Diodorus Siculus, Library 8-40

§ 13.84.3 and when they did as they were ordered, at the time when the bride was brought to her home, since there were many torch-bearers in the procession, the city was filled with light, and the main streets through which the procession was to pass could not contain the accompanying throng, all the inhabitants zealously emulating the man's grand manner. For at that time the citizens of Acragas numbered more than twenty thousand, and when resident aliens were included, not less than two hundred thousand.

§ 13.84.4 And men say that once when Antisthenes saw his son quarrelling with a neighbouring farmer, a poor man, and pressing him to sell him his little plot of land, for a time he merely reproved his son; but when his son's cupidity grew more intense, he said to him that he should not be doing his best to make his neighbour poor but, on the contrary, to make him rich; for then the man would long for more land, and when he would be unable to buy additional land from his neighbour he would sell what he now had.

§ 13.84.5 Because of the immense prosperity prevailing in the city the Acragantini came to live on such a scale of luxury that a little later, when the city was under siege, they passed a decree about the guards who spent the nights at their posts, that none of them should have more than one mattress, one cover, one sheepskin, and two pillows.

§ 13.84.6 When such was their most rigorous kind of bedding, one can get an idea of the luxury which prevailed in their living generally. Now it was our wish neither to pass these matters by nor yet to speak of them at greater length, in order that we may not fail to record the more important events.

§ 13.85.1 The Carthaginians, after transporting their armaments to Sicily, marched against the city of the Acragantini and made two encampments, one on certain hills where they stationed the Iberians and some Libyans to the number of about forty thousand, and the other they pitched not far from the city and surrounded it with deep trench and a palisade.

§ 13.85.2 And first they dispatched ambassadors to the Acragantini, asking them, preferably, to become their allies, but otherwise to stay neutral and be friends with the Carthaginians, thereby remaining in peace; and when the inhabitants of the city would not entertain these terms, the siege was begun at once.

§ 13.85.3 The Acragantini thereupon armed all those of military age, and forming them in battle order they stationed one group upon the walls and the other as a reserve to replace the soldiers as they became worn out. Fighting with them was also Dexippus the Lacedemonian, who had lately arrived there from Gela with fifteen hundred mercenaries; for at that time, at Timaeus says, Dexippus was tarrying in Gela, enjoying high regard by reason of the city of his birth.

§ 13.85.4 Consequently the Acragantini invited him to recruit as many mercenaries as he could and come to Acragas; and together with them the Campanians who had formerly fought with Hannibal, some eight hundred, were also hired. These mercenaries held the height above the city which is called the Hill of Athena and strategically situated overhanging the city.

§ 13.85.5 Himilcar and Hannibal, the Carthaginian generals, noting, after they had surveyed the walls, that in one place the city was easily assailable, advanced two enormous towers against the walls. During the first day they pressed the siege from these towers, and after inflicting many casualties then sounded the recall for their soldiers; but when night had fallen the defenders of the city launched a counter-attack and burned the siege-engines.

§ 13.86.1 Hannibal, being eager to launch assaults in an increasing number of places, ordered the soldiers to tear down the monuments and tombs and to build mounds extending to the walls. But when these works had been quickly completed because of the united labour of many hands, a deep superstitious fear fell upon the army.

§ 13.86.2 For it happened that the tomb of Theron, which was exceedingly large, was shaken by a stroke of lightning; consequently, when it was being torn down, certain soothsayers, presaging what might happen, forbade it, and at once a plague broke out in the army, and many died of it while not a few suffered tortures and grievous distress.

§ 13.86.3 Among the dead was also Hannibal the general, and among the watch-guards who were sent out there were some who reported that in the night spirits of the dead were to be seen. Himilcar, on seeing how the throng was beset with superstitious fear, first of all put a stop to the destruction of the monuments, and then he supplicated the gods after the custom of his people by sacrificing a young boy to Cronus and a multitude of cattle to Poseidon by drowning them in the sea. He did not, however, neglect the siege works, but filling up the river which ran beside the city as far as the walls, he advanced all his siege-engines against them and launched daily assaults.

§ 13.86.4 The Syracusans, seeing that Acragas was under siege and fearing lest the besieged might suffer the same fate as befell the Selinuntians and Himeraeans, had long been eager to send them their aid, and when at this juncture allied troops arrived from Italy and Messene they elected Daphnaeus general.

§ 13.86.5 Collecting their forces they added along the way soldiers from Camarina and Gela, and summoning additional troops from the peoples of the interior they made their way towards Acragas, while thirty of their ships sailed along beside them. The forces which they had numbered in all more than thirty thousand infantry and not less than five thousand cavalry.

§ 13.87.1 When Himilcon learned of the approach of the enemy, he dispatched to meet them both his Iberians and his Campanians and more than forty thousand other troops. The Syracusans had already crossed the Himera River when the barbarians met them, and in the long battle which ensued the Syracusans were victorious and slew more than six thousand men.

§ 13.87.2 They would have crushed the whole army completely and pursued it all the way to the city, but since the soldiers were pressing the pursuit without order, the general was concerned lest Himilcar should appear with the rest of his army and retrieve the defeat. For he remembered also how the Himeraeans had been utterly destroyed for the same reason. However, when the barbarians were in flight to their camp before Acragas, the soldiers in the city, seeing the defeat of the Carthaginians, begged their generals to lead them out, saying that the opportunity had come to destroy the host of the enemy.

§ 13.87.3 But the generals, whether they had been bribed, as the report ran, or feared that Himilcon would seize the city if it were stripped of defenders, checked the ardour of the men. So the fleeing men quite safely made good their escape to the camp before the city.

§ 13.87.4 When Daphnaeus with his army arrived at the encampment which the barbarians had deserted, he took up his quarters there. At once both the soldiers from the city mingled with his troops and Dexippus accompanied his men, and the multitude gathered in a tumultuous throng in an assembly, everyone being vexed that the opportunity had been let slip and that although they had the barbarians in their power, they had not inflicted on them the punishment they deserved, but that the generals in the city, although able to lead them forth to attack and destroy the host of the enemy, had let so many myriads of men off scot-free.

§ 13.87.5 While great uproar and tumult prevailed in the assembly, Menes of Camarina, who had been put in command, came forward and lodged an accusation against the Acragantine generals and so incited all who were present that, when the accused tried to offer a defence, and one would let them speak and the multitude began to throw stones and killed four of them, but the fifth, Argeius by name, who was very much younger, they spared. Dexippus the Lacedemonian, we are told, also was the object of abuse on the ground that, although he held a position of command and was reputed to be not inexperienced in warfare, he had acted as he did treacherously.

§ 13.88.1 After the assembly Daphnaeus led forth his forces and undertook to lay siege to the camp of the Carthaginians, but when he saw that it had been fortified with great outlay, he gave up that design; however, by covering the roads with his cavalry he seized such as were foraging, and by cutting off the transport of supplies brought them into serious straits.

§ 13.88.2 The Carthaginians, not daring to wage a pitched battle and being hard pinched by lack of food, were enduring great misfortunes. For many of the soldiers were dying of want, and the Campanians together with the other mercenaries, almost in a body, forced their way to the tent of Himilcar and demanded the rations which had been agreed upon; and if these were not given them, they threatened to go over to the enemy.

§ 13.88.3 But Himilcar had learned from some source that the Syracusans were conveying a great amount of grain to Acragas by sea. Consequently, since this was the only hope he had of salvation, he persuaded the soldiers to wait a few days, giving them as a pledge the goblets belonging to the troops from Carthage.

§ 13.88.4 He then summoned forty triremes from Panormus and Motye and planned an attack upon the ships which were bringing the supplies; and the Syracusans, because up to this time the barbarians had retired from the sea and winter had already set in, held the Carthaginians in contempt, feeling assured that they would not again have the courage to man their triremes.

§ 13.88.5 Consequently, since they gave little concern to the convoying of the supplies, Himilcar, sailing forth unawares for forty triremes, sank eight of their warships and pursued the rest to the beach; and by capturing all the remaining vessels he effected such a reversal in the expectations of both sides that the Campanians who were in the service of the Acragantini, considering the position of the Greeks to be hopeless, were bought off for fifteen talents and went over to the Carthaginians.

§ 13.88.6 The Acragantini at first, when the Carthaginians were faring badly, had enjoyed their grain and other supplies without stint, expecting all the while that the siege would be quickly lifted; but when the hopes of the barbarians began to rise and so many myriads of human beings were gathered into one city, the grain was exhausted before they were aware of it.

§ 13.88.7 And the story is told that also Dexippus the Lacedemonian was corrupted by a bribe of fifteen talents; for without hesitation he replied to a question of the generals of the Italian Greeks, “Yes, it's better if the war is settled somewhere else, for our provisions have failed.” Consequently the generals, offering as their excuse that the time agreed upon for the campaign had elapsed, led their troops off to the Strait.

§ 13.88.8 After the departure of these troops the generals met with the commanders and decided of make a survey of the supply of grain in the city, and when they discovered that it was quite low, they perceived that they were compelled to desert the city. At once, then, they issued orders that all should leave on the next night.

§ 13.89.1 With such a throng of men, women, and children deserting the city, at once endless lamentation and tears pervaded all homes. For while they were panic-stricken from fear of the enemy, at the same time they were also under necessity, because of their haste, of leaving behind as booty for the barbarians the possessions on which they had based their happiness; for when Fortune was robbing them of the comforts they enjoyed in their homes, they thought that they should be content that at least they were preserving their lives.

§ 13.89.2 And one could see the abandonment not only of the opulence of so wealthy a city but also of a multitude of human beings. For the sick were neglected by their relatives, everyone taking thought for his own safety, and those who were already far advanced in years were abandoned because of the weakness of old age; and many, reckoning even speculation from their native city to be the equivalent of death, laid hands upon themselves in order that they might breathe their last in the dwellings of their ancestors.

§ 13.89.3 However, the multitude which left the city was given armed escort by the soldiers to Gela; and the highway and all parts of the countryside which led away toward the territory of the Geloans were crowded with women and children intermingled with maidens, who, changing from the pampered life to which they had been accustomed to a strenuous journey by foot and extreme hardship, held out to the end, since fear nerved their souls.

§ 13.89.4 Now these got safely to Gela and at a later time made their home in Leontini, the Syracusans having given them this city for their dwelling-place.

§ 13.90.1 Himilcar, leading his army at dawn within the walls, put to death practically all who had been left behind; yes, even those who had fled for safety to the temples the Carthaginians hauled out and slew.

§ 13.90.2 And we are told that Tellias, who was the foremost citizen in wealth and honourable character, shared in the misfortune of his country: He had decided to take refuge with certain others in the sanctuary of Athena, thinking that the Carthaginians would refrain from acts of lawlessness against the gods, but when he saw their impiety, he set fire to the temple and burned himself together with the dedications in it. For by one deed, he thought, he would withhold from the gods impiety, from the enemy a vast store of plunder, and from himself, most important of all, certain physical indignity.

§ 13.90.3 But Himilcar, after pillaging and industriously ransacking the sanctuaries and dwellings, collected as great a store of booty as a city could be expected to yield which had been inhabited by two hundred thousand people, had gone unravaged since the date of its founding, had been well-nigh the wealthiest of the Greek cities of that day, and whose citizens, furthermore, had shown their love of the beautiful in expensive collections of works of art of every description.

§ 13.90.4 Indeed a multitude of paintings executed with the greatest care was found and an extraordinary number of sculptures of every description and worked with great skill, The most valuable pieces, accordingly, Himilcar sent to Carthage, among which, as it turned out, was the bull of Phalaris, and the rest of the pillage he sold as booty.

§ 13.90.5 As regards this bull, although Timaeus in his History has maintained that it never existed at all, he has been refuted by Fortune herself; for some two hundred and sixty years after the capture of Acragas, when Scipio sacked Carthage, he returned to the Acragantini, together with their others possessions still in the hands of the Carthaginians, the bull, which was still in Acragas at the time this history was being written.

§ 13.90.6 I have been led to speak of this matter rather copiously because Timaeus, who criticized most bitterly the historians before his time and left the writers of history bereft of all forgiveness, is himself caught improvising in the very province where he most proclaims his own accuracy.

§ 13.90.7 For historians should, in my opinion, be granted charity in errors that come of ignorance, since they are human beings and since the truth of ages past is hard to discover, but historians who deliberately do not give the exact facts should properly be open to censure, whenever in flattering one man or another or in attacking others from hatred too bitterly, they stray from the truth.

§ 13.91.1 Since Himilcar, after besieging the city for eight months, had taken it shortly before the winter solstice, he did not destroy it at once, in order that his forces might winter in the dwellings. But when the misfortune that had befallen Acragas was noised abroad, such fear took possession of the island that of the Sicilian Greeks some removed to Syracuse and others transferred their children and wives and all their possessions to Italy.

§ 13.91.2 The Acragantini who had escaped being taken captive, when they arrived in Syracuse, lodged accusations against their generals, asserting that it was due to their treachery that their country had perished. And it so happened that the Syracusans also came in for censure by the rest of the Sicilian Greeks, because, as they charged, they elected the kind of leaders through whose fault the whole of Sicily ran the risk of destruction.

§ 13.91.3 Nevertheless, even though an assembly of the people was held in Syracuse and great fears hung over them, not a man would venture to offer any counsel respecting the war. While everyone was at a loss what to do, Dionysius, the son of Hermocrates, taking the floor, accused the generals of betraying their cause to the Carthaginians and stirred up the assemblage to exact punishment of them, urging them not to await the futile procedure prescribed by the laws but to pass judgement upon them at once.

§ 13.91.4 And when the archons, in accordance with the laws, laid a fine upon Dionysius on the charge of raising an uproar, Philistus, who later composed his History, a man of great wealth, paid the fine and urged Dionysius to speak out whatever he had had in his mind to say. And when Philistus went on to say that if they wanted to fine Dionysius throughout the whole day he would provide the money for him, from then on Dionysius, full of confidence, hand stirring up the multitude, and throwing the assembly into confusion he accused the generals of taking bribes to put the security of the Acragantini in jeopardy. And he also denounced the rest of the most renowned citizens, presenting them as friends of oligarchy.

§ 13.91.5 Consequently he advised them to choose as generals not the most influential citizens, but rather those who were the best disposed and most favourable to the people; for the former, he maintained, ruling the citizens as they do in a despotic manner, hold the many in contempt and consider the misfortunes of their country their own source of income, whereas the more humble will do none of such things, since they fear their own weakness.

§ 13.92.1 Dionysius, by suiting every word of his harangue to the people to the predilection of his hearers and his own personal design, stirred the anger of the assembly to no small degree; for the people, which for some time past had hated the generals for what they considered to be their bad conduct of the war and at the moment were spurred on by what was being said to them, immediately dismissed some of them from office and chose other generals, among whom was also Dionysius, who enjoyed the reputation of having shown unusual bravery in the battles against the Carthaginians and was admired of all the Syracusans.

§ 13.92.2 Having become elated, therefore, in his hopes, he tried every device to become tyrant of his country. For example, after assuming office he neither participated in the meetings of the generals nor associated with them in any way; and while acting in this manner he spread the report that they were carrying on negotiations with the enemy. For in this way he hoped that he could most effectively strip them of their power and clothe himself alone with the office of general.

§ 13.92.3 While Dionysius was acting in this fashion, the most respectable citizens suspected what was taking place and in every gathering spoke disparagingly of him, but the common crowd, being ignorant of his scheme, gave him their approbation and declared that at long last teach had found a steadfast leader.

§ 13.92.4 However, when the assembly convened time and again to consider preparations for the war, Dionysius, observing that fear of the enemy had struck the Syracusans with terror, advised them to recall the exiles;

§ 13.92.5 for it was absurd, he said, to seek aid from peoples other states in Italy and the Peloponnesus and to be unwilling to enlist the assistance of their fellow citizens in facing their own dangers, citizens who, although the enemy kept promising them great rewards for their military co operation, chose rather to die as wanderers on foreign soil than plan some hostile act against their native land.

§ 13.92.6 And in fact, he declared, men who were now in exile because of past civil strife in the city, if at this time they were the recipients of this benefaction, would fight with eagerness, showing in this way their appreciation to their benefactors. After reciting many arguments for this proposal that bore on the situation, he won the votes of the Syracusans to his view; for no one of his colleagues in office dared oppose him in the matter both because of the eagerness shown by multitude and because each observed that he himself would gain only enmity, while Dionysius would heap a reward of gratitude from those who had received kindness from him.

§ 13.92.7 Dionysius took this course in the hope that he would win the exile for himself, men who wished a change and would be favourably disposed toward the establishment of a tyranny; for they would be happy to witness the murder of their enemies, the confiscation of their property, and the restoration to themselves of their possessions. And when finally the resolution regarding the exiles was passed, these returned at once to their native land.

§ 13.93.1 When messages were brought from Gela requesting the dispatch of additional troops, Dionysius got a favourable means of accomplishing his own purpose. Having been dispatched with two thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry, he arrived speedily at the city of the Geloans, which at that time was under the eye of Dexippus, the Lacedemonian, who had been put in charge by the Syracusans.

§ 13.93.2 And when Dionysius on arrival found the wealthiest citizens engaged in strife with the people, he accused them in an assembly and secured their condemnation, whereupon he put them to death and confiscated their possessions. With the money thus gained he paid the guards of the city under the command of Dexippus the wages which were owing them, while to his own troops who had come with him from Syracuse he promised he would pay double the wages which the city had determined.

§ 13.93.3 In this manner he won over to himself the loyalty not only of the soldiers in Gela but also of those whom he had brought with him. He also gained the approval of the populace of the Geloans, who believed him to be responsible for their liberation; for in their envy of the most influential citizens they stigmatized the superiority these men possessed as a despotism over themselves.

§ 13.93.4 Consequently they dispatched ambassadors who sang his praises in Syracuse and reported decrees in which they honoured him with rich gifts. Dionysius also undertook to persuade Dexippus to associate himself with his design, and when Dexippus would not join with him, he was on the point of returning with his own troops to Syracuse.

§ 13.93.5 But the Geloans, on learning that the Carthaginians with their entire host were going to make Gela the first object of attack, besought Dionysius to remain and not to stand idly by while they suffered the same fate as the Acragantini. Dionysius replied to them that he would return speedily with a larger force and set forth from Gela with his own soldiers.

§ 13.94.1 A play was being presented in Syracuse and Dionysius arrived in the city at the time when the people were leaving the theatre. When the populace rushed in throngs to him and were questioning him about the Carthaginians, they were unaware, he said, that they had more dangerous enemies than their foreign foes — the men within the city in charge of the public interests; these men the citizens trusted while they held public festivals, but these very men, while plundering the public funds, had let the soldiers go unpaid, and although the enemy was making their preparations for the war on a scale which could not be surpassed and were about to lead their forces upon Syracuse, the generals were giving these matters no concern whatsoever.

§ 13.94.2 The reason for such conduct, he continued, he had been aware of before, but now he had got fuller information. For Himilcon had sent a herald to him, ostensibly to treat about the captives, but in fact to urge him, now that Himilcon had induced a large number of Dionysius' colleagues not to bother themselves with what was taking place, at least to offer no opposition, since he, Dionysius, did not choose to co operate with him.

§ 13.94.3 Consequently, Dionysius continued, he did not wish to serve longer as general, but was present in Syracuse to lay down his office; for it was intolerable for him, while the other generals were selling out their country, to be the only one to fight together with the citizens and yet be at the same time destined to be thought in after years to have shared in their betrayal.

§ 13.94.4 Although the populace had been stirred by what Dionysius had said and his words spread through the whole army, at the time every man departed to his home full of anxiety. But on the following day, when an assembly had been convened in which Dionysius won no small approval when he lodged many accusations against the magistrates and stirred up the populace against the generals,

§ 13.94.5 finally some of the members cried out to appoint him general with supreme power and not to wait until the enemy were storming their walls; for the magnitude of the war, they urged, made necessary such a general, through whose leadership their cause could prosper; as for the traitors, their case would be debated in another assembly, since it was foreign to the present situation; indeed at a former time three hundred thousand Carthaginians had been conquered at Himera when Gelon was general with supreme power.

§ 13.95.1 And soon the multitude, as is their wont, swung to the worse decision and Dionysius was appointed general with supreme power. And now, since the situation corresponded to his desires, he proposed a decree that the pay of the mercenaries be doubled; for they would all, he said, if this were done, be more eager for the coming contest, and he urged them not to worry at all about the funds, since it would be an easy task to raise them.

§ 13.95.2 After the assembly was adjourned no small number of the Syracusans condemned what had been done, as if they themselves had not had their way in the matter; for as their thoughts turned to their own state they could imagine the tyrannical power which was to follow. Now these men, in their desire to insure their freedom, had unwittingly established a despot over their country;

§ 13.95.3 Dionysius, on the other hand, wishing to forestall the change of mind on the part of the populace, kept seeking a means whereby he could ask for a guard for his person, for if this were granted him he would easily establish himself in the tyranny. At once, then, he issued orders that all men of military age up to forty years should provide themselves rations for thirty days and report to him under arms at Leontini. This city was at that time an outpost of the Syracusans, being full of exiles and foreigners. For Dionysius hoped that he would have these men on his side, desiring as they did a change of government, and that the majority of the Syracusans would not even come to Leontini.

§ 13.95.4 However, while he was encamped at night in the countryside, he pretended that he was the object of a plot and had his personal servants raise a tumult and uproar; and after doing this he took refuge on the acropolis, where he passed the night, keeping fires burning and summoning to him his most trustworthy soldiers.

§ 13.95.5 And at daybreak, when the common people were gathered into Leontini, he delivered a long plausible speech to further his design and persuaded the populace to give him a guard of six hundred soldiers whomsoever he should select. It is said that Dionysius did this in imitation of Peisistratus the Athenian;

§ 13.95.6 for he, we are told, after wounding himself, appeared before the assembly alleging that he had been the victim of a plot, and because of this he received a guard at the hands of the citizens, by means of which he established the tyranny. And at this time Dionysius, having deceived the multitude by a similar device, put into effect the structure of his tyranny.

§ 13.96.1 For instance Dionysius at once selected such citizens as were without property but bold in spirit, more than a thousand in number, provided them with costly arms, and buoyed them up with extravagant promises; the mercenaries also he won to himself by calling them to him and conversing with them in friendly fashion. He made changes also in the military posts, conferring their commands upon his most faithful followers; and Dexippus the Lacedemonian he dismissed to Greece, for he was suspicious of this man lest he should seize a favourable opportunity and restore to the Syracusans their liberty.

§ 13.96.2 He also called to himself the mercenaries in Gela and gathered from all quarters the exiles and impious, hoping that in these men the tyranny would find its strongest support. While in Syracuse, however, he took up his quarters in the naval station, having openly proclaimed himself tyrant. Although the Syracusans were offended, they were compelled to keep quiet; for they were unable to effect anything now, since not only was the city thronged with mercenary soldiers but the people were filled with fear of the Carthaginians who possessed such powerful armaments.

§ 13.96.3 Now Dionysius straightway married the daughter of Hermocrates, the conqueror of the Athenians, and gave his sister in marriage to Polyxenus, the brother of Hermocrates' wife. This he did out of a desire to draw a distinguished house into relationship with him in order to make firm the tyranny. After this he summoned an assembly and had his most influential opponents, Daphnaeus and Demarchus, put to death.

§ 13.96.4 Now Dionysius, from a scribe and ordinary private citizen, had become tyrant of the largest city in the Greek world; and he maintained his dominance until his death, having ruled as tyrant for thirty-eight years. But we shall give a detailed account of his deeds and of the expansion of his rule in connection with the appropriate periods of time; for it seems that this man, single-handed, established the strongest and longest tyranny of any recorded by history.

§ 13.96.5 The Carthaginians, after their capture of the city, transferred to Carthage both the votive offerings and statues and every object of greatest value, and when they had burned down the temples and plundered the city, they spent the winter there. And in the springtime they made ready every kind of engine of war and of missile, planning to lay siege first to the city of the Geloans.

§ 13.97.1 While these events were taking place, the Athenians, who had suffered a continued series of reverses, conferred citizenship upon the metics and any other aliens who were willing to fight with them; and when a great multitude was quickly enrolled among the citizens, the generals kept mustering for the campaign all who were in fit condition. They made ready sixty ships, and after fitting them out at great expense they sailed forth to Samos, where they found the other generals who had assembled eighty triremes from the rest of the islands.

§ 13.97.2 They also had asked the Samians to man and equip ten additional triremes, and with one hundred and fifty ships in all they set out to sea and put in at the Arginusae Islands, being eager to raise the siege of Mytilene.

§ 13.97.3 When Callicratidas, the admiral of the Lacedemonians, learned of the approach of the ships, he left Eteonicus with the land troops in charge of the siege, while he himself manned one hundred and forty ships and hurriedly put out to sea on the other side of the Arginusae. These islands, which were inhabited at that time and contained a small settlement of Aeolians, lie between Mitylene and Cyme and are but a very small distance from the mainland and the headland of Canis.

§ 13.97.4 The Athenians learned at once of the approach of the enemy, since they lay at anchor no great distance away, but refused battle because of the strong winds and made ready for the conflict on the following day, the Lacedemonians also doing likewise, although the seers on both sides forbade it.

§ 13.97.5 For in the case of the Lacedemonians the head of the victim, which lay on the beach, was lost to sight when the waves broke on it, and the seer accordingly foretold that the admiral would die in the fight. At this prophecy Callicratidas, we are told, remarked, “If I die in the fight, I shall not have lessened the fame of Sparta.”

§ 13.97.6 And in the case of the Athenians Thrasybulus their general, who held the supreme command on that day, saw in the night the following vision. He dreamed that he was in Athens and the theatre was crowded, and that he and six of the other generals were playing the Phoenician Women of Euripides, while their competitors were performing the Suppliants; and that it resulted in a “ Cadmean victory” for them and they all died, just as did those who waged the campaign against Thebes.

§ 13.97.7 When the seer heard this, he disclosed that seven of the generals would be slain. Since the omens revealed victory, the generals forbade any word going out to the others about their own death but they passed the news of the victory disclosed by the omens throughout the whole army.

§ 13.98.1 The admiral Callicratidas, having assembled his whole force, encouraged them with the appropriate words and concluded his speech as follows. “So eager am I myself to enter battle for my country that, although the seer declares that the victims foretell victory for you but death for me, I am none the less ready to die. Accordingly, knowing that after the death of commanders forces are thrown into confusion, I designate at this time as admiral to succeed me, in case I meet with some mishap, Clearchus, a man who has proved himself in deeds of war.”

§ 13.98.2 By these words Callicratidas led not a few to emulate his valour and to become more eager for the battle. The Lacedemonians, exhorting one another, entered their ships, and the Athenians, after hearing the exhortations of their generals summoning them to the struggle, manned the triremes in haste and all took their positions.

§ 13.98.3 Thrasyllus commanded the right wing and also Pericles, the son of the Pericles, who by reason of his influence, had been dubbed “The Olympian”; and he associated with himself on the right wing also Theramenes, giving him a command. At the time Theramenes was on the campaign as a private citizen, although formerly he had often been in command of armaments. The rest of the generals he stationed along the entire line, and the Arginusae Islands, as they are called, he enclosed by his battle order, since he wished to extend his ships as far as possible.4 Callicratidas put out to sea holding himself the right flank, and the left he entrusted to the Boeotians, who were commanded by Thrasondas the Theban. And since he was unable to make his line equal to that of the enemy by reason of the large space occupied by the islands, he divided his force, and forming two fleets fought two battles separately, one on each wing. 5 Consequently he aroused great amazement in the spectators on many sides, since there were four fleets engaged and the ships that had been gathered into one place did not lack many of being three hundred. For this is the greatest sea-battle on record of Greeks against Greeks.

§ 13.99.1 At the very moment when the admirals gave orders to sound the trumpets the whole host on each side, raising the war-cry in turn, made a tremendous shout; and all, as they enthusiastically struck the waves, vied with one another, every man being anxious to be the first to begin the battle.

§ 13.99.2 For the majority were experienced in fighting, because the war had endured so long, and they displayed insuperable enthusiasm, since it was the choicest troops who had been gathered for the decisive contest; for all took it for granted that the conquers in this battle would put an end to the war.

§ 13.99.3 But Callicratidas especially, since he had heard from the seer of the end awaiting him, was eager the compass for himself a death that would be most renowned. Consequently he was the first to drive at the ship of Lysias the general, and shattering it at the first blow together with the triremes accompanying it, he sank it; and as for the other ships, some he rammed and made unseaworthy and from others he tore away the rows of oars and rendered them useless for the fighting.

§ 13.99.4 Last of all he rammed the trireme of Pericles with a rather heavy blow and broke a great hole in the trireme; then, since the beak of his ship stuck tight in the gap and they could not withdraw it, Pericles threw an iron hand on the ship of Callicratidas, and when it was fastened tight, the Athenians, surrounding the ship, sprang upon it, and pouring over its crew put them all to the sword.

§ 13.99.5 It was at this time, we are told, that Callicratidas, after fighting brilliantly and holding out for a long time, finally was worn down by numbers, as he was struck from all directions. As soon as the defeat of the admiral became evident, the result was that the Peloponnesians gave way in fear.

§ 13.99.6 But although the right wing of the Peloponnesians was in flight, the Boeotians, who held the left, continued to put up a stout fight for some time; for both they and the Euboeans who were fighting by their side as well as all the other Greeks who had revolted from the Athenians feared lest the Athenians, if they should once again regain their sovereignty, would exact punishment of them for their revolt. But when they saw that most of their ships had been damaged and that the main body of the victors was turning against them, they were compelled to take flight. Now of the Peloponnesians some found safety in Chios and some in Cyme.

§ 13.100.1 The Athenians, while they pursued the defeated foe for a considerable distance, filled the whole area of the sea in the neighbourhood of the battle with corpses and the wreckage of ships. After this some of the generals thought that they should pick up the dead, since the Athenians are incensed at those who allow the dead to go unburied, but others of them said they should sail to Mitylene and raise the siege with all speed.

§ 13.100.2 But in the meantime a great storm arose, so that the ships were tossed about and the soldiers, by reason both of the hardships they had suffered in the battle and the heavy waves, opposed picking up the dead.

§ 13.100.3 And finally, since the storm increased in violence, they neither sailed to Mitylene nor picked up the dead but were forced by the winds to put in at the Arginusae. The losses in the battle were twenty-five ships of the Athenians together with most of their crews and seventy-seven of the Peloponnesians;

§ 13.100.4 and as a result of the loss of so many ships and of the sailors who manned them the coastline of the territory of the Cymaeans and Phocaeans was strewn with corpses and wreckage.

§ 13.100.5 When Eteonicus, who was besieging Mitylene, learned from someone of the defeat of the Peloponnesians, he sent his ships to Chios and himself retreated with his land forces to the city of the Pyrrhaeans, which was an ally; for he feared lest, if the Athenians should sail against his troops with their fleet and the besieged make a sortie from the city, he should run the risk of losing his entire force.

§ 13.100.6 And the generals of the Athenians, after sailing to Mitylene and picking up Conon and his forty ships, put in at Samos, and from there as their base they set about laying waste the territory of the enemy.

§ 13.100.7 After this the inhabitants of Aeolis and Ionia and of the islands which were allies of the Lacedemonians gathered in Ephesus, and as they counselled together they resolved to send to Spartan to ask for Lysander as admiral; for during the time Lysander had been in command of the fleet he had enjoyed many successes and was believed to excel all others in skill as a general.

§ 13.100.8 The Lacedemonians, however, having a law not to send the same man twice and being unwilling to break the custom of their fathers, chose Aracus as admiral but sent Lysander with him as an ordinary citizen, commanding Aracus to follow the advice of Lysander in every matter. These leaders, having been dispatched to assume the command, set about assembling the greatest possible number of triremes from both the Peloponnesus and their allies.

§ 13.101.1 When the Athenians learned of their success at the Arginusae, they commended the generals for the victory but were incensed that they had allowed the men who had died to maintain their supremacy to go unburied.

§ 13.101.2 Since Theramenes and Thrasybulus had gone off to Athens in advance of the others, the generals, having assumed that it was they who had made accusations before the populace with respect to the dead, dispatched letters against them to the people stating that it was they whom the generals had ordered to pick up the dead. But this very thing turned out to be the principal cause of their undoing.

§ 13.101.3 For although they could have had the help of Theramenes and his associates in the trial, men who both were able orators and had many friends and, most important of all, had been participants in the events relative to the battle, they had them, on the contrary, as adversaries and bitter accusers.

§ 13.101.4 For when the letters were read before the people, the multitude was at once angered at Theramenes and his associates, but after these had presented their defence, it turned out that their anger was directed again on the generals.

§ 13.101.5 Consequently the people served notice on them of their trial and ordered them to turn over the command of the armaments to Conon, whom they freed of the responsibility, while they decreed that the others should report to Athens with all speed. Of the generals Aristogenes and Protomachus, fearing the wrath of the populace, sought safety in flight, but Thrasyllus and Calliades and, besides, Lysias and Pericles and Aristocrates sailed home to Athens with most of their ships, hoping that they would have their crews, which were numerous, to aid them in the trial.