The furious zeal of Corinth had united her enemies against her,
and they were bent on her ruin. The demands put forward by Sparta were
a mere pretext, and if the Athenians had yielded the smallest point,
new concessions would have been required of them, until they were
stripped of all that had been won by the strenuous toil and devotion of
two generations. "We must listen," said Pericles, in the course of a
long speech, "to no proposal from Sparta which is not made as from an
equal to an equal. Dictation is not arbitration. If we are to fight at
all, the occasion matters little, be it small or great. What right has
Sparta to require of us that we should rescind the decree against
Megara, when her own laws jealously exclude all strangers from entering
her streets? Or why should we relax our hold upon our allies, or break
off the relations with them which were sanctioned by the Thirty Years'
Truce? No, all this is a mere pretence, and if we are deceived by it,
we shall be led on step by step to deeper and still deeper humiliation.
It may seem a hard thing to give up the fair land of Attica to pillage
and devastation. But think how far greater was the sacrifice made by
our grandsires, who refused the fairest offers from Persia, and gave up
all they had, rather than betray the common cause. Athens and Attica
were then all the country they had, and these lost they had nothing
left but their ships, their strong arms, and their stout hearts. In our
case, on the other hand, all the essential elements of our power—our
city, our fleet, our colonial empire—remain untouched. Shall we, then,
sell our honour to save a few vineyards and olive-grounds from
temporary damage? That would be a short-sighted policy indeed, and in
the end would involve not only dishonour, but the loss of our whole
empire. Let us act, then, in the spirit of our fathers, and send away
the Spartan ambassadors with the only answer which is consistent with
our dignity and our interest."
The reply to the Spartan ultimatum was framed as Pericles had directed, and from this moment all negotiations ceased. And here we close our account of the events which led to the Peloponnesian War.
I
On the northern slope of Cithaeron, the mountain range which divides Attica from Boeotia, lies the little town of Plataea. By race and by geographical position the Plataeans were naturally included in the Boeotian confederacy, under the leadership of Thebes. But nearly a century before the time of which we are now speaking they had deserted the Thebans, whose rule was harsh and overbearing, and enrolled themselves among the allies of Athens. On the eve of the battle of Marathon, they had joined the Athenians with their whole force, a thousand strong, and shared the peril and the honour of that glorious day. Ten years later their city was laid in ruins by the army of Xerxes, at the instigation of the Thebans; and in the following year the great battle which ended the long struggle between Greece and Persia was fought within sight of their shattered walls. In gratitude for this great victory, the confederate Greeks under Pausanias declared that the Plataean territory should be hallowed ground, and swore a solemn oath to maintain the independence of the city. But the Thebans had never forgotten or forgiven the secession of Plataea from the confederacy of which they were the leaders; and seizing the opportunity while the Athenians were occupied with measures for their own safety, they made a treacherous attempt to gain possession of the town.
On a dark and moonless night in the early spring three hundred armed Thebans appeared before the gates of Plataea, which were opened to them by a party of the citizens who favoured their design. Marching in a body to the market-place, they made proclamation by a herald, inviting all who chose to return to their allegiance, and take sides with their lawful leaders, the Thebans. For they wished, if possible, to gain over the place without bloodshed, and before the war had actually broken out; otherwise, they might have to give it up again on the conclusion of peace.
The Plataeans, being wakened out of their first sleep, and thinking that the Thebans were in much greater force than was really the case, at first attempted no resistance, but were disposed to accept the terms offered them. But perceiving by degrees that their enemies were far weaker in numbers than themselves, they changed their minds, and resolved to attack them.
