26-28] Ol'ERTURES OF CORINTH TO ARGOS 123 broke up the treaty, and the events of the war which followed. After the conclusion of the fifty years* peace and of the 27 subsequent alliance, the ambassadors t,„ Co,i„thians go who had been invited to the con- to A rgos ami flatter the ference from the other states of Pelo- ^'Sives with the notion , - T 1 -T-. 1. ^f'Ct ^^'^y tnust become ponnesus left Lacedaemon. They all „„ ,,„(,., ^j ^ ^^,„^ went home except the Corinthians, who anti Laconian confeder- turned aside to Argos and opened com- '""-^• munications with certain of the Argive magistrates, saying that the Lacedaemonians had made peace and alliance with the Athenians, hitherto their mortal enemies, to no good end, but for the enslavement of Peloponnesus, and that the Argives were bound to take measures for its deliverance. They ought to pass a vote that any in- dependent Hellenic city which would allow a settlement of disputes on equal terms might enter into a defensive alliance with them. The negotiation should not be carried on with the assembly, but the Argives should appoint a few commissioners having full powers, lest, if any states appealed to the people and were rejected, their failure should become public. They added that hatred of the Lacedaemonians would induce many to join them. Having offered this recommendation, the Corinthians returned home. The Argive magistrates, after hearing these proposals, 28 referred them to their colleagues and The Argives, seeino- the people. The Argives passed a vote f^'ct war with Lacedae- accordingly, and elected twelve com- ^^^on was imminent and ° •" hoping to lead Pelo- missioners; through these any of the ponnesus, enter warmly Hellenes who pleased might make i»io the idea. an alliance with them, except the Athenians and Lace- daemonians, who could only be admitted to the league with the sanction of the Argive people. The Argives were the more inclined to take this course because, their truce with the Lacedaemonians being about to expire, they saw that war was imminent. Moreover they were en-
