from the Alcmaeonidae by his mother's side, as we are told by Thucydides
the historian. But this attempt had just the contrary effect to that
which they intended; for, instead of suspicion and dislike, Pericles met
with much greater honor and respect from his countrymen than before,
because they saw that he was an object of especial dislike to the enemy.
For this reason, before the Peloponnesians, under Archidamus, invaded
Attica, he warned the Athenians that if Archidamus, when he laid waste
everything else, spared his own private estate because of the friendly
private relations existing between them, or in order to give his
personal enemies a ground for impeaching him, he should give both the
land and the farm buildings upon it to the state.

The Lacedaemonians invaded Attica with a great host of their own troops
and those of their allies, led by Archidamus, their king. They
proceeded, ravaging the country as they went, as far as Acharnae (close
to Athens), where they encamped, imagining that the Athenians would
never endure to see them there, but would be driven by pride and shame
to come out and fight them. However, Pericles thought that it would be a
very serious matter to fight for the very existence of Athens against
sixty thousand Peloponnesian and Boeotian heavy-armed troops, and so he
pacified those who were dissatisfied at his inactivity by pointing out
that trees when cut down quickly grow again, but that when the men of a
state are lost, it is hard to raise up others to take their place. He
would not call an assembly of the people, because he feared that they
would force him to act against his better judgment, but, just as the
captain of a ship, when a storm comes on at sea, places everything in
the best trim to meet it, and trusting to his own skill and seamanship,
disregarding the tears and entreaties of the seasick and terrified
passengers, so did Pericles shut the gates of Athens, place sufficient
forces to insure the safety of the city at all points, and calmly carry