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In the month of May 431 b.c. Attica itself was invaded by a large Spartan army, under King Archidamus.
Before he crossed the border into Attica the king bade his army halt, while he sent an ambassador named Melesippus to the Athenians, to offer them terms if they would submit to him. But Pericles persuaded the council to refuse even to listen to Melesippus, who had been told to return to his own army before the setting of the sun. As he turned away from the council, Melesippus said to the Athenians, "This day will be the beginning of many woes to the Greeks."
Pericles knew that the Spartans would march into Attica, as soon as their ambassador had returned, so he ordered the country folk to hasten within the strong walls of Athens for safety. Their cattle he bade them send to the island of Euboea.
The Spartans found the Attic farms deserted, but they destroyed and burned them, while they trampled down the cornfields and spoiled the olive groves and orchards.
As the invading army drew nearer to Athens, the people within the city walls could mark its progress by the smoke that rose from burning farms and villas. The men rushed to the gates, eager to go to attack the enemy, and it was all but beyond the power of Pericles to restrain them.
As winter drew near, Archidamus was forced to retreat, for he had neither money nor food to keep his troops longer in the country of the enemy.
Then Pericles knowing that the way was clear, sailed from Athens with thirteen thousand men, and surprised many villages on the Peloponnesian coast. He also burned the farms and houses in the district of Megara.
When Pericles returned from Megara, a public burial was given, as was the custom, to those who had been slain in battle.
A cedar box, in which were placed the bones of the fallen, was carried without the walls of the city and buried. For those whose bodies had not been recovered, there was an empty bed covered with a pall. The funeral oration, or Panegyric as it was named, was spoken by Pericles.
Here are a few of the sentences which Thucydides, the historian, heard, as he stood among the people and listened to the Panegyric.
"Our city is equally admirable in peace and in war. For we are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. Wealth we employ, not for talk and ostentation, but when there is real use for it. To avow poverty is with us no disgrace; the true disgrace is in doing nothing to avoid it.
"An Athenian citizen does not neglect the State because he takes care of his own household; and even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics. We alone regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as harmless, but as a useless character. . . .
"I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the
greatness of Athens until you become filled with the
love of her; and when you are impressed with the
spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has
been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the
courage to do it . . . . they freely gave their lives to
her as the fairest offering which they could present at
her feast. The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous
men; not only are they commemorated by columns and
inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands
there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven,
not on stone, but in the hearts of men. Make them your
example."