the _demos_ or township of Deirades, who suspected the real truth, that
Alkibiades cared nothing about the form of government which might be
established at Athens, but was seeking for some excuse for being
restored to his native country, and thought, by his harsh language about
the people, to ingratiate himself with the nobles. He was, however,
overruled; and, being now clearly marked as the personal enemy of
Alkibiades, sent a secret message to Astyochus, the admiral of the
Lacedaemonian fleet, bidding him beware of Alkibiades, who was playing a
double game. However, he met his match in perfidy. Astyochus, desirous
of gaining the favour of Tissaphernes, and seeing that Alkibiades had
great influence with him, betrayed Phrynichus's letter to them.
Alkibiades upon this at once sent persons to Samos to charge Phrynichus
with this act of treason, and he, seeing that all men were shocked at
what he had done, and were indignant with him, and being at his wit's
end, endeavoured to heal one mischief by another. He sent a second
letter to Astyochus, reproaching him for his betrayal of confidence, and
promising that he would enable him to capture the fleet and camp of the
Athenians. However, the treachery of Phrynichus did no harm to the
Athenians, because of the counter treachery of Astyochus, who
communicated this letter also to Alkibiades. Now Phrynichus, expecting a
second charge of treason from Alkibiades, was beforehand with him, in
announcing to the Athenians that the enemy were about to attack them,
and advising them to keep near their ships, and to fortify their
camp.[A] This they proceeded to do, when there came a second letter from
Alkibiades, warning them against Phrynichus, who meditated betraying the
harbour to the enemy. This letter was not believed at the time, for men
imagined that Alkibiades, who knew perfectly well all the movements and
intentions of the enemy, was making use of that knowledge to destroy his
personal enemy Phrynichus, by exciting an undeserved suspicion against
him. Yet, when afterwards Hermon, one of the Athenian horse-patrol,
stabbed Phrynichus with his dagger in the market-place, the Athenians,
after trying the case, decided that the deceased was guilty of treason,
and crowned Hermon and his comrades with garlands.
[Footnote A: The ancient trireme was not habitable, like a modern ship
of war. The crew always, if possible, landed for their meals, and when
stationed at any place, drew the ship up on the beach and lived entirely
on shore.]
XXVI. The friends of Alkibiades being in a majority at Samos, now
despatched Peisander to Athens to attempt the subversion of the
republic, and to encourage the nobles to seize the government, and put
an end to the democratic constitution. If this was done, they conceived
that Alkibiades would make Tissaphernes their friend and ally, and this
was the pretext and excuse put forward by those who established the
oligarchy. When, however, the so-called Five Thousand, who really were
the Four Hundred, were at the head of affairs, they paid but little
attention to Alkibiades, and were very remiss in carrying on the war,
partly because they distrusted the citizens, who were not yet accustomed
to the new constitution, and partly because they thought that the
Lacedaemonians, who were always favourable to oligarchical governments,
would deal more tenderly with them on that account. The Athenian
populace remained quiet, though sorely against its will, because of the
terror inspired by the oligarchs, for no small number of citizens who
had opposed the Four Hundred had been put to death; but the men of
Samos, as soon as they heard the news, were indignant, and wished at
once to sail to Peiraeus. They sent at once for Alkibiades, elected him
their general, and bade him lead them on to crush this new despotism.
Alkibiades on this occasion acted like a really great commander, and not
at all as one would expect of a man who had suddenly been raised to
power by popular favour.
He refused to curry favour with the soldiery by carrying out their
wishes, regardless of their having found him a homeless exile, and
having made him the commander of so many ships and so many men; but he
resisted their impulse, and by preventing their committing so great an
error, without doubt saved the Athenian empire. For if the fleet had
left Samos, the enemy could without a battle have made themselves
masters of the whole of Ionia, the Hellespont, and the islands in the
Aegean while Athenians would have fought with Athenians in their own
city. All this was prevented by Alkibiades alone, who not only persuaded
the populace, and pointed out the folly of such proceedings in public
speeches, but even entreated and commanded each individual man to remain
at Samos. He was assisted in this by Thrasybulus, of the township of
Steiria, who was present, and spoke in his loud voice, which was said to
be the loudest of any Athenian of his time. This was a noble achievement
of Alkibiades, and so, too, was his undertaking that the Phoenician
fleet, which the Lacedaemonians expected would be sent by the Persian
king to help them, should either be won over to the Athenian side, or at
any rate prevented from joining the Lacedaemonians. In order to effect
this, he sailed away in great haste, and, although the Phoenician fleet
was at Aspendus, yet Tissaphernes brought it no further, and deceived
the Lacedaemonians. Both parties gave Alkibiades the credit of having
detained it, and more especially the Lacedaemonians, who imagined that
he was teaching the Persians to allow the Greeks to destroy one another,
for it was perfectly clear that such a force, if added to either of the
contending parties, must have made them complete masters of the sea.
XXVII. After this the government of the Four Hundred was dissolved, as
the friends of Alkibiades eagerly took the side of the popular party.
Although the Athenians now wished and even commanded Alkibiades to
return to his native city, yet he felt that he ought not to come home
emptyhanded, and owing his restoration to the good nature of the
people, but rather to return after some glorious achievement. With this
intention he at first left Samos with a few ships and cruised in the
seas near Knidus and Kôs; then, hearing that Mindarus, the Spartan
admiral, had gone to the Hellespont with all his fleet, and that the
Athenian fleet had followed him, he hurried to the assistance of the
Athenian commanders.
Sailing northwards with eighteen triremes he chanced to arrive towards
evening, at the end of a sea-fight off Abydos, in which neither party
had won any decided advantage. The appearance of his squadron caused
very different feelings among the combatants, for the Athenians were
alarmed, and the enemy encouraged. However, he soon hoisted an Athenian
flag, and bore down upon that part of the Peloponnesian fleet which had
been hitherto victorious. He put them to flight, compelled them to run
their ships ashore, and then attacking them, disabled their ships, and
broke them to pieces, forcing the crews to swim ashore, where
Pharnabazus the satrap led a force to the water's edge to fight for the
preservation of the vessels. In the end the Athenians took thirty ships,
recovered those of their own which had been captured, and erected a
trophy, as victors.
Alkibiades gained great glory by this splendid piece of good fortune,
and at once went off with rich presents and a gorgeous military retinue,
to display his fresh laurels to Tissaphernes. He met, however, with a
very different reception to that which he expected, for Tissaphernes,
whose mind had been poisoned against him by the Lacedaemonians, and who
feared that the king might be displeased with his own dealings with
Alkibiades, considered that he had arrived at a very opportune moment,
and at once seized him and imprisoned him at Sardis; thinking that this
arbitrary act would prove to the world that the other suspicions of an
understanding between them were unfounded.
XXVIII. Thirty days afterwards, Alkibiades by some means obtained a
horse, eluded his guards, and fled for refuge to Klazomenae. He gave out
that he had been privately released by Tissaphernes himself, in order to
disgrace that satrap, and at once sailed to the Athenian fleet in the
Hellespont. Learning that Mindarus and Pharnabazus were both in the city
of Kyzikus, he encouraged his soldiers by a speech, in which he told
them that they would have to fight at sea, on land, and against the town
walls too, for that if they were not completely victorious they could
get no pay. He manned his ships and proceeded to Prokonessus, ordering
all small vessels which they met to be seized and detained in the
interior of the fleet, in order that the enemy might not learn his
movements. It happened also that a heavy thunderstorm with rain and
darkness assisted his design, as he not only was unseen by the enemy,
but was never suspected of any intention of attack by the Athenians
themselves, who had given up any idea of going to sea when he ordered
them on board. Little by little the clouds cleared away, and disclosed
the Peloponnesian fleet cruising off the harbour of Kyzikus. Alkibiades,
fearing that if the enemy saw how numerous his own fleet was, they would
take refuge on shore, ordered the other commanders to remain behind
under easy sail, and himself with forty ships went on ahead to entice
them to an engagement. The Peloponnesians, deceived by this manoeuvre,
at once attacked these few ships, despising their small numbers. But the
little squadron engaged them until the rest came up, when they fled
ashore in terror. Alkibiades with twenty of the fastest sailing ships
broke through the enemy's line, ran his ships ashore, landed their
crews, and attacked the fugitives from the enemy's fleet with terrible
slaughter. Mindarus and Pharnabazus now came to the rescue, but they
were beaten back; Mindarus died fighting bravely, and Pharnabazus only
saved himself by flight. By this battle the Athenians obtained
possession of many dead bodies of their enemies,[A] many stand of arms,
the whole of the hostile fleet, and the town of Kyzikus, which they took
by storm, putting its Peloponnesian garrison to the sword, as soon as
Pharnabazus withdrew his troops. They now not merely obtained a firm
hold on the Hellespont, but were able to drive the Lacedaemonians from
the sea in all quarters. A despatch was captured, written in the
Laconian fashion, informing the Ephors of the disaster. "Our ships are
gone; Mindarus is slain; the men are starving; we know not what to do."
[Footnote A: The Greeks attached great importance to the burial of the
dead. The usual test of which party had won a battle was, which side
after it demanded a truce for the burial of the dead. Here the
possession of the dead bodies of the enemy is enumerated as one of the
proofs of victory.]
XXIX. The men who had served under Alkibiades were so elated by this
victory that they disdained to mix with the rest of the army, alleging
that the others had often been defeated, and that they were invincible.
Indeed, not long before, Thrasyllus had received a defeat near Ephesus,
upon which the Ephesians erected the brazen trophy to the disgrace of
the Athenians; so that the soldiers of Alkibiades reproached those of
Thrasyllus with this, glorifying themselves and their commander, and
refusing to allow the others to make use of their places of exercise or
their quarters in camp. However, when Pharnabazus with a large force of
infantry and calvary attacked them while they were invading the
territory of Abydos, Alkibiades led them out to fight him, defeated him,
and, together with Thrasyllus, pursued him till nightfall. After this
the soldiers fraternised with each other and returned to their camp
rejoicing together. On the following day Alkibiades erected a trophy and
ravaged the country of Pharnabazus, no one daring to oppose him. He even
took priests and priestesses prisoners, but released them without
ransom.
The city of Chalkedon had revolted from Athens, and received a
Lacedaemonian harmost[A] and garrison. Alkibiades was eager to attack
them, but, hearing that they had collected all the property[B] in their
country and placed it in the hands of the Bithynians, a friendly tribe,
he led his whole army to the Bithynian frontier and sent a herald to
that people reproaching them for what they had done. In terror, the
Bithynians gave up the property to him, and entered into an alliance
with him.
[Footnote A: A "harmost," [Greek: harmostês], was an officer sent from
Sparta to administer a subject city. See p. 97.]
[Footnote B: Probably consisting of corn and cattle, as Clough
translates it.]
XXX. He now completely invested Chalkedon, by building a wall reaching
from sea to sea. Pharnabazus came down to raise the siege, and
Hippokrates, the harmost of the city, led out his forces and attacked
the Athenians at the same time. Alkibiades arranged his army so as to be
able to fight them both at once, forced Pharnabazus to retreat with
disgrace, killed Hippokrates, and put his force to flight with severe
loss. He now took a cruise round the Hellespont, to raise contributions
from the towns on the coast, during which he took Selymbria, where he,
very unnecessarily, was exposed to great personal risk. The party who
intended to betray the city had arranged to show a torch as a signal at
midnight, but were compelled to do so before the appointed time, fearing
one of the conspirators, who suddenly changed his mind. When then the
torch was raised, the army was not ready for the assault, but
Alkibiades, taking some thirty men with him, ran at full speed up to the
walls, giving orders to the rest to follow. The city gate was opened for
him, and, twenty peltasts[A] having joined his thirty soldiers, he
entered, when he perceived the men of Selymbria under arms marching down
the street to meet him. To await their onset would have been ruin, while
pride forbade a hitherto invincible general to retire. Ordering his
trumpet to sound, he bade one of those present proclaim aloud that the
Selymbrians ought not to appear in arms against the Athenians. This
speech made some of the townspeople less eager to fight, as they
imagined that their enemies were all within the walls, while it
encouraged others who hoped to arrange matters peaceably. While they
were standing opposite to one another and parleying, Alkibiades's army
came up, and he, truly conjecturing that the Selymbrians were really
disposed to be friendly, began to fear that his Thracian troops might
sack the city; for many of these barbarians were serving in his army as
volunteers, from a particular attachment they had to his person. He
therefore sent them all out of the city, and did not permit the
terrified people of Selymbria to suffer any violence, but, having
exacted a contribution of money and placed a garrison in the town, he
sailed away.
[Footnote A: Peltasts were light-armed troops, so called because they
carried light round shields instead of the large unwieldy oblong shield
of the Hoplite, or heavy-armed infantry soldier. These light troops came
gradually into favour with the Greeks during the Peloponnesian war, and
afterward became very extensively used.]
XXXI. Meanwhile the generals who were besieging Chalkedon made an
agreement with Pharnabazus, on these conditions. They were to receive a
sum of money; the people of Chalkedon were to become subjects of Athens
as before; Pharnabazus was not to lay waste the province; and he was to
provide an escort and a safe-conduct for an Athenian embassy to the
Persian king. On the return of Alkibiades, Pharnabazus desired him to
swear to observe these conditions, but Alkibiades refused to do so
unless Pharnabazus swore first. After this capitulation he proceeded to
Byzantium, which had revolted from Athens, and built a wall round that
city. Anaxilaus and Lykurgus, with some others, now offered to betray
the city if the lives and property of the inhabitants were spared. Upon
this Alkibiades put about a report that his presence was urgently
required on the Ionian coast, and sailed away by daylight with all his
fleet. The same night he landed with all his soldiers, and marched up to
the walls in silence, while the fleet, with a great clamour and
disturbance, forced its way into the harbour. The suddenness of this
assault, entirely unexpected as it was, terrified the people of
Byzantium, and gave those of them who inclined to the Athenian side an
opportunity of admitting Alkibiades quietly, while the attention of
every one was directed to the ships in the harbour. The town did not,
however, surrender altogether without fighting; for the Peloponnesians,
Megarians, and Boeotians who were in it drove the Athenians back into
their ships with loss, and when they heard that the land forces had
entered the town they formed in line and engaged them. A severe battle
took place, but Alkibiades on the right wing, and Theramenes on the
left, were at length victorious, and took prisoners the survivors, some
three hundred in number. After this battle no citizen of Byzantium was
either put to death or banished, those being the terms on which the
conspirators had delivered up the city, namely, that they should suffer
no loss of life or property.
Anaxilaus was afterwards tried at Sparta for having betrayed the city,
and justified what he had done, saying that he was not a Lacedaemonian,
but a Byzantine, and that he saw Byzantium, not Sparta, in danger, as
the city was surrounded by the enemy's siege works, no provisions being
brought in to it, and what there was in it being consumed by the
Peloponnesians and Boeotians, while the people of Byzantium with their
wives and children were starving. He did not, he said, betray the city
to the enemy, but relieved it from the miseries of war, imitating
therein the noblest Lacedaemonians, whose only idea of what was noble
and just was what would serve their own country. The Lacedaemonians, on
hearing this speech, were ashamed to press the charge, and acquitted
him.
XXXII. Now, at length, Alkibiades began to wish to see his native
country again, and still more to be seen and admired by his countrymen
after his splendid series of victories. He proceeded home with the
Athenian fleet, which was magnificently adorned with shields and
trophies, and had many prizes in tow, and the flags of many more which
he had captured and destroyed--all of them together amounting to not
less than two hundred. But we cannot believe the additions which Douris
the Samian, who says that he is a descendant of Alkibiades, makes to
this story, to the effect that Chrysogonus, the victor at the Pythian
games, played on the flute to mark the time for the rowers, while
Kallipides the tragedian, attired in his buskins, purple robe, and other
theatrical properties, gave them orders, and that the admiral's ship
came into harbour with purple sails, as if returning from a party of
pleasure. Neither Theopompus, nor Ephorus, nor Xenophon mentions these
circumstances, nor was it likely that he should present himself before
the Athenians in such a swaggering fashion, when he was returning home
from exile, after having suffered such a variety of misfortunes. The
truth is, he sailed to Athens with considerable misgivings, and on his
arrival would not leave his ship until from her deck he saw Euryptolemus
his cousin, with many of his friends and relatives, assembled to welcome
him.
When he landed, the people seemed to have no eyes for the other
generals, but all rushed towards him, and escorted him on his way,
cheering him, embracing him, and crowning him with flowers. Those who
could not get near him gazed upon him from a distance, and the older men
pointed him out to the younger ones. Yet the joy of the citizens was
mingled with tears in the midst of their rejoicings, when they thought
of their past disasters, for they reflected that they would not have
failed in Sicily, or met with any of their other terrible
disappointments, if they had not parted with Alkibiades when in the full
tide of prosperity. He had found Athens barely able to hold her own at
sea, by land mistress of little more than the ground on which the city
stood, and torn by internal strife; from which miserable and forlorn
condition he had restored her so completely, that she was again not only
omnipotent at sea, but also victorious everywhere on land.
XXXIII. Before his return a decree had been passed authorising him to do
so, at the instance of Kritias, the son of Kallaeschrus, who himself
alludes to it in his poems, mentioning the service which he performed
for Alkibiades in the following verse:
"I moved your restoration by decree,
And that you're home again you owe to me."
Immediately on the return of Alkibiades, the people assembled in the
Pnyx, where he addressed them. He spoke with tears of his misfortunes,
for which he partly reproached his countrymen, though he attributed them
chiefly to his own unlucky fortune, and he greatly raised their hopes by
speaking encouragingly about their probable successes in the future. He
was honoured with golden crowns, and elected sole general with absolute
power both by sea and land. A decree was also passed by which his
property was restored to him, and the Eumolpidae and Kerykes were
ordered to retract the curses which they had invoked upon him at the
instance of the people. When all the rest obeyed, Theodorus the
hierophant excused himself, saying, If he has done the State no wrong, I
never cursed him.
XXXIV. While Alkibiades was in this glorious career of prosperity, some
persons in spite of his success foreboded evil from the day which he had
chosen for his return home; for on the day on which he sailed into the
harbour the statue of Athene on the Acropolis is stripped of its
garments and ornaments, which are cleaned, while it in the meanwhile is
covered up to conceal it from human eyes. This ceremony takes place on
the 25th of the month Thargelion, which day is considered by the
Athenians to be the unluckiest of all. Moreover, the goddess did not
appear to receive Alkibiades with a kindly welcome, but to turn away her
face from him and drive him from her presence. Be this as it may, all
went well and just as Alkibiades wished. A fleet of a hundred triremes
was manned, and placed at his disposal, but he with creditable pride
refused to set sail until after the celebration of the Eleusinian
mysteries. Since the permanent occupation of Dekeleia and of the passes
commanding the road to Eleusis by the enemy, the procession had been
necessarily shorn of many of its distinctive features, as it had to be
sent by sea. All the customary sacrifices, dances, and other rites which
used to be practised on the road, when Iacchus is carried along in
solemn procession, were of necessity omitted. It seemed therefore to
Alkibiades that it would both honour the gods and increase his own
reputation among men, if he restored the ancient form of this ceremony,
escorting the procession with his troops and protecting it from the
enemy; for he argued that Agis would lose prestige if he did not attack,
but allowed the procession to pass unmolested, whereas if he did attack,
Alkibiades would be able to fight in a holy cause, in defence of the
most sacred institutions of his country, with all his countrymen present
as witnesses of his own valour. When he determined to do this, after
concerting measures with the Eumolpidae and Kerykes, he placed vedettes
on the mountains and sent an advanced guard off at day-break, following
with the priests, novices, and initiators marching in the midst of his
army, in great good order and perfect silence. It was an august and
solemn procession, and all who did not envy him said that he had
performed the office of a high priest in addition of that of a general.
The enemy made no attack, and he led his troops safely back to Athens,
full of pride himself, and making his army proud to think itself
invincible while under his command. He had so won the affections of the
poor and the lower orders, that they were strangely desirous of living
under his rule. Many even besought him to put down the malignity of his
personal enemies, sweep away laws, decrees, and other pernicious
nonsense, and carry on the government without fear of a factious
opposition.