Book 1
The Lacedaemonians, on hearing this, did not let their anger appear to the Athenians; (for they had not sent their embassy to obstruct their designs, but to offer counsel, they said, to their state; Or, as the scholiast explains it, for the good of their state; which is adopted by Arnold. and besides, they were at that time on very friendly terms with them owing to their zeal against the (Mede;) in secret, however, they were annoyed at failing in their wish. So the ambassadors of each state returned home without any complaint being made.
In this way the Athenians walled their city in a short time.
And the building still slows even now that it was executed in haste; for the foundations are laid with stones of all kinds, and in some places not wrought together, but as the several parties at any time brought them to the spot: and many columns from tombs, and wrought stones, were worked up in them. For the enclosure of the city was carried out to a greater extent on every side; and for this reason they hurried on the work, removing every tiling alike.
Themistocles also persuaded them to build the remaining walls of the Piraeus, (they had been begun by him before, at the time of his office as archon, which he had held for a year over the Athenians,) thinking that the site was a fine one, as it contained three natural harbours; and that by becoming a naval people they would make a great advance towards the acquisition of power.
For he was the first who ventured to tell them that they must apply closely to the sea;
and he began immediately to assist in paving the way for their empire. It was by his advice that they built the walls of that thickness which is still seen round the Piraeus; for two waggons meeting each other brought up the stones. And in the inside there was neither rubble nor mortar, but large and square-cut stones wrought together, cramped on the outside with iron and lead. But only about half of the height he intended was finished.
For he wished by their great dimensions and thickness to keep off the attacks of their enemies; and thought that the protection of a few, and those the least efficient troops, would be sufficient, while the rest would go on board their ships.
For to the navy he paid the greatest attention; seeing, I suppose, that the approach of the king's forces against them was easier by sea than by land: and he considered the Piraeus more serviceable than the upper city, and often advised the Athenians, in case of their ever being hard pressed by land, to go down into it, and defy the world with their navy.
Thus then the Athenians were enclosed with walls, and began to furnish themselves with other buildings immediately after the retreat of the Medes.
Now Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, was sent out from Lacedaemon as general of the Greeks with twenty ships from the Peloponnese; there sailed with him also the Athenians with thirty ships, and a large number of the other allies.
And they made an expedition against Cyprus, and subdued the greater part of it; and afterwards against Byzantium, of which the Medes were in possession, and reduced it during this period of his command.
But when he was now acting with violence, the rest of the Greeks were offended, and especially the Ionians, and such as had lately been liberated from the king; and going to the Athenians, they begged them to become their leaders, on the ground of their relationship; and not to overlook it in Pausanias, if in any case he should treat them with violence.
The Athenians received their proposals, and attended to them with a determination not to overlook it, and to settle all other matters as might seem best to them.
At this time the Lacedaemonians sent for Pausanias, to bring him to account for what they had heard of him; for Literally, much guilt was laid to his charge. many charges were brought against him by the Greeks who came to them; and it appeared to be an imitation of a tyranny, rather than the command of a general.
It happened that he was summoned at the very time the allies, through their hatred of him, went over and ranged themselves with the Athenians, except the soldiers from the Peloponnese.
So when he came to Lacedaemon, he was censured for the wrongs he had done to any one individually; but was acquitted, as not guilty, on the heaviest charges. (He was especially accused of medizing, and it appeared to be most clearly established.)
Him they sent out no more as commander, but Dorcis and some others with him, with no great number of troops; but the allies would no longer give up the command to them.
On finding this, they returned; and the Lacedaemonians sent out no others after them; fearing that they might find those who went abroad becoming corrupted, just as they saw in the case of Pausanias; and also because they wished to be rid of the Median war, and considered the Athenians competent to take the lead, and well disposed towards themselves at that time.
The Athenians having in this way succeeded to the command at the wish of the allies, owing to their hatred of Pausanias, arranged which of the states were to furnish money against the barbarian. and which of them ships: for their pretext was to avenge themselves for what they had suffered, by ravaging the king's country.
And the office of treasurers of Greece was then first established by the Athenians; who received the tribute, for so the contribution-money was called. The first tribute that was fixed was 460 talents. Their treasury was at Delos, and their meetings were held in the temple.
Now they led the allies at first as possessing independence, and deliberating in common councils; and executed, both in the field and in their administration of affairs, between this war and the Median, the following undertakings; which were achieved by them against the barbarian, and against their own innovating allies, and those of the Peloponnesians who from time to time came in contact with them in each matter.
I have written an account of these events, and made this digression from my history, because this subject was omitted by all before me; who either wrote the history of Greece before the Median war, or of that war itself: and Hellanicus, who did touch on them in his Attic history, mentioned them but briefly, and not accurately with regard to their chronology. Besides, they also afford For an explanation of ἔχει, in the sense which I have here given to it, see Göller's note on I. 9. 2. an opportunity of showing in what manner the empire of the Athenians was established.
In the first place, Eion on the Strymon, of which the Medes were in possession, was taken by them after a siege, and reduced to slavery, under the command of Cimon, the son of Miltiades.
In the next place, Scyros, the island in the Aegean Sea, which was inhabited by Dolopes, was reduced to slavery, and colonized by themselves.
They had a war also with the Carystians, without the rest of the Euboeans joining in it;
and in course of time they surrendered on conditions. With the Naxians, who had revolted, This is perhaps too strong a term to use with reference to this early period of the Athenian sway, in which ἀφίστασθαι more properly signifies standing aloof (or retiring ) from the confederacy. I have used it, however, for the sake of uniformity; and especially as it is impossible to fix on any particular part of the history, at which the original verb and its cognate substantive began to be used in the more definite and full meaning which they had gradually acquired. they afterwards waged war, and reduced them after a siege; and this was the first allied city that was subjugated contrary to the agreement; then the rest, as each happened.
Now there were other reasons for the revolts, but the principal were arrears of tribute and ships, and failing (if any did so) in military service: for the Athenians strictly exacted these things, and were offensive by usingcompulsion to men who were neither accustomed nor willing to do hard work.
In some other respects also they were no longer liked in their government, as they had been; and while they did not join in the service on an equal footing, at the same time it was easy for them to bring to subjection those who revolted.
And for this the allies themselves were to blame; for owing to this aversion to expeditions, the greater part of them, to avoid being away from home, agreed to contribute money instead of ships as their quota of the expense; and so the fleet of the Athenians was increased from the funds which they contributed, while they themselves, whenever they revolted, found themselves unprepared and inexperienced for war.
After this was fought the battle at the river Eurymedon in Pamphylia, both by land and sea, between the Athenians and their allies and the Medes; and the Athenians were victorious in both engagements on the same day, under the command of Cimon, the son of Miltiades; and took and destroyed in all two hundred triremes of the Phoenicians.
Some time after it happened that the Thasians revolted from them, having quarrelled about the marts on the opposite coast of Thrace and the mine of which they were in possession. And the Athenians, having sailed with their fleet to Thasos, gained the victory in a sea-fight, and made a descent on their land.
About the same time they sent ten thousand settlers of their own citizens and the allies to the Strymon, to colonize what was then called the Nine Ways, but new Amphipolis; and they made themselves masters of the Nine Ways, which was held by the Edones; but having advanced into the interior of Thrace, were cut off at Drabescus, a town of the Edones, by the united Thracians, by whom the settlement of the town of Nine Ways was regarded with hostility.
The Thasians, having been conquered in some engagements, and being invested, called the Lacedaemonians to their aid, and desired that they would assist them by invading Attica.
They promised to do so, without letting the Athenians know, and intended it; but were prevented by the earthquake which took place; on which occasion also they saw the Helots, and the Thurians and oethieans amongst the Perioeci, i.e. the inhabitants of the districts adjacent to the capital; or the dependent Achaian population of Laconia in general, as distinct from their Dorian conquerors, the Spartans. For a fuller account of them see Arnold's note, and Appendix 2. establish themselves in revolt at Ithome. See note on ch. 87. 2. Most of the Helots were the descendants of the old Messenians who were enslaved at that time [with which all are acquainted These words, explanatory of the τότε, are adopted from Göller. ]:
and for this reason the whole body of them were called Messenians. A war then was commenced by the Lacedaemonians against those in Ithome: and the Thasians in the third year of the siege came to terms with the Athenians, throwing down their wall, and delivering up their ships, and agreeing both to pay immediately the sum of money required, and to pay tribute in future, and surrendering their mainland towns and the mine.
The Lacedaemonians, when they found the war against those in Ithome prolonged, called other allies to their aid, and the Athenians also; who went under the command of Cimon with no small force.
They asked their aid, because they were considered to be skilful in conducting sieges: whereas in themselves, from the siege having been so protracted, there seemed to be a deficiency of this skill; for else they would have taken the place by assault.
It was from this expedition that the first open quarrel arose between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians. For the Lacedaemonians, when the place was not taken by storm, fearing the boldness and innovating spirit of the Athenians—and moreover considering that they were of a different race from themselves—lest, if they remained, they might at the persuasion of those in Ithome attempt some revolution, dismissed them alone of all the allies; not letting their suspicion appear, but saying that they were no longer in any need of them.
The Athenians, however, knew that they were dismissed, not on the more creditable reason assigned, but from some suspicion having arisen: and considering it hard usage, and not thinking that they deserved to be so treated by the Lacedaemonians, immediately on their return they broke off the alliance which they had made with them against the Mede, and became allies of the Argives, their enemies. The same oaths also were taken, and the same alliance made by both with the Thessalians.
Those in Ithome, in the tenth year, when they could hold out no longer, surrendered to the Lacedaemonians on condition of their going out of the Peloponnese under truce, and never setting foot on it again;