Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning his account at the very moment hostilities commenced. He believed this would prove to be a...

There is another factor that significantly reinforces my belief in the weakness of ancient times. Before the Trojan War, there is no evidence of any unified action throughout Greece, nor was the name ...

Even today, many regions of Greece still maintain these ancient customs—the Ozolian Locrians, the Aetolians, the Acarnanians, and that part of the mainland. Among these mainland peoples, the practice ...

The islanders were also notorious pirates. These were Carians and Phoenicians who had colonized most of the islands, a fact proven by later evidence. When Athens purified Delos during this war, all th...

Agamemnon ruled a land-based empire; without naval power, he could not have controlled any islands except those nearest the mainland (which would have been few in number)....

From this expedition we can draw conclusions about earlier military ventures. Now, Mycenae may have been a modest settlement, and many cities from that era might seem relatively insignificant today, b...

Even after the Trojan War, Greece remained caught up in migrations and resettlement, unable to achieve the stability necessary for development. The delayed return of the Greeks from Troy sparked numer...

As the power of Greece expanded and the pursuit of wealth became increasingly important, state revenues grew substantially. This economic growth led to the establishment of tyrannies nearly everywhere...

The naval forces of the Greeks during the period I have outlined were as I have described them. Despite their relative weakness, these fleets represented the greatest source of power for those who dev...

Eventually, however, the time arrived when Sparta permanently overthrew the tyrannies of Athens and the much older tyrannical regimes throughout Greece—except for those in Sicily. Although Sparta expe...

Having presented my findings about ancient times, I acknowledge that believing every specific detail will prove challenging. Most people handle traditions—even those of their own homeland—by accepting...

Concerning the speeches recorded in this history, some were delivered before the war began, others during its course. Some I heard personally, while others were reported to me from various sources. In...

The Persian Wars, though they represented the greatest accomplishment of earlier times, reached their conclusion swiftly through just two naval battles and two land engagements. In contrast, the Pelop...

The city of Epidamnus lies to the right as one enters the Ionian Gulf. The surrounding region is populated by the Taulantians, an Illyrian tribe. This city was established as a colony by Corcyra, with...

These accumulated grievances made Corinth eager to deliver the promised assistance to Epidamnus. They publicly recruited volunteer colonists and assembled a military force consisting of Ambraciots, Le...

When the Corcyraeans learned of these preparations, they sent a delegation to Corinth, accompanied by envoys from Sparta and Sicyon whom they had convinced to join them. They demanded that Corinth wit...

Following the naval engagement, the Corcyraeans erected a victory monument on Leukimme, a promontory of Corcyra, and executed all their prisoners except the Corinthians, whom they held as prisoners of...

Athenians! When a state that has never before provided significant aid or support to its neighbors—service for which they might now claim repayment—comes before them as we do today seeking assistance,...

There are numerous compelling reasons why you will have cause to congratulate yourselves if you accept our proposal. First, you will be extending aid to a state that has committed no offense against o...

If Corinth claims that it's improper for you to accept her colony as an ally, she should understand that while colonies honor their mother cities when treated well, they become alienated through unjus...

However, your true policy should be to give us open support and assistance. The benefits of this approach, as we stated at the outset of our address, are numerous. We'll highlight what is perhaps the ...

The Corcyraeans, in the speech we've just heard, don't limit themselves to discussing whether they should be admitted to your alliance. They also accuse us of injustice and claim they're victims of an...

Regarding their claim that they wanted the dispute submitted to arbitration first, it's clear that such an offer from those who hold all the advantages cannot be credited with the same sincerity as on...

This, then, is what we are entitled to demand according to Greek custom and law. But we also have advice to offer and claims upon your gratitude—claims which, since we pose no threat to you as we are ...

After hearing both delegations speak, the Athenians convened two assemblies. In the first meeting, there was a clear inclination to accept Corinth's arguments. By the second assembly, however, public ...

Meanwhile, the Corinthians had completed their preparations and set sail for Corcyra with one hundred and fifty ships. Elis contributed ten vessels, Megara twelve, Leucas ten, Ambracia twenty-seven, a...

After completing their preparations, the Corinthians provisioned themselves for three days and set sail from Chimerium under cover of darkness, ready for battle. As dawn broke, they caught sight of th...

Following their victory, the Corinthians neglected to secure the disabled enemy vessels by lashing them together and towing them away. Instead, they focused on slaughtering the men in the water, saili...

The following day, the thirty Athenian warships set sail, joined by all the Corcyraean vessels capable of putting to sea. They sailed toward the harbor at Sybota where the Corinthian fleet was anchore...

On their return voyage, the Corinthians captured Anactorium, located at the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf. They seized this territory through deception, as it was jointly held by both Corcyraeans and...

During this time, the Potidaeans dispatched ambassadors to Athens, hoping to persuade the Athenians not to take any hostile action against them. They also sent representatives to Sparta along with the...

The Athenians promptly learned of the cities' rebellion. When they discovered that Aristeus and his reinforcements were advancing, they dispatched two thousand of their own heavy infantry and forty sh...

During this time, the Potidaeans and the Peloponnesian forces under Aristeus had taken up positions on the isthmus facing Olynthus, awaiting the Athenian attack, and had set up their supply market out...

The Athenians had immediately constructed and manned fortifications on the isthmus side of the wall. However, they built no fortifications on the Pallene side, as they didn't believe they had sufficie...

But the siege of Potidaea ended Corinth's inaction; she had citizens trapped inside the city, and moreover, she feared for its fate. She immediately summoned the allies to Sparta and vehemently accuse...

You are the ones responsible for all of this. You were the ones who first permitted them to fortify their city after the Persian War, and later to build the Long Walls. From that time until now, you h...

We hope none of you will interpret these words of warning as hostile rhetoric. After all, one corrects friends who have gone astray; accusations are reserved for enemies who have inflicted harm. Moreo...

Such is Athens, your adversary. Yet you Spartans continue to hesitate, failing to grasp that lasting peace belongs to those who not only wield their power with justice but also demonstrate their resol...

We did not come here to debate with your allies, but to address the specific matters for which our city sent us. However, the intensity of the accusations we hear leveled against us compels us to spea...

This, then, was how things turned out, and it became abundantly clear that Greece's fate rested entirely on her naval forces. To this outcome, we Athenians contributed three absolutely crucial factors...

Certainly, Spartans, we don't deserve the extreme hostility we face from the Greeks—not based on the patriotism we showed during the Persian crisis, nor the wisdom of our policies, and certainly not f...

We believe our restraint would be most clearly proven by observing how others might act in our position; yet paradoxically, our very fairness has earned us criticism rather than praise. When we've wai...

Take your time in reaching this decision, for the matter is of utmost gravity. Do not let yourselves be swayed by others' arguments and grievances into bringing calamity upon yourselves. Consider care...

I have not lived this long, Spartans, without experiencing many wars, and I see among you men of my own age who will not make the common mistake of desiring war through inexperience or from believing ...

I would not have you be so callous as to allow them to harm your allies or to ignore their scheming; but neither should you rush immediately to war. Instead, send envoys to protest their actions in la...

The deliberate caution and careful timing that our critics attack most fiercely should not embarrass you. If we rush into war unprepared, our haste to begin will only postpone our victory. Moreover, t...

I cannot claim to understand the lengthy speech delivered by the Athenians. While they spoke extensively in self-praise, they never once denied that they are harming our allies and the Peloponnese. If...

This is how Athens found itself in the position from which its power would grow. After the Persians retreated from Europe, defeated on both land and sea by the Greeks, and after those who escaped by s...

When the Spartans realized what the Athenians intended to do, they dispatched ambassadors to Athens. They themselves would have preferred that neither Athens nor any other city possess fortification w...

The Spartans showed no outward signs of anger toward the Athenians when they heard the news. Their embassy, apparently, had been motivated not by a desire to interfere but rather to offer guidance to ...

During this period, Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, was dispatched from Sparta to serve as supreme commander of the Greek forces, leading twenty ships from the Peloponnese. The Athenians joined him wit...

After the Athenians had inherited their leadership through the allies' voluntary decision—driven by their hatred of Pausanias—they determined which cities should contribute money and which should prov...

The Athenians first besieged and captured Eion on the Strymon River from the Persians, enslaving its inhabitants under the command of Cimon, son of Miltiades. Next, they conquered Scyros, an island in...

Next we turn to the combined land and naval operations at the Eurymedon River, where the Athenians and their allies faced the Persians. Under Cimon, son of Miltiades, the Athenians achieved victory in...

While this was happening, the Spartans realized their campaign against the rebels at Ithome would be protracted, so they called upon their allies for assistance—particularly the Athenians, who arrived...

During this period, Inaros—son of Psammetichus and a Libyan king ruling the Libyans along Egypt's frontier—established his base of operations at Marea, the city situated above Pharos. He orchestrated ...

During this period, the Athenians launched a naval assault on Haliae, where they encountered forces from Corinth and Epidaurus. The Corinthians emerged victorious from this engagement. Later, the Athe...

Around this time, the Athenians began constructing the Long Walls extending to the sea—one toward Phalerum and another toward Piraeus. Meanwhile, the Phocians launched a campaign against Doris, the an...

During this time, the Athenians and their allies remained in Egypt, experiencing the full range of wartime fortunes. Initially, the Athenians controlled Egypt, prompting the Persian King to dispatch M...

Three years later, the Peloponnesians and Athenians agreed to a five-year truce. Free from Greek warfare, the Athenians launched an expedition to Cyprus with two hundred ships from their own fleet and...

Shortly after the Athenians returned from Euboea, they concluded a thirty-year peace treaty with Sparta and her allies, surrendering their strongholds in the Peloponnese—Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Ac...

Upon receiving this intelligence, the Athenians immediately dispatched sixty warships to Samos. Of these, sixteen vessels were diverted to Caria to monitor the Phoenician fleet's movements, while othe...

After these events, though not many years passed, we finally arrive at the incidents already described—the Corcyraean and Potidaean affairs that provided the immediate pretext for this war. All these ...

Fellow allies, we can no longer fault the Spartans for neglecting their responsibilities: they have not only voted for war themselves but have convened us here for that very purpose. We emphasize thei...

To apply these principles to our current situation: if we are now initiating war, it is because we have been wronged and have legitimate grievances. Once we have punished the Athenians, we will cease ...

We possess additional strategies for waging this war—most notably, inciting rebellion among their allies, which remains the most effective means of stripping them of the revenues that constitute their...

Your position, therefore, from whatever perspective you examine it, will fully justify your decision to go to war. We recommend this course of action in the interests of all, remembering that shared i...

During this period, the Spartans sent multiple delegations to Athens with various grievances, aiming to establish the strongest possible justification for war should the Athenians refuse their demands...

This, then, was the curse that the Spartans demanded the Athenians expel from their city. They claimed to be motivated primarily by concern for the gods' honor, but they were well aware that Pericles,...

This was everything the letter revealed, and Xerxes was delighted with its contents. He dispatched Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, to the coast with instructions to replace Megabates, the current governo...

The Spartans possessed no concrete evidence against Pausanias—neither his political opponents nor the state as a whole—of the unequivocal sort necessary to prosecute a member of the royal house, parti...

After examining the letter, the ephors felt more confident in their suspicions. Nevertheless, they wanted to hear Pausanias incriminate himself directly. Following their plan, the messenger went to Ta...

To return to Pausanias's collaboration with the Persians: during the investigation, evidence emerged that also implicated Themistocles. The Spartans therefore sent ambassadors to Athens demanding that...

After receiving monetary compensation from him—funds that came partly from his associates in Athens and partly from his secret reserves in Argos—Themistocles traveled inland accompanied by a Persian f...

It is reported that the King approved of Themistocles' proposal and instructed him to proceed accordingly. During the intervening period, Themistocles devoted himself to learning the Persian language ...

Let me return to the Spartans. I have already described their first embassy—the demands it made and the response it received regarding the expulsion of those under religious curse. A second embassy fo...

There is one principle, Athenians, that I maintain consistently throughout all circumstances: we must make no concessions to the Peloponnesians. I understand that the enthusiasm which drives people to...

Regarding the war and each side's resources, a careful analysis will demonstrate that Athens is not inferior. The Peloponnesians, who work their own farms and lack both private wealth and public treas...

The crucial issue is the obstacle they'll face from lack of funds. The slow accumulation of money will create delays, but the critical moments of war don't wait for anyone. Furthermore, we shouldn't w...

In my view, this fairly represents the Peloponnesian position. Athens's situation, by contrast, avoids the weaknesses I've identified in theirs and possesses unique advantages they cannot match. Shoul...

I have numerous other reasons to be optimistic about our success, provided you can agree not to pursue new conquests while conducting this war, and provided you refrain from deliberately creating addi...

The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, along with their respective allies, now truly commenced. From this point forward, all diplomatic communication ceased except through official heralds, ...

When the Plataeans realized that Theban forces had infiltrated their gates and suddenly occupied the city, they panicked and assumed far more troops had entered than actually had—the darkness conceali...

When the Thebans realized they had been outmaneuvered, they immediately formed a tight defensive formation to ward off attacks from all directions. They managed to drive back their attackers two or th...

Meanwhile, as this tragedy unfolded in Plataea, the main Theban force—which had planned to arrive with their full strength before dawn to support the advance party if anything went wrong—received word...

After these events, the Plataeans dispatched a messenger to Athens, returned the Theban dead under a truce, and reorganized their city to best handle the current crisis. The Athenians, who had receive...

It was entirely natural that both sides harbored the most ambitious expectations and committed their full strength to the war effort. Enthusiasm invariably reaches its peak at the beginning of any gre...

Following the incident at Plataea, Sparta immediately dispatched orders throughout the Peloponnese and to all allied territories, commanding them to prepare soldiers and supplies necessary for a campa...

Fellow Peloponnesians and allies, our forefathers conducted numerous military campaigns both within the Peloponnese and beyond its borders, and the older men among us possess considerable wartime expe...

After this brief address to dismiss the assembly, Archidamus first dispatched Melesippus, son of Diacritus, a Spartan, to Athens, hoping that the Athenians might be more willing to negotiate when they...

While the Peloponnesian forces were still gathering at the Isthmus or marching toward their invasion of Attica, Pericles son of Xanthippus, one of Athens' ten generals, learned that the invasion was i...

The Athenians followed Pericles' advice and began evacuating their families from the countryside, bringing their wives and children into the city along with all their household possessions, even disma...

The Athenians had long lived dispersed throughout Attica in autonomous communities. Even after Theseus unified them, ancient customs persisted; and from earliest times until this present war, most Ath...

The Peloponnesian army continued its advance. The first place they reached in Attica was Oenoe, their intended entry point into the territory. They settled in for a siege, preparing to attack the wall...

Archidamus's decision to maintain his battle formation at Acharnae rather than advancing into the plain during this invasion is explained as follows. He calculated that the Athenians, given their unpr...

Meanwhile, Pericles recognized that the people were consumed by anger and acting irrationally. Confident in his judgment that they should not engage the enemy outside the walls, he refused to convene ...

During this period, the Athenian fleet of one hundred ships operating around the Peloponnese was reinforced by fifty Corcyraean vessels and additional allied ships from the region. They sailed along t...

That same summer, at the beginning of a new lunar month—the only time, incidentally, when such a phenomenon seems possible—a solar eclipse occurred after midday. The sun took on a crescent shape and s...

During this period, the Athenian fleet of one hundred ships continued its operations around the Peloponnese. After capturing Sollium, a Corinthian possession, they handed over both the town and its su...

That same winter, the Athenians held a public funeral for the first casualties of the war, following their ancestral tradition. The ceremony proceeded thus: Three days beforehand, the remains of the f...

Most of my predecessors who have stood in this place have praised the man who established this speech as part of our tradition, declaring it fitting that words should honor those who died in battle. A...

I will start with our ancestors, for it is both right and fitting that they should receive the honor of being mentioned first on such an occasion. They lived continuously in this land, passing it down...

Furthermore, we provide abundant opportunities for the mind to find respite from work. Throughout the year, we hold festivals and religious ceremonies, while the refinement of our private homes offers...

These are not the only qualities that make our city admirable. We pursue sophistication without falling into luxury, and we value learning without becoming soft. We use wealth for practical purposes r...

In essence, I declare that our city serves as the educational model for all Greece. I doubt whether the world can produce an individual who, relying solely on his own resources, can adapt to so many d...

I have spoken at length about our city's character to demonstrate that we fight for higher stakes than those who lack such advantages, and to ensure that my eulogy for these fallen men rests on concre...

These men died as true Athenians should. You who survive must resolve to face the enemy with equal determination, though you may hope for a more fortunate outcome. Don't be satisfied with merely heari...

I offer comfort, not sympathy, to those parents present who have lost their sons. You know well that human life is subject to countless uncertainties; but those who have drawn such a glorious death as...

"Now that you have completed your mourning for your dead, you may leave." The Second Year of the War—The Plague at Athens—Pericles' Position and Strategy—The Fall of Potidaea This was how the funera...

That particular year was acknowledged to have been remarkably free from other illnesses; indeed, whatever ailments did occur all transformed into this single disease. Typically, there was no apparent ...

The nature of this plague defied all attempts at description, and its assaults on the human body were almost beyond endurance. Yet there was one particular aspect that most clearly distinguished it fr...

The existing catastrophe was made worse by the flood of refugees from the countryside into the city, and this influx hit the new arrivals particularly hard. Since there were no houses available for th...

A Dorian war shall come, and with it death. This line sparked debate about whether the original word was "death" (loimos) or "famine" (limos). Predictably, given current circumstances, people insiste...

That same summer, Hagnon son of Nicias and Cleopompus son of Clinias, who served as colleagues of Pericles, took command of the forces Pericles had recently used and launched an expedition against the...

I was fully prepared for your anger toward me, as I understand its causes, and I have convened this assembly to remind you of certain facts and to protest against your unreasonable hostility toward me...

Of course, for those who have the luxury of choice and whose prosperity is secure, war is the height of folly. But when the only alternatives are submission at the cost of freedom or danger with the h...

If you recoil from the hardships that war demands, fearing that despite all your efforts the outcome may still prove unfortunate, you are well aware of the arguments I have repeatedly used to demonstr...

Furthermore, your country has every right to demand your service in maintaining the glory of its position. This glory is a source of pride shared by all of you, and you cannot refuse the responsibilit...

But you must not be swayed by citizens like these, nor should you be angry with me—for if I advocated war, I only did what you yourselves voted to do—even though the enemy has invaded our territory an...

These were the arguments Pericles used to heal the Athenians' rage against him and to redirect their minds from their current miseries. On the public level, he succeeded in persuading them; they aband...

During that same summer, the Spartans and their allies launched a naval expedition with one hundred ships against Zakynthos, an island off the coast of Elis. The island was inhabited by Achaean coloni...

Around this same time, as summer drew to a close, the Ambraciot forces, together with numerous barbarian allies they had recruited, launched a campaign against Amphilochian Argos and the surrounding r...

That same winter, the Potidaeans finally reached the point where they could no longer withstand the siege. The Peloponnesian invasions of Attica had failed to achieve their intended purpose of forcing...

The following summer, the Peloponnesians and their allies chose not to invade Attica but instead marched on Plataea. Their commander was Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, the Spartan king. After setting ...

The Plataeans had reached this point in their speech when Archidamus interrupted them: "Plataeans, your words are just—if your actions match them. In accordance with the grant from Pausanias, maintain...

After the envoys delivered this message, the Plataeans decided to remain loyal to Athens. They would endure watching their lands devastated and face whatever other hardships might come, rather than be...

When the Peloponnesians discovered this, they wove clay into reed frameworks and threw these into the gaps that had formed in their siege mound, hoping to give it stability and prevent it from being w...

After these failures, the Peloponnesians realized that their siege engines were ineffective and that their earthwork had been countered by the defenders' construction. They concluded that their curren...

That same summer, at the very time of the assault on Plataea, the Athenians launched a campaign against the Chalcidians in the Thracian region and the Bottiaeans. They deployed two thousand hoplites a...

That same summer, shortly after these events, the Ambraciots and Chaonians, eager to conquer all of Acarnania and separate it from Athenian control, convinced the Spartans to outfit a fleet from their...

When the Acarnanians found themselves under attack by a large land army and threatened by an enemy fleet from the sea, they made no unified attempt to resist. Instead, each community stayed to defend ...

During this time, the fleet from Corinth and its allies in the Crisaean Gulf, which was supposed to coordinate with Cnemus and prevent the coastal Acarnanians from joining their inland compatriots, fo...

The Athenians, arranged in battle formation, sailed in circles around their enemies, forcing them to draw their formation ever tighter. They repeatedly swept past, feigning immediate attack, but had b...

The Spartans now dispatched three commissioners to their fleet under Cnemus—Timocrates, Brasidas, and Lycophron—with instructions to prepare for another engagement with better results, and not to allo...

Peloponnesians, while our recent engagement may have left some of you apprehensive about the coming battle, there are no legitimate grounds for such fear. As you're aware, we had minimal preparation f...

I can see, men, that the enemy's numbers have frightened you, and that's why I've called this assembly—I won't have you intimidated by something that isn't truly fearsome. First, consider this: the Pe...

This was how Phormio rallied his men. When the Peloponnesians realized the Athenians would not enter the gulf and narrows—where they hoped to trap them—they set sail at dawn. Arranged four ships abrea...

Emboldened by this turn of events, the Athenians raised a unified battle cry and charged at the enemy. The Peloponnesians, thrown into confusion by their own tactical errors and the chaos that had ove...

Fire signals were raised to warn Athens, triggering one of the most severe panics of the entire war. Those in the city believed the enemy had already entered the Piraeus harbor, while those in Piraeus...

Starting with the Odrysians, he summoned the Thracian tribes under his rule between the Haemus and Rhodope mountains and the Black Sea and Hellespont. Next came the Getae living beyond Haemus, along w...

The Odrysian empire stretched along the coast from Abdera to where the Danube meets the Black Sea. A merchant vessel sailing this coastline by the most direct route would need four days and four night...

Gathering at Doberus, they prepared to descend from the mountains into Lower Macedonia, which belonged to Perdiccas. The Lyncestians, Elimiots, and other inland tribes, though ethnically Macedonian an...

During this time, Sitalces began negotiations with Perdiccas regarding the goals of his campaign. When he discovered that the Athenians—doubting he would actually come—had failed to send their fleet (...

During that winter, after the Peloponnesian fleet had dispersed, the Athenian forces stationed at Naupactus under Phormio's command sailed along the coast to Astacus. They disembarked and marched inla...

The following summer, just as the grain was ripening, the Peloponnesians and their allies invaded Attica under Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, the Spartan king. They established their position and laid...

The Athenians, however, were already suffering from the plague and the war that had recently erupted and was now at its height. They considered it a grave matter to add Lesbos—with its naval power and...

After a perilous voyage across the open sea, the envoys finally reached Sparta to negotiate for military assistance. Meanwhile, the Athenian ambassadors returned home empty-handed, and hostilities imm...

During this time, the ambassadors from Mytilene who had been sent on the first ship were instructed by the Spartans to proceed to Olympia. The purpose was for the other allied states to hear their cas...

If we had all remained independent states, we could have placed greater trust in Athens not attempting to alter the existing order. But with most states now subject to Athens while they continued to t...

These, Spartans and allies, are the grounds and justifications for our rebellion—clear enough to demonstrate to our audience that we have acted fairly, and serious enough to alarm us into seeking some...

This was the substance of the Mytilenean appeal. After listening to their arguments, the Spartans and their allies accepted their proposal and formally admitted the Lesbians into their alliance. They ...

Around the time when the Spartans were stationed at the Isthmus, the Mytileneans advanced overland with their hired soldiers against Methymna, expecting to capture it through betrayal. However, after ...

The Peloponnesian siege wall was constructed in this manner: It comprised two parallel lines encircling the city—one facing the Plataeans, the other defending against any external attack from Athens—s...

When the Plataeans had completed their preparations for escaping the blockade wall, they waited for the perfect conditions: a stormy night with driving wind and rain, and no moon. Then they set out, l...

Meanwhile, the first members of the scaling party who had climbed up, after seizing both towers and killing the guards, positioned themselves inside to block anyone from coming through to attack them....

As that same winter drew to a close, the Spartans dispatched Salaethus, a Lacedaemonian officer, by ship to Mytilene. He sailed to Pyrrha, then proceeded overland, following a dry streambed where the ...

The government, recognizing their powerlessness to stop this and the peril they faced if excluded from the surrender terms, publicly negotiated with Paches and his forces to hand over Mytilene uncondi...

When Teutiaplus's words failed to persuade Alcidas, some of the Ionian exiles and the Lesbians who were with the expedition began pressing him with an alternative plan. Since his original proposal see...

On his voyage back along the coast, Paches stopped at various places, including Notium, the harbor of Colophon. The Colophonians had relocated there after Itamenes and his barbarian allies captured th...

When the prisoners arrived with Salaethus, the Athenians immediately executed him, despite his offers—including a promise to secure the Peloponnesian withdrawal from Plataea, which remained besieged. ...

Time and again I have become convinced that democracy is incompatible with maintaining an empire, and your current reversal regarding Mytilene proves this point more clearly than ever. Because you liv...

I stand by my original position and am astonished at those who wish to reopen the Mytilenean debate, thereby creating a delay that benefits only the guilty party. Such postponement dulls the sharp edg...

To prevent you from being swayed by such arguments, I will demonstrate that no state has ever wronged you as severely as Mytilene. I can understand and forgive those who revolt because they find our r...

Let no one harbor the illusion that eloquent speeches or financial bribes can secure mercy for the Mitylenians on grounds of human weakness. Their crime was not accidental but calculated and deliberat...

I have no criticism for those who wish to reopen debate about the Mytileneans, nor do I support those who object to repeated deliberation on crucial matters. In my view, the two greatest enemies of so...

This is not how we operate. Moreover, whenever someone is suspected of offering advice—no matter how sound—for personal gain, we resent him so deeply for the profit he might receive (though we cannot ...

Communities have, of course, established the death penalty for many crimes far less serious than this one. Yet hope drives people to take risks, and no one has ever endangered themselves without belie...

Therefore, we must not adopt a misguided policy based on faith in capital punishment's effectiveness, nor should we deny rebels any hope of repentance or opportunity for swift reconciliation. Think ab...

Just think what a terrible mistake you'd be making if you followed Cleon's advice. As things stand now, the common people in every city are on your side. They either refuse to join the oligarchs in re...

These were the arguments presented by Diodotus. The two speeches represented the most sharply opposing viewpoints in the debate. Despite their recent change of heart, the Athenians now called for a vo...

During the same summer, following the subjugation of Lesbos, the Athenians launched an expedition under Nicias, son of Niceratus, against the island of Minoa. This island lay just off Megara and serve...

Spartans, when we surrendered our city to you, we placed our trust in your hands, expecting a trial conducted according to proper legal procedures rather than this proceeding, which we never anticipat...

On these momentous and historic occasions, this was the position we took, even though we later became your enemies. The blame for this lies with you. When we sought your alliance against our Theban op...

Consider this as well: at present, all Greeks look to you as models of excellence and honor. If you render an unjust verdict against us in this case—which is far from insignificant, given that you jud...

Nevertheless, we implore you in the name of the gods who once witnessed our alliance, and by virtue of the service we rendered to the Greek cause, to reconsider your decision. We fear the Thebans have...

It would bring no honor to you, Spartans, to violate the common laws of Greece and the legacy of your ancestors in this way, or to execute us—your benefactors—merely to satisfy someone else's hatred w...

The origin of our dispute was as follows. We Thebans established Plataea after settling the rest of Boeotia, along with other territories from which we had expelled the mixed populations. The Plataean...

Let this be sufficient to justify our collaboration with the Persians. We will now attempt to demonstrate that you have harmed the Greeks more than we have, and deserve far greater punishment. You cla...

Let me explain our so-called involuntary collaboration with Persia and your deliberate alliance with Athens. The final charge you bring against us is that we supposedly violated the law by invading yo...

These are the facts, Spartans. We have explained them at length for both your benefit and ours—so that you may understand the justice of condemning these prisoners, and so that we may demonstrate the ...

This was the Theban speech. The Spartan judges determined that their question—whether they had received any benefit from the Plataeans during the war—was legitimate to ask. They reasoned that they had...

The revolution in Corcyra began when the prisoners captured in the naval battles near Epidamnus returned home. The Corinthians had released these men, ostensibly on the guarantee of eight hundred tale...

The following day was spent in minor skirmishes, with both sides venturing into the countryside to proclaim freedom for the slaves and urge them to join their cause. The majority of slaves responded t...

By the fourth or fifth day after the oligarchs had been transferred to the island, the revolution had reached this critical point when the Peloponnesian fleet arrived from Cyllene, where they had been...

Meanwhile, the democratic faction in Corcyra, still terrified that the fleet might attack them, opened negotiations with the oligarchic suppliants and their supporters, hoping to protect the city. The...

The revolution's progress was marked by such bloodshed, and its impact seemed all the greater because it was among the first of its kind. Subsequently, one could say the entire Greek world was thrown ...

Thus, due to these upheavals, every kind of moral corruption spread throughout the Greek world. The old-fashioned integrity, in which honor played such a vital role, became an object of mockery and va...

While revolutionary violence erupted for the first time among the factions in Corcyra, Eurymedon and the Athenian fleet departed. Following their withdrawal, approximately five hundred Corcyraean exil...