History of the Peloponnesian War

The following winter, in view of the great disaster that had befallen the Athenians in Sicily,[*](Nov., 413 B.C.) there was at once excitement among all the Hellenes. Some, who were allies of neither party, thought that, even if they were not called upon for aid, they should no longer hold aloof from the war, but should go of their own accord against the Athenians; for they believed, one and all, that the Athenians would have come against them if they had succeeded in Sicily; they also believed that the rest of the war would be short and that it would be glorious to have a part in it. The allies of the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, were more than ever animated by a common eagerness quickly to be relieved of

their great hardships. But most of all the subjects of the Athenians were ready, even beyond their power, to revolt from them, because they judged of the situation under the influence of passion and would not even leave them the plea that they would be able to hold out through

the following summer. The Lacedaemonian state was encouraged by all these things, and especially because their allies in Sicily would in all probability be present to help them with a large force as soon as spring came, since necessity had now compelled them to

acquire a navy. Being hopeful, then, in every way, they determined to set their hands to the war wholeheartedly, reckoning that when it should have ended successfully they would thereafter be free from such dangers as would have beset them from the side of the Athenians if these had acquired the resources of Sicily in addition to their own; and that, having overthrown them, they would themselves now hold securely the hegemony of all Hellas.