During the following summer Mende was recovered by Nicias for the
Athenians, Scione was closely invested, and Perdiccas, who had
quarrelled with Brasidas, once more became an ally of Athens, and gave
proof of his sincerity by preventing the passage of Spartan
reinforcements to Thrace. The Athenians were thus left free to turn
their attention to Amphipolis, and at the beginning of the tenth year
of the war, the truce having now expired, Cleon was sent with a fleet
of thirty ships to conduct the siege of this important place. That so
weighty a charge should have been entrusted to hands so incompetent
argues a degree of infatuation in the Athenians which is very hard to
understand. On his voyage Cleon succeeded in retaking Torone by a
sudden assault, and then proceeding northwards dropped anchor at Eion,
where he remained inactive, after despatching messengers to Perdiccas,
and to a friendly Thracian prince, to ask for reinforcements.
Meanwhile Brasidas, who some time before had returned to Amphipolis,
was waiting to strike a blow at his unwarlike enemy. His own troops,
though about equal in numbers to the force under Cleon, were far
inferior in equipment and discipline; but he counted on some incautious
movement on the part of the Athenian general, which would throw the
picked infantry of Athens into disorder, and place them at a
disadvantage. So he left Clearidas, a young Spartan, whom he had
appointed governor of Amphipolis, in charge of the garrison, and taking
with him fifteen hundred men occupied a position on the right bank of
the river, where the ground rises abruptly to a considerable height,
affording a wide view over the city to the country beyond, as far as
Eion. From this point, which is called Cerdylium, he could watch the
proceedings of the enemy, and still have ample time to rejoin Clearidas
in Amphipolis, if, as he expected, Cleon should leave his defences and
advance upon the town.
He had not long to wait. The Athenian soldiers stationed at Eion were
chafing at their inaction, and mutinous speeches were heard on all
sides. What a man was this Cleon, this cowardly braggart, under whom
they were to take the field against the most daring and skilful leader
in Greece! They had known what to expect from such a general, since the
day when they sailed for Thrace. These murmurs reached the ears of
Cleon, and he saw that something must be attempted, or his men would be
totally demoralized. So he gave the order to march, and led his troops
up the ridge of hills which slope down towards Amphipolis on the
eastern side, where the town was defended by a single line of wall,
reaching from the northern to the southern bend of the river. He was
far from supposing that anyone would come out to attack him; he only
wanted, he said, to take a good view of the place, and when his
reinforcements arrived, he would surround the city on all sides, and
carry it by assault. For his wonderful good fortune at Pylos had given
him unbounded confidence in his powers as a strategist, and he thought
that Amphipolis would prove a second Pylos, forgetting that here he had
a Brasidas to deal with, and no Demosthenes to do the work for him.
When he reached the top of the ascent, he called a halt, and took a
leisurely survey of the wide sweep of country spread below him,--to the
north, the broad, marshy waters of Lake Cercynitis, from which the
river issues just above the town,--eastwards, the towering summit of
Mount Pangaeus,--and on the other side, just beneath his feet, the
devoted city, which now seemed cowering, silent and deserted, as if
conscious of Cleon's eagle glance. The gates were closed, and not a man
was to be seen on the battlements. "What a pity," remarked Cleon, "that
we brought no siege-engines with us! We might have battered down the
wall, and marched in at once,--there is none to oppose us."
So readily did this holiday general fall into the trap which Brasidas,
with a just estimate of his capacity, had set for him. As soon as he
saw that Cleon had started from Eion, the Spartan general left his post
in Cerdylium, and led his men back into Amphipolis. Here he made such a
disposition of his forces as to give the place that peaceful and
innocent appearance which deceived Cleon's unpractised eye. Then he
took up his station with a picked troop of a hundred and fifty hoplites
at the southern gate of Amphipolis, leaving Clearidas in charge of the
main body, and awaited a favourable moment to attack.
But these preparations could not be made without exciting some
attention among the more experienced of the Athenian officers. They had
seen Brasidas entering the city, and observed him offering sacrifice,
as for battle, before the temple of Athene; and Cleon, who was
standing, lost in his contemplations, some distance in advance of his
forces, suddenly received the alarming intelligence that the enemy were
on the point of making a sally. "The whole garrison is in motion," said
the messenger, "and we have caught sight of the feet of many horses and
men under the gates: evidently they mean to attack us." Thus rudely
startled from his meditations, Cleon went to look for himself, and
seeing that the messenger had spoken the truth he gave the order for a
retreat in the direction of Eion. This movement should have begun from
the left wing, but there was some delay in executing the order, and
Cleon, who was in a great hurry to reach a place of safety, led the way
with his own division, which, being on the right, ought to have closed
the retreat. The consequence was that the whole Athenian army was
thrown into confusion, and Brasidas, who was watching from his station
at the gate, saw by the irregular motion of their spears and helmets
that all discipline was at an end. "Now is our time," he cried to his
men: "Open the gates! The day is ours." With these words he rushed out
with his troops, and fell upon the Athenian centre; and at the same
moment the main body under Clearidas poured out from the northern gate,
and attacked them in the rear.
The effect of this sudden assault was to cut the Athenian army in half:
the left wing, which was nearest to Eion, fled without striking a blow,
but the right made a vigorous resistance, though abandoned by their
cowardly general, who was cut down by a Thracian spearman as he tried
to make good his escape. A far nobler name was also added to the
death-roll of that fatal day: Brasidas, fighting at the head of his
troop, received a mortal wound, and was carried, unobserved by the
Athenians, into the city. He lived long enough to hear that his men had
gained a decisive victory, and then passed away, the purest and the
most heroic spirit among all those who played their part in this
unhappy war. After his death he received divine honours at Amphipolis,
and was worshipped as the second founder of the city.