435. Naval victory over the Corinthians by the Corcyræans, near Actium.
432. Ambassadors from Corcyra implore the aid of Athens, which series a fleet to defend the island against the Corinthian attack. Corinth incites Potidæa to revolt from Athens.
431. Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta declares on the side of Corinth and makes war on Athens. The real cause of the war—which was to be so disastrous to Greece—was that Sparta and its allies were jealous of the great power Athens had attained. Sparta was an oligarchy and a friend of the nobles everywhere; Athens was a democracy and the friend of the common people; so that the war was to some extent a struggle between these classes all over Greece.
430. ["GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS." See ii, 34]. The physician Hippocrates distinguishes himself by extraordinary cures of the sick.
Second invasion of Attica by the Spartans.
429. Death of Pericles, during the plague, at Athens.
Potidæa reduced by the Athenians.
Birth of Plato.
428. Attica invaded the third time.
Lesbos revolts from the Athenian confederacy; on this the Athenians besiege Mitylene.