ABSTRACT
The remarkable discrepancy between Thucydides' negotiations immediately preceding the war and all the other ancient accounts it possesses. These other authorities agree in representing certain decrees against Megara, passed at Athens on the eve of the war, as having a critical effect in bringing it on. The impression here given by Aristophanes is confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, who, after stating that Pericles had private motives for desiring war. There was a decree at Athens excluding the Megarians from the market and harbours, and the Megarians appealed to Spartans. The Lacedaemonians at their instance sent envoys empowered by a resolution of the Council of the League to demand that the Athenians should rescind the decree and to threaten war if they refused. The Athenian Assembly met, and Pericles with his great eloquence persuaded the Athenians not to annul the decree, saying that to give way to Sparta against their interests was the first step to servitude.
