Book 5
Not long after this envoys came from the Argives with the proposals that have been mentioned; and the boeotarchs assented to their proposals and sent them away with a promise to dispatch envoys to Argos to negotiate the alliance.
In the meantime it was determined by the boeotarchs and the Corinthians, the Megarians, and the envoys from Thrace, first, to bind themselves by oaths one to another, that assuredly when occasion offered they would assist the one that needed help and would not go to war with anyone or make peace without a common agreement; and that then and only then the Boeotians and the Megarians—for they were acting in concertcf. 5.31.6.— should make a treaty with the Argives.
But before the oaths were sworn the boeotarchs communicated these resolutions to the four councils of the Boeotians which have supreme authority, and recommended that oaths be exchanged with such cities as wished to take oaths with them for mutual assistance.
But the members of the Boeotian council did not accept the proposal, fearing that they might offend the Lacedaemonians by taking oaths with the Corinthians who had seceded from their confederacy. For the boeotarchs did not tell them what had happened at Lacedaemon—that it was the ephors, Cleobulus and Xenares, and their own friends who advised them first to become allies of the Argives and Corinthians, and then in conjunction with these to become allies of the Lacedaemonians; for they thought that the council,The four councils here doubtless considered as one body. without their making any such statement, would not vote for any other course than that which they had previously resolved upon and now recommended.
But now, when this difficulty arose, the Corinthians and the envoys from Thrace went away without accomplishing their purpose; and the boeotarchs, who had before intended, if they carried these measures, to try to effect also the alliance with the Argives, did not now bring before the councils the matter concerning the Argives, nor did they send to Argos the envoys they had promised; and there was neglect and delay in the whole business.
In the course of this same winter, the Olynthians by a sudden attack captured MecybernaA port town of Olynthus; cf. 5.18.7. which was garrisoned by the Athenians.
After this, while conferences were continually going on between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians about places belonging to one or the other which they respectively held, the Lacedaemonians, in the hope that, if the Athenians should get back Panactum from the Boeotians, they themselves might recover Pylos, sent envoys to the Boeotians and begged them to deliver up Panactum and the Athenian prisoners to themselves, in order that they might recover Pylos in exchange for these.
But the Boeotians refused to give them up, unless they would make a separate alliance with them just as with the Athenians. Now the Lacedaemonians knew that they would thereby be wronging the Athenians, inasmuch as it was stipulated not to make either peace or war with anyone without mutual consent, yet they wished to obtain Panactum in order to recover Pylos in exchange for it. Besides, the party that was eager to break the treaty was zealous for the connection with the Boeotians. So they concluded the alliance, when the winter was closing and the spring at hand; and the demolition of Panactum was immediately begun. So ended the eleventh year of the war.
At the very beginning of the followingMarch, 420 B.C. summer, when the envoys whom the Boeotians promised to send did not come, the Argives, perceiving that Panactum was being demolished and a private alliance had been made by the Boeotians with the Lacedaemonians, began to fear that they would be left alone and the whole confederacy would go over
to the Lacedaemonians. For they thought that the Boeotians had been persuaded by the Lacedaemonians to raze Panactum and to accede to the treaty with the Athenians, and that the Athenians knew these things, so that it was no longer possible for them to make an alliance even with the Athenians; whereas they had formerly hoped that if their treaty with the Lacedaemonians should not continue they might at any rate, in consequence of the differences,ie. of the Lacedaemonians and Athenians. become allies
of the Athenians. Being then in such perplexity and fearing lest they might have war at once with the Lacedaemonians and Tegeates, the Boeotians and the Athenians, the Argives, who before this had not accepted the treaty with the Lacedaemonians but proudly hoped to have the hegemony of the Peloponnesus, now sent to Lacedaemon in all haste two envoys, Eustrophus and Aeson, who seemed likely to be most acceptable to them, thinking it best under the present circumstances to make a treaty with the Lacedaemonians in whatever way might be feasible and to have quiet.
On their arrival their envoys made proposals to the Lacedaemonians as to the terms on which the treaty should be concluded.
At first the Argives claimed that they should be allowed to submit to the arbitration of some city or private person the matter of the Cynurian territory—a district containing the towns of Thyrea and Anthene and occupied by the Lacedaemonians—which being border ground they were always disputing about. Afterwards, however, although the Lacedaemonians would not permit them to make mention of that district, but said that, if they wished to make a treaty on the same terms as before, they were ready to do so, the Argive envoys did induce the Lacedaemonians to agree to the following terms: for the present that a treaty should be made for fifty years; that, however, either Lacedaemon or Argos, provided there were at the time neither pestilence nor war in either place, might challenge the other to decide by battle the question about this territory—just as once before,550 B.C.; cf. Hdt. I. lxxxii. when each had claimed to be victorious—but pursuit must not be made beyond the boundaries, between Argos and Lacedaemon.
At first this seemed to the Lacedaemonians mere folly, but afterwards, as they desired under any circumstances to have Argos friendly to them, they accepted the conditions demanded and joined in a written agreement. But the Lacedaemonians urged the envoys first, before any of the provisions should be regarded as settled, to return to Argos and lay the matter before the people, and then, if it should be satisfactory to them, to come to the Hyacinthian festival and take the oaths. So they withdrew.
In the meantime, while the Argives were negotiating these matters, the Lacedaemonian envoys, Andromenes, Phaedimus and Antimenidas, who were to take over Panactum and the prisoners from the Thebans and restore them to the Athenians, found that Panactum had been destroyed by the Boeotians themselves, on the pretext that once in former times, when there had been a quarrel about Panactum, oaths had been exchanged between the Athenians and Boeotians, that neither should inhabit the district, but they should graze it in common. As for the men of the Athenians, however, whom the Boeotians held as prisoners, Andromenes and his colleagues received these from them, and bringing them back restored them to the Athenians. They also told them of the demolition of Panactum, claiming that this, too, was a restoration; for thereafter no one hostile to the Athenians would dwell in it.
The moment this was said the Athenians were very indignant, thinking that they were wronged by the Lacedaemonians, both in the demolition of Panactum, which ought to have been restored to them intact, and because they heard that the Lacedaemonians had made a separate alliance with the Boeotians, although they had said beforecf. 5.35.3. that they would join in coercing any that did not accept the treaty. And they took into consideration the other matters wherein the Lacedaemonians had failed in their contract and in which they thought they had been deceived; and so they gave the envoys an angry answer and sent them away.
As now the Lacedaemonians were thus at variance with the Athenians, the party at Athens that wished to annul the treaty at once became urgent in pressing their views.
To this party belonged, among others, Alcibiades son of Cleinias, a man who, though as regards his age he would in any other city have been accounted even at that time as still young,Born about 450 B.C., and so now about thirty years of age. was held in honour on account of the worth of his ancestors. To him it seemed really to be better to side with the Argives; it was not that alone, however, for he also opposed the treaty because he was piqued in his pride because the Lacedaemonians had negotiated it through Nicias and Laches, overlooking him on account of his youth and not showing him the respect that was due him on account of the old proxeny that once existedcf. 6.89.2; Plut. Alcib. xiv. in his family. This relationship, though his grandfather had renounced it, he himself was by his attentions to their captives from Sphacteria now planning to renew.
And so considering himself in every way slighted, he both spoke against the treaty in the first instance, alleging that the Lacedaemonians were not to be trusted, but that their object in making the treaty was, that by concluding a treaty with the Athenians they might utterly overthrow the Argives and then proceed against the Athenians when thus isolated; and at the present time, after the difference had occurred, he promptly dispatched a message to Argos privately, bidding them come as quickly as possible, along with the Mantineans and Eleans, and invite the Athenians to form an alliance, as the moment was favourable and he himself would cooperate to the utmost.
When the Argives received this message and realized that the alliance with the Boeotians had been made without the consent of the Athenians, but that these were involved in a serious quarrel with the Lacedaemonians, they took no further thought about their envoys at Lacedaemon, who had gone thither on the matter of the treaty, and gave their attention rather to the Athenians, thinking that a city which had been of old friendly to them and was governed by a democracy, just as they were, and possessed great power on sea, would enter the war along with them, should they be involved in war. Accordingly, they at once sent envoys to Athens to negotiate the alliance;
and there went with them also envoys of the Eleans and Mantineans.
But thither came, too, in all haste, envoys of the Lacedaemonians who were thought to be acceptable to the Athenians, Philocharidas, Leon, and Endius, for there was fear that the Athenians in their anger might make the alliance with the Argives; and the envoys were also to demand the restoration of Pylos in place of Panactum, and to say at the same time, in excuse for the Boeotian alliance, that it had not been made with a view to injuring the Athenians.
Speaking in the senate on these points, and saying that they had come with full power to settle all their differences, they filled Alcibiades with alarm lest, if they should say the same things to the assembly, they should win over the people and the Argive alliance might be rejected. So he adopted the following device against them:
He persuaded the Lacedaemonians, by pledging them his faith, that, if they would not admit before the assembly that they had come with full powers, he would restore Pylos to them—for he himself would use his influence with the Athenians for them as now he opposed them— and would settle the other points at issue.
He resorted to such methods because he wished to detach them from Nicias, and in order that he might accuse them before the assembly of having no sincere intentions and of never saying the same things, and thereby might effect an alliance with the Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans.
And so it turned out. For when, on coming before the popular assembly and being asked whether they had come with full powers, they answered “No,” contrary to what they had said in the senate, the Athenians could endure it no longer, but hearkened to Alcibiades, who inveighed against the Lacedaemonians far more than before, and were ready at once to bring in the Argives and their confederates and conclude an alliance. But before anything was ratified an earthquake occurred, and this assembly was adjourned.
In the assembly on the next day, however, Nicias, although, as the Lacedaemonians had themselves been deceived, so he too had been deceived in the matter of their admission that they had not come with full powers, nevertheless still maintained that they ought to become friends with the Lacedaemonians rather than with the Argives; and accordingly he proposed that, deferring the question of the Argive alliance, they should again send envoys to the Lacedaemonians and find out what their intentions were. He urged the view that the postponement of hostile operations was honourable for themselves but humiliating for the Lacedaemonians; for as matters stood well for themselves, it was best to preserve their good fortune as long as possible, whereas for the Lacedaemonians, who were in hard luck, it would be clear gain to risk a decisive contest as quickly as possible.
So he persuaded them to send envoys, himself being one, to urge the Lacedaemonians, if they had any just intentions, to restore Panactum intact and Amphipolis, and to give up the alliance with the Boeotians—unless these should accede to the treaty—in accordance with the stipulation which had been arrived at that neither should enter into an agreement with any third party without the consent of the other.
The ambassadors were instructed also to say that, if the Athenians had wished to do wrong, they would already have made the Argives allies, as their envoys were present for that very purpose;
and any other complaints which they had to make they included in their instructions to Nicias and his colleagues and then despatched them to Sparta. When these had arrived and had finished reciting their other demands, they said in conclusion that, unless the Lacedaemonians should give up the alliance with the Boeotians, in case these would not accede to the treaty, they themselves would make an alliance with the Argives and their confederates. But the Lacedaemonians refused to give up the alliance with the Boeotians— the party of Xenares the ephor and all the rest that were of that view carrying their point to this effect—but the oaths they renewed on Nicias' request; for he was afraid that he would return with nothing accomplished and be exposed to calumny, as indeed happened, since he was generally regarded as having been responsible for the treaty with the Lacedaemonians.
On his return, when the Athenians heard that nothing had been done at Lacedaemon, they flew into a rage, and thinking they had been wronged, when Alcibiades brought in the Argives and their allies, who chanced to be present, they made an alliance with them on the following terms:
1. "The Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans have made a treaty with one another for a hundred years, on behalf of themselves and the allies over whom they have authority respectively, to be observed without fraud or hurt both by land and sea. 2.
"It shall not be allowed to bear arms with harmful intent, either for the Argives, Eleans, Mantineans and their allies against the Athenians and the allies over whom the Athenians have authority, or for the Athenians and the allies over whom the Athenians have authority against the Argives, Eleans, Mantineans and their allies, by any art or device. 3.
"The Athenians, Argives, Eleans, and Mantineans shall be allies for a hundred years on the following terms: If an enemy invade the territory of the Athenians, the Argives, Eleans and Mantineans shall bring aid to Athens, according as the Athenians may send them word, in whatever way they can most effectually, to the limit of their power; but if the invaders shall have ravaged the land and gone, that city shall be hostile to the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and Athenians, and shall suffer at the hands of all these states;
and to discontinue hostilities against that state shall not be allowed to any one of these states, unless all agree. 4. "Likewise the Athenians shall bring aid to Argos and to Mantinea and Elis, if an enemy come against the territory of the Eleans or that of the Mantineans or that of the Argives, according as these states send word, in whatever way they can most effectually, to the limit of their power; but if the invader shall have ravaged the land and gone, that city shall be hostile to the Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, and shall suffer ill at the hands of all these states;
and to discontinue hostilities against that state shall not be allowed to any one of these states, unless all agree. 5. "It shall not be permitted to pass under arms with hostile intent through their own territory or that of the allies over whom they severally have authority, nor by sea, unless passage shall have been voted by all of these states, Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans. 6.
"For the relieving force the state which sends for them shall furnish provisions for thirty days after their arrival in the state which sent for succour, and in like manner on their return; but if they wish to use the army for a longer period, the city which sends for it shall furnish provisions for heavy-armed or light-armed troops or bowmen, three Aeginetan obolsAbout 8d. or 16 cents. per day, and for a cavalryman one Aeginetan drachma.About 1s. 4d. or 32 cents.7.
"The state which sent for the troops shall have command whenever the war is in its territory. But if it shall seem good to all the states to make a joint expedition anywhere, all the states shall share the command equally. 8.
"The Athenians shall swear to the treaty for themselves and their allies, but the Argives, Mantineans, Eleans, and their allies shall swear to it individually by states. And they shall severally swear the oath that is most binding in their own country, over full-grown victims. And the oath shall be as follows:
'I will abide by the alliance in accordance with its stipulations, justly and without injury and without guile, and will not transgress it by any art or device.' 9. "The oath shall be sworn at Athens by the senate and the homeie. those whose functions were restricted to the city. magistrates, the prytanes administering it; at Argos by the senate and the eighty and the artynae, the eighty administering the oath; at Mantinea by the demiurgi and the senate and the other magistrates, the theori and the polemarchs administering the oath; at Elis by the demiurgi and the six hundred, the demiurgi and the thesmophylaces administering the oath. 10.