91.
The friendship of the Lacedaemonian magistrates for Themistocles induced them to
believe1 him; but when everybody who came from Athens declared positively that the wall
was building and had already reached a considerable height, they knew not what to think.
[2]
He, aware of their suspicions, desired them not to be misled by reports, but to send to
Athens men whom they could trust out of their own number who would see for themselves
and bring back word.
[3]
They agreed; and he at the same time privately instructed the Athenians to detain the
envoys as quietly as they could, and not let them go until he and his colleagues had got
safely home.
For by this time Habronichus the son of Lysicles, and Aristides the son of Lysimachus,
who were joined with him in the embassy, had arrived, bringing the news that the wall
was of sufficient height;
and he was afraid that the Lacedaemonians, when they heard the truth, might not allow
them to return.
[4]
So the Athenians detained the envoys,
and Themistocles, coming before the
Lacedaemonians, at length declared in so many words that Athens was now provided with
walls and could protect her citizens; henceforward, if the Lacedaemonians or their
allies wished at any time to negotiate, they must deal with the Athenians as with men
who knew quite well what was for their own and the common good.
[5]
When they boldly resolved to leave their city and go on board ship, they did not first
ask the advice of the Lacedaemonians, and, when the two states met in council, their own
judgment had been as good as that of any one.
[6]
And now they had arrived at an independent opinion that it was better far, and would be
more advantageous both for themselves and for the whole body of the allies, that their
city should have a wall;
[7]
when any member of a confederacy had not equal military advantages, his counsel could
not be of equal weight or worth.
Either all the allies should pull down their walls, or they should acknowledge that the
Athenians were in the right.
1 The Lacedaemonians are out witted by Themistocles.
Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices. Volume 1. Thucydides. Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881.
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