Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (81 page)

From Proconnesus the Athenians sailed on the next day against Cyzicus;
[19]
and the Cyzicenes admitted them, inasmuch as the Peloponnesians and Pharnabazus had evacuated the city.
[20]
There Alcibiades remained for twenty days, and after obtaining a great deal of money from the Cyzicenes, but without doing any further harm in the city, sailed back to Proconnesus. From there he sailed to Perinthus and Selymbria.
[21]
And the Perinthians admitted the Athenian forces to their city, and the Selymbrians, while not admitting them, gave them money.
[22]
From there they proceeded to Chrysopolis, in Calchedonia, and fortified it, established a custom house in the city, and proceeded to collect the tithe-duty from vessels sailing out of the Pontus; they also left there as a garrison thirty ships and two of the generals, Theramenes and Eumachus, to have charge of the fort, to attend to the outgoing ships, and to harm the enemy in any other way they could. The other generals returned to the Hellespont.
[23]

Meanwhile a letter dispatched to Lacedaemon by Hippocrates, vice-admiral under Mindarus, was intercepted and taken to Athens; it ran as follows: “The ships are gone. Mindarus is dead. The men are starving. We know not what to do.”
[24]
Pharnabazus, however, urged the whole Peloponnesian army and their allies not to be discouraged over a matter of ship-timber — for he said there was plenty of that in the King’s land — so long as their bodies were safe; and he not only gave to each man a cloak and subsistence for two months, but he also armed the sailors and set them as guards over his own coastline.
[25]
Furthermore, calling together the generals and ship-captains from the various states, he bade them build triremes at Antandrus to equal the number which they had severally lost, giving them money for the purpose and telling them to get timber from Mount Ida.
[26]
And while the ship-building was going on, the Syracusans helped the Antandrians to finish a portion of their wall, and in the garrison-duty made themselves most popular. For this reason the Syracusans now enjoy at Antandrus the privileges of benefactors and citizens. As for Pharnabazus, after making these arrangements he went at once to the relief of Calchedon.
[27]

At this time word came from home to the Syracusan generals that they had been banished by the democratic party. Accordingly they called together their soldiers and, through Hermocrates as spokesman, lamented their misfortune in being unjustly and illegally banished, all without exception. They urged their soldiers to continue zealous in the future, as they had been in the past, and to be true men in obeying every order; and they directed them to choose new commanders, to hold office until those who had been chosen to fill their places should arrive from Syracuse.
[28]
The men, however, and particularly the captains and marines and steersmen, set up a shout at this and bade the generals remain in command. They replied that they ought not to indulge in partizan opposition to their own government. “But if anyone,” they said, “has any charge to bring against us, you should give us a hearing, remembering how many naval battles you have won and how many ships you have captured when fighting by yourselves, and how often when associated with others you have proved yourselves invincible under our leadership, occupying the most honourable post in the line of battle on account of our skill and your own zealous spirit, exhibited both on land and sea.”
[29]
But when no one brought any charge against them, at the request of the troops they remained until their successors arrived, — Demarchus, the son of Epicydes, Myskon, the son of Menecrates, and Potamis, the son of Gnosis. Then, after most of the captains had taken oath that, when they returned to Syracuse, they would bring their generals back from exile, they sped them on their ways, commending them all;
[30]
but in particular those who had associated with Hermocrates felt exceedingly the loss of his care and enthusiasm and democratic spirit. For the best of those whose acquaintance he made, both captains and steersmen and marines, he used to gather every day in the morning and at evening to his own tent, where he communicated to them whatever he was planning to say or to do; he instructed them also, sometimes directing them to speak ex tempore and sometimes after deliberation.
[31]
As a result of this Hermocrates enjoyed the greatest reputation in the general council, and was thought superior to all others as speaker and adviser. He now went to visit Pharnabazus; and since he had once brought an accusation against Tissaphernes at Lacedaemon, in which Astyochus supported him as witness, and had been adjudged to speak the truth, he received money from Pharnabazus before he asked for it, and busied himself with collecting mercenaries and triremes with a view to his restoration to Syracuse. Meanwhile the Syracusans who succeeded the banished generals arrived at Miletus and took over the ships and the troops.
[32]

At about this time a revolution took place in Thasos, and the partisans of Lacedaemon and the Laconian governor Eteonicus were driven out of the island. And Pasippidas the Laconian, who was accused of having managed this intrigue, in collusion with Tissaphernes, was banished from Sparta, while Cratesippidas was sent out to the fleet which Pasippidas had collected from the allies, and assumed command of it at Chios.
[33]

During these days also, and while Thrasyllus was in Athens, Agis made a raid from Decelea up to the very walls of the city; and Thrasyllus led forth the Athenians and all others who were in the city and marshalled them beside the Lyceum, with the intention of engaging the enemy if they approached.
[34]
When Agis saw this, he withdrew in haste, and some few of his rear line were killed by the Athenian light troops. In consequence of this occurrence the Athenians were still more ready to give Thrasyllus the help for which he had come, and they voted that he might choose out for service a thousand hoplites, a hundred horsemen, and fifty triremes.
[35]

Meanwhile Agis, who could see from Decelea great numbers of grain-ships sailing in to Piraeus, said that it was useless for his troops to be trying all this long time to shut off the Athenians from access to their land, unless one should occupy also the country from which the grain was coming in by sea; and that it was best to send to Calchedon and Byzantium Clearchus, the son of Rhamphias, who was diplomatic agent for the Byzantines at Sparta.
[36]
When this was resolved upon, fifteen ships were manned by the Megarians and the other allies, more properly transports than warships, and Clearchus set out with them. Three of his ships were destroyed in the Hellespont by the nine Attic ships which were continually on duty there to protect the Athenian merchantmen, but the rest escaped to Sestus and from there made their way safely to Byzantium.
[37]

So the year ended, being the year in which the Carthaginians, under the leadership of Hannibal, made an expedition against Sicily, with an army of one hundred thousand men, and in the course of three months captured two Greek cities, Selinus and Himera.

2.

In the next year — in which was celebrated the ninety-third Olympiad, when the newly added two-horse race was won by Euagoras of Elis and the stadium by Eubotas of Cyrene, Euarchippus being now ephor at Sparta and Euctemon archon at Athens — the Athenians fortified Thoricus; and Thrasyllus took the ships which had been voted him, equipped five thousand of his sailors so that he might employ them as peltasts also, and set sail at the beginning of the summer for Samos.
[2]
After remaining there for three days he sailed to Pygela; and there he laid waste the country and attacked the wall of the town. A force from Miletus, however, came to the aid of the Pygelans, and finding the Athenian light troops scattered, pursued them.
[3]
Thereupon the peltasts and two companies of the hoplites came to the aid of their light troops and killed all but a few of the men from Miletus; they also captured about two hundred shields and set up a trophy.
[4]
On the next day they sailed to Notium and from there, after making the necessary preparations, marched to Colophon; and the Colophonians gave them their allegiance. It was now the time when the grain was ripening, and during the following night they made a raid into Lydia, burned many villages, and seized money, slaves, and other booty in great quantities.
[5]
Stages, the Persian, however, was in this region, and when the Athenians had scattered from their camp for private plunder, he captured one of them and killed seven others, despite the fact that their cavalry came to the rescue.
[6]
After this Thrasyllus led his army back to the coast, with the intention of sailing to Ephesus. But when Tissaphernes learned of this plan, he gathered together a large army and sent out horsemen to carry word to everybody to rally at Ephesus for the protection of Artemis.
[7]
And now, on the seventeenth day after his raid, Thrasyllus sailed to Ephesus; and having disembarked the hoplites at the foot of Mount Coressus, and the cavalry, peltasts, marines, and all the rest near the marsh on the opposite side of the city, he led forward the two divisions at daybreak.
[8]
The defenders of the city sallied forth to meet the attack, — the Ephesians, the allies whom Tissaphernes had brought them, the crews of the original twenty Syracusan ships and of five others which chanced to have arrived there at the time, newly come from Syracuse under the command of Eucles, the son of Hippon, and Heracleides, the son of Aristogenes, and finally, the crews of two Selinuntine ships.
[9]
All these contingents directed their first attack upon the hoplites at Coressus; and after routing them, killing about a hundred of them, and pursuing the rest down to the shore, they turned their attention to those by the marsh; and there also the Athenians were put to flight, and about three hundred of them were killed.
[10]
So the Ephesians set up a trophy there and a second at Coressus. They also gave to the Syracusans and Selinuntines, who had especially distinguished themselves, the prizes for valour, not only general prizes, but many to particular individuals among them, while upon any one of them who at any time might desire it they conferred the privilege of dwelling in Ephesus tax free; and to the Selinuntines, after Selinus had been destroyed, they gave the rights of Ephesian citizenship as well.
[11]

As for the Athenians, after obtaining a truce and so recovering the bodies of their dead, they sailed back to Notium, buried the dead there, and sailed on towards Lesbos and the Hellespont.
[12]
While they were at anchor in the harbour of Methymna, in Lesbos, they saw sailing past them from Ephesus the twenty-five Syracusan ships; and putting out to the attack they captured four of them, men and all, and chased the rest back to Ephesus.
[13]
And Thrasyllus sent home to Athens all the prisoners with the exception of Alcibiades; this Alcibiades, who was an Athenian and a cousin and fellow-exile of Alcibiades the general, he caused to be stoned to death. Then he set sail to Sestus to join the rest of the army; and from Sestus the entire force crossed over to Lampsacus.
[14]

And now the winter came on. During the course of it the Syracusan prisoners, who were immured in stone quarries in Piraeus, dug through the rock and made their escape by night, most of them to Decelea and the rest to Megara.
[15]
Meanwhile at Lampsacus Alcibiades endeavoured to marshal his entire army as a unit, but the old soldiers were unwilling to be marshalled with the troops of Thrasyllus; for they said that they had never known defeat, while the others had just come from a defeat. Both contingents, however, wintered there together, occupying themselves in fortifying Lampsacus.
[16]
They also made an expedition against Abydus; and Pharnabazus, who came to its aid with a large force of cavalry, was defeated in battle and put to flight. And Alcibiades pursued him with the Athenian cavalry and one hundred and twenty of the hoplites, under the command of Menander, until darkness covered the retreat.
[17]
As a result of this battle the soldiers came together of their own accord and the old troops fraternised with those under Thrasyllus. The Athenians also made some other expeditions during the winter into the interior and laid waste the King’s territory.
[18]

At the same period the Lacedaemonians granted terms to the Helots who had revolted and fled from Malea to Coryphasium, allowing them to evacuate Coryphasium unmolested. At about the same time, also, the colonists of Heracleia, in Trachis, were betrayed by the Achaeans in a battle where both peoples were drawn up against their enemies, the Oetaeans, and as a result about seven hundred of the Heracleots perished, together with the Lacedaemonian governor, Labotas.
[19]

So this year ended, being the year in which the Medes, who had revolted from Darius, king of the Persians, were again reduced to subjection.

3.

During the ensuing year the temple of Athena at Phocaea was struck by lightning and set on fire. When the winter ended and spring began, — Pantacles being now ephor and Antigenes archon, and the war having continued for twenty-two years — the Athenians sailed with their entire force to Proconnesus.
[2]
From there they set out against Calchedon and Byzantium, and went into camp near Calchedon. Now the Calchedonians, when they learned that the Athenians were approaching, had put all their portable property in the keeping of the Bithynian Thracians, their neighbours.
[3]
Alcibiades, however, taking a few of the hoplites and the cavalry, and giving orders that the ships should sail along the coast, went to the Bithynians and demanded the property of the Calchedonians, saying that if they did not give it to him, he would make war upon them; so they gave it over.
[4]
And when Alcibiades returned to his camp with the booty, after having concluded a treaty with the Bithynians, he proceeded with his whole army to invest Calchedon by building a wooden stockade which extended from sea to sea, taking in the river also in so far as this was practicable.
[5]
Thereupon Hippocrates, the Lacedaemonian governor, led forth his troops from the city to do battle; and the Athenians marshalled themselves against him, while Pharnabazus, outside the stockade, with infantry and horsemen in great numbers, tried to aid Hippocrates.
[6]
Now for a long time Hippocrates and Thrasyllus fought, each with his hoplites, until Alcibiades came to the rescue with a few hoplites and the cavalry. Then Hippocrates was killed, and those who were with him fled back into the city.
[7]
At the same time Pharnabazus, unable to effect a junction with Hippocrates owing to the narrowness of the space, since the stockade came down close to the river, retired to the Heracleium in the Calchedonian territory, where he had his camp.
[8]
After this Alcibiades went off to the Hellespont and the Chersonese to collect money; and the rest of the generals concluded a compact with Pharnabazus which provided that, in consideration of their sparing Calchedon, Pharnabazus should give the Athenians twenty talents and should conduct Athenian ambassadors to the King;
[9]
they also received from Pharnabazus a pledge under oath that the Calchedonians should pay to the Athenians precisely the same tribute they had been accustomed to pay and should settle the arrears of tribute, while they on their side made oath that the Athenians would not wage war upon the Calchedonians until the ambassadors should return from the King.
[10]
Alcibiades was not present at the exchange of these oaths, but was in the neighbourhood of Selymbria; and when he had captured that city, he came to Byzantium, bringing with him all the forces of the Chersonesians and soldiers from Thrace and more than three hundred horsemen.
[11]
Now Pharnabazus thought that Alcibiades also ought to give his oath, and so waited at Calchedon until he should come from Byzantium; but when he came, he said that he would not make oath unless Pharnabazus also should do the like to him.
[12]
In the end, Alcibiades made oath at Chrysopolis to the representatives of Pharnabazus, Mitrobates and Arnapes, and Pharnabazus at Calchedon to the representatives of Alcibiades, Euryptolemus and Diotimus, both parties not only giving the official oath but also making personal pledges to one another.
[13]
Immediately after this Pharnabazus went away, leaving word that the ambassadors who were going to the King should meet him at Cyzicus. The Athenians who were sent were Dorotheus, Philocydes, Theogenes, Euryptolemus, and Mantitheus, and with them two Argives, Cleostratus and Pyrrolochus; ambassadors of the Lacedaemonians also went along, Pasippidas and others, and with them Hermocrates, who was already an exile from Syracuse, and his brother Proxenus.
[14]