Hellenica
by Xenophon · English · Gutenberg #1174 · 746,574 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Hellenica
Author: Xenophon
Translator: Henry Graham Dakyns
Release date: January 1, 1998 [eBook #1174]
Most recently updated: December 26, 2019
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HELLENICA ***
Produced by John Bickers
HELLENICA
By Xenophon
Translation by H. G. Dakyns
Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Hellenica is his chronicle of the history of
the Hellenes from 411 to 359 B.C., starting as a
continuation of Thucydides, and becoming his own
brand of work from Book III onwards.
PREPARER'S NOTE
This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though there is
doubt about some of these) is:
Work Number of books
The Anabasis 7
The Hellenica 7
The Cyropaedia 8
The Memorabilia 4
The Symposium 1
The Economist 1
On Horsemanship 1
The Sportsman 1
The Cavalry General 1
The Apology 1
On Revenues 1
The Hiero 1
The Agesilaus 1
The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2
Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English
using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks
have been lost.
HELLENICA
BOOK I
I
B.C. 411. To follow the order of events (1). A few days later
Thymochares arrived from Athens with a few ships, when another sea fight
between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians at once took place, in which
the former, under the command of Agesandridas, gained the victory.
(1) Lit. "after these events"; but is hard to conjecture to what
events the author refers. For the order of events and the
connection between the closing chapter of Thuc. viii. 109, and the
opening words of the "Hellenica," see introductory remarks above.
The scene of this sea-fight is, I think, the Hellespont.
Another short interval brings us to a morning in early winter, when
Dorieus, the son of Diagoras, was entering the Hellespont with fourteen
ships from Rhodes at break of day. The Athenian day-watch descrying him,
signalled to the generals, and they, with twenty sail, put out to sea to
attack him. Dorieus made good his escape, and, as he shook himself free
of the narrows, (2) ran his triremes aground off Rhoeteum. When the
Athenians had come to close quarters, the fighting commenced, and was
sustained at once from ships and shore, until at length the Athenians
retired to their main camp at Madytus, having achieved nothing.
(2) Lit. "as he opened" {os enoige}. This is still a mariner's phrase
in modern Greek, if I am rightly informed.
Meanwhile Mindarus, while sacrificing to Athena at Ilium, had observed
the battle. He at once hastened to the sea, and getting his own triremes
afloat, sailed out to pick up the ships with Dorieus. The Athenians on
their side put out to meet him, and engaged him off Abydos. From early
morning till the afternoon the fight was kept up close to the shore.
(3) Victory and defeat hung still in even balance, when Alcibiades
came sailing up with eighteen ships. Thereupon the Peloponnesians
fled towards Abydos, where, however, Pharnabazus brought them timely
assistance. (4) Mounted on horseback, he pushed forward into the sea as
far as his horse would let him, doing battle himself, and encouraging
his troopers and the infantry alike to play their parts. Then the
Peloponnesians, ranging their ships in close-packed order, and drawing
up their battle line in proximity to the land, kept up the fight. At
length the Athenians, having captured thirty of the enemy's vessels
without their crews, and having recovered those of their own which
they had previously lost, set sail for Sestos. Here the fleet, with the
exception of forty vessels, dispersed in different directions outside
the Hellespont, to collect money; while Thrasylus, one of the generals,
sailed to Athens to report what had happened, and to beg for a
reinforcement of troops and ships. After the above incidents,
Tissaphernes arrived in the Hellespont, and received a visit from
Alcibiades, who presented him with a single ship, bringing with him
tokens of friendship and gifts, whereupon Tissaphernes seized him and
shut him up in Sardis, giving out that the king's orders were to go to
war with the Athenians. Thirty days later Alcibiades, accompanied by
Mantitheus, who had been captured in Caria, managed to procure horses
and escaped by night to Clazomenae.
(3) The original has a somewhat more poetical ring. The author uses
the old Attic or Ionic word {eona}. This is a mark of style, of
which we shall have many instances. One might perhaps produce
something of the effect here by translating: "the battle hugged
the strand."
(4) Or, "came to their aid along the shore."
B.C. 410. And now the Athenians at Sestos, hearing that Mindarus was
meditating an attack upon them with a squadron of sixty sail, gave
him the slip, and under cover of night escaped to Cardia. Hither also
Alcibiades repaired from Clazomenae, having with him five triremes and
a light skiff; but on learning that the Peloponnesian fleet had left
Abydos and was in full sail for Cyzicus, he set off himself by land to
Sestos, giving orders to the fleet to sail round and join him there.
Presently the vessels arrived, and he was on the point of putting out to
sea with everything ready for action, when Theramenes, with a fleet of
twenty ships from Macedonia, entered the port, and at the same instant
Thrasybulus, with a second fleet of twenty sail from Thasos, both
squadrons having been engaged in collecting money. Bidding these
officers also follow him with all speed, as soon as they had taken out
their large sails and cleared for action, Alcibiades set sail himself
for Parium. During the following night the united squadron, consisting
now of eighty-six vessels, stood out to sea from Parium, and reached
Proconnesus next morning, about the hour of breakfast. Here they learnt
that Mindarus was in Cyzicus, and that Pharnabazus, with a body of
infantry, was with him. Accordingly they waited the whole of this day at
Proconnesus. On the following day Alcibiades summoned an assembly,
and addressing the men in terms of encouragement, warned them that a
threefold service was expected of them; that they must be ready for a
sea fight, a land fight, and a wall fight all at once, "for look you,"
said he, "we have no money, but the enemy has unlimited supplies from
the king."
Now, on the previous day, as soon as they were come to moorings, he had
collected all the sea-going craft of the island, big and little alike,
under his own control, that no one might report the number of his
squadron to the enemy, and he had further caused a proclamation to be
made, that any one caught sailing across to the opposite coast would be
punished with death. When the meeting was over, he got his ships ready
for action, and stood out to sea towards Cyzicus in torrents of rain.
Off Cyzicus the sky cleared, and the sun shone out and revealed to him
the spectacle of Mindarus's vessels, sixty in number, exercising at some
distance from the harbour, and, in fact, intercepted by himself. The
Peloponnesians, perceiving at a glance the greatly increased number of
the Athenian galleys, and noting their proximity to the port, made haste
to reach the land, where they brought their vessels to anchor in a
body, and prepared to engage the enemy as he sailed to the attack. But
Alcibiades, sailing round with twenty of his vessels, came to land and
disembarked. Seeing this, Mindarus also landed, and in the engagement
which ensued he fell fighting, whilst those who were with him took to
flight. As for the enemy's ships, the Athenians succeeded in capturing
the whole of them (with the exception of the Syracusan vessels,
which were burnt by their crews), and made off with their prizes to
Proconnesus. From thence on the following day they sailed to attack
Cyzicus. The men of that place, seeing that the Peloponnesians and
Pharnabazus had evacuated the town, admitted the Athenians. Here
Alcibiades remained twenty days, obtaining large sums of money from
the Cyzicenes, but otherwise inflicting no sort of mischief on the
community. He then sailed back to Proconnesus, and from there to
Perinthus and Selybria. The inhabitants of the former place welcomed his
troops into their city, but the Selybrians preferred to give money,
and so escape the admission of the troops. Continuing the voyage the
squadron reached Chrysopolis in Chalcedonia, (5) where they built a
fort, and established a custom-house to collect the tithe dues which
they levied on all merchantmen passing through the Straits from the
Black Sea. Besides this, a detachment of thirty ships was left there
under the two generals, Theramenes and Eubulus, with instructions not
only to keep a look-out on the port itself and on all traders passing
through the channel, but generally to injure the enemy in any way which
might present itself. This done, the rest of the generals hastened back
to the Hellespont.
(5) This is the common spelling, but the coins of Calchedon have the
letters {KALKH}, and so the name is written in the best MSS. of
Herodotus, Xenophon, and other writers, by whom the place is
named. See "Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog." "Chalcedon."
Now a despatch from Hippocrates, Mindarus's vice-admiral, (6) had been
intercepted on its way to Lacedaemon, and taken to Athens. It ran
as follows (in broad Doric): (7) "Ships gone; Mindarus dead; the men
starving; at our wits' end what to do."
(6) "Epistoleus," i.e. secretary or despatch writer, is the Spartan
title of the officer second in command to the admiral.
(7) Reading {'Errei ta kala} (Bergk's conjecture for {kala}) =
"timbers," i.e. "ships" (a Doric word). Cf. Aristoph., "Lys."
1253, {potta kala}. The despatch continues: {Mindaros apessoua}
(al. {apessua}), which is much more racy than the simple word
"dead." "M. is gone off." I cannot find the right English or
"broad Scotch" equivalent. See Thirlwall, "Hist. Gr." IV. xxix. 88
note.
Pharnabazus, however, was ready to meet with encouragement the
despondency which afflicted the whole Peloponnesian army and their
allies. "As long as their own bodies were safe and sound, why need
they take to heart the loss of a few wooden hulls? Was there not timber
enough and to spare in the king's territory?" And so he presented each
man with a cloak and maintenance for a couple of months, after which he
armed the sailors and formed them into a coastguard for the security of
his own seaboard.
He next called a meeting of the generals and trierarchs of the different
States, and instructed them to build just as many new ships in the
dockyards of Antandrus as they had respectively lost. He himself was to
furnish the funds, and he gave them to understand that they might
bring down timber from Mount Ida. While the ships were building, the
Syracusans helped the men of Antandrus to finish a section of their
walls, and were particularly pleasant on garrison duty; and that is why
the Syracusans to this day enjoy the privilege of citizenship, with the
title of "benefactors," at Antandrus. Having so arranged these matters,
Pharnabazus proceeded at once to the rescue of Chalcedon.
It was at this date that the Syracusan generals received news from home
of their banishment by the democratic party. Accordingly they called a
meeting of their separate divisions, and putting forward Hermocrates
(8) as their spokesman, proceeded to deplore their misfortune, insisting
upon the injustice and the illegality of their banishment. "And now let
us admonish you," they added, "to be eager and willing in the future,
even as in the past: whatever the word of command may be, show
yourselves good men and true: let not the memory of those glorious sea
fights fade. Think of those victories you have won, those ships you
have captured by your own unaided efforts; forget not that long list of
achievements shared by yourselves with others, in all which you
proved yourselves invincible under our generalship. It was to a happy
combination of our merit and your enthusiasm, displayed alike on land
and sea, that you owe the strength and perfection of your discipline."
(8) Hermocrates, the son of Hermon. We first hear of him in Thuc. iv.
58 foll. as the chief agent in bringing the Sicilian States
together in conference at Gela B.C. 424, with a view to healing
their differences and combining to frustrate the dangerous designs
of Athens. In 415 B.C., when the attack came, he was again the
master spirit in rendering it abortive (Thuc. vi. 72 foll.) In 412
B.C. it was he who urged the Sicilians to assist in completing the
overthrow of Athens, by sending a squadron to co-operate with the
Peloponnesian navy--for the relief of Miletus, etc. (Thuc. viii.
26, 27 foll.) At a later date, in 411 B.C., when the Peloponnesian
sailors were ready to mutiny, and "laid all their grievances to
the charge of Astyochus (the Spartan admiral), who humoured
Tissaphernes for his own gain" (Thuc. viii. 83), Hermocrates took
the men's part, and so incurred the hatred of Tissaphernes.
With these words they called upon the men to choose other commanders,
who should undertake the duties of their office, until the arrival of
their successors. Thereupon the whole assembly, and more particularly
the captains and masters of vessels and marines, insisted with loud
cries on their continuance in command. The generals replied, "It was
not for them to indulge in faction against the State, but rather it was
their duty, in case any charges were forthcoming against themselves,
at once to render an account." When, however, no one had any kind of
accusation to prefer, they yielded to the general demand, and were
content to await the arrival of their successors. The names of these
were--Demarchus, the son of Epidocus; Myscon, the son of Mencrates; and
Potamis, the son of Gnosis.
The captains, for their part, swore to restore the exiled generals as
soon as they themselves should return to Syracuse. At present with
a general vote of thanks they despatched them to their several
destinations. It particular those who had enjoyed the society of
Hermocrates recalled his virtues with regret, his thoroughness and
enthusiasm, his frankness and affability, the care with which every
morning and evening he was wont to gather in his quarters a group of
naval captains and mariners whose ability he recognised. These were his
confidants, to whom he communicated what he intended to say or do: they
were his pupils, to whom he gave lessons in oratory, now calling upon
them to speak extempore, and now again after deliberation. By these
means Hermocrates had gained a wide reputation at the council board,
where his mastery of language was no less felt than the wisdom of his
advice. Appearing at Lacedaemon as the accuser of Tissaphernes, (9) he
had carried his case, not only by the testimony of Astyochus, but by
the obvious sincerity of his statements, and on the strength of this
reputation he now betook himself to Pharnabazus. The latter did not wait
to be asked, but at once gave him money, which enabled him to collect
friends and triremes, with a view to his ultimate recall to Syracuse.
Meanwhile the successors of the Syracusans had arrived at Miletus, where
they took charge of the ships and the army.
(9) The matter referred to is fully explained Thuc. viii. 85.
It was at this same season that a revolution occurred in Thasos,
involving the expulsion of the philo-Laconian party, with the Laconian
governor Eteonicus. The Laconian Pasippidas was charged with having
brought the business about in conjunction with Tissaphernes, and was
banished from Sparta in consequence. The naval force which he had been
collecting from the allies was handed over to Cratesippidas, who was
sent out to take his place in Chios.
About the same period, while Thrasylus was still in Athens, Agis
(10) made a foraging expedition up to the very walls of the city. But
Thrasylus led out the Athenians with the rest of the inhabitants of the
city, and drew them up by the side of the Lyceum Gymnasium, ready to
engage the enemy if they approached; seeing which, Agis beat a hasty
retreat, not however without the loss of some of his supports, a few of
whom were cut down by the Athenian light troops. This success disposed
the citizens to take a still more favourable view of the objects for
which Thrasylus had come; and they passed a decree empowering him to
call out a thousand hoplites, one hundred cavalry, and fifty triremes.
(10) The reader will recollect that we are giving in "the Deceleian"
period of the war, 413-404 B.C. The Spartan king was in command of
the fortress of Deceleia, only fourteen miles distant from Athens,
and erected on a spot within sight of the city. See Thuc. vii. 19,
27, 28.
Meanwhile Agis, as he looked out from Deceleia, and saw vessel after
vessel laden with corn running down to Piraeus, declared that it was
useless for his troops to go on week after week excluding the Athenians
from their own land, while no one stopped the source of their corn
supply by sea: the best plan would be to send Clearchus, (11) the son
of Rhamphius, who was proxenos (12) of the Byzantines, to Chalcedon and
Byzantium. The suggestion was approved, and with fifteen vessels duly
manned from Megara, or furnished by other allies, Clearchus set out.
These were troop-ships rather than swift-sailing men-of-war. Three of
them, on reaching the Hellespont, were destroyed by the Athenian ships
employed to keep a sharp look-out on all merchant craft in those waters.
The other twelve escaped to Sestos, and thence finally reached Byzantium
in safety.
(11) Of Clearchus we shall hear more in the sequel, and in the
"Anabasis."
(12) The Proxenus answered pretty nearly to our "Consul," "Agent,"
"Resident"; but he differed in this respect, that he was always a
member of the foreign State. An Athenian represented Sparta at
Athens; a Laconian represented Athens at Sparta, and so forth. See
Liddell and Scott.
So closed the year--a year notable also for the expedition against
Sicily of the Carthaginians under Hannibal with one hundred thousand
men, and the capture, within three months, of the two Hellenic cities of
Selinus and Himera.
II
B.C. 409. Next year (1)... the Athenians fortified Thoricus; and
Thrasylus, taking the vessels lately voted him and five thousand of
his seamen armed to serve as peltasts, (2) set sail for Samos at the
beginning of summer. At Samos he stayed three days, and then continued
his voyage to Pygela, where he proceeded to ravage the territory and
attack the fortress. Presently a detachment from Miletus came to the
rescue of the men of Pygela, and attacking the scattered bands of the
Athenian light troops, put them to flight. But to the aid of the light
troops came the naval brigade of peltasts, with two companies of heavy
infantry, and all but annihilated the whole detachment from Miletus.
They captured about two hundred shields, and set up a trophy. Next day
they sailed to Notium, and from Notium, after due preparation, marched
upon Colophon. The Colophonians capitulated without a blow. The
following night they made an incursion into Lydia, where the corn crops
were ripe, and burnt several villages, and captured money, slaves, and
other booty in large quantity. But Stages, the Persian, who was employed
in this neighbourhood, fell in with a reinforcement of cavalry sent to
protect the scattered pillaging parties from the Athenian camp, whilst
occupied with their individual plunder, and took one trooper prisoner,
killing seven others. After this Thrasylus led his troops back to the
sea, intending to sail to Ephesus. Meanwhile Tissaphernes, who had wind
of this intention, began collecting a large army and despatching cavalry
with a summons to the inhabitants one and all to rally to the defence of
the goddess Artemis at Ephesus.
(1) The MSS. here give a suspected passage, which may be rendered
thus: "The first of Olympiad 93, celebrated as the year in which
the newly-added two-horse race was won by Evagorias the Eleian,
and the stadion (200 yards foot-race) by the Cyrenaean Eubotas,
when Evarchippus was ephor at Sparta and Euctemon archon at
Athens." But Ol. 93, to which these officers,and the addition of
the new race at Olympia belong, is the year 408. We must therefore
suppose either that this passage has been accidentally inserted in
the wrong place by some editor or copyist, or that the author was
confused in his dates. The "stadium" is the famous foot-race at
Olympia, 606 3/4 English feet in length, run on a course also
called the "Stadion," which was exactly a stade long.
(2) Peltasts, i.e. light infantry armed with the "pelta" or light
shield, instead of the heavy {aspis} of the hoplite or heavy
infantry soldiers.
On the seventeenth day after the incursion above mentioned Thrasylus
sailed to Ephesus. He disembarked his troops in two divisions, his heavy
infantry in the neighbourhood of Mount Coressus; his cavalry, peltasts,
and marines, with the remainder of his force, near the marsh on the
other side of the city. At daybreak he pushed forward both divisions.
The citizens of Ephesus, on their side, were not slow to protect
themselves. They had to aid them the troops brought up by Tissaphernes,
as well as two detachments of Syracusans, consisting of the crews of
their former twenty vessels and those of five new vessels which had
opportunely arrived quite recently under Eucles, the son of Hippon,
and Heracleides, the son of Aristogenes, together with two Selinuntian
vessels. All these several forces first attacked the heavy infantry
near Coressus; these they routed, killing about one hundred of them, and
driving the remainder down into the sea. They then turned to deal with
the second division on the marsh. Here, too, the Athenians were put to
flight, and as many as three hundred of them perished. On this spot the
Ephesians erected a trophy, and another at Coressus. The valour of the
Syracusans and Selinuntians had been so conspicuous that the citizens
presented many of them, both publicly and privately, with prizes for
distinction in the field, besides offering the right of residence in
their city with certain immunities to all who at any time might wish to
live there. To the Selinuntians, indeed, as their own city had lately
been destroyed, they offered full citizenship.
The Athenians, after picking up their dead under a truce, set sail
for Notium, and having there buried the slain, continued their voyage
towards Lesbos and the Hellespont. Whilst lying at anchor in the harbour
of Methymna, in that island, they caught sight of the Syracusan vessels,
five-and-twenty in number, coasting along from Ephesus. They put out to
sea to attack them, and captured four ships with their crews, and chased
the remainder back to Ephesus. The prisoners were sent by Thrasylus to
Athens, with one exception. This was an Athenian, Alcibiades, who was a
cousin and fellow-exile of Alcibiades. Him Thrasylus released. (3) From
Methymna Thrasylus set sail to Sestos to join the main body of the army,
after which the united forces crossed to Lampsacus. And now winter was
approaching. It was the winter in which the Syracusan prisoners who had
been immured in the stone quarries of Piraeus dug through the rock and
escaped one night, some to Decelia and others to Megara. At Lampsacus
Alcibiades was anxious to marshal the whole military force there
collected in one body, but the old troops refused to be incorporated
with those of Thrasylus. "They, who had never yet been beaten, with
these newcomers who had just suffered a defeat." So they devoted the
winter to fortifying Lampsacus. They also made an expedition against
Abydos, where Pharnabazus, coming to the rescue of the place,
encountered them with numerous cavalry, but was defeated and forced
to flee, Alcibiades pursuing hard with his cavalry and one hundred and
twenty infantry under the command of Menander, till darkness intervened.
After this battle the soldiers came together of their own accord, and
freely fraternised with the troops of Thrasylus. This expedition was
followed by other incursions during the winter into the interior, where
they found plenty to do ravaging the king's territory.
(3) Reading {apelusen}. Wolf's conjecture for the MSS. {katelousen} =
stoned. See Thirlwall, "Hist. Gr." IV. xxix. 93 note.
It was at this period also that the Lacedaemonians allowed their
revolted helots from Malea, who had found an asylum at Coryphasium, to
depart under a flag of truce. It was also about the same period that the
Achaeans betrayed the colonists of Heracleia Trachinia, when they were
all drawn up in battle to meet the hostile Oetaeans, whereby as many
as seven hundred of them were lost, together with the governor (4) from
Lacedaemon, Labotas. Thus the year came to its close--a year marked
further by a revolt of the Medes from Darius, the king of Persia,
followed by renewed submission to his authority.
(4) Technically {armostes} (harmost), i.e. administrator.
III
B.C. 408. The year following is the year in which the temple of Athena,
in Phocaea, was struck by lightning and set on fire. (1) With the
cessation of winter, in early spring, the Athenians set sail with the
whole of their force to Proconnesus, and thence advanced upon Chalcedon
and Byzantium, encamping near the former town. The men of Chalcedon,
aware of their approach, had taken the precaution to deposit all their
pillageable property with their neighbours, the Bithynian Thracians;
whereupon Alcibiades put himself at the head of a small body of heavy
infantry with the cavalry, and giving orders to the fleet to follow
along the coast, marched against the Bithynians and demanded back the
property of the Chalcedonians, threatening them with war in case of
refusal. The Bithynians delivered up the property. Returning to camp,
not only thus enriched, but with the further satisfaction of having
secured pledges of good behaviour from the Bithynians, Alcibiades set to
work with the whole of his troops to draw lines of circumvallation round
Chalcedon from sea to sea, so as to include as much of the river as
possible within his wall, which was made of timber. Thereupon the
Lacedaemonian governor, Hippocrates, let his troops out of the city and
offered battle, and the Athenians, on their side, drew up their forces
opposite to receive him; while Pharnabazus, from without the lines of
circumvallation, was still advancing with his army and large bodies of
horse. Hippocrates and Thrasylus engaged each other with their heavy
infantry for a long while, until Alcibiades, with a detachment of
infantry and the cavalry, intervened. Presently Hippocrates fell,
and the troops under him fled into the city; at the same instant
Pharnabazus, unable to effect a junction with the Lacedaemonian leader,
owing to the circumscribed nature of the ground and the close proximity
of the river to the enemy's lines, retired to the Heracleium, (2)
belonging to the Chalcedonians, where his camp lay. After this success
Alcibiades set off to the Hellespont and the Chersonese to raise money,
and the remaining generals came to terms with Pharnabazus in respect
of Chalcedon; according to these, the Persian satrap agreed to pay the
Athenians twenty talents (3) in behalf of the town, and to grant their
ambassadors a safe conduct up country to the king. It was further
stipulated by mutual consent and under oaths provided, that the
Chalcedonians should continue the payment of their customary tribute
to Athens, being also bound to discharge all outstanding debts. The
Athenians, on their side, were bound to desist from all hostilities
until the return of their ambassadors from the king. These oaths
were not witnessed by Alcibiades, who was now in the neighbourhood of
Selybria. Having taken that place, he presently appeared before the
walls of Byzantium at the head of the men of Chersonese, who came out
with their whole force; he was aided further by troops from Thrace and
more than three hundred horse. Accordingly Pharnabazus, insisting that
he too must take the oath, decided to remain in Chalcedon, and to await
his arrival from Byzantium. Alcibiades came, but was not prepared to
bind himself by any oaths, unless Pharnabazus would, on his side, take
oaths to himself. After this, oaths were exchanged between them by
proxy. Alcibiades took them at Chrysopolis in the presence of two
representatives sent by Pharnabazus--namely, Mitrobates and Arnapes.
Pharnabazus took them at Chalcedon in the presence of Euryptolemus and
Diotimus, who represented Alcibiades. Both parties bound themselves not
only by the general oath, but also interchanged personal pledges of good
faith.
(1) The MSS. here give the words, "in the ephorate of Pantacles and
the archonship of Antigenes, two-and-twenty years from the
beginning of the war," but the twenty-second year of the war =
B.C. 410; Antigenes archon, B.C. 407 = Ol. 93, 2; the passage must
be regarded as a note mis-inserted by some editor or copyist (vide
supra, I. 11.)
(2) I.e. sacred place or temple of Heracles.
(3) Twenty talents = 4800 pounds; or, more exactly, 4875 pounds.
This done, Pharnabazus left Chalcedon at once, with injunctions that
those who were going up to the king as ambassadors should meet him
at Cyzicus. The representatives of Athens were Dorotheus, Philodices,
Theogenes, Euryptolemus, and Mantitheus; with them were two Argives,
Cleostratus and Pyrrholochus. An embassy of the Lacedaemonians was also
about to make the journey. This consisted of Pasippidas and his fellows,
with whom were Hermocrates, now an exile from Syracuse, and his brother
Proxenus. So Pharnabazus put himself at their head. Meanwhile the
Athenians prosecuted the siege of Byzantium; lines of circumvallation
were drawn; and they diversified the blockade by sharpshooting at
long range and occasional assaults upon the walls. Inside the city lay
Clearchus, the Lacedaemonian governor, and a body of Perioci with a
small detachment of Neodamodes. (4) There was also a body of Megarians
under their general Helixus, a Megarian, and another body of Boeotians,
with their general Coeratadas. The Athenians, finding presently that
they could effect nothing by force, worked upon some of the inhabitants
to betray the place. Clearchus, meanwhile, never dreaming that any one
would be capable of such an act, had crossed over to the opposite
coast to visit Pharnabazus; he had left everything in perfect order,
entrusting the government of the city to Coeratadas and Helixus. His
mission was to obtain pay for the soldiers from the Persian satrap,
and to collect vessels from various quarters. Some were already in the
Hellespont, where they had been left as guardships by Pasippidas, or
else at Antandrus. Others formed the fleet which Agesandridas, who had
formerly served as a marine (5) under Mindarus, now commanded on the
Thracian coast. Others Clearchus purposed to have built, and with the
whole united squadron to so injure the allies of the Athenians as to
draw off the besieging army from Byzantium. But no sooner was he fairly
gone than those who were minded to betray the city set to work. Their
names were Cydon, Ariston, Anaxicrates, Lycurgus, and Anaxilaus. The
last-named was afterwards impeached for treachery in Lacedaemon on the
capital charge, and acquitted on the plea that, to begin with, he was
not a Lacedaemonian, but a Byzantine, and, so far from having betrayed
the city, he had saved it, when he saw women and children perishing of
starvation; for Clearchus had given away all the corn in the city to the
Lacedaemonian soldiers. It was for these reasons, as Anaxilaus himself
admitted, he had introduced the enemy, and not for the sake of money,
nor out of hatred to Lacedaemon.
(4) According to the constitution of Lacedaemon the whole government
was in Dorian hands. The subject population was divided into (1)
Helots, who were State serfs. The children of Helots were at times
brought up by Spartans and called "Mothakes"; Helots who had
received their liberty were called "Neodamodes" ({neodamodeis}).
After the conquest of Messenia this class was very numerous. (2)
Perioeci. These were the ancient Achaean inhabitants, living in
towns and villages, and managing their own affairs, paying
tribute, and serving in the army as heavy-armed soldiers. In 458
B.C. they were said to number thirty thousand. The Spartans
themselves were divided, like all Dorians, into three tribes,
Hylleis, Dymanes, and Pamphyli, each of which tribes was divided
into ten "obes," which were again divided into {oikoi} or families
possessed of landed properties. In 458 B.C. there were said to be
nine thousand such families; but in course of time, through
alienation of lands, deaths in war, and other causes, their
numbers were much diminished; and in many cases there was a loss
of status, so that in the time of Agis III., B.C. 244, we hear of
two orders of Spartans, the {omoioi} and the {upomeiones}
(inferiors); seven hundred Spartans (families) proper and one
hundred landed proprietors. See Mullers "Dorians," vol. ii. bk.
iii. ch. x. S. 3 (Eng. trans.); Arist. "Pol." ii. 9, 15; Plut.
("Agis").
(5) The greek word is {epibates}, which some think was the title of an
inferior naval officer in the Spartan service, but there is no
proof of this. Cf. Thuc. viii. 61, and Prof. Jowett's note; also
Grote, "Hist. of Greece," viii. 27 (2d ed.)
As soon as everything was ready, these people opened the gates leading
to the Thracian Square, as it is called, and admitted the Athenian
troops with Alcibiades at their head. Helixus and Coeratadas, in
complete ignorance of the plot, hastened to the Agora with the whole
of the garrison, ready to confront the danger; but finding the enemy in
occupation, they had nothing for it but to give themselves up. They were
sent off as prisoners to Athens, where Coeratadas, in the midst of the
crowd and confusion of debarkation at Piraeus, gave his guards the slip,
and made his way in safety to Decelia.
IV
B.C. 407. Pharnabazus and the ambassadors were passing the winter at
Gordium in Phrygia, when they heard of the occurrences at Byzantium.
Continuing their journey to the king's court in the commencement of
spring, they were met by a former embassy, which was now on its return
journey. These were the Lacedaemonian ambassadors, Boeotius and his
party, with the other envoys; who told them that the Lacedaemonians had
obtained from the king all they wanted. One of the company was Cyrus,
the new governor of all the seaboard districts, who was prepared to
co-operate with the Lacedaemonians in war. He was the bearer, moreover,
of a letter with the royal seal attached. It was addressed to all the
populations of Lower Asia, and contained the following words: "I send
down Cyrus as 'Karanos'" (1)--that is to say, supreme lord--"over all
those who muster at Castolus." The ambassadors of the Athenians, even
while listening to this announcement, and indeed after they had seen
Cyrus, were still desirous, if possible, to continue their journey to
the king, or, failing that, to return home. Cyrus, however, urged upon
Pharnabazus either to deliver them up to himself, or to defer sending
them home at present; his object being to prevent the Athenians learning
what was going on. Pharnabazus, wishing to escape all blame, for the
time being detained them, telling them, at one time, that he would
presently escort them up country to the king, and at another time that
he would send them safe home. But when three years had elapsed, he
prayed Cyrus to let them go, declaring that he had taken an oath to
bring them back to the sea, in default of escorting them up to the king.
Then at last they received safe conduct to Ariobarzanes, with orders for
their further transportation. The latter conducted them a stage further,
to Cius in Mysia; and from Cius they set sail to join their main
armament.
(1) {Karanos.} Is this a Greek word, a Doric form, {karanos}, akin to
{kara} (cf. {karenon}) = chief? or is it not more likely a Persian
or native word, Karanos? and might not the title be akin
conceivably to the word {korano}, which occurs on many Indo-
Bactrian coins (see A. von Sallet, "Die Nachfolger Alexanders des
Grossen," p. 57, etc.)? or is {koiranos} the connecting link? The
words translated "that is to say, supreme lord," {to de karanon
esti kurion}, look very like a commentator's gloss.
Alcibiades, whose chief desire was to return home to Athens with the
troops, immediately set sail for Samos; and from that island, taking
twenty of the ships, he sailed to the Ceramic Gulf of Caria, where he
collected a hundred talents, and so returned to Samos.
Thrasybulus had gone Thrace-wards with thirty ships. In this quarter he
reduced various places which had revolted to Lacedaemon, including
the island of Thasos, which was in a bad plight, the result of wars,
revolutions, and famine.
Thrasylus, with the rest of the army, sailed back straight to Athens.
On his arrival he found that the Athenians had already chosen as their
general Alcibiades, who was still in exile, and Thrasybulus, who was
also absent, and as a third, from among those at home, Conon.
Meanwhile Alcibiades, with the moneys lately collected and his fleet of
twenty ships, left Samos and visited Paros. From Paros he stood out to
sea across to Gytheum, (2) to keep an eye on the thirty ships of war
which, as he was informed, the Lacedaemonians were equipping in that
arsenal. Gytheum would also be a favourable point of observation
from which to gauge the disposition of his fellow-countrymen and the
prospects of his recall. When at length their good disposition seemed
to him established, not only by his election as general, but by the
messages of invitation which he received in private from his friends, he
sailed home, and entered Piraeus on the very day of the festival of the
Plunteria, (3) when the statue of Athena is veiled and screened from
public gaze. This was a coincidence, as some thought, of evil omen,
and unpropitious alike to himself and the State, for no Athenian would
transact serious business on such a day.
(2) Gytheum, the port and arsenal of Sparta, situated near the head of
the Laconian Gulf (now Marathonisi).
(3) {ta Plunteria}, or feast of washings, held on the 25th of the
month Thargelion, when the image of the goddess Athena was
stripped in order that her clothes might be washed by the
Praxiergidae; neither assembly nor court was held on that day, and
the Temple was closed.
As he sailed into the harbour, two great crowds--one from the Piraeus,
the other from the city (4)--flocked to meet the vessels. Wonderment,
mixed with a desire to see Alcibiades, was the prevailing sentiment of
the multitude. Of him they spoke: some asserting that he was the best
of citizens, and that in his sole instance banishment had been
ill-deserved. He had been the victim of plots, hatched in the brains
of people less able than himself, however much they might excel in
pestilent speech; men whose one principle of statecraft was to look to
their private gains; whereas this man's policy had ever been to uphold
the common weal, as much by his private means as by all the power of the
State. His own choice, eight years ago, when the charge of impiety in
the matter of the mysteries was still fresh, would have been to submit
to trial at once. It was his personal foes, who had succeeded in
postponing that undeniably just procedure; who waited till his back was
turned, and then robbed him of his fatherland. Then it was that, being
made the very slave of circumstance, he was driven to court the men he
hated most; and at a time when his own life was in daily peril, he must
see his dearest friends and fellow-citizens, nay, the very State itself,
bent on a suicidal course, and yet, in the exclusion of exile, be unable
to lend a helping hand. "It is not men of this stamp," they averred,
"who desire changes in affairs and revolution: had he not already
guaranteed to him by the Democracy a position higher than that of his
equals in age, and scarcely if at all inferior to his seniors? How
different was the position of his enemies. It had been the fortune of
these, though they were known to be the same men they had always been,
to use their lately acquired power for the destruction in the first
instance of the better classes; and then, being alone left surviving, to
be accepted by their fellow-citizens in the absence of better men."
(4) Or, "collected to meet the vessels from curiosity and a desire to
see Alcibiades."
Others, however, insisted that for all their past miseries and
misfortunes Alcibiades alone was responsible: "If more trials were still
in store for the State, here was the master mischief-maker ready at his
post to precipitate them."
When the vessels came to their moorings, close to the land, Alcibiades,
from fear of his enemies, was unwilling to disembark at once. Mounting
on the quarterdeck, he scanned the multitude, (5) anxious to make
certain of the presence of his friends. Presently his eyes lit upon
Euryptolemus, the son of Peisianax, who was his cousin, and then on the
rest of his relations and other friends. Upon this he landed, and so,
in the midst of an escort ready to put down any attempt upon his person,
made his way to the city.
(5) Or, "he looked to see if his friends were there."
In the Senate and Public Assembly (6) he made speeches, defending
himself against the charge of impiety, and asserting that he had been
the victim of injustice, with other like topics, which in the present
temper of the assembly no one ventured to gainsay.
(6) Technically the "Boule" ({Boule}) or Senate, and "Ecclesia" or
Popular Assembly.
He was then formally declared leader and chief of the State, with
irresponsible powers, as being the sole individual capable of recovering
the ancient power and prestige of Athens. Armed with this authority, his
first act was to institute anew the processional march to Eleusis;
for of late years, owing to the war, the Athenians had been forced to
conduct the mysteries by sea. Now, at the head of the troops, he caused
them to be conducted once again by land. This done, his next step was
to muster an armament of one thousand five hundred heavy infantry, one
hundred and fifty cavalry, and one hundred ships; and lastly, within
three months of his return, he set sail for Andros, which had revolted
from Athens.
The generals chosen to co-operate with him on land were Aristocrates and
Adeimantus, the son of Leucophilides. He disembarked his troops on the
island of Andros at Gaurium, and routed the Andrian citizens who sallied
out from the town to resist the invader; forcing them to return and keep
close within their walls, though the number who fell was not large.
This defeat was shared by some Lacedaemonians who were in the place.
Alcibiades erected a trophy, and after a few days set sail himself for
Samos, which became his base of operations in the future conduct of the
war.
V
At a date not much earlier than that of the incidents just described,
the Lacedaemonians had sent out Lysander as their admiral, in the place
of Cratesippidas, whose period of office had expired. The new admiral
first visited Rhodes, where he got some ships, and sailed to Cos and
Miletus, and from the latter place to Ephesus. At Ephesus he waited with
seventy sail, expecting the advent of Cyrus in Sardis, when he at once
went up to pay the prince a visit with the ambassadors from Lacedaemon.
And now an opportunity was given to denounce the proceedings of
Tissaphernes, and at the same time to beg Cyrus himself to show as much
zeal as possible in the prosecution of the war. Cyrus replied that not
only had he received express injunction from his father to the same
effect, but that his own views coincided with their wishes, which he was
determined to carry out to the letter. He had, he informed them, brought
with him five hundred talents; (1) and if that sum failed, he had still
the private revenue, which his father allowed him, to fall back upon,
and when this resource was in its turn exhausted, he would coin the gold
and silver throne on which he sat, into money for their benefit. (2)
(1) About 120,000 pounds. One Euboic or Attic talent = sixty minae =
six thousand drachmae = 243 pounds 15 shillings of our money.
(2) Cf. the language of Tissaphernes, Thuc. viii. 81.
His audience thanked him for what he said, and further begged him to
fix the rate of payment for the seamen at one Attic drachma per man, (3)
explaining that should this rate of payment be adopted, the sailors of
the Athenians would desert, and in the end there would be a saving
of expenditure. Cyrus complimented them on the soundness of their
arguments, but said that it was not in his power to exceed the
injunctions of the king. The terms of agreement were precise, thirty
minae (4) a month per vessel to be given, whatever number of vessels the
Lacedaemonians might choose to maintain.
(3) About 9 3/4 pence; a drachma (= six obols) would be very high pay
for a sailor--indeed, just double the usual amount. See Thuc. vi.
8 and viii. 29, and Prof. Jowett ad loc. Tissaphernes had, in the
winter of 412 B.C., distributed one month's pay among the
Peloponnesian ships at this high rate of a drachma a day, "as his
envoy had promised at Lacedaemon;" but this he proposed to reduce
to half a drachma, "until he had asked the king's leave, promising
that if he obtained it, he would pay the entire drachma. On the
remonstrance, however, of Hermocrates, the Syracusan general, he
promised to each man a payment of somewhat more than three obols."
(4) Nearly 122 pounds; and thirty minae a month to each ship (the crew
of each ship being taken at two hundred) = three obols a day to
each man. The terms of agreement to which Cyrus refers may have
been specified in the convention mentioned above in chap. iv,
which Boeotius and the rest were so proud to have obtained. But
see Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 192 note (2d ed.)
To this rejoinder Lysander at the moment said nothing. But after dinner,
when Cyrus drank to his health, asking him "What he could do to gratify
him most?" Lysander replied, "Add an obol (5) to the sailors' pay."
After this the pay was raised to four instead of three obols, as it
hitherto had been. Nor did the liberality of Cyrus end here; he not only
paid up all arrears, but further gave a month's pay in advance, so that,
if the enthusiasm of the army had been great before, it was greater than
ever now. The Athenians when they heard the news were proportionately
depressed, and by help of Tissaphernes despatched ambassadors to Cyrus.
That prince, however, refused to receive them, nor were the prayers of
Tissaphernes of any avail, however much he insisted that Cyrus should
adopt the policy which he himself, on the advice of Alcibiades, had
persistently acted on. This was simply not to suffer any single Hellenic
state to grow strong at the expense of the rest, but to keep them all
weak alike, distracted by internecine strife.
(5) An obol = one-sixth of a drachma; the Attic obol = rather more
than 1 1/2 pence.
Lysander, now that the organisation of his navy was arranged to his
satisfaction, beached his squadron of ninety vessels at Ephesus, and
sat with hands folded, whilst the vessels dried and underwent repairs.
Alcibiades, being informed that Thrasybulus had come south of the
Hellespont and was fortifying Phocaea, sailed across to join him,
leaving his own pilot Antiochus in command of the fleet, with orders
not to attack Lysander's fleet. Antiochus, however, was tempted to leave
Notium and sail into the harbour of Ephesus with a couple of ships, his
own and another, past the prows of Lysander's squadron. The Spartan at
first contented himself with launching a few of his ships, and started
in pursuit of the intruder; but when the Athenians came out with other
vessels to assist Antiochus, he formed his whole squadron into line of
battle, and bore down upon them, whereupon the Athenians followed suit,
and getting their remaining triremes under weigh at Notium, stood out to
sea as fast as each vessel could clear the point. (6) Thus it befell in
the engagement which ensued, that while the enemy was in due order, the
Athenians came up in scattered detachments and without concert, and in
the end were put to flight with the loss of fifteen ships of war. Of the
crews, indeed, the majority escaped, though a certain number fell into
the hands of the enemy. Then Lysander collected his vessels, and having
erected a trophy on Cape Notium, sailed across to Ephesus, whilst the
Athenians retired to Samos.
(6) {os ekastos enoixen}, for this nautical term see above.
On his return to Samos a little later, Alcibiades put out to sea with
the whole squadron in the direction of the harbour of Ephesus. At the
mouth of the harbour he marshalled his fleet in battle order, and tried
to tempt the enemy to an engagement; but as Lysander, conscious of his
inferiority in numbers, refused to accept the challenge, he sailed
back again to Samos. Shortly after this the Lacedaemonians captured
Delphinium and Eion. (7)
(7) This should probably be Teos, in Ionia, in spite of the MSS.
{'Eiona}. The place referred to cannot at any rate be the well-
known Eion at the mouth of the Strymon in Thrace.
But now the news of the late disaster at Notium had reached the
Athenians at home, and in their indignation they turned upon Alcibiades,
to whose negligence and lack of self-command they attributed
the destruction of the ships. Accordingly they chose ten new
generals--namely Conon, Diomedon, Leon, Pericles, Erasinides,
Aristocrates, Archestratus, Protomachus, Thrasylus, and Aristogenes.
Alcibiades, who was moreover in bad odour in the camp, sailed away with
a single trireme to his private fortress in the Chersonese.
After this Conon, in obedience to a decree of the Athenian people,
set sail from Andros with the twenty vessels under his command in that
island to Samos, and took command of the whole squadron. To fill the
place thus vacated by Conon, Phanosthenes was sent to Andros with four
ships. That captain was fortunate enough to intercept and capture
two Thurian ships of war, crews and all, and these captives were all
imprisoned by the Athenians, with the exception of their leader Dorieus.
He was the Rhodian, who some while back had been banished from Athens
and from his native city by the Athenians, when sentence of death was
passed upon him and his family. This man, who had once enjoyed the
right of citizenship among them, they now took pity on and released him
without ransom.
When Conon had reached Samos he found the armament in a state of great
despondency. Accordingly his first measure was to man seventy ships with
their full complement, instead of the former hundred and odd vessels.
With this squadron he put to sea accompanied by the other generals,
and confined himself to making descents first at one point and then at
another of the enemy's territory, and to collecting plunder.
And so the year drew to its close: a year signalled further by an
invasion of Sicily by the Carthaginians, with one hundred and twenty
ships of war and a land force of one hundred and twenty thousand men,
which resulted in the capture of Agrigentum. The town was finally
reduced to famine after a siege of seven months, the invaders having
previously been worsted in battle and forced to sit down before its
walls for so long a time.
VI
B.C. 406. In the following year--the year of the evening eclipse of the
moon, and the burning of the old temple of Athena (1) at Athens (2)--the
Lacedaemonians sent out Callicratidas to replace Lysander, whose period
of office had now expired. (3) Lysander, when surrendering the squadron
to his successor, spoke of himself as the winner of a sea fight, which
had left him in undisputed mastery of the sea, and with this boast
he handed over the ships to Callicratidas, who retorted, "If you will
convey the fleet from Ephesus, keeping Samos (4) on your right" (that
is, past where the Athenian navy lay), "and hand it over to me at
Miletus, I will admit that you are master of the sea." But Lysander
had no mind to interfere in the province of another officer. Thus
Callicratidas assumed responsibility. He first manned, in addition
to the squadron which he received from Lysander, fifty new vessels
furnished by the allies from Chios and Rhodes and elsewhere. When all
these contingents were assembled, they formed a total of one hundred and
forty sail, and with these he began making preparations for engagement
with the enemy. But it was impossible for him not to note the strong
current of opposition which he encountered from the friends of Lysander.
Not only was there lack of zeal in their service, but they openly
disseminated an opinion in the States, that it was the greatest possible
blunder on the part of the Lacedaemonians so to change their admirals.
Of course, they must from time to time get officers altogether unfit for
the post--men whose nautical knowledge dated from yesterday, and who,
moreover, had no notion of dealing with human beings. It would be very
odd if this practice of sending out people ignorant of the sea and
unknown to the folk of the country did not lead to some catastrophe.
Callicratidas at once summoned the Lacedaemonians there present, and
addressed them in the following terms:--
(1) I.e. as some think, the Erechtheion, which was built partly on the
site of the old temple of Athena Polias, destroyed by the
Persians. According to Dr. Dorpfeld, a quite separate building of
the Doric order, the site of which (S. of the Erechtheion) has
lately been discovered.
(2) The MSS. here add "in the ephorate of Pityas and the archonship of
Callias at Athens;" but though the date is probably correct (cf.
Leake, "Topography of Athens," vol. i. p. 576 foll.), the words
are almost certainly a gloss.
(3) Here the MSS. add "with the twenty-fourth year of the war,"
probably an annotator's gloss; the correct date should be twenty-
fifth. Pel. war 26 = B.C. 406. Pel. war 25 ended B.C. 407.
(4) Lit. on the left (or east) of Samos, looking south from Ephesus.
"For my part," he said, "I am content to stay at home: and if Lysander
or any one else claim greater experience in nautical affairs than I
possess, I have no desire to block his path. Only, being sent out by the
State to take command of this fleet, I do not know what is left to
me, save to carry out my instructions to the best of my ability. For
yourselves, all I beg of you, in reference to my personal ambitions and
the kind of charges brought against our common city, and of which you
are as well aware as I am, is to state what you consider to be the best
course: am I to stay where I am, or shall I sail back home, and explain
the position of affairs out here?"
No one ventured to suggest any other course than that he should obey the
authorities, and do what he was sent to do. Callicratidas then went up
to the court of Cyrus to ask for further pay for the sailors, but
the answer he got from Cyrus was that he should wait for two days.
Callicratidas was annoyed at the rebuff: to dance attendance at the
palace gates was little to his taste. In a fit of anger he cried out
at the sorry condition of the Hellenes, thus forced to flatter the
barbarian for the sake of money. "If ever I get back home," he added,
"I will do what in me lies to reconcile the Athenians and the
Lacedaemonians." And so he turned and sailed back to Miletus. From
Miletus he sent some triremes to Lacedaemon to get money, and convoking
the public assembly of the Milesians, addressed them thus:--
"Men of Miletus, necessity is laid upon me to obey the rulers at home;
but for yourselves, whose neighbourhood to the barbarians has exposed
you to many evils at their hands, I only ask you to let your zeal in the
war bear some proportion to your former sufferings. You should set
an example to the rest of the allies, and show us how to inflict the
sharpest and swiftest injury on our enemy, whilst we await the return
from Lacedaemon of my envoys with the necessary funds. Since one of the
last acts of Lysander, before he left us, was to hand back to Cyrus the
funds already on the spot, as though we could well dispense with them. I
was thus forced to turn to Cyrus, but all I got from him was a series of
rebuffs; he refused me an audience, and, for my part, I could not induce
myself to hang about his gates like a mendicant. But I give you my word,
men of Miletus, that in return for any assistance which you can render
us while waiting for these aids, I will requite you richly. Only by
God's help let us show these barbarians that we do not need to worship
them, in order to punish our foes."
The speech was effective; many members of the assembly arose, and not
the least eagerly those who were accused of opposing him. These, in some
terror, proposed a vote of money, backed by offers of further private
contributions. Furnished with these sums, and having procured from Chios
a further remittance of five drachmas (5) a piece as outfit for each
seaman, he set sail to Methyma in Lesbos, which was in the hands of the
enemy. But as the Methymnaeans were not disposed to come over to him
(since there was an Athenian garrison in the place, and the men at the
head of affairs were partisans of Athens), he assaulted and took the
place by storm. All the property within accordingly became the spoil of
the soldiers. The prisoners were collected for sale by Callicratidas
in the market-place, where, in answer to the demand of the allies, who
called upon him to sell the Methymnaeans also, he made answer, that as
long as he was in command, not a single Hellene should be enslaved if
he could help it. The next day he set at liberty the free-born captives;
the Athenian garrison with the captured slaves he sold. (6) To Conon
he sent word:--He would put a stop to his strumpeting the sea. (7) And
catching sight of him, as he put out to sea, at break of day, he gave
chase, hoping to cut him off from his passage to Samos, and prevent his
taking refuge there.
(5) About 4d.
(6) Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 224 (2d ed.), thinks that
Callicratidas did not even sell the Athenian garrison, as if the
sense of the passage were: "The next day he set at liberty the
free-born captives with the Athenian garrison, contenting himself
with selling the captive slaves." But I am afraid that no
ingenuity of stopping will extract that meaning from the Greek
words, which are, {te d' usteraia tous men eleutherous apheke tous
de ton 'Athenaion phrourous kai ta andrapoda ta doula panta
apedoto}. To spare the Athenian garrison would have been too
extraordinary a proceeding even for Callicratidas. The idea
probably never entered his head. It was sufficiently noble for him
to refuse to sell the Methymnaeans. See the remarks of Mr. W. L.
Newman, "The Pol. of Aristotle," vol. i. p. 142.
(7) I.e. the sea was Sparta's bride.
But Conon, aided by the sailing qualities of his fleet, the rowers of
which were the pick of several ships' companies, concentrated in a few
vessels, made good his escape, seeking shelter within the harbour of
Mitylene in Lesbos, and with him two of the ten generals, Leon and
Erasinides. Callicratidas, pursuing him with one hundred and seventy
sail, entered the harbour simultaneously; and Conon thus hindered from
further or final escape by the too rapid movements of the enemy, was
forced to engage inside the harbour, and lost thirty of his ships,
though the crews escaped to land. The remaining, forty in number, he
hauled up under the walls of the town. Callicratidas, on his side, came
to moorings in the harbour; and, having command of the exit, blocked the
Athenian within. His next step was to send for the Methymnaeans in force
by land, and to transport his army across from Chios. Money also came to
him from Cyrus.
Conon, finding himself besieged by land and sea, without means of
providing himself with corn from any quarter, the city crowded with
inhabitants, and aid from Athens, whither no news of the late events
could be conveyed, impossible, launched two of the fastest sailing
vessels of his squadron. These he manned, before daybreak, with the best
rowers whom he could pick out of the fleet, stowing away the marines at
the same time in the hold of the ships and closing the port shutters.
Every day for four days they held out in this fashion, but at evening as
soon as it was dark he disembarked his men, so that the enemy might not
suspect what they were after. On the fifth day, having got in a small
stock of provisions, when it was already mid-day and the blockaders were
paying little or no attention, and some of them even were taking their
siesta, the two ships sailed out of the harbour: the one directing her
course towards the Hellespont, whilst her companion made for the open
sea. Then, on the part of the blockaders, there was a rush to the scene
of action, as fast as the several crews could get clear of land, in
bustle and confusion, cutting away the anchors, and rousing themselves
from sleep, for, as chance would have it, they had been breakfasting on
shore. Once on board, however, they were soon in hot pursuit of the
ship which had started for the open sea, and ere the sun dipped they
overhauled her, and after a successful engagement attached her by cables
and towed her back into harbour, crew and all. Her comrade, making for
the Hellespont, escaped, and eventually reached Athens with news of
the blockade. The first relief was brought to the blockaded fleet by
Diomedon, who anchored with twelve vessels in the Mitylenaean Narrows.
(8) But a sudden attack of Callicratidas, who bore down upon him without
warning, cost him ten of his vessels, Diomedon himself escaping with his
own ship and one other.
(8) Or, "Euripus."
Now that the position of affairs, including the blockade, was fully
known at Athens, a vote was passed to send out a reinforcement of one
hundred and ten ships. Every man of ripe age, (9) whether slave or free,
was impressed for this service, so that within thirty days the whole one
hundred and ten vessels were fully manned and weighed anchor. Amongst
those who served in this fleet were also many of the knights. (10)
The fleet at once stood out across to Samos, and picked up the Samian
vessels in that island. The muster-roll was swelled by the addition of
more than thirty others from the rest of the allies, to whom the same
principle of conscription applied, as also it did to the ships already
engaged on foreign service. The actual total, therefore, when all the
contingents were collected, was over one hundred and fifty vessels.
(9) I.e. from eighteen to sixty years.
(10) See Boeckh. "P. E. A." Bk. II. chap. xxi. p. 263 (Eng. trans.)
Callicratidas, hearing that the relief squadron had already reached
Samos, left fifty ships, under command of Eteonicus, in the harbour of
Mitylene, and setting sail with the other one hundred and twenty, hove
to for the evening meal off Cape Malea in Lesbos, opposite Mitylene. It
so happened that the Athenians on this day were supping on the islands
of Arginusae, which lie opposite Lesbos. In the night the Spartan not
only saw their watch-fires, but received positive information that
"these were the Athenians;" and about midnight he got under weigh,
intending to fall upon them suddenly. But a violent downpour of rain
with thunder and lightning prevented him putting out to sea. By daybreak
it had cleared, and he sailed towards Arginusae. On their side, the
Athenian squadron stood out to meet him, with their left wing
facing towards the open sea, and drawn up in the following
order:--Aristocrates, in command of the left wing, with fifteen ships,
led the van; next came Diomedon with fifteen others, and immediately in
rear of Aristocrates and Diomedon respectively, as their supports, came
Pericles and Erasinides. Parallel with Diomedon were the Samians, with
their ten ships drawn up in single line, under the command of a Samian
officer named Hippeus. Next to these came the ten vessels of the
taxiarchs, also in single line, and supporting them, the three ships of
the navarchs, with any other allied vessels in the squadron. The right
wing was entrusted to Protomachus with fifteen ships, and next to him
(on the extreme right) was Thrasylus with another division of fifteen.
Protomachus was supported by Lysias with an equal number of ships, and
Thrasylus by Aristogenes. The object of this formation was to prevent
the enemy from manouvring so as to break their line by striking them
amidships, (11) since they were inferior in sailing power.
(11) Lit. "by the diekplous." Cf. Thuc. i. 49, and Arnold's note, who
says: "The 'diecplus' was a breaking through the enemy's line in
order by a rapid turning of the vessel to strike the enemy's ship
on the side or stern, where it was most defenceless, and so to
sink it." So, it seems, "the superiority of nautical skill has
passed," as Grote (viii. p. 234) says, "to the Peloponnesians and
their allies." Well may the historian add, "How astonished would
the Athenian Admiral Phormion have been, if he could have
witnessed the fleets and the order of battle at Arginusae!" See
Thuc. iv. 11.
The Lacedaemonians, on the contrary, trusting to their superior
seamanship, were formed opposite with their ships all in single line,
with the special object of manouvring so as either to break the enemy's
line or to wheel round them. Callicratidas commanded the right wing
in person. Before the battle the officer who acted as his pilot, the
Megarian Hermon, suggested that it might be well to withdraw the fleet
as the Athenian ships were far more numerous. But Callicratidas replied
that Sparta would be no worse off even if he personally should perish,
but to flee would be disgraceful. (12) And now the fleets approached,
and for a long space the battle endured. At first the vessels were
engaged in crowded masses, and later on in scattered groups. At length
Callicratidas, as his vessel dashed her beak into her antagonist,
was hurled off into the sea and disappeared. At the same instant
Protomachus, with his division on the right, had defeated the enemy's
left, and then the flight of the Peloponnesians began towards Chios,
though a very considerable body of them made for Phocaea, whilst the
Athenians sailed back again to Arginusae. The losses on the side of the
Athenians were twenty-five ships, crews and all, with the exception of
the few who contrived to reach dry land. On the Peloponnesian side, nine
out of the ten Lacedaemonian ships, and more than sixty belonging to the
rest of the allied squadron, were lost.
(12) For the common reading, {oikeitai}, which is ungrammatical,
various conjectures have been made, e.g.
{oikieitai} = "would be none the worse off for citizens,"
{oikesetai} = "would be just as well administered without him,"
but as the readings and their renderings are alike doubtful, I
have preferred to leave the matter vague. Cf. Cicero, "De Offic."
i. 24; Plutarch, "Lac. Apophth." p. 832.
After consultation the Athenian generals agreed that two captains
of triremes, Theramenes and Thrasybulus, accompanied by some of the
taxiarchs, should take forty-seven ships and sail to the assistance
of the disabled fleet and of the men on board, whilst the rest of the
squadron proceeded to attack the enemy's blockading squadron under
Eteonicus at Mitylene. In spite of their desire to carry out this
resolution, the wind and a violent storm which arose prevented them. So
they set up a trophy, and took up their quarters for the night. As to
Etenoicus, the details of the engagement were faithfully reported to
him by the express despatch-boat in attendance. On receipt of the news,
however, he sent the despatch-boat out again the way she came, with
an injunction to those on board of her to sail off quickly without
exchanging a word with any one. Then on a sudden they were to return
garlanded with wreaths of victory and shouting "Callicratidas has won
a great sea fight, and the whole Athenian squadron is destroyed." This
they did, and Eteonicus, on his side, as soon as the despatch-boat came
sailing in, proceeded to offer sacrifice of thanksgiving in honour of
the good news. Meanwhile he gave orders that the troops were to take
their evening meal, and that the masters of the trading ships were
silently to stow away their goods on board the merchant ships and make
sail as fast as the favourable breeze could speed them to Chios. The
ships of war were to follow suit with what speed they might. This done,
he set fire to his camp, and led off the land forces to Methymna. Conon,
finding the enemy had made off, and the wind had grown comparatively
mild, (13) got his ships afloat, and so fell in with the Athenian
squadron, which had by this time set out from Arginusae. To these he
explained the proceedings of Eteonicus. The squadron put into Mitylene,
and from Mitylene stood across to Chios, and thence, without effecting
anything further, sailed back to Samos.
(13) Or, "had changed to a finer quarter."
VII
All the above-named generals, with the exception of Conon, were
presently deposed by the home authorities. In addition to Conon two new
generals were chosen, Adeimantus and Philocles. Of those concerned in
the late victory two never returned to Athens: these were Protomachus
and Aristogenes. The other six sailed home. Their names were Pericles,
Diomedon, Lysias, Aristocrates, Thrasylus, and Erasinides. On their
arrival Archidemus, the leader of the democracy at that date, who had
charge of the two obol fund, (1) inflicted a fine on Erasinides, and
accused him before the Dicastery (2) of having appropriated money
derived from the Hellespont, which belonged to the people. He brought
a further charge against him of misconduct while acting as general, and
the court sentenced him to imprisonment.
(1) Reading {tes diobelais}, a happy conjecture for the MSS. {tes
diokelias}, which is inexplicable. See Grote, "Hist. of Greece,"
vol. viii. p. 244 note (2d ed.)
(2) I.e. a legal tribunal or court of law. At Athens the free citizens
constitutionally sworn and impannelled sat as "dicasts"
("jurymen," or rather as a bench of judges) to hear cases
({dikai}). Any particular board of dicasts formed a "dicastery."
These proceedings in the law court were followed by the statement of
the generals before the senate (3) touching the late victory and the
magnitude of the storm. Timocrates then proposed that the other
five generals should be put in custody and handed over to the public
assembly. (4) Whereupon the senate committed them all to prison. Then
came the meeting of the public assembly, in which others, and more
particularly Theramenes, formally accused the generals. He insisted
that they ought to show cause why they had not picked up the shipwrecked
crews. To prove that there had been no attempt on their part to attach
blame to others, he might point, as conclusive testimony, to the
despatch sent by the generals themselves to the senate and the people,
in which they attributed the whole disaster to the storm, and nothing
else. After this the generals each in turn made a defence, which was
necessarily limited to a few words, since no right of addressing
the assembly at length was allowed by law. Their explanation of the
occurrences was that, in order to be free to sail against the enemy
themselves, they had devolved the duty of picking up the shipwrecked
crews upon certain competent captains of men-of-war, who had themselves
been generals in their time, to wit Theramenes and Tharysbulus, and
others of like stamp. If blame could attach to any one at all with
regard to the duty in question, those to whom their orders had been
given were the sole persons they could hold responsible. "But," they
went on to say, "we will not, because these very persons have denounced
us, invent a lie, and say that Theramenes and Thrasybulus are to blame,
when the truth of the matter is that the magnitude of the storm alone
prevented the burial of the dead and the rescue of the living." In
proof of their contention, they produced the pilots and numerous other
witnesses from among those present at the engagement. By these arguments
they were in a fair way to persuade the people of their innocence.
Indeed many private citizens rose wishing to become bail for the
accused, but it was resolved to defer decision till another meeting
of the assembly. It was indeed already so late that it would have been
impossible to see to count the show of hands. It was further resolved
that the senate meanwhile should prepare a measure, to be introduced at
the next assembly, as to the mode in which the accused should take their
trial.
(3) This is the Senate or Council of Five Hundred. One of its chief
duties was to prepare measures for discussion in the assembly. It
had also a certain amount of judicial power, hearing complaints
and inflicting fines up to fifty drachmas. It sat daily, a
"prytany" of fifty members of each of the ten tribes in rotation
holding office for a month in turn.
(4) This is the great Public Assembly (the Ecclesia), consisting of
all genuine Athenian citizens of more than twenty years of age.
Then came the festival of the Aparturia, (5) with its family gatherings
of fathers and kinsfolk. Accordingly the party of Theramenes procured
numbers of people clad in black apparel, and close-shaven, (6) who were
to go in and present themselves before the public assembly in the middle
of the festival, as relatives, presumably, of the men who had perished;
and they persuaded Callixenus to accuse the generals in the senate. The
next step was to convoke the assembly, when the senate laid before it
the proposal just passed by their body, at the instance of Callixenus,
which ran as follows: "Seeing that both the parties to this case, to
wit, the prosecutors of the generals on the one hand, and the accused
themselves in their defence on the other, have been heard in the late
meeting of the assembly; we propose that the people of Athens now record
their votes, one and all, by their tribes; that a couple of voting urns
be placed for the convenience of each several tribe; and the public
crier in the hearing of each several tribe proclaim the mode of voting
as follows: 'Let every one who finds the generals guilty of not rescuing
the heroes of the late sea fight deposit his vote in urn No. 1. Let him
who is of the contrary opinion deposit his vote in urn No. 2. Further,
in the event of the aforesaid generals being found guilty, let death be
the penalty. Let the guilty persons be delivered over to the eleven. Let
their property be confiscated to the State, with the exception of one
tithe, which falls to the goddess.'"
(5) An important festival held in October at Athens, and in nearly all
Ionic cities. Its objects were (1) the recognition of a common
descent from Ion, the son of Apollo Patrous; and (2) the
maintenance of the ties of clanship. See Grote, "Hist. of Greece,"
vol. viii. p. 260 foll. (2d ed.); Jebb, "Theophr." xviii. 5.
(6) I.e. in sign of mourning.
Now there came forward in the assembly a man, who said that he had
escaped drowning by clinging to a meal tub. The poor fellows perishing
around him had commissioned him, if he succeeded in saving himself,
to tell the people of Athens how bravely they had fought for their
fatherland, and how the generals had left them there to drown.
Presently Euryptolemus, the son of Peisianax, and others served a
notice of indictment on Callixenus, insisting that his proposal was
unconstitutional, and this view of the case was applauded by some
members of the assembly. But the majority kept crying out that it was
monstrous if the people were to be hindered by any stray individual from
doing what seemed to them right. And when Lysicus, embodying the spirit
of those cries, formally proposed that if these persons would not
abandon their action, they should be tried by the same vote along with
the generals: a proposition to which the mob gave vociferous assent; and
so these were compelled to abandon their summonses. Again, when some of
the Prytanes (7) objected to put a resolution to the vote which was in
itself unconstitutional, Callixenus again got up and accused them in the
same terms, and the shouting began again. "Yes, summons all who refuse,"
until the Prytanes, in alarm, all agreed with one exception to permit
the voting. This obstinate dissentient was Socrates, the son of
Sophroniscus, who insisted that he would do nothing except in accordance
with the law. (8) After this Euryptolemus rose and spoke in behalf of
the generals. He said:--
(7) Prytanes--the technical term for the senators of the presiding
tribe, who acted as presidents of the assembly. Their chairman for
the day was called Epistates.
(8) For the part played by Socrates see further Xenophon's
"Memorabilia," I. i. 18; IV. iv. 2.
"I stand here, men of Athens, partly to accuse Pericles, though he is a
close and intimate connection of my own, and Diomedon, who is my friend,
and partly to urge certain considerations on their behalf, but chiefly
to press upon you what seems to me the best course for the State
collectively. I hold them to blame in that they dissuaded their
colleagues from their intention to send a despatch to the senate and
this assembly, which should have informed you of the orders given to
Theramenes and Thrasybulus to take forty-seven ships of war and pick up
the shipwrecked crews, and of the neglect of the two officers to carry
out those orders. And it follows that though the offence was committed
by one or two, the responsibility must be shared by all; and in return
for kindness in the past, they are in danger at present of sacrificing
their lives to the machinations of these very men, and others whom I
could mention. In danger, do I say, of losing their lives? No, not so,
if you will suffer me to persuade you to do what is just and right; if
you will only adopt such a course as shall enable you best to discover
the truth and shall save you from too late repentance, when you find you
have transgressed irremediably against heaven and your own selves. In
what I urge there is no trap nor plot whereby you can be deceived by me
or any other man; it is a straightforward course which will enable
you to discover and punish the offender by whatever process you like,
collectively or individually. Let them have, if not more, at any rate
one whole day to make what defence they can for themselves; and trust to
your own unbiased judgment to guide you to the right conclusion.
"You know, men of Athens, the exceeding stringency of the decree of
Cannonus, (9) which orders that man, whosoever he be, who is guilty of
treason against the people of Athens, to be put in irons, and so to meet
the charge against him before the people. If he be convicted, he is to
be thrown into the Barathron and perish, and the property of such an one
is to be confiscated, with the exception of the tithe which falls to the
goddess. I call upon you to try these generals in accordance with this
decree. Yes, and so help me God--if it please you, begin with my own
kinsman Pericles for base would it be on my part to make him of more
account than the whole of the State. Or, if you prefer, try them by that
other law, which is directed against robbers of temples and betrayers
of their country, which says: if a man betray his city or rob a sacred
temple of the gods, he shall be tried before a law court, and if he be
convicted, his body shall not be buried in Attica, and his goods shall
be confiscated to the State. Take your choice as between these two laws,
men of Athens, and let the prisoners be tried by one or other. Let three
portions of a day be assigned to each respectively, one portion wherein
they shall listen to their accusation, a second wherein they shall make
their defence, and a third wherein you shall meet and give your votes in
due order on the question of their guilt or innocence. By this procedure
the malefactors will receive the desert of their misdeeds in full, and
those who are innocent will owe you, men of Athens, the recovery of
their liberty, in place of unmerited destruction. (10)
(9) "There was a rule in Attic judicial procedure, called the psephism
of Kannonus (originally adopted, we do not know when, on the
proposition of a citizen of that name, as a psephism or decree for
some particular case, but since generalised into common practice,
and grown into great prescriptive reverence), which peremptorily
forbade any such collective trial or sentence, and directed that a
separate judicial vote should in all cases be taken for or against
each accused party." Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 266
(2d ed.)
(10) Reading {adikos apolountai}.
"On your side, in trying the accused by recognised legal procedure, you
will show that you obey the dictates of pious feeling, and can regard
the sanctity of an oath, instead of joining hands with our enemies the
Lacedaemonians and fighting their battles. For is it not to fight their
battles, if you take their conquerors, the men who deprived them of
seventy vessels, and at the moment of victory sent them to perdition
untried and in the teeth of the law? What are you afraid of, that you
press forward with such hot haste? Do you imagine that you may be
robbed of the power of life and death over whom you please, should you
condescend to a legal trial? but that you are safe if you take shelter
behind an illegality, like the illegality of Callixenus, when he worked
upon the senate to propose to this assembly to deal with the accused by
a single vote? But consider, you may actually put to death an innocent
man, and then repentance will one day visit you too late. Bethink you
how painful and unavailing remorse will then be, and more particularly
if your error has cost a fellow-creature his life. What a travesty of
justice it would be if in the case of a man like Aristarchus, (11) who
first tried to destroy the democracy and then betrayed Oenoe to our
enemy the Thebans, you granted him a day for his defence, consulting his
wishes, and conceded to him all the other benefits of the law; whereas
now you are proposing to deprive of these same privileges your own
generals, who in every way conformed to your views and defeated your
enemies. Do not you, of all men, I implore you, men of Athens, act thus.
Why, these laws are your own, to them, beyond all else you owe your
greatness. Guard them jealously; in nothing, I implore you, act without
their sanction.
(11) See below, II. iii; also cf. Thuc. viii. 90, 98.
"But now, turn for a moment and consider with me the actual occurrences
which have created the suspicion of misconduct on the part of our late
generals. The sea-fight had been fought and won, and the ships had
returned to land, when Diomedon urged that the whole squadron should
sail out in line and pick up the wrecks and floating crews. Erasinides
was in favour of all the vessels sailing as fast as possible to deal
with the enemy's forces at Mitylene. And Thrasylus represented that both
objects could be effected, by leaving one division of the fleet there,
and with the rest sailing against the enemy; and if this resolution were
agreed to, he advised that each of the eight generals should leave three
ships of his own division with the ten vessels of the taxiarchs, the
ten Samian vessels, and the three belonging to the navarchs. These added
together make forty-seven, four for each of the lost vessels, twelve
in number. Among the taxiarchs left behind, two were Thrasybulus and
Theramenes, the men who in the late meeting of this assembly undertook
to accuse the generals. With the remainder of the fleet they were to
sail to attack the enemy's fleet. Everything, you must admit, was duly
and admirably planned. It was only common justice, therefore, that those
whose duty it was to attack the enemy should render an account for
all miscarriages of operations against the enemy; while those who were
commissioned to pick up the dead and dying should, if they failed to
carry out the instructions of the generals, be put on trial to explain
the reasons of the failure. This indeed I may say in behalf of both
parites. It was really the storm which, in spite of what the generals
had planned, prevented anything being done. There are witnesses ready to
attest the truth of this: the men who escaped as by a miracle, and among
these one of these very generals, who was on a sinking ship and was
saved. And this man, who needed picking up as much as anybody at that
moment, is, they insist, to be tried by one and the same vote as those
who neglected to perform their orders! Once more, I beg you, men
of Athens, to accept your victory and your good fortune, instead of
behaving like the desperate victims of misfortune and defeat.
Recognise the finger of divine necessity; do not incur the reproach
of stony-heartedness by discovering treason where there was merely
powerlessness, and condemning as guilty those who were prevented by the
storm from carrying out their instructions. Nay! you will better satisfy
the demands of justice by crowning these conquerors with wreaths of
victory than by punishing them with death at the instigation of wicked
men."
At the conclusion of his speech Euryptolemus proposed, as an amendment,
that the prisoners should, in accordance with the decree of Cannonus, be
tried each separately, as against the proposal of the senate to try them
all by a single vote.
At the show of hands the tellers gave the majority in favour of
Euryptolemus's amendment, but upon the application of Menecles, who
took formal exception (12) to this decision, the show of hands was gone
through again, and now the verdict was in favour of the resolution of
the senate. At a later date the balloting was made, and by the votes
recorded the eight generals were condemned, and the six who were in
Athens were put to death.
(12) For this matter cf. Schomann, "De Comitiis Athen." p. 161 foll.;
also Grote, "Hist. of Grece," vol. viii. p. 276 note (2d ed.)
Not long after, repentance seized the Athenians, and they passed a
decree authorising the public prosecution of those who had deceived the
people, and the appointment of proper securities for their persons until
the trial was over. Callixenus was one of those committed for trail.
There were, besides Callixenus, four others against whom true bills were
declared, and they were all five imprisoned by their sureties. But all
subsequently effected their escape before the trial, at the time of the
sedition in which Cleophon (13) was killed. Callixenus eventually came
back when the party in Piraeus returned to the city, at the date of
the amnesty, (14) but only to die of hunger, an object of universal
detestation.
(13) Cleophon, the well-known demagogue. For the occasion of his death
see Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. pp. 166, 310 (2d ed.);
Prof. Jebb, "Attic Orators," i. 266, ii. 288. For his character,
as popularly conceived, cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 677.
(14) B.C. 403.
BOOK II
I
To return to Eteonicus and his troops in Chios. During summer they
were well able to support themselves on the fruits of the season, or
by labouring for hire in different parts of the island, but with the
approach of winter these means of subsistence began to fail. Ill-clad at
the same time, and ill-shod, they fell to caballing and arranging plans
to attack the city of Chios. It was agreed amongst them, that in order
to gauge their numbers, every member of the conspiracy should carry a
reed. Eteonicus got wind of the design, but was at a loss how to deal
with it, considering the number of these reed-bearers. To make an open
attack upon them seemed dangerous. It would probably lead to a rush
to arms, in which the conspirators would seize the city and commence
hostilities, and, in the event of their success, everything hitherto
achieved would be lost. Or again, the destruction on his part of many
fellow-creatures and allies was a terrible alternative, which would
place the Spartans in an unenviable light with regard to the rest of
Hellas, and render the soldiers ill-disposed to the cause in hand.
Accordingly he took with him fifteen men, armed with daggers, and
marched through the city. Falling in with one of the reed-bearers, a man
suffering from ophthalmia, who was returning from the surgeon's house,
he put him to death. This led to some uproar, and people asked why the
man was thus slain. By Eteonicus's orders the answer was set afloat,
"because he carried a reed." As the explanation circulated, one
reed-bearer after another threw away the symbol, each one saying to
himself, as he heard the reason given, "I have better not be seen with
this." After a while Eteonicus called a meeting of the Chians, and
imposed upon them a contribution of money, on the ground that with pay
in their pockets the sailors would have no temptation to revolutionary
projects. The Chians acquiesced. Whereupon Eteonicus promptly ordered
his crews to get on board their vessels. He then rowed alongside
each ship in turn, and addressed the men at some length in terms of
encouragement and cheery admonition, just as though he knew nothing of
what had taken place, and so distributed a month's pay to every man on
board.
After this the Chians and the other allies held a meeting in Ephesus,
and, considering the present posture of affairs, determined to send
ambassadors to Lacedaemon with a statement of the facts, and a request
that Lysander might be sent out to take command of the fleet. Lysander's
high reputation among the allies dated back to his former period of
office, when as admiral he had won the naval victory of Notium. The
ambassadors accordingly were despatched, accompanied by envoys also from
Cyrus, charged with the same message. The Lacedaemonians responded by
sending them Lysander as second in command, (1) with Aracus as admiral,
since it was contrary to their custom that the same man should be
admiral twice. At the same time the fleet was entrusted to Lysander. (2)
(1) Epistoleus. See above.
(2) "At this date the war had lasted five-and-twenty years." So the
MSS. read. The words are probably an interpolation.
It was in this year (3) that Cyrus put Autoboesaces and Mitraeus to
death. These were sons of the sister of Dariaeus (4) (the daughter of
Xerxes, the father of Darius). (5) He put them to death for neglecting,
when they met him, to thrust their hands into the sleeve (or "kore")
which is a tribute of respect paid to the king alone. This "kore" is
longer than the ordinary sleeve, so long in fact that a man with his
hand inside is rendered helpless. In consequence of this act on the part
of Cyrus, Hieramenes (6) and his wife urged upon Dariaeus the danger of
overlooking such excessive insolence on the part of the young prince,
and Dariaeus, on the plea of sickness, sent a special embassy to summon
Cyrus to his bedside.
(3) B.C. 406.
(4) Dariaeus, i.e. Darius, but the spelling of the name is correct,
and occurs in Ctesias, though in the "Anabasis" we have the
spelling Darius.
(5) These words look like the note of a foolish and ignorant scribe.
He ought to have written, "The daughter of Artaxerxes and own
sister of Darius, commonly so called."
(6) For Hieramenes cf. Thuc. viii. 95, and Prof. Jowett ad loc.
B.C. 405. In the following year (7) Lysander arrived at Ephesus, and
sent for Eteonicus with his ships from Chios, and collected all other
vessels elsewhere to be found. His time was now devoted to refitting the
old ships and having new ones built in Antandrus. He also made a journey
to the court of Cyrus with a request for money. All Cyrus could say
was, that not only the money sent by the king was spent, but much more
besides; and he pointed out the various sums which each of the admirals
had received, but at the same time he gave him what he asked for.
Furnished with this money, Lysander appointed captains to the different
men-of-war, and remitted to the sailors their arrears of pay. Meanwhile
the Athenian generals, on their side, were devoting their energies to
the improvements of their navy at Samos.
(7) The MSS. add "during the ephorate of Archytas and the archonship
at Athens of Alexias," which, though correct enough, is probably
an interpolation.
It was now Cyrus's turn to send for Lysander. It was the moment at which
the envoy from his father had arrived with the message: "Your father is
on his sick-bed and desires your presence." The king lay at Thamneria,
in Media, near the territory of the Cadusians, against whom he had
marched to put down a revolt. When Lysander presented himself, Cyrus was
urgent with him not to engage the Athenians at sea unless he had many
more ships than they. "The king," he added, "and I have plenty of
wealth, so that, as far as money goes, you can man plenty of vessels."
He then consigned to him all the tributes from the several cities which
belonged to him personally, and gave him the ready money which he had
as a gift; and finally, reminding him of the sincere friendship he
entertained towards the state of Lacedaemon, as well as to himself
personally, he set out up country to visit his father. Lysander, finding
himself thus left with the complete control of the property of Cyrus
(during the absence of that prince, so summoned to the bedside of his
father), was able to distribute pay to his troops, after which he set
sail for the Ceramic Gulf of Caria. Here he stormed a city in alliance
with the Athenians named Cedreae, and on the following day's assault
took it, and reduced the inhabitants to slavery. These were of a mixed
Hellene and barbaric stock. From Cedreae he continued his voyage
to Rhodes. The Athenians meanwhile, using Samos as their base of
operations, were employed in devastating the king's territory, or in
swooping down upon Chios and Ephesus, and in general were preparing for
a naval battle, having but lately chosen three new generals in addition
to those already in office, whose names were Menander, Tydeus, and
Cephisodotus. Now Lysander, leaving Rhodes, and coasting along Ionia,
made his way to the Hellespont, having an eye to the passage of vessels
through the Straits, and, in a more hostile sense, on the cities which
had revolted from Sparta. The Athenians also set sail from Chios, but
stood out to open sea, since the seaboard of Asia was hostile to them.
Lysander was again on the move; leaving Abydos, he passed up channel to
Lampsacus, which town was allied with Athens; the men of Abydos and
the rest of the troops advancing by land, under the command of the
Lacedaemonian Thorax. They then attacked and took by storm the town,
which was wealthy, and with its stores of wine and wheat and other
commodities was pillaged by the soldiery. All free-born persons,
however, were without exception released by Lysander. And now the
Athenian fleet, following close on his heels, came to moorings at
Elaeus, in the Chersonesus, one hundred and eighty sail in all. It was
not until they had reached this place, and were getting their early
meal, that the news of what had happened at Lampsacus reached them. Then
they instantly set sail again to Sestos, and, having halted long enough
merely to take in stores, sailed on further to Aegospotami, a point
facing Lampsacus, where the Hellespont is not quite two miles (8) broad.
Here they took their evening meal.
(8) Lit. fifteen stades.
The night following, or rather early next morning, with the first streak
of dawn, Lysander gave the signal for the men to take their breakfasts
and get on board their vessels; and so, having got all ready for a naval
engagement, with his ports closed and movable bulwarks attached, he
issued the order that no one was to stir from his post or put out to
sea. As the sun rose the Athenians drew up their vessels facing the
harbour, in line of battle ready for action; but Lysander declining
to come out to meet them, as the day advanced they retired again to
Aegospotami. Then Lysander ordered the swiftest of his ships to follow
the Athenians, and as soon as the crews had disembarked, to watch what
they did, sail back, and report to him. Until these look-outs returned
he would permit no disembarkation from his ships. This performance he
repeated for four successive days, and each day the Athenians put out to
sea and challenged an engagement.
But now Alcibiades, from one of his fortresses, could espy the position
of his fellow-countrymen, moored on an open beach beyond reach of any
city, and forced to send for supplies to Sestos, which was nearly two
miles distant, while their enemies were safely lodged in a harbour, with
a city adjoining, and everything within reach. The situation did not
please him, and he advised them to shift their anchorage to Sestos,
where they would have the advantage of a harbour and a city. "Once
there," he concluded, "you can engage the enemy whenever it suits you."
But the generals, and more particularly Tydeus and Menander, bade him go
about his business. "We are generals now--not you," they said; and so he
went away. And now for five days in succession the Athenians had sailed
out to offer battle, and for the fifth time retired, followed by the
same swift sailors of the enemy. But this time Lysander's orders to the
vessels so sent in pursuit were, that as soon as they saw the
enemy's crew fairly disembarked and dispersed along the shores of the
Chersonesus (a practice, it should be mentioned, which had grown upon
them from day to day owing to the distance at which eatables had to be
purchased, and out of sheer contempt, no doubt, of Lysander, who refused
to accept battle), they were to begin their return voyage, and when in
mid-channel to hoist a shield. The orders were punctually carried out,
and Lysander at once signalled to his whole squadron to put across with
all speed, while Thorax, with the land forces, was to march parallel
with the fleet along the coast. Aware of the enemy's fleet, which he
could see bearing down upon him, Conon had only time to signal to the
crews to join their ships and rally to the rescue with all their might.
But the men were scattered far and wide, and some of the vessels had
only two out of their three banks of rowers, some only a single one,
while others again were completely empty. Conon's own ship, with seven
others in attendance on him and the "Paralus," (9) put out to sea, a
little cluster of nine vessels, with their full complement of men; but
every one of the remaining one hundred and seventy-one vessels were
captured by Lysander on the beach. As to the men themselves, the
large majority of them were easily made prisoners on shore, a few only
escaping to the small fortresses of the neighbourhood. Meanwhile Conon
and his nine vessels made good their escape. For himself, knowing that
the fortune of Athens was ruined, he put into Abarnis, the promontory of
Lampsacus, and there picked up the great sails of Lysander's ships, and
then with eight ships set sail himself to seek refuge with Evagoras in
Cyprus, while the "Paralus" started for Athens with tidings of what had
taken place.
(9) The "Paralus"--the Athenian sacred vessel; cf. Thuc. iii. 33 et
passim.
Lysander, on his side, conveyed the ships and prisoners and all other
spoil back to Lampsacus, having on board some of the Athenian generals,
notably Philocles and Adeimantus. On the very day of these achievements
he despatched Theopompus, a Milesian privateersman, to Lacedaemon to
report what had taken place. This envoy arrived within three days and
delivered his message. Lysander's next step was to convene the allies
and bid them deliberate as to the treatment of the prisoners. Many were
the accusations here levied against the Athenians. There was talk of
crimes committed against the law of Hellas, and of cruelties sanctioned
by popular decrees; which, had they conquered in the late sea-fight,
would have been carried out; such as the proposal to cut off the right
hand of every prisoner taken alive, and lastly the ill-treatment of two
captured men-of-war, a Corinthian and an Andrian vessel, when every man
on board had been hurled headlong down the cliff. Philocles was the very
general of the Athenians who had so ruthlessly destroyed those men. Many
other tales were told; and at length a resolution was passed to put all
the Athenian prisoners, with the exception of Adeimantus, to death. He
alone, it was pleaded, had taken exception to the proposal to cut off
the prisoners' hands. On the other hand, he was himself accused by some
people of having betrayed the fleet. As to Philocles, Lysander put to
him one question, as the officer who had thrown (10) the Corinthians and
Andrians down the cliff: What fate did the man deserve to suffer who
had embarked on so cruel a course of illegality against Hellenes? and so
delivered him to the executioner.
(10) Reading {os... katekremnise}.
II
When he had set the affairs of Lampsacus in order, Lysander sailed to
Byzantium and Chalcedon, where the inhabitants, having first dismissed
the Athenian garrison under a flag of truce, admitted him within their
walls. Those citizens of Byzantium, who had betrayed Byzantium into
the hands of Alcibiades, fled as exiles into Pontus, but subsequently
betaking themselves to Athens, became Athenian citizens. In dealing with
the Athenian garrisons, and indeed with all Athenians wheresoever found,
Lysander made it a rule to give them safe conduct to Athens, and to
Athens only, in the certainty that the larger the number collected
within the city and Piraeus, the more quickly the want of necessaries of
life would make itself felt. And now, leaving Sthenelaus, a Laconian, as
governor-general of Byzantium and Chalcedon, he sailed back himself to
Lampsacus and devoted himself to refitting his ships.
It was night when the "Paralus" reached Athens with her evil tidings,
on receipt of which a bitter wail of woe broke forth. From Piraeus,
following the line of the long walls up to the heart of the city, it
swept and swelled, as each man to his neighbour passed on the news. On
that night no man slept. There was mourning and sorrow for those that
were lost, but the lamentation for the dead was merged in even deeper
sorrow for themselves, as they pictured the evils they were about to
suffer, the like of which they themselves had inflicted upon the men of
Melos, who were colonists of the Lacedaemonians, when they mastered
them by siege. Or on the men of Histiaea; on Scione and Torone; on the
Aeginetans, and many another Hellene city. (1) On the following day the
public assembly met, and, after debate, it was resolved to block up all
the harbours save one, to put the walls in a state of defence, to post
guards at various points, and to make all other necessary preparations
for a siege. Such were the concerns of the men of Athens.
(1) With regard to these painful recollections, see (1) for the siege
and surrender of Melos (in B.C. 416), Thuc. v. 114, 116; and cf.
Aristoph. "Birds," 186; Plut. ("Lysander," 14); (2) for the
ejection of the Histiaeans, an incident of the recovery of Euboea
in 445 B.C., see Thuc. i. 14; Plut. ("Pericles," 23); (3) for the
matter of Scione, which revolted in 423 B.C., and was for a long
time a source of disagreement between the Athenians and
Lacedaemonians, until finally captured by the former in 421 B.C.,
when the citizens were slain and the city given to the Plataeans,
see Thuc. iv. 120-122, 129-133; v. 18, 32; (4) for Torone see
Thuc. ib., and also v. 3; (5) for the expulsion of the Aeginetans
in 431 B.C. see Thuc. ii. 27.
Lysander presently left the Hellespont with two hundred sail and arrived
at Lesbos, where he established a new order of things in Mitylene and
the other cities of the island. Meanwhile he despatched Eteonicus with
a squadron of ten ships to the northern coasts, (2) where that officer
brought about a revolution of affairs which placed the whole region
in the hands of Lacedaemon. Indeed, in a moment of time, after the
sea-fight, the whole of Hellas had revolted from Athens, with the
solitary exception of the men of Samos. These, having massacred the
notables, (3) held the state under their control. After a while Lysander
sent messages to Agis at Deceleia, and to Lacedaemon, announcing his
approach with a squadron of two hundred sail.
(2) Lit. "the Thraceward districts." See above, p. 16.
(3) Or, "since they had slain their notables, held the state under
popular control." See Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 303
note 3 (2d ed.), who thinks that the incident referred to is the
violent democratic revolution in Samos described in Thuc. viii.
21, B.C. 412.
In obedience to a general order of Pausanias, the other king of
Lacedaemon, a levy in force of the Lacedaemonians and all the rest of
Peloponnesus, except the Argives, was set in motion for a campaign. As
soon as the several contingents had arrived, the king put himself at
their head and marched against Athens, encamping in the gymnasium of the
Academy, (4) as it is called. Lysander had now reached Aegina, where,
having got together as many of the former inhabitants as possible, he
formally reinstated them in their city; and what he did in behalf of the
Aeginetans, he did also in behalf of the Melians, and of the rest who
had been deprived of their countries. He then pillaged the island of
Salamis, and finally came to moorings off Piraeus with one hundred and
fifty ships of the line, and established a strict blockade against all
merchant ships entering that harbour.
(4) For this most illustrious of Athenian gymnasia, which still
retains its name, see Leake, "Topography of Athens," i. 195 foll.
The Athenians, finding themselves besieged by land and sea, were in
sore perplexity what to do. Without ships, without allies, without
provisions, the belief gained hold upon them that there was no way of
escape. They must now, in their turn, suffer what they had themselves
inflincted upon others; not in retaliation, indeed, for ills received,
but out of sheer insolence, overriding the citizens of petty states, and
for no better reason than that these were allies of the very men now at
their gates. In this frame of mind they enfranchised those who at any
time had lost their civil rights, and schooled themselves to endurance;
and, albeit many succumbed to starvation, no thought of truce or
reconciliation with their foes was breathed. (5) But when the stock
of corn was absolutely insufficient, they sent an embassage to Agis,
proposing to become allies of the Lacedaemonians on the sole condition
of keeping their fortification walls and Piraeus; and to draw up
articles of treaty on these terms. Agis bade them betake themselves to
Lacedaemon, seeing that he had no authority to act himself. With this
answer the ambassadors returned to Athens, and were forthwith sent on to
Lacedaemon. On reaching Sellasia, (6) a town in (7) Laconian territory,
they waited till they got their answer from the ephors, who, having
learnt their terms (which were identical to those already proposed
to Agis), bade them instantly to be gone, and, if they really desired
peace, to come with other proposals, the fruit of happier reflection.
Thus the ambassadors returned home, and reported the result of their
embassage, whereupon despondency fell upon all. It was a painful
reflection that in the end they would be sold into slavery; and
meanwhile, pending the return of a second embassy, many must needs fall
victims to starvation. The razing of their fortifications was not a
solution which any one cared to recommend. A senator, Archestratus, had
indeed put the question in the senate, whether it were not best to make
peace with the Lacedaemonians on such terms as they were willing to
propose; but he was thrown into prison. The Laconian proposals referred
to involved the destruction of both long walls for a space of more than
a mile. And a decree had been passed, making it illegal to submit any
such proposition about the walls. Things having reached this pass,
Theramenes made a proposal in the public assembly as follows: If they
chose to send him as an ambassador to Lysander, he would go and find out
why the Lacedaemonians were so unyielding about the walls; whether it
was they really intended to enslave the city, or merely that they wanted
a guarantee of good faith. Despatched accordingly, he lingered on with
Lysander for three whole months and more, watching for the time when the
Athenians, at the last pinch of starvation, would be willing to accede
to any terms that might be offered. At last, in the fourth month, he
returned and reported to the public assembly that Lysander had detained
him all this while, and had ended by bidding him betake himself to
Lacedaemon, since he had no authority himself to answer his questions,
which must be addressed directly to the ephors. After this Theramenes
was chosen with nine others to go to Lacedaemon as ambassadors with
full powers. Meanwhile Lysander had sent an Athenian exile, named
Aristoteles, in company of certain Lacedaemonians, to Sparta to report
to the board of ephors how he had answered Theramenes, that they, and
they alone, had supreme authority in matters of peace and war.
(5) Or, "they refused to treat for peace."
(6) Sellasia, the bulwark of Sparta in the valley of the Oenus.
(7) The MSS. have "in the neighbourhood of," which words are
inappropriate at this date, though they may well have been added
by some annotator after the Cleomenic war and the battle of
Sellasia, B.C. 222, when Antigonus of Macedon destroyed the place
in the interests of the Achaean League.
Theramenes and his companions presently reached Sellasia, and being
there questioned as to the reason of their visit, replied that they had
full powers to treat of peace. After which the ephors ordered them to
be summoned to their presence. On their arrival a general assembly was
convened, in which the Corinthians and Thebans more particularly, though
their views were shared by many other Hellenes also, urged the meeting
not to come to terms with the Athenians, but to destroy them. The
Lacedaemonians replied that they would never reduce to slavery a city
which was itself an integral portion of Hellas, and had performed a
great and noble service to Hellas in the most perilous of emergencies.
On the contrary, they were willing to offer peace on the terms now
specified--namely, "That the long walls and the fortifications of
Piraeus should be destroyed; that the Athenian fleet, with the exception
of twelve vessels, should be surrendered; that the exiles should be
restored; and lastly, that the Athenians should acknowledge the headship
of Sparta in peace and war, leaving to her the choice of friends and
foes, and following her lead by land and sea." Such were the terms which
Theramenes and the rest who acted with him were able to report on their
return to Athens. As they entered the city, a vast crowd met them,
trembling lest their mission have proved fruitless. For indeed delay
was no longer possible, so long already was the list of victims daily
perishing from starvation. On the day following, the ambassadors
delivered their report, stating the terms upon which the Lacedaemonians
were willing to make peace. Theramenes acted as spokesman, insisting
that they ought to obey the Lacedaemonians and pull down the walls. A
small minority raised their voice in opposition, but the majority were
strongly in favour of the proposition, and the resolution was passed to
accept the peace. After that, Lysander sailed into the Piraeus, and the
exiles were readmitted. And so they fell to levelling the fortifications
and walls with much enthusiasm, to the accompaniment of female
flute-players, deeming that day the beginning of liberty to Greece.
Thus the year drew to its close (8)--during its middle months took place
the accession of Dionysius, the son of Hermocrates the Syracusan, to
the tyranny of Syracuse; an incident itself preceded by a victory gained
over the Carthaginians by the Syracusans; the reduction of Agrigentum
through famine by the Carthaginians themselves; and the exodus of the
Sicilian Greeks from that city.
(8) For the puzzling chronology of this paragraph see Grote, "Hist. of
Greece," vol. x. p 619 (2d ed.) If genuine, the words may perhaps
have slipt out of their natural place in chapter i. above, in
front of the words "in the following year Lysander arrived," etc.
L. Dindorf brackets them as spurious. Xen., "Hist. Gr." ed.
tertia, Lipsiae, MDCCCLXXII. For the incidents referred to see
above; Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. x. pp. 582, 598 (2d ed.)
III
B.C. 404. In the following year (1) the people passed a resolution
to choose thirty men who were to draft a constitution based on the
ancestral laws of the State. The following were chosen to act on this
committee:--Polychares, Critias, Melobius, Hippolochus, Eucleides,
Hiero, Mnesilochus, Chremo, Theramenes, Aresias, Diocles, Phaedrias,
Chaereleos, Anaetius, Piso, Sophocles, Erastosthenes, Charicles,
Onomacles, Theognis, Aeschines, Theogones, Cleomedes, Erasistratus,
Pheido, Dracontides, Eumathes, Aristoteles, Hippomachus, Mnesitheides.
After these transactions, Lysander set sail for Samos; and Agis withdrew
the land force from Deceleia and disbanded the troops, dismissing the
contingents to their several cities.
(1) The MSS. here add "it was that year of the Olympiad cycle in which
Crocinas, a Thessalian, won the Stadium; when Endius was ephor at
Sparta, and Pythodorus archon at Athens, though the Athenians
indeed do not call the year by that archon's name, since he was
elected during the oligarchy, but prefer to speak of the year of
'anarchy'; the aforesaid oligarchy originated thus,"--which,
though correct, probably was not written by Xenophon. The year of
anarchy might perhaps be better rendered "the year without
archons."
In was at this date, about the time of the solar eclipse, (2) that
Lycophron of Pherae, who was ambitious of ruling over the whole of
Thessaly, defeated those sections of the Thessalians who opposed him,
such as the men of Larissa and others, and slew many of them. It
was also about this date that Dionysius, now tyrant of Syracuse, was
defeated by the Carthaginians and lost Gela and Camarina. And again, a
little later, the men of Leontini, who previously had been amalgamated
with the Syracusans, separated themselves from Syracuse and Dionysius,
and asserted their independence, and returned to their native city.
Another incident of this period was the sudden despatch and introduction
of Syracusan horse into Catana by Dionysius.
(2) This took place on 2d September B.C. 404.
Now the Samians, though besieged by Lysander on all sides, were at first
unwilling to come to terms. But at the last moment, when Lysander was on
the point of assaulting the town, they accepted the terms, which allowed
every free man to leave the island, but not to carry away any part of
his property, except the clothes on his back. On these conditions they
marched out. The city and all it contained was then delivered over to
its ancient citizens by Lysander, who finally appointed ten governors
to garrison the island. (3) After which, he disbanded the allied fleet,
dismissing them to their respective cities, while he himself, with the
Lacedaemonian squadron, set sail for Laconia, bringing with him the
prows of the conquered vessels and the whole navy of Piraeus, with
the exception of twelve ships. He also brought the crowns which he had
received from the cities as private gifts, and a sum of four hundred and
seventy talents (4) in silver (the surplus of the tribute money which
Cyrus had assigned to him for the prosecution of the war), besides other
property, the fruit of his military exploits. All these things Lysander
delivered to the Lacedaemonians in the latter end of summer. (5)
(3) A council of ten, or "decarchy." See Grote, "H. G." viii. 323 (1st
ed.)
(4) About 112,800 pounds.
(5) The MSS. add "a summer, the close of which coincided with the
termination of a war which had lasted twenty-eight and a half
years, as the list of annual ephors, appended in order, serves to
show. Aenesias is the first name. The war began during his
ephorate, in the fifteenth year of the thirty years' truce after
the capture of Euboea. His successors were Brasidas, Isanor,
Sostratidas, Exarchus, Agesistratus, Angenidas, Onomacles,
Zeuxippus, Pityas, Pleistolas, Cleinomachus, Harchus, Leon,
Chaerilas, Patesiadas, Cleosthenes, Lycarius, Eperatus,
Onomantius, Alexippidas, Misgolaidas, Isias, Aracus, Euarchippus,
Pantacles, Pityas, Archytas, and lastly, Endius, during whose year
of office Lysander sailed home in triumph, after performing the
exploits above recorded,"--the interpolation, probably, of some
editor or copyist, the words "twenty-eight and a half" being
probably a mistake on his part for "twenty-seven and a half." Cf.
Thuc. v. 26; also Buchsenschutz, Einleitung, p. 8 of his school
edition of the "Hellenica."
The Thirty had been chosen almost immediately after the long walls and
the fortifications round Piraeus had been razed. They were chosen
for the express purpose of compiling a code of laws for the future
constitution of the State. The laws were always on the point of being
published, yet they were never forthcoming; and the thirty compilers
contented themselves meanwhile with appointing a senate and the other
magistracies as suited their fancy best. That done, they turned their
attention, in the first instance, to such persons as were well known to
have made their living as informers (6) under the democracy, and to be
thorns in the side of all respectable people. These they laid hold on
and prosecuted on the capital charge. The new senate gladly recorded its
vote of condemnation against them; and the rest of the world, conscious
of bearing no resemblance to them, seemed scarcely vexed. But the Thirty
did not stop there. Presently they began to deliberate by what means
they could get the city under their absolute control, in order that they
might work their will upon it. Here again they proceeded tentatively;
in the first instance, they sent (two of their number), Aeschines and
Aristoteles, to Lacedaemon, and persuaded Lysander to support them in
getting a Lacedaemonian garrison despatched to Athens. They only
needed it until they had got the "malignants" out of the way, and had
established the constitution; and they would undertake to maintain these
troops at their own cost. Lysander was not deaf to their persuasions,
and by his co-operation their request was granted. A bodyguard, with
Callibius as governor, was sent.
(6) Lit. "by sycophancy," i.e. calumnious accusation--the sycophant's
trade. For a description of this pest of Athenian life cf. "Dem."
in Arist. 1, S. 52; quoted in Jebb, "Attic Orators," chap. xxix.
14; cf. Aristoph. "Ach." 904; Xen. "Mem." II. ix. 1.
And now that they had got the garrison, they fell to flattering
Callibius with all servile flattery, in order that he might give
countenance to their doings. Thus they prevailed on him to allow some of
the guards, whom they selected, to accompany them, while they proceeded
to lay hands on whom they would; no longer confining themselves to base
folk and people of no account, but boldly laying hands on those who they
felt sure would least easily brook being thrust aside, or, if a
spirit of opposition seized them, could command the largest number of
partisans.
These were early days; as yet Critias was of one mind with Theramenes,
and the two were friends. But the time came when, in proportion as
Critias was ready to rush headlong into wholesale carnage, like one
who thirsted for the blood of the democracy, which had banished him,
Theramenes balked and thwarted him. It was barely reasonable, he argued,
to put people to death, who had never done a thing wrong to respectable
people in their lives, simply because they had enjoyed influence and
honour under the democracy. "Why, you and I, Critias," he would add,
"have said and done many things ere now for the sake of popularity."
To which the other (for the terms of friendly intimacy still subsisted)
would retort, "There is no choice left to us, since we intend to take
the lion's share, but to get rid of those who are best able to hinder
us. If you imagine, because we are thirty instead of one, our government
requires one whit the less careful guarding than an actual tyranny, you
must be very innocent."
So things went on. Day after day the list of persons put to death for no
just reason grew longer. Day after day the signs of resentment were more
significant in the groups of citizens banding together and forecasting
the character of this future constitution; till at length Theramenes
spoke again, protesting:--There was no help for it but to associate with
themselves a sufficient number of persons in the conduct of affairs, or
the oligarchy would certainly come to an end. Critias and the rest
of the Thirty, whose fears had already converted Theramenes into a
dangerous popular idol, proceeded at once to draw up a list of three
thousand citizens; fit and proper persons to have a share in the conduct
of affairs. But Theramenes was not wholly satisfied, "indeed he must
say, for himself, he regarded it as ridiculous, that in their effort to
associate the better classes with themselves in power, they should fix
on just that particular number, three thousand, as if that figure had
some necessary connection with the exact number of gentlemen in the
State, making it impossible to discover any respectability outside
or rascality within the magic number. And in the second place," he
continued, "I see we are trying to do two things, diametrically opposed;
we are manufacturing a government, which is based on force, and at the
same time inferior in strength to those whom we propose to govern."
That was what he said, but what his colleagues did, was to institute a
military inspection or review. The Three Thousand were drawn up in the
Agora, and the rest of the citizens, who were not included in the list,
elsewhere in various quarters of the city. The order to take arms was
given; (7) but while the men's backs were turned, at the bidding of the
Thirty, the Laconian guards, with those of the citizens who shared their
views, appeared on the scene and took away the arms of all except the
Three Thousand, carried them up to the Acropolis, and safely deposited
them in the temple.
(7) Or, "a summons to the 'place d'armes' was given; but." Or, "the
order to seize the arms was given, and." It is clear from
Aristoph. "Acharn." 1050, that the citizens kept their weapons at
home. On the other hand, it was a custom not to come to any
meeting in arms. See Thuc. vi. 58. It seems probable that while
the men were being reviewed in the market-place and elsewhere, the
ruling party gave orders to seize their weapons (which they had
left at home), and this was done except in the case of the Three
Thousand. Cf. Arnold, "Thuc." II. 2. 5; and IV. 91.
The ground being thus cleared, as it were, and feeling that they had
it in their power to do what they pleased, they embarked on a course of
wholesale butchery, to which many were sacrificed to the merest hatred,
many to the accident of possessing riches. Presently the question
rose, How they were to get money to pay their guards? and to meet this
difficulty a resolution was passed empowering each of the committee to
seize on one of the resident aliens apiece, to put his victim to death,
and to confiscate his property. Theramenes was invited, or rather told
to seize some one or other. "Choose whom you will, only let it be done."
To which he made answer, it hardly seemed to him a noble or worthy
course on the part of those who claimed to be the elite of society to go
beyond the informers (8) in injustice. "Yesterday they, to-day we; with
this difference, the victim of the informer must live as a source of
income; our innocents must die that we may get their wealth. Surely
their method was innocent in comparison with ours."
(8) See above.
The rest of the Thirty, who had come to regard Theramenes as an obstacle
to any course they might wish to adopt, proceeded to plot against him.
They addressed themselves to the members of the senate in private,
here a man and there a man, and denounced him as the marplot of the
constitution. Then they issued an order to the young men, picking out
the most audacious characters they could find, to be present, each with
a dagger hidden in the hollow of the armpit; and so called a meeting
of the senate. When Theramenes had taken his place, Critias got up and
addressed the meeting:
"If," said he, "any member of this council, here seated, imagines that
an undue amount of blood has been shed, let me remind him that with
changes of constitution such things can not be avoided. It is the rule
everywhere, but more particularly at Athens it was inevitable there
should be found a specially large number of persons sworn foes to any
constitutional change in the direction of oligarchy, and this for two
reasons. First, because the population of this city, compared with other
Hellenic cities, is enormously large; and again, owing to the length of
time during which the people has battened upon liberty. Now, as to two
points we are clear. The first is that democracy is a form of government
detestable to persons like ourselves--to us and to you; the next is that
the people of Athens could never be got to be friendly to our friends
and saviours, the Lacedaemonians. But on the loyalty of the better
classes the Lacedaemonians can count. And that is our reason for
establishing an oligarchical constitution with their concurrence. That
is why we do our best to rid us of every one whom we perceive to be
opposed to the oligarchy; and, in our opinion, if one of ourselves
should elect to undermine this constitution of ours, he would deserve
punishment. Do you not agree? And the case," he continued, "is no
imaginary one. The offender is here present--Theramenes. And what we say
of him is, that he is bent upon destroying yourselves and us by every
means in his power. These are not baseless charges; but if you will
consider it, you will find them amply established in this unmeasured
censure of the present posture of affairs, and his persistent opposition
to us, his colleagues, if ever we seek to get rid of any of these
demagogues. Had this been his guiding principle of action from the
beginning, in spite of hostility, at least he would have escaped all
imputation of villainy. Why, this is the very man who originated our
friendly and confidential relations with Lacedaemon. This is the very
man who authorised the abolition of the democracy, who urged us on to
inflict punishment on the earliest batch of prisoners brought before
us. But to-day all is changed; now you and we are out of odour with
the people, and he accordingly has ceased to be pleased with our
proceedings. The explanation is obvious. In case of a catastrophe, how
much pleasanter for him once again to light upon his legs, and leave us
to render account for our past performances.
"I contend that this man is fairly entitled to render his account also,
not only as an ordinary enemy, but as a traitor to yourselves and us.
And let us add, not only is treason more formidable than open war, in
proportion as it is harder to guard against a hidden assassin than
an open foe, but it bears the impress of a more enduring hostility,
inasmuch as men fight their enemies and come to terms with them again
and are fast friends; but whoever heard of reconciliation with a
traitor? There he stands unmasked; he has forfeited our confidence for
evermore. But to show you that these are no new tactics of his, to prove
to you that he is a traitor in grain, I will recall to your memories
some points in his past history.
"He began by being held in high honour by the democracy; but taking a
leaf out of his father's, Hagnon's, book, he next showed a most headlong
anxiety to transform the democracy into the Four Hundred, and, in fact,
for a time held the first place in that body. But presently, detecting
the formation of rival power to the oligarchs, round he shifted; and we
find him next a ringleader of the popular party in assailing them. It
must be admitted, he has well earned his nickname 'Buskin.' (9) Yes,
Theramenes! clever you may be, but the man who deserves to live should
not show his cleverness in leading on his associates into trouble, and
when some obstacle presents itself, at once veer round; but like a pilot
on shipboard, he ought then to redouble his efforts, until the wind is
fair. Else, how in the name of wonderment are those mariners to reach
the haven where they would be, if at the first contrary wind or
tide they turn about and sail in the opposite direction? Death and
destruction are concomitants of constitutional changes and revolution,
no doubt; but you are such an impersonation of change, that, as you
twist and turn and double, you deal destruction on all sides. At one
swoop you are the ruin of a thousand oligarchs at the hands of the
people, and at another of a thousand democrats at the hands of the
better classes. Why, sirs, this is the man to whom the orders were given
by the generals, in the sea-fight off Lesbos, to pick up the crews of
the disabled vessels; and who, neglecting to obey orders, turned round
and accused the generals; and to save himself murdered them! What, I ask
you, of a man who so openly studied the art of self-seeking, deaf
alike to the pleas of honour and to the claims of friendship? Would not
leniency towards such a creature be misplaced? Can it be our duty at
all to spare him? Ought we not rather, when we know the doublings of his
nature, to guard against them, lest we enable him presently to practise
on ourselves? The case is clear. We therefore hereby cite this man
before you, as a conspirator and traitor against yourselves and us. The
reasonableness of our conduct, one further reflection may make clear.
No one, I take it, will dispute the splendour, the perfection of the
Laconian constitution. Imagine one of the ephors there in Sparta, in
lieu of devoted obedience to the majority, taking on himself to find
fault with the government and to oppose all measures. Do you not think
that the ephors themselves, and the whole commonwealth besides, would
hold this renegade worthy of condign punishment? So, too, by the same
token, if you are wise, do you spare yourselves, not him. For what does
the alternative mean? I will tell you. His preservation will cause
the courage of many who hold opposite views to your own to rise; his
destruction will cut off the last hopes of all your enemies, whether
within or without the city."
(9) An annotator seems to have added here the words, occurring in the
MSS., "the buskin which seems to fit both legs equally, but is
constant to neither," unless, indeed, they are an original
"marginal note" of the author. For the character of Theramenes, as
popularly conceived, cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 538, 968 foll., and
Thuc. viii. 92; and Prof. Jowett, "Thuc." vol. ii. pp. 523, 524.
With these words he sat down, but Theramenes rose and said: "Sirs, with
your permission I will first touch upon the charge against me which
Critias has mentioned last. The assertion is that as the accuser of the
generals I was their murderer. Now I presume it was not I who began
the attack upon them, but it was they who asserted that in spite of
the orders given me I had neglected to pick up the unfortunates in the
sea-fight off Lesbos. All I did was to defend myself. My defence was
that the storm was too violent to permit any vessel to ride at sea, much
more therefore to pick up the men, and this defence was accepted by my
fellow-citizens as highly reasonable, while the generals seemed to be
condemned out of their own mouths. For while they kept on asserting
that it was possible to save the men, the fact still remained that they
abandoned them to their fate, set sail, and were gone.
"However, I am not surprised, I confess, at this grave misconception
(10) on the part of Critias, for at the date of these occurrences he
was not in Athens. He was away in Thessaly, laying the foundations of
a democracy with Prometheus, and arming the Penestae (11) against their
masters. Heaven forbid that any of his transactions there should be
re-enacted here. However, I must say, I do heartily concur with him on
one point. Whoever desires to exclude you from the government, or to
strength the hands of your secret foes, deserves and ought to meet with
condign punishment; but who is most capable of so doing? That you will
best discover, I think, by looking a little more closely into the past
and the present conduct of each of us. Well, then! up to the moment at
which you were formed into a senatorial body, when the magistracies were
appointed, and certain notorious 'informers' were brought to trial, we
all held the same views. But later on, when our friends yonder began
to hale respectable honest folk to prison and to death, I, on my side,
began to differ from them. From the moment when Leon of Salamis, (12)
a man of high and well-deserved reputation, was put to death, though he
had not committed the shadow of a crime, I knew that all his equals must
tremble for themselves, and, so trembling, be driven into opposition to
the new constitution. In the same way, when Niceratus, (13) the son of
Nicias, was arrested; a wealthy man, who, no more than his father, had
never done anything that could be called popular or democratic in his
life; it did not require much insight to discover that his compeers
would be converted into our foes. But to go a step further: when it
came to Antiphon (14) falling at our hands--Antiphon, who during the war
contributed two fast-sailing men-of-war out of his own resources, it was
then plain to me, that all who had ever been zealous and patriotic
must eye us with suspicion. Once more I could not help speaking out in
opposition to my colleagues when they suggested that each of us ought to
seize some one resident alien. (15) For what could be more certain
than that their death-warrant would turn the whole resident foreign
population into enemies of the constitution. I spoke out again when they
insisted on depriving the populace of their arms; it being no part of my
creed that we ought to take the strength out of the city; nor, indeed,
so far as I could see, had the Lacedaemonians stept between us and
destruction merely that we might become a handful of people, powerless
to aid them in the day of need. Had that been their object, they might
have swept us away to the last man. A few more weeks, or even days,
would have sufficed to extinguish us quietly by famine. Nor, again, can
I say that the importation of mercenary foreign guards was altogether to
my taste, when it would have been so easy for us to add to our own
body a sufficient number of fellow-citizens to ensure our supremacy as
governors over those we essayed to govern. But when I saw what an army
of malcontents this government had raised up within the city walls,
besides another daily increasing host of exiles without, I could not
but regard the banishment of people like Thrasybulus and Anytus and
Alcibiades (16) as impolitic. Had our object been to strengthen the
rival power, we could hardly have set about it better than by providing
the populace with the competent leaders whom they needed, and the
would-be leaders themselves with an army of willing adherents.
(10) Reading with Cobet {paranenomikenai}.
(11) I.e. serfs--Penestae being the local name in Thessaly for the
villein class. Like the {Eilotes} in Laconia, they were originally
a conquered tribe, afterwards increased by prisoners of war, and
formed a link between the freemen and born slaves.
(12) Cf. "Mem." IV. iv. 3; Plat. "Apol." 8. 32.
(13) Cf. Lysias, "Or." 18. 6.
(14) Probably the son of Lysidonides. See Thirlwall, "Hist. of
Greece," vol. iv. p. 179 (ed. 1847); also Lysias, "Or." 12. contra
Eratosth. According to Lysias, Theramenes, when a member of the
first Oligarchy, betrayed his own closest friends, Antiphon and
Archeptolemus. See Prof. Jebb, "Attic Orators," I. x. p. 266.
(15) The resident aliens, or {metoikoi}, "metics," so technically
called.
(16) Isocr. "De Bigis," 355; and Prof. Jebb's "Attic Orators," ii.
230. In the defence of his father's career, which the younger
Alcibiades, the defendant in this case (B.C. 397 probably) has
occasion to make, he reminds the court, that under the Thirty,
others were banished from Athens, but his father was driven out of
the civilised world of Hellas itself, and finally murdered. See
Plutarch, "Alcibiades," ad fin.
"I ask then is the man who tenders such advice in the full light of
day justly to be regarded as a traitor, and not as a benefactor? Surely
Critias, the peacemaker, the man who hinders the creation of many
enemies, whose counsels tend to the acquistion of yet more friends, (17)
cannot be accused of strengthening the hands of the enemy. Much more
truly may the imputation be retorted on those who wrongfully appropriate
their neighbours' goods and put to death those who have done no wrong.
These are they who cause our adversaries to grow and multiply, and
who in very truth are traitors, not to their friends only, but to
themselves, spurred on by sordid love of gain.
(17) Or, "the peacemaker, the healer of differences, the cementer of
new alliances, cannot," etc.
"I might prove the truth of what I say in many ways, but I beg you to
look at the matter thus. With which condition of affairs here in Athens
do you think will Thrasybulus and Anytus and the other exiles be the
better pleased? That which I have pictured as desirable, or that which
my colleagues yonder are producing? For my part I cannot doubt but that,
as things now are, they are saying to themselves, 'Our allies muster
thick and fast.' But were the real strength, the pith and fibre of this
city, kindly disposed to us, they would find it an uphill task even to
get a foothold anywhere in the country.
"Then, with regard to what he said of me and my propensity to be for
ever changing sides, let me draw your attention to the following facts.
Was it not the people itself, the democracy, who voted the constitution
of the Four Hundred? This they did, because they had learned to think
that the Lacedaemonians would trust any other form of government rather
than a democracy. But when the efforts of Lacedaemon were not a whit
relaxed, when Aristoteles, Melanthius, and Aristarchus, (18) and the
rest of them acting as generals, were plainly minded to construct an
intrenched fortress on the mole for the purpose of admitting the
enemy, and so getting the city under the power of themselves and their
associates; (19) because I got wind of these schemes, and nipped them in
the bud, is that to be a traitor to one's friends?
(18) Cf. Thuc. viii. 90-92, for the behaviour of the Lacedaemonian
party at Athens and the fortification of Eetioneia in B.C. 411.
(19) I.e. of the political clubs.
"Then he threw in my teeth the nickname 'Buskin,' as descriptive of
an endeavour on my part to fit both parties. But what of the man
who pleases neither? What in heaven's name are we to call him? Yes!
you--Critias? Under the democracy you were looked upon as the most
arrant hater of the people, and under the aristocracy you have proved
yourself the bitterest foe of everything respectable. Yes! Critias, I
am, and ever have been, a foe of those who think that a democracy cannot
reach perfection until slaves and those who, from poverty, would sell
the city for a drachma, can get their drachma a day. (20) But not less
am I, and ever have been, a pronounced opponent of those who do not
think there can possibly exist a perfect oligarchy until the State is
subjected to the despotism of a few. On the contrary, my own ambition
has been to combine with those who are rich enough to possess a horse
and shield, and to use them for the benefit of the State. (21) That was
my ideal in the old days, and I hold to it without a shadow of turning
still. If you can imagine when and where, in conjunction with despots or
demagogues, I have set to my hand to deprive honest gentlefolk of
their citizenship, pray speak. If you can convict me of such crimes at
present, or can prove my perpetration of them in the past, I admit that
I deserve to die, and by the worst of deaths."
(20) I.e. may enjoy the senatorial stipend of a drachma a day = 9 3/4
pence.
(21) See Thuc. viii. 97, for a momentary realisation of that "duly
attempered compound of Oligarchy and Democracy" which Thucydides
praises, and which Theramenes here refers to. It threw the power
into the hands of the wealthier upper classes to the exclusion of
the {nautikos okhlos}. See Prof. Jowett, vol. ii. note, ad loc.
cit.
With these words he ceased, and the loud murmur of the applause which
followed marked the favourable impression produced upon the senate.
It was plain to Critias, that if he allowed his adversary's fate to be
decided by formal voting, Theramenes would escape, and life to himself
would become intolerable. Accordingly he stepped forward and spoke a
word or two in the ears of the Thirty. This done, he went out and gave
an order to the attendants with the daggers to stand close to the bar
in full view of the senators. Again he entered and addressed the senate
thus: "I hold it to be the duty of a good president, when he sees the
friends about him being made the dupes of some delusion, to intervene.
That at any rate is what I propose to do. Indeed our friends here
standing by the bar say that if we propose to acquit a man so openly
bent upon the ruin of the oligarchy, they do not mean to let us do
so. Now there is a clause in the new code forbidding any of the Three
Thousand to be put to death without your vote; but the Thirty have
power of life and death over all outside that list. Accordingly," he
proceeded, "I herewith strike this man, Theramenes, off the list; and
this with the concurrence of my colleagues. And now," he continued, "we
condemn him to death."
Hearing these words Theramenes sprang upon the altar of Hestia,
exclaiming: "And I, sirs, supplicate you for the barest forms of law and
justice. Let it not be in the power of Critias to strike off either
me, or any one of you whom he will. But in my case, in what may be your
case, if we are tried, let our trial be in accordance with the law they
have made concerning those on the list. I know," he added, "but too
well, that this altar will not protect me; but I will make it plain that
these men are as impious towards the gods as they are nefarious towards
men. Yet I do marvel, good sirs and honest gentlemen, for so you are,
that you will not help yourselves, and that too when you must see that
the name of every one of you is as easily erased as mine."
But when he had got so far, the voice of the herald was heard giving the
order to the Eleven to seize Theramenes. They at that instant entered
with their satellites--at their head Satyrus, the boldest and most
shameless of the body--and Critias exclaimed, addressing the Eleven, "We
deliver over to you Theramenes yonder, who has been condemned according
to the law. Do you take him and lead him away to the proper place, and
do there with him what remains to do." As Critias uttered the words,
Satyrus laid hold upon Theramenes to drag him from the altar, and the
attendants lent their aid. But he, as was natural, called upon gods and
men to witness what was happening. The senators the while kept silence,
seeing the companions of Satyrus at the bar, and the whole front of the
senate house crowded with the foreign guards, nor did they need to be
told that there were daggers in reserve among those present.
And so Theramenes was dragged through the Agora, in vehement and loud
tones proclaiming the wrongs that he was suffering. One word, which is
said to have fallen from his lips, I cite. It is this: Satyrus, bade him
"Be silent, or he would rue the day;" to which he made answer, "And if I
be silent, shall I not rue it?" Also, when they brought him the hemlock,
and the time was come to drink the fatal draught, they tell how he
playfully jerked out the dregs from the bottom of the cup, like one who
plays "Cottabos," (22) with the words, "This to the lovely Critias."
These are but "apophthegms" (23) too trivial, it may be thought, to find
a place in history. Yet I must deem it an admirable trait in this man's
character, if at such a moment, when death confronted him, neither his
wits forsook him, nor could the childlike sportiveness vanish from his
soul.
(22) "A Sicilian game much in vogue at the drinking parties of young
men at Athens. The simplest mode was when each threw the wine left
in his cup so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, at the same
time invoking his mistress's name; if all fell into the basin and
the sound was clear, it was a sign he stood well with her."--
Liddell and Scott, sub. v. For the origin of the game compare
curiously enough the first line of the first Elegy of Critias
himself, who was a poet and political philosopher, as well as a
politician:--
"{Kottabos ek Sikeles esti khthonos, euprepes ergon on skopon es latagon
toxa kathistametha.}" Bergk. "Poetae Lyr. Graec." Pars II. xxx.
(23) Or, "these are sayings too slight, perhaps, to deserve record;
yet," etc. By an "apophthegm" was meant originally a terse
(sententious) remark, but the word has somewhat altered in
meaning.
IV
So Theramenes met his death; and, now that this obstacle was removed,
the Thirty, feeling that they had it in their power to play the tyrant
without fear, issued an order forbidding all, whose names were not
on the list, to set foot within the city. Retirement in the country
districts was no protection, thither the prosecutor followed them, and
thence dragged them, that their farms and properties might fall to the
possession of the Thirty and their friends. Even Piraeus was not safe;
of those who sought refuge there, many were driven forth in similar
fashion, until Megara and Thebes overflowed with the crowd of refugees.
Presently Thrasybulus, with about seventy followers, sallied out from
Thebes, and made himself master of the fortress of Phyle. (1) The
weather was brilliant, and the Thirty marched out of the city to repel
the invader; with them were the Three Thousand and the Knights. When
they reached the place, some of the young men, in the foolhardiness of
youth, made a dash at the fortress, but without effect; all they got was
wounds, and so retired. The intention of the Thirty now was to blockade
the place; by shutting off all the avenues of supplies, they thought to
force the garrison to capitulate. But this project was interrupted by
a steady downfall of snow that night and the following day. Baffled
by this all-pervading enemy they beat a retreat to the city, but not
without the sacrifice of many of their camp-followers, who fell a prey
to the men in Phyle. The next anxiety of the government in Athens was to
secure the farms and country houses against the plunderings and forays
to which they would be exposed, if there were no armed force to
protect them. With this object a protecting force was despatched to
the "boundary estates," (2) about two miles south of Phyle. This corps
consisted of the Lacedaemonian guards, or nearly all of them, and two
divisions of horse. (3) They encamped in a wild and broken district, and
the round of their duties commenced.
(1) "A strong fortress (the remains of which still exist) commanding
the narrow pass across Mount Parnes, through which runs the direct
road from Thebes to Athens, past Acharnae. The precipitous rock on
which it stands can only be approached by a ridge on the eastern
side. The height commands a magnificent view of the whole Athenian
plain, of the city itself, of Mount Hymettus, and the Saronic
Gulf,"--"Dict. of Geog., The demi of the Diacria and Mount
Parnes."
(2) Cf. Boeckh, "P. E. A." p. 63, Eng. ed.
(3) Lit. tribes, each of the ten tribes furnishing about one hundred
horse.
But by this time the small garrison above them had increased tenfold,
until there were now something like seven hundred men collected in
Phyle; and with these Thrasybulus one night descended. When he was not
quite half a mile from the enemy's encampment he grounded arms, and a
deep silence was maintained until it drew towards day. In a little while
the men opposite, one by one, were getting to their legs or leaving the
camp for necessary purposes, while a suppressed din and murmur arose,
caused by the grooms currying and combing their horses. This was the
moment for Thrasybulus and his men to snatch up their arms and make a
dash at the enemy's position. Some they felled on the spot; and routing
the whole body, pursued them six or seven furlongs, killing one
hundred and twenty hoplites and more. Of the cavalry, Nicostratus, "the
beautiful," as men called him, and two others besides were slain; they
were caught while still in their beds. Returning from the pursuit,
the victors set up a trophy, got together all the arms they had taken,
besides baggage, and retired again to Phyle. A reinforcement of horse
sent from the city could not discover the vestige of a foe; but waited
on the scene of battle until the bodies of the slain had been picked up
by their relatives, when they withdrew again to the city.
After this the Thirty, who had begun to realise the insecurity of their
position, were anxious to appropriate Eleusis, so that an asylum might
be ready for them against the day of need. With this view an order was
issued to the Knights; and Critias, with the rest of the Thirty, visited
Eleusis. There they held a review of the Eleusians in the presence of
the Knights; (4) and, on the pretext of wishing to discover how many
they were, and how large a garrison they would further require, they
ordered the townsfolk to enter their names. As each man did so he had to
retire by a postern leading to the sea. But on the sea-beach this
side there were lines of cavalry drawn up in waiting, and as each man
appeared he was handcuffed by the satellites of the Thirty. When all
had so been seized and secured, they gave orders to Lysimachus, the
commander of the cavalry, to take them off to the city and deliver them
over to the Eleven. Next day they summoned the heavy armed who were on
the list, and the rest of the Knights (5) to the Odeum, and Critias rose
and addressed them. He said: "Sirs, the constitution, the lines of which
we are laying down, is a work undertaken in your interests no less than
ours; it is incumbent on you therefore to participate in its dangers,
even as you will partake of its honours. We expect you therefore, in
reference to these Eleusians here, who have been seized and secured, to
vote their condemnation, so that our hopes and fears may be identical."
Then, pointing to a particular spot, he said peremptorily, "You will
please deposit your votes there within sight of all." It must be
understood that the Laconian guards were present at the time, and armed
to the teeth, and filling one-half of the Odeum. As to the proceedings
themselves, they found acceptance with those members of the State,
besides the Thirty, who could be satisfied with a simple policy of
self-aggrandisement.
(4) Or, "in the cavalry quarters," cf. {en tois ikhthusin} = in the
fish market. Or, "at the review of the horse."
(5) For the various Odeums at Athens vide Prof. Jebb, "Theophr."
xviii. 235, 236. The one here named was near the fountain
Callirhoe by the Ilissus.
But now Thrasybulus at the head of his followers, by this time about one
thousand strong, descended from Phyle and reached Piraeus in the night.
The Thirty, on their side, informed of this new move, were not slow to
rally to the rescue, with the Laconian guards, supported by their own
cavalry and hoplites. And so they advanced, marching down along the
broad carriage road which leads into Piraeus. The men from Phyle seemed
at first inclined to dispute their passage, but as the wide circuit
of the walls needed a defence beyond the reach of their still scanty
numbers, they fell back in a compact body upon Munychia. (6) Then the
troops from the city poured into the Agora of Hippodmus. (7) Here they
formed in line, stretching along and filling the street which leads to
the temple of Artemis and the Bendideum. (8) This line must have been
at least fifty shields deep; and in this formation they at once began
to march up. As to the men of Phyle, they too blocked the street at the
opposite end, and facing the foe. They presented only a thin line, not
more than ten deep, though behind these, certainly, were ranged a body
of targeteers and light-armed javelin men, who were again supported by
an artillery of stone-throwers--a tolerably numerous division drawn from
the population of the port and district itself. While his antagonists
were still advancing, Thrasybulus gave the order to ground their heavy
shields, and having done so himself, whilst retaining the rest of
his arms, he stood in the midst, and thus addressed them: "Men and
fellow-citizens, I wish to inform some, and to remind others of you,
that of the men you see advancing beneath us there, the right division
are the very men we routed and pursued only five days ago; while on the
extreme left there you see the Thirty. These are the men who have not
spared to rob us of our city, though we did no wrong; who have hounded
us from our homes; who have set the seal of proscription on our dearest
friends. But to-day the wheel of fortune has revolved; that has come
about which least of all they looked for, which most of all we prayed
for. Here we stand with our good swords in our hands, face to face
with our foes; and the gods themselves are with us, seeing that we were
arrested in the midst of our peaceful pursuits; at any moment, whilst
we supped, or slept, or marketed, sentence of banishment was passed upon
us: we had done no wrong--nay, many of us were not even resident in the
country. To-day, therefore, I repeat, the gods do visibly fight upon our
side; the great gods, who raise a tempest even in the midst of calm for
our benefit, and when we lay to our hand to fight, enable our little
company to set up the trophy of victory over the multitude of our foes.
On this day they have brought us hither to a place where the steep
ascent must needs hinder our foes from reaching with lance or arrow
further than our foremost ranks; but we with our volley of spears and
arrows and stones cannot fail to reach them with terrible effect. Had we
been forced to meet them vanguard to vanguard, on an equal footing, who
could have been surprised? But as it is, all I say to you is, let fly
your missiles with a will in right brave style. No one can miss his mark
when the road is full of them. To avoid our darts they must be for ever
ducking and skulking beneath their shields; but we will rain blows upon
them in their blindness; we will leap upon them and lay them low. But,
O sirs! let me call upon you so to bear yourselves that each shall
be conscious to himself that victory was won by him and him alone.
Victory--which, God willing, shall this day restore to us the land of
our fathers, our homes, our freedom, and the rewards of civic life, our
children, if children we have, our darlings, and our wives! Thrice happy
those among us who as conquerors shall look upon this gladdest of all
days. Nor less fortunate the man who falls to-day. Not all the wealth
in the world shall purchase him a monument so glorious. At the right
instant I will strike the keynote of the paean; then, with an invocation
to the God of battle, (9) and in return for the wanton insults they put
upon us, let us with one accord wreak vengeance on yonder men."
(6) The citadel quarter of Piraeus.
(7) Named after the famous architect Hippodamus, who built the town.
It was situated near where the two long walls joined the wall of
Piraeus; a broad street led from it up to the citadel of Munychia.
(8) I.e. the temple of Bendis (the Thracian Artemis). Cf. Plat. "Rep."
327, 354; and Prof. Jowett, "Plato," vol. iii. pp. 193, 226.
(9) Lit. "Enyalius," in Homer an epithet of Ares; at another date (cf.
Aristoph. "Peace," 456) looked upon as a distinct divinity.
Having so spoken, he turned round, facing the foemen, and kept quiet,
for the order passed by the soothsayer enjoined on them, not to
charge before one of their side was slain or wounded. "As soon as that
happens," said the seer, "we will lead you onwards, and the victory
shall be yours; but for myself, if I err not, death is waiting." And
herein he spoke truly, for they had barely resumed their arms when he
himself as though he were driven by some fatal hand, leapt out in front
of the ranks, and so springing into the midst of the foe, was slain,
and lies now buried at the passage of the Cephisus. But the rest were
victorious, and pursued the routed enemy down to the level ground.
There fell in this engagement, out of the number of the Thirty, Critias
himself and Hippomachus, and with them Charmides, (10) the son of
Glaucon, one of the ten archons in Piraeus, and of the rest about
seventy men. The arms of the slain were taken; but, as fellow-citizens,
the conquerors forebore to despoil them of their coats. This being done,
they proceeded to give back the dead under cover of a truce, when the
men, on either side, in numbers stept forward and conversed with one
another. Then Cleocritus (he was the Herald of the Initiated, (11) a
truly "sweet-voiced herald," if ever there was), caused a deep
silence to reign, and addressed their late combatants as follows:
"Fellow-citizens--Why do you drive us forth? why would you slay us?
what evil have we wrought you at any time? or is it a crime that we
have shared with you in the most solemn rites and sacrifices, and in
festivals of the fairest: we have been companions in the chorus, the
school, the army. We have braved a thousand dangers with you by land and
sea in behalf of our common safety, our common liberty. By the gods
of our fathers, by the gods of our mothers, by the hallowed names of
kinship, intermarriage, comradeship, those three bonds which knit the
hearts of so many of us, bow in reverence before God and man, and
cease to sin against the land of our fathers: cease to obey these most
unhallowed Thirty, who for the sake of private gain have in eight months
slain almost more men than the Peloponnesians together in ten years of
warfare. See, we have it in our power to live as citizens in peace; it
is only these men, who lay upon us this most foul burthen, this hideous
horror of fratricidal war, loathed of God and man. Ah! be well assured,
for these men slain by our hands this day, ye are not the sole mourners.
There are among them some whose deaths have wrung from us also many a
bitter tear."
(10) He was cousin to Critias, and uncle by the mother's side to
Plato, who introduces him in the dialogue, which bears his name
(and treats of Temperance), as a very young man at the beginning
of the Peloponnesian War. We hear more of him also from Xenophon
himself in the "Memorabilia," iii. 6. 7; and as one of the
interlocutors in the "Symposium."
(11) I.e. of the Eleusinian mysteries. He had not only a loud voice,
but a big body. Cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 1237.
So he spoke, but the officers and leaders of the defeated army who were
left, unwilling that their troops should listen to such topics at that
moment, led them back to the city. But the next day the Thirty, in deep
down-heartedness and desolation, sat in the council chamber. The Three
Thousand, wherever their several divisions were posted, were everywhere
a prey to discord. Those who were implicated in deeds of violence, and
whose fears could not sleep, protested hotly that to yield to the party
in Piraeus were preposterous. Those on the other hand who had faith in
their own innocence, argued in their own minds, and tried to convince
their neighbours that they could well dispense with most of their
present evils. "Why yield obedience to these Thirty?" they asked, "Why
assign to them the privilege of destroying the State?" In the end they
voted a resolution to depose the government, and to elect another. This
was a board of ten, elected one from each tribe.
B.C. 403. As to the Thirty, they retired to Eleusis; but the Ten,
assisted by the cavalry officers, had enough to do to keep watch over
the men in the city, whose anarchy and mutual distrust were rampant. The
Knights did not return to quarters at night, but slept out in the Odeum,
keeping their horses and shields close beside them; indeed the distrust
was so great that from evening onwards they patrolled the walls on foot
with their shields, and at break of day mounted their horses, at every
moment fearing some sudden attack upon them by the men in Piraeus. These
latter were now so numerous, and of so mixed a company, that it was
difficult to find arms for all. Some had to be content with shields of
wood, others of wicker-work, which they spent their time in coating with
whitening. Before ten days had elapsed guarantees were given, securing
full citizenship, with equality of taxation and tribute to all,
even foreigners, who would take part in the fighting. Thus they were
presently able to take the field, with large detachments both of heavy
infantry and light-armed troops, besides a division of cavalry, about
seventy in number. Their system was to push forward foraging parties in
quest of wood and fruits, returning at nightfall to Piraeus. Of the city
party no one ventured to take the field under arms; only, from time to
time, the cavalry would capture stray pillagers from Piraeus or inflict
some damage on the main body of their opponents. Once they fell in with
a party belonging to the deme Aexone, (12) marching to their own farms
in search of provisions. These, in spite of many prayers for mercy
and the strong disapprobation of many of the knights, were ruthlessly
slaughtered by Lysimachus, the general of cavalry. The men of Piraeus
retaliated by putting to death a horseman, named Callistratus, of the
tribe Leontis, whom they captured in the country. Indeed their courage
ran so high at present that they even meditated an assault upon the city
walls. And here perhaps the reader will pardon the record of a somewhat
ingenious device on the part of the city engineer, who, aware of the
enemy's intention to advance his batteries along the racecourse, which
slopes from the Lyceum, had all the carts and waggons which were to be
found laden with blocks of stone, each one a cartload in itself, and
so sent them to deposit their freights "pele-mele" on the course in
question. The annoyance created by these separate blocks of stone
was enormous, and quite out of proportion to the simplicity of the
contrivance.
(12) On the coast south of Phalerum, celebrated for its fisheries. Cf.
"Athen." vii. 325.
But it was to Lacedaemon that men's eyes now turned. The Thirty
despatched one set of ambassadors from Eleusis, while another set
representing the government of the city, that is to say the men on the
list, was despatched to summon the Lacedaemonians to their aid, on the
plea that the people had revolted from Sparta. At Sparta, Lysander,
taking into account the possibility of speedily reducing the party in
Piraeus by blockading them by land and sea, and so cutting them off from
all supplies, supported the application, and negotiated the loan of
one hundred talents (13) to his clients, backed by the appointment of
himself as harmost on land, and of his brother, Libys, as admiral of
the fleet. And so proceeding to the scene of action at Eleusis, he got
together a large body of Peloponnesian hoplites, whilst his brother,
the admiral, kept watch and ward by sea to prevent the importation of
supplies into Piraeus by water. Thus the men in Piraeus were soon again
reduced to their former helplessness, while the ardour of the city folk
rose to a proportionally high pitch under the auspices of Lysander.
(13) 24,375 pounds, reckoning one tal. = 243 pounds 15 shillings.
Things were progressing after this sort when King Pausanias intervened.
Touched by a certain envy of Lysander--(who seemed, by a final stroke of
achievement, about to reach the pinnacle of popularity, with Athens laid
like a pocket dependency at his feet)--the king persuaded three of
the ephors to support him, and forthwith called out the ban. With him
marched contingents of all the allied States, except the Boeotians and
Corinthians. These maintained, that to undertake such an expedition
against the Athenians, in whose conduct they saw nothing contrary to the
treaty, was inconsistent with their oaths. But if that was the language
held by them, the secret of their behaviour lay deeper; they seemed to
be aware of a desire on the part of the Lacedaemonians to annex the
soil of the Athenians and to reduce the state to vassalage. Pausanias
encamped on the Halipedon, (14) as the sandy flat is called, with his
right wing resting on Piraeus, and Lysander and his mercenaries forming
the left. His first act was to send an embassage to the party in
Piraeus, calling upon them to retire peacably to their homes; when they
refused to obey, he made, as far as mere noise went, the semblance of an
attack, with sufficient show of fight to prevent his kindly disposition
being too apparent. But gaining nothing by the feint, he was forced to
retire. Next day he took two Laconian regiments, with three tribes of
Athenian horse, and crossed over to the Mute (15) Harbour, examining the
lie of the ground to discover how and where it would be easiest to draw
lines of circumvallation round Piraeus. As he turned his back to retire,
a party of the enemy sallied out and caused him annoyance. Nettled at
the liberty, he ordered the cavalry to charge at the gallop, supported
by the ten-year-service (16) infantry, whilst he himself, with the rest
of the troops, followed close, holding quietly back in reserve. They cut
down about thirty of the enemy's light troops and pursued the rest hotly
to the theatre in Piraeus. Here, as chance would have it, the whole
light and heavy infantry of the Piraeus men were getting under arms;
and in an instant their light troops rushed out and dashed at the
assailants; thick and fast flew missiles of all sorts--javelins, arrows
and sling stones. The Lacedaemonians finding the number of their wounded
increasing every minute, and sorely called, slowly fell back step by
step, eyeing their opponents. These meanwhile resolutely pressed on.
Here fell Chaeron and Thibrachus, both polemarchs, here also Lacrates,
an Olympic victor, and other Lacedaemonians, all of whom now lie
entombed before the city gates in the Ceramicus. (17)
(14) The Halipedon is the long stretch of flat sandy land between
Piraeus Phalerum and the city.
(15) Perhaps the landlocked creek just round the promontory of
Eetioneia, as Leake conjectures, "Topog. of Athens," p. 389. See
also Prof. Jowett's note, "Thuc." v. 2; vol. ii. p. 286.
(16) I.e. who had already seen ten years of service, i.e. over twenty-
eight, as the Spartan was eligible to serve at eighteen. Cf. Xen.
"Hell." III. iv. 23; VI. iv. 176.
(17) The outer Ceramicus, "the most beautiful spot outside the walls."
Cf. Thuc. ii. 34; through it passes the street of the tombs on the
sacred road; and here was the place of burial for all persons
honoured with a public funeral. Cf. Arist. "Birds," 395.
Watching how matters went, Thrasybulus began his advance with the whole
of his heavy infantry to support his light troops and quickly fell
into line eight deep, acting as a screen to the rest of his troops.
Pausanias, on his side, had retired, sorely pressed, about half a
mile towards a bit of rising ground, where he sent orders to the
Lacedaemonians and the other allied troops to bring up reinforcements.
Here, on this slope, he reformed his troops, giving his phalanx the
full depth, and advanced against the Athenians, who did not hesitate
to receive him at close quarters, but presently had to give way; one
portion being forced into the mud and clay at Halae, (18) while the
others wavered and broke their line; one hundred and fifty of them were
left dead on the field, whereupon Pausanias set up a trophy and retired.
Not even so, were his feelings embittered against his adversary. On the
contrary he sent secretly and instructed the men of Piraeus, what sort
of terms they should propose to himself and the ephors in attendance.
To this advice they listened. He also fostered a division in the party
within the city. A deputation, acting on his orders, sought an audience
of him and the ephors. It had all the appearance of a mass meeting. In
approaching the Spartan authorities, they had no desire or occasion,
they stated, to look upon the men of Piraeus as enemies, they would
prefer a general reconciliation and the friendship of both sides with
Lacedaemon. The propositions were favourably received, and by no less a
person than Nauclidas. He was present as ephor, in accordance with the
custom which obliges two members of that board to serve on all military
expeditions with the king, and with his colleague shared the political
views represented by Pausanias, rather than those of Lysander and his
party. Thus the authorities were quite ready to despatch to Lacedaemon
the representatives of Piraeus, carrying their terms of truce with the
Lacedaemonians, as also two private individuals belonging to the city
party, whose names were Cephisophon and Meletus. This double deputation,
however, had no sooner set out to Lacedaemon than the "de facto"
government of the city followed suit, by sending a third set of
representatives to state on their behalf: that they were prepared to
deliver up themselves and the fortifications in their possession to
the Lacedaemonians, to do with them what they liked. "Are the men of
Piraeus," they asked, "prepared to surrender Piraeus and Munychia in
the same way? If they are sincere in their profession of friendship to
Lacedaemon, they ought to do so." The ephors and the members of assembly
at Sparta (19) gave audience to these several parties, and sent
out fifteen commissioners to Athens empowered, in conjunction with
Pausanias, to discover the best settlement possible. The terms (20)
arrived at were that a general peace between the rival parties should be
established, liberty to return to their own homes being granted to all,
with the exception of the Thirty, the Eleven, and the Ten who had been
governors in Piraeus; but a proviso was added, enabling any of the city
party who feared to remain at Athens to find a home in Eleusis.
(18) Halae, the salt marshy ground immediately behind the great
harbour of Piraeus, but outside the fortification lines.
(19) Cf. "Hell." VI. iii. 3, {oi ekkletoi}.
(20) Cf. Prof. Jebb, "Orators," i. 262, note 2.
And now that everything was happily concluded, Pausanias disbanded his
army, and the men from Piraeus marched up under arms into the acropolis
and offered sacrifice to Athena. When they were come down, the generals
called a meeting of the Ecclesia, (21) and Thrasybulus made a speech in
which, addressing the city party, he said: "Men of the city! I have one
piece of advice I would tender to you; it is that you should learn to
know yourselves, and towards the attainment of that self-knowledge I
would have you make a careful computation of your good qualities and
satisfy yourselves on the strength of which of these it is that you
claim to rule over us. Is it that you are more just than ourselves? Yet
the people, who are poorer--have never wronged you for the purposes of
plunder; but you, whose wealth would outweight the whole of ours, have
wrought many a shameful deed for the sake of gain. If, then, you have
no monopoly of justice, can it be on the score of courage that you are
warranted to hold your heads so high? If so, what fairer test of courage
will you propose than the arbitrament of war--the war just ended? Or do
you claim superiority of intelligence?--you, who with all your wealth of
arms and walls, money and Peloponnesian allies, have been paralysed by
men who had none of these things to aid them! Or is it on these Laconian
friends of yours that you pride yourselves? What! when these same
friends have dealt by you as men deal by vicious dogs. You know how that
is. They put a heavy collar round the neck of the brutes and hand them
over muzzled to their masters. So too have the Lacedaemonians handed you
over to the people, this very people whom you have injured; and now they
have turned their backs and are gone. But" (turning to the mass) "do
not misconceive me. It is not for me, sirs, coldly to beg of you, in no
respect to violate your solemn undertakings. I go further; I beg you,
to crown your list of exploits by one final display of virtue. Show
the world that you can be faithful to your oaths, and flawless in your
conduct." By these and other kindred arguments he impressed upon them
that there was no need for anarchy or disorder, seeing that there were
the ancient laws ready for use. And so he broke up (22) the assembly.
(21) I.e. the Public Assembly, see above; and reading with Sauppe
after Cobet {ekklesian epoiesan}, which words are supposed to have
dropt out of the MSS. Or, keeping to the MSS., translate "When the
generals were come down, Thrasybulus," etc. See next note.
(22) The Greek words are {antestese ten ekklesian} (an odd phrase for
the more technical {eluse} or {dieluse ten ekklesian}). Or,
accepting the MSS. reading above (see last note), translate "he
set up (i.e. restored) the Assembly." So Mr. J. G. Philpotts, Mr.
Herbert Hailstone, and others.
At this auspicious moment, then, they reappointed the several
magistrates; the constitution began to work afresh, and civic life was
recommenced. At a subsequent period, on receiving information that the
party at Eleusis were collecting a body of mercenaries, they marched out
with their whole force against them, and put to death their generals,
who came out to parley. These removed, they introduced to the others
their friends and connections, and so persuaded them to come to terms
and be reconciled. The oath they bound themselves by consisted of a
simple asseveration: "We will remember past offences no more;" and to
this day (23) the two parties live amicably together as good citizens,
and the democracy is steadfast to its oaths.
(23) It would be interesting to know the date at which the author
penned these words. Was this portion of the "Hellenica" written
before the expedition of Cyrus? i.e. in the interval between the
formal restoration of the Democracy, September B.C. 403, and March
B.C. 401. The remaining books of the "Hellenica" were clearly
written after that expedition, since reference is made to it quite
early in Bk. III. i. 2. Practically, then, the first volume of
Xenophon's "History of Hellenic Affairs" ends here. This history
is resumed in Bk. III. i. 3. after the Cyreian expedition (of
which episode we have a detailed account in the "Anabasis" from
March B.C. 401 down to March B.C. 399, when the remnant of the Ten
Thousand was handed over to the Spartan general Thibron in Asia).
Some incidents belonging to B.C. 402 are referred to in the
opening paragraphs of "Hellenica," III. i. 1, 2, but only as an
introduction to the new matter; and with regard to the historian
himself, it is clear that "a change has come o'er the spirit of
his dream." This change of view is marked by a change of style in
writing. I have thought it legitimate, under the circumstances, to
follow the chronological order of events, and instead of
continuing the "Hellenica," at this point to insert the
"Anabasis." My next volume will contain the remaining books of the
"Hellenica" and the rest of Xenophon's "historical" writings.
BOOK III
I
B.C. 403-402. Thus the civil strife at Athens had an end. At a
subsequent date Cyrus sent messengers to Lacedaemon, claiming requital
in kind for the service which he had lately rendered in the war with
Athens. (1) The demand seemed to the ephorate just and reasonable.
Accordingly they ordered Samius, (2) who was admiral at the time, to
put himself at the disposition of Cyrus for any service which he might
require. Samius himself needed no persuasion to carry out the wishes of
Cyrus. With his own fleet, accompanied by that of Cyrus, he sailed round
to Cilicia, and so made it impossible for Syennesis, the ruler of that
province, to oppose Cyrus by land in his advance against the king his
brother.
(1) Lit. "what Cyrus himself had been to the Lacedaemonians let the
Lacedaemonians in their turn be to Cyrus."
(2) Samius (Diod. Sic. xiv. 19). But see "Anab." I. iv. 2, where
Pythagoras is named as admiral. Possibly the one officer succeeded
the other.
B.C. 401. The particulars of the expedition are to be found in the pages
of the Syracusan Themistogenes, (3) who describes the mustering of the
armament, and the advance of Cyrus at the head of his troops; and then
the battle, and death of Cyrus himself, and the consequent retreat of
the Hellenes while effecting their escape to the sea. (4)
(3) Lit. "as to how then Cyrus collected an army and with it went up
against his brother, and how the battle was fought and how he
died, and how in the sequel the Hellenes escaped to the sea (all
this), is written by (or 'for,' or 'in honour of') Themistogenes
the Syracusan." My impression is that Xenophon's "Anabasis," or a
portion of the work so named, was edited originally by
Themistogenes. See "Philol. Museum," vol. i. p. 489; L. Dindorf,
{Xen. Ell.}, Ox. MDCCCLIII., node ad loc. {Themistogenei}. Cf.
Diod. Sic. xiv. 19-31, 37, after Ephorus and Theopompus probably.
(4) At Trapezus, March 10, B.C. 400.
B.C. 400. It was in recognition of the service which he had rendered in
this affair, that Tissaphernes was despatched to Lower Asia by the king
his master. He came as satrap, not only of his own provinces, but of
those which had belonged to Cyrus; and he at once demanded the absolute
submission of the Ionic cities, without exception, to his authority.
These communities, partly from a desire to maintain their freedom, and
partly from fear of Tissaphernes himself, whom they had rejected in
favour of Cyrus during the lifetime of that prince, were loth to admit
the satrap within their gates. They thought it better to send an embassy
to the Lacedaemonians, calling upon them as representatives and leaders
(5) of the Hellenic world to look to the interests of their petitioners,
who were Hellenes also, albeit they lived in Asia, and not to suffer
their country to be ravaged and themselves enslaved.
(5) {Prostatai}, "patrons and protectors."
In answer to this appeal, the Lacedaemonians sent out Thibron (6)
as governor, providing him with a body of troops, consisting of one
thousand neodamodes (7) (i.e. enfranchised helots) and four thousand
Peloponnesians. In addition to these, Thibron himself applied to
the Athenians for a detachment of three hundred horse, for whose
service-money he would hold himself responsible. The Athenians in
answer sent him some of the knights who had served under the Thirty,
(8) thinking that the people of Athens would be well rid of them if they
went abroad and perished there.
(6) "As harmost." See "Anab." ad fin.
(7) See "Hell." I. iii. 15; Thuc. vii. 58.
(8) See "Hell." II. iv. 2.
B.C. 400-399. On their arrival in Asia, Thibron further collected
contingents from the Hellenic cities on the continent; for at this time
the word of a Lacedaemonian was law. He had only to command, and every
city must needs obey. (9) But although he had this armament, Thibron,
when he saw the cavalry, had no mind to descend into the plain. If he
succeeded in protecting from pillage the particular district in which
he chanced to be, he was quite content. It was only when the troops (10)
who had taken part in the expedition of Cyrus had joined him on their
safe return, that he assumed a bolder attitude. He was now ready to
confront Tissaphernes, army against army, on the level ground, and won
over a number of cities. Pergamum came in of her own accord. So did
Teuthrania and Halisarna. These were under the government of Eurysthenes
and Procles, (11) the descendants of Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, who
in days of old had received this territory as a gift from the Persian
monarch in return for his share in the campaign against Hellas. Gorgion
and Gongylus, two brothers, also gave in their adhesion; they were
lords, the one of Gambreum and Palae-Gambreum, the other of Myrina and
Gryneum, four cities which, like those above named, had originally
been gifts from the king to an earlier Gongylus--the sole Eretrian who
"joined the Mede," and in consequence was banished. Other cities which
were too weak to resist, Thibron took by force of arms. In the case of
one he was not so successful. This was the Egyptian (12) Larisa, as it
is called, which refused to capitulate, and was forthwith invested and
subjected to a regular siege. When all other attempts to take it failed,
he set about digging a tank or reservoir, and in connection with the
tank an underground channel, by means of which he proposed to draw off
the water supply of the inhabitants. In this he was baffled by frequent
sallies of the besieged, and a continual discharge of timber and stones
into the cutting. He retaliated by the construction of a wooden tortoise
which he erected over the tank; but once more the tortoise was burnt to
a cinder in a successful night attack on the part of the men of Larisa.
These ineffectual efforts induced the ephors to send a despatch bidding
Thibron give up Larisa and march upon Caria.
(9) See "Anab." VI. vi. 12.
(10) March B.C. 399. See the final sentence of the "Anabasis."
(11) See "Anab." VII. viii. 8-16.
(12) Seventy stades S.E. of Cyme in the Aeolid. See Strabo, xiii. 621.
For the origin of the name cf. "Cyrop." VII. i. 45.
He had already reached Ephesus, and was on the point of marching into
Caria, when Dercylidas arrived to take command of his army. The new
general was a man whose genius for invention had won him the nickname of
Sisyphus. Thus it was that Thibron returned home, where on his arrival
he was fined and banished, the allies accusing him of allowing his
troops to plunder their friends.
Dercylidas was not slow to perceive and turn to account the jealousy
which subsisted between Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. Coming to
terms with the former, he marched into the territory of the latter,
preferring, as he said, to be at war with one of the pair at a time,
rather than the two together. His hostility, indeed, to Pharnabazus was
an old story, dating back to a period during the naval command (13)
of Lysander, when he was himself governor in Abydos; where, thanks to
Pharnabazus, he had got into trouble with his superior officer, and had
been made to stand "with his shield on his arm"--a stigma on his honour
which no true Lacedaemonian would forgive, since this is the punishment
of insubordination. (14) For this reason, doubtless, Dercylidas had the
greater satisfaction in marching against Pharnabazus. From the moment he
assumed command there was a marked difference for the better between his
methods and those of his predecessor. Thus he contrived to conduct his
troops into that portion of the Aeolid which belonged to Pharnabazus,
through the heart of friendly territory without injury to the allies.
(13) Technically "navarchy," in B.C. 408-407. "Hell." I. v. 1.
(14) See Plut. "Aristid." 23 (Clough, ii. p. 309).
This district of Aeolis belonged to Pharnabazus, (15) but had been held
as a satrapy under him by a Dardanian named Zenis whilst he was alive;
but when Zenis fell sick and died, Pharnabazus made preparation to give
the satrapy to another. Then Mania the wife of Zenis, herself also a
Dardanian, fitted out an expedition, and taking with her gifts wherewith
to make a present to Pharnabazus himself, and to gratify his concubines
and those whose power was greatest with Pharnabazus, set forth on her
journey. When she had obtained audience with him she spoke as follows:
"O Pharnabazus, thou knowest that thy servant my husband was in all
respects friendly to thee; moreover, he paid my lord the tributes which
were thy due, so that thou didst praise and honour him. Now therefore,
if I do thee service as faithfully as my husband, why needest thou to
appoint another satrap?--nay but, if in any matter I please thee not, is
it not in thy power to take from me the government on that day, and to
give it to another?" When he had heard her words, Pharnabazus decided
that the woman ought to be satrap. She, as soon as she was mistress of
the territory, never ceased to render the tribute in due season, even
as her husband before her had done. Moreover, whenever she came to the
court of Pharnabazus she brought him gifts continually, and whenever
Pharnabazus went down to visit her provinces she welcomed him with all
fair and courteous entertainment beyond what his other viceroys were
wont to do. The cities also which had been left to her by her husband,
she guarded safely for him; while of those cities that owed her no
allegiance, she acquired, on the seaboard, Larisa and Hamaxitus and
Colonae--attacking their walls by aid of Hellenic mercenaries, whilst
she herself sat in her carriage and watched the spectacle. Nor was
she sparing of her gifts to those who won her admiration; and thus she
furnished herself with a mercenary force of exceptional splendour. She
also went with Pharnabazus on his campaigns, even when, on pretext of
some injury done to the king's territory, Mysians or Pisidians were the
object of attack. In requital, Pharnabazus paid her magnificent honour,
and at times invited her to assist him with her counsel. (16)
(15) I.e. as suzerain.
(16) Grote, "H. G." ix. 292; cf. Herod. viii. 69.
Now when Mania was more than forty years old, the husband of her own
daughter, Meidias--flustered by the suggestions of certain people who
said that it was monstrous a woman should rule and he remain a private
person (17)--found his way into her presence, as the story goes, and
strangled her. For Mania, albeit she carefully guarded herself against
all ordinary comers, as behoved her in the exercise of her "tyranny,"
trusted in Meidias, and, as a woman might her own son-in-law, was ready
to greet him at all times with open arms. He also murdered her son, a
youth of marvellous beauty, who was about seventeen years of age. He
next seized upon the strong cities of Scepsis and Gergithes, in which
lay for the most part the property and wealth of Mania. As for the
other cities of the satrapy, they would not receive the usurper, their
garrisons keeping them safely for Pharnabazus. Thereupon Meidias sent
gifts to Pharnabazus, and claimed to hold the district even as Mania
had held it; to whom the other answered, "Keep your gifts and guard them
safely until that day when I shall come in person and take both you
and them together"; adding, "What care I to live longer if I avenge not
myself for the murder of Mania!"
(17) Or, "his brains whimsied with insinuations."
Just at the critical moment Dercylidas arrived, and in a single day
received the adhesion of the three seaboard cities Larisa, Hamaxitus,
and Colonae--which threw open their gates to him. Then he sent
messengers to the cities of the Aeolid also, offering them freedom if
they would receive him within their walls and become allies. Accordingly
the men of Neandria and Ilium and Cocylium lent willing ears; for since
the death of Mania their Hellenic garrisons had been treated but ill.
But the commander of the garrison in Cebrene, a place of some strength,
bethinking him that if he should succeed in guarding that city for
Pharnabazus, he would receive honour at his hands, refused to admit
Dercylidas. Whereupon the latter, in a rage, prepared to take the place
by force; but when he came to sacrifice, on the first day the victims
would not yield good omens; on the second, and again upon the third day,
it was the same story. Thus for as many as four days he persevered in
sacrificing, cherishing wrath the while--for he was in haste to become
master of the whole Aeolid before Pharnabazus came to the succour of the
district.
Meanwhile a certain Sicyonian captain, Athenadas by name, said to
himself: "Dercylidas does but trifle to waste his time here, whilst
I with my own hand can draw off their water from the men of Cybrene";
wherewith he ran forward with his division and essayed to choke up the
spring which supplied the city. But the garrison sallied out and covered
the Sicyonian himself with wounds, besides killing two of his men.
Indeed, they plied their swords and missiles with such good effect that
the whole company was forced to beat a retreat. Dercylidas was not a
little annoyed, thinking that now the spirit of the besiegers would
certainly die away; but whilst he was in this mood, behold! there
arrived from the beleaguered fortress emissaries of the Hellenes, who
stated that the action taken by the commandant was not to their taste;
for themselves, they would far rather be joined in bonds of fellowship
with Hellenes than with barbarians. While the matter was still under
discussion there came a messenger also from the commandant, to say that
whatever the former deputation had proposed he, on his side, was ready
to endorse. Accordingly Dercylidas, who, it so happened, had at length
obtained favourable omens on that day, marched his force without more
ado up to the gates of the city, which were flung open by those
within; and so he entered. (18) Here, then, he was content to appoint a
garrison, and without further stay advanced upon Scepsis and Gergithes.
(18) Grote ("H. G." ix. 294) says: "The reader will remark how
Xenophon shapes the narrative in such a manner as to inculcate the
pious duty in a general of obeying the warnings furnished by the
sacrifice--either for action or for inaction.... Such an
inference is never (I believe) to be found suggested in
Thucydides." See Brietenbach, "Xen. Hell." I et II, praef. in
alteram ed. p. xvii.
And now Meidias, partly expecting the hostile advance of Pharnabazus,
and partly mistrusting the citizens--for to such a pass things had
come--sent to Dercylidas, proposing to meet him in conference provided
he might take security of hostages. In answer to this suggestion the
other sent him one man from each of the cities of the allies, and bade
him take his pick of these, whichsoever and how many soever he chose, as
hostages for his own security. Meidias selected ten, and so went out. In
conversation with Dercylidas, he asked him on what terms he would accept
his alliance. The other answered: "The terms are that you grant the
citizens freedom and self-government." The words were scarcely out of
his mouth before he began marching upon Scepsis. Whereupon Meidias,
perceiving it was vain to hinder him in the teeth of the citizens,
suffered him to enter. That done, Dercylidas offered sacrifice to Athena
in the citadel of the Scepsians, turned out the bodyguards of Meidias,
and handed over the city to the citizens. And so, having admonished them
to regulate their civic life as Hellenes and free men ought, he left the
place and continued his advance against Gergithes. On this last march
he was escorted by many of the Scepsians themselves; such was the honour
they paid him and so great their satisfaction at his exploits. Meidias
also followed close at his side, petitioning that he would hand over the
city of Gergithians to himself. To whom Dercylidas only made reply,
that he should not fail to obtain any of his just rights. And whilst the
words were yet upon his lips, he was drawing close to the gates, with
Meidias at his side. Behind him followed the troops, marching two
and two in peaceful fashion. The defenders of Gergithes from their
towers--which were extraordinarily high--espied Meidias in company of
the Spartan, and abstained from shooting. And Dercylidas said: "Bid them
open the gates, Meidias, when you shall lead the way, and I will enter
the temple along with you and do sacrifice to Athena." And Meidias,
though he shrank from opening the gates, yet in terror of finding
himself on a sudden seized, reluctantly gave the order to open the
gates. As soon as he was entered in, the Spartan, still taking Meidias
with him, marched up to the citadel and there ordered the main body of
his soldiers to take up their position round the walls, whilst he with
those about him did sacrifice to Athena. When the sacrifice was ended he
ordered Meidias's bodyguard to pile arms (19) in the van of his troops.
Here for the future they would serve as mercenaries, since Meidias their
former master stood no longer in need of their protection. The latter,
being at his wits' end what to do, exclaimed: "Look you, I will now
leave you; I go to make preparation for my guest." But the other
replied: "Heaven forbid! Ill were it that I who have offered sacrifice
should be treated as a guest by you. I rather should be the entertainer
and you the guest. Pray stay with us, and while the supper is preparing,
you and I can consider our obligations, and perform them."
(19) I.e. take up a position, or "to order arms," whilst he addressed
them; not probably "to ground arms," as if likely to be mutinous.
When they were seated Dercylidas put certain questions: "Tell me,
Meidias, did your father leave you heir to his estates?" "Certainly he
did," answered the other. "And how many dwelling-houses have you? what
landed estates? how much pasturage?" The other began running off
an inventory, whilst some of the Scepsians who were present kept
interposing, "He is lying to you, Dercylidas." "Nay, you take too minute
a view of matters," replied the Spartan. When the inventory of the
paternal property was completed, he proceeded: "Tell me, Meidias, to
whom did Mania belong?" A chorus of voices rejoined, "To Pharnabazus."
"Then must her property have belonged to Pharnabazus too." "Certainly,"
they answered. "Then it must now be ours," he remarked, "by right of
conquest, since Pharnabazus is at war with us. Will some one of you
escort me to the place where the property of Mania and Pharnabazus
lies?" So the rest led the way to the dwelling-place of Mania which
Meidias had taken from her, and Meidias followed too. When he was
entered, Dercylidas summoned the stewards, and bidding his attendants
seize them, gave them to understand that, if detected stealing anything
which belonged to Mania, they would lose their heads on the spot. The
stewards proceeded to point out the treasures, and he, when he had
looked through the whole store, bolted and barred the doors, affixing
his seal, and setting a watch. As he went out he found at the doors
certain of the generals (20) and captains, and said to them: "Here,
sirs, we have pay ready made for the army--a year's pay nearly for eight
thousand men--and if we can win anything besides, there will be so much
the more." This he said, knowing that those who heard it would be all
the more amenable to discipline, and would yield him a more flattering
obedience. Then Meidias asked, "And where am I to live, Dercylidas?"
"Where you have the very best right to live," replied the other, "in
your native town of Scepsis, and in your father's house."
(20) Lit. "of the taxiarchs and lochagoi."
II
Such were the exploits of Dercylidas: nine cities taken in eight days.
Two considerations now began to occupy his mind: how was he to avoid
falling into the fatal error of Thibron and becoming a burthen to his
allies, whilst wintering in a friendly country? how, again, was he to
prevent Pharnabazus from overriding the Hellenic states in pure contempt
with his cavalry? Accordingly he sent to Pharnabazus and put it to him
point-blank: Which will you have, peace or war? Whereupon Pharnabazus,
who could not but perceive that the whole Aeolid had now been converted
practically into a fortified base of operations, which threatened his
own homestead of Phrygia, chose peace.
B.C. 399-398. This being so, Dercylidas advanced into Bithynian Thrace,
and there spent the winter; nor did Pharnabazus exhibit a shadow of
annoyance, since the Bithynians were perpetually at war with himself.
For the most part, Dercylidas continued to harry (1) Bithynia in perfect
security, and found provisions with
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