And,
for this reason, Perikles, who was particularly opposed to this, and
urged the people not to give way to the Megarians, alone bore the blame
of having begun the war.
XXX. It is said, that when an embassy arrived at Athens from Lacedaemon
to treat upon these matters, Perikles argued that there was a law which
forbade the tablet, on which the decree against the Megarians was
written, to be taken down. "Then," said Polyalkes, one of the
ambassadors, "do not take it down, but turn it with its face to the
wall; for there is no law against that!"
Clever as this retort was, it had no effect on Perikles. He had, it
seems, some private spite at the Megarians, though the ground of quarrel
which he put publicly forward was that the Megarians had applied to
their own use some of the sacred ground; and he passed a decree for a
herald to be sent to the Megarians, and then to go on to the
Lacedaemonians to complain of their conduct. This decree of Perikles is
worded in a candid and reasonable manner; but the herald,
Anthemokritus, was thought to have met his death at the hands of the
Megarians, and Charinus passed a decree to the effect that Athens should
wage war against them to the death, without truce or armistice; that any
Megarian found in Attica should be punished with death, and that the
generals, when taking the usual oath for each year, should swear in
addition that they would invade the Megarian territory twice every year;
and that Anthemokritus should be buried near the city gate leading into
the Thriasian plain, which is now called the Double Gate.
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