Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/134

 112 HISTORY OF GREECE. seventy cities, many of them separately powerful, which sent dep uties to it j 1 an aggregate sufficient to intimidate Sparta, and eve? 1 to flatter Athens with the hope of restoration to something like hei former lustre. The first votes both of Athens herself, and cf the newly-assem- bled congress, threatened war upon the largest scale. A resolution was passed to equip twenty thousand hoplites, five hundred horse- men, and two hundred triremes. 2 Probably the insular and Ionic deputies promised each a certain contribution of money, but noth- ing beyond. We do not, however, know how much, nor how far the engagements, large or small, were realized, nor whether Athens was authorized to enforce execution against defaulters, or was in circumstances to act upon such authority, if granted to her by the congress. It was in this way (as the reader will recol- lect from my fifth volume) that Athens had first rendered herself unpopular in the confederacy of Delos, by enforcing the reso- lutions of the confederate synod against evasive or seceding mem- bers. It was in this way that what was at first a voluntary asso- ciation had ultimately slid into an empire by constraint. Under the new circumstances of 378 B. c., we may presume that the con- federates, though ardent and full of promises on first assembling at Athens, were even at the outset not exact, and became after- wards still less exact, in performance ; yet that Athens was forced to be reserved in claiming, or in exercising, the right of enforce- ment. To obtain a vote of contribution by the majority of depu- ties present, was only the first step in the process ; to obtain punc- tual payment, when the Athenian fleet was sent round for the purpose of collecting, yet without incurring dangerous unpopu- larity, was the second step, but by far the most doubtful and difficult. It must, however, be borne in mind that at this moment, when the confederacy was first formed, both Athens and the other cities 1 Diodor. xv, 30 2 Diodor. xv, 29. Polybius (ii, 62) states that the Athenians sent out (not merely, toted fa send out) ten thousand hoplites, and manned one hundred triremes. Both these authors treat the resolution as if it were taken by the Athe- nians alone ; but we must regard it in conjunction with the newly- assem- bled synod of allies.