Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/176

158 158 HISTOitY OF GRKECE. his colleagues, but that speaking on his first impression, he thought the triremes required must be not less than one hundred, nor the hoplites less than five thousand, Athenians and allies together. There must farther be a proportional equipment of other forces and accompaniments, especially Kretan bowmen and slingers. Enormous as this requisition was, the vote of the people not only sanctioned it without delay, but even went beyond it. They conferred upon the generals full power to fix both the numbers of the armament and every other matter relating to the expedi- tion, just as they might think best for the interest of Athens. Pursuant to this momentous resolution, the enrolment and preparation of tlie forces was immediately begun. Messages were sent to summon sufficient triremes from the nautical allies, as well as to invite hoplites from Argos and Mantineia, and to hire bowmen and slingers elsewhere. For three months, the generals were busily engaged in this proceeding, while the city was in a st/ite of alertness and bustle, fatally interrupted, however, by an i'icident which I shall recount in the next chapter. Considering the prodigious consequences which turned on the expedition of Athens against Sicily, it is worth while to bestow a few reflections on the preliminary proceedings of the Athenian people. Those who are accustomed to impute all the misfor tunes of Athens to the hurry, passion, and ignorance of democ- racy, will not find the charge borne out by the facts which /; have been just considering. The supplications of Egestseans and Leontines, forwarded to Athens about the spring or summer of 4rG B.C., undergo careful and repeated discussion in the public assembly. They at first meet with considerable opposition, but the repeated debates gradually kindle both the sympathies and' the ambition of the people. Still, however, no decisive step is taken without more ample and correct information from the spot, and special commissioners are sent to Egesta for the purpose. Tlvese men bring back a decisive report, triumphantly certifying all that the Egestaeans had promised : nor can we at all wonder that the people never suspected the deep-laid fraud whereby their commissioners had been duped. I'pon the result of that mission to Egesta, the two parties lor and against the projected expedition had evidently joined issue and when the commissioners returned, bearing testimony so de