democracy in Samos, which had hitherto been governed by an oligarchy.
Incensed by this interference, the Samian nobles, who had been driven
into exile, hired a mercenary force, and making a sudden attack from
the mainland, overthrew the democracy and raised the standard of
revolt. The crisis called for prompt and vigorous action on the part
of Athens; for if Samos had been successful in defying her authority,
the other members of the league would speedily have followed the
example, and the whole fabric of her empire might have been shattered
to pieces. Pericles was again equal to the emergency, and by employing
the whole naval power of Athens he was able, after a siege of nine
months, to reduce the refractory islanders to submission. The Samians
were compelled to surrender their fleet, to pull down their walls, to
pay a heavy war indemnity, and to give hostages as a security for
their good conduct in the future. And henceforward they became
subjects and tributaries of Athens.

We have now completed our review of the chief events which occurred
between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. It was a period of rapid
development for Athens, of ceaseless activity at home and abroad, of
immense progress in all the arts of war and peace. The imperial city
had now risen to her full stature, and stood forth, supreme in
intellect and in action, the wonder and envy of mankind. Her mighty
walls bade defiance to her enemies at home, and she held in her hand
the islands and coast-districts of the Aegaean, where the last murmur
of resistance had been quelled. Her recent reverses on the mainland of
Greece had left the real sources of her power untouched; and taught
her, if she would but take the lesson to heart, the proper limits of
her empire. And she had risen to this height, not by the prevailing
force of any single mind, but by the united efforts of all her
citizens, working together for a whole generation, shunning no