344 PERICLES.

The Lacedaemonians beginning to show themselves troubled at the growth of the Athenian power, Pericles, on the other hand, to elevate the people's spirit yet more, and to raise them to the thought of great actions, pro- posed a decree, to summon all the Greeks in what part soever, whether of Europe or Asia, every city, little as well as great, to send their deputies to Athens to a general as- sembly, or convention, there to consult and advise con- cerning the Greek temples which the barbarians had burnt down, and the sacrifices which were due from them upon vows they had .made to their gods for the safety of Greece when the} 7 fought against the barbarians ; and also concerning the navigation of the sea, that they might henceforward all of them pass to and fro and trade securely, and be at peace among themselves. Upon this errand, there were twenty men, of such as were above fifty years of age, sent by commission ; five to summon the Ionians and Dorians in Asia, and the islanders as far as Lesbos and Rhodes; five to visit all the places in the Hellespont and Thrace, up to Byzantium ; and other five besides these to go to Boeotia and Phocis and Peloponnesus, and from hence to pass through the Locrians over to the neighboring continent, as far as Acarnania and Ainbracia; and the rest to take their course through Euboea to the CEta?ans and the Malian Gulf, and to the Achceans of Phthiotis and the Thessalians; all of them to treat with the people as they passed, and to persuade them to come and take their part in the de- bates for settling the peace and jointly regulating the affairs of Greece. Nothing was effected, nor did the cities meet by their deputies, as was desired; the Lacedtemouians, as it is said, crossing the design underhand, and the attempt be- ing disappointed and baffled first in Peloponnesus, I

thought fit, however, to introduce the mention of it, to