Book 8
An assembly therefore having been convened, Alcibiades both complained of and deplored his own calamity in having been banished, and by speaking at great length on public matters raised them to no slight hopes for the future; and extravagantly magnified his own influence with Tissaphernes, in order that both the members of the oligarchy at home might be afraid of him, and the clubs be the more quickly broken up; and also that those at Samos might hold him in the greater honour, and be more encouraged themselves; and that the enemy, moreover, might be as much as possible set against Tissaphernes, and cast down from their present hopes. Accordingly Alcibiades, in the most boastful strain, held out these promises to them;
that Tissaphernes had pledged himself to him, that if he could but trust the Athenians, assuredly they should not want for supplies, so long as any of his own property remained, even though he should have at last to sell his own bed; and that he would bring the Phoenician ships which were now at Aspendus to join the Athenians, instead of the Peloponnesians; but he could only place confidence in the Athenians, if Alcibiades himself were recalled to be his security for them.
On hearing these and many other representations, they immediately elected him general in company with the former ones, and committed to him the whole management of their affairs. And now for nothing would they have exchanged their several hopes at the moment, both of preservation and of vengeance on the Four Hundred. Nay, they were at once ready immediately to despise their enemies on the spot, on the strength of what had been said, and to sail to the Piraeus.
He, however, most positively forbad their sailing to the Piraeus, and leaving behind them their enemies who were so much closer at hand, though many were urgent for it, and told them that since he had been chosen their general, he would first of all sail to Tissaphernes, and arrange with him measures for the war.
And so, on leaving this assembly, he took his departure immediately, that he might be thought to communicate every thing to him; at the same time that he wished to be more honoured by him, and to show him that he was now elected general, and was able to do him either good or harm. And thus it was the good fortune of Alcibiades to awe the Athenians by means of Tissaphernes, and Tissaphernes by means of them.
When the Peloponnesians at Miletus heard of the recall of Alcibiades, though they were before distrustful of Tissaphernes, they were now far more disgusted with him than ever.
For καὶ τὸν ἐπίπλουν.] If καί must be changed, as most of the editors think, into either κατά or μετά, the former would certainly appear the preferable correction. But I think that Poppo is quite right in retaining the original reading of all the MSS.; though I should rather consider the accusative τὸν ἐπίπλουν as an instance of anacoluthon, (if it cannot be considered as an accusativus de quo, ) than connect it with the infinitive ναυμαχῆσαι. the truth was, that in the case of the Athenians advancing against Miletus, when the Peloponnesians would not put out to meet them and give them battle, Tissaphernes became far more sick of giving them pay; and indeed that he had even before this made some progress in their dislike, on account of Alcibiades.
And so the soldiers, and some of the other men of consideration also, as well as the soldiery, clubbing together as before, began to reckon up their grievances; namely, that they had never yet received their full pay; that what was now given them was deficient in amount, and not even that paid regularly; that unless they either fought a decisive battle, or removed to some station ὅθεν τροφὴν ἕξει.] Bekker appears to me to be fully justified in retaining ἕξει, which has so large a majority of the MSS. in its favour, in preference to ἕξειν, which Poppo, Göller, Arnold, and Bloomfield have adopted. Would not the reason alleged by Arnold against the use of the indicative here apply with equal force to ch. 86. 7, and the passage there quoted by himself, V 103. 1? where they might have supplies, the men would desert their ships; and that for all this Astyochus was to blame, through his humouring Tissaphernes for his own profit.
While they were thus reckoning up their grievances, the following disturbance also occurred about Astyochus.
The Syracusan and Thurian seamen, inasmuch as they were, generally speaking, most free, applied to him also with the greatest boldness, and demanded their pay. He answered them somewhat haughtily, and threatened them; and indeed against Dorieus, who was supporting the plea of his own seamen, he even lifted up his baton. When the mass of the armament saw this, sailor-like, they rushed ἐκραγόντες] Literally breaking out upon him; an excellent instance of the etymological meaning of our word rage. —In illustration of οἷα δὴ ναῦται, compare Eurip. Hec. 604, e)\n toi muri/w| strateu/matia)ko/lastos o)/xlos, nautikh/ t' a)narxi/a Krei/sswn puro/s. in a rage upon Astyochus to strike him;
but he saw them in time, and fled for refuge to an altar. Notwithstanding their rage, therefore, he was not struck, but they were parted again.
The Milesians also took the fort belonging to Tissaphernes which had been built in Miletus, having attacked it when unobserved, and drawn out of it the garrison that was in it. And the rest of the confederates also approved of these things, and especially the Syracusans.
Lichas, however, was displeased with them, and said that the Milesians and the rest of the states in the king's country ought to submit to Tissaphernes, in such things as were reasonable, and to pay him court, until they had brought the war to a happy conclusion. But the Milesians were offended with him for this, and other things of the same kind; and afterwards, when he had died of sickness, they would not allow them to bury him where those of the Lacedaemonians who were present wished to do.
When their affairs, then, were involved in these dissensions both with Astyochus and Tissaphernes, Mindarus arrived from Lacedaemon to succeed Astyochus as admiral, and assumed the command, while Astyochus sailed away. With him Tissaphernes also sent, as an ambassador, one of his courtiers named Gaulites, a Carian who spoke κᾶρα δίγλωσσον.] One of those Carians who were accustomed from their childhood to speak two languages; as is the case with the people of French Flanders, and many other such frontier districts."—Arnold. two languages;
both to lay an accusation against the Milesians on the subject of the fort, and at the same time to make an apology for himself; for he knew that the Milesians were going thither chiefly to raise a clamour against him, and Hermocrates along with them, who intended to represent Tissaphernes as ruining the cause of the Peloponnesians in concert with Alcibiades, and pursuing a double policy.
For he had always been at enmity with him about the payment of the money to the forces; and at last, when Hermocrates was banished from Syracuse, and some others of the Syracusans, namely, Potamis, Myscon, and Demarchus, had come to Miletus to take command of the Syracusan ships, Tissaphernes pressed far more severely than ever on Hermocrates, when he was now an exile; both laying other things to his charge, and especially, that having once asked him for money and not obtained it, he displayed his enmity to him in consequence.
Astyochus, then, with the Milesians and Hermocrates, sailed away to Lacedaemon; while Alcibiades had by this time crossed over again from Tissaphernes to Samos.
And now the ambassadors from the Four Hundred, whom they sent at the time we mentioned to appease and inform those at Samos, arrived from Delos, after Alcibiades had come; and when an assembly had been called, they attempted to make a speech.
But the soldiers at first would not hear them, but cried out, that they should put to death those who were abolishing the democracy; afterwards, however, they were with difficulty calmed down, and gave them a hearing.
They, then, delivered to them this message; that it was neither for the destruction of the state that the recent change had been made, but for its preservation; nor in order that it might be delivered up to the enemy, (for they might have done that when they invaded the country during their government:) that all in their turn should share the privileges of the Five Thousand; and that their relatives were neither being outraged, as Chaereas had slanderously reported to them, nor suffering any harm, but remained as they were, each in the enjoyment of his property.
Though they made this and many other statements besides, they listened none the more favourably, but were angry, and expressed different opinions, though most generally, that they should sail to the Piraeus. And on that occasion Alcibiades appeared to have benefited the state for the first time, and in a degree inferior to no one else. For when the Athenians at Samos were bent on sailing against their countrymen, in which case most certainly the enemy would have taken possession of Ionia and the Hellespont, he was the man who prevented them.
Indeed on that emergency no one else would have been able to restrain the multitude. He, however, both made them desist from the attack, and silenced with rebukes those individuals who were on their own account most angry with the ambassadors.
He then dismissed them with an answer from himself, that he did not object to the Five Thousand being in power, but ordered them to depose the Four Hundred, and to establish the council of Five Hundred as before. That if any retrenchment had been made with a view to economy, in order that those who were on service might be better provided with supplies, he entirely approved of it.
In other respects also he urged them to stand out, and not at all to submit to the enemy. For if only the state were preserved, there was great hope of their being reconciled to one another;
but if either of the two parties were once destroyed, either that at Samos, or that at home, there would no longer be any one for them to be reconciled to. There came also ambassadors from the Argives, with offers of assistance to the popular party of the Athenians at Samos;
but Alcibiades thanked them, and desiring them to come when they should be called upon, thus dismissed them. Now the Argives came in company with the crew of the Paralus, who, when last mentioned, had been commanded by the Four Hundred to cruise in the troop-ship round Euboea; and who, while taking to Lacedaemon some Athenians that had been sent as ambassadors by the Four Hundred, namely, Laespodias, Aristophon, and Melesias, when off Argos in their passage, seized the ambassadors, and delivered them up to the Argives, as being some of those who had been most instrumental in abolishing the democracy; while they themselves did not go to Athens again, but taking the ambassadors from Argos to Samos arrived there with the trireme they were in.
The same summer, and at the very time when the Peloponnesians were most offended with Tissaphernes, both on other accounts, and especially because of the return of Alcibiades, thinking that he was now evidently Atticizing, he, wishing, as it seemed, to clear himself to them of these charges, prepared to go to Aspendus for the Phoenician ships, and desired Lichas to accompany him; saying, that with regard to the armament, he would appoint Tamos as his lieutenant, to furnish the supplies while he was himself absent. The same account, however, is not given by all;
nor is it easy to decide with what motive he went to Aspendus, and yet, after going. did not bring the fleet. For it is certain that the Phoencician ships, a hundred and forty seven in number, came as far as Aspendus;
but why they did not come on, is a subject of many conjectures. For some think it was, that by going away he might, in accordance with his plan, wear down the power of the Peloponnesians; (at any rate Tamos, who was intrusted with the charge, provided them with supplies no better, but even worse, than himself.) Others, that after bringing the Phoenicians to Aspendus, he might exact money from them for their discharge; (for under no circumstances did he intend to employ them on any service.) Others, that it was on account of the clamour against him, which had spread to Lacedaemon—to have it said that he was not wronging them, but was certainly gone for the ships, which were undoubtedly manned for service.
To me, however, it appears most evident that it was with a view to wear out the Greeks, and to keep them in suspense, that he did not bring the fleet; to weaken them, during all the time that he was going there and delaying; and to keep them balanced, in order that he might make neither party too strong by joining them. For had he wished to bring the war to a conclusion, it is surely evident that he might have done it without any doubt. For by bringing the fleet he would in all probability have given the victory to the Lacedaemonians; since even at present they maintained their opposition with their navy, on terms of equality rather than of inferiority.
But what most clearly convicts him is the excuse which he alleged for not bringing the ships. For he said that they were fewer in number than the king had commanded to be collected. But surely he would have gained still greater thanks by that, through not spending so much of the king's money, and yet effecting the same object at a less cost. ᾗ τινὶ δὴ γνώμῃ.] This passage affords a very good instance of the force which the conjunctions δ᾽ οὖν most commonly have, though not always; the doubtfulness being here expressed, which in most cases is only implied, when they are thus joined together. See note, p. 93.
At any rate, with whatever intention it might have been, Tissaphernes went to Aspendus, and had an interview with the Phoenicians; and the Peloponnesians, by his desire, sent Philippus, a man of Lacedaemon, with two triremes to fetch the fleet.
Alcibiades, on finding that Tissaphernes had gone to Aspendus, sailed thither himself also with thirteen ships, promising the forces at Samos a sure and great benefit; for that he would either himself bring the Phoenician fleet to the Athenians, or at any rate prevent its going to the Peloponnesians. For in all probability he had long known the purpose of Tissaphernes, that he did not intend fetching them, and wished to prejudice him as much as possible with the Peloponnesians, on the ground of his friendship for himself and the Athenians, that so he might be the more compelled to join the side of Athens. Accordingly he set sail and pursued his voyage ἄνω,] i. e. towards the countries on the way to the East, and the centre of the Persian government. —Arnold. upwards, straight for Phaselis and Caunus.
When the ambassadors sent from the Four Hundred arrived at Athens from Samos, and delivered the message from Alcibiades, namely, that he begged them to hold out, and not submit at all to the enemy; and that he had great hopes of reconciling the army to those at home, and of getting the better of the Peloponnesians; they gave much more courage to the greater part of those implicated in the oligarchy, who had even before been discontented with it, and would gladly have been quit of the business by any safe means.
Accordingly they now united, and found fault with the present state of things, having as their leaders some of the most influential generals and men in office, such as Theramenes the son of Hagnon, Aristocrates the son of Scellias, and others; who, though amongst the first members of the government, were yet afraid, as they alleged, of the army at Samos, and of Alcibiades most especially, as also of those whom they were sending as ambassadors to Lacedaemon, lest without the authority of the greater part of them they might do the state some harm; φοβούμενοι δ᾽, ὡς ἔφασαν, κ. τ. λ.] This passage, as it stands in Arnold's text, being utterly untranslatable, I was compelled either to omit it altogether, or to adopt such corrections as would at any rate give some sense to it, whether the true one or not. I have therefore, with Göller, changed τούς into οὕς taken away the comma after πρεσβευομένους, and substituted ἀπαλλαξείειν for ἀπαλλάξειν. With regard to the τό before that infinitive, I am disposed to think that it is not so hopeless a reading as has been considered; but that this may be added to those instances given by Jelf, Gr. Gr. §670, in which the article shows that especial emphasis is laid on the notion expressed by the infinitive. Compare especially II. 53. 4, καὶ τὸ μὲν προσταλαιπωρεῖν τῷ δόξαντι καλῷ οὐδεὶς πρόθυμος ἦν; Xen. Apol. Soc. 13, τὸ προειδέναι τὸν θεὸν τὸ μέλλον πάντες λέγουσι Id. Symp. III. 3, οὐδεὶς σοι, ἐφη, ἀντιλέγει τὸ μὴ οὐ λέξειν. The last two quotations prove that this construction is common after verbs of ' saying;' and in the present instance I suppose the infinitive to depend upon such a verb understood from ὡς ἔφασαν in the preceding part of the paragraph. There seems therefore to be no reason for changing τό into τοί as I was once led by the various reading τῷ to conjecture, before I knew that Göller had done the same. and so they declared, not that they wished to escape from the administration falling into too few hands, but that they ought to establish the Five Thousand in reality, not in mere name, and to settle the government on a more equal basis.
This, however, was but a public profession made by them in word; but it was from private ambition that most or them pursued that very method by which an oligarchy formed out of a democracy is most sure to be overturned. For all at once not only claim to be equal, but every one decidedly the first man. [And in such a case failure is intolerable:] whereas, when an election is made under a democracy, ῥᾶον τὰ ἀποβαίνοντα ... φέρει.] Because, as Arnold observes, they know that the weight of the government is against them, and are thus spared the peculiar pain of being beaten in a fair race, when they and their competitors start with equal advantages, and there is nothing therefore to lessen the mortification of defeat. a man more easily submits to the result, as he does not think himself beaten on equal terms.
But what most evidently encouraged them was the interest of Alcibiades being so strong in the army, and their not thinking that the power of the oligarchy would be permanent. Each one therefore strove to be himself the first to take the lead of the commons.
But those of the Four Hundred who were most opposed to such a form of government, and who now took the lead, namely, Phrynichus, (who when general at Samos had quarrelled, as already mentioned, with Alcibiades;) and Aristarchus, a man in the highest degree and for the longest opposed to democracy; and Pisander, and Antiphon, and others who were most influential, had before—as soon as they were established in power, and afterwards, when the forces at Samos revolted from them for a democracy—sent members of their body as ambassadors to Lacedaemon, and been very anxious for peace with them, and been engaged in building the fort in what is called Ἠετιωνία.] For the nature and object of this fort, see Arnold's, ZZZacto. Eetionia. And far more than ever was this the case, after their ambassadors from Samos had arrived; seeing, as they did, that both the majority of the people, and those of their own members, who before appeared trustworthy, were now changing their views.
And so they despatched Antiphon, Phrynichus, and ten others with all speed, (for they were afraid of what was going on both at home and at Samos,) with instructions to make terms with the Lacedaemonians in any way whatever that was at all tolerable.
And they worked with still greater earnestness at the fort in Eetionia. Now the object of the fort, as Theramenes and his party maintained, was this; not that they might avoid admitting the army at Samos into the Piraeus, should they attempt to sail in by force; but rather that they might admit the enemy, whenever they pleased, both with ships and troops. For Eetionia is a mole of the Piraeus, and the entrance into the harbour is straight by it.