36. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR, 431-404 B.C.
INEVITABLENESS OF THE WAR
The brilliant Age of Pericles had not come to an end before the two chief powers in the Hellenic world became involved in a deadly war. It would seem that Athens and Sparta, the one supreme upon the sea, the other at the head of the Peloponnesus, might have avoided a struggle which was sure to be long and costly. But Greek cities were always ready to fight one another. When Athens and Sparta found themselves rivals for the leadership of Greece, it was easy for the smouldering fires of distrust and jealousy to flame forth into open conflict. "And at that time," says Thucydides, the Athenian historian who described the struggle, "the youth of Sparta and the youth of Athens were numerous; they had never seen war, and were therefore very willing to take up arms." [19]
[Illustration: Map, GREECE at Opening of the PELOPONNESIAN WAR 431 B.C.]
[Illustration: THE "MOURNING ATHENA" (Acropolis Museum, Athens) A tablet of Pentelic marble. Athena, leaning on her spear, is gazing with downcast head at a grave monument.]
ORIGIN OF THE WAR
The conflict was brought on by Corinth, one of the leading members of the Peloponnesian League and, next to Athens, the most important commercial power in Greece. She had already seen her once-profitable trade in the Aegean monopolized by Athens. That energetic city was now reaching out for Corinthian commerce in Italian and Sicilian waters. When the Athenians went so far as to interfere in a quarrel between Corinth and her colony of Corcyra, even allying themselves with the latter city, the Corinthians felt justly resentful and appealed to Sparta for aid. The Spartans listened to their appeal and, with the apparent approval of the Delphic oracle which assured them "that they would conquer if they fought with all their might," [20] declared war.
RESOURCES OF THE CONTESTANTS
The two antagonists were fairly matched. The one was strong where the other was weak. Sparta, mainly a continental power, commanded all the Peloponnesian states except Argos and Achaea, besides some of the smaller states of central Greece. Athens, mainly a maritime power, ruled all the subject cities of the Aegean. The Spartans possessed the most formidable army then in the world, but lacked money and ships. The Athenians had a magnificent navy, an overflowing treasury, and a city impregnable to direct attack. It seemed, in fact, as if neither side could seriously injure the other.
FIRST STAGE OF THE WAR, 431-421 B.C.
The war began in 431 B.C. Its first stage was indecisive. The Athenians avoided a conflict in the open field with the stronger Peloponnesian army, which ravaged Attica. They were crippled almost at the outset of the struggle by a terrible plague among the refugees from Attica, crowded behind the Long Walls. The pestilence slew at least one-fourth of the inhabitants of Athens, including Pericles himself. After ten years of fighting both sides grew weary of the war and made a treaty of peace to last for fifty years.
THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION, 4l5-4l3 B.C.
Not long after the conclusion of peace the Athenians were persuaded by a brilliant and ambitious politician, named Alcibiades, to undertake an expedition against Syracuse in Sicily. This city was a colony of Corinth, and hence was a natural ally of the Peloponnesian states. The Athenians, by conquering it, expected to establish their power in Sicily. But the siege of Syracuse ended in a complete failure. The Athenians failed to capture the city, and in a great naval battle they lost their fleet. Then they tried to retreat by land, but soon had to surrender. Many of the prisoners were sold as slaves; many were thrown by their inhuman captors into the stone quarries near Syracuse, where they perished from exposure and starvation. The Athenians, says Thucydides, "were absolutely annihilated—both army and fleet—and of the many thousands who went away only a handful ever saw their homes again." [21]
[Illustration: A SILVER COIN OF SYRACUSE The profile of the nymph Arethusa has been styled the most exquisite Greek head known to us.]
LAST STAGE OF THE WAR 413-404 B.C.
Athens never recovered from this terrible blow. The Spartans quickly renewed the contest, now with the highest hopes of success. The Athenians had to guard their city against the invader night and day; their slaves deserted to the enemy; and they themselves could do no farming except under the walls of the city. For supplies they had to depend entirely on their ships. For nearly ten years, however, the Athenians kept up the struggle. At length the Spartans captured an Athenian fleet near Aegospotami on the Hellespont. Soon afterwards they blockaded Piraeus and their army encamped before the walls of Athens. Bitter famine compelled the Athenians to sue for peace. The Spartans imposed harsh terms. The Athenians were obliged to destroy their Long Walls and the fortifications of Piraeus, to surrender all but twelve of their warships, and to acknowledge the supremacy of Sparta.