Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/130

 iOtj HISTORY OF GREECE. At the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, near fifty years after these events, the Corinthian envoys reminded Sparta that she had allowed Xerxes time to arrive from the extremity of the earth at the threshold of Peloponnesus, before she took any adequate precautions against him : a reproach true almost to the letter.! It was only when roused and terrified by the news of the death of Leonidas, that the Lacedaemonians and the other Peloponnesians began to put forth their full strength. But it ■was then too late to perform the promise made to Athens, of tak- ing up a position in Boeotia so as to protect Attica. To defend the isthmus of Corinth was all that they now thought of, and seemingly all that was now open to them : thither they rushed •with all their available population under the conduct of Kleom- brotus, king of Sparta (brother of Leonidas), and began to draw fortifications across it, as well as to break up the Skironian road from Megara to Coiinth, with every mark of anxious energy. The Lacedaemonians, Arcadians, Eleians, Corinthians, Sikyoni- ans, Epidaurians, Phliasians, Trcezenians, and Hermionians, were all present here in full numbers ; many myriads of men (bodies of ten thousand each) working and bringing materials night and day .2 As a defence to themselves against attack by land, this was an excellent position: they considered it as their last chance,3 abandoning all hope of successful resistance at sea. But they forgot that a fortified isthmus was no protection even to themselves against the navy of Xerxes,4 while it professedly threw out not only Attica, but also Megara and JEgiaa. And thus rose a new peril to Greece from the loss of Thermopylae : no other position could be found which, like that memorable strait, comprehended and protected at once all the separate cities. The disunion thus produced brought them within a hair's breadth of ruin. If the causes of alarm were great for the Peloponnesians, yet more desperate did the position of the Athenians appear. Ex- pecting, according to agreement, to find a Peloponnesian army in knl TleloTTOWTjaov Du^ovra, nplv ra na^ vnuv dftuf npoaTravr^aai. ' Herodot. viii, 71. ffwdpaftovreg Ik tuv no2,iuv. • Herodot. viii, 74. * Herodot. vii, 139,
 * Thucyd. i, 69. rov re yap M^iJov avrol lofiev dirt) TzepaTuv yrig nporepov