The ancient Greek historians (Harvard lectures) by J. B. Bury.

96 ANCIENT GREEK HISTORIANS LECT.

he ought to have assigned it the most prominent
place in the foreground. But a careful examination will show, I think, that the narrative is completely consistent, and embodies a closely reasoned
account of the causes and motives at work.
The most casual reader receives the unmistakable impression that the Corinthians were the prime
instigators of the war, driving the Lacedaemonians
into action. The two affairs in which their interests
were exclusively involved, the affair of Corcyra and
the affair of Potidaea, are those which the author
designates as the direct occasion of the war; and
the leading part taken by Corinth is emphasized
by the reproduction of two Corinthian speeches,
voicing Peloponnesian dissatisfaction. If the
deepest concern of Corinth was the action which
Athens had taken in regard to Megara by excluding her from the markets of the Athenian
empire, and thereby threatening her with economic ruin, then it must be allowed that Thucydides was entirely misinformed. In their speeches
at Sparta, the Corinthian envoys do not mention
the Megarian name, and the author expressly states
that their eagerness to have war declared immediately was due to their anxiety for Potidaea.
Can we discover any proof as to the real interest
of Corinth in the Megarian question?
When the Corcyraean affair occurred, Corinth
was so far from being anxious for war that she did
all she could to secure the goodwill and neutrality
of Athens. And she did not come with her hands