Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/80

 ^8 HISTORY OF GREECE of the quarrel to arbitration : and even without such notice, thft political necessity of the step was obvious enough to make the Corinthians anticipate it. Lastly, their proxeni at Athens, Athe- nian citizens who watched over Corinthian interests, public and private, in confidential correspondence with that government, and who, sometimes by appointment, sometimes as volunteers, discharged partly the functions of ambassadors in modern times, would communicate to them the arrival of the Korkyraean envoys. So that, on the day appointed for the latter to be heard before the public assembly, Corinthian envoys were also present to answer them and to oppose the granting of their prayer. Thucydides has given in his history the speeches of both ; that is, speeches of his own composition, but representing in all prob- ability the substance of what was actually said, and of what he perhaps himself heard. Though pervaded throughout by the peculiar style and harsh structure of the historian, these speeches are yet among the plainest and most 'business-like in his whole work, bringing before us thoroughly the existing situation ; which was one of doubt and difficulty, presenting reasons of considerable force on each of the opposite sides. The Korkyraeans, after lamenting their previous improvidence, which had induced them to defer seeking alliance until the hour of need arrived, presented themselves as claimants for the friendship of Athens, on the strongest grounds of common interest and reciprocal usefulness. Though their existing danger and want of Athenian support was now urgent, it had not been brought upon them in an unjust quarrel, or by disgraceful conduct : they had proposed to Corinth a fair arbitration respecting Epidamnus, and their application had been refused, which showed where the right of the case lay ; moreover, they were now exposed single-handed, not to Corinth alone, whom they had already vanquished, but to a for- midable confederacy, organized under her auspices, including choice mariners hired even from the allies of Athens. In granting their prayer, Athens would, in the first place, neutralize this misemployment of her own mariners, and would, at the same time, confer an indelible obligation, protect the cause of right, and secure to herself a most important reinforcement. For, next to her own, the Korkyrsean naval force was the most powerful in