Hellenica
by
Xenophon

Part 2 out of 7




III

B.C. 404. In the following year[1] the people passed a resolution to
choose thirty men who were to draft a constitution based on the
ancestral laws of the State. The following were chosen to act on this
committee:--Polychares, Critias, Melobius, Hippolochus, Eucleides,
Hiero, Mnesilochus, Chremo, Theramenes, Aresias, Diocles, Phaedrias,
Chaereleos, Anaetius, Piso, Sophocles, Erastosthenes, Charicles,
Onomacles, Theognis, Aeschines, Theogones, Cleomedes, Erasistratus,
Pheido, Dracontides, Eumathes, Aristoteles, Hippomachus, Mnesitheides.
After these transactions, Lysander set sail for Samos; and Agis
withdrew the land force from Deceleia and disbanded the troops,
dismissing the contingents to their several cities.

[1] The MSS. here add "it was that year of the Olympiad cycle in which
Crocinas, a Thessalian, won the Stadium; when Endius was ephor at
Sparta, and Pythodorus archon at Athens, though the Athenians
indeed do not call the year by that archon's name, since he was
elected during the oligarchy, but prefer to speak of the year of
'anarchy'; the aforesaid oligarchy originated thus,"--which,
though correct, probably was not written by Xenophon. The year of
anarchy might perhaps be better rendered "the year without
archons."

In was at this date, about the time of the solar eclipse,[2] that
Lycophron of Pherae, who was ambitious of ruling over the whole of
Thessaly, defeated those sections of the Thessalians who opposed him,
such as the men of Larissa and others, and slew many of them. It was
also about this date that Dionysius, now tyrant of Syracuse, was
defeated by the Carthaginians and lost Gela and Camarina. And again, a
little later, the men of Leontini, who previously had been amalgamated
with the Syracusans, separated themselves from Syracuse and Dionysius,
and asserted their independence, and returned to their native city.
Another incident of this period was the sudden despatch and
introduction of Syracusan horse into Catana by Dionysius.

[2] This took place on 2d September B.C. 404.

Now the Samians, though besieged by Lysander on all sides, were at
first unwilling to come to terms. But at the last moment, when
Lysander was on the point of assaulting the town, they accepted the
terms, which allowed every free man to leave the island, but not to
carry away any part of his property, except the clothes on his back.
On these conditions they marched out. The city and all it contained
was then delivered over to its ancient citizens by Lysander, who
finally appointed ten governors to garrison the island.[3] After
which, he disbanded the allied fleet, dismissing them to their
respective cities, while he himself, with the Lacedaemonian squadron,
set sail for Laconia, bringing with him the prows of the conquered
vessels and the whole navy of Piraeus, with the exception of twelve
ships. He also brought the crowns which he had received from the
cities as private gifts, and a sum of four hundred and seventy
talents[4] in silver (the surplus of the tribute money which Cyrus had
assigned to him for the prosecution of the war), besides other
property, the fruit of his military exploits. All these things
Lysander delivered to the Lacedaemonians in the latter end of
summer.[5]

[3] A council of ten, or "decarchy." See Grote, "H. G." viii. 323 (1st
ed.)

[4] About 112,800 pounds.

[5] The MSS. add "a summer, the close of which coincided with the
termination of a war which had lasted twenty-eight and a half
years, as the list of annual ephors, appended in order, serves to
show. Aenesias is the first name. The war began during his
ephorate, in the fifteenth year of the thirty years' truce after
the capture of Euboea. His successors were Brasidas, Isanor,
Sostratidas, Exarchus, Agesistratus, Angenidas, Onomacles,
Zeuxippus, Pityas, Pleistolas, Cleinomachus, Harchus, Leon,
Chaerilas, Patesiadas, Cleosthenes, Lycarius, Eperatus,
Onomantius, Alexippidas, Misgolaidas, Isias, Aracus, Euarchippus,
Pantacles, Pityas, Archytas, and lastly, Endius, during whose year
of office Lysander sailed home in triumph, after performing the
exploits above recorded,"--the interpolation, probably, of some
editor or copyist, the words "twenty-eight and a half" being
probably a mistake on his part for "twenty-seven and a half." Cf.
Thuc. v. 26; also Buchsenschutz, Einleitung, p. 8 of his school
edition of the "Hellenica."

The Thirty had been chosen almost immediately after the long walls and
the fortifications round Piraeus had been razed. They were chosen for
the express purpose of compiling a code of laws for the future
constitution of the State. The laws were always on the point of being
published, yet they were never forthcoming; and the thirty compilers
contented themselves meanwhile with appointing a senate and the other
magistracies as suited their fancy best. That done, they turned their
attention, in the first instance, to such persons as were well known
to have made their living as informers[6] under the democracy, and to
be thorns in the side of all respectable people. These they laid hold
on and prosecuted on the capital charge. The new senate gladly
recorded its vote of condemnation against them; and the rest of the
world, conscious of bearing no resemblance to them, seemed scarcely
vexed. But the Thirty did not stop there. Presently they began to
deliberate by what means they could get the city under their absolute
control, in order that they might work their will upon it. Here again
they proceeded tentatively; in the first instance, they sent (two of
their number), Aeschines and Aristoteles, to Lacedaemon, and persuaded
Lysander to support them in getting a Lacedaemonian garrison
despatched to Athens. They only needed it until they had got the
"malignants" out of the way, and had established the constitution; and
they would undertake to maintain these troops at their own cost.
Lysander was not deaf to their persuasions, and by his co-operation
their request was granted. A bodyguard, with Callibius as governor,
was sent.

[6] Lit. "by sycophancy," i.e. calumnious accusation--the sycophant's
trade. For a description of this pest of Athenian life cf. "Dem."
in Arist. 1, S. 52; quoted in Jebb, "Attic Orators," chap. xxix.
14; cf. Aristoph. "Ach." 904; Xen. "Mem." II. ix. 1.

And now that they had got the garrison, they fell to flattering
Callibius with all servile flattery, in order that he might give
countenance to their doings. Thus they prevailed on him to allow some
of the guards, whom they selected, to accompany them, while they
proceeded to lay hands on whom they would; no longer confining
themselves to base folk and people of no account, but boldly laying
hands on those who they felt sure would least easily brook being
thrust aside, or, if a spirit of opposition seized them, could command
the largest number of partisans.

These were early days; as yet Critias was of one mind with Theramenes,
and the two were friends. But the time came when, in proportion as
Critias was ready to rush headlong into wholesale carnage, like one
who thirsted for the blood of the democracy, which had banished him,
Theramenes balked and thwarted him. It was barely reasonable, he
argued, to put people to death, who had never done a thing wrong to
respectable people in their lives, simply because they had enjoyed
influence and honour under the democracy. "Why, you and I, Critias,"
he would add, "have said and done many things ere now for the sake of
popularity." To which the other (for the terms of friendly intimacy
still subsisted) would retort, "There is no choice left to us, since
we intend to take the lion's share, but to get rid of those who are
best able to hinder us. If you imagine, because we are thirty instead
of one, our government requires one whit the less careful guarding
than an actual tyranny, you must be very innocent."

So things went on. Day after day the list of persons put to death for
no just reason grew longer. Day after day the signs of resentment were
more significant in the groups of citizens banding together and
forecasting the character of this future constitution; till at length
Theramenes spoke again, protesting:--There was no help for it but to
associate with themselves a sufficient number of persons in the
conduct of affairs, or the oligarchy would certainly come to an end.
Critias and the rest of the Thirty, whose fears had already converted
Theramenes into a dangerous popular idol, proceeded at once to draw up
a list of three thousand citizens; fit and proper persons to have a
share in the conduct of affairs. But Theramenes was not wholly
satisfied, "indeed he must say, for himself, he regarded it as
ridiculous, that in their effort to associate the better classes with
themselves in power, they should fix on just that particular number,
three thousand, as if that figure had some necessary connection with
the exact number of gentlemen in the State, making it impossible to
discover any respectability outside or rascality within the magic
number. And in the second place," he continued, "I see we are trying
to do two things, diametrically opposed; we are manufacturing a
government, which is based on force, and at the same time inferior in
strength to those whom we propose to govern." That was what he said,
but what his colleagues did, was to institute a military inspection or
review. The Three Thousand were drawn up in the Agora, and the rest of
the citizens, who were not included in the list, elsewhere in various
quarters of the city. The order to take arms was given;[7] but while
the men's backs were turned, at the bidding of the Thirty, the
Laconian guards, with those of the citizens who shared their views,
appeared on the scene and took away the arms of all except the Three
Thousand, carried them up to the Acropolis, and safely deposited them
in the temple.

[7] Or, "a summons to the 'place d'armes' was given; but." Or, "the
order to seize the arms was given, and." It is clear from
Aristoph. "Acharn." 1050, that the citizens kept their weapons at
home. On the other hand, it was a custom not to come to any
meeting in arms. See Thuc. vi. 58. It seems probable that while
the men were being reviewed in the market-place and elsewhere, the
ruling party gave orders to seize their weapons (which they had
left at home), and this was done except in the case of the Three
Thousand. Cf. Arnold, "Thuc." II. 2. 5; and IV. 91.

The ground being thus cleared, as it were, and feeling that they had
it in their power to do what they pleased, they embarked on a course
of wholesale butchery, to which many were sacrificed to the merest
hatred, many to the accident of possessing riches. Presently the
question rose, How they were to get money to pay their guards? and to
meet this difficulty a resolution was passed empowering each of the
committee to seize on one of the resident aliens apiece, to put his
victim to death, and to confiscate his property. Theramenes was
invited, or rather told to seize some one or other. "Choose whom you
will, only let it be done." To which he made answer, it hardly seemed
to him a noble or worthy course on the part of those who claimed to be
the elite of society to go beyond the informers[8] in injustice.
"Yesterday they, to-day we; with this difference, the victim of the
informer must live as a source of income; our innocents must die that
we may get their wealth. Surely their method was innocent in
comparison with ours."

[8] See above.

The rest of the Thirty, who had come to regard Theramenes as an
obstacle to any course they might wish to adopt, proceeded to plot
against him. They addressed themselves to the members of the senate in
private, here a man and there a man, and denounced him as the marplot
of the constitution. Then they issued an order to the young men,
picking out the most audacious characters they could find, to be
present, each with a dagger hidden in the hollow of the armpit; and so
called a meeting of the senate. When Theramenes had taken his place,
Critias got up and addressed the meeting:

"If," said he, "any member of this council, here seated, imagines that
an undue amount of blood has been shed, let me remind him that with
changes of constitution such things can not be avoided. It is the rule
everywhere, but more particularly at Athens it was inevitable there
should be found a specially large number of persons sworn foes to any
constitutional change in the direction of oligarchy, and this for two
reasons. First, because the population of this city, compared with
other Hellenic cities, is enormously large; and again, owing to the
length of time during which the people has battened upon liberty. Now,
as to two points we are clear. The first is that democracy is a form
of government detestable to persons like ourselves--to us and to you;
the next is that the people of Athens could never be got to be
friendly to our friends and saviours, the Lacedaemonians. But on the
loyalty of the better classes the Lacedaemonians can count. And that
is our reason for establishing an oligarchical constitution with their
concurrence. That is why we do our best to rid us of every one whom we
perceive to be opposed to the oligarchy; and, in our opinion, if one
of ourselves should elect to undermine this constitution of ours, he
would deserve punishment. Do you not agree? And the case," he
continued, "is no imaginary one. The offender is here present--
Theramenes. And what we say of him is, that he is bent upon destroying
yourselves and us by every means in his power. These are not baseless
charges; but if you will consider it, you will find them amply
established in this unmeasured censure of the present posture of
affairs, and his persistent opposition to us, his colleagues, if ever
we seek to get rid of any of these demagogues. Had this been his
guiding principle of action from the beginning, in spite of hostility,
at least he would have escaped all imputation of villainy. Why, this
is the very man who originated our friendly and confidential relations
with Lacedaemon. This is the very man who authorised the abolition of
the democracy, who urged us on to inflict punishment on the earliest
batch of prisoners brought before us. But to-day all is changed; now
you and we are out of odour with the people, and he accordingly has
ceased to be pleased with our proceedings. The explanation is obvious.
In case of a catastrophe, how much pleasanter for him once again to
light upon his legs, and leave us to render account for our past
performances.

"I contend that this man is fairly entitled to render his account
also, not only as an ordinary enemy, but as a traitor to yourselves
and us. And let us add, not only is treason more formidable than open
war, in proportion as it is harder to guard against a hidden assassin
than an open foe, but it bears the impress of a more enduring
hostility, inasmuch as men fight their enemies and come to terms with
them again and are fast friends; but whoever heard of reconciliation
with a traitor? There he stands unmasked; he has forfeited our
confidence for evermore. But to show you that these are no new tactics
of his, to prove to you that he is a traitor in grain, I will recall
to your memories some points in his past history.

"He began by being held in high honour by the democracy; but taking a
leaf out of his father's, Hagnon's, book, he next showed a most
headlong anxiety to transform the democracy into the Four Hundred,
and, in fact, for a time held the first place in that body. But
presently, detecting the formation of rival power to the oligarchs,
round he shifted; and we find him next a ringleader of the popular
party in assailing them. It must be admitted, he has well earned his
nickname 'Buskin.'[9] Yes, Theramenes! clever you may be, but the man
who deserves to live should not show his cleverness in leading on his
associates into trouble, and when some obstacle presents itself, at
once veer round; but like a pilot on shipboard, he ought then to
redouble his efforts, until the wind is fair. Else, how in the name of
wonderment are those mariners to reach the haven where they would be,
if at the first contrary wind or tide they turn about and sail in the
opposite direction? Death and destruction are concomitants of
constitutional changes and revolution, no doubt; but you are such an
impersonation of change, that, as you twist and turn and double, you
deal destruction on all sides. At one swoop you are the ruin of a
thousand oligarchs at the hands of the people, and at another of a
thousand democrats at the hands of the better classes. Why, sirs, this
is the man to whom the orders were given by the generals, in the sea-
fight off Lesbos, to pick up the crews of the disabled vessels; and
who, neglecting to obey orders, turned round and accused the generals;
and to save himself murdered them! What, I ask you, of a man who so
openly studied the art of self-seeking, deaf alike to the pleas of
honour and to the claims of friendship? Would not leniency towards
such a creature be misplaced? Can it be our duty at all to spare him?
Ought we not rather, when we know the doublings of his nature, to
guard against them, lest we enable him presently to practise on
ourselves? The case is clear. We therefore hereby cite this man before
you, as a conspirator and traitor against yourselves and us. The
reasonableness of our conduct, one further reflection may make clear.
No one, I take it, will dispute the splendour, the perfection of the
Laconian constitution. Imagine one of the ephors there in Sparta, in
lieu of devoted obedience to the majority, taking on himself to find
fault with the government and to oppose all measures. Do you not think
that the ephors themselves, and the whole commonwealth besides, would
hold this renegade worthy of condign punishment? So, too, by the same
token, if you are wise, do you spare yourselves, not him. For what
does the alternative mean? I will tell you. His preservation will
cause the courage of many who hold opposite views to your own to rise;
his destruction will cut off the last hopes of all your enemies,
whether within or without the city."

[9] An annotator seems to have added here the words, occurring in the
MSS., "the buskin which seems to fit both legs equally, but is
constant to neither," unless, indeed, they are an original
"marginal note" of the author. For the character of Theramenes, as
popularly conceived, cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 538, 968 foll., and
Thuc. viii. 92; and Prof. Jowett, "Thuc." vol. ii. pp. 523, 524.

With these words he sat down, but Theramenes rose and said: "Sirs,
with your permission I will first touch upon the charge against me
which Critias has mentioned last. The assertion is that as the accuser
of the generals I was their murderer. Now I presume it was not I who
began the attack upon them, but it was they who asserted that in spite
of the orders given me I had neglected to pick up the unfortunates in
the sea-fight off Lesbos. All I did was to defend myself. My defence
was that the storm was too violent to permit any vessel to ride at
sea, much more therefore to pick up the men, and this defence was
accepted by my fellow-citizens as highly reasonable, while the
generals seemed to be condemned out of their own mouths. For while
they kept on asserting that it was possible to save the men, the fact
still remained that they abandoned them to their fate, set sail, and
were gone.

"However, I am not surprised, I confess, at this grave
misconception[10] on the part of Critias, for at the date of these
occurrences he was not in Athens. He was away in Thessaly, laying the
foundations of a democracy with Prometheus, and arming the
Penestae[11] against their masters. Heaven forbid that any of his
transactions there should be re-enacted here. However, I must say, I
do heartily concur with him on one point. Whoever desires to exclude
you from the government, or to strength the hands of your secret foes,
deserves and ought to meet with condign punishment; but who is most
capable of so doing? That you will best discover, I think, by looking
a little more closely into the past and the present conduct of each of
us. Well, then! up to the moment at which you were formed into a
senatorial body, when the magistracies were appointed, and certain
notorius 'informers' were brought to trial, we all held the same
views. But later on, when our friends yonder began to hale respectable
honest folk to prison and to death, I, on my side, began to differ
from them. From the moment when Leon of Salamis,[12] a man of high and
well-deserved reputation, was put to death, though he had not
committed the shadow of a crime, I knew that all his equals must
tremble for themselves, and, so trembling, be driven into opposition
to the new constitution. In the same way, when Niceratus,[13] the son
of Nicias, was arrested; a wealthy man, who, no more than his father,
had never done anything that could be called popular or democratic in
his life; it did not require much insight to discover that his
compeers would be converted into our foes. But to go a step further:
when it came to Antiphon[14] falling at our hands--Antiphon, who
during the war contributed two fast-sailing men-of-war out of his own
resources, it was then plain to me, that all who had ever been zealous
and patriotic must eye us with suspicion. Once more I could not help
speaking out in opposition to my colleagues when they suggested that
each of us ought to seize some one resident alien.[15] For what could
be more certain than that their death-warrant would turn the whole
resident foreign population into enemies of the constitution. I spoke
out again when they insisted on depriving the populace of their arms;
it being no part of my creed that we ought to take the strength out of
the city; nor, indeed, so far as I could see, had the Lacedaemonians
stept between us and destruction merely that we might become a handful
of people, powerless to aid them in the day of need. Had that been
their object, they might have swept us away to the last man. A few
more weeks, or even days, would have sufficed to extinguish us quietly
by famine. Nor, again, can I say that the importation of mercenary
foreign guards was altogether to my taste, when it would have been so
easy for us to add to our own body a sufficient number of fellow-
citizens to ensure our supremacy as governors over those we essayed to
govern. But when I saw what an army of malcontents this government had
raised up within the city walls, besides another daily increasing host
of exiles without, I could not but regard the banishment of people
like Thrasybulus and Anytus and Alcibiades[16] as impolitic. Had our
object been to strengthen the rival power, we could hardly have set
about it better than by providing the populace with the competent
leaders whom they needed, and the would-be leaders themselves with an
army of willing adherents.

[10] Reading with Cobet {paranenomikenai}.

[11] I.e. serfs--Penestae being the local name in Thessaly for the
villein class. Like the {Eilotes} in Laconia, they were originally
a conquered tribe, afterwards increased by prisoners of war, and
formed a link between the freemen and born slaves.

[12] Cf. "Mem." IV. iv. 3; Plat. "Apol." 8. 32.

[13] Cf. Lysias, "Or." 18. 6.

[14] Probably the son of Lysidonides. See Thirlwall, "Hist. of
Greece," vol. iv. p. 179 (ed. 1847); also Lysias, "Or." 12. contra
Eratosth. According to Lysias, Theramenes, when a member of the
first Oligarchy, betrayed his own closest friends, Antiphon and
Archeptolemus. See Prof. Jebb, "Attic Orators," I. x. p. 266.

[15] The resident aliens, or {metoikoi}, "metics," so technically
called.

[16] Isocr. "De Bigis," 355; and Prof. Jebb's "Attic Orators," ii.
230. In the defence of his father's career, which the younger
Alcibiades, the defendant in this case (B.C. 397 probably) has
occasion to make, he reminds the court, that under the Thirty,
others were banished from Athens, but his father was driven out of
the civilised world of Hellas itself, and finally murdered. See
Plutarch, "Alcibiades," ad fin.

"I ask then is the man who tenders such advice in the full light of
day justly to be regarded as a traitor, and not as a benefactor?
Surely Critias, the peacemaker, the man who hinders the creation of
many enemies, whose counsels tend to the acquistion of yet more
friends,[17] cannot be accused of strengthening the hands of the
enemy. Much more truly may the imputation be retorted on those who
wrongfully appropriate their neighbours' goods and put to death those
who have done no wrong. These are they who cause our adversaries to
grow and multiply, and who in very truth are traitors, not to their
friends only, but to themselves, spurred on by sordid love of gain.

[17] Or, "the peacemaker, the healer of differences, the cementer of
new alliances, cannot," etc.

"I might prove the truth of what I say in many ways, but I beg you to
look at the matter thus. With which condition of affairs here in
Athens do you think will Thrasybulus and Anytus and the other exiles
be the better pleased? That which I have pictured as desirable, or
that which my colleagues yonder are producing? For my part I cannot
doubt but that, as things now are, they are saying to themselves, 'Our
allies muster thick and fast.' But were the real strength, the pith
and fibre of this city, kindly disposed to us, they would find it an
uphill task even to get a foothold anywhere in the country.

"Then, with regard to what he said of me and my propensity to be for
ever changing sides, let me draw your attention to the following
facts. Was it not the people itself, the democracy, who voted the
constitution of the Four Hundred? This they did, because they had
learned to think that the Lacedaemonians would trust any other form of
government rather than a democracy. But when the efforts of Lacedaemon
were not a whit relaxed, when Aristoteles, Melanthius, and
Aristarchus,[18] and the rest of them acting as generals, were plainly
minded to construct an intrenched fortress on the mole for the purpose
of admitting the enemy, and so getting the city under the power of
themselves and their associates;[19] because I got wind of these
schemes, and nipped them in the bud, is that to be a traitor to one's
friends?

[18] Cf. Thuc. viii. 90-92, for the behaviour of the Lacedaemonian
party at Athens and the fortification of Eetioneia in B.C. 411.

[19] I.e. of the political clubs.

"Then he threw in my teeth the nickname 'Buskin,' as descriptive of an
endeavour on my part to fit both parties. But what of the man who
pleases neither? What in heaven's name are we to call him? Yes! you--
Critias? Under the democracy you were looked upon as the most arrant
hater of the people, and under the aristocracy you have proved
yourself the bitterest foe of everything respectable. Yes! Critias, I
am, and ever have been, a foe of those who think that a democracy
cannot reach perfection until slaves and those who, from poverty,
would sell the city for a drachma, can get their drachma a day.[20]
But not less am I, and ever have been, a pronounced opponent of those
who do not think there can possibly exist a perfect oligarchy until
the State is subjected to the despotism of a few. On the contrary, my
own ambition has been to combine with those who are rich enough to
possess a horse and shield, and to use them for the benefit of the
State.[21] That was my ideal in the old days, and I hold to it without
a shadow of turning still. If you can imagine when and where, in
conjunction with despots or demagogues, I have set to my hand to
deprive honest gentlefolk of their citizenship, pray speak. If you can
convict me of such crimes at present, or can prove my perpetration of
them in the past, I admit that I deserve to die, and by the worst of
deaths."

[20] I.e. may enjoy the senatorial stipend of a drachma a day = 9 3/4
pence.

[21] See Thuc. viii. 97, for a momentary realisation of that "duly
attempered compound of Oligarchy and Democracy" which Thucydides
praises, and which Theramenes here refers to. It threw the power
into the hands of the wealthier upper classes to the exclusion of
the {nautikos okhlos}. See Prof. Jowett, vol. ii. note, ad loc.
cit.

With these words he ceased, and the loud murmur of the applause which
followed marked the favourable impression produced upon the senate. It
was plain to Critias, that if he allowed his adversary's fate to be
decided by formal voting, Theramenes would escape, and life to himself
would become intolerable. Accordingly he stepped forward and spoke a
word or two in the ears of the Thirty. This done, he went out and gave
an order to the attendants with the daggers to stand close to the bar
in full view of the senators. Again he entered and addressed the
senate thus: "I hold it to be the duty of a good president, when he
sees the friends about him being made the dupes of some delusion, to
intervene. That at any rate is what I propose to do. Indeed our
friends here standing by the bar say that if we propose to acquit a
man so openly bent upon the ruin of the oligarchy, they do not mean to
let us do so. Now there is a clause in the new code forbidding any of
the Three Thousand to be put to death without your vote; but the
Thirty have power of life and death over all outside that list.
Accordingly," he proceeded, "I herewith strike this man, Theramenes,
off the list; and this with the concurrence of my colleagues. And
now," he continued, "we condemn him to death."

Hearing these words Theramenes sprang upon the altar of Hestia,
exclaiming: "And I, sirs, supplicate you for the barest forms of law
and justice. Let it not be in the power of Critias to strike off
either me, or any one of you whom he will. But in my case, in what may
be your case, if we are tried, let our trial be in accordance with the
law they have made concerning those on the list. I know," he added,
"but too well, that this altar will not protect me; but I will make it
plain that these men are as impious towards the gods as they are
nefarious towards men. Yet I do marvel, good sirs and honest
gentlemen, for so you are, that you will not help yourselves, and that
too when you must see that the name of every one of you is as easily
erased as mine."

But when he had got so far, the voice of the herald was heard giving
the order to the Eleven to seize Theramenes. They at that instant
entered with their satellites--at their head Satyrus, the boldest and
most shameless of the body--and Critias exclaimed, addressing the
Eleven, "We deliver over to you Theramenes yonder, who has been
condemned according to the law. Do you take him and lead him away to
the proper place, and do there with him what remains to do." As
Critias uttered the words, Satyrus laid hold upon Theramenes to drag
him from the altar, and the attendants lent their aid. But he, as was
natural, called upon gods and men to witness what was happening. The
senators the while kept silence, seeing the companions of Satyrus at
the bar, and the whole front of the senate house crowded with the
foreign guards, nor did they need to be told that there were daggers
in reserve among those present.

And so Theramenes was dragged through the Agora, in vehement and loud
tones proclaiming the wrongs that he was suffering. One word, which is
said to have fallen from his lips, I cite. It is this: Satyrus, bade
him "Be silent, or he would rue the day;" to which he made answer,
"And if I be silent, shall I not rue it?" Also, when they brought him
the hemlock, and the time was come to drink the fatal draught, they
tell how he playfully jerked out the dregs from the bottom of the cup,
like one who plays "Cottabos,"[22] with the words, "This to the lovely
Critias." These are but "apophthegms"[23] too trivial, it may be
thought, to find a place in history. Yet I must deem it an admirable
trait in this man's character, if at such a moment, when death
confronted him, neither his wits forsook him, nor could the childlike
sportiveness vanish from his soul.

[22] "A Sicilian game much in vogue at the drinking parties of young
men at Athens. The simplest mode was when each threw the wine left
in his cup so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, at the same
time invoking his mistress's name; if all fell into the basin and
the sound was clear, it was a sign he stood well with her."--
Liddell and Scott, sub. v. For the origin of the game compare
curiously enough the first line of the first Elegy of Critias
himself, who was a poet and political philosopher, as well as a
politician:--

"{Kottabos ek Sikeles esti khthonos, euprepes ergon
on skopon es latagon toxa kathistametha.}"
Bergk. "Poetae Lyr. Graec."
Pars II. xxx.


[23] Or, "these are sayings too slight, perhaps, to deserve record;
yet," etc. By an "apophthegm" was meant originally a terse
(sententious) remark, but the word has somewhat altered in
meaning.



IV

So Theramenes met his death; and, now that this obstacle was removed,
the Thirty, feeling that they had it in their power to play the tyrant
without fear, issued an order forbidding all, whose names were not on
the list, to set foot within the city. Retirement in the country
districts was no protection, thither the prosecutor followed them, and
thence dragged them, that their farms and properties might fall to the
possession of the Thirty and their friends. Even Piraeus was not safe;
of those who sought refuge there, many were driven forth in similar
fashion, until Megara and Thebes overflowed with the crowd of
refugees.

Presently Thrasybulus, with about seventy followers, sallied out from
Thebes, and made himself master of the fortress of Phyle.[1] The
weather was brilliant, and the Thirty marched out of the city to repel
the invader; with them were the Three Thousand and the Knights. When
they reached the place, some of the young men, in the foolhardiness of
youth, made a dash at the fortress, but without effect; all they got
was wounds, and so retired. The intention of the Thirty now was to
blockade the place; by shutting off all the avenues of supplies, they
thought to force the garrison to capitulate. But this project was
interrupted by a steady downfall of snow that night and the following
day. Baffled by this all-pervading enemy they beat a retreat to the
city, but not without the sacrifice of many of their camp-followers,
who fell a prey to the men in Phyle. The next anxiety of the
government in Athens was to secure the farms and country houses
against the plunderings and forays to which they would be exposed, if
there were no armed force to protect them. With this object a
protecting force was despatched to the "boundary estates,"[2] about
two miles south of Phyle. This corps consisted of the Lacedaemonian
guards, or nearly all of them, and two divisions of horse.[3] They
encamped in a wild and broken district, and the round of their duties
commenced.

[1] "A strong fortress (the remains of which still exist) commanding
the narrow pass across Mount Parnes, through which runs the direct
road from Thebes to Athens, past Acharnae. The precipitous rock on
which it stands can only be approached by a ridge on the eastern
side. The height commands a magnificent view of the whole Athenian
plain, of the city itself, of Mount Hymettus, and the Saronic
Gulf,"--"Dict. of Geog., The demi of the Diacria and Mount
Parnes."

[2] Cf. Boeckh, "P. E. A." p. 63, Eng. ed.

[3] Lit. tribes, each of the ten tribes furnishing about one hundred
horse.

But by this time the small garrison above them had increased tenfold,
until there were now something like seven hundred men collected in
Phyle; and with these Thrasybulus one night descended. When he was not
quite half a mile from the enemy's encampment he grounded arms, and a
deep silence was maintained until it drew towards day. In a little
while the men opposite, one by one, were getting to their legs or
leaving the camp for necessary purposes, while a suppressed din and
murmur arose, caused by the grooms currying and combing their horses.
This was the moment for Thrasybulus and his men to snatch up their
arms and make a dash at the enemy's position. Some they felled on the
spot; and routing the whole body, pursued them six or seven furlongs,
killing one hundred and twenty hoplites and more. Of the cavalry,
Nicostratus, "the beautiful," as men called him, and two others
besides were slain; they were caught while still in their beds.
Returning from the pursuit, the victors set up a trophy, got together
all the arms they had taken, besides baggage, and retired again to
Phyle. A reinforcement of horse sent from the city could not discover
the vestige of a foe; but waited on the scene of battle until the
bodies of the slain had been picked up by their relatives, when they
withdrew again to the city.

After this the Thirty, who had begun to realise the insecurity of
their position, were anxious to appropriate Eleusis, so that an asylum
might be ready for them against the day of need. With this view an
order was issued to the Knights; and Critias, with the rest of the
Thirty, visited Eleusis. There they held a review of the Eleusians in
the presence of the Knights;[4] and, on the pretext of wishing to
discover how many they were, and how large a garrison they would
further require, they ordered the townsfolk to enter their names. As
each man did so he had to retire by a postern leading to the sea. But
on the sea-beach this side there were lines of cavalry drawn up in
waiting, and as each man appeared he was handcuffed by the satellites
of the Thirty. When all had so been seized and secured, they gave
orders to Lysimachus, the commander of the cavalry, to take them off
to the city and deliver them over to the Eleven. Next day they
summoned the heavy armed who were on the list, and the rest of the
Knights[5] to the Odeum, and Critias rose and addressed them. He said:
"Sirs, the constitution, the lines of which we are laying down, is a
work undertaken in your interests no less than ours; it is incumbent
on you therefore to participate in its dangers, even as you will
partake of its honours. We expect you therefore, in reference to these
Eleusians here, who have been seized and secured, to vote their
condemnation, so that our hopes and fears may be identical." Then,
pointing to a particular spot, he said peremptorily, "You will please
deposit your votes there within sight of all." It must be understood
that the Laconian guards were present at the time, and armed to the
teeth, and filling one-half of the Odeum. As to the proceedings
themselves, they found acceptance with those members of the State,
besides the Thirty, who could be satisfied with a simple policy of
self-aggrandisement.

[4] Or, "in the cavalry quarters," cf. {en tois ikhthusin} = in the
fish market. Or, "at the review of the horse."

[5] For the various Odeums at Athens vide Prof. Jebb, "Theophr."
xviii. 235, 236. The one here named was near the fountain
Callirhoe by the Ilissus.

But now Thrasybulus at the head of his followers, by this time about
one thousand strong, descended from Phyle and reached Piraeus in the
night. The Thirty, on their side, informed of this new move, were not
slow to rally to the rescue, with the Laconian guards, supported by
their own cavalry and hoplites. And so they advanced, marching down
along the broad carriage road which leads into Piraeus. The men from
Phyle seemed at first inclined to dispute their passage, but as the
wide circuit of the walls needed a defence beyond the reach of their
still scanty numbers, they fell back in a compact body upon
Munychia.[6] Then the troops from the city poured into the Agora of
Hippodmus.[7] Here they formed in line, stretching along and filling
the street which leads to the temple of Artemis and the Bendideum.[8]
This line must have been at least fifty shields deep; and in this
formation they at once began to march up. As to the men of Phyle, they
too blocked the street at the opposite end, and facing the foe. They
presented only a thin line, not more than ten deep, though behind
these, certainly, were ranged a body of targeteers and light-armed
javelin men, who were again supported by an artillery of stone-
throwers--a tolerably numerous division drawn from the population of
the port and district itself. While his antagonists were still
advancing, Thrasybulus gave the order to ground their heavy shields,
and having done so himself, whilst retaining the rest of his arms, he
stood in the midst, and thus addressed them: "Men and fellow-citizens,
I wish to inform some, and to remind others of you, that of the men
you see advancing beneath us there, the right division are the very
men we routed and pursued only five days ago; while on the extreme
left there you see the Thirty. These are the men who have not spared
to rob us of our city, though we did no wrong; who have hounded us
from our homes; who have set the seal of proscription on our dearest
friends. But to-day the wheel of fortune has revolved; that has come
about which least of all they looked for, which most of all we prayed
for. Here we stand with our good swords in our hands, face to face
with our foes; and the gods themselves are with us, seeing that we
were arrested in the midst of our peaceful pursuits; at any moment,
whilst we supped, or slept, or marketed, sentence of banishment was
passed upon us: we had done no wrong--nay, many of us were not even
resident in the country. To-day, therefore, I repeat, the gods do
visibly fight upon our side; the great gods, who raise a tempest even
in the midst of calm for our benefit, and when we lay to our hand to
fight, enable our little company to set up the trophy of victory over
the multitude of our foes. On this day they have brought us hither to
a place where the steep ascent must needs hinder our foes from
reaching with lance or arrow further than our foremost ranks; but we
with our volley of spears and arrows and stones cannot fail to reach
them with terrible effect. Had we been forced to meet them vanguard to
vanguard, on an equal footing, who could have been surprised? But as
it is, all I say to you is, let fly your missiles with a will in right
brave style. No one can miss his mark when the road is full of them.
To avoid our darts they must be for ever ducking and skulking beneath
their shields; but we will rain blows upon them in their blindness; we
will leap upon them and lay them low. But, O sirs! let me call upon
you so to bear yourselves that each shall be conscious to himself that
victory was won by him and him alone. Victory--which, God willing,
shall this day restore to us the land of our fathers, our homes, our
freedom, and the rewards of civic life, our children, if children we
have, our darlings, and our wives! Thrice happy those among us who as
conquerors shall look upon this gladdest of all days. Nor less
fortunate the man who falls to-day. Not all the wealth in the world
shall purchase him a monument so glorious. At the right instant I will
strike the keynote of the paean; then, with an invocation to the God
of battle,[9] and in return for the wanton insults they put upon us,
let us with one accord wreak vengeance on yonder men."

[6] The citadel quarter of Piraeus.

[7] Named after the famous architect Hippodamus, who built the town.
It was situated near where the two long walls joined the wall of
Piraeus; a broad street led from it up to the citadel of Munychia.

[8] I.e. the temple of Bendis (the Thracian Artemis). Cf. Plat. "Rep."
327, 354; and Prof. Jowett, "Plato," vol. iii. pp. 193, 226.

[9] Lit. "Enyalius," in Homer an epithet of Ares; at another date (cf.
Aristoph. "Peace," 456) looked upon as a distinct divinity.

Having so spoken, he turned round, facing the foemen, and kept quiet,
for the order passed by the soothsayer enjoined on them, not to charge
before one of their side was slain or wounded. "As soon as that
happens," said the seer, "we will lead you onwards, and the victory
shall be yours; but for myself, if I err not, death is waiting." And
herein he spoke truly, for they had barely resumed their arms when he
himself as though he were driven by some fatal hand, leapt out in
front of the ranks, and so springing into the midst of the foe, was
slain, and lies now buried at the passage of the Cephisus. But the
rest were victorious, and pursued the routed enemy down to the level
ground. There fell in this engagement, out of the number of the
Thirty, Critias himself and Hippomachus, and with them Charmides,[10]
the son of Glaucon, one of the ten archons in Piraeus, and of the rest
about seventy men. The arms of the slain were taken; but, as fellow-
citizens, the conquerors forebore to despoil them of their coats. This
being done, they proceeded to give back the dead under cover of a
truce, when the men, on either side, in numbers stept forward and
conversed with one another. Then Cleocritus (he was the Herald of the
Initiated,[11] a truly "sweet-voiced herald," if ever there was),
caused a deep silence to reign, and addressed their late combatants as
follows: "Fellow-citizens--Why do you drive us forth? why would you
slay us? what evil have we wrought you at any time? or is it a crime
that we have shared with you in the most solemn rites and sacrifices,
and in festivals of the fairest: we have been companions in the
chorus, the school, the army. We have braved a thousand dangers with
you by land and sea in behalf of our common safety, our common
liberty. By the gods of our fathers, by the gods of our mothers, by
the hallowed names of kinship, intermarriage, comradeship, those three
bonds which knit the hearts of so many of us, bow in reverence before
God and man, and cease to sin against the land of our fathers: cease
to obey these most unhallowed Thirty, who for the sake of private gain
have in eight months slain almost more men than the Peloponnesians
together in ten years of warfare. See, we have it in our power to live
as citizens in peace; it is only these men, who lay upon us this most
foul burthen, this hideous horror of fratricidal war, loathed of God
and man. Ah! be well assured, for these men slain by our hands this
day, ye are not the sole mourners. There are among them some whose
deaths have wrung from us also many a bitter tear."

[10] He was cousin to Critias, and uncle by the mother's side to
Plato, who introduces him in the dialogue, which bears his name
(and treats of Temperance), as a very young man at the beginning
of the Peloponnesian War. We hear more of him also from Xenophon
himself in the "Memorabilia," iii. 6. 7; and as one of the
interlocutors in the "Symposium."

[11] I.e. of the Eleusinian mysteries. He had not only a loud voice,
but a big body. Cf. Aristoph. "Frogs," 1237.

So he spoke, but the officers and leaders of the defeated army who
were left, unwilling that their troops should listen to such topics at
that moment, led them back to the city. But the next day the Thirty,
in deep down-heartedness and desolation, sat in the council chamber.
The Three Thousand, wherever their several divisions were posted, were
everywhere a prey to discord. Those who were implicated in deeds of
violence, and whose fears could not sleep, protested hotly that to
yield to the party in Piraeus were preposterous. Those on the other
hand who had faith in their own innocence, argued in their own minds,
and tried to convince their neighbours that they could well dispense
with most of their present evils. "Why yield obedience to these
Thirty?" they asked, "Why assign to them the privilege of destroying
the State?" In the end they voted a resolution to depose the
government, and to elect another. This was a board of ten, elected one
from each tribe.

B.C. 403. As to the Thirty, they retired to Eleusis; but the Ten,
assisted by the cavalry officers, had enough to do to keep watch over
the men in the city, whose anarchy and mutual distrust were rampant.
The Knights did not return to quarters at night, but slept out in the
Odeum, keeping their horses and shields close beside them; indeed the
distrust was so great that from evening onwards they patrolled the
walls on foot with their shields, and at break of day mounted their
horses, at every moment fearing some sudden attack upon them by the
men in Piraeus. These latter were now so numerous, and of so mixed a
company, that it was difficult to find arms for all. Some had to be
content with shields of wood, others of wicker-work, which they spent
their time in coating with whitening. Before ten days had elapsed
guarantees were given, securing full citizenship, with equality of
taxation and tribute to all, even foreigners, who would take part in
the fighting. Thus they were presently able to take the field, with
large detachments both of heavy infantry and light-armed troops,
besides a division of cavalry, about seventy in number. Their system
was to push forward foraging parties in quest of wood and fruits,
returning at nightfall to Piraeus. Of the city party no one ventured
to take the field under arms; only, from time to time, the cavalry
would capture stray pillagers from Piraeus or inflict some damage on
the main body of their opponents. Once they fell in with a party
belonging to the deme Aexone,[12] marching to their own farms in
search of provisions. These, in spite of many prayers for mercy and
the strong disapprobation of many of the knights, were ruthlessly
slaughtered by Lysimachus, the general of cavalry. The men of Piraeus
retaliated by putting to death a horseman, named Callistratus, of the
tribe Leontis, whom they captured in the country. Indeed their courage
ran so high at present that they even meditated an assault upon the
city walls. And here perhaps the reader will pardon the record of a
somewhat ingenious device on the part of the city engineer, who, aware
of the enemy's intention to advance his batteries along the
racecourse, which slopes from the Lyceum, had all the carts and
waggons which were to be found laden with blocks of stone, each one a
cartload in itself, and so sent them to deposit their freights
"pele-mele" on the course in question. The annoyance created by these
separate blocks of stone was enormous, and quite out of proportion to
the simplicity of the contrivance.

[12] On the coast south of Phalerum, celebrated for its fisheries. Cf.
"Athen." vii. 325.

But it was to Lacedaemon that men's eyes now turned. The Thirty
despatched one set of ambassadors from Eleusis, while another set
representing the government of the city, that is to say the men on the
list, was despatched to summon the Lacedaemonians to their aid, on the
plea that the people had revolted from Sparta. At Sparta, Lysander,
taking into account the possibility of speedily reducing the party in
Piraeus by blockading them by land and sea, and so cutting them off
from all supplies, supported the application, and negotiated the loan
of one hundred talents[13] to his clients, backed by the appointment
of himself as harmost on land, and of his brother, Libys, as admiral
of the fleet. And so proceeding to the scene of action at Eleusis, he
got together a large body of Peloponnesian hoplites, whilst his
brother, the admiral, kept watch and ward by sea to prevent the
importation of supplies into Piraeus by water. Thus the men in Piraeus
were soon again reduced to their former helplessness, while the ardour
of the city folk rose to a proportionally high pitch under the
auspices of Lysander.

[13] 24,375 pounds, reckoning one tal. = 243 pounds 15 shillings.

Things were progressing after this sort when King Pausanias
intervened. Touched by a certain envy of Lysander--(who seemed, by a
final stroke of achievement, about to reach the pinnacle of
popularity, with Athens laid like a pocket dependency at his feet)--
the king persuaded three of the ephors to support him, and forthwith
called out the ban. With him marched contingents of all the allied
States, except the Boeotians and Corinthians. These maintained, that
to undertake such an expedition against the Athenians, in whose
conduct they saw nothing contrary to the treaty, was inconsistent with
their oaths. But if that was the language held by them, the secret of
their behaviour lay deeper; they seemed to be aware of a desire on the
part of the Lacedaemonians to annex the soil of the Athenians and to
reduce the state to vassalage. Pausanias encamped on the
Halipedon,[14] as the sandy flat is called, with his right wing
resting on Piraeus, and Lysander and his mercenaries forming the left.
His first act was to send an embassage to the party in Piraeus,
calling upon them to retire peacably to their homes; when they refused
to obey, he made, as far as mere noise went, the semblance of an
attack, with sufficient show of fight to prevent his kindly
disposition being too apparent. But gaining nothing by the feint, he
was forced to retire. Next day he took two Laconian regiments, with
three tribes of Athenian horse, and crossed over to the Mute[15]
Harbour, examining the lie of the ground to discover how and where it
would be easiest to draw lines of circumvallation round Piraeus. As he
turned his back to retire, a party of the enemy sallied out and caused
him annoyance. Nettled at the liberty, he ordered the cavalry to
charge at the gallop, supported by the ten-year-service[16] infantry,
whilst he himself, with the rest of the troops, followed close,
holding quietly back in reserve. They cut down about thirty of the
enemy's light troops and pursued the rest hotly to the theatre in
Piraeus. Here, as chance would have it, the whole light and heavy
infantry of the Piraeus men were getting under arms; and in an instant
their light troops rushed out and dashed at the assailants; thick and
fast flew missiles of all sorts--javelins, arrows and sling stones.
The Lacedaemonians finding the number of their wounded increasing
every minute, and sorely called, slowly fell back step by step, eyeing
their opponents. These meanwhile resolutely pressed on. Here fell
Chaeron and Thibrachus, both polemarchs, here also Lacrates, an
Olympic victor, and other Lacedaemonians, all of whom now lie entombed
before the city gates in the Ceramicus.[17]

[14] The Halipedon is the long stretch of flat sandy land between
Piraeus Phalerum and the city.

[15] Perhaps the landlocked creek just round the promontory of
Eetioneia, as Leake conjectures, "Topog. of Athens," p. 389. See
also Prof. Jowett's note, "Thuc." v. 2; vol. ii. p. 286.

[16] I.e. who had already seen ten years of service, i.e. over twenty-
eight, as the Spartan was eligible to serve at eighteen. Cf. Xen.
"Hell." III. iv. 23; VI. iv. 176.

[17] The outer Ceramicus, "the most beautiful spot outside the walls."
Cf. Thuc. ii. 34; through it passes the street of the tombs on the
sacred road; and here was the place of burial for all persons
honoured with a public funeral. Cf. Arist. "Birds," 395.

Watching how matters went, Thrasybulus began his advance with the
whole of his heavy infantry to support his light troops and quickly
fell into line eight deep, acting as a screen to the rest of his
troops. Pausanias, on his side, had retired, sorely pressed, about
half a mile towards a bit of rising ground, where he sent orders to
the Lacedaemonians and the other allied troops to bring up
reinforcements. Here, on this slope, he reformed his troops, giving
his phalanx the full depth, and advanced against the Athenians, who
did not hesitate to receive him at close quarters, but presently had
to give way; one portion being forced into the mud and clay at
Halae,[18] while the others wavered and broke their line; one hundred
and fifty of them were left dead on the field, whereupon Pausanias set
up a trophy and retired. Not even so, were his feelings embittered
against his adversary. On the contrary he sent secretly and instructed
the men of Piraeus, what sort of terms they should propose to himself
and the ephors in attendance. To this advice they listened. He also
fostered a division in the party within the city. A deputation, acting
on his orders, sought an audience of him and the ephors. It had all
the appearance of a mass meeting. In approaching the Spartan
authorities, they had no desire or occasion, they stated, to look upon
the men of Piraeus as enemies, they would prefer a general
reconciliation and the friendship of both sides with Lacedaemon. The
propositions were favourably received, and by no less a person than
Nauclidas. He was present as ephor, in accordance with the custom
which obliges two members of that board to serve on all military
expeditions with the king, and with his colleague shared the political
views represented by Pausanias, rather than those of Lysander and his
party. Thus the authorities were quite ready to despatch to Lacedaemon
the representatives of Piraeus, carrying their terms of truce with the
Lacedaemonians, as also two private individuals belonging to the city
party, whose names were Cephisophon and Meletus. This double
deputation, however, had no sooner set out to Lacedaemon than the "de
facto" government of the city followed suit, by sending a third set of
representatives to state on their behalf: that they were prepared to
deliver up themselves and the fortifications in their possession to
the Lacedaemonians, to do with them what they liked. "Are the men of
Piraeus," they asked, "prepared to surrender Piraeus and Munychia in
the same way? If they are sincere in their profession of friendship to
Lacedaemon, they ought to do so." The ephors and the members of
assembly at Sparta[19] gave audience to these several parties, and
sent out fifteen commissioners to Athens empowered, in conjunction
with Pausanias, to discover the best settlement possible. The
terms[20] arrived at were that a general peace between the rival
parties should be established, liberty to return to their own homes
being granted to all, with the exception of the Thirty, the Eleven,
and the Ten who had been governors in Piraeus; but a proviso was
added, enabling any of the city party who feared to remain at Athens
to find a home in Eleusis.

[18] Halae, the salt marshy ground immediately behind the great
harbour of Piraeus, but outside the fortification lines.

[19] Cf. "Hell." VI. iii. 3, {oi ekkletoi}.

[20] Cf. Prof. Jebb, "Orators," i. 262, note 2.

And now that everything was happily concluded, Pausanias disbanded his
army, and the men from Piraeus marched up under arms into the
acropolis and offered sacrifice to Athena. When they were come down,
the generals called a meeting of the Ecclesia,[21] and Thrasybulus
made a speech in which, addressing the city party, he said: "Men of
the city! I have one piece of advice I would tender to you; it is that
you should learn to know yourselves, and towards the attainment of
that self-knowledge I would have you make a careful computation of
your good qualities and satisfy yourselves on the strength of which of
these it is that you claim to rule over us. Is it that you are more
just than ourselves? Yet the people, who are poorer--have never
wronged you for the purposes of plunder; but you, whose wealth would
outweight the whole of ours, have wrought many a shameful deed for the
sake of gain. If, then, you have no monopoly of justice, can it be on
the score of courage that you are warranted to hold your heads so
high? If so, what fairer test of courage will you propose than the
arbitrament of war--the war just ended? Or do you claim superiority of
intelligence?--you, who with all your wealth of arms and walls, money
and Peloponnesian allies, have been paralysed by men who had none of
these things to aid them! Or is it on these Laconian friends of yours
that you pride yourselves? What! when these same friends have dealt by
you as men deal by vicious dogs. You know how that is. They put a
heavy collar round the neck of the brutes and hand them over muzzled
to their masters. So too have the Lacedaemonians handed you over to
the people, this very people whom you have injured; and now they have
turned their backs and are gone. But" (turning to the mass) "do not
misconceive me. It is not for me, sirs, coldly to beg of you, in no
respect to violate your solemn undertakings. I go further; I beg you,
to crown your list of exploits by one final display of virtue. Show
the world that you can be faithful to your oaths, and flawless in your
conduct." By these and other kindred arguments he impressed upon them
that there was no need for anarchy or disorder, seeing that there were
the ancient laws ready for use. And so he broke up[22] the assembly.

[21] I.e. the Public Assembly, see above; and reading with Sauppe
after Cobet {ekklesian epoiesan}, which words are supposed to have
dropt out of the MSS. Or, keeping to the MSS., translate "When the
generals were come down, Thrasybulus," etc. See next note.

[22] The Greek words are {antestese ten ekklesian} (an odd phrase for
the more technical {eluse} or {dieluse ten ekklesian}). Or,
accepting the MSS. reading above (see last note), translate "he
set up (i.e. restored) the Assembly." So Mr. J. G. Philpotts, Mr.
Herbert Hailstone, and others.

At this auspicious moment, then, they reappointed the several
magistrates; the constitution began to work afresh, and civic life was
recommenced. At a subsequent period, on receiving information that the
party at Eleusis were collecting a body of mercenaries, they marched
out with their whole force against them, and put to death their
generals, who came out to parley. These removed, they introduced to
the others their friends and connections, and so persuaded them to
come to terms and be reconciled. The oath they bound themselves by
consisted of a simple asseveration: "We will remember past offences no
more;" and to this day[23] the two parties live amicably together as
good citizens, and the democracy is steadfast to its oaths.

[23] It would be interesting to know the date at which the author
penned these words. Was this portion of the "Hellenica" written
before the expedition of Cyrus? i.e. in the interval between the
formal restoration of the Democracy, September B.C. 403, and March
B.C. 401. The remaining books of the "Hellenica" were clearly
written after that expedition, since reference is made to it quite
early in Bk. III. i. 2. Practically, then, the first volume of
Xenophon's "History of Hellenic Affairs" ends here. This history
is resumed in Bk. III. i. 3. after the Cyreian expedition [of
which episode we have a detailed account in the "Anabasis" from
March B.C. 401 down to March B.C. 399, when the remnant of the Ten
Thousand was handed over to the Spartan general Thibron in Asia].
Some incidents belonging to B.C. 402 are referred to in the
opening paragraphs of "Hellenica," III. i. 1, 2, but only as an
introduction to the new matter; and with regard to the historian
himself, it is clear that "a change has come o'er the spirit of
his dream." This change of view is marked by a change of style in
writing. I have thought it legitimate, under the circumstances, to
follow the chronological order of events, and instead of
continuing the "Hellenica," at this point to insert the
"Anabasis." My next volume will contain the remaining books of the
"Hellenica" and the rest of Xenophon's "historical" writings.




BOOK III



I

B.C. 403-402. Thus the civil strife at Athens had an end. At a
subsequent date Cyrus sent messengers to Lacedaemon, claiming requital
in kind for the service which he had lately rendered in the war with
Athens.[1] The demand seemed to the ephorate just and reasonable.
Accordingly they ordered Samius,[2] who was admiral at the time, to
put himself at the disposition of Cyrus for any service which he might
require. Samius himself needed no persuasion to carry out the wishes
of Cyrus. With his own fleet, accompanied by that of Cyrus, he sailed
round to Cilicia, and so made it impossible for Syennesis, the ruler
of that province, to oppose Cyrus by land in his advance against the
king his brother.

[1] Lit. "what Cyrus himself had been to the Lacedaemonians let the
Lacedaemonians in their turn be to Cyrus."

[2] Samius (Diod. Sic. xiv. 19). But see "Anab." I. iv. 2, where
Pythagoras is named as admiral. Possibly the one officer succeeded
the other.

B.C. 401. The particulars of the expedition are to be found in the
pages of the Syracusan Themistogenes,[3] who describes the mustering
of the armament, and the advance of Cyrus at the head of his troops;
and then the battle, and death of Cyrus himself, and the consequent
retreat of the Hellenes while effecting their escape to the sea.[4]

[3] Lit. "as to how then Cyrus collected an army and with it went up
against his brother, and how the battle was fought and how he
died, and how in the sequal the Hellenes escaped to the sea (all
this), is written by (or 'for,' or 'in honour of') Themistogenes
the Syracusan." My impression is that Xenophon's "Anabasis," or a
portion of the work so named, was edited originally by
Themistogenes. See "Philol. Museum," vol. i. p. 489; L. Dindorf,
{Xen. Ell.}, Ox. MDCCCLIII., node ad loc. {Themistogenei}. Cf.
Diod. Sic. xiv. 19-31, 37, after Ephorus and Theopompus probably.

[4] At Trapezus, March 10, B.C. 400.

B.C. 400. It was in recognition of the service which he had rendered
in this affair, that Tissaphernes was despatched to Lower Asia by the
king his master. He came as satrap, not only of his own provinces, but
of those which had belonged to Cyrus; and he at once demanded the
absolute submission of the Ionic cities, without exception, to his
authority. These communities, partly from a desire to maintain their
freedom, and partly from fear of Tissaphernes himself, whom they had
rejected in favour of Cyrus during the lifetime of that prince, were
loth to admit the satrap within their gates. They thought it better to
send an embassy to the Lacedaemonians, calling upon them as
representatives and leaders[5] of the Hellenic world to look to the
interests of their petitioners, who were Hellenes also, albeit they
lived in Asia, and not to suffer their country to be ravaged and
themselves enslaved.

[5] {Prostatai}, "patrons and protectors."

In answer to this appeal, the Lacedaemonians sent out Thibron[6] as
governor, providing him with a body of troops, consisting of one
thousand neodamodes[7] (i.e. enfranchised helots) and four thousand
Peloponnesians. In addition to these, Thibron himself applied to the
Athenians for a detachment of three hundred horse, for whose service-
money he would hold himself responsible. The Athenians in answer sent
him some of the knights who had served under the Thirty,[8] thinking
that the people of Athens would be well rid of them if they went
abroad and perished there.

[6] "As harmost." See "Anab." ad fin.

[7] See "Hell." I. iii. 15; Thuc. vii. 58.

[8] See "Hell." II. iv. 2.

B.C. 400-399. On their arrival in Asia, Thibron further collected
contingents from the Hellenic cities on the continent; for at this
time the word of a Lacedaemonian was law. He had only to command, and
every city must needs obey.[9] But although he had this armament,
Thibron, when he saw the cavalry, had no mind to descend into the
plain. If he succeeded in protecting from pillage the particular
district in which he chanced to be, he was quite content. It was only
when the troops[10] who had taken part in the expedition of Cyrus had
joined him on their safe return, that he assumed a bolder attitude. He
was now ready to confront Tissaphernes, army against army, on the
level ground, and won over a number of cities. Pergamum came in of her
own accord. So did Teuthrania and Halisarna. These were under the
government of Eurysthenes and Procles,[11] the descendants of
Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, who in days of old had received this
territory as a gift from the Persian monarch in return for his share
in the campaign against Hellas. Gorgion and Gongylus, two brothers,
also gave in their adhesion; they were lords, the one of Gambreum and
Palae-Gambreum, the other of Myrina and Gryneum, four cities which,
like those above named, had originally been gifts from the king to an
earlier Gongylus--the sole Eretrian who "joined the Mede," and in
consequence was banished. Other cities which were too weak to resist,
Thibron took by force of arms. In the case of one he was not so
successful. This was the Egyptian[12] Larisa, as it is called, which
refused to capitulate, and was forthwith invested and subjected to a
regular siege. When all other attempts to take it failed, he set about
digging a tank or reservoir, and in connection with the tank an
underground channel, by means of which he proposed to draw off the
water supply of the inhabitants. In this he was baffled by frequent
sallies of the besieged, and a continual discharge of timber and
stones into the cutting. He retaliated by the construction of a wooden
tortoise which he erected over the tank; but once more the tortoise
was burnt to a cinder in a successful night attack on the part of the
men of Larisa. These ineffectual efforts induced the ephors to send a
despatch bidding Thibron give up Larisa and march upon Caria.

[9] See "Anab." VI. vi. 12.

[10] March B.C. 399. See the final sentence of the "Anabasis."

[11] See "Anab." VII. viii. 8-16.

[12] Seventy stades S.E. of Cyme in the Aeolid. See Strabo, xiii. 621.
For the origin of the name cf. "Cyrop." VII. i. 45.

He had already reached Ephesus, and was on the point of marching into
Caria, when Dercylidas arrived to take command of his army. The new
general was a man whose genius for invention had won him the nickname
of Sisyphus. Thus it was that Thibron returned home, where on his
arrival he was fined and banished, the allies accusing him of allowing
his troops to plunder their friends.

Dercylidas was not slow to perceive and turn to account the jealousy
which subsisted between Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. Coming to terms
with the former, he marched into the territory of the latter,
preferring, as he said, to be at war with one of the pair at a time,
rather than the two together. His hostility, indeed, to Pharnabazus
was an old story, dating back to a period during the naval command[13]
of Lysander, when he was himself governor in Abydos; where, thanks to
Pharnabazus, he had got into trouble with his superior officer, and
had been made to stand "with his shield on his arm"--a stigma on his
honour which no true Lacedaemonian would forgive, since this is the
punishment of insubordination.[14] For this reason, doubtless,
Dercylidas had the greater satisfaction in marching against
Pharnabazus. From the moment he assumed command there was a marked
difference for the better between his methods and those of his
predecessor. Thus he contrived to conduct his troops into that portion
of the Aeolid which belonged to Pharnabazus, through the heart of
friendly territory without injury to the allies.

[13] Technically "navarchy," in B.C. 408-407. "Hell." I. v. 1.

[14] See Plut. "Aristid." 23 (Clough, ii. p. 309).

This district of Aeolis belonged to Pharnabazus,[15] but had been held
as a satrapy under him by a Dardanian named Zenis whilst he was alive;
but when Zenis fell sick and died, Pharnabazus made preparation to
give the satrapy to another. Then Mania the wife of Zenis, herself
also a Dardanian, fitted out an expedition, and taking with her gifts
wherewith to make a present to Pharnabazus himself, and to gratify his
concubines and those whose power was greatest with Pharnabazus, set
forth on her journey. When she had obtained audience with him she
spoke as follows: "O Pharnabazus, thou knowest that thy servant my
husband was in all respects friendly to thee; moreover, he paid my
lord the tributes which were thy due, so that thou didst praise and
honour him. Now therefore, if I do thee service as faithfully as my
husband, why needest thou to appoint another satrap?--nay but, if in
any matter I please thee not, is it not in thy power to take from me
the government on that day, and to give it to another?" When he had
heard her words, Pharnabazus decided that the woman ought to be
satrap. She, as soon as she was mistress of the territory, never
ceased to render the tribute in due season, even as her husband before
her had done. Moreover, whenever she came to the court of Pharnabazus
she brought him gifts continually, and whenever Pharnabazus went down
to visit her provinces she welcomed him with all fair and courteous
entertainment beyond what his other viceroys were wont to do. The
cities also which had been left to her by her husband, she guarded
safely for him; while of those cities that owed her no allegiance, she
acquired, on the seaboard, Larisa and Hamaxitus and Colonae--attacking
their walls by aid of Hellenic mercenaries, whilst she herself sat in
her carriage and watched the spectacle. Nor was she sparing of her
gifts to those who won her admiration; and thus she furnished herself
with a mercenary force of exceptional splendour. She also went with
Pharnabazus on his campaigns, even when, on pretext of some injury
done to the king's territory, Mysians or Pisidians were the object of
attack. In requital, Pharnabazus paid her magnificent honour, and at
times invited her to assist him with her counsel.[16]

[15] I.e. as suzerain.

[16] Grote, "H. G." ix. 292; cf. Herod. viii. 69.

Now when Mania was more than forty years old, the husband of her own
daughter, Meidias--flustered by the suggestions of certain people who
said that it was monstrous a woman should rule and he remain a private
person[17]--found his way into her presence, as the story goes, and
strangled her. For Mania, albeit she carefully guarded herself against
all ordinary comers, as behoved her in the exercise of her "tyranny,"
trusted in Meidias, and, as a woman might her own son-in-law, was
ready to greet him at all times with open arms. He also murdered her
son, a youth of marvellous beauty, who was about seventeen years of
age. He next seized upon the strong cities of Scepsis and Gergithes,
in which lay for the most part the property and wealth of Mania. As
for the other cities of the satrapy, they would not receive the
usurper, their garrisons keeping them safely for Pharnabazus.
Thereupon Meidias sent gifts to Pharnabazus, and claimed to hold the
district even as Mania had held it; to whom the other answered, "Keep
your gifts and guard them safely until that day when I shall come in
person and take both you and them together"; adding, "What care I to
live longer if I avenge not myself for the murder of Mania!"

[17] Or, "his brains whimsied with insinuations."

Just at the critical moment Dercylidas arrived, and in a single day
received the adhesion of the three seaboard cities Larisa, Hamaxitus,
and Colonae--which threw open their gates to him. Then he sent
messengers to the cities of the Aeolid also, offering them freedom if
they would receive him within their walls and become allies.
Accordingly the men of Neandria and Ilium and Cocylium lent willing
ears; for since the death of Mania their Hellenic garrisons had been
treated but ill. But the commander of the garrison in Cebrene, a place
of some strength, bethinking him that if he should succeed in guarding
that city for Pharnabazus, he would receive honour at his hands,
refused to admit Dercylidas. Whereupon the latter, in a rage, prepared
to take the place by force; but when he came to sacrifice, on the
first day the victims would not yield good omens; on the second, and
again upon the third day, it was the same story. Thus for as many as
four days he persevered in sacrificing, cherishing wrath the while--
for he was in haste to become master of the whole Aeolid before
Pharnabazus came to the succour of the district.

Meanwhile a certain Sicyonian captain, Athenadas by name, said to
himself: "Dercylidas does but trifle to waste his time here, whilst I
with my own hand can draw off their water from the men of Cybrene";
wherewith he ran forward with his division and essayed to choke up the
spring which supplied the city. But the garrison sallied out and
covered the Sicyonian himself with wounds, besides killing two of his
men. Indeed, they plied their swords and missiles with such good
effect that the whole company was forced to beat a retreat. Dercylidas
was not a little annoyed, thinking that now the spirit of the
besiegers would certainly die away; but whilst he was in this mood,
behold! there arrived from the beleaguered fortress emissaries of the
Hellenes, who stated that the action taken by the commandant was not
to their taste; for themselves, they would far rather be joined in
bonds of fellowship with Hellenes than with barbarians. While the
matter was still under discussion there came a messenger also from the
commandant, to say that whatever the former deputation had proposed
he, on his side, was ready to endorse. Accordingly Dercylidas, who, it
so happened, had at length obtained favourable omens on that day,
marched his force without more ado up to the gates of the city, which
were flung open by those within; and so he entered.[18] Here, then, he
was content to appoint a garrison, and without further stay advanced
upon Scepsis and Gergithes.

[18] Grote ("H. G." ix. 294) says: "The reader will remark how
Xenophon shapes the narrative in such a manner as to inculcate the
pious duty in a general of obeying the warnings furnished by the
sacrifice--either for action or for inaction. . . . Such an
inference is never (I believe) to be found suggested in
Thucydides." See Brietenbach, "Xen. Hell." I et II, praef. in
alteram ed. p. xvii.

And now Meidias, partly expecting the hostile advance of Pharnabazus,
and partly mistrusting the citizens--for to such a pass things had
come--sent to Dercylidas, proposing to meet him in conference provided
he might take security of hostages. In answer to this suggestion the
other sent him one man from each of the cities of the allies, and bade
him take his pick of these, whichsoever and how many soever he chose,
as hostages for his own security. Meidias selected ten, and so went
out. In conversation with Dercylidas, he asked him on what terms he
would accept his alliance. The other answered: "The terms are that you
grant the citizens freedom and self-government." The words were
scarcely out of his mouth before he began marching upon Scepsis.
Whereupon Meidias, perceiving it was vain to hinder him in the teeth
of the citizens, suffered him to enter. That done, Dercylidas offered
sacrifice to Athena in the citadel of the Scepsians, turned out the
bodyguards of Meidias, and handed over the city to the citizens. And
so, having admonished them to regulate their civic life as Hellenes
and free men ought, he left the place and continued his advance
against Gergithes. On this last march he was escorted by many of the
Scepsians themselves; such was the honour they paid him and so great
their satisfaction at his exploits. Meidias also followed close at his
side, petitioning that he would hand over the city of Gergithians to
himself. To whom Dercylidas only made reply, that he should not fail
to obtain any of his just rights. And whilst the words were yet upon
his lips, he was drawing close to the gates, with Meidias at his side.
Behind him followed the troops, marching two and two in peaceful
fashion. The defenders of Gergithes from their towers--which were
extraordinarily high--espied Meidias in company of the Spartan, and
abstained from shooting. And Dercylidas said: "Bid them open the
gates, Meidias, when you shall lead the way, and I will enter the
temple along with you and do sacrifice to Athena." And Meidias, though
he shrank from opening the gates, yet in terror of finding himself on
a sudden seized, reluctantly gave the order to open the gates. As soon
as he was entered in, the Spartan, still taking Meidias with him,
marched up to the citadel and there ordered the main body of his
soliders to take up their position round the walls, whilst he with
those about him did sacrifice to Athena. When the sacrifice was ended
he ordered Meidias's bodyguard to pile arms[19] in the van of his
troops. Here for the future they would serve as mercenaries, since
Meidias their former master stood no longer in need of their
protection. The latter, being at his wits' end what to do, exclaimed:
"Look you, I will now leave you; I go to make preparation for my
guest." But the other replied: "Heaven forbid! Ill were it that I who
have offered sacrifice should be treated as a guest by you. I rather
should be the entertainer and you the guest. Pray stay with us, and
while the supper is preparing, you and I can consider our
obligations, and perform them."

[19] I.e. take up a position, or "to order arms," whilst he addressed
them; not probably "to ground arms," as if likely to be mutinous.

When they were seated Dercylidas put certain questions: "Tell me,
Meidias, did your father leave you heir to his estates?" "Certainly he
did," answered the other. "And how many dwelling-houses have you? what
landed estates? how much pasturage?" The other began running off an
inventory, whilst some of the Scepsians who were present kept
interposing, "He is lying to you, Dercylidas." "Nay, you take too
minute a view of matters," replied the Spartan. When the inventory of
the paternal property was completed, he proceeded: "Tell me, Meidias,
to whom did Mania belong?" A chorus of voices rejoined, "To
Pharnabazus." "Then must her property have belonged to Pharnabazus
too." "Certainly," they answered. "Then it must now be ours," he
remarked, "by right of conquest, since Pharnabazus is at war with us.
Will some one of you escort me to the place where the property of
Mania and Pharnabazus lies?" So the rest led the way to the dwelling-
place of Mania which Meidias had taken from her, and Meidias followed
too. When he was entered, Dercylidas summoned the stewards, and
bidding his attendants seize them, gave them to understand that, if
detected stealing anything which belonged to Mania, they would lose
their heads on the spot. The stewards proceeded to point out the
treasures, and he, when he had looked through the whole store, bolted
and barred the doors, affixing his seal, and setting a watch. As he
went out he found at the doors certain of the generals[20] and
captains, and said to them: "Here, sirs, we have pay ready made for
the army--a year's pay nearly for eight thousand men--and if we can
win anything besides, there will be so much the more." This he said,
knowing that those who heard it would be all the more amenable to
discipline, and would yield him a more flattering obedience. Then
Meidias asked, "And where am I to live, Dercylidas?" "Where you have
the very best right to live," replied the other, "in your native town
of Scepsis, and in your father's house."

[20] Lit. "of the taxiarchs and lochagoi."



II

Such were the exploits of Dercylidas: nine cities taken in eight days.
Two considerations now began to occupy his mind: how was he to avoid
falling into the fatal error of Thibron and becoming a burthen to his
allies, whilst wintering in a friendly country? how, again, was he to
prevent Pharnabazus from overriding the Hellenic states in pure
contempt with his cavalry? Accordingly he sent to Pharnabazus and put
it to him point-blank: Which will you have, peace or war? Whereupon
Pharnabazus, who could not but perceive that the whole Aeolid had now
been converted practically into a fortified base of operations, which
threatened his own homestead of Phrygia, chose peace.

B.C. 399-398. This being so, Dercylidas advanced into Bithynian
Thrace, and there spent the winter; nor did Pharnabazus exhibit a
shadow of annoyance, since the Bithynians were perpetually at war with
himself. For the most part, Dercylidas continued to harry[1] Bithynia
in perfect security, and found provisions without stint. Presently he
was joined from the other side of the straits by some Odrysian allies
sent by Seuthes;[2] they numbered two hundred horse and three hundred
peltasts. These fellows pitched upon a site a little more than a
couple of miles[3] from the Hellenic force, where they entrenched
themselves; then having got from Dercylidas some heavy infantry
soldiers to act as guards of their encampment, they devoted themselves
to plundering, and succeeded in capturing an ample store of slaves and
other wealth. Presently their camp was full of prisoners, when one
morning the Bithynians, having ascertained the actual numbers of the
marauding parties as well as of the Hellenes left as guards behind,
collected in large masses of light troops and cavalry, and attacked
the garrison, who were not more than two hundred strong. As soon as
they came close enough, they began discharging spears and other
missiles on the little body, who on their side continued to be wounded
and shot down, but were quite unable to retaliate, cooped up as they
were within a palisading barely six feet high, until in desperation
they tore down their defences with their own hands, and dashed at the
enemy. These had nothing to do but to draw back from the point of
egress, and being light troops easily escaped beyond the grasp of
heavy-armed men, while ever and again, from one point of vantage or
another, they poured their shower of javelins, and at every sally laid
many a brave man low, till at length, like sheep penned in a fold, the
defenders were shot down almost to a man. A remnant, it is true, did
escape, consisting of some fifteen who, seeing the turn affairs were
taking, had already made off in the middle of the fighting. Slipping
through their assailants' fingers,[4] to the small concern of the
Bithynians, they reached the main Hellenic camp in safety. The
Bithynians, satisfied with their achievement, part of which consisted
in cutting down the tent guards of the Odrysian Thracians and
recovering all their prisoners, made off without delay; so that by the
time the Hellenes got wind of the affair and rallied to the rescue,
they found nothing left in the camp save only the stripped corpses of
the slain. When the Odrysians themselves returned, they fell to
burying their own dead, quaffing copious draughts of wine in their
honour and holding horse-races; but for the future they deemed it
advisable to camp along with the Hellenes. Thus they harried and
burned Bithynia the winter through.

[1] {Pheson kai agon}, i.e. "there was plenty of live stock to lift
and chattels to make away with."

[2] For Seuthes see "Anab." VII. i. 5; and below, IV. viii. 26.

[3] Lit. "twenty stades."

[4] Or, "slipping through the enemy's fingers, who took no heed of
them, they," etc.

B.C. 398. With the commencement of spring Dercylidas turned his back
upon the Bithynians and came to Lampsacus. Whilst at this place envoys
reached him from the home authorities. These were Aracus, Naubates,
and Antisthenes. They were sent to inquire generally into the
condition of affairs in Asia, and to inform Dercylidas of the
extension of his office for another year. They had been further
commissioned by the ephors to summon a meeting of the soldiers and
inform them that the ephors held them to blame for their former
doings, though for their present avoidance of evil conduct they must
needs praise them; and for the future they must understand that while
no repetition of misdoing would be tolerated, all just and upright
dealing by the allies would receive its meed of praise. The soldiers
were therefore summoned, and the envoys delivered their message, to
which the leader of the Cyreians answered: "Nay, men of Lacedaemon,
listen; we are the same to-day as we were last year; only our general
of to-day is different from our general in the past. If to-day we have
avoided our offence of yesterday, the cause is not far to seek; you
may discover it for youselves."

Aracus and the other envoys shared the hospitality of Dercylidas's
tent, and one of the party chanced to mention how they had left an
embassy from the men of Chersonese in Lacedaemon. According to their
statement, he added, it was impossible for them to till their land
nowadays, so perpetually were they robbed and plundered by the
Thracians; whereas the peninsula needed only to be walled across from
sea to sea, and there would be abundance of good land to cultivate--
enough for themselves and as many others from Lacedaemon as cared to
come. "So that it would not surprise us," continued the envoys, "if a
Lacedaemonian were actually sent out from Sparta with a force to carry
out the project." Dercylidas kept his ears open but his counsel close,
and so sent forward the commissioners to Ephesus.[5] It pleased him to
picture their progress through the Hellenic cities, and the spectacle
of peace and prosperity which would everywhere greet their eyes. When
he knew that his stay was to be prolonged, he sent again to
Pharnabazus and offered him once more as an alternative either the
prolongation of the winter truce or war. And once again Pharnabazus
chose truce. It was thus that Dercylidas was able to leave the cities
in the neighbourhood of the satrap[6] in peace and friendship.
Crossing the Hellespont himself he brought his army into Europe, and
marching through Thrace, which was also friendly, was entertained by
Seuthes,[7] and so reached the Chersonese.

[5] See Grote, "H. G." ix. 301.

[6] Or, reading after Cobet, {tas peri ekeina poleis}--"the cities of
that neighbourhood."

[7] See "Anab." VII. vii. 51.

This district, he soon discovered, not only contained something like a
dozen cities,[8] but was singularly fertile. The soil was of the best,
but ruined by the ravages of the Thracians, precisely as he had been
told. Accordingly, having measured and found the breadth of the
isthmus barely four miles,[9] he no longer hesitated. Having offered
sacrifice, he commenced his line of wall, distributing the area to the
soldiers in detachments, and promising to award them prizes for their
industry--a first prize for the section first completed, and the rest
as each detachment of workers might deserve. By this means the whole
wall begun in spring was finished before autumn. Within these lines he
established eleven cities, with numerous harbours, abundance of good
arable land, and plenty of land under plantation, besides magnificent
grazing grounds for sheep and cattle of every kind.

[8] Lit. "eleven or twelve cities." For the natural productivity, see
"Anab." V. vi. 25.

[9] Lit. "thirty-seven stades." Mod. Gallipoli. See Herod. vi. 36;
Plut. "Pericl." xix.

Having finished the work, he crossed back again into Asia, and on a
tour of inspection, found the cities for the most part in a thriving
condition; but when he came to Atarneus he discovered that certain
exiles from Chios had got possession of the stronghold, which served
them as a convenient base for pillaging and plundering Ionia; and
this, in fact, was their means of livelihood. Being further informed
of the large supplies of grain which they had inside, he proceeded to
draw entrenchments around the place with a view to a regular
investment, and by this means he reduced it in eight months. Then
having appointed Draco of Pellene[10] commandant, he stocked the
fortress with an abundance of provisions of all sorts, to serve him as
a halting-place when he chanced to pass that way, and so withdrew to
Ephesus, which is three days' journey from Sardis.

[10] Cf. Isocr. "Panegyr." 70; Jebb. "Att. Or." ii. p. 161. Of Pellene
(or Pellana) in Laconia, not Pellene in Achaia? though that is the
opinion of Grote and Thirlwall.

B.C. 397. Up to this date peace had been maintained between
Tissaphernes and Dercylidas, as also between the Hellenes and the
barbarians in those parts. But the time came when an embassy arrived
at Lacedaemon from the Ionic cities, protesting that Tissaphernes
might, if he chose, leave the Hellenic cities independent. "Our idea,"
they added, "is, that if Caria, the home of Tissaphernes, felt the
pinch of war, the satrap would very soon agree to grant us
independence." The ephors, on hearing this, sent a despatch to
Dercylidas, and bade him cross the frontier with his army into Caria,
whilst Pharax the admiral coasted round with the fleet. These orders
were carried out. Meanwhile a visitor had reached Tissaphernes. This
was not less a person than Pharnabazus. His coming was partly owing to
the fact that Tissaphernes had been appointed general-in-chief, and
party in order to testify his readiness to make common cause with his
brother satrap in fighting and expelling the Hellenes from the king's
territory; for if his heart was stirred by jealousy on account of the
generalship bestowed upon his rival, he was not the less aggrieved at
finding himself robbed of the Aeolid. Tissaphernes, lending willing
ears to the proposal, had answered: "First cross over with me in
Caria, and then we will take counsel on these matters." But being
arrived in Caria, they determined to establish garrisons of some
strength in the various fortresses, and so crossed back again into
Ionia.

Hearing that the satraps had recrossed the Maeander, Dercylidas grew
apprehensive for the district which lay there unprotected. "If
Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus," he said to Pharax, "chose to make a
descent, they could harry the country right and left." In this mind he
followed suit, and recrossed the frontier too. And now as they marched
on, preserving no sort of battle order--on the supposition that the
enemy had got far ahead of them into the district of Ephesus--suddenly
they caught sight of his scouts perched on some monumental structures
facing them. To send up scouts into similar edifices and towers on
their own side was the work of a few moments, and before them lay
revealed the long lines of troops drawn up just where their road lay.
These were the Carians, with their white shields, and the whole
Persian troops there present, with all the Hellenic contingents
belonging to either satrap. Besides these there was a great cloud of
cavalry: on the right wing the squadrons of Tissaphernes, and on the
left those of Pharnabazus.

Seeing how matters lay, Dercylidas ordered the generals of brigade and
captains to form into line as quickly as possible, eight deep, placing
the light infantry on the fringe of battle, with the cavalry--such
cavalry, that is, and of such numerical strength, as he chanced to
have. Meanwhile, as general, he sacrificed.[11] During this interval
the troops from Peloponnese kept quiet in preparation as for battle.
Not so the troops from Priene and Achilleum, from the islands and the
Ionic cities, some of whom left their arms in the corn, which stood
thick and deep in the plain of the Maeander, and took to their heels;
while those who remained at their posts gave evident signs that their
steadiness would not last. Pharnabazus, it was reported, had given
orders to engage; but Tissaphernes, who recalled his experience of his
own exploits with the Cyreian army, and assumed that all other
Hellenes were of similar mettle, had no desire to engage, but sent to
Dercylidas saying, he should be glad to meet him in conference. So
Dercylidas, attended by the pick of his troops, horse and foot, in
personal attendance on himself,[12] went forward to meet the envoys.
He told them that for his own part he had made his preparations to
engage, as they themselves might see, but still, if the satraps were
minded to meet in conference, he had nothing to say against it--"Only,
in that case, there must be mutual exchange of hostages and other
pledges."

[11] I.e. according to custom on the eve of battle. See "Pol. Lac."
xiii. 8.

[12] Lit. "they were splendid fellows to look at." See "Anab." II.
iii. 3.

When this proposal had been agreed to and carried out, the two armies
retired for the night--the Asiatics to Tralles in Caria, the Hellenes
to Leucophrys, where was a temple[13] of Artemis of great sanctity,
and a sandy-bottomed lake more than a furlong in extent, fed by a
spring of ever-flowing water fit for drinking and warm. For the moment
so much was effected. On the next day they met at the place appointed,
and it was agreed that they should mutually ascertain the terms on
which either party was willing to make peace. On his side, Dercylidas
insisted that the king should grant independence to the Hellenic
cities; while Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus demanded the evacuation of
the country by the Hellenic army, and the withdrawal of the
Lacedaemonian governors from the cities. After this interchange of
ideas a truce was entered into, so as to allow time for the reports of
the proceedings to be sent by Dercylidas to Lacedaemon, and by
Tissaphernes to the king.

[13] Lately unearthed. See "Class. Rev." v. 8, p. 391.

B.C. 401 (?). Whilst such was the conduct of affairs in Asia under the
guidance of Dercylidas, the Lacedaemonians at home were at the same
time no less busily employed with other matters. They cherished a
long-standing embitterment against the Eleians, the grounds of which
were that the Eleians had once[14] contracted an alliance with the
Athenians, Argives, and Mantineans; moreover, on pretence of a
sentence registered against the Lacedaemonians, they had excluded them
from the horse-race and gymnastic contests. Nor was that the sum of
their offending. They had taken and scourged Lichas,[15] under the
following circumstances:--Being a Spartan, he had formally consigned
his chariot to the Thebans, and when the Thebans were proclaimed
victors he stepped forward to crown his charioteer; whereupon, in
spite of his grey hairs, the Eleians put those indignities upon him
and expelled him from the festival. Again, at a date subsequent to
that occurrence, Agis being sent to offer sacrifice to Olympian Zeus
in accordance with the bidding of an oracle, the Eleians would not
suffer him to offer prayer for victory in war, asserting that the
ancient law and custom[16] forbade Hellenes to consult the god for war
with Hellenes; and Agis was forced to go away without offering the
sacrifice.

[14] In 421 B.C. (see Thuc. v. 31); for the second charge, see Thuc.
v. 49 foll.

[15] See "Mem." I. ii. 61; Thuc. v. 50; and Jowett, note ad loc. vol.
ii. p. 314.

[16] See Grote, "H. G." ix. 311 note.

In consequence of all these annoyances the ephors and the Assembly
determined "to bring the men of Elis to their senses." Thereupon they
sent an embassy to that state, announcing that the authorities of
Lacedaemon deemed it just and right that they should leave the
country[17] townships in the territory of Elis free and independent.
This the Eleians flatly refused to do. The cities in question were
theirs by right of war. Thereupon the ephors called out the ban. The
leader of the expedition was Agis. He invaded Elis through Achaia[18]
by the Larisus; but the army had hardly set foot on the enemy's soil
and the work of devastation begun, when an earthquake took place, and
Agis, taking this as a sign from Heaven, marched back again out of the
country and disbanded his army. Thereat the men of Elis were much more
emboldened, and sent embassies to various cities which they knew to be
hostile to the Lacedaemonians.

[17] Lit. "perioecid."

[18] From the north. The Larisus is the frontier stream between Achaia
and Elis. See Strabo, viii. 387.

The year had not completed its revolution[19] ere the ephors again
called out the ban against Elis, and the invading host of Agis was
this time swelled by the rest of the allies, including the Athenians;
the Boeotians and Corinthians alone excepted. The Spartan king now
entered through Aulon,[20] and the men of Lepreum[21] at once revolted
from the Eleians and gave in their adhesion to the Spartan, and
simultaneously with these the Macistians and their next-door
neighbours the Epitalians. As he crossed the river further adhesions
followed, on the part of the Letrinians, the Amphidolians, and the
Marganians.

[19] Al. "on the coming round of the next year." See Jowett (note to
Thuc. i. 31), vol. ii. p. 33.

[20] On the south. For the history, see Busolt, "Die Laked." pp.
146-200. "The river" is the Alpheus.

[21] See below, VI. v. 11; Paus. IV. xv. 8.

B.C. 400 (?). Upon this he pushed on into Olympian territory and did
sacrifice to Olympian Zeus. There was no attempt to stay his
proceedings now. After sacrifice he marched against the capital,[22]
devastating and burning the country as he went. Multitudes of cattle,
multitudes of slaves, were the fruits of conquest yielded, insomuch
that the fame thereof spread, and many more Arcadians and Achaeans
flocked to join the standard of the invader and to share in the
plunder. In fact, the expedition became one enormous foray. Here was
the chance to fill all the granaries of Peloponnese with corn. When he
had reached the capital, the beautiful suburbs and gymnasia became a
spoil to the troops; but the city itself, though it lay open before
him a defenceless and unwalled town, he kept aloof from. He would not,
rather than could not, take it. Such was the explanation given. Thus
the country was a prey to devastation, and the invaders massed round
Cyllene.

[22] I.e. Elis, of which Cyllene is the port town. For the wealth of
the district, see Polyb. iv. 73; and below, VII. iv. 33.

Then the friends of a certain Xenias--a man of whom it was said that
he might measure the silver coin, inherited from his father, by the
bushel--wishing to be the leading instrument in bringing over the
state to Lacedaemon, rushed out of the house, sword in hand, and began
a work of butchery. Amongst other victims they killed a man who
strongly resembled the leader of the democratic party,
Thrasydaeus.[23] Everyone believed it was really Thrasydaeus who was
slain. The popular party were panic-stricken, and stirred neither hand
nor foot. On their side, the cut-throats poured their armed bands into
the market-place. But Thrasydaeus was laid asleep the while where the
fumes of wine had overpowered him. When the people came to discover
that their hero was not dead, they crowded round his house this side
and that,[24] like a swarm of bees clinging to their leader; and as
soon as Thrasydaeus had put himself in the van, with the people at his
back, a battle was fought, and the people won. And those who had laid
their hands to deeds of butchery went as exiles to the Lacedaemonians.

[23] See Paus. III. viii. 4. He was a friend of Lysias ("Vit. X. Orat.
835).

[24] The house was filled to overflowing by the clustering close-
packed crowd.

After a while Agis himself retired, recrossing the Alpheus; but he was
careful to leave a garrison in Epitalium near that river, with
Lysippus as governor, and the exiles from Elis along with him. Having
done so, he disbanded his army and returned home himself.

B.C. 400-399 (?).[25] During the rest of the summer and the ensuing
winter the territory of the Eleians was ravaged and ransacked by
Lysippus and his troops, until Thrasydaeus, the following summer, sent
to Lacedaemon and agreed to dismantle the walls of Phea and Cyllene,
and to grant autonomy to the Triphylian townships[26]--together with
Phrixa and Epitalium, the Letrinians, Amphidolians, and Marganians;
and besides these to the Acroreians and to Lasion, a place claimed by
the Arcadians. With regard to Epeium, a town midway between Heraea and
Macistus, the Eleians claimed the right to keep it, on the plea that
they had purchased the whole district from its then owners, for thirty
talents,[27] which sum they had actually paid. But the Lacedaemonians,
acting on the principle "that a purchase which forcibly deprives the
weaker party of his possession is no more justifiable than a seizure
by violence," compelled them to emancipate Epeium also. From the
presidency of the temple of Olympian Zeus, however, they did not oust
them; not that it belonged to Elis of ancient right, but because the
rival claimants,[28] it was felt, were "villagers," hardly equal to
the exercise of the presidency. After these concessions, peace and
alliance between the Eleians and the Lacedaemonians were established,
and the war between Elis and Sparta ceased.

[25] Grote ("H. G." ix. 316) discusses the date of this war between
Elis and Sparta, which he thinks, reaches over three different
years, 402-400 B.C. But Curtius (vol. iv. Eng. tr. p. 196)
disagrees: "The Eleian war must have occurred in 401-400 B.C., and
Grote rightly conjectures that the Eleians were anxious to bring
it to a close before the celebration of the festival. But he errs
in extending its duration over three years." See Diod. xiv. 17.
24; Paus. III. viii. 2 foll.

[26] Grote remarks: "There is something perplexing in Xenophon's
description of the Triphylian townships which the Eleians
surrendered" ("H. G." ix. 315). I adopt Grote's emend. {kai
Phrixan}. See Busolt, op. cit. p. 176.

[27] = 7,312 pounds: 10 shillings.

[28] I.e. the men of the Pisatid. See below, VII. iv. 28; Busolt, op.
cit. p 156.



III

After this Agis came to Delphi and offered as a sacrifice a tenth of
the spoil. On his return journey he fell ill at Heraea--being by this
time an old man--and was carried back to Lacedaemon. He survived the
journey, but being there arrived, death speedily overtook him. He was
buried with a sepulchre transcending in solemnity the lot of ordinary
mortality.[1]

[1] See "Ages." xi. 16; "Pol. Lac." xv. 9.

When the holy days of mourning were accomplished, and it was necessary
to choose another king, there were rival claimants to the throne.
Leotychides claimed it as the son, Agesilaus as the brother, of Agis.
Then Leotychides protested: "Yet consider, Agesilaus, the law bids not
'the king's brother,' but 'the king's son' to be king; only if there
chance to be no son, in that case shall the brother of the king be
king." Agesilaus: "Then must I needs be king." Leotychides: "How so,
seeing that I am not dead?" Agesilaus: "Because he whom you call your
father denied you, saying, 'Leotychides is no son of mine.'"
Leotychides: "Nay, but my mother, who would know far better than he,
said, and still to-day says, I am." Agesilaus: "Nay, but the god
himself, Poteidan, laid his finger on thy falsity when by his
earthquake he drove forth thy father from the bridal chamber into the
light of day; and time, 'that tells no lies,' as the proverb has it,
bare witness to the witness of the god; for just ten months from the
moment at which he fled and was no more seen within that chamber, you
were born."[2] So they reasoned together.

[2] I have followed Sauppe as usual, but see Hartman ("Anal. Xen." p.
327) for a discussion of the whole passage. He thinks Xenophon
wrote {ex ou gar toi ephugen} ({o sos pater}, i.e. adulterer) {ek
to thalamo dekato meni tu ephus}. The Doric {ek to thalamo} was
corrupted into {en to thalamo} and {kai ephane} inserted. This
corrupt reading Plutarch had before him, and hence his distorted
version of the story.

Diopethes,[3] a great authority upon oracles, supported Leotychides.
There was an oracle of Apollo, he urged, which said "Beware of the
lame reign." But Diopethes was met by Lysander, who in behalf of
Agesilaus demurred to this interpretation put upon the language of the
god. If they were to beware of a lame reign, it meant not, beware lest
a man stumble and halt, but rather, beware of him in whose veins flows
not the blood of Heracles; most assuredly the kingdom would halt, and
that would be a lame reign in very deed, whensoever the descendants of
Heracles should cease to lead the state. Such were the arguments on
either side, after hearing which the city chose Agesilaus to be king.

[3] See Plut. "Ages." ii. 4; "Lys." xxii. (Clough, iv. 3; iii. 129);
Paus. III. viii. 5.

Now Agesilaus had not been seated on the throne one year when, as he
sacrificed one of the appointed sacrifices in behalf of the city,[4]
the soothsayer warned him, saying: "The gods reveal a conspiracy of
the most fearful character"; and when the king sacrificed a second
time, he said: "The aspect of the victims is now even yet more
terrible"; but when he had sacrificed for the third time, the
soothsayer exclaimed: "O Agesilaus, the sign is given to me, even as
though we were in the very midst of the enemy." Thereupon they
sacrificed to the deities who avert evil and work salvation, and so
barely obtained good omens and ceased sacrificing. Nor had five days
elapsed after the sacrifices were ended, ere one came bringing
information to the ephors of a conspiracy, and named Cinadon as the
ringleader; a young man robust of body as of soul, but not one of the
peers.[5] Accordingly the ephors questioned their informant: "How say
you the occurrence is to take place?" and he who gave the information
answered: "Cinadon took me to the limit of the market-place, and bade
me count how many Spartans there were in the market-place; and I
counted--'king, ephors, and elders, and others--maybe forty. But tell
me, Cinadon,' I said to him, 'why have you bidden me count them?' and
he answered me: 'Those men, I would have you know, are your sworn
foes; and all those others, more than four thousand, congregated there
are your natural allies.' Then he took and showed me in the streets,
here one and there two of 'our enemies,' as we chanced to come across
them, and all the rest 'our natural allies'; and so again running
through the list of Spartans to be found in the country districts, he
still kept harping on that string: 'Look you, on each estate one
foeman--the master--and all the rest allies.'" The ephors asked: "How
many do you reckon are in the secret of this matter?" The informant
answered: "On that point also he gave me to understand that there were
by no means many in their secret who were prime movers of the affair,
but those few to be depended on; 'and to make up,' said he, 'we
ourselves are in their secret, all the rest of them--helots,
enfranchised, inferiors, provincials, one and all.[6] Note their
demeanour when Spartans chance to be the topic of their talk. Not one
of them can conceal the delight it would give him if he might eat up
every Spartan raw.'"[7] Then, as the inquiry went on, the question
came: "And where did they propose to find arms?" The answer followed:
"He explained that those of us, of course, who are enrolled in
regiments have arms of our own already, and as for the mass--he led
the way to the war foundry, and showed me scores and scores of knives,
of swords, of spits, hatchets, and axes, and reaping-hooks. 'Anything
or everything,' he told me, 'which men use to delve in earth, cut
timber, or quarry stone, would serve our purpose; nay, the instruments
used for other arts would in nine cases out of ten furnish weapons
enough and to spare, especially when dealing with unarmed
antagonists.'" Once more being asked what time the affair was to come
off, he replied his orders were "not to leave the city."

[4] "Pol. Lac." xv. 2.

[5] For the {omoioi}, see Muller, "Dorians," iii. 5, 7 (vol. ii. p.
84); Grote, "H. G." ix. 345, note 2.

[6] For the neodamodes, hypomeiones, perioeci, see Arnold, "Thuc." v.
34; Muller, "Dorians," ii. 43, 84, 18; Busolt, op. cit. p 16.

[7] See "Anab." IV. viii. 14; and Hom. "Il." iv. 34.

As the result of their inquiry the ephors were persuaded that the
man's statements were based upon things he had really seen,[8] and
they were so alarmed that they did not even venture to summon the
Little Assembly,[9] as it was named; but holding informal meetings
among themselves--a few senators here and a few there--they determined
to send Cinadon and others of the young men to Aulon, with
instructions to apprehend certain of the inhabitants and helots, whose
names were written on the scytale (or scroll).[10] He had further
instructions to capture another resident in Aulon; this was a woman,
the fashionable beauty of the place--supposed to be the arch-
corruptress of all Lacedaemonians, young and old, who visited Aulon.
It was not the first mission of the sort on which Cinadon had been
employed by the ephors. It was natural, therefore, that the ephors
should entrust him with the scytale on which the names of the suspects
were inscribed; and in answer to his inquiry which of the young men he
was to take with him, they said: "Go and order the eldest of the
Hippagretae[11] (or commanders of horse) to let you have six or seven
who chance to be there." But they had taken care to let the commander
know whom he was to send, and that those sent should also know that
their business was to capture Cinadon. Further, the authorities
instructed Cinadon that they would send three waggons to save bringing
back his captives on foot--concealing as deeply as possible the fact
that he, and he alone, was the object of the mission. Their reason for
not securing him in the city was that they did not really know the
extent of the mischief; and they wished, in the first instance, to
learn from Cinadon who his accomplices were before these latter could
discover they were informed against and effect their escape. His
captors were to secure him first, and having learnt from him the names
of his confederates, to write them down and send them as quickly as
possible to the ephors. The ephors, indeed, were so much concerned
about the whole occurrence that they further sent a company of horse
to assist their agents at Aulon.[12] As soon as the capture was
effected, and one of the horsemen was back with the list of names
taken down on the information of Cinadon, they lost no time in
apprehending the soothsayer Tisamenus and the rest who were the
principals in the conspiracy. When Cinadon[13] himself was brought
back and cross-examined, and had made a full confession of the whole
plot, his plans, and his accomplices, they put to him one final
question: "What was your object in undertaking this business?" He
answered: "I wished to be inferior to no man in Lacedaemon." Let that
be as it might, his fate was to be taken out forthwith in irons, just
as he was, and to be placed with his two hands and his neck in the
collar, and so under scourge and goad to be driven, himself and his
accomplices, round the city. Thus upon the heads of those was visited
the penalty of their offences.

[8] "And pointed to a well-concerted plan."

[9] See Grote, "H. G." ix. 348.

[10] See Thuc. i. 131; Plut. "Lys." 19 (Clough, iii. p. 125).

[11] "The Hippagretes (or commander of the three hundred guards called
horsemen, though they were not really mounted)." Grote, "H. G."
vol. ix. p. 349; see "Pol. Lac." iv. 3.

[12] Or, "to those on the way to Aulon."

[13] See for Cinadon's case, Arist. "Pol." v. 7, 3.



IV

B.C. 397.[1] It was after the incidents just recorded that a Syracusan
named Herodas brought news to Lacedaemon. He had chanced to be in
Phoenicia with a certain shipowner, and was struck by the number of
Phoenician triremes which he observed, some coming into harbour from
other ports, others already there with their ships' companies
complete, while others again were still completing their equipments.
Nor was it only what he saw, but he had heard say further that there
were to be three hundred of these vessels all told; whereupon he had
taken passage on the first sailing ship bound for Hellas. He was in
haste to lay this information before the Lacedaemonians, feeling sure
that the king and Tissaphernes were concerned in these preparations--
though where the fleet was to act, or against whom, he would not
venture to predict.

[1] See Grote, "H. G." ix. 353, for chronology, etc.



 


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