The Complete Works of Thucydides
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Athenians any assistance which they may demand of them, in the most effectual manner, and to the utmost of their power. And if the enemy spoil their territory and depart, the offending city shall be an enemy to Argos, Mantinea, Elis, and Athens, and suffer at the hands of all these cities; and it shall not be lawful for any of them to make peace with the offending city, unless they have the consent of all the rest. And if enemies shall invade the territory of the Eleans or Argives or Mantineans, the Athenians shall go to Argos, Mantinea, or Elis, and render these cities any assistance which ...more
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‘VI. The Athenians shall swear to the peace on their own behalf and on that of their allies; the Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, and their allies shall swear city by city. The oath shall be taken over full-grown victims, and shall be that oath which in the countries of the several contracting parties is deemed the most binding. The form of oath shall be as follows: “I will be true to the alliance, and will obse...
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[48] Thus the peace and the alliance were concluded. Nevertheless the previous treaty between the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians was not on that account renounced by either party. The Corinthians, although allies of the Argives, took no part in the new alliance; they had already refused to swear to an offensive and defensive alliance which the Eleans, Argives,
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and Mantineans had previously made with one another. They said that they were satisfied with the original defensive alliance which bound them only to assist one another when attacked, but not to join in offensive movements. Thus the Corinthians severed themselves from the allies, and were again beginning to turn their thoughts to the Lacedaemonians.
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Thus, or nearly thus, went the battle, by far the greatest of Hellenic battles which had taken place for a long time, and fought by the most famous cities.
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‘It seems good to the Lacedaemonian assembly to make an agreement with the Argives on the following terms:
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When the Argives had accepted these propositions in the first instance, the Lacedaemonian army returned home from Tegea. The two states now began to hold intercourse with one another, and not long afterwards the same party which had negotiated the treaty contrived that the
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Argives should renounce their alliance with Mantinea, Athens, and Elis, and make a new treaty of alliance with Lacedaemon on the following terms:
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Thus the peace and the alliance were concluded, and the Lacedaemonians and Argives settled with each other any difference which they had about captures made in the war, or about any other matter. They now acted together, and passed a vote that no herald or embassy should be received from the Athenians, unless they evacuated the fortifications which they held in Peloponnesus and left the country; they agreed also that they would not enter into alliance or make war except in concert. They were very
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energetic in all their doings, and jointly sent ambassadors to the Chalcidian cities in Thrace, and to Perdiccas whom they persuaded to join their confederacy. He did not, however, immediately desert the Athenians, but he was thinking of deserting, being influenced by the example of the Argives; for he was himself of Argive descent.
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When the Argives deserted the alliance the Mantineans held out for a time, but without the Argives they were helpless, and so they too came to terms with the Lacedaemonians, and gave up their claim to supremacy over the cities in Arcadia which had been subject to them. Next the Lacedaemonians and the Argives, each providing a thousand men, made a joint expedition: first the Lacedaemonians went alone and set up a more oligarchical government at Sicyon; then they and the Argives uniting their forces put down the democracy at Argos, and established an oligarchy which was in the interest of the ...more
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[82] In the ensuing summer the Dictidians in Mount Athos revolted from the Athenians to the Chalcidians; and the Lacedaemonians resettled the affairs of Achaia upon a footing more favourable to their interests than hitherto.
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Such were the words of Nicias. Most of the Athenians who came forward to speak were in favour of war, and reluctant to rescind the vote which had been already passed, although a few took the other side. The most enthusiastic supporter of the expedition was Alcibiades the son of Cleinias; he was determined to oppose Nicias, who was always his political enemy and had just now spoken of him in disparaging terms; but the desire to command was even a stronger motive with him. He was hoping that he might be the conqueror of Sicily and Carthage; and that success would repair his private fortunes, and ...more
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objected to his private habits; and so they speedily shipwrecked the state. He now came forward and spoke as follows:
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Such were the words of Alcibiades. After hearing him and the Egestaeans and certain Leontine exiles who came forward and earnestly entreated assistance, reminding the Athenians of the oaths which they had sworn, the people were more than ever resolved upon war. Nicias, seeing that his old argument would no longer deter them, but that he might possibly change their minds if he insisted on the magnitude of the force which would be required, came forward again and spoke as follows:
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Thus spoke Athenagoras. Whereupon one of the generals rose, and suffering no one else to come forward, closed the discussion himself in the following words:
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Nicias went up and down, and addressed the following words to all and each of the various peoples who composed the army:
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Nicias having thus exhorted his men led them at once to the charge. The Syracusans did not expect that they would have to fight just at that
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moment, and some of them had even gone away into the city, which was close at hand; others came running up as fast as they could, and, although late, joined the main body one by one at the nearest point.
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An assembly of the Camarinaeans was held, at which Hermocrates, hoping to raise a prejudice against the Athenians, spoke as follows:
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We Syracusans
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Thus spoke Hermocrates. Euphemus, the Athenian envoy, replied as follows:
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‘Now to a tyrant or to an imperial city nothing is inconsistent which is expedient, and no man is a kinsman who cannot be trusted. In each case we must make friends or enemies according to circumstances, and here our interest requires, not that we should weaken our friends, but that our friends should be too strong for our enemies. Do not mistrust us. In Hellas we act upon the same principle, managing our allies as our interest requires in their several cases.
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We rule over the cities of Hellas in order to maintain our independence, and we emancipate the cities of Sicily that they may not be used against us. And we are compelled to adopt a
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policy of interference because we have many interests to guard. Lastly, we come now, as we came before, not uninvited, but upon your own invitation to assist those of you who are suffering wrong. Do not sit in judgment upon our actions, or seek to school us into moderation and so divert us from our purpose, (the time for good advice has gone by), but in as far as our busy, meddlesome spirit can be of service to you as well as to ourselves, take and use us, remembering that these qualities, so far from being injurious to all alike, actually benefit great numbers of the Hellenes. For in all ...more
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the best way of observing their oaths would be to assist neither. So the two embassies departed.
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and Alcibiades appeared simultaneously in the Lacedaemonian assembly,
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Alcibiades came forward and stimulated the energies of the Lacedaemonians in the following words:
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Thus spoke Alcibiades:
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In the following winter the messengers from Nicias arrived at Athens. They delivered their verbal instructions, and answered any questions which were put to them. They also presented his letter, which the registrar of the city, coming forward, read to the Athenian people. It ran as follows:
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‘Athenians, in many previous despatches I have reported to you the course of events up to this time, but now there is greater need than ever that you should inform yourselves of our situation, and come to some decision. After we had engaged the Syracusans, against whom you sent us, in several battles, and conquered in most of them, and had raised the lines within which we are now stationed, Gylippus, a Lacedaemonian arrived, bringing an army from Peloponnesus and from certain of the cities of Sicily. In the first engagement he was defeated by us, but on the following day we were overcome by ...more
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at least by land; and the more so because we cannot go far even into the country, for we are prevented by their horsemen. [12] ‘Moreover they have sent ambassadors to Peloponnesus asking for reinforcements, and Gylippus has gone to the cities in Sicily intending to solicit those who are at present neutral to join him, and to obtain from his allies fresh naval and land forces. For they purpose, as I hear, to attack our walls by land, and at the same time to make an effort at sea. And let no one be startled when I say “at sea.” Our fleet was originally in first-rate condition: the ships were ...more
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‘Even if we had a great superiority in the number of our ships, and were not compelled as we are to employ them all in keeping guard, we could hardly have the like advantage. For our supplies have to pass so near the enemy’s city that they are with difficulty conveyed to us now, and if we relax our vigilance ever so little we shall lose them altogether.
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‘It has been, and continues to be the ruin of our crews, that the sailors, having to forage and fetch water and wood from a distance, are cut off by the Syracusan horse, while our servants, since we have been reduced to an equality with the enemy, desert us. Of the foreign sailors, some who were pressed into the service run off at once to the Sicilian cities; others, having been originally attracted by high pay, and fancying that they were going to trade and not to fight, astonished at the resistance which they encounter, and especially at the naval strength of the enemy, either find an excuse ...more
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‘You to whom I am writing know that the crew of a vessel does not long remain at its prime, and that the sailors who really start the ship and keep the rowing together are but a fraction of the whole number. The most hopeless thing of all is that, although I am general, I am not able to put a stop to these disorders, for tempers like yours are not easily controlled, and that we cannot even fill up the crews, whereas the enemy can obtain recruits from many sources. Our daily waste in men and stores can only be replaced out of the supplies which we brought with us; and these we have no means of ...more
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Sicily from the Peloponnesus or Corinth. The Sicilian envoys had now arrived at Corinth, and the Corinthians had heard from them that affairs were looking better in Sicily. Seeing how opportune had been the arrival of the ships which they had already despatched they were more zealous than ever. They prepared to convey hoplites to Sicily in merchant-vessels; the Lacedaemonians were to do the like from Peloponnesus. The Corinthians also proceeded to man twenty-five ships of war, intending to hazard a naval engagement against the Athenian squadron stationed at Naupactus. They hoped that, if the ...more
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the eighteenth year in the Peloponnesian War of which Thucydides wrote the history.
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But although the Syracusans were unsuccessful in the sea-fight, still they had taken the fortresses of Plemmyrium. They erected three trophies, one for each fort. Two out of the three forts they repaired and garrisoned, but one of the two which were captured last they demolished. Many perished and many prisoners were made at the capture of the forts, and abundant spoil of different kinds was taken, for the Athenians had used them as a store, and much corn and goods of traders were deposited in them; also much property belonging to the trierarchs, including the sails and other fittings of forty ...more
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and whereas the Hellenes generally were expecting at the beginning of the war, some that they would survive a year, others two or perhaps three years, certainly not more, if the Peloponnesians invaded Attica — that in the seventeenth year from the first invasion, after so exhausting a struggle, the Athenians should have been strong enough and bold enough to go to Sicily at all, and to plunge into a fresh war as great as that in which they were already engaged — how contrary was all this to the expectation of mankind! Through the vast expense thus incurred, above all through the mischief done ...more
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For their expenses became heavier and heavier as the war grew in extent, and at the same time their sources of revenue were drying up.
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But in a night engagement, like this in which two great armies fought — the only one of the kind which occurred during the war — who could be certain of anything? The moon was bright, and they saw before them, as men naturally would in the moonlight, the figures of one another, but were unable to distinguish with certainty who was friend or foe.
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a word, he wholly disapproved of the Athenians continuing in their present position; they should with all speed break up the siege and be gone. Eurymedon took the same side.
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Still Nicias resisted; there was delay and hesitation, and a suspicion that he might have some ground which they did not know for his unwillingness to yield. And so the Athenians stayed on where they were.
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the point of sailing, when the moon, being just then at the full, was eclipsed. The mass of the army was greatly moved, and called upon the generals to remain. Nicias himself, who was too much under the influence of divination and such like, refused even to discuss the question of their removal until they had remained thrice nine days, as the soothsayers prescribed. This was the reason why the departure of the Athenians was finally delayed.
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So the winter ended, and with it the nineteenth year in the Peloponnesian War of which Thucydides wrote the history.
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So the winter ended, and with it the twentieth year in the Peloponnesian War of which Thucydides wrote the history.
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Then Alcibiades appears to have done as eminent a service to the state as any man ever did. For if the Athenians at Samos in their excitement had been allowed to sail against their fellow-citizens, the enemy would instantly have obtained possession of Ionia and the Hellespont. This he prevented, and at that moment no one else could have restrained the multitude: but he did restrain them, and with sharp words protected the envoys against the fury of individuals in the crowd. He then dismissed them himself with the reply that he had nothing to say against the rule of the Five Thousand, but that ...more
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restored. If they had reduced the expenditure in order that the soldiers on service might be better off for supplies, he highly approved. For the rest he entreated them to stand firm, and not give way to the enemy; if the city was preserved, there was good hope that they might be reconciled amongst themselves, but if once anything happened either to the army at Samos or to their fellow-citizens at home, there would be no one left to be reconciled with.
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For the instant an oligarchy is established the promoters of it disdain mere equality, and everybody thinks that
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he ought to be far above everybody else. Whereas in a democracy, when an election is made, a man is less disappointed at a failure because he has not been competing with his equals. The influence which most sensibly affected them were the great power of Alcibiades at Samos, and an impression that the oligarchy was not likely to be permanent. Accordingly every one was struggling hard to be the first champion of the people himself.