Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/214

 192 HISTORY OP GREECE. menaced that of all the rest. The last formal requisition botne by the Lacedaemonian envoys to Athens in the winter immediate- ly preceding the war, ran thus, "If you desire the continuance of peace with Sparta, restore to the Greeks their autonomy." 1 When Archidamus, king of Sparta, approached at the head of his army to besiege Platoea, the Plataeans laid claim to autonomy as having been solemnly guaranteed to them by King Pausanias after the great victory near their town. Upon which Archidamus replied, " Your demand is just ; we are prepared to confirm your autonomy, but we call upon you to aid us in securing the like for those other Greeks who have been enslaved by Athens. This is the sole purpose of our great present effort." 2 And the banner of general enfranchisement, which the Lacedaemonians thus held up at the outset of the war, enlisted in their cause encouraging sympathy and good wishes throughout Greece. 3 But the most striking illustration by far, of the seductive pro- mises held out by the Lacedaemonians, was afforded by the con- duct of Brasidas in Thrace, when he first came into the neighbor- hood of the Athenian allies during the eighth year of the war (424 B. c.). In his memorable discourse addressed to the public as- sembly at Akanthus, he takes the greatest pains to satisfy them that he came only for the purpose of realizing the promise of enfran- chisement proclaimed by the Lacedaemonians at the beginning of the war. 4 Having expected, when acting in such a cause, nothing 1 Thucyd. i, 139. Compare Isokrates, Or. iv, Panegyr. c. 34, s. 140; Or. V, (Philipp.) s. 121 ; Or. xiv, (Plataic.) s. 43. 2 Thucyd. ii, 72. TlapaoKevr/ (5e roaijde KOI TroAe/iOf -ye-yKvrjTat avruv Read also the speech of the Theban orator, in reply to the Platsean, after the capture of the town by the Lacedaemonians (iii, 63). 3 Thucyd. ii, 8. // <5e evvoia irapu Tro/li) irroiei TUV uv&puiruv fiaT ioi)f AaKe6aifj.ovlovf, u/Wwf re KO.I TrpoemovTuv on ri/v 'E/U.<ida aiv. See also iii, 13, 14 the speech of the envoys from the revolted Mitylend, to the Lacedaemonians. The Lacedaemonian admiral Alkidas with his fleet, is announced as cros- sing over the JEgean to Ionia for the purpose of " liberating Greece ; " ac- cordingly, the Samian exiles remonstrate with him for killing his prisoners, as in contradiction with that object (iii, 32) iXeyov ov Kahur ^v 'E/^uda ifa.v&spovv avrbv, el 'ivdpae difydetpev, etc. 4 Thucyd iv, 85. H pev l&rtfftfff itov KOI rr/r aTpariiit; vxb A.aKefa>*oviav,