ho
had been recalled from exile, sailed to Cyprus with a fleet of 200
ships. He undertook the siege of Citium in that island; but died during
the progress of it, either from disease or from the effects of a wound.
Shortly afterwards a pacification was concluded with Persia, which is
sometimes, but erroneously, called "the peace of Cimon." It is stated
that by this compact the Persian monarch agreed not to tax or molest
the Greek colonies on the coast of Asia Minor, nor to send any vessels
of war westward of Phaselis in Lycia, or within the Cyanean rocks at
the junction of the Euxine with the Thracian Bosporus; the Athenians on
their side undertaking to leave the Persians in undisturbed possession
of Cyprus and Egypt. During the progress of these events, the states
which formed the Confederacy of Delos, with the exception of Chios,
Lesbos, and Samos, had gradually become, instead of the active allies
of Athens, her disarmed and passive tributaries. Even the custody of
the fund had been transferred from Delos to Athens. The purpose for
which the confederacy had been originally organised disappeared with
the Persian peace; yet what may now be called Imperial Athens
continued, for her own ends, to exercise her prerogatives as head of
the league. Her alliances, as we have seen, had likewise been extended
in continental Greece, where they embraced Megara, Boeotia, Phocis,
Locris, together with Troezen and Achaia in Peloponnesus. Such was the
position of Athens in the year 448 B.C., the period of her greatest
power and prosperity. From this time her empire began to decline;
whilst Sparta, and other watchful and jealous enemies, stood ever ready
to strike a blow.

In the following year (B.C. 447) a revolution in Boeotia deprived
Athens of her ascendency in that country. With an overweening contempt
of their enemies, a small band of 1000 Athenian hoplites, chiefly
composed of youthful volunteers belonging to the best Athenian
families, together with a few auxiliaries, marched under the command of
Tolmides to put down the revolt, in direct opposition to the advice of
Pericles, who adjured them to wait and collect a more numerous force.
The enterprise proved disastrous in the extreme. Tolmides was defeated
and slain near Chaeronea, a large number of the hoplites also fell in
the engagement, while a still larger number were taken prisoners. This
last circumstance proved fatal to the interests of Athens in Boeotia.
In order