Book 8
When the news reached Athens, even though the actual soldiers who had escaped from the action itself gave a clear report, they for long refused to believe that the armament could have been so utterly destroyed. When, however, they were convinced, they were angry with the orators who had taken part in promoting the expedition—as though they had not voted for it themselves—and they were also enraged at the oracle-mongers and soothsayers and whoever at that time by any practice of divination had led them to hope that they would conquer Sicily.
Everything indeed on every side distressed them, and after what had happened they were beset with fear and utmost consternation. For having lost, both each man separately and as a state, many hoplites and horsemen and the flower of the youth, while they saw none like it left them, they were heavy of heart; and again, seeing no ships in the docks in sufficient number nor money in the treasury nor crews for the ships, they were at the moment hopeless of safety. They thought that their enemies in Sicily would sail with their fleet straight for the Peiraeus, especially as they had won so great a victory, and that their foes at home, now doubly prepared in all respects, would attack them at once with all their might both by land and by sea, and that their own allies would revolt and join them.
Nevertheless it was their opinion that, as far as their present circumstances permitted, they should not give up, but should both make ready a fleet, providing timber and money from whatever source they could, and put their relations with their allies, and especially with Euboea, on a safe footing; moreover, that they should reduce the expenses of the city to an economical basis, and should select a board of elderly men who should prepare measures with reference to the present situation as there might be occasion.
In the panic of the moment they were ready, as is the way with a democracy, to observe discipline in everything. And as they had determined, so they proceeded to act; and the summer ended.
The following winter, in view of the great disaster that had befallen the Athenians in Sicily,Nov., 413 B.C. there was at once excitement among all the Hellenes. Some, who were allies of neither party, thought that, even if they were not called upon for aid, they should no longer hold aloof from the war, but should go of their own accord against the Athenians; for they believed, one and all, that the Athenians would have come against them if they had succeeded in Sicily; they also believed that the rest of the war would be short and that it would be glorious to have a part in it. The allies of the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, were more than ever animated by a common eagerness quickly to be relieved of
their great hardships. But most of all the subjects of the Athenians were ready, even beyond their power, to revolt from them, because they judged of the situation under the influence of passion and would not even leave them the plea that they would be able to hold out through
the following summer. The Lacedaemonian state was encouraged by all these things, and especially because their allies in Sicily would in all probability be present to help them with a large force as soon as spring came, since necessity had now compelled them to
acquire a navy. Being hopeful, then, in every way, they determined to set their hands to the war wholeheartedly, reckoning that when it should have ended successfully they would thereafter be free from such dangers as would have beset them from the side of the Athenians if these had acquired the resources of Sicily in addition to their own; and that, having overthrown them, they would themselves now hold securely the hegemony of all Hellas.
Accordingly Agis their king set out with an army at once during this same winter from Deceleia, and levied money from the allies for the maintenance of the fleet; then turning toward the Malian Gulf, he carried off from the Oetaeans, in pursuance of a long-standing enmity,cf. iii, 92ff. The enmity was due to the establishment of Heracleia. The Trachinians being harassed by their neighbours, the Oetaeans, had appealed to Sparta for aid and the Spartans had colonized Heracleia to protect them. The colony fell owing to the hostility of the Thessalians and the bad conduct of Spartan governors. the greater part of their cattle and exacted money from them. Furthermore, he compelled the Achaeans of Phthiotis and the other subjects of the Thessalians in that region—though the Thessalians were unwilling and remonstrated—to give him hostages and money; then he deposited the hostages at Corinth and tried to bring their countrymen into the alliance.
The Lacedaemonians, moreover, made requisition upon the states for the building of one hundred ships, fixing the levy for themselves and the Boeotians at twenty-five each, for the Phocians and Locrians at fifteen, for the Corinthians at fifteen, for the Arcadians, Pellenians and Sicyonians at ten, and for the Megarians, Troezenians, Epidaurians and Hermionians at ten. And they went on with their other preparations with the expectation of beginning the war promptly with the opening of spring.
During this same winter the Athenians also were making their preparations to build ships, in accordance with their decision, and for this they had collected timber; and they fortified Sunium, in order that there might be protection for their grain-ships as they rounded the promontory. Furthermore, they abandoned the fortress in Laconiacf. 7.26.2. which they had built as they sailed along the Peloponnesian coast toward Sicily; and in general, if there seemed to be any useless expenditure anywhere, they retrenched in order to save money; but above all they kept an eye on their allies, that they might not revolt from them.
While both sides were carrying out these measures and busily equipping themselves for the war precisely as if they were just beginning it, first of all the Euboeans in the course of this winter sent envoys to Agis to discuss revolting from Athens. Receiving their proposals, he summoned from Lacedaemon Alcamenes son of Sthenelaïdas and Melanthus to take command in Euboea, and they came with about three hundred neodamodes,The clans of new citizens formed of Helots emancipated for service in war. Cf. 5.34.1; 7.19.3. while Agis began arranging for their crossing. But in the meantime the Lesbians also came, they also desiring to revolt;
and as the Boeotians assisted them in their negotiations, Agis was persuaded to delay matters so far as the Euboeans were concerned and began arranging their revolt for the Lesbians, giving them as harmost Alcamenes, who was to have sailed to Euboea; furthermore, the Boeotians promised them ten ships and Agis the same number. These negotiations were carried on without the authority of the Lacedaemonian state;
for so long as he was stationed at Deceleia with his own force Agis possessed full power to send troops anywhere he wished as well as to levy them and to exact money. And at that time the allies hearkened to him far more, one might say, than to the Lacedaemonians in Sparta; for he had a force at his own disposal and his appearance anywhere instantly inspired fear. So he was working in the interest of the Lesbians, but the ChiansThe oligarchs, as shown by chs. ix and xiv. Chios had hitherto been noted for its loyalty to Athens. and Erythraeans, who also were ready to revolt, betook themselves, not to Agis, but to Lacedaemon.
And with them went an envoy from Tissaphernes, who was military governor of the coast-lands for King DariusDarius II reigned 423-404. son of Artaxerxes. For Tissaphernes was also trying to induce the Peloponnesians to come over to Asia, promising to furnish them maintenance.
For the King, as it chanced, had lately demanded of him the tribute from his own province, for which he had fallen into arrears, since he was not able to exact it from the Hellenic cities because of the Athenians. He therefore thought that if he should weaken the Athenians he would be better able to collect his tribute; he also intended at the same time to make the Lacedaemonians allies of the King, and, in accordance with the King's command, either to take alive or to kill Amorges, bastard son of Pissuthnes,Mentioned as satrap at Sardis in 440 B.C. (i. 115) and again in 428 (iii. 31). Soon after the latter date he revolted. Tissaphernes was sent to suppress the revolt and, succeeding, became satrap himself. who was in revolt in Caria. Accordingly the Chians and Tissaphernes were negotiating in common for the same object.
About the same time Calligeitus son of Laophon, a Megarian, and Timagoras son of Athenagoras, a Cyzicene, both being fugitives from their own countries and living at the court of PharnabazusSatrap of the territory along the Hellespont. son of Pharnaces, came to Lacedaemon. They had been sent by Pharnabazus to bring ships to the Hellespont, in order that he too, just as Tissaphernes was eager to do, might, if possible, cause the cities in his own province to revolt from the Athenians on account of the tribute, and by his own efforts secure for the King the alliance of the Lacedaemonians.
As the two sets of envoys, those from Pharnabazus and those from Tissaphernes, were negotiating these matters separately, there was much rivalry among the people of Lacedaemon, one side trying to persuade the people to send ships and troops to Ionia and Chios first, the other to the Hellespont.
The Lacedaemonians, however, were by far more inclined to accept the proposals of the Chians and Tissaphernes. For Alcibiades was cooperating with them, being an hereditary friend of the ephor Endius and on the most intimate terms with him. (This was, in fact, the reason why their house had acquired its Laconian name; for Endius was called Endius son of Alcibiades).The proof that Alcibiades was a Laconian name: it was borne by alternate generations in the family of Endius. Cleinias, Alcibiades' great-grandfather, determined that in his family also the name Alcibiades should alternate with his own name.
But in spite of their inclination, the Lacedaemonians first sent Phrynis, one of the Perioeci, to Chios to see whether the Chians had as many ships as they claimed, and whether in other respects the power of the city was equal to the representations made. When he brought back word that what they had heard was true, they at once made the Chians and the Erythraeans allies, and voted to send them forty ships, there being, from what the Chians said, no fewer than sixty already there.
And at first they were going to send them ten of these under the command of Melanchridas, who was their admiral; but afterwards, when an earthquake occurred, instead of Melanchridas they sent Chalcideus, and instead of ten ships they made ready five in Laconia. So the winter ended, and with it the nineteenth year of the war of which Thucydides wrote the history.
At the beginning of the following summer, as the Chians pressed them to send the ships, andMarch, 412 B.C. were afraid that the Athenians might become aware of their negotiations—for all these embassies were kept secret from them—the Lacedaemonians sent to Corinth three Spartans, that they might as quickly as possible haul the ships over the Isthmus from the Corinthian Gulf to the sea on the side toward Athens, and give orders for the whole fleet to sail to Chios—the ships which Agis was getting ready for Lesbos as well as the rest. And the number of ships of the allied contingents at that place was all together thirty-nine.
Accordingly, Calligeitus and Timagoras, who were acting on behalf of Pharnabazus, did not join in the expedition to Chios, nor did they give the money—twenty-five talents£5000, $23,900.—which they had brought with them for the despatching of the ships, but intended to sail later with another armament by themselves.
Agis, on the other hand, when he saw the Lacedaemonians eager for the expedition to Chios first, did not himself maintain a different view; but when the allies came together at Corinth and deliberated, they decided: in the first place, to sail to Chios with Chalcideus in command, he being in charge of the equipping of the five ships in Laconia; then to proceed to Lesbos with Alcamenes as commander—the one whom Agis was intending to send; and, finally, to go to the Hellespont, Clearchus son of Ramphias having already been assigned to command in this region.
Furthermore, they decided to carry across the Isthmus half of the ships at first, and that these were to set sail immediately, in order that the attention of the Athenians might not be directed toward the ships that were setting out more than toward those that were afterwards being carried across the Isthmus.
For they proposed to make the voyage from here to Chios openly, despising the impotence of the Athenians, because no considerable fleet of theirs was as yet making its appearance. And in accordance with their decision they at once conveyed twenty-one ships across.
The Corinthians, however, although the others were impatient for the voyage, were not disposed to sail with them until they should have celebrated the Isthmian Games, which were held at that time. And Agis was quite ready to allow them to preserve inviolate the Isthmian truceThe Isthmian Games were held in Corinthian territory, and under the presidency of Corinth. They were a τριετηρίς, ie. held every two years, in early spring or summer. while he made the expedition an affair of his own.
But as the Corinthians did not agree and delay ensued, the Athenians became more aware of the designs of the Chians, and sending Aristocrates, one of their generals, they charged them with the plot, and when they denied it, bade them, as their guarantee of good faith, send some ships along with the Athenian fleet as a contribution to the allied force;
and they sent seven. Their reason for sending these ships was that most of the Chians had no knowledge of the negotiations, and the oligarchs, who were in the plot, were not only unwilling as yet to incur the hostility of the populace, before they had acquired any strength, but also because of the delay of the Peloponnesians no longer expected them to come.
In the meantime the Isthmian Games were celebrated, and the Athenians, since the truce had been proclaimed,During the truce, states which were at war with each other were allowed to send contestants and deputies to the common games, these having a safe pass to and from the celebration. sent deputies to them; and so the designs of the Chians became more manifest to them. And when they returned they immediately made arrangements that the ships should not set sail from Cenchreiae without their knowledge.
But the Peloponnesians, after the festival, put to sea for Chios with twenty-one ships under the command of Alcamenes. And the Athenians at first sailed up to them with an equal number of ships, and tried to draw them out into the open sea. But when the Peloponnesians did not follow them very far but turned back, the Athenians also withdrew; for they had the seven Chian ships in the ranks of their fleet and did not consider them trustworthy.
But they afterwards manned additional ships, bringing their number up to thirty-seven, and then pursued the enemy as they sailed along the coast, until they put in at Peiraeum in Corinthian territory. This is a deserted port, the last toward the borders of Epidauria. The Peloponnesians lost one ship out at sea, but brought the rest together and cast anchor.
And now, when the Athenians attacked them, both by sea with their fleet and on land, having put men ashore, there was great confusion and disorder; and most of the Peloponnesian ships were disabled by the Athenians on the beach and their commander Alcamenes was slain. And some Athenians also were killed.
After drawing off, the Athenians posted a sufficient number of ships to keep watch upon those of the enemy, but with the rest cast anchor at an islet not far distant, on which they proceeded to make their camp; and they also sent to Athens for reinforcements.
For the Corinthians had joined the Peloponnesians the day after the battle, bringing reinforcements to their fleet, and not long afterward the peoples of the neighbourhood also came. And the Peloponnesians, seeing the difficulty of guarding the ships in a desert place, were in perplexity; and they even thought of burning the ships, but afterwards determined to draw them up on shore and, settling down there with their land-force, to keep guard over them until some favourable opportunity of escape should offer. And Agis, hearing of their predicament, sent to them Thermon, a Spartan.
Now the first news that came to the Lacedaemonians was that the ships had put to sea from the Isthmus—for orders had been given to Alcamenes by the ephors to despatch a horseman as soon as that should happen—and they were planning to send immediately their own five ships under the command of Chalcideus, and Alcibiades with him; afterwards, when they were eager to sail, word came to them about their ships having taken refuge at Peiraeum; and they were so discouraged, because in this their first undertaking in the Ionian war they had failed, that they from that time on ceased planning to send out the ships that were in home waters, but on the contrary even thought of recalling some that had previously gone out to sea.
Now when Alcibiades learned of this, he again urged Endius and the other ephors not to shrink from the expedition, saying that their fleet would have completed the voyage before the Chians could hear of the disaster to their ships, and that he himself, when he reached Ionia, would easily persuade the cities to revolt by telling them of the weakness of the Athenians and the zeal of the Lacedaemonians; for he would be more readily believed than others.
And to Endius he said privately that it would be an honour for him, through the agency of Alcibiades, to cause Ionia to revolt and to make the King an ally to the Lacedaemonians, urging him not to let this become the achievement of Agis;
for he happened himself to be at variance with Agis.He was suspected of an intrigue with the wife of Agis (Plutarch, Alcib. 23). So having persuaded Endius and the other ephors, he put to sea with the five ships in company with Chalcideus the Lacedaemonian, and they made the voyage with all speed.
About the same time the sixteen Peloponnesian ships, which had served with Gylippus in Sicily throughout the war, were on their way home; and as they were off Leucadia they were intercepted and roughly handled by the twenty-seven Athenian ships under the command of Hippocles son of Menippus, who was on the look-out for the ships from Sicily; but all except one escaped the Athenians and sailed into Corinth.