Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (85 page)

In the following year — Archytas being now ephor, and Alexias archon at Athens — Lysander arrived at Ephesus and sent for Eteonicus to come thither from Chios with the ships, while he also gathered together all the other ships that were anywhere to be found; then he occupied himself with refitting these vessels and building more at Antandrus.
[11]
Meantime he went to Cyrus and asked for money; and Cyrus told him that the funds provided by the King had been spent, in fact much more besides, showing him how much each of the admirals had received; nevertheless he did give him money.
[12]
And upon receiving it Lysander appointed to each trireme its captain and paid his sailors the wages that were due them. Meanwhile the Athenian generals also were getting their fleet in readiness, at Samos.
[13]

At this point Cyrus sent for Lysander, for a messenger had come to him from his father with word that he was ill and summoned him, he being at Thamneria, in Media, near the country of the Cadusians, against whom he had made an expedition, for they were in revolt.
[14]
And when Lysander arrived, Cyrus warned him not to give battle to the Athenians unless he should far outnumber them in ships; for, Cyrus said, both the King and he had money in abundance, and hence, so far as that point was concerned, it would be possible to man many ships. He then assigned to Lysander all the tribute which came in from his cities and belonged to him personally, and gave him also the balance he had on hand; and, after reminding Lysander how good a friend he was both to the Lacedaemonian state and to him personally, he set out on the journey to his father.
[15]

Now Lysander, when Cyrus had thus given over to him all his money and set out, in response to the summons, to visit his sick father, distributed pay to his men and set sail to the Ceramic Gulf, in Caria. There he attacked a city named Cedreiae which was an ally of the Athenians, and on the second day’s assault captured it by storm and reduced the inhabitants to slavery; they were a mixture of Greek and barbarian blood. Thence he sailed away to Rhodes.
[16]
As for the Athenians, they harried the territory of the King, using Samos as a base, and sailed against Chios and Ephesus; they were also making their preparations for battle, and had chosen three generals in addition to the former number, — Menander, Tydeus, and Cephisodotus.
[17]
Meanwhile Lysander sailed from Rhodes along the coast of Ionia to the Hellespont, in order to prevent the passing out of the grain-ships and to take action against the cities which had revolted from the Lacedaemonians. The Athenians likewise set out thither from Chios, keeping to the open sea;
[18]
for Asia was hostile to them. But Lysander coasted along from Abydus to Lampsacus, which was an ally of the Athenians; and the people of Abydus and the other cities were at hand on the shore to support him, being commanded by Thorax, a Lacedaemonian.
[19]
Then they attacked the city and captured it by storm, whereupon the soldiers plundered it. It was a wealthy city, full of wine and grain and all other kinds of supplies. But Lysander let go all the free persons who were captured.
[20]
Now the Athenians had been sailing in the wake of Lysander’s fleet, and they anchored at Elaeus, in the Chersonese, with one hundred and eighty ships. While they were breakfasting there, the news about Lampsacus was reported to them, and they set out immediately to Sestus.
[21]
From there, as soon as they had provisioned, they sailed to Aegospotami, which is opposite Lampsacus, the Hellespont at this point being about fifteen stadia wide. There they took dinner.
[22]
And during the ensuing night, when early dawn came, Lysander gave the signal for his men to take breakfast and embark upon their ships, and after making everything ready for battle and stretching the side screens, he gave orders that no one should stir from his position or put out.
[23]
At sunrise the Athenians formed their ships in line for battle at the mouth of the harbour. Since, however, Lysander did not put out against them, they sailed back again, when it grew late in the day, to Aegospotami.
[24]
Thereupon Lysander ordered the swiftest of his ships to follow the Athenians and, when they had disembarked, to observe what they did, and then to sail back and report to him; and he did not disembark his men from their vessels until these scout-ships had returned. This he did for four days; and the Athenians continued to sail out and offer battle.
[25]
Meantime Alcibiades, who could discern from his castle that the Athenians were moored on an open shore, with no city near by, and were fetching their provisions from Sestus, a distance of fifteen stadia from their ships, while the enemy, being in a harbour and near a city, had everything needful, told the Athenians that they were not moored in a good place, and advised them to shift their anchorage to Sestus and thus gain a harbour and a city; “for if you are there,” he said, “you will be able to fight when you please.”
[26]
The generals, however, and especially Tydeus and Menander, bade him be gone; for they said that they were in command now, not he. So he went away.
[27]
And now Lysander, on the fifth day the Athenians sailed out against him, told his men, who followed them back, that as soon as they saw that the enemy had disembarked and had scattered up and down the Chersonese, — and the Athenians did this far more freely every day, not only because they bought their provisions at a distance, but also because they presumed to think lightly of Lysander for not putting out to meet them, — they were to sail back to him and to hoist a shield when midway in their course. And they did just as he had ordered.
[28]
Straightway Lysander gave a signal to his fleet to sail with all speed, and Thorax with his troops went with the fleet. Now when Conon saw the oncoming attack, he signalled the Athenians to hasten with all their might to their ships. But since his men were scattered here and there, some of the ships had but two banks of oars manned, some but one, and some were entirely empty; Conon’s own ship, indeed, and seven others accompanying him, which were fully manned, put to sea in close order, and the Paralus with them, but all the rest Lysander captured on the beach. He also gathered up on the shore most of the men of their crews; some, however, gained the shelter of the neighbouring strongholds.
[29]

But when Conon, fleeing with his nine ships, realized that the Athenian cause was lost, he put in at Abarnis, the promontory of Lampsacus, and there seized the cruising sails that belonged to Lysander’s ships; then he sailed away with eight ships to seek refuge with Euagoras in Cyprus, while the Paralus went to Athens with the tidings of what had happened.
[30]
As for Lysander, he took his prizes and prisoners and everything else back to Lampsacus, the prisoners including Philocles, Adeimantus, and some of the other generals. Furthermore, on the day when he achieved this victory he sent Theopompus, the Milesian buccaneer, to Lacedaemon to report what had happened, and Theopompus arrived and delivered his message on the third day.
[31]
After this Lysander gathered together the allies and bade them deliberate regarding the disposition to be made of the prisoners. Thereupon many charges began to be urged against the Athenians, not only touching the outrages they had already committed and what they had voted to do if they were victorious in the battle, — namely, to cut off the right hand of every man taken alive, — but also the fact that after capturing two triremes, one a Corinthian and the other an Andrian, they had thrown the crews overboard to a man. And it was Philocles, one of the Athenian generals, who had thus made away with these men.
[32]
Many other stories were told, and it was finally resolved to put to death all of the prisoners who were Athenians, with the exception of Adeimantus, because he was the one man who in the Athenian Assembly had opposed the decree in regard to cutting off the hands of captives; he was charged, however, by some people with having betrayed the fleet. As to Philocles, who threw overboard the Andrians and Corinthians, Lysander first asked him what he deserved to suffer for having begun outrageous practices towards Greeks, and then had his throat cut.

2.

After setting in order the affairs of Lampsacus, Lysander sailed against Byzantium and Calchedon. And the people of those cities admitted him, allowing the Athenian garrisons, by the terms of the surrender, to withdraw. And those who had betrayed Byzantium to Alcibiades fled at this time to the Pontus, but afterwards they went to Athens and became Athenian citizens.
[2]
Now the Athenian garrisons, and in fact every other Athenian whom he saw anywhere, Lysander sent home to Athens, giving them safe conduct if they sailed to that one place and not if they went to any other; for he knew that the more people were collected in the city and Piraeus, the more quickly there would be a scarcity of provisions. Then, after leaving Sthenelaus, a Laconian, as governor of Byzantium and Calchedon, he sailed back to Lampsacus and occupied himself with refitting his ships.
[3]

It was at night that the Paralus arrived at Athens with tidings of the disaster, and a sound of wailing ran from Piraeus through the long walls to the city, one man passing on the news to another; and during that night no one slept, all mourning, not for the lost alone, but far more for their own selves, thinking that they would suffer such treatment as they had visited upon the Melians, colonists of the Lacedaemonians, after reducing them by siege, and upon the Histiaeans and Scionaeans and Toronaeans and Aeginetans and many other Greek peoples.
[4]
On the following day they convened an Assembly, at which it was resolved to block up all the harbours except one, to repair the walls, to station guards, and in all other respects to get the city ready for a siege. They busied themselves, accordingly, with these matters.
[5]

Meanwhile Lysander, sailing out of the Hellespont with two hundred ships, arrived at Lesbos and arranged the affairs of Mytilene and the other cities of the island; and he sent Eteonicus with ten triremes to the places on the Thracian coast, and Eteonicus brought over everything in that region to the side of the Lacedaemonians.
[6]
Indeed, the rest of the Greek world also had fallen away from the Athenians immediately after the battle, with the exception of Samos; there the people slaughtered the aristocrats and held possession of their city.
[7]
After this Lysander sent word to Agis, at Decelea, and to Lacedaemon that he was coming with two hundred ships. Thereupon the Lacedaemonians took the field with their whole force, and likewise the rest of the Peloponnesians excepting the Argives, at the command of Pausanias, the other king of the Lacedaemonians.
[8]
And when all had been gathered together, Pausanias led them to Athens and encamped in the Academy.
[9]
Meantime Lysander, upon reaching Aegina, restored the state to the Aeginetans, gathering together as many of them as he could, and he did the same thing for the Melians also and for all the others who had been deprived of their native states. Then, after laying waste Salamis, he anchored at Piraeus with one hundred and fifty ships and closed the entrance to the harbour against all merchantmen.
[10]

Now the Athenians, being thus besieged by land and by sea, knew not what to do, since they had neither ships nor allies nor provisions; and they thought that there was no way out, save only to suffer the pains which they had themselves inflicted, not in retaliation, but in wantonness and unjustly upon the people of small states, for no other single reason than because they were in alliance with the Lacedaemonians.
[11]
On this account they restored to the disfranchised their political rights and held out steadfastly, refusing to make overtures for peace even though many were dying in the city from starvation. When, however, their provisions had entirely given out, they sent ambassadors to Agis declaring their wish to become allies of the Lacedaemonians while still keeping their walls and Piraeus, and on these terms to conclude a treaty.
[12]
But Agis bade them go to Lacedaemon, saying that he himself had no authority. And when the ambassadors reported to the Athenians this reply, they sent them to Lacedaemon.
[13]
But when they were at Sellasia, near Laconia, and the ephors learned from them what proposals they were bringing, — the same, namely, as those which they had presented to Agis, — they directed them to go back again without coming a step farther and, if they really had any desire for peace, to take better counsel before they returned.
[14]
And when the ambassadors reached home and reported this to the people, despondency descended upon all; for they imagined that they would be reduced to slavery, and that while they were sending another set of ambassadors, many would die of the famine.
[15]
Nevertheless, no one wanted to make any proposal involving the destruction of the walls; for when Archestratus said in the Senate that it was best to make peace with the Lacedaemonians on the terms they offered — and the terms were that they should tear down a portion ten stadia long of each of the two long walls, — he was thrown into prison, and a decree was passed forbidding the making of a proposal of this sort.
[16]

This being the condition of affairs in Athens, Theramenes said in the Assembly that if they were willing to send him to Lysander, he would find out before he came back whether the Lacedaemonians were insistent in the matter of the walls because they wished to reduce the city to slavery, or in order to obtain a guarantee of good faith. Upon being sent, however, he stayed with Lysander three months and more, waiting for the time when, on account of the failure of provisions, the Athenians would agree to anything and everything which might be proposed.
[17]
And when he returned in the fourth month, he reported in the Assembly that Lysander had detained him all this time and had then directed him to go to Lacedaemon, saying that he had no authority in the matters concerning which Theramenes asked for information, but only the ephors. After this Theramenes was chosen ambassador to Lacedaemon with full power, being at the head of an embassy of ten.
[18]
Lysander meanwhile sent Aristoteles, an Athenian exile, in company with some Lacedaemonians, to report to the ephors that the answer he had made to Theramenes was that they only had authority in the matter of peace and war.
[19]
Now when Theramenes and the other ambassadors were at Sellasia and, on being asked with what proposals they had come, replied that they had full power to treat for peace, the ephors thereupon gave orders to summon them to Lacedaemon. When they arrived, the ephors called an assembly, at which the Corinthians and Thebans in particular, though many other Greeks agreed with them, opposed making a treaty with the Athenians and favoured destroying their city.
[20]
The Lacedaemonians, however, said that they would not enslave a Greek city which had done great service amid the greatest perils that had befallen Greece, and they offered to make peace on these conditions: that the Athenians should destroy the long walls and the walls of Piraeus, surrender all their ships except twelve, allow their exiles to return, count the same people friends and enemies as the Lacedaemonians did, and follow the Lacedaemonians both by land and by sea wherever they should lead the way.
[21]