Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/422

 400 HISTORY OF GREECE. The Athenians were soon apprized of this stolen passage, sc ably and rapidly executed, in a manner which few other Greeks, certainly no other Lacedaemonian, would have conceived to be possible. Aware of the new enemy thus brought within reach of their possessions in Thrace, they transmitted orders thither for greater vigilance, and at the same time declared open wai against Perdikkas ;' but unfortunately without sending any effi- cient force, at the moment when timely defensive intervention was imperiously required. Perdikkas immediately invited Bra- sidas to join him in the attack of Arrhibaeus, prince of the Mac- edonians, called Lynkestae, or of Lynkus; a summons which the Spartan could not decline, since Perdikkas provided half of the pay and maintenance of the army, but which he obeyed with reluctance, anxious as he was to commence operations against the allies of Athens. Such reluctance was still farther strengthened by envoys from the Chalkidians of Thrace, who, as zealous enemies of Athens, joined him forthwith, but discour- aged any vigorous efforts to relieve Perdikkas from embarrassing enemies in the interior, in order that the latter might be under more pressing motives to conciliate and assist them. Accordingly Brasidas, though he joined Perdikkas, and marched along with the Macedonian army towards the territory of the Lynkestze, was not only averse to active military operations, but even enter- tained with favor propositions from Arrhibaeus, wherein the latter expressed his wish to become the ally of Lacedajmon, and offered to refer all his differences with Perdikkas to the arbitra- tion of the Spartan general himself. Communicating these prop- ositions to Perdikkas, Brasidas invited him to listen to an equita- ble compromise, admitting Arrhibaeus into the alliance of Lace- daemon. But Perdikkas indignantly refused : " He had not called in Brasidas as a judge, to decide disputes between him and his enemies, but as an auxiliary, to put them down wherever he might point them out : and he protested against the iniquity of Brasidas in entering into terms with Arrhibasus, while the Lace- daemonian army was half paid and maintained by him," (Perdik kas. 2 ) Notwithstanding such remonstrances, and even a hostile protest, Brasidas persisted in his intended conference with Arrhi- 1 Thucyd. iv 82. 2 Thucyd. iv, 8. Q