This heavy blow was followed two years later by the revolt of Megara
and Euboea; and in the midst of the alarm thus occasioned, the
Athenians heard that a powerful Spartan army was threatening their
borders. It was a terrible moment for Athens; but she was saved by the
prudence and energy of Pericles, whose influence in her councils was
now supreme. By some means or other--as the Spartans asserted, by a
heavy bribe--he induced the Spartan king Pleistoanax to draw off his
forces; and then crossing over into Euboea, he quickly reduced the
whole island to submission, and took severe measures to prevent any
outbreak in the future.

The exertions of the Athenians during the last thirty years had been
prodigious, and their efforts to found an empire in continental Greece
had ended in total failure. Discouraged by their reverses, they
concluded a thirty years' truce with the Spartans and their allies,
resigning the last remnant of their recent conquests, and leaving
Megara in her old position as a member of the Peloponnesian league
under Sparta. The loss of Megara was severely felt, and her conduct in
the late troubles was neither forgotten nor forgiven. The Megarians
had by their own free choice been admitted into the Athenian alliance,
and in an hour of great peril to Athens, without shadow of pretext
they had risen in arms against her. It was not long before they had to
pay a heavy penalty for their treachery and inconstancy.

The last event which we have to record, before entering into the main
current of our narrative, is the secession of Samos, the most
important member of the maritime allies of Athens. This wealthy and
powerful island had hitherto, with Chios and Lesbos, enjoyed the
distinction of serving under Athens as an independent ally. The
Athenians, with a view to their own interests, had recently set up a