ar, and attempt no
extension of dominion while it was in progress.

War was not yet formally declared when the Thebans attempted to seize
Plataea, a town of Boeotia, which had long been closely allied to Athens.
The attempt failed, and the Thebans were put to death; but the Plataeans
appealed to Athens for protection against their powerful neighbour, and
when the Athenian garrison was sent to them, this was treated as a
_casus belli_.

Preparations were urged on both sides; Sparta summoned her allies to
muster their contingents on the Isthmus for the invasion of Attica,
nearly all the mainland states joining the Peloponnesian league. The
islanders and the cities in Asia Minor, on the other hand, were nearly
all either actually subject to Athens or in alliance with her.

As Pericles advised, the Athenians left the country open to the ravages
of the invading forces, and themselves retired within the city. In spite
of the resentment of those who saw their property being laid waste,
Pericles maintained his ascendency, and persuaded the people to devote
their energies to sending out an irresistible fleet, and to establishing
a great reserve both of ships and treasure, which were to be an annual
charge and brought into active use only in the case of dire emergency.
The fleet sailed round the Peloponnese, and the ravages it was able to
inflict, with the alarm it created, caused the withdrawal of the forces
in Attica.

In that winter Pericles delivered a great funeral oration, or panegyric,
in memory of the Athenians who had so far fallen gloriously in defence
of their country, in which he painted the characteristic virtues of the
Athenian people in such a fashion as to rouse to the highest pitch the
patriotic pride of his countrymen, and their confidence in themselves,
in their future, and in their leader.

_II.--Early Successes of Athens_

In the second year of the war, Athens suffered from a fearful visitation
of the plague, which, however, made no way in the Peloponnese. It broke
out also among the reinforcements dispatched to Potidaea; and it required
all the skill of Pericles to reconcile the Athenians to the continuation
of the war, after seeing their territories overrun for the second time
for six weeks. By dint of dwelling on the supreme importance of their
decisive command of the sea, and on the vast financial resources which
secured their staying power, he maintained his ascendency until his
death in the f