yet touched seemed possessed by one sole desire--to drown thought and
care in an orgy of fierce excess, and then to die.


II

The second invasion of the Peloponnesians was prolonged for forty
days, and the whole Attic territory was laid waste. Pericles again
refused to venture a pitched battle against them, knowing well that
the Athenian army was no match for them in the open field. But a
powerful fleet was sent to cruise round Peloponnesus, which inflicted
much damage on the coast districts. It was a welcome relief to the
Athenians selected for this service to escape for a time from the
plague-stricken city; but unhappily they carried the infection with
them, and the crews were decimated by the same disease. Nor did the
evil stop here: for the same armament being afterwards despatched to
Potidaea, to reinforce the blockading army and fleet, caused a
virulent outbreak of the plague among the forces stationed there,
which up till then had been healthy. After some fruitless operations
against the town this second armament was withdrawn, and returned to
Athens with the loss of more than a thousand men.

After all these disasters the reaction against Pericles, which had
begun with the first invasion of Attica, reached a climax, and on all
sides he was loudly decried by the Athenians, as the author of all
their miseries. Envoys were sent with overtures of peace to Sparta,
and when these returned with no favourable answer, the storm of
popular fury grew more violent than ever. Pericles, who knew the
temper of his people, and had foreseen that some such outbreak would
occur, remained calm and unmoved. But wishing to allay the general