It was now Cyrus's turn to send for Lysander. It was the moment at which
the envoy from his father had arrived with the message: "Your father is
on his sick-bed and desires your presence." The king lay at Thamneria,
in Media, near the territory of the Cadusians, against whom he had
marched to put down a revolt. When Lysander presented himself, Cyrus was
urgent with him not to engage the Athenians at sea unless he had many
more ships than they. "The king," he added, "and I have plenty of
wealth, so that, as far as money goes, you can man plenty of vessels."
He then consigned to him all the tributes from the several cities which
belonged to him personally, and gave him the ready money which he had
as a gift; and finally, reminding him of the sincere friendship he
entertained towards the state of Lacedaemon, as well as to himself
personally, he set out up country to visit his father. Lysander, finding
himself thus left with the complete control of the property of Cyrus
(during the absence of that prince, so summoned to the bedside of his
father), was able to distribute pay to his troops, after which he set
sail for the Ceramic Gulf of Caria. Here he stormed a city in alliance
with the Athenians named Cedreae, and on the following day's assault
took it, and reduced the inhabitants to slavery. These were of a mixed
Hellene and barbaric stock. From Cedreae he continued his voyage
to Rhodes. The Athenians meanwhile, using Samos as their base of
operations, were employed in devastating the king's territory, or in
swooping down upon Chios and Ephesus, and in general were preparing for
a naval battle, having but lately chosen three new generals in addition
to those already in office, whose names were Menander, Tydeus, and
Cephisodotus. Now Lysander, leaving Rhodes, and coasting along Ionia,
made his way to the Hellespont, having an eye to the passage of vessels
through the Straits, and, in a more hostile sense, on the cities which
had revolted from Sparta. The Athenians also set sail from Chios, but
stood out to open sea, since the seaboard of Asia was hostile to them.
Lysander was again on the move; leaving Abydos, he passed up channel to
Lampsacus, which town was allied with Athens; the men of Abydos and
the rest of the troops advancing by land, under the command of the
Lacedaemonian Thorax. They then attacked and took by storm the town,
which was wealthy, and with its stores of wine and wheat and other
commodities was pillaged by the soldiery. All free-born persons,
however, were without exception released by Lysander. And now the
Athenian fleet, following close on his heels, came to moorings at
Elaeus, in the Chersonesus, one hundred and eighty sail in all. It was
not until they had reached this place, and were getting their early
meal, that the news of what had happened at Lampsacus reached them. Then
they instantly set sail again to Sestos, and, having halted long enough
merely to take in stores, sailed on further to Aegospotami, a point
facing Lampsacus, where the Hellespont is not quite two miles (8) broad.
Here they took their evening meal.
(8) Lit. fifteen stades.
The night following, or rather early next morning, with the first streak
of dawn, Lysander gave the signal for the men to take their breakfasts
and get on board their vessels; and so, having got all ready for a naval
engagement, with his ports closed and movable bulwarks attached, he
issued the order that no one was to stir from his post or put out to
sea. As the sun rose the Athenians drew up their vessels facing the
harbour, in line of battle ready for action; but Lysander declining
to come out to meet them, as the day advanced they retired again to
Aegospotami. Then Lysander ordered the swiftest of his ships to follow
the Athenians, and as soon as the crews had disembarked, to watch what
they did, sail back, and report to him. Until these look-outs returned
he would permit no disembarkation from his ships. This performance he
repeated for four successive days, and each day the Athenians put out to
sea and challenged an engagement.
But now Alcibiades, from one of his fortresses, could espy the position
of his fellow-countrymen, moored on an open beach beyond reach of any
city, and forced to send for supplies to Sestos, which was nearly two
miles distant, while their enemies were safely lodged in a harbour, with
a city adjoining, and everything within reach. The situation did not
please him, and he advised them to shift their anchorage to Sestos,
where they would have the advantage of a harbour and a city. "Once
there," he concluded, "you can engage the enemy whenever it suits you."
But the generals, and more particularly Tydeus and Menander, bade him go
about his business. "We are generals now--not you," they said; and so he
went away. And now for five days in succession the Athenians had sailed
out to offer battle, and for the fifth time retired, followed by the
same swift sailors of the enemy. But this time Lysander's orders to the
vessels so sent in pursuit were, that as soon as they saw the
enemy's crew fairly disembarked and dispersed along the shores of the
Chersonesus (a practice, it should be mentioned, which had grown upon
them from day to day owing to the distance at which eatables had to be
purchased, and out of sheer contempt, no doubt, of Lysander, who refused
to accept battle), they were to begin their return voyage, and when in
mid-channel to hoist a shield. The orders were punctually carried out,
and Lysander at once signalled to his whole squadron to put across with
all speed, while Thorax, with the land forces, was to march parallel
with the fleet along the coast. Aware of the enemy's fleet, which he
could see bearing down upon him, Conon had only time to signal to the
crews to join their ships and rally to the rescue with all their might.
But the men were scattered far and wide, and some of the vessels had
only two out of their three banks of rowers, some only a single one,
while others again were completely empty. Conon's own ship, with seven
others in attendance on him and the "Paralus," (9) put out to sea, a
little cluster of nine vessels, with their full complement of men; but
every one of the remaining one hundred and seventy-one vessels were
captured by Lysander on the beach. As to the men themselves, the
large majority of them were easily made prisoners on shore, a few only
escaping to the small fortresses of the neighbourhood. Meanwhile Conon
and his nine vessels made good their escape. For himself, knowing that
the fortune of Athens was ruined, he put into Abarnis, the promontory of
Lampsacus, and there picked up the great sails of Lysander's ships, and
then with eight ships set sail himself to seek refuge with Evagoras in
Cyprus, while the "Paralus" started for Athens with tidings of what had
taken place.
(9) The "Paralus"--the Athenian sacred vessel; cf. Thuc. iii. 33 et
passim.
Lysander, on his side, conveyed the ships and prisoners and all other
spoil back to Lampsacus, having on board some of the Athenian generals,
notably Philocles and Adeimantus. On the very day of these achievements
he despatched Theopompus, a Milesian privateersman, to Lacedaemon to
report what had taken place. This envoy arrived within three days and
delivered his message. Lysander's next step was to convene the allies
and bid them deliberate as to the treatment of the prisoners. Many were
the accusations here levied against the Athenians. There was talk of
crimes committed against the law of Hellas, and of cruelties sanctioned
by popular decrees; which, had they conquered in the late sea-fight,
would have been carried out; such as the proposal to cut off the right
hand of every prisoner taken alive, and lastly the ill-treatment of two
captured men-of-war, a Corinthian and an Andrian vessel, when every man
on board had been hurled headlong down the cliff. Philocles was the very
general of the Athenians who had so ruthlessly destroyed those men. Many
other tales were told; and at length a resolution was passed to put all
the Athenian prisoners, with the exception of Adeimantus, to death. He
alone, it was pleaded, had taken exception to the proposal to cut off
the prisoners' hands. On the other hand, he was himself accused by some
people of having betrayed the fleet. As to Philocles, Lysander put to
him one question, as the officer who had thrown (10) the Corinthians and
Andrians down the cliff: What fate did the man deserve to suffer who
had embarked on so cruel a course of illegality against Hellenes? and so
delivered him to the executioner.
(10) Reading {os... katekremnise}.
II
When he had set the affairs of Lampsacus in order, Lysander sailed to
Byzantium and Chalcedon, where the inhabitants, having first dismissed
the Athenian garrison under a flag of truce, admitted him within their
walls. Those citizens of Byzantium, who had betrayed Byzantium into
the hands of Alcibiades, fled as exiles into Pontus, but subsequently
betaking themselves to Athens, became Athenian citizens. In dealing with
the Athenian garrisons, and indeed with all Athenians wheresoever found,
Lysander made it a rule to give them safe conduct to Athens, and to
Athens only, in the certainty that the larger the number collected
within the city and Piraeus, the more quickly the want of necessaries of
life would make itself felt. And now, leaving Sthenelaus, a Laconian, as
governor-general of Byzantium and Chalcedon, he sailed back himself to
Lampsacus and devoted himself to refitting his ships.
It was night when the "Paralus" reached Athens with her evil tidings,
on receipt of which a bitter wail of woe broke forth. From Piraeus,
following the line of the long walls up to the heart of the city, it
swept and swelled, as each man to his neighbour passed on the news. On
that night no man slept. There was mourning and sorrow for those that
were lost, but the lamentation for the dead was merged in even deeper
sorrow for themselves, as they pictured the evils they were about to
suffer, the like of which they themselves had inflicted upon the men of
Melos, who were colonists of the Lacedaemonians, when they mastered
them by siege. Or on the men of Histiaea; on Scione and Torone; on the
Aeginetans, and many another Hellene city. (1) On the following day the
public assembly met, and, after debate, it was resolved to block up all
the harbours save one, to put the walls in a state of defence, to post
guards at various points, and to make all other necessary preparations
for a siege. Such were the concerns of the men of Athens.
(1) With regard to these painful recollections, see (1) for the siege
and surrender of Melos (in B.C. 416), Thuc. v. 114, 116; and cf.
Aristoph. "Birds," 186; Plut. ("Lysander," 14); (2) for the
ejection of the Histiaeans, an incident of the recovery of Euboea
in 445 B.C., see Thuc. i. 14; Plut. ("Pericles," 23); (3) for the
matter of Scione, which revolted in 423 B.C., and was for a long
time a source of disagreement between the Athenians and
Lacedaemonians, until finally captured by the former in 421 B.C.,
when the citizens were slain and the city given to the Plataeans,
see Thuc. iv. 120-122, 129-133; v. 18, 32; (4) for Torone see
Thuc. ib., and also v. 3; (5) for the expulsion of the Aeginetans
in 431 B.C. see Thuc. ii. 27.
Lysander presently left the Hellespont with two hundred sail and arrived
at Lesbos, where he established a new order of things in Mitylene and
the other cities of the island. Meanwhile he despatched Eteonicus with
a squadron of ten ships to the northern coasts, (2) where that officer
brought about a revolution of affairs which placed the whole region
in the hands of Lacedaemon. Indeed, in a moment of time, after the
sea-fight, the whole of Hellas had revolted from Athens, with the
solitary exception of the men of Samos. These, having massacred the
notables, (3) held the state under their control. After a while Lysander
sent messages to Agis at Deceleia, and to Lacedaemon, announcing his
approach with a squadron of two hundred sail.
(2) Lit. "the Thraceward districts." See above, p. 16.
(3) Or, "since they had slain their notables, held the state under
popular control." See Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 303
note 3 (2d ed.), who thinks that the incident referred to is the
violent democratic revolution in Samos described in Thuc. viii.
21, B.C. 412.
In obedience to a general order of Pausanias, the other king of
Lacedaemon, a levy in force of the Lacedaemonians and all the rest of
Peloponnesus, except the Argives, was set in motion for a campaign. As
soon as the several contingents had arrived, the king put himself at
their head and marched against Athens, encamping in the gymnasium of the
Academy, (4) as it is called. Lysander had now reached Aegina, where,
having got together as many of the former inhabitants as possible, he
formally reinstated them in their city; and what he did in behalf of the
Aeginetans, he did also in behalf of the Melians, and of the rest who
had been deprived of their countries. He then pillaged the island of
Salamis, and finally came to moorings off Piraeus with one hundred and
fifty ships of the line, and established a strict blockade against all
merchant ships entering that harbour.
(4) For this most illustrious of Athenian gymnasia, which still
retains its name, see Leake, "Topography of Athens," i. 195 foll.
The Athenians, finding themselves besieged by land and sea, were in
sore perplexity what to do. Without ships, without allies, without
provisions, the belief gained hold upon them that there was no way of
escape. They must now, in their turn, suffer what they had themselves
inflincted upon others; not in retaliation, indeed, for ills received,
but out of sheer insolence, overriding the citizens of petty states, and
for no better reason than that these were allies of the very men now at
their gates. In this frame of mind they enfranchised those who at any
time had lost their civil rights, and schooled themselves to endurance;
and, albeit many succumbed to starvation, no thought of truce or
reconciliation with their foes was breathed. (5) But when the stock
of corn was absolutely insufficient, they sent an embassage to Agis,
proposing to become allies of the Lacedaemonians on the sole condition
of keeping their fortification walls and Piraeus; and to draw up
articles of treaty on these terms. Agis bade them betake themselves to
Lacedaemon, seeing that he had no authority to act himself. With this
answer the ambassadors returned to Athens, and were forthwith sent on to
Lacedaemon. On reaching Sellasia, (6) a town in (7) Laconian territory,
they waited till they got their answer from the ephors, who, having
learnt their terms (which were identical to those already proposed
to Agis), bade them instantly to be gone, and, if they really desired
peace, to come with other proposals, the fruit of happier reflection.
Thus the ambassadors returned home, and reported the result of their
embassage, whereupon despondency fell upon all. It was a painful
reflection that in the end they would be sold into slavery; and
meanwhile, pending the return of a second embassy, many must needs fall
victims to starvation. The razing of their fortifications was not a
solution which any one cared to recommend. A senator, Archestratus, had
indeed put the question in the senate, whether it were not best to make
peace with the Lacedaemonians on such terms as they were willing to
propose; but he was thrown into prison. The Laconian proposals referred
to involved the destruction of both long walls for a space of more than
a mile. And a decree had been passed, making it illegal to submit any
such proposition about the walls. Things having reached this pass,
Theramenes made a proposal in the public assembly as follows: If they
chose to send him as an ambassador to Lysander, he would go and find out
why the Lacedaemonians were so unyielding about the walls; whether it
was they really intended to enslave the city, or merely that they wanted
a guarantee of good faith. Despatched accordingly, he lingered on with
Lysander for three whole months and more, watching for the time when the
Athenians, at the last pinch of starvation, would be willing to accede
to any terms that might be offered. At last, in the fourth month, he
returned and reported to the public assembly that Lysander had detained
him all this while, and had ended by bidding him betake himself to
Lacedaemon, since he had no authority himself to answer his questions,
which must be addressed directly to the ephors. After this Theramenes
was chosen with nine others to go to Lacedaemon as ambassadors with
full powers. Meanwhile Lysander had sent an Athenian exile, named
Aristoteles, in company of certain Lacedaemonians, to Sparta to report
to the board of ephors how he had answered Theramenes, that they, and
they alone, had supreme authority in matters of peace and war.
(5) Or, "they refused to treat for peace."
(6) Sellasia, the bulwark of Sparta in the valley of the Oenus.
(7) The MSS. have "in the neighbourhood of," which words are
inappropriate at this date, though they may well have been added
by some annotator after the Cleomenic war and the battle of
Sellasia, B.C. 222, when Antigonus of Macedon destroyed the place
in the interests of the Achaean League.
Theramenes and his companions presently reached Sellasia, and being
there questioned as to the reason of their visit, replied that they had
full powers to treat of peace. After which the ephors ordered them to
be summoned to their presence. On their arrival a general assembly was
convened, in which the Corinthians and Thebans more particularly, though
their views were shared by many other Hellenes also, urged the meeting
not to come to terms with the Athenians, but to destroy them. The
Lacedaemonians replied that they would never reduce to slavery a city
which was itself an integral portion of Hellas, and had performed a
great and noble service to Hellas in the most perilous of emergencies.
On the contrary, they were willing to offer peace on the terms now
specified--namely, "That the long walls and the fortifications of
Piraeus should be destroyed; that the Athenian fleet, with the exception
of twelve vessels, should be surrendered; that the exiles should be
restored; and lastly, that the Athenians should acknowledge the headship
of Sparta in peace and war, leaving to her the choice of friends and
foes, and following her lead by land and sea." Such were the terms which
Theramenes and the rest who acted with him were able to report on their
return to Athens. As they entered the city, a vast crowd met them,
trembling lest their mission have proved fruitless. For indeed delay
was no longer possible, so long already was the list of victims daily
perishing from starvation. On the day following, the ambassadors
delivered their report, stating the terms upon which the Lacedaemonians
were willing to make peace. Theramenes acted as spokesman, insisting
that they ought to obey the Lacedaemonians and pull down the walls. A
small minority raised their voice in opposition, but the majority were
strongly in favour of the proposition, and the resolution was passed to
accept the peace. After that, Lysander sailed into the Piraeus, and the
exiles were readmitted. And so they fell to levelling the fortifications
and walls with much enthusiasm, to the accompaniment of female
flute-players, deeming that day the beginning of liberty to Greece.
Thus the year drew to its close (8)--during its middle months took place
the accession of Dionysius, the son of Hermocrates the Syracusan, to
the tyranny of Syracuse; an incident itself preceded by a victory gained
over the Carthaginians by the Syracusans; the reduction of Agrigentum
through famine by the Carthaginians themselves; and the exodus of the
Sicilian Greeks from that city.
(8) For the puzzling chronology of this paragraph see Grote, "Hist. of
Greece," vol. x. p 619 (2d ed.) If genuine, the words may perhaps
have slipt out of their natural place in chapter i. above, in
front of the words "in the following year Lysander arrived," etc.
L. Dindorf brackets them as spurious. Xen., "Hist. Gr." ed.
tertia, Lipsiae, MDCCCLXXII. For the incidents referred to see
above; Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. x. pp. 582, 598 (2d ed.)
III
B.C. 404. In the following year (1) the people passed a resolution
to choose thirty men who were to draft a constitution based on the
ancestral laws of the State. The following were chosen to act on this
committee:--Polychares, Critias, Melobius, Hippolochus, Eucleides,
Hiero, Mnesilochus, Chremo, Theramenes, Aresias, Diocles, Phaedrias,
Chaereleos, Anaetius, Piso, Sophocles, Erastosthenes, Charicles,
Onomacles, Theognis, Aeschines, Theogones, Cleomedes, Erasistratus,
Pheido, Dracontides, Eumathes, Aristoteles, Hippomachus, Mnesitheides.
After these transactions, Lysander set sail for Samos; and Agis withdrew
the land force from Deceleia and disbanded the troops, dismissing the
contingents to their several cities.
(1) The MSS. here add "it was that year of the Olympiad cycle in which
Crocinas, a Thessalian, won the Stadium; when Endius was ephor at
Sparta, and Pythodorus archon at Athens, though the Athenians
indeed do not call the year by that archon's name, since he was
elected during the oligarchy, but prefer to speak of the year of
'anarchy'; the aforesaid oligarchy originated thus,"--which,
though correct, probably was not written by Xenophon. The year of
anarchy might perhaps be better rendered "the year without
archons."
In was at this date, about the time of the solar eclipse, (2) that
Lycophron of Pherae, who was ambitious of ruling over the whole of
Thessaly, defeated those sections of the Thessalians who opposed him,
such as the men of Larissa and others, and slew many of them. It
was also about this date that Dionysius, now tyrant of Syracuse, was
defeated by the Carthaginians and lost Gela and Camarina. And again, a
little later, the men of Leontini, who previously had been amalgamated
with the Syracusans, separated themselves from Syracuse and Dionysius,
and asserted their independence, and returned to their native city.
Another incident of this period was the sudden despatch and introduction
of Syracusan horse into Catana by Dionysius.
(2) This took place on 2d September B.C. 404.
Now the Samians, though besieged by Lysander on all sides, were at first
unwilling to come to terms. But at the last moment, when Lysander was on
the point of assaulting the town, they accepted the terms, which allowed
every free man to leave the island, but not to carry away any part of
his property, except the clothes on his back. On these conditions they
marched out. The city and all it contained was then delivered over to
its ancient citizens by Lysander, who finally appointed ten governors
to garrison the island. (3) After which, he disbanded the allied fleet,
dismissing them to their respective cities, while he himself, with the
Lacedaemonian squadron, set sail for Laconia, bringing with him the
prows of the conquered vessels and the whole navy of Piraeus, with
the exception of twelve ships. He also brought the crowns which he had
received from the cities as private gifts, and a sum of four hundred and
seventy talents (4) in silver (the surplus of the tribute money which
Cyrus had assigned to him for the prosecution of the war), besides other
property, the fruit of his military exploits. All these things Lysander
delivered to the Lacedaemonians in the latter end of summer. (5)
(3) A council of ten, or "decarchy." See Grote, "H. G." viii. 323 (1st
ed.)
(4) About 112,800 pounds.
(5) The MSS. add "a summer, the close of which coincided with the
termination of a war which had lasted twenty-eight and a half
years, as the list of annual ephors, appended in order, serves to
show. Aenesias is the first name. The war began during his
ephorate, in the fifteenth year of the thirty years' truce after
the capture of Euboea. His successors were Brasidas, Isanor,
Sostratidas, Exarchus, Agesistratus, Angenidas, Onomacles,
Zeuxippus, Pityas, Pleistolas, Cleinomachus, Harchus, Leon,
Chaerilas, Patesiadas, Cleosthenes, Lycarius, Eperatus,
Onomantius, Alexippidas, Misgolaidas, Isias, Aracus, Euarchippus,
Pantacles, Pityas, Archytas, and lastly, Endius, during whose year
of office Lysander sailed home in triumph, after performing the
exploits above recorded,"--the interpolation, probably, of some
editor or copyist, the words "twenty-eight and a half" being
probably a mistake on his part for "twenty-seven and a half." Cf.
Thuc. v. 26; also Buchsenschutz, Einleitung, p. 8 of his school
edition of the "Hellenica."
The Thirty had been chosen almost immediately after the long walls and
the fortifications round Piraeus had been razed. They were chosen
for the express purpose of compiling a code of laws for the future
constitution of the State. The laws were always on the point of being
published, yet they were never forthcoming; and the thirty compilers
contented themselves meanwhile with appointing a senate and the other
magistracies as suited their fancy best. That done, they turned their
attention, in the first instance, to such persons as were well known to
have made their living as informers (6) under the democracy, and to be
thorns in the side of all respectable people. These they laid hold on
and prosecuted on the capital charge. The new senate gladly recorded its
vote of condemnation against them; and the rest of the world, conscious
of bearing no resemblance to them, seemed scarcely vexed. But the Thirty
did not stop there. Presently they began to deliberate by what means
they could get the city under their absolute control, in order that they
might work their will upon it. Here again they proceeded tentatively;
in the first instance, they sent (two of their number), Aeschines and
Aristoteles, to Lacedaemon, and persuaded Lysander to support them in
getting a Lacedaemonian garrison despatched to Athens. They only
needed it until they had got the "malignants" out of the way, and had
established the constitution; and they would undertake to maintain these
troops at their own cost. Lysander was not deaf to their persuasions,
and by his co-operation their request was granted. A bodyguard, with
Callibius as governor, was sent.
(6) Lit. "by sycophancy," i.e. calumnious accusation--the sycophant's
trade. For a description of this pest of Athenian life cf. "Dem."
in Arist. 1, S. 52; quoted in Jebb, "Attic Orators," chap. xxix.
14; cf. Aristoph. "Ach." 904; Xen. "Mem." II. ix. 1.
And now that they had got the garrison, they fell to flattering
Callibius with all servile flattery, in order that he might give
countenance to their doings. Thus they prevailed on him to allow some of
the guards, whom they selected, to accompany them, while they proceeded
to lay hands on whom they would; no longer confining themselves to base
folk and people of no account, but boldly laying hands on those who they
felt sure would least easily brook being thrust aside, or, if a
spirit of opposition seized them, could command the largest number of
partisans.
These were early days; as yet Critias was of one mind with Theramenes,
and the two were friends. But the time came when, in proportion as
Critias was ready to rush headlong into wholesale carnage, like one
who thirsted for the blood of the democracy, which had banished him,
Theramenes balked and thwarted him. It was barely reasonable, he argued,
to put people to death, who had never done a thing wrong to respectable
people in their lives, simply because they had enjoyed influence and
honour under the democracy. "Why, you and I, Critias," he would add,
"have said and done many things ere now for the sake of popularity."
To which the other (for the terms of friendly intimacy still subsisted)
would retort, "There is no choice left to us, since we intend to take
the lion's share, but to get rid of those who are best able to hinder
us. If you imagine, because we are thirty instead of one, our government
requires one whit the less careful guarding than an actual tyranny, you
must be very innocent."
So things went on. Day after day the list of persons put to death for no
just reason grew longer. Day after day the signs of resentment were more
significant in the groups of citizens banding together and forecasting
the character of this future constitution; till at length Theramenes
spoke again, protesting:--There was no help for it but to associate with
themselves a sufficient number of persons in the conduct of affairs, or
the oligarchy would certainly come to an end. Critias and the rest
of the Thirty, whose fears had already converted Theramenes into a
dangerous popular idol, proceeded at once to draw up a list of three
thousand citizens; fit and proper persons to have a share in the conduct
of affairs. But Theramenes was not wholly satisfied, "indeed he must
say, for himself, he regarded it as ridiculous, that in their effort to
associate the better classes with themselves in power, they should fix
on just that particular number, three thousand, as if that figure had
some necessary connection with the exact number of gentlemen in the
State, making it impossible to discover any respectability outside
or rascality within the magic number. And in the second place," he
continued, "I see we are trying to do two things, diametrically opposed;
we are manufacturing a government, which is based on force, and at the
same time inferior in strength to those whom we propose to govern."
That was what he said, but what his colleagues did, was to institute a
military inspection or review. The Three Thousand were drawn up in the
Agora, and the rest of the citizens, who were not included in the list,
elsewhere in various quarters of the city. The order to take arms was
given; (7) but while the men's backs were turned, at the bidding of the
Thirty, the Laconian guards, with those of the citizens who shared their
views, appeared on the scene and took away the arms of all except the
Three Thousand, carried them up to the Acropolis, and safely deposited
them in the temple.
(7) Or, "a summons to the 'place d'armes' was given; but." Or, "the
order to seize the arms was given, and." It is clear from
Aristoph. "Acharn." 1050, that the citizens kept their weapons at
home. On the other hand, it was a custom not to come to any
meeting in arms. See Thuc. vi. 58. It seems probable that while
the men were being reviewed in the market-place and elsewhere, the
ruling party gave orders to seize their weapons (which they had
left at home), and this was done except in the case of the Three
Thousand. Cf. Arnold, "Thuc." II. 2. 5; and IV. 91.
The ground being thus cleared, as it were, and feeling that they had
it in their power to do what they pleased, they embarked on a course of
wholesale butchery, to which many were sacrificed to the merest hatred,
many to the accident of possessing riches. Presently the question
rose, How they were to get money to pay their guards? and to meet this
difficulty a resolution was passed empowering each of the committee to
seize on one of the resident aliens apiece, to put his victim to death,
and to confiscate his property. Theramenes was invited, or rather told
to seize some one or other. "Choose whom you will, only let it be done."
To which he made answer, it hardly seemed to him a noble or worthy
course on the part of those who claimed to be the elite of society to go
beyond the informers (8) in injustice. "Yesterday they, to-day we; with
this difference, the victim of the informer must live as a source of
income; our innocents must die that we may get their wealth. Surely
their method was innocent in comparison with ours."
(8) See above.
The rest of the Thirty, who had come to regard Theramenes as an obstacle
to any course they might wish to adopt, proceeded to plot against him.
They addressed themselves to the members of the senate in private,
here a man and there a man, and denounced him as the marplot of the
constitution. Then they issued an order to the young men, picking out
the most audacious characters they could find, to be present, each with
a dagger hidden in the hollow of the armpit; and so called a meeting
of the senate. When Theramenes had taken his place, Critias got up and
addressed the meeting:
"If," said he, "any member of this council, here seated, imagines that
an undue amount of blood has been shed, let me remind him that with
changes of constitution such things can not be avoided. It is the rule
everywhere, but more particularly at Athens it was inevitable there
should be found a specially large number of persons sworn foes to any
constitutional change in the direction of oligarchy, and this for two
reasons. First, because the population of this city, compared with other
Hellenic cities, is enormously large; and again, owing to the length of
time during which the people has battened upon liberty. Now, as to two
points we are clear. The first is that democracy is a form of government
detestable to persons like ourselves--to us and to you; the next is that
the people of Athens could never be got to be friendly to our friends
and saviours, the Lacedaemonians. But on the loyalty of the better
classes the Lacedaemonians can count. And that is our reason for
establishing an oligarchical constitution with their concurrence. That
is why we do our best to rid us of every one whom we perceive to be
opposed to the oligarchy; and, in our opinion, if one of ourselves
should elect to undermine this constitution of ours, he would deserve
punishment. Do you not agree? And the case," he continued, "is no
imaginary one. The offender is here present--Theramenes. And what we say
of him is, that he is bent upon destroying yourselves and us by every
means in his power. These are not baseless charges; but if you will
consider it, you will find them amply established in this unmeasured
censure of the present posture of affairs, and his persistent opposition
to us, his colleagues, if ever we seek to get rid of any of these
demagogues. Had this been his guiding principle of action from the
beginning, in spite of hostility, at least he would have escaped all
imputation of villainy. Why, this is the very man who originated our
friendly and confidential relations with Lacedaemon. This is the very
man who authorised the abolition of the democracy, who urged us on to
inflict punishment on the earliest batch of prisoners brought before
us. But to-day all is changed; now you and we are out of odour with
the people, and he accordingly has ceased to be pleased with our
proceedings. The explanation is obvious. In case of a catastrophe, how
much pleasanter for him once again to light upon his legs, and leave us
to render account for our past performances.
"I contend that this man is fairly entitled to render his account also,
not only as an ordinary enemy, but as a traitor to yourselves and us.
And let us add, not only is treason more formidable than open war, in
proportion as it is harder to guard against a hidden assassin than
an open foe, but it bears the impress of a more enduring hostility,
inasmuch as men fight their enemies and come to terms with them again
and are fast friends; but whoever heard of reconciliation with a
traitor? There he stands unmasked; he has forfeited our confidence for
evermore. But to show you that these are no new tactics of his, to prove
to you that he is a traitor in grain, I will recall to your memories
some points in his past history.
"He began by being held in high honour by the democracy; but taking a
leaf out of his father's, Hagnon's, book, he next showed a most headlong
anxiety to transform the democracy into the Four Hundred, and, in fact,
for a time held the first place in that body. But presently, detecting
the formation of rival power to the oligarchs, round he shifted; and we
find him next a ringleader of the popular party in assailing them. It
must be admitted, he has well earned his nickname 'Buskin.' (9) Yes,
Theramenes! clever you may be, but the man who deserves to live should
not show his cleverness in leading on his associates into trouble, and
when some obstacle presents itself, at once veer round; but like a pilot
on shipboard, he ought then to redouble his efforts, until the wind is
fair. Else, how in the name of wonderment are those mariners to reach
the haven where they would be, if at the first contrary wind or
tide they turn about and sail in the opposite direction? Death and
destruction are concomitants of constitutional changes and revolution,
no doubt; but you are such an impersonation of change, that, as you
twist and turn and double, you deal destruction on all sides. At one
swoop you are the ruin of a thousand oligarchs at the hands of the
people, and at another of a thousand democrats at the hands of the
better classes. Why, sirs, this is the man to whom the orders were given
by the generals, in the sea-fight off Lesbos, to pick up the crews of
the disabled vessels; and who, neglecting to obey orders, turned round
and accused the generals; and to save himself murdered them! What, I ask
you, of a man who so openly studied the art of self-seeking, deaf
alike to the pleas of honour and to the claims of friendship? Would not
leniency towards such a creature be misplaced? Can it be our duty at
all to spare him? Ought we not rather, when we know the doublings of his
nature, to guard against them, lest we enable him presently to practise
on ourselves? The case is clear. We therefore hereby cite this man
before you, as a conspirator and traitor against yourselves and us. The
reasonableness of our conduct, one further reflection may make clear.
No one, I take it, will dispute the splendour, the perfection of the
Laconian constitution. Imagine one of the ephors there in Sparta, in
lieu of devoted obedience to the majority, taking on himself to find
fault with the government and to oppose all measures. Do you not think
that the ephors themselves, and the whole commonwealth besides, would
hold this renegade worthy of condign punishment? So, too, by the same
token, if you are wise, do you spare yourselves, not him. For what does
the alternative mean? I will tell you. His preservation will cause
the courage of many who hold opposite views to your own to rise; his
destruction will cut off the last hopes of all your enemies, whether
within or without the city."
(9) An annotator seems to have added here the words, occurring in the
MSS., "the buskin which seems to fit both legs equally, but is
constant to neither," unless, indeed, they are an original
"marginal note" of the author. For the character of Theramenes, as
popularly conceived, cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 538, 968 foll., and
Thuc. viii. 92; and Prof. Jowett, "Thuc." vol. ii. pp. 523, 524.
With these words he sat down, but Theramenes rose and said: "Sirs, with
your permission I will first touch upon the charge against me which
Critias has mentioned last. The assertion is that as the accuser of the
generals I was their murderer. Now I presume it was not I who began
the attack upon them, but it was they who asserted that in spite of
the orders given me I had neglected to pick up the unfortunates in the
sea-fight off Lesbos. All I did was to defend myself. My defence was
that the storm was too violent to permit any vessel to ride at sea, much
more therefore to pick up the men, and this defence was accepted by my
fellow-citizens as highly reasonable, while the generals seemed to be
condemned out of their own mouths. For while they kept on asserting
that it was possible to save the men, the fact still remained that they
abandoned them to their fate, set sail, and were gone.
"However, I am not surprised, I confess, at this grave misconception
(10) on the part of Critias, for at the date of these occurrences he
was not in Athens. He was away in Thessaly, laying the foundations of
a democracy with Prometheus, and arming the Penestae (11) against their
masters. Heaven forbid that any of his transactions there should be
re-enacted here. However, I must say, I do heartily concur with him on
one point. Whoever desires to exclude you from the government, or to
strength the hands of your secret foes, deserves and ought to meet with
condign punishment; but who is most capable of so doing? That you will
best discover, I think, by looking a little more closely into the past
and the present conduct of each of us. Well, then! up to the moment at
which you were formed into a senatorial body, when the magistracies were
appointed, and certain notorious 'informers' were brought to trial, we
all held the same views. But later on, when our friends yonder began
to hale respectable honest folk to prison and to death, I, on my side,
began to differ from them. From the moment when Leon of Salamis, (12)
a man of high and well-deserved reputation, was put to death, though he
had not committed the shadow of a crime, I knew that all his equals must
tremble for themselves, and, so trembling, be driven into opposition to
the new constitution. In the same way, when Niceratus, (13) the son of
Nicias, was arrested; a wealthy man, who, no more than his father, had
never done anything that could be called popular or democratic in his
life; it did not require much insight to discover that his compeers
would be converted into our foes. But to go a step further: when it
came to Antiphon (14) falling at our hands--Antiphon, who during the war
contributed two fast-sailing men-of-war out of his own resources, it was
then plain to me, that all who had ever been zealous and patriotic
must eye us with suspicion. Once more I could not help speaking out in
opposition to my colleagues when they suggested that each of us ought to
seize some one resident alien. (15) For what could be more certain
than that their death-warrant would turn the whole resident foreign
population into enemies of the constitution. I spoke out again when they
insisted on depriving the populace of their arms; it being no part of my
creed that we ought to take the strength out of the city; nor, indeed,
so far as I could see, had the Lacedaemonians stept between us and
destruction merely that we might become a handful of people, powerless
to aid them in the day of need. Had that been their object, they might
have swept us away to the last man. A few more weeks, or even days,
would have sufficed to extinguish us quietly by famine. Nor, again, can
I say that the importation of mercenary foreign guards was altogether to
my taste, when it would have been so easy for us to add to our own
body a sufficient number of fellow-citizens to ensure our supremacy as
governors over those we essayed to govern. But when I saw what an army
of malcontents this government had raised up within the city walls,
besides another daily increasing host of exiles without, I could not
but regard the banishment of people like Thrasybulus and Anytus and
Alcibiades (16) as impolitic. Had our object been to strengthen the
rival power, we could hardly have set about it better than by providing
the populace with the competent leaders whom they needed, and the
would-be leaders themselves with an army of willing adherents.
(10) Reading with Cobet {paranenomikenai}.
(11) I.e. serfs--Penestae being the local name in Thessaly for the
villein class. Like the {Eilotes} in Laconia, they were originally
a conquered tribe, afterwards increased by prisoners of war, and
formed a link between the freemen and born slaves.
(12) Cf. "Mem." IV. iv. 3; Plat. "Apol." 8. 32.
(13) Cf. Lysias, "Or." 18. 6.
(14) Probably the son of Lysidonides. See Thirlwall, "Hist. of
Greece," vol. iv. p. 179 (ed. 1847); also Lysias, "Or." 12. contra
Eratosth. According to Lysias, Theramenes, when a member of the
first Oligarchy, betrayed his own closest friends, Antiphon and
Archeptolemus. See Prof. Jebb, "Attic Orators," I. x. p. 266.
(15) The resident aliens, or {metoikoi}, "metics," so technically
called.
(16) Isocr. "De Bigis," 355; and Prof. Jebb's "Attic Orators," ii.
230. In the defence of his father's career, which the younger
Alcibiades, the defendant in this case (B.C. 397 probably) has
occasion to make, he reminds the court, that under the Thirty,
others were banished from Athens, but his father was driven out of
the civilised world of Hellas itself, and finally murdered. See
Plutarch, "Alcibiades," ad fin.
"I ask then is the man who tenders such advice in the full light of
day justly to be regarded as a traitor, and not as a benefactor? Surely
Critias, the peacemaker, the man who hinders the creation of many
enemies, whose counsels tend to the acquistion of yet more friends, (17)
cannot be accused of strengthening the hands of the enemy. Much more
truly may the imputation be retorted on those who wrongfully appropriate
their neighbours' goods and put to death those who have done no wrong.
These are they who cause our adversaries to grow and multiply, and
who in very truth are traitors, not to their friends only, but to
themselves, spurred on by sordid love of gain.
(17) Or, "the peacemaker, the healer of differences, the cementer of
new alliances, cannot," etc.
"I might prove the truth of what I say in many ways, but I beg you to
look at the matter thus. With which condition of affairs here in Athens
do you think will Thrasybulus and Anytus and the other exiles be the
better pleased? That which I have pictured as desirable, or that which
my colleagues yonder are producing? For my part I cannot doubt but that,
as things now are, they are saying to themselves, 'Our allies muster
thick and fast.' But were the real strength, the pith and fibre of this
city, kindly disposed to us, they would find it an uphill task even to
get a foothold anywhere in the country.
"Then, with regard to what he said of me and my propensity to be for
ever changing sides, let me draw your attention to the following facts.
Was it not the people itself, the democracy, who voted the constitution
of the Four Hundred? This they did, because they had learned to think
that the Lacedaemonians would trust any other form of government rather
than a democracy. But when the efforts of Lacedaemon were not a whit
relaxed, when Aristoteles, Melanthius, and Aristarchus, (18) and the
rest of them acting as generals, were plainly minded to construct an
intrenched fortress on the mole for the purpose of admitting the
enemy, and so getting the city under the power of themselves and their
associates; (19) because I got wind of these schemes, and nipped them in
the bud, is that to be a traitor to one's friends?
(18) Cf. Thuc. viii. 90-92, for the behaviour of the Lacedaemonian
party at Athens and the fortification of Eetioneia in B.C. 411.
(19) I.e. of the political clubs.
"Then he threw in my teeth the nickname 'Buskin,' as descriptive of
an endeavour on my part to fit both parties. But what of the man
who pleases neither? What in heaven's name are we to call him? Yes!
you--Critias? Under the democracy you were looked upon as the most
arrant hater of the people, and under the aristocracy you have proved
yourself the bitterest foe of everything respectable. Yes! Critias, I
am, and ever have been, a foe of those who think that a democracy cannot
reach perfection until slaves and those who, from poverty, would sell
the city for a drachma, can get their drachma a day. (20) But not less
am I, and ever have been, a pronounced opponent of those who do not
think there can possibly exist a perfect oligarchy until the State is
subjected to the despotism of a few. On the contrary, my own ambition
has been to combine with those who are rich enough to possess a horse
and shield, and to use them for the benefit of the State. (21) That was
my ideal in the old days, and I hold to it without a shadow of turning
still. If you can imagine when and where, in conjunction with despots or
demagogues, I have set to my hand to deprive honest gentlefolk of
their citizenship, pray speak. If you can convict me of such crimes at
present, or can prove my perpetration of them in the past, I admit that
I deserve to die, and by the worst of deaths."
(20) I.e. may enjoy the senatorial stipend of a drachma a day = 9 3/4
pence.
(21) See Thuc. viii. 97, for a momentary realisation of that "duly
attempered compound of Oligarchy and Democracy" which Thucydides
praises, and which Theramenes here refers to. It threw the power
into the hands of the wealthier upper classes to the exclusion of
the {nautikos okhlos}. See Prof. Jowett, vol. ii. note, ad loc.
cit.
With these words he ceased, and the loud murmur of the applause which
followed marked the favourable impression produced upon the senate.
It was plain to Critias, that if he allowed his adversary's fate to be
decided by formal voting, Theramenes would escape, and life to himself
would become intolerable. Accordingly he stepped forward and spoke a
word or two in the ears of the Thirty. This done, he went out and gave
an order to the attendants with the daggers to stand close to the bar
in full view of the senators. Again he entered and addressed the senate
thus: "I hold it to be the duty of a good president, when he sees the
friends about him being made the dupes of some delusion, to intervene.
That at any rate is what I propose to do. Indeed our friends here
standing by the bar say that if we propose to acquit a man so openly
bent upon the ruin of the oligarchy, they do not mean to let us do
so. Now there is a clause in the new code forbidding any of the Three
Thousand to be put to death without your vote; but the Thirty have
power of life and death over all outside that list. Accordingly," he
proceeded, "I herewith strike this man, Theramenes, off the list; and
this with the concurrence of my colleagues. And now," he continued, "we
condemn him to death."
Hearing these words Theramenes sprang upon the altar of Hestia,
exclaiming: "And I, sirs, supplicate you for the barest forms of law and
justice. Let it not be in the power of Critias to strike off either
me, or any one of you whom he will. But in my case, in what may be your
case, if we are tried, let our trial be in accordance with the law they
have made concerning those on the list. I know," he added, "but too
well, that this altar will not protect me; but I will make it plain that
these men are as impious towards the gods as they are nefarious towards
men. Yet I do marvel, good sirs and honest gentlemen, for so you are,
that you will not help yourselves, and that too when you must see that
the name of every one of you is as easily erased as mine."
But when he had got so far, the voice of the herald was heard giving the
order to the Eleven to seize Theramenes. They at that instant entered
with their satellites--at their head Satyrus, the boldest and most
shameless of the body--and Critias exclaimed, addressing the Eleven, "We
deliver over to you Theramenes yonder, who has been condemned according
to the law. Do you take him and lead him away to the proper place, and
do there with him what remains to do." As Critias uttered the words,
Satyrus laid hold upon Theramenes to drag him from the altar, and the
attendants lent their aid. But he, as was natural, called upon gods and
men to witness what was happening. The senators the while kept silence,
seeing the companions of Satyrus at the bar, and the whole front of the
senate house crowded with the foreign guards, nor did they need to be
told that there were daggers in reserve among those present. |
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