A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

CHAPTER XIX
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE SICILIAN
EXPEDITION
I. The Resources of the Contending Powers
The Athenians now made preparations for war. The Prepara-
Lacedasmonians and their allies made similar preparations.
Both they and the Athenians meditated sending em- Thucydides
bassies to the king, and to the other barbarian potentates
from whom either party might hope to obtain aid; they Greece, igoS.;
likewise sought the alliance of independent cities outside World, ngS.
their own dominion. The Lacedaemonians ordered their
friends in Italy and Sicily, in addition to the ships which
they had on the spot, to build others in number proportioned
to the size of their cities; for they intended to raise
the Peloponnesian na\y to a total of five hundred. The
cities were also required to furnish a fixed sum of money;
they were not to receive more than a single Athenian
ship, but were to take no further measures until these
preparations had been completed. The Athenians reviewed
their confederacy, and sent ambassadors to the
places immediately adjacent to Peloponnesus—Corcyra,
Cephallenia, Acarnania, and Zacynthus. They perceived
that if they could only rely upon the friendship of these
states, they might completely surround Peloponnesus
with war.
On neither side were there any mean thoughts; they Both sides
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were both full of enthusiasm; and no wonder, for all men
enthusiastic,
are energetic when they are making a beginning. At that Thuc. ii. 8.
211
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