Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/346

 324 HISTORY OF GREECE. Abydos, which chiefly spurred him on to take revenge on Sparta in her own waters. Nothing less than the satrap's personal presence would have placed at the disposal of Konon either a sufficient naval force, or sufficient funds for the erection of the new walls, and thti defiance of all impediment from Sparta. So strangely did event" thus run, that the energy, by which Derkyllidas preserved Abydos, brought upon Sparta, indirectly, the greater mischief of the new Kononian walls. It would have been better for Sparta that Phar- nabazus should at once have recovered Abydos as well as the rest of his satrapy ; in which case he would have had no wrongs remain- ing unavenged to incense him, and would have kept on his own side of the .^Egean ; feeding Konon with a modest squadron suf- ficient to keep the Lacedaemonian navy from again becoming formi- dable on the Asiatic side, but leaving the walls of Peirgeus (if we may borrow an expression of Plato) " to continue asleep in the bosom of the earth." 1 But the presence of Konon with his powerful fleet was not the only condition indispensable to the accomplishment of this work. It was requisite further, that the interposition of Sparta should be kept off, not merely by sea, but by land, and that, too, during all the number of months that the walls were in progress. Now the barrier against her on land was constituted by the fact, that the confederate force held the cross line within the isthmus from Le- chseum to Kenchrese, with Corinth as a centre. 2 But they were unable to sustain this line even through the ensuing year, during which. Sparta, aided by dissensions at Corinth, broke through it, as will appear in the next chapter. Had she been able to break through it while the fortifications of Athens were yet incomplete, she would have deemed no effort too great to effect an entrance into Attica and interrupt the work, in which she might very proba- bly have succeeded. Here, then, was the second condition, which was realized during the summer and autumn of 393 B. c., but which did not continue to be realized longer. So fortunate was it for Athens, that the two conditions were fulfilled both together during this particular year ! 1 Plate, Legg. vi, p. 778 ; nadevdeiv tpv Iv ry yr) KaraKeifisva ra rei^rj, etc. 3 The importance of maintaining these lines, as a protection to Athene against invasion from Sparta, is illustrated in Xen. Hellen. v, 4, 19, and Andokides Or. iii, De Pace, 8 26.