History of the Peloponnesian War

I lived through the whole war, being of an age to form judgments, and followed it with close attention, so as to acquire accurate information. It befell me also to be banished from my own country for twenty years after my command at Amphipolis,[*](cf. 4.104.4.) and being conversant with affairs on both sides, especially with those of the Peloponnesians by reason of my banishment, to gain at my leisure a better acquaintance with the course of events.

The difference, then, which arose after the ten years, and the breaking of the truce and the subsequent hostilities, I will now proceed to relate.

After the conclusion of the fifty years' treaty and the subsequent alliance, the embassies from the Peloponnesus, which had been summoned for this business, withdrew from Lacedaemon. The rest went home;

but the Corinthians proceeded first to Argos and entered into communication with certain of the Argive magistrates, saying that, since the Lacedaemonians had made a treaty and alliance with the Athenians, hitherto their bitterest enemies, not for the good of the Peloponnesus but for its enslavement, the Argives ought to be considering how the Peloponnesus could be saved; and should pass a decree, that any Hellenic city which is autonomous and offers settlement of disputes by fair and impartial trials, may, if it so wishes, make an alliance with the Argives for mutual defence of their territories; and that they should appoint a few men with absolutely full powers, and not discuss matters before the people, so that any who may fail to persuade the popular assembly may not become known to the Lacedaemonians. And they asserted that many would join them through hatred of the Lacedaemonians.