Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/135

 BEGINNING OF THE PELOPONNESIAlT WAK. H Conformably to what is here said, the first blow of the war was struck, not by Athens, but against her. After the decisive answer given to the Spartan envoys, taken in conjunction with the previous proceedings, and the preparations actually going on among the Peloponnesian confederacy, the truce could hardly be said to be still in force, though there was no formal proclama- tion of rupture. A few weeks passed in restricted and mistrust- ful intercourse ;' though individuals who passed the borders did not think it necessary to take a herald with them, as in time of actual war. Had the excess of ambition been on the side of Athens compared with her enemies, this was the time for her to strike the first blow, carrying with it of course great probability of success, before their preparations were completed. But she remained strictly within the limits of the truce, and the disas- trous series of mutual aggressions, destined to tear in pieces the entrails of Hellas, was opened by her enemy and her neighbor. The little town of Platasa, still hallowed by the memorable victory over the Persians, as well as by the tutelary consecration received from Pausanias, was the scene of this unforeseen en- terprise. It stood in Boeotia, immediately north of Kitharon ; on the borders of Attica on one side, and of the Theban ter- ritory on the other, from which it was separated by the river Asopus : the distance between Platasa and Thebes being about seventy stadia, or a little more than eight miles. Though Boeo- tian by descent, the Platceans were completely separated from the Boeotian league, and in hearty alliance, as well as qualified com- munion of civil rights, with the Athenians, who had protected them against the bitter enmity of Thebes, for a period of time now nearly three generations. But in spite of this long pi-escrip- tion, the Thebans, as chiefs of the Boeotian league, still felt themselves wronged by the separation of Platoea : and an oligar- chical faction of wealthy Platasans espoused their cause, 2 with a 1 Thucyd. i, 146. eTre^iyvvvro S 1 ofzuf iv avraif Kal Trap' itjtoiruv, uKr/piiKTUf [lev, uvviroKTUf d' ov- anovfav yap ^vyvc^ TU -yr/vo- [isvc fyv, Kal Trpo^aaif rov tro^efielv. 9 Thucyd. ii, 2, pov7i.6ij.evoi I6taf Ivsna dwapeof uvdpae rf TUV 7ro/Urw rot)f aQiaiv VTTEvavriovf dia&eipat, Kal rrjv TTO^LV rolf B^/Saioif TpoaTroiijaai also iii, 65. avdpec ol irpuroi Kal xpvfiaffi Kal yevet, etc. VOL. VI 80C