The  discussion  of  this  department  of  the  Ten  Years'  War
has  been  long :  the  summary  of  it  may  be  short.  The
Athenian  enterprise  in  Sicily  was  unconnected  with  the  war
at  home  in  so  far  as  it  aimed  at  the  maintenance  of  Athenian
interests  in  the  island  ;  but  was  closely  connected  with  it  in
that  it  also  aimed  at  preventing  the  export  of  food  products
thence  to  Peloponnese.  Such  were  the  two  aims  of  the
Athenians ;  and  taken  on  the  whole,  Athens  may  be  said
to  have  reached  a  certain  measure  of  success  in  their  attain-
ment. She  maintained  a  position  in  the  Sicilian  strait
until  Syracuse  was  frightened  into  a  pacific  policy,  and
until  she  herself  was  established  round  Peloponnese  in  so
strong  a  position  as  to  render  the  occupation  of  the  strait
comparatively  unnecessary.
Macedonia  and  Chalkidike

The  war  on  the  north  and  north-west  coast  of  the  Aegean
has  very  little  strategic  connection  with  the  operations  in
the  other  geographical  areas.  It  is,  moreover,  divisible
into  two  parts  which  have  very  little  connection  with  one
another : —

(i)  The  siege  of  Potidaea  :
(2)  The  operations  of  Brasidas.
These  are  separated  from  one  another  by  a  considerable
chronological  interval.
The  war  in  this  region  took,  as  far  as  substantial  operations
and  results  are  concerned,  a  very  definite  and  simple  form.
PERDIKKAS


371


Its  story  in  Thucydides  is  complicated  by  his  strict  chrono-
logical method,  and  by  the  frequent  appearance  in  his  pages
of  that  fantastic  personage,  Perdikkas,  King  of  Macedonia.
