Greece had promised success to their arms. But to deserve that
success, all must co-operate heartily, contributing freely from their
private purses to raise a fleet which would make them a match for
Athens on her own element. And they must watch the course of events
with a vigilant eye, and be ready to seize any opportunity which might
arise to aim a decisive blow at their common enemy. Let them be warned
by the experience of the Ionians, and put out all their strength to
save themselves from being swallowed up by the devouring ambition of
Athens. Justice, heaven's favour, the good-will of all Greece, were on
their side.

Others spoke to the same effect, and then the representatives of each
city were called up in turn to give their vote; and by far the greater
number voted for war. But many months elapsed before any overt act of
hostility occurred, and the time was occupied in preparations for an
invasion of Attica, and in a series of demands sent by Sparta to try
the temper of the Athenians, and put them in the wrong, if they
refused to comply. The first of these messages was conveyed in
mysterious terms, bidding the Athenians "to drive out the curse of the
goddess." The meaning of this was as follows: nearly two hundred years
before a certain Cylon tried to make himself tyrant of Athens: the
attempt was frustrated, and some of his adherents, who had taken
refuge in the sacred precinct of Athene, were put to death by the
magistrates, after they had surrendered under a solemn promise that
their lives should be spared. The illustrious family of the
Alcmaeonidae was especially concerned in this act of murder and
sacrilege, and the Spartans, in reviving the memory of an ancient
crime, were aiming a blow at Pericles, who was descended on his
mother's side from the Alcmaeonidae. For the Athenians were highly
sensitive in all matters of religion, and it was possible that they