Hellenica

On the way Phanosthenes fell in with two Thurian triremes and captured them, crews and all; and the men who were thus taken were all imprisoned by the Athenians, but their commander, Dorieus, a Rhodian by birth, but some time before exiled from both Athens and Rhodes by the Athenians, who had condemned him and his kinsmen to death, and now a citizen of Thurii, they set free without even exacting a ransom, taking pity upon him.

When, meanwhile, Conon had arrived at Samos, where he found the Athenian fleet in a state of despondency, he manned with full complements seventy triremes instead of the former number, which was more than a hundred, and setting out with this fleet, in company with the other generals, landed here and there in the enemy’s territory and plundered it.

So the year ended, being the year in which the Carthaginians made an expedition to Sicily with one hundred and twenty triremes and an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and although defeated in battle, starved Acragas into submission after besieging it for seven months.

In the ensuing year—the year in which there[*](406 B.C.) was an eclipse of the moon one evening, and the old temple[*](On the Acropolis. On its identity see D’Ooge, Acropolis of Athens, Appendix III.) of Athena at Athens was burned, Pityas being now ephor at Sparta and Callias archon at Athens—the Lacedaemonians sent Callicratidas to take command[*](406 B.C.) of the fleet, since Lysander’s term of office had ended (and with it the twenty-fourth year of the war).

And when Lysander delivered over the ships, he told Callicratidas that he did so as master of the sea and victor in battle. Callicratidas, however, bade him coast along from Ephesus on the left of Samos, where the Athenian ships were, and deliver over the fleet at Miletus; then, he said, he would grant him that he was master of the sea.

But when Lysander replied that he would not meddle when another was commander, Callicratidas, left to himself, manned with sailors from Chios and Rhodes and other allied states fifty ships in addition to those which he had received from Lysander. And after assembling the entire fleet, a total of one hundred and forty ships, he prepared to meet the enemy.

But when he found out that Lysander’s friends were intriguing against him,—they not only rendered half-hearted service, but also spread the report in the cities that the Lacedaemonians made a serious mistake in changing their admirals; for in place of men who were proving themselves fit and were just coming to understand naval matters and knew well how to deal with men, they frequently sent out men who were unacquainted with the sea and unknown to the people near the seat of war; and there was danger, they said, of their meeting with disaster on this account,—after hearing of all this Callicratidas called together the Lacedaemonians who were there and addressed them[*](406 B.C.) as follows:

I, for my part, am content to stay at home, and if Lysander or anyone else professes to be more experienced in naval affairs, I will not stand in his way so far as I am concerned; but it is I who have been sent by the state to command the fleet, and I cannot do otherwise than obey my orders to the best of my power. As for you, in view of the ambition which I cherish and the criticisms which our state incurs,—and you know them as well as I do,—give me whatever advice seems to you best on the question of my remaining here or sailing back home to report the conditions which exist here.

Since no one dared to propose anything else than that he should obey the authorities at home and do the work for which he had come, he went to Cyrus and asked for pay for the sailors; Cyrus, however, told him to wait for two days.

But Callicratidas, indignant at being thus put off and driven to anger by having to dance attendance at his gates, declaring that the Greeks were in a sorry plight, toadying to barbarians for the sake of money, and saying that if he reached home in safety he would do his best to reconcile the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, sailed away to Miletus;

and after despatching triremes from there to Lacedaemon to get money, he gathered the Milesians in assembly and spoke as follows:Upon me, men of Miletus, lies the necessity of obeying the authorities at home; and as for you, I claim that you should show the utmost zeal in this war, because you dwell among barbarians and in the past have suffered very many ills at their hands.

And you should as leaders[*](406 B.C.) show the other allies how we may inflict the utmost harm upon the enemy in the shortest time, until the people return from Lacedaemon whom I have sent thither to get money;