Meanwhile Inaros, son of Psammetichus, a Libyan and king of the Libyans who are adjacent to Egypt, setting out from Mareia, the city just north of Pharos, caused the greater part of Egypt to revolt from King Artaxerxes, 460 B.C. and then, when he had made himself ruler, he called in the Athenians.

 And they left Cyprus, cf. Thuc. 1.94.2 . where they happened to be on an expedition with two hundred ships of their own and of their allies, and went to Egypt, and when they had sailed up the Nile from the sea, finding themselves masters of the river and of twothirds of Memphis, they proceeded to attack the third part, which is called the White Fortress.
 And in this fortress were some Persians and Medes who had taken refuge there, and such Egyptians as had not joined in the revolt.

 The Athenians also made a descent with a fleet upon Halieis, where they had a battle with some Corinthians and Epidaurians, in which the Corinthians won.
 And afterwards the Athenians fought a sea-fight at Cecryphaleia with a Peloponnesian fleet, in which the Athenians won.

 After this war broke out between the Athenians and the Aeginetans, and a great sea-fight occurred between the Athenians and the Aeginetans off Aegina, in which the allies of both sides were present.
 This the Athenians won and having taken seventy Aeginetan ships they descended upon their territory and laid siege to the city, Leocrates son of Stroebus, being in command.

 Thereupon the Peloponnesians, wishing to aid the Aeginetans, sent into Aegina three hundred hoplites, who had previously been assisting the Corinthians and Epidaurians.
 Moreover, the Corinthians occupied the heights of Geraneia, and made a descent upon the territory of M egara in conjunction with their allies, thinking that the Athenians would be unable to aid the Megarians, since many of their troops were away in Aegina and in Egypt, or if they should attempt it that they would have to withdraw from Aegina.

 The Athenians, however, did not disturb the army besieging Aegina, but with such forces as were left in the city, consisting of the oldest and the youngest men, marched into Megara, the general in command being Myronides.

 An indecisive battle was fought with the Corinthians, whereupon they separated, each side thinking they had not got the worst of it in the action.

 And the Athenians, who had in fact got rather the better of it, when the Corinthians withdrew, set up a trophy;
 but the Corinthians, being reproached by the older men in their city, made their preparations and about twelve days later came back and set up for themselves a rival trophy, as though they had won.
 Hereupon the Athenians made a sally from Megara, slew those who were setting up the trophy, and joining battle with the rest defeated them.

 The vanquished party now retreated, and a not inconsiderable portion of them, being hard pressed, missed their way and rushed into a piece of land belonging to some private person, which was enclosed by a great ditch and had no exit.

 And when the Athenians perceived this, they shut them in by barring the entrance with hoplites, and stationing light-armed troops all round stoned all who had entered.
 And this was a great calamity to the Corinthians;
 the main body of their army, however, returned home.

 About this period 457 B.C. the Athenians began to build their long walls to the sea, one to Phalerum, the other to the Peiraeus.
 And the Phocians made an expedition against the land of the Dorians, the mother-country of the Lacedaemonians, namely the towns of Boeum, Citinium, and Erineum, one of which they captured;

 whereupon the Lacedaemonians, under the lead of Nicomedes son of Cleombrotus, acting for King Pleistoanax son of Pausanias, who was still a minor, sent to the aid of the Dorians a force of fifteen hundred hoplites of their own and ten thousand of their allies, and after they had forced the Phocians to make terms and restore the city they began their return homeward.

 Now if they wished to take the sea-route and make their passage by way of the Crisaean Gulf, the Athenians were sure to take their fleet round the Peloponnesus and block their way;
 and to march over the Geranaean pass appeared to them hazardous, since the Athenians held Megara and Pegae.
 Besides, the Geranaean pass was not easy to traverse and was at all times guarded by the Athenians, and at this present time, as the Lacedaemonians perceived, they intended to block their way.
 So they decided to wait in Boeotia and consider how they might most safely cross over to the Peloponnesus.

 To this course they were partly influenced by some Athenians, who were secretly inviting them into their country, in the hope of putting an end to the democracy and to the building of the long walls.

 But the Athenians went out against the Lacedaemonians with their whole force and with one thousand Argives and contingents of the several allies, the whole body amounting to fourteen thousand men.

 And they undertook the expedition against them because they believed that they were at a loss how to get through, and partly too on a suspicion of a plot to overthrow the democracy.

 The forces of the Athenians were strengthened by some Thessalian cavalry, who came in accordance with the terms of the alliance, but they deserted to the Lacedaemonians in the course of the action.

 The battle took place 456 B.C. at Tanagra in Boeotia, and in it the Lacedaemonians and their allies were victorious, and there was much slaughter on both sides.

 The Lacedaemonians then entered the Megaiian territory, cut down the trees, and went back home by way of Geraneia and the Isthmus.

 But on the sixty-second day after the battle, the Athenians, having made an expedition into Boeotia under Myronides, defeated the Boeotians at Oenophyta, got control of Boeotia and Phocis, pulled down the walls of Tanagra, and took one hundred of the wealthiest men of the Opuntian Locrians as hostages.

 Meanwhile they completed their own long walls.
 After this the Aeginetans also capitulated to the Athenians, pulling down their walls, delivering up their ships, and agreeing to pay tribute in future. 455 B.C. And the Athenians, under the command of Tolmides son of Tolmaeus, sailed round the Peloponnesus, bullned the dock-yard Gytheum, on the Laconian gulf. of the Lacedaemonians, took Chalcis, a city of the Corinthians, and making a descent upon the territory of the Sicyonians defeated them in battle.

 Meanwhile the Athenians and their allies stayed on in Egypt and the war took on many forms.

 At first the Athenians had the mastery in Egypt, and the King sent to Lacedaemon Megabazus a Persian with a supply of money, in order that the Lacedaemonians might be induced to invade Attica and the Athenians thus be drawn away from Egypt.

 But when he found that matters did not advance and the money was being spent in vain, Megabazus betook himself back to Asia with the money that was left, and Megabyzus son of Zopyrus, Hero of the capture of Babylon, Hdt. 2.115 . a Persian, was despatched with a large army. Diodorus gives him with Artabazus 300,000 men ( 11.75 ) and 300 ships ( 11.77 ). 

 He marched thither by land, and defeated the Egyptians and their allies in battle, drove the Hellenes out of Memphis, and finally shut them up in the island of Prosopitis, where he besieged them for a year and six months, then finally, by diverting the water into another course, drained the canal and left the ships high and dry, converting the greater part of the island into mainland;
 then he crossed over dry-shod and took the island.

 Thus this undertaking of the Hellenes came to naught after a war of six years; 454 B.C. and but few out of many, making their way through Libya into Cyrene, escaped with their lives;

 the most of them perished.
 And all Egypt again came under the King's dominion, except Amyrtaeus, the king of the marshes cf. Hdt. 2.140 ; 3. 15 . ;
 for the Persians were unable to capture him, both on account of the extent of the marsh and because the marsh people are the best fighters among the Egyptians.

 Inaros, however, the king of the Libyans, who had been the originator of the whole movement in Egypt, was taken by treachery and impaled.

 And when fifty triremes, which sailed to Egypt from Athens and the rest of the confederacy to relieve the fleet there, put in at the Mendesian mouth of the Nile, quite unaware of what had happened, the infantry fell upon them from the shore and a Phoenician fleet from the sea and destroyed most of the ships, a small number only escaping.
 So ended the great expedition against Egypt of the Athenians and their allies.

 And now Orestes son of Echecratidas, king of the Thessalians, who was exiled from Thessaly, persuaded the Athenians to restore him.
 And they, taking along some Boeotians and Phocians who were allies, made an expedition against Pharsalus in Thessaly.
 And though they made themselves masters of the land, so far as this was possible without going far from their camp—for the Thessalian cavalry hemmed them in—they failed to capture the city and indeed none of the other objects of their expedition was attained, so they went back home again unsuccessful, having Orestes with them.

 Not long after this 454 B.C. one thousand Athenians, embarking on the ships at Pegae, which was now in their possession, cf. Thuc. 1.103.4 . sailed along the coast to Sicyon under the command of Pericles son of Xanthippus, and disembarking defeated in battle the Sicyonians who came out against them.

 Immediately thereafter, taking along some Achaeans and sailing across the gulf, they made an expedition against Oeniadae in Acarnania and laid siege to it;
 but failing to take it they went back home.

 Three years afterwards 451 B.C. a truce was made between the Peloponnesians and Athenians, to last five years.

 And the Athenians did abstain from warfare against Hellenes, but they made an expedition against Cyprus with two hundred ships of their own and of their allies, under the command of Cimon.

 Sixty of these ships sailed to Egypt on the summons of Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes, while the others laid siege to Citium.

 But Cimon died and a famine arose, and so they withdrew from Citium ; 449 B.C. and on their way home, when off Salamis in Cyprus, they fought the Phoenicians, Cyprians and Cilicians by sea and on land.
 Gaining the victory in both battles they went back home, and with them returned the ships that had been in Egypt.

 After this the Lacedaemonians undertook the so-called sacred war, and getting possession of the temple at Delphi, delivered it to the Delphians;
 and afterwards, when they had withdrawn, the Athenians made an expedition, got possession of it, and delivered it again to the Phocians.

 Some time after this 447 B.C. the Athenians under the command of Tolmides son of Tolmaeus, with one thousand hoplites of their own and the respective quotas of their allies, made an expedition against Orchomenus and Chaeroneia and some other places in Boeotia, which were in the possession of the Boeotian exiles and therefore hostile.
 And after taking Chaeroneia and selling its inhabitants into slavery, they placed a garrison in it and departed.

 But while they were on the march they were attacked at Coronea by the Boeotian exiles from (rchomenus, together with some Locrians and Euboean exiles and others who held the same political views, and were defeated, some of the Athenians being slain and others taken alive.

 Accordingly the Athenians evacuated the whole of Boeotia, making a treaty upon the stipulation that they should receive back their prisoners.

 And so the Boeotian exiles were restored, and they as well as all the rest of the Boeotians again became autonomous.

 Not long after this 445 B. C. Euboea revolted from Athens;
 and Pericles had just crossed over to the island with an Athenian army when word was brought to him that Megara had revolted, that the Peloponnesians were about to invade Attica, and that all the Athenian garrison had been destroyed by the Megarians except such as had escaped to Nisaea.
 The Megarians had effected this revolt by bringing Corinthians, Sicyonians and Epidaurians to their aid.
 So Pericles in haste brought his army back again from Euboea.

 After this the Peloponnesians, under the command of Pleistoanax son of Pausanias, king of the Lacedaemonians, advanced into Attica as far as Eleusis and Thria, ravaging the country;
 but without going further they returned home.

 Thereupon the Athenians again crossed over into Euboea under the command of Pericles and subdued the whole of it;
 the rest of the island they settled Setting up democracies, etc. cf. C.I.A. iv. 27 a. by agreement, but expelled the Hestiaeans from their homes and themselves occupied their territory.

 Withdrawing their troops from Euboea not long afterwards they made a truce with the Lacedaemonians and their allies which was to last for thirty years, restoring Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen, and Achaea;
 for these were the places belonging to the Peloponnesians which the Athenians then held.

 Six years later a war arose between the Samians and the Milesians about the possession of Priene, and the Milesians, who were being worsted in the war, went to Athens and cried out against the Samians.
 They were seconded in their complaint by some private citizens from Samos itself who wished to revolutionize the government.

 So the Athenians sailed to Samos with forty ships and set up a democracy, taking as hostages of the Samians fifty boys and as many men, whom they deposited in Lemnos;

 then they withdrew from Samos, leaving a garrison behind.
 Some of the Samians, however, did not stay, but fled to the mainland, first making an alliance with the most influential men who remained in the city and with Pissuthnes son of Hystaspes, then satrap of Sardis;
 and collecting mercenary troops to the number of seven hundred they crossed over by night to Samos.

 First they attacked the popular party and got most of them into their power;
 then they secretly got their hostages out of Lemnos and revolted from Athens, handing over to Pissuthnes the Athenian officers and garrison that were on the island, and at once set about preparing an expedition against Miletus.
 And the Byzantines also joined in their revolt.

 But when the Athenians heard of this they sailed for Samos with sixty ships.
 Sixteen of these, however, they did not make use of on this enterprise, for these had already gone, some toward Caria to keep watch upon the Phoenician ships, others towards Chios and Lesbos to summon aid;
 but with forty-four ships, under the command of Pericles and nine others, Sophocles was on the fleet, as one of the ten generals of the year. they fought a sea-fight at the island of Tragia against seventy ships of the Samians, of which twenty were transport—ships, the whole fleet being on the way back from Miletus;
 and the Athenians were victorious.

 Later, having received a reinforcement from Athens of forty ships and from the Chians and Lesbians of twenty-five, they disembarked, and being superior to the Samians with their infantry proceeded to invest the city with three walls, at the same time blockading it by sea as well.

 But Pericles took sixty ships away from the blockading fleet and departed in haste towards Caunus in Caria, a report having come that a Phoenician fleet was sailing against his forces;
 for Stesagoras and others had gone from Samos with five vessels to fetch the Phoenician ships.

 Meanwhile the Samians suddenly made a sally and fell upon the Athenian naval station, which was unprotected by a stockade, destroying the guardships and defeating in a sea-fight the ships that put out against them.
 And for about fourteen days they were masters of the sea off their coast, bringing in and carrying out whatever they wished;

 but when Pericles came they were again blockaded by sea.
 And afterwards a reinforcement came from Athens of forty ships under the command of Thucydides, Possibly the historian, as some have thought; others explain as the son of Melesias and opponent of Pericles; still others as the poet from the deme of Acherdus. Hagnon and Phormio, twenty under Tlepolemus and Anticles, and thirty from Chios and Lesbos.

 Now the Samians did indeed put up a sea-fight for a short time, but they were unable to hold out, and in the ninth month 439 B.C. were reduced by siege and agreed to a capitulation, pulling down their walls, giving hostages, delivering over their ships, and consenting to pay back by instalments the money spent upon the siege.
 The Byzantines too came to terms, agreeing to be subjects as before.

 It was not many years Hardly four years, since the naval battle between the Corcyraeans and Corinthians seems to have occurred 435 B.C. after this that the events already narrated occurred, namely the Corcyraean affair, 1.24 - 1.40 . the Potidaean, 1.54 - 1.66 . and all the other incidents The transactions in the Spartan assembly, 1.67 - 1.88 . lxxxviii. that furnished an occasion for this war.

 And all these operations of the Hellenes, against one another and against the Barbarian, took place in the interval of about fifty years between the retreat of Xerxes and the beginning of this war. 479-432 B.C. It was in this period that the Athenians established their rule more firmly and themselves advanced to great power.
 And the Lacedaemonians, though aware of their growing power, made no attempt to check it, except to a trifling extent, remaining indifferent the greater part of the time, since they had never been quick to go to war except under compulsion, and in this case were in some degree precluded from interference by wars of their own. The Helot rebellion, 1.101 . But at last the power of the Athenians began clearly to exalt itself and they were laying hands upon their allies.
 Then the Lacedaemonians could bear it no longer, but determined that they must attack the Athenian power with all zeal and overthrow it, if they could, by undertaking this war. The Lacedaemonians themselves, then, Resuming the narrative interrupted at the end of Thuc. 1.88 . had decided that the treaty had been broken and that the Athenians were in the wrong, and sending to Delphi they asked the god if it would be advisable for them to go to war.

 The god answered them, as it is said, that if they warred with all their might, victory would be theirs, and said that he himself would help them, whether invoked or uninvoked.

 But they wished to summon their allies again and put 432 B.C. to them the question whether they should go to war.
 And when the envoys from the allies had come and an assembly was held, the others said what they wished, most of them complaining of the Athenians and demanding that the war should be entered upon, and especially the Corinthians.
 They had already, before the meeting, privately begged the allies city by city to vote for the war, fearing lest Potidaea would be destroyed before help came, and now, being also present at this meeting, they came forward last of all and spoke as follows:

 " Men of the allies, we can no longer complain of the Lacedaemonians that they have not both themselves voted for the war and also brought us together for this object.
 And that is right;
 for it is the duty of leaders, while equitably considering their particular interests, to have special regard for the general weal, just as in other matters they are honoured above all.

 Now those of us who have had dealings with the Athenians in the past do not need to be taught to be on our guard against them.
 But those who dwell more in the interior and away from any trade-route should be warned that, if they do not aid those who are on the seaboard, they will find it more difficult to bring the products of the land down to the sea and to get in return what the sea gives to the mainland;
 and that they should not be careless judges of what is said here, as though it were no concern of theirs, but should expect that, if they abandon the seacoast to its fate, the danger may possibly some day reach them, and that they are deliberating upon their own interests no less than upon ours.

 They ought not, therefore, to hesitate a moment to adopt war in place of peace.
 For though it is the part of men of discretion to remain tranquil should they not be wronged, it behooves brave men, when wronged, to go from peace to war, but when a favourable opportunity offers to abandon war and resume peace again, allowing themselves neither to be elated by success in war nor to be so enamoured of the quiet of peace as to submit to wrong.

 For he who for the sake of his comfort shrinks from war is likely, should he remain tranquil, very speedily to forfeit the delights of ease which caused him to shrink;
 and he who presumes upon his success in war has failed to reflect how treacherous is the confidence which elates him.

 For many enterprises which were ill-planned have succeeded because the adversary has proved to be still worse advised, and yet more, which to all appearances were well advised, have turned out the opposite way and brought disgrace.
 For no one ever carries out a plan with the same confidence with which he conceives it;
 on the contrary we form our fond schemes with a feeling of security, but when it comes to their execution, we are possessed by fear and fall short of success.