of the Aegaean, which held out for the Great King. The Spartans were
still nominal leaders of the allied Greek navy; but after a year of
service they resigned this position, which they owed to their
acknowledged supremacy in land warfare, to the Athenians. They were
induced to take this step, partly by their own aversion to foreign
enterprises, and partly by the misconduct of their general Pausanias,
who had disgusted the allies serving under him in the fleet by his
intolerable arrogance and tyranny. The field was thus left open to the
Athenians, who willingly assumed the command offered them by the
maritime cities of Greece, with the object of prosecuting the war
vigorously against Persia. Each city was assessed to furnish a fixed
contribution of ships or money, and the sacred island of Delos was
appointed as the common treasury and meeting-place of the league. Thus
was formed the famous Delian Confederacy, with the avowed purpose of
making reprisals on the Great King's territory for the havoc which he
had wrought in Greece. For a time all went smoothly, and the various
members of the league fought under Athens as her independent allies.
But by degrees the Greeks from the islands and coast-lands of Asia
began to weary of their arduous duties, and murmured against the
Athenians, who proved hard task-masters, and compelled them by force
to perform their part in the bargain. One by one the cities revolted
from the leadership of Athens, were attacked by her navies, and
reduced to the position of subjects and tributaries. Others
voluntarily withdrew from all active co-operation in the war, agreeing
to pay a fixed annual sum as a substitute for service in the fleet.
And before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War the two powerful
islands of Lesbos and Chios were the only members of the original
league who still retained their independence.

Such were the circumstances which led to the foundation of the