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THE
PELOPONNESIAN WAR.
BOOK I.
Introduction, containing the Author's reasons for writing this History, upon a review of the affairs of Greece from the earliest times,—The true reason of the Peloponnesian war was a jealousy of the Athenian power. Those pretended were, I. The affair of Epidamnus, which is opened at large; II. The revolt of Potidaea, the circumstances of which are exactly related. Consultations heals at Sparta by the members of the Lacedaemonian league, where at length war is decreed, but the rupture protracted for a year. The Lacedaemonians act from a dread of the growing power of Athens. A digression showing how that power arose, which gives the author opportunity to relate the history of fifty years between the retreat of Xerxes, and the breaking out of this war. Embassies cussing and recriminating are sent to and fro, in the account of which are interwove the stories of Cylon, Pausanius and Themistocles. The Lacedaemonians send a final demand to Athens; and the Athenians, a the persuasion of Pericles, return a resolute answer, upon which all negotiations are ended, and an open rupture ensueth.
