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

212 The Peloponnesian War
time the youth of Peloponnesus and the youth of Athens
were numerous; they had never seen war, and were therefore
very wiUing to take up arms.
All Hellas was excited
by the coming conflict between her two chief cities.
Many
were the prophecies circulated and many the oracles
chanted by diviners, not only in the cities about to engage
in the struggle, but throughout Hellas.
Quite lately the
island of Delos had been shaken by an earthquake for the
first time within the memory of the Hellenes; this was
interpreted and generally believed to be a sign of coming
events. And everything of the sort which occurred was
curiously noted.
The Hel- The feeling of mankind was strongly on the side of the
lenes favor
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Lacedaemon. Lacedaemonians ; for they professed to be the liberators of
The allies on
both sides.
lb. g.
Hellas. Cities and individuals were eager to assist them
to the utmost, both by word and deed; and where a man
could not hope to be present, there it seemed to him that
all things were at a stand. For the general indignation
against the Athenians was intense; some were longing to
be delivered from them, others fearful of falling under
their sway.
Such was the temper which animated the Hellenes, and
such were the preparations made by the two powers for
the war. Their respective allies were as follows:—The
Lacedaemonian confederacy included all the Peloponnesians
with the exception of the Argives and the Achaeans—they
were both neutral; only the Achaeans of Pellene took part
with the Lacedaemonians at first ; afterward all the Achaeans
joined them. Beyond the borders of the Peloponnese, the
Megarians, Phocians, Locrians, Boeotians, Ambraciots,
Leucadians, and Anactorians were their allies.
Of these
states the Corinthians, Megarians, Sicyonians, Pellenians,
Eleans, Ambraciots, and Leucadians provided a navy, the