STORIES FROM THE GREEK COMEDIANS.

I,
THE ACHARNIANS.

The long struggle between Athens and Sparta which goes by the
name of the Peloponnesian war broke out early in 431 B.c. Athens
kept for a considerable time the command of the sea, but was unable
to resist in the field the overwhelming forces of Sparta and her allies.
Early in the summer of the first year of the war, Archidamus, one of
the kings of Sparta, entered the Athenian territory at the head of an
army of eighty thousand men. Pericles, who was then the leading
statesman of Athens, had persuaded his countrymen to dismantle their
country-houses and farms, and to bring all their movable and portable
property within the walls. Still the sight of the ravages of the invad-
ing host, which, of course, could be plainly seen from the walls, roused
the people almost to madness. The Athenians, though excelling in
maritime pursuits, were passionately fond of a country life, and it was
almost more than they could bear to see their farms and orchards and
olive-yards wasted with fire. Inferior as they were in numbers, they
loudly demanded to be led out against the invaders, and it was as
much as Pericles could do to keep them within the walls. The inhabi-
tants of the deme or township of Acharnze were prominent among the
malcontents. Acharnz was the richest and most populous of the
townships of Attica, contributing no less than ten thousand men to
the total force (about twenty-nine thousand) which Athens could put
into the field. The chief occupation of the place was charcoal-burning,
the woods of Mount Parnes being conveniently near. No place was
more interested in the question of peace and war, as it was here that
the Spartan king pitched his camp. The invasion was repeated year

_ after year, though on some few occasions various things happened to
prevent it. Not only did the Athenians lose greatly by the desolation
of their country, but they suffered much by being cooped up within the

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