The Megarians complained of
the restrictions on their commerce, which threatened them with an
empty exchequer and a starving population; and others followed in the
same strain. When all the rest had spoken, the Corinthian orator, who
had reserved his eloquence till the end, came forward and delivered a
vehement harangue, containing hardly any specific charge against
Athens, but well calculated to inflame the passions and provoke the
pride of the Spartans. Though the acknowledged leader of Greece, and
champion of her liberties, Sparta, he said, had always been the last
to see the dangers which menaced the common country, and the last to
take measures for her defence. Spartan apathy and indolence had
brought the Greeks to the brink of ruin in the Persian War; and when
that danger was passed, the same fatal indifference had enabled Athens
to advance step by step on the path of aggrandisement; until now she
had grown so strong that the united force of the whole Peloponnesian
league would be required to put her down. Why had not the Spartans
listened to the warnings which they had heard, when the Athenians were
rebuilding their walls? Then they might have stopped the evil at its
source, and saved a multitude of cities from slavery and oppression.
Pages:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41