Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/254

236 236 HISTORY OF GRKECK. Sparta on special invitation and safe-conduct from the Laced;t>- mouians ; of whom he was at first vehemently afraid, In conse- quence of having raised against them that Peloponnesian combi- nation which had given them so much trouble before the battle of Mantineia. He now appeared, too, burning with hostility against his country, and eager to inflict upon her all the mischief in his power. Having been the chief evil genius to plunge her, mainly for selfish ends of his own, into this ill-starred venture, he was now about to do his best to turn it into her irreparable ruin. His fiery stimulus, and unmeasured exaggerations, supplied what was wanting in Corinthian and Syracusan eloquence, and inflamed the tardy good-will of the Spartan ephors into comparative de- cision and activity. 1 His harangue in the Spartan congress is given to us by Thucydides, who may possibly have heard it, as he was then himself in exile. Like the earlier speech which he puts into the mouth of Alkibiades at Athens, it is characteristic in a high degree ; and interesting in another point of view as the latest composed speech of any length which we find in his history. I give here the substance, without professing to translate the words. " First, I must address you, Lacedemonians, respecting the prejudices current against me personally, before I can hope to find a fair hearing on public matters. You know it was I, who renewed my public connection with Sparta, after my ancestors before me had quarrelled with you and renounced it. Moreover, I assiduously cultivated your favor on all points, especially by attentions to your prisoners at Athens : but while I was showing all this zeal towards you, you took the opportunity of the peace which you made with Athens to employ my enemies as your agents, thus strengthening their hands, and dishonoring me. It was this conduct of yours which drove me to unite with the Ar- geians and Mantineians ; nor ought you to be angry with me for mischief which you thus drew upon yourselves. Probably some of you hate me too, without any good reason, as a forward parti- san of democracy. My family were always opposed to the Pei- of the Spartans; in fact, waiting for a safe-conduct and invitation fiora them. Thucydides mentions nothing about his going to Argos (vi, 88). 1 Thucyd. vi, 88.