ambition of his countrymen. He had been a true father and ruler of his
people, in evil times and in good, curbing them in the insolence of
prosperity, comforting and exalting them in the dark hour of disaster.
But the government now passed into the hands of weaker men, who, since
they were incapable of leading the people, were compelled to follow
it, and to maintain their position by pandering to the worst vices of
the Athenian character. Rash where they should have been cautious,
yielding where they should have been resolute, they squandered the
immense resources of Athens, and led her on, step by step, to
humiliation and defeat. The course of our narrative will show how
easily the Athenians might have emerged triumphant from the struggle
with their enemies, if they had followed the line of conduct marked
out by Pericles. They might, indeed, have avoided the occasion of
offence which led immediately to the war, and thus have escaped the
necessity of fighting altogether; and this, as we have seen, was the
one fatal mistake made by Pericles. But, once launched in the
conflict, they were sure of an easy victory, if they had only shown a
very moderate degree of prudence and self-restraint. And we need not
blame the great statesmen too harshly for not foreseeing the wild
excesses of folly and extravagance which we shall have to record in
the following pages.




INVESTMENT OF PLATAEA

In the third year of the war the usual invasion of Attica was omitted,
and the Peloponnesian army under Archidamus marched against Plataea.
Having pitched their camp before the walls they prepared to lay waste