Book 4
He explained that he made his proclamation to those who had taken refuge with the Athenians for the reason that he thought none the worse of them for their friendship with these; and when they had proved his countrymen, the Lacedaemonians, they would not, he thought, be less but rather far more kindly disposed toward them than toward the Athenians, inasmuch as their conduct was more just; whereas now they had been afraid of them through inexperience.
Moreover, he told them all to prepare to show themselves staunch allies and to be held responsible for whatever mistakes they might make from this time on; as to their former actions, it was not the Lacedaemonians who had been wronged by them, but the Toronaeans rather by othersThe Athenians. who were stronger, and it was pardonable if the Toronaeans had made any opposition to him.
Having said such things and encouraged them, when the truce expired he proceeded to make assaults upon Lecythus; but the Athenians defended themselves from a paltry fort and from such houses as had battlements, and beat them back for one day.
On the next day, however, when the enemy were about to bring against them an engine from which it was intended to throw fire upon the wooden defences, and the army was already coming up, they set up a wooden tower on a house at the point where they thought the enemy most likely to bring up his engine and where the wall was most assailable, and carried up many jars and casks of water and big stones, and many men also ascended.
But the house, being over-weighted, collapsed suddenly and with a great noise, annoying rather than frightening the Athenians who were near and saw it; but those who were at a distance, and especially those furthest off, thinking that in that quarter the place had already been taken, set off in flight for the sea and their ships.
When Brasidas perceived that they were leaving the battlements and saw what was going on, he bore down at once with the army and took the fort, destroying all that he found in it.
And so the Athenians left the place in their small boats and ships and were thus conveyed to Pallene. Now there is a temple of Athena in Lecythus, and it chanced that Brasidas, when he was on the point of making the assault, had proclaimed that he would give thirty minas£122, $580. in silver to him who first mounted the wall; but thinking now that the capture had been effected by some other means than human, he paid the thirty minas to the goddess for the temple, and after razing Lecythus and clearing the ground consecrated the whole place as a sacred precinct.
Then for the rest of the winter he proceeded to set in order the affairs of the places that he held and to plot against the other towns; and with the conclusion of this winter ended the eighth year of the war.
But at the opening of spring in the fol-423 B C. lowing summer season, the Lacedaemonians and Athenians at once concluded an armistice for a year. The Athenians believed that Brasidas would thus not be able to cause any more of their allies to revolt and they meanwhile could make preparations at their leisure, and at the same time that, should it be to their advantage, they might make further agreements; the Lacedaemonians, on their part, thought that the Athenians were moved by precisely the fears which actuated them,i.e, if an armistice did not intervene, Brasidas might detach still other allies from them. and that, when once they had enjoyed a respite from troubles and hardships, they would, after such an experience, be more anxious to be reconciled, restore their men and make a truce for
a longer time. For it was their men they made a special point of recovering, while Brasidas was still in good luck. If he were still further successful and established the contending forces on an even footing, the likelihood was that they would still be deprived of these men, and it would be doubtful whether, fighting on equal terms, they could prevail
with the remainder. Accordingly an armistice was concluded for them and their allies on the following terms:
"Concerning the temple and oracle of the Pythian Apollo, we agree that whosoever will shall consult it without fraud and without fear, according to the usages of our forefathers.
These things seem good to the Lacedaemonians and the allies that are present;
and they promise to send heralds to the Boeotians and Phocians and persuade them so far as they can. "Concerning the treasure of the god we agree to take care to find out all wrong-doers, rightly and justly following the usages of our forefathers, you and we and all others that wish to do so, all following the usages of our forefathers.
Concerning these things, then, it is so agreed by the Lacedaemonians and the rest of the confederates on such terms. "The following agreements also are made by the Lacedaemonians and the rest of the confederates, that in case the Athenians make a treaty, we shall each of us remain on our own territory, keeping what we now have: the Athenian garrison in CoryphasiumThe Lacedaemonian name of Pylos (4.3.2). Buphras and Tomeus were two high points on the coast. shall keep within Buphras and Tomeus; that in Cytheracf. chs. liii. liv. shall have no communication with the territory of the Iacedaemonian allies, neither we with them nor they with us; that in Nisaeacf. ch. lxix. and Minoacf. 3.51.; 4.67. shall not cross the road leading from the gates of the shrine of NisusLit. “the gates leading from the shrine (or statue, as παρά might indicate) of Nisus.” to the Poseidonium, and from the Poseidonium straight to the bridgeConnecting Minoa with the mainland; cf. 3.51.3. at Minoa (nor shall the Megarians or their allies cross this road); as to the islandProbably Atalante is meant; cf. 3.89.3; v. xviii. 7. which the Athenians took, they shall retain it, and neither party shall communicate with the other; and finally, in the territory of Troezen,The Athenian fortification on the isthmus of Methana; cf. 4.45.2. the Athenians shall retain whatever they now have in accordance with the agreements which the Troezenians have made with the Athenians.
"As to the use of the sea, in so far as they use it along their own coast and along that of their confederacy, the Lacedaemonians and their allies may sail, not with a ship of war, but with any rowing-vessel up to five hundred talents burden.About 12 1/2 tons.
"There shall be safe conduct for herald and envoys and their attendants, as many as shall seem proper, on their way to the Peloponnesus and to Athens for the purpose of bringing the war to an end and for the arbitration of disputes, both going and coming, by land and by sea.
"Deserters shall not be received during this time, whether freemen or slaves, either by you or by us.
"You shall give satisfaction to us and we to you according to our ancestral customs, settling disputed points by arbitration without war.
“To the Lacedaemonians and their allies these things seem good; but if anything seems to you fairer or juster than these things, come to Lacedaemon and set forth your view; for neither the Lacedaemonians nor their allies will reject any just proposal you may make.
And let those who come come with full powers, as you also desired of us. And the truce shall be for a year.”The prescript of the Athenian decree which ratified the truce is quoted verbatim (italics above).
Decreed by the people. The tribe Acamantis held the prytany, Phaenippus was clerk, Niciades was president.
Laches, invoking good fortune for the people of Athens, moved to conclude the armistice according to the terms to which the Lacedaemonians and their allies had consented; and it was agreed in the popular assembly that the armistice should be for a year, and should begin on that day, the fourteenth of the month Elaphebolion.
During this time envoys and heralds were to go from one state to the other and discuss proposals looking to the termination of the war.
And the generals and prytanes were to call an assembly in which the Athenians should deliberate first of all about peace, on what terms the Lacedaemonian embassy for ending the war should be admitted. And the embassies now present should pledge themselves at once, in the presence of the people, to abide by the truce for the year.
These agreements the Lacedaemonians and their allies made with the Athenians and their allies and ratified them by oath at Lacedaemon on the twelfth day of the Spartan month Gerastius.Grote is probably right in assuming that the twelfth of Gerastius corresponded to the fourteenth of Elaphebolion.
And those who concluded and ratified the truce on behalf of the Lacedaemonians were the following: Taurus son of Echetimidas, Athenaeus son of Pericleidas, Philocharidas son of Eryxilaidas; on behalf of the Corinthians, Aeneas son of Ocytus, Euphamidas son of Aristonymus; on behalf of the Sicyonians, Damotimus son of Naucrates, Onasimus son of Megacles; on behalf of the Megarians, Nicasus son of Cecalus, Menecrates son of Amphidorus; on behalf of the Epidaurians, Amphias son of Eupalidas;
on behalf of the Athenians, the generals Nicostratus son of Dieitrephes, Nicias son of Niceratus, Autocles son of Tolmaeus. Such, then, were the terms on which the armistice was concluded, and during its continuance they were constantly conferring about a truce of longer duration.
About the very time when they were performing the rites of confirmation,These consisted of formal libations. Scione, a city in Pallene, revolted from the Athenians and went over to Brasidas. The Scionaeans assert that they came originally from PellenePellene was in Achaea, near Sicyon; the people are mentioned as allies of Sparta in 2.9.2.. in the Peloponnesus, and that the first settlers in Scione were driven to this place on their way back from Troy by the stormReferred to again in 6.2.3. which the Achaeans encountered, and settled here.
On their revolt, Brasidas crossed overie. from Torone. by night to Scione, a friendly trireme sailing ahead and he himself following in a skiff at some distance behind. His idea was that, if he should meet with any boat larger than a skiff, the trireme would protect him, but if another trireme of equal strength should come along it would turn, not against the smaller boat, but against the ship, and in the meantime he could get safely across.
He succeeded in crossing, and having called a meeting of the Scionaeans repeated what he had said at Acanthus and Torone, adding that their own conduct had been most praiseworthy of all because, when Pallene was cut off at the isthmus by the Athenians who held Potidaea and when they were nothing but islanders, they had not supinely awaited the compulsion of necessity in a matter that was manifestly for their own good, but had of their own free will taken the side of freedom; and that, he said, was a proof that they would endure like men any other peril however great; and if things should be settled according to his wish, he would consider them in very truth most loyal friends of the Lacedaemonians and would honour them in other respects.
The Scionaeans were elated at his words, and all alike, even those who before were not satisfied with what was being done, took courage and determined to carry on the war with spirit. Brasidas they not only welcomed with other honours but publicly crowned him with a golden crown as liberator of Hellas, and privately decked him with garlands and made offerings as for a victor in the games.
And he, leaving them a guard for the present, crossed back, but not long afterwards he led over a larger army, wishing in concert with them to make an attempt upon Mende and Potidaea; for he thought the Athenians would bring succour to Pallene as though it were an island, and he wished to anticipate them; besides, he was negotiating with these towns with a view to their betrayal.
So he was about to attack these towns; but in the meantime those who were carrying round the news of the armistice arrived at his headquarters in a trireme, Aristonymus from Athens and Athenaeus from Lacedaemon.
Whereupon his army crossed back to Torone; and the messengers formally announced the agreement to Brasidas, and all the Thracian allies of the Lacedaemonians acquiesced in what had been done.
Aristonymus assented for the other places, but, finding on a calculation of the days that the Scionaeans had revolted after the agreement, he said that they would not be included in the truce. Brasidas, however, earnestly maintained that they had revolted before, and would not give up the city.
Whereupon Aristonymus sent word to Athens about these matters, and the Athenians were ready at once to make an expedition against Scione. But the Lacedaemonians sent envoys, saying that the Athenians would be violating the truce, and trusting the word of Brasidas they laid claim to the town and were ready to arbitrate about it.
The Athenians, however, were inclined, not to risk arbitration, but to make an expedition as quickly as possible, being enraged to think that even the inhabitants of the islands now presumed to revolt, relying on the strength which the Lacedaemonians had on land, useless though it was to them.Because the Athenians commanded the sea.
Moreover, the truth about the revolt was rather as the Athenians claimed; for the Scionaeans revolted two days after the agreement. The Athenians, then, immediately passed a vote, on the motion of Cleon, to destroy Scione and put the citizens to death. And so, keeping quiet in other matters, they made preparations for this.
Meanwhile Mende revolted from them, a city in Pallene, and an Eretrian colony. And Brasidas received them, thinking they were not doing wrong in coming over to him, though clearly it was in the time of the armistice; for there were some points in which he himself charged the Athenians with breaking the truce.