That instant the guard of three hundred, with Artaz torches, came up. However, as the Platæans saw Longim. their enemies by this light better than they were seen by them, they took a surer aim, by which means the last crossed the ditch, without being attacked in their passage: However, this was not done without difficulty, because the ditch was froze over, and the ice would not bear, on account of the thaw and heavy rains. The violence of the storm was of great advantage to them. After all were passed, they took the road towards Thebes, the better to conceal their retreat; because it was not likely that they had fled towards a city of the enemy's. Immediately they perceived the be siegers, with torches in their hands, pursuing them in the road that led to Athens. After keeping that of Thebes about six or seven * stadia, they turned short toward the mountain, and resumed the route of Athens, whither two hundred and twelve arrived, out of two hundred and twenty who had quitted the place; the rest having returned back to it through fear, one archer excepted, who was taken on the side of the fossé of contravallation. The besiegers, after having pursued them to no purpose, returned to their camp. In the mean time, the Platæans who remained in the city, supposing that all their companions had been killed, (because those who were returned, to justify themselves, aflirmed they were,) sent a herald to demand the dead bodies; but being told the true state of the affair, he withdrew. About the end of the following campaign, which is that wherein Mitylene was taken, the Platæans being in absolute want of provisions, and unable to make the least defence, surrendered upon condition that they should not be punished till they had been tried and adjudged in form of justice. Five com C Thucyd. 1. iii. p. 208-220. Diod. 1. xii. p. 109. Artax. missioners came for this purpose from Lacedæmon; Longim and these, without charging them with any crime; barely asked them whether they had done any service to the Lacedæmonians and the allies in this war? The Plateans were much surprized, as well as puzzled at this question; and were sensible, that it had been suggested by the Thebans, their professed enemies, who had vowed their destruction. They therefore put the Lacedæmonians in mind of the ser vices they had done to Greece in general, both at the battle of Artemisium, and that of Platææ; and particularly in Lacedæmonia, at the time of the earthquake, which was followed by the revolt of their slaves. The only reason (they declared) of their having joined the Athenians afterwards, was, to defend themselves from the hostilities of the Thebans, against whom they had implored the assistance of the Lacedæmonians to no purpose: That if that was imputed to them for a crime, which was only their misfortune, it ought not however entirely to obliterate the remembrance of their former services. "Cast your eyes, said they, on the monuments of your ancestors which you see here, to whom we "annually pay all the honours which can be ren"dered to the manes of the dead. You thought "fit to intrust their bodies with us, as we were eye"witnesses of their bravery: And yet you will now 66 give up their ashes to their murtherers, in aban"doning us to the Thebans, who fought against "them at the battle of Platex. Will you enslave a "province where Greece recovered its liberty? "Will you destroy the temples of those gods, to "whom you owe the victory? Will you abolish "the memory of their founders, who contributed "so greatly to your safety? On this occasion, we "may venture to say, our interest is inseparable "from your glory; and you cannot deliver up your "ancient friends and benefactors to the unjust ha"tred of the Thebans, without eternal infamy to "yourselves." One would conclude, that these just remonstrances Artax. should have made some impression on the Lacedæ- Longin, monians; but they were biassed more by the answer the Thebans made, and which was expressed in the most haughty and bitter terms against the Platæans; and besides, they had brought their instruc tions from Lacedæmon. They stood therefore to their first question, Whether the Plataans had done them any service since the war? and making them pass one after another, as they severally answered No, he was immediately butchered, and not one escaped. About two hundred were killed in this manner; and twenty-five Athenians, who were among them, met with the same unhappy fate. Their wives, who had been taken prisoners, were made slaves. The Thebans afterwards peopled their city with exiles from Megara and Platææ; but the year after they demolished it entirely. It was in this manner the Lacedæmonians, in the hopes of reaping great advantages from the Thebans, sacrificed the Plateans to their animosity, ninety-three years after their first alliance with the Athenians. 3578. d In the sixth year of the war of Peloponnesus the A. M. plague broke out anew in Athens, and again swept away great numbers. SECT. IV. The Athenians possess themselves of Pylus, and are afterwards besieged in it. The Spartans are shut up in the little island of Sphacteria. Cleon makes himself master of it. Artaxerxes dies. The sixth and seventh years of the war. I PASS over several particular incidents of the succeeding campaigns, which differ very little from one another; the Lacedæmonians making regularly every year incursions into Attica, and the Athenians into Thucyd. 1. viii. p. 233. 426. 3579. 425. e Artax. Peloponnesus: I likewise omit some sieges in differLongim. ent places: That of Pylus, a little city of Messenia, A. M. only four hundred furlongs from Lacedæmon, was Ant. J.C. one of the most considerable. The Athenians, headed by Demosthenes, had taken that city, and fortified themselves very strongly in it; this was the seventh year of the war. The Lacedæmonians left Attica immediately, in order to go and recover, if possible, that place, and accordingly they attacked it both by sea and land. Brasidas, one of their leaders, signalized himself here by the most extraordinary acts of bravery. Opposite to the city was a little island called Sphacteria, whence the besieged might be greatly annoyed, and the entrance of the harbour shut up. They therefore threw a chosen body of Lacedæmonians into it; making, in all, four hundred and twenty, exclusive of the Helots. A battle was fought at sea, in which the Athenians were victorious, and accordingly erected a trophy. They surrounded the island; and set a guard in every part of it, to prevent any of the inhabitants from going out, or any provisions from being brought in to them. The news of the defeat being come to Sparta, the magistrate thought the affair of the utmost impor tance, and therefore came himself upon the spot, in Thucyd. 1. iv. p. 253---280. Diod. 1. xii. p. 112---114. these conditions, the Athenians would permit them Artax. to carry provisions to those who were in the island, Longim. at the rate of so much for the master, and half for the servant; and that the whole should be done pub. lickly, and in sight of both armies: That, on the other side, the Athenians should be allowed to keep guard round the island, to prevent any thing from going in or out of it, but should not attack it in any manner: That in case this agreement should be in fringed in the least, the truce would be broke; other, wise, that it should continue in full force till the return of the ambassadors, whom the Athenians obliged themselves, by the articles, to convey backwards and forwards; and that then the Lacedæmonians should have their ships restored, in the same condition in which they had been delivered up. Such were the articles of the treaty. The Lacedæmonians began to put it in execution, by surrendering about threescore ships; after which they sent ambassadors to Athens, Being admitted to audience before the people, they began by saying, that they were come to the Athe, nians to sue for that peace, which they themselves were, a little before, in a condition to grant; That they now might acquire the glory of having restored the tranquillity of all Greece, as the Lacedæmonians consented to their being arbitrators in this treaty : That the danger to which their citizens were exposed in the island, had determined them to take such a step as could not but be very grating to Lacedæ, monians: However, that their affairs were far from being desperate, and therefore, that now was the time to establish, between the two republicks, a firm and solid friendship; because the affairs of both were still fluctuating, and fortune had not yet declared For the masters, two Attick chenices of flour, making about four pounds and a half, two cotyles, or half pints of wine, and a piece of meat; With half this quantity for the servants, VOL. 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