Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/23

5 ALLIANCE BETWEEN SPAETA AND ATHENS. 5 haps may even have suggested, the idea of a separate alliance between Sparta and Athens, as the only expedient for covering the deficiency ; promising that under that alliance the Spartan captives should be restored. Accordingly, a treaty was concluded between the two, for fifty years ; not merely of peace, but of defensive alliance. Each party pledged itself to assist in repel- ling any invaders of the territory of the other, to treat them as enemies, and not to conclude peace with them without the consent of the other. This was the single provision of the alliance, with one addition, however, of no mean importance, for the security of Lacedremon. The Athenians engaged to lend their best and most energetic aid in putting down any rising of the Helots which might occur in Laconia. Such a provision indicates pow- erfully the uneasiness felt by the Lacedaemonians respecting their serf-population : but at the present moment it was of peculiar value to them, since it bound the Athenians to restrain, if not to withdraw, the Messenian garrison of Pylos, planted there by themselves for the express purpose of provoking the Helots to revolt. An alliance with stipulations so few and simple took no long time to discuss. It was concluded very speedily after the return of the envoys from Amphipolis, probably not more than a month or two after the former peace. It was sworn to by the same individuals on both sides ; with similar declaration that the oath should be annually renewed, and also with similar proviso that Sparta and Athens might by mutual consent either enlarge or contract the terms, without violating the oath. 1 Moreover, the treaty was directed to be inscribed on two columns : one to be set up in the temple of Apollo at Amykke, the other in the temple of Athene, in the acropolis of Athens. The most important result of this new alliance was something ' Thucyd. v, 23. The treaty of alliance seems to have been drawn up at Sparta, and approved or concerted with the Athenian envoys ; then sent to Athens, and there adopted by the people; then sworn to on both sides The interval between this second treaty and the first (oil Tro/Mu iiarepov, v, 24), may have been more than a month; for it comprised the visit of the Lacedaemonian envoys to Amphipolis and the other towns of Thrace, the manifestation of resistance in those towns, and the return of Klearidas to Sparta to give an account of his conduct.