HOW THE LONG WALLS WENT DOWN. 217

still, but the end was sure. The victor at Salamis
would soon be a prisoner within her own walls.

Lysander was in no hurry to sail to Athens. That
city could wait. He employed himself in visiting
the islands and cities in alliance with or dependent
upon Athens, and inducing them to ally themselves
with Sparta. The Athenian garrisons were sent
home. Lysander shrewdly calculated that the more
men the walls of Athens held, the sooner must their
food-supply be exhausted and the end come. At
length, in November of 405 3.c., Lysander sailed
with his fleet to Pireus and blockaded its harbor,
while the land army of the Peloponnesus marched
into Attica and encamped at the gates of Athens.

That great and proud city was now peopled with
despair. The plague which had desolated it twenty-
five years before now threatened to be succeeded by
a still more fatal plague, that of famine. Yet pride
and resolution remained. The walls had been
strengthened; their defenders could hold out while
any food was left; not until men actually began to
die of hunger did they ask for peace.

The envoys sent to Sparta were refused a hearing.
Athens wished to preserve her walls. Sparta sent
word that there could be no peace until the Long
Walls were levelled with the earth. These terms
Athens proudly refused. Suffering and privation
went on.

For three months longer the siege continued.
Though famine dwelt within every house, and num-
bers died of starvation, the Athenians held out with
heroic endurance, and refused to surrender on hu-

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