90
But I did this, supposing that it would be apparent that there could be no greater crime than that of those who dared lay waste the cities which bred and reared such great men, about whom even now one might say many noble things. But it is perhaps foolish to linger upon a single point, as if there were any lack, as if there were not, on the contrary, a superabundance of things to say about the cruelty and the harshness of the Lacedaemonians.
91
For the Lacedaemonians were not satisfied with wronging these cities and men of this character, but treated in the same way those who had set out with them from the same country, joined with them in the same expedition, and shared with them the same perilsIn the Trojan War.—I mean the Argives and the Messenians. For they determined to plunge these also into the very same misfortunes which had been visited upon their former victims.The distinction—not altogether clear—is between the older and the later inhabitants. They did not cease laying siege to the Messenians until they had driven them from their territory, and with the same object they are even now making war upon the Argives.For the conquest of Messene see Isoc. 6.26 ff. The Spartans and Argives were almost always at war. See Isoc. 5.51.
92
Furthermore, it would be strange if, having spoken of these wrongs, I failed to mention their treatment of the Plataeans. It was on the soil of Plataea that the Lacedaemonians had encamped with us and with the other allies, drawn up for battle against our enemies;The battle of Plataea was the final, decisive battle of the Persian Wars. there they had offered sacrifices to the deities worshipped by the Plataeans;See Thuc. 2.71-72.
