which was then quickly joined by many other states,

D

stance, joined to difficulty of subsistence, at length Athens. induced the confederate army to withdraw.

Next summer, Attica was exposed to a similar invasion, and the same measures were taken. This year, however, was rendered much more calamitous, A. C. 429. by a dreadful plague which broke out in Athens, and swept away multitudes. Among its victims was Pericles, at a time when his services were most wanted.

Athens. who envied or dreaded the prosperity of Athens. A joint embassy was sent to that city, demanding the liberty of all those Grecian states which she now held in subjection. Other demands were added, which appeared to be still more inadmissible. Pericles advised and procured their rejection. War, however, with so powerful a confederacy, was by no means popular; and the enemies of Pericles laid hold of this opportunity to attack him. Several of his friends were tried and banished; and an accusation was brought forward against himself, for having embezzled the public money. From this charge, however, he cleared himself in such a complete and satisfactory manner, as silenced his accusers, and regained him the popular favour.

A. C. 431. Its commencement.

Meanwhile the Peloponnesian war began by an unsuccessful attempt of the Thebans to surprise Platea. This war possessed characters which distinguished it from almost every other, and which more than doubled the usual calamities of arms. It was as much a civil as a foreign war; for in every city there was a party, and commonly a numerous party, entirely devoted to the enemy. This arose from the difference in form of government between Sparta and Athens; the one inclining strongly to aristocracy, while the other was entirely popular. Each of the two nations, on becoming masters of any city, established in power that party which favoured their own form of government, while the heads of the opposite faction were proscribed or banished. These last again, when a counter revolution took place, had not only their security to provide for, but their vengeance to gratify. Thus boundless scope was given to ambition, party rage, the thirst of revenge; the Grecian cha, racter, according to Thucydides, underwent an entire change; all the ties of nature were trampled upon; and Greece exhibited, during thirty years, a perpetual scene of conflict and calamity.

Almost all Greece took part in this quarrel. Most of the continental states sided with Sparta, which was most powerful by land; Argos, however, with its dependencies, stood neuter, while the Acarnanians, who bordered on Corcyra, and Platea, an ancient ally, espoused the Athenian interest. The Athenians again were assisted, rather through fear than affection, by all the maritime states, comprising the islands and the coast of Asia Minor. Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra, furnished vessels; the rest, money and men.

The Lacedemonians determined, without delay, to avail themselves of their superiority on land, by marching, with their whole forces, into Attica. The Athenians, who had no army which could face them in the field, adopted, by the advice of Pericles, a system of warfare entirely defensive. They withdrew from the country, and leaving it as completely a desert as possible, transported their whole population within the walls of Athens. The confederates arrived, spread themselves over the fields, burnt houses and villages, and attempted, by every insult, to excite the Athenians to leave the city and give them battle. Pericles, however, though with the utmost difficulty, succeeded in retaining them within their walls. Meanwhile he sent a powerful fleet, with troops on board, to ravage the coasts of Peloponnesus. This circum

A new disaster was soon added to those with which Athens was already afflicted. Lesbos, one of the most powerful among its subject-allies, revolted. It had been allowed to retain a greater measure of liberty than the others; but still the yoke was so heavy, that it availed itself of the first opportunity of shaking it off. Buoyed up by promises of aid from the Peloponnesian confederacy, the Lesbians set the power of Athens at defiance. The Athe nians, though at first slow to believe this defection, yet when they could no longer doubt its truth, they made every exertion against their new enemy. They fitted out a powerful armament, which they entrusted to Paches, an able officer. Being assisted by the neighbouring islands, and meeting with no very powerful resistance, they were soon able to blockade Mitylene, the capital of that island. The Lacedemonians, meanwhile, were actively employed in equipping a fleet for its relief. Their operations, however, proceeded with characteristic slowness; and when it was at last fitted out, they entrusted the command to a very ill qualified officer. In consequence of his feeble and dilatory measures, the Mityleneans were obliged, before assistance arrived, to surrender, on the hard condition of their lives being spared only till they should have an opportunity of imploring the mercy of Athens. Their confidence in it, however, was by no means well founded; for on the matter being laid before the people, they immediately passed the inhuman decree, by which all the Mityleneans, fit to bear arms, were to be put to death, and the women and children sold to slavery. Happily, however, this stain on the Athenian name was in some measure obliterated. Next day there was a general relenting, of which the Mitylenean deputies availed themselves to procure the calling of another assembly. This shameful decree, though by too small a majority, was then repealed, and the punishment of death inflicted only on a certain number, who were peculiarly guilty.

During this time, the most horrible dissensions were raging in Corcyra, which terminated in a bloody triumph of the party devoted to Athens. The Athenians then conceived the hope, that, by the aid of the Acarnanians, of a party of revolted Messenians, who had taken refuge at Naupactus, and of the neighbouring islands of Cephalenia and Zacynthus, they might succeed in reducing all Ætolia to subjection. They accordingly overran great part of the country, and even stormed the capital Ægitium; but the Etolians, carrying on a desultory warfare, harassed them to such a degree, that they were obliged to renounce the enterprize, and return, in a very shattered state, to Naupactus. The enemy, however, having in their return ventured to attack, were repulsed and defeated with great loss; which saved

Athens. the reputation of Demosthenes, who commanded the

armament.

Their attempts to penetrate into the country having thus proved abortive, the Athenians, with their allies, next undertook an expedition to the western coast of Peloponnesus. Passing near Pylus, the Messenians were seized with an ardent desire of again establishing themselves in their native seats. Demosthenes could not, at first, persuade his colleagues to enter into this plan; till, a storm happening to Successful drive them to the very spot, it was in a manner forced expedition upon them. They accordingly began to fortify the to Pylus. place with great activity. The Lacedemonians has

tened to assemble their forces, in order to crush, at once, a scheme so alarming. The attack, however, was unsuccessful: their fleet was defeated, and their army repulsed. These disasters were accompanied by another still more serious, which gave a decisive turn to the state of affairs: To forward their operations against Pylus, they had thrown 400 Spartans into Sphacteria, a small island opposite the harbour. After the overthrow of the fleet, this body of men were entirely cut off from the continent. Inconceivable is the dismay which this event excited in Sparta. The Spartans were so few in number, and yet so completely the vital part of the community, that the loss of this small party became a public calamity of the first magnitude. Their pride was humbled; they sent ambassadors to Athens to sue for peace, and even delivered up sixty ships as a pledge of their sincerity. Athens had now an opportunity of terminating the war with equal glory and advantage: but she had no longer a Pericles to guide her councils; they were chiefly governed by Cleon, a worthless haranguer, who raised himself into favour by flattering the worst passions of his countrymen. At his instigation, they made demands so enormous, as convinced the Lacedemonians that they had nothing to hope from negociation. The Athenians even refused, on the most frivolous pretences, to restore the sixty ships, which had been only yielded as a deposit during the negociation.

Meanwhile the reduction of the island did not proceed so rapidly as was expected. It was strong by nature, and the Spartans defended themselves with obstinacy; so that Demosthenes placed his chief confidence in a blockade, which could not be rendered very strict, from the proximity of the opposite shore. Cleon, humouring the natural impatience of a popular assembly, indulged in daily declamation against the generals employed. He concluded by declaring, that, with a little valour, nothing could be more easy than to take it without delay. Upon this Nicias proposed to confer the command upon him. Cleon at first pretended to accept it; but, on finding that the people were really disposed to place him in a situation for which he was conscious of being totally unqualified, he endeavoured to draw back. The people, however, amused at the dilemma into which they imagined him to have fallen, would listen to no apology. Cleon was forced to set out. It so happened, that, by the time of his arrival, Demosthenes had reduced the Spartans on the island to the last extremity, so that in a few days they were

obliged to surrender; and Cleon, to the surprise of Athens. every one, returned in triumph to Athens.

The Athenians now, elated with their good for A. C. 424. tune, lost all moderation, and thought only of extending their power in every direction. Nicias took the important island of Cythera, lying at the south-east point of Laconia. Soon after they took Nisæa, the sea-port of Megara, and ravaged the whole coast of Peloponnesus. Fortune, however, soon began to change. A scheme had been formed to invade Bootia, in concert with the smaller towns of that district, which wished to throw off the dominion of Thebes. The plan, however, was discovered and frustrated; and an Athenian army, advancing to Tanagra, was shamefully defeated. The Boeotians then made themselves masters of Delium.

Meanwhile a still severer storm burst forth on the Revolt of coast of Macedonia and Thrace. The principal the Thratowns in the peninsula of Chaloidice, dreading the cian allies. resentment of Athens, entered into a league with the Lacedemonians, and with Perdiccas, king of Macedon. The former sent, under Brasidas, a force, small indeed, but rendered formidable by the consummate wisdom of its commander. Brasidas passed the straits of Thermopyla, which the supine security of the Athenians prevented them from making any attempt to guard. He then advanced into Chalcidice, and, though feebly supported by Macedon, contrived, by the united power of valour and eloquence, to possess himself of Acanthus, Stagira, and most of the cities on that peninsula, not reducing them to subjection, but establishing in power the party favourable to Lacedemon.. He even gained Amphipolis, a most important town, commanding the navigation of the river Strymon, and the access into the interior of Thrace. The Athenians, who were exulting in all the pride of success, were struck with the deepest dismay by the intelligence of these multiplied disasters. Thucydides, the historian, who had commanded on this station, but with a force wholly inadequate, was recalled and banished; and reinforcements were prepared. The Lacedemonians, however, having prudently taken advantage of this success to solicit an armistice, it was granted, and a negociation entered into. It was soon broken, however, by the clamours of Cleon, who called upon his countrymen to employ his own experienced talents in retrieving the disasters of the republic. He was dispatched accordingly with dispatched accordingly with a respectable force, which enabled him, in the first instance, to take Menda and Torone. Flushed with success, he ventured on a rash attack upon Amphipolis; but here his army was totally defeated, and himself slain. This calamity was only compensated by the death of Brasidas, who fell in the same engagement.

The Athenians, having suffered this loss, and ha- A. C. 421. ving no longer Cleon to urge them into violent mea- Treaty sures, listened to the voice of reason, and, under the with Laceauspices of Nicias, concluded a treaty demon. of peace with the Lacedemonians. In this treaty it was stipulated, that all the places taken on both sides, in the course of the war, should be mutually restored.

This condition has certainly the appearance of being moderate and reasonable; yet it involved, in

Athens. fact, an extensive violation of the most solemn engagements. Each party had gained possession of these towns, not as conquerors, but as allies; they had been uniformly welcomed by one party, whose power they had established by crushing the opposite. This party now complained, that, from being the rulers of their country, they were left exposed to all the resentment of the sovereign state from which they had revolted, and, what was more dreadful, to the vengeance of their fellow citizens, whom they had punished or expelled. The cities of the Chalcidice raised loud outcries against Sparta; they refused to yield to a treaty in which they had not been consulted; and general murmurs arose among the allies of both nations. The Corinthians saw in this crisis an War in Pe- opportunity of acting a distinguished part, by espouloponnesus. sing the cause of the Chalcidian cities, and of all who thought themselves aggrieved by the treaty in question; and their league was joined by Argos, Mantinea, and Elis.

This confederacy seems evidently to have at first been chiefly formed with the view of resisting the pretensions of Athens; yet such was the restless ambition of that republic, that she soon became one of its leading members. So fair an opportunity of humbling the power of Sparta, it was thought, should not be lost. Nicias, the leader of the aristocratical and pacific party, had prevailed for a time, only through the sudden death of Cleon, the leader of the popular party, which was destined to hold perpetual sway in Athens. The place of the latter was soon supplied by a man of far superior talents; by Alcibiades, the greatest orator, the most accomplished gentleman, and the first general, of his age; but whose total want of principle rendered these acquirements, not the safety, but the ruin of himself and of his country. With the view of breaking off the treaty, he is said to have employed an artifice, one of the most shameless that is mentioned in history. Lacedemonian ambassadors arrived, and, being introduced to the senate, shewed full powers to conclude a treaty, not only of peace, but of alliance for the reduction of the mutinous states. Alcibiades, having invited them to his house, after great professions of zeal in their cause, advised them, in order to negociate with greater advantage, to conceal the extent of their powers. Next day, in the assembly of the people, he was the first to demand from them the production of full powers; and when they, in conformity to his private advice, denied that they were possessed of such, he immediately burst into a violent invective, contrasted their present declaration with that of the day before, and, accusing them of falsehood and treachery, procured their immediate dismissal.

War was now kindled in Peloponnesus; but the Athenians acted only the part of auxiliaries. Their favourite object was the extension of their mari time dominion. They reduced Scione, a town of Chalcidice, in the peninsula of Pallene, and avenged, with the most atrocious severity, the revolt of the inhabitants. This cruelty, however, proved rather hurtful to their interests. It roused a spirit of resistance, which, joined to the interference of Perdicias, rendered it impossible for them to make any farther

progress in that quarter. They turned next to an enterprise, the most disgraceful and unjustifiable in which they ever engaged. The island of Melos, one of the finest of the Cyclades, had been peopled by a Lacedemonian colony; yet, notwithstanding its connection with that state, it had, during the whole war, observed the strictest neutrality. The Athenians, however, now sent an armament to take possession of it. They first asked admittance to the assembly of the people: But the Melians, dreading their eloquence, and the contagious character of popular government, chose rather to admit them to an audience of the senate. The conference which took place is preserved by Thucydides, and gives a most curious, but most unfavourable view of the foreign politics of Athens. The only thing like a right which her ambassadors urge, is founded on their having delivered Greece from Persian invasion, whence they infer that they are entitled to command it. Being pressed, however, on this subject, they decline any discussion on the justness of the proceeding, and openly appeal to the law of the strongest. The Melians then endeavour to persuade them, that their own interest would not be promoted by so violent a proceeding. The reply of the Athenians discovers the most unbounded confidence in their own good fortune, and in the power of their state, which nothing, they apprehended, can shake. The Melians, finding entreaties and argument fruitless, prepared to defend themselves by force of arms. Their resistance was long and vigorous; but, the island being at length taken, the Athenians completed their iniquity, by putting to death all the males above the age of fourteen, and selling the rest as slaves.

Athens.

Reduction

of Melos.

dertake an

Sicily.

Such a violent and flagitious system soon hurried A C. 416. them on to their ruin. The island of Sicily had, The Athefor some time past, been desolated by violent internal nians unwars. In these the Athenians had repeatedly taken expedition a share; but so unwelcome was their interference, to that it had united all the states of the island in a league for the exclusion of strangers. From this, none dissented except the city of Egesta, which had incurred the resentment of Syracuse and Selinus; apprehensive of being crushed by whom, the Egestans sought the alliance of Athens. They gave, at the same time, an exaggerated statement of the resources, particularly pecuniary, which they them. selves could supply. Nothing could be more impru dent for the Athenians, than to engage, at such a juncture, in a war almost equal in magnitude to the Peloponnesian. They were scarcely at peace with Sparta, which would doubtless avail itself of the first favourable opportunity of humbling them. They had a mighty rebellion to suppress, of their own dependencies, in the Chalcidice. But with the Athenians, always sanguine and adventurous, always aiming at what they did not possess, and thinking of aggrandizement rather than of safety, such considerations had little influence. Masters of Sicily, they would soon become masters of all Greece; nor was there any stretch of greatness to which they might not attain. Alcibiades, with all the young men devoted to him, and, in general, all the leaders of the popular party, strenuously supported a measure, from which the cautious prudence of Nicias in vain at