Book 8
And it so happened, that in this battle the Ionians on both sides were superior to the Dorians; for the Athenians conquered the Peloponnesians opposed to them, and the Milesians the Argives. After erecting a trophy, the Athenians prepared to invest the place, (which stood on an isthmus,) thinking that if they could win Miletus, the other towns would easily come over to them.
In the mean time, when it was now about dusk in the evening, intelligence reached them that the five and fifty ships from the Peloponnese and from Sicily were all but there. For from the Siceliots, who were chiefly urged by Hermo crates the Syracusan to take part in what remained for the destruction of the Athenians, there came twenty ships of the Syracusans, and two of the Selinuntines; and those from the Peloponnese, which they were preparing, [when we last mentioned them,] were now ready: and both squadrons being committed to Theramenes the Lacedaemonian to take to Astyochus the admiral, put in to Lerus first, the island before Miletus.
Then, on finding that the Athenians were at Miletus, they sailed thence into the Iasic gulf in the first place, wishing to know the state of affairs with regard to Miletus.
When Alcibiades therefore had gone on horseback to Tichiussa, in the Milesian territory, to which part of the gulf they had sailed and brought to for the night, they heard the particulars of the battle. For Alcibiades was present at it, taking part with the Milesians and Tissaphernes; and he now advised them, if they did not wish to sacrifice Ionia and the whole cause, to go as quickly as possible to the relief of Miletus, and not permit it to be invested.
They, then, intended to relieve it in the morning. Phrynichus, the commander of the Athenians, on the other hand, when he had heard from Lerus a correct account of their fleet, and when his colleagues wished to await its arrival and give it battle, said that he would neither do so himself, nor, to the best of his power, allow them or any one else to do it.
For when they might meet them hereafter with an accurate knowledge of the number of ships on the enemy's side, and with how many of their own opposed to them they would, after adequate and calm preparations, be able to give them battle, he would never run an unreasonable hazard through yielding to the disgrace of reproach.
For it was no disgrace for the Athenians to retreat with a navy at a proper time; but in any way whatever, the result would be more disgraceful should they be defeated, and for the state to incur not only disgrace, but also the greatest danger. For after its late misfortunes, it was hardly expedient voluntarily for it to act on the offensive in any quarter, even with a force that could be relied upon, or even in a case of absolute necessity:
how then could it without any such compulsion rush into self-chosen dangers? He ordered them therefore as quickly as possible to take up their wounded, and their land forces, with such stores as they had brought with them; but to leave behind what they had taken from the enemy's country, that their ships might be the lighter, and to sail away to Samos, and thence, when they had Collected all their ships, to make their attacks upon them, whenever they had an opportunity.
Having given this advice, he acted accordingly; and so Phrynichus, not on that immediate occasion more than on subsequent ones, nor in that business only, but in all that he had any thing to do with. proved himself to be a man of sound judgment.
In this way, with an incomplete victory, the Athenians immediately broke up their camp, and retired from Miletus; and the Argives, in mortification at their defeat, sailed off home from Samos as quickly as they could.
As soon as it was morning, the Peloponnesians weighed anchor from Tichiussa, and put into Miletus after the enemy's departure; and after remaining one day, they took with them on the next the Chian vessels which had, in the τὰς ... ξυνκαταδιωχθείσας.] See ch. 17. 3. first instance been chased in company with Chalcideus, and were disposed to sail back again for the stores which they had taken out of their vessels at Tichiussa.
On their arrival, Tissaphernes came to them with his land forces, and persuaded them to sail against Iasus, in which Amorges their enemy maintained himself. Accordingly, having assaulted Iasus on a sudden, and while the inhabitants thought nothing but that the ships belonged to the Athenians, they took it;
and the Syracusans were most distinguished in the action. Amorges, who was a natural son of Pissuthnes, and had revolted from the king, the Peloponnesians took prisoner, and delivered him up to Tissaphernes to lead away to the king, if he pleased, according to his orders. They then sacked Iasus; and the army got very large treasures, for the place was one of ancient wealth.
The mercenaries serving with Amorges they took to themselves, and added to their ranks, without doing them any harm, as most of them were from the Peloponnese: while they delivered to Tissaphernes the town and all the captives, both bond and free, for each one of whom they stipulated to receive from him a Daric stater; after which they returned to Miletus.
Pedaritus the son of Leon, who had been sent by the Lacedaemonians to take the command at Chios, they despatched by land to Erythrae, with the mercenary force taken from Amorges, and appointed Philippus to remain on the spot, as governor of Miletus. And so the summer ended.
The following winter, when Tissaphernes had put Iasus into a state of defence, he passed on to Miletus, and distributed amongst all the ships a month's pay, as he had undertaken at Lacedaemon, at the rate of an Attic drachma a man per day, but wished in future to give but three oboli, until he had consulted the king; should he, however, command it, he said he would give them the full drachma.
When Hermocrates, the Syracusan commander, objected to this, (for Theramenes, inasmuch as he was not admiral, but only sailing with them to deliver up the fleet to Astyochus, was easy on the subject of pay,) there was fixed, notwithstanding, a sum [for the whole fleet] larger παρὰ πέντε ναῦς.] If these words could really be interpreted for every five ships, as Göller and Arnold think, I should then agree with the latter, that the whole passage might be allowed to remain as it stands at present. But neither of them brings forward a single instance of παρά being thus used with the distributive force commonly expressed by κατά; and in the absence of all such proof, it seems safer to take the preposition, as Bloomfield has done, in a sense which is recognised by the grammarians. This method renders necessary one of the two corrections which have been made by the editors in the following sentence—either the omission of καὶ πεντήκοντα, or the insertion of τριάκοντα instead of τρία—and though it is perhaps of little importance which is preferred, I have adopted the former, as the mistake of the copyists in that case seems more easily accounted for than in the other. See Göller's or Arnold's note. With regard to the question, why the ships should be taken in divisions of five, that number might perhaps have been fixed on for mere convenience, as the lowest which gave a round sum in talents, without any fraction. Or may we conjecture that the Lacedaemonian government had sent out five ships on the expedition, and that their quota was first considered by Tissaphernes, as a compliment to the leading state? Arnold's supposition that it was intended to exclude any state from the higher rate of pay, whose contingent fell short of five ships, in order to encourage the allies to greater exertions, does not seem very probable; and the idea of τοῖς ἄλλοις referring to those other states who had no ships at the present moment afloat, but who might at any instant be supposed ready to send some, is surely inconsistent with the indicative mood of the verb ἦσαν, which can only refer to such as were actually afloat at the time of the arrangement. by five ships than three oboli a man per day. For he gave three talents a month for five ships, and to the rest, according as they had vessels beyond this number, was given in the same proportion.
The same winter, more ships, to the number of thirty-five, having come from home to join the Athenians at Samos, with Charminus, Strombichides, and Euctemon in command, after collecting those from Chios and all the rest, they determined, having drawn lots for their respective services, to blockade Miletus with their naval force, and to send against Chios both a fleet and army.
And they did so. For Strombichides, Onomacles, and Euctemon, having with them thirty ships, and taking in transports a part of the thousand heavy-armed that had come to Miletus, sailed, according to their lot, against Chios, while the rest, remaining at Samos with seventy-four ships, secured the command of the sea, and advanced upon Miletus.
Astyochus, happening at that time to be collecting at Chios the hostages taken in consequence of the conspiracy, ceased from that, when he found that the ships with Theramenes were come, and that the affairs of the confederacy were more prosperous.
And taking a squadron consisting of ten Peloponnesian and as many Chian ships, he put out to sea, and after attacking Pteleum without taking it, coasted along to Clazomenae, and commanded those of them who favoured the Athenian cause to remove inland to Daphnus, and to join their party. Tamos also, who was lieutenant-governor of Ionia, united in this command.
When they did not listen to it, he made an attack on the town, which was unwalled, and not being able to take it, sailed away before a strong gale himself to Phocaea and Cuma, while the rest of the ships put into the islands adjacent to Clazomenae, namely, Marathussa Pele, and Drymussa.
Having staid there on account of the winds eight days, all the property of the Clazomenians that had been ὑπεξέκειτο.] Bloomfield follows Hobbes in translating this, lay without the city, altogether omitting the peculiar force of the two prepositions thus meeting in composition, whether in neuter or transitive verbs. Compare I. 137, where the word occurs in exactly the same signification; I. 89, διεκομίζοντο εὐθὺς ὅθεν ὑπεξέθεντο παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας, κ. τ. λ.; and Eurip. Hec. 6, δείσας μ᾽ ὑπεξέπεμψε τρωϊκῆς χθονός. secretly stowed away there, they partly ravaged and consumed, and partly put on board their ships; and then sailed off to Phocaea and Cuma, to join Astyochus.
While he was there, ambassadors from the Lesbians came to him, wishing to revolt again. And as far as he was concerned, they gained his assent; but when the Corinthians and other allies were not zealous for it, in consequence of their former failure, he weighed anchor and sailed for Chios; at which place, after his ships had been dispersed in a storm, they arrived from different directions.
After this, Pedaritus, who when we last mentioned him was moving along the coast by land from Miletus, arrived at Erythrae, and then passed over, himself and his forces, to Chios; where he had also about five hundred soldiers who had been See chap. 17. 1. left by Chalcideus from the five ships, with their arms.
And when certain Lesbians made offers of revolt, Astyochus urged to Pedaritus and the Chians, that they ought to go with their ships, and effect the revolt of Lesbos; for so they would either themselves gain an addition to the number of their allies, or, in case of failure, would still do the Athenians mischief. They, however, did not listen to them, and Pedaritus refused to give up to him the ships of the Chians.
He, therefore, taking the five of the Corinthians, a sixth from Megara, one from Hermione, and those of the Lacedaemonians which he had come with, sailed for Miletus, to take the command as admiral, after many threats to the Chians that assuredly he would not come to their aid, should they be in any need of it.
Having touched at Corycus, in the Erythraean country, he staid there the night. The Athenians also, on their passage from Samos to Chios with their troops, were only parted from them by being on the other side of a hill; and so they brought to for the night, and escaped each other's notice.
On the arrival of a letter from Pedaritus in the night, to say that some Erythraean prisoners, after being set at liberty, had come from Samos to Erythraea for the purpose of betraying it, Astyochus immediately weighed anchor again for Erythraea: within so little was he of falling in with the Athenians.
Pedaritus also sailed across to join him; and having investigated the case of the men who were thought to be traitors, when they found that the whole story had been made up in order to effect the escape of the men from Samos, they acquitted them of the charge, and sailed away, one to Chios, the other to Miletus, as he had intended.
In the mean time also the army of the Athenians, while sailing round with the ships from Corycus, met with three Chian vessels of war off Arginus, and on seeing them gave them chase; when a violent storm came on, and the Chian ships with difficulty took refuge in the harbour. Of the Athenians, the three which had pursued most vigorously were wrecked, and thrown up near the city of Chios, the men being either taken prisoners or slain; while the remainder took refuge in the harbour under Mount Mimas, called Phoenicus, from whence they afterwards came to anchor in the port of Lesbos, and made preparations for the work ἐς τὸν τειχισμόν,] i. e. for the fortification of Delphinium. See ch. 38. 2. of fortification.
The same winter, Hippocrates the Lacedaemonian, having sailed from the Peloponnese with ten Thurian ships under the command of Dorieus son of Diagoras, and two colleagues, one Laconian and one Syracusan, sailed into port at Cnidus, which had now revolted at the instigation of Tissaphernes.
When those at Miletus received intelligence of them, they gave orders for half of the vessels to keep guard at Cnidus, and the other half to cruise around Triopium, and seize the merchantmen that were approaching from Egypt. This Triopium is a promontory running out from the Cnidian territory, and is consecrated to Apollo.
But the Athenians, having had notice of it, and having sailed out from Samos, seized the six ships that were keeping guard at Triopium, though the crews escaped from them. After this they put in at Cnidus, and having assaulted the city, which was unfortifled, were within a little of taking it. The next day they made a second assault on it;
but as they did not now do it so much damage, since the inhabitants had provided better defences during the night, and the crews which had escaped from the ships at Triopium had gone in to join them, they withdrew, and after ravaging the territory of the Cnidians, sailed back to Samos.
Astyochus having come about the same time to the fleet at Miletus, the Peloponnesians were still abundantly supplied with every thing in their camp. For pay was given them to a sufficiently large amount, and the great sum of money which had been raised from the plunder of Iasus was still at the command of the soldiers, and the Milesians carried on the war with spirit.
Nevertheless the Peloponnesians considered that the first convention with Tissaphernes, which had been concluded by Chalcideus, was defective, and not so much for their advantage [as for his]; and, consequently, while Theramenes was yet there, they concluded another, which was to the following effect:
The convention of the Lacedaemonians and the allies with King Darius, the sons of the king, and Tissaphernes, that there should be a treaty and friendship between them on these terms:
Whatever territory and cities belong to King Darius, or did belong to his father, or his ancestors, against these neither the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians shall be permitted to proceed for the purpose of war, or for any harm: neither shall the Lacedaemonians, nor their confederates, exact tribute from these cities. Neither shall King Darius, or any states in the king's dominions, be allowed to proceed against the Lacedaemonians, or their allies, for the purpose of war or other injury.——Should the Lacedaemonians, or their allies, require any assistance from the king, or the king stand in need of any from the Lacedaemonians, or their allies;
to whatever they may gain each other's assent, that shall be right for them to do.——Both parties shall carry on in common the war against the Athenians and their allies;