Lysander

At this juncture, Alcibiades, who was living in his own fortress on the Chersonese, rode up to the Athenian army and censured the generals, first, for having pitched their camp in a bad and even dangerous place on an open beach where there was no roadstead; and second, for the mistake of getting their provisions from distant Sestos,

when they ought to sail round the coast a little way to the harbor and city of Sestos, where they would be at a longer remove from their enemies, who lay watching them with an army commanded by a single man, the fear of whom led it to obey his every order promptly. These were the lessons he gave them, but they would not receive them, and Tydeus actually gave him an insolent answer, saying that he was not general now, but others.[*](Cf. Xen. Hell. 2.1.20-26; Plut. Alc. 36.4-37.1.)

Alcibiades, accordingly, suspecting that some treachery was afoot among them, went away. But on the fifth day, when the Athenians had sailed over to the enemy and back again, as was now their wont, very carelessly and contemptuously, Lysander, as he sent out his reconnoitering ships, ordered their commanders, as soon as they saw that the Athenians had disembarked, to put about and row back with all speed, and when they were half way across, to hoist a brazen shield at the prow, as a signal for the onset.

And he himself sailed round and earnestly exhorted the pilots and trierarchs to keep all their crews at their post, sailors and soldiers alike, and as soon as the signal was given, to row with ardor and vigor against the enemy. When, therefore, the shield was hoisted on the lookout ships, and the trumpet on the admiral’s ship signalled the attack, the ships sailed forth, and the land forces ran their fastest along the shore to seize the promontory.