Chapter LIV (4)

The use of the word ἀποδόντων in regard to the restoration of
Amphipolis to Athens, and of the word παρέδοσαν in regard to the
_relinquishment_ of the other cities, deserves notice. Those
who drew up the treaty, which is worded in a very confused way,
seem to have intended that the word παρέδοσαν should apply both
to Amphipolis and the other cities, but that the word ἀποδόντων
should apply exclusively to Amphipolis. The word παρέδοσαν is
of course applicable to the restoration of Amphipolis, for that
which is _restored_ is of course _delivered up_. But it is
remarkable that this word παρέδοσαν does not properly apply to
the other cities: for they were not _delivered up_ to Athens,
they were only _relinquished_, as the clauses immediately
following farther explain. Perhaps there is a little Athenian
pride in the use of the word, first to intimate indirectly that
the Lacedæmonians were to _deliver up_ various cities to Athens,
then to add words afterwards, which show that the cities were
only to be _relinquished_, not surrendered to Athens.

The provision, for guaranteeing liberty of retirement and
carrying away of property, was of course intended chiefly for the
Amphipolitans, who would naturally desire to emigrate, if the
town had been actually restored to Athens.

The Lacedæmonians and their allies shall also restore Panaktum to the Athenians.

6. The Athenians shall restore to Sparta Koryphasium, Kythêra, Methônê, Pteleum, Atalantê, with all the captives in their hands from Sparta or her allies. They shall farther release all Spartans or allies of Sparta now blocked up in Skiônê.

7. The Lacedæmonians and their allies shall also restore all the captives in their hands, from Athens or her allies.

8. Respecting Skiônê, Torônê, Sermylus, or any other town in the possession of Athens, the Athenians may take their own measures.

9. Oaths shall be exchanged between the contracting parties, according to the solemnities held most binding in each city respectively, and in the following words: “I will adhere to this convention and truce sincerely and without fraud.” The oaths shall be annually renewed, and the terms of peace shall be inscribed on columns at Olympia, Delphi, and the Isthmus, as well as at Sparta and Athens.

10. Should any matter have been forgotten in the present convention, the Athenians and Lacedæmonians may alter it by mutual understanding and consent, without being held to violate their oaths.

These oaths were accordingly exchanged: they were taken by seventeen principal Athenians, and as many Spartans, on behalf of their respective countries, on the 26th day of the month Artemisius at Sparta, and on the 24th day of Elaphebolion at Athens, immediately after the urban Dionysia; Pleistolas being ephor eponymus at Sparta, and Alkæus archon eponymus at Athens. Among the Lacedæmonians swearing, are included the two kings Agis and Pleistoanax, the ephor Pleistolas, and perhaps other ephors, but this we do not know, and Tellis, the father of Brasidas. Among the Athenians sworn, are comprised Nikias, Lachês, Agnon, Lamachus, and Demosthenês.[770]

[770] Thucyd. v, 19.

Such was the peace—commonly known by the name of the Peace of Nikias—concluded in the beginning of the eleventh spring of the war, which had just lasted ten full years. Its conditions were put to the vote at Sparta, in the assembly of deputies from the Lacedæmonian allies, the majority of whom accepted them: which, according to the condition adopted and sworn to by every member of the confederacy,[771] made it binding upon all. There was, indeed, a special reserve allowed to any particular state in case of religious scruple, arising out of the fear of offending some of their gods or heroes, but, saving this reserve, the peace had been formally acceded to by the decision of the confederates. But it soon appeared how little the vote of the majority was worth, even when enforced by the strong pressure of Lacedæmon herself, when the more powerful members were among the dissentient minority. The Bœotians, Megarians, and Corinthians, all refused to accept it; nor does it seem that any deputies from the allies took the oath along with the Lacedæmonian envoys; though the truce for a year, two years before,[772] had been sworn to by Lacedæmonian, Corinthian, Megarian, Sikyonian, and Epidaurian envoys.

[771] Thucyd. v, 17-30. παραβήσεσθαί τε ἔφασαν (the Lacedæmonians
said) αὐτοὺς (the Corinthians) τοὺς ὅρκους, καὶ ἤδη ἀδικεῖν ὅτι
οὐ δέχονται τὰς Ἀθηναίων σπονδὰς, εἰρημένον, κύριον εἶναι ὅτι ἂν
τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ξυμμάχων ψηφίσηται, ἢν μή τι θεῶν ἢ ἡρώων κώλυμα ᾖ.

[772] Compare Thucyd. iv, 119; v, 19. Though the words of the
peace stand ὤμοσαν κατὰ πόλεις (v, 18), yet it seems that this
oath was not _actually_ taken by any of the allied cities; only
by the Lacedæmonians themselves, upon the vote of the majority of
the confederates (v, 17: compare v, 23).

The Corinthians were displeased because they did not recover Sollium and Anaktorium; the Megarians, because they did not regain Nisæa; the Bœotians, because they were required to surrender Panaktum. In spite of the urgent solicitations of Sparta, the deputies of all these powerful states not only denounced the peace as unjust, and voted against it in the general assembly of allies, but refused to accept it when the vote was carried, and went home to their respective cities for instructions.[773]

[773] Thucyd. v, 22.

Such were the conditions, and such the accompanying circumstances, of the Peace of Nikias, which terminated, or professed to terminate, the great Peloponnesian war, after a duration of ten years. Its consequences and fruits, in many respects such as were not anticipated by either of the concluding parties, will be seen in my next volume.

End of Project Gutenberg's History of Greece, v. 6 (of 12), by George Grote