Ebook: Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War Book VII

"As Book 7 opens, things are looking good for the Athenians in Sicily. It is summer 414 bce, and they have been there for a year. Book 6 described the important decision taken in Athens a year before. At that point an uneasy peace had prevailed since 421, an interval in the 'Peloponnesian War', as we now call it, that had broken out between Athens and Sparta in 431 and would last till 404. It was clear in spring 415 that there were still dangers at home, for Sparta was anything but friendly and many of its allies, Corinth and Thebes in particular, were still fiercer enemies of Athens; any resumption of hostilities would be welcome to them. Still, the prospect of an expedition to Sicily was an attractive one. The immediate prompt was a call from Athens' ally Segesta in western Sicily for support against their neighbour Selinus, but it was clear that the real enemy would be Selinus' ally Syracuse: The truest explanation was that the Athenians wished to rule all Sicily, and at the same time they wished to help their own kinsmen and the additional allies that had accrued. (6.6.1) 'To rule all Sicily': a big ambition, indeed, and one that had been in Athenian minds for some time (3.86.4). Not everyone was keen; one of the least enthusiastic was Nicias, who tried to argue the Athenians out of it even once the decision had been taken (6.9-14). But the charismatic Alcibiades spoke in its favour (6.16-18), and a further ploy of Nicias badly misfired. If the Athenians were to go at all, he said, they needed to go in greater numbers (6.20-3). He pitched the figures so high in the hope that this would put them off; in fact it had the opposite effect:"