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To return to Eteonicus and his troops in Chios. During summer they
were well able to support themselves on the fruits of the season, or
by labouring for hire in different parts of the island, but with the
approach of winter these means of subsistence began to fail. Ill-clad
at the same time, and ill-shod, they fell to caballing and arranging
plans to attack the city of Chios. It was agreed amongst them, that in
order to guage their numbers, every member of the conspiracy should
carry a reed. Eteonicus got wind of the design, but was at a loss how
to deal with it, considering the number of these reed-bearers. To make
an open attack upon them seemed dangerous. It would probably lead to a
rush to arms, in which the conspirators would seize the city and
commence hostilities, and, in the event of their success, everything
hitherto achieved would be lost. Or again, the destruction on his part
of many fellow-creatures and allies was a terrible alternative, which
would place the Spartans in an unenviable light with regard to the
rest of Hellas, and render the soldiers ill-disposed to the cause in
hand. Accordingly he took with him fifteen men, armed with daggers,
and marched through the city. Falling in with one of the reed-bearers,
a man suffering from ophthalmia, who was returning from the surgeon's
house, he put him to death. This led to some uproar, and people asked
why the man was thus slain. By Eteonicus's orders the answer was set
afloat, "because he carried a reed." As the explanation circulated,
one reed-bearer after another threw away the symbol, each one saying
to himself, as he heard the reason given, "I have better not be seen
with this." After a while Eteonicus called a meeting of the Chians,
and imposed upon them a contribution of money, on the ground that with
pay in their pockets the sailors would have no temptation to
revolutionary projects. The Chians acquiesced. Whereupon Eteonicus
promptly ordered his crews to get on board their vessels. He then
rowed alongside each ship in turn, and addressed the men at some
length in terms of encouragement and cheery admonition, just as though
he knew nothing of what had taken place, and so distributed a month's
pay to every man on board.
After this the Chians and the other allies held a meeting in Ephesus,
and, considering the present posture of affairs, determined to send
ambassadors to Lacedaemon with a statement of the facts, and a request
that Lysander might be sent out to take command of the fleet.
Lysander's high reputation among the allies dated back to his former
period of office, when as admiral he had won the naval victory of
Notium. The ambassadors accordingly were despatched, accompanied by
envoys also from Cyrus, charged with the same message. The
Lacedaemonians responded by sending them Lysander as second in
command,[1] with Aracus as admiral, since it was contrary to their
custom that the same man should be admiral twice. At the same time the
fleet was entrusted to Lysander.[2]
It was in this year[3] that Cyrus put Autoboesaces and Mitraeus to
death. These were sons of the sister of Dariaeus[4] (the daughter of
Xerxes, the father of Darius).[5] He put them to death for neglecting,
when they met him, to thrust their hands into the sleeve (or "kore")
which is a tribute of respect paid to the king alone. This "kore" is
longer than the ordinary sleeve, so long in fact that a man with his
hand inside is rendered helpless. In consequence of this act on the
part of Cyrus, Hieramenes[6] and his wife urged upon Dariaeus the
danger of overlooking such excessive insolence on the part of the
young prince, and Dariaeus, on the plea of sickness, sent a special
embassy to summon Cyrus to his bedside.
B.C. 405. In the following year[7] Lysander arrived at Ephesus, and
sent for Eteonicus with his ships from Chios, and collected all other
vessels elsewhere to be found. His time was now devoted to refitting
the old ships and having new ones built in Antandrus. He also made a
journey to the court of Cyrus with a request for money. All Cyrus
could say was, that not only the money sent by the king was spent, but
much more besides; and he pointed out the various sums which each of
the admirals had received, but at the same time he gave him what he
asked for. Furnished with this money, Lysander appointed captains to
the different men-of-war, and remitted to the sailors their arrears of
pay. Meanwhile the Athenian generals, on their side, were devoting
their energies to the improvements of their navy at Samos.
It was now Cyrus's turn to send for Lysander. It was the moment at
which the envoy from his father had arrived with the message: "Your
father is on his sick-bed and desires your presence." The king lay at
Thamneria, in Media, near the territory of the Cadusians, against whom
he had marched to put down a revolt. When Lysander presented himself,
Cyrus was urgent with him not to engage the Athenians at sea unless he
had many more ships than they. "The king," he added, "and I have
plenty of wealth, so that, as far as money goes, you can man plenty of
vessels." He then consigned to him all the tributes from the several
cities which belonged to him personally, and gave him the ready money
which he had as a gift; and finally, reminding him of the sincere
friendship he entertained towards the state of Lacedaemon, as well as
to himself personally, he set out up country to visit his father.
Lysander, finding himself thus left with the complete control of the
property of Cyrus (during the absence of that prince, so summoned to
the bedside of his father), was able to distribute pay to his troops,
after which he set sail for the Ceramic Gulf of Caria. Here he stormed
a city in alliance with the Athenians named Cedreae, and on the
following day's assault took it, and reduced the inhabitants to
slavery. These were of a mixed Hellene and barbaric stock. From
Cedreae he continued his voyage to Rhodes. The Athenians meanwhile,
using Samos as their base of operations, were employed in devastating
the king's territory, or in swooping down upon Chios and Ephesus, and
in general were preparing for a naval battle, having but lately chosen
three new generals in addition to those already in office, whose names
were Menander, Tydeus, and Cephisodotus. Now Lysander, leaving Rhodes,
and coasting along Ionia, made his way to the Hellespont, having an
eye to the passage of vessels through the Straits, and, in a more
hostile sense, on the cities which had revolted from Sparta. The
Athenians also set sail from Chios, but stood out to open sea, since
the seaboard of Asia was hostile to them.
Lysander was again on the move; leaving Abydos, he passed up channel
to Lampsacus, which town was allied with Athens; the men of Abydos and
the rest of the troops advancing by land, under the command of the
Lacedaemonian Thorax. They then attacked and took by storm the town,
which was wealthy, and with its stores of wine and wheat and other
commodities was pillaged by the soldiery. All free-born persons,
however, were without exception released by Lysander. And now the
Athenian fleet, following close on his heels, came to moorings at
Elaeus, in the Chersonesus, one hundred and eighty sail in all. It was
not until they had reached this place, and were getting their early
meal, that the news of what had happened at Lampsacus reached them.
Then they instantly set sail again to Sestos, and, having halted long
enough merely to take in stores, sailed on further to Aegospotami, a
point facing Lampsacus, where the Hellespont is not quite two miles[8]
broad. Here they took their evening meal.
The night following, or rather early next morning, with the first
streak of dawn, Lysander gave the signal for the men to take their
breakfasts and get on board their vessels; and so, having got all
ready for a naval engagement, with his ports closed and movable
bulwarks attached, he issued the order that no one was to stir from
his post or put out to sea. As the sun rose the Athenians drew up
their vessels facing the harbour, in line of battle ready for action;
but Lysander declining to come out to meet them, as the day advanced
they retired again to Aegospotami. Then Lysander ordered the swiftest
of his ships to follow the Athenians, and as soon as the crews had
disembarked, to watch what they did, sail back, and report to him.
Until these look-outs returned he would permit no disembarkation from
his ships. This performance he repeated for four successive days, and
each day the Athenians put out to sea and challenged an engagement.
But now Alcibiades, from one of his fortresses, could espy the
position of his fellow-countrymen, moored on an open beach beyond
reach of any city, and forced to send for supplies to Sestos, which
was nearly two miles distant, while their enemies were safely lodged
in a harbour, with a city adjoining, and everything within reach. The
situation did not please him, and he advised them to shift their
anchorage to Sestos, where they would have the advantage of a harbour
and a city. "Once there," he concluded, "you can engage the enemy
whenever it suits you." But the generals, and more particularly Tydeus
and Menander, bade him go about his business. "We are generals now--
not you," they said; and so he went away. And now for five days in
succession the Athenians had sailed out to offer battle, and for the
fifth time retired, followed by the same swift sailors of the enemy.
But this time Lysander's orders to the vessels so sent in pursuit
were, that as soon as they saw the enemy's crew fairly disembarked and
dispersed along the shores of the Chersonesus (a practice, it should
be mentioned, which had grown upon them from day to day owing to the
distance at which eatables had to be purchased, and out of sheer
contempt, no doubt, of Lysander, who refused to accept battle), they
were to begin their return voyage, and when in mid-channel to hoist a
shield. The orders were punctually carried out, and Lysander at once
signalled to his whole squadron to put across with all speed, while
Thorax, with the land forces, was to march parallel with the fleet
along the coast. Aware of the enemy's fleet, which he could see
bearing down upon him, Conon had only time to signal to the crews to
join their ships and rally to the rescue with all their might. But the
men were scattered far and wide, and some of the vessels had only two
out of their three banks of rowers, some only a single one, while
others again were completely empty. Conon's own ship, with seven
others in attendance on him and the "Paralus,"[9] put out to sea, a
little cluster of nine vessels, with their full complement of men; but
every one of the remaining one hundred and seventy-one vessels were
captured by Lysander on the beach. As to the men themselves, the large
majority of them were easily made prisoners on shore, a few only
escaping to the small fortresses of the neighbourhood. Meanwhile Conon
and his nine vessels made good their escape. For himself, knowing that
the fortune of Athens was ruined, he put into Abarnis, the promontory
of Lampsacus, and there picked up the great sails of Lysander's ships,
and then with eight ships set sail himself to seek refuge with
Evagoras in Cyprus, while the "Paralus" started for Athens with
tidings of what had taken place.
Lysander, on his side, conveyed the ships and prisoners and all other
spoil back to Lampsacus, having on board some of the Athenian
generals, notably Philocles and Adeimantus. On the very day of these
achievements he despatched Theopompus, a Milesian privateersman, to
Lacedaemon to report what had taken place. This envoy arrived within
three days and delivered his message. Lysander's next step was to
convene the allies and bid them deliberate as to the treatment of the
prisoners. Many were the accusations here levied against the
Athenians. There was talk of crimes committed against the law of
Hellas, and of cruelties sanctioned by popular decrees; which, had
they conquered in the late sea-fight, would have been carried out;
such as the proposal to cut off the right hand of every prisoner taken
alive, and lastly the ill-treatment of two captured men-of-war, a
Corinthian and an Andrian vessel, when every man on board had been
hurled headlong down the cliff. Philocles was the very general of the
Athenians who had so ruthlessly destroyed those men. Many other tales
were told; and at length a resolution was passed to put all the
Athenian prisoners, with the exception of Adeimantus, to death. He
alone, it was pleaded, had taken exception to the proposal to cut off
the prisoners' hands. On the other hand, he was himself accused by
some people of having betrayed the fleet. As to Philocles, Lysander
put to him one question, as the officer who had thrown[10] the
Corinthians and Andrians down the cliff: What fate did the man deserve
to suffer who had embarked on so cruel a course of illegality against
Hellenes? and so delivered him to the executioner.
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