His audience thanked him for what he said, and further begged him to
fix the rate of payment for the seamen at one Attic drachma per man, (3)
explaining that should this rate of payment be adopted, the sailors of
the Athenians would desert, and in the end there would be a saving
of expenditure. Cyrus complimented them on the soundness of their
arguments, but said that it was not in his power to exceed the
injunctions of the king. The terms of agreement were precise, thirty
minae (4) a month per vessel to be given, whatever number of vessels the
Lacedaemonians might choose to maintain.
(3) About 9 3/4 pence; a drachma (= six obols) would be very high pay
for a sailor--indeed, just double the usual amount. See Thuc. vi.
8 and viii. 29, and Prof. Jowett ad loc. Tissaphernes had, in the
winter of 412 B.C., distributed one month's pay among the
Peloponnesian ships at this high rate of a drachma a day, "as his
envoy had promised at Lacedaemon;" but this he proposed to reduce
to half a drachma, "until he had asked the king's leave, promising
that if he obtained it, he would pay the entire drachma. On the
remonstrance, however, of Hermocrates, the Syracusan general, he
promised to each man a payment of somewhat more than three obols."
(4) Nearly 122 pounds; and thirty minae a month to each ship (the crew
of each ship being taken at two hundred) = three obols a day to
each man. The terms of agreement to which Cyrus refers may have
been specified in the convention mentioned above in chap. iv,
which Boeotius and the rest were so proud to have obtained. But
see Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 192 note (2d ed.)
To this rejoinder Lysander at the moment said nothing. But after dinner,
when Cyrus drank to his health, asking him "What he could do to gratify
him most?" Lysander replied, "Add an obol (5) to the sailors' pay."
After this the pay was raised to four instead of three obols, as it
hitherto had been. Nor did the liberality of Cyrus end here; he not only
paid up all arrears, but further gave a month's pay in advance, so that,
if the enthusiasm of the army had been great before, it was greater than
ever now. The Athenians when they heard the news were proportionately
depressed, and by help of Tissaphernes despatched ambassadors to Cyrus.
That prince, however, refused to receive them, nor were the prayers of
Tissaphernes of any avail, however much he insisted that Cyrus should
adopt the policy which he himself, on the advice of Alcibiades, had
persistently acted on. This was simply not to suffer any single Hellenic
state to grow strong at the expense of the rest, but to keep them all
weak alike, distracted by internecine strife.
(5) An obol = one-sixth of a drachma; the Attic obol = rather more
than 1 1/2 pence.
Lysander, now that the organisation of his navy was arranged to his
satisfaction, beached his squadron of ninety vessels at Ephesus, and
sat with hands folded, whilst the vessels dried and underwent repairs.
Alcibiades, being informed that Thrasybulus had come south of the
Hellespont and was fortifying Phocaea, sailed across to join him,
leaving his own pilot Antiochus in command of the fleet, with orders
not to attack Lysander's fleet. Antiochus, however, was tempted to leave
Notium and sail into the harbour of Ephesus with a couple of ships, his
own and another, past the prows of Lysander's squadron. The Spartan at
first contented himself with launching a few of his ships, and started
in pursuit of the intruder; but when the Athenians came out with other
vessels to assist Antiochus, he formed his whole squadron into line of
battle, and bore down upon them, whereupon the Athenians followed suit,
and getting their remaining triremes under weigh at Notium, stood out to
sea as fast as each vessel could clear the point. (6) Thus it befell in
the engagement which ensued, that while the enemy was in due order, the
Athenians came up in scattered detachments and without concert, and in
the end were put to flight with the loss of fifteen ships of war. Of the
crews, indeed, the majority escaped, though a certain number fell into
the hands of the enemy. Then Lysander collected his vessels, and having
erected a trophy on Cape Notium, sailed across to Ephesus, whilst the
Athenians retired to Samos.
(6) {os ekastos enoixen}, for this nautical term see above.
On his return to Samos a little later, Alcibiades put out to sea with
the whole squadron in the direction of the harbour of Ephesus. At the
mouth of the harbour he marshalled his fleet in battle order, and tried
to tempt the enemy to an engagement; but as Lysander, conscious of his
inferiority in numbers, refused to accept the challenge, he sailed
back again to Samos. Shortly after this the Lacedaemonians captured
Delphinium and Eion. (7)
(7) This should probably be Teos, in Ionia, in spite of the MSS.
{'Eiona}. The place referred to cannot at any rate be the well-
known Eion at the mouth of the Strymon in Thrace.
But now the news of the late disaster at Notium had reached the
Athenians at home, and in their indignation they turned upon Alcibiades,
to whose negligence and lack of self-command they attributed
the destruction of the ships. Accordingly they chose ten new
generals--namely Conon, Diomedon, Leon, Pericles, Erasinides,
Aristocrates, Archestratus, Protomachus, Thrasylus, and Aristogenes.
Alcibiades, who was moreover in bad odour in the camp, sailed away with
a single trireme to his private fortress in the Chersonese.
After this Conon, in obedience to a decree of the Athenian people,
set sail from Andros with the twenty vessels under his command in that
island to Samos, and took command of the whole squadron. To fill the
place thus vacated by Conon, Phanosthenes was sent to Andros with four
ships. That captain was fortunate enough to intercept and capture
two Thurian ships of war, crews and all, and these captives were all
imprisoned by the Athenians, with the exception of their leader Dorieus.
He was the Rhodian, who some while back had been banished from Athens
and from his native city by the Athenians, when sentence of death was
passed upon him and his family. This man, who had once enjoyed the
right of citizenship among them, they now took pity on and released him
without ransom.
When Conon had reached Samos he found the armament in a state of great
despondency. Accordingly his first measure was to man seventy ships with
their full complement, instead of the former hundred and odd vessels.
With this squadron he put to sea accompanied by the other generals,
and confined himself to making descents first at one point and then at
another of the enemy's territory, and to collecting plunder.
And so the year drew to its close: a year signalled further by an
invasion of Sicily by the Carthaginians, with one hundred and twenty
ships of war and a land force of one hundred and twenty thousand men,
which resulted in the capture of Agrigentum. The town was finally
reduced to famine after a siege of seven months, the invaders having
previously been worsted in battle and forced to sit down before its
walls for so long a time.
VI
B.C. 406. In the following year--the year of the evening eclipse of the
moon, and the burning of the old temple of Athena (1) at Athens (2)--the
Lacedaemonians sent out Callicratidas to replace Lysander, whose period
of office had now expired. (3) Lysander, when surrendering the squadron
to his successor, spoke of himself as the winner of a sea fight, which
had left him in undisputed mastery of the sea, and with this boast
he handed over the ships to Callicratidas, who retorted, "If you will
convey the fleet from Ephesus, keeping Samos (4) on your right" (that
is, past where the Athenian navy lay), "and hand it over to me at
Miletus, I will admit that you are master of the sea." But Lysander
had no mind to interfere in the province of another officer. Thus
Callicratidas assumed responsibility. He first manned, in addition
to the squadron which he received from Lysander, fifty new vessels
furnished by the allies from Chios and Rhodes and elsewhere. When all
these contingents were assembled, they formed a total of one hundred and
forty sail, and with these he began making preparations for engagement
with the enemy. But it was impossible for him not to note the strong
current of opposition which he encountered from the friends of Lysander.
Not only was there lack of zeal in their service, but they openly
disseminated an opinion in the States, that it was the greatest possible
blunder on the part of the Lacedaemonians so to change their admirals.
Of course, they must from time to time get officers altogether unfit for
the post--men whose nautical knowledge dated from yesterday, and who,
moreover, had no notion of dealing with human beings. It would be very
odd if this practice of sending out people ignorant of the sea and
unknown to the folk of the country did not lead to some catastrophe.
Callicratidas at once summoned the Lacedaemonians there present, and
addressed them in the following terms:--
(1) I.e. as some think, the Erechtheion, which was built partly on the
site of the old temple of Athena Polias, destroyed by the
Persians. According to Dr. Dorpfeld, a quite separate building of
the Doric order, the site of which (S. of the Erechtheion) has
lately been discovered.
(2) The MSS. here add "in the ephorate of Pityas and the archonship of
Callias at Athens;" but though the date is probably correct (cf.
Leake, "Topography of Athens," vol. i. p. 576 foll.), the words
are almost certainly a gloss.
(3) Here the MSS. add "with the twenty-fourth year of the war,"
probably an annotator's gloss; the correct date should be twenty-
fifth. Pel. war 26 = B.C. 406. Pel. war 25 ended B.C. 407.
(4) Lit. on the left (or east) of Samos, looking south from Ephesus.
"For my part," he said, "I am content to stay at home: and if Lysander
or any one else claim greater experience in nautical affairs than I
possess, I have no desire to block his path. Only, being sent out by the
State to take command of this fleet, I do not know what is left to
me, save to carry out my instructions to the best of my ability. For
yourselves, all I beg of you, in reference to my personal ambitions and
the kind of charges brought against our common city, and of which you
are as well aware as I am, is to state what you consider to be the best
course: am I to stay where I am, or shall I sail back home, and explain
the position of affairs out here?"
No one ventured to suggest any other course than that he should obey the
authorities, and do what he was sent to do. Callicratidas then went up
to the court of Cyrus to ask for further pay for the sailors, but
the answer he got from Cyrus was that he should wait for two days.
Callicratidas was annoyed at the rebuff: to dance attendance at the
palace gates was little to his taste. In a fit of anger he cried out
at the sorry condition of the Hellenes, thus forced to flatter the
barbarian for the sake of money. "If ever I get back home," he added,
"I will do what in me lies to reconcile the Athenians and the
Lacedaemonians." And so he turned and sailed back to Miletus. From
Miletus he sent some triremes to Lacedaemon to get money, and convoking
the public assembly of the Milesians, addressed them thus:--
"Men of Miletus, necessity is laid upon me to obey the rulers at home;
but for yourselves, whose neighbourhood to the barbarians has exposed
you to many evils at their hands, I only ask you to let your zeal in the
war bear some proportion to your former sufferings. You should set
an example to the rest of the allies, and show us how to inflict the
sharpest and swiftest injury on our enemy, whilst we await the return
from Lacedaemon of my envoys with the necessary funds. Since one of the
last acts of Lysander, before he left us, was to hand back to Cyrus the
funds already on the spot, as though we could well dispense with them. I
was thus forced to turn to Cyrus, but all I got from him was a series of
rebuffs; he refused me an audience, and, for my part, I could not induce
myself to hang about his gates like a mendicant. But I give you my word,
men of Miletus, that in return for any assistance which you can render
us while waiting for these aids, I will requite you richly. Only by
God's help let us show these barbarians that we do not need to worship
them, in order to punish our foes."
The speech was effective; many members of the assembly arose, and not
the least eagerly those who were accused of opposing him. These, in some
terror, proposed a vote of money, backed by offers of further private
contributions. Furnished with these sums, and having procured from Chios
a further remittance of five drachmas (5) a piece as outfit for each
seaman, he set sail to Methyma in Lesbos, which was in the hands of the
enemy. But as the Methymnaeans were not disposed to come over to him
(since there was an Athenian garrison in the place, and the men at the
head of affairs were partisans of Athens), he assaulted and took the
place by storm. All the property within accordingly became the spoil of
the soldiers. The prisoners were collected for sale by Callicratidas
in the market-place, where, in answer to the demand of the allies, who
called upon him to sell the Methymnaeans also, he made answer, that as
long as he was in command, not a single Hellene should be enslaved if
he could help it. The next day he set at liberty the free-born captives;
the Athenian garrison with the captured slaves he sold. (6) To Conon
he sent word:--He would put a stop to his strumpeting the sea. (7) And
catching sight of him, as he put out to sea, at break of day, he gave
chase, hoping to cut him off from his passage to Samos, and prevent his
taking refuge there.
(5) About 4d.
(6) Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 224 (2d ed.), thinks that
Callicratidas did not even sell the Athenian garrison, as if the
sense of the passage were: "The next day he set at liberty the
free-born captives with the Athenian garrison, contenting himself
with selling the captive slaves." But I am afraid that no
ingenuity of stopping will extract that meaning from the Greek
words, which are, {te d' usteraia tous men eleutherous apheke tous
de ton 'Athenaion phrourous kai ta andrapoda ta doula panta
apedoto}. To spare the Athenian garrison would have been too
extraordinary a proceeding even for Callicratidas. The idea
probably never entered his head. It was sufficiently noble for him
to refuse to sell the Methymnaeans. See the remarks of Mr. W. L.
Newman, "The Pol. of Aristotle," vol. i. p. 142.
(7) I.e. the sea was Sparta's bride.
But Conon, aided by the sailing qualities of his fleet, the rowers of
which were the pick of several ships' companies, concentrated in a few
vessels, made good his escape, seeking shelter within the harbour of
Mitylene in Lesbos, and with him two of the ten generals, Leon and
Erasinides. Callicratidas, pursuing him with one hundred and seventy
sail, entered the harbour simultaneously; and Conon thus hindered from
further or final escape by the too rapid movements of the enemy, was
forced to engage inside the harbour, and lost thirty of his ships,
though the crews escaped to land. The remaining, forty in number, he
hauled up under the walls of the town. Callicratidas, on his side, came
to moorings in the harbour; and, having command of the exit, blocked the
Athenian within. His next step was to send for the Methymnaeans in force
by land, and to transport his army across from Chios. Money also came to
him from Cyrus.
Conon, finding himself besieged by land and sea, without means of
providing himself with corn from any quarter, the city crowded with
inhabitants, and aid from Athens, whither no news of the late events
could be conveyed, impossible, launched two of the fastest sailing
vessels of his squadron. These he manned, before daybreak, with the best
rowers whom he could pick out of the fleet, stowing away the marines at
the same time in the hold of the ships and closing the port shutters.
Every day for four days they held out in this fashion, but at evening as
soon as it was dark he disembarked his men, so that the enemy might not
suspect what they were after. On the fifth day, having got in a small
stock of provisions, when it was already mid-day and the blockaders were
paying little or no attention, and some of them even were taking their
siesta, the two ships sailed out of the harbour: the one directing her
course towards the Hellespont, whilst her companion made for the open
sea. Then, on the part of the blockaders, there was a rush to the scene
of action, as fast as the several crews could get clear of land, in
bustle and confusion, cutting away the anchors, and rousing themselves
from sleep, for, as chance would have it, they had been breakfasting on
shore. Once on board, however, they were soon in hot pursuit of the
ship which had started for the open sea, and ere the sun dipped they
overhauled her, and after a successful engagement attached her by cables
and towed her back into harbour, crew and all. Her comrade, making for
the Hellespont, escaped, and eventually reached Athens with news of
the blockade. The first relief was brought to the blockaded fleet by
Diomedon, who anchored with twelve vessels in the Mitylenaean Narrows.
(8) But a sudden attack of Callicratidas, who bore down upon him without
warning, cost him ten of his vessels, Diomedon himself escaping with his
own ship and one other.
(8) Or, "Euripus."
Now that the position of affairs, including the blockade, was fully
known at Athens, a vote was passed to send out a reinforcement of one
hundred and ten ships. Every man of ripe age, (9) whether slave or free,
was impressed for this service, so that within thirty days the whole one
hundred and ten vessels were fully manned and weighed anchor. Amongst
those who served in this fleet were also many of the knights. (10)
The fleet at once stood out across to Samos, and picked up the Samian
vessels in that island. The muster-roll was swelled by the addition of
more than thirty others from the rest of the allies, to whom the same
principle of conscription applied, as also it did to the ships already
engaged on foreign service. The actual total, therefore, when all the
contingents were collected, was over one hundred and fifty vessels.
(9) I.e. from eighteen to sixty years.
(10) See Boeckh. "P. E. A." Bk. II. chap. xxi. p. 263 (Eng. trans.)
Callicratidas, hearing that the relief squadron had already reached
Samos, left fifty ships, under command of Eteonicus, in the harbour of
Mitylene, and setting sail with the other one hundred and twenty, hove
to for the evening meal off Cape Malea in Lesbos, opposite Mitylene. It
so happened that the Athenians on this day were supping on the islands
of Arginusae, which lie opposite Lesbos. In the night the Spartan not
only saw their watch-fires, but received positive information that
"these were the Athenians;" and about midnight he got under weigh,
intending to fall upon them suddenly. But a violent downpour of rain
with thunder and lightning prevented him putting out to sea. By daybreak
it had cleared, and he sailed towards Arginusae. On their side, the
Athenian squadron stood out to meet him, with their left wing
facing towards the open sea, and drawn up in the following
order:--Aristocrates, in command of the left wing, with fifteen ships,
led the van; next came Diomedon with fifteen others, and immediately in
rear of Aristocrates and Diomedon respectively, as their supports, came
Pericles and Erasinides. Parallel with Diomedon were the Samians, with
their ten ships drawn up in single line, under the command of a Samian
officer named Hippeus. Next to these came the ten vessels of the
taxiarchs, also in single line, and supporting them, the three ships of
the navarchs, with any other allied vessels in the squadron. The right
wing was entrusted to Protomachus with fifteen ships, and next to him
(on the extreme right) was Thrasylus with another division of fifteen.
Protomachus was supported by Lysias with an equal number of ships, and
Thrasylus by Aristogenes. The object of this formation was to prevent
the enemy from manouvring so as to break their line by striking them
amidships, (11) since they were inferior in sailing power.
(11) Lit. "by the diekplous." Cf. Thuc. i. 49, and Arnold's note, who
says: "The 'diecplus' was a breaking through the enemy's line in
order by a rapid turning of the vessel to strike the enemy's ship
on the side or stern, where it was most defenceless, and so to
sink it." So, it seems, "the superiority of nautical skill has
passed," as Grote (viii. p. 234) says, "to the Peloponnesians and
their allies." Well may the historian add, "How astonished would
the Athenian Admiral Phormion have been, if he could have
witnessed the fleets and the order of battle at Arginusae!" See
Thuc. iv. 11.
The Lacedaemonians, on the contrary, trusting to their superior
seamanship, were formed opposite with their ships all in single line,
with the special object of manouvring so as either to break the enemy's
line or to wheel round them. Callicratidas commanded the right wing
in person. Before the battle the officer who acted as his pilot, the
Megarian Hermon, suggested that it might be well to withdraw the fleet
as the Athenian ships were far more numerous. But Callicratidas replied
that Sparta would be no worse off even if he personally should perish,
but to flee would be disgraceful. (12) And now the fleets approached,
and for a long space the battle endured. At first the vessels were
engaged in crowded masses, and later on in scattered groups. At length
Callicratidas, as his vessel dashed her beak into her antagonist,
was hurled off into the sea and disappeared. At the same instant
Protomachus, with his division on the right, had defeated the enemy's
left, and then the flight of the Peloponnesians began towards Chios,
though a very considerable body of them made for Phocaea, whilst the
Athenians sailed back again to Arginusae. The losses on the side of the
Athenians were twenty-five ships, crews and all, with the exception of
the few who contrived to reach dry land. On the Peloponnesian side, nine
out of the ten Lacedaemonian ships, and more than sixty belonging to the
rest of the allied squadron, were lost.
(12) For the common reading, {oikeitai}, which is ungrammatical,
various conjectures have been made, e.g.
{oikieitai} = "would be none the worse off for citizens,"
{oikesetai} = "would be just as well administered without him,"
but as the readings and their renderings are alike doubtful, I
have preferred to leave the matter vague. Cf. Cicero, "De Offic."
i. 24; Plutarch, "Lac. Apophth." p. 832.
After consultation the Athenian generals agreed that two captains
of triremes, Theramenes and Thrasybulus, accompanied by some of the
taxiarchs, should take forty-seven ships and sail to the assistance
of the disabled fleet and of the men on board, whilst the rest of the
squadron proceeded to attack the enemy's blockading squadron under
Eteonicus at Mitylene. In spite of their desire to carry out this
resolution, the wind and a violent storm which arose prevented them. So
they set up a trophy, and took up their quarters for the night. As to
Etenoicus, the details of the engagement ware faithfully reported to
him by the express despatch-boat in attendance. On receipt of the news,
however, he sent the despatch-boat out again the way she came, with
an injunction to those on board of her to sail off quickly without
exchanging a word with any one. Then on a sudden they were to return
garlanded with wreaths of victory and shouting "Callicratidas has won
a great sea fight, and the whole Athenian squadron is destroyed." This
they did, and Eteonicus, on his side, as soon as the despatch-boat came
sailing in, proceeded to offer sacrifice of thanksgiving in honour of
the good news. Meanwhile he gave orders that the troops were to take
their evening meal, and that the masters of the trading ships were
silently to stow away their goods on board the merchant ships and make
sail as fast as the favourable breeze could speed them to Chios. The
ships of war were to follow suit with what speed they might. This done,
he set fire to his camp, and led off the land forces to Methymna. Conon,
finding the enemy had made off, and the wind had grown comparatively
mild, (13) got his ships afloat, and so fell in with the Athenian
squadron, which had by this time set out from Arginusae. To these he
explained the proceedings of Eteonicus. The squadron put into Mitylene,
and from Mitylene stood across to Chios, and thence, without effecting
anything further, sailed back to Samos.
(13) Or, "had changed to a finer quarter."
VII
All the above-named generals, with the exception of Conon, were
presently deposed by the home authorities. In addition to Conon two new
generals were chosen, Adeimantus and Philocles. Of those concerned in
the late victory two never returned to Athens: these were Protomachus
and Aristogenes. The other six sailed home. Their names were Pericles,
Diomedon, Lysias, Aristocrates, Thrasylus, and Erasinides. On their
arrival Archidemus, the leader of the democracy at that date, who had
charge of the two obol fund, (1) inflicted a fine on Erasinides, and
accused him before the Dicastery (2) of having appropriated money
derived from the Hellespont, which belonged to the people. He brought
a further charge against him of misconduct while acting as general, and
the court sentenced him to imprisonment.
(1) Reading {tes diobelais}, a happy conjecture for the MSS. {tes
diokelias}, which is inexplicable. See Grote, "Hist. of Greece,"
vol. viii. p. 244 note (2d ed.)
(2) I.e. a legal tribunal or court of law. At Athens the free citizens
constitutionally sworn and impannelled sat as "dicasts"
("jurymen," or rather as a bench of judges) to hear cases
({dikai}). Any particular board of dicasts formed a "dicastery."
These proceedings in the law court were followed by the statement of
the generals before the senate (3) touching the late victory and the
magnitude of the storm. Timocrates then proposed that the other
five generals should be put in custody and handed over to the public
assembly. (4) Whereupon the senate committed them all to prison. Then
came the meeting of the public assembly, in which others, and more
particularly Theramenes, formally accused the generals. He insisted
that they ought to show cause why they had not picked up the shipwrecked
crews. To prove that there had been no attempt on their part to attach
blame to others, he might point, as conclusive testimony, to the
despatch sent by the generals themselves to the senate and the people,
in which they attributed the whole disaster to the storm, and nothing
else. After this the generals each in turn made a defence, which was
necessarily limited to a few words, since no right of addressing
the assembly at length was allowed by law. Their explanation of the
occurrences was that, in order to be free to sail against the enemy
themselves, they had devolved the duty of picking up the shipwrecked
crews upon certain competent captains of men-of-war, who had themselves
been generals in their time, to wit Theramenes and Tharysbulus, and
others of like stamp. If blame could attach to any one at all with
regard to the duty in question, those to whom their orders had been
given were the sole persons they could hold responsible. "But," they
went on to say, "we will not, because these very persons have denounced
us, invent a lie, and say that Theramenes and Thrasybulus are to blame,
when the truth of the matter is that the magnitude of the storm alone
prevented the burial of the dead and the rescue of the living." In
proof of their contention, they produced the pilots and numerous other
witnesses from among those present at the engagement. By these arguments
they were in a fair way to persuade the people of their innocence.
Indeed many private citizens rose wishing to become bail for the
accused, but it was resolved to defer decision till another meeting
of the assembly. It was indeed already so late that it would have been
impossible to see to count the show of hands. It was further resolved
that the senate meanwhile should prepare a measure, to be introduced at
the next assembly, as to the mode in which the accused should take their
trial.
(3) This is the Senate or Council of Five Hundred. One of its chief
duties was to prepare measures for discussion in the assembly. It
had also a certain amount of judicial power, hearing complaints
and inflicting fines up to fifty drachmas. It sat daily, a
"prytany" of fifty members of each of the ten tribes in rotation
holding office for a month in turn.
(4) This is the great Public Assembly (the Ecclesia), consisting of
all genuine Athenian citizens of more than twenty years of age.
Then came the festival of the Aparturia, (5) with its family gatherings
of fathers and kinsfolk. Accordingly the party of Theramenes procured
numbers of people clad in black apparel, and close-shaven, (6) who were
to go in and present themselves before the public assembly in the middle
of the festival, as relatives, presumably, of the men who had perished;
and they persuaded Callixenus to accuse the generals in the senate. The
next step was to convoke the assembly, when the senate laid before it
the proposal just passed by their body, at the instance of Callixenus,
which ran as follows: "Seeing that both the parties to this case, to
wit, the prosecutors of the generals on the one hand, and the accused
themselves in their defence on the other, have been heard in the late
meeting of the assembly; we propose that the people of Athens now record
their votes, one and all, by their tribes; that a couple of voting urns
be placed for the convenience of each several tribe; and the public
crier in the hearing of each several tribe proclaim the mode of voting
as follows: 'Let every one who finds the generals guilty of not rescuing
the heroes of the late sea fight deposit his vote in urn No. 1. Let him
who is of the contrary opinion deposit his vote in urn No. 2. Further,
in the event of the aforesaid generals being found guilty, let death be
the penalty. Let the guilty persons be delivered over to the eleven. Let
their property be confiscated to the State, with the exception of one
tithe, which falls to the goddess.'"
(5) An important festival held in October at Athens, and in nearly all
Ionic cities. Its objects were (1) the recognition of a common
descent from Ion, the son of Apollo Patrous; and (2) the
maintenance of the ties of clanship. See Grote, "Hist. of Greece,"
vol. viii. p. 260 foll. (2d ed.); Jebb, "Theophr." xviii. 5.
(6) I.e. in sign of mourning.
Now there came forward in the assembly a man, who said that he had
escaped drowning by clinging to a meal tub. The poor fellows perishing
around him had commissioned him, if he succeeded in saving himself,
to tell the people of Athens how bravely they had fought for their
fatherland, and how the generals had left them there to drown.
Presently Euryptolemus, the son of Peisianax, and others served a
notice of indictment on Callixenus, insisting that his proposal was
unconstitutional, and this view of the case was applauded by some
members of the assembly. But the majority kept crying out that it was
monstrous if the people were to be hindered by any stray individual from
doing what seemed to them right. And when Lysicus, embodying the spirit
of those cries, formally proposed that if these persons would not
abandon their action, they should be tried by the same vote along with
the generals: a proposition to which the mob gave vociferous assent; and
so these were compelled to abandon their summonses. Again, when some of
the Prytanes (7) objected to put a resolution to the vote which was in
itself unconstitutional, Callixenus again got up and accused them in the
same terms, and the shouting began again. "Yes, summons all who refuse,"
until the Prytanes, in alarm, all agreed with one exception to permit
the voting. This obstinate dissentient was Socrates, the son of
Sophroniscus, who insisted that he would do nothing except in accordance
with the law. (8) After this Euryptolemus rose and spoke in behalf of
the generals. He said:--
(7) Prytanes--the technical term for the senators of the presiding
tribe, who acted as presidents of the assembly. Their chairman for
the day was called Epistates.
(8) For the part played by Socrates see further Xenophon's
"Memorabilia," I. i. 18; IV. iv. 2.
"I stand here, men of Athens, partly to accuse Pericles, though he is a
close and intimate connection of my own, and Diomedon, who is my friend,
and partly to urge certain considerations on their behalf, but chiefly
to press upon you what seems to me the best course for the State
collectively. I hold them to blame in that they dissuaded their
colleagues from their intention to send a despatch to the senate and
this assembly, which should have informed you of the orders given to
Theramenes and Thrasybulus to take forty-seven ships of war and pick up
the shipwrecked crews, and of the neglect of the two officers to carry
out those orders. And it follows that though the offence was committed
by one or two, the responsibility must be shared by all; and in return
for kindness in the past, they are in danger at present of sacrificing
their lives to the machinations of these very men, and others whom I
could mention. In danger, do I say, of losing their lives? No, not so,
if you will suffer me to persuade you to do what is just and right; if
you will only adopt such a course as shall enable you best to discover
the truth and shall save you from too late repentance, when you find you
have transgressed irremediably against heaven and your own selves. In
what I urge there is no trap nor plot whereby you can be deceived by me
or any other man; it is a straightforward course which will enable
you to discover and punish the offender by whatever process you like,
collectively or individually. Let them have, if not more, at any rate
one whole day to make what defence they can for themselves; and trust to
your own unbiased judgment to guide you to the right conclusion.
"You know, men of Athens, the exceeding stringency of the decree of
Cannonus, (9) which orders that man, whosoever he be, who is guilty of
treason against the people of Athens, to be put in irons, and so to meet
the charge against him before the people. If he be convicted, he is to
be thrown into the Barathron and perish, and the property of such an one
is to be confiscated, with the exception of the tithe which falls to the
goddess. I call upon you to try these generals in accordance with this
decree. Yes, and so help me God--if it please you, begin with my own
kinsman Pericles for base would it be on my part to make him of more
account than the whole of the State. Or, if you prefer, try them by that
other law, which is directed against robbers of temples and betrayers
of their country, which says: if a man betray his city or rob a sacred
temple of the gods, he shall be tried before a law court, and if he be
convicted, his body shall not be buried in Attica, and his goods shall
be confiscated to the State. Take your choice as between these two laws,
men of Athens, and let the prisoners be tried by one or other. Let three
portions of a day be assigned to each respectively, one portion wherein
they shall listen to their accusation, a second wherein they shall make
their defence, and a third wherein you shall meet and give your votes in
due order on the question of their guilt or innocence. By this procedure
the malefactors will receive the desert of their misdeeds in full, and
those who are innocent will owe you, men of Athens, the recovery of
their liberty, in place of unmerited destruction. (10)
(9) "There was a rule in Attic judicial procedure, called the psephism
of Kannonus (originally adopted, we do not know when, on the
proposition of a citizen of that name, as a psephism or decree for
some particular case, but since generalised into common practice,
and grown into great prescriptive reverence), which peremptorily
forbade any such collective trial or sentence, and directed that a
separate judicial vote should in all cases be taken for or against
each accused party." Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 266
(2d ed.)
(10) Reading {adikos apolountai}.
"On your side, in trying the accused by recognised legal procedure, you
will show that you obey the dictates of pious feeling, and can regard
the sanctity of an oath, instead of joining hands with our enemies the
Lacedaemonians and fighting their battles. For is it not to fight their
battles, if you take their conquerors, the men who deprived them of
seventy vessels, and at the moment of victory sent them to perdition
untried and in the teeth of the law? What are you afraid of, that you
press forward with such hot haste? Do you imagine that you may be
robbed of the power of life and death over whom you please, should you
condescend to a legal trial? but that you are safe if you take shelter
behind an illegality, like the illegality of Callixenus, when he worked
upon the senate to propose to this assembly to deal with the accused by
a single vote? But consider, you may actually put to death an innocent
man, and then repentance will one day visit you too late. Bethink you
how painful and unavailing remorse will then be, and more particularly
if your error has cost a fellow-creature his life. What a travesty of
justice it would be if in the case of a man like Aristarchus, (11) who
first tried to destroy the democracy and then betrayed Oenoe to our
enemy the Thebans, you granted him a day for his defence, consulting his
wishes, and conceded to him all the other benefits of the law; whereas
now you are proposing to deprive of these same privileges your own
generals, who in every way conformed to your views and defeated your
enemies. Do not you, of all men, I implore you, men of Athens, act thus.
Why, these laws are your own, to them, beyond all else you owe your
greatness. Guard them jealously; in nothing, I implore you, act without
their sanction.
(11) See below, II. iii; also cf. Thuc. viii. 90, 98.
"But now, turn for a moment and consider with me the actual occurrences
which have created the suspicion of misconduct on the part of our late
generals. The sea-fight had been fought and won, and the ships had
returned to land, when Diomedon urged that the whole squadron should
sail out in line and pick up the wrecks and floating crews. Erasinides
was in favour of all the vessels sailing as fast as possible to deal
with the enemy's forces at Mitylene. And Thrasylus represented that both
objects could be effected, by leaving one division of the fleet there,
and with the rest sailing against the enemy; and if this resolution were
agreed to, he advised that each of the eight generals should leave three
ships of his own division with the ten vessels of the taxiarchs, the
ten Samian vessels, and the three belonging to the navarchs. These added
together make forty-seven, four for each of the lost vessels, twelve
in number. Among the taxiarchs left behind, two were Thrasybulus and
Theramenes, the men who in the late meeting of this assembly undertook
to accuse the generals. With the remainder of the fleet they were to
sail to attack the enemy's fleet. Everything, you must admit, was duly
and admirably planned. It was only common justice, therefore, that those
whose duty it was to attack the enemy should render an account for
all miscarriages of operations against the enemy; while those who were
commissioned to pick up the dead and dying should, if they failed to
carry out the instructions of the generals, be put on trial to explain
the reasons of the failure. This indeed I may say in behalf of both
parites. It was really the storm which, in spite of what the generals
had planned, prevented anything being done. There are witnesses ready to
attest the truth of this: the men who escaped as by a miracle, and among
these one of these very generals, who was on a sinking ship and was
saved. And this man, who needed picking up as much as anybody at that
moment, is, they insist, to be tried by one and the same vote as those
who neglected to perform their orders! Once more, I beg you, men
of Athens, to accept your victory and your good fortune, instead of
behaving like the desperate victims of misfortune and defeat.
Recognise the finger of divine necessity; do not incur the reproach
of stony-heartedness by discovering treason where there was merely
powerlessness, and condemning as guilty those who were prevented by the
storm from carrying out their instructions. Nay! you will better satisfy
the demands of justice by crowning these conquerors with wreaths of
victory than by punishing them with death at the instigation of wicked
men."
At the conclusion of his speech Euryptolemus proposed, as an amendment,
that the prisoners should, in accordance with the decree of Cannonus, be
tried each separately, as against the proposal of the senate to try them
all by a single vote.
At the show of hands the tellers gave the majority in favour of
Euryptolemus's amendment, but upon the application of Menecles, who
took formal exception (12) to this decision, the show of hands was gone
through again, and now the verdict was in favour of the resolution of
the senate. At a later date the balloting was made, and by the votes
recorded the eight generals were condemned, and the six who were in
Athens were put to death.
(12) For this matter cf. Schomann, "De Comitiis Athen." p. 161 foll.;
also Grote, "Hist. of Grece," vol. viii. p. 276 note (2d ed.)
Not long after, repentance seized the Athenians, and they passed a
decree authorising the public prosecution of those who had deceived the
people, and the appointment of proper securities for their persons until
the trial was over. Callixenus was one of those committed for trail.
There were, besides Callixenus, four others against whom true bills were
declared, and they were all five imprisoned by their sureties. But all
subsequently effected their escape before the trial, at the time of the
sedition in which Cleophon (13) was killed. Callixenus eventually came
back when the party in Piraeus returned to the city, at the date of
the amnesty, (14) but only to die of hunger, an object of universal
detestation.
(13) Cleophon, the well-known demagogue. For the occasion of his death
see Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. pp. 166, 310 (2d ed.);
Prof. Jebb, "Attic Orators," i. 266, ii. 288. For his character,
as popularly conceived, cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 677.
(14) B.C. 403.
BOOK II
I
To return to Eteonicus and his troops in Chios. During summer they
were well able to support themselves on the fruits of the season, or
by labouring for hire in different parts of the island, but with the
approach of winter these means of subsistence began to fail. Ill-clad at
the same time, and ill-shod, they fell to caballing and arranging plans
to attack the city of Chios. It was agreed amongst them, that in order
to gauge their numbers, every member of the conspiracy should carry a
reed. Eteonicus got wind of the design, but was at a loss how to deal
with it, considering the number of these reed-bearers. To make an open
attack upon them seemed dangerous. It would probably lead to a rush
to arms, in which the conspirators would seize the city and commence
hostilities, and, in the event of their success, everything hitherto
achieved would be lost. Or again, the destruction on his part of many
fellow-creatures and allies was a terrible alternative, which would
place the Spartans in an unenviable light with regard to the rest of
Hellas, and render the soldiers ill-disposed to the cause in hand.
Accordingly he took with him fifteen men, armed with daggers, and
marched through the city. Falling in with one of the reed-bearers, a man
suffering from ophthalmia, who was returning from the surgeon's house,
he put him to death. This led to some uproar, and people asked why the
man was thus slain. By Eteonicus's orders the answer was set afloat,
"because he carried a reed." As the explanation circulated, one
reed-bearer after another threw away the symbol, each one saying to
himself, as he heard the reason given, "I have better not be seen with
this." After a while Eteonicus called a meeting of the Chians, and
imposed upon them a contribution of money, on the ground that with pay
in their pockets the sailors would have no temptation to revolutionary
projects. The Chians acquiesced. Whereupon Eteonicus promptly ordered
his crews to get on board their vessels. He then rowed alongside
each ship in turn, and addressed the men at some length in terms of
encouragement and cheery admonition, just as though he knew nothing of
what had taken place, and so distributed a month's pay to every man on
board.
After this the Chians and the other allies held a meeting in Ephesus,
and, considering the present posture of affairs, determined to send
ambassadors to Lacedaemon with a statement of the facts, and a request
that Lysander might be sent out to take command of the fleet. Lysander's
high reputation among the allies dated back to his former period of
office, when as admiral he had won the naval victory of Notium. The
ambassadors accordingly were despatched, accompanied by envoys also from
Cyrus, charged with the same message. The Lacedaemonians responded by
sending them Lysander as second in command, (1) with Aracus as admiral,
since it was contrary to their custom that the same man should be
admiral twice. At the same time the fleet was entrusted to Lysander. (2)
(1) Epistoleus. See above.
(2) "At this date the war had lasted five-and-twenty years." So the
MSS. read. The words are probably an interpolation.
It was in this year (3) that Cyrus put Autoboesaces and Mitraeus to
death. These were sons of the sister of Dariaeus (4) (the daughter of
Xerxes, the father of Darius). (5) He put them to death for neglecting,
when they met him, to thrust their hands into the sleeve (or "kore")
which is a tribute of respect paid to the king alone. This "kore" is
longer than the ordinary sleeve, so long in fact that a man with his
hand inside is rendered helpless. In consequence of this act on the part
of Cyrus, Hieramenes (6) and his wife urged upon Dariaeus the danger of
overlooking such excessive insolence on the part of the young prince,
and Dariaeus, on the plea of sickness, sent a special embassy to summon
Cyrus to his bedside.
(3) B.C. 406.
(4) Dariaeus, i.e. Darius, but the spelling of the name is correct,
and occurs in Ctesias, though in the "Anabasis" we have the
spelling Darius.
(5) These words look like the note of a foolish and ignorant scribe.
He ought to have written, "The daughter of Artaxerxes and own
sister of Darius, commonly so called."
(6) For Hieramenes cf. Thuc. viii. 95, and Prof. Jowett ad loc.
B.C. 405. In the following year (7) Lysander arrived at Ephesus, and
sent for Eteonicus with his ships from Chios, and collected all other
vessels elsewhere to be found. His time was now devoted to refitting the
old ships and having new ones built in Antandrus. He also made a journey
to the court of Cyrus with a request for money. All Cyrus could say
was, that not only the money sent by the king was spent, but much more
besides; and he pointed out the various sums which each of the admirals
had received, but at the same time he gave him what he asked for.
Furnished with this money, Lysander appointed captains to the different
men-of-war, and remitted to the sailors their arrears of pay. Meanwhile
the Athenian generals, on their side, were devoting their energies to
the improvements of their navy at Samos.
(7) The MSS. add "during the ephorate of Archytas and the archonship
at Athens of Alexias," which, though correct enough, is probably an interpolation. |
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