24. At  the  head  of  the  party  which  aimed  at  severing  the  ties
that  bound  Athens  and  Sparta  together,  was  Alcibiades,  a  wealthy
Athenian,  and  nephew  of  Per'  icles, — a  man  ambitious,  bold,  and
eloquent, — an  artful  demagogue,  but  corrupt  and  unprincipled,  and
reckless  of  the  means  he  used  to  accomplish  his  purposes. By  his
artifices  he  involved  the  Spartans  in  a  war  with  their  recent  allies
the  Ar'  gives,  and  induced  the  Athenians  to   send  an  armament
against  the  Dorian  island  of  Melos,2  which  had  provoked  the  enmity

1. Meg'  ara,  a  city  of  At'  tica,  and  capital  of  a  district  of  the  same  name,  was  about  twenty-
five  miles  west,  or  north-west,  of  Athena,  and  was  connected  with  the  port  of  Nis'  sa  on  the
Saron'  ic  Gulf  by  two  walla  similar  to  those  which  connected  Athena  and  the  Pirae'  us. The
miserable  village  of  Meg'  ara  occupies  a  part  of  the  site  of  the  ancient  city. (Map  No. I.)

2. Melos,  now  called  Milo,  is  an  island  belonging  to  the  group  of  the  Cyc'  lades,  about  seventy


84  ANCIENT   HISTORY. [PART  I

of  Athens  by  its  attachment  to  Sparta,  and  which  was  compelled,
after  a  vigorous  siege,  to  surrender  at  discretion. With  deliberate
cruelty  the  conquerors,  imitating  the  Spartans  at  the  reduction  of
Platse'a,  put  to  death  all  the  adult  citizens,  and  enslaved  the  women
and  children — an  act  which  provoked  universal  indignation  through-
out Greece. (B. C. 416.)

25. Soon  after  the  surrender  of  Melos,  the  Athenians,  at  the  in-
stigation of  Alcibiades,  fitted  out  an  expedition  against  Sicily,1  un-
der the  plea  of  delivering  a  people  in  the  western  part  of  the  island
from  the  tyranny  of  the  Syracusans,2  a  Dorian  colony ;  but,  in  reality,
to  establish  the  Athenian  supremacy  in  the  island. (415  B,  C.)
v. SICILIAN  The  armament  fitted  out  on  this  occasion,  the  most
EXPEDITION,  powerful  that  had  ever  left  a  Grecian  port,  was  intrust-
ed to  the  joint  command  of  Alcibiades,  Nic'  ias,  and  Lam'  achus ;
but  ere  the  fleet  had  reached  its  destination,  Alcibiades  was  sum-
moned home  on  the  absurd  charge  of  impiety  and  sacrilege,  con-
nected with  designs  against  the  State  itself. 