μετὰ ταῦτα κυμαίνοντος ἤδη τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ πολέμου, Κερκυραίοις πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ Κορινθίων ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον ἀποστεῖλαι βοήθειαν καὶ προσλαβεῖν ἐρρωμένην ναυτικῇ δυνάμει νῆσον, ὡς ὅσον οὐδέπω Πελοποννησίων ἐκπεπολεμωμένων πρὸς αὐτούς.
After this, when the billows of the Peloponnesian War were already rising and swelling, he persuaded the people to send aid and succour to the Corcyraeans in their war with the Corinthians, and so to attach to themselves an island with a vigorous naval power at a time when the Peloponnesians were as good as actually at war with them.
ψηφισαμένου δὲ τοῦ δήμου τὴν βοήθειαν ἀπέστειλε δέκα ναῦς μόνας ἔχοντα Λακεδαιμόνιον, τὸν Κίμωνος υἱόν, οἷον ἐφυβρίζων· πολλὴ γὰρ ἦν εὔνοια καὶ φιλία τῷ Κίμωνος οἴκῳ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους. ὡς ἂν οὖν, εἰ μηδὲν ἔργον μέγα μηδʼ ἐκπρεπὲς ἐν τῇ στρατηγίᾳ τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίου γένοιτο, προσδιαβληθείη μᾶλλον εἰς τὸν λακωνισμόν, ὀλίγας αὐτῷ ναῦς ἔδωκε καὶ μὴ βουλόμενον ἐξέπεμψε.
But when the people had voted to send the aid and succour, he despatched Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, with only ten ships, as it were in mockery of him. Now there was much good-will and friendship on the part of the house of Cimon towards the Lacedaemonians. In order, therefore, that in case no great or conspicuous achievement should be performed under the generalship of Lacedaemonius, he might so be all the more calumniated for his Iaconism, or sympathy with Sparta, Pericles gave him only a few ships, and sent him forth against his will.
καὶ ὅλως διετέλει κολούων ὡς μηδὲ τοῖς ὀνόμασι γνησίους, ἀλλʼ ὀθνείους καὶ ξένους, ὅτι τῶν Κίμωνος υἱῶν τῷ μὲν ἦν Λακεδαιμόνιος ὄνομα, τῷ δὲ Θεσσαλός, τῷ δὲ Ἠλεῖος. ἐδόκουν δὲ πάντες ἐκ γυναικὸς Ἀρκαδικῆς γεγονέναι. κακῶς οὖν ὁ Περικλῆς ἀκούων διὰ τὰς δέκα ταύτας τριήρεις, ὡς μικρὰν μὲν βοήθειαν τοῖς δεηθεῖσι, μεγάλην δὲ πρόφασιν τοῖς ἐγκαλοῦσι παρεσχηκώς, ἑτέρας αὖθις ἔστειλε πλείονας εἰς τὴν Κέρκυραν, αἳ μετὰ τὴν μάχην ἀφίκοντο.
And in general he was prone to thwart and check the sons of Cimon, on the plea that not even in their names were they genuinely native, but rather aliens and strangers, since one of them bore the name of Lacedaemonius, another that of Thessalus, and a third that of Eleius. And they were all held to be the sons of a woman of Arcadia. Accordingly, being harshly criticized because of these paltry ten ships on the ground that he had furnished scanty aid and succour to the needy friends of Athens, but a great pretext for war to her accusing enemies, he afterwards sent out other ships, and more of them, to Corcyra,—the ones which got there after the battle.
χαλεπαίνουσι δὲ τοῖς Κορινθίοις καὶ κατηγοροῦσι τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐν Λακεδαίμονι προσεγένοντο Μεγαρεῖς, αἰτιώμενοι πάσης μὲν ἀγορᾶς, πάντων δὲ λιμένων, ὧν Ἀθηναῖοι κρατοῦσιν, εἴργεσθαι καὶ ἀπελαύνεσθαι παρὰ τὰ κοινὰ δίκαια καὶ τοὺς γεγενημένους ὅρκους τοῖς Ἕλλησιν· Αἰγινῆται δὲ κακοῦσθαι δοκοῦντες καὶ βίαια πάσχειν ἐποτνιῶντο κρύφα πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, φανερῶς ἐγκαλεῖν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις οὐ θαρροῦντες. ἐν δὲ τούτῳ καὶ Ποτίδαια, πόλις ὑπήκοος Ἀθηναίων, ἄποικος δὲ Κορινθίων, ἀποστᾶσα καὶ πολιορκουμένη μᾶλλον ἐπετάχυνε τὸν πόλεμον.
The Corinthians were incensed at this procedure, and denounced the Athenians at Sparta, and were joined by the Megarians, who brought their complaint that from every market-place and from all the harbors over which the Athenians had control, they were excluded and driven away, contrary to the common law and the formal oaths of the Greeks; the Aeginetans also, deeming themselves wronged and outraged, kept up a secret wailing in the ears of the Lacedaemonians, since they had not the courage to accuse the Athenians openly. At this juncture Potidaea, too, a city that was subject to Athens, although a colony of Corinth, revolted, and the siege laid to her hastened on the war all the more.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πρεσβειῶν τε πεμπομένων Ἀθήναζε, καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων Ἀρχιδάμου τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων εἰς διαλύσεις ἄγοντος καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους πραΰνοντος, οὐκ ἂν δοκεῖ συμπεσεῖν ὑπό γε τῶν ἄλλων αἰτιῶν ὁ πόλεμος τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, εἰ τὸ ψήφισμα καθελεῖν τὸ Μεγαρικὸν ἐπείσθησαν καὶ διαλλαγῆναι πρὸς αὐτούς. διὸ καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς τοῦτο Περικλῆς ἐναντιωθείς, καὶ παροξύνας τὸν δῆμον ἐμμεῖναι τῇ πρὸς τοὺς Μεγαρεῖς φιλονεικία, μόνος ἔσχε τοῦ πολέμου τὴν αἰτίαν.
Notwithstanding all, since embassies were repeatedly sent to Athens, and since Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, tried to bring to a peaceful settlement most of the accusations of his allies and to soften their anger, it does not seem probable that the war would have come upon the Athenians for any remaining reasons, if only they could have been persuaded to rescind their decree against the Megarians and be reconciled with them. And therefore, since it was Pericles who was most of all opposed to this, and who incited the people to abide by their contention with the Megarians, he alone was held responsible for the war.
λέγουσι δὲ πρεσβείας Ἀθήναζε περὶ τούτων ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος ἀφιγμένης, καὶ τοῦ Περικλέους νόμον τινὰ προβαλλομένου κωλύοντα καθελεῖν τὸ πινάκιον ἐν ᾧ τὸ ψήφισμα γεγραμμένον ἐτύγχανεν, εἰπεῖν Πολυάλκη τῶν πρέσβεων τινά· σὺ δὲ μὴ καθέλῃς, ἀλλὰ στρέψον εἴσω τὸ πινάκιον· οὐ γὰρ ἔστι νόμος ὁ τοῦτο κωλύων. κομψοῦ δὲ τοῦ λόγου φανέντος οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ὁ Περικλῆς ἐνέδωκεν.
They say that when an embassy had come from Lacedaemon to Athens to treat of these matters, and Pericles was shielding himself behind the plea that a certain law prevented his taking down the tablet on which the decree was inscribed, Polyalces, one of the ambassadors, cried: Well then, don’t take it down, but turn the tablet to the wall; surely there’s no law preventing that. Clever as the proposal was, however, not one whit the more did Pericles give in.
ὑπῆν μὲν οὖν τις, ὡς ἔοικεν, αὐτῷ καὶ ἰδία πρὸς τοὺς Μεγαρεῖς ἀπέχθεια· κοινὴν δὲ καὶ φανερὰν ποιησάμενος αἰτίαν κατʼ αὐτῶν ἀποτέμνεσθαι τὴν ἱερὰν ὀργάδα, γράφει ψήφισμα κήρυκα πεμφθῆναι πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους τὸν αὐτὸν κατηγοροῦντα τῶν Μεγαρέων.
He must have secretly cherished, then, as it seems, some private grudge against the Megarians; but by way of public and open charge he accused them of appropriating to their own profane uses the sacred territory of Eleusis, and proposed a decree that a herald be sent to them, the same to go also to the Lacedaemonians with a denunciation of the Megarians.
τοῦτο μὲν οὖν τὸ ψήφισμα Περικλέους ἐστὶν εὐγνώμονος καὶ φιλανθρώπου δικαιολογίας ἐχόμενον· ἐπεὶ δʼ ὁ πεμφθεὶς κῆρυξ Ἀνθεμόκριτος αἰτίᾳ τῶν Μεγαρέων ἀποθανεῖν ἔδοξε, γράφει ψήφισμα κατʼ αὐτῶν Χαρῖνος, ἄσπονδον μὲν εἶναι καὶ ἀκήρυκτον ἔχθραν, ὃς δʼ ἂν ἐπιβῇ τῆς Ἀττικῆς Μεγαρέων θανάτῳ ζημιοῦσθαι, τοὺς δὲ στρατηγούς, ὅταν ὀμνύωσι τὸν πάτριον ὅρκον, ἐπομνύειν ὅτι καὶ δὶς ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος εἰς τὴν Μεγαρικὴν ἐμβαλοῦσι· ταφῆναι δʼ Ἀνθεμόκριτον παρὰ τὰς Θριασίας πύλας, αἳ νῦν Δίπυλον ὀνομάζονται.
This decree, at any rate, is the work of Pericles, and aims at a reasonable and humane justification of his course. But after the herald who was sent, Anthemocritus, had been put to death through the agency of the Megarians, as it was believed, Charinus proposed a decree against them, to the effect that there be irreconcilable and implacable enmity on the part of Athens towards them, and that whosoever of the Megarians should set foot on the soil of Attica be punished with death; and that the generals, whenever they should take their ancestral oath of office, add to their oath this clause, that they would invade the Megarid twice during each succeeding year; and that Anthemocritus be buried honorably at the Thriasian gates, which are now called the Dipylum.
Μεγαρεῖς δὲ τὸν Ἀνθεμοκρίτου φόνον ἀπαρνούμενοι τὰς αἰτίας εἰς Ἀσπασίαν καὶ Περικλέα τρέπουσι, χρώμενοι τοῖς περιβοήτοις καὶ δημώδεσι τούτοις ἐκ τῶν Ἀχαρνέων στιχιδίοις· πόρνην δὲ Σιμαίθαν ἰόντες Μεγάραδε / νεανίαι κλέπτουσι μεθυσοκότταβοι· / κἆθʼ οἱ Μεγαρεῖς ὀδύναις πεφυσιγγωμένοι / ἀντεξέκλεψαν Ἀσπασίας πόρνας δύο. /
But the Megarians denied the murder of Anthemocritus, and threw the blame for Athenian hate on Aspasia and Pericles, appealing to those far-famed and hackneyed versicles of the Acharnians:— Simaetha, harlot, one of Megara’s womankind, / Was stolen by gilded youths more drunk than otherwise; / And so the Megarians, pangs of wrath all reeking hot, / Paid back the theft and raped of Aspasia’s harlots two. /
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