Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/303

285 MISJUDGMENT OF THE ATHENIANS. 285 Demosthenes was not sufficient to avert. Those who study the conduct of the Athenian people on this occasion, will not be dis- posed to repeat against them the charge of fickleness which forms one of the standing reproaches against democracy. Their mis- take here arose from the very opposite quality ; from what may be called obtuseness, or inability to get clear of two sentiments which had become deeply engraven on their minds ; ideas of Sicilian conquest, and confidence in Nikias. A little more of this alleged fickleness or easy escape from past associations and impressibility to actual circumstances would have been at the present juncture a tutelary quality to Athens. She would then have appreciated more justly the in- creased hazards thickening around her both in Sicily and at home. War with Sparta, though not yet actually proclaimed, had become impending and inevitable. Even in the preceding winter, the Lacedaemonians had listened favorably to the recom- mendation of Alkibiades 1 that they should establish a fortified post at Dekeleia in Attica. They had not yet indeed brought themselves to execution of this resolve ; for the peace between them and Athens, though indirectly broken in many ways, still subsisted in name, and they hesitated to break it openly, partly because they knew that the breach of peace had been on their side at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war ; attributing to this fault their capital misfortune at Sphakteria. 2 Athens on hei side had also scrupulously avoided direct violation of the Lace- daemonian territory, in spite of much solicitation from her allies at Argos. But her reserve on this point gave way during the present summer, probably at the time when her prospect of taking Syracuse appeared certain. The Lacedaemonians having invaded and plundered the Argeian territory, thirty Athenian tri- remes were sent to aid in its defence, under Pythodorus with two colleagues. This armament disembarked on the eastern coast of Laconia near Prasia? and committed devastations : which direct act of hostility coming in addition to the marauding excursions of the garrison of Pylos, and to the refusal of pacific redress at Athens satisfied the Lacedemonians that the peace had
 * TLucyd. vi, IKJ. 2 Time yd. vii, 18.