102.
The siege of Ithomè proved tedious, and the Lacedaemonians called in, among
other allies,1 the
Athenians,
who sent to their aid a considerable force under Cimon.2
[2]
The Athenians were specially invited because they were reputed to be skilful in siege
operations,
and the length of the blockade proved to the Lacedaemonians their own
deficiency in that sort of warfare;
else why had they not taken the place by assault?
[3]
This expedition of the Athenians led to the first open quarrel between them and the
Lacedaemonians.
For the Lacedaemonians, not succeeding in storming the place, took alarm at the bold
and original spirit of the Athenians. They reflected that they were aliens in race, and fearing that, if they were allowed to
remain, they might be tempted by the Helots in Ithomè to change sides, they
dismissed them, while they retained the other allies. But they concealed their mistrust, and merely said that they no longer needed their
services.
[4]
Now the Athenians saw that their dismissal was due to some suspicion which had arisen
and not to the less offensive reason which was openly avowed;
they felt keenly that such a slight ought not to have been3 offered them by the Lacedaemonians;
and so, on their return home, they forthwith abandoned the alliance which they had made
with them against the Persians and went over to their Argive enemies.
At the same time both Argos and Athens bound themselves to Thessaly by a common oath of
alliance.
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