402 HISTORY OF GREECE. inent. I give the chief points of the speech, without binding myself to the words. " Myself and my soldiers have been sent, Akanthians, to re- alize the purpose which we proclaimed on beginning the war ; that we took arms to liberate Greece from the Athenians. Let no man blame us for having been long in coming, or for the mistake Which we made at the outset in supposing that we should quickly put down the Athenians by operations against Attica, without exposing you to any risk. Enough, that we are now here on the first opportunity, resolved to put them down if you will lend us your aid. To find myself shut out of your town, nay, to find that I am not heartily welcomed, astonishes me. We, Lacedaemonians, undertook this long and perilous march, in the belief that we were coming to friends eagerly expecting us ; and it would indeed be terrible if you should now disappoint us, and stand out against your own freedom as well as that of other Greeks. Your example, standing high as you do both for pru- dence and power, will fatally keep back other Greeks, and make them suspect that I am wanting either in power to protect them against Athens, or in honest purpose. Now, in regard to power, my own present army was one which the Athenians, though superior in number, were afraid to fight near Nisaea ; nor are they at all likely to send an equal force hither against me by sea. And in regard to my purpose, it is not one of mischief, but of liberation, the Lacedaemonian authorities having pledged them- selves to me by the most solemn oaths, that every city which joins me shall retain its autonomy. You have therefore the best assurance both as to my purposes and as to my power ; still less need you apprehend that I am come with factious designs, to serve the views of any particular men among you, and to re- model your established constitution to the disadvantage either of tLe many or of the few. That would be worse than foreign sub- jugation, so that we Lacedaemonians should be taking all this trouble to earn hatred instead of gratitude. We should play the part of unwor'hy traitors, worse even than that high-handed oppression of which we accuse the Athenians : we should at once violate our oaths and sin against our strongest political interests. Perhaps you may say, that though you wish me well,
you desire for your parts to be let alone, and to stand aloof from
