Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/128

 106 HISTORY OF GREECE. Other Spartan envoys shortly afterwards arrived, with fresh demands. The Athenians were now required : 1. To withdraw their troops from Potidaea. 2. To replace .ZEgina in its autono- my. 3. To repeal the decree of exclusion against the Megarians. It was upon the latter that the greatest stress was laid ; an inti- mation being held out that war might be avoided if such repeal were granted. We see plainly, from this proceeding, that the Lacedaemonians acted in concert with the anti-Periklean leaders at Athens. To Sparta and her confederacy the decree against the Megarians was of less importance than the rescue of the Corinthian troops now blocked up in Potidaea : but on the other hand, the party opposed to Perikles would have much better chance of getting a vote of the assembly against him on the sub- ject of the Megarians : and this advantage, if gained, would serve to enfeeble his influence generally. No concession was obtained, however, on either of the three points : even in respect to Me- gara, the decree of exclusion was vindicated and upheld against all the force of opposition. At length the Lacedaemonians who had already resolved upon war, and had sent these envoys in mere compliance with the exigencies of ordinary practice, not with any idea of bringing about an accommodation sent a third batch of envoys with a proposition, which at least had the merit of disclosing their real purpose without disguise. Rham- phias and two other Spartans announced to the Athenians the simple injunction : " The Lacedaemonians wish the peace to stand ; and it may stand, if you will leave the Greeks autonomous." Upon this demand, so very different from the preceding, the Athenians resolved to hold a fresh assembly on the subject of war or peace, to open the whole question anew for discussion, and to determine, once for all, on a peremptory answer. 1 The last demands presented on the part of Sparta, which went to nothing less than the entire extinction of the Athenian em- pire, combined with the character, alike wavering and insin- 1 Thucyd. i, 39. It rather appears, from the words of Thucydides, that these various demands of the Lacedaemonians were made by one embassy, joined by new members arriving with fresh instructions, but remaining during a month of six weeks, between January and March 431 B.C., installed in the house of the proxenus of Sparta at Athens : compare Xenophon Hellenic. T, 4, 22.