have been as well if the former at least could have been established on a true federal basis, even at some small expense of autonomy to the cities; for the direction taken by the league was towards empire, not federation, and the Spartan alliance eventually followed suit. But the cities would not readily unite in any really useful or permanent federation, and their unwillingness gave the leading State the chance and the excuse to use force to compel them to do it. Now both force and a leading State are elements unnatural to a federation, and the ultimate result was in this case not federation but an Athenian empire.
The transformation of the Delian confederacy into the empire of Athens is thus of the utmost importance in the history of the City-State. We do not know exactly by what successive steps the change was brought about, but we have sufficient material to estimate its nature and its influence on the life of the πόλεις. To begin with, we can gain a tolerably clear idea of the character of the confederacy of Delos from Thucydides' own words:[1] —
- ↑ Thucyd. i. 96; I quote Jowett's translation.