Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/209

 SECOND AXD THIRD YEARS OF THE WAK. 187 power. And they adjure you, by the oaths which your fathers swore to them, not to depart in any way from the alliance." This message awakened in the bosoms of the Plataeans the full force of ancient and tenacious sentiment. They resolved to maintain, at all cost, and even to the extreme of ruin, if necessity should require it, their union with Athens. It was indeed impos- sible that they could do otherwise, considering the position of their wives and families, without the consent of the Athenians ; and though we cannot wonder that the latter refused consent, we may yet remark, that, in their situation, a perfectly generous ally might Avell have granted it. For the forces of Plataea counted for little as a portion of the aggregate strength of Athens ; nor could the Athenians possibly protect it against the superior land-force of their enemies, in fact, so hopeless was the attempt that they never even tried, throughout the whole course of the long subsequent blockade. The final refusal of the Plataeans was proclaimed to Archida- mus, by woi'd of mouth from the walls, since it was not thought safe to send out any messenger. As soon as the Spartan prince heard the answer, he prepared for hostile operations, appar- ently with very sincere reluctance, attested in the following invocation, emphatically pronounced : "Ye gods and heroes, who hold the Plataean territory, be ye my witnesses, that we have not in the first instance wrongfully not until these Platseans have first renounced the oaths bind- ing on all of us invaded this territory, in which our fathers defeated the Persians after prayers to you, and which ye granted as propitious for Greeks to fight in, nor shall we commit wrong in what we may do farther, for we have taken pains to tender reasonable terms, but without success. Be ye now consenting parties : may those who are beginning the wrong receive punish- ment for it, may those who are aiming to inflict penalty right- eously, obtain their object." It was thus that Archidamus, in language delivered probably under the walls, and within hearing of the citizens who manned them, endeavored to conciliate the gods and heroes of that town which he was about to ruin and depopulate. The whole of this preliminary debate, 1 so strikingly and dramatically set forth by 1 Thucyd. ii, 71-75.