Peloponnesus

whereas the results of the Spartan policy were that their city alone became strong, dominated all the cities in the Peloponnesus, inspired fear in the other states, and was courted by them for her favor.

on the contrary, having learned from the actual course of events that while according to law states and territories are deemed to belong to those who have duly and lawfully acquired them, in fact, however, they fall into the hands of those who are most practised in the art of warfare and are able to conquer their enemies in battle—thinking upon these things, they neglected agriculture and the arts …

For it happened that we offended against islets so small and insignificant that many of the Hellenes do not even know of their existence, whereas the Lacedaemonians laid waste the greatest cities of the Peloponnesus—states which in every way were eminent above the others— and now hold for themselves the wealth of those states which, even supposing that in former times they possessed no merit, dese …

As for Timotheus, after he had sailed round Peloponnesus he brought Corcyra at once under his control;

And the Athenians, angry as they were with the Lacedaemonians on account of Sphodrias’ act, did eagerly dispatch the expedition around Peloponnesus, manning sixty ships and choosing Timotheus as their commander.

Again, while the Lacedaemonians were preparing to transport an army across the gulf to proceed against the Boeotians, the Thebans requested the Athenians to send an expedition around Peloponnesus, believing that if this were done it would not be possible for the Lacedaemonians at one and the same time to guard their own country and likewise the allied cities in their neighbourhood, and also to sen …

You all know that the prowess of the Phocians, and their control of the pass of Thermopylae, gave us security against the Thebans, and ensured that neither Philip nor the Thebans would invade either the Peloponnesus, or Euboea, or Attica.

It has invaded Peloponnesus and caused the massacres at Elis.

and now many of that nation, who ought to pride themselves as highly as you upon their independence—for you and they are the only indigenous peoples in Greece—admire Philip, set up his effigy in bronze, decorate it with garlands, and, to crown all, have enacted a decree that, if he ever visits Peloponnesus, he shall be made welcome within their walls.

I began by proposing the embassy to Peloponnesus, when first he tried to get a footing there;

Surely it was to protect Attica on the sea-board by Euboea, on the inland frontier by Boeotia, and on the side towards Peloponnesus by our neighbors in that direction;

For example, if the Thebans, after the battle which they won over the Lacedaemonians, had contented themselves with liberating the Peloponnesus and making the other Hellenes independent and had thenceforth pursued peace, while we continued to make such blunders, then neither could this man have asked such a question nor could we ourselves have failed to realize how much better moderation is than meddlesomeness.

However, they were not satisfied with perpetrating these crimes, but about the same time were ravaging the Asiatic coast, committing outrages against the islands, subverting the free governments in Italy and Sicily, setting up despotisms in their stead, overrunning the Peloponnesus and filling it with seditions and wars.

I urged that we should emulate the battle that we fought at Plataea, the struggles off the shores of Salamis, the battles of Marathon and Artemisium, and the generalship of Tolmides, who with a thousand picked men of the Athenians fearlessly marched straight through the Peloponnesus, the enemy’s country.

It happened that I was sent as trierarch round the Peloponnesus, and from thence I had to carry to Sicily the ambassadors whom the people had elected.

Again, when you had removed him from his command as general because he failed to sail round the Peloponnesus, and he had been given over to the popular assembly for trial under a very heavy charge, when he was being prosecuted by Callistratus and Iphicrates, men of power both in action and in speech, and they and their fellow-pleaders so influenced your minds by their accusations against him that …

He was hard pressed on every side, his life was in extreme danger because of the gravity of the misfortunes which had befallen the state, the army in Calaureia had been broken up for want of pay, the allies around Peloponnesus were being besieged by the Lacedaemonians, Iphicrates and Callistratus were accusing him of being responsible for the present disaster, and, furthermore, those who came from …

These men, taking along with them the dispatch from Antipater that came to Corinth addressed to Deinarchus, have filled all the cities in the Peloponnesus with such reports as I pray that the gods may turn back upon their own heads.

And, indeed, it is not strange that Messenians and other Peloponnesians should sometimes act against their better judgement;

Now therefore, while the danger is in the future and is gathering head, while we can still hear one another speak, I want to remind each one of you, however clearly he knows it, who it is that persuaded you to abandon the Phocians and Thermopylae, the command of which gave Philip the command also of the road to Attica and the Peloponnesus, and who it is that has forced you to take counsel, not for …

a point maintained by Augustus Caesar in opposition to Sextus Pompey, who, upon Peloponnesus being ceded to him, claimed also the tributes and revenues, that were due for former years.

First, I think that I ought to explain to you in what way we acquired Messene, and for what reasons you settled in the Peloponnesus—you who from of old are Dorians.

Also I think that not only the people of the Peloponnesus in general but even the adherents of democracy, whom we consider to be especially unfriendly to us, are already yearning for our protection.

For they alone of those who dwelt outside of the Peloponnesus, although they saw that the strength of the barbarians was irresistible, did not think it honorable to consider the terms imposed upon them, but straightway chose to see their city ravaged rather than enslaved.

Likewise the Lacedaemonians, after having set out in ancient times from obscure and humble cities, made themselves, because they lived temperately and under military discipline, masters of the Peloponnesus;

on the contrary, you should look to that earlier time and observe how he served the people before his exile, and call to mind that with two hundred heavy-armed soldiers he caused the most powerful cities in the Peloponnesus to revolt from the Lacedaemonians, and brought them into alliance with you, and in what perils he involved the Lacedaemonians themselves, and how he behaved as general in Sicily.

and we brought their power so low, for all that they had once sailed the sea with twelve hundred ships, that they launched no ship of war this side of Phaselis but remained inactive and waited on more favorable times rather than trust in the forces which they then possessed.

and when it lay in their power not only to escape from their present dangers but also to enjoy the signal honors which the King held out to them, since he conceived that if he could get the support of the Athenian fleet he could at once become master of the Peloponnesus also, then our ancestors scorned to accept his gifts;

and I, who had already lost part of my money and with regard to the rest was under the most infamous charges, left Athens for the Peloponnesus to investigate for myself.

The inhabitants are a colony of the Achaeans of the Peloponnesus, and were in alliance with the Athenians.

for they had killed and thrown into pits the merchants, both of the Athenians and their allies, whom they had taken on board trading vessels about the coast of the Peloponnese.