Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/113

 BEGINNING OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 91 abundance wealth, ships, and horses, but ^ve have good allies, whom we are not to abandon to the rnercy of the Athenians : nor are we to trust our redress to arbitration and to words, when our wrongs are not confined to words. We must help them speedily and with all our strength. Nor let any one tell us that we can with honor deliberate when we are actually suffering wrong, it is rather for those who intend to do the wrong, to deliberate well beforehand. Resolve upon war then, Lacedemo- nians, in a manner worthy of Sparta : suffer not the Athenians to become greater than they are : let us not betray our allies to ruin, but march, with the aid of the gods, against the wrong- doers." With these few words, so well calculated to defeat the pruden- tial admonitions of Archidamus, Sthenelaidas put the question for the decision of the assembly, which, at Sparta, was usually taken neither by show of hands nor by deposit of balls in an urn, but by cries analogous to the Aye or No of the English House of Commons, the presiding ephor declaring which of the cries predominated. On this occasion the cry for war was manifestly the stronger: 1 yet Sthenelaidas affected inability to determine which of the two cries was the louder, in order that he might have an excuse for bringing about a more impressive manifes- tation of sentiment and a stronger apparent majority, since a portion of the minority would probably be afraid to show their real opinions as individuals openly. He accordingly directed a di- vision, like the Speaker of the English House of Commons, when his decision in favor of aye or no is questioned by any member : " Such of you as think that the truce has been vio- lated, and that the Athenians are doing us wrong, go to that side ; such as think the contrary, to the other side." The assembly ac- cordingly divided, and the majority was very great on the warlike eide of the question. The first step of the Lacedaemonians, after coming to this im- portant decision was, to send to Delphi and inquire of the oracle whether it would be beneficial to them to undertake the war: the answer brought back (Thucydides seems hardly certain that iroAefieiv /id^ov 6p^aai t etc.
 * Thucyd. i, 87. ftovhofievof avrotie avepuf u-nodetKvvnevovf vv yvuuyv