Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/306

288 288 IIISTOUV OF GREECE. Corinthians, partly hired Arcadians, partly Sikyonians, under constraint from their powerful neighbors, 1 departed from the northwest of Peloponnesus and the mouth of the Corinthian gulf for Sicily, the Corinthian triremes watching them until they were past the Athenian squadron at Naupaktus. These were proceedings of importance : but the most impor- tant of all was the reinvasion of Attica at the same time by the great force of the Peloponnesian alliance, under the Spartan king Agis son of Archidamus. Twelve years had elapsed since Attica last felt the hand of the destroyer, a little before the siege of Sphakteria. The plain in the neighborhood of Athens was now first laid waste, after which the invaders proceeded to their special purpose of erecting a fortified post for occupation at Dekeleia. The work, apportioned among the allies present, who had come prepared with the means of executing it, was completed during the present summer, and a garrison was established there composed of contingents relieving each other at intervals, under the command of king Agis himself. Dekeleia was situated on an outlying eminence belonging to the range called Parnes, about fourteen miles to the north of Athens, near the termination of the plain of Athens, and commanding an extensive view of that plain as well as of the plain of Eleusis. The hill on which it stood, if not the fort itself, was visible even from the walls of Athens. It was admirably situated both as a central point for excursions over Attica, and for communication with Breotia ; while the road from Athens to Oropus, the main communication with Euboca, passed through the gorge immediately under it. 2 We read with amazement, and the contemporary world saw with yet greater amazement, that while this important work was ac- tually going on, and while the whole Peloponnesian confederacy was renewing its pressure with redoubled force upon Athens, at that very moment, 3 the Athenians sent out, not only a fleet of thirty triremes under Charikles to annoy the coasts of Pelopon- nesus, but also the great armament which they had resolved 1 Thucyd. vii, 19-58. ZIKVUVIOI u.vayKaorol ar ' Thucyd. vii, 19-28, with Dr. Arnold's note. 1 Thucyd. vii, 20. uua rr,s AexeAemf r<p Tcixifff-tti, etc. Compare Isokrate^ iv.t. viii, Do Puce, e. 102, p. 236, Bckk.