History of the Peloponnesian War

When Hermocrates, the Syracusan commander, objected to this, (for Theramenes, inasmuch as he was not admiral, but only sailing with them to deliver up the fleet to Astyochus, was easy on the subject of pay,) there was fixed, notwithstanding, a sum [for the whole fleet] larger by five ships than three oboli a man per day. For he gave three talents a month for five ships, and to the rest, according as they had vessels beyond this number, was given in the same proportion.

The same winter, more ships, to the number of thirty-five, having come from home to join the Athenians at Samos, with Charminus, Strombichides, and Euctemon in command, after collecting those from Chios and all the rest, they determined, having drawn lots for their respective services, to blockade Miletus with their naval force, and to send against Chios both a fleet and army.

And they did so. For Strombichides, Onomacles, and Euctemon, having with them thirty ships, and taking in transports a part of the thousand heavy-armed that had come to Miletus, sailed, according to their lot, against Chios, while the rest, remaining at Samos with seventy-four ships, secured the command of the sea, and advanced upon Miletus.

Astyochus, happening at that time to be collecting at Chios the hostages taken in consequence of the conspiracy, ceased from that, when he found that the ships with Theramenes were come, and that the affairs of the confederacy were more prosperous.

And taking a squadron consisting of ten Peloponnesian and as many Chian ships, he put out to sea, and after attacking Pteleum without taking it, coasted along to Clazomenae, and commanded those of them who favoured the Athenian cause to remove inland to Daphnus, and to join their party. Tamos also, who was lieutenant-governor of Ionia, united in this command.

When they did not listen to it, he made an attack on the town, which was unwalled, and not being able to take it, sailed away before a strong gale himself to Phocaea and Cuma, while the rest of the ships put into the islands adjacent to Clazomenae, namely, Marathussa Pele, and Drymussa.

Having staid there on account of the winds eight days, all the property of the Clazomenians that had been secretly stowed away there, they partly ravaged and consumed, and partly put on board their ships; and then sailed off to Phocaea and Cuma, to join Astyochus.

While he was there, ambassadors from the Lesbians came to him, wishing to revolt again. And as far as he was concerned, they gained his assent; but when the Corinthians and other allies were not zealous for it, in consequence of their former failure, he weighed anchor and sailed for Chios; at which place, after his ships had been dispersed in a storm, they arrived from different directions.

After this, Pedaritus, who when we last mentioned him was moving along the coast by land from Miletus, arrived at Erythrae, and then passed over, himself and his forces, to Chios; where he had also about five hundred soldiers who had been left by Chalcideus from the five ships, with their arms.

And when certain Lesbians made offers of revolt, Astyochus urged to Pedaritus and the Chians, that they ought to go with their ships, and effect the revolt of Lesbos; for so they would either themselves gain an addition to the number of their allies, or, in case of failure, would still do the Athenians mischief. They, however, did not listen to them, and Pedaritus refused to give up to him the ships of the Chians.

He, therefore, taking the five of the Corinthians, a sixth from Megara, one from Hermione, and those of the Lacedaemonians which he had come with, sailed for Miletus, to take the command as admiral, after many threats to the Chians that assuredly he would not come to their aid, should they be in any need of it.

Having touched at Corycus, in the Erythraean country, he staid there the night. The Athenians also, on their passage from Samos to Chios with their troops, were only parted from them by being on the other side of a hill; and so they brought to for the night, and escaped each other's notice.

On the arrival of a letter from Pedaritus in the night, to say that some Erythraean prisoners, after being set at liberty, had come from Samos to Erythraea for the purpose of betraying it, Astyochus immediately weighed anchor again for Erythraea: within so little was he of falling in with the Athenians.

Pedaritus also sailed across to join him; and having investigated the case of the men who were thought to be traitors, when they found that the whole story had been made up in order to effect the escape of the men from Samos, they acquitted them of the charge, and sailed away, one to Chios, the other to Miletus, as he had intended.

In the mean time also the army of the Athenians, while sailing round with the ships from Corycus, met with three Chian vessels of war off Arginus, and on seeing them gave them chase; when a violent storm came on, and the Chian ships with difficulty took refuge in the harbour. Of the Athenians, the three which had pursued most vigorously were wrecked, and thrown up near the city of Chios, the men being either taken prisoners or slain; while the remainder took refuge in the harbour under Mount Mimas, called Phoenicus, from whence they afterwards came to anchor in the port of Lesbos, and made preparations for the work of fortification.

The same winter, Hippocrates the Lacedaemonian, having sailed from the Peloponnese with ten Thurian ships under the command of Dorieus son of Diagoras, and two colleagues, one Laconian and one Syracusan, sailed into port at Cnidus, which had now revolted at the instigation of Tissaphernes.

When those at Miletus received intelligence of them, they gave orders for half of the vessels to keep guard at Cnidus, and the other half to cruise around Triopium, and seize the merchantmen that were approaching from Egypt. This Triopium is a promontory running out from the Cnidian territory, and is consecrated to Apollo.

But the Athenians, having had notice of it, and having sailed out from Samos, seized the six ships that were keeping guard at Triopium, though the crews escaped from them. After this they put in at Cnidus, and having assaulted the city, which was unfortifled, were within a little of taking it. The next day they made a second assault on it;

but as they did not now do it so much damage, since the inhabitants had provided better defences during the night, and the crews which had escaped from the ships at Triopium had gone in to join them, they withdrew, and after ravaging the territory of the Cnidians, sailed back to Samos.

Astyochus having come about the same time to the fleet at Miletus, the Peloponnesians were still abundantly supplied with every thing in their camp. For pay was given them to a sufficiently large amount, and the great sum of money which had been raised from the plunder of Iasus was still at the command of the soldiers, and the Milesians carried on the war with spirit.

Nevertheless the Peloponnesians considered that the first convention with Tissaphernes, which had been concluded by Chalcideus, was defective, and not so much for their advantage [as for his]; and, consequently, while Theramenes was yet there, they concluded another, which was to the following effect:

The convention of the Lacedaemonians and the allies with King Darius, the sons of the king, and Tissaphernes, that there should be a treaty and friendship between them on these terms:

Whatever territory and cities belong to King Darius, or did belong to his father, or his ancestors, against these neither the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians shall be permitted to proceed for the purpose of war, or for any harm: neither shall the Lacedaemonians, nor their confederates, exact tribute from these cities. Neither shall King Darius, or any states in the king's dominions, be allowed to proceed against the Lacedaemonians, or their allies, for the purpose of war or other injury.——Should the Lacedaemonians, or their allies, require any assistance from the king, or the king stand in need of any from the Lacedaemonians, or their allies;

to whatever they may gain each other's assent, that shall be right for them to do.——Both parties shall carry on in common the war against the Athenians and their allies;

and should they come to terms of peace, they shall both do so in common.

——Whatever troops shall be in the king's country in consequence of the king's having sent for them, the king shall pay their expenses.——Should any of the states which have concluded this convention with the king proceed against the king's country, the rest shall prevent it, and assist the king to the utmost of their power. And should any of those in the king's country, or in all his dominions, proceed against the country of the Lacedaemonians, or of their allies, the king shall prevent it, and assist them to the utmost of his power.

After this convention Theramenes gave up the fleet to Astyochus, and sailing away in a small boat was lost at sea.

The Athenians, having now crossed over from Lesbos to Chios with their army, and commanding both land and sea, proceeded to fortify Delphinium, a place that was both naturally strong on the land side, contained several harbours, and was not far from the city of Chios.

Now the Chians having been beaten in several previous engagements, and not being on very good terms amongst themselves, but regarding each other with suspicion, because Tydeus, son of Ion, and his party had already been executed by Pedaritus on the charge of Atticism, and the rest of the city was by compulsion reduced to an oligarchy; in consequence of these things they kept quiet, and thought neither themselves nor the mercenaries under Pedaritus to be a match for the enemy.

They sent, however, to Miletus, urging Astyochus to come to their aid: and when he did not listen to them, Pedaritus sent a letter to Lacedaemon, representing him as being guilty of a misdemeanor.

On this footing stood the affairs of the Athenians at Chios: while from Samos their ships kept sailing out against those at Miletus, and when they did not advance to meet them, they returned again to Samos, and remained quiet.

The same winter, the seven and thirty ships which had been equipped by the Lacedaemonians for Pharnabazus, through the instrumentality of Calligitus the Megarean and Timagoras the Cyzicene, put out from the Peloponnese, and sailed for Ionia, about the period of the solstice, Antisthenes a Spartan being on board in command of them.

The Lacedaemonians also sent eleven Spartans as assistant counsellors for Astyochus, one of whom was Lichas, the son of Arcesilaus. They were instructed on their arrival at Miletus to co-operate in the arrangement of all other affairs, as should be best, and to despatch these vessels—either just the number, more, or fewer—to the Hellespont to join Pharnabazus, should they think proper, appointing to the command of them Clearchus the son of Ramphias, who sailed out with them; and also, if the eleven commissioners deemed fit, to depose Astyochus from the office of admiral, and appoint Antisthenes; for they were suspicious of him in consequence of the letters from Pedaritus.

Sailing therefore from Malea across the open sea the squadron touched at Melos, and there falling in with ten Athenian ships took three of them empty, and burnt them. After this, being afraid that those of the Athenian vessels which had escaped from Melos might (as was the case) give information of their approach to those at Samos, they sailed to Crete, and having made their voyage longer by taking this precaution, they made the land at Caunus, in Asia;

from which place, considering themselves to be now in safety, they sent a message to the ships at Miletus, in order to be convoyed by them along the coast.

At this same time the Chians and Pedaritus sent messengers to Astyochus, notwithstanding his holding back, and begged him to succour them in their siege with all his fleet, and not to permit the largest of the allied cities in Ionia to be both excluded from the use of the sea, and wasted by forays on the land.

For the slaves of the Chians being numerous, and indeed forming the largest body there was in any one city, except that of the Lacedaemonians, and at the same time being, in consequence of their great numbers, punished more severely than usual in cases of offence, when the Athenian army appeared to be firmly established, with the advantage of a fortified position, the greater part deserted to them; and these did the most mischief to the country, through their acquaintance with it.

The Chians therefore represented, that while there was still a hope and possibility of stopping them, while Delphinium was still being fortified, and not yet completed, and a higher wall was being erected round their camp and the ships, it was incumbent on him to assist them. And although Astyochus, because of his threat on the occasion already mentioned, had not intended to do it, when he saw that the allies also were anxious for their relief, he set out to succour them.

In the mean time tidings came from Caunus that the seven and twenty ships, with the Lacedaemonian counsellors. were come. And thinking every thing else of secondary importance, compared with his convoying so large a number of ships, in order that they might more entirely command the sea, and with the safe passage of the Lacedaemonians who had come to observe his conduct, he immediately gave up going to the relief of Chios, and sailed to Caunus.

Having landed, as he coasted along, at Cos Meropis, which was unfortified, and in ruins in consequence of an earthquake which they had experienced—the most violent one which I ever remember—he sacked the town, the men having fled to the mountains, and by incursions made spoil of the country, excepting the free population, whom he released.

Having come from Cos to Cnidus by night, he was constrained by the advice of the Cnidians not to land his seamen, but to sail, just as he was, straightway against the twenty Athenian ships with which Charminus, one of the generals at Samos, was on the look-out for those seven and twenty ships that were approaching from the Peloponnese, and to join which Astyochus also was coasting along.

For those at Samos had heard from Melcs of their approach, and Charminus was watching for them about Syme, Chalce, Rhodes, and Lycia; as by this time he was aware of their being at Caunus.

Astyochus therefore sailed immediately to Syme, before he was heard of, on the chance of finding the ships some where out at sea. But the rain and the cloudy state of the atmosphere which he encountered caused the dispersion of his ships during the dark, and threw them into confusion.

In the morning, when his fleet had been separated, and the left wing was now in sight of the Athenians, while the rest of it was still dispersed around the island, Charminus and the Athenians put out against it with all speed, with fewer than their twenty ships, thinking that these were the vessels they were watching for, namely, those from Caunus.

Having attacked them therefore immediately, they sank three, and severely damaged some others, and had the advantage in the action, until the larger division of the fleet unexpectedly came in sight, and they were surrounded on every side.

Then they took to flight, and having lost six ships, fled for refuge with the rest to the island of Teutlussa, and thence to Halicarnassus. After this the Peloponnesians put into Cnidus, and the seven and twenty ships from Caunus having effected a junction with them, they sailed with the whole number, and erected a trophy on Syme, and then came to anchor again at Cnidus.

The Athenians, on hearing the particulars of the engagement, having sailed with all their ships from Samos to Syme, made no attack on the fleet at Cnidus, or that on them, but took their naval stores, which were at Syme, and after touching at Lorymi on the continent, sailed back to Samos. And now all the Peloponnesian ships at Cnidus were refitted, so far as they required it;

and the eleven Lacedaemonian commissioners held a conference with Tissaphernes, (for he had come to meet them,) both respecting what had already been done, if there was aught that did not please them, and with reference to future hostilities, in what way they might be conducted most to the benefit and advantage of both parties.

Lichas, more especially, kept an eye on the transactions, and said, that neither of the two treaties was properly drawn up, Neither that of Chalcideus, nor that of Theramenes, but it was a shameful thing that the king should even now claim to be master of all the country over which he and his ancestors had formerly had dominion. For in that was involved the re-subjugation of all the islands, with Thessaly, Locris, and as far as Boeotia; and so, instead of freedom, the Lacedaemonians would be putting the Median yoke on the Greeks. He told them therefore to conclude another and a better treaty, or at any rate they would not act according to this;

nor did they want any of his supplies on these terms. But Tissaphernes, being offended at this, went away from them in a rage, and without settling any thing.

They, in consequence of communications from some of the most powerful men there, were disposed to sail to Rhodes; hoping to bring over to their side an island which was strong both in its number of seamen and its land forces; and moreover thinking that they should themselves be able to maintain their fleet from their own confederacy, without asking Tissaphernes for money.

Having sailed therefore immediately, that same winter, from Cnidus, and having first put in with ninety-four ships to Camirus in the Rhodian territory, they frightened away most of the inhabitants, who were not aware of their intentions, and therefore fled, especially as the town was unfortified. Then, having assembled both these and the people from the two other towns, Lindus and Ialysus, the Lacedaemonians prevailed on the Rhodians to revolt from the Athenians.

And so Rhodes joined the Peloponnesian confederacy. The Athenians, having got notice of it, sailed at this time with their ships from Samos, wishing to anticipate them, and came within sight of the island as they lay out at sea; but being a little too late, they sailed back in the first instance to Chalce, thence to Samos, and afterwards carried on the war against Rhodes by attacks from Chalce, Cos, and Samos.

The Peloponnesians levied money from the Rhodians to the amount of two and thirty talents; but in other respects lay still for eighty days, having drawn up the ships on shore.

In the mean time, and at even a still earlier period, before they removed to Rhodes, the following negotiations were being carried on. Alcibiades being suspected by the Peloponnesians after the death of Chalcideus and the battle of Miletus, and instructions having been sent by them from Lacedaemon to Astyochus to put him to death, (for he was a personal enemy of Agis, and in other ways appeared to be unworthy of trust,) he first retired in alarm to the court of Tissaphernes, and then did the greatest harm he could to the cause of the Peloponnesians with him.

Being his adviser on all points, he cut down the pay, so that instead of an Attic drachma three oboli were given, and that not regularly; telling Tissaphernes to represent to them, that the Athenians, who for a longer time had had experience in naval matters, gave their men but three oboli; not so much from poverty, as that their seamen might not grow insolent from abundance, and either be less able-bodied, through spending money on such things as produce weakness, or desert their ships by means of leaving their arrears of pay as a security for them.

He also gave him such instructions, that by giving money he persuaded the trierarchs and generals of the different states to concede these points to him; excepting the Syracusans; but of these Hermocrates alone opposed him on behalf of the whole confederacy.

The states, too, which applied for money he dismissed with an answer from himself, on the part of Tissaphernes, alleging by way of refusal, that the Chians were shameless, who, though the wealthiest of the Greeks, and being protected as they were by the aid they were receiving, expected others to risk both their persons and their purses for their liberty.

With regard to the rest of the states, which used before their revolt to lavish their money on the Athenians, he said that they were wrong if they would not now also contribute as much, or even more, for their own interests.

He also represented that Tissaphernes was naturally sparing at present, inasmuch as he was carrying on the war with his own resources; but that if supplies should ever come down from the king, he would give them their full pay, and afford the states all proper relief.

He likewise advised Tissaphernes not to be in too great a hurry to bring the war to a conclusion; nor to be anxious, by either bringing the Phoenician fleet which he was equipping, or giving pay to a larger body of Greeks, to confer on the same party the command both of land and sea; but to let them each hold a divided sway, and so leave the king the power at all times to lead the one party or the other against those who were annoying him.

If, on the contrary, the command both by land and sea were united, he would be at a loss for any party to assist in overthrowing the stronger; unless he should himself ever choose to arise and carry out the contest with them at a great expense and hazard. It was a cheaper risk to wear down the Greeks against each other, at a trifling share of the expense, and at the same time with security to himself.

And the Athenians, he said, were a more desirable people to share the empire with him; for they were less desirous of possessions on shore, and carried on the war with both a profession and a practice most advantageous to him; as they would unite with him in subjugating, as far as the sea was concerned, to themselves and to him all the Greeks who lived in the king's country; while the other party, on the contrary, had come to liberate them. Nor was it likely that the Lacedaemonians should at the present time be liberating the Greeks from men of their own Grecian race, and should omit to liberate them from those who were barbarians; unless they should ever fail in reducing the Athenians.