20.
In this first invasion Archidamus is said to have lingered about Acharnae with his army
ready1 for battle, instead of descending into the plain2
[2]
in the hope that the Athenians, who were now flourishing in youth and numbers and
provided for war as they had never been before, would perhaps meet them in the field
rather than allow their lands to be ravaged.
[3]
When therefore they did not appear at Eleusis or in the plain of Thria, he tried once
more whether by encamping in the neighbourhood of Acharnae he could induce them to come
out.
[4]
The situation appeared to be convenient, and the Acharnians, being a considerable
section of the city and furnishing three thousand hoplites, were likely to be impatient
at the destruction of their property, and would communicate to the whole people a desire
to fight.
Or if the Athenians did not come out to meet him during this invasion, he could
henceforward ravage the plain with more confidence, and march right up to the walls of
the city.
The Acharnians, having lost their own possessions, would be less willing to hazard
their lives on behalf of their neighoours, and so there would be a division
in the Athenian counsels.
[5]
Such was the motive of Archidamus in remaining at Acharnae.
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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