Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/114

 92 HISTORY OF GREECE. it was really given 1 ) was, that if they did their best they would be victorious, and that the god would help them, invoked or uninvoked. They at the same time convened a general con- gress of their allies at Sparta, for the purpose of submitting their recent resolution to the vote of all. To the Corinthians, in their anxiety for the relief of Potiduea, the decision of this congress was not less important than that which the Spartans had just taken separately : and they sent round envoys to each of the allies, entreating them to authorize war without reserve. Through such instigations, acting upon the general impulse then prevalent, the congress came together in a temper decidedly warlike : most of the speakers were full of invective against Athens, and impatient for action, while the Corinthians, waiting as before to speak the last, wound up the discussion by a speech well calculated to insure a hearty vote. Their former speech had been directed to shame, exasperate, and alarm the Lacedaemonians : this point had now been carried, and they had to enforce, upon the allies generally, the dishonor as well as the impolicy of receding from a willing leader. The cause, was one in which all were interested, the inland states not less than the maritime, for both would find themselves ultimately victims of the encroaching despot city : whatever efforts were necessary for the war, ought cheerfully to be made, since it was only through war that they could arrive at a secure and honor- able peace. There were good hopes that this might soon be attained, and that the .war would not last long, so decided waa the superiority of the confederacy, in numbers, in military skill, and in the equal heart and obedience of all its members. 2 The 1 Thucyd. i, 118. 6 6s uvslTiev avTolf, uf XeyeTai, etc. ei Trpovxoi'Ta? nal f/nreipia irrtepiKri, en-etra 6/j.oiug Truvrar tf I conceive that the word bpoiuf here alludes to the equal interest of all the confederates in the quarrel, as opposed to the Athenian power, which was composed partly of constrained subjects, partly of hired mercenaries : to both of which points, as weaknesses in the enemy, the Corinthian orator goes on to allude. The word ofioiuc here designates the same fact as Peri- kles, in his speech at Athens (i, 141), mentions under the words iravref the Corinthian orator treats it as an advantage tc have : 11 con-
 * Thucyd. i, 120, 121. Kara iro}.2.u 6e rifiae ct/cdf iTriKparfjaai, Trpurnv t