Hellenica

The loss on the Athenian side was twenty-five ships, crews and all, with the exception of a few men who were brought to shore, and on the Peloponnesian side nine Laconian ships, out of a total of ten, and more than sixty ships of the allies.

After this victory it was resolved by the Athenian generals that Theramenes and Thrasybulus, who were ship-captains, and some of the taxiarchs, should sail with forty-seven ships to the aid of the disabled vessels and the men on board them, while they themselves went with the rest of the fleet to attack the ships under Eteonicus which were blockading Mytilene. But despite their desire to carry out these measures, the wind and a heavy storm which came on prevented them; accordingly, after setting up a trophy, they bivouacked where they were.

As for Eteonicus, the dispatch-boat reported to him the whole story of the battle. He, however, sent the boat out again, telling those who were in it to sail out of the harbour in silence and not talk with anyone, and then to sail back immediately to his fleet, wearing garlands and shouting that Callicratidas had been victorious in battle and that all the ships of the Athenians had been destroyed.

This they proceeded to do; and when they were sailing in, Eteonicus began to offer sacrifices for the good[*](406 B.C.) news, and gave orders that the soldiers should take their dinner, that the traders should put their goods into their boats in silence and sail off to Chios (for the wind was favourable), and that the triremes also should sail thither with all speed.

And he himself led his land forces back to Methymna, after setting fire to their camp. Conon now launched his ships, and, since the enemy had stolen away and the wind was quieter, went to meet the Athenians, who had by this time set out from the Arginusae, and told them what Eteonicus had done. The Athenians put in to Mytilene, sailed thence against Chios, and, accomplishing nothing there, sailed back towards Samos.

Now the people at home deposed the above-mentioned generals, with the exception of Conon; and as his colleagues they chose two men, Adeimantus and Philocles. As for those generals who had taken part in the battle, two of them—Protomachus and Aristogenes—did not return to Athens, but when the other six came home—

Pericles, Diomedon, Lysias, Aristocrates, Thrasyllus, and Erasinides,—Archedemus, who was at that time a leader of the popular party at Athens and had charge of the two-obol fund,[*](For the relief of poverty and distress caused by the war, not to be confounded with the theoric fund; see Wilamowitz, Aristoteles und Athen, Vol. II. pp. 212 ff.) brought accusation against Erasinides before a court and urged that a fine be imposed upon him, claiming that he had in his possession money from the Hellespont which belonged to the people; he accused him, further, of misconduct as general. And the court decreed that Erasinides should be imprisoned.

After this the generals made a statement before the Senate in regard to the battle and the violence of the storm; and upon motion of[*](406 B.C.) Timocrates, that the others also should be imprisoned and turned over to the Assembly for trial, the Senate imprisoned them.

After this a meeting of the Assembly was called, at which a number of people, and particularly Theramenes, spoke against the generals, saying that they ought to render an account of their conduct in not picking up the shipwrecked. For as proof that the generals fastened the responsibility upon no person apart from themselves, Theramenes showed a letter which they had sent to the Senate and to the Assembly, in which they put the blame upon nothing but the storm.

After this the several generals spoke in their own defence (though briefly, for they were not granted the hearing prescribed by the law) and stated what they had done, saying that they themselves undertook to sail against the enemy and that they assigned the duty of recovering the shipwrecked to certain of the captains who were competent men and had been generals in the past,—Theramenes, Thrasybulus, and others of that sort;

and if they had to blame any, they could blame no one else in the matter of the recovery except these men, to whom the duty was assigned. And we shall not, they added, just because they accuse us, falsely say that they were to blame, but rather that it was the violence of the storm which prevented the recovery.

They offered as witnesses to the truth of these statements the pilots and many others among their ship-companions. With such arguments they were on the point of persuading the Assembly, and many of the citizens rose and wanted to give bail for them; it was decided, however, that the matter should be postponed to another meeting of the Assembly (for[*](406 B.C.) by that time it was late in the day and they could not have distinguished the hands in the voting), and that the Senate should draft and bring in a proposal[*](Athenian procedure required in general that a matter should first be considered by the Senate, whose προβούλευμα, or preliminary resolution, was then referred to the Assembly for final action.) regarding the manner in which the men should be tried.