|
B.C. 408. The year following is the year in which the temple of
Athena, in Phocaea, was struck by lightning and set on fire.[17] With
the cessation of winter, in early spring, the Athenians set sail with
the whole of their force to Proconnesus, and thence advanced upon
Chalcedon and Byzantium, encamping near the former town. The men of
Chalcedon, aware of their approach, had taken the precaution to
deposit all their pillageable property with their neighbours, the
Bithynian Thracians; whereupon Alcibiades put himself at the head of a
small body of heavy infantry with the cavalry, and giving orders to
the fleet to follow along the coast, marched against the Bithynians
and demanded back the property of the Chalcedonians, threatening them
with war in case of refusal. The Bithynians delivered up the property.
Returning to camp, not only thus enriched, but with the further
satisfaction of having secured pledges of good behaviour from the
Bithynians, Alcibiades set to work with the whole of his troops to
draw lines of circumvallation round Chalcedon from sea to sea, so as
to include as much of the river as possible within his wall, which was
made of timber. Thereupon the Lacedaemonian governor, Hippocrates, let
his troops out of the city and offered battle, and the Athenians, on
their side, drew up their forces opposite to receive him; while
Pharnabazus, from without the lines of circumvallation, was still
advancing with his army and large bodies of horse. Hippocrates and
Thrasylus engaged each other with their heavy infantry for a long
while, until Alcibiades, with a detachment of infantry and the
cavalry, intervened. Presently Hippocrates fell, and the troops under
him fled into the city; at the same instant Pharnabazus, unable to
effect a junction with the Lacedaemonian leader, owing to the
circumscribed nature of the ground and the close proximity of the
river to the enemy's lines, retired to the Heracleium,[18] belonging to
the Chalcedonians, where his camp lay. After this success Alcibiades
set off to the Hellespont and the Chersonese to raise money, and the
remaining generals came to terms with Pharnabazus in respect of
Chalcedon; according to these, the Persian satrap agreed to pay the
Athenians twenty talents[19] in behalf of the town, and to grant their
ambassadors a safe conduct up country to the king. It was further
stipulated by mutual consent and under oaths provided, that the
Chalcedonians should continue the payment of their customary tribute
to Athens, being also bound to discharge all outstanding debts. The
Athenians, on their side, were bound to desist from all hostilities
until the return of their ambassadors from the king. These oaths were
not witnessed by Alcibiades, who was now in the neighbourhood of
Selybria. Having taken that place, he presently appeared before the
walls of Byzantium at the head of the men of Chersonese, who came out
with their whole force; he was aided further by troops from Thrace and
more than three hundred horse. Accordingly Pharnabazus, insisting that
he too must take the oath, decided to remain in Chalcedon, and to
await his arrival from Byzantium. Alcibiades came, but was not
prepared to bind himself by any oaths, unless Pharnabazus would, on
his side, take oaths to himself. After this, oaths were exchanged
between them by proxy. Alcibiades took them at Chrysopolis in the
presence of two representatives sent by Pharnabazus--namely,
Mitrobates and Arnapes. Pharnabazus took them at Chalcedon in the
presence of Euryptolemus and Diotimus, who represented Alcibiades.
Both parties bound themselves not only by the general oath, but also
interchanged personal pledges of good faith.
This done, Pharnabazus left Chalcedon at once, with injunctions that
those who were going up to the king as ambassadors should meet him at
Cyzicus. The representatives of Athens were Dorotheus, Philodices,
Theogenes, Euryptolemus, and Mantitheus; with them were two Argives,
Cleostratus and Pyrrholochus. An embassy of the Lacedaemonians was
also about to make the journey. This consisted of Pasippidas and his
fellows, with whom were Hermocrates, now an exile from Syracuse, and
his brother Proxenus. So Pharnabazus put himself at their head.
Meanwhile the Athenians prosecuted the siege of Byzantium; lines of
circumvallation were drawn; and they diversified the blockade by
sharpshooting at long range and occasional assaults upon the walls.
Inside the city lay Clearchus, the Lacedaemonian governor, and a body
of Perioci with a small detachment of Neodamodes.[20] There was also a
body of Megarians under their general Helixus, a Megarian, and another
body of Boeotians, with their general Coeratadas. The Athenians,
finding presently that they could effect nothing by force, worked upon
some of the inhabitants to betray the place. Clearchus, meanwhile,
never dreaming that any one would be capable of such an act, had
crossed over to the opposite coast to visit Pharnabazus; he had left
everything in perfect order, entrusting the government of the city to
Coeratadas and Helixus. His mission was to obtain pay for the soldiers
from the Persian satrap, and to collect vessels from various quarters.
Some were already in the Hellespont, where they had been left as
guardships by Pasippidas, or else at Antandrus. Others formed the
fleet which Agesandridas, who had formerly served as a marine[21] under
Mindarus, now commanded on the Thracian coast. Others Clearchus
purposed to have built, and with the whole united squadron to so
injure the allies of the Athenians as to draw off the besieging army
from Byzantium. But no sooner was he fairly gone than those who were
minded to betray the city set to work. Their names were Cydon,
Ariston, Anaxicrates, Lycurgus, and Anaxilaus. The last-named was
afterwards impeached for treachery in Lacedaemon on the capital
charge, and acquitted on the plea that, to begin with, he was not a
Lacedaemonian, but a Byzantine, and, so far from having betrayed the
city, he had saved it, when he saw women and children perishing of
starvation; for Clearchus had given away all the corn in the city to
the Lacedaemonian soldiers. It was for these reasons, as Anaxilaus
himself admitted, he had introduced the enemy, and not for the sake of
money, nor out of hatred to Lacedaemon.
As soon as everything was ready, these people opened the gates leading
to the Thracian Square, as it is called, and admitted the Athenian
troops with Alcibiades at their head. Helixus and Coeratadas, in
complete ignorance of the plot, hastened to the Agora with the whole
of the garrison, ready to confront the danger; but finding the enemy
in occupation, they had nothing for it but to give themselves up. They
were sent off as prisoners to Athens, where Coeratadas, in the midst
of the crowd and confusion of debarkation at Piraeus, gave his guards
the slip, and made his way in safety to Decelia.
|
|
