Book 8
"Maintenance for the ships now present shall be provided by Tissaphernes according to the compact until the King's ships shall come;
and the Lacedaemonians and their allies, after the King's ships arrive, shall be at liberty to maintain their own ships if they so wish. If, however, they desire to receive maintenance from Tissaphernes, he shall furnish it; but the Lacedaemonians and their allies, when the war ends, shall pay back to Tissaphernes whatever money they have received. 4.
“And when the ships of the King arrive, the ships of the Lacedaemonians and their allies and those of the King shall wage war in common, according as it may seem best to Tissaphernes and to the Lacedaemonians and their allies. And if they wish to end the war with the Athenians, it shall be ended on the same footing for both.”
Such was the treaty they made. After this Tissaphernes set about preparing to bring the Phoenician ships, as had been agreed, and to carry out all the other things he had promised; and he wished it to be evident that at all events he was making preparations.
When the winter was now ending the Boeotians took Oropus, where the Athenians had a garrison, by treachery. And they had the cooperation of some men of Eretria and of Oropus itself who were plotting for the revolt of Euboea. For since the place is opposite Eretria, it was impossible, while the Athenians held it, that it should not injure greatly both Eretria and Euboea in general.
Now, therefore, that they had Oropus in their possession, the Eretrians came to Rhodes and invited the Peloponnesians to Euboea. They, however, were more intent upon relieving Chios, which was in distress; so they put off from Rhodes and sailed with all their ships.
When they had arrived in the neighbourhood of Triopium they saw the Athenian fleet on the high seas as they were sailing from Chalce;cf. 8.4.1. as neither fleet, however, advanced to attack the other, the Athenians arrived at Samos, and the Peloponnesians at Miletus, when they saw that it was no longer possible to bring succour to Chios without a fight. So this winter ended, and with it the twentieth year of this war of which Thucydides wrote the history.
During the following summer season, at the March. 411 B.C. very opening of spring, Dercylidas, a Spartan, was sent overland with no small army to the Hellespont to effect the revolt of Abydus, a Milesian colony; and the Chians, while Astyochus was still at a loss as to how he should bring relief to them, were so hard pressed by the siege that they were compelled to risk
a fight at sea. Now it so happened that while Astyochus was still at Rhodes they had brought from Miletus as commander, after the death of Pedaritus, a Spartan named Leon, who had come out with Antisthenes as a marine, and also twelve ships which chanced to be on guard at Miletus, of which five were Thurian, four Syracusan, one Anaean, one Milesian,
and one Leon's own. After, therefore, the Chians had sailed forth in full force and seized a strong position, and their ships at the same time to the number of thirty-six had put to sea against the thirty-two of the Athenians, they came to battle. It proved to be a stubborn fight, and the Chians and their allies did not have the worst of it in the action, but since it was by this time late they withdrew to the city.
Immediately after this, when Dercylidas had completed his march overland from Miletus, Abydus on the Hellespont revolted to Dercylidas and Pharnabazus, as did Lampsacus also two days afterwards.
But Strombichides, learning of this, came from Chios with all speed to the rescue with twenty-four Athenian ships, of which some were transports and carried hoplites; and having defeated in battle the Lampsacenes who came out against him and taken at the first assault the city of Lampsacus, which was without walls, he made booty of goods and slaves but restored the free men to their homes, and then went against Abydus.
And when its inhabitants would not yield and he was unable to take the city by assault, he sailed back to the coast opposite Abydus and made Sestus, a city of the Chersonese which the Persians once held, a fortress and watch-station for the control of the whole Hellespont.
In the meantime not only had the Chians strengthened their command of the sea, but Astyochus also and the Peloponnesians at Miletus, learning the result of the sea-fight and about the departure of Strombichides and his fleet, took courage.
So Astyochus sailed along the coast to Chios with two ships, took on the ships which were there, and with what was now the entire fleet advanced against Samos; but when the Athenians, because their two factions entertained suspicions of one another, would not come out to meet him, he sailed back again to Miletus. For it was about this time, or somewhat earlier, that the democracy at Athens was being overthrown.
When the envoys led by Peisander had come to Samos from Tissaphernes, they had got matters in the army itself still more firmly under their control and had instigated the influential men among the Samians also to attempt in concert with them to establish an oligarchy, although the Samians had risen in revolt against their own countrymen in order to avoid being governed by an oligarchy.
At the same time the Athenians at Samos, after conferring among themselves, had determined, since Alcibiades would not agree with them, to let him alone—for he was not a suitable person, they thought, to come into an oligarchy—but by themselves, as being already actually in peril, to see to it that the movement should not be abandoned, and at the same time to hold out so far as the war was concerned; they had also resolved zealously to contribute from their own private resources either money or whatever else should be necessary, feeling that from now on the burdens they would bear would be for no others than themselves.1
Having thus encouraged one another, they at once proceeded to send Peisander and half of the envoys home in order to arrange matters there, but also with instructions to establish oligarchies in any of the subject cities at which they should stop; the other half they sent to the rest of the subject countries, some to one and some to another;
and Dieitrephes, who was in the neighbourhood of Chios but had been elected to have command on the coast of Thrace, they sent to his post. When he reached Thasos he abolished the democracy there.
About two months, however, after his departure the Thasians fortified their city, feeling that they no longer had any need of an aristocracy attached to Athens and daily looking for freedom to be given them by the Lacedaemonians.
For there were Thasian fugitives, who had been expelled by the Athenians, now present with the Peloponnesians, and these, in concert with their friends in the city, were working with might and main to bring ships and effect the revolt of Thasos. They found, therefore, that the things they most desired had happened-the city had been brought to order and the democracy that would have opposed them had been abolished.
In Thasos, then, the result was the opposite of what the Athenians who were establishing the oligarchy there desired, and it was the same, as it seems to me, in many others of the subject states; for the cities, having acquired soberness of spirit and immunity in carrying out their designs, aimed at downright freedom, caring nothing for the hollow sham of law and order offered by the Athenians.
Peisander, then, and his companions proceeded along the coast abolishing the democracies in the cities, as had been determined upon, and came to Athens, bringing with them from some places hoplites as supporters. There they found that most of the business had already been accomplished by their associates.
For some of the younger men had combined and secretly put to death a certain Androcles, the most prominent leader of the popular party, the man who had done most to bring about the banishment of Alcibiades.cf. 6.89.5. Androcles, according to Plutarch (Alcib. 19), was the demagogue who produced slaves and metics as witnesses to prove Alcibiades guilty of mutilating the Hermae and profaning the Mysteries (Thuc. 6.28.1). See also Andocides, Myst. 27. And him they destroyed for two reasons-on account of his being a popular leader, and somewhat the more because they thought it would gratify Alcibiades, who was likely to be recalled and to make Tissaphernes a friend; and some others that were inconvenient they secretly made away with in the same manner.
Moreover, a proposal had already been openly made by them that no others ought to receive pay except those who were serving in the war, and that not more than five thousand should share in the government, and they only so far as they were especially competent to serve the state with both property and person.
Now this was only a specious pretext intended for the masses, for the very same men who were endeavouring to change the government were going to have control of the state. The people, however, and the council chosen by the beanie. by lot, the bean being used in drawing lots. This definition distinguishes the popular council, or βουλὴ of 500, from the Areopagus, ἡ βουλὴ ἡ ἐξ ἀρείον πάγου. were none the less still convened; but they discussed nothing that was not approved by the conspirators; nay, not only were the speakers from this party, but what should be said had been previously considered by them.
And no one of the others any longer spoke against them, through fear and because it was seen that the conspiracy was widespread; and if any one did oppose, at once in some convenient way he was a dead man. And no search was made for those who did the deed, nor if they were suspected was any legal prosecution held; on the contrary, the populace kept quiet and were in such consternation that he who did not suffer any violence, even though he never said a word, counted that a gain.
Imagining the conspiracy to be much more widespread than it actually was, they were cowed in mind, and owing to the size of the city and their lack of knowledge of one another they were unable to find out the facts.
For the same reason it was also impossible for any man that was offended to pour out his grievances to another and thus plot to avenge himself,Or, “so as to defend himself against one who was plotting against him.” for he would discover any person to whom he might speak to be either a stranger or, if an acquaintance, faithless.
For all the members of the popular party approached each other with suspicion, as though every one had a hand in what was going on. And, indeed, there were among them men whom one would never have expected to change over and favour an oligarchy; and it was these who caused the greatest distrust among the masses and rendered the most valuable service toward the few in securing their safety by confirming in the populace this distrust of their own people.
It was at this crisis that Peisander and his colleagues arrived and immediately applied themselves to the work that still remained to be done. First they called the popular assembly together and proposed a resolution that ten men should be chosen as commissioners, with full powers, for the drafting of laws, and that these men, after drafting such laws, should bring before the assembly on an appointed day a proposal embodying provisions for the best administration of the state.
In the second place, when the day came they convened the assembly at Colonus, which is a precinct sacred to Poseidon lying at a distance of about ten stadia outside the city, and the commissioners brought in no other measure except the bare proposal that any Athenian should be permitted with impunity to offer any motion he pleased; and if anyone should move to indict the speaker for making an illegal proposalThe γραφὴ παρανόμων, regarded as the great safeguard of the Attic constitution, was provided for annulling an illegal decree or law, and also for punishing the proposer. The latter could be held personally responsible only for a year from the time of the proposal of a decree or the enactment of a law; after a year the decree or law could be attacked and annulled by the same process as that against the proposer. Whoever brought a γραφὴ παρανόμων bound himself by oath to prosecute the case; after the oath was taken a decree or law was suspended if already enacted, and a προβούλευμα could not be brought before the assembly until the suit had been tried and settled. The proposer, if the court decided against him, was punished by death or fine. See Schoemann, Gr. Alt. i, 497 ff. (2nd ed.). or should in any other manner seek to do him harm, they imposed severe penalties upon him.
After that, the proposal was at length offered without concealment that no one should any longer hold office under the constitution as at present established or receive a salary, and that they should choose five men as presidents, and these should choose one hundred, and each of the hundred three others in addition to himself; then these, being four hundred, should enter the senate-chamber and govern as they should judge best, being clothed with full powers, and they should convene the Five Thousand whenever it seemed to them advisable.cf. 8.65.3. There had been talk of limiting the franchise to 5000, and it was resolved at this same assembly to appoint 100 men to draw up a list of the 5000 (Aristot. Ἀθ. Πολ., ch. xxix. ad fin.). But the list was never published. See 8.92.11 and Ἀθ. Πολ. ch. xxxii. For the somewhat divergent account of Aristotle, see Aristot. Ἀθ. Πολ. xxix.- xxxii.
It was Peisander who proposed this resolution and in other respects assisted most zealously, to all appearances, in overthrowing the democracy. The man, however, who devised the method by which the whole matter was brought to this issue and who had for the longest time devoted himself to the problem was Antiphon, a man inferior to none of the Athenians of his own day in force of character and one who had proved himself most able both to formulate a plan and to set forth his conclusions in speech; and although he did not come before the assembly or willingly take part in any public contest, but was under suspicion with the people on account of his reputation for cleverness, yet he was the one man most able to help any who were involved in contests, either in court or before the assembly, in case they sought his advice.
And in his own case, when at a later time the acts of the Four Hundred had been reversed and were being severely dealt with by the popular assembly, and he was under charge of having assisted in setting up that government, he manifestly made the ablest plea for his life of all men up to my time in defending these very acts.Antiphon, of Rhamnus, was the earliest of the ten orators of the 'canon,' and the first λογογράφος. Thucydides was said to have been a pupil of his, but the tradition is of doubtful authority, e.g. a second-hand remark of Pseudo-Plutarch (Vit. X. Orat.). Fifteen orations are extant under his name. See Jebb, Attic Orators, 1.1.
Phrynichus also showed himself beyond all others most zealous for the oligarchy, through fear of Alcibiades and the certainty that Alcibiades was aware of all the intriguescf. chs. l. and li. he had carried on at Samos with Astyochus; for he thought that in all probability Alcibiades would never be recalled by an oligarchical government; and when face to face with dangers, after he had once set to work, he proved himself a man who could quite be depended upon.
Theramenes also, the son of Hagnon, was foremost among those who attempted to overthrow the democracy, being a man of no small capacity either in speech or in judgment. Consequently, conducted as it was by many able men, the plot not unnaturally succeeded, even though it was an arduous task; for it was difficult, after the lapse of almost one hundred yearsReally 99 years: from 510 to 411. since the tyrants had been overthrown, to deprive of their liberty the Athenian people, who had been, not only not subject to anyone else, but for more than half of that period had themselves been accustomed to rule over others.
When the assembly had been dissolved, with no opposition from anyone and immediately after sanctioning these measures, the leaders of the oligarchy then introduced the Four Hundred into the senate-chamber in the following manner: all the Athenians were at all times under arms, as a precaution against the enemy at Deceleia, some on the walls and some in the ranks.
On that day, then, they let those who were not privy to their design go away as usual, but those who were in the conspiracy had been quietly told to remain, not close by their arms, but at some distance from them, and if anybody tried to oppose what was going on, to take their arms and permit no interference.
And there were at hand some Andrians and Tenians and three hundred Carystians and some of their colonists from Aegina,In 431 B.C.; cf. ii. 27. whither they had been sent by the Athenians to inhabit the island, who had come for this very purpose in their own armour, and to these the same order had already been given.