Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/310

286 have been as well if the former at least could have been established on a true federal basis, even at some small expense of autonomy to the cities; for the direction taken by the league was towards empire, not federation, and the Spartan alliance eventually followed suit. But the cities would not readily unite in any really useful or permanent federation, and their unwillingness gave the leading State the chance and the excuse to use force to compel them to do it. Now both force and a leading State are elements unnatural to a federation, and the ultimate result was in this case not federation but an Athenian empire.

The transformation of the Delian confederacy into the empire of Athens is thus of the utmost importance in the history of the City-State. We do not know exactly by what successive steps the change was brought about, but we have sufficient material to estimate its nature and its influence on the life of the. To begin with, we can gain a tolerably clear idea of the character of the confederacy of Delos from Thucydides' own words: —

"Thus the Athenians by the good-will of the allies, who detested Pausanias, obtained the leadership. They immediately fixed which of the cities should supply money and which of them ships for the war against the barbarians, the avowed object being to compensate themselves and the allies for their losses by devastating the king's country. Then was first instituted at Athens the office of Hellenic treasurers (Hellenotamiai), who received the tribute, for so the impost was termed. The amount was originally fixed at 460 talents. The island of Delos was the treasury, and the meetings of