t Athens, whether by those
who wished to escape from her empire, or were apprehensive of being
absorbed by it. Such were the preparations and such the feelings with
which the contest opened.

The allies of the two belligerents were the following. These were the
allies of Lacedaemon: all the Peloponnesians within the Isthmus except
the Argives and Achaeans, who were neutral; Pellene being the only
Achaean city that first joined in the war, though her example was
afterwards followed by the rest. Outside Peloponnese the Megarians,
Locrians, Boeotians, Phocians, Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Anactorians.
Of these, ships were furnished by the Corinthians, Megarians,
Sicyonians, Pellenians, Eleans, Ambraciots, and Leucadians; and
cavalry by the Boeotians, Phocians, and Locrians. The other states
sent infantry. This was the Lacedaemonian confederacy. That of Athens
comprised the Chians, Lesbians, Plataeans, the Messenians in Naupactus,
most of the Acarnanians, the Corcyraeans, Zacynthians, and some
tributary cities in the following countries, viz., Caria upon the sea
with her Dorian neighbours, Ionia, the Hellespont, the Thracian towns,
the islands lying between Peloponnese and Crete towards the east, and
all the Cyclades except Melos and Thera. Of these, ships were furnished
by Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra, infantry and money by the rest. Such were
the allies of either party and their resources for the war.

Immediately after the affair at Plataea, Lacedaemon sent round orders
to the cities in Peloponnese and the rest of her confederacy to prepare
troops and the provisions requisite for a foreign campaign, in order to
invade Attica. The several states were ready at the time appointed and
assembled at the Isthmus: the contingent of each city being two-thirds
of its whole force. After the whole army had mustered, the Lacedaemonian
king, Archidamus, the leader of the expedition, called together the
generals of all the states and the principal persons and officers, and
exhorted them as follows:

"Peloponnesians and allies, our fathers made many campaigns both within
and without Peloponnese, and the elder men among us here are not without
experience in war. Yet we have never set out with a larger force than
the present; and if our numbers and efficiency are remarkable, so also
is the power of the state against which we march. We ought not then
to show ourselves inferior to our ancestors, or unequal to our own
reputation. For the ho