Summer [II 71–92]

The following summer the Peloponnesians and their allies did not invade Attica but instead launched a campaign against Plataea under the command of Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus and king of the Spartans. After establishing his army's position he was about to start wasting the land, but the Plataeans quickly dispatched envoys to him with the following message:

‘Archidamus and Spartans, this invasion of the territory of Plataea is an act of injustice and one unworthy both of you and of the men who were your fathers. Remember the commitment made by Pausanias son of Cleonbrotus, himself a Spartan, when he had liberated Greece from the Persians with the help of those Greeks who were prepared to share the danger in the battle that was fought on our land. He made sacrifices to Zeus God of Freedom in the market-place of Plataea and, summoning together all the allies, granted the Plataeans the right to hold and occupy their land and city as an independent people; no one was to take up arms against them without just cause or to enslave them; and if they did so the allies present would do everything in their power to defend them. This was the reward your fathers gave us for the courage and commitment we showed at that time of danger. But you are doing just the reverse – you have come here with the Thebans, our worst enemies, intending to make us slaves. We call to witness the gods in whose name we then swore and the gods of your ancestors and of our own country, and we say to you, do not wrong the land of Plataea and do not violate your oaths, but let us live in independence just as Pausanias decreed.’