The surprise of Plataea was the first open violation of the Thirty
Years' Truce, and from this time forward all Greece was involved for
many years in civil war. Public opinion was strongly on the side of the
Spartans, who stood forward as champions of the liberties of Greece;
but there was great enthusiasm on both sides, and the popular
imagination was much excited by the approaching struggle between the
two imperial cities. Both in Sparta and in Athens there was a younger
generation, who had grown up during a long period of peace, and now
entered gaily into the contest with all the light-hearted ignorance of
youth. Old prophecies current among the people, foretelling a great war
of Greeks against Greeks, passed from mouth to mouth, and the
professional soothsayers, whose business it was to collect and expound
such sayings, found eager hearers. The gods themselves could not be
indifferent on the eve of such mighty events, so deeply affecting the
destiny of the nation which worshipped them in a thousand temples; and
an earthquake, which had recently occurred at Delos, the sacred island
of Apollo, where such a visitation had never been known before, was
interpreted as a portent of great things to come.
While the Peloponnesians were mustering their forces at the Isthmus,
the rural population of Attica were breaking up their homes, and
flocking by thousands into the city. A constant stream of waggons
passed along the roads, loaded with furniture, household utensils, and
even the woodwork of the farm-buildings; and many a little group of
women, children, and servants set out on that sorrowful journey,
leaving their fields, their gardens, and their vineyards, to be
trampled down and laid waste by the ruthless invader. Athens, indeed,
was the common mother of them all, their glory, their strength, and
their pride; for since the days of Theseus the scattered rural
communities of Attica had been united under the Aegis of Athene, and
acknowledged Athens as the head and centre of their civic life. But a
large proportion of the Athenian citizens still continued to reside in
the country, and all their dearest associations were connected with the
little spot of earth where they and their fathers were born. Here were
the graves of their ancestors, and the temples of the heroes who were
the guardian spirits of each little aggregate of families. It was
therefore with bitter and resentful feelings that they left these happy
scenes behind them, and turned their steps towards the gates of the
city, through which many of them were never to pass again. For all of
them it was a grievous change from the free and careless life of the
country-side to the confined space, polluted air, and jostling
multitudes of the town, now crowded to overflowing. Some few found
shelter in the houses of friends or relations; but by far the greater
number were obliged to encamp in the open spaces of the city, in the
precincts of temples, or in the narrow room between the Long Walls.
Even a place beneath the Acropolis, called the Pelasgic Field, was now
covered with the huts of the immigrants, though an ancient oracle had
forbidden its occupation under a curse. From day to day new crowds kept
flocking in, and the later comers were obliged to take up their
dwelling in Peiraeus, which was soon almost as much overcrowded as the
upper city.
And now the younger generation of Athenians, who had entered so
cheerfully into the conflict, were to have their first taste of the
grim realities of war. The Peloponnesian army advanced leisurely, and
proceeded at first to Oenoe, an outlying fort near the borders of
Boeotia; for Archidamus, who held the chief command, still hoped that
the Athenians, when they saw the enemy on the confines of Attica, would
make some concessions, to save their farms from destruction. For this
reason he had long delayed his march from the Isthmus, and now wasted
more time in fruitless operations at Oenoe, until the allies began to
murmur against him, and suspected him of receiving bribes from the
Athenians to spare their lands. At last, being unable to put off the
fatal moment any longer, he turned southwards, and after ravaging the
plain of Eleusis, advanced to Acharnae, one of the most fertile and
prosperous districts of Attica, about seven miles north of Athens. Here
the Peloponnesians encamped, and applied themselves systematically to
the work of pillage and havoc.
Great was the rage of the Acharnians, a hardy race of farmers and
charcoal-burners, when they saw the smoke rising from their ruined
homesteads; and their feelings were shared by the general body of the
citizens, who had watched the advance of Archidamus from Eleusis, and
had now no hope of saving their estates. Little knots of angry
disputants were seen in the streets and public places, for the most
part clamouring against Pericles, and demanding to be led against the
invader, while some few argued for the more prudent course. But
Pericles, who knew the fickle temper of the multitude, turned a deaf
ear to all this uproar, and steadily refused to summon an assembly,
lest some hasty resolution should be passed, which would lead to
useless loss of life. In order, however, to relieve the public
excitement, he sent out a body of horsemen to skirmish with the enemy,
and despatched a fleet of a hundred triremes to ravage the coasts of
Peloponnesus.
When the first invasion of Attica was over, two cities, which had been
foremost in stirring up war against Athens, were made to feel the full
weight of her resentment. The unhappy Aeginetans were expelled from
their island, and the land of Aegina was distributed among Athenian
citizens. And later in the same summer the Athenians marched in full
force into the territory of Megara, which was laid waste from end to
end. This proceeding, which afforded a pleasant summer excursion to the
Athenians, was repeated annually for the next seven years. The banished
Aeginetans found an asylum at Thyrea, a coast district of eastern
Peloponnesus, which was assigned to them by Sparta. And so the first
year of the war came to an end; for, except on extraordinary occasions,
no military operations were undertaken during the winter.