aid to the interpretation of the
future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not
reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as
an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession
for all time.

The Median War, the greatest achievement of past times, yet found a
speedy decision in two actions by sea and two by land. The Peloponnesian
War was prolonged to an immense length, and, long as it was, it was
short without parallel for the misfortunes that it brought upon Hellas.
Never had so many cities been taken and laid desolate, here by the
barbarians, here by the parties contending (the old inhabitants being
sometimes removed to make room for others); never was there so much
banishing and blood-shedding, now on the field of battle, now in the
strife of faction. Old stories of occurrences handed down by tradition,
but scantily confirmed by experience, suddenly ceased to be incredible;
there were earthquakes of unparalleled extent and violence; eclipses of
the sun occurred with a frequency unrecorded in previous history; there
were great droughts in sundry places and consequent famines, and that
most calamitous and awfully fatal visitation, the plague. All this
came upon them with the late war, which was begun by the Athenians and
Peloponnesians by the dissolution of the thirty years' truce made after
the conquest of Euboea. To the question why they broke the treaty, I
answer by placing first an account of their grounds of complaint and
points of difference, that no one may ever have to ask the immediate
cause which plunged the Hellenes into a war of such magnitude. The
real cause I consider to be the one which was formally most kept out
of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this
inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable. Still it is well to give
the grounds alleged by either side which led to the dissolution of the
treaty and the breaking out of the war.

CHAPTER II

_Causes of the War--The Affair of Epidamnus--The Affair of Potidaea_

The city of Epidamnus stands on the right of the entrance of the Ionic
Gulf. Its vicinity is inhabited by the Taulantians, an Illyrian
people. The place is a colony from Corcyra, founded by Phalius, son
of Eratocleides, of the family of the Heraclids, who had according to
ancient usage been summoned for the purpose from Corinth, the mother
country. The colonists were joined by some C