Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/340

 316 fflSTORY OF GEEECE. which they were on the point of mastering during the first mo- ments of consternation, had not the bravery and presence of mind of the young king Archidamus reanimated the surviving citizens and repelled the attack. But though repelled, the insur- gents were not subdued : for some time they maintained the field against the (Spartan force, and sometimes with considerable advantage, since Aeimnestus, the warrior by whose hand Mar- donius had fallen at Platcea, was defeated and slain with three hundred followers in the plain of Stenyklerus, overpowered by superior numbers.^ When at length defeated, they occupied and fortified the memorable hill of Ithome, the ancient citadel of their Messenian forefathers. Here they made a long and obsti- nate defence, supporting themselves doubtless by incursions throughout Laconia: nor was defence difficult, seeing that the Lacedjemonians were at that time confessedly incapable of as- sailing even the most imperfect species of fortification. After the siege had lasted some two or three years, without any pros- pect of su-Ccess, the Lacedtemouians, beginning to despair of their own sufficiency for the undertaking, invoked the aid of their various allies, among whom we find specified the ^ginetans, the Athenians, and the Plat£Eans.2 The Athenian troops are said to have consisted of four thousand men, under the command of Kimon ; Athens being still included in the list of Lacedagmonian allies. So imperfect were the means of attacking walls at that day, even for the most intelligent Greeks, that this increased force made no immediate impression on the fortified hiU of Ithome. And when the Lacedtemonians saw that their Athenian allies were not more successful than they had been themselves, they soon passed from surprise into doubt, mistrust, and apprehension. The troops had given no ground for such a feeling, and Kimon, their general, was notorious for his attachment to Spai'ta ; yet the Lacedfemonians could not help calling to mind the ever-wake- ful energy and ambition of these Ionic strangers, whom they had introduced into the interior of Laconia, together with their own promise — though doubtless a secret promise — to invade Attica, not long before, for the benefit of the Thasians. They even be- ' Herodot. ix. 64. - Thucyd. i^ 102 ; iii, 54 : iv, 57.