Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER XVII FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ATHENIAN MARITIME ASCENDANCY TO THE THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA
- CHAP. XVIII FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE TO THE RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES BETWEEN ATHENS AND CORINTH, WITH A GENERAL VIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF PERICLES
- CHAP. XIX CAUSES AND OCCASIONS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
- CHAP. XX FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR
- CHAP. XXI FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
- CHAP. XXII FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTH YEAR OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE GENERAL PACIFICATION OF SICILY
- CHAP. XXIII FROM THE GENERAL PACIFICATION OF SICILY TO THE PEACE OF NICIAS
- CHAP. XXIV FROM THE PEACE OF NICIAS TO THE CONQUEST OF MELOS
- CHAP. XXV THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF GYLIPPUS IN SICILY
- CHAP. XXVI THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION FROM THE ARRIVAL OF GYLIPPUS TO ITS CLOSE
- APPENDIX
CHAP. XIX - CAUSES AND OCCASIONS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER XVII FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ATHENIAN MARITIME ASCENDANCY TO THE THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA
- CHAP. XVIII FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE TO THE RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES BETWEEN ATHENS AND CORINTH, WITH A GENERAL VIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF PERICLES
- CHAP. XIX CAUSES AND OCCASIONS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
- CHAP. XX FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR
- CHAP. XXI FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
- CHAP. XXII FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTH YEAR OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE GENERAL PACIFICATION OF SICILY
- CHAP. XXIII FROM THE GENERAL PACIFICATION OF SICILY TO THE PEACE OF NICIAS
- CHAP. XXIV FROM THE PEACE OF NICIAS TO THE CONQUEST OF MELOS
- CHAP. XXV THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF GYLIPPUS IN SICILY
- CHAP. XXVI THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION FROM THE ARRIVAL OF GYLIPPUS TO ITS CLOSE
- APPENDIX
Summary
Athens had been permitted to complete the conquest of Samos without hindrance; but the addition which this success made to her power rendered it only the more evident, that peace could not last much longer between her and the Peloponnesian confederacy. Her ambition, the animosity which she had excited in several of the allies of Sparta, and the jealousy of Sparta herself, had reached such a height, that it was clear the Thirty Years Truce was much more likely to be violently abridged, than to lead to a lasting settlement. Nevertheless the two leading states, as if foreseeing the ruinous consequences of their conflict, shrank from striking the first blow, as well as from forfeiting the divine favour by a breach of the treaty. Sparta, as she had been a quiet spectatress of the fall of Samos, rejected an application which was made to her by the Mitylenæans, who, if they could have reckoned on her aid, would have renounced the Athenian alliance, and would probably have engaged the whole island to join in their revolt. According to Theophrastus a sum of ten talents distributed by Pericles every year among the leading Spartans, kept them in a pacific mood. But the expectation which generally prevailed of an approaching renewal of hostilities, contributed to hasten the event. Without it the occurrences which immediately occasioned the disastrous war which we are about to relate, either would not have happened, or would have passed by without such an effect.
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- Information
- A History of Greece , pp. 92 - 124Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1836