History of the Peloponnesian War

Astyochus, then, with the Milesians and Hermocrates, sailed away to Lacedaemon; while Alcibiades had by this time crossed over again from Tissaphernes to Samos.

And now the ambassadors from the Four Hundred, whom they sent at the time we mentioned to appease and inform those at Samos, arrived from Delos, after Alcibiades had come; and when an assembly had been called, they attempted to make a speech.

But the soldiers at first would not hear them, but cried out, that they should put to death those who were abolishing the democracy; afterwards, however, they were with difficulty calmed down, and gave them a hearing.

They, then, delivered to them this message; that it was neither for the destruction of the state that the recent change had been made, but for its preservation; nor in order that it might be delivered up to the enemy, (for they might have done that when they invaded the country during their government:) that all in their turn should share the privileges of the Five Thousand; and that their relatives were neither being outraged, as Chaereas had slanderously reported to them, nor suffering any harm, but remained as they were, each in the enjoyment of his property.

Though they made this and many other statements besides, they listened none the more favourably, but were angry, and expressed different opinions, though most generally, that they should sail to the Piraeus. And on that occasion Alcibiades appeared to have benefited the state for the first time, and in a degree inferior to no one else. For when the Athenians at Samos were bent on sailing against their countrymen, in which case most certainly the enemy would have taken possession of Ionia and the Hellespont, he was the man who prevented them.

Indeed on that emergency no one else would have been able to restrain the multitude. He, however, both made them desist from the attack, and silenced with rebukes those individuals who were on their own account most angry with the ambassadors.

He then dismissed them with an answer from himself, that he did not object to the Five Thousand being in power, but ordered them to depose the Four Hundred, and to establish the council of Five Hundred as before. That if any retrenchment had been made with a view to economy, in order that those who were on service might be better provided with supplies, he entirely approved of it.

In other respects also he urged them to stand out, and not at all to submit to the enemy. For if only the state were preserved, there was great hope of their being reconciled to one another;

but if either of the two parties were once destroyed, either that at Samos, or that at home, there would no longer be any one for them to be reconciled to. There came also ambassadors from the Argives, with offers of assistance to the popular party of the Athenians at Samos;

but Alcibiades thanked them, and desiring them to come when they should be called upon, thus dismissed them. Now the Argives came in company with the crew of the Paralus, who, when last mentioned, had been commanded by the Four Hundred to cruise in the troop-ship round Euboea; and who, while taking to Lacedaemon some Athenians that had been sent as ambassadors by the Four Hundred, namely, Laespodias, Aristophon, and Melesias, when off Argos in their passage, seized the ambassadors, and delivered them up to the Argives, as being some of those who had been most instrumental in abolishing the democracy; while they themselves did not go to Athens again, but taking the ambassadors from Argos to Samos arrived there with the trireme they were in.

The same summer, and at the very time when the Peloponnesians were most offended with Tissaphernes, both on other accounts, and especially because of the return of Alcibiades, thinking that he was now evidently Atticizing, he, wishing, as it seemed, to clear himself to them of these charges, prepared to go to Aspendus for the Phoenician ships, and desired Lichas to accompany him; saying, that with regard to the armament, he would appoint Tamos as his lieutenant, to furnish the supplies while he was himself absent. The same account, however, is not given by all;

nor is it easy to decide with what motive he went to Aspendus, and yet, after going. did not bring the fleet. For it is certain that the Phoencician ships, a hundred and forty seven in number, came as far as Aspendus;

but why they did not come on, is a subject of many conjectures. For some think it was, that by going away he might, in accordance with his plan, wear down the power of the Peloponnesians; (at any rate Tamos, who was intrusted with the charge, provided them with supplies no better, but even worse, than himself.) Others, that after bringing the Phoenicians to Aspendus, he might exact money from them for their discharge; (for under no circumstances did he intend to employ them on any service.) Others, that it was on account of the clamour against him, which had spread to Lacedaemon—to have it said that he was not wronging them, but was certainly gone for the ships, which were undoubtedly manned for service.

To me, however, it appears most evident that it was with a view to wear out the Greeks, and to keep them in suspense, that he did not bring the fleet; to weaken them, during all the time that he was going there and delaying; and to keep them balanced, in order that he might make neither party too strong by joining them. For had he wished to bring the war to a conclusion, it is surely evident that he might have done it without any doubt. For by bringing the fleet he would in all probability have given the victory to the Lacedaemonians; since even at present they maintained their opposition with their navy, on terms of equality rather than of inferiority.

But what most clearly convicts him is the excuse which he alleged for not bringing the ships. For he said that they were fewer in number than the king had commanded to be collected. But surely he would have gained still greater thanks by that, through not spending so much of the king's money, and yet effecting the same object at a less cost.

At any rate, with whatever intention it might have been, Tissaphernes went to Aspendus, and had an interview with the Phoenicians; and the Peloponnesians, by his desire, sent Philippus, a man of Lacedaemon, with two triremes to fetch the fleet.

Alcibiades, on finding that Tissaphernes had gone to Aspendus, sailed thither himself also with thirteen ships, promising the forces at Samos a sure and great benefit; for that he would either himself bring the Phoenician fleet to the Athenians, or at any rate prevent its going to the Peloponnesians. For in all probability he had long known the purpose of Tissaphernes, that he did not intend fetching them, and wished to prejudice him as much as possible with the Peloponnesians, on the ground of his friendship for himself and the Athenians, that so he might be the more compelled to join the side of Athens. Accordingly he set sail and pursued his voyage upwards, straight for Phaselis and Caunus.

When the ambassadors sent from the Four Hundred arrived at Athens from Samos, and delivered the message from Alcibiades, namely, that he begged them to hold out, and not submit at all to the enemy; and that he had great hopes of reconciling the army to those at home, and of getting the better of the Peloponnesians; they gave much more courage to the greater part of those implicated in the oligarchy, who had even before been discontented with it, and would gladly have been quit of the business by any safe means.

Accordingly they now united, and found fault with the present state of things, having as their leaders some of the most influential generals and men in office, such as Theramenes the son of Hagnon, Aristocrates the son of Scellias, and others; who, though amongst the first members of the government, were yet afraid, as they alleged, of the army at Samos, and of Alcibiades most especially, as also of those whom they were sending as ambassadors to Lacedaemon, lest without the authority of the greater part of them they might do the state some harm; and so they declared, not that they wished to escape from the administration falling into too few hands, but that they ought to establish the Five Thousand in reality, not in mere name, and to settle the government on a more equal basis.

This, however, was but a public profession made by them in word; but it was from private ambition that most or them pursued that very method by which an oligarchy formed out of a democracy is most sure to be overturned. For all at once not only claim to be equal, but every one decidedly the first man. [And in such a case failure is intolerable:] whereas, when an election is made under a democracy, a man more easily submits to the result, as he does not think himself beaten on equal terms.

But what most evidently encouraged them was the interest of Alcibiades being so strong in the army, and their not thinking that the power of the oligarchy would be permanent. Each one therefore strove to be himself the first to take the lead of the commons.

But those of the Four Hundred who were most opposed to such a form of government, and who now took the lead, namely, Phrynichus, (who when general at Samos had quarrelled, as already mentioned, with Alcibiades;) and Aristarchus, a man in the highest degree and for the longest opposed to democracy; and Pisander, and Antiphon, and others who were most influential, had before—as soon as they were established in power, and afterwards, when the forces at Samos revolted from them for a democracy—sent members of their body as ambassadors to Lacedaemon, and been very anxious for peace with them, and been engaged in building the fort in what is called Eetionia. And far more than ever was this the case, after their ambassadors from Samos had arrived; seeing, as they did, that both the majority of the people, and those of their own members, who before appeared trustworthy, were now changing their views.

And so they despatched Antiphon, Phrynichus, and ten others with all speed, (for they were afraid of what was going on both at home and at Samos,) with instructions to make terms with the Lacedaemonians in any way whatever that was at all tolerable.

And they worked with still greater earnestness at the fort in Eetionia. Now the object of the fort, as Theramenes and his party maintained, was this; not that they might avoid admitting the army at Samos into the Piraeus, should they attempt to sail in by force; but rather that they might admit the enemy, whenever they pleased, both with ships and troops. For Eetionia is a mole of the Piraeus, and the entrance into the harbour is straight by it.

It was being fortified therefore in such a manner, in connexion with the wall previously existing on the land side, that, with only a few men posted in it, it would command the entrance. For in the very tower standing on one of the two sides, at the mouth of the harbour, which was narrow, was the termination both of the original wall on the land side, and of the new and inner one which was being built on the side of the sea.

They also built a portico, which was very large and in immediate connexion with this wall in the Piraeus; of which they themselves had the command, and in which they compelled all to deposit both what corn they had before and what was now brought in, and to take it out thence when they sold it.

On these subjects, then, Theramenes had long been murmuring; and ever since the ambassadors had returned from Lacedaemon without effecting any general arrangement for them, he did so still more, saying that there would be danger of this fort's proving the ruin of the city.

For some ships from the Peloponnese, whose aid the Euboeans had invited, to the number of two and forty, including some Italian and Sicilian vessels from Tarentum and Locri, also happened to be now lying off Las, in Laconia, and preparing for their passage to Euboea, under the command of Agesandridas son of Agesander, a Spartan. These Theramenes declared to be sailing, not so much to the aid of Euboea, as of those who were fortifying Eetionia; and that if they were not on their guard now, they would be lost before they were aware of it.

And there really was some plan of this kind entertained by those who were charged with it, and it was not merely a verbal misrepresentation. For it was the wish of that party, if possible, to retain their dominion over the allies with an oligarchical government; if not, to retain their independence, with the possession of their ships and walls; but if excluded from that also, at any rate not to perish themselves under the restored democracy before and above all others, but even to call in the enemy, and without walls and ships to make peace with them, and retain the government of the city on any terms whatever, if they had only security for their persons.

For this reason they were also diligently raising this fortification, with both posterns and entrances, and facilities for introducing the enemy, and were desirous to have it completed in time.

Now what was said of them was previously advanced in small parties only, and with greater secrecy; but when Phrynichus, on his return from the embassy to Lacedaemon, had been designedly stabbed in the full market by a man who served in the peripoli, and after proceeding but a short distance from the council-chamber expired immediately, and the assassin escaped; while his accomplice, who was an Argive, though seized and tortured by the Four Hundred, mentioned no one's name as having instigated him to it, nor any thing else, but that he knew many men assembled in different houses, both that of the commander of the peripoli and others; then indeed, when no disturbance arose from this, Theramenes and Aristocrates and all the rest of the Four Hundred, as well as of those out of doors who held the same views, proceeded with greater confidence to the execution of their measures. For at this same time the ships had now sailed round from Las, and after coming to anchor at Epidaurus, had overrun Aegina;

and Theramenes remarked, that it was not probable that, while on their passage to Euboea, they should have run into the bay, and be lying again at Epidaurus, unless they had been invited, and come for the purposes with which he had all along been charging them; and therefore it was not possible any longer to remain quiet.

At length, after many more seditious speeches and suspicions had been uttered, they now proceeded to business in real earnest. For the heavy-armed who were in the Piraeus, building the wall in Eetionia, amongst whom also was Aristocrates a taxiarch, with his company, arrested Alexicles, who was a general on the side of the oligarchy, and very favourably inclined to the associates, and taking him into a house confined him there. There were others who assisted them in this, and particularly one Hermon, commander of the peripoli stationed in Munychia;

and, what was of most importance, the mass of the heavy-armed were in favour of these measures.

When this news reached the Four Hundred, (who happened to be sitting together in their council-chamber,) immediately, with the exception of such as did not approve of the present government, they were prepared forthwith to arm themselves, and threatened Theramenes and those with him. He, however, said in his defence that he was ready to go at once and assist in rescuing Alexicles; and taking with him one of the generals who held the same views with himself, he proceeded to the Piraeus; while Aristarchus and some young men of the cavalry went to the rescue. The tumult, then, was great and alarming:

for those in the city thought that the Piraeus was already taken, and the general under arrest put to death; while those in the Piraeus believed that the men in the city were all but attacking them. But when the elder men stopped those in the city who were running about, and rushing to the stands of arms;

while Thucydides the Pharsalian, the Proxenus of the state, was also present, and earnestly opposed the several parties, calling upon them not to destroy their country while the enemy were still waiting to attack them; they were with difficulty quieted and forbore from attacking one another. Now when Theramenes came into the Piraeus, (for he too was one of the generals,) as far as shouting went, he was angry with the soldiers;

but Aristarchus and those who were opposed to the popular party were in a violent rage. Most of the soldiers however joined in the work, without changing their purpose, and asked Theramenes, whether he thought that the wall was being built for any good, or would be better demolished.

He said, that if they thought right to demolish it, he also agreed with them. Upon that both the soldiers and many of the men in the Piraeus immediately mounted, and began to pull down the fortification. And the cry for the encouragement of the multitude was this; that whoever wished the Five Thousand to rule instead of the Four Hundred, must go to help in the work.

For they continued, notwithstanding, to conceal their real views under the name of the Five Thousand, so that whoever wished the commons to hold the government did not expressly mention that word; fearing that the Five Thousand might really have been elected, and that so by saying something to one [who belonged to that body,] he might, through his ignorance of the fact, commit himself. And, indeed, for this reason the Four Hundred neither wished the Five Thousand to be elected, nor to have it known that they were not; thinking, on the one hand, that to instal so many partners with them would amount to a downright democracy; and, on the other hand, that uncertainty on the subject would strike them with fear of one another.

The next day the Four Hundred, although alarmed, assembled nevertheless in their council-chamber; while the soldiers in the Piraeus, after releasing Alexicles, whom they had arrested, and demolishing the fortification, came to the temple of Bacchus close to Munychia, and having piled their arms, held an assembly there out of the usual place; and in accordance with a resolution made by them, proceeded straightway to the city, and piled their arms in the Anaceum.

But when certain chosen deputies from the Four Hundred came to them, they conversed man with man, and such as they saw to be men of moderate views they persuaded both to remain quiet themselves, and to restrain the rest; telling them that they would publish the names of the Five Thousand, and that from these the Four Hundred should be elected in rotation, in such a manner as the Five Thousand might think fit: but, in the mean time, they begged them by no means to destroy the city, or drive it into the hands of the enemy.

So the whole body of the soldiers, when such addresses were made by many and to many, were more pacified than before, and most alarmed for the whole state; and they agreed to hold, on an appointed day, an assembly in the temple of Bacchus, with a view to restoring concord.

When the day for holding the assembly was come, and they had all but met, news were brought that the two and forty ships with Agesander were advancing from Megara along the coast of Salamis; and every one of the soldiers in general considered this to be the very thing which had so long been asserted by Theramenes and his party, namely, that it was to the fort that the ships were sailing; and it appeared to have been thrown down to good purpose.

And it might, perhaps, in some measure have been by appointment that Agesandridas lingered about Epidaurus and that neighbourhood; though it is also probable that he stayed there in consequence of the present sedition amongst the Athenians, in hope of coming up at the moment favourable for action.

But the Athenians, on the other hand, on receiving this intelligence, immediately ran down in full force to the Piraeus, considering that a war with the enemy, of greater importance than that amongst themselves, was threatening them at no great distance, but close to their harbour. Some of them therefore went on board the ships that were already afloat; others launched additional ones; and some others ran to the defence of the walls and the mouth of the harbour.

But the Peloponnesian ships, after sailing by and doubling Sunium, came to anchor between Thoricus and Prasiae, and subsequently went to Oropus.

So the Athenians were compelled to go to sea in a hurry and with untrained crews, inasmuch as the city was in a state of sedition, and they were anxious with all speed to go to the rescue of what was their most important possession; (for since Attica had been closed against them, Euboea was every thing to them;) and accordingly they sent Thymochares in command of some ships to Eretria.

When they arrived there, they amounted, with those that were in Euboea before, to six and thirty; and they were immediately forced to an engagement. For Agesandridas, after his men had dined, put out from Oropus, which is distant from Eretria about sixty stades by sea.

When, then, he was advancing against them, the Athenians straightway prepared to man their ships, supposing that their men were near their vessels. They, however, were purchasing provisions for their dinner, not from the market-place, (for by an arrangement of the Eretrians there was nothing on sale there,) but from the houses in the outskirts of the town, in order that the enemy, while the Athenians were long in manning their ships, might attack them by surprise, and compel them to put out just as they might happen. Moreover, a signal had been raised at Eretria to give them notice at Oropus of the time when they should put to sea.

The Athenians then, having put out with such scanty preparations, and fought a battle off the harbour of Eretria, held out against them, notwithstanding, for some little time, and were then put to flight and pursued to the shore.

And now such of them as took refuge in the city of the Eretrians, as being friendly to them, fared worst of all, for they were butchered by them; but those who fled to the fort in the Eretrian territory, which the Athenians themselves occupied, were saved;