no SPEECH OF ARCHIDAMUS [ll B.C. 431. 'And the city which we are attackine: is not so utterly 01-87,2. , ..,,./ For they are tho- poweness against an invader, but is in roughly prepared, and j^e best Dossible State of preparation, the least likelv of all j r u • • men to sit idly by while ^^^ 'o^ ^his reason our enemies may wc -waste their lands. be quite expected to meet us in the field. Even if they have no such intention beforehand, yet as soon as they see us in Attica, wasting and de- stroying their property, they will certainly change their mind. For all men are angry when they not only suffer but see, and some strange form of calamity strikes full upon the eye ; the less they reflect the more ready they are to fight ; above all men the Athenians, who claim imperial power, and are more disposed to invade and waste their neighbour's land than to look on while their own is being wasted. Remembering how great this city is which you are attacking, and what a fame you will bring on your ancestors and yourselves for good or evil according to the result, follow whithersoever you are led ; maintain discipline and caution above all things, and be on the alert to obey the word of command. It is both the noblest and the safest thing for a great army to be visibly animated by one spirit.* 12 Having thus spoken, Archidamus dismissed the assembly. Archidamus sends His first step was to Send Melesippus, Melesippus to Athens, jj^g gon of Diacritus, a Spartan, bnt he is re/used ad- . , . , , ,1. , ^i nussioniotheeiiy,and to Athens in the hope that the immediately sent across Athenians might after all give way, thefrontier. when they saw their enemies actually on the march. But they would not admit him to the assembly, nor even into the city. For Pericles had already carried a motion to the effect that they would have nothing to do with herald or embassy while the Lacedaemonians were in the field. So Melesippus was sent away without a hearing and told that he must cross the frontier before sunset ; if the Lacedaemonians wanted to hold any parley with the Athenians, they must go home first. He was attended by an escort in order to prevent his communi-
