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B.C. 388. Such was the state of affairs in the Hellespont, so far at
least as Athens and Sparta are concerned. Eteonicus was once more in
Aegina; and notwithstanding that the Aeginetans and Athenians had up
to this time held commercial intercourse, yet now that the war was
plainly to be fought out on the sea, that officer, with the
concurrence of the ephorate, gave permission to any one who liked to
plunder Attica.[1] The Athenians retaliated by despatching a body of
hoplites under their general Pamphilus, who constructed a fort against
the Aeginetans,[2] and proceeded to blockade them by land and sea with
ten warships. Teleutias, however, while threading his way among the
islands in question of contributions, had chanced to reach a point
where he received information of the turn in affairs with regard to
the construction of the fortress, whereupon he came to the rescue of
the beleaguered Aeginetans, and so far succeeded that he drove off the
enemy's blockading squadron. But Pamphilus kept a firm hold on the
offensive fortress, and was not to be dislodged.
After this the new admiral Hierax arrived from Lacedaemon. The naval
force was transferred into his successor's hands, and under the
happiest auspices Teleutias set sail for home. As he descended to the
seashore to start on his homeward voyage there was not one among his
soldiers who had not a warm shake of the hand for their old admiral.
Here one presented him with a crown, and there another with a victor's
wreath; and those who arrived too late, still, as the ship weighed
anchor, threw garlands into the sea and wafted him many a blessing
with prayerful lips. I am well aware that in the above incident I have
no memorable story of munificence, peril, or invention to narrate, but
in all sincerity I protest that a man may find food for reflection in
the inquiry what Teleutias had done to create such a disposition in
his subordinates. Here we are brought face to face with a true man's
work more worthy of account than multitudes of riches or adventure.[3]
The new admiral Hierax, taking with him the larger portion of the
fleet, set sail once more for Rhodes. He left behind him twelve
vessels in Aegina under his vice-admiral Gorgopas, who was now
installed as governor of that island. In consequence of this chance
the Athenian troops inside the fortres were more blockaded than the
Aeginetans themselves, so much so that a vote was passed by the
Athenian assembly, in obedience to which a large fleet was manned, and
the garrison, after four months' sojourn in Aegina, were brought back.
But this was no sooner done than they began to be harassed by Gorgopas
and the privateers again. To operate aganst these they fitted out
thirteen vessels, choosing Eunomus as admiral in command. Hierax was
still in Rhodes when the Lacedaemonians sent out a new admiral,
Antalcidas; they believed that they could not find a better mode of
gratifying Tiribazus. Accordingly Antalcidas, after visiting Aegina in
order to pick up the vessels under Gorgopas, set sail for Ephesus. At
this point he sent back Gorgopas with his twelve ships to Aegina, and
appointed his vice-admiral Nicolochus to command the remainder of the
fleet.
Nicolochus was to relieve Abydos, and thither set sail; but in the
course of the voyage turned aside to Tenedos, where he ravaged the
territory, and, with the money so secured, sailed on to Abydos. The
Athenian generals[4] on their side, collecting from Samothrace,
Thasos, and the fortresses in that quarter, hastened to the relief of
Tenedos; but, finding that Nicolochus had continued his voyage to
Abydos, they selected the Chersonese as their base, and proceeded to
blockade him and his fleet of five-and-twenty vessels with the two-
and-thirty vessels under their joint command.
Meanwhile Gorgopas, returning from Ephesus, fell in with the Athenian
admiral Eunomus, and, shunning an encounter at the moment, sought
shelter in Aegina, which he reached a little before sunset; and at
once disembarking his men, set them down to their evening meal; whilst
Eunomus on his side, after hanging back for a little while, sailed
away. Night fell, and the Athenian, showing the customary signal light
to prevent his squadron straggling, led the way in the darkness.
Gorgopas instantly got his men on board again, and, taking the lantern
for his guide, followed the Athenians, craftily lagging behind a
little space, so as not to show himself or raise any suspicion of his
presence. In place of the usual cry the boatswains timed the rowers by
a clink of stones, and silently the oars slid, feathering through the
waves[5]; and just when the squadron of Eunomus was touching the
coast, off Cape Zoster[6] in Attica, the Spartan sounded the
bugle-note for the charge. Some of Eunomus's vessels were in the act
of discharging their crews, others were still getting to their
moorings, whilst others were as yet only bearing down to land. The
engagement was fought by the light of the moon, and Gorgopas captured
four triremes, which he tied astern, and so set sail with his prizes
in tow towards Aegina. The rest of the Athenian squadron made their
escape into the harbour of Piraeus.
It was after these events that Chabrias[7] commenced his voyage to
Cyprus, bringing relief to Evagoras. His force consisted at first of
eight hundred light troops and ten triremes, but was further increased
by other vessels from Athens and a body of heavy infantry. Thus
reinforced, the admiral chose a night and landed in Aegina; and
secreted himself in ambuscade with his light troops in hollow ground
some way beyond the temple of Heracles. At break of day, as
prearranged, the Athenian hoplites made their appearance under command
of Demaenetus, and began mounting up between two and three miles[8]
beyond the Kerakleion at Tripurgia, as it is called. The news soon
reached Gorgopas, who sallied out to the rescue with the Aeginetans
and the marines of his vessels, being further accompanied by eight
Spartans who happened to be with him. Not content with these he issued
orders inviting any of the ships' crews, who were free men, to join
the relief party. A large number of these sailors responded. They
armed themselves as best they could, and the advance commenced. When
the vanguard were well past the ambuscade, Chabrias and his men sprang
up from their hiding-place, and poured a volley of javelins and stones
upon the enemy. At the same moment the hoplites, who had
disembarked,[9] were advancing, so that the Spartan vanguard, in the
absence of anything like collective action, were speedily cut down,
and among them fell Gorgopas with the Lacedaemonians. At their fall
the rest of course turned and fled. One hundred and fifty Aeginetans
were numbered among the slain, while the loss incurred by the
foreigners, metics, and sailors who had joined the relief party,
reached a total of two hundred. After this the Athnenians sailed the
sea as freely as in the times of actual peace. Nor would anything
induce the sailors to row a single stroke for Eteonicus--even under
pressure--since he had no pay to give.
Subsequently the Lacedaemonians despatched Teleutias once again to
take command of the squadron, and when the sailors saw it was he who
had come, they were overjoyed. He summoned a meeting and addressed
them thus: "Soldiers, I am back again, but I bring with me no money.
Yet if God be willing, and your zeal flag not, I will endeavour to
supply you with provisions without stint. Be well assured, as often as
I find myself in command of you, I have but one prayer--that your
lives may be spared no less than mine; and as for the necessaries of
existence, perhaps it would astonish you if I said I would rather you
should have them than I. Yet by the gods I swear I would welcome two
days' starvation in order to spare you one. Was not my door open in
old days to every comer? Open again it shall stand now; and so it
shall be; where your own board overflows, you shall look in and mark
the luxury of your general; but if at other times you see him bearing
up against cold and heat and sleepless nights, you must apply the
lesson to yourselves and study to endure those evils. I do not bid you
do aught of this for self-mortification's sake, but that you may
derive some after-blessing from it. Soldiers, let Lacedaemon, our own
mother-city, be to you an example. Her good fortune is reputed to
stand high. That you know; and you know too, that she purchased her
glory and her greatness not by faint-heartedness, but by choosing to
suffer pain and incur dangers in the day of need. 'Like city,' I say,
'like citizens.' You, too, as I can bear you witness, have been in
times past brave; but to-day must we strive to be better than
ourselves. So shall we share our pains without repining, and when
fortune smiles, mingle our joys; for indeed the sweetest thing of all
surely is to flatter no man, Hellene or Barbarian, for the sake of
hire; we will suffice to ourselves, and from a source to which honour
pre-eminently invites us; since, I need not remind you, abundance won
from the enemy in war furnishes forth not bodily nutrition only, but a
feast of glory the wide world over."
So he spoke, and with one voice they all shouted to him to issue what
orders he thought fit; they would not fail him in willing service. The
general's sacrifice was just concluded, and he answered: "Good, then,
my men; go now, as doubtless you were minded, and take your evening
meal, and next provide yourselves, please, with one day's food. After
that repair to your ships without delay, for we have a voyage on hand,
whither God wills, and must arrive in time." So then, when the men
returned, he embarked them on their ships, and sailed under cover of
night for the great harbour of Piraeus: at one time he gave the rowers
rest, passing the order to take a snatch of sleep; at another he
pushed forward towards his goal with rise and fall of oars. If any one
supposes that there was a touch of madness in such an expedition--with
but twelve triremes to attack an enemy possessed of a large fleet--he
should consider the calculations of Teleutias. He was under the firm
persuasion that the Athenians were more careless than ever about their
navy in the harbour since the death of Gorgopas; and in case of
finding warships riding at anchor--even so, there was less danger, he
conjectured, in attacking twenty ships in the port of Athens than ten
elsewhere; for, whereas, anywhere outside the harbour the sailors
would certainly be quartered on board, at Athens it was easy to divine
that the captains and officers would be sleeping at their homes, and
the crews located here and there in different quarters.
This minded he set sail, and when he was five or six furlongs[10]
distant from the harbour he lay on his oars and rested. But with the
first streak of dawn he led the way, the rest following. The admiral's
orders to the crews were explicit. They were on no account to sink any
merchant vessel; they were equally to avoid damaging[11] their own
vessels, but if at any point they espied a warship at her moorings
they must try and cripple her. The trading vessels, provided they had
got their cargoes on board, they must seize and tow out of the
harbour; those of larger tonnage they were to board wherever they
could and capture the crews. Some of his men actually jumped on to the
Deigma quay,[12] where they seized hold of various traders and pilots
and deposited them bodily on board ship. So the Spartan admiral
carried out his programme.
As to the Athenians, meanwhile, some of them who got wind of what was
happening rushed from indoors outside to see what the commotion meant,
others from the streets home to get their arms, and others again were
off to the city with the news. The whole of Athens rallied to the
rescue at that instant, heavy infantry and cavalry alike, the
apprehension being that Piraeus was taken. But the Spartan sent off
the captured vessels to Aegina, telling off three or four of his
triremes to convoy them thither; with the rest he followed along the
coast of Attica, and emerging in seemingly innocent fashion from the
harbour, captured a number of fishing smacks, and passage boats laden
with passengers crossing to Piraeus from the islands; and finally, on
reaching Sunium he captured some merchantmen laden with corn or other
merchandise. After these performances he sailed back to Aegina, where
he sold his prizes, and with the proceeds was able to provide his
troops with a month's pay, and for the future was free to cruise about
and make what reprisals chance cast in his way. By such a procedure he
was able to support a full quota of mariners on board his squadron,
and procured to himself the prompt and enthusiastic service of his
troops.
B.C. 388-387. Antalcidas had now returned from the Persian court with
Tiribazus. The negotiations had been successful. He had secured the
alliance of the Persian king and his military co-operation in case the
Athenians and their allies refused to abide by the peace which the
king dictated. But learning that his second in command, Nicolochus,
was being blockaded with his fleet by Iphicrates and Diotimus[13] in
Abydos, he set off at once by land for that city. Being come thither
he took the fleet one night and put out to sea, having first spread a
story that he had invitations from a party in Calchedon; but as a
matter of fact he came to anchorage in Percote and there kept quiet.
Meanwhile the Athenian forces under Demaenetus and Dionysius and
Leontichus and Phanias had got wind of his movement, and were in hot
pursuit towards Proconnesus. As soon as they were well past, the
Spartan veered round and returned to Abydos, trusting to information
brought him of the approach of Polyxenus with the Syracusan[14] and
Italian squadron of twenty ships, which he wished to pick up and
incorporate with his own.
A little later the Athenian Thrasybulus[15] (of Collytus) was making
his way up with eight ships from Thrace, his object being to effect a
junction with the main Athenian squadron. The scouts signalled the
approach of eight triremes, whereupon Antalcidas, embarking his
marines on board twelve of the fastest sailers of his fleet, ordered
them to make up their full complements, where defective, from the
remaining vessels; and so lay to, skulking in his lair with all
possible secrecy. As soon as the enemy's vessels came sailing past he
gave chase; and they catching sight of him took to flight. With his
swiftest sailors he speedily overhauled their laggards, and ordering
his vanguard to let these alone, he followed hard on those ahead. But
when the foremost had fallen into his clutches, the enemy's hinder
vessels, seeing their leaders taken one by one, out of sheer
despondency fell an easy prey to the slower sailors of the foe, so
that not one of the eight vessels escaped.
Presently the Syracusan squadron of twenty vessels joined him, and
again another squadron from Ionia, or rather so much of that district
as lay under the control of Tiribazus. The full quota of the
contingent was further made up from the territory of Ariobarzanes
(which whom Antalcidas kept up a friendship of long standing), in the
absence of Pharnabazus, who by this date had already been summoned up
country on the occasion of his marriage with the king's daughter. With
this fleet, which, from whatever sources derived, amounted to more
than eighty sail, Antalcidas ruled the seas, and was in a position not
only to cut off the passage of vessels bound to Athens from the
Euxine, but to convoy them into the harbours of Sparta's allies.
The Athenians could not but watch with alarm the growth of the enemy's
fleet, and began to fear a repetition of their former discomfiture. To
be trampled under foot by the hostile power seemed indeed no remote
possibility, now that the Lacedaemonians had procured an ally in the
person of the Persian monarch, and they were in little less than a
state of siege themselves, pestered as they were by privateers from
Aegina. On all these grounds the Athenians became passionately
desirous of peace.[16] The Lacedaemonians were equally out of humour
with the war for various reasons--what with their garrison duties, one
mora at Lechaeum and another at Orchomenus, and the necessity of
keeping watch and ward on the states, if loyal not to lose them, if
disaffected to prevent their revolt; not to mention that reciprocity
of annoyance[17] of which Corinth was the centre. So again the Argives
had a strong appetite for peace; they knew that the ban had been
called out against them, and, it was plain, that no fictitious
alteration of the calendar would any longer stand them in good stead.
Hence, when Tiribazus issued a summons calling on all who were willing
to listen to the terms of peace sent down by the king[18] to present
themselves, the invitation was promptly accepted. At the opening of
the conclave[19] Tiribazus pointed to the king's seal attached to the
document, and proceeded to read the contents, which ran as follows:
"The king, Artaxerxes, deems it just that the cities in Asia, with the
islands of Clazomenae and Cyprus, should belong to himself; the rest
of the Hellenic cities he thinks it just to leave independent, both
small and great, with the exception of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros,
which three are to belong to Athens as of yore. Should any of the
parties concerned not accept this peace, I, Artaxerxes, will war
against him or them with those who share my views. This will I do by
land and by sea, with ships and with money."
After listening to the above declaration the ambassadors from the
several states proceeded to report the same to their respective
governments. One and all of these took the oaths[20] to ratify and
confirm the terms unreservedly, with the exception of the Thebans, who
claimed to take the oaths in behalf of all Boeotians. This claim
Agesilaus repudiated: unless they chose to take the oaths in precise
conformity with the words of the king's edict, which insisted on "the
future autonomy of each state, small or great," he would not admit
them. To this the Theban ambassadors made no other reply, except that
the instructions they had received were different. "Pray go, then,"
Agesilaus retorted, "and ask the question; and you may inform your
countrymen that if they will not comply, they will be excluded from
the treaty." The Theban ambassadors departed, but Agesilaus, out of
hatred to the Thebans, took active measures at once. Having got the
consent of the ephors he forthwith offered sacrifice. The offerings
for crossing the frontier were propitious, and he pushed on to Tegea.
From Tegea he despatched some of the knights right and left to vist
the perioeci and hasten their mobilisation, and at the same time sent
commanders of foreign brigades to the allied cities on a similar
errand. But before he had started from Tegea the answer from Thebes
arrived; the point was yielded, they would suffer the states to be
independent. Under these circumstances the Lacedaemonians returned
home, and the Thebans were forced to accept the truce unconditionally,
and to recognise the autonomy of the Boeotian cities.[21] But now the
Corinthians were by no means disposed to part with the garrison of the
Argives. Accordingly Agesilaus had a word of warning for both. To the
former he said, "if they did not forthwith dismiss the Argives," and
to the latter, "if they did not instantly quit Corinth," he would
march an army into their territories. The terror of both was so great
that the Argives marched out of Corinth, and Corinth was once again
left to herself;[22] whereupon the "butchers"[23] and their
accomplices in the deed of blood determined to retire from Corinth,
and the rest of the citizens welcomed back their late exiles
voluntarily.
Now that the transactions were complete, and the states were bound by
their oaths to abide by the peace sent down to them by the king, the
immediate result was a general disarmament, military and naval forces
being alike disbanded; and so it was that the Lacedaemonians and
Athenians, with their allies, found themselves in the enjoyment of
peace for the first time since the period of hostilities subsequent to
the demolition of the walls of Athens. From a condition which, during
the war, can only be described as a sort of even balance with their
antagonists, the Lacedaemonians now emerged; and reached a pinnacle of
glory consequent upon the Peace of Antalcidas,[24] so called. As
guarantors of the peace presented by Hellas to the king, and as
administrators personally of the autonomy of the states, they had
added Corinth to their alliance; they had obtained the independence of
the states of Boeotia at the expense of Thebes,[25] which meant the
gratification of an old ambition; and lastly, by calling out the ban
in case the Argives refused to evacuate Corinth, they had put a stop
to the appopriation of that city by the Argives.
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