[9]
and to acquire over three hundred ships1: an annual tribute of more than twelve hundred talents was coming in2: we controlled the Chersonese, Naxos, and over two-thirds of Euboea: while to mention our other settlements abroad individually would be tedious. But in spite of all these advantages we went to war with Sparta afresh, then as now at the instigation of Argos.3
1 The MSS. give four hundred. Markland's correction, based on the corresponding passage in Aeschines and Thuc. 2.13, is now universally accepted.
2 According to Thucydides （Thuc. 2.13） the revenue from tribute at the beginning of the Archidamian War was 600 talents yearly. In 425 there was a re-assessment （known from I.G. i 2 . 63） which increased the total annual contribution of the allies to just over 960 talents. There is no good evidence to show that this figure was ever exceeded: and Andocides' 1200 must be treated as an exaggeration. The mention of a reserve of 7000 talents is suspicious. Athens did, it is true, recover remarkably from the effects of the Archidamian War during the period between 421 and the Sicilian Expedition of 415. But Andocides is here talking of the years 421-419 only. He may be basing his figures on the financial reserve of Athens before the Archidamian War.
3 Argos invaded the territory of Epidaurus in 419, thereby bringing about an open breach with Sparta. Athens, at the instance of Alcibiades, gave Argos her support in virtue of the alliance of the previous year. “Then as now at the instigation of Argos,” i.e. Argive representatives are again present, while Andocides is speaking, to urge Athens to continue war with Sparta （cf. Andoc. 3.24 ff.）. This seems more probable than the other possible rendering: “Once again at the instigation of Argos,” referring to the Athenian alliance with Argos in 462 B.C.
Andocides. Minor Attic Orators in two volumes 1, Antiphon Andocides, with an English translation by K. J. Maidment, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1968.
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