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B.C. 406. In the following year--the year of the evening eclipse of
the moon, and the burning of the old temple of Athena[35] at Athens[36]
--the Lacedaemonians sent out Callicratidas to replace Lysander, whose
period of office had now expired.[37] Lysander, when surrendering the
squadron to his successor, spoke of himself as the winner of a sea
fight, which had left him in undisputed mastery of the sea, and with
this boast he handed over the ships to Callicratidas, who retorted,
"If you will convey the fleet from Ephesus, keeping Samos[38] on your
right" (that is, past where the Athenian navy lay), "and hand it over
to me at Miletus, I will admit that you are master of the sea." But
Lysander had no mind to interfere in the province of another officer.
Thus Callicratidas assumed responsibility. He first manned, in
addition to the squadron which he received from Lysander, fifty new
vessels furnished by the allies from Chios and Rhodes and elsewhere.
When all these contingents were assembled, they formed a total of one
hundred and forty sail, and with these he began making preparations
for engagement with the enemy. But it was impossible for him not to
note the strong current of opposition which he encountered from the
friends of Lysander. Not only was there lack of zeal in their service,
but they openly disseminated an opinion in the States, that it was the
greatest possible blunder on the part of the Lacedaemonians so to
change their admirals. Of course, they must from time to time get
officers altogether unfit for the post--men whose nautical knowledge
dated from yesterday, and who, moreover, had no notion of dealing with
human beings. It would be very odd if this practice of sending out
people ignorant of the sea and unknown to the folk of the country did
not lead to some catastrophe. Callicratidas at once summoned the
Lacedaemonians there present, and addressed them in the following
terms:--
"For my part," he said, "I am content to stay at home: and if Lysander
or any one else claim greater experience in nautical affairs than I
possess, I have no desire to block his path. Only, being sent out by
the State to take command of this fleet, I do not know what is left to
me, save to carry out my instructions to the best of my ability. For
yourselves, all I beg of you, in reference to my personal ambitions
and the kind of charges brought against our common city, and of which
you are as well aware as I am, is to state what you consider to be the
best course: am I to stay where I am, or shall I sail back home, and
explain the position of affairs out here?"
No one ventured to suggest any other course than that he should obey
the authorities, and do what he was sent to do. Callicratidas then
went up to the court of Cyrus to ask for further pay for the sailors,
but the answer he got from Cyrus was that he should wait for two days.
Callicratidas was annoyed at the rebuff: to dance attendance at the
palace gates was little to his taste. In a fit of anger he cried out
at the sorry condition of the Hellenes, thus forced to flatter the
barbarian for the sake of money. "If ever I get back home," he added,
"I will do what in me lies to reconcile the Athenians and the
Lacedaemonians." And so he turned and sailed back to Miletus. From
Miletus he sent some triremes to Lacedaemon to get money, and
convoking the public assembly of the Milesians, addressed them thus:--
"Men of Miletus, necessity is laid upon me to obey the rulers at home;
but for yourselves, whose neighbourhood to the barbarians has exposed
you to many evils at their hands, I only ask you to let your zeal in
the war bear some proportion to your former sufferings. You should set
an example to the rest of the allies, and show us how to inflict the
sharpest and swiftest injury on our enemy, whilst we await the return
from Lacedaemon of my envoys with the necessary funds. Since one of
the last acts of Lysander, before he left us, was to hand back to
Cyrus the funds already on the spot, as though we could well dispense
with them. I was thus forced to turn to Cyrus, but all I got from him
was a series of rebuffs; he refused me an audience, and, for my part,
I could not induce myself to hang about his gates like a mendicant.
But I give you my word, men of Miletus, that in return for any
assistance which you can render us while waiting for these aids, I
will requite you richly. Only by God's help let us show these
barbarians that we do not need to worship them, in order to punish our
foes."
The speech was effective; many members of the assembly arose, and not
the least eagerly those who were accused of opposing him. These, in
some terror, proposed a vote of money, backed by offers of further
private contributions. Furnished with these sums, and having procured
from Chios a further remittance of five drachmas[39] a piece as outfit
for each seaman, he set sail to Methyma in Lesbos, which was in the
hands of the enemy. But as the Methymnaeans were not disposed to come
over to him (since there was an Athenian garrison in the place, and
the men at the head of affairs were partisans of Athens), he assaulted
and took the place by storm. All the property within accordingly
became the spoil of the soldiers. The prisoners were collected for
sale by Callicratidas in the market-place, where, in answer to the
demand of the allies, who called upon him to sell the Methymnaeans
also, he made answer, that as long as he was in command, not a single
Hellene should be enslaved if he could help it. The next day he set at
liberty the free-born captives; the Athenian garrison with the
captured slaves he sold.[40] To Conon he sent word:--He would put a
stop to his strumpeting the sea.[41] And catching sight of him, as he
put out to sea, at break of day, he gave chase, hoping to cut him off
from his passage to Samos, and prevent his taking refuge there.
But Conon, aided by the sailing qualities of his fleet, the rowers of
which were the pick of several ships' companies, concentrated in a few
vessels, made good his escape, seeking shelter within the harbour of
Mitylene in Lesbos, and with him two of the ten generals, Leon and
Erasinides. Callicratidas, pursuing him with one hundred and seventy
sail, entered the harbour simultaneously; and Conon thus hindered from
further or final escape by the too rapid movements of the enemy, was
forced to engage inside the harbour, and lost thirty of his ships,
though the crews escaped to land. The remaining, forty in number, he
hauled up under the walls of the town. Callicratidas, on his side,
came to moorings in the harbour; and, having command of the exit,
blocked the Athenian within. His next step was to send for the
Methymnaeans in force by land, and to transport his army across from
Chios. Money also came to him from Cyrus.
Conon, finding himself besieged by land and sea, without means of
providing himself with corn from any quarter, the city crowded with
inhabitants, and aid from Athens, whither no news of the late events
could be conveyed, impossible, launched two of the fastest sailing
vessels of his squadron. These he manned, before daybreak, with the
best rowers whom he could pick out of the fleet, stowing away the
marines at the same time in the hold of the ships and closing the port
shutters. Every day for four days they held out in this fashion, but
at evening as soon as it was dark he disembarked his men, so that the
enemy might not suspect what they were after. On the fifth day, having
got in a small stock of provisions, when it was already mid-day and
the blockaders were paying little or no attention, and some of them
even were taking their siesta, the two ships sailed out of the
harbour: the one directing her course towards the Hellespont, whilst
her companion made for the open sea. Then, on the part of the
blockaders, there was a rush to the scene of action, as fast as the
several crews could get clear of land, in bustle and confusion,
cutting away the anchors, and rousing themselves from sleep, for, as
chance would have it, they had been breakfasting on shore. Once on
board, however, they were soon in hot pursuit of the ship which had
started for the open sea, and ere the sun dipped they overhauled her,
and after a successful engagement attached her by cables and towed her
back into harbour, crew and all. Her comrade, making for the
Hellespont, escaped, and eventually reached Athens with news of the
blockade. The first relief was brought to the blockaded fleet by
Diomedon, who anchored with twelve vessels in the Mitylenaean
Narrows.[42] But a sudden attack of Callicratidas, who bore down upon
him without warning, cost him ten of his vessels, Diomedon himself
escaping with his own ship and one other.
Now that the position of affairs, including the blockade, was fully
known at Athens, a vote was passed to send out a reinforcement of one
hundred and ten ships. Every man of ripe age,[43] whether slave or
free, was impressed for this service, so that within thirty days the
whole one hundred and ten vessels were fully manned and weighed
anchor. Amongst those who served in this fleet were also many of the
knights.[44] The fleet at once stood out across to Samos, and picked
up the Samian vessels in that island. The muster-roll was swelled by
the addition of more than thirty others from the rest of the allies,
to whom the same principle of conscription applied, as also it did to
the ships already engaged on foreign service. The actual total,
therefore, when all the contingents were collected, was over one
hundred and fifty vessels.
Callicratidas, hearing that the relief squadron had already reached
Samos, left fifty ships, under command of Eteonicus, in the harbour of
Mitylene, and setting sail with the other one hundred and twenty, hove
to for the evening meal off Cape Malea in Lesbos, opposite Mitylene.
It so happened that the Athenians on this day were supping on the
islands of Arginusae, which lie opposite Lesbos. In the night the
Spartan not only saw their watch-fires, but received positive
information that "these were the Athenians;" and about midnight he got
under weigh, intending to fall upon them suddenly. But a violent
downpour of rain with thunder and lightning prevented him putting out
to sea. By daybreak it had cleared, and he sailed towards Arginusae.
On their side, the Athenian squadron stood out to meet him, with their
left wing facing towards the open sea, and drawn up in the following
order:--Aristocrates, in command of the left wing, with fifteen ships,
led the van; next came Diomedon with fifteen others, and immediately
in rear of Aristocrates and Diomedon respectively, as their supports,
came Pericles and Erasinides. Parallel with Diomedon were the Samians,
with their ten ships drawn up in single line, under the command of a
Samian officer named Hippeus. Next to these came the ten vessels of
the taxiarchs, also in single line, and supporting them, the three
ships of the navarchs, with any other allied vessels in the squadron.
The right wing was entrusted to Protomachus with fifteen ships, and
next to him (on the extreme right) was Thrasylus with another division
of fifteen. Protomachus was supported by Lysias with an equal number
of ships, and Thrasylus by Aristogenes. The object of this formation
was to prevent the enemy from manouvring so as to break their line by
striking them amidships,[45] since they were inferior in sailing
power.
The Lacedaemonians, on the contrary, trusting to their superior
seamanship, were formed opposite with their ships all in single line,
with the special object of manouvring so as either to break the
enemy's line or to wheel round them. Callicratidas commanded the right
wing in person. Before the battle the officer who acted as his pilot,
the Megarian Hermon, suggested that it might be well to withdraw the
fleet as the Athenian ships were far more numerous. But Callicratidas
replied that Sparta would be no worse off even if he personally should
perish, but to flee would be disgraceful.[46] And now the fleets
approached, and for a long space the battle endured. At first the
vessels were engaged in crowded masses, and later on in scattered
groups. At length Callicratidas, as his vessel dashed her beak into
her antagonist, was hurled off into the sea and disappeared. At the
same instant Protomachus, with his division on the right, had defeated
the enemy's left, and then the flight of the Peloponnesians began
towards Chios, though a very considerable body of them made for
Phocaea, whilst the Athenians sailed back again to Arginusae. The
losses on the side of the Athenians were twenty-five ships, crews and
all, with the exception of the few who contrived to reach dry land. On
the Peloponnesian side, nine out of the ten Lacedaemonian ships, and
more than sixty belonging to the rest of the allied squadron, were
lost.
{oikieitai} = "would be none the worse off for citizens,"
{oikesetai} = "would be just as well administered without him,"
but as the readings and their renderings are alike doubtful, I
have preferred to leave the matter vague. Cf. Cicero, "De Offic."
i. 24; Plutarch, "Lac. Apophth." p. 832.
After consultation the Athenian generals agreed that two captains of
triremes, Theramenes and Thrasybulus, accompanied by some of the
taxiarchs, should take forty-seven ships and sail to the assistance of
the disabled fleet and of the men on board, whilst the rest of the
squadron proceeded to attack the enemy's blockading squadron under
Eteonicus at Mitylene. In spite of their desire to carry out this
resolution, the wind and a violent storm which arose prevented them.
So they set up a trophy, and took up their quarters for the night. As
to Etenoicus, the details of the engagement ware faithfully reported
to him by the express despatch-boat in attendance. On receipt of the
news, however, he sent the despatch-boat out again the way she came,
with an injunction to those on board of her to sail off quickly
without exchanging a word with any one. Then on a sudden they were to
return garlanded with wreaths of victory and shouting "Callicratidas
has won a great sea fight, and the whole Athenian squadron is
destroyed." This they did, and Eteonicus, on his side, as soon as the
despatch-boat came sailing in, proceeded to offer sacrifice of
thanksgiving in honour of the good news. Meanwhile he gave orders that
the troops were to take their evening meal, and that the masters of
the trading ships were silently to stow away their goods on board the
merchant ships and make sail as fast as the favourable breeze could
speed them to Chios. The ships of war were to follow suit with what
speed they might. This done, he set fire to his camp, and led off the
land forces to Methymna. Conon, finding the enemy had made off, and
the wind had grown comparatively mild,[47] got his ships afloat, and
so fell in with the Athenian squadron, which had by this time set out
from Arginusae. To these he explained the proceedings of Eteonicus.
The squadron put into Mitylene, and from Mitylene stood across to
Chios, and thence, without effecting anything further, sailed back to
Samos.
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