The brilliant Age of Pericles had not come to an end
before the two chief powers in the Hellenic world became involved in a deadly
war. It would seem that Athens and Sparta, the one supreme upon the sea, the
other at the head of the Peloponnesus, might have avoided a struggle which was
sure to be long and costly. But Greek cities were always ready to fight one
another. When Athens and Sparta found themselves rivals for the leadership of
Greece, it was easy for the smouldering fires of distrust and jealousy to flame
forth into open conflict. "And at that time," says Thucydides, the
Athenian historian who described the struggle, "the youth of Sparta and
the youth of Athens were numerous; they had never seen war, and were therefore
very willing to take up arms." [19]
The conflict was brought on by Corinth, one of the leading
members of the Peloponnesian League and, next to Athens, the most important
commercial power in Greece. She had already seen her once-profitable trade in the
Aegean monopolized by Athens. That energetic city was now reaching out for
Corinthian commerce in Italian and Sicilian waters. When the Athenians went so
far as to interfere in a quarrel between Corinth and her colony of Corcyra,
even allying themselves with the latter city, the Corinthians felt justly
resentful and appealed to Sparta for aid. The Spartans listened to their appeal
and, with the apparent approval of the Delphic oracle which assured them
"that they would conquer if they fought with all their might," [20]
declared war.
