The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [287]
10. And they were all three of them, it was thought, born of an Arcadian woman.
11. Being, however, ill spoken of on account of these ten galleys, as having afforded but a small supply to the people that were in need,
12. And yet given a great advantage to those who might complain of the act of intervention,
13. Pericles sent out a larger force afterwards to Corcyra, which arrived after the fight was over.
14. And now the Corinthians, angry and indignant with the Athenians, accused them publicly at Lacedaemon,
15. And the Megarians joined with them, complaining that they were, contrary to common right and the articles of peace sworn among the Greeks,
16. Kept out and driven away from every market and from all ports under the control of the Athenians.
17. The Aeginetans, also, professing to be ill-used, made supplications in private to the Lacedaemonians for redress,
18. Though not daring openly to call the Athenians in question. In the meantime, also, Potidaea, under the dominion of the Athenians, but a colony formerly of the Corinthians,
19. Had revolted, and was beset with a formal siege, and was a further occasion of precipitating the war.
20. Despite all this, there being embassies sent to Athens, and Archidamus, the king of the Spartans,
21. Trying to bring most of the disputes to a fair resolution and to pacify the hearts of the allies,
22. It is likely that war would not have fallen upon the Athenians, if they could have been persuaded to repeal the ordinance against the Megarians.
23. Upon which account, since Pericles was the main opponent of repeal,
24. And stirred the Athenians’ passions to persist in their dispute with the Megarians, he was regarded as the sole cause of the war.
25. They say, moreover, that ambassadors went from Sparta to Athens on this very business,
26. And that when Pericles was urging a certain law which made it illegal to take down or withdraw the tablet of the decree, one of the ambassadors, Polyalces by name, said,
27. ‘Well, do not take it down then, but turn it; there is no law, I suppose, which forbids that.’
28. Which, though prettily said, did not change Pericles’ mind, for he bore much animosity towards the Megarians.
29. Even so, he proposed a decree that a herald should be sent to them, and the same also to the Lacedaemonians, with the accusation against the Megarians;
30. An order which certainly shows equitable and friendly proceeding enough.
31. The herald who was sent, by name Anthemocritus, died on the journey back, and it was believed that the Megarians had killed him.
32. Then Charinus proposed a decree against them, that there should be an irreconcilable and implacable enmity thenceforward between the two commonwealths;
33. And that if any one of the Megarians should set foot in Attica, he should die;
34. And that the commanders, when they take the usual oath, should, over and above that,
35. Swear that they will twice every year make an inroad into the Megarian country;
36. And that Anthemocritus should be buried near the Thracian Gates, which are now called the Dipylon, or Double Gate.
Chapter 45
1. On the other hand, the Megarians, utterly denying the murder of Anthemocritus,
2. Threw the whole matter upon Aspasia and Pericles, availing themselves of the famous verses in the Acharnians:
3. ‘To Megara some of our madcaps ran, And stole Simaetha thence, their courtesan.
4. ‘Which exploit the Megarians to outdo, Came to Aspasia’s house, and took off two.’
5. The true occasion of the quarrel is not easy to fathom. But all alike charge Pericles with the refusal to annul the decree.
6. Some say he met the request with a positive refusal, out of a sense of pride and a view of the state’s best interests,
7. Believing that the demand made by the embassies was a test of Athens’ will, and that a concession would be taken for weakness;
8. While others say that it was out of arrogance and contentiousness, to show his own strength, that he slighted the Lacedaemonians.
9.