History of the Peloponnesian War

So the Athenians retired from the conference; and the Melians, after consulting together in private, finding themselves of much the same opinion as they had expressed before, answered as follows:

“Men of Athens, our opinion is no other than it was at first, nor will we in a short moment rob of its liberty a city which has been inhabited already seven hundred years[*](Evidently a merely general statement, carrying us back to the time of the Dorian invasion. Conon, Narrat. 36, mentions the Spartan Philonomus as founder of Melos, soon after the Dorians settled at Sparta. See Müller, Orchomenos, p. 317.); but trusting to the fortune which by divine favour has preserved her hitherto, and to such help as men, even the Lacedaemonians, can give, we shall try to win our deliverance.

But we propose to you that we be your friends, but enemies to neither combatant, and that you withdraw from our territory, after making such a truce as may seem suitable for both of us.”

Such was the answer of the Melians; and the Athenians, as they were quitting the conference, said: “Then, as it seems to us, judging by the result of these deliberations of yours, you are the only men who regard future events as more certain than what lies before your eyes, and who look upon that which is out of sight, merely because you wish it, as already realized. You have staked your all, putting your trust in the Lacedaemonians, in fortune and in fond hopes; and with your all you will come to ruin.”

So the Athenian envoys returned to the army; and their generals, as the Melians would not yield, immediately commenced hostilities, and drew a wall round about the city of Melos, distributing the work among the several states.