History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides (classic literature books .TXT) 📗
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army of invasion, but in an enemy’s country it should also be
accompanied by the precautions of apprehension: troops will by this
combination be best inspired for dealing a blow, and best secured
against receiving one. In the present instance, the city against which
we are going, far from being so impotent for defence, is on the
contrary most excellently equipped at all points; so that we have
every reason to expect that they will take the field against us, and
that if they have not set out already before we are there, they will
certainly do so when they see us in their territory wasting and
destroying their property. For men are always exasperated at suffering
injuries to which they are not accustomed, and on seeing them
inflicted before their very eyes; and where least inclined for
reflection, rush with the greatest heat to action. The Athenians are
the very people of all others to do this, as they aspire to rule the
rest of the world, and are more in the habit of invading and
ravaging their neighbours’ territory, than of seeing their own treated
in the like fashion. Considering, therefore, the power of the state
against which we are marching, and the greatness of the reputation
which, according to the event, we shall win or lose for our
ancestors and ourselves, remember as you follow where you may be led
to regard discipline and vigilance as of the first importance, and
to obey with alacrity the orders transmitted to you; as nothing
contributes so much to the credit and safety of an army as the union
of large bodies by a single discipline.”
With this brief speech dismissing the assembly, Archidamus first
sent off Melesippus, son of Diacritus, a Spartan, to Athens, in case
she should be more inclined to submit on seeing the Peloponnesians
actually on the march. But the Athenians did not admit into the city
or to their assembly, Pericles having already carried a motion against
admitting either herald or embassy from the Lacedaemonians after
they had once marched out.
The herald was accordingly sent away without an audience, and
ordered to be beyond the frontier that same day; in future, if those
who sent him had a proposition to make, they must retire to their
own territory before they dispatched embassies to Athens. An escort
was sent with Melesippus to prevent his holding communication with any
one. When he reached the frontier and was just going to be
dismissed, he departed with these words: “This day will be the
beginning of great misfortunes to the Hellenes.” As soon as he arrived
at the camp, and Archidamus learnt that the Athenians had still no
thoughts of submitting, he at length began his march, and advanced
with his army into their territory. Meanwhile the Boeotians, sending
their contingent and cavalry to join the Peloponnesian expedition,
went to Plataea with the remainder and laid waste the country.
While the Peloponnesians were still mustering at the Isthmus, or
on the march before they invaded Attica, Pericles, son of
Xanthippus, one of the ten generals of the Athenians, finding that the
invasion was to take place, conceived the idea that Archidamus, who
happened to be his friend, might possibly pass by his estate without
ravaging it. This he might do, either from a personal wish to oblige
him, or acting under instructions from Lacedaemon for the purpose of
creating a prejudice against him, as had been before attempted in
the demand for the expulsion of the accursed family. He accordingly
took the precaution of announcing to the Athenians in the assembly
that, although Archidamus was his friend, yet this friendship should
not extend to the detriment of the state, and that in case the enemy
should make his houses and lands an exception to the rest and not
pillage them, he at once gave them up to be public property, so that
they should not bring him into suspicion. He also gave the citizens
some advice on their present affairs in the same strain as before.
They were to prepare for the war, and to carry in their property
from the country. They were not to go out to battle, but to come
into the city and guard it, and get ready their fleet, in which
their real strength lay. They were also to keep a tight rein on
their allies—the strength of Athens being derived from the money
brought in by their payments, and success in war depending principally
upon conduct and capital. had no reason to despond. Apart from other
sources of income, an average revenue of six hundred talents of silver
was drawn from the tribute of the allies; and there were still six
thousand talents of coined silver in the Acropolis, out of nine
thousand seven hundred that had once been there, from which the
money had been taken for the porch of the Acropolis, the other
public buildings, and for Potidaea. This did not include the
uncoined gold and silver in public and private offerings, the sacred
vessels for the processions and games, the Median spoils, and
similar resources to the amount of five hundred talents. To this he
added the treasures of the other temples. These were by no means
inconsiderable, and might fairly be used. Nay, if they were ever
absolutely driven to it, they might take even the gold ornaments of
Athene herself; for the statue contained forty talents of pure gold
and it was all removable. This might be used for self-preservation,
and must every penny of it be restored. Such was their financial
position—surely a satisfactory one. Then they had an army of
thirteen thousand heavy infantry, besides sixteen thousand more in the
garrisons and on home duty at Athens. This was at first the number
of men on guard in the event of an invasion: it was composed of the
oldest and youngest levies and the resident aliens who had heavy
armour. The Phaleric wall ran for four miles, before it joined that
round the city; and of this last nearly five had a guard, although
part of it was left without one, viz. , that between the Long Wall
and the Phaleric. Then there were the Long Walls to Piraeus, a
distance of some four miles and a half, the outer of which was manned.
Lastly, the circumference of Piraeus with Munychia was nearly seven
miles and a half; only half of this, however, was guarded. Pericles
also showed them that they had twelve hundred horse including
mounted archers, with sixteen hundred archers unmounted, and three
hundred galleys fit for service. Such were the resources of Athens
in the different departments when the Peloponnesian invasion was
impending and hostilities were being commenced. Pericles also urged
his usual arguments for expecting a favourable issue to the war.
The Athenians listened to his advice, and began to carry in their
wives and children from the country, and all their household
furniture, even to the woodwork of their houses which they took
down. Their sheep and cattle they sent over to Euboea and the adjacent
islands. But they found it hard to move, as most of them had been
always used to live in the country.
From very early times this had been more the case with the Athenians
than with others. Under Cecrops and the first kings, down to the reign
of Theseus, Attica had always consisted of a number of independent
townships, each with its own town hall and magistrates. Except in
times of danger the king at Athens was not consulted; in ordinary
seasons they carried on their government and settled their affairs
without his interference; sometimes even they waged war against him,
as in the case of the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus. In
Theseus, however, they had a king of equal intelligence and power; and
one of the chief features in his organization of the country was to
abolish the council-chambers and magistrates of the petty cities,
and to merge them in the single council-chamber and town hall of the
present capital. Individuals might still enjoy their private
property just as before, but they were henceforth compelled to have
only one political centre, viz. , Athens; which thus counted all the
inhabitants of Attica among her citizens, so that when Theseus died he
left a great state behind him. Indeed, from him dates the Synoecia, or
Feast of Union; which is paid for by the state, and which the
Athenians still keep in honour of the goddess. Before this the city
consisted of the present citadel and the district beneath it looking
rather towards the south. This is shown by the fact that the temples
of the other deities, besides that of Athene, are in the citadel;
and even those that are outside it are mostly situated in this quarter
of the city, as that of the Olympian Zeus, of the Pythian Apollo, of
Earth, and of Dionysus in the Marshes, the same in whose honour the
older Dionysia are to this day celebrated in the month of Anthesterion
not only by the Athenians but also by their Ionian descendants.
There are also other ancient temples in this quarter. The fountain
too, which, since the alteration made by the tyrants, has been
called Enneacrounos, or Nine Pipes, but which, when the spring was
open, went by the name of Callirhoe, or Fairwater, was in those
days, from being so near, used for the most important offices. Indeed,
the old fashion of using the water before marriage and for other
sacred purposes is still kept up. Again, from their old residence in
that quarter, the citadel is still known among Athenians as the city.
The Athenians thus long lived scattered over Attica in independent
townships. Even after the centralization of Theseus, old habit still
prevailed; and from the early times down to the present war most
Athenians still lived in the country with their families and
households, and were consequently not at all inclined to move now,
especially as they had only just restored their establishments after
the Median invasion. Deep was their trouble and discontent at
abandoning their houses and the hereditary temples of the ancient
constitution, and at having to change their habits of life and to
bid farewell to what each regarded as his native city.
When they arrived at Athens, though a few had houses of their own to
go to, or could find an asylum with friends or relatives, by far the
greater number had to take up their dwelling in the parts of the
city that were not built over and in the temples and chapels of the
heroes, except the Acropolis and the temple of the Eleusinian
Demeter and such other Places as were always kept closed. The
occupation of the plot of ground lying below the citadel called the
Pelasgian had been forbidden by a curse; and there was also an ominous
fragment of a Pythian oracle which said:
Leave the Pelasgian parcel desolate,
Woe worth the day that men inhabit it!
Yet this too was now built over in the necessity of the moment. And in
my opinion, if the oracle proved true, it was in the opposite sense to
what was expected. For the misfortunes of the state did not arise from
the unlawful occupation, but the necessity of the occupation from
the war; and though the god did not mention this, he foresaw that it
would be an evil day for Athens in which the plot came to be
inhabited. Many also took up their quarters in the towers of the walls
or wherever else they could. For when they were all come in, the
city proved too small to hold them; though afterwards they divided the
Long Walls and a great part of Piraeus into lots and settled there.
All this
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