THE next summer, just as the corn was getting ripe, the Peloponnesians and their allies invaded Attica under the command of Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and sat down and ravaged1 the land; the Athenian horse as usual attacking them, wherever it was practicable, and preventing the mass of the light troops from advancing from their camp and wasting the parts near the city. After staying the time for which they had taken provisions, the invaders2 retired3 and dispersed4 to their several cities.
Immediately after the invasion of the Peloponnesians all Lesbos, except Methymna, revolted from the Athenians. The Lesbians had wished to revolt even before the war, but the Lacedaemonians would not receive them; and yet now when they did revolt, they were compelled to do so sooner than they had intended. While they were waiting until the moles5 for their harbours and the ships and walls that they had in building should be finished, and for the arrival of archers6 and corn and other things that they were engaged in fetching from the Pontus, the Tenedians, with whom they were at enmity, and the Methymnians, and some factious8 persons in Mitylene itself, who were proxeni of Athens, informed the Athenians that the Mitylenians were forcibly uniting the island under their sovereignty, and that the preparations about which they were so active, were all concerted with the Boeotians their kindred and the Lacedaemonians with a view to a revolt, and that, unless they were immediately prevented, Athens would lose Lesbos.
However, the Athenians, distressed9 by the plague, and by the war that had recently broken out and was now raging, thought it a serious matter to add Lesbos with its fleet and untouched resources to the list of their enemies; and at first would not believe the charge, giving too much weight to their wish that it might not be true. But when an embassy which they sent had failed to persuade the Mitylenians to give up the union and preparations complained of, they became alarmed, and resolved to strike the first blow. They accordingly suddenly sent off forty ships that had been got ready to sail round Peloponnese, under the command of Cleippides, son of Deinias, and two others; word having been brought them of a festival in honour of the Malean Apollo outside the town, which is kept by the whole people of Mitylene, and at which, if haste were made, they might hope to take them by surprise. If this plan succeeded, well and good; if not, they were to order the Mitylenians to deliver up their ships and to pull down their walls, and if they did not obey, to declare war. The ships accordingly set out; the ten galleys11, forming the contingent12 of the Mitylenians present with the fleet according to the terms of the alliance, being detained by the Athenians, and their crews placed in custody13. However, the Mitylenians were informed of the expedition by a man who crossed from Athens to Euboea, and going overland to Geraestus, sailed from thence by a merchantman which he found on the point of putting to sea, and so arrived at Mitylene the third day after leaving Athens. The Mitylenians accordingly refrained from going out to the temple at Malea, and moreover barricaded14 and kept guard round the half-finished parts of their walls and harbours.
When the Athenians sailed in not long after and saw how things stood, the generals delivered their orders, and upon the Mitylenians refusing to obey, commenced hostilities15. The Mitylenians, thus compelled to go to war without notice and unprepared, at first sailed out with their fleet and made some show of fighting, a little in front of the harbour; but being driven back by the Athenian ships, immediately offered to treat with the commanders, wishing, if possible, to get the ships away for the present upon any tolerable terms. The Athenian commanders accepted their offers, being themselves fearful that they might not be able to cope with the whole of Lesbos; and an armistice16 having been concluded, the Mitylenians sent to Athens one of the informers, already repentant17 of his conduct, and others with him, to try to persuade the Athenians of the innocence18 of their intentions and to get the fleet recalled. In the meantime, having no great hope of a favourable19 answer from Athens, they also sent off a galley10 with envoys20 to Lacedaemon, unobserved by the Athenian fleet which was anchored at Malea to the north of the town.
While these envoys, reaching Lacedaemon after a difficult journey across the open sea, were negotiating for succours being sent them, the ambassadors from Athens returned without having effected anything; and hostilities were at once begun by the Mitylenians and the rest of Lesbos, with the exception of the Methymnians, who came to the aid of the Athenians with the Imbrians and Lemnians and some few of the other allies. The Mitylenians made a sortie with all their forces against the Athenian camp; and a battle ensued, in which they gained some slight advantage, but retired notwithstanding, not feeling sufficient confidence in themselves to spend the night upon the field. After this they kept quiet, wishing to wait for the chance of reinforcements arriving from Peloponnese before making a second venture, being encouraged by the arrival of Meleas, a Laconian, and Hermaeondas, a Theban, who had been sent off before the insurrection but had been unable to reach Lesbos before the Athenian expedition, and who now stole in in a galley after the battle, and advised them to send another galley and envoys back with them, which the Mitylenians accordingly did.
Meanwhile the Athenians, greatly encouraged by the inaction of the Mitylenians, summoned allies to their aid, who came in all the quicker from seeing so little vigour22 displayed by the Lesbians, and bringing round their ships to a new station to the south of the town, fortified23 two camps, one on each side of the city, and instituted a blockade of both the harbours. The sea was thus closed against the Mitylenians, who, however, commanded the whole country, with the rest of the Lesbians who had now joined them; the Athenians only holding a limited area round their camps, and using Malea more as the station for their ships and their market.
While the war went on in this way at Mitylene, the Athenians, about the same time in this summer, also sent thirty ships to Peloponnese under Asopius, son of Phormio; the Acarnanians insisting that the commander sent should be some son or relative of Phormio. As the ships coasted along shore they ravaged the seaboard of Laconia; after which Asopius sent most of the fleet home, and himself went on with twelve vessels26 to Naupactus, and afterwards raising the whole Acarnanian population made an expedition against Oeniadae, the fleet sailing along the Achelous, while the army laid waste the country. The inhabitants, however, showing no signs of submitting, he dismissed the land forces and himself sailed to Leucas, and making a descent upon Nericus was cut off during his retreat, and most of his troops with him, by the people in those parts aided by some coastguards; after which the Athenians sailed away, recovering their dead from the Leucadians under truce27.
Meanwhile the envoys of the Mitylenians sent out in the first ship were told by the Lacedaemonians to come to Olympia, in order that the rest of the allies might hear them and decide upon their matter, and so they journeyed thither28. It was the Olympiad in which the Rhodian Dorieus gained his second victory, and the envoys having been introduced to make their speech after the festival, spoke29 as follows:
“Lacedaemonians and allies, the rule established among the Hellenes is not unknown to us. Those who revolt in war and forsake30 their former confederacy are favourably31 regarded by those who receive them, in so far as they are of use to them, but otherwise are thought less well of, through being considered traitors32 to their former friends. Nor is this an unfair way of judging, where the rebels and the power from whom they secede33 are at one in policy and sympathy, and a match for each other in resources and power, and where no reasonable ground exists for the rebellion. But with us and the Athenians this was not the case; and no one need think the worse of us for revolting from them in danger, after having been honoured by them in time of peace.
“Justice and honesty will be the first topics of our speech, especially as we are asking for alliance; because we know that there can never be any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each other’s honesty, and be generally congenial the one to the other; since from difference in feeling springs also difference in conduct. Between ourselves and the Athenians alliance began, when you withdrew from the Median War and they remained to finish the business. But we did not become allies of the Athenians for the subjugation34 of the Hellenes, but allies of the Hellenes for their liberation from the Mede; and as long as the Athenians led us fairly we followed them loyally; but when we saw them relax their hostility35 to the Mede, to try to compass the subjection of the allies, then our apprehensions36 began. Unable, however, to unite and defend themselves, on account of the number of confederates that had votes, all the allies were enslaved, except ourselves and the Chians, who continued to send our contingents38 as independent and nominally39 free. Trust in Athens as a leader, however, we could no longer feel, judging by the examples already given; it being unlikely that she would reduce our fellow confederates, and not do the same by us who were left, if ever she had the power.
“Had we all been still independent, we could have had more faith in their not attempting any change; but the greater number being their subjects, while they were treating us as equals, they would naturally chafe40 under this solitary41 instance of independence as contrasted with the submission42 of the majority; particularly as they daily grew more powerful, and we more destitute43. Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other; he who would like to encroach is then deterred44 by the reflection that he will not have odds46 in his favour. Again, if we were left independent, it was only because they thought they saw their way to empire more clearly by specious47 language and by the paths of policy than by those of force. Not only were we useful as evidence that powers who had votes, like themselves, would not, surely, join them in their expeditions, against their will, without the party attacked being in the wrong; but the same system also enabled them to lead the stronger states against the weaker first, and so to leave the former to the last, stripped of their natural allies, and less capable of resistance. But if they had begun with us, while all the states still had their resources under their own control, and there was a centre to rally round, the work of subjugation would have been found less easy. Besides this, our navy gave them some apprehension37: it was always possible that it might unite with you or with some other power, and become dangerous to Athens. The court which we paid to their commons and its leaders for the time being also helped us to maintain our independence. However, we did not expect to be able to do so much longer, if this war had not broken out, from the examples that we had had of their conduct to the rest.
“How then could we put our trust in such friendship or freedom as we had here? We accepted each other against our inclination48; fear made them court us in war, and us them in peace; sympathy, the ordinary basis of confidence, had its place supplied by terror, fear having more share than friendship in detaining us in the alliance; and the first party that should be encouraged by the hope of impunity49 was certain to break faith with the other. So that to condemn50 us for being the first to break off, because they delay the blow that we dread51, instead of ourselves delaying to know for certain whether it will be dealt or not, is to take a false view of the case. For if we were equally able with them to meet their plots and imitate their delay, we should be their equals and should be under no necessity of being their subjects; but the liberty of offence being always theirs, that of defence ought clearly to be ours.
“Such, Lacedaemonians and allies, are the grounds and the reasons of our revolt; clear enough to convince our hearers of the fairness of our conduct, and sufficient to alarm ourselves, and to make us turn to some means of safety. This we wished to do long ago, when we sent to you on the subject while the peace yet lasted, but were balked52 by your refusing to receive us; and now, upon the Boeotians inviting53 us, we at once responded to the call, and decided54 upon a twofold revolt, from the Hellenes and from the Athenians, not to aid the latter in harming the former, but to join in their liberation, and not to allow the Athenians in the end to destroy us, but to act in time against them. Our revolt, however, has taken place prematurely55 and without preparation — a fact which makes it all the more incumbent56 on you to receive us into alliance and to send us speedy relief, in order to show that you support your friends, and at the same time do harm to your enemies. You have an opportunity such as you never had before. Disease and expenditure57 have wasted the Athenians: their ships are either cruising round your coasts, or engaged in blockading us; and it is not probable that they will have any to spare, if you invade them a second time this summer by sea and land; but they will either offer no resistance to your vessels, or withdraw from both our shores. Nor must it be thought that this is a case of putting yourselves into danger for a country which is not yours. Lesbos may appear far off, but when help is wanted she will be found near enough. It is not in Attica that the war will be decided, as some imagine, but in the countries by which Attica is supported; and the Athenian revenue is drawn58 from the allies, and will become still larger if they reduce us; as not only will no other state revolt, but our resources will be added to theirs, and we shall be treated worse than those that were enslaved before. But if you will frankly59 support us, you will add to your side a state that has a large navy, which is your great want; you will smooth the way to the overthrow60 of the Athenians by depriving them of their allies, who will be greatly encouraged to come over; and you will free yourselves from the imputation61 made against you, of not supporting insurrection. In short, only show yourselves as liberators, and you may count upon having the advantage in the war.
“Respect, therefore, the hopes placed in you by the Hellenes, and that Olympian Zeus, in whose temple we stand as very suppliants62; become the allies and defenders63 of the Mitylenians, and do not sacrifice us, who put our lives upon the hazard, in a cause in which general good will result to all from our success, and still more general harm if we fail through your refusing to help us; but be the men that the Hellenes think you, and our fears desire.”
Such were the words of the Mitylenians. After hearing them out, the Lacedaemonians and confederates granted what they urged, and took the Lesbians into alliance, and deciding in favour of the invasion of Attica, told the allies present to march as quickly as possible to the Isthmus64 with two-thirds of their forces; and arriving there first themselves, got ready hauling machines to carry their ships across from Corinth to the sea on the side of Athens, in order to make their attack by sea and land at once. However, the zeal65 which they displayed was not imitated by the rest of the confederates, who came in but slowly, being engaged in harvesting their corn and sick of making expeditions.
Meanwhile the Athenians, aware that the preparations of the enemy were due to his conviction of their weakness, and wishing to show him that he was mistaken, and that they were able, without moving the Lesbian fleet, to repel66 with ease that with which they were menaced from Peloponnese, manned a hundred ships by embarking67 the citizens of Athens, except the knights68 and Pentacosiomedimni, and the resident aliens; and putting out to the Isthmus, displayed their power, and made descents upon Peloponnese wherever they pleased. A disappointment so signal made the Lacedaemonians think that the Lesbians had not spoken the truth; and embarrassed by the non-appearance of the confederates, coupled with the news that the thirty ships round Peloponnese were ravaging69 the lands near Sparta, they went back home. Afterwards, however, they got ready a fleet to send to Lesbos, and ordering a total of forty ships from the different cities in the league, appointed Alcidas to command the expedition in his capacity of high admiral. Meanwhile the Athenians in the hundred ships, upon seeing the Lacedaemonians go home, went home likewise.
If, at the time that this fleet was at sea, Athens had almost the largest number of first-rate ships in commission that she ever possessed70 at any one moment, she had as many or even more when the war began. At that time one hundred guarded Attica, Euboea, and Salamis; a hundred more were cruising round Peloponnese, besides those employed at Potidaea and in other places; making a grand total of two hundred and fifty vessels employed on active service in a single summer. It was this, with Potidaea, that most exhausted71 her revenues — Potidaea being blockaded by a force of heavy infantry72 (each drawing two drachmae a day, one for himself and another for his servant), which amounted to three thousand at first, and was kept at this number down to the end of the siege; besides sixteen hundred with Phormio who went away before it was over; and the ships being all paid at the same rate. In this way her money was wasted at first; and this was the largest number of ships ever manned by her.
About the same time that the Lacedaemonians were at the Isthmus, the Mitylenians marched by land with their mercenaries against Methymna, which they thought to gain by treachery. After assaulting the town, and not meeting with the success that they anticipated, they withdrew to Antissa, Pyrrha, and Eresus; and taking measures for the better security of these towns and strengthening their walls, hastily returned home. After their departure the Methymnians marched against Antissa, but were defeated in a sortie by the Antissians and their mercenaries, and retreated in haste after losing many of their number. Word of this reaching Athens, and the Athenians learning that the Mitylenians were masters of the country and their own soldiers unable to hold them in check, they sent out about the beginning of autumn Paches, son of Epicurus, to take the command, and a thousand Athenian heavy infantry; who worked their own passage and, arriving at Mitylene, built a single wall all round it, forts being erected73 at some of the strongest points. Mitylene was thus blockaded strictly74 on both sides, by land and by sea; and winter now drew near.
The Athenians needing money for the siege, although they had for the first time raised a contribution of two hundred talents from their own citizens, now sent out twelve ships to levy75 subsidies76 from their allies, with Lysicles and four others in command. After cruising to different places and laying them under contribution, Lysicles went up the country from Myus, in Caria, across the plain of the Meander77, as far as the hill of Sandius; and being attacked by the Carians and the people of Anaia, was slain78 with many of his soldiers.
The same winter the Plataeans, who were still being besieged79 by the Peloponnesians and Boeotians, distressed by the failure of their provisions, and seeing no hope of relief from Athens, nor any other means of safety, formed a scheme with the Athenians besieged with them for escaping, if possible, by forcing their way over the enemy’s walls; the attempt having been suggested by Theaenetus, son of Tolmides, a soothsayer, and Eupompides, son of Daimachus, one of their generals. At first all were to join: afterwards, half hung back, thinking the risk great; about two hundred and twenty, however, voluntarily persevered80 in the attempt, which was carried out in the following way. Ladders were made to match the height of the enemy’s wall, which they measured by the layers of bricks, the side turned towards them not being thoroughly81 whitewashed82. These were counted by many persons at once; and though some might miss the right calculation, most would hit upon it, particularly as they counted over and over again, and were no great way from the wall, but could see it easily enough for their purpose. The length required for the ladders was thus obtained, being calculated from the breadth of the brick.
Now the wall of the Peloponnesians was constructed as follows. It consisted of two lines drawn round the place, one against the Plataeans, the other against any attack on the outside from Athens, about sixteen feet apart. The intermediate space of sixteen feet was occupied by huts portioned out among the soldiers on guard, and built in one block, so as to give the appearance of a single thick wall with battlements on either side. At intervals83 of every ten battlements were towers of considerable size, and the same breadth as the wall, reaching right across from its inner to its outer face, with no means of passing except through the middle. Accordingly on stormy and wet nights the battlements were deserted85, and guard kept from the towers, which were not far apart and roofed in above.
Such being the structure of the wall by which the Plataeans were blockaded, when their preparations were completed, they waited for a stormy night of wind and rain and without any moon, and then set out, guided by the authors of the enterprise. Crossing first the ditch that ran round the town, they next gained the wall of the enemy unperceived by the sentinels, who did not see them in the darkness, or hear them, as the wind drowned with its roar the noise of their approach; besides which they kept a good way off from each other, that they might not be betrayed by the clash of their weapons. They were also lightly equipped, and had only the left foot shod to preserve them from slipping in the mire86. They came up to the battlements at one of the intermediate spaces where they knew them to be unguarded: those who carried the ladders went first and planted them; next twelve light-armed soldiers with only a dagger87 and a breastplate mounted, led by Ammias, son of Coroebus, who was the first on the wall; his followers88 getting up after him and going six to each of the towers. After these came another party of light troops armed with spears, whose shields, that they might advance the easier, were carried by men behind, who were to hand them to them when they found themselves in presence of the enemy. After a good many had mounted they were discovered by the sentinels in the towers, by the noise made by a tile which was knocked down by one of the Plataeans as he was laying hold of the battlements. The alarm was instantly given, and the troops rushed to the wall, not knowing the nature of the danger, owing to the dark night and stormy weather; the Plataeans in the town having also chosen that moment to make a sortie against the wall of the Peloponnesians upon the side opposite to that on which their men were getting over, in order to divert the attention of the besiegers. Accordingly they remained distracted at their several posts, without any venturing to stir to give help from his own station, and at a loss to guess what was going on. Meanwhile the three hundred set aside for service on emergencies went outside the wall in the direction of the alarm. Fire-signals of an attack were also raised towards Thebes; but the Plataeans in the town at once displayed a number of others, prepared beforehand for this very purpose, in order to render the enemy’s signals unintelligible89, and to prevent his friends getting a true idea of what was passing and coming to his aid before their comrades who had gone out should have made good their escape and be in safety.
Meanwhile the first of the scaling party that had got up, after carrying both the towers and putting the sentinels to the sword, posted themselves inside to prevent any one coming through against them; and rearing ladders from the wall, sent several men up on the towers, and from their summit and base kept in check all of the enemy that came up, with their missiles, while their main body planted a number of ladders against the wall, and knocking down the battlements, passed over between the towers; each as soon as he had got over taking up his station at the edge of the ditch, and plying90 from thence with arrows and darts91 any who came along the wall to stop the passage of his comrades. When all were over, the party on the towers came down, the last of them not without difficulty, and proceeded to the ditch, just as the three hundred came up carrying torches. The Plataeans, standing21 on the edge of the ditch in the dark, had a good view of their opponents, and discharged their arrows and darts upon the unarmed parts of their bodies, while they themselves could not be so well seen in the obscurity for the torches; and thus even the last of them got over the ditch, though not without effort and difficulty; as ice had formed in it, not strong enough to walk upon, but of that watery92 kind which generally comes with a wind more east than north, and the snow which this wind had caused to fall during the night had made the water in the ditch rise, so. that they could scarcely breast it as they crossed. However, it was mainly the violence of the storm that enabled them to effect their escape at all.
Starting from the ditch, the Plataeans went all together along the road leading to Thebes, keeping the chapel93 of the hero Androcrates upon their right; considering that the last road which the Peloponnesians would suspect them of having taken would be that towards their enemies’ country. Indeed they could see them pursuing with torches upon the Athens road towards Cithaeron and Druoskephalai or Oakheads. After going for rather more than half a mile upon the road to Thebes, the Plataeans turned off and took that leading to the mountain, to Erythrae and Hysiae, and reaching the hills, made good their escape to Athens, two hundred and twelve men in all; some of their number having turned back into the town before getting over the wall, and one archer7 having been taken prisoner at the outer ditch. Meanwhile the Peloponnesians gave up the pursuit and returned to their posts; and the Plataeans in the town, knowing nothing of what had passed, and informed by those who had turned back that not a man had escaped, sent out a herald94 as soon as it was day to make a truce for the recovery of the dead bodies, and then, learning the truth, desisted. In this way the Plataean party got over and were saved.
Towards the close of the same winter, Salaethus, a Lacedaemonian, was sent out in a galley from Lacedaemon to Mitylene. Going by sea to Pyrrha, and from thence overland, he passed along the bed of a torrent95, where the line of circumvallation was passable, and thus entering unperceived into Mitylene told the magistrates96 that Attica would certainly be invaded, and the forty ships destined97 to relieve them arrive, and that he had been sent on to announce this and to superintend matters generally. The Mitylenians upon this took courage, and laid aside the idea of treating with the Athenians; and now this winter ended, and with it ended the fourth year of the war of which Thucydides was the historian.
The next summer the Peloponnesians sent off the forty-two ships for Mitylene, under Alcidas, their high admiral, and themselves and their allies invaded Attica, their object being to distract the Athenians by a double movement, and thus to make it less easy for them to act against the fleet sailing to Mitylene. The commander in this invasion was Cleomenes, in the place of King Pausanias, son of Pleistoanax, his nephew, who was still a minor98. Not content with laying waste whatever had shot up in the parts which they had before devastated99, the invaders now extended their ravages100 to lands passed over in their previous incursions; so that this invasion was more severely101 felt by the Athenians than any except the second; the enemy staying on and on until they had overrun most of the country, in the expectation of hearing from Lesbos of something having been achieved by their fleet, which they thought must now have got over. However, as they did not obtain any of the results expected, and their provisions began to run short, they retreated and dispersed to their different cities.
In the meantime the Mitylenians, finding their provisions failing, while the fleet from Peloponnese was loitering on the way instead of appearing at Mitylene, were compelled to come to terms with the Athenians in the following manner. Salaethus having himself ceased to expect the fleet to arrive, now armed the commons with heavy armour102, which they had not before possessed, with the intention of making a sortie against the Athenians. The commons, however, no sooner found themselves possessed of arms than they refused any longer to obey their officers; and forming in knots together, told the authorities to bring out in public the provisions and divide them amongst them all, or they would themselves come to terms with the Athenians and deliver up the city.
The government, aware of their inability to prevent this, and of the danger they would be in, if left out of the capitulation, publicly agreed with Paches and the army to surrender Mitylene at discretion103 and to admit the troops into the town; upon the understanding that the Mitylenians should be allowed to send an embassy to Athens to plead their cause, and that Paches should not imprison104, make slaves of, or put to death any of the citizens until its return. Such were the terms of the capitulation; in spite of which the chief authors of the negotiation105 with Lacedaemon were so completely overcome by terror when the army entered that they went and seated themselves by the altars, from which they were raised up by Paches under promise that he would do them no wrong, and lodged106 by him in Tenedos, until he should learn the pleasure of the Athenians concerning them. Paches also sent some galleys and seized Antissa, and took such other military measures as he thought advisable.
Meanwhile the Peloponnesians in the forty ships, who ought to have made all haste to relieve Mitylene, lost time in coming round Peloponnese itself, and proceeding107 leisurely108 on the remainder of the voyage, made Delos without having been seen by the Athenians at Athens, and from thence arriving at Icarus and Myconus, there first heard of the fall of Mitylene. Wishing to know the truth, they put into Embatum, in the Erythraeid, about seven days after the capture of the town. Here they learned the truth, and began to consider what they were to do; and Teutiaplus, an Elean, addressed them as follows:
“Alcidas and Peloponnesians who share with me the command of this armament, my advice is to sail just as we are to Mitylene, before we have been heard of. We may expect to find the Athenians as much off their guard as men generally are who have just taken a city: this will certainly be so by sea, where they have no idea of any enemy attacking them, and where our strength, as it happens, mainly lies; while even their land forces are probably scattered109 about the houses in the carelessness of victory. If therefore we were to fall upon them suddenly and in the night, I have hopes, with the help of the well-wishers that we may have left inside the town, that we shall become masters of the place. Let us not shrink from the risk, but let us remember that this is just the occasion for one of the baseless panics common in war: and that to be able to guard against these in one’s own case, and to detect the moment when an attack will find an enemy at this disadvantage, is what makes a successful general.”
These words of Teutiaplus failing to move Alcidas, some of the Ionian exiles and the Lesbians with the expedition began to urge him, since this seemed too dangerous, to seize one of the Ionian cities or the Aeolic town of Cyme, to use as a base for effecting the revolt of Ionia. This was by no means a hopeless enterprise, as their coming was welcome everywhere; their object would be by this move to deprive Athens of her chief source of revenue, and at the same time to saddle her with expense, if she chose to blockade them; and they would probably induce Pissuthnes to join them in the war. However, Alcidas gave this proposal as bad a reception as the other, being eager, since he had come too late for Mitylene, to find himself back in Peloponnese as soon as possible.
Accordingly he put out from Embatum and proceeded along shore; and touching110 at the Teian town, Myonnesus, there butchered most of the prisoners that he had taken on his passage. Upon his coming to anchor at Ephesus, envoys came to him from the Samians at Anaia, and told him that he was not going the right way to free Hellas in massacring men who had never raised a hand against him, and who were not enemies of his, but allies of Athens against their will, and that if he did not stop he would turn many more friends into enemies than enemies into friends. Alcidas agreed to this, and let go all the Chians still in his hands and some of the others that he had taken; the inhabitants, instead of flying at the sight of his vessels, rather coming up to them, taking them for Athenian, having no sort of expectation that while the Athenians commanded the sea Peloponnesian ships would venture over to Ionia.
From Ephesus Alcidas set sail in haste and fled. He had been seen by the Salaminian and Paralian galleys, which happened to be sailing from Athens, while still at anchor off Clarus; and fearing pursuit he now made across the open sea, fully111 determined112 to touch nowhere, if he could help it, until he got to Peloponnese. Meanwhile news of him had come in to Paches from the Erythraeid, and indeed from all quarters. As Ionia was unfortified, great fears were felt that the Peloponnesians coasting along shore, even if they did not intend to stay, might make descents in passing and plunder113 the towns; and now the Paralian and Salaminian, having seen him at Clarus, themselves brought intelligence of the fact. Paches accordingly gave hot chase, and continued the pursuit as far as the isle114 of Patmos, and then finding that Alcidas had got on too far to be overtaken, came back again. Meanwhile he thought it fortunate that, as he had not fallen in with them out at sea, he had not overtaken them anywhere where they would have been forced to encamp, and so give him the trouble of blockading them.
On his return along shore he touched, among other places, at Notium, the port of Colophon, where the Colophonians had settled after the capture of the upper town by Itamenes and the barbarians115, who had been called in by certain individuals in a party quarrel. The capture of the town took place about the time of the second Peloponnesian invasion of Attica. However, the refugees, after settling at Notium, again split up into factions117, one of which called in Arcadian and barbarian116 mercenaries from Pissuthnes and, entrenching118 these in a quarter apart, formed a new community with the Median party of the Colophonians who joined them from the upper town. Their opponents had retired into exile, and now called in Paches, who invited Hippias, the commander of the Arcadians in the fortified quarter, to a parley119, upon condition that, if they could not agree, he was to be put back safe and sound in the fortification. However, upon his coming out to him, he put him into custody, though not in chains, and attacked suddenly and took by surprise the fortification, and putting the Arcadians and the barbarians found in it to the sword, afterwards took Hippias into it as he had promised, and, as soon as he was inside, seized him and shot him down. Paches then gave up Notium to the Colophonians not of the Median party; and settlers were afterwards sent out from Athens, and the place colonized120 according to Athenian laws, after collecting all the Colophonians found in any of the cities.
Arrived at Mitylene, Paches reduced Pyrrha and Eresus; and finding the Lacedaemonian, Salaethus, in hiding in the town, sent him off to Athens, together with the Mitylenians that he had placed in Tenedos, and any other persons that he thought concerned in the revolt. He also sent back the greater part of his forces, remaining with the rest to settle Mitylene and the rest of Lesbos as he thought best.
Upon the arrival of the prisoners with Salaethus, the Athenians at once put the latter to death, although he offered, among other things, to procure121 the withdrawal122 of the Peloponnesians from Plataea, which was still under siege; and after deliberating as to what they should do with the former, in the fury of the moment determined to put to death not only the prisoners at Athens, but the whole adult male population of Mitylene, and to make slaves of the women and children. It was remarked that Mitylene had revolted without being, like the rest, subjected to the empire; and what above all swelled123 the wrath124 of the Athenians was the fact of the Peloponnesian fleet having ventured over to Ionia to her support, a fact which was held to argue a long meditated125 rebellion. They accordingly sent a galley to communicate the decree to Paches, commanding him to lose no time in dispatching the Mitylenians. The morrow brought repentance126 with it and reflection on the horrid127 cruelty of a decree, which condemned128 a whole city to the fate merited only by the guilty. This was no sooner perceived by the Mitylenian ambassadors at Athens and their Athenian supporters, than they moved the authorities to put the question again to the vote; which they the more easily consented to do, as they themselves plainly saw that most of the citizens wished some one to give them an opportunity for reconsidering the matter. An assembly was therefore at once called, and after much expression of opinion upon both sides, Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, the same who had carried the former motion of putting the Mitylenians to death, the most violent man at Athens, and at that time by far the most powerful with the commons, came forward again and spoke as follows:
“I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable130 of empire, and never more so than by your present change of mind in the matter of Mitylene. Fears or plots being unknown to you in your daily relations with each other, you feel just the same with regard to your allies, and never reflect that the mistakes into which you may be led by listening to their appeals, or by giving way to your own compassion131, are full of danger to yourselves, and bring you no thanks for your weakness from your allies; entirely132 forgetting that your empire is a despotism and your subjects disaffected133 conspirators134, whose obedience135 is ensured not by your suicidal concessions136, but by the superiority given you by your own strength and not their loyalty137. The most alarming feature in the case is the constant change of measures with which we appear to be threatened, and our seeming ignorance of the fact that bad laws which are never changed are better for a city than good ones that have no authority; that unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than quick-witted insubordination; and that ordinary men usually manage public affairs better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to appear wiser than the laws, and to overrule every proposition brought forward, thinking that they cannot show their wit in more important matters, and by such behaviour too often ruin their country; while those who mistrust their own cleverness are content to be less learned than the laws, and less able to pick holes in the speech of a good speaker; and being fair judges rather than rival athletes, generally conduct affairs successfully. These we ought to imitate, instead of being led on by cleverness and intellectual rivalry138 to advise your people against our real opinions.
“For myself, I adhere to my former opinion, and wonder at those who have proposed to reopen the case of the Mitylenians, and who are thus causing a delay which is all in favour of the guilty, by making the sufferer proceed against the offender139 with the edge of his anger blunted; although where vengeance140 follows most closely upon the wrong, it best equals it and most amply requites141 it. I wonder also who will be the man who will maintain the contrary, and will pretend to show that the crimes of the Mitylenians are of service to us, and our misfortunes injurious to the allies. Such a man must plainly either have such confidence in his rhetoric142 as to adventure to prove that what has been once for all decided is still undetermined, or be bribed143 to try to delude144 us by elaborate sophisms. In such contests the state gives the rewards to others, and takes the dangers for herself. The persons to blame are you who are so foolish as to institute these contests; who go to see an oration145 as you would to see a sight, take your facts on hearsay146, judge of the practicability of a project by the wit of its advocates, and trust for the truth as to past events not to the fact which you saw more than to the clever strictures which you heard; the easy victims of new-fangled arguments, unwilling147 to follow received conclusions; slaves to every new paradox148, despisers of the commonplace; the first wish of every man being that he could speak himself, the next to rival those who can speak by seeming to be quite up with their ideas by applauding every hit almost before it is made, and by being as quick in catching149 an argument as you are slow in foreseeing its consequences; asking, if I may so say, for something different from the conditions under which we live, and yet comprehending inadequately150 those very conditions; very slaves to the pleasure of the ear, and more like the audience of a rhetorician than the council of a city.
“In order to keep you from this, I proceed to show that no one state has ever injured you as much as Mitylene. I can make allowance for those who revolt because they cannot bear our empire, or who have been forced to do so by the enemy. But for those who possessed an island with fortifications; who could fear our enemies only by sea, and there had their own force of galleys to protect them; who were independent and held in the highest honour by you — to act as these have done, this is not revolt — revolt implies oppression; it is deliberate and wanton aggression151; an attempt to ruin us by siding with our bitterest enemies; a worse offence than a war undertaken on their own account in the acquisition of power. The fate of those of their neighbours who had already rebelled and had been subdued152 was no lesson to them; their own prosperity could not dissuade153 them from affronting154 danger; but blindly confident in the future, and full of hopes beyond their power though not beyond their ambition, they declared war and made their decision to prefer might to right, their attack being determined not by provocation155 but by the moment which seemed propitious156. The truth is that great good fortune coming suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people insolent157; in most cases it is safer for mankind to have success in reason than out of reason; and it is easier for them, one may say, to stave off adversity than to preserve prosperity. Our mistake has been to distinguish the Mitylenians as we have done: had they been long ago treated like the rest, they never would have so far forgotten themselves, human nature being as surely made arrogant158 by consideration as it is awed159 by firmness. Let them now therefore be punished as their crime requires, and do not, while you condemn the aristocracy, absolve160 the people. This is certain, that all attacked you without distinction, although they might have come over to us and been now again in possession of their city. But no, they thought it safer to throw in their lot with the aristocracy and so joined their rebellion! Consider therefore: if you subject to the same punishment the ally who is forced to rebel by the enemy, and him who does so by his own free choice, which of them, think you, is there that will not rebel upon the slightest pretext161; when the reward of success is freedom, and the penalty of failure nothing so very terrible? We meanwhile shall have to risk our money and our lives against one state after another; and if successful, shall receive a ruined town from which we can no longer draw the revenue upon which our strength depends; while if unsuccessful, we shall have an enemy the more upon our hands, and shall spend the time that might be employed in combating our existing foes162 in warring with our own allies.
“No hope, therefore, that rhetoric may instil163 or money purchase, of the mercy due to human infirmity must be held out to the Mitylenians. Their offence was not involuntary, but of malice164 and deliberate; and mercy is only for unwilling offenders165. I therefore, now as before, persist against your reversing your first decision, or giving way to the three failings most fatal to empire — pity, sentiment, and indulgence. Compassion is due to those who can reciprocate166 the feeling, not to those who will never pity us in return, but are our natural and necessary foes: the orators167 who charm us with sentiment may find other less important arenas168 for their talents, in the place of one where the city pays a heavy penalty for a momentary169 pleasure, themselves receiving fine acknowledgments for their fine phrases; while indulgence should be shown towards those who will be our friends in future, instead of towards men who will remain just what they were, and as much our enemies as before. To sum up shortly, I say that if you follow my advice you will do what is just towards the Mitylenians, and at the same time expedient170; while by a different decision you will not oblige them so much as pass sentence upon yourselves. For if they were right in rebelling, you must be wrong in ruling. However, if, right or wrong, you determine to rule, you must carry out your principle and punish the Mitylenians as your interest requires; or else you must give up your empire and cultivate honesty without danger. Make up your minds, therefore, to give them like for like; and do not let the victims who escaped the plot be more insensible than the conspirators who hatched it; but reflect what they would have done if victorious171 over you, especially they were the aggressors. It is they who wrong their neighbour without a cause, that pursue their victim to the death, on account of the danger which they foresee in letting their enemy survive; since the object of a wanton wrong is more dangerous, if he escape, than an enemy who has not this to complain of. Do not, therefore, be traitors to yourselves, but recall as nearly as possible the moment of suffering and the supreme172 importance which you then attached to their reduction; and now pay them back in their turn, without yielding to present weakness or forgetting the peril173 that once hung over you. Punish them as they deserve, and teach your other allies by a striking example that the penalty of rebellion is death. Let them once understand this and you will not have so often to neglect your enemies while you are fighting with your own confederates.”
Such were the words of Cleon. After him Diodotus, son of Eucrates, who had also in the previous assembly spoken most strongly against putting the Mitylenians to death, came forward and spoke as follows:
“I do not blame the persons who have reopened the case of the Mitylenians, nor do I approve the protests which we have heard against important questions being frequently debated. I think the two things most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usually goes hand in hand with folly174, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind. As for the argument that speech ought not to be the exponent175 of action, the man who uses it must be either senseless or interested: senseless if he believes it possible to treat of the uncertain future through any other medium; interested if, wishing to carry a disgraceful measure and doubting his ability to speak well in a bad cause, he thinks to frighten opponents and hearers by well-aimed calumny176. What is still more intolerable is to accuse a speaker of making a display in order to be paid for it. If ignorance only were imputed177, an unsuccessful speaker might retire with a reputation for honesty, if not for wisdom; while the charge of dishonesty makes him suspected, if successful, and thought, if defeated, not only a fool but a rogue178. The city is no gainer by such a system, since fear deprives it of its advisers179; although in truth, if our speakers are to make such assertions, it would be better for the country if they could not speak at all, as we should then make fewer blunders. The good citizen ought to triumph not by frightening his opponents but by beating them fairly in argument; and a wise city, without over-distinguishing its best advisers, will nevertheless not deprive them of their due, and, far from punishing an unlucky counsellor, will not even regard him as disgraced. In this way successful orators would be least tempted181 to sacrifice their convictions to popularity, in the hope of still higher honours, and unsuccessful speakers to resort to the same popular arts in order to win over the multitude.
“This is not our way; and, besides, the moment that a man is suspected of giving advice, however good, from corrupt182 motives183, we feel such a grudge184 against him for the gain which after all we are not certain he will receive, that we deprive the city of its certain benefit. Plain good advice has thus come to be no less suspected than bad; and the advocate of the most monstrous185 measures is not more obliged to use deceit to gain the people, than the best counsellor is to lie in order to be believed. The city and the city only, owing to these refinements186, can never be served openly and without disguise; he who does serve it openly being always suspected of serving himself in some secret way in return. Still, considering the magnitude of the interests involved, and the position of affairs, we orators must make it our business to look a little farther than you who judge offhand187; especially as we, your advisers, are responsible, while you, our audience, are not so. For if those who gave the advice, and those who took it, suffered equally, you would judge more calmly; as it is, you visit the disasters into which the whim188 of the moment may have led you upon the single person of your adviser180, not upon yourselves, his numerous companions in error.
“However, I have not come forward either to oppose or to accuse in the matter of Mitylene; indeed, the question before us as sensible men is not their guilt129, but our interests. Though I prove them ever so guilty, I shall not, therefore, advise their death, unless it be expedient; nor though they should have claims to indulgence, shall I recommend it, unless it be dearly for the good of the country. I consider that we are deliberating for the future more than for the present; and where Cleon is so positive as to the useful deterrent189 effects that will follow from making rebellion capital, I, who consider the interests of the future quite as much as he, as positively190 maintain the contrary. And I require you not to reject my useful considerations for his specious ones: his speech may have the attraction of seeming the more just in your present temper against Mitylene; but we are not in a court of justice, but in a political assembly; and the question is not justice, but how to make the Mitylenians useful to Athens.
“Now of course communities have enacted191 the penalty of death for many offences far lighter192 than this: still hope leads men to venture, and no one ever yet put himself in peril without the inward conviction that he would succeed in his design. Again, was there ever city rebelling that did not believe that it possessed either in itself or in its alliances resources adequate to the enterprise? All, states and individuals, are alike prone193 to err45, and there is no law that will prevent them; or why should men have exhausted the list of punishments in search of enactments194 to protect them from evildoers? It is probable that in early times the penalties for the greatest offences were less severe, and that, as these were disregarded, the penalty of death has been by degrees in most cases arrived at, which is itself disregarded in like manner. Either then some means of terror more terrible than this must be discovered, or it must be owned that this restraint is useless; and that as long as poverty gives men the courage of necessity, or plenty fills them with the ambition which belongs to insolence195 and pride, and the other conditions of life remain each under the thraldom196 of some fatal and master passion, so long will the impulse never be wanting to drive men into danger. Hope also and cupidity197, the one leading and the other following, the one conceiving the attempt, the other suggesting the facility of succeeding, cause the widest ruin, and, although invisible agents, are far stronger than the dangers that are seen. Fortune, too, powerfully helps the delusion198 and, by the unexpected aid that she sometimes lends, tempts199 men to venture with inferior means; and this is especially the case with communities, because the stakes played for are the highest, freedom or empire, and, when all are acting200 together, each man irrationally201 magnifies his own capacity. In fine, it is impossible to prevent, and only great simplicity202 can hope to prevent, human nature doing what it has once set its mind upon, by force of law or by any other deterrent force whatsoever203.
“We must not, therefore, commit ourselves to a false policy through a belief in the efficacy of the punishment of death, or exclude rebels from the hope of repentance and an early atonement of their error. Consider a moment. At present, if a city that has already revolted perceive that it cannot succeed, it will come to terms while it is still able to refund204 expenses, and pay tribute afterwards. In the other case, what city, think you, would not prepare better than is now done, and hold out to the last against its besiegers, if it is all one whether it surrender late or soon? And how can it be otherwise than hurtful to us to be put to the expense of a siege, because surrender is out of the question; and if we take the city, to receive a ruined town from which we can no longer draw the revenue which forms our real strength against the enemy? We must not, therefore, sit as strict judges of the offenders to our own prejudice, but rather see how by moderate chastisements we may be enabled to benefit in future by the revenue-producing powers of our dependencies; and we must make up our minds to look for our protection not to legal terrors but to careful administration. At present we do exactly the opposite. When a free community, held in subjection by force, rises, as is only natural, and asserts its independence, it is no sooner reduced than we fancy ourselves obliged to punish it severely; although the right course with freemen is not to chastise205 them rigorously when they do rise, but rigorously to watch them before they rise, and to prevent their ever entertaining the idea, and, the insurrection suppressed, to make as few responsible for it as possible.
“Only consider what a blunder you would commit in doing as Cleon recommends. As things are at present, in all the cities the people is your friend, and either does not revolt with the oligarchy206, or, if forced to do so, becomes at once the enemy of the insurgents207; so that in the war with the hostile city you have the masses on your side. But if you butcher the people of Mitylene, who had nothing to do with the revolt, and who, as soon as they got arms, of their own motion surrendered the town, first you will commit the crime of killing208 your benefactors209; and next you will play directly into the hands of the higher classes, who when they induce their cities to rise, will immediately have the people on their side, through your having announced in advance the same punishment for those who are guilty and for those who are not. On the contrary, even if they were guilty, you ought to seem not to notice it, in order to avoid alienating210 the only class still friendly to us. In short, I consider it far more useful for the preservation211 of our empire voluntarily to put up with injustice212, than to put to death, however justly, those whom it is our interest to keep alive. As for Cleon’s idea that in punishment the claims of justice and expediency213 can both be satisfied, facts do not confirm the possibility of such a combination.
“Confess, therefore, that this is the wisest course, and without conceding too much either to pity or to indulgence, by neither of which motives do I any more than Cleon wish you to be influenced, upon the plain merits of the case before you, be persuaded by me to try calmly those of the Mitylenians whom Paches sent off as guilty, and to leave the rest undisturbed. This is at once best for the future, and most terrible to your enemies at the present moment; inasmuch as good policy against an adversary214 is superior to the blind attacks of brute215 force.”
Such were the words of Diodotus. The two opinions thus expressed were the ones that most directly contradicted each other; and the Athenians, notwithstanding their change of feeling, now proceeded to a division, in which the show of hands was almost equal, although the motion of Diodotus carried the day. Another galley was at once sent off in haste, for fear that the first might reach Lesbos in the interval84, and the city be found destroyed; the first ship having about a day and a night’s start. Wine and barley-cakes were provided for the vessel25 by the Mitylenian ambassadors, and great promises made if they arrived in time; which caused the men to use such diligence upon the voyage that they took their meals of barley-cakes kneaded with oil and wine as they rowed, and only slept by turns while the others were at the oar24. Luckily they met with no contrary wind, and the first ship making no haste upon so horrid an errand, while the second pressed on in the manner described, the first arrived so little before them, that Paches had only just had time to read the decree, and to prepare to execute the sentence, when the second put into port and prevented the massacre216. The danger of Mitylene had indeed been great.
The other party whom Paches had sent off as the prime movers in the rebellion, were upon Cleon’s motion put to death by the Athenians, the number being rather more than a thousand. The Athenians also demolished217 the walls of the Mitylenians, and took possession of their ships. Afterwards tribute was not imposed upon the Lesbians; but all their land, except that of the Methymnians, was divided into three thousand allotments, three hundred of which were reserved as sacred for the gods, and the rest assigned by lot to Athenian shareholders218, who were sent out to the island. With these the Lesbians agreed to pay a rent of two minae a year for each allotment, and cultivated the land themselves. The Athenians also took possession of the towns on the continent belonging to the Mitylenians, which thus became for the future subject to Athens. Such were the events that took place at Lesbos.
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ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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moles
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| 防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍 | |
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archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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factious
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| adj.好搞宗派活动的，派系的，好争论的 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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galleys
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| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
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contingent
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custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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armistice
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| n.休战，停战协定 | |
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repentant
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| adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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envoys
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| 使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份 | |
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standing
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vigour
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fortified
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oar
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vessel
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vessels
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truce
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thither
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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secede
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| v.退出，脱离 | |
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subjugation
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| n.镇压，平息，征服 | |
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35
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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36
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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37
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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38
contingents
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| （志趣相投、尤指来自同一地方的）一组与会者( contingent的名词复数 )； 代表团； （军队的）分遣队； 小分队 | |
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39
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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40
chafe
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| v.擦伤；冲洗；惹怒 | |
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41
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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42
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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43
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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44
deterred
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| v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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46
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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47
specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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48
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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49
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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50
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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51
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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52
balked
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| v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
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53
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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54
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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55
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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56
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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57
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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58
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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59
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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60
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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61
imputation
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| n.归罪，责难 | |
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62
suppliants
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| n.恳求者，哀求者( suppliant的名词复数 ) | |
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63
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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64
isthmus
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| n.地峡 | |
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65
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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66
repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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67
embarking
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| 乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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68
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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69
ravaging
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| 毁坏( ravage的现在分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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70
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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71
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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72
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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73
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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74
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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75
levy
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| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
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76
subsidies
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| n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 ) | |
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77
meander
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| n.河流的曲折，漫步，迂回旅行；v.缓慢而弯曲地流动，漫谈 | |
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78
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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79
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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82
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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84
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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85
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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86
mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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87
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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88
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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89
unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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90
plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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91
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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92
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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93
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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94
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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95
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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96
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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97
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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98
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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99
devastated
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| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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100
ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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101
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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102
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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103
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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104
imprison
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| vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚 | |
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105
negotiation
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| n.谈判，协商 | |
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106
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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107
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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108
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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109
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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110
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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111
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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112
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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113
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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114
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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115
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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116
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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117
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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118
entrenching
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| v.用壕沟围绕或保护…( entrench的现在分词 )；牢固地确立… | |
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119
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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120
colonized
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| 开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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122
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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123
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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124
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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125
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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126
repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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127
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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128
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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129
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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130
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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131
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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132
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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133
disaffected
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| adj.（政治上）不满的，叛离的 | |
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134
conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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135
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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136
concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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137
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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138
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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139
offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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140
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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141
requites
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| vt.报答（requite的第三人称单数形式） | |
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142
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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143
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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144
delude
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| vt.欺骗；哄骗 | |
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145
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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146
hearsay
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| n.谣传，风闻 | |
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147
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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148
paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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149
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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150
inadequately
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| ad.不够地；不够好地 | |
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151
aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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152
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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153
dissuade
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| v.劝阻，阻止 | |
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154
affronting
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| v.勇敢地面对( affront的现在分词 )；相遇 | |
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155
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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156
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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157
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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158
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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159
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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160
absolve
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| v.赦免，解除（责任等） | |
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161
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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162
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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163
instil
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| v.逐渐灌输 | |
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164
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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165
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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166
reciprocate
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| v.往复运动；互换；回报，酬答 | |
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167
orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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168
arenas
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| 表演场地( arena的名词复数 )； 竞技场； 活动或斗争的场所或场面； 圆形运动场 | |
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169
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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170
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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171
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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172
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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173
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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174
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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175
exponent
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| n.倡导者，拥护者；代表人物；指数，幂 | |
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176
calumny
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| n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤 | |
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177
imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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178
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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179
advisers
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| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
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180
adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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181
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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182
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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183
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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184
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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185
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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186
refinements
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| n.（生活）风雅；精炼( refinement的名词复数 )；改良品；细微的改良；优雅或高贵的动作 | |
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187
offhand
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| adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的 | |
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188
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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189
deterrent
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| n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的 | |
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190
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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191
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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192
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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193
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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194
enactments
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| n.演出( enactment的名词复数 )；展现；规定；通过 | |
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195
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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196
thraldom
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| n.奴隶的身份，奴役，束缚 | |
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197
cupidity
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| n.贪心，贪财 | |
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198
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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199
tempts
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| v.引诱或怂恿（某人）干不正当的事( tempt的第三人称单数 )；使想要 | |
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200
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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201
irrationally
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| ad.不理性地 | |
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202
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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203
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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204
refund
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| v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款 | |
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205
chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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206
oligarchy
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| n.寡头政治 | |
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207
insurgents
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| n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 ) | |
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208
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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209
benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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210
alienating
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| v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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211
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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212
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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213
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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214
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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215
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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216
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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217
demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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218
shareholders
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| n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 ) | |
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