History of the Peloponnesian War

​So many nations of Greeks and barbarians inhabited Sicily, and against it, being of such a size, the Athenians were eager to campaign, desiring indeed, in truth, to rule the whole island, but at the same time wishing plausibly to help their own kinsmen and their newly acquired allies.

​And most of all they were urged on by the envoys of the Egestaeans who were present and calling upon them more eagerly. For being borders with the Selinuntians, they had fallen into war over certain marriage matters and over disputed land; and the Selinuntians, having brought in the Syracusans as allies, were pressing them hard in the war both by land and by sea; so that the Egestaeans, reminding the Athenians of the alliance that had been made in the time of Laches and the former war of the Leontines, begged them to send ships to assist them, saying many other things and, as the chief point, that if the Syracusans, having driven out the Leontines, should go unpunished and, by destroying their remaining allies, should themselves obtain the whole power of Sicily, there was a danger that at some time, with a great force, being Dorians assisting Dorians according to kinship and at the same time colonists assisting the Peloponnesians who had sent them out, they might also help to pull down their power; and that it was wise to resist the Syracusans with the remaining allies, especially since they themselves would provide sufficient money for the war.

​Hearing these things in the assemblies from the Egestaeans speaking repeatedly and from those who supported them, the Athenians voted first to send envoys to Egesta, both to examine concerning the money, whether it was available in the treasury and in the temples, as they said, and at the same time to learn in what state the war against the Selinuntians was.