off immediately after the others, put an end to the action. This
timely interference saved Corcyra from ruin; for next day the
Corinthians, after a formal remonstrance, set sail for home, taking
with them two hundred and fifty prisoners, belonging to the noblest
families in Corcyra, whom they kept in safe custody, but treated with
great consideration, hoping by means of them at some future time to
recover their influence in the island.


II

It was not long before the effects of this impolitic breach with
Corinth were sensibly felt by Athens. In the course of the following
summer, Potidaea, a Corinthian colony, situated on the borders of
Macedon, and included in the Athenian alliance, openly raised the
standard of revolt, encouraged by promises from Sparta, and by the
presence of a strong body of hoplites, sent for its support from
Corinth. Potidaea was presently closely invested by an Athenian army
and fleet, and the Corinthians pretended to make this a fresh ground
of complaint, though they had themselves incited the city to throw off
its allegiance to Athens.

Feeling that matters were now approaching a crisis, the Spartans
summoned a congress of their allies, and invited all who had any
grievance against Athens to state their case. Then some spoke of the
wrongs of Aegina, formerly not the least among Greek cities, but now
so crushed under the yoke of Athens that she had not dared to raise
her voice openly against the tyrant-city. The Megarians complained of
the restrictions on their commerce, which threatened them with an
empty exchequer and a starving population; and others followed in the