Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/148

 32 ALLIANCE. OF ATHENS WITH CORCYRA ■ {l • Such were the words of the Corinthians. 44 The Athenians heard both sides, and they held two „ ^, . ^ assenibhes : in the first of them they I he Alltenians after ' -' some hesitation enter Were more influenced by the words of into a defensive alliance the Corinthians, but in the second they 2^ilt Coreyra. changed their minds and incHned to- wards the Corc3Taeans. They would not go so far as to make an alliance both offensive and defensive with them ; B.C. 433. for then, if the Corcyraeans had required them to join '■ in an expedition against Corinth, the treaty with the Pfloponnesians would have been broken. But they con- cluded a defensive league, by which the two states promised to aid each other if an attack were made on the territory pr on the allies of either. For they knew that in any {^"tase the war with Peloponnesus was inevitable, and they — — —- had no mind to let Coreyra and her navy fall into the - „ ., , hands of the Corinthians. Their plan Motives of the Athe- , ., , iL/,/ riians. was to embroil them more and more with one another, and then, when the war came, the Corinthians and the other naval powers would be weaker. They also considered that Coreyra was conveniently situated for the coast voyage to Italy and Sicily. 45 Under the influence of these feelings, they received the ^, , , , .^ Corcyraeans into alliance ; the Corin- I hey send ten ships •' ' to Coreyra, giving thcni thians departed; and the Athenians orders to act on the de- now despatched to Corc3Ta ten ships jensiue. commanded by Lacedaemonius the son of Cimon, Diotimus the son of Strombichus, and Proteas the son of Epicles. The commanders received orders not to engage with the Corinthians unless they sailed against Coreyra or to any place belonging to the Corcyraeans, and attempted to land there, in which case they were to resist them to the utmost. These orders were intended to prevent a breach of the treaty*. " Cp. i. 40 init.