Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

100 CHARACTER OF PELOPONNESIAN WAR.The right resisted manfully, but uselessly.Over six hundredAthenian hoplites were slain, and the whole army utterlydemoralized. The Spartans lost but seven men killed.Brasidas was fatally wounded.The contrast between the twocommanders in character as well as in ability is noteworthy.There are many things in the career of Lysander, the victorof ^gospotami, which stamp him second only to Brasidas,but his exploits, like those of many other able men, mustbe omitted here.The Peloponnesian war was limited in its military scope.Political means were as much employed as warlike. Toseduce an ally from the enemy or rouse sedition in his capitalwas as important as to win a battle. Statesmanship overrodemilitary ability. Campaigns were usually raids, having someside-issue for object. The war was conducted more at seathan on land. Small war and sieges covered all the landoperations. The Peloponnesian war was essentially a littlewar, though on a large scale and over a large territory andwith mighty interests at stake ; and it was characterized byunusual cruelty and unnecessary devastation. It producedgreat men, dishonest men, and weak men, and the influenceof all was marked in its conduct. Pericles, Demosthenes,Brasidas, Gylippus, Lysander, Cleon, Alcibiades, Nicias, eachimpressed his own character for good or for illon some partof this long-drawn-out conflict. Had it not come to a closewhen it did, Greece might have gone to pieces asa factor incivilization.